Assorted Misgivings and Trepidations

More than immoral, it was criminal

2011-11-14T09:44:00.002-05:00

Sorry to say, I don’t believe that justice will prevail at Penn State
The actions of the student body the other day say it all:
Winning football games takes precedent over anything else
Including exposing child abuse.

Sandusky is a monster and will be prosecuted, but what about the monsters that sheltered him and turned a blind eye to his abuses?
Nine years have passed since the initial eyewitness report of child sexual abuse was delivered to university athletic and academic administrators.
The coach and his superiors took no action, and failed to report the abuse to the police.
This week supporters embarrassed themselves honoring the man who protected a child abuser in order to win football games.
I cannot imagine anyone being a bigger asshole than these people

In any other situation, any other institution, the handcuffs would be flying.

Just Gonna Say It

2011-11-03T08:45:00.002-04:00

Ok... here it is:
Who the hell is Kim Kardashian?
Just another American Non-celebrity
Tits, Ass, and a big mouth that says nothing...

Why the hell would anyone care about her marital status?
This is NEWS???

I think not

The time has come for OCCUPY HOLLYWOOD

Sarah's horror show

2011-01-21T12:57:00.000-05:00

I saw you on Hannity...
Disgusting!

Let us get it straight right now
I am not accusing you of setting the gunman in AZ off
I am accusing you of bad taste
I am denouncing your offensive, violent, "Hate Rhetoric" which has not stopped, and you will not apologize for

You claim there is no violent intent to your military style tactics,
Yet while you used the inflammatory terms and graphics, you simultaneously placed the crosshairs of your rifle over a caribou's heart and executed it in cold blood on National television.

You implied violence, and then committed a violent act, with a smug defiant look on your face the whole while.

And now on Hannity
You admonish the left and claim the finger pointing has to stop. and then you label the gunman as a liberal in almost the same breath.

Hypocritical bitch

You went on to say that if not for the liberal's double standards, they would have no standards at all...

The delightful look on your face as you said this says it all
You think you are clever!

Oh My GOD!!!!

Believe me Sarah
You are not

Trust me
I have standards

Why do you think I find you so offensive?

Unapologetic

2011-01-12T11:13:00.005-05:00

Sarah will not apologise for her hateful inflammatory tactics
How presidential!

Next she will be asking us to "Target" all those who criticize her rampant stupidity

Meanwhile, Glenn Beck illustrates the Tea Party's blatant and dangerously moronic hypocrisy:

Guilty of inciting MURDER?

2011-01-10T12:03:00.011-05:00

Sarah Palin "targeted" Congressmen and women under the cross hairs of a gun and asked her followers to "take them out"

Gabriel Gifford responded:

We need to realize that the rhetoric, and the firing people up and ... for example, we're on Sarah Palin's targeted list, but the thing is, the way she has it depicted, we're in the cross hairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they've got to realize that there are consequences to that action...

Now Sarah wants you to believe she is not complicit...

Of course Sarah was not asking anyone to commit violence, she was asking for votes, and this incident, for her, was an enormous and inconvenient coincidence...

Or was it?

Perhaps her political tactic to use a gun sight to emphasize the idea of "targeting" certain congressmen and women for "termination" was not only outrageously insensitive and ill conceived, but downright stupid.
Especially when you consider that she was making plans to hunt down and shoot to death a live caribou on national television at the time.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

She also contends that it was an oversight, leaving up the web pages encouraging people to "target" (complete with images of cross hairs) members of congress, after the election.

Oversight or not?
Either way

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

She claims that it was unforeseeable that there might be people out there who were mentally unstable enough to take the idea seriously...
This comment alone should demonstrate once and for all that this woman is much too ignorant and simple minded to lead or manage anything beyond the complexity of a lemonade stand.

Yes this is a free country, and speech is still relatively free as well, and Sarah Palin is free to illustrate her politics, her tactics and her agenda as she pleases.
However, there is such a thing as going too far.

She shouted "FIRE" in a crowded theater and she should now pay the price, politically, and legally.

Turn Her OFF - Please!

2010-11-20T11:52:00.003-05:00

Simply put:
Sara Palin will NOT shut up until YOU shut her up
Please do not buy her books, watch her shows, or take an interest in her unfortunate, irrelevant children.

Engage instead, her hypocritical, inane arguments, and policies, with rational intelligent debate.

For instance
Governor Palin was in favor of, and implemented laws to encourage, the systematic hunting, slaughtering and eradication of Alaskan wildlife, such as Grizzly Bear and Wolves.

TV host Palin would like you to travel to Alaska and participate in "Bear watches", and "Wolf watches" while you appreciate the wonderful wildlife of the Alaskan wilderness.

Just which animals are we supposed to watch?
The ones being hunted to extinction by public policy in the wild, or the carcases of the poisened, slaughtered, and mutillated animals, taken for bounty...

Start to Finish

2010-10-06T11:47:00.002-04:00

Michael Vick the self styled sadist and executioner of dogs is now the starting quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles.
And so I am now finished with professional football

NFL = DEAD to me

I will not watch, endorse or even think about another game played in this league
I will make a point not to purchase from companies that advertise there

If Hitler himself was alive today, and if he could run and catch a ball, I am sure he would have a fine and prosperous career waiting for him in the NFL

Killers and criminals playing a game for millions of dollars, for our entertainment.
Well I am not entertained - I am disgusted beyond belief
Shame on you, shame on you all

About that Islamic Center...

2010-08-18T11:53:00.000-04:00

Why would Americans abandon the Bill of Rights and the founding sentiments of this nation?
After much agonizing thought, I begin to see the rational of those opposed.
It comes down to this:
If we prevent the building of this cultural center, the terrorists and sleeper cells alike will have NO PLACE to plot against us – thus America will be safe forever
GENIUS!!!
Also there is the added plus of showing them WHO IS BOSS, thus eliminating any cultural friction or hard feelings.

