Twenty-six years ago. . .

. . . a small group of joy seekers drove out into the Nevada desert, got naked, took some drugs, enjoyed some sex, and sang some songs. At the end of a short visit, they erected a large crude wooden structure resembling a man, and ritually set fire to it. If it was some kind of message, it's unlikely many of them cared; they just enjoyed the glorious light it cast over the sand. It was so memorably pleasant they kept going back each subsequent year to try to recapture the feeling.

In small part, it put me in mind of the night, as a teenager, some friends and I gathered a large pile of driftwood on the shore of Lake Michigan and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows in the glow of the fire. It was large enough to attract the attention of the Coast Guard, who had to sail by to assure themselves no beach houses were burning.

The Burning Man ceremony finally also drew some government attention, and then flocks of looky-loos, detractors, and finally, jerks who are spoiling the experience. I suppose it was inevitable that those early unrestrained people would have loose lips to match, but that doesn't excuse later interlopers spoiling the fun. This year, there are 53,000 people vying to attend. It's like having to buy a ticket to Christmas morning, and that's just wrong.

Published in the Bee. . .

. . . in response to their question, "Do you support or oppose a part-time Legislature?" :

Double the size of each district, and thus eliminate half of the representatives.

The present system was created when transportation restricted free movement, but today each legislator can easily reach his or her constituents and could serve many more of them. This would achieve a fine savings in the salaries of politicians and their bloated staffs.

Financially, that would approximate going to part-time, and the grateful politicians who remain may be encouraged to do the people's work more effectively and stay out of our personal lives. Make them appreciate their full-time jobs, so that they won't allow big businesses, special interests and their lobbyists to rule the state through the initiative process.

Informers

At the risk of being accused of seeing a Nazi behind every tree (following in the footsteps of Cynthia Tucker, who sees a racist there), I have spoken out against President Obama's attack on Christianity, and now I rebuke the fascist concept of one American informing on another for profit. (Weren't the Hitler Youth encouraged to turn in their parents?)

Ron Calderon (D-Montebello) has proposed the shameful (CA) Senate Bill 1203 which would offer $100 to each person who turns in a driver who is subsequently convicted of drunkenness. Think of the anticipation of following a trial, hoping that someone is guilty. Does that sound like the American spirit?

I called the police once when a driver was weaving back and forth on the freeway in front of me, but the only reward I would ever expect is the satisfaction of improving public safety. I think drunk driving is inexcusable, but when weak minds are encouraged by monetary reward to assign drunkenness to someone at the slightest provocation, possibly only out of some personal animosty, that is just another step on the road to degradation.

Parents say, "Do you see US eating?"

Rather than categorizing people as members of certain political parties or liberal or conservative, why don't we characterize their behavior as moral or immoral? After all, the nation was founded on Judeo-Christian principles, and, as such, it is mandated that the people and their leaders must value morality and eschew breaches thereof.

Let us examine a couple of the most flagrant offenses practiced by Americans and their politicians:

LYING

The most pervasive American misbehavior is lying. Whether it's the whoppers the government uses to hide its incompetence, or their repetition by politicians hoping to be re-elected, or by brainwashed citzens trying to convince others, it's immoral.

"ENTITLEMENTS"

Human nature being what it is, few of us can pass up something for nothing. Unfortunately, when it comes from the government, there are lengthy strings attached to the purses of your friends and neighbors which have been tapped for the benefit of others. Accepting such largess when the recipient knows it is not deserved is immoral.

AN EXAMPLE

If a 2/19 AP story is accurate, recent photos of Memphis and Kansas City should resemble those of the poorest third world country imagineable. The article says that, in Memphis, 84% of school children qualify for free or reduced price lunches. In Kansas City the figure is 86%. Because all parents' first responsiblity is to their children, that must mean that masses of adults are starving in those cities. To be true, either the criteria are ridiculously generous, or someone is lying. Lying to receive something you don't deserve is the double-whammy of immorality.

Published today in the E-R

When I was a child, my mother took me to the doctor more often than I would have desired. I loved school, and hated missing a moment, but Mom was concerned about two minor health problems. I had frequent colds and sore throats, not severe enough, however, to my mind, to keep me from wanting to learn. I was also nervous, a malady that today is given the fancy name of ADD/ADHD, and treated with powerful prescription drugs. I outgrew that condition just as more than one doctor predicted I would, and a quick snip of the tonsils alleviated my postnasal drip.

All this took place when doctors were rumored to be so affluent that they took each Wednesday off to play golf, and sailed around Lake Michigan in their sumptuous yachts on the weekend.

Yet, my blue-collar working man father managed to pay for my care. and later even insisted upon sending me to college. There was no health insurance, because, apparently, doctors chose to charge, on a sliding scale, the reasonable amount their patients and their families could afford.

The specter of health insurance is what spoils that idyllic scene, and every time I hear someone call for universal health care as paid for with the taxes of people who work, supporting those who won't, I wonder what's wrong with the way it used to be? After all, my father took care of his family, and everyone else can do the same.

Decisions, decisions

Last year, I played a $50,000 fantasy baseball game, paying over $300 and winning zippo (again). During the playoffs, I signed up for three "budget" teams for free and won $10.00. This year's regular season they are offering a budget $5,000 game which could cost me no more than $35 per team, unlimited weekly changes included. I am seriously thinking of buying more than one (limit 8) of the teams. It sounds like all the fun at much less cost.

