Death Valley Days

A few weeks ago, volunteers from my college were needed to drive geology students on a field trip to Death Valley. Having been curious about the place for some time, I took advantage of the opportunity. In exchange for driving, I got a free guided tour and camping trip to a place I hadn't experienced before. I'm glad I went.

The weather was great, the people were mostly fun and interesting, and Death Valley was very interesting itself, if not overly exciting. The geology of it is pretty amazing, and the overall environment there is very deserving of its name. It's largely barren of life, it's landscape is harsh and unforgiving, and at times it looks like how one might imagine Mars or some other planet to be. In fact, numerous Star Wars scenes were shot there.

I found the general history of the place more interesting than its geology, and wished there had been more time take in more of the historical landmarks. Maybe I'll go back someday to learn more about it, and see some things we didn't have time to visit. I'd also like to check out Trona, a small, desolate, mineral-mining town which we passed through on the way back home. Something about isolated, boondock (and sometimes impoverished) towns fascinates me, and Trona seems to have a weird, land-that-time-forgot quality. It looked a lot like Niland or Brawley, the towns I visited early this year around the Salton Sea.

This trip also renewed my itch to go camping, which I hope to do more of next year. I need a few more things to make up a basic set of camping gear, so hopefully I can go somewhere in the next couple of months, weather permitting.


My group- Chris, Sara, Lindsay and David. Good kids.


A vehicle fire on the 15 caused about a 20-minute delay on the way there.


A game of toss on the highway to pass the time.


Once camp was set up, it was burger time.




Furnace Creek Campground.


First stop on Saturday morning.














Our fearless leader, Dr. Hovantiz, professor of geology.


Zabriskie Point.




Death Valley Visitor Center museum. I liked the hand-painted lettering on this display.


The museum even had dioramas!


Badlands is 300 feet below sea level. I think this was our only water sighting.


Hiking to Natural Bridge Canyon.




Inside the canyon.






David's adventurous nature made Dr. Hovanitz a bit nervous.













Devil's Golf Course. Jagged, rock-hard salt deposits.




Artist's Palette. The colors are created by the oxidation of various salts and minerals.




Discussing an unusually-weathered rock.






Sunday started with a group photo at Harmony Borax Works.




Ghost town of Rhyolite, Nevada.


The bottle house.






Train depot.




Ghost town of Leadfield, Nevada.




Friendly raven at our last stop (for gas)- Stovepipe Wells.

President Robin Hood to the Rescue

As of last Tuesday, our first leftist president has been elected. An intelligent, charming, youthful and extremely gifted orator has won over an unexciting, old, uninspiring white guy. Or, to put it another way- an inexperienced, extraordinarily smooth-talking, vague, leftist, world-citizen community organizer of questionable judgment and associations has won over a heroic, honorable, honest, moderate, humble, highly-experienced, worldly, well-respected, lifelong American public servant who has always put his country first. "Change" indeed.

While the world (and mainstream media) gush and cheer Obama on, expect full-steam ahead with the nanny state: socialized medicine, huge expansion of government programs, "redistribution of wealth", increased sense of entitlement (and eventually complacency) among citizens (and non-citizens, for that matter), pandering to minorities and foreign countries, a "compassionate" stance on illegal immigration, a thriving ACLU, and an even more widespread imposition of debate-killing, intellectually dishonest, phony political correctnesson all of us. Now it will be equality above all, at any cost. The government will rob the rich to give to the poor, and those who don't pull their weight won't have to worry about failure, irresponsibility or laziness- the government will come to the rescue. No need to be responsible; that government safety net will always be there, at the expense of those who are actually responsible in their life choices. It will be European-style Socialism Light. Needless to say, this is not what made America great.

There's no denying that Obama's was a victory for many people who dislike America. What does it say about Obama that many of those who wanted to see him win (Farrakhan, Sharpton, America-bashing liberals, the Europeans) have contempt for America?

There is a silver lining to this dark cloud. This is absolute, irrefutable proof that America is not a racist country. That is not to say that racism is nonexistent here; it will exist all over the world as long as there are different races on this Earth. However, the election of a Black man (especially one with leftist views) in majority-White country, is tangible proof that this society is not the racist one that so many ignorant, insecure, stupid, dishonest, unappreciative and angry people claim it is. Hopefully this puts the Jesse Jacksons, Reverend Wrights and Al Sharptons out of business, as their promotion of "people of color" as victims in America has just been rendered impotent. Of course, those groups and individuals who make a career of victimhood (the ACLU, trial lawyers, university professors, the Democratic party, etc.) will fight tooth and nail to convince Americans that nothing has really changed, as this is their livleihood.

I don't want to be pessimistic; it's just that I'm looking beyond the fervor of Obamania to the long-term effects his election will have on us. Again, the best thing I see coming out of this is the possibility that people, particularly Blacks, will finally see that in this country, anything is possible for a person of any race. If what has been obvious to those of us who have known this for a long time actually sinks in with those who viewed America as racist only a week ago, maybe that's enough to make Obama's election worth it.

I give Obama credit- he's a highly-intelligent, incredibly-gifted, self-made politician who ran a spectacular campaign. He's not the phony that John Kerry, John Edwards and Hillary Clinton are, either. However, I think 90% of his rhetoric is vague, emotionally-appealing fluff, and his actual policy ideas leave me deeply concerned. As someone who cares tremendously about his country, I hope for our sake I'm wrong about the guy.

I'll end this entry with couple of clips from the ever-charming, proud-American Michelle Obama, Barack's "rock", who thinks America is "downright mean."

Election Eve

Barring a miracle, it seems America is about to elect its first leftist president. People have bought into this vague, sweeping generality called "CHANGE", just for the sake of change. It's a sorry state of affairs.

If Obama wins—and all signs point to just that—I blame it on

1) Bush fatigue
2) The disgraceful, intellectually dishonest, agenda-driven, politically-biased media

Reaon #2 is the biggie. There's no question Obama has been given a free pass in the mainstream media, as he is their darling, their rock star, their savior. He is The Chosen One. And the media is slime.

By the way, if there's anyone who doubts for one second that the vast majority of mainstream, national media is left leaning, it's a proven fact that it is- this is not an opinion. In fact, a very recent UCLA study is only that latest that proves liberal media bias, in case you'd like to check it out. Again, this is UCLA- a university (i.e. a bastion of liberal ideology), not some conservative media watchdog group.

Unless some miracle occurs, Tuesday, November 4, 2008 will be a day of mourning for all Americans who admire, love, respect and appreciate the values and policies that made this such a great country. We are about to experience a smooth-talking, big-government, feel-good, Robin Hood lawyer as Community Organizer in Chief. Bring on the food stamps and "redistrubution of wealth"!

I leave you with the words of noted racist, Black nationalist radical Louis Farrakhan, who proclaims Barack Hussein Obama to be the Messiah. Goodnight.