Today May 14, 2007 brief and personal

Good morning

We are back to our modest home. We got in late last night after a thousand-mile car trip that began at dawn and went on and on and on. I have new respect for over-the-road truck drivers - I would not like to spend my life this way.

Having the funerary rites for your mother-in-law on the day before Mother's Day is not the best of all possible situations. I think that is not a controversial statement. We got to see a number of family members and old friends and acquaintances. Some made us to recall better times. Some reminded us why we had not had contact with them in more than 20 years. Some of the situations were just plain awkward. One woman showed up, most of us did not know who she was; she was one of the many children that my brother-in-law had fathered by his many wives (I think he's closing in on a dozen now, but that may be low) and numerous ''meaningful overnight relationships''. She seemed nice enough but it did make for some interesting dynamics. There were all the varieties of social dynamic that seem to accompany such things - the sides that were taken in various intra-family disputes played out as islands of people clumps were in the midst of the eddies of the marginally involved.

At any rate, we are glad to be home. I paid $3.199 / gallon for gas in NE Ohio - as we traveled south and west it fell and fell. I think I saw a sign saying $2.82 last night but by then I was bleary-eyed. Matt Drudge's site is showing $4 + in some places - I imagine it's those places ''blessed'' by the sort of superior leaders that the evening TV propaganda shows think we need to have in office. A plague be upon them.

The area we were in is bounded by Akron in the west and the Mahoning Valley in the east. It used to be a major manufacturing center. Now, the combination of offshore manufacturing, thick-headed management, absolutely venal unions, corrupt politicians, the Mafia (yes, I mean that), the illegitimati in the EPA, and a one-party region (yes, the Democrap one), have collided to yield rows of empty factories, closed stores, empty parking lots, and burned-out houses. We went by one facility Friday morning en route to the funeral home. It's 3/4 mile long complex dedicated to automotive components. It used to be called Packard Electric, Division of General Motors Corp., but it now is under the dead weight of the bankrupt Delphi Automotive Corp., and the employee lots that are not totally empty have only a few cars. I am told that, once all of the realignment and downsizing is complete, that the operation which once employed well over 10,000 will have 700 total. But they still have their idiot union which totally supports the Democrat stranglehold on the area. And I know of many similar situations - drive through Akron some time if you doubt me.

It's been a week to think about death a lot. Of individuals, obviously. But also of hopes, dreams, communities, efforts. Too much of those thoughts and a whole lot of windshield time on a 16-1/2 hour drive. Sorry to be negative today. It's been a rough spring.