"Wisdom from the Northwoods..."
(and other such nonsense)
(and other such nonsense)
If you have read this far down on the home page, odds are this is your first time checking out my website, rather than a 'regular' who comes here to read the latest DAILY blog. I have no sponsor, no ads, and no hidden agenda. My writings are simply because of strong core values and a love of writing, coupled with the time and desire to do so. And I welcome you as a new reader.
The words are based on truth as I FIND IT, not on truth as I SEE IT. My 'rants' are honest opinions and are presented as OPINION. Ex-sailors tend to use strong language on occasion. It often helps get a point across. If you offend easily, this website is not for you.
If you prefer hype and bullshit, those type sites are all over the internet.
The words are based on truth as I FIND IT, not on truth as I SEE IT. My 'rants' are honest opinions and are presented as OPINION. Ex-sailors tend to use strong language on occasion. It often helps get a point across. If you offend easily, this website is not for you.
If you prefer hype and bullshit, those type sites are all over the internet.
Send Cap
an email
an email
There is no subject that I write about that is taboo (other than disgusting or purely prurient sexual matters). Politics? Religion? Social or Economic situations? Hypocrisy and Charlatans? All fair game to me. Do my level best to call a spade a spade, to write with truth as my guide. Bias, racism, and hatred are not what you will find here. Anger? For sure when I see a wrong that cries for an advocate of 'right'. So join thousands of other readers who have visited this site. Many daily to check out what this old geezer has to say each day. Like a box of 'Cracker Jacks', you never know what you will get!
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40 YEARS AGO!
Cap'n Dee and
Gov. Harold LeVander(MN), Serving As His Tourism Advisor. (Was I Really
Once THAT Young?) ;-)
Cap'n Dee and
Gov. Harold LeVander(MN), Serving As His Tourism Advisor. (Was I Really
Once THAT Young?) ;-)
February KICKOFF
To begin the new month I turn the home page over to the man who I personally consider to be the wisest and most perceptive individual U.S. citizen alive today. When he makes a point such as this one, it is all fact, truth, and he tells it like it is.
CAP 2/1/10
By Dr. Charles Krauthammer
Friday, January 29, 2010
The real scandal surrounding the failed Christmas Day airline bombing was not the fact that a terrorist got on a plane -- that can happen to any administration, as it surely did to the Bush administration -- but what happened afterward when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was captured and came under the full control of the U.S. government.
After 50 minutes of questioning him, the Obama administration chose, reflexively and mindlessly, to give the chatty terrorist the right to remain silent. Which he immediately did, undoubtedly denying us crucial information about al-Qaeda in Yemen, which had trained, armed and dispatched him.
We have since learned that the decision to Mirandize Abdulmutallab had been made without the knowledge of or consultation with (1) the secretary of defense, (2) the secretary of homeland security, (3) the director of the FBI, (4) the director of the National Counterterrorism Center or (5) the director of national intelligence (DNI).
The Justice Department acted not just unilaterally but unaccountably. Obama's own DNI said that Abdulmutallab should have been interrogated by the HIG, the administration's new High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group.
Perhaps you hadn't heard the term. Well, in the very first week of his presidency, Obama abolished by executive order the Bush-Cheney interrogation procedures and pledged to study a substitute mechanism. In August, the administration announced the establishment of the HIG, housed in the FBI but overseen by the National Security Council.
Where was it during the Abdulmutallab case? Not available, admitted National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair, because it had been conceived for use only abroad. Had not one person in this vast administration of highly nuanced sophisticates considered the possibility of a terror attack on American soil?
It gets worse. Blair later had to explain that the HIG was not deployed because it does not yet exist. After a year! I suppose this administration was so busy deploying scores of the country's best lawyerly minds on finding the most rapid way to release Gitmo miscreants that it could not be bothered to establish a single operational HIG team to interrogate at-large miscreants with actionable intelligence that might save American lives.
Travesties of this magnitude are not lost on the American people. One of the reasons Scott Brown won in Massachusetts was his focus on the Mirandizing of Abdulmutallab.
Of course, this case is just a reflection of a larger problem: an administration that insists on treating Islamist terrorism as a law-enforcement issue. Which is why the Justice Department's other egregious terror decision, granting Khalid Sheik Mohammed a civilian trial in New York, is now the subject of a letter from six senators -- three Republicans, two Democrats and Joe Lieberman -- asking Attorney General Eric Holder to reverse the decision.
Lieberman and Sen. Susan Collins had written an earlier letter asking for Abdulmutallab to be turned over to the military for renewed interrogation. The problem is, it's hard to see how that decision gets reversed. Once you've read a man Miranda rights, what do you say? We are idiots? On second thought . . .
Hence the agitation over the KSM trial. This one can be reversed, and it's a good surrogate for this administration's insistence upon criminalizing -- and therefore trivializing -- a war on terror that has now struck three times in one year within the United States, twice with effect (the Arkansas killer and the Fort Hood shooter) and once with a shockingly near miss (Abdulmutallab).
On the KSM civilian trial, sentiment is widespread that it is quite insane to spend $200 million a year to give the killer of 3,000 innocents the largest propaganda platform on earth, while at the same time granting civilian rights of cross-examination and discovery that risk betraying U.S. intelligence sources and methods.
