The Comfort of Rods and Staffs

 

by Pa Rock

Knee-Walker

I finished planting the last of the three new rosebushes yesterday afternoon, and by the end of the ordeal I was literally a physical wreck.  Not only did the project involve digging two-and-a-haf large holes in rock-laden Ozark ground (my son, who happened by at an opportune time finished hole #2 for me), but I also found myself dragging around large bags of composted cow manure and river rocks - and physically handling three good-sized and very thorny rosebushes sans work gloves!

But by golly I got them all in the ground.  This morning I drove to Kansas City (nearly a five-hour drive) and will head home on Saturday and begin mowing Sunday.  When I get the grass trimmed and under control my little place in the Ozarks will be absolutely beautiful!

I came upon one of the little groundhogs yesterday, and it was definitely a baby that was born within the last several weeks.  The poor little thing was confused when he encountered his first human and didn't know what to do.  I courteously stepped away to attend to another task, and he used that opportunity to scamper off.

The pond, too, looks great.  Plenty of water and there seems to be an abundance of tadpoles - so the whole place should be jumping and croaking shortly!

Speaking of croaking, late Tuesday evening while I was out by the road putting the finishing touches to the planting of Frida, I felt the need to get down on my hands and knees and push some of the compost in by hand - and also add the mulch by hand.  The ground was not too rough and I finished that chore in just a few minutes.  Then, when I went to get up, I suddenly realized that I no longer had the strength or  physical agility to stand up - and I felt like if I did try to stand I would surely topple over.

Old age is hell!

I surveyed my situation and came up with three alternatives.  First, I could crawl fifty yards or so back to where I had left the shovel - and use it to pull myself up, or second, I was out by the road so I could try to flag down a passing motorist for an assist, or third, I could crawl far enough away to where I wouldn't fall into the rose bush, rest a few minutes, and then try to stand.   I opted for door number three and eventually got to my feet - but it was a scary situation.

I told that story to Ranger Bob and he responded that I was a "tough old coot."  (Ranger Bob is actually a couple of months older than me, and he, too, is a tough old coot!). I told Bob that I was thinking about getting a "staff" for support and balance in case I ever get in a smilier situation.  Bob is a trout fisherman, and he said that he has one, a fold-up affair, that he uses when he is wading our fine Ozark creeks and rivers.

I have several hickory trees on my property, so now I am on the lookout for a special branch that would make a good staff.  Hickory is a very solid hardwood that would undoubtedly make a fine staff - and what a comfort that would be!

And that, of course, got me thinking about rods - they are supposed to be a comfort, too.  Did I really need a staff, or would a good rod do - and what the hell is a rod anyway?  So I went to visit the famed Oracle of Mountain View,  California.

According to The Google:

"The main difference between a rod and a staff is that a rod is a short, straight, and comparatively heavy club-like tool.   On the other hand, a staff is a thinner and long device that helps the shepherds to correct their flock.  A rod was generally used for protecting or defending the flock."

I think a staff is what I need.  There may be times when I need to give the groundhogs at Rock's Roost a bit of direction, but I can't envision. situation where I would ever need to rise to their defense.  Still, having a staff and a rod might be a comfort!

Groundhogs, Roses, and Oklahoma!

 

by Pa Rock

Farmer in Spring

I have always had a few ground hogs here at The Roost, and while they are usually underground in their burrows, occasionally I will see one out sunning himself on a warm afternoon.  This past Sunday, however, I encountered three of the large rodents at the same time making their way across the yard.  The groundhog coterie may be getting out of hand!

One thing I have recently learned about groundhogs is that they have no natural fear of guineas - or vice versa.  I watched in amazement on Sunday and a guinea walked past a groundhog, close enough that they almost touched each other, and neither on showed any sign of alarm.  Live and let live, I suppose.

So now I have three guineas and three groundhogs.  To celebrate, I went out for a drive through town yesterday and came home with three new rose bushes - and not just any old rose bushes, but really, really nice ones, healthy, blooming, and in big pots.  Two are already in the ground, and the third will be planted this afternoon after I carefully determine the best location.

One of the roses that I have already planted is a floribunda (many flowered) plant called the Frida Kahlo, obviously in honor of the famed Mexican artist, with beautiful red blossoms with white stripes.  Frida is out by the road at the end of the driveway, a place that receives full sun and where my envious neighbors will see her every time they drive by.  She is in a spot that was formerly occupied by a fig bush that never did well in that location - but it is a spot that is better suited for roses.   I dug up the fig and expanded to hole to accommodate Frida.  

I have grown roses for years and have worked my way through all of the standard mistakes.  These roses will benefit from my hard earned knowledge.  The holes where they are (or will be) planted are at least eighteen-inches deep and eighteen inches in diameter.  I put about an inch-and-a-half of small river rocks at the bottom of each hole for drainage and then add a couple of inches of composted cow manure.  Then I set the rose in and get it level and facing the way that I think it looks best, and then pour composted cow manure in around the ball of soil that is covering the roots.  I top all of that off with still more composted cow manure, pack it in, add some more, and then cover the whole area with a thick coating of new black mulch.   Then I give each plant a full gallon of water, slowly, and leave it completely alone for about a week to get used to its new home.

The second rose that I put in the ground yesterday was a grandiflora (large flowered) called "Fun in the Sun."  It is in the front yard not very far from my typing window - in a spot that receives full sun all day from about 9:00 a.m. onward.  Funny has large yellowish blooms that are tinged in salmon and orange - and he is spectacular!

The third rose that I bought yesterday, and the one still stuck in its pot, is a floribunda (many flowered) lavender beauty named "Arctic Blue."   I am carefully observing the yard today looking for a nice spot that will catch full sun most of the day.  I will make a decision by late this afternoon and begin digging.  Arctic Blue will probably wind up someplace in my front yard.

When I was in Kansas City a few weeks ago I bought a couple of less expensive "Knockout" red roses at Costco - and those are at home next to a double flower basket hanger in the backyard.  Those red roses only receive direct sun for a few hours each morning, but they have bloomed like crazy for the past month.

I bought the three roses yesterday at a very nice fruit stand that has operated in West Plains for many years.  The three plants, plus a large watermelon, along with tax, ran me exactly what a year's tuition was at Southwest Missouri State College (now Missouri State University) during my freshman year in the fall and spring of 1966-67!  (I blame Trump and Josh Hawley for this runaway inflation!)

This afternoon I will be planting some sweet potatoes in a flower bed out front (never grown sweet potatoes before), and tomorrow I am headed to the Kansas City area where Tim and Olive and I have front row seats for the Starlight Theatre's performance of the modernized "Oklahoma!"  (Expect me to have a lot to say about people screwing around with Rogers and Hammerstein's best musical collaboration - but there is an outside chance that I might like it.  We'll see!)

Enjoy your day - dig a hole and plant something!

More Red Dawns Come to Las Vegas, New Mexico

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The small northern New Mexico community of Las Vegas as been a center of attention for more than a week as savage wildfires in a pine-covered mountainous area surounding the town of 13,000 have been steadily whipped into a frenzied inferno by unrelenting high winds.  So far the fire around Las Vegas has consumed more than three hundred square miles, though mercifully it has not entered the town.  Many nice - and expensive - homes in the Rocky Mountain foothills around the town, however, have been destroyed.

Las Vegas, New Mexico, is a town that is familiar to many Americans of a certain age, though they may not realize it - and many others may have passed right through the center of the town, again never realizing where they were.

The town of Las Vegas was the focal point of the 1984 film, "Red Dawn," the original, not the cheesy remake, with most of the film being made either right in the town or in the nearby foothills and pine forests.   AmTrak's "Southwestern Chief" line which runs from Chicago to Los Angeles, passes right through the center of town - and some of the actual fighting in the movie took place near the depot on the very tracks where Amtrak travels.  For fans of the movie - like this highly caffeinated typist - the locale is easily recognizable as the train pulls through the area.

