Hi again from the Bastion on the Puget Sound. Well, now that the dust has settled here, in my house, around the American mid-term elections, it’s perhaps appropriate to reflect a bit on President Obama’s nationally televised reaction to the results.
It was hard for me to watch a man who tried so hard to be so much because the nation whose call he answered needed what he felt he could facilitate and what he hoped he could inspire others to help with, take full responsibility for the failure of some of his agenda.
I watched him do that before a national constituency which still refuses to accept the fact that we’re in this situation now not because “they,” that nebulous place we park our frustrations because it’s easier than admitting that we are also a government “of the people,” failed us but because it meant more to us to be materially comfortable than it did to participate in a citizen-driven democracy.
We still look for others to “lead us” and as long as that’s true, we’re not going to lead ourselves. As long as power and influence and the high dramas that are played out in a town built on the shores of one of the worst swamps north of the Big Muddy, and as long as we, the rest of America, from Bangor, Maine to Bangor, Washington State take our lead from that, we’re going to continue to sink into a morass of our own making.
I am, thank you God, three thousand miles northwest of the Potomac and I’m very fortunate to live in a state where local governments are of necessity much too responsive to the needs of the constituency to either put up candidates for or sell tickets to a political dog and pony show.
From the time he got into office, this national executive who happens to be equally parts white and black has been subjected to more rabid scrutiny and more insane and bigoted speculation than any one in history since that sad day when Jesus carried his own cross up the hill to die between two thieves and crying out to his Father, the author of all divine providence, to forgive those who were killing him.
They were expecting a Messiah then too. Jesus may or may not have been that and certainly Barack Obama is not nor has ever suggested he is. But they do have two things in common. They were exceptional human beings who answered the call of the constituency. And that constituency turned on them.
I find it rather remarkable that down at least two thousand years, we still do this. I am, however, somewhat reassured by what Darwin said about survival not being about the strongest but the most adaptable.
I hope most of all that a very troubled national executive realizes that he’s doing the best he can and that some of us don’t give a bloody damn about anything except the content of his character and the integrity with which he conducts himself as a man. He hasn’t let some of us down in those regards and he won’t let me and mine down regardless of any election returns from here forward.
He hasn’t failed us. We’ve failed him and everyone else who ever cared about us as much as we should be caring about ourselves.
IN OTHER NEWS
Not to our surprise, a recent British study confirms that alcohol is far more destructive than heroin, crack cocaine, Ecstasy or marijuana. Researchers measured not only the systemic impact it has on an individual but the price society pays for the self-destructive and often lethal behavior of the addicted. It further concluded that legal drugs also cause more damage than illicit ones. For more on this one, go here.
For possibly as long as ten years, the University District in Seattle has been plagued by professional burglar (one who does it as a full time living as opposed to an amateur who just does it to help his sick grandma or his kid sister through beauty college) who specialized in fraternity houses because the residents of them are either still sleeping or profoundly hung over in those several hours between last call and dawn. However, last week, he invaded a UW fraternity house that had sober residents who were also early risers. They tackled him, held him down until 911 arrived and are now feeling duly proud of themselves for temporarily lowering the curtain on the brilliant career of a property appropriation artist who very likely became a burglar because he couldn’t get a paper route or a box person job. Yep, for more on this one, go here.
In response to a rise in suicides, motor vehicle accidents and other self-destructive behavior among American military combat veterans, Defense Department researchers are concluding that the armed services are attracting a lot more adrenalin junkies who actually love battle action and have a very difficult time living without it. I’m not sure I buy that personally after reading a first person account of what war is like in Afghanistan. This is absolutely the most vividly intense coverage I’ve ever read. The story’s entitled “The Last Patrol.”
Felina: I see that humans have again “discovered” something that the rest of us have known since the first of us was created.
Sam: Okay. I’m going to take a shot at this and guess it’s not that the Law of Gravity is what keeps us all grounded.
Felina: Quite so.
Sam: Or that if they sail far enough, they’ll slip over the edge and into oblivion.
Felina: No, my love. I sincerely believe those are no longer issues with them. Samuel, is alcohol found anywhere in nature by itself?
Sam: Not that I know of, Lass. But just because we’ve never looked for it doesn’t mean it’s not out there.