If this sounds silly to you, please take a moment to reflect.
The opposition’s paranoia is amusing at one level.
But at the base level it is frightening, disgusting, nauseating…

These people have been waiting for an issue like this to provide a cloak for their unfettered bigotry.
They want to escalate the issue and bring some kind of holy war to the streets of my beloved melting pot, NYC.

And for WHAT?
So we can reenact the ridiculous savage nonsense that is playing itself out in Jerusalem and other “sacred” places in the middle east?

This is not only stupid, it is decidedly UN American.

Let us demonstrate to the world why they should still respect our love of freedom and our sense of Democracy.
Let us show tolerance, and respect, to our fellow New Yorkers.
Let us trade paranoia for trust
Let us invest in our future, our health and our safety
Let us reach out to the part of the Islamic world that denounces terrorism
Let us remember what it is the pilgrims came here for, and what our soldiers have fought and died for.
Let us not destroy the American Ideal with fear and hate
Let us remember what it says in the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights

They LIED to you on EARTH DAY

2010-04-25T17:11:00.003-04:00

Both Obama &McCain had reservations over offshore drilling during the early campaign. Both supported restrictions on the activity
But then Sara Palin swiveled her hips, winked at the camera and chanted "drill baby drill!" and Americans, who have a strange quasi sexual obsession over this woman, lined up behind her. (Figuratively)
It's not exactly clear whether they wanted to drill for oil or have hard sex with the vice presidential candidate.
But both Obama and McCain saw the color of the ink and both flip flopped on the issue

And now we have it
Both candidates fears come true
An oil platform has exploded in the Gulf
Men are dead more are missing, presumed dead.
Oil can now be clearly seen, leaking from the well- while the well owners and the industry spent millions of dollars, not to clean up the mess, but to deal with the PR disaster
And to patiently, patently lie to us about the leakage...

The COAST GUARD discovers the leak - not the EXPERT oilmen who own operate and lease the well & the rig

Not the people who ask me to trust them and bend my politics to service their need to make big profits
Not the people who Had to know the well was leaking and lied to me about it only yesterday

Earth Day

Poor Way To Advertise

2010-04-11T14:33:00.001-04:00

Hmmmm

2010-04-08T14:36:00.005-04:00

I am simply going to ask a question:

We socialize our police protection
Our fire protection
And to some extent our schools
Acknowledging a common good.

So why not healthcare?

Imagine your home is burning down and you call the fire department
And they reply
"Yes I understand it is an emergency, but I first need to ask you, what is your co pay? will you be paying that in full today?"

Or

"I'm sorry, it seems you are not covered for electrical fires"

The King of Nothing

2009-08-06T12:57:00.004-04:00

As Mariana Soffer pointed out in her comments on the previous post, the news media was paralyzed for weeks in the wake of the death of a pop star.

I for one was happy to ignore this story, and so I was not subject to the endless images and clips of his song and dance antics.

I apologize to those who will take offense at my indifferent attitude
But the death of Michael Jackson seems a trivial non-event to me in the shadow of the death of my own father, and the subsequent passing of my beloved dog.

They said he could dance...
And of course they were right

Michael was a great entertainer and he could sing and dance better than most
But to me his message of inter racial equality was over shadowed by his overwhelmingly desperate attempt to change color himself.
(It's ok to be black, but not for me, so I'm bleaching my skin...)

Add to this the fact that the man admitted that he thought it was perfectly OK to lure young boys into his bed, as long as there was nothing tawdry going on....

It still gives me the chills to think about it
Still makes me sick that anyone would still idolize the man after that

Yes
The man was a super star
He was the King of Pop

So What?

Pop is the mainstream entertainment gruel that the industry cooks up special for the lowest common market denominator.
Without meaning, without substance, without impact.
This is something to be proud to be the king of?

One might as well aspire to be the King of Walmart or vanilla ice cream...

We are poised at the moment of irrevocable change
Our future as a society perhaps even as a species, depends on the decisions we make today.

So give MJ his fifteen minutes and move on - PLEASE

The 24/7 media attention that was given to this event was not merely despicable, it was criminally irresponsible.

Who is where - on health care?

2009-08-04T15:47:00.003-04:00

I'm not up to giving my take on the current state of health care in the US

I will however ask you to watch this commentary by Keith Oblerman last night

What ever alse you might think - this guy has guts...

SPECIAL REPORT

EMF's - WTF?

2009-06-06T12:06:00.003-04:00

This is for Deedee in response to her post on Electro Magnetic Fields

I don't have anything to offer on the paranormal effects of EMF's so I'm just going to stick to the science I know.

I have seen allot of data, and read more than a few studies on this subject, along with a lifetime of scientific insight and experience.

Unfortunately (in my humble opinion) almost all of these studies are flawed in some way, as this is a difficult phenomenon to examine objectively.

I wont go into all the details, instead I will try to paint a bigger picture...

Out of thousands of studies over decades, only a few have found any correlation between power lines and illnesses such as TB and lymphoma (or illness of any kind).

Now I am in fact - not a supporter of or a detractor of, the anti EMF movement
But as a scientist, I have to accept the facts.

My problem with many of these studies is that they arose with an agenda, and I find myself having to question their objectivity. (people see what they want to see)

I have found that truly objective studies have all encountered the same difficulty.
A difficulty that was surprising to some, but was expected by me

This is a very difficult phenomenon to isolate and measure with any sort of accuracy, as there are so many complicating variables to take into account, and I myself believe that we have not yet discovered what the bulk of these variables might be. (diet, water quality, air quality, work environment, radioactivity, ultraviolet light, ULF's, RF's, microwaves, allergies, insects, ecosystems etc etc etc...)

There is no way to study the effects of EMF's on a community with complete accuracy or certainty, because there is no way to remove the community to something like laboratory conditions, there is no way to eliminate the variables, there is no "control group"

The real issue here - and the real danger - is one of understanding
EMF's don't have to be so misunderstood.
You don't need not go back to college

The truth is we are ALL exposed to EMF's
ALL of the time
It is simply a matter of intensity
Intensity is determined by current
But the biggest factor - is PROXIMITY

EMF's are generated by electricity flowing through wires and electronic devices (among other things)
That means they are in your home, your car etc...
(yep even in your electric blanket)

These fields dissipate quickly over distance.
Someone standing directly under the power lines would be subjected to a rather strong field of energy
But someone standing 100 yards away would experience a very weak field.

