Even Mistakes are nice

Yesterday the Kadizzlites set out to find a new route. Even after carefully studying the route with computer software it was impossible to find the way. High stream levels may have played a role. Yet, getting lost did have it's benefits. We found a nice secluded cove, and stumbled across an Indian ruin. All of a sudden Kadizzle realized the rocks in front of him were stacked. The rocks formed the foundation for a square dwelling. The fact that pictographs were nearby was a good indication that this site could have had a dwelling.

Later in the day a new route was found that connected two previous explorations. Next year the group will be able to do a circumnavigation of the area we have been exploring for years.

Busting Out to points East

After a hike today the women are doing laundry, and the men are preparing to pull up camp. In the morning we will head East to Page AZ. Who knows where we will spend the night, but somewhere in the region of Medicine Hat, AZ is likely.

The essence of Kadizzle

(Please note the data in this article is from the IRS, and Duke University)

CLICK ON DATA FOR BETTER VIEW
Sadly our country is slipping into third world status. Our country is being divided into two classes, the haves and the have nots. Income inequality is at the root of this problem. Bob Herbert has written an excellent column in the New York Times that perfectly sums up my beliefs. Until we are willing to face this problem head on the future of our children is doomed. Republican tax cuts for the richest among us are at the heart of this problem and as long as we ignore this issue things will only get worse. There was a time in our country when mothers could stay home and raise children, when each generation had a better income than the last. Ronald Reagan ushered in the era when the common man no longer mattered. You simply cannot refute the data. Extending the recent Bush Tax Cuts gave each of the richest 120,000 Americans 3 million dollars. While the average American's wages are going backwards, while 40 million Americans have no health insurance, while we have the worst unemployment since the depression, at a time when CEO's make 350 times what an assembly line worker makes, the right wing continues to shovel money to those who don't need it. This is why I fight the greedy right wing lunatics every day, because I care about the future of my children and want them to enjoy the America I did.

Op-Ed Columnist
Losing Our Way
By BOB HERBERT
Published: March 25, 2011


So here we are pouring shiploads of cash into yet another war, this time in Libya, while simultaneously demolishing school budgets, closing libraries, laying off teachers and police officers, and generally letting the bottom fall out of the quality of life here at home.


Welcome to America in the second decade of the 21st century. An army of long-term unemployed workers is spread across the land, the human fallout from the Great Recession and long years of misguided economic policies. Optimism is in short supply. The few jobs now being created too often pay a pittance, not nearly enough to pry open the doors to a middle-class standard of living.

Arthur Miller, echoing the poet Archibald MacLeish, liked to say that the essence of America was its promises. That was a long time ago. Limitless greed, unrestrained corporate power and a ferocious addiction to foreign oil have led us to an era of perpetual war and economic decline. Young people today are staring at a future in which they will be less well off than their elders, a reversal of fortune that should send a shudder through everyone.

The U.S. has not just misplaced its priorities. When the most powerful country ever to inhabit the earth finds it so easy to plunge into the horror of warfare but almost impossible to find adequate work for its people or to properly educate its young, it has lost its way entirely.

Nearly 14 million Americans are jobless and the outlook for many of them is grim. Since there is just one job available for every five individuals looking for work, four of the five are out of luck. Instead of a land of opportunity, the U.S. is increasingly becoming a place of limited expectations. A college professor in Washington told me this week that graduates from his program were finding jobs, but they were not making very much money, certainly not enough to think about raising a family.

There is plenty of economic activity in the U.S., and plenty of wealth. But like greedy children, the folks at the top are seizing virtually all the marbles. Income and wealth inequality in the U.S. have reached stages that would make the third world blush. As the Economic Policy Institute has reported, the richest 10 percent of Americans received an unconscionable 100 percent of the average income growth in the years 2000 to 2007, the most recent extended period of economic expansion.

Americans behave as if this is somehow normal or acceptable. It shouldn’t be, and didn’t used to be. Through much of the post-World War II era, income distribution was far more equitable, with the top 10 percent of families accounting for just a third of average income growth, and the bottom 90 percent receiving two-thirds. That seems like ancient history now.

