Well, sort of.

First I’m going to say something here to those involved in the debate who may read my post: Friends are hard to come by; I have friends on “both sides” and my intent is to keep it that way. On the other hand, good friends are even harder to come by and this post may result in my finding out whether my current circle is bound to yield more, less, or any.

I count the following among my friends:  Scott Greenfield, Norm Pattis, Brian Tannebaum, and “Gideon.” I have high hopes for a number of others I’ve recently met on the Internet, including (but not limited to!) Mirriam Seddiq, Mark Bennett, and several others who recently joined with Norm, Mirriam and me to try out a new project called BCOTUS.

One thing I’ve learned in my 51 years of life — soon to be 52, assuming I can hang in there another month or so — is that I need more than a couple of friends.  I actually need more than a couple.  Sure, I enjoy having lots of friends, too.

I’d enjoy even just one friend.  For what can bring greater happiness to a life than knowing there is someone who will share a thoughtful conversation and, at the end of it, even if the conversation was “unhappy,” will still be glad to call you “friend” when the dust settles.

Yet I need more than one friend because — well, because I appreciate more than just the enjoyment that comes from having someone to value who also values me.  I appreciate that people are different and that the experiences I have and the things that I learn — particularly the ways in which I can become a better and more interesting person — are enhanced by these differences.  One person reminds me that I need to push myself harder and to remember not to just go with the flow; another reminds me that I should occasionally stop and marvel at the flow and how it structures the more mundane tasks of life, so that I can focus on other things.  One friend’s focus causes her to pull my attention to this thing I would not have noticed on my own; another’s focus brings to my attention that thing I and my other friend missed.

No matter what you hear, there’s no such thing as a “self-made man.”  Or woman.  We are all influenced by our interactions with others.  The more frequent and deeper the relationship, the more we are influenced.

And so I am ever on the quest for friends both for the enjoyment it brings to life and for the opportunities it gives me to grow and learn.  I am forever floating trial friendship balloons.

The Internet and my sometimes infrequent but irrefragable drive to write have allowed me to float a number of trial friendship balloons that would not have been possible otherwise.  I discovered the blogosphere, or, as some lawyers prefer, the blawgosphere.  I have read the blogs and blawgs of and started getting to know a number of really cool people on the Interwebs. Thank goodness for tubes!

But while the Interwebs have made possible contacts that were unthinkable just about 15 years ago, they can also be difficult places to find solid friendships.  IRL — “in real life” — people rub up against one another and, when they find themselves disagreeing with one another too much, when they find they too-frequently rub one another the wrong way, they avoid one another.  Balloons, of necessity, have thin skins.  They pop; the friendship ends.  You go your separate ways.  And if some of your friends hang out with your former friend, well, it’s not usually a problem because knowing your feelings, they’ll be unlikely to discuss it around you and you may not even know they still associate.

But Interwebs are stickier.

And I’m deliberately mixing metaphors because it’s my blog and I can do that if I want.

Some people whom I like and respect quite a bit have gotten into a tiff. I guess I can call it that. (For you youngsters, we aren’t talking about image file types here.  And I’m not Canadian, so I didn’t even think about Toronto!)

One group I deeply appreciate has a pet peeve about the Interwebs and lawyers who use them in certain ways.  In particular, they appear to dislike the use of the Interwebs for marketing purposes.  They think that people who use the Interwebs for marketing purposes are hiding a deeper inability, lack of skill, or other weakness which makes them not the best material for becoming good lawyers.  Or perhaps they think that if one focuses on becoming a good lawyer instead of marketing oneself, the clients will follow.  Maybe all the above.

They might be right.  I don’t know.

There is a growing group that thinks the single-mindedness of the first group is — shall we say? — misguided.

The Interwebs being what they are, there have been a few barbs traded here and there over the issue.  (Issues?)  Some balloons appear to have been popped, or are at least in danger of being popped.

