I swam//snorkeled with the turtles - 3 of them. I had brought one of those Walgreen's (good to 35') cameras and took what I hope are good pix with it. They may come out, the water was pretty clear where we were, so they may be OK. Patsy stayed in the shallows to watch for trouble. We had tried the same area the evening before and it was really, really rough. This morning much calmer but still the undertow was hard to manage.
The Old Man in the Sea took a couple of skirmishes this time, but I still took the major battles and the WAR. I have some wounds to show for it. I was so tired when I arrived at the turtle sight that the waves knocked me around and I got some cuts on the coral, but I didn't draw any shark-like creatures. I also got some pix of the fish the turtles were after. They may or may not be good.
Lots of kids and adults in the area trying to get their own looks.
IT WAS GREAT!
I will provide an injury update later. I still on the TURTLE HIGH!
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Shirley Sherrod - Missing a crucial point!
Ref: “Walk on Eggshells, get egg on your face” and “others”
You guys call yourselves journalist. I believe you have missed the larger point in the Shirley Sherrod debacle. It seems that everyone is too quick to jump to the race issue and completely overlook a value that has been around much longer – Truth.
The capability to sway large and somewhat informed throngs in the age of “anything posted by anybody (signed or anonymous) on the internet – true or not” has almost overtaken the print media in readability.
In this country, since the time of Ben Franklin the populous has looked to journalist to be the watchdogs of our well being. We have always asked the journalist just for the Truth. Are we at a point where we will not be able to believe anything we read, see or hear? I hope not.
In a society that wants to regulate everything, the largest task confronting Truth may well be “internet journalism.” Maybe it lingers in the mind as too large to tackle. Well, here’s your chance. In the past week, journalist you were not! How could you have ignored this? Well, except for Arnold GarcÃa Jr. who came as close as anyone to addressing the issue.
You guys call yourselves journalist. I believe you have missed the larger point in the Shirley Sherrod debacle. It seems that everyone is too quick to jump to the race issue and completely overlook a value that has been around much longer – Truth.
The capability to sway large and somewhat informed throngs in the age of “anything posted by anybody (signed or anonymous) on the internet – true or not” has almost overtaken the print media in readability.
In this country, since the time of Ben Franklin the populous has looked to journalist to be the watchdogs of our well being. We have always asked the journalist just for the Truth. Are we at a point where we will not be able to believe anything we read, see or hear? I hope not.
In a society that wants to regulate everything, the largest task confronting Truth may well be “internet journalism.” Maybe it lingers in the mind as too large to tackle. Well, here’s your chance. In the past week, journalist you were not! How could you have ignored this? Well, except for Arnold GarcÃa Jr. who came as close as anyone to addressing the issue.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Roomin’ with Dutch
I am having a real kick getting down the events that took place during the summers of 1966 & 1965 and might go into 1966 just a bit if I still feel like it.
Giving up summer baseball and asking Dutch if I could spend the summer as a full time hand on the rig was a big decision for a guy who had just finished his Junior Year in high school. The previous summer had been my last in Babe Ruth League ball. Now I had to decide on Pony League and possibly high school ball. The big problem here was that Bryan was going to be on probation for the next two years and hopes were not high.
There would be no more lazy mornings and afternoons laying around and doing absolutely nothing; well maybe going to the pool every now and then. There would also be zero time with my friends; I would be somewhere else. Oh, maybe I would see them on a weekend every now and then but probably not many times during the entire summer.
Who knows where the jobs would take us, but you can bet they would – and they did.
Remembering back to those high-line days cutting across country and the greasy, warm cheese, hang down and onion lunches is fun to do. Operating the dozer and towing the rig, water truck and pickup from hole to hole up in East Texas sand was about the filthiest part of the first summer – not necessarily the muddiest, but filthiest.
Then there was the summer of 1965 and the travel unmatched by the previous summer. We seemed to be everywhere and pretty much were.
Good days, great guys to work with and some tough, but sometimes funny experiences.