Think about that the next time you hold you cell phone up to your head...

Which brings me to my most important point (to me anyways)

EMF's likely do play a roll in causing illness, but it is also likely that they do not do so acting alone.

Since the early part of the last century we have been subjecting ourselves to an increasing amount of intrusive energies.

Aside from the normal background radiation, and the occasional gamma ray or neutrino from space, we have added

Radio & Television waves
Microwaves
Electro magnetic fields
Radioactive particles
Ultra low frequency sounds
Ultra high frequency sounds
Cell phone transmissions
Among other things

All of these energies pass right through your home
Your body
Your brain...
And in ever increasing amounts.

It would seem highly unlikely that this would not have an effect on your health

To single out high tension power lines as a culprit seems to me to be very short sighted and irresponsible.

This is like the advertising campaign going on in my country to alert me to the dangers of second hand smoke, as the air outside my window is slowly being turned to poison.
Second hand smoke is not healthy - I'm sure.

But compared to the effects of strip mining & burning coal for electricity
Compared to industrial air pollution
Compared to what comes out of the tailpipes of the millions of cars on the road
It seems to be a bit trivial...

Because you can

2009-02-26T19:21:00.000-05:00

We Are Not Alone

2008-12-30T00:21:00.006-05:00

Give me that Olde Tyme religion
You know the kind
Orthodox, fundamental, unyielding, extreme
The stuff countries are made of
Wars too
Sometimes

I have been pondering lately
Our need for religion
So I decided to ask god

This was not unusual
I ask god many things
Sometimes I try to think
What god would say
In answer

Once in a while though
I don’t have to…

The answer came
Before I could even finish the question

Free Will

Everything humanity does
It does with free
will

You are all
One
one family
One people

Humanity

All your history
Is but a brief moment
In time
And already you have forgotten this

You look for ways to make
yourselves different
For reasons to disagree
And religion has been no exception.

You look to me
Call upon me
Pray to me

But it is not mine to say
What shall or shall not be
For
my gift to you has been
And will always be

Free Will

And in giving you this
I myself am diminished
And you
are empowered

For you cannot have both

Do not ask me
to explain man
Why does man need religion so?
Why this need
To worship me?

My own answer surprised me
With it’s brevity, depth, and quickness

I think it is because we are lonely

So do I, said god
And it saddens me
For you have not only myself
But also
Each other

Rather than embrace humanity
You embrace
such things as
Nationality
Ethnicity
Religion…

You don’t need me
You have each other

My response was immediate

I have long understood this
But I feel it runs deeper

As we learn to see
With your eyes
Hear
With your ears
Touch
With your hand

We find the universe to be
A vast unimaginable place
And we are so very
Very
Small

We are lonely
As a species

Besides your wisdom
There is no sounding board
No mirror
For us to hold discourse
To put our intellect
To the test

Not so
I marvel at man
Scanning the heavens
Searching the
universe
For intelligent life
While there are so many species
Right
here on Earth
As intelligent as you
Some perhaps
More
so

And you have scarcely acknowledged them
Other to enslave them
Or to hunt them

Some discourse indeed

Have you
even bothered
To learn how to communicate with them?

As you scan
the heavens for intelligent life
You are exterminating all traces of it
Right here on Earth

So you see
You are not
alone

But you will be

You will be

Happy Vonneguts Birthday

2008-11-15T12:13:00.003-05:00

I'm a few days late with this post
But I am not at my computer as often as I would like these days

Kurt's Birthday was November 11th
A day we choose to celebrate as Veterans day

I remember the day as Armistace Day
And also Kurt's Birthday

As I approached my fiftieth birthday, I had become more and more enraged and
mystified by the idiot decisions made by my countrymen.

And then I had
come suddenly to pity them, for I understood how innocent and natural it was for
them to behave so abominably, and with such abominable results:
They were
doing their best to live like people invented in story books. This was the
reason Americans shot each other so often: It was a convenient literary device
for ending short stories and books.

Why were so many Americans treated
by their government as though their lives were as disposable as paper facial
tis- sues? Because that was the way authors customarily treated bit-part players
in their made-up tales.
And so on.

Once I understood what was making
America such a dangerous, unhappy nation of people who had nothing to do with
real life, I resolved to shun storytelling.
I would write about life.
Every person would be exactly as important as any other.
All facts would
also be given equal weightiness.
Nothing would be left out. Let others bring
order to chaos.
I would bring chaos to order, instead, which I think I have
done.

If all writers would do that, then perhaps citizens not in the
literary trades will understand that there is no order in the world around us,
that we must adapt ourselves to the requirements of chaos instead. It is hard to
adapt to chaos, but it can be done.
I am living proof of that: It can be done.

Kurt Vonnegut - Breakfast of Champions

Zero and One

2008-10-10T19:42:00.007-04:00

The first time I heard Laurie Anderson
I was working in my darkroom
I listened there
In the dark
my first reaction was

What the heck IS this?

It was a long composition and I started to come under it's spell

It was unlike anything I had ever heard on the radio
But this was college radio

My eight by tens were now mostly in the fixer
or the first wash trays
As the set ended and I listened to the DJ list off the tracks

Laurie Anderson
Oh Superman

I pulled out a felt tip pen and noted it on the darkroom wall

I went out the next day and purchased the album
Big Science

Yes on vinyl
Shortly thereafter I was in New York and photographs by Laurie Anderson were on display at some gallery in Soho, so I went to see them
I was impressed

This video, entitled Home of the Brave appeared on cable
I got to see Laurie right around that time
She came to Proctors, an historic theatre here in Schenectady.

She was amazing...