Myself, I don’t want to see this.  I value all my friends and potential friends.  The danger from watching the balloons pop and fall from the sky is that it makes me want to come to the rescue.  But people don’t always want you to try to salvage their friendships from the wreckage of a popped balloon.

I can respect that.  Some friendships are just not meant to last.  No matter how sad it makes me to see these things happen, each person has to decide which, how many, what kind of — pick your flavor — balloons they wish to keep aloft.

Another danger comes when Person A sees that my own friendship balloons are still aloft, and one of the passengers is Person B who has fallen from Person A’s balloon.  Sometimes this can make them question where my “loyalties” lie.

Let me interrupt my thinking for just a moment here.  (Thinking, by the way, is exactly what’s happening here.  Like Scott Greenfield, I’m a true believer in the Shakespearean theory of writing.)  Lest anyone become confused, no one has yet questioned my loyalties.  No schoolyard games of “if you like him, you can’t like me” have broken out.  Yet.  I’m simply talking about the dangers that can happen as balloons begin falling from the sky.

And I’m writing this post specifically because, if I can’t stop others from sacrificing their own balloons, I want to keep all of mine intact.  If no one takes anything else away from this post, I am hoping they will at least take away that fact.  Because I’m not a piece of property — nor is my friendship — to be “owned.”  Nor do I have limitations such that I can’t be friendly with multiple people, some of whom may not completely enjoy one another’s company.

Grow up in a family like mine and you get used to differences of opinion, taste, attitude, idiosyncrasy, or what-have-you.

If it happens, in the course of our friendship, that I say I disagree with your point of view, or that I agree with another’s point of view, or — god forbid! — I don’t agree with either of you, this does not mean I’m hoping to pop our balloon.  Being your friend does not mean that I will always agree with you, any more than you will always agree with me.  Being your friend means that I will always value you.  Or maybe I should say, I will always value you.  For there is enough about you aside from whatever views I may find disagreeable that I nevertheless am glad I know you.

So, please.  If you must pop one another’s balloons, let’s keep ours intact.

The Weinstein Co. release “The Last Legion,” featuring Ben Kingsley in an action tale set in ancient Rome, tanked with just $2.6 million, finishing at No. 12.
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In narrower release, MGM’s comedy “Death at a Funeral,” a tale of outrageous goings-on at a British patriarch’s farewell, opened solidly with $1.3 million. — ‘Superbad’ delivers super debut” (August 19, 2007) CNN.com/entertainment.

So one show earns $2.6 million, but it “tanked.” The other show earns $1.3 million, meaning it “opened solidly.”

I believe we have found Tony Snow’s replacement.

I’ve no idea how long this page will be up, since it’s obviously a spoof not sanctioned by CNN. But when a friend sent me the link, I didn’t immediately realize it was not real. The jokester that put this together did a very good job.

My wife didn’t think so, but I did.

I wish I could write like that.

Today’s air quality forecast for Fresno, Kings and Tulare counties and parts of Kern County is for unhealthy air to continue, meaning students can expect to be kept under shade trees at recess and after-school sports practices could be canceled or delayed. - “Choking Off Recess,” The Fresno Bee, September 24, 2003.

I don’t have children myself and don’t plan to ever have any. The part that has puzzled me is that there are people who do have children, yet when I discuss the need to actually do something about pollution, I’m accused of being some kind of leftist nut. As bad as air quality is for me and my wife, it’s going to be much worse for your children. This is true even if we finally begin to fix things.

Research shows that breathing ozone, a corrosive gas, can cause shortness of breath and trigger asthma attacks in the short term. And long-term exposure—even at levels below a health alert—may cause lung scarring, birth defects and other chronic health problems.- Ibid.

In spite of this,

The Bush administration…exempted thousands of older power plants, refineries and factories from having to install costly clean air controls when they modernize with new equipment that improves efficiency but increases pollution. - “Bush administration revises air pollution rules,” CNN.com, August 27, 2003.

