Cool Technology

Bill Gates and the gang can make something as cool as this but they cant tell me why spell checker quit working in my email program.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid271552687/bctid933742930

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4217348.html

Sam Brownback

At the invitation of the pastor of our church I had the opportunity to attend a Senator Sam Brownback meet and greet in Cedar Rapids last Friday. The guests were primarily local clergy so the Senators speech was focused on values and his stand on abortion. I was impressed with the Senator from the standpoint that he came across as a genuinely likable guy and his story of his family and adopted children was particularly touching. I do feel though that the Senator does not exude much passion, a fact that one of his staff agreed with during a follow up call last night. The staffer implied that she felt that the senators laid back style was a result of a lack of ego. The senator will be back in CR next week and was told that he would be addressing a wider range in topics.

Fred Thompson

Fred Thompson has taken the first step today in entering the 2007 presidential race. Although this was not an unexpected announcement it will certainly add a new and much needed dimension to the campaign.
Iowans for Fred Thompson has been out in front in the Draft Fred movement and they have a good synopsis of Thompson's experience in "Why Fred Thompson"

Seldovia.

A friend of mine recently returned to Alaska after a five year trek through the Lower 48. He sent me this excellent picture taken during a weekend with his family in Seldovia. Like me, Steve thought moving outside would be a good idea but Alaska has a way getting into the soul and pulling you back.

Poet Robert Service wrote in "Spell of the Yukon":

There's a land where the mountains are nameless, And the rivers all run God knows where; There are lives that are erring and aimless, And deaths that just hang by a hair; There are hardships that nobody reckons; There are valleys unpeopled and still; There's a land -- oh, it beckons and beckons, And I want to go back -- and I will.

Culver, other governors ask president, Congress to address gas prices

As the pumped clicked past Fifty dollars for the Ram Tough, Dodge 4X4, climate heating heathen I was thinking "By God somebody needs to do something, this is craziness."

Fortunately for me Iowa has newly elected Governor Chet "Ethanol" Culver at the helm, who ran on a platform of oil independence for the state (Not exactly sure how he is going to do that unless some wildcatter brings in a well in Bel Plain), but Chet has joined 21 other Governors in the 34th annual "Price gouging investigation." to show that they are serious about protecting the weak and downtrodden. They have fired off a natty little letter to congress demanding that somebody, anybody, get to the bottom of this craziness. Go Chet!

The pump finally tripped off at seventy two bucks, and I fired up that thirsty, rumbling 318 and quickly regained my senses. Hoping that Chet, congress, or anyone can interfere in the market and artificially control the price at the pump without far reaching repercussions is just craziness.

So you reply....

• But the industry is a monopoly and that's not fair! Buck up little camper life's not fair, but the oil bidness is technically a oligopoly. Unless there is collusion between the limited number of sellers, which has to date not been proven, the sellers are only selling at what the market is willing to pay. When enough quit paying they'll lower their prices. The invisible hand of capitalism at work, ain't it cool.
• But Senator Clinton says she is going to take the profits and make us oil independent! Wake up damn it!!! The big hairy hand of Socialism always looks like the easy way out but just ask the folks in Venezuela how that's working for them.
• But Dick and his buddies are making obscene profits! Hmmm your right, but isn't that what corporations are expected to do? Buy yourself some stock in BP and realize that getting that stuff from the underworld to the tank is not a cheap proposition. One gulf oil platform costs in the neighborhood of $250,000,000.
• But I just don't get it! Of course you don't my friend, so for a quick primer on oil and its prices link here. Got to run I left the Power Ram idling in the driveway.

Viewer Beware!

What you are about to see is not for the faint of heart.

Click here

Iowa Destinations.

Artist Ray Sorensen has spent every Memorial Day since 1999 painting a patriotic mural on what was once known as graffiti rock just outside the town of Greenfield Iowa. Each year Ray paints over the last years painting and begins anew, taking up to three weeks to complete the finished work. This year he spared the helicopters from last years painting. While painting last year a group of Vietnam Vets, making a cross country pilgrimage to the Wall in Washington DC stopped to see the rock and asked if they could leave ashes from fallen comrades at the Rock. Ray did one better. He mixed some of the ashes into the green paint and hopes to leave the images of the helicopters on the rock as long as possible.

"Freedom Rock" is located 37 miles west of Des Moines and just two miles south of Interstate 80 on Highway 25.

To see all past murals go to Ray's web site here.

Freedom Rock tribute site.

A weathered old pine with it's gnarled branches and a top lost long ago to the fierce winds that shriek over this hilltop stands a silent watch over a small cemetery in northeast Iowa. We buried my dad here two summers ago and returned this week to decorate his grave.

My grandmother who died in 1937 when my dad was only five is buried here with a large number of her family. As I strolled along the rows of stones I can only assume that our ancestors originally farmed in this area as family history was not very well recorded in our family. The oldest of the stones dates to 1877 but surprisingly there aren't any dated from the flew epidemic of 1918. As I try to figure out who was who and assemble some sort of linage I am struck by the number of children's graves. Unnamed babies and those that passed by age one or two and one that was only 19.