Accordingly, Sen. Lindsey Graham and Rep. Frank Wolf have gone beyond appeals to the administration and are planning to introduce a bill to block funding for the trial. It's an important measure. It makes flesh an otherwise abstract issue -- should terrorists be treated as enemy combatants or criminal defendants? The vote will force members of Congress to declare themselves. There will be no hiding from the question.
Congress may not be able to roll back the Abdulmutallab travesty. But there will be future Abdulmutallabs. By cutting off funding for the KSM trial, Congress can send Obama a clear message: The Constitution is neither a safety net for illegal enemy combatants nor a suicide pact for us.
To begin the new month I turn the home page over to the man who I personally consider to be the wisest and most perceptive individual U.S. citizen alive today. When he makes a point such as this one, it is all fact, truth, and he tells it like it is.
CAP 2/1/10
By Dr. Charles Krauthammer
Friday, January 29, 2010
The real scandal surrounding the failed Christmas Day airline bombing was not the fact that a terrorist got on a plane -- that can happen to any administration, as it surely did to the Bush administration -- but what happened afterward when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was captured and came under the full control of the U.S. government.
After 50 minutes of questioning him, the Obama administration chose, reflexively and mindlessly, to give the chatty terrorist the right to remain silent. Which he immediately did, undoubtedly denying us crucial information about al-Qaeda in Yemen, which had trained, armed and dispatched him.
We have since learned that the decision to Mirandize Abdulmutallab had been made without the knowledge of or consultation with (1) the secretary of defense, (2) the secretary of homeland security, (3) the director of the FBI, (4) the director of the National Counterterrorism Center or (5) the director of national intelligence (DNI).
The Justice Department acted not just unilaterally but unaccountably. Obama's own DNI said that Abdulmutallab should have been interrogated by the HIG, the administration's new High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group.
Perhaps you hadn't heard the term. Well, in the very first week of his presidency, Obama abolished by executive order the Bush-Cheney interrogation procedures and pledged to study a substitute mechanism. In August, the administration announced the establishment of the HIG, housed in the FBI but overseen by the National Security Council.
Where was it during the Abdulmutallab case? Not available, admitted National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair, because it had been conceived for use only abroad. Had not one person in this vast administration of highly nuanced sophisticates considered the possibility of a terror attack on American soil?
It gets worse. Blair later had to explain that the HIG was not deployed because it does not yet exist. After a year! I suppose this administration was so busy deploying scores of the country's best lawyerly minds on finding the most rapid way to release Gitmo miscreants that it could not be bothered to establish a single operational HIG team to interrogate at-large miscreants with actionable intelligence that might save American lives.
Travesties of this magnitude are not lost on the American people. One of the reasons Scott Brown won in Massachusetts was his focus on the Mirandizing of Abdulmutallab.
Of course, this case is just a reflection of a larger problem: an administration that insists on treating Islamist terrorism as a law-enforcement issue. Which is why the Justice Department's other egregious terror decision, granting Khalid Sheik Mohammed a civilian trial in New York, is now the subject of a letter from six senators -- three Republicans, two Democrats and Joe Lieberman -- asking Attorney General Eric Holder to reverse the decision.
Lieberman and Sen. Susan Collins had written an earlier letter asking for Abdulmutallab to be turned over to the military for renewed interrogation. The problem is, it's hard to see how that decision gets reversed. Once you've read a man Miranda rights, what do you say? We are idiots? On second thought . . .
Hence the agitation over the KSM trial. This one can be reversed, and it's a good surrogate for this administration's insistence upon criminalizing -- and therefore trivializing -- a war on terror that has now struck three times in one year within the United States, twice with effect (the Arkansas killer and the Fort Hood shooter) and once with a shockingly near miss (Abdulmutallab).
On the KSM civilian trial, sentiment is widespread that it is quite insane to spend $200 million a year to give the killer of 3,000 innocents the largest propaganda platform on earth, while at the same time granting civilian rights of cross-examination and discovery that risk betraying U.S. intelligence sources and methods.
Accordingly, Sen. Lindsey Graham and Rep. Frank Wolf have gone beyond appeals to the administration and are planning to introduce a bill to block funding for the trial. It's an important measure. It makes flesh an otherwise abstract issue -- should terrorists be treated as enemy combatants or criminal defendants? The vote will force members of Congress to declare themselves. There will be no hiding from the question.
Congress may not be able to roll back the Abdulmutallab travesty. But there will be future Abdulmutallabs. By cutting off funding for the KSM trial, Congress can send Obama a clear message: The Constitution is neither a safety net for illegal enemy combatants nor a suicide pact for us.
CAP'S "State Of The Union"
Have a good friend in the Seattle area whose Dad was serving at Manus Harbor in the South Pacific where I was in 1944, when the Mt. Hood ammunition ship blew up. He is an ardent member of the GOP, wrote me a few days ago regarding his intense dislike for Obama, and my reply to him becomes my today's posting below. See what you think.
CAP 2/2/10
Have a good friend in the Seattle area whose Dad was serving at Manus Harbor in the South Pacific where I was in 1944, when the Mt. Hood ammunition ship blew up. He is an ardent member of the GOP, wrote me a few days ago regarding his intense dislike for Obama, and my reply to him becomes my today's posting below. See what you think.
