Food

There is a current TV commercial for Stouffers frozen lasagna which emphasizes that it's made with "real" ingredients. Is that, as opposed to "illusory" ingredients? Oh, you say it means "natural". . . as opposed to "unnatural?" Recently, I visited a "Whole Earth Market." That is definitely the opposite of inexpensive.

Visitors

Our family world traveler is at it again, and we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our much appreciated, traditional, scenic postcard(s) from the foreign land(s) he has been visiting.

Curiously, he has no doubt been displaying his passport to customs officials in all the countries he enters; but, somehow, here at home, there are foreign visitors who believe they have no responsibility to identify themselves to officials in Arizona and other border states. Therefore, the people there have passed a law to correct that impression, and provided themselves with at least as much protection as other world states enjoy.

President Obama has yet to apologize to the people of Arizona for the federal government's failure to protect their borders, and for petulantly criticizing those who would do so.

Odd and end

There is a movement afoot on the internet to have William Shatner named Governor-General of Canada. How odd, eh?

I applaud the murderer in Utah who chose the firing squad as his method of execution. Certainly is what I would do. Unfiltered cigarette and blindfold, please. Vive la France. (Oh, wrong venue.)

Filleting Phoenix

I have long since despaired that President Obama will stop pretending he knows everything there is to know, and telling us about it. I was somewhat irritated earlier when he spoke out of turn and called a small, mostly white police department "stupid," and had to apologize, but now he has insulted the entire state of Arizona, all 6.5 million inhabitants. Acting on scant information, he has called them "irresponsible" and "misguided," because their elected representatives have passed a new immigration law which was signed by their Governor. The President said, "The recent efforts in Arizona threaten[ed] to undermine basic notions of fairness. . . " Is that similar to the fairness he showed the Cambridge Police Department? Will he apologize to Arizona as well?

It is unlikely I will ever be mistaken for an illegal alien, but if I were to find myself in Arizona again, I would happily obtain the appropriate paperwork to display to any polce official upon request. You see, I have nothing to hide, and every other citizen and legal alien should be proud to affirm their status, and be pleased that the State of Arizona is protecting them from those in their midst who have little regard for our laws. Isn't that the fairness we all want?

MOVIE QUOTES: "To err is human; to really foul things up, you need a computer." -- Lloyd Bridges in "Disaster on the Coastliner" 1979

"Too much law make people mad." -- Jocelyn Lagarde (as Queen Alii Nui) in "Hawaii" 1966

So, why bother?

"Man has lost the capacity to foresee and to forestall. He will end by destroying the earth." -- Albert Schweitzer

What the hell, plant a tree on this Earth Day anyway. I still like trees.

Questions

The question is not whether persons who are not related by blood or law can make health decisions for hospital patients, but rather, whether the President has the unilateral authority to declare they may.

Without delving into the issue, I would suggest that allowing the President to impose his will on yet another segment of society is a very dangerous precedent. I question whether hospitals have the right to ignore the words of a man who may have usurped an authority he doesn't possess. I realize I'm obsessed with Hitler, but didn't he begin by making proclamations to which so few people objected that a whole nation was brought down?

Two for Tuesday

1. The gay marriage proponents have failed to collect enough signatures to qualify their initiative for the ballot. Once again, we will be spared the necessity of preventing the government from holding sway over still more personal, religious and social contracts.

2. The state-run media seem surprised to learn that the majority of Americans will be using this year's tax refund primarily for saving, investing and paying down debt. Isn't that what responsible taxpayers have always done?

Attn: Heaven

Happy 104th, Mom. Glad you're finally there. Meet any interesting people? Do you have WiFi?

A globally significant #701

What in the world was the late President of Poland doing, going to Russia? My Polish grandmother must be turning over in her grave. How often I heard her say in hushed tones of dread, "The Russians are coming." (In Polish, of course.) The fear that Poles have always had seems to have materialized again. I pray that "Busi" didn't hear. ('Boo-she)

Insults

The editor of the local newspaper and I have reached an agreement. He will continue to publish letters he receives from people who feel name-calling is an appropriate method of registering dissent, and I will see my responses that point out their folly printed in his paper.

For instance, readers have not been subjected to the vitriol of Jorge Smirnoff since 2/22 (see my blog of 2/18), when I made sport of him. If he was appropriately embarrassed, it will probably soon wear off, however, because people who don't know what they're talking about eventually revert to name-calling to cover their ignorance.

In a few days, my letter admonishing a certain Douglas W. Hamett for calling "Republicans" lunatics, and, of course, taking my name in vain (again), will be published. I suppose he believes his "clever" epithet destroys the reputation of everyone with whom he disagrees. What a fool. (That's an observation, not an insult.)

I did not react to his paragraph excoriating Sarah Palin, because, in my mind, the jury is still out on her. Of course, neither she nor anyone else deserves to be subjected to name-calling; nonetheless, since her Vice-Presidential adventure, not much she has done has enhanced her reputation.

