New Cartoons

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More of our Cartoons

 

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Hope you enjoy our cartoons. They appear in two newspapers in our area. More to follow.  —Genie and Zack

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My Shrinking World

A while back, Zack announced that he’d stopped watching the news on TV. Now mind you, this is after a lifetime of staying up to the minute on all details of national and world news. The things he’s forgotten about history are a thousand fold more than what I remember. We stopped viewing the “local” news a while back, because it focused on the nearest “city” of some size; that same city from which we moved to distance ourselves. Simply put, we don’t care about the government or events of this nearby town. It doesn’t affect our lives. If it doesn’t happen on this ranch and perhaps in our own little country town, we don’t need to know much about it. Zack continued to watch the financial channel, but now he’s almost given up on that. It’s all just become too frustrating and depressing. We still check the Internet for information and hope it’s not too skewed and filled with propaganda. I guess my dirty little secret is out. Truth is that I haven’t been interested in current events since I was a kid. This didn’t improve that area of my education, although I suppose I learned whatever was necessary for maintaining grades, then promptly forgot. These things impacted my life, but I felt powerless to effect change. I always believed that even most of the protests of the sixties in which many of my friends participated were a method employed by the powers that be to keep us busy. The big picture was decided somewhere much higher up, with no influence from little people like us. I tuned out and felt pretty stupid about it all these years. I’m starting to feel more justified now. As an adult, I’m even more convinced that absolutely everything other than an act of God is orchestrated by people who operate the puppet politicians and officials we naively believe we choose and control. Our elected officials are controlled by lobbyists and factions of whom we are often unaware. Deals are made for reasons that have nothing to do with what’s right or even in some cases with what’s law. The validity, efficacy and necessity of the Constitution and the Supreme Court are being questioned by people who should know better. But sadly I understand. There are games being played with higher stakes than we can imagine. Our best interests are not even a factor. It has likely always been so. I knew it as a kid, and all these years later, I’m even more certain. The result of this extended “aha moment” is that my world is becoming smaller and smaller. We tend to work on our land and control the few things we’re able, hoping to simply be left alone. That would make us Libertarians which Zack has been for many years. I’ve tried to remain as apolitical as possible over my lifetime, feeling as I did that it was all a big game. So now I fit nicely into a party that at least partially agrees with me. My motto these days is pretty much this, “Just leave me alone and do me no harm”. Don’t take away what I worked long and hard to earn, and give me what was promised as my due. A university took a survey about a month or so. We learned of it when we were still listening to the news. Some students and others actually took this seriously, but most folks realized it was done simply to make a point. Students with high grade point averages were asked if they would be willing to “give” a point or two to a student with a lower grade point average, to help them get into grad school or obtain a better job after graduation. Some generous students actually said yes, they could spare a point or two. Others were horrified. They’d worked hard for their grades. No way were they sharing with someone who’d partied while they hit the books. And if they were innately more intelligent or more ambitious, well that’s the way things were, survival of the fittest. I agree with the second group. I think by now you may be making the connection between Capitalism and Socialism. Is it really OK to give to someone else your grades or the money for which you worked so hard to earn? For some people it’s an option. But the danger lies in a circumstance in which people are forced to do so.

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From Star Trek to Politics

I enjoyed comments about past columns from friends and acquaintances encountered in town yesterday, very gratifying. It means some people actually read this column. The first comment was a correction. To Trekkies everywhere, I apologize. I was wrong about Whoopie Goldberg. Those of you who didn’t read the paper last week must be scratching your heads in wonder. I don’t usually do movie reviews or write of science fiction, although I enjoy both. I referenced Whoopie’s character on Star Trek The Next Generation in discussing empathy toward one’s children. I stated she played the Empath. I’d love to say I wrote this to see if anyone was actually paying attention, but the truth is that I forgot and now stand sheepishly corrected. The Empath character was Deanna Troi, portrayed by actress Marina Sirtis. And to the gentle reader who offered this information, be sure if I ever mention Star Trek again —- or opera, another of your areas of expertise, I’ll be checking with you for confirmation! I never know what unexpected pockets of esoteric knowledge I’ll encounter locally! There’s so much combined experience in this little town on a huge variety of subjects from ag to opera. It always astonishes and humbles me.

Comments from a second reader referenced trusting our children to lead their own lives.  We discussed and admitted rapidly changing times, especially these last generations which have seen such evolution and technological advancement.  We’re supposed to trust that those “who know better”, who set policy for such things, see a bigger picture of the future than we do. We’re supposed to accept that someone wiser knows for a fact that our future world will be so electronic that basic skills won’t be necessary on a personal level; we’ll all be aided by computers. I must admit that I see it happening in my own life. I do less checkbook balancing in my head with the advent of on-line bill pay. I don’t know my own kids’ phone numbers because they’re programmed on my phone. I use spell and grammar check on my computer. But then I check the spell and grammar check because I often find them wanting.