CAP 2/2/10
Morning D****
Good hearing from you. Yes, we have dug out a couple times from tough snowstorms, only then to be treated to spells of 20 below for several days. Last snowstorm a few days ago was a wimp, only an inch or two. But with strong NE winds I discovered on my way out that our freshly plowed half-mile driveway had plugged up worse than ever. Tried to blast through with my front wheel drive only to get stuck worse than I have ever been. After an HOUR of shoveling out, yes, this 83 year old geezer had bonded quite well with his snow shovel. Sigh.
Re: Obama. You, as much as anyone, are aware of how strongly I opposed him. But when the majority spoke I accepted him (unwillingly) and gave him a shot, fully aware he could go in 2012 if he blew it. (It is in my nature to support our duly elected prez, and put personal feelings aside ... for awhile at least, to see what happens.)
If you have been following my website you know that a couple months ago his "proving-period" for me was over, he had failed, and once again I strongly opposed him. Much on the very grounds you set forth. And after his 'State of The Union' speech made that crystal clear. And then he followed it up with his appearance before the Republican House Retreat which I watched live. And was amazed at what I saw (see the website posting).
We now have one of two things at work, while much of what you wrote is on point: 1. He is trying the old 'wolf-in-sheep's-clothing' ploy; or, 2. He has had an epiphany and moved to the middle. All I know is I saw a man, mind, and determination that IS capable of helping set things right. And there is absolutely no one else out there now able or better qualified to do so, or in a position to do so. And as we ARE stuck with him for three more years it behooves me to hold my guns on him for another year and shut up. We have no other choice if we place country first, we ARE stuck with him, like it or not. And we serve no purpose to undermine him. If he continues to blow it in 2010, then it is time to again take the gloves off.
Ah, but the 2010 mid-term election for Congress coming up? Fair game that not only deserves, but will get, my best shot. I have not varied one inch since Nov 2008 and WAY BEFORE in my call (with a few exceptions) to sweep all the bastards out. The GOP has several bright stars out there that I am watching, folks that have not yet begun to really shine. Between Nov 2010 & Nov 2012 will be a most interesting time in our nation's history. Stay tuned!
With all best regards,
CAP
Good hearing from you. Yes, we have dug out a couple times from tough snowstorms, only then to be treated to spells of 20 below for several days. Last snowstorm a few days ago was a wimp, only an inch or two. But with strong NE winds I discovered on my way out that our freshly plowed half-mile driveway had plugged up worse than ever. Tried to blast through with my front wheel drive only to get stuck worse than I have ever been. After an HOUR of shoveling out, yes, this 83 year old geezer had bonded quite well with his snow shovel. Sigh.
Re: Obama. You, as much as anyone, are aware of how strongly I opposed him. But when the majority spoke I accepted him (unwillingly) and gave him a shot, fully aware he could go in 2012 if he blew it. (It is in my nature to support our duly elected prez, and put personal feelings aside ... for awhile at least, to see what happens.)
If you have been following my website you know that a couple months ago his "proving-period" for me was over, he had failed, and once again I strongly opposed him. Much on the very grounds you set forth. And after his 'State of The Union' speech made that crystal clear. And then he followed it up with his appearance before the Republican House Retreat which I watched live. And was amazed at what I saw (see the website posting).
We now have one of two things at work, while much of what you wrote is on point: 1. He is trying the old 'wolf-in-sheep's-clothing' ploy; or, 2. He has had an epiphany and moved to the middle. All I know is I saw a man, mind, and determination that IS capable of helping set things right. And there is absolutely no one else out there now able or better qualified to do so, or in a position to do so. And as we ARE stuck with him for three more years it behooves me to hold my guns on him for another year and shut up. We have no other choice if we place country first, we ARE stuck with him, like it or not. And we serve no purpose to undermine him. If he continues to blow it in 2010, then it is time to again take the gloves off.
Ah, but the 2010 mid-term election for Congress coming up? Fair game that not only deserves, but will get, my best shot. I have not varied one inch since Nov 2008 and WAY BEFORE in my call (with a few exceptions) to sweep all the bastards out. The GOP has several bright stars out there that I am watching, folks that have not yet begun to really shine. Between Nov 2010 & Nov 2012 will be a most interesting time in our nation's history. Stay tuned!
With all best regards,
CAP
OBAMA, IN DEPTH.
It is extremely possible that he completely misunderstood what the people wanted when they elected him, almost solely on the skill of his oratory. There is little question that he is "far-left" in his way of thinking. In the way of a self-centered and over-educated person, he just naturally assumed that by electing him, the majority of voters ALSO were far left thinkers.
Almost as though in his mind, that then gave him carte blanche to pursue a platform, or take a road that was fashioned from his unusual previous life with an agenda based upon socialism and/ or far-left idealism. And in so doing he entirely misread the true and real American persona... one that does not want, nor have tolerance for, either socialism or communism in any form. But he proceeded his first year with a sincere effort to mold the country in that direction anyhow, because of his honest desire to serve his country AND to serve the wants of his countrymen by pursuing his own far-left agenda after surrounding himself with mostly leftist sycophants.
Then reality, truth and facts all hit him square in the face after his terrible first year in office. And like any ship's captain when he all of a sudden realizes he is sailing towards a rocky reef and disaster, to save his ship (and life) he changes course.
This well may be what we are now seeing. (I hope so.) And if that is the case, being a highly intelligent individual, he knows a year now spent working totally in a bipartisanship manner to better the nation, will help preserve his legacy in the annals of American history. Because regardless of where he is coming from, or deep in his soul he would PREFER to be going, he, like every prez, will want to leave office with his head held high and become known as a true credit to his country. This holds more true for an egoist. So we shall now wait, watch, and see.
