PRAY, MONTANA 2013-03

Been a tad lazy BLOGwise. Catching up on tax, housekeeping and other pesky chores one tends to stuff into the sock drawer of the mind.

As New England endures another “storm of the century,” Montana and the west bask in balmy 40+F temps. Actually that was yesterday. This morning it's minus 5. In that regard, as a public service I reproduce here, for the benefit of my eastern and offshore friends, snow depth definitions used in the mountain west:

                0-6”        flurries

                6-12”     dusting

                12-18”   light snow

                18-24”   snow

                >24”     dump

And yes, I understand that east and west, north and south, view and respond to weather in significantly different ways. But I can’t help recalling, in the face of New York/New England obsessing over an “up to 2 feet” storm, that shortly before I left Georgetown Colorado in 2009, after a mild winter (mild for the Rocky Mountain west), an April storm dumped 7 feet (yes, 84”) on the town and the Continental Divide less than 10 miles west. Locals took it all in stride. Actually closed I-70 for several hours to retrieve shell-shocked tourists…

Stumbled on an interesting stat the other day. In 1930 a 3-minute coast-to-coast phone call cost $8.75 and a first class letter was 2-cents. Today the letter cost $0.45 and a call on one of the low-cost carriers can be as low as 2-cents/minute. Of course the telecommunications industry is private sector and the Post Office is a government institution, effectively a monopoly, protected from the anti-trust laws that restrict the private sector from predatory practices. And yes, a multiplicity of factors in play here, but perhaps a laissez faire lesson as well?

I’ve been occasionally typecast as a private (even unsociable) character, with some justification. Soaking in the hot spring pool I note that perfect (and not so perfect) strangers typically take about 90 seconds before striking up conversations while I marinate in solitude. But eves-dropping on these animated exchanges leaves me mercifully thankful that I am roundly ignored. Highlights of the week include speculation among 2 growth stunted Baby Boomers on whether Batman could hold his own against Superman, and whether Robin’s services would be required, AND a heated discussion among 4 blue-coiffed matrons over the relative merits of nutmeg in Brown Betty. Seems "small talk" is being elevated (or demoted) to new heights (depths). I hereby create a new term to mark this evolution, "nano-talk."

Grand-puppies Tuna and Brooke

Feed me!

 
Back in Pray after sitting my grand puppies in Bozeman over the weekend, 2 yellow labs of enormous energy and enthusiasm, and highly developed internal chronographs, particularly as it relates to nourishment. The 4-am feeding finds them especially focused, a chore I have not undertaken for nearly 3 decades when progeny transitioned from lait maternel to bottle.

PRAY, MONTANA 2013-02

 

My cabin is on the right, behind

the large garage 

My front yard at sunrise 

My "driveway."

The thermal pool at Chico Hot Springs

It's a long 20 feet from the changing

room to the 104F pool.

 

 

See below 

 

Were havin’ a heat wave, a tropical heat wave…well, actually that was yesterday when the thermo hit a balmy 42F. At the moment it’s snowing. The many faces of M. Nature are apparent in the mountain west.

A local tried to convince me there is a county ordinance forbidding the temperature to rise above freezing between Thanksgiving and March, but in defiance of local law the temperature two days ago roared north of the freezing mark like a NASCAR driver released from yellow. Quite a change from the minus 14F when I arrived 2 weeks ago…

But the wind…and the accompanying chill, compensates measurably. Interstate 90 between Bozeman and Livingston navigates a pass that is infamous for toppling 18-wheelers. In high season one per week is normally blown over and the trick is to not be passing one when it heads south while traveling east.

To fill the hours between 0001 and 2359, I am at the moment immersed in several fascinating tomes on the Manhattan Project. History (for me, at least) has a way of filling time…..

Spending considerable time at the hot spring in the presence of bodies in various states of (sometimes extreme) undress, it appears that I am the only soul in Montana, and perhaps the planet, who doesn’t have a “tat.” From octogenarians to near infants (one can only hope they are the stick-on temporary variety), it seems that tattoos are the craze of the moment.

I likewise resisted the recent fashion of self-puncture, which I note has fallen from favor, perhaps in response to assorted infections and considerable pain that resulted from many piercings. It seems that much of mankind (personkind?) will travel to bizarre and absurd lengths that they might assert their individuality. To me it signals something quite different, something akin to being several limes short of a margarita.

