We are privileged to have two local Bend, Oregon TV news stations to rely on for news. One actually has a “headlines” segment which brushes lightly on world events like the Hamas massacre in Israel and other spectacular events. And the weather, of course, which is about the only “hard” news to be had from any of our local news people.

The other rival TV station devotes almost the whole thirty-minute evening news program to fluff pieces heavy with news like the opening of a new bistro or a new brew pub, or plans for new bike lanes, or the opening of an additional homeless shelter, or the completion of a new round-about on one street or another. Add a light dash of high school sports and you have it all.

If I had no access to on-line news sites, or to my radio, I might be lulled into thinking we live in a happy time of sweetness and light. Somehow the increase in local crime, the out-of-control inflation, fueled by outrageous food, fuel and housing prices escapes the notice of our local TV news stations. In all fairness there might be a light touch about “falling fuel prices” where $4.39 a gallon for regular “falls” to $3.89 or some such thing. (Like it never was below that price, and our simple population can’t remember that far back anyway.)

With the exception of a local paper from Sisters, Oregon, our two major newspapers aren’t much better. Poorly written, shallow fluff pieces rule the day. And reliance on spell check does nothing to improve the quality. (I do appreciate the crossword puzzles, however.)

The question I keep asking runs along the line of whether this news shadow I live in is a deliberate plan to make us believe all is well in a world that actually looks to be coming apart at the seams.

Rod

Browsing via the internet this morning’s political nonsense. One article (I forget which website…American Thinker perhaps) showed a picture of a young woman standing in front of a crowd of protestors while reading into her microphone a list of companies that should be boycotted for supporting Israel. The list included Nike. And then there was a zoom photo of her shoes. Yes she was. She was wearing Nike tennis shoes.

The story moved on to the contradictions we find in the radical positions of the left. I was mentally nodding until the author called upon the writing of “Amateur Philosopher” Eric Hoffer and quoted Hoffer’s fine book The True Believer.

I object. There is nothing Amateurish about the True Believer. Hoffer simply said true believers such as our radical leftists are so dissatisfied with their lives they join mass movements to give them a sense of belonging. He also wrote it doesn’t matter the cause, even if it calls for personal martyrdom and death. The true believer’s behavior isn’t about the cause. It’s about self abnegation and a perverse desire to belong to something outside themselves, something larger. Logic plays no part in their behavior. (Think Jones Town.)

Hoffer also asserted that the first converts to communism in East Germany were former Nazis.

Hoffer had no university degrees, but he was not just a simple longshoreman. He was a voracious reader, a keen observer of life and people, and an extremely intelligent thinker who wrote well.

If you haven’t read “The True Believer” you might order a copy from Amazon. Read it. And please don’t call Hoffer an amateur philosopher.

Rod

My first thought was “what a good idea” after learning an old friend has journeyed from historian to book reviewer.

There are several books I’ve discovered in the past few years I tell my family and closest friends about, but that’s a limited audience. Some books deserve more. One such is the basis of a not-so-long-ago film News of the World starring Tom Hanks. Great book. (My daughter who has a Master’s degree in American Literature will feature that book in her high school English classes this coming fall. High praise indeed.)

The film deviates at times from the original story but keeps the flavor of the book alive in spite Hollywood tampering. (I’m not sure born in Hollywood directors can do any less than tamper.) That aside, if you have not read Paulette Jiles novel, News of the World, do so. You are in for a treat. Charm, whimsy, pathos and joy rule the day.

And you are in for a history lesson about the state of Texas in the aftermath of the civil war.

You can read my review on Amazon books for Paulette Jiles.

Happy reading!

Rod

p.s. Coming soon: A review of “Enemy Women,” also by Jiles.

The global warming narrative (oops…climate change) is thought provoking, but I wonder on which set of facts my environmental friends base their predictions.

Call me a denier, but I thought I should dip my paddle in the climate change pond and focus briefly on the polar bear, the environmental equivalent of the canary in the mine.

According very recent TV ads, November 2022, the polar bear is again nigh on to extinction. We see a mama polar bear and two furry cubs wandering forlornly along the shore of an ice studded arctic sea. It is enough to tug at one’s heart. And then we flash to a picture of new electric SUV, and by inference learn we can save the polar bear from extinction if we buy electric cars.

(Somehow, the connection between the two escapes me and begs the question of how much energy and material is expended in the production of batteries, engines, tires, glass and metal of these “pure” electric cars. There are no free rides.)

The presumed demise of the polar bear led to listing the bear as “Threatened” with extinction because the presumed reduction in polar ice caused by global warming (oops, there I go again…climate change…) would harm them sometime in the future.

