When my father was here last month we went to the local firing range and practiced shooting my Glock 17.  I got the Glock back in 1993, fired it a few times, and then put it away until last month.

     The gun shot fine except that that out of about 40 rounds that were shot the cartridge failed to feed 5 times.  I had two old magazines and two brand new magazines (brand name Glock).  At the time I thought that perhaps it was because the magazine spring had weakened in the older magazines because I had left some cartridges in it for a long time.  I had the impression that the problem occurred with the old mags.

     Later I went back and tried again.  I began with the old magazines and had no problems, but when I used the two new ones I had three FTF problems out of twenty shots fired.   I then thought that perhaps that perhaps it was the new magazines that had the problems last month.  However, upon reloading all four magazines I had continual FTF problems with all four magazines!  I had to continually remove the magazines, clear the jammed cartridge and then start all over.  I’m sorry that I didn’t count the number of times that this happened, but it was well over 50% of forty rounds shot on the second reloading.  Finally it got so bad that I got tired of clearing the jams and  stopped and went home.

    Each time the rounds seem to hang up on the feed ramp.  Also on three occasions the slide failed to stay open after the last round was fired.

         Several possible reasons for these failure-to-feed problems come to mind:

A.  Bad ammunition: However, I used two different kinds: Winchester White Box and S&B. 

B. Weak Magazine Spring:  Maybe in the old mags but not the two brand new ones.

C.  “Weak Wristing:”   Failure to keep the wrist straight and firm might have contributed to the problem.  I shall have to double check this the next time I go to the range.  However, my father had the same problem which makes me think that the cause isn’t because of a failure to keep the wrist straight.

Update: This past Wednesday I returned to the range and fired off the remaining forty rounds of 9 mm that I had left.  I had 4 FTF problems–one on the very first shot.  However, I think that perhaps that my grip has been part of the problem.  I was paying special attention to my grip, trying to make sure that I was not limp wristing it, and it seemed to help.  The incidence of FTF’s certainly didn’t reach the level of the prior shooting time.    There was also one time when the slide didn’t stay locked back on the last shot.  I could see no correlation between the problems and whether or not I was using the old or new magazines.

     I’ve written before about my father’s best friend when he was growing up.  They both lived in the little dusty west Texas town of Truscott, but since their school burned down, they were bused to the nearby town of Crowell.  It was there at the Crowell high school that my father met my mother.

     The options were limited in that small town if you wished to take your girl on a date. Fortunately,  C. J.’s  father had a car and let his son use it, and he would drive my father and mother all about.  I have seen photos of all of them on the bridge over the North Wichita River, laughing and having fun. My father with his football letter jacket and a white scarf about his neck, standing besides my smiling mother, my father and C.J. standing with their arms about each other’s shoulders. There also photos of my dad and C.J. in their football uniforms. Dad played quarterback his senior year and C.J. fulback.  My mother was a cheerleader.

      Both my father and C.J. graduated from High School on a Friday, and on Monday, both left for their military training, my father into the army and eventually the army/airforce, and C.J. into the marines. My father survived the war, whereas C.J. died a hero’s death on the black sands of Iwo Jima (Fifth Marine Division), winning the Navy Cross, and leaving a hole in both of my parent’s lives.  My father is 86 and has lived a long, loving life, whereas C.J. died  (KIA Kelton, C.J. Pfc 5th Tank 5th Feb 22, 1945, Iwo Jima) at the age of 20 and his bones have lain in those dark volcanic sands of Iwo Jima for 65 years.

     And why do I write about C.J. Kelton now?  It is Memorial Day, and when I thought of whom I should hold in my memory for this day, I thought of C.J.  Fortunately, I have had no recent member of my family who has died while serving their country.

      I remember hearing about C.J. when I was about four years old, about how my father’s best friend died in “the war.”  I never thought much about him again until a few years ago when putting together comments by my mother and father, I learned more about him and wanted to know more about this young man who was so well liked by both of my parents.  My mother always talked about how sweet and good he was.  Also I was struck by the contrast between him and my father.  Both were from similar backgrounds and had similar lives, but C.J.’s life and future were cut so cruelly short.  I often wondered what would have happened if he had lived and had come back from that cruel war and had a family.  I have wondered about his mother and father and siblings that he left behind.  What has become of them?  Perhaps I shall never know.  I have searched online for any mention of his death, and today I found this:

*KELTON, C.J.
Citation:
The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to C.J. Kelton (870869), Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps (Reserve), for extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty while serving with the Fifth Tank Battalion, Division Service Troops, FIFTH Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces at Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, on 22 February 1945. With his platoon command tank struck and set afire by hostile shellfire during a perilous advance northward against a fanatic, determined enemy, Private First Class Kelton promptly dismounted from his own vehicle and braved the enemy’s shattering 47-mm. antitank, mortar and small-arms fire in a valiant attempt to rescue the entrapped crew. Boldly pressing forward under the withering barrage, he crossed the 25-yard open area and unhesitatingly entered the blazing tank and then, working tirelessly and with superb courage, personally extricated two of the three wounded men from the tank and carried them back to his own vehicle despite the incessant shellfire. By his daring initiative, outstanding fortitude and grave concern for the safety of others at great risk to his own life, Private First Class Kelton contributed to the saving of three fellow Marines who otherwise might have perished and his self-sacrificing efforts throughout upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
Commander in Chief, Pacific Forces: Serial 32446 (July 12, 1945)
Born: at Kanima, Oklahoma
Home Town: Truscott, Texas http://www.homeofheroes.com/members/02_NX/citations/03_wwii-nc/nc_06wwii_usmcH.html

     Recently I was going through my chest-of-drawers in a long-delayed effort to clean them out.   As I sorted through some of the clothes I realized that my entire way of thinking about clothes has changed over the years.  I have always kept any clothes that I had until they literally fell apart or were outgrown.  After I reached adulthood, I would go for years without a size change, so I ended up with some very old clothes.

