The Weedpatch Gazette - samheath's Blog

The Weedpatch Gazette - samheath's Blog - Bakotopia http://www.bakotopia.com/home/Blog/samheath en-us The Weedpatch Gazette http://www.bakotopia.com/home/Blog/samheath/33139 http://www.bakotopia.com/home/Blog/samheath/33139 A column I wrote a few years ago comparing politicians to used car and real estate salesmen provoked an acquaintance in the R/E business to call me and complain. During the conversation I commented about agreeing to disagree, but she would have none of it and hung up on me. There are some points where people dig in their heels and agreeing to disagree is off the table. This is the situation surrounding Governor Palin; her suddenly being thrust into the limelight is, to say the least, polarizing. And much in the way of Val Kilmer in Tombstone saying to the fellow who was insulting him “Does this mean we’re not friends anymore?” some friendships are being strained over her candidacy. Many years ago while playing and singing in some of the honky tonks I quickly learned the wisdom of the three subjects you do not discuss in bars: Religion, politics, and the Civil War. That was good advice then, and it remains good advice in the bars. After all, the topics are generally women/men “are no damned good” and usually suffice to pass the time in liquid camaraderie. But my not being a drinker I was always able to keep a clear mind while listening to many of the stories from others, especially women, and some of these eventually found their way into my book Birds With Broken Wings. Assuming none of the candidates is assassinated, a sober possibility, at least no one can say this election cycle is boring. Some of the speeches yes, but not what is swirling around the candidates themselves. Personally I wish politicians were still making speeches to the sound of cocking pistols in their audiences, but now they are surrounded by armed guards everywhere and packing heat to listen to any of them seems to be off the table also. Of all the political films my favorite remains Gore Vidal’s Lincoln with Mary Tyler Moore and Sam Waterston. The film so accurately portrayed the shenanigans of politics it should be required viewing for college students, though I maintain Lincoln’s War was an unnecessary attempt at national suicide and the seeds of America’s destruction had already been sown in slavery, a problem the war did not resolve and has only been exacerbated by the institution of a Federal Triune Dictatorship with its welfare and wage slavery. While I am encouraged and applaud Governor Palin’s sudden appearance and maintain it was the wisest choice McCain could have made I have no illusions about making any substantive changes in the way our government operates no matter who is in the White House. The specifics of our nation having been betrayed and our being plunged trillions of dollars into debt defy any politician addressing the solutions to our problems. The specifics would have to address the fact that heritage, culture, a common language and secure borders are the only hope of saving America; and just how would these be accomplished? Even with McCain/Palin in the White House, short of cataclysmic events overtaking America demanding the needed Draconian solutions to our problems there is little hope of any substantive action being taken to save America. From a Biblical perspective I continue to view our nation as the Great City Babylon of Revelation. Governor Palin certainly is a refreshing change from the usual way of politics in America, and I’m encouraged by her candidacy. But I’m not naïve to what is actually needed to do the things necessary to move our nation off the path to destruction the Devil’s crowd has already paved for America. For nearly four years I was totally absorbed in the writing of the autobiographical novel Donnie and Jean, an angel’s story about two twelve year old children growing up in Bakersfield during the 40s. I became a virtual recluse during those four years, seldom going anywhere except the post office and grocery store. Then there was three years writing Bird With Broken Wings. Writers are generally absorbed in their projects and content to be alone with only their thoughts for company. But my critique of To Kill A Mockingbird was a curious undertaking, and during the two years of writing that the occasional visitor would ask why I would do such a thing? But I had no ready answer to the question until I came to realize Harper Lee had written so much better than she knew in creating her literary masterpiece, and by the time she did realize this there was the need to withdraw and take time to understand it. What I came to understand was more than a book becoming a friend, some books do become such to some people and TKM became such a book for me. But more than that I came to understand Harper Lee had actually written the Novel of the Century before it even gained this distinction in literary circles. As such it deserved a very special place demanding great attention be paid to it. But I was also becoming aware that America was increasingly an ignorant and illiterate nation, an increasingly ill-mannered and violent nation, that the great literature of America was being traded for tawdry trash aided by TV unable to stem the tide of ignorance and illiteracy. There is a question of just what responsibility the individual has for choices, and does God hold us totally responsible for the choices we make? I don’t question divine intervention in the affairs of humankind, I do believe this happens. But when it comes to the matter of individual choices I struggle with this concept. I do know I can choose my friends, I can choose what to read or what films or TV programs to watch, and in making such choices I know whatever I feed my mind has a lot to do with the kind of person I am and the way I think. A great work of literature such as TKM demands a distinct kind of attention being paid to it, the kind of attention that requires thoughtful analysis of the details that make such a book a truly great work of literature. For some of us it goes beyond that, it causes us to continue to make reference to it in our own thoughts and writing, in our conversing with others. The actual points of reference demanded by TKM remind me of the closing scene in the film The Wind and the Lion where Sean Connery asks the fellow “Isn’t there one thing in your life worth losing everything for?” We never know when something may come up that will so absorb our attention all else falls to the wayside; in its way it is not unlike falling in love when the object of our affection causes all else to pale to near insignificance. But an idea, ideals can have the same effect. The real loss in America is the lack of hope for a future; but a future is dependent on ideas and ideals that inspire hope; and when people fill their minds with those things that do not contribute to ideas and ideals and forsake those things that would contribute to making good choices in their lives there is nothing left but an empty void people attempt to fill by the things that will only perish in the using. To be sincere in our convictions is an admirable thing so long as these contribute to a healthy mind. But when such sincerity becomes grotesque it is invariably due to holding the wrong convictions, and this is often due to not separating what we believe from what we know. There are certain things I believe but I’m not certain about my own ignorance because there are too many things I do not know, and like Leo Stein I question the wisdom of others because I question my own. I do find wisdom in some Scriptures, in others like Emerson and Harper Lee, but the best of such wisdom comes from the admission of their questioning their own wisdom, their questioning their own motives in coming at their own beliefs. And just who you choose as your authorities on any particular subject, about your beliefs tells others much about you. The Weedpatch Gazette http://www.bakotopia.com/home/Blog/samheath/33082 http://www.bakotopia.com/home/Blog/samheath/33082 Because America is at the mercy of politicians and has been betrayed and plunged trillions of dollars into debt by the most corrupt and inept administration in our nation’s history I see no way out apart from truly Draconian action on the part of the leadership of