Dolores River

No special reason for this except to call attention to beauty.

One of the good road trips in North America is the few-hour (four or five, maybe) jaunt between Grand Junction and Nucla in Colorado. Blue Highway 141 carries you along the the spectacular Dolores River Canyon which is easy to think of as the Grand Canyon rendered as haiku.

It's mostly the West as God made it, although some ancient scaffolding and other hard-rock mining paraphernalia here and there provide evidence of human ambition even on sheer cliffs.

Fill the tank and take on water and vittles before you start. The canyon is full of a thousand nice things, but settlements aren't among them.

In Nucla maybe you can duplicate a pleasant hour Bob Kerr (ÅP, Denver) and I spent there when I discovered the place during mulie season in about 1973. We found an open business, a trading post with bar which happened to have some .30-30 Winchester rounds I was looking for. We bought them, then stepped into the bar area where our attention was politely directed to the "Check Your Guns" sign. I handed over my issue 1911A1 and Bob his big Ruger. We made one beer last and enjoyed trading a few words with the bar patrons -- three or four Indian persons, locals, pleasant guys.

Nice addition to your bucket list.

Must be AP's turn to fawn over him

The real sin that Nigerian bastard committed over Detroit on Christmas Day was to inconvenience President Obama while the poor guy was trying to pop macadamia nuts into his mouth.

The Paper Chase

In the Heartland our leaders have decided the way to reduce the high school dropout rate is to reduce the high skul grajuashon reekkwirementz.

I liked myself better when I still had the capacity to be surprised at things like this.

Sunday Sermon

It occurs to me that what passes for American conservatism is simply the theology of His Obamaness covering its hairy cowl with a slightly different surplice.

We are still infested with the spawn of Pat Robertson and Jimmy Swaggert. Send prayer money, vote against abortion, bash a few homos, and your heavenly reservations are confirmed. Celestial joy is yours just as soon as you die.

Obama promises identical bliss, only terrestial. Hand your treasure and your freedom up to the Sacred City of Washington. Eventually, when all comply, the blessings of Heaven will occur right here on Earth, and it will happen just as soon as you die.

An authoritarian is an authoritarian, and one demagogic snake oil peddler smells like any other. No matter whether he chooses to stomp you from the left or from the right.