Cascajun

I was fortunate enough to be invited to join a whitewater rafting trip with some friends on the Sauk River near Darrington, WA last weekend. The complete crew were Jon-Paul, Tim, Jessica, Cindy (guide), Bob (guide), Milo, and Michelle (shuttle driver). This was our first trip together as a group; so after scouting the river and seeing the flow our guides decided the river was running too high in the upper and middle sections. They opted to take us down the milder lower section, putting in at Backman County Park and taking out at the Sauk River Boat Launch.

Always interested in getting familiar with a new boat, I quickly accepted when Bob jokingly offered to take a passenger with him on his 14 ft. cataraft. Following the customary gear check and safety briefing, we shoved off and I situated myself on top of the aluminum equipment box set between the cataraft tubes. I had no idea of the treat that was in store for me. Not only did I have an exhilarating, front row seat on a superb Class II & III river in the blissfully scenic North Cascades; I also got two hours of on the water instruction covering basic cataraft handling and braided river route finding skills from a seasoned guide and expedition leader.

The Sauk is one of four rivers in the Skagit Wild and Scenic River System that flow through the rugged North Cascades mountains and forestlands, past rural communities, farmlands and on to the cities of the lower Skagit Valley. With the river swollen from melting snowpack and flowing at approximately 18 kcfs, we covered the 11 river miles between the launch and takeout in two hours.

Everyone was pleased and we all congratulated ourselves on a successful and safe trip. Bob was quite impressed with how well JP, Tim, Jessica, and I functioned together as a team…so much, in fact, that he dubbed us “The Unit.”

I’m looking forward to our next mission.

Russel Shorto of the New York Times examines Europe’s declining population.

Will Europe as we know it just peter out? Will ethnic Greeks and Spaniards become extinct, taking their baklava and paella to the grave with them, to be replaced by waves of Muslim immigrants who couldn’t care less about the Acropolis as a majestic representation of Western culture? Venice has lost more than half its population since 1950; its residents believe their city is destined to become a Venice-themed attraction. Is the same going to happen to Europe as a whole? Might the United States see its closest ally decay into a real-life Euro Disney?

Hat tip: Richard Fernandez

With the nomination locked away, Obama now has shifting views on FISA, NAFTA, and the campaign finance system.

As the NYT wrote:

Mr. Obama is an introspective candidate, and perhaps the best analyst of his own political style. “I serve as a blank screen,” he wrote in The Audacity of Hope, “on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.”

That sounds like a chameleon, to me.

Karma karma karma karma karma chameleon
You come and go
You come and go
Loving would be easy if your colors were like my dream
Red, gold and green
Red, gold and green

I’m a man without conviction
I’m a man who doesnt know
How to sell a contradication
You come and go
You come and go

The historic focus on the Translatlantic slave trade has fostered ignorance of the other ones.

It’s one of history’s supreme ironies that the Moro Campaigns were in part caused by the need to suppress the slave trade in South East Asia. Mindanao was the Darfur of it’s day. The difference was the UN didn’t exist yet. Of course today, not only Americans but most Filipinos are ignorant of this history of human trafficking, and we’re talking the early 1900s.

Slavery did mean Simon Legree and all that. But even today there are dozens of ruins of Spanish fortifications lining the Philippine coast which are mute testimony to the need to defend against the slavers. You can visit them if so inclined.

In 52 seconds why Obama MUST become the next president:

Obama is the only candidate now offering such specific assurances to act to de-alert and abolish nuculear weapons, prevent the madness of Missile defence, and the \ weaponization of space and save the world and all future gerations from nuclear destruction.

What a fantastic idea! Senator Obama should also apply the same logic and strategies to fighting crime and stopping gun violence in his home district by disarming the police, cutting police funding, and banning the manufacture and/or sale of all firearms.

He would be the only candidate to offer specific assurances to abolish firearms, prevent the madness of self defense, and the armament of our cities. This would save thousands each year and show the world and all future generations how senseless gun violence really is.

Congressman Ted Poe:

Noemie Emery examines two competing schools of thought regarding the electoral challenges facing Barack Obama.

It’s Not Race, It’s Arugula - Obama’s real electoral challenge.

Emery posits that there are two predominate schools of thought that attempt to explain why “Barack Obama consistently lost white voters, especially of the middle and working classes, to Hillary Clinton–voters variously known as Appalachians or Reagan Democrats, rural voters and white ethnics in the industrial states.”

Here is a summary of each school of thought:

The Newsweek Doctrine - Under this school of thought, espoused by Newsweek contributors Evan Thomas and Richard Wolffe, race is the issue and it all stems from LBJ’s support of the Civil Rights Act (1964) and Voting Rights Act (1965). Consequently, the Democratic Party lost favor with bigoted, knuckle dragging, white southerners. It’s just that simple.

The Barone Manifesto - Under this school of thought, espoused by Michael Barone ,racial bias is a contributing factor, but the most important one is “a cultural divide among whites that splits them on matters of worldview and attitude into hostile and competing camps.” These two camps are labeled the Academicians and the Jacksonians. Academicians love nuance, the arts, seek peace at any cost, and hate the demands of war; they are interlocutors, not a fighters; they dislike force and think it is vulgar. Jacksonians, on the other hand, place a high value on the virtues of the warrior, and little value on the work of academics and public employees. They have a notion of natural liberty: People should be allowed to do what they want, subject to the demands of honor.

I think the Barone Manifesto is a much more accurate analysis, but perhaps that’s my southern roots and military background shining through. It will be interesting to see how this election plays out. Will the Jacksonians vote Democrat or Republican? Neither?

As Emery surmises, “Obama may be the first nonwhite with a serious chance of reaching the White House, but he is also the latest in a long line of anti-Jacksonians who have tried, and have failed, to win the office of president. The second obstacle may prove more formidable than the first.”

Nathan Myhrvold talks about a few of his latest fascinations — animal photography, archeology, BBQ and generally being an eccentric genius multimillionaire.

The New Scientist YouTube channel has video posted about pitcher plants.

The property where I grew up in Louisiana has pitcher plants on it, mostly growing in hillside seepage bogs.

Halls of Macadamia reports that 22 Canadian have been killed in Toronto this year, versus 10 Canadian soldiers killed on duty in Kanadahar.

Hmm. Toronto is more dangerous than war torn Afghanistan. Someone should send Michael Moore up to investigate that and perhaps suggest that the Canucks start locking their doors. That says a lot about Canada’s strict gun control laws, eh?