America, and no matter who is elected solutions to problems of such magnitude our nation is facing are not likely. But thanks to John McCain Governor Sarah Palin may go to Washington, and at least she does inspire some hope and that is more than any other politician is offering; unlike others she represents the hope for real change in government. Quite obviously she has made enemies along the way; but it is important for We the People to know these are the kinds of enemies that out of a good and tender conscience we would want her to make. But Governor Sarah Palin is being subjected to bullies attacking her and this forcefully reminded me of something from Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird. While Tom Robinson as Harper Lee pointed out was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed he might have had some slim hope had he not been honest and said he felt sorry for the girl! The moment the words were spoken the shock of this was palpable in that courtroom, and too late Tom realized the magnitude of his enormous error: He just said that he had felt sorry for a white woman! About eighty years after the events of the era Harper Lee describes in her masterful novel things have improved here in America, but race and gender continue to provoke many of the same ugly prejudices they always have. But even back in the time of the setting for TKM Harper Lee knew of good people like Sheriff Tate who would pronounce in defiance of the very laws he was sworn to uphold and refusing to expose the truth about Arthur Radley killing him: “Bob Ewell fell on his knife.” And in her childhood wisdom little Scout understood the neighborhood mad man now known as the guardian angel of the children saying to her father when Atticus asks if she can possibly understand, “Well, it’d be sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?” Sheriff Tate had made a distinction between committing a sin and the laws he was sworn to uphold; for him as he declared to Atticus it was a matter of conscience, and when his conscience came into conflict with the law he yielded to conscience and in essence became a lawbreaker, even as civilized and good a law-abiding man as Atticus being in agreement. But would Atticus have chosen to go along with Sheriff Tate had not it been a family matter? But there it is; something that could be construed as an abuse of power, but one with which most good and fair-minded people can readily relate and agree. A while back I wrote the real virtue and character of America could be found in the rural churches throughout our nation, churches supported and attended by the good people who were raised to be civilized and law-abiding, only wanting to make an honest living and live in peace with their neighbors. But few are so naïve as to think a lynch mob cannot be made up of one’s friends and neighbors despite the patently obvious hypocrisy of those like Bob Ewell who referred to himself as a “God fearing man!” The present lynch mob out to get Governor Palin I am sure are for the most part good people, and nothing I say should be construed as forgetting many of these are the same kinds of friends and neighbors that came into conflict with their prejudices in TKM. However, there is no little Scout to save Governor Palin from the lynch mob despite some of the cruel attacks on her pertaining to her children, but I’m compelled to make the attempt understanding as I do the comparison between her as a woman today in a merciless media spotlight, a media that has already proven its ugly prejudice, and Tom Robinson in that courtroom. There are many excuses being given for some people attacking Governor Sarah Palin, but no good reasons for resorting to attacks out of obvious envy and jealousy. Ugliness is always the enemy of beauty, of civilized good manners and speech, and we are left to wonder how Barack Hussein Obama would fare if he and his family were subjected to the same scrutiny and vitriol Governor Sarah Palin and her family have been, if he were not the darling of the ACLU and a Hollywood media circus being applauded by Democrats sold out to a welfare mentality regardless of his dubious past and present associations. Governor Palin has at least succeeded in flushing out some of the very worst of the vermin in America from under their respective rocks, and now they are being exposed to the light for the execrable creatures they are. It is one thing to disagree with a political opponent; it is another thing to attack children in order to get at the opponent. This may be politics, but with the introduction of Governor Palin on the national scene blindsiding some of the enemies of America they have declared war on a candidate’s family and children declaring they are now fair game and it’s the Devil’s game, one he relishes! It would be naïve in the extreme to think race and gender are not going to be prominent, if not decisive factors in this election. I continue to believe it was lunacy at the most charitable for the powers of the Democrat party to ever advance candidates like Senators Clinton and Obama. I can’t get past the What in the world were they thinking? But once it was decided by the powers of the GOP to give Senator McCain the nod and he decided on Governor Palin I thought it the wisest choice he could have made. This election cycle is going to add more meaning to Cafferty’s It’s Getting Ugly Out There. While America is being ripped apart, our leaders, Republicans and Democrats, refusing to secure our borders for the sake of illegal alien slave labor from Mexico, betraying and selling out our nation at every opportunity here is a fresh face, a woman endowed with a great mind evidenced by her eloquence and life’s accomplishments and having integrity that for once would do our nation honor being attacked by the very people that should be thanking God for giving us the chance for some honor to be restored for America after the most corrupt and inept administration our nation has ever endured! Senator McCain knew he was not choosing a “pal,” but someone who would be her own person, someone he could rely on for an honest answer from a sincere heart and mind to honest and sincere questions; someone that actually believes there is a soul of America in need of salvation and will do all she can to save America. Things are going to get increasingly ugly this election cycle. But the Scriptural imperative remains, and one I believe to be of utmost importance: “Guard thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.” I can’t answer for another, but I must answer to God for myself. And if some want to consign me to the outer reaches for speaking my mind, then there is nothing I can do about that. But eventually in my opinion we will all answer for matters of conscience, and I believe Sheriff Tate was correct in his opinion of sin in respect to Boo Radley, a sin he was not about to have on his conscience when he had it within his power to make the decision he did. If Governor Palin has ever abused her power of office we don’t presently know that for a fact, but just how deep do her enemies really want to dig into such a thing? In my opinion she despises bullies ever much as I do, and sometimes it takes extraordinary measures to confront and overcome bullies. One thing is certain; her bullying enemies will not dig that deeply into either Obama or Biden’s abuses of power. The patently obvious hypocrisy in this instance is as palpable as the shock of disbelief in that courtroom when Tom Robinson dared to say he felt sorry for a white woman! For some this election like the attitude of Sheriff Tate and Atticus regarding the death of the evil and cowardly bullying Ewell will be a matter of conscience rather than any abuse of power, so this is not to find fault with those who act as a matter of conscience. Yet being mere mortals conscience can be a most unreliable thing from which to act. If some mistrust Governor Palin on the basis of conscience then that is their call. But if they react out of the same motives that condemned Tom Robinson they are no better than that jury that condemned an innocent man because of their prejudices, but Tom Robinson had passed righteous judgment and declared them the guilty parties. In this case an uppity woman is the one causing so much shock and disbelief and some are