Tucson Sammy

I am writing not from the “hot zone”, but from the smaller “red hot zone” of West Nile Virus cases here in the Old Pueblo. In fact, last year I received a written warning, with the threat of a fine, for having some tufts of grass over seven inches tall in my yard (gasp!). I also noticed the installation of a mosquito trap across the street from my house. This, apparently, all related to West Nile outbreaks in the area.

In the interest of finding out what the heck was going on, I went to a presentation regarding the West Nile Virus at the Ward VI office yesterday evening. I was all set to be frustrated over the lack of effort regarding mosquito eradication, but I was pleasantly surprised.

As it turns out, mosquito eradication is the focus of governments’ approach to battling the disease. The governments include both the City of Tucson and Pima County. Their approach is to eliminate standing water and tall grass (and other “lush” vegetation) from government property, then enforce similar standards on private properties. Pesticide will also be used in some areas.

Hold it, I know what you’re thinking, “Does this mean that they’re going to pour used motor oil on puddles in the washes?” No, contrary to what the Luddites think about technology, it has provided us with a really cool new chemical for killing mosquitoes. It’s hard to imagine a pesticide being “cool”, but this new stuff really is.

This new stuff is called BTI, and no, I do not know the chemical for which the acronym stands. It kills mosquito larvae in the water by disrupting the inner digestive track. The beauty of the stuff is that it only dissolves and becomes effective only when exposed to the precise ph of the mosquito larvae’s guts; thereby presenting no threat to dogs, cats, children and other living things (including other insects). That’s cool!

There was, of course, a laundry list of things one ought to do to help one’s self and the community:

1. Remove all standing water – even minute amounts. In ideal conditions, mosquitoes can go from egg to adult in three days.

2. Cut back “lush vegetation”, including tall grass. They do not breed here, but the adults like to hang out there.

3. Continue to maintain the chemical treatment of swimming pools. The government folks have a technical term for poorly maintained pools, it is “green pools”.

4. Assist your neighbors with all of the above.

I don’t know how effective this will be regarding the disease, but it sure would be nice to be able to sit outside in the evenings again.

Note to fans: There is a new column entitled “What Magna Carta?” in the “Articles” section

A friend forwarded the following to me in an email:

“mt hood has always felt like an extra room in my house – a great big
playroom – intimate, familiar…home. i feel as if a crime has now
happened inside my demense – a murder, a rape, an unspeakable act of
violence – i fear that it will be a long time before i will be able to
walk on that hill i love so much without seeing the ghastly fingerprints
of the tragedy. i want to go back now very soon – as soon as the
mountain clears again i will return, if only to excorcise the demon that
has temporarily claimed it. i don’t need to look like some voyoeur on
the crime scene. i need to forgive the mountain, and try too to forgive
myself for the things i am inexorably drawn to do to those who love me.

the mountain will live longer than all of us. longer than our children.
longer than our race. it will last longer than any tombstone. it is
therefore a fitting and appropriate memorial for all who have left their
lives there. please don’t look towards it with hate. let that go. go
there again soon, with me if you want, or alone which is often much
better – go there and look up from timberline, or make tracks up the
long slope – go there and remember it is a place of dreams, even if
sometimes they turn to nightmares – in the morning we will all wake and
it will better – believe it.” -ivan

Now, don’t get me wrong. I believe that mountains, and other places, can have great spiritual significance. In some places you can feel the presence of Grace.

What offends me is a man (I assume he’s a man with the name “Ivan”) writing a crybaby missive like some jilted girl. He was correct to criticize himself for anthropomorphizing the mountain. He is also worthy of criticism for making the death of the climbers some great personal tragedy. It is a tragedy, but not his. It is a tragedy for the climbers and their families. It is not some great sin committed by the mountain for which the mountain must seek forgiveness – forgiveness that Ivan appears to be prepared to offer, after much wringing of his hankie.

I know what you’re thinking, “Dang Sammy! You’re really going off on the guy!” Well, not really, I don’t know “Ivan”. I do know that the sort of self-absorbed emotionalism on display in his note exemplifies a type of cultural decline. It’s quite bad, for the individual and society at large, to have no higher purpose, no vision, and little awareness beyond his own emotional roller coaster.

In another time, the families would be supported by those close to them, while the climbing community would learn as much as possible about the tragedy, in the hope that a similar event might be avoided in the future. That’s it, no more, no less.

Look, I don’t intend to criticize Ivan personally. I’m sure that he’s a regular guy and doesn’t watch “The View” while having his nails done, or anything like that.