For those with offspring who kvetch over waiting for the school bus on windy days, I noticed a curious sign “SCHOOL ACCESS” (see above) attached to a wooden fence along the road to town. I thought no more until several days ago a yellow caravan discharged 2 who looked to be of Kindergarten variety and they navigated an opening in the fence, crossed a pasture and commenced up a VERY steep hill. There was no house in sight…

Just finished a 5k in 12F weather. Not bad for a geezer…



 

 

 



PRAY, MONTANA 2013-01

Just when you thought it was safe to surf the Net – He’s BAAAAAACK!

Having departed my Nation’s Capital 3 years to the day I returned in January 2010, I now take temporary repose in Pray, MT, south of Livingston, which is a bit west of nowhere. Continuing south for less than 50 miles you arrive at the northern entrance to Yellowstone.

The deficiencies of my one-room cabin are numerous, but it possesses the prime advantage of its locus less than 4 miles from Chico Hot Springs, a genuine (you guessed it) hot spring. From 7-am through 11-pm 7-days a week, one can soak neck down in 104 F degree water while emergent parts are treated to temperatures that rarely rise above 10 F this time of year. Adult beverages may be consumed therein providing proper enclosure in plastic containers.

A pub with country music some nights, a (French equivalent of a) 1-star restaurant (the stingy French allot a maximum of 3 – causing much Gallic amusement when mediocre American tables advertise “5 stars,”) a back bar furnished in century-old mahogany where you can sit at the spot fur trappers cooled their heels and warmed their toes a century ago. God, I love this bar…

There is no TV in the cabin, the absence of which I seem to be acclimating, and for $20/month I get Wi-Fi through my smartphone. No microwave, but I did bring my portable espresso machine and coffee grinder. Roughing it has limitations.

A few annoyances – I must put the beer in the fridge to keep it from freezing, etc., but I see herds of deer and elk through my front window. I’m told a bear occasionally ambles through and the odd pack of coyotes has been spotted. Similar to Washington, DC., just different animals to contend with.

The River’s Edge Saloon several miles downstream has live poker weekends, and the “river” that gives the bar its name is the Yellowstone, walking distance from chez moi.

Lest some fear that I have been entrapped by a religious cult, I note that Pray, MT is named for Charles Nelson Pray, Montana prosecutor, Congressman and judge. Pray sports a Post Office and nada mas. If you want to get crazy you need travel to Emigrant, 5 miles south.

A note on my future: I had considered opening a Clinic. Are you aware how many TV ads say that products are “clinically proven?”  There must be a market here! Then I thought a “pronouncer.”  Each day innumerable numbers of planetary residents bite the dust and are “pronounced dead.” Who does that? One might assume a coroner, but I have never heard one say “I pronounce this person dead.” Just looking for a niche here.

More likely I’ll just wait for the FEMites to let Hurricane Sandy long term recovery contracts. Then off to Staten Island, a location I understand is but marginally less safe than the Montana wilderness.

Pictures to follow (if I can remember how to do that); film at 11.

2009-23 GEORGETOWN

I have taken to marking the passage of time in terms of toilet paper (or TP to be PC). I purchase a roll at the local WalMart and speculate that before it is expended I will move on, be called to a great challenge, or perhaps experience some celestial transformation. I’ve consumed a fair amount this go-round, but at last it appears we may have arrived at the end of the roll.

I know it will come as a surprise to some who pictured me as permanently relegated to the employment pasture, but the implausible has transpired. I knew intuitively that somewhere on the planet there was a niche into which I might scrunch my antediluvian corpus despite multiple inadequacies with which I struggle. Such has emerged in the form of a position that will send me back to my nation’s capital, where I began my professional career several eons ago.

It has been an interesting year, which began with bags packed and heading to Baton Rouge for a senior position on a long-term Louisiana state emergency management contract, but canceled (the contract, not me) on the eve of award for reasons still murky. Then in April I signed on as national coordinator for a FEMA contract to manage 20,000+ units of temporary housing staged and ready to deploy into devastated areas. I could almost taste the Gulf oysters. Yet this effort, to be activated in June, languishes on the desk of a contracting officer in Washington. While I try not to take personal offense, it did appear that the gods of professional challenge had turned their backs on me.

And now an opportunity to return east has arisen, and I have chosen to forsake the mountains of the west for the streets of Washington. As with personal relationships, one can never be sure of an outcome before jumping in head first and fully clothed, but the position on paper appears to embrace significant challenge, a prime determiner in the decision-making apparatus my entire professional life.