The current maldistribution of wealth is also scandalous. In 2009, the richest 5 percent claimed 63.5 percent of the nation’s wealth. The overwhelming majority, the bottom 80 percent, collectively held just 12.8 percent.

This inequality, in which an enormous segment of the population struggles while the fortunate few ride the gravy train, is a world-class recipe for social unrest. Downward mobility is an ever-shortening fuse leading to profound consequences.

A stark example of the fundamental unfairness that is now so widespread was in The New York Times on Friday under the headline: “G.E.’s Strategies Let It Avoid Taxes Altogether.” Despite profits of $14.2 billion — $5.1 billion from its operations in the United States — General Electric did not have to pay any U.S. taxes last year.

As The Times’s David Kocieniewski reported, “Its extraordinary success is based on an aggressive strategy that mixes fierce lobbying for tax breaks and innovative accounting that enables it to concentrate its profits offshore.”

G.E. is the nation’s largest corporation. Its chief executive, Jeffrey Immelt, is the leader of President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. You can understand how ordinary workers might look at this cozy corporate-government arrangement and conclude that it is not fully committed to the best interests of working people.

Overwhelming imbalances in wealth and income inevitably result in enormous imbalances of political power. So the corporations and the very wealthy continue to do well. The employment crisis never gets addressed. The wars never end. And nation-building never gets a foothold here at home.

New ideas and new leadership have seldom been more urgently needed.

Lets look at the data on the chart below. Currently the top 0.01% of our population has an income of $27,342,2125
The top 0.01 to 0.1 % has an average income of $3,238,386
The average income of the top 1% is 1,137,684
The average income of those from 1% to 10% is $164,647
THE AVERAGE INCOME FOR THE BOTTOM 90% of the population is $31,244

If you don't see what has happened, you never will.


What do people think is happening? What is really the case?

CLICK ON PICTURE TO ENLARGE

Passion in the Park

One third of the campers in the Camp Ground at Zion are young people, and about two thirds are old goats. As an old goat Kadizzle got up to sit in comfort in the Earth Module surrounded by windows drinking hot coffee. Outside it is overcast and a bit chilly. Since The Commander would not share the computer Kadizzle had nothing to do but watch the young lovers camped next door. Rodger had reported doing the same over on his end of the campground. As the two young lovers prepared breakfast just about every motion involved a hug or a kiss. Here is your tea, a little lip smacker. Now here is your hot cereal, a hug and a kiss. Very few task were accomplished without some show of affection. Oh, those were the days. Spending the night in a tent with your sweetie on a cold night is not a bad fix to get yourself in.

Kadizzle just passed his 35th year under the command of The Commander. Instead of a kiss with his coffee, all he gets is a lecture on less sugar, more stirring and no spilling. The Commander is nice about making breakfast. She asks if Kadizzle wants toast of Decon with his eggs.

White man tells many lies.

Lord Kadizzle wandered into the lounge at the RV park after a long days hike and sat down by an old Indian chief. After a little conversation the chief asked Kadizzle where he was from. Kadizzle told him he was from North Dakota, the land of the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes. The Chief said he knew of those tribes and how they had helped Lewis and Clark. The Chief asked Kadizzle if he was known among the tribes. Kadizzle told him indeed he was famous among the Indian women in North Dakota, and they called him "Long Arrow". After hearing this the chief grabbed Kadizzle's arrow and proclaimed "White man tells many lies".

Fooled by the Ghost Arch

Always breaking into new territory the Kadizzilites headed out for the days adventure at Zion National Park. Wayne, and Ruth took the day off, but Kadizzle, The Commander, Myra, and Rodger made the trek. When the group reached the farthest point in the wilderness ever reached by senior citizens it was time to make a decision. Where next should we push the known boundaries of those with dementia? Kadizzle wanted to go toward the Virgin river and peer into the canyon. However, he lost to the rest of the group that spotted a huge arch off in the distance. The decision was made to head for the arch. At the beginning there was debate as to if it really was an arch. After some trekking the band finally got close enough for a clear view. There was no arch. The sunlight had cast itself on the rocks to create an illusion. Not one to give in easily The Commander thought perhaps we had not gone to the right place, but even The Commander finally admitted we had been fooled. As the angle of the sun changed it became apparent how the sun shine had fooled us. It was a crystal clear day and a premier hike. On the way back to base camp we saw a momma Big horn sheep and three triplets beside the road. The day had a wonderful ending as the explorers cooked on an open camp fire. The mesquite smoke seeped into Kadizzles steak for a wonderful flavor. Kadizzle played a round of horse shoes with the guys next door, and ended the night sitting by the camp fire. Does it get any better?

