Dances With Dragons

June 30

My wound is healing well. The stench from my leg has receded, and the numbness has been replaced by an incurable itching, suggesting that circulation has been restored and the healing proceeds apace. May the Husband and Wife bless General Omorkay and his pet witch-doctor.

My would-be suicidal stunt, racing a horse in front of lizard-man bowmen, seems to have had the opposite effect from what was intended. Their incredibly unlucky marksmanship made the previously feared scalies the laughingstock of the war and rallied the troops' will to fight. Instead of finding death, I have found life, and praise and recognition to boot.

General Omorkay offered me any reward I wished. I chose to take my horse, and my rifle, and a posting in a remote outpost in the West. They say that magic is fading from the lands, replaced by the wonders of technology, and only in the West does any vestige remain. I must see it for myself before it is all gone.

I sit the saddle well enough despite my leg's everpresent itching, and I have food and equipment to last me until the wild frontier. I am quit of this neverending war, and a life of adventure lies before me. I plan to enjoy the days that remain to me as if each one were my last.

I wonder if I shall see a dragon.

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Fracturing

If you're wondering why this country's struggling so much lately, you don't need to look any further than the environmental crazies. Just look at our nation's search for energy independence. Some smart people come up with a method of fracturing shale formations so we can extract a lot more energy from American energy properties, and what happens? Immediately the greenie weenies come crawling out of the woodwork. Bad for the little guy, they say. Too much damage to the ecosystem. Too few protections. Not enough this. Way too much that. Blah blah blah.

Look, I'm here to tell you that we have got our priorities all backwards. Our dependence on foreign energy has us at the mercy of other nations and powers that are often hostile to American interests. If some enterprising people come up with a way to wean us from the teat of OPEC, then we shouldn't be blocking them at every turn. We ought to be grateful, and not stand in the way of them saving us from ourselves.

And if that means that we need to deal with the consequences of a few lignite giants coming crawling out of the earth, then by God that's what we should do.

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