The position is attached to a lengthy vetting process, and so I will languish a bit longer as those who anoint such opportunities rummage through past decades of my rather bland existence.

And while I stand proudly behind all thoughts delivered in this BLOG, irreverent, opinionated, and occasionally arrogant though they may have been, I consider it unseemly to unleash political thoughts when I occupy a position of public trust. And so I BLOG no more.

My silence may lead to cleaner air and reduced peptic distress for those with differing views that possessed the fortitude to address my periodic ramblings. I leave in the comfort that no trees were sacrificed in the production of this work, and the ozone layer was but slightly increased by the exhaled exasperation of some.

In parting I would hope that on whatever point of the political spectrum you find yourself, take occasional opportunity to hear opposing views, not necessarily to accept or embrace, but to understand that there are positions contrary to yours which carry value – not enough perhaps to sway your thinking, but just enough to fire a few synapses of understanding.

At a time when most of my vintage contemplate fishing, long walks in the park, and afternoons with Oprah, the Adventure takes a hard turn about and plows for waters not previously contemplated. Thanks for listening.
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2009-22 GEORGETOWN

Craven interest attaches to all corners of American politics, though sanctimonious liberals would have us believe that such was invented and practiced solely by conservatives. In 2006 Massachusetts liberals, led by Senator Ted Kennedy, in acute peptic distress over the possibility that Republican Governor Mitt Romney would appoint a Republican to fill President (sic) Kerry’s Senate seat after his glorious victory over the reviled Bush, moved to block such a dastardly move by changing the succession rules in place since that state’s inception.

Now in a teaching moment illustrative of “what goes around comes around,” the ailing Senator is pleading for the reversal to be reversed to insure that upon his demise a suitable liberal replacement can be instantly installed to insure critical votes on Health Care “Reform” and other issues.

Similar concern surrounds the health of West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd. A recent C-SPAN televised Budget Committee hearing showed him slumped over, appearing comatose. Recognizing that he controls (if he is in fact in control) his own fate, simple human compassion suggests that the longest serving Senator be allowed to retire in dignity and peace. The state’s democrat Governor will surely appoint a like-minded replacement, resulting in no change in the final Senate vote on critical issues.

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I recently saw a sign that taunted “My cash bought your clunker.” Lost in the euphoria over this cosmically successful program is that it is in truth a wealth distribution mechanism. I think it not a stretch to suggest that most of those who drive clunkers are at the low end of the economic scale and fact certain that those who pay the highest tax rates are at the other end.

Ergo, despite what you may think of the program, and others that are surely destined to come, moving money from one end of the socioeconomic scale to the other is a result in certitude of the wealth re-distribution process. Something the radical left has been promoting for decades. More than one way to skin a rat. (No cats ever have been or will be skinned in this BLOG).

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The Town Hall brouhaha is as interesting as it is loud. When Code Pink disrupts Congressional hearings this is democracy in action. When citizens all over the country display their anger at Town Hall meetings they are bands of unruly thugs orchestrated by Republican cynics.

Yes, there is massive mis-information being bandied about, and deplorable displays ala the Massachusetts woman who showed up at Barney Frank’s Town Hall with a picture of our President made to resemble Hitler (though I do recall a young man with whom I was sparring (verbally) who seemed quite proud of his equation of Bush to Hitler).

I have previously suggested that liberals who dismiss anger over Health “Reform” as orchestrated conservative thuggary are hopelessly out of touch. My take is that many in this country are angry and simply do not trust their elected officials at all points along the political spectrum. Though absent the media coverage of liberal politicians being pilloried at their Town Hall gatherings, conservative Republicans have not escaped citizen outrage.

I believe that Americans are slowly twigging to the reality that multi-thousand page legislation voted on in less than 24 hours (which even accomplished speedreaders could not wade through no less master), and more important, replete with vague language that anoints unelected officials (to wit: the Secretary of HHS) with astounding power to fashion policy and programs of their own liking, transmits truly scary authority to shape the most contentious issue of our time (save abortion) in ways inimical to the will of the electorate.

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Scotland has shown compassion to the murderer of 270 innocent souls aboard Pan Am 103. And of course he was treated as a hero by throngs of Libyans who met his charter plane at Tripoli airport. Did anyone in the world doubt that his reception would be any different? Well, apparently the U. S. State Department.