The gist of my remarks to Mr. Hamett was that he should guard against repeating lies and embracing hatred, and begin respecting liberty and personal responsibility. I also further fed his fear that those "Republicans" could soon be returning to public service to reverse the gravy train full of all those undeserved entitlements for which he longs.

#700

As if you cared

I tried to resign from my book club. For many years, each month I have had the annoying task of cancelling the automatic delivery of their "featured selection" when I didn't want it. Last month, I forgot, and $35 worth of unwanted books arrived, and I sent them back. The company will accept them, but I'll have to pay the postage and "handling." However, today their email said, in part, "We have changed the method of servicing your account. You no longer need to decline your featured selection. . . you only need to contact us when you want to order." How many years ago could I have enjoyed that option?

Actually, since the advent of the internet, I have discovered many sources of reasonably priced books, and when I learn to read, that may become significant.

EMERY MICHELLE: Through the grapevine I have learned that I now have a second greatgranddaughter. Apparently, Tennessee is in another dimension, but someday I hope to receive a letter from there from a rested mother.

AM I MOVING? "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be beautiful or useful." -- William Morris

Anger

Why haven't those ubiquitous scientists created the technology to make it unnecessary for people to risk their lives digging coal? Forget about the moon and Mars; do something for the miners of West Virginia.

Our prayers go out to their families.

I could have sworn I had a title for this

Happy Easter, the purely religious holiday. As I recall, the only Sunday you must attend the Catholic Church to remain a member in good standing is Easter. I love candy, especially chocolate, and hard-boiled eggs, but it's the promise of spring which is the best part. The Bunny is silly, and because Jesus was a Jew, the traditional ham seems inappropriate. About His rising from the dead, I guess you had to be there.

Although I exchanged several letters with my future wife, the longest pen-pal relationship I had was with a young lady whom I met as a youth on Easter. She had been visiting a family down the street, and I went over and talked to her for an hour or so before we exchanged addresses. I seem to remember a brief kiss. There shouldn't have been any reason why not; after all, I was in my nice Easter clothes. She was from a rural area of New York State, and her letters revealed a certain rustic naivete, but we corresponded for several years. I never entertained the thought of visiting her, and when she wrote she was marrying, I bade her a fond farewell and good luck. I regret I have forgotten her somewhat unusual nickname, much like I don't remember the name used by Lyndon, the college roommate of whom I spoke here earlier.

Yes, yesterday was April Fool's Day

1. On Wednesday morning, a couple from Paradise was found dead by the maid at a Budget Inn in Marysville. Despite the religious nature of the city names, apparently, the man, 63, had shot the woman, 57, with a large-caliber handgun before shooting himself.

QUESTION: Shouldn't at least two shots from a "large-caliber" gun have been heard by someone? and,

NOTE TO SELF: It's kind of tacky to commit suicide at a Budget Inn. Save up enough money to rent a nicer room. Loving heirs will excuse your extravagance, and should applaud your social consciousness.

2. For the 29th year, "Pancakes for Peace" will be held on Sunday. For $12, adults can have all-you-can-eat organic pancakes (as opposed to inorganic?) with maple syrup (hopefully not corn syrup with fake maple flavor), and fruit salad (right from untreated trees?). The event is a fundraiser for the Peace and Justice Center, a local group that espouses peace, a non-existent concept on which they have wasted 29 years, and the justice of preferential treatment for assorted minorities.

3. NEWS FROM ONE OF EIGHT COLLEGE TOWNS VOTED AMERICA'S BEST: On Cesar Chavez Day, there were 43 arrests, 27 of them students. (That'll show those Hibernians.) It should be FORMER students, if the "University" only had the guts to suspend, and upon conviction, expel them.

Gaudeamus igitur

My parents sent me to college. Costs were less then, but so was my father's salary. I have no idea what it cost, because they felt it was their responsibility, and I didn't ask. I did work some short-term jobs several summers for "walking-around" money. So, a few fast food meals, a few cigarettes, and a few years later, I was prepared to support myself, and still later, my own family.

Twenty years later, two of my children wanted to go to college. By that time, grants and loans were available, but I knew it was still my responsibility to help them gain their degree(s), and I provided them with whatever education funds they requested.

I believe that parental responsibility dictates that mothers and fathers should still finance that portion of their children's education they cannot cover themselves. Just as in my own case, if my parents had not sent me, and I could not have earned or borrowed enough money, I wouldn't have been able to go to college. That's life.

Ultimately, college educations are the students' responsibility, but if parents made the mistake of having them before insuring they could properly care for them, I regret to say that's their shame.

Now, along comes President Obama. He says, "Let the government loan you the money your irresponsible parents have failed to provide, and you can't or won't earn. You can pay us back later, but in the meantime, we own you. By the way, we want you to study math and science, and there will be regular standardized tests. Don't forget to acknowledge the superiority of foreign govenments and cultures, and stay away from nonsense like philosophy, the arts and, God forbid, religion. What we really need are doctors who are willing to work for the mere pittance Obamacare is going to offer after the private insurance companies have been forced out."