reacting out of anger that this uppity woman doesn’t know her place, but the facts of the case pronounce her the innocent party. However, recognizing this would require sincerity and a good conscience that understands injustice for what it is. This is in no way an attempt to compare what finally happened to Tom Robinson because of the ugly prejudices that condemned an innocent man to death just because of the color of his skin. But there is a legitimate comparison to be made to the kinds of ugly prejudices that are becoming evident in regard to Governor Palin just because she is a woman, many of them no different in their own way to the ugly prejudices Harper Lee so masterfully described in TKM, the kinds of prejudice that led Mr. Raymond to say to the children that when they got a little older they wouldn’t cry over such injustice, that only children understand and do so, the things that led Atticus to say “Maybe we need a police force of children.” The Weedpatch Gazette http://www.bakotopia.com/home/Blog/samheath/32983 http://www.bakotopia.com/home/Blog/samheath/32983 While we are experiencing some relief from the oppressive heat here in the Kern River Valley it did not surprise me to find a garter snake making itself at home on my front screen porch reminding me summer has not had its final say. I long ago learned to walk carefully barefoot in the dark if I had to get up during the night because of the occasional lizard or even a snake, but slippers pose their own risks as anyone that has seen Arachnophobia knows and from childhood I had been taught to shake out my clothes and shoes in the morning before getting dressed just as I was taught to use a stick to clear out and discomfit any unwanted arachnids in our privy. It was when I turned on the light in my bathroom once only to discover a very large tarantula on the sink I decided it was a good idea to occasionally turn on lights even if you don’t think they are needed. But old habits are hard to break and not using electricity unnecessarily, a lesson from childhood, I’m reluctant to turn on a light if I don’t have to. And living alone I know my way around here in the dark, the old saying “home is where you don’t bump into things in the dark.” But the old saying disregards the chance encounters while barefoot in the dark with assorted reptiles and spiders. Grandad had just gotten a mineral light and I was out looking for tungsten traces around our mining claim when I discovered scorpions fluoresced and glow a beautifully brilliant blue, but I little realized how abundant those critters were around our place until then. Up to that point I had been used to going barefoot all summer long, but after that discovery I made sure to wear my tennis shoes when wandering about in the dark thereafter. Of course if we had suffered the curse of those cruel goat head stickers around our place, the bane of barefoot children and bicycle tires, I couldn’t have gone barefoot day or night. A Utopian world would allow children to go barefoot anywhere at all times, so I may be forgiven for thinking the world has it in for children especially. There shouldn’t be any goat head stickers, broken glass, rusty nails or tin can lids to injure children while going barefoot. Ok, so I recall some of the womenfolk in Little Oklahoma in their flour sack dresses going barefoot as well but these days calling attention to this might be construed as sexist. However, for those of us raised with Lil’ Abner and Snuffy Smith such a thing should be allowable, especially since the menfolk were nearly as likely to be barefoot in our neighborhood. As a matter of fact, I’m barefoot now as I write taking advantage of the warm weather while I can. All too soon I will once more have to bundle like an Eskimo, wearing heavy socks, sweat suit pajamas and stocking cap to bed and literally sitting on that small propane heater to get warm in the mornings. Then the cat will be on my lap when I come in here where I write while I try to type around her, something that has become a routine for both of us over the past few years. But why let thoughts of coming winter interfere with what I am enjoying of summer? I can also enjoy thoughts of the coming autumn season when things begin to change, nature preparing me in an unhurried fashion for thoughts of winter, but the time to enjoy what we can of life is the very moment in which we live. I’m blessed with not having to hurry about much of anything anymore, and since I have no say in the matter of the changing seasons I’ll just take what comes along. With all the snapping and snarling going on right now in the political arena I remind myself that like the change of seasons I really have no say in the matter apart from casting my vote in November. I don’t flatter myself that my opinion of things matters much to those in power but my opinion does matter to me, and if I prefer to go barefoot regardless of the opinion of others there are none I must mind to persuade me differently. Still, the world is full of goat head stickers, reptiles, spiders and scorpions so it is the better part of wisdom to be properly shod to meet the circumstances. This doesn’t prevent me, or you gentle reader, wishing the world were kinder to barefoot children, or even some of us oldsters that still like to go barefoot. The Weedpatch Gazette http://www.bakotopia.com/home/Blog/samheath/32916 http://www.bakotopia.com/home/Blog/samheath/32916 Those of us who are given to talking to animals cannot help wondering if any of them have a sense of humor or laugh at themselves or each other. There are some intriguing studies done about this that offer some insights, but the cat has yet to share any feline jokes with me, nor have any of the critters I have come across in my wilderness wanderings ever said to me “Say, have you heard the one about the travelling bear?” But if the critters were capable of intelligible human speech I often wonder what stories they might tell? Looking into the eyes of some animals you cannot fail to see real intelligence there, but just how this intelligence works in animals is not clearly understood and is often unpredictable. While some animals like dogs can be trained to do extraordinary tasks, there is always that unpredictable characteristic in animals that distinguish between them and humans. Even understanding this there are some that will say, “I wish my wife or husband was as well behaved and loyal as my dog.” Human beings among the more civilized have developed standards of manners and laws that are expected to be adhered to and differentiate them from the barbarous. The seemingly erratic flight of butterflies lends charm to these delightful jewels of nature, but would be grotesque in some other creatures. However, the behavioral patterns of all living things are something that has always invited scientific study. Despite all the marvelous computer generated graphics and the various theories it still does not seem possible to me that life came from the Big Bang, and I continue to believe life came from God after the creation of the physical universe as described in Genesis, though I believe the Devil may have gotten here first with some truly diabolical and grotesque life forms before God created Adam and Eve. It’s almost a scene out of Frankenstein where an infinitesimal electric charge has to be induced in order for in vitro fertilization to take place and scientists do not know the reason for this. We know such energy is required for life, but do not know what this energy is, “this fire of life we carry about  in these mortal bodies.” Until we know exactly what life and death are these will continue to be the greatest mysteries of all, the greatest mysteries they have always been. At that, these may continue to be unknowable. The “God particle” is a misnomer since the Higgs boson if found by physicists will still be a creation of energy, the source of which will still be unknown. Energy produces motion which produces phenomena does not explain the energy. But I continue to applaud the scientists that keep poking their fingers into the empty light sockets risking the jolt and Dee Dee looking at that button saying “Oooo” and then pushing the button. The Darwin Award does not do justice to the many survivors of “I wonder what this thing does?” Not a few such things among others