My Heart is Heavy

            My heart has been heavy with grief this week as I have watched American Embassies across the middle east being attacked by mobs of vicious, half-crazed people.  It is heartbreaking enough to watch people that our nation has supported, fed, protected from various dictators and aggressors attack our Embassies, but the greatest heart breaker of all is the reaction of our government to the violence against America.

            Supposedly, at the root of this most recent anti-American violence, is a poorly made American movie that, again supposedly, portrays the “Prophet” Mohammed badly.  Of course, this movie has been on line for more than six months, but it was just now, on the anniversary of 9 – 11 that the Moslem mobs took to the streets.  I do not believe in coincidence. It should be apparent to all but the most moribund among us that the Moslems are attacking the US on that anniversary, in solidarity with those who attacked us that day.

            While the Main Stream Media downplays the terrorist connection, our government is bending over backwards to mollify the attackers.  There has been no solid, stern, angry condemnation of the attackers and the governments that are allowing them to attack our embassies. No, the White House is claiming that the riots are not even attacking the US, but are just protesting the film.  Our incredible Secretary of State, she who would be Queen, Hillary Clinton condemns the film maker while coddling the attackers.

            Mr. Obama promised us that upon his inauguration, Moslem anger would abate. Nearly 4 years later we see the entire Moslem world aflame. The good start that had been made at driving the thugs back under their rocks has disappeared. Now, the crazies are flooding the streets all across the Moslem world.  The United States is losing the war in Afghanistan because we will not fight, and Iran is poised to take over Iraq. 

            And the White House says, “we are very proud of the President’s foreign policy achievements.” Say what?

            It is high time that Americans, Europeans and all other non-Moslems around the world wake up to the reality that is unfolding before our eyes.  The Moslems fully intend to reinstate the Caliphate – a religiously ruled Empire that will stretch from England to China, from the Arctic Circle to Australia.

            I’m not crying “Wolf!” I am merely stating the truth.  It is tragic that there are no political leaders in American with enough courage to say the same.

Drought, Ghost Towns and Coyotes

            We just completed a 5,100 mile road trip to the Portland, OR area and back.  It has been 4 years since we took a long road trip – that time from Reno, NV to Louisville in a moving van.  As always, the excitement of the road trip, my love affair with America, the joy of traveling has consumed my summer.  I could not wait to see the vastness, the beauty and the majesty of my America again.

            As always, the first and major impression of the road trip is the vastness, the scale, the scope of our nation.  It is a vast land – huge and sprawling – telling the history of the physical world in the hills, valleys, streams, mountains and plains of America. The land was formed by the drifting and colliding of great land masses, the upheavals of huge chunks of rock, and the violent cataclysms of volcanoes.  The land has been crafted across eons by the forces of wind, water and ice.  For all of the timelessness of the landscape, those of us who know, know that we are looking at a mere snapshot of the land – that it was different 10,000 years ago and that it will be different 10,000 years from today.

            The effects of this summer’s drought and heat struck me as our first morning on the road unfolded with the rising sun.  Southern Indiana and southern Illinois are dryer and more parched than central Kentucky.  The crops are devastated across a vast swath of America this summer. Dry land farms look bad; but even some irrigated corn will not make a crop this year.  It’s funny sometimes, how bad weather will compound tough economic times.

            Still reeling from the visions of shriveled crops and burned out pastures, we rolled through St. Louis.  Here is a city in the very heart of America.  This was once a great river port, the Gateway to the West, the well spring of the American Dream; the Gateway City looks like a bombed out war zone.  Vacant apartment buildings, abandoned factories skyline their skeletal frames in a show of destitution, of emptiness, of 60 years of liberal control choking and throttling the economic engine that built the once great city.

            It wasn’t just St. Louis.  All across the country, small towns and cities seem to be reeling from the Recession.  Boarded up buildings and vacant store fronts lined the streets of almost every town that we went through.  Many of the small elevator towns in Nebraska and Wyoming looked like ghost towns – waiting for phantom trains to come and haul away the ghostly grain.

            And, this year, that is all there will be; the ghostly memory of harvests past.

            We spent two days in our old home town of Reno, Nevada.  And sadly, the oasis at the edge of the desert has not escaped the wrath of the Obama Recession. Downtown Reno looks like some European city at the end of World War II.  Only the strongest of the casinos have survived, but Virginia Street, the main drag through town looks devastated, the side streets nearly abandoned. It is a sad vision of a city that was thriving just 4 short years ago.  I keep telling myself that for the sake of the cities and towns and lives ruined across the country, that November cannot come son enough.

            Rolling eastward, later then, headed home across the vast high prairies of Wyoming, I saw a wondrous site.  Standing on a bank, on the south side of the road, was the biggest coyote that I have ever seen.  He was resplendent in his summer coat, shining golden in the morning sunlight, as big as most German Shepherd dogs.

            My reaction to seeing the monarch of the prairie was interesting.  After the initial shock and disgust at seeing the great predator – I am never far removed from my cowboy past – I found myself thinking that regardless of the drought, regardless of the politics, regardless of what mankind does, the coyote will survive.  Like the rainbow, the coyote may be God’s promise that life will go on – whether we understand it or not.

            Fifty one hundred miles from home and back; two days in Reno and the deserts there around, three days in Vancouver, Washington; road trip extraordinaire!  It was great to see my second great love, America, again.  I have missed her over the years.

            And, it is also great to share my thoughts about the road trip with my Faithful Readers, once again.

Allow Me to Introduce Myself

It has been almost two years since I wrote my last “Near Common Sense” column.  I was unceremoniously dumped from the New Bethlehem (PA) “Leader – Vindicator” for suggesting that Americans drive out radical Muslims from our communities.

            That, anyway, was the excuse that the publisher used.  The real reason I was dumped was the fact that I was, AM, will continue to be, extremely critical of President Obama and the Democrats.  I had the AUDACITY to point out how wrong headed and misguided all of the President’s policies and actions were.

            Be that as it may, I have dusted off the keyboard and want to see if the gray matter is still functioning and still capable of weaving “shimmering nets of language” to entertain, beguile and enthrall readers.

            It seems as if the day has gotten late while I have been busy elsewhere.  The world is careening into Tomorrow, there are events upon which to comment, thoughts to share and my vision of the world to open up new vistas for people to enjoy.  I have no idea, right now, how often I will write and post – that will, in some degree depend upon reader response, available time and whether or not I can keep the shadow off of my soul.

            For those of you who don’t know me, I am a Libertarian - Conservative. I am a contrarian. I spent the first 40 years of my life farming and although I have crossed the bridge into the urban, corporate world my roots are still deeply planted in the rich, red clay soil of the hills of my childhood and the values and ethics learned in that long ago world.  I look at life through a slightly wry lens and find humor, beauty and things of interest where others may just see “things”.  I have a deep abiding need to share this view, these images, the wonder of the World as I see it.

            Welcome to Near Common Sense.  I hope that I can find the magic in the words again and that you enjoy the ride.