GCotW

Sometimes I walk miles to find the week's Gratuitous Cat.

And sometimes, I find him on the stairway outside my front door....

Update on a bad landing...

...as reported by a local newspaper.

The picture (mine) shows a very damp 1940 Waco biplane after its 82 year-old pilot (an ex-airline captain) tried to set it down on the beach. He collided with a Stearman biplane of similar vintage; the impact was minor enough that the pilot of the Stearman, as previously mentioned, managed to land it at a local airport.

When the Waco hit the sand, its wheels caught and it flipped. The LAFD got it upright in a hurry, trying to minimize fuel and oil spillage...



I suspect the dude flying the Waco is a pretty good stick; I've seen him around here before. But I think screwing around in ways that bring two aircraft close enough to collide, especially in an area where the landing choices are either wet or heavily populated, is not particularly smart.

Reason #72,867 why...

...I am convinced we should put all elected officials on a ship -- liberally (oops! bad word!) stocked with food and booze, of course -- and send them off on a 20-year cruise to Somewhere Else:

California Assemblyman Lloyd Levine has introduced a bill to ban the sale of incandescent light bulbs -- the most common light bulbs in the world -— in the state by 2012. Appropriately enough, his bill is called the How Many Legislators Does it Take to Change a Light Bulb Act.

There are two ways to look at this: either Mr Levine is a raving loon who needs to have a tranquilizer dart shot into his flank or, worse, he is sincere.

In the interests of full disclosure, I must tell you hate fluorescent lights with a passion that borders on hysteria. Not only does their light make most people look like they should be stretched out on a coroner's slab, but they flicker at a frequency that aggravates a strange eye condition I have suffered from since birth.

But Mr Levine is convinced that changing over to fluorescent lights will reduce energy consumption and thus slow the onset of the Dreaded Global Warming.

As dey say in Noo Yawk: Skrooom.

If we are serious about cutting back on misused energy, let's cut the power lines to Sacramento. And Washington, D.C., while we're at it. Do that, and the rest of us can go hog-wild with our electricity use and there will still be a major decrease in consumption.

Yes, I understand why the rancheros in government don't have the huevos to deal with the things that would really make the biggest difference in the environment if they're so freekin' worried that the ice caps are about to melt. They can't do that, because it would upset their buddies who keep their campaign funds full and will give them cushy no-show jobs when they are finally yanked out of office.

You know, basic stuff: get Al Gore out of his 20,000 square-foot house and off those private jets he uses to go around the world whining about "greenhouse gases." Make politicos junk their SUVs and ride around in electric golf carts. Shut down the Government Printing Office, which I suspect uses up something like one forest a week to keep it in paper. Close down the UN. In other words, useful things.

Me? I have to go out and stock up on 100-watt Soft Whites now.

Making a splash...

...the hard way!

A half-hour ago, I heard a couple of airplanes outside, then silence. Not unusual; pilots love to practice aerobatics off the coast, or engage in mock dogfights (which seems an incredibly dumb idea to me), and other noises sometimes drown out the sound of their engines.

What was unusual was the next sound, that of dozens of fire trucks heading down to the beach...



Where, after an apparent mid-air collision, one of the planes had screwed itself into the sand...



The pilot of this one walked away from it. No one seems quite sure what happened to the other plane, though I have since heard a radio report of a plane crashing along the coast several miles from here.

Never a dull moment Where The Ghetto Meets The Sea!

And never a shortage of pilots who suffer attacks of brain fade, it seems....

LATER: Ninety minutes later, the "news copters" are still circling the scene getting their "breaking news" video. It's getting annoying. The latest news update is that the second plane made it safely back to a local airport.

No groundhogs around here...

...but the palm tree saw its shadow...



I won't make a habit of this -- Joan would probably start asking for royalties if I did -- but here's another cement-scraping, just for the yin and yang of it...

We're not in Charleston, Toto...

...and Charleston will always have more charm than can be found Where The Ghetto Meets The Sea....

A very, very talented photographer and teller-of-tales, whose work in and around Charleston is well worth going here to savor, has inspired me to watch my step a bit and look down more often as I walk in search of the elusive cement-scratchings that immortalize names, events and statements.

Sadly, I have only found one around here so far, and it's kind of a dud...



Hey...I tried...

Robin Hood, wearing a skirt...

