The Europeans and Big Mac

-
The Germans overwhelmingly think Senator John McCain is the best candidate.
-
Good article: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,532266,00.html

-
-
-

El Paso Holocaust Museum

-
I got to see the new El Paso Holocaust Museum today. It is truly special.

I have been to holocaust museums at Dachau, in Berlin, and in Cologne but this new one in El Paso, Texas is the best. Honest.

Today was a really special day too. Sara Hauptman was speaking to a large gathering of Germany Air Force members. She is a holocaust survivor, a great grandmother, and a proud American citizen who lives in El Paso.

During WWII she was a young Jewish mother and lion tamer. But no one knew she was Jewish. When working in the ring with an audience full of Germans, she was very frightened of the Nazis, but she knew that she must not let the animals smell her fear.

One of the ladies who volunteers at the museum told me that Mrs. Hauptman was shaking today. In fear of the Nazis…..this many years later.

During the war she fought with the Belgian Resistance under the cover of a lion tamer in a circus. She made false identity papers, delivered messages, disposed of Allied parachutes, and more. After her arrest she was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau where she became a victim of Dr. Mengele’s experiments. Later she was shipped to Dachau near Munich, Germany. --(In 1972 I visited Dachau for the first time, and I was at the summer olympic games in Munich the day that the Palestinians murdered the Jewish athletes.)

After the liberation by the Allies, she met General Dwight D. Eisenhower and became a liaison between the Allied liberators and concentration camp survivors.

This excellent museum is in downtown El Paso. Entry is free and it is open Tuesday through Friday from 9:00 to 4:00. On Saturday and Sunday it is open from 1:00 pm to 5:00.

This is a link to their website: http://www.elpasoholocaustmuseum.org/

-

-

-

-

Hirsi Ali Ayaan

-

Hirsi Ali Ayaan is a former elected member of the Dutch parliament. She is also a former Muslim and a very articulate critic of Islam, which she calls an intolerant belief system. She moved to America from The Netherlands shortly before I did. At the time I told my friends mostly in jest, "If Hirsi Ali has decided to leave Nederland then I'm going too!"

-

Oh her web site she is quoted as saying,

-

------------ "tolerance of intolerance is cowardice."

-

This little clip from YouTube is well worth watching: http://youtube.com/watch?v=FdxP0eDuiP4

-

-

-

-

-

McCain vs. Obama

-

If John McCain faces Hillary Clinton in the general election he will beat her. And we will continue to have a Republican president.

-

Because Senator McCain is polite, is a gentleman, and is honest. Senator Clinton falls rather short when put up in comparison. Some people have begun referring to him as Big Mac.

-

Bill Richardson is not in the race any longer. Hillary will unite

Republicans. Only Obama has enough perceived integrity to win against McCain.

-

-

-

-

-

Bush & Cheney To Be Charged With War Crimes?

-
In a small town in in Vermont there has been a successful petition drive to allow the voters to choose wheter to charge President Bush II and V.P. Cheney with committing war crimes.
-
They have been somewhat surprised at how viscious and negative all the reaction has been. Surprised? They must have a led a pretty sheltered life. The Republicans and their fellow travelers hold world records on being rude and nasty.
-
But Hillary and Bill are fast learners.
-
LINK: http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080129/NEWS02/801290309/0/BUSINESS
-
-
-
-
--
-

The American Form of Government

-
I'm going to say something really shocking.
-
If you look at the very large amount of money that is being spent on pork barrel projects you see that it is growing exponentially. This fiscal irresponsibility is going to come home to roost. The country and many voters have been spending more that their income for some time now.
-
Al Gore won the election, not the Bush dynasty.
-
Many other countries spend a far smaller amount per capita on health care and yet have effective universal health care. In America we waste vastly more money doing it all in the private sector, and yet a significant percentage of the people do not have health insurance.
-
The Congress in Washington, D.C. is in perpetual gridlock.
-
Does it begin to be clear the picture I am painting? Maybe, just maybe, we no longer have the best and most effective form of government in the world.
-
This is a pretty shocking thing to say, but I am beginning to think it may be true.
-
-
-
-

Nacho Libre

-

If you want to see a really great and tremendously funny story buy or rent this movie.