Giving up summer baseball and asking Dutch if I could spend the summer as a full time hand on the rig was a big decision for a guy who had just finished his Junior Year in high school. The previous summer had been my last in Babe Ruth League ball. Now I had to decide on Pony League and possibly high school ball. The big problem here was that Bryan was going to be on probation for the next two years and hopes were not high.
There would be no more lazy mornings and afternoons laying around and doing absolutely nothing; well maybe going to the pool every now and then. There would also be zero time with my friends; I would be somewhere else. Oh, maybe I would see them on a weekend every now and then but probably not many times during the entire summer.
Who knows where the jobs would take us, but you can bet they would – and they did.
Remembering back to those high-line days cutting across country and the greasy, warm cheese, hang down and onion lunches is fun to do. Operating the dozer and towing the rig, water truck and pickup from hole to hole up in East Texas sand was about the filthiest part of the first summer – not necessarily the muddiest, but filthiest.
Then there was the summer of 1965 and the travel unmatched by the previous summer. We seemed to be everywhere and pretty much were.
Good days, great guys to work with and some tough, but sometimes funny experiences.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Justice Sonia Sotomayor let us DOWN!
I don’t believe the committee meetings taking place with candidate Elena Kagan are the real issue of the last week’s Washington news. To me it’s the Gun Control – 2nd Amendment case decided by the Supreme Court and how our trust has been dashed by the most recent addition to that court. I provide the following as evidence.
Quotes come straight from the Austin American-Statesman article posted in today’s paper:
http://www.statesman.com/opinion/goldberg-the-challenge-for-a-supreme-court-nominee-779098.html
Justice Sotomayor sided with Justices John Paul Stevens, Stephen Breyer, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the dissent. Jonah Goldberg (Tribune Media Services) put it this way:
“However, the more newsworthy opinion came from rookie Justice Sonia Sotomayor. She concurred with Justice Stephen Breyer's dissent, which held that there is no fundamental right to bear arms in the U.S. Constitution. "I can find nothing in the Second Amendment's text, history or underlying rationale that could warrant characterizing it as ‘fundamental' insofar as it seeks to protect the keeping and bearing of arms for private self-defense purposes," Breyer wrote for the minority.”
I believe this to be a real threat to the U.S. Constitution.
Goldberg continues:
“But when Sotomayor was before the Senate Judiciary Committee one year ago for her own confirmation hearings, she gave a very different impression of how she saw the issue. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy asked her, "Is it safe to say that you accept the Supreme Court's decision as establishing that the Second Amendment right is an individual right?"”
When can you believe Justice Sotomayor? She says one thing in her conformation hearings and then does another when it is time to do her job. The world did not change between those two occasions. What are we to believe?
She even got favorable treatment from the Dems after her testimony. There is supposed to be a definite distinction between and a check on the balance of power between the three branches of government. If there isn’t and the wool has been pulled over our eyes; is this not a threat to our Constitution?
You tell me.
Quotes come straight from the Austin American-Statesman article posted in today’s paper:
http://www.statesman.com/opinion/goldberg-the-challenge-for-a-supreme-court-nominee-779098.html
Justice Sotomayor sided with Justices John Paul Stevens, Stephen Breyer, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the dissent. Jonah Goldberg (Tribune Media Services) put it this way:
“However, the more newsworthy opinion came from rookie Justice Sonia Sotomayor. She concurred with Justice Stephen Breyer's dissent, which held that there is no fundamental right to bear arms in the U.S. Constitution. "I can find nothing in the Second Amendment's text, history or underlying rationale that could warrant characterizing it as ‘fundamental' insofar as it seeks to protect the keeping and bearing of arms for private self-defense purposes," Breyer wrote for the minority.”
I believe this to be a real threat to the U.S. Constitution.
Goldberg continues:
“But when Sotomayor was before the Senate Judiciary Committee one year ago for her own confirmation hearings, she gave a very different impression of how she saw the issue. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy asked her, "Is it safe to say that you accept the Supreme Court's decision as establishing that the Second Amendment right is an individual right?"”
