Appalled, just appalled

I admit it's not hard to appall me. I can get indignant over rude drivers, ill behaved children (not my grandchildren, of course), miscarriages of justice, you name it. I find a new cause a day, but today I've found two.
The first is a Texas Panhandle rancher, supporter of Hillary Clinton, who has started a website to boost John McCain, now that Obama is the Democratic candidate presumptive. I won't dignify the website with a URL or name, but it has attracted 100,000 hits and 35,000 supporters. The nameless rancher plans to organize them to run ads against Obama in key swing states and to find out information to use against Obama. And he is, he says, a loyal Democrat. He's not even a loyal American, and I hope Senator Clinton herself swoops down on Wellington, Texas, to box his ears. To seek ways to defame a man out of sour grapes is about as low as you can get. I wrote a letter about this to the Star-Telegram and it was published this morning, before I read the latest. But I am appalled (yes, truly!) that Clinton supporters think they should seek vengeance by supporting Senator McCain. If they supported Clinton in the first place, then this action does her great disrespect and goes against everything she was campaigning for. The microsize of some people's brains amazes me--okay, it appalls me too.
This morning on NPR as I drove to work I heard a fascinating report on golf courses. It seems that Palm Springs, California, out there in the desert, has some 50-plus golf courses, and each one uses as much water IN A DAY as the average family of four uses in four years. Come on folks, where was golf invented--in cool and wet Scotland, for sure not in the desert. Melinda tells me there was a move to build a course in Lajitas, Texas, down by the border in Big Bend country where water is precious. It sparked a massive controversy, and I don't think its built yet--but the land is cleared. The encouraging news is that the golf industry (is it an industry?) is beginning to recognize the problem and take steps to go green--which means the greens may turn brown. But, hey, if you want to play golf in the desert, learn to do it on scruffy, scrubby hard ground with cacti--and maybe you could have a few small greens. No water traps, though. This may anger my golf-playing friends, but come to think of it, I don't have many of those--and they probably wouldn't read the blog anyway.
Summer has definitely come to Texas--it's hot and muggy tonight, though Betty and I took hamburgers to Jeannie and Jim and there was a wonderful breeze on their patio--to the point it nearly blew over the wine glasses. Yet the minute we got to the other side of the house, it was still and hot. When I got home I realized one glorious advantageof summer--at 8:45, it wasn't dark yet. Don't know if that's enough to carry me through three and a half months of heat, but it's nice. Now if it would only stay dark until at least 7:00 in the morning, Scooby would sleep. But no, the days are long.