...in the form of Hillary Clinton, who offers a preview of how she intends to rule -- if the American public is dimwitted enough to elect her in 2008 -- here.

I'm no supporter of the political and "moral" conditions that have allowed oil companies to make monster profits. Nor do I approve of the practice of giving corporate bigwigs obscene "bonuses," stock options and golden parachutes.

But the idea that the government has the right -- apparently, even the obligation -- to snatch such windfalls away in the name of "the Public Good" is, if anything, even more frightening.

This single comment is so incredibly indefensible that it should have torpedoed her campaign on the spot.

But it probably didn't.

A flollow-up to last night's rant...

...from The Washington Times. After the first four paragraphs (reproduced here), the article goes on to compare this to the kangaroo-court proceedings against Border Patrol agents Compean and Ramos, noting that some of the same cast of government characters was involved in the persecution.

A Texas deputy sheriff who fired shots at a fleeing vehicle after the driver tried to run him down faces 10 years in prison for injuring one of the passengers, a Mexican national being smuggled illegally into the United States.

The U.S. attorney, who won lengthy prison terms last year for two U.S. Border Patrol agents in the shooting of a drug-smuggling suspect, also prosecuted Edwards County Deputy Sheriff Guillermo F. Hernandez, who is to be sentenced next month.

The deputy's boss, Sheriff Donald G. Letsinger, said his officer -- who had been on the job for a year -- "followed the letter of the law" in defending himself in the April 2005 incident and questioned why the government brought charges.

"This is a fine young man, and I just don't believe he committed the wrong of which he was accused," Sheriff Letsinger said. "I have never had anything hurt me so badly as this prosecution. We've got to make this right."

This story also adds the information that the driver of the van was a "coyote," one of those who smuggle illegals across the border for money. Neither he nor the illegals he was carrying were punished, of course, despite their clear violations of the law.

How long will the public sit still for the increasingly dangerous, illegal and immoral actions of the First Coyote in Washington and his open-borders, anti-U.S. citizen pals?

Probably until it's too late.

Here we go again...

...as George Bush's pro-illegal lackeys go after yet another American law-enforcement officer in a continuing effort to keep "Mr Decider's" corrupt pals in Mexico City happy by throwing the borders wide open.

As WorldNet Daily reports:

A Texas town has launched a "Free Gilmer" campaign on behalf of Deputy Sheriff Gilmer Hernandez, who has been convicted of firing a weapon at fleeing illegals, and is scheduled for sentencing in March.

U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, brought the issue to the attention of Congress recently, where he outlined the circumstances under which Hernandez fired several shots, including one that left one illegal alien with a minor injury.

"Mr. Speaker, in the small border town of Rocksprings, Texas, where drug smugglers and human smugglers sneak across the Rio Grande into America, lone Deputy Sheriff Gilmer Hernandez was on patrol. In the stillness of the vast night, a speeding Suburban runs a red light. Deputy Hernandez, 25, stops the vehicle, but suddenly, without warning, the vehicle takes off.

"Deputy Hernandez says the vehicle tried to run him down. The lawman fires several shots, one of which shoots out the rear tire, just like in the movies. The vehicle stops, and eight or nine illegals jump out and take off running into the sagebrush," he said.

The U.S. government then rounds up the illegals and, "Guess what, prosecutes Deputy Hernandez, claiming he recklessly discharged his firearm and uses the illegals as witnesses against the lawman during a trial," he said.

"Mr. Speaker, another example of how the Federal Government is more concerned about people illegally invading American than it is about the men who protect America," he said.

Though not mentioned here, other sources report that Deputy Hernandez faces ten years in prison.

Sounds like the same tactics -- from the same cast of characters, including federal persecutors from the Texas region -- used to railroad Border Patrol agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos.

If this continues, Bush and his fellow put-illegals-first stooges will probably achieve their goal, which appears to be to make law-enforcement and Border Patrol offices jump in their cars and run whenever they see people they suspect might be illegals.

After all, if enforcing the laws means jail time for the officers while the illegals get preferential treatment -- including a Green Card given to the drug-smuggler who was willing to lie on the stand to convict Compean and Ramos -- and government officials are free to commit perjury, withhold evidence and otherwise manipulate the system to destroy the lives of American citizens, there is little incentive for any peace officer to do his or her job.

This must be what Bush calls "comprehensive immigration reform."

