Jun. 25, 2002 - 20:56 MDT

THE WONDERING JEW

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Am I the only person who has sat in a car in 90 degree weather with the windows open and steamed and stewed while waiting ? It seems that some people haven't done that particular thing. Another incident here in Denver, a couple left a child in the car while they went into an insurance agent's office, leaving car windows open. They said about fifteen minutes and they thought the child would be okay because it was asleep. It appears that they were in there longer than fifteen minutes too. Thing that really torques my jaws is that the kid had been sick enough to be under a doctor's care before the couple baby sat the kid. It is an established fact that a closed vehicle such as an aircraft left out in the sun has a rise in temperature to 160 degrees F. With something open the rise wouldn't be that high, but higher than the outside ambient temperature. Is it the, "Just this once will be okay type of thing ?" Or is it just the total disregard for the welfare of a helpless one. I wonder ?

There is an area in southern Colorado which in recent times was owned by a man named Taylor. This land was covered in an old Spanish Land Grant and the terms were that the populace would have access in perpetuity to graze cattle and obtain firewood from that area. Taylor fenced it in and patrolled it to the point that people could not get in to do those things. This thing has been a tug of war between the jocks with bucks and folk with rights dating way back. After forty years the Colorado Supreme Court said the locals (descendants of Spanish-American settlers) in that area do have access. Most of the people in that area are poor folk striving to exist the best way they can. The court didn't go so far as restoring access for hunting, fishing and recreation there though, which had been the normal use of the land prior to Taylor. Reminds me of the way Native Americans (formerly called American Indians) have been treated through the years. Every time something of value was discovered on land the Native Americans occupied, voila, comes some form of the Trail Of Tears. The poor folk around the Taylor Ranch couldn't get fair treatment pretty well for the same reasons. Forty years -- a generation more or less.

Again a study has been published revealing a fact that has been known to most of us since we got to the stage of adult thinking. This study deals with Ireland but I think applies to the world including the Ku Kux Klan types here. It basically says that children as young as 3 years old start learning to fear and loathe a different community (Catholic - Protestant) and blaming PARENTS (caps mine) and Northern Ireland's religiously divided school system. This study was conducted by the University of Uster and was commissioned by the government-funded Community Relations Council. Now ain't that a kick in the head. The University double domes have stated a fact that I feel thinking people have recognized like forever. So, now are they like me ? Recognizing a problem, making a statement but unable to accomplish a darn thing or get any other organization to bring about a change ?

So much for my string of constant Comments . . . . . . . .

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