We don’t need another hero…

Ashleigh and I watched The Assassination of Jesse James by The coward Robert Ford, released in 2007.  It stars Brad Pitt as Jesse James and Casey Affleck as Robert Ford.   It’s got a great cast and set design, the script is good, cinematography is top notch, the score is classic but the studio kind of botched it with the editing.  In my opinion. 

During the two hour and forty minutes It seemed as if there was something lacking in a few minor details contributing to the story.  I read somewhere the director originally turned in a film over three hours long but the studio took a knife to it and shaved off time.  For all I know that twenty minutes might make the difference but we will never know.  

One thing is for certain, Jesse James was a piece of work.  He was no hero, and during the commission of 25 robberies he committed at least 17 murders.  He was a cold blooded killer and his brother Frank was the brains of the operation if you want to call it that.  The film never really touches on their socio political ideology which was the alleged motivation for their crimes.  It’s been suggested that the James Gang was somehow carrying on a shadow war against the government of the United States as holdovers from the civil war which was a lame excuse.  They were used to robbing and pillaging as bushwhackers during the war and they had no other way to make a living after the hostilities came to an end.  It’s as simple as that, they’d rather live a life of crime as make an honest living.  

There was never much of a contrast or a context provided between the myth of Jesse James and the real person.  He was perfect fodder for a war he didn’t understand and again as a dime novel character for writers of the time. They promoted the man into folk hero status not because of ideology as much as profit as tales of his exploits sold books whether they were correct or not.  Missouri was known for two things at the time, Mark Twain and Jesse James until he was looked upon as a Robin hood character in stark contrast to his true nature.  

Ford was a child during the post war reconstruction period who read this pulp fiction romanticizing tales of the James Gang.  In his mind the James boys were revered as heroes but over the course of his dealings with them he discovered the difference between the men and the myth.  This is the ultimate message the movie struggles to convey as the coward Robert Ford comes to terms with his childhood fantasy and harsh reality. When he realizes the error of his folly he used a gun gifted to him by the infamous outlaw to shoot him in the back of the head to be free of the bondage he voluntarily placed himself in as a partner in crime. At first a willing participant over time he rejects the lifestyle he readily embraced which renders him no better than he was in the first place living a sad life that ended in tragedy 

He used this major event in his life as a launch spring for a short vaudeville career. He re-enacted the shooting of his hero over 800 times on stage for the entertainment of eastern audiences far removed from these hardscrabble outposts across the fruited plains.  In the court of public opinion Ford became mythologized as a cowardly little cartoon character as much as Jesse James had been a folk hero in the style of Robin Hood.  It was an odd twist of fate, but none the less fair because he was willing to do anything to become famous up to and including killing his childhood hero.  He attempted to escape the label he was branded with by using his profits to become the proprietor of a saloon, but remained a target of derision until his dying day.  Bob Ford was shotgunned to death behind the bar of his saloon in Creed Colorado in 1892, he was 30 years old.  

Here we were, all nestled in with our popcorn and that Jesse James was a mean son of a gun, he was absolutely no good.  He even sent the governor of Missouri a telegram that threatened to tear his heart out and eat it like bacon. The governor was portrayed by none other than James Carville.  Needless to say I was left to sweep up all the popcorn Ashleigh knocked over when she was sent scrambling for safety by this cameo appearance.

The movie portrays Robert Ford making a secret back room deal with the governor to eliminate Jesse James for a reward.  The evidence is murky but it suggests the government conspired to kill Jesse James after all other methods to bring him to justice had been exhausted.  

I thought Mr. Carville put in a fine performance, the guy has a broad range of talent but Ashleigh remained mortified until the end of picture.  As I’ve written in the past she’s very conservative, a border collie mix.

I survived some scary stuff no doubt about it that’s why I’m not too upset when someone threatens me on another platform.  At this point it’s too bad your feelings got hurt you commie fink.  That’s the problem with democrats they’re always looking for a reason to be outraged and their reasons are usually warped from years of indoctrination and mind altering chemicals.   I’m not going to get into a pissing match with someone over the use of a word they don’t like.   Go get offended some place else.  

Moments in time

 I found another double ‘fairy stone’ and a wild turkey feather on the trail.  The ground is littered with these fossils and I suppose they don’t mean much to anybody else but I’ve always been a relic hunter.  I spent a significant amount of time digging in the dirt looking for stuff but this is something different.   This stuff is much older.  Anyway, I like the moment in time things like this represent.   Sharks teeth found 200 miles inland, stuff like that.  

I should probably take a shovel out there and see what else we can dig up.  I’ve done a little further research and learned this stuff is at least 250 million years old, according to actual scientific research.  I’m shocked and amazed at the formations I’ve seen in addition to fossilized marine life lying on the ground.  Too bad there is no oil or gold in them there hills.  

I’m a fossil hunter, it’s always been fascinating to me as long as I can remember. I might as well do something with my time.   It’s certainly not hurting anything.  

The casual observer

 I went to wander the earth and get into adventures like Caine from Kung Fu. I told my daughter I’m being a cowboy in Wyoming.  I haven’t been on a lot of adventures lately.  Basically I go to work come home go to sleep and do it all over again. Throw in the occasional walk in the woods with my dog and that’s it. 

I’m an animal lover in addition to a casual observer of nature.  The dog runs off I take a little stroll looking for rocks, flowers, wild animals, domestic animals and whatever else. 

This was the first time I noticed a cactus flower.   It wasn’t in very good condition when I came upon it. When I went back a few days later it was gone. 