Doctor Susan Crockford details the contrary facts in her book “The Polar Bear Catastrophe That Never Came.” According to Doctor Crockford, as of 2019 polar bear numbers were the highest in decades.

Maybe my global warming friends should open their minds and read a book or two.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Rod

11-20-22

I’m certain most people over 60 know the cartoon figure “Weak Eyed Magoo.” As I contemplate another move, I’m beginning wonder if I might qualify as a different Magoo, the “Weak Minded” version. I’m not worried about packing the house. Books, dishes, clothes, and other household items sort of have a logic as to how you pack them.

But when I look in the garden shed and in the garage, all I can think is “Too much stuff!” Most of which I have moved six times and almost all of which I intended to dump years ago. It is the detritus from the time when money was tight and when I personally rebuilt my car engines, replaced a front spring on my pickup, did my own brake jobs, painted my own house, poured my own concrete, put new shingles on my h0use and made up for lack of money with sweat.

On one level I know it doesn’t make sense to pack all that “stuff” around with me. On the other hand, I can’t help but wonder if it isn’t like an adult version of a teddy bear. Like a kind of safety net, one which I sort of draw comfort from, knowing I can walk into the garage, pour a box of nuts and bolts out on the workbench and  find what I need to fix things. And maybe I can match a voltage converter to a gadget and save a buck or two. And I know I can fix the old Coleman gas lantern if I can find the right washer. (It’s only been broken for the past ten years.)

What I need is a boost of realism and a touch of character to help me reduce the clutter. I have cardboard boxes and plastic tubs full of nuts and bolt…some of which are actually rusty…a box of converters for only the Lord knows what…chargers for gadgets I probably don’t have anymore…a few plugins, each with only a short cord attached to nothing, but which could be attached to something.

There is a drawer in the fishing cabinet filled with spools of fishing line each of which holds maybe fifty yards of monofilament which will never be used for anything but leader…an old Mitchell fishing reel I haven’t used in years…and will never use again. And in the pole rack…fifteen fishing poles.

Two tall cupboards sit in one corner of the garage, one stacked with cans half full of paint, a couple of which might be dated around 2003. The other cupboard has cans of oil I’ll never use, transmission fluid I’ll never use, wheel bearing grease I will never use again, and other “stuff.”

The list goes on and on. Oh, yeah, and two piles of boards I could use to build “something” some time. And probably won’t. (But how do you turn good lumber into firewood??)

I think it is time for this Weak Minded Magoo to dump a lot of stuff and move on. Now, I wonder if any of my neighbors would want…

Rod

p.s.  I’ll let you know how I did…maybe.

May 4, 2021

For the last fourteen months, the citizens of my town, my county, my state and my country (and the rest of the world) have been subjected to the unwanted dictates of runaway governments. As I see it, the rules for managing this covid (aka, China flu) are in constant flux. I’m now hearing we must all be vaccinated before the world will be safe again. And maybe before we will be allowed to travel. Or shop mask free. Or be allowed to sit in a full stadium with other sports fans.

The internet is full of contradictory information about the three vaccines the pharmaceutical companies rushed into production. The big questions: Are the tests for covid reliable? Does the vaccine work? Will it give long term protection? What are the long term effects? Can a person get covid again? If I have been vaccinated, can I still infect other people? Do the cheap masks we all wear actually do any good? If I have had covid, am I immune?

I took this set of questions to my good doctor, a person whose specialty is internal medicine. I started in on the questions by stating I thought I had covid in March of 2020.

Q: Could I be tested to find out?

A: Yes, but the tests are not totally reliable. False negatives and false positives are common.

Q: If I have had covid, am I immune?

A: Not necessarily.

Q: If I am vaccinated, am I immune?

A: Not necessarily.

Q: If I am vaccinated, can I get covid again?

A: Yes

Q: Why then should I be vaccinated?

A: To reduce the impact of covid on your system. Maybe.

Q: Will I have to be vaccinated more than once?

A: Yes

Q: What are the long term effects of the vaccine?

A: We don’t know yet.

My good doctor said, “If you really want a vaccination, you can get one at the Fair Grounds,” without actually telling me to do so. So I didn’t, but it looks to me like I’m in limbo: Damned if I do and damned if I don’t get a vaccination. Doctors disagree, and no one knows what the long term effects will be. Some doctors, perhaps a majority, think we should all take a chance on the vaccine. Others think the risk outweighs the benefit.

I think I’ll wait a while and try to keep my immune system as strong as possible. For now, I’ll take my vitamin D3 daily, and get on with life. Maybe this Fall when flu season rolls around, I’ll think about trying the vaccine. Maybe.

God Bless and protect us all. And not just from covid. I think I fear my government more than the China Flu.

Rod