Felina: But we have traveled and I remember one of the most beautiful flowers was the poppy.
Sam: From which humans made opium and then heroin.
Felina: And the cocoa leaf, which the humans south of that big belt they put around the planet in their maps.
Sam: The Andes Mountains of South America?
Felina: Yes, those Andes Mountains and quite so. The humans who live there chew the leaves of this plant to give them strength.
Sam: And other human beings take the leaves and turn them into crack cocaine.
Felina: This study lists it as a dangerous drug but not as lethal as this alcohol. And this marijuana, this I think I have actually seen growing down the mountain and across the glen. Where the humans who wear clothing that looks like trees and earth and prowl where this marijuana grows. With guns.
Sam: Yep, that would be a “pot patch”, as they call it. And those humans are guarding it.
Felina: Guarding it from what? I have never seen any other creature but humans even remotely interested in it. They put fire to it and take it into their lungs. And then they behave even more strangely than usual.
Sam: Kind of like those chipmunks who ate those mushrooms their mom told them expressly to stay away from.
Felina: It was interesting watching them try to fly. And when they tried to mug Homer the Wolverine, I thought that was so precious. Homer displayed a great deal of patience with them.
Sam: He might just not have been hungry at that particular moment, Felina.
Felina: Quite so. Though I have never considered chipmunks an entrée.
Sam: You also don’t have a wolverine’s total lack of culinary discrimination. If it’s breathing and he can bring it down, it’s on the menu.
Felina: Not unlike what humans refer to as “the paparazzi”. Those strange creatures with little boxes that flash and little metal pinecones on long sticks who surround another human being and assail their victim with words.
Sam: Yep, a lot like “the media,” I believe is the term they use. However, we digress.
Felina: We are the Romeo and Juliet of digression.
Sam: The Mike Nichols and Elaine May of digression.
Felina: The George and Gracie of digression.
Sam: We are legends in our own time.
Felina: And in our own minds. And so, this alcohol, which humans must create rather than take on the paw, as it were, is very dangerous when ingested. They appear to consume this dangerous substance in vast commodities.
Sam: Enough for every kit, female and male to have an annual consumption of seven bottles of whiskey, 12 bottles of wine and 230 cans of beer. What’s even more amazing is that one-third of Americans don’t drink and among the other nations of their society, there are 39 others who consume more per capita.
Felina: Amazing is certainly one word for it. They pay for the privilege of poisoning themselves. Others make their sustenance producing this toxic liquid and providing it to them. And it is legal to do all this while the harvesting and consumption of that which grows naturally, they punish by forced confinement in those big caves of theirs with iron bars on the windows.
Sam: Yep, that’s it pretty much. However, in a self-correcting universe, stupidity is kind of a population control device. Can you imagine them over-running the joint?
Felina: Sam, please, not this close to lunch?
Sam: Gotcha. And on that note?
Felina: And on that note, gentle readers, until next week then, eh? And may the Creator bless and keep you.
SURVIVING HARD TIMES
Sometimes surviving hard times is also about being inspired by a good example. This comes to us from Northern California. It’s about some students in a small junior high school who turned their newspaper into a profit-making operation and their teacher, who defied the school administrators who told them business and education did not mix. If a movie’s not made out of this one eventually, some future Frank Capra is really missing out on a prize dramatic moment. Yep, go here.
ON THE CANCER FRONT
Green salad lovers are not only good for the food chain, they’re also much less susceptible to a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer. If you need another reason for eating more like a rabbit and less like a wolf, that’s as good as any we can think of. And yep, for more, go here.
As someone I loved who lost her own battle with cancer reminded me ~ and it’s as true about surviving the Big C as it is life in general ~ there is no underestimating the healing power of a good example. This story of a survivor certain falls squarely in that category. Yep, this is another one of those and if you’re up for it, please go here.
RESOURCES AND RELATED LINKS:
Cancer Research Journal
National Cancer Institute (American)
Fighting Breast Cancer: Breast Cancer Survivor Stories
Science Daily: Health & Medicine News
American Cancer Statistics 2009
Canadian Cancer Statistics 2009
HEALTH NEWS
Small talk might be a pleasant way to pass the time but it’s not as good for you as an intelligent discussion of substance. A recent study of college students determined that those who engaged in meaningful dialogue instead of mind-numbing chit chat were both happier and healthier. Yep, for more, go here.