Patrick Swayze, one of the stars of "Red Dawn," the original and not the cheesy remake, was so impressed with the area that he bought land and set up a ranch nearby.

So as you listen to those awful stories about a disastrous fire in a remote area of America, know that it is really someplace where many of us feel a connection, and those roaring fires are scorching and destroying a part of our heritage.  The town of Las Vegas is once again being threatened by a red dawn, this one the morning glow from wild fires being pushed by fierce winds, and the town is once again trying to go about normal life as courageous heroes roam the surrounding hills valiantly trying to save the day.

Wolverines!

Mickey Gilley Has Left the Stage

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Country singer Mickey Gilley, who at one time owned a bar in Texas called "Gilley's," which was also dubbed the world largest honkey tonk - and the place where John Travolta rode the mechanical bull in "Urban Cowboy" - has died.   The entertainer passed away in Branson, Missouri, on Saturday.  Gilley owned a large theatre in Branson, and he had been performing there until a few days before his death.

My younger two children and I saw Gilley in Branson back around 1990 when he was doing a guest appearance at the Roy Clark Theatre.  Tim, who was about eleven, was an autograph collector, so after the show we stood in line for an hour or so to take our turn at meeting the singer.  While we were in line I talked to the kids about a bunch of things, and while I was rattling on I happened to mention that Gilley was a cousin to former rock and roll star Jerry Lee Lewis as well as to a nationally known televangelist by the name of Jimmy Swaggart - and then I talked about a lot of other stuff.

After Mickey Gilley had smoozed, hugged, and posed for a photo with every old lady in southwest Missouri, it was finally our turn.  We all shook hands and then Tim handed him a program or something else to sign.  As the singer was signing his name, Tim suddenly asked him how his cousins, Jerry Lee and Jimmy were doing.  The surprised celebrity stopped in mid-stroke, looked at the little boy, and said, "Why, just fine.  Thank you."

Jerry Lee Lewis, Jimmy Lee Swaggart, and Mickey Leroy Glley were all born within a year of each other in the mid-1930's and grew up playing together in the little town of Ferriday, Louisiana.  Jerry Lee learned how to play the piano first and taught the other two - and all three turned into gifted musicians.  All three went on to become entertainers (of sorts) and led colorful lives.  

Jerry Lee and Jimmy Lee were actually double first cousins, which means they were the children produced by two couples when one pair of siblings married another pair of siblings.  Mickey Gilley was a first cousin to Jerry Lee Lewis, and Gilley was a first cousin, once removed to Jimmy Swaggart.  And while that Gordian knot of relationships sounds about as twisted as a plate of vomited spaghetti, it is all legal and above-board, particularly in places like rural Louisiana.

Today Jerry Lee and Jimmy Lee live on, but Mickey Leroy has left for that big honkey tonk in the sky, a joint where the bull might throw you, but at least you will land on a cloud!

My he be welcomed there with a room full of roses!

Angry Author Fights Unconscionable Horror

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Dave Eggers is a best-selling author with several fine novels to his credit.  He is also a highly principled individual who established a non-profit publishing house, McSweeney's, in 1988, and has recently declined to let Amazon sell hardback editions of his latest book in protest of the company's stranglehold on the business of selling books.

Now the activist author is on a crusade against schools that ban books.

When Dave Eggers learned that school administrators in Rapid City, South Dakota, had responded to community pressure and had removed five novels intended for use in a literature class for seniors from its shelves and planned to destroy those books, he reacted.   The books included his own novel, "The Circle," as well as "How Beautiful We Were" by Imbolo Mbue,  "Fun Home" by Alison Bechdel, "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky, and "Girl, Woman, Other" by Bernadine Evaristo.

"Girl, Woman, Other" won the prestigious Booker Prize, and "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" was made into a highly acclaimed motion picture.

The angry author declared:  "The mass destruction of books by school boards is an unconscionable horror, and the freethinking young people of South Daboka should not be subjected to it."  But he didn't stop there, Eggers followed through with this offer:

"Every high school student should have unfettered access to literature, so if you'r a Rapid City high school senior, email our office and ask for any of these titles.  For every copy the school board destroys, let's add a new one to the local circulation."

Eggers responded to the removal of the books from the school by offering to give any senior (the group for whom they had been intended) their own copies of the books that had been pulled from their reach - and he was providing them free!

Dave Eggers, author and activist, was doing his bit and then some to correct the "unconscionable horror" of purging literature from America's schools.  If we survive this age of ignorance, it will be due in large measure to people like him.

The Savage Detectives, Second Time Around

 

by Pa Rock

Reader

I first read Roberto Bolano's exceptional novel, "The Savage Detectives," in 2008 and wrote about it in this blog on September 7, 2008.  It's a lengthy and complicated read - nearly six-hundred-and-fifty pages plus a 23-page introduction by the translator, but it is a read that is well worth the necessary effort that goes into it.  I knew when I finished the novel the first time, that I would eventually experience it again.  In the interim, between the initial reading and this latest effort, I also read most of the other major works by Bolano.

Roberto Bolano was born in Santiago, Chile, in 1953.  He moved to Mexico City with his family as a teenager where he ultimately became a founder of the "infrarrealist" poetry movement and spent his early writing career crafting poetry.  Bolano turned to writing novels in his forties and published "The Savage Detectives," the book that put him of the map as a major literary voice, in 1998.  He published several other novels over the next few years before dying of liver failure in Spain in 2003 at the very young age of fifty.  Bolano is widely considered one of the premier Latin American authors of his generation.

In my initial review of "The Savage Detectives" back in 2008 I focused on reasons that I thought it would eventually become a major banned book in North America, with a primary focus on the book's content, a loose set of tales about young people struggling to find their paths in life through a landscape of political revolution, sex, drugs, and poetry.  This time I would like to focus on Bolano's craftsmanship as a writer and the way the story is presented.

First, the introduction by Natasha Wimmer, the translator who  brought the Spanish edition into English, contains important insights into the both the author and his work.   Wimmer's observations and knowledge of Bolano and his work do much to enrich the experience of reading "The Savage Detectives."  Don't skip it.

The primary characters in this novel are two young poets in their twenties who are living in Mexico City when the story opens in early November of 1975.  The men, Arturo Belano and Ulises Lima, consider themselves adherents to the "visceral realist" poetry movement, a (fictional) collection of young poets who drift through various coffee houses and bars in Mexico City, sharing their work and their lives just below the radar of traditional society.  They are so common to this story that one gets the idea that every young person in Mexico City in the 1970's must have been writing poetry and publishing their own poetry magazines. Belano and Lima are the self-styled leaders of the group - and they are the focus of the novel which extends across thirty years and four continents.

Arturo Belano is the alter ego of the author, Roberto Bolano - both were born in Chile, both arrived in Mexico City as teenagers, and both eventually wound up in Spain.  Ulises Lima was based on Roberto Bolano's good friend, Mario Santiago Papasquiaro, who along with Roberto Bolano, helped to found the "infrarrealist" poetry movement.  Both Belano and Lima appear as characters in other works by Roberto Rolano.

"The Savage Detectives" is a story told in three parts.   The first section, "Mexicans Lost in Mexico (1975)," spans early November 1975 through New Year's Eve two months later.    It  tells the story of Juan Garcia Madero, a seventeen-year-old who moves to Mexico City to live with his aunt and uncle while he attends the university.  Garcia Madero wants to be a writer, but his uncle is insistent that he study the law and become a professional who is capable of earning a good income.  Early on the youngster comes under the influence of a pair of young poets, Arturo Belano and Ulises Lima, who spend their days roaming through bookstores where they steal books for their own use, and circulate through he bars and coffeehouses by night.  Soon the two primary "visceral realist" poets and their friends have poor Garcia Madero completely corrupted and he quits going to classes and living at home with his aunt and uncle.