Boots on the ground

Wayne, and Myra Axtman joined us at Zion. Now we have more boots on the ground and may be able to conquer the virgin East side of Zion National Park. Yesterday we did a couple of short leg stretchers to get ready for the big assault today. With favorable weather it looks like we can bust back up into the unexplored area. Few people know there are actually two branches to the Virgin River. The southern branch is little seen or explored. Kadizzles suspects the area is full of Indian artifacts. However, getting down into the steep canyon is not easy. Looking for hikable routes into canyons is fun and there may be some of that today

Dissappointment at the Indian Cave

Two days ago the Kadizzlites visited the Indian Cave high above Zion National Park. Few people know of this cave, but even a few seems to be too many. Years ago we made our first trip to the cave. The cave was special because it appeared to have human bones embedded in the rock in what looked like resin from the fire. Since the cave was known to few the bones were undisturbed. On our recent trip the bones were gone. Sadly this is what is gradually happening to the heritage of the southwest. As more and more people visit these sites they are becoming completely destroyed. There are not enough resources to protect these sites.

Traveling the southwest you see people displaying the material they have looted from these sites. Most of the worst looting took place many years ago. The Mormons were some of the worst offenders. Last year there was a big scandal when someone turned in some of the old time Mormon artifact looters.

We love visiting these sites and it is distressing to think that these places that have existed for hundreds of years will soon be overwhelmed by too many visitors. Perhaps we are part of the problem. Often Kadizzle wonders if his children and grandchildren will be able to see the site he has seen.

62 Times around upside down

This is the day Kadizzle turns 62. Kadizzle has ridden the planet around the sun 62 times. This is the day the Earth stands vertical. This is the day in 1976 Kadizzle married The Commander.

Kadizzle's biggest revelation today is the world he has been ridding around the sun is upside down. A big bonus for the Kadizzles will occur in about an hour. Kadizzle will walk over to the Zion Park office and get his pass for ten dollars that will entitle him free admittance to all national parks and half priced camping. This week will be half priced. Although Kadizzle will love the bonus, it is a prime example of our upside down world. Why do old fat guys get half price when young people trying to pay their way through college pay full price? Sure some old people need a break, but the vast majority are doing just fine in their pricey RV. Why do people who make over $106,000 dollars quit paying social security, while those making less pay the 7% ? Why would any country give 700 billion in tax breaks to the richest 2% while forty million Americans have no health insurance? Yup the world is upside down. The average person in India uses two gallons of gas PER YEAR. Kadizzle like most Amricans goes through that much in thirty minutes. People spend millions on a fancy church when there are people living in poverty within a mile of the church.

Maybe on this trip around the sun the planet will flip and we will care more about the poor than the rich, maybe we will realize what we have done to our young by robbing them of a future, maybe we will care more about the others that share this planet, maybe we will quit with our phony religion and actually care about our fellow man. Maybe this year we will spend more time paying attention to reality and less time watching sports. Hopefully year 63 can be a year of change. Maybe Kadizzle could lose some weight. Well here we go on the next trip around the sun.

The Flaw

Trickle down has blown up, and turned into trickle up. THE FLAW is a documentary about how the right wing has destroyed our economy. This is a trailer from the film.

This is a quote from David Sington who made the film
" I actually changed my politics by the end of this film. I had always thought: “Don’t worry about how the cake is divided up; just worry about growing the cake.” But for me, it was absolutely shocking to realize that the cake has grown a lot in the last 30 years, but all of the benefits of that growth have gone almost literally to the top 1% of Americans. For 90% of Americans, their piece of cake is no bigger now, but housing costs, medical costs have gone proportionally up more than general inflation, so they’re really squeezed."