I am slightly buoyed by the rare recent small win we enjoyed at the Volunteer Fire Department's spaghetti feed. We support the firefighters with regular generous donations. We like the spaghetti, buy tickets to their dance which we don't attend, and invest in raffle tickets. This year, we won a small ditty bag full of stuff donated by local businesses, like Ace Hardware, Preferred Real Estate, the free $1.79 soda I enjoyed at Round Table Pizza, and the small Subway sandwich I am looking forward to.

Published today in the E-R

Three members of the larger Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals have ruled, by a vote of 2-1, that Proposition 8 "serves no purpose and has no effect." That is because nothing prevents people of the same sex from forming a union under the auspices of some entity they respect, for instance, a religious institution, even calling it marriage if the celebrant deems it appropriate. The court has [thus] observed that constitutionality is not the issue.

What is a constitutional issue, however, and an action which is clearly unconstitutional, is the Obama administration's rule that would require health insurance plans -- including even those offered by Roman Catholic universities and charities -- to offer birth control to women free of charge.

This is so obviously contrary to the First Amendment that it has prompted Senate Minority Leader Mitch Mc Connell to pronounce that "No one in the United States of America should ever be compelled by their government to choose between violating their religious beliefs or be penalized for refusing." Speaker John Boehner has further vowed that this attack on religious freedom will not stand in the House.

If this primary principle upon which the nation was founded is perverted, it is going to begin to look like Germany starting in 1933, when churches were closed and the "enemies of the state" began to disappear.

FYI: Our clever breeder has managed to name one of our horses Nicolas Cajun -- a son of Tizbud out of She's Cajun.

. . . and I've been worried about sin

One local Evangelical Lutheran clergyman, writing in the E-R, said, "God does condemn those who do not believe in his son, Jesus Christ, as the only Savior and Redeemer. . . [and that that same] Jesus taught about the horror of hell many times in the gospels."

The pastor punctuated his remarks with the words of John 3:36: "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life." This is faith, as described to me in my youth by the Catholic Church.

After all these years, I still have a problem with faith, defined in the dictionary as "a firm belief in something for which there is no proof." I cannot get beyond common sense.

The complexity of human existence suggests to me that a sentient entity created everything. However, I am not convinced that he still cares or has provided any reality for us after death, be it heaven or hell.

The nuns told us youngsters that even at the last moment of life we could repent and try to convince God that we had had faith all along. I have committed a few minor transgressions along the way, but I was never "truly sorry." I did it, it was wrong, and common sense told me not to do it again. Strength and redemption came when I didn't repeat the offense.

If I happen to end up in hell, I hope it will be in solitary confinement, because the ultimate torture would be having to associate with even one of those whom we know is already there.

Surprise!

Prompted by my daughter's participation in their annual Run for the Cure (of breast cancer), I have made a charitable contribution to The Susan G. Komen Foundation on three or four occasions. I envisioned my money going directly to teams of doctors and support technicians at highly respected hospitals and laboratories for serious cancer research. Now, I find some of my funds have been redirected to Planned Parenthood, an organization which was founded by Margaret Sanger, a notorious eugenicist, whose avowed goal was to prevent "undesirables" from procreating. Although some of their activities today are more beneficial, I do believe that encouraging abortion, legal as it may be, is morally debilitating.

More importantly, I was surprised to learn that one charity is donating to another, and I plan to investigate the remaining groups I support to see to it that they are not engaged in such behavior without my knowledge.

The Bee buzzes

I subscribe to the Sacramento Bee and the Chico E-R. A couple of years ago they struck a deal whereby a carrier employed by the E-R delivers both. That is the only fact I have ever been able to glean from either of them.

On numerous occasions one or both newspapers have arrived with sections missing. Interestingly enough, it's only parts that are missing, so I have difficulty knowing whom to blame.

From past experience, I was aware that the parts of newspapers were assembled by a crew of human beings before leaving the pressroom. If the process has been mechanized or transferred to the carriers, I wouldn't know, and my inquiries -- such as the one below -- have gone basically unanswered. The Bee's latest response is typically ambiguous. One thing is obvious, however: they don't give a damn what I know or how much I care, and their promises to deliver the missing parts a day or two later have ALWAYS BEEN LIES. I won't give them that opportunity again.

The E-R is mostly a local paper with coverage only of the most major national events. The Bee relies on the liberally biased AP which they supplement with local and state muckraking which they call "journalism." The SF Chronicle no longer delivers here in the boondocks, so if you detect me citing FoxNews, feel free to add your own personal bias to the mix.

The Bill Murray tour de force

One of the advantages of being friendless is that no one will be reading this. Therefore, today, my new habit of giving early announcements of upcoming events will pass unnoticed.

Tomorrow is the annual celebration of ritualized rodent aggravation. I've never seen a groundhog in the flesh, and, for all I know, Phil of Pennysylvania is the only one extant. I know he's not a happy woodchuck, judging by his expression. His smile is gone, a victim of years of abuse. The day is a truly useless observance, fortunately limited to one town with the appropriately silly name of Punxsutawney.

It is also the birthday of someone who won't read this either. I still don't know why.

LAST NIGHT: Someone who probably can't defeat President Obama won the Florida primary. It's astounding what kind of mediocrity the American public has been forced to accept. Some boob on PBS said it will be a close general election. Wake up -- $14 trillion and growing, while the President creates yet another overpaid commission. It's enough to render one "disabled." You know, one can't be expected to work when he occasionally has a headache.