In sea of Glass . . . a place for woods.

THE WILDERNESS

The ancient maple stands defrocked
a gatepost to the wildeness.
Strewn down the slope behind,
its leaves still patch the dying grass.

The hills crowd in, their bulk and dark
surround the canyon's winding way;
and autumn, timeless, coming here
creates its own unique display.

The fall - of leaves and temperatures
came here two thousand years or three,
while tree and owl and rabbit ruled,
and men came only fleetingly.

Yet since a Man created this,
and saw these hills and called them good,
I trust somewhere in sea of glass,
is place for rabbit, owl and wood.

--Edwin H. Beus

Obama -- Pusillanimous Pussy Footer of the year

What a strange mixture of cowardice and courage is President Obama. First he cowardly-wise does absolutely nothing at all about the immigration crisis for two years, even with his party in control of both houses, and he sues both Arizona and Utah for their efforts to fill the void. But then he has the courage to order the high-risk attack to kill Bin Laden.

Now, with his political equity soaring from the Navy seals’ success, he has the nerve to stand at the border with Mexico and claim credit for decreased border crossings which everyone should know are chiefly due to decline in available jobs from our limping economy. He mocks Republicans for what he terms a “moat-with-alligators” attitude, and says the public must pressure Congress for a worker-pass system.

What a stark contrast to President Bush who proposed, and labored long and hard for immigration reform including both a re-enforced border and a worker-pass system. No such hard labor for Obama – it’s up to the people and the Congress. I nominate Obama for the Pusillanimous Pussy Footer of the Year award.

What you should know about frog eggs in space

Fascinating article in the 5/8/11 DesNews about Hillcrest High’s “Scramble to get [African claw] frog eggs into space” raises again the critical citizenship questions. Will the tadpole be a U.S. citizen, a natural born citizen, a possible future president frog? Is the spacecraft under U.S. jurisdiction to make him a citizen automatically? What kind of birth certificate would he have, and could we trust it? Only Donald Trump knows for sure.

Is he a “natural born” citizen eligible to be president frog by reason of citizen parents? His family being African frogs raises serious questions of his parents’ citizenship. But perhaps the highest hurdle of all for him to clear is that his parents were undoubtably wetbacks. A large segment of the local population would never stand for a wetback-born president frog. My advice to Mr. Frog: forget about tangling with all these knotty American issues and run for president of the Solar System

I believe in Music – Swanees Concert

The Swanee Singers male chorus founded in 1948 will be in concert at 1750 E. Spring Lane, Salt Lake City, on our lucky Friday the 13th of May, 7:30pm -- admission free. Come enjoy the power and excitement men’s voices raised in song – jazz, spirituals, anthems, songs of the 20s; and my daughter Annalyn Beus Osborn’s soaring soprano in serious and comic performance. The Swanees directed by Dr. Jay Campbell and Bill Hesterman, continue a great choral tradition which included performing at LDS General Preissthood Meetings,and J. Sencer Cornwall among early conductors.