   I found to my chagrin and horror that there were clothes here that I acquired back in another era of my life.   Here was a t-shirt that I bought for a dollar in a street fair on Massachusetts street in Lawrence, Kansas back in 1972!  And here was a t-shirt that I had bought at about the same time that had the “ecology flag” emblazoned on the front.  I remember wearing that shirt on a Mammalogy field trip to Dodge City, Kansas in ’71.  In the back of the drawer I pulled out more relics of bygone times.

        One was a white undershirt with a picture of a duck riding a football and with the inscription “The Ducks Take to the Air” printed on it.  I remember somebody I knew who was leaving the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon in the summer of 1977 and was about to throw the shirt away and offered it to me.  I took it of course.   Here was a peculiar fuzzy sweater that I had received as a gift for Christmas in 1972.  And there in the back corner of the drawer was a t-shirt, stained with the smoke from an apartment fire that I had in ’81 which I remember buying in the summer of 1965!

    I gathered all these past mementos up preparatory to throwing them away or giving them to Good Will.  I put them into a gym bag which my grandparents had given me in 1962.  To this I added an old pillow which I had never liked which I had acquired for green stamps in the fall of 1967.  I sat there looking at the pitiful pile of stuff that I would never use again.  I busied myself with newer clothes that I never wore.  Afterwards I came back to the pile of old stuff.

    I put these all away again, telling myself that perhaps I would throw them out during the next cleaning.  For some reason the longer I possess something, the harder it is to get rid of it.  My New Years resolution is to get rid of new clothes— less than fifteen years old or so.

       I had an unusually uplifting experience yesterday–I was able to repair a defective coffee maker!   I purchased the Mr. Coffee back in June, and it has proved to be an excellent coffee brewer.  I have always had a favorable impression with this brand.  We have used it where I work for many years and have never had a single malfunction despite heavy use.  I also knew one person who always bought a Mr. Coffee brewer at Sears and who purchased the service contract at the same time.  He was a heavy coffee drinker and had the pot on just about every day all day.   With this heavy usage the heating element usually gave out after about a year or two, but he was always able to get a new coffee brewer from Sears for free because of the agreement.  He did this for many years.

     I just recently returned from my Texas hadj and tried brewing coffee last Friday for the first time.  I left the room and came back later to find that none of the coffee had gone into the pot!  Fortunately the coffee maker was in a wide tray and all the coffee had run out and collected in the tray.  Since I didn’t want to waste the coffee, and since I knew that I would spill the coffee if I attempted to lift the flexible plastic tray and pour it into the carafe, I got a straw and sucked the coffee up one straw full at a time and transferred it to the coffee pot until the level in the tray had gone down far enough so I could safely lift it without spilling it.

     Upon examination I found that there was a lever which was pushed back when the coffee pot was put onto the hot plate.  When pushed back, the lever pressed up against this valve which opened and allowed the coffee in the basket which contained the grounds to flow through.  The coffee flowed straight down which unfortunately caused it to flow down on the outside of the coffee pot instead of into it.

     After much experimentation I found that there was no way that the coffee could flow down into the pot.  It invariably flowed on the outside of the pot and then onto the countertop.    I found that coffee leaking out onto the counter top  seemed to be a common complaint with coffee brewers.  It was very frustrating since the coffee brewer had worked like a charm until it suddenly began to malfunction.

     Then I found this little plastic dohickey in the dish washer.  I couldn’t figure out where it had come from, until I finally figured out that it snapped up under the basket and the release valve.  It was a little plastic “chute” that directed the coffee into the center of the coffee pot as it was released from the basket holding the coffee grounds.  This was the reason that the coffee was running straight down along the side of the coffee pot; there was no chute that directed the coffee to the proper position!

     I snapped the chute into position and the Mr. Coffee brewer worked perfectly!  For some reason I felt unusually elated at this little triumph.  I had gone online the night before searching for a solution to no avail.  I had even dreamed about it, and almost dreaded getting up yesterday morning because I knew that I had to work on the danged thing and didn’t have a clue where to begin.

    I began to think of how small this little victory was compared to more significant achievements that might have been performed by my ancestors in the past:  “Hey look I made fire with a stick!”  “I scared the saber tooth away from the campfire last night!”  “I finished plowing the back forty with the old mule!”  “I skinned 14 buffalo yesterday!”   All this compared to: “I found the plastic dohickey that fixed the coffee maker!” 

    I don’t care…I still feel good about it!

P.S.  If you don’t understand what I said above perhaps this excerpt from Mr. Coffee, Inc. will clarify things: (http://www.patents.com/Mr-Coffee-Inc/Bedford-Heights/OH/1307733/company/).