That first section of the book introduces readers to Arturo Belano and Ulises Lima primarily through the eyes of Garcia Madero.    As that section ends that two poets, their young acolyte, and a young prostitute named Lupe who is fleeing her brutal pimp, drive off into night of New Year's morning in a fairly new car that they have borrowed from a friend - and head up into the Sonora Desert.  They are running from the murderous pimp and also on a quest to find the "mother" of the "visceral realist" poetry movement who may or may not still be living somewhere in one of the little adobe towns scattered across Mexico's northern desert.

The first section of the book is arranged chronologically (day-by-day and in order), with the primary purpose being to introduce Belano and Lima to readers through the observations of a young innocent.

The second section is the meat of the novel.  It is entitled "The Savage Detectives (1976-1996)" also tells of the lives of Belano and Lima, but instead of a one-person chronological account, the second part bounces around in time and tells their stories in a wild mosaic of stories and vignettes offered up by people who knew them or even just had slight contact over the years.   Often the stories focused on other things, but somewhere in each tale was a mention of one of the two main characters, something that revealed yet another aspect of their lives.

The third section jumps back to the pre-dawn hours of January 1, 1976, and joins the carload of young people as they flee Lupe's pimp and head off on a quest to find the "mother" of the visceral realist poetry movement.  It provides another view of the poets' Arturo Belano and Ulises Lima, as they research the subject of their quest, interview people who knew the mysterious Cesarea Tinajero, and travel down roads that were longer roads - while providing the bare minimum of older-brother-oversight to Garcia Madero and Lupe.

And the story ends out on the desert with a shocking climax - but the readers were left with an odd comfort of knowing how the lives of the main characters eventually played out.

Roberto Bolano was a very precise writer who selected his words with great care and arranged them into intricate patterns that rival many of the delicate designs found in nature.   While this story is built around young poets who exist in a milieu of populated by dozens of other young poets, there is almost no poetry included in the text, yet the intriguing prose is awash in the feel of poetry.  

"The Savage Detectives" is a wonderful read.  It was even better the second time around!

Happy 23rd, Boone!

 

by Pa Rock

Proud Grandpa

My oldest grandchild, Boone Macy, was born twenty-three years ago today in West Plains, Missouri, the same small Ozark town that produced actor and comedian Dick Van Dyke, country music star Porter Wagoner, and baseball great Preacher Roe.  Boone grew up in the West Plains area, and is now living in southwest Missouri where he is in his final year at Missouri Southern University pursuing a degree in elementary education.

In an effort to combat the rampant spread of censorship and ignorance in the United States, I made a personal vow this year to send each of my grandchildren a banned book on their birthday.  The one I selected for Boone was John Steinbeck's widely banned "The Grapes of Wrath," which offers an unflinching look at the evils that corporate farms and unchecked capitalism were imposing on America during the Great Depression, evils that persist to this very day.

John Steinbeck won the Pulitzer Prize in Literature for "The Grapes of Wrath" on May 6th, 1940, fifty-nine years to the day before Boone was born.   His message about the people who are forced to live on the fringe of the American economy has grown stronger and more urgent over the years.

American radio personality and innovator (and actor) Orson Wells was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on May 6th, 1915.  Wells was just twenty-three, Boone's current age, when he and his Mercury Theatre troupe unleashed "The War of the Worlds" over the radio and scared the bejeezus out of the country with their play about a Martian attack on Earth. That signature radio event established Wells as a force in American entertainment that spanned decades and lingers on into the present.   (No pressure, Boone!)

Twenty-three has always been my lucky number.  I was born on the 23rd of March, and Boone's Uncle Tim came into the world on the 23rd of September.  When I was twenty-three I was able to quit my post-college job working on the line at the chicken plant in Noel and drive to Virginia where I began military service as a  second lieutenant at the Army's Transportation School at Ft. Eustis.  During that year - when I was twenty-three - I lived in three states - Missouri, Virginia, and Kansas - and also  traveled across the Pacific Ocean to my first overseas duty assignment on the island of Okinawa.  I was also twenty-three when I saw my paternal grandfather, Chock Macy, for the final time.

Boone, it's a beautiful spring here at the farm, and I've never seen things so green!  We would love to have you come for a visit.  (Let me know if you need a map!)

The whole family is rooting for you, Boone!  Have a wonderful birthday - and an epic year!  

Alleged Sex-Trafficker Mocks Over-Educated Women

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

While Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz may not be overly proficient when it comes to things like legislating and doing his job, he does seem to have a knack for meandering around some of the more interesting dark alleys of cyberspace.  It was through news stories about Gaetz and his Florida political wingman, Joel Greenberg, that I first learned about "Venmo," a way to transfer money via a cell phone app between individuals such as pervy politicos and young hookers.  And just yesterday Gaetz mentioned "Bumble" in a tweet, and after a bit of digging, I learned that it is one of those cyberspace places where lonely singles go to "hook-up," a.k.a. an on-line dating application.   (While I assume there is a charge for using "Bumble," I am still not clear on whether it accepts "Venmo" or not.)   

(An aside:  How much longer will it be until merchants quit accepting cash?)

Matt Gaetz is an interesting fellow, and while he may not be much of a congressman, he does have enough in the way of personal wealth  and social connections to allow him to feel superior to many of us lesser-beings.  Gaetz exercised his innate superiority yesterday, along with a healthy dollop of male privilege, when he tweeted the following insult regarding the women who have been out protesting the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that shows the Court is about to overturn Roe v. Wade:  

"How many of the women rallying against overturning Roe are over-educated, under-loved millennials who sadly return from protests to a lonely microwave dinner with their cats, and no bumble matches?"

Over-educated women are obviously a turn-off for Gaetz, as well as a threat.  Perhaps that is why he runs around with Marjorie Taylor Greene. And Gaetz is certainly too good to hang around internet lonely hearts sites - if Matty wants a date all he has to do is pull up his "Venmo" app.

Old Ideas Are Back in the News

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

As the nation and the world still reel from the discovery and publication earlier this week on the U.S. Supreme Court's draft decision striking down 1973's Roe V. Wade decision, there has been much discussion of ways to curb the power of what many see as an out-of-control and reactionary court.  The ideas being bandied about have all been talked about for years and then set aside, but now suddenly, with the end of accessible abortions in sight for millions of women, primarily minority women and those with limited finances, those ideas are being talked about again, this time with a sense of real urgency.

The upcoming Supreme Court decision will strike down a woman's "right" to an abortion as provided by Roe, and open the door for individual states to begin banning the medical procedure outright.     Republicans who suffer from the delusion that a majority of Americans favor restricting or eliminating abortions - when that is clearly not the case as shown by poll after poll - want to use the issue to elect House and Senate members who would support a national ban on abortion through federal legislation.

Conversely, Democrats seem to also be eager to campaign on the issue and promise efforts in a strong Democratic Congress to codify a right to abortion into national law.

In fact Democrats currently have the necessary votes in the House to make that change, but in the Senate they could likely only muster fifty-two or so votes (counting those of a couple of Republican female senators) - but the Senate has an arcane ruled called the "filibuster" which requires a super-majority of sixty votes to stop debate on a bill and hold a vote., and that filibuster keeps a tight majority in check and unable to function.  (The Republican controlled Senate conveniently dropped the filibuster 60-vote requirement for Supreme Court Justices in order to get Trump's appointments through the Senate confirmation process.)

The Senate could kill the filibuster with fifty-one votes, but two Democratic senators, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona are both on record as opposing efforts to kill the filibuster.  

So "codification" of Roe v. Wade is being discussed, but for that to happen the elimination of the"filibuster" must also happen - and two Democratic senators stop the entire process.

There is also a big concern about the minority being in control, not only through the filibuster in the Senate, but in the election of the President through the archaic "Electoral College."  Four of the five justices who supposedly voted to reverse Roe v. Wade were appointed to the Supreme Court by Presidents who lost the popular vote but were elected instead by the "Electoral College."  Some argue that if we claim to be a "democracy," then those receiving the majority of the votes - whether in the U.S. Senate or in the national election for President, should be acknowledged as the winner - and once again doing away with the "Electoral College" is a topic of national interest.