-

One part of it is a love story between a priest and a nun in an orphanage. The other part is in the wrestling ring.

-

Honest, this one is truly outstanding!

-

-

-

-

Permian Basin

-

When you take highway 180 East from El Paso, Texas you climb up through the Hueco mountains.

-

You can't help seeing the sedimentary rock that the road was cut through.

-

It is just so obvious that this used to be at the bottom of the ocean.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

President Bill Clinton

-
In today's press they are saying that Bill Clinton's recent behavior supporting his wife looks a bit like a rabid mad dog. And that it is unfitting to see an ex-president acting in this manner.
-
Well, getting blow jobs in the white house from young enthusiastic aides is rather unseemly too.
-
And what exactly did Bill do with that cigar Monica?
-
-
-
-
-
-
--
-

Beating The Bitch

-
Us Democrats seem to be slow learners. We keep running people as a candidate for president who don't have the slightest chance at all of winning.
-
This is a video of a nice old lady asking Senator John McCain, "How do we beat the bitch?"
-
LINK: http://youtube.com/watch?v=WLQGWpRVA7o&feature=related
-
-
-
-

The Simpsons Movie

-

On the cover it says that "You'll laugh till your knees hurt and you can't breathe!" I like to belly laugh like that.

-

Well that statement is a little over the top, but it is a very funny movie, and it is well worth watching.

-

-

-

-

Mt. Franklin at Night

-
I decided to try out my new telephoto lens at night with the starlight filter on it.

This picture is taken from the far east side of El Paso. Near the intersection of Joe Battle and Zaragoza Rd.
-
The mountain is about 13 miles (21 km) away.

-


-


-


-

Hillary The Distasteful

-
Mrs. Clinton’s rude and uncivilized attack on Mr. Obama in the debate the other night almost turned my stomach.

She is not the kind of person that I want representing the United States of America around the world. We already have an ignorant bozo as our representative. It would be unwise to trade him in for someone as impolite, vulgar, and revolting as the woman who I saw bare her fangs.

During the Vietnam war once I was carrying a sign in an anti-war march, and I passed within a few feet of General Westmoreland (as the CIA guy took my picture with his beautiful Nikon camera). About ten years later I ran for elected political office as a Democrat, and I won. In general I find Republicans to be dishonest and greedy, not to mention cold and uncaring.
-
I guess it is fair to call me a life-long Democrat.

After seeing the true Hillary come out I have to praise this long election campaigning cycle. With this monster to come home to, I can sure see why Bill sought out other female companionship.

It pains me greatly to say this, but I would stay home or vote for John McCain before I would vote for that arrogant bitch.
-
-
-
-
-
-

Democracy and Tolerance

-
The little country of Holland (The Netherlands) is tiny. It's size is 16,033 square miles, and 18% of that is under water. This is 6% of the physical size of the state of Texas at 261,797 square miles. The state of Texas has about 20 million people whereas the country of Holland has 16 million people.

-
Despite its small size, Holland is widely respected internationally. And for many years The Dutch have been known for their culture of democracy and tolerance. It is not a coincidence that many of the International Courts are located in The Hague.

-
I know the country fairly well, having lived there for 15 years. I just moved back to America about a year ago.

-
One of the most popular Dutch politicians at the moment is a man by the name of Geert Wilders. He is a very honest and open man, sometimes to the point of exposing himself to personal danger from various fringe elements.

-
This is a video of him on You Tube of him being interviewed in English. It is well worth taking the few minutes time to watch this: http://youtube.com/watc--------- http://youtube.com/watch?v=j0jUuzdfqfch?v=0W6twYw4E8w

-

-

Dog Tooth Calcite

-

-
-
This composite picture is of some dog tooth calcite which came from Minas de Gerais, Brazil fluorescing when illuminated with ultraviolet light. Click on the picture and it will enlarge.

-

This is a link to a high resolution copy of the same picture: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2301/2218840702_ac31be4a27_o.jpg

-

-

Antiques Roadshow Reject

-

The weather in the high desert of El Paso, Texas was beautiful this morning. It had rained very lightly overnight and the temperature was about 45 F (7,2 C) and there was no wind at all.

-

We went our normal distance of 1.0 miles (1,6 km) but we went to a part of the desert that we have never walked in before.