When can you believe Justice Sotomayor? She says one thing in her conformation hearings and then does another when it is time to do her job. The world did not change between those two occasions. What are we to believe?
She even got favorable treatment from the Dems after her testimony. There is supposed to be a definite distinction between and a check on the balance of power between the three branches of government. If there isn’t and the wool has been pulled over our eyes; is this not a threat to our Constitution?
You tell me.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
The McChrystal beat down!
I wanted to finish reading the Rolling Stone article http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/119236
before I made any comments on the McChrystal situation. Having done so now, I would like to pose this question to you: How do you keep at it year in and year out? Eighteen hour days (sometimes probably a lot longer), seven days a week for years on end – just how do you keep the momentum to live a life like this?
Have you ever been a General? Have you ever been a Lieutenant or a Captain or a Major or a Colonel for that matter? I have held a few of those ranks and know what the days//weeks//months turn into after a period of time. It’s not pretty and it’s not something that those who don’t have the right make-up would never be able to hold up to – not even a little bit. This is just what is facing Gen McChrystal and Gen Petraeus and their staffs and have been now for some nine years ongoing.
The President said in the Rose Garden after accepting Gen McChrystal’s resignation today: He had “great respect” for the General who had “earned a reputation” as a fighter. But the “war is bigger than any one man or woman” and the “conduct did not meet the standard of a Commanding General” and it “erodes the trust.’ There has to be a “adherence to a strict code of conduct.” We have to “hold ourselves accountable “ to a “unity of effort across the national security team.” Overall this will be “a change in personnel, not a change in policy.”
Both Gen McChrystal and senior members of his staff said things (as quoted in Rolling Stone) that are totally inappropriate for members of the military to utter to anyone, especially after having sworn the oath that each has done. It was out of line and they deserve what comes their way.
This was not a case of McChrystal against the administration. This is all about the oath of office that they swore to.
Remember what Charles de Gaulle once said: “The graveyards are full of indispensable men.”
To me it’s black and white. Make up your own mind:
The Oath of Office (for officers):
"I, _____ (SSAN), having been appointed an officer in the Army of the United States, as indicated above in the grade of _____ do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance tot he same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God."
The Oath of Enlistment (for enlistees):
"I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."
before I made any comments on the McChrystal situation. Having done so now, I would like to pose this question to you: How do you keep at it year in and year out? Eighteen hour days (sometimes probably a lot longer), seven days a week for years on end – just how do you keep the momentum to live a life like this?
Have you ever been a General? Have you ever been a Lieutenant or a Captain or a Major or a Colonel for that matter? I have held a few of those ranks and know what the days//weeks//months turn into after a period of time. It’s not pretty and it’s not something that those who don’t have the right make-up would never be able to hold up to – not even a little bit. This is just what is facing Gen McChrystal and Gen Petraeus and their staffs and have been now for some nine years ongoing.
The President said in the Rose Garden after accepting Gen McChrystal’s resignation today: He had “great respect” for the General who had “earned a reputation” as a fighter. But the “war is bigger than any one man or woman” and the “conduct did not meet the standard of a Commanding General” and it “erodes the trust.’ There has to be a “adherence to a strict code of conduct.” We have to “hold ourselves accountable “ to a “unity of effort across the national security team.” Overall this will be “a change in personnel, not a change in policy.”
Both Gen McChrystal and senior members of his staff said things (as quoted in Rolling Stone) that are totally inappropriate for members of the military to utter to anyone, especially after having sworn the oath that each has done. It was out of line and they deserve what comes their way.
This was not a case of McChrystal against the administration. This is all about the oath of office that they swore to.
Remember what Charles de Gaulle once said: “The graveyards are full of indispensable men.”
To me it’s black and white. Make up your own mind:
The Oath of Office (for officers):
"I, _____ (SSAN), having been appointed an officer in the Army of the United States, as indicated above in the grade of _____ do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance tot he same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God."