The idea that the upcoming decision was made by only five justices, all appointed by Republican presidents, and three of whom were appointed by Trump, has also brought about talk of expanding the Supreme Court to include more members and creating a broader base of knowledge and experiences from which to make their decisions.  That idea has been around for awhile, but the current situation and backward tilt of the Court  has brought it back into the mainstream of political discussion.

Another old idea that is being talked about again is the notion of mandatory retirement ages for judges throughout the federal court system, and especially for those serving on the Supreme Court of the United States.  Congress, which is itself a refuge for many septuagenarians and octogenarians, may not relish the idea of imposing age limits on judges out of a fear that they might be next.

And another way to rid any institution of aging or dead wood is to impose limits on how long a person can serve.  Many states have set limits on the number of terms that their legislators can serve, and some have also limited the tenure of judges, but term limits have yet to be considered at the national level.  Now, thanks to abortion travesty that is about to roll down from our nation's highest court, the notion of term limits for federal judges, Supreme Court Justices, and even congressmen and senators is once again part of the national discourse.

Maybe this impending further subjugation of women by the U.S. Supreme Court will bring about some consequences that were never intended by the Justices who engineered the travesty.   Perhaps it will finally bring about some substantive changes in the way our national government is run and decisions are made, and maybe that much needed detour into political fairness will create an environment where the rights of women can re-emerge and become a dominant force in the American political scene.  Maybe, just maybe.

And maybe we have finally reached the point where we need to do more than just talk about change.  Maybe now we need to actually start changing things.

We have taken Democracy for granted too long, and the enemies of personal freedom and choice are attacking on every front.  It's time to fight back, and fight hard!

It's time - right now - to stand up, speak up, and vote - because our freedom to do all of those things is at risk!

Supreme Court Genuflects; Now is the Time for Some Big Noise!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Last night Politico published what is purported to be a leaked draft version of an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court decision that will bring an end to the right of American women to exercise control over their own bodies through the medical practice of abortion.  That right was guaranteed by the Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade which was issued fifty years ago next January.  Overturning that ruling has  been a central tenant of conservative political ideology for the last half-century, and, if last night's revelation is legitimate - as it appears to be - that long-held right-wing objective of ending abortion as a legal medical practice is about to be fulfilled - at least in many states.

The leaked document was reportedly authored by Justice Samuel Alito who prefaces the decision by stating that the previous decision, Roe v. Wade, was wrong from the get-go.  Alito, a Catholic, was said to have been joined in the five-four decision by Justices Thomas, Kavanaugh, and Coney-Barrett, who are all also Catholics, and Justice Gorsuch who was raised Catholic but currently attends an Episcopal church.   The Catholic Church has always been a vocal critic of abortion and many see the Court's move away from a woman's right to an abortion as religion having an undue impact on American jurisprudence.

Critics of the decision would argue that the Supreme Court of the United States is preparing to take a knee toward Rome.

Also of significance in this particular vote is the fact that three of the five justices who are voting to eliminate a woman's right to an abortion were appointed to the Supreme Court by the same President - the President who has been accused of sexual assault by multiple women and who is currently fending off a charge in a civil case that he raped a woman in the dressing room of a New York department store.  (That would also be the same President who bragged on camera about "grabbing" women by the genitalia.)

But, religion aside, and the chauvinism and alleged criminality of the man who ultimately shaped this decision aside, it does smell like the United States is on the verge of taking a significant step backward in the treatment of women and their health issues.   The government may be pious in its protection of fetuses, but it has a long history of neglect and disdain toward actual children and their families - so this realignment of judicial philosophy is likely to play out in worsening conditions for American families.

There are things in this country that must change - the Electoral College that put Donald Trump in the White House over the will of the people, the filibuster which denies the will of the majority in the Senate, and perhaps even the total number of Justices on the Supreme Court itself.  Those are all things that can be changed if Americans turn out in mass and rebuke this extremist Supreme Court by sending large Democratic majorities to both Houses of Congress.

For years poll after poll has shown that American's favor a woman's right to control decisions related to her own body.  Now it is time to take those numbers and deliver them to the only polls that really count - the polls where we cast our votes on Election Day.  

Now is the time to be angry.  Now is the time to make big  noise and let the world know how we really feel.   Now is the tie to get registered, vote, and make change happen!

Canada Extends the Long Arm of the Law into Outer Space

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

For those looking for a good place to commit a crime (and let's face it, who isn't?) right now outer space might be the perfect venue for some heinous unlawful activity.  That's because space is currently a realm that has been largely overlooked by the world's legislators.  In fact, when it comes to "law" in the vastness beyond the Earth's atmosphere, the only thing currently that seems to be in place is a 1998 treaty that covers crimes committed on the International Space Station.  Article 22 of that document says that anyone aboard the station is subject to the jurisdiction of their home country - but it leaves in question incidents involving astronauts from multiple countries - or incidents that occur in private transport to and from the station.

According to an article in the Calgary Herald, Canada has recently passed legislation to address its own citizens who commit crimes in outer space.  An amendment in Canada's current budget bill extends Canadian criminal jurisdiction into space.   A  recap of the legislation in the Herald stated, "if a Canadian commits a criminal offense while in space, they'll be met by handcuffs once they return."

The article in the Herald also noted that there has already been one accusation of a space crime.  In 2019 a US astronaut, Anne McClain, was accused by her estranged spouse of accessing the spouse's banking records through the International Space Station's computers - something the angry spouse referred to as "identity theft."    Those allegations were subsequently found to be false, but they certainly foreshadow things to come.

Canada's criminal code amendment drafted to address the issue of crimes committed in outer space is also an attempt to be ready for Canadian involvement in "Lunar Gateway," a NASA mission that will establish a permanent space station in lunar orbit.  The new Canadian law says that Canadian criminal jurisdiction will apply to Canadians in the lunar station, as well as to Canadians traveling by any means of transportation to and from the station, and even to Canadians who venture to the surface of the moon itself.

Today with multinational teams operating in space as well as private commercial ventures, a person's legal status beyond Earth's atmosphere becomes murkier and murkier, but Canada is looking bravely to the future and legislating where no legislator has legislated before.

Nanu, nanu.

May Day, a Celebration of Spring!

 

by Pa Rock

Digger of Dirt

Sunday, May 1st, 2022.  May Day.  A day traditionally connected with the start of spring, even though the season  officially opened on the calendar back in late March.  Sometimes we have snow in late March, and even April, but by the start of May all of that is over and we can get on with the earth-turning and other rites of spring.

May Day is also a day set aside to honor the labors of working people throughout much of the world and pay homage to labor unions as they continue their never-ending struggle for worker rights and human rights.

The skies over southern Missouri are crystal clear and blue this May Day.  The past two days have been cloudy with threats of rain, but I took advantage of the breezy, cooler conditions and got the yard mowed - with only one brief interruption due to rain.  Today the yard is as beautiful as the sky!

I have set out all of the hanging baskets over the past few days and they are acclimating nicely.  Today is the day that I will fill and organize all of the outside pots.  Awaiting on the back deck are trays of multi-colored begonias, bright yellow marigolds, and a few coleus which do well in the shade and make beautiful specimen plants - real eye-catchers!  When I get all of those in pots and placed where they will spend the summer, I will then get busy re-mulching several of the small trees in the yard - including the dogwood which are currently in full bloom.

The lilacs are also blooming, and I encountered several large bees sipping their nectar as I mowed around them.  But the bees gave me and the big noisy mower a pass.  I have a young holly tree that is around six feet tall that is also blooming, and as I mowed around it I was swarmed by yellow jackets, but, miraculously, they also let me pass unharmed.  The secret really is to not show fear.