Although Memorial Day was originally enacted to pay tribute to those who died in the service of their country, I remember as a kid that Dad still referred to it as Decoration Day and we would make a trip to leave flowers on the graves of loved ones.

Management 101

From e Books.com , "The No Asshole Rule" By: Robert Sutton

Today's deluge of business books exhaustively addresses problems with leadership, corporate strategy, sales, budgeting, incentives, innovation, execution, and on and on. But scant attention is devoted to a problem that plagues every workplace: Assholes. In a landmark Harvard Business Review essay, Stanford Professor Robert Sutton showed how assholes weren't just an office nuisance, but a serious and costly threat to corporate success and employee health. In his new book, Sutton reveals the huge TCA (Total Cost of Assholes) in today's corporations. He shows how to spot an asshole (hint: they are addicted to rude interruptions and subtle putdowns, and enjoy using "sarcastic jokes" and "teasing" as "insult delivery systems"), and provides a "self-test" to determine whether you deserve to be branded as a "certified asshole." And he offers tips that you can use to keep your "inner jerk" from rearing its ugly head. Sutton then uses in-depth research and analysis to show how managers can eliminate mean-spirited and unproductive behavior (while positively channeling some of the virtues of assholes) to generate an asshole free--and newly productive--workplace....

John Wayne; 100th Birthday.

When the Morrison family left the small Iowa town of Winterset in 1911 and moved to California with their 4 year old son Marion the stage was set for their son to to become more than just an actor. He would one day be an American icon.


Now at the 100th anniversary of his birth for many Wayne still exemplifies the rugged individualist persona of America. Writer Joan Didion writes in ‘‘John Wayne: A Love Song,’’ ‘‘when John Wayne rode through my childhood, and perhaps through yours, he determined forever the shape of certain of our dreams.’’

Through his movies and his personal life he taught generations that you did not start a fight but you also never ran away from one or that you stood up and protected the weak. From the "Flying Tigers" to the "Sands of Iwo Jima" duty and honor matter. That "Truth is the measure of a man." (Hondo) and in "Big Jake" he showed that you don't negotiate with the bad guys. At a time when patriotism was in disdain Wayne, a staunch anti-communist, stood behind the cause in Vietnam and made the movie the "Green Berets". Long time friend and costarMaureen O'hara said of him "It is every person's dream that the United States will be like John Wayne and always like him."

"If everything isn't black and white, I say, 'Why the hell not?" he said and I am certain that many of the things in life that I see as black and white were influenced by that tough straight shooter known and admired the world over as the Duke.

Iowa Destinations : Winterset. On the occasion of his 100th Birhday the town of Winterset is hosting a 3 day celebration and is set to begin construction of the "John Wayne Museum." Link Here.

On Cable: TCM is showing several days of the Duke's movies. Some Personal Favorites: "The Quiet Man" with Maureen O'hara, "Big Jake" again with O'hara and his sons Patrick and Ethan.

Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_wayne

Wayne Quote: "We must always look to the future. Tomorrow--the time that gives a man just one more chance--is one of the many things that I feel are wonderful in life. So's a good horse under you. Or the only campfire for miles around. Or a quiet night and a nice soft hunk of ground to sleep on. A mother meeting her first-born. The sound of a kid calling you dad for the first time. There's a lot of things great about life. But I think tomorrow is the most important thing. Comes in to us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday."
John Wayne

O'hara, Maureen. Statement before the U.S Congress in support of John Wayne to receive the Congressional Gold Medal. Link Here.

From the Desk of Tom Harkin D-IA

When the new immigration bill was announced I thought I would investigate where our two Senators stood on the issue.
Senator Chuck Grassley R-IA had already listed the "Top 15 Flaws" of the bill on his website.
Tom Harkin on the other hand does not even list immigration on his issues page. Friday I emailed my esteemed senator and voiced my concerns with the bill. Today I received what I assume is the standard response which I will pass along for your reading enjoyment. You can contract Senator Harkin here and let him know that for many Iowans immigration is an issue.

Dear Scott:
Thank you for contacting me. I am always glad to hear from you. I appreciate your views on the need to reform our immigration laws. As you may know, after many months of negotiations, a bipartisan group of senators recently agreed on a comprehensive immigration reform package. Unfortunately, I was not a member of this working group, so while the general outline of the deal has been announced, I have only just received a copy of the bill language. At this time, I am still working my way through the text of the bill.While I have not decided whether or not I will support this piece of legislation,

I feel that we must work to fix our broken immigration system. I will be evaluating the new compromise bill based on the factors that I feel are most important to a comprehensive solution: the need to beef up security along our borders; the need to step up enforcement against those who hire illegal workers; and finally, the need to create a practical solution to allow undocumented workers presently in this country to come forward, undergo a background investigation, pay a fine as restitution for having been in the U.S. illegally, learn English, and maintain a clean criminal and work record.Please be assured that I will remember your concerns when the full Senate proceeds to consideration of this legislation. Again, thanks for sharing your views with me. Please don't hesitate to let me know how you feel on any issue that concerns you.

