Sidetracked Charley

  The family story goes that they could not get me to run away from home so they ran away from me. Certainly seemed that way in January 1964 when I unpacked my trunk in my dorm room. I was still in Albuquerque, where I mostly grew up, but my family was in Lakewood, Colorado. I met my friends from high school as usual at the Student Union Building but it wasn't the same. They were townies and I was now a dorm resident. I soon gave up getting a sack lunch from the cafeteria so I could eat with them. When the various breaks in the school year came my new friends went home. I, at first, went to where my family lived. But clearly that was no longer home. I began making plans to spend breaks somewhere else. Or to stay in the dorm and study in the library. I could stand alone. This morning in a chat with my sister she asked why I cared about the election outcome so much. I love history. Why she asked. Why people do what they do. What they did. It struck me that my studies are in so many w...

My high school was known for its debate and drama departments. Not its sports teams. And in my five years at the University of New Mexico our football team came close to only setting one record: The most football games lost in a row. And it shot that down by winning one on a fluke. The Democrats are a lot like UNM's football team. If they can lose it they will lose it. And with less than two weeks to the midterms they seem ready to do just that. Mind you the Democrats are not my team. And not the Republicans either. I am am independent with a small i. And the only reason I am sitting in the stands watching this defeat is I care about those in this country who blindly believe in the Land of the Free, Home of the Brave bullshit. We aren't. We haven't been for at least a decade. And if this goes on any longer we will never be get the chance to be that again. The worst things about college football is one horrible defeat can be quickly followed by another, and money b...

Once we stood tall I had to stop and ask myself what I believed this week. And I found that very hard to answer. I cannot do it without tears. I cannot look at a tree or two coyotes playing in a field and not immediately feel their loss. I am a photographer who once recorded the beautiful world around me and now I feel I am preparing an obituary for that world. At the beginning of 1970's I was in Washington, DC working for a Republican Senator trying to end our involvement in the illegal war in Vietnam. Those were the days when we expected our presidents, then Richard Nixon, to go to congress and ask for their approval. He had not.  Republicans and Democrats had ethics then. They fought for things they believed. And individual members of both parties crossed the aisle to cooperate on bills they believed in. You bantered around terms like liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats. Now both parties seem to cookie cutter their droids. And to me that is the really scary p...

I will be thrilled to see 2016 end. But then I do not see a lot of hope that 2017 will be better for the world. And on a very personal level 2016 has not been horrid. Just not good. I lost two great pets; Wee Willow and Mardi Gras. And the vast majority of my idols from my youth crossed the bridge. I am very empathetic and many of my dear friends have been going through some very tough times. Would be nice if I could just disconnect but that is who I am. Seems I am just past one round of tears and another begins.  On the world stage this year saw the death by self-emulation of the Democratic party. As soon as the last primary was over I re-registered as unaffiliated. And watched as the United States created slow suicide by the election of a false idol. Like so many of my friends I suffer still from STSD (Severe Trump Stress Disorder.) The one spark of hope is the complacency of my generation is beginning to fracture. And light can be seen on the other side. Time to get...

Dad taught me to play poker. And the rule book was Hoyle . We were a game playing family and we wore out several rule books. And with board games we constantly referred to the official rules which came with the game. They were generally printed on the inside of the top of the box. I learned quickly when playing any game at a friend's house to find out the house or table rules before agreeing to play because not everyone played according to Hoyle . And if the "dealer" (usually the house we played at or the owner of the game) was not willing to state the table rules and stick to them I didn't play. I have always been a stickler about the rules. As a citizen of the United States I consider the rules to be the Constitution with its amendments. Political parties should follow the rules. But they haven't this year. They haven't for a while. Watergate was a wake up call for me. Nixon calling out the National Guard to quell peaceful peace marches in Washingt...

Sheep from the Goats When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right  and the goats on his left. Matthew 25:31 Butt, baaed the Goat Why don't we count among the good? Please, bleated the Sheep I thought he made that perfectly clear. It is arbitrary, cawed the Crow Watching it all from his lofty perch. Black is evil And the pure white Dove A saint. I know things about the doves which are not so pure, he cackled. Sheep, Goat Black, White Red and Blue Please give me a clue. The shepherd pleaded Left or Right. It matters not, spoke the Raven Others have chosen You do not count. J. Binford-Bell August 2016

The unexamined life isn't worth living, Socrates There are moments in our lives which stand out as singular. Events, seemingly insignificant cause, us to alter a belief or a course we thought we were fixed to. Studies show that intelligent and liberal people are more likely to have these satoris. Some months back I vowed to not choose a presidential candidate to back until 90 days before the election. If Canada and Australia can choose a leader in such short time certainly the USA can do without the two year two ringed circus we seem to think necessary. Especially if the SCOTUS (2000) or compromised voting machines (2004) is going to be the way a president gets into office. Note: I did not say elected .  The internet is a wonderful window into the world and what the world knows and yet a few moments spent on any social media site and you know there are people who have the blinds down and the drapes closed. I said upon graduation from the University of New Mexico that ...

Dad used to joke that voting just encouraged them. But my parents always voted. And both at least outside the voting booth proclaimed to be Democrats. Mother was even precinct chairwoman at one time. We lived in a Republican neighborhood and it got all the windows broken out of both cars and red paint smeared across our driveway and sidewalk. I had to quit the senior girl scouts because of my parents' politics. I was always an introvert but due to Kennedy running for President virtually became a recluse. I figured the Republicans were responsible for Kennedy getting assassinated and never forgave LBJ because my friends from Dallas said it was his idea. But after college I went to work for a Republican Senator who cosponsored the bill to end the war in Vietnam. And I found myself hanging with a liberal group of young Republicans. I always figured it was more about the platform than the party. Now nobody talks about the platform. It is all about personalities. I don't lik...

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. Abraham Lincoln - The Gettysburg Address I say this every election. Nobody cares. But I feel compelled to say it again because the DNC has taken possession of my inbox on two email accounts. And in spite of promises they have made in the last couple of days I doubt I will get them back for my use because the 2016 presidential race will formally kick off. BTW when does any politician actually govern instead of run for office?  Election laws have to change. And not the way they recently were changed by Citizens United and the SCOTUS. We as a nation began this dubious experiment when it took two years o...