During his time at the podium of the Republican House Retreat and the open and live broadcast of it (an event without precedence) I read in his eyes and body language honesty, fervor, and determination. While others may not agree with that, my track record on the ability to correctly read eyes hovers on the 80% correct level. I saw a man wanting to give all he has. I saw a man who is willing to take on, adjust, and work to the best of his ability at a job that not one man in ten million would want to do, or one man in fifty million could do.
2010 will be a 'make-or-break' year for him. By now he has come to understand that if he has any hope whatsoever to be re-elected he will have to convince the INDEPENDENT voters, and the 'Tea-Party', that he is the man for the job. In 2012 there is not a chance in hell that flowery oratory read from a teleprompter will convince them. ONLY what POSITIVE and meaningful things he does for the USA in the next three years will.
CAP 2/3/10
(P.S. Tomorrow's Home Page posting goes very personal ... some real food for thought. Don't miss it.)
It is extremely possible that he completely misunderstood what the people wanted when they elected him, almost solely on the skill of his oratory. There is little question that he is "far-left" in his way of thinking. In the way of a self-centered and over-educated person, he just naturally assumed that by electing him, the majority of voters ALSO were far left thinkers.
Almost as though in his mind, that then gave him carte blanche to pursue a platform, or take a road that was fashioned from his unusual previous life with an agenda based upon socialism and/ or far-left idealism. And in so doing he entirely misread the true and real American persona... one that does not want, nor have tolerance for, either socialism or communism in any form. But he proceeded his first year with a sincere effort to mold the country in that direction anyhow, because of his honest desire to serve his country AND to serve the wants of his countrymen by pursuing his own far-left agenda after surrounding himself with mostly leftist sycophants.
Then reality, truth and facts all hit him square in the face after his terrible first year in office. And like any ship's captain when he all of a sudden realizes he is sailing towards a rocky reef and disaster, to save his ship (and life) he changes course.
This well may be what we are now seeing. (I hope so.) And if that is the case, being a highly intelligent individual, he knows a year now spent working totally in a bipartisanship manner to better the nation, will help preserve his legacy in the annals of American history. Because regardless of where he is coming from, or deep in his soul he would PREFER to be going, he, like every prez, will want to leave office with his head held high and become known as a true credit to his country. This holds more true for an egoist. So we shall now wait, watch, and see.
During his time at the podium of the Republican House Retreat and the open and live broadcast of it (an event without precedence) I read in his eyes and body language honesty, fervor, and determination. While others may not agree with that, my track record on the ability to correctly read eyes hovers on the 80% correct level. I saw a man wanting to give all he has. I saw a man who is willing to take on, adjust, and work to the best of his ability at a job that not one man in ten million would want to do, or one man in fifty million could do.
2010 will be a 'make-or-break' year for him. By now he has come to understand that if he has any hope whatsoever to be re-elected he will have to convince the INDEPENDENT voters, and the 'Tea-Party', that he is the man for the job. In 2012 there is not a chance in hell that flowery oratory read from a teleprompter will convince them. ONLY what POSITIVE and meaningful things he does for the USA in the next three years will.
CAP 2/3/10
(P.S. Tomorrow's Home Page posting goes very personal ... some real food for thought. Don't miss it.)
TRUTH and CATS.
Many years ago when I was a resident of the Florida Keys, one day I spent an hour or so roaming through the home, studio, and grounds of the home of Earnest Hemingway in Key West. Enjoyed every moment of it, right down to the six-toe cats that roam the place. He was my kind of writer, my kind of man on how he lived his life.
His 'studio' is (and was) a small building at the rear of the property, detached from the main house. And it was there he would go to the second floor, alone and in the complete privacy that he demanded, to do his actual writing. I stood there alone, soaking up the place, looking at his old upright manual typewriter still sitting on his desk.
In my amateurish way I had already been writing for quite some years, mainly tourism hype, and a stint as a weekly newspaper columnist for a Northern Minnesota newspaper, the Pine River Journal. But that day I gained a bit of insight about what it really takes to both write well, and do it with truth. A quiet, private place, alone, with the time to think, contemplate, write, rewrite, and then rewrite again. Maybe have a few drinks, read what you just wrote, think about it, tear it up and start over again. But this time do it right.
All these years later, 100's of columns, blogs, and articles with eleven books behind me, I now understand the genius of Hemingway. Especially when I go back and read some of my 'simple' archived writings, my first couple books. They make me groan when I think of how good they could have been, had I but spent more time on them.
To write with conviction, and from experience ... and do it well ... requires solitude. Hours alone with only your mind to encourage or distract you. And then, only then, can words of truth ... and sometimes meaning ... emerge. I have now lived 20 years longer than this man I so admire. Have also taken a big bite out of life as he did.
And I now enjoy several hours of 'aloneness' each and every morning to write. While no way in hell will I ever measure up to Hemingway, his Key West home provided me with a bit of insight on how to write with honesty. If you read it here, it is truth. But my cat has only the normal FIVE toes on each paw. So as much as my youngest daughter likes to call me 'Papa', until my feline grows extra toes, I will remain simply ...