GOOD EXAMPLES
Four retired Boeing engineers are proving that you’re never too old to make a difference. Several years ago, these four friends with an active interest in “green” energy, came up with a unique way to harvest the power of waves far out at sea. Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat caught up with the creative quartet, the oldest of whom is 92 and the youngest, 74, at a recent science convention and filed this report.
This is not to suggest that God is on the side of the green but we could not help noting that the Seattle area’s first publicly accessible electrical vehicle recharging station is located in the parking lot of the Wooden Cross Lutheran Church. Yep, for more on this one, go here.
NORTHSTAR FAVORITES
Sightline Daily is the best Pacific Northwest source of environmentally friendly news we’ve encountered yet. They draw from newspapers and National Public Radio sources in Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state.
Meade Fisher Observes Humanity From A Safe Distance is a blog authored by an outdoor writer, photographer, West Coast kayaker and environmentalist living in the San Francisco Bay area. These short, humorous, few holds barred observations on the machinations of the human species run from the whimsical to the arid and occasionally to the quietly outraged. I’ve been a fan of this particular writer for years and I’ve always found him worth the read.
The Northstar Gallery features photography of Seattle available as postcards, computer wallpaper and workspace art.
SEATTLE SCENES
Green autumn backyard harvest, Seattle
Photo by Merritt Scott (Rusty) Miller.
What’s Going On Here?
Whether you live here or plan to visit ~ and whatever it is you enjoy doing at home or as a tourist ~ you’ll find it, you’ll find it listed here at seattlepi.com.
SEATTLE FACTS AND FIGURES
Seattle Rainfall in Comparison To Other US Cities
Seattle Geography & Climate
For more information about Seattle
OTHER RELATED STUFF FROM THE SHORES OF THE SALISH SEA
For live cameras on Seattle, the Puget Sound and Washington State
Mount Rainier slide show
Eat healthy while you’re here – Seattle PCC Co-Op
Take some fresh produce back to your hotel – Seattle Farmers Markets
When Kasatochi volcano erupted two years ago, the surrounding waters of this tiny island in the Aleutian chain were covered with ash. But instead of that being an ecological disaster for the North Pacific, satellite photos showed that the marine plant life went totally nutzoid. More specifically, the plankton upon which so many species feed, including some whales, ate the ash that fell in the ocean and had a population explosion that blossomed right up the food chain producing, among things, the biggest run of Fraser River sockeye salmon in 97 years. Yep, for more on this one, go here.
And under the “I’m Kind of Glad I Wasn’t Alive Whe This One Was” category, fossil hunters in Romania last month discovered the remains of a new species of Velociraptor, the familiar single-claw predator featured in the Jurassic Park movies. This one has double claws, is built a little lower to the ground and apparently was a lot fiercer. It was about the size of a big wild turkey and lived about 65 million years ago. Yep, for more and photos, go here.
National Wildlife Magazine
Go Northwest: Northwest Wildlife Websites
BBC’s wildlife finder
National Geographic Daily News - Animals
Retrieverman’s Weblog: Engaging articles on domestic & wildlife in the American South
I found it very interesting to note that in addition to America’s chief executive needing to worrying about how his constituency at home feels, apparently President Obama has reason to be aware of how he’s received by moneys in India. I hope the Secret Service really is on top of this. It’s hard for me to imagine these federal bodyguards being taught how to handle a life form that, in some ways, is a lot smarter than we are, acts in concert with others of its own kind and has as much right to resent human encroachment on its home ground as the bear, the cougars, the owls, the mountain goats and other creatures indigenous to the Pacific Northwest. Monkeys are revered in India so euthanasia, which this writer doesn’t believe in, is not an option. Negotiation is one and this just might be Divine Intervention so President Obama can show the world what true global diplomacy actually entails. Remember, however, I also believe in the Passover Bunny and in a pair of mated mountain lions who talk to one another about humans and let me eavesdrop. So good luck with that one, guys.
Well, that’s it for now. Thanks for the ear. Before you leave, if you’re in a shopping mood and into some interesting choices? We’ve got a “reader stocked” General Store that you might want to check out. If you’d like to sell something with us or know someone who does, email us at minstrel312@aol.com and we’ll see what we can do.
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