A Day in the Life of Chaos

Patrick and Ira If ever I have had adventures in my life I must without a doubt include my friend Ira Wald as a partner in crime.  Ira and I spent four years together in Bolivia and during that time we used our investigative creativity to justify some ventures out into the far corners of the country.  There was almost no where Ira and I were not willing to go.  Both of us thirsted for new experiences and a chance to glimpse different parts of a wild land. Ira truly loved his job.  In the agency he is known as a Diversion Investigator.  Domestically this typically means they investigate corrupt doctors and pill mills yet in Bolivia his mission was different.  Ira was tasked at identifying companies that chose to use their manufacturing as a basis to buy chemicals that were later diverted into the production of cocaine.  Bolivia is a source country for cocaine production and thus obtaining needed chemicals for the conversion of coca leaves to the white powder was essential.  The i

One of the most frustrating things about being a Liberal is patience.  We are so desperate in our conviction to our beliefs that we want the world to shift over night.  We want peace, justice, compassion and civility to arrive like a torrential rain cleansing society of injustice and malaise.  We are filled with hope yet the very hope we cling to lays the ultimate seeds for much of our eventual frustration and dismay.   When we elect a candidate based on a message of hope and change we tend to envision it as if we are buying a product.  We simply have to take it home, open it up and we can sample the fruits of our labor and our money.  We hope it will be deliciously sweet, filled with all the promises that were made.  Often however, as the metaphor would come to suggest the flavor is much more complex. Little in America changes quickly. We always like to think it will yet we live in a system that for better or for worse does not allow this.  It can be frustrating at times as we se

Outpost Trinidad Part II.... Continued.... Day to day life in Trinidad meant the constant search for clean food.  This at times was a challenge as shipments form other parts of the country were irregular at best.  The decision was essentially find something and have a maid at the house cook it for you or play Russian roulette at a restaurant.  One experience that always brought a smile to my face was the hunt for chicken.  There are no supermarkets in Trinidad so when chicken was desired you had to pass by the chicken store.  In Trinidad this meant a visit to Pollos Imba.  Pollos Imba sold one thing, chicken.  The problem was that they only had chicken about 30 percent of the time.  The rest of the time the Pollos Imba girls simply hung out and responded to clients queries.  Typically it involved driving up in front of the store and rolling down the window.  Looking into the open front door you would catch the eye of the attendant. "Hay Pollo?"   You would sh