Sometimes things show up in the least expected places.
And at a Central California salmon hatchery isn't one of them. But the subject is drought, one of the worst on California record. Yet that's where it sprouted last time a bad drought hit the Golden Bear state.
According to the Wall Street Journal, California farmers "are squaring off against Indian tribes, environmentalists, and fishermen over the Federal release of water to aid salmon."
This dispute is just one small crack in a huge crack in a large wall that separates environmental extremists and others. It's a small metaphor for large forces around the globe at work that eventually have the ability to tear society apart it its very seams. And it's growing.
Such things become all but routine when the pendulum of common sense swings too far. Food, humans, jobs or salmon? Many would agree that the intolerance of fundamental Islamism and fundamental Christianity are part of the same intolerant pendulum swung too far.
Middle ground in these issues is rapidly joining the middle class, an endangered species rushing towards non-existence. These are hardly pretty thoughts, but that's the nature of reality. Divisions grow almost daily. The last two administrations, one Republican, the other Democrat, have been among the most divisive in the history of the Republic. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a partisan.
The incompetence and arrogance of politicians and bureaucrats globally provide tinder for the flame that burns dimly, latent for the moment. But it's there and only the naive and irrational choose to ignore it.
A friend recently stopped by a national grocery chain store to pick up some squaw bread for the upcoming holiday. When she couldn't find any, she inquired about it to the the manager who, to her surprise, told her the vendor a few months earlier informed him they stopped making it.
Reason? The name squaw, which has been around for years describing the delicious brown bread, offended people. So rather than change the name, the company decided to just quit making it. Trivial, you claim? Don't think so.
Here's another recent one. Forget the National Football League's Washington Redskins. This one is a bit more personal. Read "An Interesting Thing Happened To Me Today" at http://www.dailyspeculations.com/wordpress/?p=9617
Like in the stock market, there's the old saying about the straw that breaks the camel's back, a misnomer in our view because nobody knows for sure which straw actually did the damage since they all contribute to the problem.
Only in retrospect--and even then it's still a lot of guessing-- does what issue tanked the market become somewhat clear.
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