Occupation of Independence

It took a little while to see the significance of what I was looking at: my rayon shirt had been hung up to dry, after hand-washing it in a bucket. Rayon doesn't make for strong garments, so it seemed like hand-washing was a good idea. Then I hung it up to air-dry. I can't remember if the hellish Southwestern wind was blowing, but the hellish sun was certainly out, with full force. In a few minutes the shirt felt cool. What if I had put it on? It might have been uncomfortably cool!  Imagine that...my timeless enemy, the sun, becomes the instrument of its own destruction. The more violent the sun, the cooler the shirt. If only I could imagine all problems or "enemies" in that manner. That is, instead of taking on an "enemy" with a direct frontal attack, it would be so much better to sneak around, with a flank attack, or better yet, maneuver the enemy into being his own worst enemy.

In the past I have admired the talents of political cartoonists. I came across another example the other day. It was talking about the riots, of course. It is the cartoon on the right that really stopped me dead in my tracks. Where is the cartoonist's name? How are they even getting paid? How can I fairly credit that name? I was tempted to verbalize the cartoon, but that just robs it of its magic. It is better to let people see it, and let their imaginations add the 'caption'.

You'd think I would have given up on trying to get a lucrative salary as a political consultant, by now.  But my advice to the president is to avoid getting too involved with the violence in the cities. They are "blue counties," after all. What does he have to gain? It is reasonable to say that Democratic mayors know their cities better than somebody in Washington DC, and therefore, know what steps should be taken. If the suppression of the riots is too soft, let the Democratic mayor take the blame. If a cop or national guardsman gets trigger-happy, let the Democratic mayor be blamed. It seems reasonable to me that the president should make extra resources available to the mayors. One way to do that is to begin a withdrawal of US troops from the Mideast and all the other places in the world where they are cruelly meddling in other people's affairs. Let them add to the security of Americans, in America, for a change. Station them around the cities where they m

And no, I am not talking about pretty tourist scenery. The miracles of nature that first come to mind are things like "raindrops on roses, and whiskers on kittens." That might be a little sappy for my tastes. I prefer rowdy puppies, or young women in the bloom of youth. But there are other miracles that take a moment of thought. What if you lived in this valley a few generations ago. A local farmer told me the water table was 300 feet down. Wikipedia says that the gravel detritus (deposited from the nearby mountains) is a mile deep. Imagine digging a well by hand, three generations ago, and hitting water after a reasonable amount of effort and suffering. What a miracle that would be! Ahh, but the long-suffering reader knows what my favorite miracle is: This cloud is a month early. There should be nothing but blue-white glare until the monsoons start in July. Hot, scalding, monotonous, and enervating.