An open letter to Howard Schultz, CEO Starbucks

Dear Howard,

This morning, I heard your request to stop coming into your stores armed. You got it. Your patrons and staff never 'were uncomfortable' with me in the stores because they never knew whether I was armed or not.  That's because here in Arizona it's not a big deal.  If you can legally own a weapon, you can carry it, or not, concealed. Occasionally, heck maybe always, I wasn't carrying.  Doesn't and didn't matter because I felt safer at Starbucks because of your past statements welcoming patrons who exercise their Second Amendment rights.

But I need you to know what I will do to ensure I comply with your request. If you don't want me in there armed, I don't want to be in your stores unarmed.  That's because you've just declared Starbucks to be unsafe. Neither me nor my fellow citizens will be able to protect me and my family.  You've just turned every Starbucks into a potential Navy Yard or Sandy Hook.  Part of why I retired from civil service was because I felt like a sitting duck unarmed in my office, knowing that help was about a dozen dead bodies away. I gave up some serious pay in the process.  I won't volunteer to part with what's left of that pay to be a sitting duck again.

Here's what else is a consequence of your request.  As a person of logic and conscience, I will stop buying your product in the grocery store, too. After your past stance on the right to carry, I switched to Starbucks for my home brew. You see, I believe that how I spend my dollars is part of my First Amendment right. So, while you are asking me to relinquish my Second Amendment right to partake of your product, I'll also exercise my First Amendment in the process and pass on Starbucks altogether. 

I realize there are lots of gun shy patrons who don't understand the Bill of Rights. I'm not one of them. I will take you up on your request, but will do so fully. In for a penny, in for a pound. I hope other Second Amendment fans will do as we do, whether they choose to carry or not.

I hope that the message from us will be as clear as your message to us.


UPDATE: Here is the link to the original Schultz letter.  Also, despite the dialogue about 'open carry' please note that the request, which was stated twice, does not single out 'open carry' but states: "requesting that customers no longer bring firearms into our stores or outdoor seating areas"
Note that the underlining is from the letter (second statement of the request), not added by me.

Monsoon Morning Walk

We've had a splendid monsoon this year with above average rain.  Flowers we've never seen before are blooming. More than a dozen native grass varieties are heading out now.  Thought I'd share a few, mostly the flowers as grasses tend to look all the same to anyone who isn't a grass nerd.

Yellow daisies, compositae, are blooming profusely now.  There must be at least a dozen different types, shapes and sizes.  Here are a few:

 

 

This last one is a native sunflower, a major source of quail food.

 

Other favorites are the native morning glories, especially the blue and red/orange ones. Seems desert species tend to be yellow, blue or purple and white.  The reds and oranges are rare.  These little red ones are about half an inch in diameter at the widest part of the bell. 

The blue ones are a little over an inch in diameter.

 

 

 

 

Lots of the fuzzy caterpillars this year, too.

 

Another sweet little flower that only blooms when there's a lot of water.

 

 

Can't remember seeing as many devil's claws as we've got this year.  They are strange plants with leaves almost the size of your hand.  Pretty but somewhat inconspicuous flower with somewhat hidden pods about the size of green chili.

 

 

 

Two of my favorite grasses, both are grammas.

 

 

Here are a few shots of the profusion of flowers of all types:

The purple asters are about gone for the year, but these waited around for picture day!

 

Signing off for today after a monsoon walk in Arizona!

 

Slippery Slope Toward What?

Of late I am increasingly suspicious when there is much ado about nothing.  Seems it is often one of those tricks where we're watching the right hand while the left on picks our pocket or slips an icepick between our ribs, figuratively speaking of course.  BEWARE, the following may be controversial, but I mean to provoke your thinking, powers of observation and pattern recognition.

So what about Gay marriage? Quite frankly, I'm starting to believe the whole ruckus isn't about Gay marriage at all.  I believe it is about breaking the societal and legal paradigm of "one man and one woman" constituting a marital unit. What about one man and three women? If two men are OK as a marriage, why not polygamy? Why not one man, three women and a few boys? There you go again with bigotry and biases bubbling up in your mind! NAMBLA members would certainly be in favor of a marriage like that last one! After that, we can have some 8 year old girls married off to 60 year old men and left for dead on their wedding night, as was in the news from the mid-east recently.

How about the recent short sentences for male teachers raping young female students? Judge seemed to think she had consented.  Maybe she wasn't covered from head to foot and had enticed him...ever hear those arguments from judges in other countries?  Seems when female teachers have sex with willing teen age boys, the women get long sentences.  What's OK for men is taboo for women.  Hmmm, sounds a little like Mid-Eastern standards to me, minus the stoning, of course.

So is Gay marriage a stepping stone to other types of marriage and conjugal relationships not currently sanctioned in the US? Is the virtual news blackout on honor killings of young woman part of this transformation of our sensibilities? Are we on the slippery slope toward acceptance of Islamic views on what constitutes marriage and other societal norms? If so, then beware married Gay people. You may merely be a short-lived tool to soften up a society for a form of bigotry far beyond any you've seen in the US for decades. 

You've got to be kidding me....

