Wedsday Febuary 24th 2010

I am going to begin todays post by updating family news first and then move on to stories in the news i want to comment on.First my children had last week off from school and we had to find some interesting things to do over the winter break.One thing was the medallion search sponsored by our local newspaper.We walked through a few local parks looking but were unable to find it.This year it was found by a man who has been participating in the search since it began.He is also a subscriber to the paper which doubles the prize so i am happy for him and extend my families congradulations on his victory.Jeromy and I also enjoyed a concert this past saturday at the Utica Auditorium.It was another favorite band of ours with two of the founding members of the Grateful Dead,Bob Weir and Phil Lesh.The band is called Furthur and it was a fun experience for us both.I also saw someone who i had'nt seen in 25 years as my son and i stood stageside waiting for the show to begin.He grew up a few houses away and we went to the same school,and we reminisced about musical influances that made us end up at this concert.He credited me with being the first person to ever play the Grateful Dead for him,which was kind of funny as he had a backstage pass at this show.It turns out his wife grew up with one of the background singers for the band,and they came stageside to take some pictures of her before going backstage.He asked if i would take a picture with him which i gradly did.The music was great and if i had'nt slipped and fallen on the icy sidewalk outside the show the night would have been perfect.This was difficult due to my personal issues with my back that i have mentioned in prior posts.It took several days in bed to recover but i am happy to say i feel alot better than i did a few days ago and i don't think i did anything more than agrivate my already troubled back.I am going to continue to follow doctors orders as far as my back is concerned and will post any updates as neccesary.Matthew is doing well in school as well as in his social skills class,and he continues to progress with therapy.My wife continues to work hard to support us and is awaiting some management changes at her job as the new mayor appoints new staff.We are lucky as a family to currently have my wife employed at a full time job during this difficult time in our nation.On that note i will move on to comment on events in the news starting with the current offensive in Afghanistan to retake the city of Marjah from the Taliban and restore what the coalition forces are calling "Civic Society" by deploying recources to restore utilities and "government in a box" type institutions that were previously either completely unavailable or run by taliban higher ups.The two stories that have dominated the headlines of national and international press has been the two large civilian casualties inflicted by this offensive.Both involve large groups of innocent civilians being the victums of an accident or being misreprented as insurgents and targeted purposely.These deaths will make it extremely difficult to win over hearts and minds of the people of this city whom are mostly illiterate subsistance farmers and poor peasent laborers.These folks have long held distrust of foreigners and especially large military occupations of their native soil.This city has been and always will be run by tribal elders whom also harbor great resentment of occupying forces and have historically fought to expell any such force from the area.These tribal elders also do not trust what the coalition forces call the"Democratically elected"lawful government of Afghanistan.This distrust was show to be justified as President Karsai signed a decree giving him power to appoint all of the members of the Electoral Complaints Commission,a group previously staffed by members appointed by the UN and who uncovered massive fraud on behalf of Karsai in last years Presidential election.Karsai's tightened control over the electoral process prior to parlimentary balloting next September is an ominous sign of this fledgling afghan democracys fragility.Tribal elders of Marjah believe the Karsai government has long put personal financial gain above the interests of the afghan people,and i tend to agree with that assessment.As i mentioned before i fully support our troops but i do not support this war.
Other stories in the news,Washington gridlock continues as the President contemplates asking congress to use reconciliation as a way to pass the healthcare legislation and gain a symbolic victory for the democrats prior to the elections in November.This would be a foolish move in my humble opinion as the country is already showing signs of revolt against this administrations policys and the partisan way it seems to be operating.The american people have shown with the election of sen.Brown of mass. and several govenorships that have changed hands that supermajority rule is not the constitutional way to run our country.We need elected leaders who will stand for the people and not for the next election cycles campaign fund.This constant raising of campaign funds to the detrement of the constituants who elected them must stop.We must have publicly funded elections in my opinion and i hope we move in that direction sometime soon.
As we learn that Wall St.bonuses climbed 17% in 2009 to 20.3 billion and many of the banks bailed out by taxpayer funds reported huge profits,our State's Comptroller said private economists report a plunge in consumer confidence.These conflicting numbers shows the stark contrast between what Wall St. and what Main St. see as important to the future of our great nation.The complicated financial intruments that lead us to the brink of the second Great Depression have not been addressed by congress so they could be regulated and watched so another crash is not only possible it is highly probable.Without capital requirements to control risky behavior and with zero transparacy in the over the counter dirivatives market we could see another panic hit the market any day.The government rescue of the financial sector was called TARP and was sold to citizens as a desperate last minute fix to a horrible problem freezing the credit markets and therefore the whole economy.The truth is something completely different and the American people are well aware they were sold a false bill of goods on this one.Most of these so called "Toxic Assets"were over the counter dirivatives that are still out there on the books of most of the rescued institutions who posted these record profits all of a sudden after being so close to bringing the entire system down.After taking billions of dollars from the taxpayers these same institutions take huge risks to produce short term profits at the expense of long term stability in the market.Unregulated Hedge Funds and other unregulated finacial industy tools used to avoid oversight and generate daily operating capital for these giant corporations needs to be stopped.Companies deemed "too big to fail"must be broken into entities that if mismanaged or leveraged to the brink can be allowed to collapse the way free market economies in a democracy demand that they do.If we continue removing the question of "moral hazzard" then these financial institutions will again push us to the brink,and maybe this time we will fall off.Before i end i would like to mention two things.First is the picture i am posting with this entry.It is of my son Matthew and his stuffed animal collection.He loves each one of them and will continue to add to his "family"as he can.He requested i put this picture up as he is very proud of them.He received most of them at christmas as a gift from a friend from the Dead.net sites chatroom.As i have mentioned before this chatroom has been a blessing to me as i have met many,many kind people and also have another bit of news related to this chatroom.One of my good friends i met in there has "miracled"me a pair of tickets to another Furthur concert,this one at the Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City.My wife and i have not had a chance to get away together in ages,almost never get this opportunity to have a grown-up type experience and i really want to publicly thank my good friend and fellow dead.net chatroom visitor Wayneo.He is a kind generous and gental soul and i count myself lucky to be his friend.As i end this post i want to say no matter what difficulty you may face remember that life is a gift and everyday is a blessing.Until next time thank you for reading. spacewalker