have elicited the occasional “Heath! You stupid idiot!” from my own lips. A living cell continues to be one of the great mysteries of life, and scientists have yet to understand the mysteries of this literal miracle of life. The more that is discovered about living cells, the more mysterious these become: Evolution Continues to Be a Hard Cell: By Frank Sherwin, M.A. September 2008. The increasing amount of research at the cellular level has boded ill for the naturalist who insists that life must be interpreted (strained?) through a Darwinian explanatory filter. For instance, recent studies have focused on ion channels, which are passages designed to transport charged atoms (ions) through a membrane formed by a specific protein or proteins on the surface of cells. Energy (adenosine triphosphate, or ATP) is not required; instead, passive transport is utilized in this very complex gating process. In 2006, researchers discussed a unique bacterial voltage-gated potassium ion (Kv) channel from the genus Listeria. They stated, "The fundamental principles underlying voltage sensing, a hallmark feature of electrically excitable cells, are still enigmatic and the subject of intense scrutiny and controversy…"<o:p></o:p> No less mysterious is the fact of our solar system, something I continue to believe is unique in the universe. As with studies of living cells, studies of our solar system seem to point to a unique structure, one in which a planet exists capable of supporting intelligent life: September 2, 2008. New Study Shows Solar System is Unique: TFOT (The Future Of Things): Research conducted by a team of North American scientists shows our solar system is special, contrary to the accepted theory that it is an average planetary system. Using computer simulations to follow the development of planets, it was shown that very specific conditions are needed for a proto-stellar disk to evolve into a solar system-like planetary system. The simulations show that in most cases either no planets are created, or planets are formed and then migrate towards the disk center and acquire highly elliptical orbits… But the contributors to the Kurzweil Report as yet have not put their finger on “Ah, sweet mystery of life at last I’ve found you.” I still watch the old Nelson Eddy and Jeannette MacDonald films, I still thrill to the operatic music and the old songs I recall from childhood. Few things serve so well for renewal of purpose than music that lifts the soul. What exactly the purpose is remains a mystery; but I suppose Moses struggled with “I AM” in answer to the question of God’s name. The Weedpatch Gazette http://www.bakotopia.com/home/Blog/samheath/32843 http://www.bakotopia.com/home/Blog/samheath/32843 What about sports? Well, I kind of lost interest when the Dodgers left Brooklyn, though flipping channels I come across the occasional football game. It was while watching the cheerleaders for the Dallas Cowboys the other night that the thought crossed my mind those girls were probably missing choir practice, making the sacrifice in order to inspire football players. Yes, it has been some time since I followed sports. We all know how ugly life can be, but those of us so fortunate as to be able to make some parts of it beautiful have an obligation to do so for the sake of a healthy mind. Just as we choose our friends we choose what books to read, what films or TV programs to watch, what music we listen to, how much time we devote to things for self-improvement. It is all too easy to get caught up in the anger and frustration of the times in which we now live that diverts attention away from the things that make life really worthwhile for those of us so fortunate to have the choice. Many of us attempt to keep up with current events, but to light a candle rather than curse the darkness remains good advice and why subject yourself to feeling like throwing something at your TV when some politician appears? At my age I try to watch my blood pressure and avoid those things over which I have no control that only serve to arouse anger and frustration, and talking to the resident cat and giving her pets being rewarded by her purr of contentment in return sure beats shouting at a TV screen. But don’t you sometimes wonder why some people seem to thrive on being just downright ugly and spiteful toward others, inviting these others to be just as ugly and spiteful to them in return? Like Lee Marvin put it in Death Hunt: “I never did have much luck praying,” but if I could prevail on God it would be for people to be kinder to one another knowing among many other things that life is short at best. When I was a boy my mother took me to see the film A Girl of the Limberlost (1945 version). She knew I had read the book and wanted me to see the film, and there was one scene that really stuck in my mind. Elnora was hated by one of her schoolmates and knew of the girl’s love for the Limberlost and its creatures. During a school function a beautiful butterfly had flown in the window and alighted on a curtain. As an enchanted Elnora stood looking with tender wonder at the beautiful butterfly this other girl ran over and just to hurt Elnora out of spite, envy, and jealousy used her scarf to swat and destroy the beautiful butterfly right before her eyes! The homily is self-evident; it is my belief the Devil hates the children of God and goes out of his way at every opportunity to swat and destroy butterflies, to either hurt or destroy anything of beauty in any way reflecting the goodness of God’s Creation in which his children find the evidence and comfort of God together with the kind of inspiration for the best we can do in gratitude to both God and beauty. It is well said there are few things more boring than listening to someone in love. Much like hauling out the pictures of children and grandchildren such things are only of primary interest to those actually involved. We may share some of the joy of friends in such things, but we should remember there are some pragmatic facts about them that come with the territory, and friends while observing the proprieties should not be held accountable for a lack of enthusiasm at times over the things we feel are of great import. As I write I know there are many who can relate to my enjoyment of this small corner of the Sequoia National Forest in which I dwell. As I sometimes write of the various birds, butterflies, and baby lizards I find so enchanting there is much for others to envy, but most would not begrudge the enchantment I find in these things. However, I would not be so presumptuous as to think some others would not find writing of these things at length to eventually be boring. The fact is that most people have to live in a dangerous world, even dangerous surroundings where neither they nor their children may ever see the stars at night or a baby lizard in the wild. In the film Tombstone Josephine tells Wyatt she is always happy; unless she is bored. I’m seldom ever bored here where I live surrounded by natural beauty and forest critters, but even Henry Thoreau admitted to the need of society in his life, and even the local gossip. It is in the manner we treat of boredom and attempt to allay it there is often found a difference between kindness and meanness. At this time some are attempting to demonize Governor Sarah Palin for the unwed pregnancy of her daughter. Alas, it happens in the best of families; but when it comes to politics as with love and war anything goes and all any well-wishers like me can do is wish the family well. But I have the advantage in not being involved, as the Psalmist had it, in things too far above me. There is important business at hand for which I do feel responsible, things in which I can be involved which to me are of primary importance, things like butterflies, baby lizards, and watching the stars at night while giving the resident cat her pets. These things while not of any great import in the scheme of things serve to remind me that all things pass away with the using, even this mortal body, but time spent in any act of kindness or a kind word of encouragement, of contemplation of beauty as with fishing a pristine, wilderness trout stream is not deducted from my measure of years. The Weedpatch Gazette http://www.bakotopia.com/home/Blog/samheath/32764 