Well here weare in Tracy CA. 

Our trip down was a bit more exciting then we figured. We saw a hay truck overturned on 101 and then later saw a pickup truck overturned on hwy 1.

We never made wine country, instead we went to a couple beaches and got our toes worm in the sand.  A nice relaxing event after the roller coaster ride of Hwy 1.  The road is several degrees above twisty.  It was fun in a knuckle biting hair raising screaming in agony sort of way.

Tomorrow I will post pictures and republish this.

But before I do let me say a quick word on tenacity.  Yesterday I noted that the redwood trees embodied that spirit with their refusal to die in adverse conditions.

Well I have to say that the trees have nothing on the people.  We passed through tiny little places where you just had to wonder what keeps the towns alive, they are so small and so remote.

And the answer is easy to tell, when you stop and look.  It is love.  People just seem to love these little communities in the middle of no where.

And somehow they survive.  Oh sure, there are the huge houses on the hills, that speak of a rich person’s reclusive desires, but there were also houses that are candidly in poor shape, which speak slightly more simple.

People amaze me.  Period.

More coming soon, but I am pooped for now.

Day three started coincidentally where day two ended, at the motel in Crescent City.  No Starbucks in site, but no need:  Dutch Brothers had a stand. 

Dutch Brothers by the way rocks.  Try the Milky Way.

We headed south, in no particular hurry.  We honestly had no particular plans other then to drive through the giant redwoods.

California proved that it had just as pretty coastlines as Oregon.

Imagine my surprise when we stumbled onto the Trees of Mystery just outside of Klamath.

This particular roadside stop had particular significance for me.  As a child we used to go camping and such, and this place was one of our favorite landmarks.

I mean look at what greets you at the front.  What kid would not be thrilled.

In the woods behind Paul and Babe (the anatomically correct ox) is a mile long walking trail and tram ride, with some fun carvings as well as some interesting information about the giant trees.

I learned a good lesson on the real meaning of tenacity, as we saw trees that by all rights should be dead, but were not only alive but were thriving.  Trees growing together, trees growing out of other trees and even trees growing sideways: it was truly amazing how these trees refuse to stop growing, how they refuse to stop living.

We made a quick stop in Fortuna to phone John Lucas, LSU reader and fellow DADL-OT-er.  He sadly was sleeping, being a night shifter, but we are hoping to hook up on the way home.

As we progressed further southward, we entered the Avenue of Giants.  This is a self guided auto tour of the giant redwoods that follows the highway southward.

Here, I learned the true meaning of a second word:  Insignificance.

Those trees were big…massive…huge…immense.  It doesn’t matter what word you use, the point is that I felt small.

Nancy, above center, is in the root structure of a fallen giant.  This is not an optical illusion, it really is that big.

Day 1 was nothing to write about, so I didn’t.  It consisted of packing and driving.  Period.

We left Issaquah in the late afternoon and arrived in Newport OR later that evening.  Our only stop of note was at the world famed restaurant R BBBB in Olympia…otherwise known as Arby’s.

Exciting….

Day 2 however started off with a bang.  We drove to the Bay Front area and toured the Wax Works wax Museum, Ripley’s Believe It or Not and the Underwater Garden, a small aquarium.  Yes, LSU hit the tourist trap circuit.

Below are some pictures from the Wax Works.

After completing our homage to American tourism, we drove south along Highway 101.  The sky was still fairly foggy, but occasionally the sun would poke out.

Next stop was some pretty coastline photo ops:

Next we stopped at the Sea Lion caves.  Nothing says Americana better then paying to see smelly sea mammals.

We also picked up some more good photo ops of more of Oregon’s lovely coastline.

Next, the Oregon dunes:

After dumping all the sand out of our shoes, we headed south to Coos Bay and ate dinner at Kum Yons Oriental food, which had a kind of non specific oriental food menu, but was priced very affordable, and surprisingly good.

Sadly my Cousin Kristy was out of town, so my intended mini reunion did not happen.

Because we were so relaxed and not moving very fast, we rolled into our hotel in Crescent City CA a little late.

Now, time for your humble author to take a warm bath and soak some tired muscles.

Tomorrow, we drive to Fort Bragg, via the giant redwoods, and hopefully meeting a DADL-OT cohort.

