Utah Travel Diary 9

I have no quarrel with cows other than their habit of manufacturing fuel for fires in a most unappetizing display of foot-wide olive galaxies.

Muuuuah ha ha!
Click here....

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RAIN!

I heard water. Water that I first suspected was flowing from a hose as it dribbled off the decks.

Cops at the San Bernardino Fire

Thank you, San Bernardino Police and San Bernardino Sheriff for aiding and assisting the efforts to contain the Old Fire in San Bernardino County. Thank you for being there. We owe you much

San Bernardino Fire Information

The SBfirehelp@alsirat.com now redirects to inlandempire.arc@verizon.org. Feel free to use either of this addresses on your web site to publicize help or to volunteer directly.

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Curtains for the Light

Without the necessary check of real and accurate news from the front, this war can continue to be waged. Their hope is that there can be no check and balance by the Fourth Estate (now untrustworthy) or the rising Fifth Estate (the InterNet) on the war.

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Current Old Fire Information

Here's hoping to 100% containment on Saturday

Utah Travel Diary 8

The cottonwoods undulate outside....the blue light from without. How wonderful it would be if it flowed and had substance. How great it would be if you could have Crater Lake in a cup.

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A Hawk and Smoke

The only creature I saw other than tiny lizards at Whiting on my walk yesterday was a lone red-tailed hawk.

For the Thrill of It

My inner child is ten years old!

Arnold Pretends and Poses

It is sinking in that while Gray Davis is heroically manning the helm of the ship of state during this crisis, Arnold is doing nothing but politicking.

Is this the man?

Your guess is as good as mine.

Formica

The scarlet toyon or "hollywood" berries had begun to show themselves along the fringes of Sleepy Hollow and I had stopped to look at them when I realized that my ankle stung slightly.

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New England Style Doesn't Work for California

For months and months fire stations around here have posted the sign: Got Clearance?

Excerpt from a Commentary on Fire

As I cringe at the base of our mountains, in an area on a hill and surrounded by chaparral and Republican voters, I hope that the winds remain calm as they were yesterday.

Orange Sun over The Orange

Enroute to Barnes and Noble for a writing discussion, a fire truck came out of the station on El Toro. The line of cars I was in froze. We all turned to look....

Southern California Wildfires Explained

Now that the hills are denuded, we face the winter with trepidation. Those whose houses survived the strange hopscotching of the blaze now watch the clouds.

Job in San Bernardino

While we gaped at these horrors, a man in a yellow shirt and a golf hat came up to us. He was in tears. He introduced himself to us as "Ruben" and he pointed, saying, "That's my house".

San Bernardino Fire 2

Note on an Apocalypse

Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
Job 38:2

Roach of the Morning
This one does "debt consolidation": 68.214.137.30 His email is getcash4cards@yahoo.com if you want to notify him that we're onto his...

I Have No Explanation....

Gray Davis, Hero

I'm glad Gray's still around to do the right thing when things are at their worst this fall.

San Bernardino Fire 1

Live from San Bernardino

My mother's house is still standing. The dreadful but cheerful news is that a good portion of the land between her neighborhood and the fire is incinerated.

This Morning's News

Time for Fox News to stop being a corporate shill and report the news realistically. If you want the news, don't watch the Happy Pill Channel.

Fire in My Mother's Neighborhood

If you live in Southern California and have time to volunteer this week, send email to SBfirehelp@alsirat.com

Utah Travel Diary 7

I read a plaque that described how one couple lost an infant daughter to a scorpion.

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Bush: MoveOn Back to Crawford

We endorse this campaign.

HGH Roach
Here's another roach: 81.218.227.11 This one deals in drugs....

Deer, Puma Tracks, and Dead Rabbits

I came upon a park ranger who was deciding what to do with a dead rabbit. It had clearly been killed and chewed.

If Christ Drove....

The license plate holder read "Mission Viejo: DIABLOS".

