The Vilisar Times

AUTUMN APPROACHING; HOW LONG, OH LORD?
Wednesday, 21 September 2005

The nights are getting cooler now and the days shorter. There is a touch of autumn in the evening and morning air. At this altitude and in the clear air, the days however can still be hot. The sun in July came up about 0600 or even a bit earlier and set about 1945. But now official sunrise is well after 0700 and we don’t actually see the sun come over the mountain until fifteen minutes later. At present the sun goes down before 1900 giving us roughly twelve hours of sun. I miss the long summer evenings of the far north but I won’t be sorry to miss those short winter days. We are on Mountain Standard Time so I guess we won’t be resetting our clocks at the end of October.

After a week or so of dry weather, we are getting daily rain or threats of rain in the late afternoon again. Yesterday, for example, it clouded up to the south and we see a curtain of rain moving from east to west. The dogs stretch and move slowly to find cover. Dutch moves his carpentry work under the roof of the workshop area and keeps working. I hide out in the guest house with a book. We get a downpour. The sun comes out again before then finally setting behind the mountains to the west. Clouds hang around to the south for a while, lightning playing occasionally in the far distance even after dark. The sky clears from east to west behind the rain. After the sun goes down the sky takes on an eternal and infinite blue-black. The stars are like fire and the Milky Way like a stripe of light paint. To the east Mars hangs brightly red and low in the sky just above where a full moon is rising behind a rocky pinnacle. Down in the valley mist is gathering over the river, warm air condensing over the cooler water. The mountains are shadows until the moon illuminates them and crowds out the stars with its light.

Around 2200 the dogs begin first to growl and then to bark in chorus. Bob arrives in the white pickup after nearly everybody is in bed, Simon in his log cabin, Dutch in the old original hacienda where he has taken up semi-permanent quarters, and Eli, out cold on the sofa across from where Kathleen and I sit reading by the 12-volt electric ceiling light. We have more-or-less given up on Bob for today even though he emailed earlier that he would be returning “this afternoon”. From wherever he has spent the day Simon gets back well after the rest of us have eaten and devours the rest of the Chinese stir-fry and rice. “Bien!” Now, while I scramble an egg and toast some homemade bread for Bob, he says he has to leave again early in the morning with Simon for a court appearance and a few other appointments.

I get up in the pre-dawn to find the whole valley full of fog and drifting along the length of the river before us. As the sun comes out, the mountains visible from the large door of the kitchen where I am making coffee turn warmly yellow at the tops; the middle and bottoms are hidden from view in the mist. The air is so Umbrian-pure it is like some sort of light wine. The dogs move into the sun to sleep.

At the ranch here in Sierra Madres Occidentale we are between 2,000 and 2,500 metres high. There is no industry or traffic anywhere nearby and the relatively dry air is, as a result, very clear. The most distant mountains that we can see might be ten or fifteen miles away, more perhaps. From the high mesa, however, you can see probably fifty miles across the tabletops.

I have been reading a book about the recorded history and culture of the Apaches (actually it’s a history of the subjugation of the Apaches from an American viewpoint). The Mexican-American border was of no particular importance to the native peoples. Gerónimo, the Chiricahua-Apache leader, retreated with his warrior/raiders into the mountains near here after successful depredations in Arizona and New Mexico. The U.S. had a “hot pursuit” agreement with Mexico in the 1870’s and 1880’s and gave chase. The American soldiers declared that the mountains here were far higher and rougher than those in the US Southwest. We know a little about that ourselves.

How long, Oh, Lord?

Late last night Bob, Kathleen and I talked politics for a while. With our wi-fi internet access we can keep up on world news. We are agreed that George W. Bush is probably the worst president in U.S. history. But, as Bob, comments laconically, there have been quite a few bad ones in last fifty years. One of the reasons Bob and Cindy moved here was their dissatisfaction at the direction their native land seemed to be taking.

Internationally, the U.S.A. has turned into a bullying imperialist power, undertaking illegal and immoral wars against small countries, badgering others. At home it is doing everything it can to destroy the social contract and the safety net that people have over and over said they want. Internationally, Bush, Rumsfeld and Powell tell blatant lies to the UNO and the American people about what a threat Iraq (Iraq! for goodness sake) is to the U.S.A. At home they cut taxes for the rich and then lie that there is no money for social security, health care, or myriad other governmental programmes, not the least of which it now appears is the physical defence of major cities like New Orleans. The government lies to the people that new pharmaceutical programmes for Medicare are an improvement when the programme is really only designed to enrich the already-richest sector of American industry and to bury Medicare under its own weight within a generation. They lie when they say Social Security is bust when it clearly is not. The idea is to kill a popular programme and substitute expensive and risky private investment programmes. The government eliminates civil rights and civil liberties under the guise of a “War on Terror”. There is no war on terror! Unless we mean it in some figurative sense like the “War on Breast Cancer”. But it is a means to get the herd to follow; keep them scared and riled up and they will vote for the scaremongers.