My son has taken over responsibility for planting the veggies this year - and that is much appreciated.  He has the garden spot looking very nice.  He also runs the trimmer while I mow. There is no trash on my lawn - ever - not even cigarette butts.   One of Nick's friends likes to tell me that the place looks like a park - and that makes all of the effort worthwhile!

Nick also did a lot of work on the pond this winter, adding bentonite and working it into the ground all along the edge of the water - and it has paid off.  The pond has grown noticeably over the winter, and now has plentiful plant life, bull frogs, and several young catfish that are already nice-sized.  The guineas have also discovered the pond and make multiple trips there each day for drinks and gossip.

The animals at The Roost are all fine and enjoying the spring.  Rosie and Riley rush outside ever time the doors are open.  The old yellow tom cat, whom I have yet to dignify with a name, hunts all night and then comes dragging home at daylight, has a nice can of breakfast, and then sleeps in the straw in the barn all day - until dusk, when I see him heading back out on the nightly prowl.

The cat likes to walk in front of me and then suddenly drop onto the ground and roll around - as though he is intentionally trying to cause the old farmer to fall.  I may declare him to be a firehouse cat and name him "Stop, Drop and Roll!"

The guinea population has remained steady at three since last July when the fourth one disappeared.  Two of the three survivors are male, and one has emerged as the Alpha.  He chases the other around the farm at full-throttle for hours-on-end trying to keep him away from the guinea hen.  The Alpha has now run the other male out of the coop forcing him to spend his nights elsewhere - in the barn, I suspect.  

The guinea hen has a nest in the straw in the barn with about a dozen eggs, but she is not sitting on it.  When she does sit on her nest to add an egg, the Alpha roosts on a railing nearby and keeps an eye on her.  The other day I saw the happy couple out working the yard, and I sneaked into the barn to check on the nest - and found the ostracized male sitting on the rail keeping an eye on the nest.  I'm not sure what that was all about!

On May Day, 2022, may workers begin rediscovering the benefits of organizing, and may we all form a closer bond with Mother Earth.     Get outside and enjoy the day!

Leonard Peltier, America's Longest Serving Political Prisoner

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Leonard Peltier has been in prison since 1977.   He was convicted for being involved in a 1975 shootout at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota in which two FBI agents were killed.  Two other Native Americans who were also at the scene were acquitted after claiming self-defense,  and the FBI pursued the prosecution of Peltier with a sense of urgency, feeling that the agency's credibility depended on the conviction of someone.    

Back in the 1970's Leonard Peltier was an activist with AIM, the American Indian Movement, an organization that the FBI had been working to undermine and discredit.  The shootout at Pine Ridge was the culmination of the government's work to bring down AIM, but the death of the two FBI agents placed an onus on the agency and its tactics, and many felt that the Bureau needed a Native American fall guy as proof that AIM was a dangerous group and the FBI's pursuit of them had been justified.

Peltier's trial was little more than a political farce.  Prosecutors hid evidence, the FBI threatened and intimidated witnesses., and one juror admitted early during the trail that she had a bias against Native Americans, but she was never dismissed from the jury.   Peltier was found guilty of being involved in the shootings and sentenced to two life terms in prison.

Today Leonard Peltier is a tired old man (age 77), who suffers from diabetes and other age-related maladies, and he would like to go home and spend his final years with his children and grandchildren.   Throughout his forty-five years in prison Leonard Peltier has always maintained his innocence, but even if he has some level of guilt for being at the scene of the shootings, he has certainly paid his debt to society - and then some.

Peltier has been eligible for parole since 1993, but that has not happened.   His last hope for leaving the federal penal system is through presidential clemency or a pardon, but at this point President Biden is giving the impression that he is not really cognizant of, or interested in, Peltier's case.

And for it's part, the FBI has always been steadfastly opposed to Leonard Peltier's potential release from prison.  The Native Americans embarrassed the Federal Bureau of Investigation at Pine Ridge, and that hoary old beaurcpatic agency will not forget - or forgive.

But as a nation we are better than that.

It is time for President Biden to step forward and do the right thing.  Leonard Peltier probably should have never been in prison in the first place, and he certainly should not die there.  Do the right thing, Joe, and let him go!

News that is Packaged to Incite

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

There ought to be a special word to describe people who become so enraged by dictionary definitions that they feel compelled to threaten the dictionary's publishers with physical harm.  Perhaps Merriam-Webster, the oldest dictionary publisher in the United States, is already focused on discovering that very word.

Jeremy David Hanson, a thirty-five year-old man from Rossmoor, California, has an appearance scheduled in federal court for today for issuing threats against Merriam-Webster that were so alarming the company felt compelled to close two of its major offices for five business days.   Mr. Hanson, who is apparently a fan of right-wing news sites, was angry at the dictionary's new, more inclusive definitions of "girl," "female," and "woman."  In one tirade on the company's "Contact Us" page he said:

"It is absolutely sickening that Merriam-Webster now tells blatant lies and promotes anti-science propaganda.  There is no such thing as 'gender-identity.'  The imbecile who wrote this entry should be hunted down and shot."

In another message to Merriam-Webster, Hanson expanded on his angry tirade:

"Your headquarters should be shot up and bombed.  It is sickening that you have caved to the cultural Marxist, anti-science tranny agenda and altered the definition of 'female'. as part of the Left's efforts to corrupt and degrade the English language and deny reality.  You evil Marxists should all be killed.  It would be poetic justice to have someone storm your offices and shoot up the place, leaving none of you commies alive."

Wow!  Small wonder Merriam-Webster felt compelled to close their offices and call in the FBI.

It turns out tthe FBI has been aware of Jeremy David Hanson and dealing with him since 2014 when he posted threats to rape and kill several people, but up until this latest incident with the dictionary publisher charges had never been filed.  Hanson's mother, who describes herself as his "caretaker," said that her son has been diagnosed with autism and depression.   She added that he had lately become obsessed with transgender issues.  She also said that he was prone to what she termed "verbal hyperbole."  Hanson's mother did not believe that her son posed any serious threat to anyone because he was reclusive, under her supervision, and had no access to weapons.

Hanson, for his part, has told the FBI that he knows it is illegal to threaten people, and that he struggled to control his rage and used the internet as an outlet for his emotions.

In the past Hanson has reportedly threatened to "shoot up and bomb" DC Comics after that company revealed that their new "Superman" would identify as bisexual.  He also threatened to "shoot up and bomb" the Hasbro toy company for "pandering to tranny freaks" after it removed the "Mr." from its "Mr. Potato Head" toys.

Today Jeremy David Hansen will have an opportunity to discuss his rage with a judge.  His mother says he is harmless, but even if he is not armed and a physical danger to others, his words still worry and cause anxiety and impact how others function.  At some point enough is enough, and apparently eight years is the FBI's limit for playing footsie with someone who fantasizes about shooting up and bombing his way back to the simpler times of mid-twentieth century America.

And we all should be concerned with the other loners listening to right-wing news that has been packaged to incite - those poor bastards sitting at home, getting fired up as they listen to the "news" and clean their guns - and have no sensible mothers at home to keep them in check.  Some of those guys will eventually be the news.

Putin's War Calculus Is Seriously Flawed

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

It seemed like we had been hearing about the massive Russian troop and weaponry buildup along Unkraine's borders for months before the actual invasion of that sovereign nation began on February 24, 2022.  With that enormous preparation for war, and with Russia's acknowledged status as a world superpower, a quick and brutal conquest of Ukraine seemed all but assured.

But a strange thing happened on Russia's quick march to rebuild its old Soviet empire.  The world reacted in disgust and Ukraine valiantly resisted.  All the Kremlin's war machinery and all the Kremlin's uniformed troops could not bring Ukraine back into the Soviet fold - at least not as quickly and as easily as Vladimir Putin and his "yes men" in the Politburo thought that it could be done.