Utah Trails 5

And now we come to the finish of my trail reports from this vacation, accounts of a state park that was well worth the detour

Zion 4

Lactation Envy?

What would Freud say about this?

Moody Mountain Lions and Coyotes

I told my neighbors about seeing the mountain lion the other evening.

Utah Trails 4
Two more hikes from our trip. Saddle Arch (Upper Muley Twist), Capitol Reef National Park Strike Valley Overlook, Capitol Reef...

Utah Travel Diary 6

I walked into the Visitor's Center and asked them flat out "Who was Fern?"

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Slamming the Door

These naturally violate my site policy by being OFF TOPIC. Plus, it's pretty cheap to attempt to sponge off my readership and not give me a dime or a ruble.

Cryptobiotic Crust

It's an unnerving feeling to realize that if you blunder off the trail in a desert park or just about anywhere, one footstep can destroy a population rivalling Manhattan.

Utah Travel Diary 5

The Mormons put up historic monuments nearly everywhere it seems. "Brigham Young stopped to piss here."

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Utah Trails 3

I spent most of last night pulling together reports on three special areas.

Felis concolor at Whiting Ranch Wilderness

A sound like breaking tinsel as the body burst out of the grass along the road's edge. A face: white cheeks, black nose and eyes, tan fringes.

The Bible: Anthology or Word of God?

When the church councils put together the Bible, they included everything that they thought would help set the context for the ministry of Christ.

Utah Travel Diary 4

On the night of the primary, there were no turkies to be seen around Zion Lodge.

Book of Days
Still getting caught up on vacation stuff. For those who do it, here are the topics for the next five...

Grocery Strike

Lynn and I endorse the grocery workers' strike now underway in California.

Seen at a Bookstore

The newest book by GE chairman Jack Welch says that he is "speaks from the gut".

Writer's Book of Days

I am back and catching up with my notebooks from the vacation.

Utah Trails 2
I'm all backed up still, getting my reports out for Localhikes.com, but here are links to two more trails (with...

Imitation is....

When I begin petting one cat in the bedroom, the others hear my coos and come in for their share of the affection.

Utah Trails 1

One thing that impressed me on this trip was how many people took so little time to enjoy the features of the trails.

Hedonism and Greed

It's on the left that you will find peacemakers, people persecuted for righteousness sake, the poor, etc.

Utah Travel Diary 3

An elderly hiker examines a boulder. Another fellow says "Very nice, actually. Very nice." He tries to circle the pond by way of the talus.

The Great White Spark

A white spark the size of my fist appeared at the back of the CPU tower. The accompanying nasal buzz and the faint blue scent of ozone told me that the power supply had given up the ghost.

Unguligrade Remnant

This trophy shall stay here, sky-buried.

Political Soccer
Think of politics today as a soccer match. The wRong holds that they get a point every time they kick...

If a Tree Falls in a Forest....

....does it make a sound when the American media is not there to cover it?

How to Defraud the Voters

If people stop believing in elections and want change, what will they do? I have said for years that our country is becoming Latin-Americanized, meaning that there is a growing rift between what the People want and what the Government delivers.

Last thoughts

I'd like to see gas stations posting not only the taxes added on, but the expected profit margins on their pumps.

Utah Travel Diary 2

It doesn't take long to get to Mystery Falls from the seven pale rose stairs that lead to the Virgin River at the end of the Riverside Walk. I feel a bit like a Baptist gone to irrigate his soul and purge the sins away....

Dream
I'm walking down Highland Avenue in San Bernardino, much as it used to be and more like it should be...

Utah Travel Diary 1

Looking up the canyon, past the pumpkin colored walls of the lower gorge, is like seeing hot glaciers capping the red rock.

Between Fashion Threads and Gluten

Our commercial masters want us either anorexic or obese so they can possess symbolic units, totally invisible, without substance, and yet more persuasive in our lives than the idea of God.

I'm back and am I pissed!

But no sooner do I come home but the freaking power supply goes south with a flash and I find dozens of ads for viagra!

