On Building Walls, Again

Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense. –Robert Frost, poet (1874-1963)


Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give a fence. –LK (2008)

Laudizen

Leigh Lake

Leigh Lake is the largest lake in the rugged and beautiful Cabinet Mountain Wilderness of Montana. My trip into the lake with my brother, a three day backpack, almost ended tragically as, on two separate occasions, I narrowly escaped death or serious injury. Luckily, the great granite basin of Leigh Lake did not become my tomb, although it would certainly make a fine and noble one at that. Follow the link below to read the story of my misadventures at Leigh Lake in Montana.


Leigh Lake


Laudizen King

Remembering a Great Friend and Gifted Artist

Remembering my mom, a member of the Manchester Arts Hall of Fame, she is a great friend and gifted artist in my hometown of Manchester, Connecticut.

To read the story, follow the 'Saint' link below.

Saint

Laudizen King

Thought for the Day, from Andre Gide

It is easier to lead men to combat,
stirring up their passion,
than to restrain them and direct them
toward the patient labors of peace.

Andre Gide, author, Nobel laureate (1869-1951)

Mamma Mia

Shirley and I went to see the movie "Mamma Mia" yesterday. We don't like the large crowds but enjoy the big screen and theater sound, so we had waited a few weeks after the opening and went to an early afternoon showing. There were 25 or 30 people in the theater when the lights went down and the show finally began.

What a laughing good time that film was! The cast was great, there were plenty of laughs, and the music was, well, what can you say but, incredible. I had no idea that the familiar music and songs of ABBA would make such a great motion picture. We both enjoyed it and the movie was over way too soon.

When the movie ended, the sparse crowd erupted into applause, the longest and loudest ovation that I have ever seen from such a small group.

That says it all.

Bellicose Boy

First, we he have endured years of thankless military sacrifice in Iraq, a war justified by the George W. Bush administration with lies and deceit. Afghanistan, the initial poster child of the war on terror, was left to wither on the vine, and now the resurgent Taliban launch operations against various targets at will throughout the country.

Then Bush's friend and exemplar of the Administration's foreign policy success, Michel Shashkavilli, decides to go to war on Russia's border and is "shocked" by Russia's swift and crushing military response, and by the failure of the West to come to his aid (about as shocked as Claude Rains in the movie 'Casablanca' when he learns that gambling is going on at Rick's). Bush promptly sends the inept Condi Rice to the area so as to allow the peoples of that region the pleasure of ignoring her. And we follow that act of statesmanship with a treaty with Poland that allows the US to install missiles at Russia's border, further inflaming the attitude of the Russians and daring them to respond.

And in the Saturday morning paper in Los Angeles is an article stating that the US may have to take unilateral action against terrorists in Pakistan, since the new government there seems less responsive to our concerns.

Wait a minute. It is time for Bush to stop acting like the bellicose and petulant twelve-year-old boy that he is. For someone who so openly touts the moral high-ground he certainly has none. His administration has been one long slide downhill, his foreign policy marked by confrontation over statesmanship, decree over consensus, and the result is a growing disregard for the US around the world.

Has Bush accomplished anything? Yes. He abolished the inheritance tax and ushered in faith-based initiatives. Perhaps there is a future for a new inbred aristocracy in America, one modeled on the dark days of Europe, where the royal family was aided and abetted by the state-sponsored church.

It is time for George to take a respite from unilateral actions on the international scene, and to cease his war mongering activities around the globe. It is time for a new administration to take over the reins of foreign relations from this childish lame-duck, and see if they can salvage and rebuild the decimated image of the US around the world.

Signposts to Afghanistan

As our attention turns from the war in Iraq to the conflict in Afghanistan, I revisited this piece that I wrote in 2006. It recalled my Army years when I served as an Afghanistan Intelligence Analyst, and the dreams I had as a young man in the Army and as a new civilian making my way in the world. I also voiced concerns over our Iraqi and Afghanistan veterans, and the challenges they and their families face after returning to the States.

That piece seems even more relevant today, as the country seeks answers and questions what our mission is and ought to be. Follow the 'Signposts' link below to read the entire piece.


Signposts

Laudizen King