We discussed the lack of competence in academic subjects, in spelling and grammar, the fact that today’s pupils aren’t taught or expected to read or write cursive. Most can’t even sign their names unless a smart parent insists on it and teaches them. They print.  I type in print on a computer rather than using a script font or writing longhand. The difference is that anyone over the age of 20 could write it out longhand if he or she so chose. We could certainly read it. Perhaps this isn’t important skill any longer. But I’d feel very stupid if I couldn’t do it. I like the idea that I can go to the Smithsonian and read the Declaration of Independence in its original, longhand script. And educated person should be able to do this. . I guarantee you kids applying to Harvard and Yale are still able to sign their own names, write coherent sentences with proper spelling and grammar, and do simple math without a calculator. But what do I know?

Generations of us were expected to come as close to perfect as possible in all school subjects, admittedly an often futile hope. It’s a shock that these basics are now of so little consequence, deemed irrelevant to modern life. That striving for excellence instilled other values. I firmly believe the powers that be in educational systems will one day have a huge “aha” moment, recognize the grave error of their ways and regret these lapses, perhaps even attempt to reinstate requirements long ignored. Or perhaps it’s all part of some all-encompassing, evil plan.

The downhill slide from excellence in education indicates that we’ve stopped expecting and demanding even reasonable adequacy from our offspring. When did it become desirable to just get by? And on the subject of educational lapses, let me say it’s past time to bring daily physical education back. We must stave off the epidemic of obesity in this country, starting with the kids. And now this push to depend on government instead of encouraging the ability to provide well for ourselves! If we don’t educate our children to succeed, I suppose they WILL need someone else to take care of them. Well, don’t get me started. I’m horrified as I see our capitalistic government head for socialism as people stick their heads in the sand.

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The New Old Downtrodden

A different group of our society is now being unfairly oppressed. For years, people have complained that the middle to lower middle class or the working poor are the most ill-treated group in our country. They are betwixt and between, not wealthy enough to relax as they age but in good enough shape not to be on the government dole. For the most part, this group is proud. They have pulled their own weight their entire lives, worked and paid into the system, been productive members of society. They often served in the military, held all types of jobs from menial to professional. They were workers and teachers and clerks, secretaries, receptionists and cooks. They did it all, raising families, sending children to college, taking care of themselves and their own. At this point, as Baby Boomers live with or face retirement, they’re the new group to hate. Younger folks seem to think all the country’s ills can be blamed on Boomers who, after WWII grew up and moved into the workforce to add to the strength and wealth of our country. Getting old ain’t for sissies, and this part of our society has enough problems right now without having the government tell them they’re too old to be of use any longer while handing out WIC cards, food stamps and welfare checks to able bodied people who’ve learned how to play the system for all it’s worth. As our current administration aims us closer to a Socialist type of government where everyone is dependent upon that government, the older among us wonder what happened to a once-great country.

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Propaganda

I’ve never been a good liar. I learned long ago that honesty really is the best policy. Besides, the quote, “What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive“is so true. Fibbing becomes way too complicated, takes too much concentration to keep it all straight. So other than a few white lies over my lifetime to avoid hurting someone’s feelings, I just don’t lie.

There’s a reason I’m telling you this, and it has to do with passing along false email forwards. You can find lies in email forwards on any subject under the sun. Many of the fabrications are about politicians. I long ago asked friends and family to please not forward emails to me unless they’re truly amazing, such as incredible art work. Some folks were highly offended. Others ignored me and persist in sending email upon email. A paltry few of these are worth seeing or reading, but the vast majority are not.  Delete, delete, delete.

I absolutely refuse to bother with anything that smacks of chain letters. If I’m asked to “send to fifty of your closest friends”, I delete. I don’t have fifty close friends and those I have don’t want to be bothered with such nonsense. Emails that promise good things if the recipient forwards to a certain number of people are all hoaxes. If you think they’re fun and you enjoy them, by all means, carry on. But know they’re scams. The same is true of emails claiming the ability to track the number of messages forwarded on a certain subject. There’s simply no way to do it at present. If you think you can save the life of some nonexistent child by sending out a bunch of emails, think again. I especially abhor letters about the misfortunes of people I don’t know.  There’s a rumor circulating now claiming that all these email hoaxes enable unscrupulous persons to obtain even more email addresses to use in other scams. But I believe even THIS email information is false. The best source available claims that email tracking programs don’t exit. Sort of comical, eh?