Sincerely,
Tom Harkin
United States Senator

Carbon Credits

I have been trying to figure out a way to cash in on the pompous guilt ridden carbon credit crowd but the always astute (clever and perceptive: shrewd and discerning, especially where personal benefit is to be derived (encarta)) IowaHawk has once again beaten me to the punch.

Immigration.

I only had to read the first point in the Cedar River Gazette's story on the newest immigration legislation to realize that this is not a good reform, if it is reform at all. For the first eight years under this plan we would allow 1.1 million family visas a year. Up from the current 980,000, for spouses, children and "extended family" (what ever that means) We are talking tens of millions of new arrivals.
For the first 50 years of our nation's existence immigration was relatively small. By 1880 the last great wave of immigration most comparable to the current situation was underway and 584,000 new immigrants were entering American for the promise of freedom and jobs in the industrial age. By 1887, with the influx of immigrants at record heights, American citizens were questioning the effects immigration was having on wages and the social fabric of the country, and they were asking for change. Like today, politicians, influenced by big business to maintain cheep labor and protect what was becoming an important bloc of voters, kept the doors open. Finally with overwhelming support of the public, the 1924 Immigration Act returned the number of immigrants to the levels of the late 1870’s. The effect was a tightening of the labor market, elimination of sweatshops, rising numbers of middle class workers, and the ability of blacks to enter the new industrial workforce (Beck 37). The numbers of immigrants entering the country after 1924 averaged 170,000 per year. That was all to change in 1965.
President John Kennedy in his 1958 book "A Nation of Immigrant" wrote that a system that was weighted heavily toward Europeans was unfair to Asian populations wishing to migrate to American. In the aftermath of Kennedy’s assassination and with the country in the midst of the civil rights movement, Congress, with Kennedy’s book as a blue print, enacted the 1965 Immigration Act, with promises that immigration numbers would remain stable and that the racial makeup of the country would not change. Senator for life Edward "Teddy"Kennedy stated:

"Out of deference to the critics, I want to comment on … what the bill will not do. First, our cities will not be flooded with a million immigrants annually. Under the proposed bill, the present level of immigration remains substantially the same … Secondly, the ethnic mix of this country will not be upset … Contrary to the charges in some quarters, S.500 will not inundate America with immigrants from any one country or area, or the most populated and economically deprived nations of Africa and Asia. In the final analysis, the ethnic pattern of immigration under the proposed measure is not expected to change as sharply as the critics seem to think. Thirdly, the bill will not permit the entry of subversive persons, criminals, illiterates, or those with contagious disease or serious mental illness. As I noted a moment ago, no immigrant visa will be issued to a person who is likely to become a public charge … the charges I have mentioned are highly emotional, irrational, and with little foundation in fact. They are out of line with the obligations of responsible
citizenship. They breed hate of our heritage."(Senate Part 1, Book 1, pp.
1-3)

But change it did. A system that was based on quotas was now based on the reunification of families. With the implementation of chain immigration the numbers grew exponentially. In 1966 323,000 arrived, 454,000 in 1968, and the numbers have continued to rise. Kennedy’s promise of maintaining the ethnic mix also turned out to be incorrect. A recent Rand Organization report states:

Another trend reshaping the U.S. demographic landscape is the growing diversity of an already ethnically diverse nation. Recent Census Bureau projections show a population in which people of Hispanic origin will shortly outnumber African Americans. Non-Hispanic white (Anglo) persons will themselves eventually become a "minority," shrinking too less than half of all Americans (probably before 2060) (Rand).

