Stuff...

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Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

- C.S. Lewis
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My daughter Robin has submitted her short story "The Blue Swing" (posted here last year) to Teen Ink magazine. She wants me to mention it because visits and votes are what will get her from online to actually being published in the print edition. So... if you are so inclined, go visit and give her a boost. Here is Robin, in full writing mode:


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And while I'm at it, better get this one out of the way. This is another road trip photo. When I take these, I'm driving... but don't worry! I'm not looking through my viewfinder, I just point the camera in the general direction and shoot. Alex and Kita in the back seat:



(Alex is the one on the left)
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On one of my drives in the coast range, at Alsea Falls, I stopped at this private roadside picnic area. It is a pretty nice spot along the river. I got out and was checking it out... but then I noticed the picnic table. I mean really noticed:



... and I remembered a story I had heard about one of Oregon's old family timber mills having cut a single board for a picnic table. Hull-Oakes Lumber cut this table in 1986 (and the picnic area is their company picnic site). Nothing exciting about that you say? What if the board -- that is one, single board, almost 1,000 board feet -- is 85 feet long, 34 inches wide and 4 inches thick. Now that's a slab! There are not many mills that can cut such a massive board... Hull-Oakes is a steam driven mill tucked back into the end of a valley leading up into the east side of the coast range, a real nice place.
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I have found a larger venue for some of my writing. I've already posted here a bit on the drug war, but this isn't where I want to talk about that topic.

Sooo... I was talking with Tim King, editor of Salem-News.com and they will be publishing my work there. And as drug policy is my political focus these days that provides me a great outlet with a far bigger readership. Here at Morning Donut, since I installed the ClustrMap, I've had just over 11,000 page views in 2 years or so. In the first 3 days of the article being posted at Salem-News there were 15,000 page views. (And to you folks coming here from there, welcome to my humble little corner of the wwworldwwwide wwweb).

I also received over 40 comments. Here is that article: President Used Marijuana but Mocks & Dismisses Legalization



I mean I'm not shy about being an activist. I prefer to do it privately but that defeats the whole point of being politically active, so... but it is a nice non-paying pat on the back to draw so many people (it was a record setter at Salem-News). I'm still looking for that paying gig though. sigh...
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And here is a mish-mash of images, most of them I don't think I've posted before. And please remember... I am a poor and struggling single dad and I just love selling my photos. So any image (pretty much) you see here is for sale as a framed print. Just contact me.

Enjoy!



(man... I've got coffee cake baking in the oven... mmmm... smells so good. I'll let you know how it turned out... )












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"The smoking of the leaves, flowers and seeds of Cannabis sativa is no more harmful than the smoking of tobacco... It is hoped that no witch hunt will be instituted in the military service over a problem that does not exist."

-- "The Marijuana Bugaboo,"

editorial in the Military Surgeon, by Col. JM Phalen, 1943

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