Cap'n Dee 2/4/10Many years ago when I was a resident of the Florida Keys, one day I spent an hour or so roaming through the home, studio, and grounds of the home of Earnest Hemingway in Key West. Enjoyed every moment of it, right down to the six-toe cats that roam the place. He was my kind of writer, my kind of man on how he lived his life.
His 'studio' is (and was) a small building at the rear of the property, detached from the main house. And it was there he would go to the second floor, alone and in the complete privacy that he demanded, to do his actual writing. I stood there alone, soaking up the place, looking at his old upright manual typewriter still sitting on his desk.
In my amateurish way I had already been writing for quite some years, mainly tourism hype, and a stint as a weekly newspaper columnist for a Northern Minnesota newspaper, the Pine River Journal. But that day I gained a bit of insight about what it really takes to both write well, and do it with truth. A quiet, private place, alone, with the time to think, contemplate, write, rewrite, and then rewrite again. Maybe have a few drinks, read what you just wrote, think about it, tear it up and start over again. But this time do it right.
All these years later, 100's of columns, blogs, and articles with eleven books behind me, I now understand the genius of Hemingway. Especially when I go back and read some of my 'simple' archived writings, my first couple books. They make me groan when I think of how good they could have been, had I but spent more time on them.
To write with conviction, and from experience ... and do it well ... requires solitude. Hours alone with only your mind to encourage or distract you. And then, only then, can words of truth ... and sometimes meaning ... emerge. I have now lived 20 years longer than this man I so admire. Have also taken a big bite out of life as he did.
And I now enjoy several hours of 'aloneness' each and every morning to write. While no way in hell will I ever measure up to Hemingway, his Key West home provided me with a bit of insight on how to write with honesty. If you read it here, it is truth. But my cat has only the normal FIVE toes on each paw. So as much as my youngest daughter likes to call me 'Papa', until my feline grows extra toes, I will remain simply ...
RAISING HELL.
That is what I set out to do today. Blasting a certain misfit that takes up space in our House of Representatives while doing nothing. An ear-marking sleazy idiot who is more interested in what his overpaid time in D.C. will do for him than anything else. But as I cooled down a bit, realized my words about this man would be wasted time. WHY??? Because the same words fit well over half of the deadbeats of BOTH parties that take up space while raising our taxes. And that being just about their only claim to fame.
So in mid-stream thought instead about how each chapter of a person's life ends and you turn the page to a new chapter. (Yes, we all should be thinking seriously about helping all those dolts in Congress start a new chapter in THEIR LIVES this next November, but I digress a bit.)
Every book has a final chapter, and then the book ends. So it is with life. And that becomes never more apparent when you start to get to the end of the chapters of your life, once the hair turns white, the eyes grow weak, and the body moves slowly. (If at all!)
It is about that time (this time in MY life) that you also think back over all those chapters. About each aspect of your life, each phase, and recall how the door closed on that phase or aspect. And you then moved on, with fewer doors to open, fewer chapters left to read. Until one day you have left behind or given up on many activities you used to enjoy, simply because the ol' body can't or won't respond to the demands of the pastime. So you close THAT chapter and turn the page to see whatever your book of life has left to enjoy.
So it now is with me. And please do not misunderstand, doing and writing this does not make me bitter, sad, or angry. Just another chapter has ended for me. Will now explain. FISHING has been my extreme passion since about age seven. (Still is.) That covers over 75 years. I have been fishing on Dogtooth Lake in Canada since 1949. That comes out to about 61 years. (That's a fair piece of time by my reckoning!) Even have owned a 'fishing shack' on Dogtooth the past ten or so years, with just the right fishing boat. My pride and joy.
But have now put it all up for sale, and have accepted the fact that my body will only allow me (at best) to visit it one last year. First, next May before it is sold. If lucky, maybe after my fall September trip. But as I said, shall not be unhappy when 2010 is history. Have a bunch of TROPHY size mounts hanging on my walls that came from good old Dogtooth Lake. A peek once in awhile at any of them will bring a smile to my lips, and happy memories to my mind!
And so. Now with only a skinny chapter or two of my book of a truly full life left to live, I know that when my ashes are scattered right here on my little paradise-on-earth, and in the Wood River to eventually join the rivers and oceans of the world that I have visited, that they will rejoin nature and things will be O.K.! (Hmm, wonder if ashes can smile. If so, mine will...)
CAP 2/5/10
That is what I set out to do today. Blasting a certain misfit that takes up space in our House of Representatives while doing nothing. An ear-marking sleazy idiot who is more interested in what his overpaid time in D.C. will do for him than anything else. But as I cooled down a bit, realized my words about this man would be wasted time. WHY??? Because the same words fit well over half of the deadbeats of BOTH parties that take up space while raising our taxes. And that being just about their only claim to fame.
So in mid-stream thought instead about how each chapter of a person's life ends and you turn the page to a new chapter. (Yes, we all should be thinking seriously about helping all those dolts in Congress start a new chapter in THEIR LIVES this next November, but I digress a bit.)
Every book has a final chapter, and then the book ends. So it is with life. And that becomes never more apparent when you start to get to the end of the chapters of your life, once the hair turns white, the eyes grow weak, and the body moves slowly. (If at all!)