Listen to my Heart Beat

Sharkey's Night

Sun's going down.
Like a big bald head.
Disappearing behind the boulevard.
It's Sharkey's night.

It's Sharkey's night tonight

And the manager says: Sharkey?
He's not at his desk right now.
Could I take a message?

Hey, Kemosabe!
Longtime no see

He says:
Hey sport
You connect the dots
You pick up the pieces...

Well

I drove down to big DC
And I walked into room 1003
And there they were
The BIG Boys
And they were talking
Big... B
Little o
Little m
Silent b

They were saying
Lets teach those robots
How to play hardball
Lets teach those little fellas a little
Gratitude

Hey
Whats that big noise
Up in the sky?
Sounds like thunder...
Nope
Sounds like the 4th of July..
Nope
Wrong again

You know
It's just those angels walking
They're clomping around again
Wearing those big clumsy shoes

Deep
In the heart
Of darkest America
Home of the brave

Ha ha ha!
You've already paid for this

Listen to my heart beat

Rainbows come to play

2008-09-24T01:16:00.002-04:00

On my office walls
On a sunny day
Sleeping
Sunbeams
Slowly
Shifting
Drifting
In a most inviting way
Rainbows come to play

Olympiad

2008-08-23T14:16:00.003-04:00

For Lydia at Writerquake

During World War I conductor / composer Eugene Goossens asked British composers for a fanfare to begin each of his orchestral concerts.

This proved to be so successful that he thought to reintroduce the idea in during World War II for the 1942, 43 Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra season, this time using American composers.

He wrote to several American composers including Aaron Copland., suggesting titles such as Fanfare for Soldiers, or sailors or airmen.

Copland considered several titles for his contribution; including Fanfare for a Solemn Ceremony and Fanfare for Four Freedoms.

Much to Goossens' surprise however, Copland titled the piece Fanfare for the Common Man.

Goossens had asked for music that would provide a “stirring contribution to the war effort”
He was not prepared for the strength, power, and awe-inspiring majesty he was about to experience.

Upon listening to the piece he wrote back to Copland
"Its title is as original as its music, and I think it is so telling that it deserves a special occasion for its performance.”

The piece was given a showcase performance –March 12, 1943 at income tax time.

Eighteen fanfares were written at Goossens' behest, and were performed at the opening of each concert given by the CSO.

Fanfare for the Common Man is the only one which remains in the standard repertoire.

As you listen, remember that Aaron Copland wrote this magnificent fanfare
Not for the president – or any world leader
Not for any nobles or royals
Not for any Kings or Queens
Not even for the soldiers…
But for you

For all of us

Firewater

2008-08-16T21:01:00.009-04:00

For Hopper and his firey rings

Escher

2008-07-28T19:55:00.012-04:00

Zap

2008-07-27T21:32:00.009-04:00

Part of photography
Is being in the right place

At the right time

The trick is
Making the place
You are at

The right place...

Sixteen Miles

2008-07-13T18:12:00.013-04:00

These old stones

Were gracefully crafted

In the early 1920’s

In a huge public work

Laughingly referred to as

“Clinton’s Folly”

Mayor of New York City
Then governor of New York State
De Witt Clinton made this work happen.

People said it couldn’t be done
Connecting NY City
To the great lakes, the Ohio and Mississippi
It took eight years to build
And it got Dewitt Clinton voted out of office.

Six years later as the work neared completion
It got him voted back in again.
And rightfully so

Before the Erie Barge Canal was built
It cost about $67 US dollars to ship a standard bail of goods from the Atlantic seaboard to the continental interior.

After the Erie Barge Canal was built
It cost just $12 US dollars

This is what made New York City
The economic hub
Of the free world

The Canal was basically
A 500-mile long ditch
Filled with water from the Mohawk River
Which it follows across the state.

There were locks like this one
To raise and lower boats
From one level to the next.

In 1918 these old locks were abandoned, as the Mohawk River itself was flood controlled and “canalized” for navigation, to accommodate larger barges.

Most of the Canal has faded and worn away
But here…

You can still feel the pride
In the workmanship
Instilled upon these old walls

The barges themselves were pulled along by teams of mules.

The Mule would walk alongside the Canal on what was called a Towpath

Often the Mule’s owner walked with him

The average distance a Man and a Mule were expected to haul a heavily loaded barge in one day?

Sixteen Miles

Shifting Gears

2008-07-09T22:38:00.010-04:00

The Old Nyskayuna Train Station

There was a time you could ride the train

From Schenectady to Troy

And all points in between

Right alongside the river

Train service on this line ended in the early 1970's

The tracks are gone - and there is a bicycle path there now

It is 10 miles (17km) from here to my home

(though I have not covered the distance by bicycle in quite some time)

This little train station is being restored

A simpler time

When you got a ride from the farm

In a horse and buggy

To this little place

And connected to the world

I wonder how many local farmboys

Stood in this room

Wondering what it would be like

In New York City

Gettysburg

Paris

Germany

Korea

Viet Nam

Images

2008-07-06T15:06:00.010-04:00

Shakey Ivey

Spiney

A Rose for the Crow

Image inspired by Human Being
A dark Rose
On a dusty table
In the attic

Sacred

2008-06-25T20:05:00.006-04:00

I don’t often speak
Of my dreams
At least
Not

Directly

Because to me
My dreams are sort of
Sacred…

Dreams bring
messages
And revelations
To me
Sometimes…

Often they are
relevant
And I share what I have learned
Freely

But the dream
itself…
Is mine alone.