I have just begun reading a book called The Last Theorem (2009) by Arthur C. Clark and Poul Anderson, the famous science fiction writers.  It begins in Sri Lanka, where Clarke spent so many years of his life, and spends some time talking about the tensions between the various ethnic groups.

It got me to thinking about the problems that so many countries have with their ethnic and religious groups.  Here in our country, we try to celebrate our diversity and claim that it makes us stronger, but in some countries the conflict between the many factions makes me wonder if such diversity can go just so far before being counterproductive.  Sri Lanka seems to be a good example of this type of this type of conflict.

There are many ethnic and religious groups in Sri Lanka.  Some of these groups have been living in this area for many years, and instead of being assimilated, they still retain their identity.

The Veddah’s are the descendants of some of the ancient inhabitants of Sri Lanka.  These indigeneous hunter-gather people were gradually supplanted by the immigration of the Sinhalese people.  Human remains 18,000 years old have been found in Sri Lanka that show genetic links with the present day Veddahs.  They have not preserved their own language which is related to Sinhalese, and are becoming less numerous as they become assimilated into the population.  Their religion is a mixture of animism and of Buddhism or of Hinduism depending upon the part of the country.

The Tamils are of two main groups, one group of Tamil speaking people has been in the area since ancient times (12.7% of the population), whereas other Tamils are of more recent immigration from India, coming as workers under the British Raj to work on plantations in the central highland area (5.5%).  They have never become assimilated and many are emigrating back to India.  Many of the Indian Tamils are of lower castes and looked down upon by some of the upper caste Sri Lankan Tamils.  Most of the Tamils are separated from the majority Sinhalese by their religion (Hinduism) and their language which is of Dravidian origin.

The Sinhalese are the largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka (about 74%) probably migrating from northern India about 500 BC.  Their language, Sinhala, is of the Indo-European group, and most of the Sinhalese are Buddhists.  There is a difference between the low country Sinhalese which have been influenced by 400 years of European influence and the high country Sinhalese which remained independent (Kingdom of Kandy) until the early 1800s.

The Muslims (about 7% of the population) are comprised of three primary groups of Islamists: the Sri Lankan Moors who are mostly descendants of Arab traders which came to India between the 8th and 15th century (now speaking a dialect of Tamil but originally speaking Arwi) ; the Indian Moors who came to Sri Lanka during the colonial period looking for opportunities consisting of: the Memon (from Pakistan), and the Bohra and the Kohja (mostly from northwestern India); the Malays of south east Asia, many whom came with the Dutch and English as soldiers or convicts.

The Burghers are primarily descended from the union of male European colonists who imigrated to Sri Lanka beginning back in the 16th centuries and local Sri Lankan women.  Many of the Burghers have immersed themselves into the European culture and are mostly Christian, tending to concentrate in urban areas.   Recently their numbers have begun to diminish primarily because of emigration.

And as if all this mixture of groups, languages, religions, ethnicity and cultures wasn’t enough, many of the groups have a caste system, often differing between the groups.  In India, another fantastically diverse country, such diversity has more room to spread out resulting in fewer groups attaining political power to the point where it can destablize the national government, whereas in the much smaller Sri Lanka such diverse groups have become entrenched and contribute to the destabilizing of the national government.  Most people are aware of the civil war between the Tamils and the national government that now seems to be drawing to a resolution.  See this site for a wonderful description of Sri Lanka, it’s government, history and culture.

So what’s my point?  It is just a concern that these conflicts between various ethnic, racial and religious groups that have been going on for centuries and even millenia, and which have caused untold conflict and suffering, could conceivably destabilize our own country.  Yes, such diversity enriches our lives, but…how does a political system act to incorporate such diversity and at the same time preserving social order?

How does America preserve our political system while accomodating the beliefs of such diverse groups?    The American founding fathers had a horror of involving themselves in the conflicts of the old world.   Unfortunately sometimes new imigrants bring all the old hates and conflicts to the new beginning that is America.  There seems to be a fine line between oppression and anarchy.  Thus far our country has managed to maintain this balancing act.  As new imigrants flood into the country, I fear this accomodation may be upset, resulting in increased turmoil.

We are living in a hurricane of change.  Old verities are being swept away as the change accelerates.  At such times I think that we must hold to certain unassailable beliefs in order to prevent being swept away in chaos, while at the same time maintaining a flexibility of mind and belief that allows us to adapt to this change–an absoluteness of principles combined with suppleness of mind.  Is this possible?

      I just call it the City.  It is a place that I have dreamed about for many years.   Recently the dreams have increased in frequency.

     It is huge, and the central area is old and decaying with crumbling red brick buildings and dark alleys.  It is always night when I visit the decaying inner area, and the street lights, when present, are dim and yellow, except for some areas which have brilliant green halogen lamps.  I wander the dim streets and pass through the maze of hallways in the buildings, climbing down steep stairways with no rails, past stained walls dripping with moisture.  

    The people in the decaying area are furtive with shadowed faces.  They wander the passageways also on missions of their own.  They rarely speak.  Sometimes I pass dim rooms which are filled with their quiet presences.   I look in but can’t make out exactly what they are doing.  There is always a hint of forboding and danger mixed with a strange expectation.