Riding this wave of legal immigration is a flood of illegal immigrants. The US Census Bureau estimates there were 7 million illegal aliens in the country in 2000. Others put that number as high as 11 million. Varied estimates put the annual influx at 350,000 to 1 million per year (NumbersUSA). There are those willing to discount these reports and embrace unlimited immigration and invoke the notion that we are after all a nation of immigrants. The term melting pot is the romanticized cliché from the beginning of the last century. But it doesn’t get anyone nearer to a consensus to what to do about the 11 million people that have broken the law to come to the United States. Perhaps the answer lies in the argument used most often, that illegal immigrants are just coming here to do the work that Americans refuse to do.
For some segments of the economy shortages of workers is a reality. Legal immigrants are increasingly filling jobs needing highly educated and skilled workers. On the other end of the spectrum is the low skilled, low paying jobs. The most well known of these jobs have traditionally been filled by migrant workers, an important part of the labor force in the agricultural sector for decades.
Today a shortage of farm workers exists as the itinerant farm workers increasingly move into jobs once reserved for middle class. Not only service sector jobs in the food and lodging industries but also jobs such as construction and meat processing. The effect of employers illegally hiring these workers are depressed wages and the loss of jobs in sectors that for decades were the mainstay of middle class America.
An Iowa example of these phenomena can be found in the story of Iowa Beef Processors. For years a job at the Storm Lake, Iowa packing plant was a prize. High pay, good benefits and safe working conditions were the norm. All that was to change in the 1980’s when changes in the industry forced the closing of the Storm Lake plant. The plant was to reopen under new management but immigrants replaced the local meat-cutters at half the pay. The ripple effect of the change was felt throughout the entire community as the money dried up and the locals moved away to find jobs in other areas (Beck).
As author Roy Beck explains, "The importation of hundreds of thousands of foreign workers each year is unnecessary. It ruins good occupations, it rewards callous business management, it penalizes businesses with a strong sense of corporate citizenship, and it creates sweeping changes for the communities that never requests and seldom approves them" (Beck).
Analogous to the situation affecting the country in the 1920’s, we find a labor market overwhelmed by workers willing to work for low pay with little regard for the safety. A return to the era of sweatshops, with the lowering of middle class incomes, and increased competition for jobs in the workforce that have traditionally been held by minorities.
The second argument for immigration is that the immigrant adds to the economic prosperity of the country. A study by the National Academy of Sciences concluded that immigration delivered a significant positive gain to the economy. It found that the typical immigrant and their children, depending on education level, would pay between $80,000 and $198,000 more in taxes than they collect in government services in their lifetime (Griswald). But the illegal immigrant population is not typical in education level or earning potential.
Economic studies in California, the state with the largest illegal immigrant population, indicate a staggering burden on the residents of that state. It is estimated the state spends $7.7 billion a year to school illegal alien children that now make up approximately 15 percent of the students. The states spends $1.4 billion to provide health care to illegal aliens and another $1.4 billion to the prison system to incarcerate illegal alien criminals Closer to home it is estimated that the state of Iowa now has an illegal population of 24,000. Data on the impact to education and healthcare are not available, but in 1999 Iowa asked the federal government to reimburse the state $2.4 million for the costs incurred in the incarceration of illegal immigrants in the states penal institutions (FAIR). In a report to Congress, Steven A. Camararta from the Center for Immigration Studies stated:

"Households headed by illegal aliens imposed more than $26.3 billion in costs on the federal government in 2002 and paid only $16 billion in taxes, creating a net fiscal deficit of $10.4 billion, or $2,700 per illegal household. With nearly two-thirds of illegal aliens lacking a high school degree, the primary reason they create a fiscal deficit is their low education levels and resulting low incomes and tax payments, not their legal status or heavy use of most social services (Fitzgerald).

There is no question that immigrants, legal and illegal, have become an intricate part of a growing America. But the illegal worker is part of an underground economy that ads economic benefit for some and burdens for many others. The question arises, how do you bring that underground economy to the surface?
The current immigration bill working its way through congress is seen by some as a way to integrate illegal workers into the mainstream while others only see another amnesty. Camarata’s report warns, "that granting legal status to illegal immigrants would dramatically increase their cost, causing the net fiscal deficit to rise to nearly $29 billion because, as Camaratta argues, unskilled immigrants would have access to more government services while continuing to make modest tax payments" (Fitzgerald).
All these facts and figures are all interesting, and they are important for Americans to know in forming their opinions about immigration, but they are merely the overt effects of an immigration policy that is in disarray and it is doubtful that the new legislation would be an improvment. The problem most people have with the immigration debate, like the issues of abortion or gun control, is how to responsibly frame the argument in such a way as to avoid getting drowned in statistics and mired in rhetoric. Unfortunately, to frame the argument for stopping illegal immigration in any way other than statistics, no matter the intent, runs the risk of being labeled racist.
Tom Krannawitter of the Claremont Institute suggests a starting point in a reasoned, civil discussion of immigration needs to be based on the basic principles on which our country was founded:

The United States is a sovereign nation…Our government rests on our social compact, and its only purpose is to protect the rights of those who have given their consent to the compact. Intrinsic to the idea of sovereignty is the distinction between those who are and those who are not part of the social compact. We may invite others from around the world to join our compact, and in fact America has a long and noble tradition of welcoming millions from around the globe who have come in search of civil and religious liberty and economic prosperity. But whether we admit one person or one million persons is a question to be answered entirely at our discretion. The distinction between those we welcome and those we want to keep out—say, terrorists whose purpose are to kill Americans—requires first and foremost that the American government secure our borders. Without secured borders, the American people cannot decide who will partake in the social compact they formed among themselves for their mutual protection (Krannawitter).

This new immigration bill is nothing more than smoke and mirrors. Nothing more than another amnesty, rewarding those that have broken the law while playing lip service to the demands of the citizenry. Ronald Reagan once said: "The simple truth is we have lost control of our borders, and any country that does that can not survive." (Presidential News Conference, June 14, 1984) Washington must realize that the nation is demanding that the flow of illegals be stopped. Then after that is done we can all take a collective deep breath and decide the best way to integrate or remove eleven million people from our shores.