That said

This dream
Has been on my mind lately
And so I’m gonna write about it

It was back in 2003
The build up to the Iraq invasion
I had this dream about two months
Before the war started
I had it again
Just days before…

It was dark
I am there in Iraq
Part of the invasion force
Friends of mine
Were there too
We weren’t soldiers
We were just
There

There is fighting going on
We are on the move
Everything is going our way
Racing to capture Baghdad

Almost exactly as it would go
Just a week or so later…

There were soldiers too
And suddenly
It was like one of those WWII movie sets
With burned out houses
And bombs going off
In the background

Fighting had broken out
The soldiers ran off
To engage the enemy

That's when I noticed

Something strange
About one of the soldiers…

No one else seemed to notice
And I have no clue why I did
But there was no mistaking it

He looked back at me
As he went running in
And in his eyes
I saw it

He was god

God went running into the gunfire
Started pulling out the wounded
Struggling, laboring
Then he started pulling people out of harms way
Children
Civilians

Herding them
Protecting them

Then he was rescuing
The failing Iraqi forces
Themselves
No gunfire dared to approach him
Shielding them with his body

This seemed to displease
The commanding officer
He began shouting
At god…

He was saying
“Whathehellisthatsonofabitchdoing?”

“You there! BOY!
Just What the hell are you DOING out there?
Aiding and abetting the enemy!
Why on earth would you put your life on the line
For an IRAQI?!”

And god said:

“What’s an Iraqi?”

Throwing Stones

2008-06-25T17:47:00.008-04:00

This topic came up again today
And I just can't say it any better than this song

Throwing Stones

Grateful Dead

Picture a bright blue ball
Just spinning
Spinning free
Dizzy with eternity

Paint it with a skin of sky
Brush in some clouds and sea
Call it home
For you and me

A peaceful place
Or so it looks from space
A closer look reveals the human race
Full of hope, full of grace
Is the human face

But afraid
We may lay our home to waste

There's a fear down here we can't forget
Hasn't got a name just yet
Always awake, always around
Singing:
Ashes ashes all fall down

Ashes ashes all fall down

Now watch as the ball revolves
And the nighttime falls
Again the hunt begins
Again the blood wind calls

By and by again
The morning sun will rise
But the darkness never goes
From some men's eyes

It strolls the sidewalks
And it rolls the streets
Staking turf, dividing up meat
Nightmare spook, piece of heat

It's you and me
You and me…

Click, flash blade in ghetto night
Rudy’s looking for a fight
Rat cat alley roll them bones
Need that cash to feed that jones
And the politician's throwing stones
Singing:
Ashes ashes all fall down

Ashes ashes all fall down

Commissars and pin-striped bosses
Role the dice
Any way they fall
Guess who gets to pay the price?

Money green
Proletarian gray
Selling guns
Instead of food today

So the kids they dance
And shake their bones
And the politician's throwing stones
Singing:
Ashes ashes all fall down

Ashes ashes all fall down

Heartless powers try to tell us what to think
If the spirit's sleeping, then the flesh is ink

History's page, will be neatly carved in stone
The future's here
We are it
We are on our own
On our own
On our own

On our own

If the game is lost
Then we're all the same
No one left to place
Or take the blame

We will leave this place
An empty stone
Or that shinning ball of blue
We can call our home

So the kids they dance
And shake their bones
And the politicians, throwing stones
Singing:
Ashes ashes all fall down

Ashes ashes, all fall down

Shipping powders back and forth
Singing "black goes south and white comes north"

In a whole world full of petty wars
Singing "I got mine and you got yours"

And the current fashions set the pace
Lose your step, fall out of grace

And the radical he rant and rage
Singing "someone got to turn the page"

And the rich man in his summer home
Singing "Just leave well enough alone"

But his pants are down, his cover's blown

And the politicians throwing stones
So the kids they dance
And shake their bones
Cause its all too clear we're on our own
Singing:
Ashes ashes, all fall down

Ashes ashes, all fall down

Picture a bright blue ball
Just spinning
Spinning free

It's dizzyingThe possibilities...

Ashes ashes, all fall down
(Ashes ashes, all fall down)

Ashes ashes, all fall down
(Ashes ashes, all fall down)

Ashes ashes, all fall down
(Ashes ashes, all fall down)

Grateful Dead
©Ice Nine Publications - 1982

[?]

2008-05-30T11:38:00.002-04:00

[Mesons
Fermions
Gluons
Leptons
Quarks
Up
Down
Top
Charm
Etc
…]

[Particles]
Turning on and off
Fading in and out
Conspiring to fabricate
Reality
They are social whimsical and rash
Playful pranksters
Measuring potential
Now you see me
Now there is no now

They play tricks
On time and space
And are to reality
Only an illusion

Or are time and space
The tricks
And reality the illusion?

But there ain’t nothing wrong with the city

2008-04-28T22:05:00.004-04:00

I really don’t know what to say
News from New York City
Three cops
Fifty bullets
And no justice

Should I be outraged?

It seems like I’ve been in a state of perpetual outrage these last few years
I have many sides to me
City mouse, country mouse, just to name two
And when I say city…
New York was the town

My town

I walked it's streets
And knew it's people

And the special places

So although New York is hours away from me now
It is still a part of me
And I took the news hard

I keep hearing the song by the great Gill Scot-Heron

So I'll leave a verse or two.

New York City
I don’t know why Iove you
Maybe it’s because you're mine

Like so many others
I found it all to easy
To stand of at a distance and criticize

But there ain’t nothing wrong with the city
Just some people been wrong there like everywhere else

New York City
I don’t know why I love you
Could be you remind me of myself

I’ve been poked and criticized
I’ve been pushed off to the side
And I’ve been kicked
When I was damn near out
But I’ve always felt inside

Like New York city
I don't know why I love you
It's somthing inside of me I feel

New York city
I don't know why I love you
I don't know why I love you
But it's real

Time to come clean

2008-03-11T13:03:00.001-04:00

In light of recent events here in NYS I have been spending some much needed time reflecting on my own personal record in solemn introspection
I’m sure we have all done things in the past that we regret and are perhaps morally questionable.
Who among us is above reproach or can honestly say that they have never broken a law or told a lie?

In that spirit it is also safe to assume that we go on living our daily lives, and that further infractions of societies mandates and common sense will continue to occur

And so at this time I must step forward and come clean regarding my own actions.
First off, may my family and friends forgive me for anything reprehensible they might find about this announcement
I mean them no harm and proceed with cautious trepidation, and hopefully they and the good people of New York will forgive me for what I am about to say
In light of these things I will just go ahead and come clean about my intentions.