-

We saw some interesting things including a Teddy Bear that someone probably misses. An antiques roadshow reject or a love affair gone sour?

-

We also saw a rusty 1960 Texas license plate that was full of bullet holes. I wonder if it has been laying out there in the desert for 40 years?

-

And we came across a pretty large part shard from the pre-historic native american indians. I logged the location on my GPS and took a picture of it, but left it where it lay.

-

-

-

Paises Sin Fronteras

-

I saw this neon sign today in the Mexican restaurant I was having lunch in.

-

Ignore that it is an advertisement for beer and it is pretty neat.

-

-

-

Just Gimme Some Truth

Even among us Democrats it is common knowledge that Bill Clinton sometimes plays fast and furious with the truth. Now it seems that Hillary has some this in her too.

-

The song by John Lennon on the Imagine album about just asking for a little bit of truth is very appropriate. Just give me some truth please.

-

Al Gore's statement that he invented the internet may have cost him the presidency. John McCain will kick the Democrats' collective ass if he is perceived by the voters are being an honest man, and the Democratic candidates are seen as just another pack of lying politicians.

-

I’m sick and tired of hearing things

From uptight-short sighted-

Narrow minded hypocritics

-

All I want is the truth

Just give me some truth

-

I’ve had enough of reading things

By neurotic-psychotic-pig-headed politicians

All I want is the truth

-

Just give me some truth

No short haired yellow bellied

Son of Tricky Dicky

Is gonna mother hubbard

Soft soap me

With just a pocketful of hope

-

Money for dope

Money for rope

I’m sick to death of seeing things

From tight lipped condescending mommies little Chauvinists

All I want is the truth

Just give me some truth

I’ve had enough of watching

Scenes of schizophrenic egocentric, paranoiac, primadonnas

-

------- All I want is the truth

--------------- Just give me some truth

LINK: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Vote2008/story?id=4176367&page=1

-

-

-

Scheelite

I was taking some pictures of fluorescent minerals this evening.

-

I think that the picture of the scheelite from China came out particularly well.

-
-
-





LINK: http://flickr.com/groups/fluorescent-minerals/-



-



-



-

Nikon

I love the song by Paul Simon about his Nikon and kodachrome film. "When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, its a wonder I can think at all."

-

You can be sure that Mr. Simon is now 100% digital. The same album has the wonderful song about the Belgian painter Rene' Magritte, his elegant and beautiful wife Georgette, and their dog after the war. They danced by the light of the moon.

-

My new Nikor lens came in by UPS yesterday, so first thing in the evening I got to try it out on the moon rise. Technically it is a 55 - 200 mm lens, but this is the equivalent in 35 mm film photography of a 300 mm lens. It has the vibration reduction feature built into it.

-

A fellow traveller brought to my attention the Mexican photographer Alf Mendoza. He lives in Colima, Mexico. His website has a great motto:

-

---------- Ver lo que todos… y captar lo que nadie

----------------- See what everyone sees… and capture what nobody else can

-

-

-

-

-

-

Another Friend Drinks Himself To Death

-

I learned today that another friend of mine has managed to drink himself to death.

-

While they were trying to dry him out he had a stroke and died. A nice man. Intelligent and kind.

-

I know it is a hopeless cause, but I can really relate to where those temperance union chicks were coming from during prohibition.

-

-

that horrible, fascist book that incites violence

Another movie is about to come out in my adopted, second country The Netherlands which takes an honest open look at the Muslim religion. This one was made by the Dutch politician Geert Wilders.

-

One lady commented, "He provokes of course, to make things clear. But we both say Islam is not a religion, but a dangerous and evil ideology," said van der Hulst.

-
She also agreed with Wilder's comparisons of the Koran to Hitler's "Mein Kampf." "You can see the evil coming up from Muslims. They do the same as what Hitler did before -- they say the same things about Jews and homosexuals."

-

LINK: http://youtube.com/watch?v=8McIz0ejukg

-

-

I Have A Dream

-

It is Martin Luther King day 2008. I have lots of dreams for the future of our country in a political, social, and economic sense.