These sources of pollution, along with automobile exhaust, are the major causes of pollution in our world. They produce ozone, fine particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide. Would it surprise you to know that none of these things are good for you?

While there may be an ozone hole over the south pole (where its absence increases health concerns for our planet), one of the things ozone itself does best is create holes in your lungs. It is corrosive, attacking plant and animal tissues. No matter how nice a person you are, you’re still an animal. And even if you’re a couch potato or are just dumb as a cucumber, you aren’t safe, since it also attacks plant tissues. Since it’s a gas, it’s easily inhaled. As you might imagine, lung tissue is somewhat more sensitive than skin, so ozone wreaks havoc even on healthy tissue. Ultimately, it reduces lung capacity. Children and athletes are significantly impacted; the former are developing and fragile, while the latter are doing a lot of deep breathing, sucking in those corrosive gases.

Nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide are, also, both corrosive. In fact, nitrogen dioxide is a highly reactive gas, which forms nitric acid. Yes, ACID. But we all—that includes you—breathe it in increasing quantities as it is spewed from companies that don’t install the equipment to prevent its release into the atmosphere.

These same sources—including, but not limited to, power plants, industrial plants, automobiles and even barbeques—produce fine particular matter. “Fine,” of course, has a different meaning here than when we talk about Bush’s “fine” performance on environmental issues. Fine particulate matter is especially dangerous because it can be deeply inhaled, not unlike a gas. However, fine particulate matter is not EXhaled. It sits in your lungs like so much crap, reacting with your tissues with deleterious effect on your health.

It’s not as if air pollution is a minor problem, either, limited to such areas as California’s San Joaquin Valley or Los Angeles. The not-so-nice thing about air pollution is that you can see (click links in this sentence to see pictures) it in such places as The Grand Canyon to China to Paris to South Africa to Santiago (Chile) to Alaska. In fact, air pollution is even visible from outer space to the naked eye and to specially-calibrated instruments which give a clearer understanding to scientists.

The quality of life throughout the world is impacted.

The ironic thing about this is that—as they used to say before each episode of The Six Million Dollar Man—”we have the technology.” We have the capability to make the world’s air breathable. The problem is that we continue to either deny the problem exists at all (how sane people can believe this is beyond me) or that it isn’t as bad as everyone says.

Nowhere is this denial more evident than with the Bush Administration. Consider the following:

• The US says it has no plans to remove the debris left over from depleted uranium (DU) weapons it is using in Iraq. (Because there’s no health risk to breathing radioactive dust—no, really, that’s what they said!)
• Bush Administration weakens protections from dangerous soot, smog, toxic mercury and repeals existing safeguards for local air quality and for controlling smog in national parks.
• In 2002, Bush proposed exemptions to the New Source Review for the Clean Air Act which would dramatically increase nitrogen oxide emissions.
• The New York Attorney General filed suit against the Bush Administration for “putting the financial interests of the oil, gas and coal companies above the public’s right to breathe clean air” and “exempting half of air pollution sources from key clean air rules.” (See also here.)

The Bush Administration proposed a “Clear Skies Act of 2003″ which “saves power plant owners $3.5 billion per year in pollution control costs but imposes at least $61 billion per year in additional avoidable health costs on the American people.”

• Last year, 11 (count ‘em, eleven) state attorneys general “called for the Bush administration to rethink its response to climate change and enact a cap on greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide.” (See also here.)
• The Miami Herald reports that Bush has made at least 50 major policy changes (including weakening air pollution controls that have existed since the 1960s), often without you, the American public, even noticing.

And then, of course, there was the refusal to be a part of the Kyoto Protocol intended to limit greenhouse emissions which even had religious leaders (christian and jewish) angry with Bush.

