This lady had a large bottom. Her friend did not have a large bottom. She is sitting in a blue chair. Her friend is floating in air.

I have it on good authority that this is how insanity begins.

December Morning

A video from my ride the morning after Christmas

Curtains and Things

Photographic odds and ends.

Dale Out West The Movie

September 2006. First trip to the West.

DOTS

Some of my art work.

Daily Intelligence Briefing???

PRESIDENT BUSH'S PERSONAL COPY OF DECLASSIFIED DAILY INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING FOR AUGUST 6th, 2001

Easter Sunday Statement by the President

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning, and Happy Magical Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Day. Yesterday, after weeks and weeks of listening to nosey reporters whine while my approval ratings sank into the crapper, I made a decision – which despite the fact that I said I'd never do it should NOT be interpreted as a Kerryesque "flip-flop" – to release one of my super-secret Presidential Daily Briefings. Now this particular PDB, entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US," was read aloud to me by Condi Rice on August 6th, 2001 – the same exact day I was due to leave for my first of many well-deserved month-long vacations at my luxury ranch in Texas. Well today, I trust that the American people will agree I did the right thing, when after glancing over that ridiculously vague memo filled with specific references to a domestic al Qaeda attack, I promptly skipped town for thirty fun-filled days of golf, jogging, and naps. Thank you.

Wonder When It Will End?

The Faces of War

War only creates more war.

The Day King George Was Crowned...

God?

Richard Dawkins on BBC News

Excellent

George W on Jeff Foxworthy Roast

Torture In American Prisons Under Bush's Watch In Texas

Guess we know where Abu Ghraib started...Texas!

Dale Out West THE END

This is the Nebraska national forest. Many years ago there were many trees in Nebraska. Some of the trees (like the Nebraska mountains) migrated elsewhere out of boredom. The rest were eaten by Lumber Cows: a rare bovine species with a love of bark and twigs.

Well...actually the tree on the right is the forest. The tree on the left is one planted by Homeland Security. The plan is that the tree on the left will become large enough to hide the tree on the right (aka the Nebraska National Forest) from terrorists. Terrorists will not be able to see the forest for the tree.

Homeland Security has good intelligence that the Nebraska National Forest is one of the top targets on Al Qaeda's hit list. The forest is being targeted by WMDs that Al Qaeda got from Iraq?...or was that Iran?...or Pakistan?...or North Korea? It seems that the entire world has WMDs and they are angry at us. I am glad that Homeland Security has the presence of mind to proctect a treasure like the Nebraska National forest.


The Iowa sunrise...the best sunrise because it is home. And that's all I have to say about that.

Dale Out West Part 13

This is the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City. Many Mormons were there. I did not take their pictures. It is believed that taking a Mormon's picture steals their soul. Sorry Mormons...I apologize. I could not help myself. The devil made me do it.

This picture is of the Bonneville Salt Flats. Many world speed records have been set there. The only vehicles I saw there were the campers of rednecks who ignored the signs asking them not to drive on the Salt Flats. Sorry rednecks...I apologize. I could not help myself. A Mormon made me do it.

This mountain is in Utah near Salt Lake City. It migrated here from Nebraska. Sorry Nebraska...I apologize. I could not help myself. A redneck Mormon made me do it.

This Utah Mountain is an illegal immigrant from Nebraska. The mountain picks fruit and sends most of its money back to Nebraska. Sorry immigrants...I apologize. I could not help myself. A hillbilly from Arkansas (aka Dale Hankins) made me do it. He will be punished. He will not be allowed to eat purple hull peas (his favorite) for a month.

Dale Out West Part 12

This mountain is in Wyoming. I believe that it moved there from Nebraska. Nebraska is too flat and boring for mountains.

This Wyoming Mountain also moved from Nebraska. Real estate prices are soaring in Wyoming. Many mountains have migrated there.


This sunrise if from Nevada. Where did it come from? Can you guess? Correct...it migrated from Nebraska.

Dale Out West Part 10

These rocks are at the bottom of a stream. They are under six feet of water. The water is very clear. It is not clear why I took a picture of rocks.