   There are other more normal areas of the city.  The buildings are well kept and the people appear normal going about their business.  In my dreams I only visit these areas in the daytime.  Last night in my dream,  I was in an expensive looking area with upscale buildings and thick, milling crowds.  There was an amusement area and the crowds seemed in a light mood.  I heard two ladies talking, however, about something so bizarre that it changed the entire atmosphere in my dream…from light to very strange.

    Over the many years that I have been dreaming of this strange city, I have lived in several places, each in different neighborhoods.  I have also had several jobs, and I have attended different universities in the city. 

    I have only recently realized that all these dreams over the years have been about the same place…the same city.  I realized this as the frequency of these dreams increased.  That’s when I began just calling it the City.

The first time that I remember listening to National Public Radio was in September, 1974 in Eugene, Oregon.  I was using my old 8 transistor FM radio that I had gotten for Christmas when I was in the eighth grade (I know, I didn’t think NPR was ever on AM, but it was!).  I remember being attracted to the station immediately.  I have never been a person who liked to listen to music that much on the radio, always preferring news and talk programs that explored the issues of the day, and I enjoyed this about NPR.

I continue to listen to NPR every day almost exclusively, and I really do enjoy the local programs dealing with local issues along with the in-depth reporting of the national and international news.  I have never considered myself to be a political sort of  person, rarely taking much interest in the squabbles and infighting that goes on between the political parties.   Likewise, I never thought of NPR in a political sort of way.  I just enjoyed it.  Part of the enjoyment involved the relative lack of commercials (although this has changed).

I remember talking to a friend about how much I enjoyed the programming on NPR and was surprised when he claimed that the programming was extremely slanted from a liberal point of view.  As I disagreed with him, claiming that the programming was unbiased as could be, there awoke a little niggling worm of doubt.  I began to re-examine my feelings about NPR, and I concluded that one of the reasons that I liked it so much was that it coincided with my own political viewpoint.

Thus after 35 years of listening to NPR, I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that National Public Radio presents an extremely biased point of view.  This obvious bias is especially evident in the local programming and also during political campaigns.  Now don’t get me wrong.  I agree with most of the bias presented by the network, but I really do not want to always be presented with news reportage that I agree with!  I want to be challenged by contrasting viewpoints, not always being fed a diet of liberal pablum.

This bias is not always that obvious.  Much of the bias is shown by selective reporting, only reporting events from a certain viewpoint.  For example always reporting the events in Israel from the Palistinian point of view, very rarely presenting the contrasting side.  Or always presenting the controversy on evolution from the pro side and presenting any anti-evolutionist viewpoints as being held by ignorant conservatives.  Now this last point has taken me a while to realize since I am obviously an evolutionist, and have always enjoyed NPR’s reporting on the subject–until I realized that, once again, I am being fed a one-sided reportage.

    I thought that this bias was especially evident in the recent national elections.  There were times that I just had to switch it off, it was so blatant.  KUOW in my area is the worst as far as bias goes with it’s local shows, whereas KPLU alternates its NPR programs with wonderful selections of jazz.

Here are a few sites and quotes:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4717847

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3827/is_200311/ai_n9317144   appears to be a conservative commentator.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/

general_current_events/media/americans_see_liberal_media_bias_on_tv_news  article on publics perception of bias in the media…statistics.

“The bias against conservatives and Republicans is the most visible, though not necessarily the most fervently held one (the pro-Palestinian bias comes to mind here). Democratic politicians and former members of the Carter and Clinton administrations are frequent guests on the shows. Conservatives on NPR are as rare as a snow flake in the midst of summer. Since the bias against Republicans is so ubiquitous, it can be easily shown:
The issues that keep Washington politicians and pundits occupied are often initiated by interest groups and so-called “think tanks.” It seems that for every liberal group there is a conservative counterpart. The most influential Democratic think tank is the Brookings Institution, while the premiere think tank on the Republican side is the Heritage Foundation. When you search Google News for the two names, you find an about equal number of citations for both, with a slight advantage for the Heritage Foundation (53%). Searching for the think tanks on NPR’s web site, the Heritage Foundations seems to be almost non-existent (19%). Obviously, the folks at NPR don’t like to talk to fellows with conservative ideas. http://www.nprsucks.com/opinion5.htm

http://www.discovery.org/a/2068  Says npr is proevolutionist  heh

http://www.slate.com/id/2090044/ Terry Shaviao’s coma…biased presentation by NPR

[Note: I often change the blog theme about, so I may not be currently using Autumn Almanac]               I’ve been fiddling around with my blog theme.  This particular theme is called Autumn Almanac by the Cloisters (Mina).  I love everything she does, all her themes and layouts fit my likes and dislikes very closely.  I really like the Autumn Almanac theme, but I just wanted to change the photograph at the top of the pages and use one of my own photographs.  Since I am ignorant about such things, it has taken me a while to figure the danged thing out.

It was very simple of course once you knew what to do  (isn’t everything?).

