Karl Rove, American traitor

Given Bush's tendency to trip on his dick, keeping his presidential image on track requires a wizard. Up until now, Karl Rove has been just that man. He is a master of perception management, seducing public opinion with newspeak and doublespeak. I suspect he is the anonymous "senior advisor to Bush" who bragged "we are an empire now." Karl is the administration's number one expert empire builder. He is ruthless and it's worked. As the anonymous senior advisor bragged, "you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.'"


Unfortunately for Karl and the boys, some people have been keeping up with the lessons. Seems Karl Rove may be the one who revealed the cover of the undercover CIA agent to the media or at least approved the deal. That would make him a traitor. What's that old saying from World War 2? Loose lips sink ships? Which side are these guys on? Bush commits our military to Iraq, a country that wasn't a threat until he invaded it, and "someone" in the White House outs a US undercover operative who just happens to be investigating who is buying and selling weapons of mass destruction.

Heil Bush - Independence Day speech

A restricted gathering of about 2,000 carefully picked people listened to Bush's Fourth of July speech today aimed at promoting his bullshit war.

President Bush waves at Independence Day
celebrations at West Virginia University
in Morgantown, W.Va. - AP photo

Area 51 and other roadside wonders

There's a winchy model rocket on sticks at the north entrance to Nevada's Area 51. Before 911 it was decrepit and plastered with lots of interesting stickers. After 911 the government scraped off the stickers, gave the it a new coat of paint and threw a fence around it. It's all about respect, don't ya know. Naturally it was much cooler before. By comparison, I found the cactus flowers, free ranging lama, Great White Pyrenees Shepard dogs and lonely graves we met along the way far more interesting.



The once in a hundred year bloom of desert flowers extravaganza is over but there were still plenty of plants in full bloom. It always amazes me how they prevail in such a harsh environment.



I've got to hurry this little show up. I'm leaving for Portland in the morning so I've got to get to bed. Tomorrow will be a busy day. I'll have to let the pictures do most of the talking.



The flower season may be past it's peak, but the Mormon crickets are just now on the rise, at least in Austin where we stopped for gas. Even though I have a couple of giant hissing Madagascan cockroaches for pets, I have to admit that the Mormon crickets creep me out. Guess I haven't attained Buddhahood yet.




I just uploaded the same photograph 3 times. Time to stop for the night. I'll have to save the Belmont graves and the hero Great White Pyrenees Shepard dogs for the morning.

So much for property rights. What's next?

As always, the rich are getting richer, richer and richer, all at the expense of anyone and everyone else. And why shouldn't they? Corporate Amerika and the US government are one and the same. Pfizer Inc., the largest drug company in the world, was just handed a huge plum by the Supreme Court in its latest ruling. Government may now seize and destroy private homes and small business properties when it benefits a corporation. Naturally this privilege extends to all the big companies. It's them against us and most of us (including those hard working guys with flags on their trucks) don't even know it. Enough is never enough for these rapacious, Nazi bastards. I bet that verdict was followed by a hardy round of cigar lighting and back slapping.

The Great Basin the spring

Here's a few more photos of the camp trip. I'll post more later. Our camp was at its base the couloir on left. The peak is almost 12,000 ft. In previous years, we've hiked to the ridge line.


That's where we were fortunate to spot the Great Basin Snowman one hot July day. Here's a photo of him from my Nevada Journal. He's looking down the same couloir and out over the valley below.



Flowers weren't the only things blooming. Mosquitoes and no-see-ums were out too but Swami didn't seem to mind as he chilled by the creek.

Wet spring in Nevada

We came back early from the camp trip. We could have driven to Montana in the time it took to pick our way around the the very elusive mountains near Area 51. Finding a way in was our goal this time but the ground is still too wet. Some places in the state got seven to eight hundred times the normal snow pack last winter and roads are washed out. Crossing and re-crossing flooded areas just tears everything up so we'll go back after things dry out a bit more. We had great weather though, balmy as Hawaii in spite of the night rain. We saw some cool stuff and I took about a thousand photos but the most notable ones were of swami's first ever bath.



On our way out we have to drive through Mina so we always check to see how Lobster Boy is doing. After the state shut down his "desert lobster ranch" about a year ago he dragged an old boat to town and is working on turning it into a classy restaurant. Since last fall he has cut 3 holes in the side and started a deck.




The Wild Kat Ranch brothel just down the road from Lobster Boy seems to be doing much better. They've painted Playmate on the back building and generally spiffed the place up.




Okay, that's it for now. This little photo log will have to be continued later. It's late and we're going to the gym in the morning then I'm meeting with some people from Ash Canyon for a free write. And... the Ash Canyon Review is back from the printer. It looks great. I think we should have gone with white stock for the cover but what the hell. The sandy gold is definitely Nevada.