Saturday February 13th 2010

Well i will begin today's post talking about the news,starting with a new push against the Taliban in Afghanistan.This was in the news prior to taking place,and the fighters we are going after are sure to have blended back into the population.It is almost impossible to imagine how difficult it is to distinguish between the population and the people we are looking for.The reason behind this area being a haven for Taliban is because the population has accepted them as the local Authority due to their brutal tactics related to sharia law.They publicly beat and sometimes kill locals in their hopes that fear will translate into cooperation.In the decades of past talk of help from the west the locals rightly are sceptical about new promises of security from our military and their government.
There is approximately 125,000 people in the Town of Marjah and the surrounding villages.These are mostly peasants and subsistence farmers who are poorly educated and have a palpable distrust of foreigners.To distinguish between these people and the Taliban is like emptying a building full of people at lunchtime and trying to find a group of people wearing suits.They blend well with the population,and thousands of people have fled to avoid the huge deployment of military forces heading their way.I fully support our Troops and i think highly of them and their families and what they sacrifice and endure on our behalf.My personal opinion of this new operation,codenamed "Moshtarak",or "Together"is that unless NATO rushes in with civil engineers and restores much needed public services and stays long term it won't succeed.Because the infrastructure of this nation will take decades to repair and the war torn heart of the people will take years to heal.Outsiders are viewed with a bizarre fascination and huge hurdles remain to see how much destruction and death result from this assault into their homes.Looking for what the military says is around 1,000 fighters of a mostly indigenous men will be enormously difficult in a sea of 80,000 to 100,000 people whose tribal elders welcomed the help Taliban drug money.These same tribal elders have pleaded with NATO to finish quickly to limit the damage and spare civilians.I hope they do because the more damage and death the less cooperation we can expect.
In the halls of Washington nothing continues to get done as these troops risk life and limb to support our Freedom and Democracy.The elected officials should be ashamed of themselves and start to put the interests of our country ahead of the prospects for re-election and campaign fund raising.This pandering to fringe groups to gain the upper hand politically is wrong-headed and should be abandoned in favor of doing the business of the people through the shouts of the unhappy special interest groups.Regardless of the new unlimited money flowing into our Elections,i truly believe the people will send failed political incumbents packing in November.We the people can see right through the rhetoric and no matter how many commercials and air time are purchased,the constant flow of confusing information will wilt in the face of the our Constitution and the power of a each vote.
Home life this week will be interesting because the kids are on vacation this week.I have a few activities planned,including trips to the library and some local museums and landmarks.There is a local contest sponsored by our Newspaper that hides a medallion outside with a $1000 reward for finding it as a way to motivate people to get outside and spend time together and i like trying to participate every year.So far we haven't ever won,but it is a great way to get the kids outside in the winter weather.We bundle up and i try to make a fun adventure out of it.My wife works alot of hours so the kids really enjoy any time we get as a family together.I usually bring our two dogs to get some exercise as well,but our eldest dog,Sugaree,is now 14 and having a difficult time getting around.She is the most awesome companion and extremely protective of the children,as is Rahjah,our male.I really get a lump in my throat when i think of anything happening to either one,although my love for them will not allow for any selfishness either.Anyone who has taken a dog for their final walk knows how difficult it can be,but it is part of the responsibility you assume when you bring one of these guys into your family.Making sure they have your constant presence and the reassuring sound of your voice and touch is critical to limiting the pain you will feel from the loss of a piece of your heart when the time comes.The picture today is of Sugaree with her friend,our cockatiel sunnygirl,on her back.They are the best of friends and if she is out of her cage she is either on me or sugaree looking for some attention.She is a lovable little bird that we rescued from a troubled home.As i close this post let me again say until next time,thank you for reading. spacewalker

