Joy invited me to attend this month’s luncheon meeting of the Old Pueblo Women’s Club, which took place at the Lodge at Ventana Canyon. The speaker was Dave Fitzsimmons, a recently retired internationally knownjournalist/cartoonist. At one point in his amusing presentation, he walked over to our table and said, “Isn’t this a woke organization, and your name is Ms.” We went up to his drawing pad, took one look at me and said,
You know that old trees just grow stronger And old rivers grow wilder every day Old people just grow lonesome Waiting for someone to say, “Hello in there, hello”
So if you’re walking down the street sometime And spot some hollow ancient eyes Please don’t just pass ’em by and stare As if you didn’t care, say, “Hello in there, hello”
— from Hello In There by John Prine
As a Veteran and an old person in general, I’m trying hard not just to fade away — “Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.” Like many people my age, we are familiar with the line in General Douglas MacArthur April 19, 1951 farewell address to the U.S. Congress. A great line for a General but not for older people. I, for one, am not ready to just fade away.
As older people, we experience daily the looks of people we may come in contact with, and in their eyes, we have already faded away — they stare straight through us. In the last decade, I have seen more doctors than in the total of my eighty years, and just once, I would like, “Hello in there, hello.”
It’s up to us to keep moving her values forward and not take this country back to the 1950s. If you know your history, then you know what I mean. So many people have benefited from this woman being on the Supreme Court, especially women. We have lost a giant of a woman!
David Fitzsimmons,Tucso Arizona Daily Star — Source: CagleCartoon.com
Recently, Joy received a Bookmans gift card. Bookmans is more than just a bookstore, it’s an entertainment exchange with a commitment to the people and communities they have served for over forty years. While there, I selected three books: Epitaph for a Desert Anarchist — The Life and Legacy of Edward Abbey by James Bishop; The River of Doubt by Candie Millard; Spanish Essentials for Dummies, the last two in preparation for my August trip to the Amazon in northern Bolivia. — kenne
“I’m alright. It’s the world that is dysfunctioning.”
“Much of the West is now a giant tinderbox, literally ready to combust. Yet thanks to fire suppression, the consequences have been postponed for decades.
“When you look at the long record, you see fire and climate moving together over decades, over centuries, over thousands of years,” said pyrogeographer Jennifer Marlon of Yale University, who earlier this year co-authored a study of long-term fire patterns in the American West.
“Then, when you look at the last century, you see the climate getting warmer and drier, but until the last couple decades the amount of fire was really low. We’ve pushed fire in the opposite direction you’d expect from climate,” Marlon said.
When it comes to politics and the truth, we live in a world of fractions. Most of what we hear is a best a half-truths, but generally a flat-out lie. Most of us have learned that there are three things we take as an article of faith: “The sky is blue. The pope is Catholic. And Politicians are liars.” And true to the faith, the lies were flying left and right at last night’s presidential debate.
It’s bad enough that Politian’s have learned that lying can work to their benefit, what is worse is that the American people know they are being lied to, but accept it if it’s what they want to hear. We may know it’s bullshit, but since each of us contributes our own share, there is a tendency to take it for granted – still bitch about it, while knowing that deceptive misrepresentation is fundamental to our culture. It is so much a part of our culture that we joke about it, generating nervous laughter. One case in point is the video clip of George Carlin talking to the press about “Lying Politicians and Words.” The next time you watch a political debate, listen for Carlin’s words.
kenne
“We have sex almost everyday — We almost had sex on Monday, we almost had sex on Tuesday . . .”
— author unknown
Source: Google Images
“The real reason that we can’t have the Ten Commandments in a courthouse: You cannot post ‘Thou shalt not steal,’ ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery,’ and ‘Thou shalt not lie’ in a building full of lawyers, judges, and politicians. It creates a hostile work environment.” — George Carlin
David Fitzsimmons,Tucso Arizona Daily Star — Source: CagleCartoon.com
Cartoon by David Fitzsimmons
Becoming is Superior to Being 
David Fitzsimmons, Arizona Daily Star
“Much of the West is now a giant tinderbox, literally ready to combust. Yet thanks to fire suppression, the consequences have been postponed for decades.
“When you look at the long record, you see fire and climate moving together over decades, over centuries, over thousands of years,” said pyrogeographer Jennifer Marlon of Yale University, who earlier this year co-authored a study of long-term fire patterns in the American West.
“Then, when you look at the last century, you see the climate getting warmer and drier, but until the last couple decades the amount of fire was really low. We’ve pushed fire in the opposite direction you’d expect from climate,” Marlon said.
The fire debt is finally coming due.”
— Jennifer Marlon — Source: New York Times
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