1. First I had to find out where in the code this was controlled.  I found by a process of elimination that it was located in the Stylesheet (style.css).  When I clicked on Editor under the Appearance section on the dashboard, it automatically opened up to the Stylesheet (style.css).
2. Next I had to scroll down to the Header section (/***** HEADER *****/).
3. The very first part under the Header section has the pertinent area; it looks something like this:   #header { float: left; width: 1000px; height: 250px; background: #e0dcc5 url(images/header.jpg) no-repeat; padding: 0; margin: 0 auto 0 auto; }
4. The photograph for the header is shown in this location: url(images/header.jpg).  I guess that I could have uploaded the photograph that I wanted to put in the header to the directory, but I just did the following
5. I uploaded the photo that I wanted to put in the header by clicking on Add New under Media in the Dashboard and followed the directions (very simple) on how to upload a photo.  I thought that by putting the photo here, it would make it more convenient to use it in different themes.  If I had put the photos in the theme directory, I think that I would have to reload the photos each time I changed themes.
6. Then I copied the position of the photograph (highlighted and ctrl-c’d, or even better right click and click copy photo location), and then I pasted the position into the area between the parentheses: “url(images/header.jpg),”  so that it now shows this: “url(http://texafied.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/autumnleaves.jpg).”  If you right click on the photo in the library and copy the location, you should delete the pixel dimensions of the thumbnail; otherwise the photo in the banner will be just the thumbnail dimension.
7. In other words you put the position of the photograph that you want to display in the header between the parentheses.

So now the photograph at the top of this page is one of my own that I took last autumn.  I modified my photograph with a simple photo editor before uploading to my site.  I made it long and narrow, about 1000 by 250 pixels.  If you don’t do this, when you put it into the banner position there will be only a small area of the original photograph that is displayed. As you can see by the code above (width: 1000px; height: 250px), you can modify the size of the photograph in the header.

Once I inserted my own photograph, I found that my font on the header blended in with the back ground, so I had to change the font color.  You will find this controlled by the following in the same header section:    #header h1 a { text-decoration: none; color: #ddd7cd; }.  So I found a darker color that I liked by googling Html color code and finding a dark brown color: #610B0B, which I inserted in place of the above code.  This did the trick.

I assume this procedure that I have outlined is similar for other themes, and I look forward to changing the themes around to fit my preferences.

NOTE: I HAVE FURTHER MODIFIED THE ABOVE SO EVERY TIME YOU CLICK ON A DIFFERENT PAGE OR REFRESH, IT WILL LOAD A NEW PHOTOGRAPH.

Sometimes I get irritated…irritated at the shifting nature of reality.  Change, always change, like quicksilver…when I think I have it, it morphs, chameleon-like into something else.  People I knew in my youth have grown grey, wrinkled.  I expect people to act the same, but they don’t.  Why do I have to constantly readjust my way of thinking about things?  Why can’t I rest, complacent, comforted by the thought that at last I have it.  Why am I always knocked about by that irritating, shifting veil (Maya) out there?  Why do I always have to be on my toes, ready to dodge the next encounter?  Why must…I change?

And yet I have met people who don’t seem to change.  They live out their lives stuck in an ancient mode, ossified…inflexible…  Are they happier this way?

I just read this:  “They say that the moment of death can be terrifying, especially when it comes suddenly and one is unprepared. No one wakes up in the morning and thinks, today I will die in an accident, today I’ll be murdered, but one never knows. So prepare. In order to meet death consciously and with a composed mind, begin each day with a death poem.”

   As I have said many times before, I often use this forum to explore certain subjects about which I am totally ignorant.   I recently became curious about justice and mercy.

          Below is the definition of both from the free online dictionary:

Justice:

1. The quality of being just; fairness.

2. a. The principle of moral rightness; equity.

b. Conformity to moral rightness in action or attitude; righteousness.

3. a. The upholding of what is just, especially fair treatment and due reward in accordance with honor, standards, or law.

b. Law The administration and procedure of law.

4. Conformity to truth, fact, or sound reason: The overcharged customer was angry, and with justice.

Mercy

1. Compassionate treatment, especially of those under one’s power; clemency.

2. A disposition to be kind and forgiving: a heart full of mercy.

3. Something for which to be thankful; a blessing: It was a mercy that no one was hurt.

4. Alleviation of distress; relief: Taking in the refugees was an act of mercy.

          In one sense the two qualities seem to be contradictory:  if one is just then how can one be merciful?  If one receives justice then one is getting what one deserves.  If one receives mercy then one is not getting what one deserves.

         And yet the idea of justice not tempered by mercy appears repugnant.  But how should these qualities be meted out? 

         Justice in the hands of the people can lead to vigilantism, whereas too much mercy in the hands of the government can lead to contempt of the law and perhaps socialism. 

          If one knows that one can expect not justice but mercy when breaking a law then it can lead to increased breaking of the laws.  

    Obviously a careful balence between the two is needed.  It appears that people have been discusing this primordial conflict between Justice and Mercy for many years with many scholarly tomes written on the subject.   Obviously I need to think about this further.

      By the way: HAVE A GREAT CHRISTMAS!  My father is coming to visit the day after Christmas for two weeks, so I shall probably be absent for a while.

I was watching two small children with their father at the coffee shop this morning.  The tiny little girl reminded me of my daughter when she was small.  When the father left he had the little girl on his arm and led the little boy by the hand.

I began remembering when my daughter was that small and how I carried her the same way for so long it seemed.  She eventually became too heavy and I led her by the hand everywhere we went.  Her little hand would always automatically steal into mine when we began to walk somewhere.