I don't usually get political on this blog, but today's an exception. With everything that's going on in the world, here's what my Congressman decided was a high enough priority to send an e-mail: What he's doing about 'Women's issues' and all the good girly-stuff he did on the 93d anniversary of our right to vote. No joke. Nothing about the huge national debt, or that Syria thing. Thanks for that 10 September e-mail with such timely and important info, Congressman!  Did I miss the e-mail with an invitation to a town hall about the 2014 budget while you were home on recess? Oh, never got one, did I?  Perhaps you couldn't be bothered to drive the 50 miles down here to have one.

I am so impressed that you started a Women's Leadership Council.  I'm sure they will have a major influence on your almost 100% party-line voting record. I am so glad that you reminded us of Women's Equality Day. News flash: many of us aren't that shallow. We don't need your paternalistic BS. We need you to grow a spine and get tough on the national borrowing and spending issues, defunding the looming healthcare nightmare and keeping us out of a new front in the Middle East.

I'll let you all know if I get a 9/11 e-mail.  Maybe it will be about the important steps he's taking to ensure that billboards along local Interstate highways have at least 3 colors so we won't suffer from eye fatigue.

My Mamma Told Me...

You'd better shop around!  For some time, I've been looking for a very specific item to wear to a very special family wedding.  The wedding will be in an unfamiliar geography in an unfamiliar venue, so the jacket and dress need to span a range of 'formal attire' definitions and cultural interpretations. Yes, I want a black, heavy Venetian lace bolero jacket, unlined, to go over a deep jade green evening gown.  No problem. Because it will double for some other duties, including summer travel (stuff in a shoulder bag to slip on before touring churches or cathedrals if wearing sleeveless shirts) it also needs to be mostly synthetic without looking like it,  so it will dry quickly if washed in a sink along the way. Oh, and it needs to be around $100, but look like a designer item.  No sweat.

Finally, through the magic of the Internet, I found one!  So what's the big deal?  Here's the designer item that came closest before I found the one. On eBay, it was $1700, used. Welllllll, I don't need an extra $1600-worth of name (Prada), ever. Drat, keep looking.

Thanks to eBay, I've ordered one that I like even better (nicer neckline and beautiful medallion back), though I took an unusual risk, at least for me.  I made an international purchase from...Malta!  Thoughts of Knights Templar fill my head. Once it arrives, I'll let you know whether it is a good thing to engage in commerce directly with the Maltese. 

Sounds like my own Bogart movie in the making,

just a few  decades too late!

What is "Being Awake?"

Not talking about the blog, but the state of mind.  Lots of people sleep walk through life. They blindly ingest advertising, instruction and robotically do what is expected. They want the big car or house  ... because.  Women wear fake fingernails and this year's hideous fashion... because.  They are democrats or republicans... because.

Remember The Matrix? You can choose the path to a clearer understanding and involvement in the world, but there is no pill. Consciousness, in the truest sense, takes work and discipline. It may not make you happy, but neither will keeping up with the Jones family, or even being the Jones family.

It takes baby steps.  Studying a bit of logic helps.  Lewis Carroll (mathematician Charles Dodgson)syllogisms were my first logic puzzles.  Logic helps clarify thinking and identify inconsistencies we may hold in our thinking.  I'll start with an example of a controversial inconsistency.  A large group of Americans are in favor of liberal abortion but eschew capital punishment. Actions include protesting in favor of the former and against the latter. Sorry, but that seems almost insane to me, from a perspective of LOGICAL THINKING.  Favoring the killing of innocents but not killing those who are guilty of heinous crimes is illogical. Either be pro-life or pro-death. That is basic logical thinking.

Thinking that some action is OK if done by group A but not if it's done by group B is also illogical and inconsistent. The news is rife with examples, so I won't elaborate. It's an area of discovery!

Sure, it's not all black and white, but learning to question logically is the basis of forming awareness of being manipulated, and understanding of what you believe and why.  It also leads to better decisions and actions.  Our actions stem from our beliefs.  When our actions violate what we espouse, then we must have a belief somewhere that drives the action.  We see happily married people throw it away for a brief fling.  What was that belief? Possibly "I'm getting old and unattractive" or "I believe my life is too boring" seem to trump "I am committed to my wonderful wife."

Your brain is a complex and powerful thing.  Learn to be aware of what's going on in there and to take charge. Learn to Be Awake!

A Book for Adult Caretakers

For any of you who are taking care of your elderly parents, or have or are thinking about it, this kindle offering is important to read.  If you were a follower of the Barklee Pontree blog, it is Dick Lane's edited three-year journey taking care of his father who suffered from Alzheimer's.

 You will laugh and cry, be frustrated and joyful.
It is not a how-to book, but you'll wonder if you could DIY. If you have done it, you will relate.  If you are considering being your parents primary caretaker, you will be better informed about the joys and sacrifices involved.

Above all, you will come to respect and admire a son who loved his dad, and lived to share their story.

New Blog. Especially good for those caring for elderly parents

If you are a caretaker for an elderly parent, or recovering from those duties, please check out this blog:

http://afterthecaretaker.blogspot.com/

It is interesting and well written. His previous blog, written while he was caring for his father was:

http://barkleypontree.blogspot.com/

The amazing part is that he has managed to keep a sense of humor. 

That speaks volumes about the man.