• Beck, Roy. The Case Against Immigration: The moral, economic, social and environmental reasons for reducing U.S. immigration levels back to traditional levels.
  New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1996.
• Buchanan, Patrick. The Death of the West: How dying populations and immigrant invasions imperil our country and civilization. New York: St. Martins, 2002.
• Daugherty, Jon E. Illegals: The imminent threat posed by our unsecured US- Mexican border. Nashville:WND Books, 2004
• FAIR. "The Effect of Illegal Immigration to Californians" Federation for American Immigration Reform. November 2004. 12 December 2005. http://www.fairus.org/site/DocServer/ca_costs.pdf?docID=141.
• Fitzgerald, Mary. "Illegal Immigrants’ Cost to Government Studied." Washington Post. 6 August 2004.
  12 December 2005. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33783-2004Aug25.html
• Fonte, John D. "Does America Have an Assimilation Problem? Yes it’s not 1900 Anymore." The American Enterprise Online. 12 December 2005 http://www.americanenterprise.org/issues/articleid.12113/article_detail.asp
• Griswald, Danial. "Immigrations Have Enriched American Culture and Enhanced Our Influence in the World" Taking Sides. Ed. George McKenna and Stanley Feingold. Dubuque: McGraw-Hill 2005. 356-359
• Hsia-Chang, Maria. "Multiculturalism, Immigration, and Aztlan." Population Action Conference. Breckenridge, Co. 6 August 1999.
• Numbers USA. Illegal Immigration. NumbersUSA.com. 12 December 2005 http://numbersusa.org/interests/illegalimm.html
  Krannawitter, Tom. " What is an American." The Claremont Institute. 21 December 2004. 12 December 2005 http://www.claremont.org/writings/041221krannawitter.html.
• Morrison, Peter. "Demographic Trends Foreshadow Major Economic and Social Challenges." Rand Corporation. February 1999. 12 December 2005.
  http://www.rand.org/publications/RB/RB5046/
• Simon, William E., "On Becoming American: Reasserting citizenship into the immigration debate." The Heritage Foundation. 21 July 2005. 12 December 2005 http://www.heritage.org/Research/PoliticalPhilosophy/hl890.cfm
• U. S Census Bureau, Summary File 3 (SF 3) Detailed Tables.12 December 2005 http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en
• Wall, Allan. "Immigration Safety Valve Does Mexico Little Good." Albuquerque Journal 23 August 2004. 12 December 2005. http://www.abqjournal.com/opinion/guest_columns/211969opinion08-23-04.htm
• Zogby, John. "American Views of Mexico and Mexican Views of the US". Zogby International. 6 June 2005. 12 December 2005. http://www.immigrationcontrol.com/AIC+Zogby_Mexican_Opinion_Poll.doc.

Graduation

It has been a heady few weeks here on the banks of the Cedar River. There was the last minute study fest to prepare for finals week at Tall Corn College and Technical Institute culminating in gradgiation ceremonies last Saturday at the Cedar River Arena. Commencement was followed by an open house here at the salmon shack, where large quantities of Iowa beef products and a plethora of libations were consumed by friends and family.

If not for the persuasiveness of the woman that lets me live with her I am sure that I would have bypassed the the whole days events and went fishing. I had a hard time seeing the significance of the accomplishment of an associates degree from a two year community college that I didn't work particularly hard at getting. Sure, I maintained a respectable but not perfect 3.2 GPA but with the exception of a few courses, math and accounting in particular, the workload was not particularly demanding. I was also looking at the fact that I still have two more years at the U before I can declare mission accomplished. I am sure that when that day comes returning to college will rank near the top of life's accomplishments and best of all it will offer a good excuse to throw another party.

Fishing Season

Not one to let a writing assignment be wasted only on a professor here at Tall Corn College and Technical Institute I submit today a recent Non Fiction Literature,Travel Essay.

"Fishing Season"

July 18th
The second run of reds began to trickle into the Kenai River and I reserved a "172" to fly down after work to flip flies for a few hours. It’s a short walk from the airport to the river and I found an opening in the line of anglers below the Seward Highway bridge. I waded in next to an old gentleman clad in shinny new waders and fishing a bargain store salmon combo. He explained that he had been at it for a couple days but while everyone around him was catching fish he wasn’t having much luck.
Catching a red on a Russian River fly is more art than science. The fish don’t eat after they enter the river to spawn, so the technique is to flip a fly twenty-foot upstream and with just enough lead to get it to the bottom where the fish are. The current should carry it along at a sufficient rate so that when it hits the fish in the nose they will react and grab it. The sinker bumping the bottom sends a tappity tap tap up the monofilament, through the rod and into your hand. Getting the feel for when the fish picks up the lure is what separates success from failure.
After an adjustment to his gear and a little coaching, my guest from Minnesota was hooking fish with regularity and boyish enthusiasm. His wife, screaming like a high school cheerleader, rooted him on from the bank while I netted his fish. Fish on!
Late that night under the light of the midnight sun I flew back to Anchorage with three fresh fish and a newly minted fish story. Unfortunately I realized when I got home that I had left my favorite old knife stuck in the riverbank.

