I could be guilty of aiding and abetting...

"To assist the perpetrator of the crime while sharing in the requisite intent." United States v. Martinez, 555 F.2d 1269, 1271 (5th Cir. 1977). To sustain a conviction for aiding and abetting, the Martinez court noted that the evidence must show that defendant was associated with the criminal venture, participated in it as something he wished to bring about, and sought by his action to make it succeed.”

So it goes, the definition of aiding and abetting. If some of the ethnically challenged right-wingers have their way I would have broken the law yesterday. We were in Northern CA, in the middle of a heavy pacific storm driving between two communities. It is about a 25 mile drive. We passed a young Hispanic kid and offered him a ride. His English was no good y nosotros Espanol no es tan bueno pero... He said something we did not understand until I got to an online dictionary today, “Carcel, carcel, policia?” I knew the “policia” part and I could say “no estamos policia.” Carcel means jail I found out. This kid was not hitchhiking just walking in the downpour. He thought we were the ICE people and we were taking him to jail. After we convinced him we were not the Feds he was reluctant to get in. "Sientese en la siya, por favor," I asked. He made it clear he was wet and was worried about our rental car. We drove him to the next town where he had amigos waiting for him and maybe a job. We left him the cash we had, which was not much, after vacation. He could get a hamburger con queso at the local Micky D’s and maybe a coat instead of his Wal Mart quality sweatshirt.

I celebrate this small act of 'aiding and abetting' a young man in his quest for a job and something better than the life he left in Mexico. Who knows, what if this kid were my son or grandson? By our actions and maybe some others we hope he will succeed and be safe. Let us hope the more reasoned and kind among those are seeking their party's nominations in this election year will prevail.

Thankful for water heaters and immigrants

After playing with the dog Taja this morning, (she belongs to K, A , and kids), I went to the sink to wash my hands before starting breakfast. I generally am the breakfast cook at our house. Besides, RA has more important things to do, namely, apple, cherry, lemon meringue, peach, pumpkin pie, as well as the turkey and stuffing.

Just a simple turn of the valve and the hot water was coming from the faucet.

I am grateful for many things. I am grateful our friend Martha is battling and surviving her cancer. I am grateful for Kelly who taught me intellectual honesty, whose influence by and large has resulted in all of our kids having the same intellectual honesty, as well as being compassionate Arepublicans. I note with anticipation that it will be only a year and some weeks until ‘W’ exits the White House stage while the props are crashing around him. Truly, as Jimmy said he is the worst president we have ever had.

I am profoundly grateful for life, for my family, my grandsons and health, also I must include Gordon B. Hinckley, who aside from my father and Grandpa Henderson is the most admired man in my life. Soy agradecido tambien para la ceremonia del velo en Español and mis Latino amigos y hijos. Thanks for good friends, for freedom, for Bridge - who can exercise her agency on any Sunday even in Cache Valley. Add immigrants to my list, also George Harrison’s music. I too ‘don’t need no wah wah’. I am entranced with the Redwood forest, love my brother George who taught me to dive for abalone. W.P. Lyon - my grandfather is a personal hero. He survived an 1844 excommunication at the hands of a small man, William Marks, in Nauvoo. I require and appreciate hot peppers, Sweet Mayans, Walla Wallas, hunting, and most significantly the love and patience of an eternal partner and companion, but as I gazed out the window seeing the frost in the field and upon the grass in the yard, I am grateful for hot water and water heaters.

My gratitude for water heaters is both immediate and iconic for the contributions of so many who have gone before and how enriched my life is in so many ways. When great Uncle Parley built this house in 1890 it had no water heater, just a stove in the kitchen that might have been one of those ‘wet backs’, meaning some copper pipe that snaked its way through the stove back, that heated water when the fire was lit. It was not until 1889 that an immigrant fellow and mechanical engineer named Edwin Rudd in Pittsburg developed the first modern water heater. Thank you Edwin Rudd for my hot water on this day of gratitude.