Hopefully, assuming you’ve read this far, you begin to understand that there are some significant issues involved here. Yet, surprisingly—as is the case with the erosion of civil rights, the economy and the massive budget deficits directly resulting from our transformation to a police state and international bully—you, the people, who actually are the United States of America sit, passive as couch potatoes, doing nothing. And, as I said above, these problems, as bad as they are for us, are going to be worse for your children and your grandchildren. Yet I drive a scooter most of the year specifically because it gets 60 miles to the gallon and pollutes less. My wife and I deliberately don’t use our air conditioning unless our skin is literally melting off our bodies (about one to three nights so far this summer; and we look ugly enough without melted skin running down our bodies—well, I do). And I talk to people, including congresspeople, telling them my concerns for the environment and trying to get them to push towards solutions to this problem.

I remember moving briefly to California in 1966 (my family returned here later to stay). My father was in the Navy and we lived in housing at N.A.S. Lemoore. N.A.S. Lemoore is close to the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. It’s a little south of Fresno and nearly straight across from Visalia, which sits up against the mountains on the eastern side of the San Joaquin Valley. I remember thinking how beautiful it was to look at the mountains—east of Visalia! Today, I live in Clovis, which is attached to Fresno at the hip. (Actually, we’re more of a beauty mark growing on the side of Fresno’s much-and-unfairly-maligned face.) From my house, I could probably scoot into the foothills in about 5 or 10—and surely not more than 15, depending on what the meaning of “into” is—minutes. But there are some days at my house when those foothills appear somewhat indistinct through a thick haze. I shudder to think how bad things have become in less than 40 years.

Those of you who have children and grandchildren should be concerned about this. Can you imagine what things would be like if the rate of pollution merely continues at the same pace? And, yet, our President is working overtime, removing the brakes on pollution unnoticed and nearly unchallenged.

Frequently people in this neck of the woods are heard hoping for a good stiff wind to blow the pollution away. But this air, thick with pollution, is not going to be gone with the wind. It is the wind.

As I said, I have no children. And I don’t like being lumped in with leftist nuts. I’m tired of arguing with people who have more of a stake in the future of this planet than I do.

Sometimes I just feel like saying, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

What does left-wing really mean? What about right-wing? Conservative? Liberal? These labels have become blurred and confused in recent years, and sometimes it’s hard to know what your kneejerk reaction should be when you hear a pundit speak. To help clear the confusion, the Lemon is proud to present…

How to Tell a Democrat from a Republican

Special thanks to Peter Sean Bradley for turning me on to The Lemon.

However, this is a day to remember, rightly, the sacrifices made by members of our defense teams in the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Merchant Marines, as well as the National Guardsmen and Reserve Forces.

These people unselfishly have and continue to offer up themselves to defend the Constitution of the United States. They follow in the proud traditions of those who initiated this government of the people, by the people, and for the people so long ago to create a new Guard for the future security of our inalienable rights as human beings.

These brave people have never been held (by me, at least) to be responsible for any abuses of our government. (If anyone is responsible for that, it is all of us, since we, the people, are the government.) I have always believed that it is entirely possible to be critical—in fact it is paradoxically our duty both to support and at times to be critical of our government in order to form a more perfect union—of United States government policies without being critical of the men and women of our collective Armed Forces.

With respect to all these men and women who do selflessly protect the rights and freedoms that allow all of us to realize our inalienable rights, I give my wholehearted and sincere salute.

And while today is officially recognized as Memorial Day, I say that we should—we must—remember and be thankful for these people every day of our lives.

This was quite laborious. I was coding the HTML “by hand” using vi. (If you don’t know, it doesn’t matter.) Each time I decided to re-do things, I had to rewrite the tables in which I was nesting stuff, and this got pretty complex.

I had periodically heard the term “blog” but didn’t know for sure what it meant. Since I was now scouring the web for information on what was happening regarding First Amendment and other Civil Rights violations by Bush, Rummy, and his friends, or trying to track how they were going to hide all the money Halliburton and Cheney were to make (answer: we’ll have Bechtel front for them; less people associate Cheney with Bechtel than associated him with Halliburton; it’s easier to hide), I discovered all these blogs.

And, from there, the software to create a blog site of my own…