Wednesday February 10th 2010

Another day,another slow crawl of no progress in washington.The talk of Bi-partisanship echoes through the halls of congress falling on deaf ears from both parties.Republicans are riding a wave of public discontent with Washington and the general direction the democratic agenda is headed.The tea party movement has them convinced,to their detrament in my opinion,that they will be the benefactors of this wave of distrust in the public arena.In my opinion this public distrust will be bad for both parties and i think many incumbants are going to need to be freshening up their resumes for a job hunt.Our Nation deserves proper representation and we need a totally new set of faces and voices in Washington.When the group of voters that matters the most now,independants,deciede that they can make a real and decisive change together the leaders of both parties need to be worried.
With the crude class prejudices rear their ugly head and the "upper crust" of our society were most of the politicians find their roots believe they can disregard the way middle and lower classes see their country heading in the wrong direction,all the money and power in the world won't delay the peoples wishes.Even if the Healthcare bill is not dead yet,refocusing on a jobs agenda for the near term for benefits in novembers election will strike the fatal blow to it.This will hurt the democrats for sure,but i don't believe after eight years of Bush people are ready to hand the country back to the republicans either.Using class warfare against each other seems to me to be a symptom of a fundemental corruption of the whole democratic process and the way Washington currently operates.We will see as the election nears how they will be handling this,and i will continue to comment along the way.Because political hubris only comes along every four years,we will see how far incumbants will run to the fringes to win re election.
I am still struggling with a change in my medicine for my back problems.It is very difficult to readajust to new doses or even new medicines due to the lag time in metabolising most drugs.Usually only a week but sometimes can take several weeks or even a month.This particular instance seems to be the latter unfortunatly for me,but i will eventually find the right combination i suppose.In the meantime i will try to keep my moods in check and enjoy the family.Today the pics are of my son Jer at his first concert featuring a favorite guitarist of ours whom i mentioned in my post yesterday.Until next time,thank you for reading. Spacewalker