July 25th
It’s been 4 years since the Exxon Valdez and the offspring of the generation that returned that year that the commercial fisheries were shut down by oil have hit the rivers in mass. Fish and Game has announced that the daily limit on reds will be raised to ten. It’s time to make a meat run to fill the freezer for the winter.
Getting into the campground at Soldotna was a slow moving conga. I was stuck behind a behemoth whose bumper sticker proudly proclaimed that they were spending the kid’s inheritance, and the map of North American on the back had all the states colored in except for Alaska and the Yukon Territories. I wonder what they’ll do now. Progress had ground to a stop as this driver was evidently having some words with the gate attendant. When he finally moves on the attendant tells me that the guy was driving a hundred thousand dollar motor home but wanted to argue about a senior citizens discount for the camping space. Go figure!
After setting up camp I made my way down to the river and low and behold my friend from Minnesota was standing in the same spot that I left him in a week before. "Having too much fun to leave!" he exclaims. His wife, bless her heart, runs back to their camp to retrieve my knife. Karma on the Kenai I believe!

July 26th
The river is a zoo. With the increased limit, combat fishing is the order of the day. The guy that was fishing a couple people down from me returned after taking his limit back to his camper. I mentioned that the daily limit is ten and he barks back, "You Alaskans think you own the whole damn place, blah, blah, blah." He moves down river a ways but keeps on fishing. I see him in the campground later that evening with two smokers and a pressure cooker, canning his catch that will probably end up in some Lower 48 flea market this winter.
I felt something hit my ankle. First one fish, then another, then another drifting by belly up. Upstream some Japanese were laughing and indicating that they accidentally lost the fish off their stringer, but I can see that they are letting loose the smaller ones so they can keep fishing. I waded upstream to give them hell but they "no speak English". They must have understood "Fish and Game" though because it didn’t take them long to scurry up the bank. I guess we can be tad selfish!

July 30th
Steve and JJ arrived from Texas today. After years of hearing my stories and seeing stacks of fish pictures they have finally come up to visit. Steve wants to try and catch a barn door halibut so I made reservations for a fishing charter in the little port village of Homer.
By 6AM the dozen or so blurry-eyed crew that had signed up for this adventure were queued up on the dock waiting their turn to board. Once under way we motored out of the harbor onto the mirror calm waters of the bay and turned south along the beautiful glacier capped mountains of the Kenai Peninsula. Sea otters played and floated effortlessly by on their backs to the joy of the crew. One awestruck gal from Nebraska wondered aloud "What elevation are we at here?" and then, red-faced, realized the answer as the rest of us chuckle. Cameras come alive as a churning ball of orcas, impossible to count, breach and blow and dive with a tail slap as they gorge on a school of some unseen bounty. Try as he might Disney could never conceive an attraction such as this one. As we neared the end of the peninsula where the mountains begin to stair-step into the sea and the waters of the bay joins the north pacific, the wind and waves began to grow and as the boat came alive the atmosphere on board began to change.
The group of Germans that I had seen the night before whooping up a storm in the Salty Dog are the first to head to the rail. I have always wondered what it is about this affliction, which once started seems to spread like the Black Death through a crew of flat-landers. In no time we had a boatload of what Alaskans affectionately refer to as pukers. Today even the ones that put their faith in pills, patches, or prayers fell ill. One unfortunate symptom of the malady is that once you have it, it does not get better. You begin to hope for a quick and painless death. I have seen brave men reduced to begging, blubbering, babies offering to pay for everyone’s trip if only the skipper would return them to shore.
We eventually anchored over a chicken hole on the lee of Ugashak Island and commenced to fish. Even here, out of the worst of the wind, with the boat tethered to the seafloor, she swung and pitched and danced like a hooked Kenai King fighting to set itself free. One by one green gilled fishermen headed for the cabin, emerging occasionally to chum the churning green waters. It was not a pretty sight. With the help of the deckhands, several of us hauled in fish for those that had taken ill so that the trip was not a total loss for the rest of our companions.
The ride back in was no better as the boat plowed through the growing seas with waves now breaking completely over the top and onto the aft deck. Wide-eyed passengers held on white knuckled as the boat climbed and crested and raced down the backside of the twenty-foot waves. Even I began to wonder how far the old tub could list before turning turtle. As we re-entered the shelter of Kachamack Bay the worsening weather made even these protected waters a bone-jarring chop until we reached the mouth of the harbor.
Slowly our vessel pulled alongside the spot from which we departed hours before and the shaken and battered crew emerged from the cabin. Wobbly sea legs clambered to the security of the dock. Color slowly returned to tired faces, and a nervous laughter could be heard as people began to relive what they had just experienced. But then I heard several commenting that they wanted to see if they could find a charter for the next day, in spite of the fact that they were sure just hours before that they were knocking on heavens door. "E" ticket travelers indeed!

One Wild Ride.

"This isn't flying, it's falling with style!" (Buzz Lightyear)

glumbert.com - The Great Descent

The always funny IowaHawk....

Just when you thought it all you had to worry about was Islamic Jihad, the radical Lutherens declare a fatwah in the midwest and bring the British Empire (?) to it's knees. Read it here...

British Hostage Release.

