Musing's musings

Which of these isn't like the other?

Ahh, how quickly the Republicans forget. (And they'd really appreciate it if you did, too.) This is the picture that John McCain/George W. Bush (they're interchangeable, really) would like for you to associate with them him when it comes to hurricanes in Louisiana:

That's a picture taken yesterday by White House photographer Eric Draper, showing the preznit leaving the emergency operations center in Austin after getting a briefing on Hurricane Gustav. And here's why they'd prefer you to remember that photo:

That was what Bush and McSame were doing three years before the first picture was taken. You know, when a much bigger, far more serious hurricane, name of Katrina, slammed into New Orleans with far more damaging and long-lasting effects for the city, the region, and the nation. Neither one thought anything as inconsequential as a little wind-and-rainstorm was worth putting off the cake for John's 69th birthday party. I think the preznit played a little guitar that day, too. McSame probably had his wife buy him another house.

That's the important thing to remember about the intertubes, John: what's on here is forever. There's no way to stuff it back down the memory hole. Too bad for you.

Wow

Everywhere you turn in Yellowstone National Park, there's something to see. That something is usually spectacular: be it waterfalls, rapids, hot springs, geysers, fumaroles, mud pots, richly colored bacterial mats, stunning vistas, or gaggles of wildlife, it's just around the corner at this place. Sometimes literally. Just a bit inside the west entrance to the park is a bald eagle nesting area--for which motorists are required to slow down to 15 mph and not stop for the quarter-mile stretch of road directly in front of the nest closest to it. In four trips in and out by that entrance thus far, we've seen one eagle all four times--and this afternoon as we were leaving, the nesting bird's mate was perched on a branch of a nearby burnt skeleton of a lodgepole pine. That alone would be worth the $25 admission fee. (I can say that, since, as an annual pass holder, I don't pay entrance fees. But I'm certainly getting my money's worth this year, no question about it!)

Literally no one knows how many waterfalls there are in Yellowstone. Every time someone goes looking, it seems they find another one to add to the list. In two days, by my count, we've seen at least half a dozen. Here are a couple of them: first, the Undine Falls, four miles east of the Mammoth Hot Springs:

The river beneath the falls does some spectacular twists, but I just couldn't get a wide enough field of view to get a decent shot showing that perspective. Next are the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone, in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (about which more later). These are the second most-photographed spot in the park, after Old Faithful:

God loves us and wants us to be happy

That's our conclusion after a satisfying day's travel from Cedar City, Utah, to West Yellowstone, Montana. (Distance: circa 570 miles; travel time, circa 8.5 hours--with stops and some construction delays.) We got here around 5 this afternoon after a beautiful drive through the intermountain west, up hill and down dale. The weather was balmy (though there are some clouds banking up to the west and we might get some brief showers or a thunderstorm tonight).

Thanks to a recommendation from a colleague of mine at the office, we had a simply fantabulous dinner at the Bar-N Ranch just outside of town. The setting was great, the scenery was magnificent, and the food was superb. I'll add my own recommendation to my colleague's--if you're ever in the vicinity of West Yellowstone, try them out. But do call ahead and make reservations. We checked the website and didn't see anything that said they were required or even recommended--and since we were there early, they were able to seat us. But we've already put in our reservation for a farewell dinner this coming Thursday night. (Be sure to pat Dave the dog on the head, too!)

Plans for the park haven't yet crystallized. I expect we'll drive over tomorrow and get the details from the rangers and then decide what we want to do. Heaven knows there's plenty to attract us--and given that we're both a little banged up, we may not get much of a chance to go hiking, but even driving around and gawking would be just fine with me right now.

Dona nobis pacem....quam celerrime

Franklin Delano Roosevelt speaks for me:

And this one was just too ironic to pass up. No wonder Abu Gonzalez and his staff did such a lousy job at the Department of Justice: nobody bothered to tell them to bone Latin. It's probably impossible to see at this resolution, but there's a minute inscription above the figures above the door in this shot. It reads Lege atque ordine omnia fiunt, "Let all things be done with law and order."

When do you suppose was the last time they hearkened to that precept?

Why I love France

I went wandering for a post-prandial stroll this evening (it's just after 9 p.m. here in France), and for once I remembered to take my camera along--though I'm going to have to stop someplace on the way to the archives tomorrow morning and get more batteries: I'm down to my last pair, I've been snapping so many document photos this past week. Wandering through some of the byways in Colmar's pedestrian zone, I happened upon a monument I've walked or ridden past about three dozen times in the two times I've been to Colmar thus far, and never noticed. It's tucked away down a side street I'd never had occasion to bother with before now, and I probably wouldn't have ever thought of walking down it from the end I usually see, since all that is visible from that end is houses.

Anyway, a couple of things to know before you drop below the fold to look at this picture. First is that above the niche is an inscription in Latin, Veritas ex fonte, "Truth from the fountain." Second, the fountain itself is attached to one wall of what used to be the Palace of the Sovereign Council when Colmar was an imperial city, a building which now houses the Tribunal de Grande Instance (roughly the equivalent of a local circuit court in the United States, from what I can gather online) and a detachment of the local Gendarmerie. Just behind it is one of the local prisons. All of which makes the symbolism of the fountain itself all the more wry.

Intrigued? Follow me below the fold for a symbol of the real meaning of life.

See, pictures!