Tuesday February 9th 2010

Today i will begin my post with a little family related update regarding Matthews new social skills class.He is really enjoying it and making great progress on the goals that we hope will continue.They are helping him build important skills like working as a team and co-operation.He enjoys the other children and the facilitator very much and so far looks forward with anticipation to the next class.The parental componant is helpful as well,and this week we discussed a favorite author and activist of mine that works in the feild,her name is Temple Grandin.My older sister introduced me to her work,and my sis is usually behind any new literary finds that i expound on or recommend.She is brilliant and very inspiring to me,and i appreciate her tremendously.Anyways,Temple Grandin has unusual insight into autism as she is autistic herself.Some of her works include The Way I See It:A Personal Look At Autism and Aspergers,Emergance:Labeled Autistic,Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships,and Animals In Translation,all of which i reccommend.
I am going to comment a little now on some stories in the news beginning with New York,my home state.Apparently besides being the most incapable state government in the country,the new label seems to be the cheating Governor State.A newsoutlet has reported that our Governor,who replaced disgraced Governor Spitzer,has been involved in some seedy sex as well.The government of our great state has been dragged through the mud by enough party officials in the last few years to qualify for the most inept public officials award.These people have shown corruption and corporate lobbyists the keys to the kingdom,leaving the people to twist in the wind.The attempted coup presided over by billionaire Tom Golisano and orchestrated by Republicans was an embarrassment and a glaring reminder to the electorate that ALL incumbants need to be removed from office.These officials have long since abandoned their constituancy for big money,campaign donations and corporate perks lavished on them by every lobby imaginable.I for one am going to be actively joining any candidates that are new to the political arena and will try to help elect new officials to represent us in Albany.
The national news is still focused on the gridlock in Washington,the shakey state of the Economy and the need for millions of new jobs in America.Not only are Americans suffering,the whole world is still in the middle of a very slow crawl to recovery from the brink of the next great depression which we came so close to.It still remains to be seen if the economic recovery that we see is just an upswing in what is called a"double dip" recession.I believe this is the case as i have commented on in past posts.There are too many lagging indicators that are still going to shock the markets and keep job growth from happening.These things include commercial real estate losses and the fact that any "green economy"jobs that are projected will take at least a decade to materialise.With all the empty plants in our nation that could be retrofitted to manufacture wind turbines,solar arrays,and bio-fuel,huge amounts of time and investment are required for these things to actually happen.With the cheap labor and manufacturing ability of countries like China and India it is no guarentee that companies will chose the U.S. to make such investments either.
The motivation for cooperation or "bi-partisanship"in Washington has long since evaporated,and the talk of such things are just a diversionary tactic on the part of Parties that want to distract from the real problems faced by the people of our nation.Weather they are Politicians or Corporate Executives,the real issues we face will be left to collect dust while they use divisive issues like religeon and national security to try to retain or regain power.With small movements like the "Tea Party"movement gaining attention because of the small gap between Democrats and Republicans that has the ability to change the results of local and national election results,playing to fringe groups to gain thier support will continue.The look of our next election cycle will give a window into the new normal of corporate financing of political campaigns.The rediculous nature of the back and forth was in full force this past week when republican and conservative darling Sarah Palin was criticising the president for using a teleprompter while reading from obvious cribnotes on her hand.this in my opinion is the perfect visual to show the real disconnect these people have from the rest of us.It is all about soundbytes and getting one up on your rivals,doing the business of the people is not on the real agenda.Anyways,i am going to end here,but before i do i am gonna mention my oldest son Jeromy.He and i have seen a few concerts together,and Jer was lucky enough to meet Warren Haynes,one of our favorite Guitarists.He signed the handbill from the show for him,and even reached in his pocket and gave my son a guitar pick.This was a great moment and i thoght i could share it.until next time,thanx for reading.
spacewalker