http://www.bakotopia.com/home/Blog/samheath/32764 Governor Sarah Louise Heath Palin was not only the wisest choice McCain could possibly make, I take personal satisfaction in a Heath having a chance at the White House, perhaps even President of America! But the greatest satisfaction of all is having a woman of proven ability with so many truly American attributes shining a light of hope on an otherwise barren political landscape. We the People can take justifiable pride in the choice of Governor Palin and the encouragement she is going to give people to go to the polls that would otherwise be sitting at home on election day. It may be God will give America this one more chance to get its act together; and though it sounds extreme I see Sarah Palin as that one more chance with someone who unlike the usual species of politicians actually has a soul and will motivate me to vote with a clear conscience. John McCain may be the best of a bad lot, but Sarah Palin is the best of the best lot, and more than that she is a Lady in every sense of the word, something America is sorely in need of to inspire and give hope to both men and women throughout America that not all is yet lost and the Devil given our nation by forfeit. But she’s a woman! No one who has read my writings as an advocate of women and especially my critique of To Kill A Mockingbird or any of my other books would ever accuse me of not wanting to see women in leadership positions. My greatest criticism of the U.N. has been the lack of women there in leadership positions. My criticism of the Great Books of the Western World was the lack of women being represented in that monumental set of books. A constant theme in my writing is the way women are treated as of less value than men, how the compatibility of differences in honor of both men and women is so sorely needed for a truly civilized society. It needn’t be said women are capable of being just as crude, vulgar and vicious as men, but this does not in any way detract from the fact that women are the softer and gentler part of humankind in general. Nor does this in any way ignore the fact that a woman can be tough in ways that are generally accorded men, my apologetic about this is pointing out the tragedy for America has been in women having to be tough in ways they should never have to be. My girls were raised to hunt and fish, to ride motorcycles like dad, to enjoy wilderness areas and care for the critters just like me. I did not want them excluded from anything my boys could do; I never treated them as though I had lower expectations for them in any way because they were girls. The biggest difference was in the way a little girl finds her way into the heart of a father, something that brings out the very best of the tender emotions of a father that boys cannot do; and this is what God intended little girls to do for fathers, this is where the genius of Harper Lee had little Scout disperse that lynch mob, something Ms. Lee knew no man or boy could do. It is my two angels, my precious daughters that give me whatever empathy I have for women, who keep me many times from something that would be unworthy of their love for me. Had it not been for my two angels, Diana and Karen, both of them now with the Lord and watching over me and continuing to inspire me to keep on living and writing I would not now be so supportive of Sarah Palin, I would never have been a writer of the romance of life; I would never have appreciated the true value of women that God intended them to be to men, there would never have been that critique of TKM emphasizing the importance of little girls in the scheme of things, I could never have really understood little Scout coming to the realization that there might actually be some skill involved with being a girl. In the weeks and months to come I know there are going to be some hard things said about Sarah Palin, many of these things are going to be said by men that both fear and resent a woman in the White House. Much criticism will be leveled at her by those that both fear and resent her conservative views, but most of all the criticism will have its roots in her being a lady, a loving and faithful wife and mother, something quite different than what We the People have been offered in politics, and especially at such an historic level of prominence and importance. Quite obviously Sarah Palin supports our military and is not naive about the evils of this world system, that America requires a strong military to confront the enemies of America. I have no doubt about her ability to make the tough decisions that may eventually be required of her, and she has already proven her mettle in this regard. One of my concerns is those that can never relate to what God intended women to be as the softer and gentler half of humankind while not understanding the kind of strength required of women to fulfill this role in the face of so much barbarism on the part of men constantly in conflict with the better influence of women. I believe Sarah Palin understands the fact that men make wars while women attempt to make homes. My hope is that she will have the opportunity to emphasize this difference and give women the needed voice and power to make the better part, that of homes rather than wars a chance to become the reality. The Weedpatch Gazette http://www.bakotopia.com/home/Blog/samheath/32651 http://www.bakotopia.com/home/Blog/samheath/32651 Recently discovered satellite galaxies described as “Puffy balls in space” may be orbs of dark matter. And these may be the explanation for the smaller orbs sometimes appearing in photographs, even the explanation for the many stories about ghosts and spirits, angels and demons belonging to a dimension apart from the physical limitations of space and time and confirming my belief life is of God and not a result of the separate creation of the physical universe as described in Genesis. But before sharing this recent and astounding discovery, apart from prejudice there is no mistaking the quality of the writings finally accepted into the canon of Scripture compared to other writings that were rejected, though there are undoubtedly things of historical fact contained in some of these extracanonical writings. There is the continued need for textual criticism that helps put things in historical perspective and separates the wheat from the chaff. However, over the many years of my own Biblical studies my beliefs and opinions have changed about many things found in the Bible but there has been one constant; and that is the objective fact there are no comparable writings to be found anywhere else in recorded history. The Bible despite some difficulties and discrepancies is quite unique and stands well apart and above all other writings of humankind, and I have no doubt some of its writers did have a special relationship to God and imparted things God intended people to know, and some especially chosen of God wrote these things down passing them on to others. That some of these things began as oral tradition before being written would explain facts lost to antiquity but resulting in stories about the Creation, Adam and Eve, The Fall, the Deluge and others open to interpretation, but still based on facts. One of the several things that confound critics of the Bible is that the writings are for the most part free of many fanciful stories current during the times in which the Bible was being written, among these some of the “Jewish fables” to which the Apostle Paul referred. Even though the Hellenic influence is evident in places for example, the various mythologies and fabulous stories belonging to such mythologies are for the greater part missing in the Received Text. Comparisons have been made from various myths in regard to some miracles described in the Bible, but upon close examination the Biblical accounts of such things are superior to these other accounts, particularly in the quality of the writings themselves. If someone were to take it upon themselves to make up a story about Moses they would be hard pressed to provide the many details found in Scripture and to tell it with the same authority of veracity as the original. The same can be said for the stories in the beginning chapters of Genesis. But the stories surrounding the birth and life of Jesus together with the rest of the New