TIME MACHINE

Tuesday morning – a cloudy day after a gentle but significant rain all night.

We have returned from a trip to the 19th Century yesterday.

Sunny and hot – we loaded snack food and camera and ourselves into our GMC - American-made car, and headed out to two towns from lifetimes ago, two time capsules, in search of many things, but specifically in search of GAR grave markers showing branches of military service.

GAR = Grand Army of the Republic, the name of the main military arm of the United States in the American Civil War, or, as the South still likes to call it, the War Between the States.

We found the marker(s); we found the memorials; and we found a part of the heart of America, a bit of the way things used to be.

And we found a restaurant which satisfied the searchers’ hungers
.
The favourite cemetery explored was still in use and originated in the early 19th.
It was still receiving residents of the area.

It was tidy, clean, etc.. It was obviously an important part of the town, of civic pride.
Some of the oldest stones of GAR vets had been totally restored or replaced, complete with name, rank, branch of the service, and even unit served in.

There were trees; winding single lane road; and hills.

In short, a delightful place to pause a bit and reflect on things.

And then back to the 21st.

And lots of things to think about.

HOW SWEET IT WAS

Shopping for fish has never been so enjoyable.

On Friday, Dear Wife and Dear Daughter and I were treated to the same smiling staff; the same excellent service; and the incredible variety of all sorts of delicacies.

The wine/cheese bar served up a glass of wine each and a platter of three French cheeses; berry preserves; crackers; a bowl of at least ten kinds of olives and sweet and/or marinated peppers, mushrooms, capers; things I have never seen before; and chocolate truffles.

Imagine - all of this. And we could have ordered an Italian cheese course; or several American ones; and a few others I cannot remember now.

Each glass of wine was just right for one person.
And the cheese ‘course’ was plenty for four folks hungry seeking a creative appetizer.

Splendid!

We shopped afterwards - bought a few things – and planned to return Sunday after Church to pick out some fish; some steaks on sale; coffee; and a few other goodies.
The store is open seven days a week from early morning ‘till ten at night.

I arrived on Sunday– all ready to do my duty – and store was closed due to power failure. Big storm Saturday night.

Shoulda bought the stuff on Friday.

Dear Wife said so.
She was right.

Will return Tuesday or Wednesday.

There is a saying: Man proposes. God disposes. Or words to that effect.

Bon appetite!!!

HOW SWEET IT IS

Shopping at a new upscale grocery and buying wild-caught coho salmon for dinner was a treat Wednesday afternoon.

Wednesday was the third day of leaden skies and significant rain fall.
It was a perfect day to sally forth and find a new fish market.
The market turned out to be a whole lot more than just a fish market.

Plans were made during the pre-dinner cocktail hour at home to visit on Friday for wine and cheese tasting in the store; for more shopping; and for sampling some of the cooked take-home delights offered by the several kitchens in the store.

If the expected delights and pleasantries develop, they will be described in these pages in more detail.

Discovery of such a delight usually brings forth two emotions: huge enjoyment and at the same time regret at not having made the discovery sooner.

It occurs to us that buying and preparing special foods of superior quality is a lot like what President Lincoln said about cutting and splitting your own fire wood: it warms you as you prep it and again when you burn it.

Shopping and preparing the food is a twofer as well: it restoreth the soul as you search it out and it feeds the body as you prepare and consume it.

How sweet it is!

THE BISHOP-ELECT OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN

Now let’s see, some bishops of ECUSA, aka the Episcopal Church of the United States, are in a tizzy over the election of the bishop-elect of Northern Michigan.

Item: I write to share with you my decision to withhold consent to the ordination and consecration of the Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester as bishop of the Diocese of Northern Michigan.

The name of the bishop who wrote the above weighty lines is immaterial. What he wrote is very material indeed.

And we at The Study do not presume to know all the details of the case. But what we observe is part of a church hierarchy effectively condemning a fellow clergyperson because he has delved more or less seriously into practices of another spiritual discipline than his own.

Now, in my ignorance, all I seek to do here today is to observe that this same doctrinally prickly pure ECUSA seems to get along just fine with bishops who deny the Virgin Birth; the Resurrection; Miracles; heaven; hell; who question the traditional definitions of marriage as being between a man and a woman; and which is just fine with such a bishop as gene robinson of some fame, or should I say of some notoriety, or for some, even infamy.

Surely, such a church which can swallow all of the above can allow Fr. Forrester into his new office.

Or, more sadly, perhaps not.

TWO DAYS

Tuesday evening – a second day of rain.
Monday skies were heavy, gray affairs. The rain was significant – not fierce but steady and heavy.
Tuesday rainfall was intermittent – and the skies were less impacted.