-

My immediate dream this morning goes this way:

-

My best friend is such a picky eater. I try to provide the finest nutrition to him. And he is a great athlete and not fat at all. But at home he is really choosy about what he eats. I have to warm up his canned dog food in the microwave or he won't eat it.

-

But when we are walking out in the desert he is just delighted to gnaw on pieces of a bunny rabbit that was killed several days ago. And sometimes he relishes eating other dog's fecal material. How disgusting!

-

So my dream today is that he will stop eating all this gross crap when we are out in the desert!

-

-

Portrait

(--------------- (click on the picture and it will enlarge)
=

-
-
A friend took this picture of me yesterday.

And there in the background is my little black dog.


-


--


-

Islamic Religious Fanatics

-
In Spain the authorities just arrested 14 lunatic Islamic religious fanatics. These guys had stockpiled bomb making materials and were very real about intending to kill a lot of folks in the name of the prophet Mohamed.
-
What is especially uncool about that is that they intended to do it in Barcelona.
-
In America this would be like a mass terrorist attack by religious fanatics in Austin, Texas or San Francisco or Santa Fe.
-
I'm sure no Republican, and I think Bush Jr. is about the dummest president the country has ever had.
-
But I don't have any problem when our authorities get tough with religious fanatics who want to kill in the name of their God. Whether they call themselves the Ku Klux Clan, the Nazis, or Islamic Fundamentalists. The name that they use to describe their group's killing spree is pretty much irrelevant.
-
-

Walking In The Desert West of Hueco Tanks

-

I went out with a friend and took a nice walk this afternoon. We went a little over 1.7 miles (2,8 kilometers). We both brought along the dogs, and they had a great time.

--

-

-

We found some pre-historic pottery shards on private land. It gives one an amazing feeling of history to see proof that the ancient aborignal peoples were right here on this piece of land, many many years ago.

-

-

-

-

Burrowing Owl Hole

-------------------------------------------- (click on any of the pictures and they will enlarge)

-

On our walk this morning the weather was great. I slowly did a 360 degree turn to verify this: There was not even one hint of a cloud in the sky. It is a beautiful bright sunny day out in the high desert. We went just over one mile (1,63 kilometers) and had nice little elevation gain climbing up the sand dunes.

-

It was a little cool at about O degrees centigrade (32 F) with a nice little breeze. So I put Inu's sexy little day glow orange coat on him, and I wore my best goose down parka and the English Heritage watch cap I bought on that cold February morning up at Housteads Hadrian's Wall in northern England.

-

As we were walking along this morning a burrowing owl flew out of his hole, and went right past us. It is fairly normal to see remnants of little bunny rabbits outside of these guy's houses.

-

-

-

-

Alcoholic Cretin

-

The last time I was in Beruit, Lebanon the beautiful sandy beach was totally covered with dump truck sized loads of trash.

-

I woke up this morning to see that some jerk had made this deposit in the street directly in front of my house.

-

This asshole from El Paso should be sent to a place like Beruit. Or maybe if the judge is feeling generous he could be required to do 1,000 hours of community service sweeping up the streets.

-

-

-

-

-

El Paso Texas Ethnic Tension

In a recent letter to the editor of the El Paso Times one hispanic lady questioned why so there are so few Mexican Americans in El Paso's city governmental leadership team.
-
The city of El Paso, Texas is now composed of over 75% people of Mexican Heritage. Yet the whites are still largely in control.
-
Remind you just a little itsy bit of Selma, Alabama? Click on this letter to the editor and it should enlarge enough to be readable.
-
I would hope that a Hispanic cop would be as fair with Anglos as a White cop. Or the other way around. But you never know. People here in America do seem to hold lots of racial prejudices that they keep pretty well hidden. And words are not nearly as important as action.
-
-



-


-

Visible Light Spectrun

I was over visiting a friend this afternoon. They have a prism suspended near the window so that the afternoon sunlight casts a light spectrum on the wall.

It was just beautiful. And it reminded me that this is only the part of the light spectrum that the human eye can see.

Beyond the red is infrared light. Which our skin can feel as warmth. Some snakes see very well indeed in this color range. Lots of other animals can see some of these colors which are well beyond the range that our eyes can detect. Just like dogs, bats, and dolphins can hear sounds higher in frequency than we can, and elephants can hear sounds lower in frequency than the human ear is capable of.