See ya.

LSU

Yes, LSU is going on vacation starting Saturday.  While I am away, this post will remain here, in sticky status.  Please feel free to Trackback any topic post to it. 

Meanwhile I will be photo blogging my way to California and back, posting a few fun sights along the way, and a brief daily travel diary.

Enjoy!!!

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This story forst broke in the wake of all the horror stories coming out of Katrina.  The story reported that Doctors at a New Orleans hopsital had administered lethal doses to patients they determined would not survive the evacuation, or the wait for evacuation.

When I first read it, I was sure it was urban legend.  It was not.

Now the grim story has come full circle as three people have been charged with Murder.

The quandry facing people is this: Was this compassion or crime?  Mercy or murder?

Some I have spoken too were sorrowed but admitted they would likely do the same, to spare people further suffering in an extreme situation.  Others, like me were horrified at the grim nature of it, as well as the implied violation of the physicians oath. 

I mean, we all hear stories and mention of the famed Hippocratic Oath, right?  And it happens to pretty clearly speak against euthanasia, so it is a no brainer, right?

Of course not, because it is just a silly tradition, not an oath with any binding force, otherwise there wouild be no abortion, and no physician assisted suicide, etc.

And yet…at the same time, I have to acknowledge that I was not there, and I was not in that situation, and honestly, I could not say what choices I might have made in such extreme circumstances.  And a decent number of people I talked to about this agree. 

Which is the better reflection on our culture?  To allow suffering out of principle, or to deliberately kill out of principle?

Warrants say four patients were given lethal drugs after Katrina

The arrest warrants for a doctor and two nurses booked in the deaths of patients at a New Orleans hospital in the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina say lethal doses of morphine and a sedative known as Versed were administered.

The warrants accuse the three of being "principals to second-degree murder" and say they intentionally killed four patients at Memorial Medical Center "by administering or causing to be administered lethal doses of morphine sulphate (morphine) and midazolam (Versed)."

Reposted from Stop the ACLU:.

My comments inline.

The Kansas City Star

Democratic officials from St. Louis and Kansas City sued the state Monday, trying to block a new Republican-backed law requiring voters to show photo identification from taking effect for the November election.

Republican Gov. Matt Blunt signed the law about a month ago, praising it as a way to build public trust in elections. The measure requires voters to show a photo identification issued by Missouri or the federal government, such as a driver’s license, to cast a regular ballot.

LSU- and this is bad, why?

Those lacking such IDs this fall can cast provisional ballots, which would count if their signatures matched those on file with election authorities and they’re in the right polling place. In future elections, only the elderly, disabled and those with religious objections to carrying photo identification could vote without one, and only by provisional ballot.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in Cole County Circuit Court, the seat of state government, claims the law violates a state constitutional provision against imposing costs on local governments without providing state funding, commonly referred to as the Hancock amendment. It seeks a permanent injunction blocking the law from being enforced and class-action status.

LSU- Now let me see if I grasp this:  The ACLU, the proclaimed protectors of civil rights, is not suing on the laws constitutionality, they are using a legal technicality?  Interesting….

“Our overall concern is that the new law is going to leave people out who want to vote, who deserve to vote and who are qualified to vote,” Anthony Rothert, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri, said in a written statement.

LSU- And by virtue of the law as posted above, no one would be denied.  Please explain the beef?

Plaintiffs include the city of St. Louis and Mayor Francis Slay, St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley, Jackson County and its executive, Katheryn Shields. All the elected officials are Democrats. The ACLU is representing the local governments and officials.

OK, it is obvious I have no real love of the UN and the Security Council is a perfect example why.  A small number of members who have incredible power and influence, and an almost universal lack of object purpose and altruism.  They really are all in it to advance the needs of themselves, not to make the world more secure.

Including the US, lest I seem biased.

But even a broken clock is right twice a day.  In this case they jointly and unanimously voted to demand North Korea cease its missile program.

A worthy resolution.  That guy is one scary loose cannon.  Of course China who favors NK did manage to strip it of any abilty to enforce it, but it is a start.

U.N. passes resolution condemning N. Korea:  Council unanimously votes to demand nation suspends missile program

The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution Saturday condemning North Korea’s recent missile tests and demanding that the reclusive communist nation suspend its ballistic missile program.

