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.

Global Warming crowd resemblels Galileso's persecutors

Mr. Gale (4/2/11 Des News) means well, but he errs when he concludes that man causes climate change (he means global warming), claiming that all scientists believe and only self-serving politicians don’t. He ventures far beyond his literary area of expertise. Many reputable scientists believe any global warming represents earth’s own cycles, not man’s actions. The know-it-all so-called scientists clamored in the ‘50s that we were suffering a disastrous global cooling trend – beginning a new ice age. They were wrong then too. Ironic how the man-is-central attitude of these supposedly enlightened ones resembles the attitude of those who persecuted Galileo for stating that the sun rather than the earth was center of the solar system. Both crowds dangerously over-inflate the place of man in affairs of the heavens.

A mother's day poem

MOTHER'S DAY OF HOPE
(For mother: Hope Beus)

To Mother on this mother’s day:
Where you have gone I cannot go,
send flowers, cards, or telephone.
It’s been foretold you see and know -

and often wince at our mistakes.
And I will add from knowing you,
you smile and pray for all our sakes.
For those are part of what you do.

You’re reverenced still in countless ways
To you this day I raise pean,
look forward to your charm again,
and cherish days with you – long gone.

Edwin

So, government shut-down coming up.

Martin and Buehner won't give in, Reid and Senate Demos won't either. Even our favorite Eloquent Ditherer Obama has gotten involved. Still little progress.
Republicans hope the monster national debt is so frightening even the general electorate will see need to hold firm until Dems agree to real cuts -- even with shut-down. Dems hope for shut-down and for public to blame the Repubs for it as being too extreme to justify, like they did last time -- even if the nation's finances go to hell in a handbasket.