Sunday February 7th 2010

Here we are at the end of another weekend and i have much i could write about and alot of things that have developed over the last few days.First let me say while i do have some medical complaints,i am going to try to refrain from going on about that as it is really nothing new.The more things change the more they stay the same i guess.Anyways i would like to write a little about current events in the news and the political arena.As a quick suggestion to readers i would like to recommend a book,its title is"The Photographer:into war torn Afghanistan with doctors without borders"and it is a fascinating read.It recalls a trip in the 1980s amid the soviet occupation and has a really cool format.It goes from cartoon like boxes with bubble text to real Photos of the things in the storyline.Check it out if you get the chance.
The partisan toxic environment in Washington continues with the Senate unable to get anything done,and the house not fairing much better.My personal opinion is that this will continue up until November elections and the country will suffer for it.In the year the democrats had a supermajority nothing got done,so to expect anything more since Sen.Brown(d.mass)was sworn in is silly.The republicans will continue to block the Presidents agenda at every turn.Sen.Shelby put a blanket hold on over 70 of the Presidents nominee's over some pork for his home state.The sad state of affairs is our dysfunctional senate is going to translate into a terrible election for the democrats in november.The "tea party" had a meeting or convention of some sort this weekend and seem to be scaring some politicians into some very tight positions on certain issues.
The failure if the first stimulus is evident and a double dip reccession is very possible at this point.Even though the officials like Geitner and Bernanke tell us all is well and only getting better i must say i am not as confident yet.The jobs that were lost are not coming back and this new"green"economy has to go through a whole innovation and expansion period that is going to take many years to grow big enough to employ millions of unemployed or underemployed people.And then we need to remember that there are NO new regulations in place to curtail the same dangerous behavior that almost brought about the second great depression.It gets very complicated but they are still going gangbusters lookin for short term gain at the risk of long term stability.These companies deemed "TOO BIG TO FAIL"are still running ruffshod over the taxpayer with the full cooperation of the federal government.Credit default swaps,and other complicated financial intruments are being used even after they nearly imploded AIG and took the whole financial system down.I truly believe these things are still going to come back to bite us,and this time nothing will stop the cascade of institutions failing.I am no expert and i only can comment on what i believe,so as i continue i remain a humble citizen stating his opinion.As the days continue to tick by and people realize how bad it really is with the so called"BAD PAPER"gumming up the credit markets they will pull back purchases farther and hurt retail sales.All of the different things that affect the markets can't be readily described,especially by me,but i do believe this is far from over and we as a nation have alot of tough days ahead of us.
Watching the dysfuntion of washington from a distance can be amusing at times,but truthfully we are at a critical point in our democracy.Will this experiment started a little over two hundred twenty years ago be a success?Our system is held up as the greatest in the world,but can we be proud of our elected officials when they behave like spoiled children?Finger pointing,name calling,it looks like the playground at reccess or something.The way these guys and gals sling mud at each other can be really embarrassing when viewed on a world stage.I sometimes see footage of gatherings where both parties can get along,but usually just for a photo op or some other meaningless reason.As deficits hit an all time high,we can count on washington to continue spending us into oblivion.
As we move ahead into another spring of pre-pre-campaign advertisements saturating the airwaves it will become hard to tell who is really behind this new flurry we wil see.It will be very profitable for the networks and newspapers as the unions and corperations fight for limited commercial time and advertising slots.The commercials we are already used to for medicines will blurr into plugs for or against canidates for office.Prescription drugs and medical devices will be used as ways to show if candidates support their use.This will be very confusing and will force people to look at too many segmented ideas to be able to really tell someones ability to hold elected office.Imagine targeting deeply held values of voters to further a profit seeking companies agendas.They will have our senses overwhelmed with visual and audio of the horrible results of not wanting the same thing for your family as they want for their shareholders.We will see what this new unlimited flow of money will do,but i firmly believe this will begin a fundemental shift in our ability as citizens to be represented as equals with companies that use lobbyists to spend billions on their clients behalf.As much time should be spent meeting with average citizens in their electorate as is spent with lobbyists lining their campain coffers.
Tomorrow begins another week of school for my boys and i better get some rest to try to be ready for it.The picture today is of my son Jer and i this summer with his first walleye,a very proud and happy moment i thought i might share.Until next time,thank you for reading. spacewalker