Putin and his advisers had seriously miscalculated the resolve and determination of the Ukrainian people to remain free of the Russian yoke.  The young nation was energized by its independence and the growing economy that was being fostered by capitalism.  It was becoming westernized and the people, for the most part, had no desire to return to the more rigid and less affluent lifestyle that they had known during their decades under Russian control.

The leader of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, was himself young and vibrant, much like his nation's emerging lifestyle and economy.  Zelensky, a former actor and comedian, was only forty-four when Russia loosed its assault on Ukraine, and instead of hiding in the capital, or fleeing the nation, Zelensky  donned a uniform and headed out into the streets to join in the defense of his beloved Ukraine.

The people had a leader - a real one - and that leadership inspired a national fervor to push Russia out of Ukraine.   It also represented a serious miscalculation in Putin's war calculus.

Ukraine's resilient attitude caused world opinion to look with favor and admiration upon the Ukrainian David as he fought off the Russian Goliath.   It all had the feel of being on the right side of history.

That is not to say that the whole world stood in Ukraine's corner.  Russia had is's supporters on the international stage, including some prominent conservation sources in the United States who had been caught up in Donald Trump's four years of knee-bending to Russia.    However, most people - and most nations - recognized Ukraine as the victim and Russia as the aggressor, and that vision intensified dramatically as war photos and claims of war crimes and even genocide began emerging from the war zone.

But Putin's war calculus was flawed by more than his underestimation of Ukraine's resolve to resist invasion and the world's determination to stand up to Russia and support the independence of Ukraine and its people.   Putin seems to have also miscalculated Russia's military capabilities.

Recent news out of the conflict zone indicates that Russia has lost over 15,000 troops so far, and there seems to be serious opposition to the war both within the Russian military as well as among the Russian citizenry.   Large protest crowds of thousands of people are gathering regularly in the streets of Moscow and St. Petersburg, and some of the Russian oligarchs are beginning to make noises about replacing Putin.  And while the Russian leader still looks to have a tight hold on the levers of power, that could shift in short order if those who control the wealth of the nation begin to feel that their privilege is at risk.

During the two months that Russia has been at war with Ukraine, not only has it lost 15,000 troops, it has also suffered staggering blows to its military machine.  The battleship "Moskva," the flagship of the Russian Black Sea fleet, was sunk, and now there are news reports that ithe Great Russian Bear has lost more than five hundred tanks - over half of which were due to a design flaw that causes their ammo shells in the tank to catch fire and explode when the tank is hit even by indirect fire.  More than 280 tanks have exploded so far through this design flaw, and each explosion usually kills the entire 3-man tank crew.   Training a replacement tank crew normally takes at least twelve months, again imposing a slowdown on the Russian war effort.  Estimates are that around another three hundred tanks have been damaged, abandoned, or captured.

Now there are reports that admirals with the Russian fleet are also showing hesitancy about moving close enough to Ukraine's Black Sea front to form a blockade because they fear the same fate that took the Moskva.  There are also reports that some recent explosions at oil depots in Russia and close to the border with Ukraine are the result of Ukrainian military stealth airstrikes.

None of that is good news for Vlad Putin, the man who built up a huge military presence around Ukraine and seemed to convince himself and the world that the country was his for the taking.  Russia would roll in and roll over Ukraine and then it would gather up the other former Soviet Socialist Republics and bring them home to Mother Russia.

It has not worked, and it will not work.

Putin's vision of he world is out-of-date, and so is his war calculus.

The world has moved on.

Long live Free Ukraine!

Another Cawthorn Publicity Stunt

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Madison Cawthorn, a Republican congressman from North Carolina, knows better than to try and take a gun on board a passenger plane.   He has to know better because he was stopped at the Asheville Regional Airport in his home state last year when he tried to pass through a boarding checkpoint while carrying an unloaded pistol.   He was not cited in that incident, but just warned that it was not allowed.

But warnings aren't enough deterrent for some individuals - and he did get his name in the news!

Yesterday Congressman Cawthorn again tried to board a plane with a gun in his possession.  As Cawthorn was preparing to board a flight at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, security personnel found a loaded 9mm handgun in his carry-on bag.  Cawthorn, who admitted that the gun was his, was charged with a misdemeanor and then released.  The charge was "possession of a dangerous weapon on city property."  The Charlotte-Mecklenberg Police Department  kept the congressman's gun.

Because this was his second offense, it would seem obvious that Congressman Cawthorn knew that it was illegal to take a gun into the city airport and try to board a plane with the gun in his personal possession, so the question arises as to why he attempted to board a plane while armed.  Was it due to a mental condition such as paranoia, or could it have been a cheesy campaign stunt to get his name in the news while reminding his voters that he is a champion of their Second Amendment rights?  

Whatever Cawthorn's actual motivation for his criminal activity, he will have a chance to explain himself when he goes to court.  The Class 2 misdemeanor can result in as much as sixty days in jail, though it is unlikely that a member of Congress would suffer such an indignity, at least not on a mere second offense.

It is also being reported that the congressman, as a result of the two airport incidents, has likely lost his expedited pre-check boarding status.  Now he will have to wait in line with us peons.

Madison Cawthorn does have a history of odd behavior with weapons.  Last year a county sheriff in North Carolina warned him regarding a fixed-blade dagger that he carried beneath his wheelchair when he attended a local school board meeting.   And recently while virtually attending a House Veteran's Affairs Committee meeting dealing with the harmful effects of burn pits, Cawthorn was observed by other meeting attendees to be cleaning his pistol.  One first responder who was a participant in the meeting said this about the congressman cleaning his gun during the meeting:

"It was immature.  He's a child.  He lacks common sense.  I think the congressman was overcompensating for something that he lacks and feeling inadequate among the heroes on that call."

Congressman Cawthorn has also recently made the news for claiming that he had been invited to GOP congressional sex and cocaine orgies, for referring to President Zelensky of Ukraine as a "thug," and for being pulled over for speeding and then found to be driving on a revoked license.  His brushes with controversy, in fact, are occurring so frequently that they are beginning to smell like publicity stunts.

Surely not!

 

Congresswoman's Faulty Memory Might Require Professional Attention

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

One of the many things that Marjorie Taylor Greene could not "remember" or "recollect" at her court appearance in Atlanta last Friday was a request - or at least a suggestion - to Trump's people that he declare martial law in order to keep Joe Biden from taking office.  That's a fairly significant lapse of memory.

Almost right on cue, a collection of text messages to Trump's last chief of staff, Mark Meadows, were released yesterday, at least one of which was from Greene, and that message did approach the notion of Trump using martial law (or "Marshall" law, as Marge put it) as a way to "save our Republic."

Unfortunately, Greene's almost comic misuse of the word "Marshall" for "martial" served to distract from the seriousness of the words she actually uttered.  Her text to Meadows, which would have been written during her first day or two as a member of Congress, read:

"In our private chat with only Members, several are saying the only way to save our Republic is for Trump to call for Marshall law.  I don't know on those things.  I just wanted to tell him.  They stole this election.  We all know.  They will destroy our country next.  Please tell him to declassify as much as possible so we can go after Biden and anyone else."

Clearly Greene's text to Mark Meadows was steeped in paranoia and intended to support the notion of Trump remaining in power regardless of what was needed to make that happen.  It was not the type of communication that most people would forget.  In fact, Marge forgot so much last Friday that voters in her district should have serious concerns about her cognitive functioning and ability to represent them effectively in Congress.

A comprehensive psychiatric evaluation might be in order.

(Related note:  My hometown of Noel, Missouri, had a city marshal by the name of Marshall for many years.  The town had a peaceful nature - usually - and Marshal Marshall never had to be called on to impose martial law.)

The Mark of the Billionaire

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

News sources and social media sites are reporting this morning that it looks as though Twitter's eleven-member board is preparing to sell their company to billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk.   He is offering $54.20 a share for the social media company, or a total of around $43 billion.