On the short wavelength portion of the spectrum, beyond the blue and purple, is what we normally refer to as ultraviolet (or black light). In water purification or medical environments these wavelengths (or colors) of light can used to can kill germs. In the upscale spas or tanning salons these invisible rays of light can tan our skin, help make vitamin D, and in heavy doses cause aging of the skin and then skin cancer.

These same ultraviolet light waves that our eye cannot see also make fluorescent minerals light up delightfully.




-




-

Hal Marcus Gallery

--------------- (click on the pictures and they will enlarge)



The store of the Hal Marcus Gallery is closing. Today and again tomorrow (Saturday January 19) they are having a clearance sale.


This is an end of an era for sure.


-


And this sale is an amazing event. Today while I was in the gallery three different customers bought paintings done by Hector Bernal. He is one of my favorite artists of all time. Even though I already have purchased three of his paintings I had to get one more. This one is called "Lady By The Lake."


"-

I also met Candy Mayer there. She is an outstanding painter, and I have admired her work for some time. Her website is: http://www.candymayer.com/



She had a nice painting that she had done back when she was living in Iowa, before she moved to El Paso. This painting is called "Guardian At The Gate." It is of some old buildings at a site dedicated to the Knights Templar. We had a good discussion regarding the terracotta roof tiles, which many people consider Mexican or Spanish Tiles. They actually date back to the time of the Roman Empire.




One of these pictures is of some of the 2,000 year old Roman roof tiles in my collection, which came from a Roman Villa. The other picture is one I took of some intact Roman roof tiles at Pompei, Italy.
-
-
LINK: http://hpgarland.blogspot.com/2008/01/hector-bernal.html
-
-
-
-




-





-





-





-

German Stoneware 1200 - 1900

-

There is a small but dediciated community of people worldwide who are interested in this subject. Being able to make pottery which was impermiable to liquids and odors, and to do so on an industrial scale to sell these pots at reasonable prices was a great advance.

-

The "bible" on this subject was written by David Gaimster of the British Museum.

-

One place to go for more information is the Yahoo picture group Flickr which has an affinity group called German Stoneware.

-

LINK: http://flickr.com/groups/597497@N24/

-

-

-

www.flickr.com Paul Garland's Pottery European Middle Age photoset

Romney's Win in Michigan

-
This is good. In fact it is important. It is his own home state for heaven's sake.
-
We certainly don't need another Republican administration after the debacle of Bush and his cronies virtually bankrupting the country. Reagan did the same thing.
-
If the Republicans have a slick, bozo used car salesman like Romney on the ballot, even an obnoxious bitch has a chance of being elected.
-
-
-

Fill Flash

-

Sometimes even in full sunlight, using your flash to fill in the shadows is helpful.

-

I saw this little skull on our walk in the desert this afternoon.

-

-

-

Morning Walk

------------------------ (click on the pictures and they will enlarge)

We had a nice walk out in the desert this morning. The weather was beautiful and we saw lots of rabbits and birds. We went our normal one mile distance. In fact it turned out actually to be almost 1.2 miles (1,89 km).

-

When we got home I put the Garmin Forerummer 205 Watch/GPS briefly in the battery charger. It is hooked up to the computer by USB. And within a few seconds I got this display of how far we went, at what speeed, and what our altitude was. And a map showing our route. The confuser automatically saves this information on each of our walks. And various other stuff that I don't care much about, like calories burned.

-

As I was removing my jacket I realized that I did not have my cell phone. It turned out that I had left it at home. This is pretty rare for me. So I decided to type up a checklist of the things we need to take on these walks:

-

ALWAYS:
Clothes (this is the easy part): Underwear, jeans, shirt, belt, suspenders, socks, hiking boots
To-do list
Folding money in money clip
Coins
Cross Pen and Pencil
Cell phone
Rolex GMTII Watch
Garmin GPS Watch
Keys to house and car
Separate key to car
Sony point and shoot digital camera
Dog leash

SOMETIMES:
Jacket/Vest/Sweater
Hat
Nikon D40 digital SLR
Bolo Tie
Kleenex/Toilet Tissue
Book to read
Drinking water

-

-

-

-

-