Lens therapy...

...is taking my camera when I go for walks, so I won't have as much time to think while walking.

Aside from the therapeutic value of snapping away, I didn't see much that was all that interesting.

There was an old-fashioned dog on an old-fashioned porch...



There were flowers...



And pelicans...



Better still, the five-mile walk and frequent stops to snap photos used up two hours that wouldn't otherwise have passed by as painlessly....

Tonight's final thoughts...

...have to do with the "delete your blog" button on my journal settings page. I've been staring at it, on and off, for the past couple of hours.

It is so tempting. One click of the mouse and all the painful memories, all the partial revelations of the turmoil inside me, would vanish.

If doing that could erase them from my mind, I would do it in a heartbeat, believe me. Would already have done it.

Some time ago, I resolved to post one final entry if I ever decided to shut down my journal. In it, I would name names, cite instances and finally reveal the complete story behind the situation I find myself in. I even wrote the whole thing out once, just in case I lost my nerve at the last moment.

Oddly enough, I lost my nerve in advance, and deleted that long, detailed screed instead of my journal. In a way, that's a shame; some people would have found parts of it most entertaining.

Now, I am at a bit of a crossroads. Writing here allows me a certain freedom to be candid, but I still have to indulge in a great deal of self-censorship to protect the guilty. That's just the way I am.

I admit I sometimes wish I could return hurt for hurt, cause others to experience the humiliation and pain they have sent my way. But I can't do it.

So what do I do? I am in a situation where it appears nothing I say or do can bring me the contentment I need, the joy that has been the object of my work and prayers for far too many years. Writing about my pain, frustration and disappointments is no doubt boring to the few people who read this journal, and does no good anyway.

There is no relief here, or anywhere.

Obviously, I have not clicked on the "delete" button yet. I make no promises for tomorrow.

"Climate change..."

...is George Bush's clever euphemism for g...g...gl...gl....

Say it with me, George: global warming.

I'm not entirely convinced by the various doom-sayers who believe the Earth is headed for catastrophe because we have overdosed on making things that burn liquefied fossils and use other nasty products to keep ourselves warm and our lights lit.

But I'm not entirely unconvinced, either.

It strikes me that there are plenty of sensible things we should be doing to conserve our dwindling supply of natural resources anyway, and if that helps keep the icebergs from melting, so much the better. If pulling back a bit and becoming less dependent on oil, coal and things made from trees doesn't slow down the rising global temperatures -- and I'm not even convinced they are rising in an unnatural way -- it would still be an intelligent thing to do.

Which brings me to the lowest form of human life: politicians.

John Kerry keeps babbling self-righteously about the "Kyoto Accords," as if George Bush had torpedoed our last chance to Save the Planet all on his own. Which he didn't, since the Senate's vote against the "treaty" came during Bill Clinton's time in office.

But if the "Kyoto Accords" represent our "best hope," we are doomed anyway. While they would impose draconian rules meant to reduce "greenhouse gases" on us, gross polluters such as China and India would be exempt. Why? Because they are "developing nations," and we don't want to slow their march toward industrialization.

The hell we don't. China has many more coal-fired generating plants than we do, and is building more all the time. Major cities in China and India have air-pollution problems that make 1950s-era Los Angeles look like a springtime meadow. God only knows how much toxic waste those countries generate.

We pollute, too. But this particular plan, like almost everything the UN ever sponsors, puts the blame -- and the full bill for fixing the problem -- on us, while nations that are not only draining our money away but seem totally unconcerned about poisoning the environment get a free pass.

Another idiotic feature of the plan is a system of pollution "credits," which allow nations that pump more than their share of filth into the atmosphere to buy "points" from nations that don't. If they have the dough, they can keep on with their profligate ways until the supply of clean air runs out.

I dislike any government interference in our lives, and dislike it more when some agency beyond our borders lays down the rules.

Hence a personal dilemma: I despise the socialistic nanny-state ideas of the "liberal" wing of our government. When any of them want to enact laws "for our own good" (especially when some, like Kerry and even Al Gore, are conspicuous consumers of jet fuel and, in Kerry's case, gasoline for their SUVs and powerboats), I'm ready to lead the march to boot their "humanitarian" asses out of government.

