If you haven't got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me." - Alice Roosevelt Longworth

For some reason I'm really sleepy, so this might be really brief.

We went to the Noti Pub for taco Tuesday. BIG and very good tacos, chicken or beef, for $1.50 each. Pam had one and I had two plus a Pepsi, we added sour cream and salsa, and still had a tab of less than $7.75 before tip. I'm pretty generous with a tip for a deal like that, especially because the waitresses are working like crazy to keep up with the crowd.

Sunday after church Pam will attend a mandatory meeting for anyone who wants to help with children's ministries so I'll get lunch on my own. While at the Noti Pub I looked on my phone for options near where she'll be for the meeting and stumbled on the website for Poppi's Anatolia. It's not a place I'd go by myself, but I think Pam and I need to put this on the list for the next time we're celebrating a special occasion. Check out the menu! Very traditional Greek food that looks fascinating, and not outrageously expensive.

We like trying ethnic food. When we moved to Phoenix we tried to go out once a month to a one-off ethnic restaurant. Sometimes we left with a definite meh, but we discovered some we really enjoyed. We went back a couple of times to a one-off Persian restaurant in a run down strip mall that was excellent, especially his fresh humus. And an Ethiopian place down by ASU.

I got about half of those rounds split before I ran out of steam. Swinging that maul is real work. So I set that aside and fixed the gate to the goat pen and started the install of the pump for the shallow well I'll use for irrigation and the animals.
I listened to Robinson Crusoe while working and felt an affinity for his narrative. We're both pioneers, he's just a little more extreme. I'm splitting and stacking wood for heat, raising chickens, goats, fruit, and vegetables for food, and getting a '59 Chevy truck ready for the road. (That last one doesn't line up with Robinson's efforts, but he did build a canoe.)

I voted today. While Pam was at her ladies Bible study I sat in Starbucks and filled out my ballot before working on section three. In Oregon everybody gets a mail in ballot a couple of weeks early, so relatively few people go to the polls on election day.

I voted No on Prop 100. It outlaws the sale of specimens or body parts from 12 species of endangered species within the state.
That puts me in a pretty small minority. The campaign for the measure has raised over $2.5 million and those opposed have raised exactly ZERO dollars.
I'm all about preserving endangered animals. Yeah, I'll raise, kill, and eat a goat, but I totally support protecting endangered species. I see it as part of our stewardship of God's creation, a mandate passed down from God's instructions to Adam. So why vote against Prop. 100?
'cause it's silly.
Almost all of those animals are already covered by national laws prohibiting the sale of body parts, so the state law is redundant and superfluous.
But mostly it allows a bunch of people who have never been close to an animal other than the family pet, except maybe for a trip to the zoo, to feel like they're doing something substantial to save rare species.
Anyone in Oregon who buys a rhino horn or tiger skin will not be dissuaded because Prop 100 is on the books. If those transactions actually take place (it's pretty unlikely) they're happening in a back alley, not a shop on Main Street.
The law is another example of arm's length virtue. We vote for a law that sounds good, makes us feel good about ourselves and our efforts to make the world a better place, without actually doing anything that might inconvenience us or cost us a dime.
I vote for Prop 100 and go to bed feeling quite good about myself, congratulating myself for doing something to save the planet and a Jaguar from the Amazon jungle.
Nonsense.
And another example of phony idealism. It strikes me as in the same vein as the protesters in North Dakota who have come from all over the country to oppose the oil pipeline being run across private land there. They drove their fossil-fueled SUV's across the interstate to protest an oil pipeline, and then stop to fill up before driving home, congratulating themselves on their virtue and willingness to stand up against the destruction of our planet.

I call bogus.

I'm probably the only person in Oregon who voted against Prop. 100. I support the protection of endangered species, plant or animal, but have little patience with self-righteous hypocrisy.