And so with deep regret for any embarrassment this will cause those who know and love me,
I regretfully hereby announce my candidacy for Governor of New York

May the lord have mercy upon my soul

Thank you – and please donate heavily.

Bobbb Citizen of NY

Believe

2008-02-22T22:08:00.004-05:00

Imagine
all it would take
would be for everybody
To simply
believe...

Waste less
Use less
Want less
Procreate less

and care more
about the world you inherit
and the one you will leave behind

This is the turning point
The tipping of the scale
The point of no return

Now
In our time

We are the ones who will decide
Whether we will establish
A sustainable relationship
With this planet that gave birth to us
And sustains us all

Or not

For it is now within our power
To preserve or destroy
This place we call home

If you are a believer in God, of any faith
You may rest assured
that he will not forgive you
for carelessness and neglect
of the very hand that feeds you
and protects you from the cold dark void

Ours and the next few generations
These are the people who will make this choice
We get to decide what the vision for mankind's future will be

Creationist, or evolutionist
who would deny the unique expression
of life on earth.

By chance, by design, or by both
The very fabric and substance of the universe
Has risen up through the conscious mind and body of man
To contemplate it's own existence

Surely we can give some thought as to our future as well

Imagine
all it would take
would be for everybody
To simply
believe...

Score Some Points...

2008-01-08T10:41:00.000-05:00

Last night I was watching the news and they did a story on the new “Grand Theft Auto” video game release.
The commentator was expressing outrage at the excessive violence and immoral attitude of the game-play

He asked “Where else can you score points for murdering prostitutes, assaulting citizens, killing police, etc…”

Since the media chooses to focus on things like Brittney Spears and video games rather than the reality of war I feel compelled to answer this rhetorical question

I Don’t know about “points” but if you want to get credit and gain the admiration of your peers for raping and killing, for destroying families and property, and for displaying total disrespect for the laws of this country, or any other, Consider working for a mercenary team such as “Blackwater” and joining them in Iraq.

“Points” aside – the average pay = $1,200.00 / week – plus all the contraband you can carry after you plunder the property and corpses of your victims

Grand Theft Auto? – It’s only a game

Join the contracted militia if you wanna do these things for real – you will not be subject to Iraqi law or American law – so knock yourself out

The media won’t notice your crimes – and if they are pointed out to them they won’t even care.
Just don’t paint anything with pigments containing lead, propose to a celebrity, or get caught using steroids if you want to stay out of the limelight

Remember it is only immoral to pretend to rape, kill, and plunder –
In Iraq, its pure patriotism

Back for more? Possibly...

2008-01-03T17:21:00.000-05:00

Ok so I took a year off - sue me

Sex, drugs and ROCK N" ROLL baby! -

Dig it?

I toyed around with moving out west - and took some time to track down one anonymous blog commenting jerk

Turned out to be the illegitimate daughter of David Eisenhower...

But she won't be troubling this blog any longer

So if I can find the time - I will post the goods again

Thanks for all the letters & Emails
Bobbb

The Moral Crisis

2006-12-15T15:06:00.000-05:00

We are confronted primarily with a moral issue. It is as old as the scriptures and is as clear as the American Constitution.

June 11, 1963

The National Guard had to be called out simply to ensure that two qualified and accepted black students were able to be admitted to the University of Alabama. The Govenor of the state, protected by state police, stood in the doorway and blocked them from entering the administration building.

The presence of armed troops eventually won the day and the students were admitted. The President felt so strongly about this incident that he interrupted all telivision and radio broadcasts across the nation that evening in order to bring this message to the people.

We face, therefore, a moral crisis as a country and as a people. It cannot be met by repressive police action. It cannot be left to increased demonstrations in the streets. It cannot be quieted by token moves or talk. It is time to act in the Congress, in your State and local legislative body and, above all, in all of our daily lives.

I have no doubts that they killed him for this
Progress has been slow and the hearts of the people are difficult to turn
It is easier to hate than it is to understand that in doing so you are denegrating not only the country and what it stands for - but your very self as well.

How are we going to impliment these ideals in Iraq when we cannot fully integrate them into our own culture over the last 40 years?

Read / listen top the speech here:

No Noose Is Good Noose

2006-11-08T12:04:00.000-05:00

Someone here at work has cut out the front page of last Sundays New York Post and hung it over their desk
The headline – in the largest type possible declares:
"GOOD NOOSE"

There is a full page picture of Saddam Hussein (and not a complimentary one) a little photo shop magic has a placed noose around his neck.

Apparently I am supposed to be happy about a society committing murder in the name of justice.
I am not.
It sickens me.

Although I am not a practicing Christian, I still believe that were he here today, Jesus would condemn such an act. For he was a man of compassion who understood that it is not about the acts committed by the criminal that should be our first concern, it is our own actions in dispensing justice we need to think about.
I was happy to see that the Vatican agrees with me.
My "born again" friends do not – they want blood, they are drooling, they cannot wait for the execution.

I doubt very much that Jesus would pull out his bible and search for an appropriate "eye for an eye" passage to justify the act of murder. He would not have quoted scripture; he would have spoken from his heart.

Once again, we see the pitfalls of writing things down and forgetting the ideals, the context from which they originate. Again, thank you Tao for pointing that out to me.
Spirituality comes from the heart, not from a book, or so I now believe.

How can we murder someone, after condemning him for murder?

POWAQQATSI

2006-10-25T13:44:00.000-04:00

POWAQQATSI
A word
A concept
A perspective

From the Hopi language:
Po.waq.qatsi = sorcerer life
An entity
A way of life that consumes the life forces of other beings in order to further its own life.

The third world exists primarily to feed the glut of the industrialized nations, who themselves are spiraling out of control in a technological free for all.
(Koyaanisqatsi)

Mother Earth suffers from our greed first hand.
But she suffers even more at the hands of the poor and oppressed who struggle not to lift themselves from poverty so much as they struggle to feed the machine.

