Merc

Our new puppy came home on Saturday.  What a joy!  Made me forget about Trump!  His name is Merc.

Tourism Killer

The Journal's D'Val Westphal did a column on the barbaric leg hold trapping of wildlife this morning.  Thanks to her.  This issue has been around for quite a while, ever since Susana Martinez became Governor. I have often written about how she is allowing this barbaric practice. It is a symbol of her administration and  her psychotic Game and Fish Commission. 

 When you think of her rightwing GOP positions, what else could you really expect? As Land Commissioner back in the 80's I stopped leg hold trapping on State Lands. Our new Commissioner Aubrey Dunn, is once again allowing it.

I can't  think of a better way of sending a message to prospective tourists in NM that  we allow inhumane deaths for wildlife.  We tout ourselves as "New Mexico True" in our advertising to attract tourists.  When this hits the internet in a big way, then kiss those tourism dollars goodbye.

donald

The green chile harvest has begun.  Oh my god! Mexican workers. Don't let the Donald see this or he will throw them back over his imaginary wall. As you know, they are all rapists and thieves. And they don't want to get jobs. But wait, isn't a picture worth a thousand words? And, wouldn't you love to see the donald get out there for a 12 hour shift and see how he does?

And the next time you see a trump supporter ask them,  "what is it, a wall or your green chile.?"

I am off to Colorado to visit the granddaughters and drive back with Bobbi who has been there helping out.  I might stop into one of those pot stores to see what that is all about.  

Amateur Night

Is Russia really laying bear the secrets of the Democratic Party's back biting ego ridden personalities?  Is the donald giving a nod to it?  Will Debbie Wasserman Shultz's resignation mean anything?  Tune in tomorrow right after the soap operas end and the  news casts begin.

What a mess.  I was thinking this morning that as a life long democrat I haven't the slightest idea who our delegates to the national convention are.  If it has ever been printed in the media, I sure haven't seen it.  Maybe Putin could give us a hand here.

Frankly, if the next President wasn't in charge of nuclear weapons I might just sign out on all of this.  But that really isn't an option when you have that GOP psychopath near the White House.  And so we will have to see if this latest revelation of back room movidas at the party headquarters will give Bernie supporters a reason to stay home.

Interesting Times

After my sojourn to the Island of Martha's Vineyard, where we did little but work in this beach home, drink Halter Ranch Wine,  and not watch TV,  I came home to catch up on the buzz.

We surely do live in interesting times.  I have never ingested LSD, but if I had I wonder if it would be as surreal as the GOP convention.  And I wonder if anyone came away with the feeling that perhaps 35% of our country has lost their mind.  Not a majority, but enough to win in our apathetic nation.

And now we see the wages of Susana Martinez's tax cuts.  The Democratic financial watchdog in the Senate, John Arthur Smith, says we have to have a special session to deal with the financial chaos of low fossil fuel prices and tax cuts.  Will our state leaders even consider one tiny effort at raising taxes on gasoline to help pay for infrastructure?  Will they go in and gather up all these unspent pork barrel dollars and use them to get things on an even keel for the next few years until we can find a real leader for the Governor's office?

Off East

I am off to a Board meeting for a couple of days.  Martha's Vineyard, MA.  Good seafood for sure.

Least Resistance

These little seed pods migrating across the Bosque trail this morning were taking the path of least resistance.  Driven by our recent evening winds they travelled across the trail in a semi organized way. Click on the photos.

It kind of reminds me of the delegates gathering for the GOP convention.  Even conservative hispanic groups are getting on the trump bandwagon because it is easier than resisting this racist and ignorant candidate. And trump thinks they are rapists and thieves.

 Some neighbors this morning in the park were commenting how scary it would be if trump were elected and had access to nuclear weapons.  Think about it.

July in the Bosque

Genetics

Once again a crazy man kills dozens.  This time with a truck.  Time for genetic engineering to rid us of psychopaths.  The technology is in reach.  The debate needs to start.  And I am only halfway kidding here.

Things probably aren't any worse than they have ever been with this repetitive slaughter.  We are just more aware of it because of media loving its violence so much.  But, if you could use CRISPR to tone down the violence gene, would it be a good thing to do.  I vote yes. It is just a part of evolution.  We have become advanced enough to do it.

Deconstruction

It is like watching that famous bridge come down.  "Galloping Gertie" they called it.  It just fell into the river because its design was flawed.

Just like the economic and tax policies of  the GOP's Susana Martinez.  The story in the Journal this morning described the beginning of deconstruction of New Mexico's higher education system because the Governor and her minions decided that tax breaks for corporate America were more important than a functioning University system.  NMSU will now lay off 120 staff to save $12 million dollars.

I actually don't know how many more blows New Mexico's infrastructure can take.  Our kids and grandkids will continue to leave to other regions that have leadership and opportunity.  Making us the 'call center' for the country with its $12 an hour starting wage just is not going to cut it.  

Red Flags

How could the Albuquerque School Board and it's administration think they could get away with it? Their logrolling of the last bond election had many red flags in it and now the election has been questioned in court and could be ruled invalid.  That means much needed projects will be delayed and construction and infrastructure jobs will be put off into the future.  Heads should roll on this, perhaps in the legal department?

Red flags should be up on the behavior of the confusing profit vs. non profit of the Presbyterian medical system in New Mexico.  They will no longer participate in the Obamacare Exchange, and will throw  off thousands of people from the insurance rolls.  Who is really running things at that healthcare giant?  The for profit arm I think.  It begs the question of, when do we get a single payer system, or at least a public option system?