Thanks
maximilian sunflowers I've had a great time as a guest blogger here. It's been a chance to do some...

Writer's Book of Days

I will be gone on vacation from Saturday 4 October until Monday 13 October.

Our Weight Problem
Like a lot of other Americans I struggle with a weight problem. I exercise regularly but that only burns so...

Ageism
Today, I had my first ever, live-and-in-public poetry reading. I've been wanting to do it for a while, but have...

Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau wrote: The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their...

A New Broom
With the recall election it looks like Democrats shot themselves in the foot once again. From where I sit (half...

Car Race
Gerald Gorman owns a Chrysler dealership in Chicago -- it's a DaimlerChrysler dealership -- and DaimlerChrysler toted Gorman's inventory of...

It Pays To Increase Your Word Power...
I came across the following word in a journal article recently... eurologophallophobia It seems to me, you can unpack the...

Swing and a Miss
I see where, in a speech to the National Guard in New Hampshire today, our President, who is becoming a...

Not A Total Loss
While, unfortunately, Californians chose to elect Conan, (about which I don't even know where to begin...) Proposition 54 failed. If...

God and Atheism
Does the USA exist? How could anyone claim that it doesn't exist? But then you can't actually point to it....

Intelligent Design?
The Science content standards in New Mexico were recently challenged by a group calling themselves Intelligent Design. These folks object...

Vote

Atheism
Yesterday I wrote about the "brights," a new name for people who we used to call atheists or agnostics. I...

"No, It's Magic -- Don't Look In That Hand!"
This is torture. No, not the California recall. I don't live in California; so, I look at the recall as...

Participatory Democracy
"If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." Emma Goldman I was thumbing through my beloved Northern Sun catalog this...

The Brights
My November issue of Atlantic Monthly arrived in the mail today and has an article on the use of "bright"...

Vacation Bound

My thanks to all those who agreed to help. Treat them nicely!

Last Word on Recall: Terminate Arnold's Candidacy

Gray Davis ain't no prize, but he thinks for himself and he knows California.

The Lesson of 1889

In the late 1800s, Californians voted to bring in a government which drew its support from those who wanted to deny Chinese citizens the right to vote.

The Issue of Trust

Arnold's candidacy is thus undermining my faith in other people.

About Never and Always

Be suspicious of absolutes.

Ahnold set to Spin Mode

With Arnold, the name of the game is power. A governorship, on the other hand, is about serving the People.

A New Pledge by Ahnold
"If elected, I promise to go nowhere where I might meet a woman without Maria Shriver handcuffed to me. I...

Bill Answers....
Bill Hopkins has answered the questions I asked of him....

A Personal Booklist
Ever wonder how I became the guy that I did? Books help make a mind. Here is a list of...

If You Made a Fuss About Clinton's Penis....

"When Maria was around, he was a gentleman," one of the women told the Times. "When she wasn't around, he was the opposite."

The Banality of Arnold's Message

You will pay in more than taxes.

Across Switzerland at Night

Somewhere in the middle of Switzerland, a short man stumbled into my compartment. A curly strawberry blonde beard dribbled from his chin. The man wore the classic lederhosen with a white shirt and brightly ornamented suspenders.

Letter from Ariana Huffington

It's time to Terminate Schwartzenegger's candidacy

Super Rats!

Will these super rats find a way into adjacent Central Asian Republics? Will they spread into Afghanistan and force Osama Bin Laden to flee, arm-in-arm, with the U.S. High Command?

The Law and Morality

The logic is telling: if the law changes to allow a person to become legitimized, then that person is no longer illegal and therefore no longer morally suspect. The question which must follow is this: if the only thing that has changed is the status of the person under the law and not the behavior, why declare them morally reprehensible in the first place?

The Ten Commandments

It is unhealthy for any free society or any free religion to allow healthy and vigorous debate to be shut down by the whims of a majority -- no matter how slender or how broad. It kills the community and kills the soul.