Testament would be the most daunting task of all. First of all, what would be the motive for anyone undertaking such a task? If it entered the mind of someone to make up such stories what would be gained by their doing so, and how would they convince others to follow along? History is replete with charlatans and false messiahs, but eventually they are found out. No, there is simply too much of veracity in the New Testament for all the writings to be discounted as intent to deceive. And it could be as simple as the words of those officers sent to take Jesus by force and refusing to do so because “Never man spake like this man.” One of many reasons I take the Bible very seriously in many places is because of scientific discoveries continually being made that affirm spiritual beliefs, such as the “Puffy balls in space.” Galaxy surprise sheds light on dark matter. Galaxies circling the Milky Way pack about the same mass, study shows: By Clara Moskowitz, Space.com: Updated 1:53 p.m. PT, Wed., Aug. 27, 2008: A study of small galaxies circling around the Milky Way found that while they range dramatically in brightness, they all surprisingly pack about the same mass. The work suggests there is a minimum size for galaxies, and it could shed light on mysterious dark matter. Spinning around the Milky Way are at least 23 <a href="http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/070115_mm_hobbit_galaxies.html">pint-sized galaxies</a>, each shining with the light of anywhere from a thousand to a billion suns. Though each of these galaxies is very dim compared to large galaxies like our own, they span a large range in brightness. Astronomers led by Louis Strigari of the University of California-Irvine studied the movements of individual stars in these satellite galaxies to determine the mass of each galaxy. "What we found was astonishing, which was that they all had the same mass," said researcher James Bullock, a UC-Irvine astrophysicist. "It's not what we were expecting — we were really taken off guard." Loaded with dark matter: The finding could help explain the mysterious stuff called dark matter and how it affects the formation of galaxies. Nobody knows what dark matter is, but its presence is revealed by gravity that is not produced by the regular matter that can be seen. Despite their wide-ranging brightnesses, all of the <a href="http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=080827-satellites-02.jpg&cap=A+map+of+the+major+satellite+galaxies+surrounding+the+Milky+Way.+Credit%3A+J.+Bullock%2C+M.+Geha%2C+R.+Powell">23 satellite galaxies</a> around the Milky Way seem to have a central mass of 10 million times that of the sun. And what's more, almost all of that mass seems to be made up of dark matter, with just the tiniest smidgen of visible matter producing stars. "These are by far the dimmest galaxies that have ever been discovered, and the least luminous of these things are the most dark-matter-dominated things that we know about," Bullock told SPACE.com. Though they qualify as galaxies, the satellites are not pinwheel spirals like the Milky Way and its cousins. Rather, these dwarf galaxies look more like diffuse, puffy balls of light… The Weedpatch Gazette http://www.bakotopia.com/home/Blog/samheath/32585 http://www.bakotopia.com/home/Blog/samheath/32585 In the old days before email people used to actually write letters to one another, and looking back there is no mistaking how labor intensive such a thing was. But if such a letter was from a loved one, how precious such a thing could be since you could hold it in your hands and read it knowing the dear one who had written it had actually handled the paper while writing, that they had with their own hands folded it and put it in an envelope, sealed, stamped and mailed it. I have quite an archive of such letters from now departed loved ones, and it is a treasure trove of precious memories. If you are old enough you may be able to imagine a generation that has nothing but electronic communications from various people, but no actual letters such as my generation knew and appreciate what a melancholy loss this represents. My mother’s scrapbook she began to keep before WWII and during the war contains a number of letters, some of them actual love letters expressive of that time in which she lived as a beautiful young woman. These are now properly a part of the history of that era, a part of the history not available in books that I can handle and read over and over again, primary source material not available to historians. They are filled with the personal hopes and dreams, even the fears common to most young people of that time facing so many dangers and uncertainties, and yet there were the hopes and dreams, the optimism that somehow, some way things were going to come out all right in the end. Well, the handwritten letters are passing away and love letters have long passed away as an art form in their own right. This generation will have known nothing but computers and emails, even facing the prospect of robotics replacing the human touch in many ways that can’t help but dehumanize many of the things my generation took for granted would continue to put a softer touch on things now turned electronic and mechanical. I’ve worn shirts my mother made from flour and grain sacks, I’ve slept between sheets that were washed in a galvanized tub of water propped up on bricks and heated over an open fire outside and scrubbed by hand; some of you may be old enough to remember those old scrub boards. I recall the flatirons heated on a wood stove, and used them myself to iron clothes. Children in my time were taught to do such things. But despite such hardships, mine seemed a far more optimistic generation than this one despite all the conveniences of modern living, the kind of optimism expressed in those letters in my mother’s scrapbook. Text-messaging and emails will never take the place of personal letters, let alone anything approaching love letters. But unlike my generation that knew the hardships of everyday living, this generation can’t know what it has lost in the transition to the society into which they have been born. TV has been the tool by which this generation has been taught entitlement without ever having to earn their bread by the sweat of their brow, and betrayed by politicians that have never known want in their lives and have destroyed the means by which my generation could find jobs that ennobled labor and provided hope of the future. And the political mannequins now parading on TV mouthing glittering generalities and empty platitudes without any substance in either manner or words provide no hope for optimism anything is going to change for the better. This will be the first generation of Americans for which hope for their future has been denied them. But it will also be a generation that is largely unread, ignorant and illiterate, something of which this generation of politicians is taking full advantage. My generation knew well there was no such thing as a free lunch, but this generation has been raised so ignorantly they have been convinced they are owed a living, that unproductive mouths are supposed to be fed by the productive. This weed of evil has born the bitter fruit of entitlement, and along with this insidious, terminal cancer eating away at America’s vitals is the fact of welfare and prisons being growth industries while the productive half of society is extorted by government to support the other half like politicians and their toadies feeding at the public tax trough. We are now long past an era of good manners and civility, we now have a society in which elders receive no respect from younger people and to be old is now treated not only without respect but even open hostility. Elder abuse is becoming a commonplace and our universities and schools are churning out products that have never known how to show any respect for the elderly. It is a commonplace on websites and blogs like that of The Bakersfield Californian and elsewhere the elderly are frequently treated without any respect by youngsters, something virtually unknown to me as a child. Even granting some of the elderly not worthy of being treated with respect, there is an unhealthy pattern to young people addressing the elderly without even the semblance of good manners or