Peppered with questions as to why our diplomats exerted no significant pressure on our closest ally to deny his release, the official Department spokesman said he believed the return would be “low key.” “Let’s wait and see,” he cautioned. We did and we see. Reminiscent of women and children dancing in Palestinian streets after 911. And radicals would have us believe this is somehow our fault. Showing compassion to savage murderers reaps exactly what one might expect, and casts doubt on the sensibility of bureaucrats who make such calls.

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Hype often seems to drive our news-oriented culture, and while Cable is routinely flogged because of its need to maintain a 24/7 news cycle, the networks, at least here in Denver, seem in a mad scramble to collect viewers at any cost. As hurricane Bill meanders north in the mid-Atlantic, missing Bermuda and apparently a threat only to Port des Basques in the far eastern Canadian Maritimes, promos for network news scream about “the latest killer hurricane heading for New England – details at 5,” or 6, 9, 10, or whenever the talking heads gear up to amuse and amaze us. There may be some fish at risk and the occasional seagoing vessel, but Bill seems of little concern to the rest of the planet. But I guess it is forever true that if it bleeds it leads, and if it kills it thrills.

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Availability on the railroad varies wildly as (a) the season winds down and (b) folks who planned getaways in May realize they better giddiup lest the season expire with aspirations unfulfilled.

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Many Brits have the annoying habit of punctuating virtually every declarative sentence with “Isn’t it?” Sometimes repeated multiple times as they get closer to your face, depending on the degree of passion attached to their statement. Some years ago after interminable suffering, I found an effective antidote. After every “Isn’t it?” I injected a simple “No!” attempting to match the vehemence of the question with my own reply.

Americans now appear to have devised their own version of this annoyance by appending each sentence with ‘Ya know what I’m saying?” “No!” works equally well here, and no matter on which side of the Atlantic you apply this remedy it appears destined to bring the speaker up short, mouth open but no sound emanating therefrom, quizzical look spread upon the visage. Try it yourself.

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M. Nature is acting benign at the moment, but be careful lest you be lulled. After the disastrous Katrina/Rita/Wilma year of 2005 there were dire predictions of a decade of carnage, while in truth 2006 and 07 were as quiet as had been seen in decades. Just when you think it’s safe to venture outside…. The Adventure remains close to the phone.
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2009-21 GEORGETOWN

On the last day of July it snowed on the Continental Divide, not 10 miles west of Georgetown. No dump but a significant dusting. With great reluctance my landlady turned on the heat, and locals who but one short week before were kvetching about the canicule were now in high dudgeon over global cooling. And the winter fanatics made noises about waxing skies and snowboards. Vail sent an e-mail announcing “100 days till season opening.”

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Contrary to my prediction, the two female journalists imprisoned in North Korea have been released by the Pyongyang government after intervention by President Clinton and a cameo from Internet inventor Al Gore. The world rejoices, and were these my children I would be both ecstatic and immensely grateful. But questions arise.

These young women were warned in the strongest terms that venturing into harm’s way was foolish and dangerous. Likewise the three American hikers now detained in Iran were warned by Iraqi officials on the danger of straying close to the Iranian border. A full three days before their capture there were press reports of their plans and the grave danger spelled out in graphic terms. Yet they charged ahead, and now there will be immense economic and perhaps diplomatic cost to secure their release. Rewarding bad behavior always has consequences.

And remember, the women journalists’ motivation in traveling to North Korea was to create a documentary destined to make money for Gore’s production company. A book will certainly follow, and wouldn’t it be nice if those rescued and Gore Enterprises returned the profits to the government in small recompense for the immense cost in securing their release. When pork take wing!

Remember also it was the Clinton Administration that with great fanfare made substantial concessions to North Korea in return for promises that Pyongyang would curtail its nuclear program. Scarcely had the benefits of the trade-off been received in Pyongyang than Kim Jong-il stuck his finger up the American nose in marked defiance of the agreement.

The European response to such behavior is “Oh well, too bad, that didn’t work, we’ll just wait a while and try again,” ala the 19 “final” warnings to Saddam Hussein. Some Americans have the temerity to suggest that broken promises cloyingly forgiven simply embolden the promise breaker to expand such behavior.

We know not what promises and concessions the current negotiator, coincidentally spouse of the Secretary of State, made to Pyongyang. Certainly any significant quid pro quo will be denied, and the world will be induced to believe that Kim simply succumbed to Clinton’s engaging smile. Bad joss, here. Is there any evidence out there to suggest that rewarding bad behavior in children (or dictators) leads to better conduct and increased responsibility?

