DoctorD's Observations

I can't sleep!

I think I am missing the waves alongside the ship:

Waves by ship

Also Orion.  I miss Orion.

Plus, it is very hot here in Florida!  Too warm for comfortable sleeping.

Home is where the computer is?

I've been wondering about that lately....

My computer in action

Once I think I might have said that my car was my true home.  Now I am not so sure.  Perhaps an effect of being on a boat for a week?

Next I really ought to try a train.

Ashore again

We are back on land.  Near the ocean, I can hear it out my window, but not directly over it.  There is no little ships's balcony to go out and sit on, watch the waves, look for stars, and for other ships.

I kind of miss that!  I know that we ate too much, and too well--a cruising hazard.  It was a lot of trouble to get off the ship, through customs.  More big lines.  Nothing is perfect.  But anyhow, right now, I am missing being on the water.

Our ship itself departed again this afternoon, on another  one-week cruise, repeating for others the same journey we went on. The crew (nearly 1,300, I believe) continues with it.  They seem to have six-month contracts, except for the Filipinos (of which there are many) who work nine months straight.  The crew is very diverse ethnically, and in terms of country of origin.  That was part of the fun.  But--English is the language.  On dry land, in the US now, there are many notices in Spanish as well as English.  Not aboard ship.  Everything was in English.

The crew impressed me.  They get an automatic "tip," but I left a bit more in a special envelope.  To me, it seemed deserved.  And I share the belief that Obama was criticized for in "spreading the wealth around."  Not that we are in any sense wealthy, but I am sure that we are better off, more secure, live better than many of the ship's crew do when they are "back home."

Home.  Where is home?  Where is home now for me?  Is it on the ocean, is it on the land, is it just wherever I happen to be?  I'm starting to feel the latter a little, I think.  Actual "home" is nice, but also has some disadvantages and distractions.  Perhaps it is better to be on the road, over the water, moving onward, looking for the next port of call, knowing that it will be only temporary.

Searching for a shirt

One thing I hope to find down here in Florida is a store selling Old Guys Rule apparel.  

Shirt

They do, too, don't they?

Subaru plant

Coming down here, we passed (on I-65) right near the Subaru plant, the only one in the U.S., near Lafayette IN.  My own car wasn't built there, but several models are.

The company seems very dedicated to environmentally "clean" operations.  Perhaps we will be able to work out a tour on our way back home.

Subaru in snow

2110 Outback.

So that is two automobile plants we have noticed so far on our trip, one doing well (foreign) and one closed (domestic).  And of course a lot of car dealerships that are in trouble.  I hate to see the elimination of Pontiac and Saturn.  Both, in my mind, good cars.

Why has this happened?  Why have the American auto companies done so poorly?  At one time, we sort of led the world.  Now I guess Toyota probably does.  How come?

It there anything that America is good at any more besides making movies?  Large aircraft, I guess.  Definitely not TVs, they are all foreign manufactured.

It seems like we can't run a financial system, and we have one heck of a time running auto manufacturers.  Why is that?

Sea Turtles

Sea turtles are a major influence here.  The recent cold weather resulted in the death of perhaps 3,000 up and down the Florida coast.  The turtles can't "breathe" or function when the water temperature falls below 60 degrees.  The Juno Beach facility was able to rescue quite a number, though.  240 were released back into the ocean last Wednesday (the 13th).

Loggerhead at the Juno Beach marine life center

There are people of course who are unable to accept the concept of "climate change."  But, for sure, the Sea Turtles have grasped the idea clearly.

An old store

We ran across this place, which has had quite a history.

Historic store

Unlike the old motel, this store is still in operation.

An old motel

An old motel

Somehow I really enjoy seeing old buildings.  And old cars and pickups, too.

This looked like it had been closed for quite a while!

"Let me be clear about this"

Now Obama is being criticized for his use of the phrase "let me be clear" to emphasize a point.  That almost totally surpasses ridiculousness.

Was George Bush ever clear?  He could hardly mumble a whole sentence, and most of what he said when he said something was wrong.  Dishonest or inaccurate.  Like military action in Iraq has been completed.  Like if we don't find their WMD soon, we are likely to all be nuked.

Sarah Palin, the leading Republican spokesperson and national party leader, can't mumble a sentence, not one with English language words in the proper order referring while correctly some some sort of factual matter, like what are the names of one or two of the magazines she reads.  She astonished even the Republicans who worked with her most closely.  He speech patterns are so funny that they became headliners on SNL.

Isn't there some kind of double standard being applied here?  Have we dumbed things down a lot in judging Republicans, but raised them above the highest possible standard for our uppity elitist black president?  

I would like to see a debate between Ms. Palin and Mr. Obama.  Wouldn't you?  I'm eager!  I am placing bets!

Anyhow, let me be clear:  Alec MacGillis and Paul Farhi of the Washington Post are idiots.  They ought to find something more important and more constructive to write about.  Or they ought to leave the profession of journalism to professionals with meaningful standards--if there are any left out there, which sadly is becoming more and more doubtful.

So, anyhow, am I being clear?  Do you want me to say it again?  I can use smaller words and shorter sentences, for the sake of clarity:

McGillis+Farhi=Idiots

Let's hear it for the red, white, and blue

I am so proud of the effort being made by the American military and many other organizations and nations in response to the tremendous humanitarian disaster in Haiti.

Comfort_Full

The ship USNS Comfort carries a medical staff of 550.  Ship after ship has been sent.  And our military has taken over and reopened the airport, so that other relief supplies can be delivered.  Lots is being done.

My expectation is that things will get a whole lot worse before they get better.  I can't imagine that there won't be a huge spread of disease.  I can't imagine that there won't be looting and lawlessness.  Wasn't there following Katrina?  I can't imagine that there won't be total despair.  I can't imagine that there won't be profiteering and exploitation and corruption.

However, America is doing something really good right now.  Isn't that wonderful?  I'm ready to withdraw the troops from Iraq and send them to Haiti, where there is something really constructive to be done, and will be for a long time.  We tried to help Iraq for quite a while, but at some point they need to go it on their own.  (The same will be true for Haiti too)  But right now is a good time to act.  And somehow the US has some of the best logistic for doing so, apparently anywhere in the world.

Send in the Marines!  The Marines have landed!  Let's take food and medical supplies, let's take life, not guns and bombs and death.

The Republicans, of course, have a program of opposition, since they have decided to be "againsters."  They say that the Haitians brought disaster on themselves because they made a Pact with the Devil to get out from under French Colonial rule.  So God has struck them, just I guess like He did New Orleans.  Americans' shouldn't be doing anything, because we do enough, we are so exploited, by having to pay income taxes.  This is just a racist political ploy by Obama to solidify the support of black voters.  And it shows how soft he is on terrorism, because he responded to this situation involving huge damage and loss of thousands of lives much more promptly than he responded to the attack where a young Nigerian man blew up his underpants.

Most of all, the remember Ronald Reagan, who famously said:  "the most frightening words in the English language are 'I am from the US government, and I am here to help."  And they want President Obama to "fail" in every single endeavor he supports.

But I feel differently, and I am very proud of America right now, and I am thinking of the young soldier I met, and hoping that he is shipped out to Haiti, and not to the Middle East.