So why do authors take time and trouble to think up these schemes? No idea. Possibly, they enjoy a laugh at our expense. I can more easily figure out the motives of authors of propaganda emails that malign politicians or religions. They’re counting on a gullible public to believe anything in print. Heads up: Just because it’s in an email from your cousin’s sister-in-law’s beautician’s step-son doesn’t mean it’s true. In fact, just because the email CLAIMS it was verified by Snopes, it may still be a lie. I trust Snopes, but anyone can claim to have checked it. Even if the missive is from a usually reliable person, that doesn’t mean the content is true. He may have been duped as well.

What I don’t understand is why people refuse to check for truth themselves before they continue to pass along possible lies. It’s so easy to do, and you may learn something. Check it YOURSELF. I often use Snopes. The URL is http://www.snopes.com/      Snopes is the definitive Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation. There’s another good one called Truth or Fiction. You can find it at      http://truthorfiction.com/

There are plenty of false or misleading emails circulating that malign political figures. I believe wholeheartedly that there’s so much horrible, nasty TRUE dirt available on most major politicians that no one could possibly need to invent false stories to make them look bad. There are thousands of different emails circulating by people who would like to see some other presidential candidate push the current president aside in the next election. There are many who would love to see him discredited and have him leave office YESTERDAY.

I don’t happen to be a big fan of our current President either. I didn’t vote him in and I certainly wouldn’t vote to keep him in. But I must write something about the false emails maligning him or anyone else. I receive these things all the time from well-meaning acquaintances who want to reinforce their own convictions with “facts”. So without checking veracity, they spread negative forwards about a person, group or subject about which they’re passionate. In a country proud of free speech, I applaud anyone’s right to their own opinion. I just wish folks would check the facts before they start spreading untrue rumors. When we perpetuate falsity, we only render ourselves less credible.

 

Here are additional sites that might be useful:

• FactCheck.org, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, was one of the first political fact-checking websites, founded in 2003. It describes itself as “a nonpartisan, nonprofit consumer advocate for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics.”
• PolitiFact, launched by the Tampa Bay Times, and Truth Needle (seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/truthneedle), launched by the Seattle Times, are two of the most visible newspaper-based fact-checking operations. Many newspapers are launching or joining fact-checking initiatives, which are typically open to the public, perhaps as a way to differentiate themselves from strictly Internet-based sources of news.
• Snopes.com, founded by a husband and wife team of researchers and writers, Barbara and David Mikkelson, is the best-known site for getting to the bottom of “urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation.” You can do a keyword search or browse through categories from autos to weddings.
• Infoplease, a descendent of the paper almanac Information Please and before that a radio quiz show of the same name that first aired in 1937, is owned by Pearson, which publishes the Financial Times and numerous books through the Penguin Group of book publishers. At Infoplease, you can search by keyword through the entire site or browse through various categories. There’s also a biographical dictionary, atlas, compact encyclopedia, and homework center for kids.
• Bio.com, Dictionary.com, and Acronym Finder are specialized sites that can help you delve deeply into the background of people or words.
• InteliHealth, affiliated with Harvard University, and MayoClinic.com are two excellent sites for checking health information.
• RxList and the National Library of Medicine’s Medline Plus Drug Information provide information about pharmaceutical drugs and nutritional supplements.

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Just Try to Fight Big Business

It’s been a very sad and frustrating time. A local energy company wanted to cut down at least four of our hundred-year-old pecan trees, just because they’re near their pipeline that runs through our property. A long-dead, previous owner “allowed” the gas company an easement over the pipeline for the princely sum of $5 in 1929. I doubt there was any choice presented to the landowner. Just try to fight big business. Now we must live with that, and we don’t even use their natural gas.

"The Tree Killer"

At least one of these trees was definitely not a sapling eighty years ago. It was surely sizeable even then. The pipeline was obviously dug without disturbing it, and now it’s stately. I can’t put my arms around even half of it. It’s not directly over the pipeline, but on the fringes of the very wide easement (50 feet is standard now in Texas, not that anyone consulted the landowners). The other three trees aren’t directly over the pipeline. If a leak needed repair, there would be no reason so much space would be required. The energy company kills century old trees because they “have a policy”, because they can, not because they should and certainly not because they absolutely must. They’re exercising a legal right but not doing right. No one’s using his head. These trees should be grandfathered in if they remain near the pipeline, but are not directly over it. What are the odds that a leak will occur right at these spots, with miles and miles of gas lines traversing the state?  And mind you, miles and miles that are have most often been overgrown with brush and trees of all kinds for the last eighty years or more.  I’m told the company occasionally flies a helicopter overhead to check for leaks, so the absence of trees makes it more convenient for them.