We all accept that Dubbya is so stupid that he couldn’t have come up with much of this himself. I think he exhibits early symptoms of dementia. Praise the Lord that he can’t run again. Perhaps he will return to the well-deserved obscurity whence he came. But who’s next? Is it going to get even worse? As China and Europe and others take up blocking positions, is the U.S.A. going to try to John-Wayne its way through one crisis of its own making after another?

I wonder who the Republicans will put up in 2008. Another Bush? Guliani? Pray not the Gray Eminence! Dick Cheney; he looks evil to me. Will that pack of running dogs that includes Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfsonn, Crystal, Pearle, Rove, Bolton, et alia still be running the show?

And have the Democrats anybody at all to lead the resistance at present? John Kerry was and is a broken straw. Hillary Clinton? She voted for the Iraq War and has had nearly nothing to say about anything of importance. She would be no different than John Kerry. Howard Dean and Dennis Kuchinich are considered too far left by the party leaders. John Edwards has a nice smile but can’t find Iraq on the map or his arse in the dark.

How abysmal does it have to get internationally for American voters to reject the bully’s role? How many of their kids have to come home in black body bags? How many Iraqis have to die? How unpleasant does it have to get at home for the voters to swing to progressive candidates and renew the social contract? So far they seem to prefer swagger and smirk; jingoism abroad and Social Darwinism at home.

How long, Oh Lord?