This fallen redwood tree is at least 300 feet long. I think 300 feet is the length of a football field. I do not think that this redwood could play football. It is dead.

This is a mountain in Nevada. The white line in front of the mountain is a salt flat. The white thing in back of the mountain is a cloud.

Dale Out West Part 9

These trees are in the Stout Grove of the Redwood National Forest. This is about the top third of the trees. The lower two thirds were too shy to be photographed.

This is the grove of redwoods George Lucas used for the Ewoks scenes in Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi.

This is another view of the Ewok (aka Stout) Grove. I waited for the Ewoks. I waited for Mr. Stout. They never showed up.

This is a rock and stream in front of the Stout Grove. The rock is over 30 feet high. It is about 150 yards in front of the trees. This gives you some idea of the height of the trees...and the rock.

Dale Out West Part 8

This is the Pacific Ocean in Washington or Oregon. I can't remember. Neither can the Pacific. It was very foggy making it difficult to be precise about our location.
This huge rock stands on the Oregon coast. It never gets tired.
People call this place the Devil's Churn. I do not know why. I saw neither Devil nor butter. People are silly. The rocks trees and water did not ask for new names.

Dale Out West Part 7

These flowers were outside my window in Crescent City. They bloomed there very quietly so I could get my rest before exploring the Red Wood Forest.
This fern was dying on a tree trunk near and Oregon Beach. As a last act of kindness it posed for my camera.
This bee is feeding on a flower near an Oregon Beach. The flower did not seem to mind.

Dale Out West Part 6

The Yellowstone River Canyon is awe inspiring. I cannot think of anything funny to say about it. There were many white haired old people looking at it. They were very funny - huffing and puffing up and down the trails. Wait a minute...I am a white haired old person!

Here we see a white haired old person enjoying the sun.

Pretty colored water. Pretty colored rocks. I got very tired of saying oooh! and aaah!

This water is falling down into the river below. Guess it got tired of being up so high. I know I did.

Dale Out West Part 5

Their are many hot springs in Yellowstone. Old Faithful is the largest. When I arrived to see it I was told that it would erupt again in 60 minutes. It actually erupted in 60 minutes and 15 seconds. I think its name should be changed to Old Fickle.

Dale Out West Part 4

I visited Wall Drug in South Dakota. Wall Drug was started by offering free "ice cold" water from their well. Judging from the size of this rabbit the well water evidently also contains growth hormones. I believe that this rabbit is from a subspecies called the Jack-a-lope.

Dale Out West Part 3

The first picture is of the mountains in northern Wyoming. They are majestic. The second picture is of me. I am not majestic. I am hairy.

Dale Out West Part 2

These pictures were taken in the Badlands National Park in South Dakota. I do not know why they are called "Bad". I did not see any misbehavior during my visit.

Dale Out West Part 1

Here I am in the Badlands. I am staring into the distance. What am I looking at? I cannot tell. It was too distant.

I am proud of this photo. I took it myself. I was going to ask some other tourists to do it for me but they ran away. Evidently the sight of me staring into the distance is frightening to other tourists. And small children. Also dogs. Perhaps even chickens. Oh well.

The Problem In Iraq

"The problem in Iraq is that people are being killed," said Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld in an interview on NPR this morning. Expressing anger that he had not been told of this development sooner, Rumsfeld said he will launch an investigation to find out who had been keeping the information from him.

"I had no idea...no idea at all that people were being killed," said Rumsfeld, "and believe me when I say 'heads will roll' when I find out who is responsible."

An anonymous Pentagon source revealed that Rumsfeld has suspected that people were being killed for some time. However, recent news reports of dozens of people dying caught the secretary by surprise. Evidently Rumsfeld thought that his new design for a "rapid response" military would allow war without death.

Rumsfeld says he is considering taking back all bullets from US troops. "I previously cut back on armor for humvees in order to lower the likelihood of US soldiers killing people. Clearly that was not successful. I am left with the unhappy choice of taking back all the bullets. Our troops will maintain their rifles. They can display them prominently. This show of force should be sufficient to deter the Iraqis. After all they are a cowardly people."