The agreement was reached after a last-minute compromise between Japan, the United States and Britain, who wanted a tough statement, and Russia and China, who favored weaker language.

The deal culminated 10 days of difficult negotiations.

“The council has acted swiftly and robustly in response to the reckless and condemnable act of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” said Japan’s Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Chintaro Ito.

In the final negotiations, the council was divided on one issue: if the resolution should be adopted under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which allows for military force to make sure the resolution is obeyed.

China had threatened to veto any resolution that mentioned Chapter 7 and in the final compromise it was dropped. The resolution adopted Saturday by a 15-0 vote states that the Security Council was “acting under its special responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.”

It demands that North Korea “suspend all activities related to its ballistic missile program,” and that Pyongyang re-establish a moratorium on missile launching.

Enjoy and Bon Appetit!!

I have not dealt with the situation in Israel and all the bombing and such in my blog.  Honestly, I have not had near enough time to gather the links and resources necessary to do the story justice.

Others like Sister Toldjah and Michelle Malkin have more then made up for my distraction.

But this story at Opinion Journal was noteworthy to me, not just in how it deals with the participants, but with the UN, and the International Community as a whole in their reactions as well as their involvement.

The powder keg over there is very worrisome, and has been for decades, but in the latest events, Iran And Syria are not helping, nor is the UN. 

Ask yourself a question:  Here you have Iran and Syria clearly meddling in the events, Iran is actively seeking a nuclear program, and Iran has openly hated Israel for years.

Is this not a scary situation?

In the only positive news I could find in this, at least the people suffering from BDS will now have a new reason to blame Bush.

States of Terror:  Syria, Iran and their proxies wage war on Israel.

Israel’s military invasion and naval blockade of Lebanon is being denounced in European capitals and at the United Nations as a "disproportionate" response to the kidnapping this week of two of its soldiers by Hezbollah. Israel’s decision late last month to invade Gaza in retaliation for the kidnapping of another soldier by Hamas was also condemned as lacking in proportion. So here’s a question for our global solons: Since hostage-taking is universally regarded as an act of war, what "proportionate" action do they propose for Israel?

In the case of Hamas, perhaps Israel could rain indiscriminate artillery fire on Gaza City, surely a proportionate response to the 800 rockets Hamas has fired at Israeli towns in the last year alone. In the case of Hezbollah, it might mean carpet bombing a section of south Beirut, another equally proportionate response to Hezbollah’s attacks on civilian Jewish and Israeli targets in Buenos Aires in the early 1990s.

Now, this is a real shocker.  Valerie Plame, the ex CIA officer is suing Cheney, Libby and Rove, accusing them of conspiracy to end her career.

This makes me laugh.  Seriously.

She sues 3 people who did not leak her name, but fails to sue the two people who really did.

The first is Novak himself, whose article started all of this.  And he has clearly stated that the three people in question did not leak her name.  What is interesting is where he did learn her name:  From her husband, Joe Wilson.  Wilson listed her name in his who’s who listing.

According to the information known right now, Novak learned from an as yet unnamed primary source that Wilson’s wife sent him to Niger.  He got her name from Who’s Who.  He then confirmed it from the others.

But more fun will be how she will answer the questions of damage. If she takes the stand to detail it she opens herself up to answering the questions about sending Joe in the First place, which should be interesting.

Former CIA officer and husband file lawsuit against Cheney, Libby, Rove

The CIA officer whose identity was leaked to reporters sued Vice President Dick Cheney, his former top aide and presidential adviser Karl Rove on Thursday, accusing them and other White House officials of conspiring to destroy her career.

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Valerie Plame and her husband, Joseph Wilson, a former U.S. ambassador, accused Cheney, Rove and I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby of revealing Plame’s CIA identity in seeking revenge against Wilson for criticizing the Bush administration’s motives in Iraq.

Several news organizations wrote about Plame after syndicated columnist Robert Novak named her in a column on July 14, 2003. Novak’s column appeared eight days after Wilson alleged in an opinion piece in The New York Times that the administration had twisted prewar intelligence on Iraq to justify going to war.

So clearly she should be suing Novak.  Will the civil libertarians defend him from a suit on the damage his story did?