It is about that time (this time in MY life) that you also think back over all those chapters. About each aspect of your life, each phase, and recall how the door closed on that phase or aspect. And you then moved on, with fewer doors to open, fewer chapters left to read. Until one day you have left behind or given up on many activities you used to enjoy, simply because the ol' body can't or won't respond to the demands of the pastime. So you close THAT chapter and turn the page to see whatever your book of life has left to enjoy.
So it now is with me. And please do not misunderstand, doing and writing this does not make me bitter, sad, or angry. Just another chapter has ended for me. Will now explain. FISHING has been my extreme passion since about age seven. (Still is.) That covers over 75 years. I have been fishing on Dogtooth Lake in Canada since 1949. That comes out to about 61 years. (That's a fair piece of time by my reckoning!) Even have owned a 'fishing shack' on Dogtooth the past ten or so years, with just the right fishing boat. My pride and joy.
But have now put it all up for sale, and have accepted the fact that my body will only allow me (at best) to visit it one last year. First, next May before it is sold. If lucky, maybe after my fall September trip. But as I said, shall not be unhappy when 2010 is history. Have a bunch of TROPHY size mounts hanging on my walls that came from good old Dogtooth Lake. A peek once in awhile at any of them will bring a smile to my lips, and happy memories to my mind!
And so. Now with only a skinny chapter or two of my book of a truly full life left to live, I know that when my ashes are scattered right here on my little paradise-on-earth, and in the Wood River to eventually join the rivers and oceans of the world that I have visited, that they will rejoin nature and things will be O.K.! (Hmm, wonder if ashes can smile. If so, mine will...)
CAP 2/5/10
SARAH PALIN + TEA PARTY
The fuse and the explosive. Sarah is the fuse. And when she delivers the keynote speech at the first national meeting of the grass roots TEA PARTY tonight in Tennessee, the ensuing explosion in all likelihood will be a precursor of what will happen this next November when the voters go to the polls. And this is exactly what concerns me.
The political movement is powerful, so powerful that it could possibly (and easily) self-destruct before November 2012. Much of the basic structure and organization in the fledgling massive group of unhappy voters has yet to be resolved. And believe me, the desperate far-left and the liberal media is leaving no stone unturned in their efforts to exploit and magnify the natural and normal differences of opinion within the Tea Party as it struggles to become a powerhouse in American politics.
There are honest and well meaning folks that seem to be a bit far apart in exactly how they should proceed from this point on. And in what form ... so to speak, what banner they should present to the country to be most effective in their common goal to both sweep out the halls of Congress in 2010 and to have the power to determine the 2012 November national election outcome. And this is precisely where the seeds of self destruction lay.
It appears that they are in agreement at this time to NOT become just an offshoot of the GOP, or to flat ass endorse the GOP 100%. Which is good and wise. Because like it or not, there are almost as many GOP Congresspeople who need replacing as Demos, and to directly connect to the GOP would be counter productive. And even worse yet, it would be a tragedy if certain forces within the Tea Party (unknowingly being encouraged by the Demos) have their way and form...(shudder) a THIRD PARTY!
In effect what that would do is split the conservative and independent vote in 2012, precisely like Perot did some years back, and hand Obama his re-election on a silver platter! Exactly what the far left wants! And may I remind you what happened to Perot's party AFTER the election wherein he ran a slate of candidates. There is not the slightest vestige of his party on the political scene these days.
I do not know in what form or shape the Tea Party will present itself following this first national gathering. But I DO KNOW that logic, common sense, and history as a teacher, dictates that at all costs they must avoid becoming a 'THIRD PARTY' that presents its own slate of candidates! To do so will be the kiss of death for them. They MUST remain ABOVE PARTY POLITICS if they are to have maximum success in encouraging and helping to create GOOD government, getting rid of the stacks of dead wood in Congress on BOTH sides of the aisle.
And you, the reader of the above ... if you agree, either send a copy of this article to every single person in your address book, or at the very least, encourage them to visit this website and read it first hand. (And what will follow the next few weeks.) There is a good thing going with the Tea Party. A movement that started simply just because a couple folks cared enough about where their country is heading to DO something. NOW IT IS YOUR TURN TO DO SOMETHING!
CAP 2/6/2010
The fuse and the explosive. Sarah is the fuse. And when she delivers the keynote speech at the first national meeting of the grass roots TEA PARTY tonight in Tennessee, the ensuing explosion in all likelihood will be a precursor of what will happen this next November when the voters go to the polls. And this is exactly what concerns me.
The political movement is powerful, so powerful that it could possibly (and easily) self-destruct before November 2012. Much of the basic structure and organization in the fledgling massive group of unhappy voters has yet to be resolved. And believe me, the desperate far-left and the liberal media is leaving no stone unturned in their efforts to exploit and magnify the natural and normal differences of opinion within the Tea Party as it struggles to become a powerhouse in American politics.
There are honest and well meaning folks that seem to be a bit far apart in exactly how they should proceed from this point on. And in what form ... so to speak, what banner they should present to the country to be most effective in their common goal to both sweep out the halls of Congress in 2010 and to have the power to determine the 2012 November national election outcome. And this is precisely where the seeds of self destruction lay.
It appears that they are in agreement at this time to NOT become just an offshoot of the GOP, or to flat ass endorse the GOP 100%. Which is good and wise. Because like it or not, there are almost as many GOP Congresspeople who need replacing as Demos, and to directly connect to the GOP would be counter productive. And even worse yet, it would be a tragedy if certain forces within the Tea Party (unknowingly being encouraged by the Demos) have their way and form...(shudder) a THIRD PARTY!