The energy company makes a conscious choice to destroy these huge trees and others like them. They have only X dollars at their disposal every few years to clear easements which they never follow up with spraying. So the mesquites just grow up thicker and angrier where they’ve been shorn off at ground level).  I never knew any gas company to clear this pipeline until about four years ago. It seems that this go-round, they’ve run out of money before killing my four pecan trees. The Death Device was hauled away last week by trailer. But they’ll likely find money again one day to do more clearing, and I hope by then that someone in authority is capable of selective and sensible decisions and working with landowners. Not holding my breath. Certainly there should be respect for nature. Miles of pipeline remain grown up as the gas company cycles through this year or that year with their endless clearing. So why not clear some other densely trash tree-infested area and leave these four trees that my family has lovingly cleared under and harvested from for at least sixty years? The pecan crop is one of our only sources of income. We have allowed this company to shear hundreds of other trees on our property. Why not just leave these four? Would that be too sensible and too respectful of nature? Has common sense flown out the window when it comes to big business in this society?  Well, yes of course it has. Sometimes I think the world has gone crazy, so little respect do people have for each other, animals and nature. And yet all this talk of being green. What hypocrites.

I camped out next to one of the endangered trees.

This company has been quick to point out that they may legally do whatever they please. So much for working with the landowner.  It’s an old story. We’re not the first to fight and lose this battle. It happened south of town several years ago. Protests by irate landowners did no good. There was wholesale clearing and no respect for ancient trees even on the periphery of the easement.

There’s something inherently wrong with the destruction of century-old pecan or oak trees that isn’t absolutely necessary — and with the people who make that decision with little research, thought or consideration —and with the company that pays them. I’ve checked the wording in the original easement document from the Bosque County Abstract Company dated 1929. I find absolutely no reference to easement width. Where the current, “standard”, accepted easement width came from is a mystery. Perhaps lobbyists and deep pockets. Ya think?

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Our Changing World

The Internet has changed things. When I think about it, I’m thunderstruck. The following observations are only the tip of the iceberg:

There are “stores” that aren’t brick and mortar. They exist only in cyber space. Even known companies offer catalogues and encourage ordering online along with help lines and customer service. We can find almost anything under the sun from anywhere in the world, pay shipping instead of gas from the comfort of home. The desired item appears at our door. EBay and Amazon are king.

There are insurance companies, banks, stock brokers and investment counselors available in the ether of the Internet. With no overhead, they offer lower rates. Warranties are available online for most purchases.

There’s a website called Snopes to check the veracity of incoming email forwards. Snopes will confirm if it’s urban legend, true quote, a bunch of malarkey, part true/ part false, or perhaps exaggeration. Finally a definitive authority. I love it.

People can work from home, in their pajamas if they wish. Or less. Folks telecommute.

We can look up definitions and spelling online at the touch of a key or with a few mouse clicks, research almost any subject. The possibilities are endless (as are the nights I stay awake much too late reading, reading, reading, and learning.

Streaming is something that has nothing to do with boating, tubing, rivers or waterways. One can watch TV on the computer.  Between that and reality TV, companies no longer pay for commercial time on certain TV shows. Soap operas are dropping like flies, I understand. I suspect this has to do with the ages of viewers. Companies who buy air time want to appeal to the spending public. That age group is growing younger and younger, as it always does. This also explains the shift in country music stations’ offerings of “new country” which really isn’t country at all. It explains why oldies radio now plays selections from the 70’s and 80’s (NOT old) instead of the 50’s and 60’s (OLD). Thank goodness for Sirius Radio and Cousin Brucie.

Music, movies and books are available free online. Some of this is legal and some not so much. The stealing of identities from online information is definitely NOT. Internet scams abound. Beware.

Reviews of products and even medical procedures are available online for edification and contribution. Take them with a grain of salt and they can be of use.  Again, the same caveat is offered for either category.

There’s now something called Pinterest, an interactive website that almost takes the place of browsing magazines, with many categories like home furnishings and fashion. “Real” magazines are going the way of soap operas. When I tried to find Country Home /Living magazines last year, only one was still available. I ordered. It arrived each month, a pale, sad ghost of its former self. I won’t renew.  Magazines that are still making it have online extensions.