civility, a callousness toward the elderly reflecting very badly upon a whole generation of young people. Our leadership certainly does not deserve any respect from anyone, but few among our leaders have ever known the kinds of hardship that developed real character. The lack of such character in young people today may be a product of the times, but many politicians being elderly themselves do not have even that excuse. And having to be so very careful of what they commit to handwritten expression, it is doubtful any had the benefit of those love letters that were so expressive of the character of the America into which I was born. This may help explain why our leaders are so willing to betray America, why they want to encourage the invasion of barbarians from places like Mexico and elsewhere for the sake of slave labor benefitting only the wealthy like politicians and their ilk. And being so sorely ignorant, so lacking in the experience of age, so lacking in good manners and civility, it would seem this generation of young people is eager to cooperate even to their own destruction. I realize many young people today were never taught good manners, never taught the civilities of a polite society that young people in my time were taught. But to aggravate this situation is an entire society that seems given over to barbarism, to glorifying sex and violence as though there were no tomorrow. And given the present leadership of America with nothing better in sight, perhaps there will be no tomorrow for today’s young people. When I was a child it was unthinkable to address a teacher by their first name, nor did I ever allow this when I became a teacher. But as younger teachers began to appear in the classrooms of America they had been taught in the universities that this was not only acceptable, but actually encouraged. Little by little teachers lost the necessary discipline needed in order to teach effectively. But now it is being debated whether to arm classroom teachers; a not unexpected result of the breakdown of discipline in the schools and in society. In so many ways the young people today have actually been taught to disrespect authority, to disrespect the elderly. The blame might be quickly passed to those my age that failed the next generation except for this one thing: Even then we were given no real choice of leadership, but the Devil’s own were deciding who would lead America. And whether the Devil or not that’s the way it was, and this is the way it is. The Weedpatch Gazette http://www.bakotopia.com/home/Blog/samheath/32404 http://www.bakotopia.com/home/Blog/samheath/32404 The benefits of the often oppressive summer heat here in the Kern River Valley are the glorious mornings and balmy evenings. Last evening I was taking advantage of this, and while sitting outside in the twilight watched as a pair of quail walked unhurriedly by me and then flew into a nearby oak tree to roost for the night. There has always been something about such a scene from nature that has struck a responsive chord in my heart as a boy and continuing to this very day, the chord of a romantic. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Since the greatest contributing factor to quality of life is how a person thinks, what is it that makes cynics of some while others despite the harsh realities of life continue to live in hope? I believe the answer may be found in the difference between Emerson and Sam Clemens. Many will agree Clemens to have been America’s greatest humorist, but he was a cynic. Emerson was not a humorist but a great thinker and philosopher and never became a cynic. It is all too easy to give way to cynicism, to criticize the romantic writers and poets as Clemens did, those whose thoughts are devoted to whatsoever things are lovely since most of the world dwells in darkness, the kind of darkness in which satire makes mean sport of the light. The result of this being since the world cares for its own it scorns the lovers and romantics while heaping ridicule upon them and may say cynically like Clemens the only pure and unalloyed gift of God is death, while those like Emerson will continue to explore and discover the real gift of God as being able to find romance in your life and thoughts without ever giving place to cynicism. It is not cynical to recognize and speak out against the evils of this world system and the destructive acts of the wars of men among other evils, and Emerson certainly spoke out against these including the evil of slavery. But he did so in a positive manner, one that showed the great depth of his thinking by never resorting to low and mean satire or crude and vulgar language. And while Clemens denied the equality of women Emerson gave his affirmation of this. Emerson, for example, would never have said as did Clemens he opposed giving women the franchise because it would “reduce them to the level of men and Negroes.” Both men knew politics was a dirty business and the most ignoble sought elected office solely as a means of advancing themselves rather than the betterment of those they claimed to represent, however it would be Emerson rather than Clemens who would provide thoughtful analysis of how the human condition resulted in scoundrels having the rule rather than wise leaders. Nothing will satisfy the lust of the flesh that leads someone to live selfishly, and any mention of romance to such people falls on deaf ears or meets with a scornful rejection equating biological lust of the flesh to all relationships between men and women. Clemens wrote from much grief in his personal life, and he did so with genuine genius; but it was a cynical genius that caused him to damn the human species as not deserving to survive. What was missing in his analysis as with that of Franklin’s was the idea that there was a distinction between the children of God and children of the Devil, something Emerson was able to engage though he did so by removing himself from any religious orthodoxy while attempting to give an articulate expression to the basis of his own hopes for the best of humankind to overcome evil rather than accommodate it. But Emerson came to realize the best he could hope for was that some few would be drawn to the light and saved out of darkness, that his best efforts would never be enough to change the course of the human condition that caused so many to continue dwelling in darkness. Crude vulgarity written or spoken is often used to attack the beauty of language and those who use language in a beautiful way. But correct speech not given to vulgar expressions is one of the hallmarks of the civilized mind, though examples are not lacking of those that speak correctly while being guilty of the most heinous behavior. Smooth, seductive words have too often belied the gross character of those using them to do harm; however the simple words of a sincere heart are of more effect than all the expressions of those given to pretentiousness or condescension, or attempts to be clever and succeeding in only being abstruse. The words given to real romance and beauty never degenerate into egotistical expression and never lack the sincerity of a sincere heart, and unlike mere rhetoric remain as eloquent in the study as they do at the podium. Love letters may attain the status of an art form, but the real romance of such a letter no matter how beautifully written will only be known to the one who will cherish it as from a sincere heart, and unlike the vulgar attempts through lust or ego real lovers never attempt to be clever or cunning in their use of words. All physical beauty fades as a leaf, but the beauty of virtue remains despite the passage of time. The real romance and beauty of life is to be found in its virtue not the outward appearance of either people or things, though these may sometimes be the tokens of virtue. If Henry Thoreau believed there were a thousand hacking at the branches of evil while only one struck at its root he would have discovered the reason for this was a lack of virtue, a lack of the real romance of life that while Henry acknowledged this in so many ways his too often overweening ego and lack of true humility sometimes thwarted his purpose, an often failing among those gifted up to the point of virtue only to deny it by some thoughtless or selfish act or word in the end. America