And Sophie and I went back in time again. Dear Wife was on a mission of her own and Sophie had an appointment with her doctor.

And so we drove for 45 minutes to a town founded early in the 19th Century.
We enjoyed a successful doctor visit. Pleasant staff; positive exam results; and we were on our way.

We have been searching for a cemetery we found some years ago with unusual Civil War grave markings.
I had hopes the markings might be found in this town’s cemetery.

And so we drove from the office to the cemetery. It is located adjacent to the high school.
If the kids are at all aware, they might gain a little insight into life by walking/driving by a cemetery every day.

Anyway, drove into the old place – found the Civil War part of things – very fine stuff there – but no desired grave markers.

And so, after a brief walkabout and a brief driveabout, it was back to our Era.

A thought: the cemetery, tho old, was well cared for: tidy, raked, picked up, etc..
AND IT HAD NOT BEEN CHEMICALLY TREATED TO KILL PLANTS AND INSECTS!!!!

What a pleasure to walk about with Sophie and see weeds AND grass all over the place.

People and dog friendly, that is what it was/is.

How unlike subdivisions back in the 21st Century.

‘Perfect green lawns’; robins and squirrels and ducks and dogs and cats and even kids enjoying those ‘perfect green lawns’ – and in front of so many of those lawns those damned little green CAUTION – POISON – KEEP OFF UNTIL DRY.

How wonderful!

Too bad birds and dogs and cats and squirrels and little kids and worms do not read very well.

So what the hell!!

Gotta keep those damned weeds out of our PERFECT GREEN LAWNS.

But the drive was nice, out and back. And the old homes are beautiful. And the storefronts, second story, are works of art.

And Sophie and I had a great time.

Coffee, banana, and breakfast bar kept Himself going, and Sophie had her water, toys, and a dog treat.

We did ok.

And then there was/is the news:

The young pirate cried in New York.
A nyt op ed piece called for the abolition of the US Air Force and for the national service conscription of all young Americans.
Polar ice melt predictions are being downgraded.
b.o. says it might be ok to go after CIA operatives and legal staff who ok’d enhanced interrogation techniques.

One writer suggested that CIA operations might better be described as CYA operations.

It if were not so serious it would be funny.

We have never owned a Chrysler. Probably never will. But we understand today that Chrysler has turned down Government monies in order to avoid Government control.
For once in my life I say…if Chrysler were a girl…I would say as the kids say, YOU GO GIRL!!!

And we read that banks cannot give back Government money JUST BECAUSE THEY WANT TO?????

GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And national service conscription???? For all American youth?????

GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the national majority still is enraptured with b.o.

GGA!!!!!!

b.o.’s national intelligence director has written that enhanced interrogation techniques worked! Saved lives!

And b.o. is saying that is ok to look into going after the interrogators or at least those who authorized the interrogations.

Wonder what made him change his mind.

b.o. AND THE TEA PARTIES

Via TitusOneNine comes this item:

Asked about the tea parties, President Barack Obama responded that he was not aware of them. As Marie Antoinette said, "Let them drink Lapsang Souchong." His Imperial Majesty at Barackingham Palace [emphasis mine] having declined to acknowledge the tea parties, his courtiers at the Globe and elsewhere fell into line. Talk-show host Michael Graham spoke to one attendee at the 2009 Boston Tea Party who remarked of the press embargo: "If Obama had been the king of England, the Globe wouldn't have covered the American Revolution."

This is a fun article. There are a lot of clever observers out and about.
Check the whole thing out at:

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/tea-interests-tax-2367296-boston-parties#

b.o. is a real piece of work.

PIRATES AND THE POWER VACUUM

It is a given that a ‘vacuum of power’ cannot long exist in human society. Anarchy can rule the day for awhile, but not for an unlimited time.

Where human activity occurs, order will eventually be imposed.

The American West in the late 19th Century was a case in point. The same was true in the various gold or silver rushes of the same or earlier or later eras.

If law and order is not provided for a dynamic society from above, a form of it will be imposed from below.

In the current pirate situation in the Gulf of Aden, we are in that in-between time. Chaos is the order of the day: criminals seize law-abiding citizens and their property ever more frequently and authorities have not succeeded in suppressing them those depredations.

And the owners of the vessels preyed upon have not exercised any meaningful remedies - namely, crew-served weapons or private escort gunships.

Order will be restored.

Given the fact that there is really no effective international government, the job must be done by the most capable and involved nations.

The most involved and the most capable nation so involved is, of course, the United States.

It would be nice to form a coalition, to enlist allies. It would be nice to work out diplomatic solutions with the barbarians with Somalia. It would be nice if the great united nations would do something effective for once.