There eventually came a time when she stopped holding my hand.  I can’t tell you when that happened.   As with many things in  our lives, it happened very slowly with no discernable point where one could say that this ended and that began.  Just as with my habit of carrying her on my arm, I could not say when it was the last time I carried her.  I certainly did not know at the time that when I set her down, it would be for the last time. So it was with when she stopped holding my hand.  There just came a day when it no longer happened, and she henceforth walked by my side until even that ceased…and then I walked alone.

As I was saying, this all flashed through my mind when I saw the father with his two small children.  And then I began to muse about how all things are in flux; things and people come and go, often with no fanfare, no place where one can say, “This has ended,” or “This has begun.”  It is often just a sliding away, like a distant train as it fades into the distance, its sound becoming fainter and fainter until it is gone.

I heard a person arguing that the Europeans had taught the North American Native Americans this practice, and although I had heard both sides to the question, I thought that I would look the question up just to satisfy my own curiosity.     I’m sure you’ve heard it before: the North American indigenous people were taught this practice by the evil Europeans. The tendency to romanticize the “noble red skin” has led to claims that they certainly never practiced scalping before Columbus.  Well…this revisionist history isn’t quite accurate.  Archaeological evidence conclusively proves that the practice existed in all parts of North American before Columbus. However,  there is also little doubt that the early Europeans encouraged this behavior in both their own people and that of the native peoples, but it appears that the European settlers learned the practice from the indians even though scalping is not restricted to New World indigenes.   Below are some quotes from some of the references that I found on this subject.

One paper concerning this question is quoted below:

The anterior portion of a skull discovered at the Rygh Site (1600-1650 A.D.) by an amateur archaeologist, now a part of a private collection, is highlighted to show an area of disfigurement in the outer table of the frontal bone. The smooth, slightly raised, anterior and lateral margins of the defect present the appearance of reactive new bone formation at the periphery of an area of resorption of the outer table. All affected portions of the bone are smooth, indicating post-injury remodeling. The inner table of the frontal bone was not remarkable. Radiographs were not diagnostic and gave no clues to ex plain the cause of this abnormality. The oval shaped pattern of the defect suggests that the injury affected the pericranium and was limited by this membrane. A direct blow to the head with injury to the bone’s outer table and the pericranium, complicated by hematoma formation must be considered. However, the most likely possibility as cause for this injury to the bone several years prior to death of the individual, is that of non-lethal scalping.

The effect on a person subjected to non lethal scalping is influenced by a number of factors that include the physical condition of the individual, the quantity of blood lost, the consequences of accompanying trauma, and the plane of dissection through which the scalp is removed. If the scalp is avulsed in the plane between the pericranial soft tissues (galea aponeurotica and pericranium), healing is more rapid and infection is less likely, due to protection by the pericranium. If scalping includes the pericranium or if it is injured during the process, the bone’s surface is exposed, predisposing to infection. Osteomyelitis and meningitis are predictable complications.

Controversy exists today as to the antiquity of scalping in the Americas, and whether this practice antedated or was introduced by invaders from Europe. In two national publications within the past seven years, the origin of scalping in North America has been discussed, inconclusively. An article in a popular syndicated Sunday suppliment carried by many newspapers in the United States was entitled, “Don’t Blame the Indians for Scalping.” It was reported that, “Scalping began when the Dutch colonists offered cash for scalps of hostile tribesmen they wanted cleared out of the New York and New Jersey area.” It contended that scalping was brought here from Europe and had not been practiced prior to European invasion (95). In another publication a reader responded to an article relating to scalping at Wolstenholme Towne in 17th century colonial America (169), “I thought scholars were in agreement that scalping was a European practice, introduced to the Indians during the French and Indian War. Is there, in fact evidence to support Indian practice of scalping as early as 1622?” (155).

Conclusive evidence exists in human skeletons from the Upper Missouri Basin that scalping was prevalent in this region both before and after European intrusion. In addition, scalping was not limited to the dead corpse. In pre-1492 Crow Creek skeletons para-mortem scalping as part of the massacre was apparent in 271/315 (66%) identifiable frontal bones (Ch 1, Table 1.4). In addition, in this same skeletal cohort residua of scalping antedating death was in two skulls (360,361). In the Larson village (1785 A.D.) para-mortem scalping cut marks were on 17/71 (23.9%) of the massacre victims, and evidence of ante- mortem or paramortem scalping was on 5/621 (0.8%) of the cemetery skulls. Deitrick did not find evidence of scalping in skulls from the Mobridge (MO-1, MO-2) or the Leavenworth Sites (89).

Other historical and archaeological references corroborate the Upper Missouri River Basin findings that not only did scalping antedate European contact in the Americas but also the act was not limited to the dead body. Both in the North American aborigines and in European settlers, non-lethal scalping with long term survival has been reported (30,63,232). Bruesch (63) discussed non-lethal scalping in Tennessee during the 18th century:

“In March of the same year (1777) Frederick Cavlit was badly wounded and nearly the whole of his head was skinned. Doctor Vance was sent for and staid several days with him. The skull- bone was quite naked, and began to turn black in places, and, as Doctor Vance was about to leave, he directed me, as I was stationed in the same fort with him, to bore his skull as it got black, and he bored a few holes him- self, to show the manner of doing it. I have found that a flat pointed straight awl is the best instrument to bore with, as the skull is thick, and somewhat difficult to penetrate. and, The scalped head cures very slowly, and if this kind of flesh [proud flesh] rise in plac- es, higher than common, touch it with blue- stone water [copper sulphate], dress it once or twice a day, putting a coat of lint over it every time you dress it, with a narrow plaister of ointment. and, It skins remarkably slow, generally taking two years to cure up.”