More than half the world has become enslaved in a time when we feel so self righteous as to condemn the act of slavery itself.

We bring technology to the third world, but for what purpose?
The railroad is not built for the improvement of their society or to aid in the transportation if their people
It is built to bring their resources and raw materials from the mines and the forests to the coast.

When you slip that diamond ring on her finger – do you think about the fingers on hands that dug it from the earth?
Do you think about the people who die in the diamond mines every day?
Bauxite, cobalt, zinc, tin, ebony, mahogany, emeralds, diamonds, selenium, amethyst, pitchblende, gold…
Do you ever stop to think about where these things come from?
How are they collected, how do they get here?
There is a sinister side to the wonders of modern society, a side we choose not to see.

But the rest of the world not only sees it, they live it.
If we are to breed contempt, we should not be surprised when it comes back to us in the form of hate.

Mr Bush and his cohorts contends that the terrorists attack us because “They can’t stand freedom”
He wants you to think that their hatred is irrational and unfounded
He wants you to deny their humanity, and to fear them.
Powaqqatsi is their god – they worship it and sate their greed on its trappings, growing richer, more powerful and more deluded every day

Yes I am afraid – but not of the terrorists of which Bush speaks
I fear the terrorists here within

The Bush administration is using FEAR in an attempt to control our behavior.

So I ask you – WHO are the terrorists now?

I will combat that fear, with knowledge and understanding.

Approaching the Infidel

2006-10-18T14:44:00.000-04:00

Let’s ask a GI for a song shall we?
His cupped Zippo lighter lights up a boy’s face
He’ll be dead soon

He turns us on and off
He turns his back
He won’t sing MC Hammer songs
Won’t sing Metalica songs

Why did you kill our sands,
The moods of our oasis?
This is your mind on blue flake cocaine
This is your mind on our killing sun

My leader has just been born
My people have just been bourn
My woman is sleeping
I’ve not built mysticism around her for nothing, you know

Hey GI
How long will you go on judging me from your little pile of shit?
End my disgrace in your temple?
Take a look at MY temple

Lookie lookie what I have to smite you. GI
Korans, jawbones and bicycle chains
But most of all, an intimacy with your heart
As you sit there wondering whether it is right or wrong to be here

This cry from my throat
Has broken down the defenseless world forever

Go home
Go home
Go home…

Shock and Awe

2006-10-11T12:56:00.000-04:00

Estimates of Iraqi deaths due to the invasion of the US now total over 650,000. This is an estimate because aparently an Iraqi death is not worthy of being counted.
Many of these uncounted casualties in the post Saddam era if the nation are women.
Acts of brutality abound a month-long investigation by The Observer reveals

Horrific as it is - it is time we face the consequences of our actions.
I believe America is ready to face the situation in Iraq. The people need to know going forward that if we are going to even start to clean up the mess we have made then we must do so with our eyes wide open.

My heart is heavy but still I press on, what other choice do we have?

We must accept responsibility for the damage done in Iraq – in HUMAN terms above all else.
We must salvage what is left of America and restore its compassion before all is lost.

I did not want this blood on my hands
Like millions of Americans – I screamed and spoke out against this war
I did so not just because it was wrong and based on lies, but also because I foresaw all of the tragic events that are occurring now.

It seemed fairly obvious to me, I assumed it was fairly obvious to anyone who took the time to look past the lies and consider the consequences of going to war.
However Bush used fear as a weapon against his own people and soon all we cared about were non existent WMD’s and the “Axis of evil”

This is without a doubt the most malevolent and incompetent act of any president in our history.

Ever.

“On to Baghdad “- “Mission Accomplished” will go down as the epitaphs of one of the most petty, blind and brutal propagandist leaders in world history.
Weather or not Bush, Cheney and the rest actually believe in their own festering rhetoric matters not.

The crimes they have perpetrated against Iraq and against our own people will, in the long term, make Saddam Husain look like a dignified and commendable world leader by comparison.
When Bush promised us a campaign of “shock and awe” the situation we see today is what came to my mind. And I hoped and prayed that the inevitable would not come to pass.

So here I now sit, drenched in blood.
Blood I shall never be free of.
And though I have never heard them, my soul reverberates with the horrific screams of the women, raped brutalized and murdered.
They haunt my dreams and I don’t sleep some nights.

All this for the blind lust for wealth and power of a man we ourselves elected to be our leader.
Shame on us all for allowing this to happen – to ignore not just one, but two elections stolen.
And now Bushes god has been imposed on us all – like it or not.
We are a secular nation no longer.
May the great Bush god have mercy on our souls.

The Voice of Dissent

2006-10-06T10:52:00.000-04:00

You do not have to agree

As I watch this country slip daily closer and closer towards becoming a totalitarian state I find myself, for the first time, living in fear.
In the past I have been angry, surprised, shocked and disappointed with our leadership at various times.
Now I am simply afraid.
No, I do not fear the terrorists.

My fear comes from our own willingness to allow the terrorists to win, through our willingness to dismantle our constitution and brush aside the democracy we have fought for and believed in for so long.
Are my children going to live to see their liberty taken from them?
Will my grandchildren be born as slaves to a totalitarian machine dedicated to the cause of a handful of zealots, rather than to a nation dedicated to the highest ideals of humanity?

But I still have hope.
I hope that it is not too late to stop this madness long enough to remember why there is an America in the first place, and begin to take it back.
This hope is not ill founded it would seem, for there are still some people willing to fight for what is left of the American ideal and hold their ground.
One such man has been using his access to the media to raise the alarm and call things the way he sees them.
His name is Keith Olbermann and he has been using his pulpit as a journalist to speak out almost nightly about what he believes are the biggest threats to America.

I am not asking any of you to agree.
I am not asking any of you to believe what he has to say, or to rally behind him as a champion of freedom.
I am not asking any of you to be inspired by his eloquent words or his well thought out arguments.
I am not asking any of you to cheer at the passion with which he speaks.