I have to preface this post, as most have about this subject, with the disclaimer that I am not sure how I would have responded if placed in a similar situation. I would hope that if I was being paraded before the press I would maintain a degree of dignity that would not embarrass myself or my country.
What I found most frustrating about the whole affair from the meet and greet with the Iranian president to the bags of parting gifts is the lack of military decorum that the sailors displayed. In the above picture, as the crowd stood waving and smiling for the camera like a bunch of school kids leaving on holiday, we see three of the marines standing somewhat apart and subdued. The second from the right is Capt. Cris Air of the Royal Marines. As senior officer it would seem to be his duty to take charge. It just makes you wish he would step forward and call the group to attention in typical Marine Corp fashion.
It may be that prisoner of war training is no longer a part of the syllabus but at the least the Ministry of Defence should require that all officers sit through a showing of Sir Alec Guiness in
"The Bridge Over the River Kwai."

Margery Glickman; Iditarod Redux.

I thought that after my last post on the Iditarod I would tuck the subject away till next March, but anti-Iditarodder Margery Glickman, director of the Sled Dog Action Coalition must have me on speed dial. Only hours after my post about our correspondence she fired off a new comment to the Salmon. Its always hard to judge someones demeanor in a letter but I thought her comments were just a tad snippy and never one to walk away from a pissing match I will reply to it here today.

Margery wrote:
I don't know where you get your figures about how many animals are killed by Miami-Dade Animal Services or why you would presume I am not doing anything to help.

First I would like to apologize for assuming Margery is not involved in a local dog crusade. I'm sure she is a wonderful person and I hear she bakes a mean chocolate chip cookie but the figures I quoted in the last post came from The Dade County Animal Services web site.

ASD's Save Rate is Increasing
The national average Save Rate (animals leaving a shelter alive through reclaim, adoption or rescue) is 28-percent. Miami-Dade Animal Services has reached 46-percent in the month of January and the year-to-date rate has increased to 36-percent.

From the Common Questions page
Why can’t all pets be adopted? 30,000 pets are brought to Animal Services each year. Sadly, there are not enough homes for all of them.

Although they didn't come right out to say how many animals were getting a syringe full of the pink stuff, it wasn't hard to do the math. So lets see... the save rate is 36% so the death rate is 1-.36= .64. 30000 X .64 = 19200 killed critters.

She Continues: But the reality is that wrongs happening in Miami or elsewhere don't justify or excuse the cruelties of the Iditarod.

The old "two wrongs don't make a right defense."
She is right but only if the two wrongs are morally equivalent, which they are not. The mushers, dogs, fans, vets, dog food companies etc. all derive a variety of fulfillment from mushing.
On the other hand, whether it is dogs at the pound or killing an oversupply of horses and dumping them in a landfill because some group of misdirected do gooders think that "by god they shouldn't be exported for food." the wanton waste of any creature is both regrettable and reprehensible. I'm sure I'll be getting hammered by the save the horse loons next. See; "What to do with the Horses"

She continues:
Regarding Ramy Brooks: The Iditarod created an "independent group" to investigate Brooks beating and kicking his dogs. Who is in this o-called "independent" group? Why won't the Iditarod release this information? Whether you can admit it or not, the Iditarod is cruel to dogs.

I will skip the X-Files conspiracy and get to the conclusion which is that Margery and I have two different perspectives that will never converge. She will continue to be a misguided do gooder and I will continue to admire people that still hold that sense of adventure to make the trek across the most wild, beautiful, awe inspiring land in America on the back of a dogsled.

Happy Easter: The Resurrection as Told by Matthew

After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.

And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it.
His appearance was like lightning and his clothing was white as snow.

The guards were shaken with fear of him and became like dead men.

Then the angel said to the women in reply, "Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified.

He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.
Then go quickly and tell his disciples, 'He has been raised from the dead, and he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.' Behold, I have told you."

Then they went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce this to his disciples.

US Military Capacity

In a press conferance yesterday with Sec of Defense Robert Gates and Chief of Staff General Peter Pace, NBC Pentagon correstpondent Jim Miklaszewski's questioning puts gave GEneral Pace the oportuinty to put to rest the myth that the US military is strecthed so thin that it is incapable of responding to additional threats.
The entire transcript is available here.

Miklaszewski: So what is this prolonged deployment in Iraq doing to the overall readiness of the force, and what is the state of the readiness of the force today?

Gates Reply.....

Miklaszewski: But in terms of readiness -- General?

Gen Pace:

.... But there's more than one audience here, so let me make sure I got -- I make sure our potential enemies also know that the United States armed forces have enormous power and capacity, and at any given time we have about 200,000 to 250,000 of our troops overseas out of some 2.4 million. We have enormous residual capacity. We have the vast power of our Army -- correction -- of our Navy and our Air Force still available to take on any potential foes. And it would take longer then for the reserve forces to be remobilized and to get to the fight, but there is zero doubt about the outcome. It would simply take us longer than we would like, or than it would if we were not doing anything else, to defeat any potential enemy.