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What goes around (occasionally) comes around. Our President’s meteoric ascendency has obscured the fact that he cut his political teeth as a Community Organizer. Now it should be obvious that community organizers organize communities to meet needs they perceive to be important. ACORN and other less prominent organizers have a rich history of disrupting public events, not to mention the outright larceny that finds them frequently in Federal court.

But now that conservatives (and apparently some not-so-conservative common folk) are protesting health care “reform,” they are tagged as “unruly mobs” and tools of the Republican establishment. The White House has asked its loyal following to report anything “fishy” it observes emanating from these rabble-rousers.

No, I do not countenance violent disruptions at public gatherings, and the blatherings of the idiot Limbaugh are, as usual, harmful to the cause, but to suggest that the widespread anger over “reform” is an orchestrated “smear campaign” suggests that liberal politicians have, as usual, sand in their ears from sticking their heads in places where genuine dissent is stifled.

And if you read news accounts carefully (a diversity of news accounts, not just the ones that support your proclivities) it is apparent that some of the pushing and shoving is caused by liberal groups in high dudgeon over the audacity of hope on the part of some folks to make alternate voices heard.

Democrats have achieved such success with (dare I say it) carefully orchestrated “Town Hall” meetings where all attendees are thoroughly vetted, where all questions are fawningly polite and designed to allow home run after home run to be propelled over the political landscape. Must be disconcerting when some tough pitches come down the pike.

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It is axiomatic that if you give money to someone you make them smile and engender in them a warm fuzzy feeling. If you doubt, try giving a neighbor a nice gift, telling them it is just because you like them and want to do something nice. While you might be thought a bit odd, you will have cemented a friendship and perhaps even created some sense of obligation.

This I suggest has been a core strategy of Democrat politicians for well over a century. While unreconstructed liberals genuinely believe in the Robin Hood philosophy of wealth distribution, politicians are far more pragmatic and cynical, living with the hope that largess distributed will be rewarded with loyalty at the ballot box.

And this suggests uncharacteristic courage in many conservatives. Cash for Clunkers has been fabulously successful, with public support in the stratosphere (remember, giving away money usually makes the recipients happy), and its extension deemed a no-brainer. Look to conservatives (and perhaps a Bluedog here and there) voting against the extension to identify profiles in courage. Distributing largesse that will need be repaid by your successors is no altrustic virtue.

This leads, I believe, in great measure to the reason why Republicans found themselves in such a deep hole these past few years. Iraq yes, the economy certainly, an unpopular President undoubtedly, but turning sharply from core values and racing to out-spend Democrats is an issue too lightly considered. While their ranks appear diminished, there are still Americans unpersuaded by the “gimmie” philosophy. Hopefully their ranks will swell, less 200 years of economic prosperity crumble under a mountain of unsustainable debt.

And this, incidentally, is one of MANY reasons I refuse to join AARP. Imploring (with considerable muscle) the government to “gimmie, gimmie, gimmie” its members at every turn is appalling. How much better to request the government to take less from all Americans so private wealth can grow and ultimately individuals can leave resources to their successors.

Most of the aged who plan wisely (yes, I know there are exceptions) don’t need handouts and subsidies. Better that resources should go to the genuinely poor, the physically and mentally infirmed, abandoned and abused children, and others truly disadvantaged through no fault of their own.
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2009-20 GEORGETOWN

Why do you suppose our President has pushed so hard for Health Care Reform legislation to be passed before the August recess? He claims it is because of the anguished letters he reads every day from folks across the land pleading for relief. Could it also be that he is in peptic distress over the earfull individual Congressfolk will receive when they return home for the summer break?

And don’t you love Rep. Henry Waxman who, because he won’t allow members of his own party to “hand over control of (his) Committee to the Republicans” is threatening to simply circumvent a 200-year process and bypass Committee action on the Health Care Bill. He did express his preference for “regular order,” except, apparently, when he doesn’t get his way. Similar situations exist in pre-schools across the land, where a “time-out” is typically the remedy.

Of course Republicans pull similar shenanigans where possible, but they are not the folk continually vowing to “clean up Washington” and “restore public confidence” to the political process. Hypocrisy practiced by politicians is akin to the vertically challenged practicing being short.

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The other day while weeding through some mental detritus I came across Winston Churchill’s oft repeated quote: “If you're not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you're not a conservative at forty you have no brain.” This helped clarify for me the status of the Hollywood elite. These folks simply live in a fantasy world ala Michael Jackson and have never grown up, hence their stunted maturity. And it confirms as well my impression of the mental capacity of that creative enclave.