More quotes:

Excerpt from article, “Origins of Scalping”:

Troy Case, a North American archaeologist who has written extensively about scalping, found the practice to have been quite common during prehistory. But, he notes, solid evidence for scalping did not emerge until the 1940s. And it was not until the past few decades, with the advent of more sophisticated dating techniques, that scalping was unequivocally demonstrated to have had a pre-Columbian origin.

Case’s conclusion is based on an exhaustive osteological study of nearly 1000 skulls from the American Southeast, Midwest, and Southwest. The largest sample came from Crow Creek Canyon, located on the northern Plains and dated to the mid-fourteenth century. The site contains evidence of a large-scale massacre involving a minimum of, incredibly, 486 individuals. The bones of men, women, and children were found strewn in an area roughly 7 meters square and 1 meter deep. Nearly every skull exhibited evidence of scalping, as well as other bodily mutilations. Characteristic lesions to the frontal and parietal parts of the cranium and distinct cut marks encircling the calvarium were clearly evident. Case surmises that “it is possible that this deposit was the work of people from the same village or tribe rather than that of the raiders, but a massacre of such size would probably leave few individuals to dispose of this large quantity of remains in such a manner. Therefore, the more likely explanation is that those responsible for these peoples’ deaths were also responsible for their internment.” 8

Similarly gruesome was the cache of four skulls uncovered at the Vosberg site in the central Arizona mountains, dated to circa AD 1050-1250. Here, as at Crow Creek Canyon, all skulls exhibited the characteristic circular lesions associated with a scalping event.9 At the Fay Tolton site in South Dakota, moreover, four individuals, including a young child, were found on the floor of an earth lodge. They had been scalped and apparently left as they had died, without receiving any kind of mortuary treatment.

Case’s sample also provides evidence that scalping was an equal opportunity offense. His study found that roughly 40% of the victims were female and 60% were male.10 In fact, the scalps of females were highly prized among some known ethnographic groups, and frequently considered an even greater sign of valor than the taking of a scalp on the battlefield. Among the Creek, for example, such grisly trophies indicated great courage and skill on the part of the scalp-taker because it meant he had to penetrate all the way into an enemy camp without being detected. Nor were infants spared, as the Fay Tolton site demonstrates. Case states, “Just as being a woman was no protection from scalping, being a child also appears not to have always been a deterrent to becoming a victim of this custom. The youngest prehistoric victim of scalping found in this study was a child between the ages of five and seven years, and another was a subadult between 13 and 15 years old.”11
His studies have been corroborated by several other archaeological investigations conducted by various scholars. In Burnett County, Wisconsin, a skull, which was carbon-14 dated to AD 490-580, was uncovered from the Spencer Lake Mound. It contained a series of shallow cut marks circumscribing the crown down through the periosteum (fibrous covering of the bone) in the hairline area. These wounds are consistent with wounds related to the removal of the skin (scalping). Like the skeletal material investigated by Case, this individual was killed and scalped hundreds of years before European contact. Likewise, evidence of scalping comes from the famous Moundville site in Alabama, an immense complex of huge earthen mounds that supported a society of several thousand people, as well as numerous Hopewellian burial mounds in Ohio. The Skulls unearthed from these sites show distinct and unambiguous marks made by the scalping knife.

Additional evidence for scalping comes from the written descriptions of the earliest European travelers–individual explorers who witnessed Native American cultures in something like a “pristine,” aboriginal condition. When the French explorer Jacques Cartier journeyed down the Mississippi River in 1535, he encountered several Indian groups that proudly displayed the scalps of defeated enemies.12 Perhaps even more telling was the account of French artist Jacques Le Moyne who, in 1564, traveled to Florida and spent some time among the Timucua Indians. In one of his famous paintings, Le Moyne depicts the torture, scalping, and killing of enemy warriors. “They hung the bones and the scalps at the end of their spears, carrying them home in triumph,” Le Moyne reported.13 The painting even shows Timucuan warriors drying the scalp of a defeated enemy over a fire. There are many more similar descriptions from other early European observers, easily verifiable and readily available to any researcher willing to delve into archival material.

In light of such evidence it is clear that, contrary to historical revisionists, Europeans did not teach scalping to the Native Americans; in fact, the opposite is true. Scalping was a practice that Europeans learned from the Native Americans. It was a practice, moreover, that Indians practiced long before whites arrived. Nor was it a practice that was limited to parts of eastern North America, as some scholars have suggested. Archaeological evidence clearly demonstrates that scalping was widespread throughout prehistoric North America, ranging from the eastern seaboard to the southwestern states.