Miklaszewski: Which would potentially increase the number of casualties of the West. ( I assume when he says west he is refering to the United States and Britain)

Gen Pace: You potentially increase the number of casualties on both sides and the amount of damage done on both sides, because you have some of your precision intelligence systems and some of your precision delivery systems already committed, and therefore, you may end up using more dumb bombs, for example, to get the job done. So you would end up using more brute force than you normally would if you could just start with nothing else going on and pick the exact units and exact weapons that you would use.

Iditarod Response.

Margery Glickman, director of the Sled Dog Action Coalition was kind enough to leave a comment concerning my recent Iditarod coverage. She writes: "The Iditarod is cruel to dogs. For the facts: http://www.helpsleddogs.org."
I contacted Margery to inquire why a woman in Miami, which is about as far as you can get from Nome, is so concerned about the state sport of Alaska. Over the course of several days we exchanged our positions on the subject.

I Wrote:
"Hello,Thanks for taking the time for responding to my personal coverage of the 2007 Iditarod. I wouild like to question though, why you would take the time to leave a comment to a blogger that has an obvious appreciation for the sport of sled dog racing and is fan and supporter of the Iditarod and it's place in Alaska culture?"

She responded:
Hi Scott, Thank you for your email. I wrote because some Iditarod supporters don't realize that the race is cruel to dogs. May I send you information, including copies of research studies that are on the National Institute of Health website?


Margery,
I am afraid this is one of those subjects where our two sides will never agree. I applaud your concern for the welfare of dogs in general but having followed the Iditarod for over 25 years and having personally known mushers and their dogs I find that your anger and crusade against sled dog racing is unfortunatley misdirected.

Margery evidently was not swayed by my argument.....She responded:
If Ramy Brooks is willing to hit his dogs in full view of witnesses, isn't it a good bet that he's done it on other occasions when there have been no witnesses?- Margery Glickman, Sled Dog Action Coalition

I sensed a little animosity growing in my new pen pal and as my wife will tell you there is not a button that I dont enjoy pushing. Just my nature.

Margery, He may also beat his wife and kick the cat but this is a reflection of Ramy Brooks and not of the Iditarod. The Iditarod officials quickly took the appropriate action. Unfortunately it gives you, PETA and others the chance to wail "I told you so."
If you are really concerned about animal welfare and are intent on effecting some change I suggest you spend a few days at your local Miami Dade County Animal Services, where 64% of the 32000 animals they take in per year are summarily executed.
http://animals.miamidade.gov/ Twenty Thousand dead animals is a travesty that far exceeds anything you can compare in the Iditarod but I suspect that the local dog pound is not as glamorous a target as the Iditarod.
Scott

I am still waiting for a response.

Catching Up

1. The Salmon has been on hiatus....while I play catch up in the game of life.....



2. A Change Of Plans

At some point during the fall semester here at Tall Corn College and Technical Institute I found myself hating life and wondering what the heck was I doing here. Although the goal was pursuing a degree in bidness, like many students, I was having trouble visualizing what would lie at the end of this trek.


I remember commenting some time ago that if I were younger History or Political Science would be an interesting path After some soul searching and with the support of a very understanding and loving wife I have thrown caution to the wind and have changed horses in midstream. I will be attending the University of Iowa in the fall semester as a history major with a minor in education.



3. Happy Birthday to my little brother in Texass....
I know, it's a day late as usual....

Garage Logic

While living in Minnesota a few years ago I had the opportunity to listen to local radio talk show host and St. Paul Pioneer Press columnist Joe Souchery on his daily afternoon program Garage Logic. Joe was the self appointed mayor of Garage Logic, capital of Gumption County MN. The place where every problem can be boiled down to the common sense logic found in any group of guys having a beer in their garage.
For example; as a public service, after a series of incidents of schoolchildren inadvertently being left on board the school bus until after they had reached the bus barn, Joe began the "No Child Left Behind Program." See the lexicon of Garage Logic here.
In today's Pioneer Press Joe wades into the controversy of the refusal of certain individuals to scan the prices of pork products at Minneapolis Target stores. In part Joe writes;

As wave after wave of immigrants arrived in, say, the Twin Cities, I can find no historical evidence that they demanded that America accommodate them. On the contrary, they assimilated, worked hard and benefited from America. I can find no historical evidence that other immigrant groups wished to have such a religious presence in the material marketplace, or, to put it another way, we have not previously been this expected to accommodate such a public component of one particular faith.

This could also be true of the cabbies refusing to carry alcohol in their cabs and the call to provide prayer sanctuaries in airports and sports facilities.

Read the whole thing here.

Iditarod Wrap Up.

Another Iditarod is in the record books. Lance Mackey of course was first in and walks away with $50,000 and a new Dodge truck.
Iowa musher Matt Anderson finished in 41st. place in just over 12 days.
Personal favorite, Rick Swenson finished in 26th place in just over 10 days. To show how the race has changed, his run this year is faster than any of his 5 winning times.
23 teams dropped out of this years race, including 4 time champ Doug Swingley, and perennial favorite Dee Dee Jonrowe.
Congratulations to all the mushers in this years race!