Gringo in the Sahara : A Developing Story

 After a long trip from Texas I found myself in the midst of more people and noise than I could have ever imagined. Thankfully I was able to rest and recuperate from simple exhaustion and dehydration in the comfortable home of my friends Bill and Kathleen Key. Their large fifth story apartment is located in Maadi, one of the nicer areas of Cairo.

 The balcony over looks the Nile and on a clear day one can view several pyramids and gaze down upon an endless, honking stream of traffic on the street below. Some how these motorists maintain three to four rows of traffic on a street marked for two lanes.I decided that the white lines merely indicate the direction of the traffic flow. As long as car is not perpendicular to the lines then all is well. Stopping and backing up, when the vehicles are moving with their bumpers nearly touching, is not an unusual maneuver. Plenty of shouting and hand gestures go on during these automotive antics, however a delicate balance exists which allows life to go on from day to day. It doesn't appear that it would take much upset that balance and for chaos to begin to rule the streets.
 Sparsely scattered among the many Mosques are Coptic Christian churches which are a reminder of Mary and Joseph’s flight to Egypt with baby Jesus. One island in the Nile close to central Cairo, known as the Island of Gold, is graced at one end with a Christian Church displaying a cross on its tall spire. At the other end of the Island is a Mosque with the iconic crescent moon resting at the top of a slender tower used by an appointed man who starts the prayer chanting at the appropriate times.

 Despite the western assumption that Christians and Muslims can't live together, the people of Cairo are surprisingly friendly to one another and westerners (khawagas) such as me.

 I quickly found my self comfortable in situations that I planned to avoid. I think that the realization that I was walking the same streets once walked by Jesus and the courage I gained from prayer put me at ease.

The day after I arrived in Cairo my expatriate friends and I loaded our gear into two four wheel drive vehicles and started a nine hour journey to an oasis village named Siwa. The desert along the Mediterranean coast imparts deceptive impressions to the eye. An endless sea of sand subtly merges with the sea while intense sunlight makes it difficult to judge distances.

Oh!

All I see turns to brown
As the sun burns the ground.
And my eyes fill with sand
As I scan this wasted land.
Tryin' to find
Tryin' to find
Where I've been.

KASHMIR, Led Zepplin

After hours of travel across the harsh terrain of the Sahara, about 30 miles east of the Libiyan border, palm trees start to become visible. In very little time from first sight of the green spot on the horizon, you find yourself in the midst of a city full of friendly people. The precious water from the artesian wells throughout Siwa is used to irrigate hundreds of acres of gardens.

The hotel where we stayed  is ancient and had been retrofitted with plumbing and electricity so; it was a comfortable place when compared with the primitive homes in the area.

 The next morning we rented donkeys and carts and from the hotel we headed to a hill covered with the remains of a small community. At the base of the hill stands a bronze plaque that identifies the spot as the location of The Temple of the Oracle. Alexander the Great stopped here prior to his conquest of Egypt and the oracle confirmed him as both a divine personage and a legitimate Pharaoh of Egypt. That was in 351 BC.

 I was astounded by the fact that the ruins here were being left to disintegrate in the desert sun. The hill was unattended and we had free rein to explore as much as we wanted to. Attached are photos of me driving my donkey cart, a view of the hill from a distance, and me again, at the entrance to the Temple of the Oracle.

 The next day our little caravan headed back to Cairo. On the way we made a stop at the El Almein Battleground Memorial. During WWII the Germans attempted to stop the flow of supplies going through the Suez Canal to Allied countries in Europe. The Allied forces were able to drive the Germans out of Egypt but they paid a high price for the victory. The cemetery where the casualties were laid to rest had an aura about it that caused me to become very reflective and emotional about that terrible war. All wars are terrible but due to the fact that the world is full of power hungry people that want to rule the world wars have been necessary throughout the history of our country to preserve our freedom. WWII has a special place in the history of the United States in that it was the last war that was fought by military professionals focused on victory. All of our wars since then have been orchestrated by politicians focused on their own personal gain.

 While I am on the subject of the policies of national security and defense of our freedom, I would like to share an observation that I made while traveling abroad. In Europe, Africa, and the Middle East airport security is conducted in more effective manner than in the US. While profiling is discouraged in our country, it is the foundation of the procedures used in the rest of the world. Unfortunately, idealistic groups like the ACLU have taken away the basic tools needed for making our airlines as safe as they could be. The same can be said about our immigration laws. The doors are open for our worst enemies to enter our homeland and set up shop to work toward destroying us.

Our founding fathers had Christian values and common sense to guide their tongues and pens. Unfortunately too few people today understand history and human nature enough to make rational plans for our future. Of the few that are grounded in the traits needed to lead us into the future, too few have the courage to speak, let alone act on their beliefs. There are many politicians that have there heads in the clouds and their hands on their wallets instead of their hearts.

Headed to Cairo

I am headed to Cairo tomorrow. I think that there will be a lot to tell about when I get back. I will keep you posted.

Climate Change

Last night, before I went to bed, I stepped out back and took this picture. George Bush caused the power to go off so Al (Greenhouse) Gore sent all those white globular objects to warm us up.