Elon Musk, who just this year was promoted to the top of Forbe's list of the world richest individuals, has said that if he gains control of Twitter he will decrease the amount of content moderation that is currently exercised over the platform, a move that many fear will create a more dubious, and perhaps even more dangerous, environment - such as the dark days of just a couple of years ago when Donald Trump was using his personal and presidential accounts to spread falsehoods and dangerous propaganda aimed at subverting democracy and promoting his own material wealth.

Musk is CEO of SpaceX, a company that he founded in 2002 to manufacture and launch advanced rockets and spacecraft.  He is also the CEO of Tesla, a company that he helped found in 2003 to develop electric vehicles.  Twitter will represent his first major move into the social media market, a move that will give him increased influence over the world's topics of conversation and the ways that people view and react to the world.  

Elon Musk has bought his way into the exploration of space, he is developing a big stake in environmentally friendly ground transportation, and now he is on the verge of grabbing a big piece of how we communicate. At this point the ambitious billionaire seems very intent on putting his mark on the future of the planet.  He is literally defining the world that our grandchildren and their grandchildren will inhabit - and we mere mortals are relegated to watching and hoping he makes wise choices.

Social Media Driving Stunt Kills Six

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

While I have never been a supporter of the death penalty, there was at least one time in my life when I seriously wavered in my resolve on the issue.  In October of 1989 two teen brothers, both of whom I knew, murdered my friend, Dan Short, the President of the State Bank of Noel.    They took Dan hostage at his home in northwest Arkansas, transported him to the bank in southwest Missouri where they robbed the facility, and then drove their prisoner to Grand Lake of The Cherokees in northeast Oklahoma where they duct-taped him to a chair that had been weighted down with cement blocks, and dropped the doomed banker off of a bridge and into several hundred feet of cold lake water.

If ever there was a instance that merited the death penalty, that night of three-state criminal mayhem - a kidnapping in one state, bank robbery in another, and a heinous, sadistic murder in a third - should have certainly been a contender for the honor.  But even then, with a victim whom I knew well, my heart told me that murder as a response to murder is wrong.

There was a crime in Delray Beach, Florida, this past January that was every bit savage and senseless as Dan Short's execution.    A teen driver who fancied himself a social media star, back-ended a Nissan Rogue SUV carrying six farmworkers, killing all six.  The youth, who was seventeen at the time but has since turned eighteen, is being charged with six counts of vehicular manslaughter, with each count being a felony charge that is punishable by up to fifteen years in prison.

The driver, who was behind the wheel of a 2019 BMW that had his Instagram handle emblazoned on the driver and passenger sides and back window of his car, had reportedly previously done racing stunts for social media attention.  He also had a video on Instagram offering $25 to anyone who could guess his speed.

Police reports stated that the driver of the BMW was traveling 151 m.p.h. when he hit the Nissan Rogue.  The high speed collision occurred with such force that it compacted the rear of the Nissan several feet into its passenger compartment and caused that car to flip over several times before finally coming to rest on its top in the median of the highway.   Five of the passengers were pronounced dead at the scene, and the sixth died at a nearby hospital.

The driver of the BMW was also taken to a local hospital where he told doctors that he had been going 120 m.p.h at the time of the collision.  According to a report in. "People" magazine, hospital staff reported smelling an odor of alcohol on the driver.

The driver was arrested in April and held at a juvenile detention center.  He will be tried in court as an adult.

The victims were Mirlaine Innocent Julceus (45), Remize Michel (53), Marie Michelle Louis (60), Michel Louis Saint (77), Filaine Dieu (46), and Vanice Percina (29).

Relatives of the victims have already begun filing lawsuits for damages against the family of the driver.

The driver's name is Noah Thomas Galle.  His police mug shot reveals him to be a caucasian, and the 2019 BMW that he was driving (reportedly a $100,000 vehicle) could be an indicator that he is a son of privilege.  He has pleaded "not guilty" to all six charges of vehicular manslaughter.   

Six productive human beings are dead and six families are irretrievably broken, all so that a self-absorbed teenager could have his fifteen minutes of fame on the internet.  The state of Florida is about to deal with a willful monster, and while execution is not an option, six individual fifteen-year sentences does sound like punishment that would fit the crime.  

Let him see how fast he can drive at the age of one-hundred-and-eight!

Rosie and Pa Rock Go to the Vet

 

by Pa Rock

Chihuahua Parent

My little dog, Rosie, and I went to the vet this morning for a follow-up visit as we try to figure out what is going on with her eyes.  Rosie will be eight-years-old in July, and other than the current situation with her eyes, she is a healthy little spitfire who enjoys dividing her time between running free on the farm and sleeping.   She has a pretty great life.

Rosie does not like going to the vet, and she began shaking as soon as we pulled onto his parking lot.  (She heard a couple of dogs and a goat in the outdoor kennel and knew immediately where we were.)

Once inside of the vet's waiting room we were joined by two other dogs and their humans.  Both dogs were about a year-old, and both were named after mythological super-beings.  Freya (a female German Shepard and Border Collie cross who was named after the Norse god Thor's mother) and Apollo (a Doberman who was named after the son of Zeus, the Greek god of the sky.). Of the three, Rosie was the best behaved - she just sat on my lap and shivered the entire time until we were called back to the exam room.

(Freya's human had seen the Netflix series "Ragnarok" which deals with a reincarnation of Thor as a modern youth, and she and I had a brief discussion about that.)

Another interesting experience that we had at the vet's was finding a doggie magazine with an article on how to teach a dog to ride a skateboard.  Rosie was not interested in that at all!

Rosie's eyes started clouding over a year or so ago.  As it started becoming noticeable, dog experts (and everyone in this part of the country is a dog expert) began diagnosing her as having cataracts and suggested that there was little that could be done to change the situation.  Then we went to the her lifetime vet, a young man whom I trust implicitly, and he assured me that it was not cataracts and appeared to be some sort of a viral infection.  She got a shot and some special eye cream.  The vet also did a blood screen which was inconclusive.

After ninety days or so of no obvious improvement - but no obvious worsening of the situation either - we returned for a follow-up.  At that point the vet adjourned to his office to do some "special" reading. When he came back to the exam room he said that he was going to put her on a special diet for thirty days and then do a thyroid screen.

We did the follow-up to that visit today.  Rosie, who had weighed 10.7 pounds thirty days ago, now weighs 10.1 pounds - a significant drop of six-tenths of a pound.  The thyroid screen came back normal.  I am keeping her on the diet dog food (which is very expensive and which she does not like) and will check-in for another follow-up in forty-five days.

Rosie's eyes are a concern, and just looking at her leaves one with the impression that she is either blind or heading that way.  But the vet said that she is getting "plenty" of light through her eyes.  And when Rosie is outside, she can spot a squirrel on the far edge of her very big yard  - and take off after the offending rodent at full speed.   She shows no signs outdoors or indoors of being vision impaired other than having those very noticeable cloudy eyes.

Even calculating for dog years, Rosie is still almost two decades younger than me, and she is far too young for serious medical issues.

And so am I.

The Seditionist Chickens are Finally Coming Home to Roost!

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Georgia  Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is already in an Atlanta courtroom this morning where she will give testimony - under oath - regarding her role, if any, in the insurrectionist activities at the Capitol on January 6th, 2001.    Greene was accompanied to court by her good friend, Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida, who may serve as a character witness in her defense.

(Congressman Gaetz is currently the subject of an FBI probe that is looking into allegations that he had sex with a 17-year-old girl, and that he paid women to travel across state lines to have sex with him - a.k.a. "sex trafficking.")

Rep. Greene is about to become the first elected official to testify in court, under oath, regarding personal involvement in the insurrectionist uprising at the Capitol, and while she has often appeared supportive of the events that occurred that day, Rep. Greene denies any personal involvement in planning, organizing, or conducting the event.  Now she will get make those denials again - but this time they will be under oath and under the threat of perjury charges should she stray from the truth.