Speaking of California, despite all-night sessions to resolve its financial crisis, it appears but a matter of time until the rest of America will be called upon to bail out the lifestyle that so many find economically unsustainable and often bizarre. As liberal Democrats are fond of condemning subsidies for special interests, might they join conservatives in resistance? When swine soar!

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And on health care, I’m confused (as usual) by the duel Democrat claims of massive unnecessary expenditures in the system (which I define as the outrageous cost of insuring the medical community against frivolous lawsuits) and allegations that insurance companies routinely deny necessary procedures to their clients.

Debating the morality and value of health care reform can take many voices, but the smoke and mirror approach of suggesting that exposing 43 million uninsured Americans to comprehensive health care will somehow lower costs is appallingly transparent. It is sad that simply saying “it will cost a bundle but it’s the right thing to do” is not politically acceptable. Voting with the heart and the pocketbook are as dissimilar as love and marriage.

And although it will likely be disputed, I postulate that such differences transcend political boundaries. Many years ago I was in line at the local copy center behind a magnificently attired blue-haired matron, who when asked “recycled paper?” for the 7 copies of her 2-page Garden Club letter, huffed indignantly “why recycled, of course.” When informed that it would (as in those days it did) cost one cent additional per page, she lowered her voice and said “regular, then.” Funny how economics can influence our social conscience.

Certain “inconvenient realities” persist on the landscape. Much of the planet that can afford to do so continues to breach American shores for medical treatment. Remember that Yasser Arafat, deprived of that option, chose France for his treatment and was shipped home in a box.

Yet massive dislocations do exist. As a volunteer first responder I learned that when prescription medicine is expended, the disadvantaged routinely call 911 with vague complaints, resulting in an ambulance call, a trip to the emergency room, and a free prescription refill, all at massive cost to the taxpayer. And there is no evidence I‘ve encountered to suggest that extensive demonstration programs designed to encourage healthy living among the poor do anything to improve the status quo. Childhood obesity continues unchecked despite substantial federal, state, and local spending.

Until we are willing to reward healthy living and penalize the obverse, the situation will not improve. Now to some that may sound like social engineering, and conservatives must be constantly vigilant against creeping do-goodism. Yet penalties can be defined as withholding rewards for questionable behavior, such as Medicare providing free scooters to the morbidly obese, lung surgery for smokers, and kidney transplants for alcoholics.

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As much as I am tempted to jump into the Gates/Cambridge police controversy, I have learned that while politics and religion were once the taboo subjects of polite conversation, race has overtaken that appellation. Like global warming and health care reform, in America today if you are not on the politically correct side, you are vilified as (at best) a cretin and potentially placed in physical danger.

Suffice to say I find it inconceivable that our President calmed the waters by his press conference allegation of police stupidity. Yes, he did allow as how he could have “calibrated” his remarks differently. Now there’s a thought! Might we consider passing out political calibrators to politicians everywhere?

And yet his straightforward approach to diffuse the issue – inviting Gates and Crowley to the White House “for a beer,” and what will certainly be a Kum-bah-yah moment, is not rocket science but a master stroke. If a similar approach might work with Ahmadinejad and Kim Jung Il, the Vatican may be tempted to launch sainthood proceedings at an early stage. It’s not the mistakes we make but how we correct them.

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I rose early today and found John Conyers addressing the National Press Club luncheon on C-SPAN. A true Comedy Central presentation, mocking all things Republican and conservative. Not debating, not disagreeing, but mocking. And not surprising. The laughter was raucous. A fine time was had by all.

At the conclusion, the speaker’s schedule for the next 2 months was announced: Barney Frank, John Kerry, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, Ken Burns. And finally a discussion of the need for diversity in journalism. But certainly not political diversity, judging from the unbroken string of liberal Democrats on the speaker invite list. To be certain they do toss in a conservative or Republican now and then to (I assume) maintain their tax exempt status. But the trend is unmistakable.

And my liberal friends continue to be angered by allegations of a liberal press and biased media. Despite the overwhelming sentiment, I recall in my lifetime only Jack Germond of the Baltimore Sun having the honesty to admit his liberal bias. Not to be confused with O’Reilly, Olbermann, et al, “analysts” who are free to wear their bias openly.

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Almost August and not a murmur in the Atlantic. The Adventure stands at the ready despite fair winds and azure skies…
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