This is such a simple concept, why don't people get it. You set up a tax system that lets this happen, then you wonder why the economy collapses. The income of the right has risen by 120% meanwhile the working class has gone backwards by 15%. How is this going to work?

Saint Kadizzle on Saint Patrick's Day

Springdale, Utah at the entrance to Zion National Park has a wonderful St. Patrick's day parade every year. Kadizzle got drawn into Wildcat Willie's barbaque with a free sample and then bought some the best ribs ever. After all the locals marched down main street it was the usual Irish live music, beer, and, green jello sculpture contest. The Commander's favorite float was the hotel that had a giant Bed Bug dancing on a bed.

The Green Beer did have some strange effects on Kadizzle. As usual there was the Springdale Women's Drill Team. Crazed women with hand held electric drills dancing down the street.

Get rid of Click and Clack? Is this Libya?

You have to watch this video to see how truly pathetic the Republican Party has become. NPR is a wonderful source of radio everyone of my conservative friends loves, but NPR has a bad habit of exposing the fallacies of the right wing, so they must go. Almost all civilized countries have a national radio program that tries to be straight forward and a good source of honest news. However, this creates a lot of problems for the right wing liars on Fox, so NPR must go. Kadizzle would not argue MSNBC is not biased, nor would he claim a host of other programs have no bias. In our country there are some organs of communication we can trust. Consumer Reports is a magazine we all trust. NPR is the Consumer Reports in our country for news. Because in the category of truth and lies the Republicans come out on the short end they want to destroy it. It is ironic that during a time when countries in the middle east are trying to establish freedom of the press, we are subject to right wing assaults on the free press in our country. The Bible says "Know the truth and the Truth shall set you free". This is a proverb Kadizzle lives by. Unfortunately the Republican version is "Know the truth, and you will vote Democratic", so they have pledged to destroy NPR.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn: "It is a wealthy, educated listening audience. If people want this programming, they're going to be willing to pay for it but the American taxpayer has said, 'get NPR out of our pocket.' They have some sponsors that land in the $1 million plus category." So we need to destroy NPR because it has a wealthy educated audience? What if poor people want to hear what wealthy educated people get to hear? Yup, poor people could become smarter, and nothing presents a greater threat to the right wing than poor people getting smarter. If poor people get smarter, then you can't trick them with the guns, gays, and god jazz, and god knows it might get harder to bambozzle the poor about tax cuts for the rich. So let the poor watch Fox and get as stupid as they want.

Rodger Earns Angel's Landing pin

Every year we make a hike up to Angel's Landing. Years ago Megan had the courage to go all the way out, but Erin stopped before the nasty part. Erin got ribbed about not getting her Angel's Landing Pin. Last year neither Rodger nor Kadizzle were dumb enough to go out. The path was covered with snow and ice. The likelihood of return was small, but this year Kadizzle, The Commander, and Rodger made the trip. According to Zion Park management the hike takes about one life per year. In many places if you slip you will fall an astonishing 2,000 feet plus. When you see people out in the bad areas with kids five and six years old it makes you wonder, but sure enough that was the case today. Of course you also get to see the macho college guys going faster than they should and not hanging on to impress the ladies. As Kadizzle made the treacherous trip he was panting, groaning and grunting. A pert young lady expressed concern and asked old Kadizzle if anything would help. Kadizzle answered yes. A good back rub from a young lady would help a lot, sadly no help was rendered, but another old goat did compliment Kadizzle on his technique. At a campfire ceremony tonight Rodger will have the Angel's Landing pin put on his chest. Rodger has not been told it is pinned directly to the skin.

Unlimited Sex for Life

As Rodger and Ruth walked out onto the precipice Rodger threaten to jump unless he could have unlimited sex for life with Ruth. Ruth grabbed him and pulled him back from the edge. Apparently she agreed. Seeing what happened Kadizzle walked out on the cliff with The Commander and made the same threat. The Commander began to push Kadizzle toward the edge. Quickly Kadizzle said "How about on our aniversary", The Commander relented and let him walk back from the edge.

Down from the Mountain.