In effect what that would do is split the conservative and independent vote in 2012, precisely like Perot did some years back, and hand Obama his re-election on a silver platter! Exactly what the far left wants! And may I remind you what happened to Perot's party AFTER the election wherein he ran a slate of candidates. There is not the slightest vestige of his party on the political scene these days.
I do not know in what form or shape the Tea Party will present itself following this first national gathering. But I DO KNOW that logic, common sense, and history as a teacher, dictates that at all costs they must avoid becoming a 'THIRD PARTY' that presents its own slate of candidates! To do so will be the kiss of death for them. They MUST remain ABOVE PARTY POLITICS if they are to have maximum success in encouraging and helping to create GOOD government, getting rid of the stacks of dead wood in Congress on BOTH sides of the aisle.
And you, the reader of the above ... if you agree, either send a copy of this article to every single person in your address book, or at the very least, encourage them to visit this website and read it first hand. (And what will follow the next few weeks.) There is a good thing going with the Tea Party. A movement that started simply just because a couple folks cared enough about where their country is heading to DO something. NOW IT IS YOUR TURN TO DO SOMETHING!
CAP 2/6/2010
SARAH PALIN and THE MEDIA
It has been a most interesting time watching and reading the liberal media ever since Sarah Palin was the surprise Vice President nominee at the 2008 GOP convention. Nothing or nobody in the biased media was prepared for the instant adulation and enthusiasm that came her way after her acceptance speech that night. While her selection did not, and could not of itself, save the flailing McCain campaign, her speech changed her world...the GOP...and the public's perception and idea of having a WOMAN as the President of the USA.
This, especially after the fiasco of Geraldine Ferraro and her 'baggage' when she was the VP running mate with Walter Mondale. (Poor Walter never knew what hit him after the Reagan juggernaught rolled over him that November!) Then in 2007-08 we were "treated" to the spectacle of another woman with more baggage than Ferraro, and with enough of her own, to sink her in the primaries. Not by much, but enough to give us the slickest Orator without a whit of experience to be our new President. The liberal media was in 7th heaven.
But in the process, the very idea of a woman in our oval office, especially on the Demo and liberal side, took a back seat. However, amidst all the rubble of the election suddenly the liberal media was faced with a bright, shining star rising out of the dust and debris. Only problem was, she was NOT a liberal, NOT a Democrat, was squeaky clean, and (horrors!) was a conservative, a Republican, an enemy!
What to do? Almost as one the liberal media started to pick Sarah Palin, her family, her record, her clothes, her good looks and personality, and her common sense political thinking apart. Bit by bit, insidious nitpicking, sleazy rumors and half truths, personal attacks and ridiculing. In an almost no-holds-barred, anything-goes-manner. Didn't take long for that to all backfire on them. So with mouths agape and a stunned expression in their beady little pig eyes they started to go after her in a different way.
Yes, they were/ are/ and will be worried. What to do? Easy answer for some of the pointy-headed East-coast over-educated phonies to come up with. Start damning her with faint praise. One of the oldest ploys in a politician's bag of dirty tricks. So they were off and running again. Only one problem. They forgot that any 'star' worth his or her salt would lap it up with a smile on their face! (The old adage, "I don't care what they say about me, as long as they say SOMETHING!")
Bingo! All they succeeded in doing was to encourage Sarah, who outsmarted them by writing a book, resigning as Alaska Governor, and going on an extensive book signing tour, crisscrossing the country, while her book became a #1 seller! (She was crazy like a fox!) And the poor liberal media pulled in its horns, shook their pointy little heads and said "Well, we will just ignore her." HA!
When was the last time anyone ignored a really strong Hurricane, say Katrina for example. (Still in the news four years later!) And now Ms. Palin, who has learned more the past year on what needs to be done than Obama has HIS ENTIRE LIFE, last night was the keynote speaker for the "TEA PARTY". A hurricane in the middle of a forest fire. Don't miss the next few days right here when I put together the TRUTH of what is happening, and toss in an opinion or two for good measure. See you here, same time, same place.
CAP 2/7/2010
It has been a most interesting time watching and reading the liberal media ever since Sarah Palin was the surprise Vice President nominee at the 2008 GOP convention. Nothing or nobody in the biased media was prepared for the instant adulation and enthusiasm that came her way after her acceptance speech that night. While her selection did not, and could not of itself, save the flailing McCain campaign, her speech changed her world...the GOP...and the public's perception and idea of having a WOMAN as the President of the USA.
This, especially after the fiasco of Geraldine Ferraro and her 'baggage' when she was the VP running mate with Walter Mondale. (Poor Walter never knew what hit him after the Reagan juggernaught rolled over him that November!) Then in 2007-08 we were "treated" to the spectacle of another woman with more baggage than Ferraro, and with enough of her own, to sink her in the primaries. Not by much, but enough to give us the slickest Orator without a whit of experience to be our new President. The liberal media was in 7th heaven.
But in the process, the very idea of a woman in our oval office, especially on the Demo and liberal side, took a back seat. However, amidst all the rubble of the election suddenly the liberal media was faced with a bright, shining star rising out of the dust and debris. Only problem was, she was NOT a liberal, NOT a Democrat, was squeaky clean, and (horrors!) was a conservative, a Republican, an enemy!