By the same token, I do think we are draining the planet of resources at an unsustainable rate, and have, particularly since the modern era of micro-circuitry began, become an incredibly wasteful throw-away society. Some of the solutions are pretty simple, and wouldn't cause anyone too much discomfort. Others, like replacing gasoline with ethanol, are completely impractical.

But whatever we do has to be done by (and to) everyone. If we have to restrict industries that emit the most pollutants, so too do the Chinese, and the Indians, and everyone else in the world. If we have to pay more attention to recycling, so does everyone else.

Herein lies the basic fallacy in the way governments operate: they play favorites and rely on the Robin Hood principle of taking from the rich -- and the comfortable -- and giving to their favorite poor. In this respect, our government is no better than those of Hugo Chavez or Fidel Castro.

And of course the politicians will be the last to cut back on air travel, scrap their gas-guzzling limos and SUVs or start taking broken electronic devices to a repair shop instead of reaching into the treasury and buying new ones.

Hell, I don't have any answers. Maybe expecting common sense from people used to being ordered around by politicians -- who, in all honesty, know little more about the subject than I do -- is unrealistic.

All I can say is that any solutions proposed by politicians and/or their pet scientists are probably wrong, and should not be trusted.

George Bush sticks foot in mouth...again...

...on Neil Cavuto's show on Fox News.

When asked whether he would consider pardons for Border Patrol agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos -- who, as everyone but Bush and his lapdogs seem to know, were railroaded for trying to apprehend an illegal-alien drug smuggler -- Bush laid down the expected lame line about "if everyone knew the facts..." and waffled and weaseled in a manner so incoherent that even Cavuto, who must have some experience dealing with those of limited intelligence, couldn't understand him.

I have news for you, Mr "Decider:" your minions, probably operating under your direct orders, are the ones who twisted the story to please your pals in Mexico. Each day seems to bring new revelations of malfeasance on the part of the "Justice" Department and Department of Homeland "Security" in their pursuit of Compean and Ramos.

It is you, Mr "Decider," who decided illegal aliens are more important to you than American citizens. It is you, I am convinced, who ordered the campaign of systematic distortion, fabrication, evasion and outright lies that resulted in two Americans who were trying to uphold our laws being sent to prison for more than a decade each, just so your amigos in Mexico City wouldn't think you were wimping out on the open-borders agenda you love.

Anyone who has followed this case knows where the buck stops: it stops at your desk, Mr "Decider." If you were as rational as you claim, if you took your oath of office seriously, Compean and Ramos would be free men, and an illegal-alien drug smuggler, who is moreover a repeat offender, would be in prison and would never have been offered immunity from prosecution, a green card* and free medical care.

Having watched your pitiful performance after Hurricane Katrina and your equally incompetent handling of your "war on terror," I already know, as an increasing number of Americans do, that when you play "Decider," disaster follows.

And we know you have no shame. We know you will sacrifice Americans to further your own worthless dreams of personal grandeur, and will do so without a single thought for the lives you destroy.

If true justice still existed in this country, it is you, Mr "Decider," who would be spending much of your remaining life behind bars, along with all those who committed felonious acts (withholding of evidence, perjury and malicious prosecution among them) at your command.

At the very least, it is time for you to resign, Mr "Decider." But not before you order Compean and Ramos freed and order appropriate compensation for their ordeal.

You have done the impossible, Mr "Decider:" Until now, I have thought the worst presidents in modern history were Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. You have surpassed them both.

Therein lies your legacy.


* Supposedly, the Green Card was revoked after the illegal was caught trying to move another load of pot across the border. Supposedly.

I learn something new...

...every time I read stories from the North Korean News Agency.

I can't think of anything to add to this report:

Makgolli, Folk Drink of Korea
Pyongyang, January 30 (KCNA) -- The Korean people are fond of Makgolli (unrefined liquor), a folk drink. From olden times the Korean peasants have been used to gather together at break and lunch time and to relieve themselves from fatigue, drinking Makgolli.
Makgolli is made mainly with starch.
The boiled and cooled starch is mixed with malt and some boiled rice. The mixture is fermented for five-seven days at the temperature of 25-27 degrees centigrade and 75 percent of relative humidity. It is filtered out before drinking.
It contains alcohol below ten percent and a lot of nutritive elements including sugar.
It tastes sour and sweet and makes the drinkers exhilarant.
It is also applicable for disease treatment.
Makgolli made from the boiled root bark of Acanthopanax sessiliflorum and hulled adlay makes spleen, stomach and intestines healthy. And it is efficacious for treating such diseases as arthritis and neuralgia.