Finally got a chance to use the camera for something other than snapping images of documents I want to analyze when I get back to the U.S. (And boy, are there going to be a lot of those!). Took these tonight as I was meandering on my way home from another day ploughing through repatriation files--I'm only midway through my third carton, which starts with E and goes to G, if I remember the label right. Fifty to sixty-plus files in each one, and each one such a story...which someday someone will write, I hope. Maybe even me.

Anyway, here are a few snaps from around Colmar, which should give you an idea of why I like this place so much. Here's the Place d'Unterlinden, right smack in the center of the old city:

Those are real cobblestones, and you do have to watch your step on them, as they are (a) uneven in spots, (b) slippery when wet, and (c) often bedecked with chie de chien, if you know what I mean. One bad thing about France: no pooper-scooper laws.

Anyway, follow me below the fold for more Alsatian picture-y goodness.

Thursday tourist-cum-hockeyblogging

Another full day in Washington for your 'umble blogger. Slept in this morning, as I was thoroughly knackered from yesterday's adventures. Did catch Casino Royale on pay-per-view at the hotel--and if you haven't seen it already, you should. May be the best Bond flick yet--keeps you guessing right up to the very end. (And Daniel Craig is a hunk o' burnin' love.)

In part of my travels yesterday, I took the time to visit a sacred shrine. And thanks to its being late in the afternoon in the middle of the week during the off-season, I didn't have to wait two hours in line to get in to see some really cool shit, like this:

That's the original fair copy of the Bill of Rights, though unfortunately (because people didn't know any better at the time and put it where the sun could get at it) you'd hardly know if I didn't tell you. They're re-remodeling the display, so I couldn't snap a picture of the Declaration of Independence, but I did get shots of all four pages of the Constitution, President Johnson's proclamation ending the Civil War, Ben Franklin's notes on a draft of the Articles of Confederation, and a copy of the Magna Charta, all courtesy of the National Archives, God love 'em.

Today I got to play tourist a little more before settling down to business. I hiked back down to the Mall after breakfast, and scored a ticket for the 10:00 tour of the Washington Monument--again without having to wait two hours to get in, or to be packed into the place without room to move or breathe or see anything. I also lucked out in that when I was ready to head down again, one of the rangers was starting a walking tour down the staircase, which has been closed to visitors since the late 1970s due to increased vandalism. Follow me below the fold for a few more shots from my touristic wanderings.

Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis...

Lord our God, we praise You for the light of creation: the sun, the moon, and the stars of the night. We praise You for the light of Israel: the Law, the Prophets, and the wisdom of the Scriptures. We praise You for Jesus Christ, Your Son: he is Emmanuel, God-With-Us, the Prince of Peace, who fills us with the wonder of Your love.

Lord our God, let Your blessing come upon us as we illumine this representation of a tree. May the light and cheer it gives be a sign of the joy that fills our hearts at Your coming. May all who delight in this representation of a tree come to the knowledge and joy of salvation.

We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

(Adapted from the Order of Blessing of a Christmas Tree in the USCC's Book of Blessings.)

To those of my readers who keep the feast, I bid you a Merry Christmas. For those of my readers who do not keep the feast, I bid you a happy holiday and the greetings of whatever season(s) are appropriate. May all of your homes and celebrations be warm and filled with love. May the food be plentiful and tasty, and may it serve to remind us that, as Donne said, we are none of us an island--we are all connected in a complicated web of relationships. May you give--and receive--the gifts you wanted and needed the most, in remembrance of the One who gave the most precious gift of all--and of all those men and women who have done likewise since that day.

Rorate, caeli, desuper, et nubes pluant iustum. Aperiatur terra et germinet Salvatorem. Fiat quoque propitia pax terra marique cordibusque ac mentibus nostra, hoc die et in saecula saeculorum. Amen. (Drop down dew, you heavens, and let the clouds rain down the Just One. Let the earth break open and the Saviour spring forth. And let there be, this day and for all time, propitious peace upon the lands and seas and in our hearts and minds as well. Amen.)

Center. Calm. Breathe.

Enjoy the pretty picture of the sunset tonight over one of our "lakes" here. Breathe deeply, get as calm as you can. Then get to bed and get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow's gonna be a busy day, and chances are good we're going to be up very late before all the good news is in.

First thing on your agenda tomorrow should be the same thing as on mine: Vote! And make sure everybody else you know gets to the polls, too.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

That's the message the Shrubbery would like voters to take with them into the voting booths next Tuesday. And to a certain extent, they're right. There really is a party that voters should be quaking in their boots at the thought of their hands on the levers of power.

But it's the Republicans we should be afraid of, not their Democratic opponents. We already know how the Republicans have raped, pillaged, and otherwise violated the Constitution, international treaty obligations, human rights, the environment, and truth, justice, and the American Way. We're not facing a defeat in Iraq when the Democrats win next Tuesday, nor even when we retake Congress next January. As everyone except Bush and the happy-freaks who seem to surround him and keep from him every scrap of news that could blight his beautiful mind knows, defeat in Iraq has already happened. What we're seeing now is the decapitated chicken (that's us, by the by) flopping around reflexively until the body finally wakes up to the fact that there's no longer a head attached to it.

And who's to blame for that sorry state of affairs? Sure as hell isn't the Democrats--we've been shut out of control of Congress and the Executive Branch for the last six years. We have a hard time getting a meeting room on Capitol Hill, much less getting any part of our legislative agenda on the calendar.

So I'm offering this graphic reminder of whom we should fear--and why. It's adapted from a 1918 military propaganda poster. The caption reads "What is the effect of Bushevism on the people?"