The Kadizzles have been visiting Zion National Park every year for about the last eight years. In all that time we never were up on Gooseberry Mesa. This year we met a senior mountian biker in Mesa who told us about the Mesa. We just spent two days up there. It is some of the best mountain biking in the country. We hiked six miles yesterday along the rim. Seeing where the mountain bikers ride is amazing. There are several place where the bike trail is withing two feet of a thousand foot cliff. The view at the southwest end of the mesa is probably one of the most spectacular in the United States. There is no way to to describe all the things you can see from one vantage point. The Grand Canyon does not compare. Now we are down in Zion. This year the weather god has smiled on us. During the last three months we only had one rainy day, and the rain was at night. The string of warm sunny days has set a new record. The Axtmans from Hazen will join us next week.

Living on dreams isn't easy.

After a couple days camped by the American Legion Post 853 in Borrego Springs we returned to the Earth Module after a hike. Parked close to our home was a peculiar green truck. Soon Ray emerged from the ex forest service maintenance truck and explained that he needed to move through where we were just about to park. Ray's plan was to back into the tamarisk trees and set up camp. The sheer volume of stuff in the truck was amazing. The passenger side of the front seat was stacked as high as the window with paraphernalia. Under the drivers seat were two fifteen pound exercise weights. Across the front of the truck was strung a long sack full of water bottles. The truck had a special rack built on top for camping in grizzly bear country. Ray explained how when he slept there the bears head and shoulders were just about the height of his floor. Bear company made him nervous, but the rangers had supplied him with pepper spray that could shoot forty feet.
Ray gave Kadizzle some pointers on dealing with grizzlies. “Don't look them in the eye” Ray warned, “ It makes them think you are aggressive”. Most grizzles would be looking at the other end of Kadizzle as he ran and would only see one cyclops eye where the grizzly had chewed the back out of Kadizzle's trousers.
After getting to know Ray better Kadizzle found out about his bike project he has been working on for thirty years. Ray is developing a bike that is very energy efficient for the rider and has several unique systems to make sure no effort is wasted. From Kadizzles limited engineering knowledge Ray seemed to have some interesting ideas.
Greeting Ray in the morning he appeared to be grinding coffee with a small old fashioned coffee grinder, but it turned out he was grinding wheat to make crackers. Ray said sometimes he goes days without eating.
While we spent a wonderful morning hiking up Alcoholic's Pass Ray was in the back of his truck fighting mold. Ray explained to Kadizzle that he had tried everything to remove the mold. According to Ray brake fluid worked best. He had tried some acetone. A spark at the right time would have destroyed our little camping neighborhood.
Somehow Ray is getting by on $500 a month and still manages to buy old used tents to give to people worse off than himself. Towards the end of a long day of scrubbing the interior of the topper on the back of his truck Ray stopped to chat as he went to wash the paint brush he said he has been using for thirty years.
Kadizzle has been clueless his whole life about the American Legion, but after staying here for a week you kinda get the hang of it. The poor guys who got chewed up by our war machine have somewhere to go and be left alone. The main rule seems to be live and let live. Kadizzle is not a vet and is only staying here by the grace of Roger who served our country in the Air Force. Ray when asked said he was in the Army. Ray asked Kadizzle what service he was in and Kadizzle gave him the answer he had prepared since he figured this might come up. Kadizzle was in the “Secret Service'. In fact it was so secret even Kadizzle is not sure if he was in it. So far Kadizzle has not been thrown out.

It takes a lot of water to wash away Kadizzle's sins

Yesterday the crew took a wonderful hike up Barrego Palms Canyon. The waterfall were numerous and spectacular. It was a rock scrambling difficult hike. Kadizzle and Ruth were smart enough to turn around before the final push. The Commander and Rodger tried to go the last mile to the 30 foot water fall. As Ruth and Kadizzle returned the cool water was too much to resist. Kadizzle jumped in twice. Roger and Cissie caught up.

One part of the trail required the hiker to squeeze down into a narrow crack. As Kadizzle got into the crack a strange sound struck him. It was the first rattlesnake of the season. Ruth and Kadizzle did not know what to do since Roger and The Commander would be coming the same way. They figured the snake would be gone by then, and must have been right.

A bum is a noble profession.