I could use something to make me feel "exhilarant," I must say....

Today...

...the rain is over...



...and so, thank God, is the day itself...



Call me ungrateful, but I refuse to be happy that the unknown disaster I feared this morning didn't happen.

I refuse to give thanks for nothing.

There's always tomorrow. But I don't want to think about that now.

Formless dread.

It begin with a burst of static on the radio this morning. Seconds later, a rumble of far-off thunder. Then, with increasing frequency, flashes in the darkening sky and pelting rain. For perhaps a half-hour, there was a real storm outside; as is typical for this area, it didn't last long.

Ordinary, I would revel in such weather. I've always loved thunderstorms, always loved rain. I'm one of those idiots who loves to stand outdoors to watch lightning and doesn't mind going for long walks in the rain.

Not today.

I felt somewhat disoriented when I woke up this morning. There was no chemical reason for this, no hangover from a night of heavy drinking (since I didn't have so much as a sip of alcohol last night). I didn't fall asleep listening to George Noory for once; perhaps the nightmares I experienced but can't recall imprinted some message in my mind. The first few chores of the morning -- feeding the cat, making coffee -- were performed in a kind of daze.

In any case, that formless feeling of impending disaster is with me today.

I know what could go wrong today, believe me. Almost everything bad that might happen has happened, at one time or another. I've made enough mistakes in a wide variety of ways to ensure extensive experience with disasters large and small.

This is different. Perhaps the amorphous fear is of a combination of unpleasant events, a veritable avalanche of bad things engulfing me all at once.

Whatever it might be, I'm not ready for it. I can't do anything more than sit here and wait for the ax to fall, have no energy or spare mental capacity to resist or cope.

My only hope is that nothing will happen. After all, on those days when I wake up feeling sure something good lies ahead, nothing happens.

Hoping for nothing is not a good feeling.

More on Compean and Ramos...

...from this story in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.

I suggest you read it, but the nut of the story is contained in the story's lede:

The Department of Homeland Security's assertions that two El Paso Border Patrol agents knowingly shot an unarmed suspect appear to be countered by the department's own documents, the Daily Bulletin has learned.

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, told the Daily Bulletin on Wednesday that Homeland Security Inspector General Richard Skinner has refused to deliver documents confirming his office's claims that Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean admitted they "were out to shoot Mexicans," and knowingly shot Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, a drug smuggler, in a border incident nearly two years ago.

There is much much more the story of the Bush administration's persecution of the two agents, who are now in federal prisons, but at a start, it would appear that the "Inspector General" of the so-called Department of Homeland Security -- which seems far more interested in the "security" of illegal-alien drug smugglers than U.S. citizens -- should be facing some serious jail time for perjury.

Sadly, the general public seems to have forgotten Compean and Ramos. A few people, including IVDB reporter Sara Carter and L.A.-area radio hosts John & Ken, have not.

I have not.

Until Compean and Ramos are free and are compensated for the kangaroo-court proceedings against them, and those who so zealously went after them at the behest of George Bush, the illegal aliens' best friend, are punished, I will not let this subject drop.

These people have no shame. They, and all the co-conspirators in Washington and Texas who aided and abetted this outrage, must be made to pay for their immoral -- and, it becomes increasingly clear, unlawful -- acts.

ADDED NOWHERE-NEAR PARENTHETICAL THOUGHT: Here's another interesting tidbit showing the extent of the government's malfeasance in this case.

From what I hear, WordNet Daily's Jerome Corsi will be publishing more information this week that George Bush and his pro-illegal pals don't want revealed.

Historical marker...

GCotW

I saw this week's Gratuitous Cat twice: once while walking West...



And once while walking East...



Otherwise, it was a typical semi-winter day Where The Ghetto Meets The Sea....



PARENTHETICAL YOU-GOTTA-SEE-THIS THOUGHT: Joan, who is an extremely talented photographer and keeps a most entertaining journal, shot a photo today that bears an astonishing resemblance (minus kittycat) to my GCotW photos. She was a considerable distance from here, too. Go take a look....

Lunchtime...

...at least for this squirrel in the park, who made a nice feast from some nuts someone left for him....