Thanksgiving is the last of the American religious holidays. It’s about gratitude; more specifically, it’s about thanking God. Expressing gratitude to God should not be a dry practice. It is a practice that is full of love and joy. Few things reach the core of the heart more than song, and few songs have been sung in celebration of Thanksgiving than “We Gather Together.”

Captivating melodies often originate in folk tunes, and such is the case with “We Gather Together”. It’s origins have been traced back to sixteenth century Netherlands. There, new lyrics were put to the melody to celebrate the end of Spanish oppression of the local protestants. It has been speculated that the Pilgrims may have actually been familiar with the song, having spent time in the Netherlands before sailing for Virginia and ending up in what was to become Massachusetts.

I don’t want to give away my age, but I am old enough to have fond memories of singing this hymn every year for the Thanksgiving concert at my local government school (we also sang Christmas carols in Latin, but that is a story for another time).

Actually, “fond” is an understatement. When I hear it, I get choked up and tears come to my eyes. If you want to see what I mean, click the following link and read the lyrics while the melody plays:

http://www.hymnsite.com/lyrics/umh131.sht

Happy Thanksgiving. Thank you God.

Sometimes…no, often the most interesting feature of an election, or any event of consequence, is that which does not happen. I fully expected that there would be much Democrat wailing and gnashing of teeth on the night of the election, and the morning thereafter – the usual claims of voter fraud, intimidation, racism, Diebold, homophobia, blah, blah, blah. I expected these because the Dems have established this pattern of behavior around Republican victories, of which I assumed there would be some of note. There were not, and there was no Democrat uproar. What does this reveal? The revelation is that Democrat accusations have nothing to do with facts, and are merely an attempt to de-legitimize Republican victories.

Speaking of voter fraud, this election begged for it. It is in very close elections that the few extra votes from the dead people, or the absentee ballots disqualified, that can really make the difference. As the title of Hugh Hewitt’s book succinctly puts it, “If It’s Not Close, They Can’t Cheat”. Almost all the pivotal races had razor thin margins.

So, did the Republican fix with the Diebold machines swing it, or did the people who voted six or seven times and the fake ballots from the reservations win it for the Democrats?

The answer is in the results.

If you ever hear another lefty whine about Republicans and the Diebold company, please smack ‘em.

Our country is entering a period of darkness. I’m referring, of course, to Britney’s divorce…just kidding. As I was saying, our country is entering a period of darkness, but we have endured similar states of affairs in my lifetime, the Carter administration comes to mind, and have come through them O.K.

Speaking of Jimmy Carter, can we put him under house arrest or something? I mean, he goes to North Korea and puts a deal together for President Clinton that helped create the problem we face today by handing them nuke technology, and looking the other way while the initiated their bomb program. Always warm for the dictator, he certifies the election in Venezuela that delivered Hugo Chavez to power. The “Carter Center” certified the election without checking the computer vote totals against the paper totals – as you recall, there were “problems” with the computerized machines, so officials had to go in and “fix” them in the middle of Election Day. Now Daniel Ortega, Soviet supported commie strongman from the eighties, gets elected in Nicaragua, and Jimmy has already had his first suck-up meeting with him. Unbelievable!

Carter is considered by some to be the first anti-American president. Now, we may have the first anti-American Congress. With committee chairmanships going to the likes of John Dingle, John Conyers, Charlie Wrangle, Henry Waxman …I must stop, the nausea is starting.

What will this mean? A veritable subpoenarama! Everyone in the Bush administration will be up for grabs. Impeachment is a definite maybe. Republicans were hurt by the impeachment of Clinton, so the Democrats may hold off until they are sure that the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post has softened everyone up enough. John Conyers is “chompin’ at the bit”, as the President might say, to move forward with it, though he can’t move forward alone.

What happened? Well, the Republicans thought they had it made, and began acting like it. There is a reason that the Democrat and Republican parties are referred to as the Evil Party and the Stupid Party respectively.

One of the beauties of the blogoshpere is that fellow travelers are quick to help each other maintain high standards of truth and accuracy.

After I made a posting regarding a Democrat propaganda book targeting children, my friend Jim sent an article from the New Republic to me that reports on a series of Republican “children’s books” that denigrate Democrats. You can read the article here The books appear to be as repugnant as the one about which I originally reported.

Perhaps the article is a joke… well, probably not.

I made the assumption that this sort of thing would occur only with Democrats, since that’s what they do.

I also want to stipulate that, in both cases, I do not see rank and file party members as complicit in the actions of the leadership/activists.

I do not know why this whole thing has me so enraged. After all, I’m a big fan of Gran’pa Jack. Perhaps the difference is that Gran’pa Jack really does teach principles, rather than claim them.

So, What’s a citizen to do? Well, there is always the Libertarian Party…