Notes:
Fields, William. The Myth of Scalping, in Central States Archaeological Journal, July 1999, p. 153.
Ray, Randy and Mark Kearny. The Great Canadian Trivia Book (Toronto: Hounslow Press, 1996, p.207.
Farb, Peter. Man’s Rise to Civilization: The Cutlural Ascent of the Indians of North America (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1978, p. 115).
Hoxie, Frederick. Indians in North America (New York: Harlan Davison, 1988, p. 824).
Young, Henry J. “A Note on Scalp Bounties in Pennsylvania,” in Pennsylvania History, 24, 1957, p. 209.
J.C.B., Travels in New France, by J.C.B., Sylvester K. Stevens, et. al., eds. (Harrisburg: The Pennsylvania Historical Commission, 1941, p. 68.
Ibid, pp. 67-68.
Case, Troy. An Analysis of Scalping Cases and Treatment of the Victim’s Corpses in Prehistoric North America, in Journal of North American Archaeology, June 1998, p. 27.
Ibid, p. 32.
Ibid, p. 45.
Ibid, pp. 45-46.
Axtell, James. Who Invented Scalping, in American Heritage, April 1977, p. 97.
Ibid, p. 98.

More links on Scalping:

Scalping in ancient China

Wikipedia article

No…no, I’m really not picking on Fife, Washington despite my previous unflattering comments about this town in the past (see Adventures at the KFC in the Benighted Berg, Fife, WA on May 10, 2008 and Fife Wa–The City that Sold its Soul to the Devil, Dec. 27, 2006), but I simply could not refrain from commenting on a newspaper article that I saw today.  It was entitled “Fife might fill longtime void.” 

          I was curious when I saw this headline since Fife is in my opinion one huge void in itself.  I was wondering just which void the headline could be referring to.  Upon further reading I saw the following.  “Fife moves a step closer to having a grocery store.  The City Council will consider putting up land for one. ‘They need to do it for the soul of their city’ says Milton’s mayor.”  Milton is a nearby berg that apparently services many of Fife’s citizens who are looking for a place to buy groceries.

          Now picture this.  This is a city of at least 7,180 that straddles Interstate 5 running south of Seattle just to the north of Tacoma.  It has the werewithal to cover  the fertile soil of the Puyallup River valley with a huge industrial park, to line I-5 with a continuous stretch of car, rv, and boat dealerships, gigantic electronic billboards, and casinos and to stuff its coffers with the revenues from its notorious speed traps, but it has not seen its way to encourage even ONE grocery store for its citizens, being content with providing them with small drive in stores and fast food establishments.

     What does this tell you about the priorities of such a city council?  Apparently I am not the only one to notice the soulless aspects of such a city.

     Well, I am still making plans for the Wedding in Hawaii!  So many loose ends to tie together.  For example I found that the short hop from Honolulu to Kona was on Aloha airlines which went out of business.  Expedia, with whom I made the resevations, basically said it was up to me to take care of the problem.  I called Northwest airlines with whom I have tickets for three out of the four hops, to see if they could resolve the problem.  I had to listen to this really snippy woman lecture me about how I was a customer of Expedia, and that Northwest airlines had nothing to do with it. 

     “Oh,” I said, “Northwest is receiving no money from the three tickets that I bought?”  She ignored this and continued to talk about how Expedia just wanted to make the sale and then wash their hands of the whole thing.  I couldn’t argue with this.  I was put on hold while she “consulted” with somebody…this went on for forty five minutes.  She would occasionally come back to tell me that they were still consulting, and that the “free period” had expired since Aloha airlines went bankrupt, and that they didn’t have to do anything for me.  Nevertheless, when it was all said and done, I was able to get the flight approved by Northwest Airlines.  Of course, I would have to leave Seattle at 3pm instead of 8 am, and that I would arrive in Maui instead of Oahu, and that I would arrive in Kona at 8:30 pm instead of 2:30 pm.  Oh, and they would have to charge me a “help” fee for all the consulting they had done.

    And then of course once the wedding is over, we need to decide what we will be doing each day.  If I have to make reservations for these activities then I would like to do it ahead of time and not wait until I get there. One thing that I really want to do is to go on one of the birding expeditions.  It’s too bad that I’m the only one that is interested in doing this.   So I’m in the midst of that…  I’m sure I’ll enjoy the whole thing once every thing is settled.

    Oh yes, I think that in the future I shall check online for the cheapest fares and then call the airlines directly to see if they can match the fare.

I recently traveled to the nearby town of Puyallup, driving along a road that paralleled the Puyallup River.  I noticed that the rich bottomland along the river in the town of Fife, that had once been daffodil, berry or vegetable farms were now covered with apartments, homes and businesses.   The homes were built right up the the levee that kept these bottomlands from flooding.  The hillsides that lined the valley, steep and wooded, now had homes built on the steep slopes.  And these were relatively new homes.

Last Saturday and Sunday a big “Pineapple Express” swept through the area.  This is the common storm that sweeps into the Northwest from the vicinity of Hawaii, bringing in warmer temperature and lots of rain.  It appears that much of the problem that resulted after the storm involved flooding of buildings that have been built on flood plains.  Also there were numerous instances of hillsides slumping or sliding down to the valley, carrying homes and businesses with them.  I thought of the recent building that I saw along the river and on the steep slopes when I heard of the problems that occurred in some areas after the storm.

Why do zoning laws continue to permit building on flood plains and steep hillsides?   Why are these areas rebuilt after each successive flood?  Why do local governments allow the land with the richest soil to be covered in industrial parks and suburbs?