I see red flags on the proposed Helicopter flight training program at the San Juan College in Farmington.  It looks like their partnering with a private aviation firm for the program is questionable.  Is this just a way of getting money to the strapped school from student loans the hopeful flyers will have to take out?  There are a lot of veteran pilots already trained by the US Army and other military services.

Counseling

I decided I needed counseling because the political arena just doesn't make sense to me anymore.  So my counsellor will be a dog.  An Aussie Shepherd who will force me into long walks on the days I don't play golf.  And the days I do play golf.  I will confide in him and he will look at me with his big blue eyes which will say that the universe is chaos anyway so don't worry about Trump.

Bobbi wasn't too sure about this guy, whom we named Mercury, Merc for short.  Our cats are named Ajax and Casper so the names all come out of the same genre.  As you can tell from the photo, Bobbi just doesn't like him at all.

We will pick Merc up in about four weeks.  We picked him out of the Desert Willow Kennel because he has been observed to be a laid back guy.  We need that, and so do our cats.  I see dog shit in my future.  Its been five years since Athena the beagle went to Olympus.  So we are ready for a new adventure.

History

George bush, dick cheney, condolezza rice, and that whole cast of characters are probably reveling  in the fact that  there is an abundance of assault rifle killings right now.  It covers up  the results of an important study just released by the British government condemning the Iraq war.  My former classmate Dennis Jett, a state department career officer, wrote about it here.

Last Wednesday, July 6th, was George W. Bush’s 70th birthday and should have been an occasion for celebration. He got a present that he probably would rather not have received, however — the long-awaited report on the British role in the invasion of Iraq. The report offered no real surprises but validated the judgment of those who, like the author of a recent biography of Bush, believe he is the worst president in recent history. It was also a reminder of just how little Americans care about that assessment and its consequences.

The report was the product of the Chilcot Inquiry, a commission headed by Sir John Chilcot, a former British civil servant. The investigation, which took seven years and cost around $15 million, was ordered by then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. Its mandate was to examine British actions before and during the war and to determine what lessons could be learned from the experience. 

The commission looked at over 150,000 documents, interviewed scores of witnesses and wrote a report that runs 12 volumes and 2.6 million words (four times the length of Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace.”) It is for sale for 800 British pounds, which even with the sinking value of the British currency thanks to the referendum voting to leave the European Union, is still well over a thousand dollars. 

For those not interested in investing the time and money required to read the report, here are its major conclusions as summarized by the British press: 

• military action was not a last resort as the options short of war had not been exhausted;
• there were no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and the threat they supposedly posed was grossly exaggerated;
• the intelligence supporting the need for the invasion and the existence of WMD was presented with a certainty that was unjustified and proved to be almost entirely wrong;
• planning for post-war Iraq was wholly inadequate;
• the war did not achieve its stated objectives and was a failure;
• the circumstances in which it was decided that there was a legal basis for military action were far from satisfactory. (Which is a polite way of saying it was illegal under international law.);
• the consequences of the invasion were underestimated; and
• Prime Minister Tony Blair overestimated his influence with Bush. 

At the time, Blair was often referred to by critics as Bush’s poodle because of their close relationship. The report includes copies of Blair’s messages to Bush, which show they were discussing toppling Saddam Hussein a month after 9/11 and that in July 2002 Blair promised Bush “I will be with you, whatever.”

The British lost 179 servicemen in the war, and pressure from their families helped prompt the writing of the report. It cost the lives of nearly 4,500 Americans, but there is little interest in an honest American accounting or even an acknowledgement of its consequences. Republicans want to forget it and most Democrats, who did not have the courage to slow the march to war, do as well. For instance, there is no official estimate of how many Iraqi civilians have died even though a case can be made that Bush is responsible for more of their deaths than Saddam Hussein was. Those that reject that possibility do so out of a desire to avoid thinking about the costs of the war rather than any objective analysis of it.

All the failings of the British government documented by the Chilcot Inquiry are merely reflections of the failures, duplicity and dishonesty of the American government. So happy birthday Mr. President. Let’s hope the report solidifies the notion that even Donald Trump accepts — that the war was as avoidable as it was disastrous. May your place in history (and those of Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, Rice and Tenet) always reflect that.

Again

Another crazy man with an assault rifle.  No different than other cases of mass murder.  These victims were white police officers.  Not gay people, or Planned Parenthood workers, or school children.  But all the same in that a crazy man, this time black, shot a bunch of innocent citizens who happened to wear badges and be covered in white skin.

Yesterday's post was written before this incident, and I think it is still valid.  Will cities burn this summer?  Will the NRA still control congress?  Probably yes.

Yesterday 300 people were killed in Iraq by crazy people, all enabled by bush and cheney.  They hide out feeling safe because with our domestic violence we just can't get people focused on those war criminals.

News Hour

We are back from upstate New York.  We had a wonderful time with grandkids.  We wonder what their future is under the current calamitous political finance system in our country that is controlled by Corporate CEOs.  Those greed infested folks are trying to control the future.  They are surely succeeding in driving out our system of government.  Bad as it can be, it will always be better than a corporate caliphate.

We watched ABC news tonight.  There were at least 8 commercials pushing drugs to the viewers.  We didn't learn what the drugs were for, except to ask our Doctors.  All the commercials were done in slow motion and washed out colors.  They must have some factory somewhere that has an AI that pumps them out.

The only news story worthy of comment was the horrific shootings of black men.  It just proves there is a sickness in most law enforcement departments.  There is racism involved and a whole lot of failed Police academies.  Where does it end?  Will the cities burn this summer?

And then there is the $100 million dollar replica of Noah's Ark.  Yes, there are dinosaurs on board and those Bible fanatics believe it all.

Son and Grandson

Upstate

We were in Ithaca New York today with our grandsons and family. We took a ride on Cayouga Lake. They had a great time.