Today the Kadizzlites and the Dennyites had a wonderful hike near the California town of Borrego Springs. The weather could not have been better, nor the hike finer. As we hike up to the waterfall and the palm oasis it just kept getting more delightful. At last we reached the twenty foot water fall which was running at a nice pace.

With the joy of hiking Kadizzle felt like some singing. For some strange reason the old Halalujah I am a Bum song came to mind. Kadizzle has always prided himself as a good bummer. Bumming a smoke is an art. Always offer to pay for a bummed smoke, the person will insist you take the weed for free. Life is good for bums. Old Mr. Smoot who lived across the street used to tell us stories about railroad bums. Perhaps that is what inspired Kadizzle to go into the profession. One story Mr. Smoot told was about how the railroad bums used to drink a drink called "Open Switch". According to Mr. Smoot "Open switch" was made by mixing gasoline with buttermilk. The bums drank the stuff, and Kadizzle is sure it opened their switch. In those days they used leaded gasoline, so the drink probably also closed their switch. Somehow even as kids we had enough sense not to drink gasoline.

Work just doesn't agree with bums. A bum will go to great lengths to avoid work. Anyone could get from point A to point B by working, it takes a real talent to get there by doing nothing. So the next time you see a bum show some respect for someone who has chosen a different route. Hallalujah I am bum.

Kadizzle solves long standing mystery

The knock came on the door at our little Earth module camper in a small town deep in the Sonaran Desert. The old fart at the door explained he was from the local tourism bureau. The gentleman related to Kadizzle how the town used to attract a lot more tourist when he was younger, but things seemed to be going down hill, literally downhill. According to Snuffy the mountains were getting smaller. Snuffy had heard of Kadizzle's mental prowess and asked if Kadizzle would investigate. Reluctantly Kadizzle took the job. To Kadizzle the simple solution seemed to be a stake out. Kadizzle took The Commander and headed for Rainbow Canyon. It was a beutiful place full of colorful rocks. Both hid carefully in some crevices in the rocks. It wasn't long before they heard a feminine voice "Oh, look, I want that one, it would look so nice in the garden, put it in your pack dear".
Looking out from a crack in their hiding place they saw a petite woman and her husband weighed down with a heavy pack. "There's one I could put by the flowers, pick it up dear". To Kadizzle it was pretty evident, rock thieves. It was time to act. Kadizzle jumped out from behind the rock and demanded "Where are you taking those rocks?". "North Dakota" replied the little lady.
Now many things were evident. Why was there continental uplift in the Rocky Mountains? Why did the continents drift? It was obvious. Rock thieves from Pick City North Dakota had made the continent so light in the West it was drifting. The weight now in a garden in North Dakota had once held down the Rockies.
As Kadizzle hand cuffed the couple the husband thanked him. "You saved me Kadizzle, do you know what it is like to carry a backpack full of rocks?". Back at the small town jail the rock thief who called himself Rodger the Rock, and his wife who called herself The Ruthless Rock Thief, both confessed to many rock crimes. It turned out the meter crater in Arizona was not a crater at all, but just a place where Ruth liked the rocks.
Geologist are eating crow as this new explanation of many canyons, and valleys has to be accounted for.
At the trial both plead guilty, and the judge was lenient. Since it was Ruth's birthday, she was sentenced to only a week working on the rock pile. As the judge pronounced the sentence Ruth had a subtle smile, and Rodger cried. He knew it was like sentencing an alcoholic to work at a brewery.

A Hike to Oriflamme Falls

With great weather our weary band headed on a mission to find the falls at Oriflamme Valley. Even with four GPS it was not easy. Kadizzle and Rodger both managed to enter the waypoints in a manner that directed them six thousand miles away to somewhere in South America. After some adjustments the band drove down a questionable road. The road became more than questionable as it turned into a running stream. The time to abandon the pickup and hike was upon us. After hiking awhile an older couple caught up with the Kadizzlites. Luckily they knew the route to the falls. The trail was faint and hard to follow, but the end result was well worth it. After the falls we returned to a wonderful grove of cottonwood trees that had been a favorite encampment of the Indians. This was evident from the remanants of the grinding areas.