TLR and DQ's Blue Corn Bourbon

The stop sign this morning hosting the TLR sign is at U.S. 64 and N.M. 434, north of the main part of Angel Fire. TLR means "The Lone Ranger," a movie in production starring Johnny Depp as Tonto.

We were told that today's filming was somewhere near Cimarron. The people sharing the Sunset Grill with us last night at dinner appeared to be movie production staff. The Grill is at the base of the Angel Fire ski hill.

We first found TLR signs a couple of weeks ago as we drove along N.M. 485 from N.M. 4 toward the Gilman Tunnels. I had noticed the signs but could conjure no meaning. Then, an open area was parked with trailers and RVs. My observation was, "Movie shoot." Some people wee chatted with at the tunnels said it was "The Long Ranger."

DQ is the Don Quixote Distillery and Winery (http://dqdistillery.com) and, specifically for us, means the Don Quixote Blue Corn Bourbon Whiskey, which we learned existed yesterday. Cindy Capelli told us about DQ when we visited yesterday at the Vivac

winery. Capelli's new business is New Mexico Wine and Scenic Tours (www.newmexicowinetour.com). At Vivac she was leading two young women from Bristol, UK, who are on a two-week tour of the American southwest.

DQ has a two-page feature in the just released September issue of New Mexico Magazine.

The idea of bourbon made from blue corn gets two reactions. First is, huh? Then comes, cool.

DQ's new semi-Santa Fe tasting and sales outlet is located along U.S. 84/285 at the exit to go to Los Alamos.

Obama Context: The Four Paragraphs

These four paragraphs provide the immediate context for President Obama's statement to people who think they have built businesses that, "you didn’t build that." The paragraphs are copied from the 5,533-word address given July 13 in Roanoke, Virginia. The entire text can be found at www.whitehouse.gov. For "Press Office" and then go down the list by date.

In my column there wasn't space to deal with the sneering reference in the first paragraph... "it must be because I was just so smart." Remember that one from the playground. It went, "You think you're soooo smart." From the playground to the President in Roanoke, the line drips with contempt and arrogance.

"There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me -- because they want to give something back. They know they didn’t -- look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something -- there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there. (Applause.)

"If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.

"The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own. I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service. That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires.

"So we say to ourselves, ever since the founding of this country, you know what, there are some things we do better together. That’s how we funded the GI Bill. That’s how we created the middle class. That’s how we built the Golden Gate Bridge or the Hoover Dam. That’s how we invented the Internet. That’s how we sent a man to the moon. We rise or fall together as one nation and as one people, and that’s the reason I’m running for President -- because I still believe in that idea. You’re not on your own, we’re in this together."