Travels

While having a few days at an RV park in Pismo Beach last week, I got a call that my horse, three year old colt named Heza Shiney Kodo (Sheza Shinette X Kodo (CD Olena)) had made it to the National Reining Horse Association finals. He was one of thirty horses out of over 450 horses that competed for that honor. He was being shown by Todd Bergen; one of the best trainers in both the reining and reined cow horse worlds.

His barn name is either Kodo or Carey (for Carey Grant because he is so very handsome with a glowing golden coat and white mane and tail) and he has not had an easy journey of it. He has such a big heart that each time he is shown he gives everything he has that often leads to strains or injuries that keeps him from a regular training routine. Todd told me several times that he is amazed at how well he does considering how little he has been able to train on him.

We had made reservations to fly to Oklahoma City and stay in a hotel for two days if we made the finals. We managed to survive both but the experience reaffirmed the fact that we prefer traveling in our motor home for a couple of reasons. Although we stay in very nice hotels, and this was no exception, we really prefer our own bedding that is tailored to deal with our individual sleeping requirements.

The real issue for me is going through security. I have not flown in about a year so I noticed some new changes that I thought were useful ones. I have always had concerns about regulations about medical items that people are required to take with them that are not adequately covered perhaps by lack of understanding by the regulators. Ice is one of those items. I have gone through with friends who have pacemakers and wait while they are taken off to a separate room to be virtually strip-searched. Please don’t lecture me on how they are doing this for my safety because if that were really the case, I have some suggestions to make.

I have traveled with a friend who is diabetic who must carry insulin with them wherever they go. They carry their medicine in a specially made zippered foam lined box that includes a pre-formed tray to hold the vials and a compartment underneath that holds a sealed plastic freezer bar to keep the drugs cool. Insulin must be kept within a certain temperature range, not getting too hot or cold or it will lose its effectiveness.

I watched as he went through security, through the new “medical line” for those who need to declare that they have some medical things to be looked at. I know that the inspectors (TSA) all wear rubber gloves to keep them safe from diseases they may pick up from passengers coming through the line but what about those passengers who are more susceptible than most to any kind of infection, such as diabetics? As I watched the inspector handle each and every piece of my friend’s insulin and the container, I wondered just what kind of germs were being deposited inside from the inspector’s gloves? Perhaps another change in protocol is needed.

I find going through security to be offensive personally. I submit to it because I am forced to or not fly and I do understand why it is necessary to institute such measures. I cannot, for the life of me, understand why political correctness has forced those of us who have never and will never come up on anybody’s radar for being a threat to the traveling public to be subjected to these humiliating searches and suppositions that we are some kind of terrorist? When are we going to become sensible again and stop being cowed into being afraid of “offending” someone? I am offended now but that doesn’t seem to matter. We are now all alike in the possibility that we would consider committing some kind of horrible act. NO, we would not! It is time for some common sense to come back into our lives and to stop cowering before the elitists who are bound and determined to make our lives unpleasant. We need to start dealing with the real threats to our lives and our society and that is those who make it very clear that their intent is to kill all those who do not believe as they do. Those are our real enemies and they will not be talked out of their beliefs.

This is the point that the so-called politically correct folks have missed. This is a religion and a belief system that we are up against and just like the Communists of the ‘60’s who finally had to go underground, one cannot stop them from thinking what they do. One needs to eliminate enough of them and discourage others from following their way of thinking. This is a very big order and it is not really clear yet who all needs to be included in this group but it certainly can be done.

We can start to do this by removing from office those politicians who are more concerned about offending someone than representing their constituents. Because there are so many of them these days, it will take a concerted effort to get the job done but we can start at the next elections. Next, we either need to marginalize or somehow change the media attitude as the mainstream media is clearly part of the elitist movement who will throw all of us under the bus if we don’t go along with their phony news and views. Finally, none of this can work if we don’t financially support those who stand for the same values we have. Every little bit helps including making phone calls, developing phone trees or spending an afternoon stuffing envelopes or going door to door to spread the word. Look at how those pathetic ads with mangled cats and dogs get your sympathy going for an organization who is more interested in making you a vegan and destroying animal agriculture than in helping those animals or locking up those sick individuals who do those things to helpless creatures. Think about it.


Climate-gate

Speaking of the media, have you heard about climate-gate? From what I understand, none of the mainstream median will mention the information gleaned from a British version of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that revealed a huge number of email traffic between climate researchers admitting that the earth temperatures have been on the decline in recent years and how awful it is that they can’t account for it. The emails also expose the researchers efforts to substitute numbers from other years distorting the real number. Apparently, these folks are more interested in making the numbers match their theories and agenda rather than report on the truth that is the job of a real scientist.

It is not just pathetic that this is happening but it shows just how far some of these fanatics will go. Of course, many people have figured out how to make a fortune at the climate business including many of our most prominent politicians. I do hope that our President will see the light and stop the nonsense that will destroy what is left of our economy. Common sense, once again, must rule the day, not some unproven, now questionable theory about the temperature of the world and who or what was the cause of it. It is appalling that the mainstream media is determined to misinform the public. Perhaps that is why some of the other networks are gaining such popularity. When people stop watching them maybe they’ll get the message!


Perception

I saw an interesting piece last week that talked about the coffee crop in Puerto Rico and how it is now so difficult to find people to pick the beans. It is not a mechanized crop so people are required to handpick those that are ripe and leave those not ready behind.

The problem stems from so many people moving to the cities as the urban life is appealing to many. Going back to the farms is seen as a step backward. Unfortunately, the economy is such that most cannot find work in the cities and therefore become dependent on government handouts. Sound familiar?

It used to be that agriculture was considered an honorable profession and farmers and ranchers were revered as stewards of the land and the source of much of what we consume. As we as a society have become further removed from the sources of our food, fiber, medicine and a host of other products we depend on for our daily living, many have forgotten how important agriculture is to our survival. In recent times when the so-called environmental movement arose, agriculture was painted as an evil thing destroying the land we love. This concept was accepted by many because they were ignorant of the facts and no one in the ag community had time or the resources to correct the misinformation.

Today, the agricultural community is being rediscovered because of recent evidence that farming and ranching is the original “sustainable” profession as it has been practiced by many families for generations over hundreds of years. If that isn’t “sustainable”, I don’t know what is! It is becoming popular to “think global, eat local”, whatever that means. I do know that perhaps those elite city folk have finally figured out that you don’t have to truck a carrot a thousand miles when you can eat one grown down the street or highway as the case may be. So too many homegrown things may be healthier for us than those that come from somewhere else. Gee, what a concept!