And ice cubes will not melt in hell.

No, we will see if b.o. can handle a real, handleable [I know, awkward] crisis. This one can be solved. It will not be mickey mouse. But it can be solved.

What it will require is some diplomacy; some coalition building; and then, finally, some military power applied very effectively against very primitive and pathetic people, because they are unsophisticated and poor and they understand only a limited kind of ‘influence’.

And they are threatening the welfare of rich and poor peoples, people in their own continent as well as everywhere else.

Pirates are bad people. While the world figures out how to remediate the causes of their barbarism, they MUST BE STOPPED FROM DOING THE HORRID THINGS THEY ARE DOING.

And b.o. has to do the stopping, using the forces at his disposal – the United States military – the agency he is going to cut, cut, cut.

Cannot wait to see how the Chicago pol handles this.

SATURDAY MORNING

The house is quiet. Sophie is asleep. Dear Wife is at an annual brunch. And I have taken up the keyboard.

Our Lenten Study continues at Church. We have five or so sessions to go.

One of our exercises is to produce three pages of writing per day to get the inner processes going. On any topic(s).

I admitted to the group last session that the negatives going on in the world are taking up a disproportionate amount of my writing time; that my daily three pages are not being done; that I am suffering from ‘negative constipation’.

And here I am struggling again with the beauty and goodness around us and finding thoughts and emotions battling with all the negatives which are intruding into our consciousness.

The robins are gathering building materials. The pond is entirely thawed and awaiting annual maintenance and the reintroduction of inhabitants. The lawns are greening up w/o benefit of fertilizer. Little green plants are already several inches high all over the place. The temperature today is predicted to be ca. 75 degrees. The sky is blue and the sun is brilliant. We are getting our reduced-delivery newspapers at fantastic price and enjoying them more.

And so on.

And yet the negatives are all around.

I will not repeat them; list them; or rehash.

But they are so much in our minds.

Thank the Good Lord for Family; for Church; for gentle pursuits; for home chores; for traditions which remind us of some of the reasons for why we are what we are.

After all, we little people do not have the responsibility of solving all the problems of the world.

God knows, we have enough of our own.

But it is so tough to watch all the mistakes being made and the ignorant acceptance of those mistakes by so many presumably intelligent people.

I am thinking that it must be really tough to be in a responsible position of power and to know that one cannot simply solve the problems which present themselves and go unresolved.

The lies; the misrepresentations; the ignorance; the blatant, outright falsifications; the incredible complexity and sometimes the unbelievable simplicity –

And to have lost faith in the competence; the honesty; the patriotism; the “Americanesss” of our leadership - it is hard to be proud and confident of our national leadership at this time.

We at The Study believe that the Nation is in for a very long four years, perhaps 8 years.

Again, the Nation will get what it deserves.

God help us.

SEAL TRIFECTA

SEA AIR AND LAND -

Easter Sunday at sea off the coast of Africa.

The United States Navy and three SEALS; three shots; three dead pirates; one safe hostage.

Pirates have declared war on civilization.

The United States Navy has responded.

Prostitution and piracy -

This Easter Sunday a particularly ugly example of the latter has been dealt with as in days of old.

Like prostitution, piracy will never be entirely done away with.

The goal is suppression.

This Sunday was a win.

There needs to be a lot more wins.

PIRATES – 2009 SOLUTION(S)

PIRATES – 2009 SOLUTION(S)

It appears to us at The Study that the way out of the current pirate fiasco is clear.
It is not cheap.
It is not without some risk.

But it can be done.

There are at least several options:

1 arm the civilian vessels transiting the threatened waters

This option fails due to a variety of legal, practical facts of life which render options 2 and 3 infinitely more acceptable.
Details could be supplied.

2 naval escorts of convoys of civilian vessels in endangered waters

Naval escorts would guarantee the safety of all vessels in convoy. This is an excellent solution. This is the way it used to be done.

3 private security escorts of civilian convoys
This option would work but would encounter all sorts of legitimate as well as illegitimate objections. This option would work.

4 invade and sanitize the coast of Africa which is harboring pirate barbarians
This option would be the most inefficient and would very likely fail.

The nice thing about options 2 and 3 is that pirates would be totally unable to cope with even small naval escorts.
Costs would be minimal.
But there would be costs.

Success of the Good Guys would be guaranteed.

Finally, the American Skipper, Captain Richard Phillips, should be freed safely – by whatever means: ransom, immunity, etc.

And it should be the last time any barbarian is allowed to take any vessel which takes advantage of protection offered by the navies of the civilized world.

And finally again, it would help suppress this disgusting seagoing criminal activity if pirates would be dealt with summarily in the old-fashioned way: namely, termination of life.