The congresswoman will be expected to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth - undoubtedly a tall order for any elected official.

The reason that Congresswoman Greene has been called into court to appear before an administrative law judge today is that five voters in her district formally objected to her name being on the ballot for re--election due to what they deemed to have been Greene's involvement in the insurrection and violence of January 6th, 2021.  Ms. Greene went to federal court seeking to have today's action stopped - and to have the part of the 14th Amendment under which the complaint was lodged declared unconstitutional. A federal judge ruled against her earlier this week, clearing the way for today's hearing.

Rep. Greene has been complaining on social media about today's hearing which is being videotaped.  She fears that clips will be taken from her testimony and then used against her by the campaigns of her several opponents.

News reports this morning indicated that Greene had enthusiastic supporters waiting for her when she arrived in court.

After today's hearing, the judge will make a report to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger who will then make a decision as to whether Greene will be allowed to remain on the ballot.   Raffensperger is a Republican, but he is unpopular with Trump forces in the GOP after his office certified Biden's win in Georgia against Trump in 2020.

Marjorie Taylor Greene will become - today - the first member of Congress to testify under oath about possible involvement in the insurrection, but she will not be the last.    Similar citizens' actions have been launched against Republican Congressmen Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina and Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs of Arizona, and there will undoubtedly be others.

Who knows, if Congressman Matt Gaetz takes the stand today to swear to Marjorie Taylor Greene's good character, perhaps the plaintiffs' attorney will ask Gaetz about his own involvement in the attack on our nation's Capitol - under oath, of course!

The seditionist chickens are finally coming home to roost!

Ignorance Is Not an Acceptable American Value

 

by Pa Rock

Retired Educator

It's a phenomenon that seems to be happening nationwide.   Angry parents steeped in conservative political ideology storm school board meetings demanding that classes and materials conform to their limited world views.   Conservative state legislatures cut funding to public schools while finding new and clever ways to channel taxpayer's money to private and charter schools, places where the rights of certain groups and populations can be more easily ignored or even vilified.  And good teachers are driven from the profession because of poor salaries and flagging public support for education.

It's a cycle of ignorance, feeding on itself and constantly slipping downward.  In the end students and families without means wind up in festering hellholes of educational deprivation, and those who can afford to buy their way into better school situations, do so - and a social and economic segregation is achieved in which the poor and minorities are more marginalized and deprived than ever.

One way this cycle of ignorance has been manifesting itself is through the banning of books in public schools.   Book banning - and even book burning - have been embarrassing filaments of American culture for years, but the practices seem to have been revitalized during and immediately after the Trump era in American politics, a period that served to empower a segment of America that does not value a liberal arts education or any education that lets children glimpse beyond the social norms of their parents.

The writers' organization, PEN America, recently released a report that revealed a surge in book challenges and bans across America.  The group found that the libraries of eighty-six school districts from across the nation had removed 1,145 titles from their shelves within the past nine months.  Some had already been permanently removed and other "challenged" books were off of the shelves pending reviews.   Two-thirds of the books were works of fiction, and most of the challenged titles dealt with racism or LGBTQ issues.  

It's not just books in the school libraries.  Text books are also coming under increased scrutiny over the social messaging that they may be spreading.  The state of Florida announced last week that it was rejecting forty-one percent of math textbooks submitted by publishers for Florida's K-12 schools because someone in the state government had determined that the books contained the dreaded (by conservatives) "critical race theory." 

 (Interestingly, Florida Governor Ron Desantis and the state's department of education have not shown any examples of how CRT - which isn't being taught in any Florida public schools - is present in any of the challenged textbooks.)

And that is often what is happening across the nation with school library books.  Parents are challenging books they have never read based on lists generated by national conservative lobbying groups - or certain news organizations - or even coffee shop gossip.  

Many regard this current anti-public education hysteria to be a temporary political reflection of the times, and something that will eventually pass.  Others see it as move to kill the concept of compulsory education and get children back into the workforce where they were before the government mandated that all children be educated.   

At its base, an educated public is necessary for maintaining freedom and democratic ideals .

It's up to concerned people everywhere to protect and nurture the flame of knowledge, and to improve and strengthen the family of man through the acceptance and inclusion of others whose lives and experiences may differ greatly from our own.

Buying and sharing banned books is one way to do that.

Ignorance cannot be allowed to become an acceptable American value.

The Mouse Will Roar!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

The Walt Disney Company, a multi-national entertainment conglomerate, owns the theme park, "Disney World," near Orlando, Florida, an international tourist destination that is, at least by some metrics, the largest employer in the state of Florida, and definitely a major contributor to the state's economy.   

When the complex was first being talked about in the early 1960's, Disney and the state of Florida entered into an agreement called the "Reedy Creek Improvement District" which essentially gave Disney complete autonomy over nearly forty square miles of prime Florida real estate in exchange for bringing their amusement park to Florida, as well as some tax breaks.  The "Reedy Creek" agreement gave Disney more-or-less complete control and responsibility over the property.  The company not only could build and operate as they pleased, but they also were tasked with providing their own public services such as police and fire departments.   Disney even established its own power grid for the park complex.

But all of those services are expensive, even for a multi-national corporation such as Disney.  The "Reedy Creek Special District" has long operated at a loss and has, by some estimates, more than a billion dollars of debt on its books,  That debt has traditionally been covered by cash influxes from Disney, a system that has kept the park operational and bringing in the tourists - all of whom spend money out beyond the special district in communities that are governed by the state of Florida.

This spring Disney World became embroiled in a political dispute with the state of Florida when the state legislature passed, and Governor Ron Desantis signed, the notorious "Don't Say Gay Bill" which forbid discussions of gender in early elementary classrooms and gave parents the right to sue for damages if teachers violated that law.    

Disney initially tried to ignore the situation, but employees at Disney World were not as reserved their corporate masters, and many began to be openly critical of their employer for not speaking out against what they saw an insensitive and intolerant legislation.  The bosses at Disney soon decided to show support for the views of their employees, particularly the LGBTQ workers who felt personally targeted by the legislature, and the company announced its opposition to the law.  To emphasize its position against the legislation, Disney announced that it would suspend donations to political candidates in the Sunshine State.

(Disney had given over $4.8 million to Florida political candidates in the 2020 election cycle, a majority of that to Republican candidates, and a $50,000 donation to Ron DeSantis.)

After Disney's accouncement, the egomaniacal DeSantis then took to the airwaves castigating Disney and before long his ragged army of intolerance began appearing outside of the park trying to  blockade the entrance and harassing families who were trying to enter the facility.  The Magic Kingdom was under seige!

Yesterday Ron DeSantis carried his War on Disney  even further.  He announced that he would be asking the state legislature to consider dissolving the "Reedy Creek Special District" agreement, a move that would turn ultimate control of the park's facilities over to the Florida counties of Orange and Osceola - whether they sought that control or not.

Dissolving a "special district" would be like dissolving a town or other municipality.  The two counties that absorbed the old "special district" would receive some tax advantages of the new property within their borders (and in this case those revenues could be considerable), but they would also acquire the responsibility for maintenance and improvements within the area.  In practice, if Disney World needed a new road or two, buildings removed or replaced, or landscaping, the county involved would have to grant approval and in some cases even help or cover expenses.

And then there is the matter of that billion dollars in debt currently owed by the "Reedy Springs Special District," (to bond holders or Disney itself).   There are already arguments being make that the debt would logically shift to Orange and Osceola Counties, a move that could add something like $2,200 of extra tax indebtedness to every taxpayer in the affected counties.

Ron DeSantis may have just been doing his daily political posturing exercises when he lashed out against Disney's independence yesterday, but if he and his GOP lackeys in the state legislature were expecting a quick and cheap win against Mickey Mouse and friends, they had best think again.  When that mouse begins to roar in response, the people of Florida are going to listen - and Ron DeSantis may not like what they are hearing!

You screw with Mickey at your own peril, Ron.