The Oath of Enlistment (for enlistees):
"I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."
Friday, June 4, 2010
What it is, is Baseball.
Lots of people suddenly want baseball to be something that it’s not. Lots of people suddenly want baseball to be – gulp – football (Bill Plaschke – Commentary from the Los Angeles Times, 03 Jun 2010 8:55PM, Replay isn’t needed, perfect isn’t the point). It’s Baseball – ‘nuff said.
All this just because an Ump missed a call. It’s happened before and will happen again. We’ve probably all seen it; possibly more than once.
Any more whining and you are on the bench. We don’t need no stinkin’ replays in baseball.
For over a hundred years, we have done without replays and the game has gotten along fine. Adding replays to the game will only make it longer – a problem with only the short-sighted of us who think it goes on too long already. The game is perfect just as it is – well, maybe except for that pesky designated hitter rule in the junior circuit. That could still use some fixin’.
The game renews itself every day.
While we are at it; lets don’t go off on a tangent and decide there’s a need for an asterisk while we are at this point in time. We don’t need any stinkin’ asterisk in the record book – ‘nuff said.
All this just because an Ump missed a call. It’s happened before and will happen again. We’ve probably all seen it; possibly more than once.
Any more whining and you are on the bench. We don’t need no stinkin’ replays in baseball.
For over a hundred years, we have done without replays and the game has gotten along fine. Adding replays to the game will only make it longer – a problem with only the short-sighted of us who think it goes on too long already. The game is perfect just as it is – well, maybe except for that pesky designated hitter rule in the junior circuit. That could still use some fixin’.
The game renews itself every day.
While we are at it; lets don’t go off on a tangent and decide there’s a need for an asterisk while we are at this point in time. We don’t need any stinkin’ asterisk in the record book – ‘nuff said.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Random thoughts, maybe questions
Just some thoughts; maybe they are more questions than thoughts.
Oil leak – Has anybody really got a handle on this situation. We all know who should be in-charge. Obama has said that the Government is but they sure haven’t shown that they are.
Arizona Law – Who do we believe? I believe we all know that the Government – Democrats and Republicans alike – has not moved to control immigration, nor does it look like they ever will.
Texas School Books – How can a state allow “voted out” elected officials make any real decisions on what the up-coming school children will be studying in the future; especially the way the votes indicated the public felt? The Legislature must move to correct this next January OR we should move to correct them at next opportunity. Elections should mean something and have impact on the agenda.
Don’t ask – Don’t tell – Congress has moved ahead with speed that has outpaced the military leadership’s study on implementation. I support the “open serving of members of the military” as it has always been there regardless of what the Leadership – Congress – the President said or believed. Anyone with a different viewpoint should extract their head from the sand and get on with business. This has a ways to go yet and we still haven’t seen all the “heads rolling//moving on” that will eventually take place.
What’s your take? I sure don't have all the answers.
Oil leak – Has anybody really got a handle on this situation. We all know who should be in-charge. Obama has said that the Government is but they sure haven’t shown that they are.
Arizona Law – Who do we believe? I believe we all know that the Government – Democrats and Republicans alike – has not moved to control immigration, nor does it look like they ever will.
Texas School Books – How can a state allow “voted out” elected officials make any real decisions on what the up-coming school children will be studying in the future; especially the way the votes indicated the public felt? The Legislature must move to correct this next January OR we should move to correct them at next opportunity. Elections should mean something and have impact on the agenda.
Don’t ask – Don’t tell – Congress has moved ahead with speed that has outpaced the military leadership’s study on implementation. I support the “open serving of members of the military” as it has always been there regardless of what the Leadership – Congress – the President said or believed. Anyone with a different viewpoint should extract their head from the sand and get on with business. This has a ways to go yet and we still haven’t seen all the “heads rolling//moving on” that will eventually take place.
What’s your take? I sure don't have all the answers.
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