A beautiful pair of wild violet petunias.  They’re not actually petunias but they look like it.  

Native Americans used the white flower leafcup for medicine.  It was used  to treat swelling and inflammation.  I’m not sure on that one, the stuff might be poisonous for all I know.  

I found this crazy looking rock   It’s actually a super old example of shale which is fossilized sediment.  You can see there is a hole in the shale where a prehistoric snail burrowed into the mud and expired.  Over millions of years that snail shell deteriorates in place as the mud continues to dry through global calamities, the rise and fall of empires, until johnny comes marching along 100 million years later in 2025 and says, “Farout Man it’s a fossil!”  Then I take it home and sit it on the hearth and stick a wild turkey feather in it.  In folklore it’s called a hag stone and it supposed to protect you from the forest hag and other evil forces. I don’t have time to go into such nonsense.  Those things only have meaning if you believe in it.  

Update:  my mistake, the rock is actually limestone which is sort of like shale but composed primarily of calcium from the remains of organic matter such as shells and coral.  With my amateur experience the only thing I could relate to is shale because of the oilfields.  Shale is sediment, limestone is organic.  They're similar in the way they are created but comprised of totally different elements.

So with all that, here I am in the middle of flyover country, hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean and I’m finding evidence of marine life. I wonder what happened?  Does it even really matter what happened 100 million years ago?  Maybe.  

If you want to know how the world might end in the future you have to look to the past.  It’s obvious the climate changed to cause the fossil but I didn’t have anything to do with it, just like I don’t have anything to do with the climate changing in the future.  It happens with or without me.  I’m not saying go out and burn down the rain forest, but for god sake I’m not going on a guilt trip about the way I live now to satisfy a pack of power mad lunatics.  Have a nice day.   You know what you can do with this rock. 

Note to self: You don’t end a correction with an insult.  Ever.  Nice try at bullshitting your way through this one. But it’s still an F.  

The answer

 I’ve been off to better starts in terms of writing.  It doesn’t matter it’s all a big mess.  For a blog that nobody reads it sure has caused me a lot of trouble.  

Like the time I wrote something in an email to an actual author and it found its way into the Las Vegas newspaper.  I’ve since heard the same line used in recent months.  All I could do was chuckle to myself because I remember the exact time when I wrote it.  It’s cool.  I’m not even going into it because it doesn’t matter.  Use it all you like.  If I hear it repeated again I’ll do a blog post about it.  Because over the years I’ve changed.  That’s all I can say.  I will take something I wrote 20 years ago, intended to be an insult and turn it into a diamond of wisdom. I probably still have the email truth be told, I should look and see.  

This is what I would say to that person I was 20 years ago.  

Answer a fool according to his own folly or he will be wise in his own eyes.  

Proverbs 26:5

 

Home on the range

 I started writing the last two days and filed them in the trash.  So here we go again.   

I moved away from California two years ago into a barn converted to a house that stands on the site of an original log cabin built in the 1790s.  In the late 1970s someone bought the log cabin dismantled it and moved it to a museum.  At that point a barn was constructed and a dairy operation commenced.   Sometime in the late 90s the dairy barn was converted to a house.  It hadn’t been lived in for a number of years when I moved in so I had to clean up a bunch of stuff. It’s been a real dog fight at times, in addition to the actual dog, Ashleigh.  She loves watching television with me.  She’s a real astute follower of politics.  I gave up on politcs a long time ago but she can’t get enough of that stuff.  

The only time I can change the channel is when somebody like James Carville comes on and she runs to hide under the bed.  Right now she’s locked outside because it’s been raining and she’s wet so I’m watching a WNBA game having a cup a tea.  Finally, I get a break from the political carousel this fucking dog has me riding.  If it’s not Bill Maher it’s Fox News, I can see why she like them both Bill is a friend to animals and she likes foxes a lot.

Speaking of foxes I think she was involved in a little brannigan out here with some of the coyotes.  I came home from work and she had been fighting with someone who took a chunk of fur out of her side.  Coyotes are good in certain places but not where you have livestock and pets they try to molest.  Coyotes kill rodents such as rats and mice but they will attack much larger animals like cattle and gang up on them in a pack.  That’s when they become a real pest and there is no such thing as catch and release, they gotta go.  If you saw the price of cattle these days you’d understand.  Where do you think those steaks come from?  

I live on a little cattle operation, it’s not my deal but I can observe what’s going on.  That’s part of the reason why I don’t say where I’m living and give exact coordinates with the little orphan Annie secret decoder ring.  They don’t need cattle rustlers coming through, which is an actual thing in the 21st century and I’ve had enough problems. 

 

Full leather jacket

 Here I go again on my own.  Going down the only road I’ve ever known….

Whitesnake 

Use it or lose it, I’ve got a lot to say and I’m sure my days are numbered.  With each word I move closer to the edge.  All of our days are numbered, you never know.   One minute you’re eating a taco the next you’re being run over by a drunk driving illegal alien.  It happens.  

True story, but right now I don’t have time to regale the audience with tales of yore. 

I was like Zorro and then I was almost dead.  The night before we had seen Metallica at Selland Arena in Fresno.  It was right after the the black album came out, so early 1992.  I remember I was wearing my leather jacket or I’d have had serious road rash.  That jacket is still hanging in my closet right now.   Anyway, it doesn’t matter too much to anyone else but I was given a second chance at life way back then and then a third chance after all that unpleasantness back home.  God sees the truth, and that’s all that matters.