has squandered its rich heritage of great literature; not only has the genuine art form of love letters from the sincerest of hearts been lost, but the best and most noble works by which Henry said he hoped we would be able to scale heaven at last. But not even the noblest works of literature containing the noblest thoughts of the writers can survive in an atmosphere of cynicism and a vulgar society that knows nothing of the real romance of life, and with the loss of this there is nothing left to inspire hope for the future. At the same time that the cynicism of mean satire gains the ascendency in America, the loss of the romance of life seems to have passed unnoticed by the multitudes and all that many have left is the meanness of their lives. And with the loss of real romance comes the increasing lack of civility and proper speech, and kindness and generosity toward others out of a sincere heart fall victim as well leaving a vacuum meanness, perversion and violence comes in to fill. It took the universities of America to relegate Emerson to “a hobby for antiquarians” along with civilized good manners and speech, but what they really succeeded in doing was to destroy the real romance of life and replace Emerson with the kind of cynicism and accompanying mean satire that has all but destroyed America. A kind word spoken in due season is a healing balm to the soul worth more than all good intentions, but it seems we are now a nation left without either the kind words or even good intentions and the romance of life as God intended becoming increasingly conspicuous by its absence. Consulting my crystal frog and cat http://www.bakotopia.com/home/Blog/samheath/32258 http://www.bakotopia.com/home/Blog/samheath/32258 Contact through my Val Saint Lambert crystal frog? There are times when the lunatics in government betraying, bankrupting, running America into the ground and placing us all at extremely dangerous risk drive me to some extreme thoughts. People like Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck with a few others enumerate the problems, and they are quite good at this, but they do so while earning handsome salaries all the while knowing there are no viable solutions short of the magnitude of a revolution or asteroid strike on D.C. It was while thinking about so many in the media talking about the problems without offering any viable and substantive solutions that have a snowball’s chance of actually happening I considered whether to hold my crystal frog to my ear the other night while stargazing out toward Vega? However, since it just sits here on my desk with nary a “ribbit” in the years I have had the thing I doubted it would be picking up Vegan signals or any others. Those that scoff at God and those of us who believe in God have nothing to offer to believe in. The best they can do results in politicians, and the scoffers seem to think this is a satisfactory substitute for belief in God. These are the Israelites of old that rejected God and demanded a king to rule over them. It seems to me that this is now the case of an America that has turned away from God and demanded a king. But we now have a lunatic king and lunatics vying to take his place on the throne while those purporting to speak for God while faring sumptuously and living luxuriously seem no less lunatic. But as God said to Samuel because the people had rejected God he would reject them. Such I believe is the situation America now faces; America having rejected God he in turn has rejected America. So here is my Jeremiad: If you think times are hard and dangerous for America now you haven’t seen anything yet! We not only have a leadership deficit, what we do have is a bunch of lunatics with nothing better in sight! Because I actually believe our leaders are on the Devil’s payroll the result being that the Evil One makes us all dance to his tune it does seem there is no way out. But all theological and metaphysical speculation aside even if this were not true the answers to the problems we are facing are so literally Draconian no one really expects politicians to address them realistically, and what we are getting instead is no better than my crystal frog or a rubber gorilla suit. At that, at least scrying and Sasquatch have believers whereas who believes anything coming out of the mouths of politicians in D.C. or elsewhere? At least the believers in crystal balls (or crystal frogs) and Bigfoot don’t generally cause harm and some can even be entertaining, but the same cannot be said of politicians. Now while I do not talk to my frog, I do talk to the resident cat. She is a patient listener, but despite my most earnest supplications the best she seems able to do is a faint “meow” and purrs when she gets her pets. It’s been that way for about eight years so I despair of anything more out of her. Even so, at least she earns her cat food by keeping my place free of rodents and I can’t help wishing there was something the equivalent of the cat We the People could depend on to keep us free of politicians. Well, the cat does keep my place free of rodents by killing them… Ah, for the good old days when politicians made speeches to the sound of cocking pistols in their audiences. Oh, well. One thought that keeps crossing my mind is whether politicians become lunatics by small increments. I was taught from my earliest childhood you never took anything that did not belong to you; that if you took so much as a pencil belonging to someone else the Devil would encourage you to keep stealing and this would become like a fatal disease that would eventually consume you. In this same way, if you told a lie it would lead to more lying until the Devil had you fully in his power and eventually you wouldn’t even be able to tell the truth though it would serve you better, and you would not even any longer be able to distinguish between the truth and a lie! It seems to me I have fairly well described the condition of politicians. As to whether the lying and stealing eventually leads to their becoming pathological lunatics is a matter of conjecture. The caution during my childhood was anyone for whom lying and stealing was their nature meant they were one of the Devil’s servants and did his bidding, and children were warned the Devil would get you if you lied and stole. But I do not recall anyone telling me as a child such things would cause you to lose your mind and become a lunatic. However, in the case of politicians I believe it deserves some thoughtful analysis since few possessed of a sane mind can interpret what is going on in the White House and Congress, our state legislatures being the actions of sane people. How often after hearing about some legislation do you find yourself exclaiming “That’s crazy! Are those people a bunch of nuts?” But how often do you listen to what you are saying about them, how often do you seriously consider the possibility that those people are in fact lunatics? But who but lunatics could possibly believe America can survive without a common heritage, culture, language, and secure borders? Who but lunatics would believe our nation can possibly survive the bottomless pit of nearly unimaginable debt for which the lunatics in power have mortgaged and obligated us? Reason is a remarkable attribute of humankind, a divine one in my opinion. But war is to my mind the most unreasonable of human actions, and no one possessed of reason wants or initiates war; this has to be the work of lunatics. However, war has been the history of our species written in bloodshed and still ongoing without any prospect for peace in the future. On the contrary, it would seem to a sane mind things are becoming increasingly dangerous not only for America but for the whole world. Yet we seem to lack the kind of reasonable and sane leaders in the world to deliver us from the wars lunatics make and there seems no way out of the ongoing lunacy and bloodshed. Well, I could whistle a happy tune but it would be whistling through the graveyard. So perhaps you will understand why I hold more hope for answers to the enormously dangerous problems America is facing from my crystal frog or cat than I have for any answers from lunatic politicians whether they be driven mad through their pathological lying and stealing, their greed and avarice or in service to the Devil.