Richard Perle: Ugly Hair; Ugilier Ideas

Yesterday I saw a movie called, Why We Fight. It included an interview of Richard Perle, one of the key architects and supporters of the foreign policy that landed us in Iraq. His comments disturbed me. The gist of what he said was that the American character has changed; that most of us now support the Bush doctrine of preemptive wars. He said this is a good thing because it only makes common sense to kill those who would kill us before they have a chance to do so. The example he used to justify this thinking was that if someone was going to shoot you and you knew it in advance, you would shoot them.

Perhaps this is so. Perhaps we are doomed to believe that we “must do unto others before they do unto us”. For me the difficulty with this model is that it makes two false assumptions:

1. It assumes that I can, with certainty, predict the actions of another human or group of humans.
2. It assumes that killing those who would kill me will not harm innocent bystanders, and further, that this will not turn their friends and relatives into people who will want to kill me.

I lack Mr. Perle’s certainty on these matters.

With regard to the first point, I am not confident that I can know in advance that someone is going to harm me. Many times in my life I have been in conflict with someone only to find that we later become friends after talking through the cause of our conflict. How this might play out if I faced a potential killer on a dark street corner in a dangerous city I do not know. Perhaps there would be no opportunity to talk. Perhaps I would be dead. Nevertheless, my preference would be to try and talk even in this situation. Otherwise, I run the risk of what I consider a greater tragedy…taking a life unnecessarily. Perhaps, just perhaps there is a slim chance that I can talk to my potential killer and avoid death. Perhaps there is a bit of tenderness in him for how my death would affect my friends and family. Perhaps he would show me mercy. I hope he would. I hope I would show him mercy.

I am one of the fools who still chooses to believe that love and tolerance are always preferable to fear and vengeance. This is not because I believe all people are “good”. It is because I do not believe in my ability to judge such things as good or evil with certainty. For me life is not black and white; a binary system…at least not one I am capable of judging. Some of the most “evil” people I have met later turned out to have much “good” about them. My belief in love and tolerance is a practical matter. My life works better and I am happier when I practice love and tolerance rather than fear and vengeance. That is enough reason for me to practice love and tolerance. I prefer a short life filled by trying to act with love and tolerance to a lengthy one where I act on the principles of fear and vengeance.

This brings me to the second assumption underlying the Bush/Perle preemptive war doctrine – that we have the ability to kill the “evil doers” without harming innocent bystanders. Clearly this is not the case. Thousands of civilians die in all wars. Wars are not a precise business. Terms like “surgical strike” and “smart bombs”, “human shields” and “acceptable collateral damage” are lies. When I hear about a surgical strike on the enemy target and that there was acceptable collateral damage I can lull myself into believing that I am listening to reports of rationale humane activities. But if I am honest I must ask myself, “How humane is it to kill women and children?” and “How rational is it to mimic the actions of those who I call evil?” How rational is it to propose that the way to stop fear and vengeance is to engage in fear and vengeance? If I kill my potential killer on the street corner at night will not his injured children, friends and family seek vengeance on me? If I attack all who appear to threaten me will I not find myself alone, with only my fears to comfort me?

So, much as I respect Mr. Perle’s years of experience and vast knowledge, I must disagree with him. Not all American’s believe his idea that it is better to go to war with others before they go to war with us. I for one do not and I know there are others like me. The preemptive war doctrine sounds too much like the model used by other failed empires and the tyrants that ruled them. On a personal note, even if Mr. Perle and his kind decide to pursue lives based on fear and vengeance I cannot afford to do so. When I practiced this in the past it landed me in a mental institution. I have no desire to return.

Iris Eating Deer

Last summer I planted some Iris...transplants from some raised by my Grandmother Hankins. The deer ate them. I hated the deer. This spring the Iris grew and bloomed anyway. One of the blossoms is 8" tall and 7" wide. I no longer hate the deer.

I Don't Know What

This is a pix taken on a trip with my friend David. We went to the Coralville resevoir. As you can see, the photo has been heavily manipulated...just like my brain. I used software on the photo today and LSD on my brain back in the 1970's. Oh well. David said he enjoyed the trip.

Iowa City Tornado April 2006