A Breath of Hope

A great article in American Cowboy called “Wolves at the Door” (December/January 2010) delivered a breath of hope for the fate of the North American gray wolf. The article provides a sampling of confrontations between the “family ranch culture” and environmental groups. Unfortunately, efforts to reintroduce the Mexican gray wolf in southwestern New Mexico and western Arizona has reached an impasse between The Center for Biological Diversity (http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/) and Americans for preservation of Western Environment (http://www.amprowest.org/news.htm). These two groups could learn something about cooperation by reading Lauren M. Whaley’s article.

History and Political Correctness

Political correctness has no place in the process of recording history. If one assumes that the purpose of studying of history is to learn from the past then the premise that we can learn from and gain wisdom from the actions and events that occurred in the past hinges on the fact that the information is recorded correctly and is the truth.

If we concern ourselves with Political Correctness then it is necessary to modify words and take emphasis away form certain true events which may be offensive to certain groups of people.

Simply stated, we can not learn from history unless it is true. It is a total waste of time to teach lies or modified truths. The only purpose served by teaching distorted truths is to indoctrinate our youth and consequently mold generations into pawns of a predetermined agenda or ideology. Political Correctness is nothing more than Marxism translated from economic to cultural terms and teaches, among other fallacies, that all people are entitled to respect without having to earn it.

It would do each history student well to read some text books or other accounts of the past that were published before the 1960’s. Those books were written when Americans enjoyed freedom of speech and before terms like gay rights, sexist, homophobic or racist began to be used to describe anyone who dared not subscribe to rewritten history or use the language of the times.

I recently had a conversation with a gentleman from Australia. I listened to his opinions and comments on several current events. There were a few other Americans that overheard what was said and were shocked at some of the things he said. I, on the other hand, was saddened by the possibility that as long as I live in the United States, I’ll may never enjoy freedom of speech again.

Save a Tree; Hug a Grizzly

I have taken a good look at the dilemma discussed in the previous post and find little merit in the motives either side. I am careful here to use the word “motive” rather than the word “reasoning.”

The propaganda being dealt by both sides is meant to be perceived as reasoning in order to achieve Public support. The ploy being exhibited here is similar to a speech by a politician. They say what ever they need to say to get the power/money they need to implement their own agenda.

The conservation groups have spent over $300,000.00 per wolf and are happy to report that, due to number of cattle that have been killed, it appears that government officials will allow the wolves to survive until November 1, 2009. Their delight in this report leads me to believe that these people are actually dedicated to helping the rest of the people in the world learn to think like themselves. The wolf is just a pawn in their political game.

Another conclusion I have arrived at is that the people who are screaming about the hazards of being in the same county with a Mexican wolf are also playing a game. Their goal is to discourage visitors, especially their liberal opponents, from venturing into wolf country because it is also their country. The people who live in these remote areas aren’t especially sociable and care little about political correctness. As a matter of fact they live in these areas to avoid a lot of people in general.

My answer to both sides is fairly simple. The Mexican gray wolf and the grizzly bear were extirpated from the Gila at about the same time for the same reasons. So, the only fair thing to do is to reintroduce the grizzlies as well. If the conservationists sincerely want to restore nature and retard civilization then maybe they would like to hug some smelly, ill mannered bears instead of trees. By the same token, the people of Catron County wouldn’t have to worry about the wolves bothering their kids and pets because the bears would eat the wolves and anything else that bothered them.

What do you think?

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Who's Crying Wolf ?

In 1915 one of the pioneers of conservation, Aldo Leopold, delved into what he thought of as “game management.” One of his main conclusions was that wolves, mountain lions, and any other predator that fed on deer should be exterminated in order to save the deer population for sport hunting. He later admitted that the premise was wrong and began to correct the error.

Instead of increasing the deer population, the elimination of animals that killed and ate the deer allowed the number of deer to increase so drastically that there was not enough forest to feed them all. The deer then started dying of starvation and disease.

In 1929 the federal government built the 60 mile long North Star Road. This road allowed hunters to access the starving deer herd so it could be thinned. The North Star Road is now the boundary between the Aldo Leopold and Gila wilderness areas.

In 1976 the Mexican gray wolf was placed on the Endangered Species List and reintroduced to South Western New Mexico. Today the wolf population is on the increase but the merit of this development is being disputed publicly.

The State of New Mexico, the federal government, and various environmentalist groups are on one side of the fence wanting to protect the wolves. On the other side of the fence stand the ranchers and residents that live where the wolves are.

Saturday morning I met a lady in Silver City who was handing out literature (see: http://www.amprowest.org/) that warned of dangerously bold wolves. When I asked her if the ranchers were compensated by environmentalist groups when a wolf killed any livestock she loudly replied, “We are concerned about the safety of our children and our pets. We’ve had to build shelters from plywood and chicken wire to protect the kids at the bus stops in Reserve. There have been too many close calls.”

Another group has put up billboards warning of the danger for pets, elk, and children. These signs have graphic illustrations of what they claim are victims of the wolves.

On the other hand, the forest service has posted signs urging citizens to report any injury or killings of wolves. The New Mexico State Hunting Proclamation states that anyone convicted of killing a wolf will face one year in prison and fines of up to $50,000.00.

None of the anti-wolf propaganda encourages the killing of wolves but leads one to feel that it may be warranted.

Maybe the wolves should stay in designated lest they be shot or trapped. Maybe the people should move to a big city like Albuquerque. I am trying to stay objective on this issue. Please post your comments.