Thursday February 4th 2010

Today i am going to begin my post by speaking about several issues i find important and as time rolls on i need to document these feeling and ideas for my own sake.The first is the issue of Government bailouts for banks and financial institutions.As i am sure you are aware,yesterday one of the companies that recieved the most taxpayer money to keep from collapsing under the weight of its own bad financial decisions gave out 100 million dollars in bonuses to the very same people who brought about the crisis.The company had leveraged itself into an unsustainable position.The complicated financial instruments that led to this potential implosion of this company our financial experts and Congressional leaders declared"too big to fail"were brought about over the last several decades by deregulation and government's inability to understand the risks it was allowing these companies to take.As a homeowner in America you are allowed to borrow money against the value of assets you own.But in the financial markets,companies were allowed to"leverage"assets to attain daily operating costs and other short term gains needed to continue to operate in this environment.40 to 1 is my understanding of the allowable leveraging these companies were legally allowed.This would be the same as me taking the 70,000 my house is worth and telling a lender it is worth around 2.8 million dollars.If that was possible there would be alot of very wealthy people in this country.The financial institutions that are allowed to STILL leverage assetts at this rediculous level will continue to take enormous risks on a daily basis and therefore another bubble and economic collapse are very possible.These companies are under no new regulations or rules even after bringing the country and the world to the brink of the second great depression.Our Congressional leaders,and especially the chairs of the commitees overseeing the markets,like Barney Frank,have taken no lessons from the near collapse of our financial markets.The regulators have no new enforcement authority over these institutions,leaving them to repeat the mistakes that brought about the problem to begin with.
The companies that are allowed to do this have no motivation to fix the systemic risks that these complicated daily transactions produce.As the public became aware in September of last year,even the United States ,the most wealthy and powerful country on the planet,could be destroyed by a handful of financial institutions.The term"Moral Hazzard"has been tossed out the window and replaced with a view that if they generate huge short term profits they personally benefit financially,but if they suffer losses that could bring about economic collapse of the markets the taxpayer will step in and backstop the company from said losses and possible collapse of their institution.AIG is the company that handed out 100 million in bonuses yesterday to the very same people they employ that brought the company and the Nation to the brink.These bonuses are disgusting and a slap in the face to every American that pays taxes.These people should not be allowed any bonuses regardless of contractual obligations made prior to the collapse.The Government has the authority,but not the intestinal fortitude to reign in these practices.Our congress can and must act to prevent another economic disaster from happening.This is only one of the issues i find important as the next election approaches,and i expect with the recent Supreme Court decision to allow corporate and union money into our elections,the people will be again left behind in exchange for the almighty dollar.Politicians have alot to fear from this decision as well,because with unlimited resources behind them,lobbyists for corporate america now control our elections and therefore our nation.If they want to retain or gain office,they will be forced to capitulate to the demands of wealthy companies that have nothing else but profits for shareholders in mind.With our deficit numbers at a record breaking number,our children and grandchildren will be left to repair the damage and pay the bills on this Government's decision to put corporations before the people of our nation.
Another issue i find important is the 2nd amendment to our constitution.This right will be addressed again by the Supreme Court later this year.The court recently decided in the case of District of Columbia v.Heller.by sayng the second amendment applies to "the People"not just the militia as was the official position of Government for the last thirty years.When they decieded this case in June of 2008,the people who want guns banned immediatly began to decry the decision as irresponsable and wrong.Now the court has announced it will hear Mcdonald v.Chicago,a case that addresses the incorporation of the second amendment under the 14th amendment,which if it ends in a win for the people,will mean it applies to the states.Under the Courts doctrine of "selective incorporation"the court is the entity that chooses which part of the bill of rights applies to the states.The way the current court is split at 5 to 4 on most important decisions,the conservative wing of the court should rule in favor of incorporation.This will solidify the people's right to bear arms permanantly and remove the fear of being disarmed by an authoritative corrupt and broken political system.The very text of the second amendment states that it protects something that is requisite to a free society.That text says "necessary to the security of a free state."
In the current atmosphere in washington,the gun banners have embraced terrorism as their new reason to deny American citizens the right to bear arms.A biil introduced by Sen.Frank Lautenburg-S.1317,the so called"Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act".The title of the bill is misleading seeing that it allows secret deliberations behind closed doors to deny American citizens their Constitutional right to bear arms without the ability to confront their accusers.Summaries and redacted versions of documents the Government agencies use as the reason people are to be denied these rights.The Supreme Court has stated in a previous time of national crisis"The Constitution of the United States is a law for Rulers and People,equally in war and Peace,and covers with its sheild of protection all classes of men,at all times,and under all circumstances."This principle needs to be remembered as we the people work to protect the fundemental freedoms that our founders envisioned neccesary to the protection of the last truly free and democratic nation on this earth.
My family is doing well right now,as my wife is still employed and we are lucky enough to have a roof over our heads and food for the table.The rest of the nation,on the other hand,is not so blessed.The economy seems to be emerging from the abyss,and it seems the worst is over as far as the economic problems we faced together.Job losses continue,and the prospects for job growth seems to be quite aways down the road,so i continue to assume the worst of the results from the crisis are yet to be realised.In this environment it seems inappropriate for me to speak to mine and my families problems,as the nation is struggling as a whole.My personal medical problems and concerns around raising a family will still remain topics i will discuss in this forum,but important national and local issues most probably will be regularly addressed as well.I still remain open to any and all suggestions from anyone taking time to read my thoughts and dreams for the future.As i end this post i want to mention i am posting another photo unrelated to the text in my commentary.It is a photo taken at camp while fishing on the pond in our family boat.This was one of the best days i had last year and this sunset was the end to a wonderful family outing.until next time,i want to say thank you for reading. Spacewalker