Don’t even get me started on Face Book, YouTube, and Skype. (I’m still resisting Twitter and the others). Social networks have changed the ways we interact with each other and the world. Ten or twenty years ago, something like Skype was science fiction. I never thought to see it my lifetime. But I thought that about microwaves, my first Apple computer with the green screen and black type, and cell phones. I’m sure my parents were just as amazed with radio and TV, the replacement of body parts, and so forth.  My father lived 98 years. In his lifetime, he saw the automobile replace horse-drawn conveyances and air travel become commonplace. At a more basic level, he saw indoor plumbing, and electricity standard in homes, modern conveniences and appliances.

The list of modern inventions is almost endless and mind-boggling.  I wonder what we’ll look back on one day and marvel about. I’m already astounded to the point of delight simply by Ziploc bags, crazy glue and a zillion other things we take for granted, I still wonder what we’d do without heat and air conditioning. I’ve read that the three things most responsible for increased longevity and quality of life of human beings are sewage systems, antibiotics and dental care.

My grandparents, parents and their siblings couldn’t have imagined the multitude of changes in the last three decades, from crazy glue to organ replacement.  And surely we cannot imagine the changes that will occur in the next decades. It’ll be a very, very interesting ride.

Does anyone else ever think of all this, or is it only me?

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Nothing’s Ever Perfect

Nothing’s Ever Perfect

I’ve been pondering yet another glaringly obvious thought, that each season has its own special needs, and thank goodness we don’t have all those needs at once (usually). If there’s enough rainfall, we spend our time on mowing and our money on fuel for the mowers and tractors. If there’s a drought, we water and that bill goes sky high. The propane charges rise in the winter. Electric bill’s higher in summer. Gasoline and diesel are high all the time now. And food.

Once in a while you catch a break. Seems the miracle mesquite killer Remedy has dropped in price, a reaction to its patent running out and much competition from generic brands.  (Same with some prescription drugs). Hooray for free enterprise. The original manufacturer is no longer legally allowed to gouge us on the price of a gallon of this stuff —or our monthly meds. One generic equivalent of Remedy is called Clear Pasture. I called it Everclear by mistake earlier today in town, and we had a good laugh. Freudian slip. I must have dredged that up from the Stygian depths of some demented, college memory. It even caused the twenty-something clerk to crack a smile.

During times of drought, about the only things that grow with wild abandon are weeds and undesirable plants like cedar and mesquite. Drought also seems to cause huge pecan limbs to crack off —and large trees of all kinds to fall unexpectedly. We experienced this phenom a couple of years ago, and it seems to be starting again. At this point, we have about a hundred piles of brush and limbs to burn. But because each season has its own special conditions we aren’t allowed to start fires. Obviously in this dry time, the burn ban is in force.

I was trying to imagine recently how we might economize further in these tough times, and most people I know are pretty much down to the bone, so I’m at a loss. The things we don’t do/ have or never did/ have can’t be cut. These are luxuries now, things people might previously have taken for granted if they worked hard and wanted to reward themselves occasionally or have a little help. These are things like buying steak, lamb chops, or fresh seafood without a second thought, employing occasional household help, acquiring new vehicles when necessary, taking vacations to locales farther away and more exotic than Dallas or Austin.— Things like enjoying occasional meals at restaurants, memberships to clubs, tickets to games, musical or dramatic presentations, symphonies, ballets, operas, etc.

Let’s just take one telling example. Now that a visit to a ball game would cost a family of four well over a hundred dollars for tickets and refreshments, these heretofore acceptable pastimes are sadly out of reach for most folks.

It’s come to a point where people can’t afford the gas to take them to a job that doesn’t earn enough to justify the fuel. Small businesses can no longer offer help with health insurance for employees. Unemployment and welfare in some cases pay more. What’s wrong with this picture? If folks are choosing between their prescription drugs and gasoline, you can bet a vacation to Europe is pretty much out of the question. Boarding pets is about equal now to what a stay in a nice motel was a few years ago.  And President Obama’s answer to everything is to raise taxes.

It’s obvious that our President and his advisors are aiming our country toward a Socialist society. Take from the rich and give to the poor. It is obvious that the older among us will get the shaft.  I never before had a problem with helping the underdog. But it’s gone way beyond that. Those who have done the right thing all their lives are now in the position of living frugally after a lifetime of saving — in order to support a welfare state including many illegal immigrants. I don’t mind my tax dollars legitimately helping someone in need. I don’t mind legal immigrants who want to work.  But to pay for people with no interest in pulling their own weight, paying their own way or supporting their own children is unacceptable.

Every season has its needs. And the season of my older years now looks as if it will be severely limited by government beyond my control, as experience and common sense fall into the minority in this country and stupidity and short-sightedness take over.

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