posted by rjb,
12:36 pm

<$BlogRSDURL$>

		News From Ron and Kathy Bird__
For more pictures of Ron and Kathy Bird and the Vilisar, see these beautiful photos by Albert Pang Click here to e-mail Ron Click here to e-mail Kathy Archives January 2004 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 February 2007 March 2007 Vilisar Translation Expert German-English translation available; business and finance our specialty. SachverstÃ¤ndige Deutsch-Englische Ãbersetzung; GeschÃ¤ft und Finanz unser Spezialgebiet.	Wednesday, September 21, 2005 AUTUMN APPROACHING; HOW LONG, OH LORD? Wednesday, 21 September 2005 The nights are getting cooler now and the days shorter. There is a touch of autumn in the evening and morning air. At this altitude and in the clear air, the days however can still be hot. The sun in July came up about 0600 or even a bit earlier and set about 1945. But now official sunrise is well after 0700 and we don’t actually see the sun come over the mountain until fifteen minutes later. At present the sun goes down before 1900 giving us roughly twelve hours of sun. I miss the long summer evenings of the far north but I won’t be sorry to miss those short winter days. We are on Mountain Standard Time so I guess we won’t be resetting our clocks at the end of October. After a week or so of dry weather, we are getting daily rain or threats of rain in the late afternoon again. Yesterday, for example, it clouded up to the south and we see a curtain of rain moving from east to west. The dogs stretch and move slowly to find cover. Dutch moves his carpentry work under the roof of the workshop area and keeps working. I hide out in the guest house with a book. We get a downpour. The sun comes out again before then finally setting behind the mountains to the west. Clouds hang around to the south for a while, lightning playing occasionally in the far distance even after dark. The sky clears from east to west behind the rain. After the sun goes down the sky takes on an eternal and infinite blue-black. The stars are like fire and the Milky Way like a stripe of light paint. To the east Mars hangs brightly red and low in the sky just above where a full moon is rising behind a rocky pinnacle. Down in the valley mist is gathering over the river, warm air condensing over the cooler water. The mountains are shadows until the moon illuminates them and crowds out the stars with its light. Around 2200 the dogs begin first to growl and then to bark in chorus. Bob arrives in the white pickup after nearly everybody is in bed, Simon in his log cabin, Dutch in the old original hacienda where he has taken up semi-permanent quarters, and Eli, out cold on the sofa across from where Kathleen and I sit reading by the 12-volt electric ceiling light. We have more-or-less given up on Bob for today even though he emailed earlier that he would be returning “this afternoon”. From wherever he has spent the day Simon gets back well after the rest of us have eaten and devours the rest of the Chinese stir-fry and rice. “Bien!” Now, while I scramble an egg and toast some homemade bread for Bob, he says he has to leave again early in the morning with Simon for a court appearance and a few other appointments. I get up in the pre-dawn to find the whole valley full of fog and drifting along the length of the river before us. As the sun comes out, the mountains visible from the large door of the kitchen where I am making coffee turn warmly yellow at the tops; the middle and bottoms are hidden from view in the mist. The air is so Umbrian-pure it is like some sort of light wine. The dogs move into the sun to sleep. At the ranch here in Sierra Madres Occidentale we are between 2,000 and 2,500 metres high. There is no industry or traffic anywhere nearby and the relatively dry air is, as a result, very clear. The most distant mountains that we can see might be ten or fifteen miles away, more perhaps. From the high mesa, however, you can see probably fifty miles across the tabletops. I have been reading a book about the recorded history and culture of the Apaches (actually it’s a history of the subjugation of the Apaches from an American viewpoint). The Mexican-American border was of no particular importance to the native peoples. Gerónimo, the Chiricahua-Apache leader, retreated with his warrior/raiders into the mountains near here after successful depredations in Arizona and New Mexico. The U.S. had a “hot pursuit” agreement with Mexico in the 1870’s and 1880’s and gave chase. The American soldiers declared that the mountains here were far higher and rougher than those in the US Southwest. We know a little about that ourselves. How long, Oh, Lord? Late last night Bob, Kathleen and I talked politics for a while. With our wi-fi internet access we can keep up on world news. We are agreed that George W. Bush is probably the worst president in U.S. history. But, as Bob, comments laconically, there have been quite a few bad ones in last fifty years. One of the reasons Bob and Cindy moved here was their dissatisfaction at the direction their native land seemed to be taking. Internationally, the U.S.A. has turned into a bullying imperialist power, undertaking illegal and immoral wars against small countries, badgering others. At home it is doing everything it can to destroy the social contract and the safety net that people have over and over said they want. Internationally, Bush, Rumsfeld and Powell tell blatant lies to the UNO and the American people about what a threat Iraq (Iraq! for goodness sake) is to the U.S.A. At home they cut taxes for the rich and then lie that there is no money for social security, health care, or myriad other governmental programmes, not the least of which it now appears is the physical defence of major cities like New Orleans. The government lies to the people that new pharmaceutical programmes for Medicare are an improvement when the programme is really only designed to enrich the already-richest sector of American industry and to bury Medicare under its own weight within a generation. They lie when they say Social Security is bust when it clearly is not. The idea is to kill a popular programme and substitute expensive and risky private investment programmes. The government eliminates civil rights and civil liberties under the guise of a “War on Terror”. There is no war on terror! Unless we mean it in some figurative sense like the “War on Breast Cancer”. But it is a means to get the herd to follow; keep them scared and riled up and they will vote for the scaremongers. We all accept that Dubbya is so stupid that he couldn’t have come up with much of this himself. I think he exhibits early symptoms of dementia. Praise the Lord that he can’t run again. Perhaps he will return to the well-deserved obscurity whence he came. But who’s next? Is it going to get even worse? As China and Europe and others take up blocking positions, is the U.S.A. going to try to John-Wayne its way through one crisis of its own making after another? I wonder who the Republicans will put up in 2008. Another Bush? Guliani? Pray not the Gray Eminence! Dick Cheney; he looks evil to me. Will that pack of running dogs that includes Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfsonn, Crystal, Pearle, Rove, Bolton, et alia still be running the show? And have the Democrats anybody at all to lead the resistance at present? John Kerry was and is a broken straw. Hillary Clinton? She voted for the Iraq War and has had nearly nothing to say about anything of importance. She would be no different than John Kerry. Howard Dean and Dennis Kuchinich are considered too far left by the party leaders. John Edwards has a nice smile but can’t find Iraq on the map or his arse in the dark. How abysmal does it have to get internationally for American voters to reject the bully’s role? How many of their kids have to come home in black body bags? How many Iraqis have to die? How unpleasant does it have to get at home for the voters to swing to progressive candidates and renew the social contract? So far they seem to prefer swagger and smirk; jingoism abroad and Social Darwinism at home. How long, Oh Lord? posted by *rjb,* *12:36 pm* Comments: Post a Comment
Website Counter This website created by Gwendolyn Holbrow All copyrights reserved

Archives

Wednesday, September 21, 2005