What to do? Almost as one the liberal media started to pick Sarah Palin, her family, her record, her clothes, her good looks and personality, and her common sense political thinking apart. Bit by bit, insidious nitpicking, sleazy rumors and half truths, personal attacks and ridiculing. In an almost no-holds-barred, anything-goes-manner. Didn't take long for that to all backfire on them. So with mouths agape and a stunned expression in their beady little pig eyes they started to go after her in a different way.
Yes, they were/ are/ and will be worried. What to do? Easy answer for some of the pointy-headed East-coast over-educated phonies to come up with. Start damning her with faint praise. One of the oldest ploys in a politician's bag of dirty tricks. So they were off and running again. Only one problem. They forgot that any 'star' worth his or her salt would lap it up with a smile on their face! (The old adage, "I don't care what they say about me, as long as they say SOMETHING!")
Bingo! All they succeeded in doing was to encourage Sarah, who outsmarted them by writing a book, resigning as Alaska Governor, and going on an extensive book signing tour, crisscrossing the country, while her book became a #1 seller! (She was crazy like a fox!) And the poor liberal media pulled in its horns, shook their pointy little heads and said "Well, we will just ignore her." HA!
When was the last time anyone ignored a really strong Hurricane, say Katrina for example. (Still in the news four years later!) And now Ms. Palin, who has learned more the past year on what needs to be done than Obama has HIS ENTIRE LIFE, last night was the keynote speaker for the "TEA PARTY". A hurricane in the middle of a forest fire. Don't miss the next few days right here when I put together the TRUTH of what is happening, and toss in an opinion or two for good measure. See you here, same time, same place.
CAP 2/7/2010
SARAH (bless her hide) SPOKE.
FIRST: In my humble opinion at this time there is absolutely NO ONE, or NO political party (or political movement), out there other than the Tea Party and Mrs. Palin that has even a ghost of a chance of turning our country around before we go over the cliff. If there is, I not only welcome your thoughts and opinion ... I URGE you to send them to me. If they have any merit whatsoever, they WILL be repeated here. But for now ...
Saturday night Mrs. Palin spoke for 40 minutes, the audience ate it up, and their deep affection for this unusual lady was stunning. Her message was right on target, delivered with skill and 'telling-it-as-it-is.' I listened carefully to every word, watched her eyes and body language closely, and take it from this old geezer who has been around for more than a few years, there was not a trace of phoniness, lust for power, or fabrication that I could detect in her speech. It was delivered flawlessly. She is for real, a "real" person.
Her thinking mirrored mine right down to the last word. Period. And I know there are millions of others who feel the same way. She added "glue" to the Tea Party, still in its formative stage. And I smiled ear to ear, when she in essence echoed my opposition to the Tea Party becoming a "third party" with a formal 'leader'. The power of this movement is, and will continue to be, the very fact that it speaks as a movement, not as a support system for a slate of candidates! To have one single person as its spokesperson, even if it were Mrs. Palin, would only serve to weaken its power and dilute its authenticity.
All across the country, more and more, ever increasing, people are finally at last completely fed up with what is going on in Washington D.C. and they are not going to take it anymore. The time for change IS COMING, the place will be the voting booths this next November, and again in November 2012. Unless you are one of the fat-cats who have actually prospered the past year, you owe it to yourself to follow the lead of the Tea Party and be in line at your voting booth when the time comes. And to be damn sure that everyone you know who feels the same way is also in that line. 'Power' rests with THE PEOPLE. The time has come to use it, and use it wisely.
CAP 2/8/10
FIRST: In my humble opinion at this time there is absolutely NO ONE, or NO political party (or political movement), out there other than the Tea Party and Mrs. Palin that has even a ghost of a chance of turning our country around before we go over the cliff. If there is, I not only welcome your thoughts and opinion ... I URGE you to send them to me. If they have any merit whatsoever, they WILL be repeated here. But for now ...
Saturday night Mrs. Palin spoke for 40 minutes, the audience ate it up, and their deep affection for this unusual lady was stunning. Her message was right on target, delivered with skill and 'telling-it-as-it-is.' I listened carefully to every word, watched her eyes and body language closely, and take it from this old geezer who has been around for more than a few years, there was not a trace of phoniness, lust for power, or fabrication that I could detect in her speech. It was delivered flawlessly. She is for real, a "real" person.
Her thinking mirrored mine right down to the last word. Period. And I know there are millions of others who feel the same way. She added "glue" to the Tea Party, still in its formative stage. And I smiled ear to ear, when she in essence echoed my opposition to the Tea Party becoming a "third party" with a formal 'leader'. The power of this movement is, and will continue to be, the very fact that it speaks as a movement, not as a support system for a slate of candidates! To have one single person as its spokesperson, even if it were Mrs. Palin, would only serve to weaken its power and dilute its authenticity.
All across the country, more and more, ever increasing, people are finally at last completely fed up with what is going on in Washington D.C. and they are not going to take it anymore. The time for change IS COMING, the place will be the voting booths this next November, and again in November 2012. Unless you are one of the fat-cats who have actually prospered the past year, you owe it to yourself to follow the lead of the Tea Party and be in line at your voting booth when the time comes. And to be damn sure that everyone you know who feels the same way is also in that line. 'Power' rests with THE PEOPLE. The time has come to use it, and use it wisely.
CAP 2/8/10