A simple idea, too simple for the world we are now living in.

God save us.

NOT AS BAD AS IT SEEMS

Thursday, and the 4+ inch snowfall of a few days ago is almost history.

Dear Wife is back from her 2+ weeks in Florida and routines are becoming more….routine.

A bad cold is working its way on out of this writer, thank the Good Lord.

And we are half a week away from Easter Sunday.

And we watch, listen, read, think and decide that things are not as bad as they seem in the world.

Not a bit of it.

Rather, things are probably worse than they seem.

An American flag ship, a container ship we believe, carrying food aid, has been attacked by pirates and the American skipper is being held for ransom.
We understand this is the first pirate taking of a US vessel in two centuries.

The Navy has stabilized the situation – and the US Government is discussing and considering and consulting.
Consulting!

Would it be fair to characterize the b.o. response as hand ringing?

I wonder if he is smart enough to hand ring.

You have to have a few smarts to know that you don’t know what the Hades to do in a situation.

His Administration is said to be considering cuts in military spending: specifically in the areas of new combat aircraft, missile defense, and replacement and repair of equipment simply worn out by continuous operations.

It must be that nothing being done by China, North Korea, or Iran represents any long term threats to US national, geopolitical interests that would require the US to maintain at least a two war capability with the best weapons systems known to modern science.

b.o. has just returned from a tour of nations, glad handing and committing gaff after gaff, and getting nothing in return but hoorays and cheers from ignorant foreign populations.

We understand that he has requested significant help in Afghanistan; help with Gitmo detainees; agreement on how to deal with the economic problems, etc., and has apologized for all the sins of the nation of which he is the President.

It was the fault of the Bush Administration that Iran was developing nuclear weapons.

It was the fault of the Bush Administration that North Korea was destabilizing the Far East.

It was the fault of the Bush Administration that the CIA detention centers and Gitmo could not be closed.

It was the fault of the Bush Administration that the US was not loved by all foreign nations.

It was the fault of the Bush Administration that the US did not enjoy more enthusiastic assistance from allies.

Now we are in the grip of the b.o. Administration.

It follows that…now all will be well.

Or perhaps continuing unwellness will also be the fault of the Bush Administration.

We are afraid that things are not as bad as they seem.

PALM SUNDAY

Sunday, Palm Sunday.

Two days ago, we collected, as the British might say, Dear Wife and Dear Cousin form airport as they arrived back in the North from Florida.

Family assembled early evening at The Study to honor Son’s birthday and to visit.

One day ago we took Cousin back to her home town and returned on the same day.

As I look out on the world, I/we are aware that the weather person is threatening us with half a foot of snow overnight and into the next day.

And it is the end of the first week of April!

On the way to Cousin’s hometown, we stopped for lunch at our favorite car dealership, the ‘green one’ – a good green, not whacko - and I/we gave her a tour: the bistro restaurant, the gift shop, the beauty shop, the elegant showrooms, the service bays, etc., etc..

All of this inside the dealership.

Now, that is class.
Top drawer!!

And then on to the small Midwestern town.

And then home.

Talked with Wife about her two weeks in Fla.
We caught up on lots of family news.

Today after church we laid plans for upcoming Easter Sunday.

In other words, the life of the Family goes on.

We are tired, not from muscular exercise, but from the tired that comes from driving and planning and coordinating this and that.

A good ‘tired’.

In the midst of all this good stuff there was the news of the police ambush in Pittsburg; of the North Korean rocket launch; of b.o.’s continued pathetic efforts overseas and his programs working their ways on the economic and social home fronts.

And so it goes.

The life of the Nation goes on at many levels.

We have not been a command economy.
We have not been a totalitarian society.

We still are not degraded into either of these dependencies.

Long may it be so.

I recall a couple of ‘givens’ from school days:

A power vacuum does not long endure. If the US ‘stands down’ anywhere in the world, someone else will ‘stand up’.

And lots of ‘standups’ are waiting for the opportunity.

Actions have consequences.

We presently have a mixed economy, an economy characterized by a mixture of governmental, producer, and consumer inputs finalizing what happens, what is produced and distributed.

We are, without doubt, moving into an economy wherein the mixture is giving way to more and more governmental influence than has been the case.

I suggest that the US is poised at a turning point, at a precipice.

Whither will it go?

b.o.’s intentions at times seem so clear. Then questions arise. His actions and words often do not mesh, but sometimes they do, or they seem to.

But we will experience consequences.

The nation voted for them.

The nation may not like them.

MAY THEY REST IN PEACE

THE THIN BLUE LINE



Paul Sciullo III


Stephen J. Mayhle



Eric Kelly



PITTSBURG POLICE DEPARTMENT