I am asking you to recognize that he is the embodiment of the voice of dissent, without which there is little real proof that the freedom of speech, perhaps the most precious of our supposedly guaranteed rights, is still in place.

I am asking you to remember that dissent is one of the most powerful and profound of all the freedoms which form the foundation of the American ideal, and that without dissent we have no means to consensus and a government that is truly “of the people, for the people and by the people”.

I am asking you to be vigilant.

For the day that they silence this commentator and others like him will be the day that America is lost, the point of no return from which democracy will only be a memory.
From that point there will be no turning back.
Once democracy is lost America will have to fight another long and bloody revolution to even attempt to get it back.

I am reminded of Francis Scott Key, surveying the battle of Baltimore in 1814 with uncertainty from his perspective in the harbor, taking comfort in the light of the exploding shells overhead, reassuring him that the flag still flew proud over Fort McHenry, and that America was not yet lost.
For I now look out from the safety of my living room with uncertainty and take comfort in the light from my television and computer screens, as they broadcast to me the voice of dissent, reassuring me that our freedoms live on, and that America is not yet lost.

And so my fear is contained for now, and I hope for better days and a better America.

Thank you for reading this

And what of the Children?

2006-10-03T13:46:00.000-04:00

I felt heaviness on my heart as I began my day, and my sweet dreams were replaced by the harsh reality of the world without.

As I sit here and try to work I cannot hide from the news unfolding before my eyes.
Five children murdered in Pennsylvania, all young girls, and for what?
Last week in Colorado, children taken hostage, sexually abused - one murdered
And a congressman from Florida, resigning because he has been caught preying upon young congressional pages - all young boys.

I know that children everywhere meet with tragedy every day - but sometimes I cannot shut out the horror and the pain that radiates outwards from their suffering.

The past few years I have felt the increasingly bittersweet feeling of freedom as my children outgrow their need for my parenting and become more and more independent.
It's hard in many ways to see them so grown up – but in some ways they will always be my little ones.

So I am up early this morning – getting my son off to his new job with a warm bagel in his hand and a kiss on the forehead, like it was his second day of school and he is five again.

You can't help this as a parent, it is instinct.

And as I relive these feelings, watching him drive off, the news is on – and it is oh so ugly.
Every disappointment he has ever faced – every skinned knee and lost dream came flooding back through my heart.
The time he punctured his eardrum, or when his new bicycle was stolen. The first time he had his heart broken…

All those tears I witnessed and endured over 22 years as I stood firmly by his side giving what comfort a father can give; suddenly fell upon my heart once again.

For a moment I am the parent of every child on earth, and the pain of the children is my pain, and it is more than I can endure without breaking down.
And so I did. I cried my heart out.

I feel guilty for being wrapped up in myself and not seeing the big picture – not loving myself enough, not appreciating how good I have things.

And so I will avoid the news for now – and thus I will recover
It's a beautiful day, the river awaits.

R.I.P.

2006-09-29T13:19:00.000-04:00

Following in the footsteps of the House, the Senate this afternoon approved the bill which vests in the President the power of indefinite, un-reviewable detention
(Even of U.S. citizens) and which also legalizes various torture techniques.

It is not hyperbole to say that this is one of the most tyrannical and dangerous bills to be enacted in our nation’s history.

The final Senate vote was 65-34. The Democrats lacked the votes for a filibuster and therefore did not attempt one.

Twelve (out of 44) Senate Democrats voted in favor of this bill, while only one Republican (Chafee) voted against it.
The dishonorable list of Democrats voting for the bill:
Carper (Del.),
Johnson (S.D.),
Landrieu (La.),
Lautenberg (N.J.),
Lieberman (Conn.),
Menendez (N.J),
Nelson (Fla.),
Nelson (Neb.),
Pryor (Ark.),
Rockefeller (W. Va.),
Salazar (Co.),
Stabenow (Mich).

Glenn Greenwald

All those years I had to listen to the ignorant ideological right belch forth the motto:

“America, Love it or Leave it”

Never in my darkest dreams did I imagine that America would leave me.

This might just be our darkest day in 230 years.

Yes - Do Let Us Focus on Terrorism

2006-09-25T09:18:00.000-04:00

OK – over the past month or so President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and some others In the Admin Du’joure have asked me to pay more attention to Terrorism.
I thought they were kidding.
They weren’t.
On Sept 11th of this year – I was accused, more than once, of being soft on terrorism. That perhaps I had forgotten the “lessons” of 9/11/2001.
The President and his cronies were referring, in addition to my lack of support for their war, to my reluctance to let them get away with the illegal torture of its captives and illegally held detainees.

These detainees are terrorists, they claim, and are therefore not subject to the laws regarding the ethical treatment of prisoners.
I am not supposed to question this. Nor am I supposed to speak out about Iraq, the biggest crime against humanity in over a decade. To do so makes me unpatriotic.

Just sit back and relax while they rewrite the rules. As the legislators in Washington take away my privacy, my right to an attorney and my freedom to speak my mind, Bush will go on the offensive and twist arms until the Geneva Convention itself is modified to suit his needs.
I need not worry about the consequences of this destabilization of our humanity, or this pillaging of our very rights, for it is all being done in the name of protecting my family.

Thank God.

So I am free to relax and watch some all time great American reality TV. Survivor is offering a tantalizing season of racial combat
Can’t wait.

But I cannot help feeling guilty about being soft on the terrorists. Perhaps Bush is right – Perhaps I DO need to focus more on the terrorist threat.
Well let us make them happy
Let us re-visit the issue

What are the folks best qualified to assess this threat saying to the Bush White House?

The New York Times reports

WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 — A stark assessment of terrorism trends by American intelligence agencies has found that the American invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the Sept. 11 attacks.

The classified National Intelligence Estimate attributes a more direct role to the Iraq war in fueling radicalism than that presented either in recent White House documents or in a report released Wednesday by the House Intelligence Committee, according to several officials in Washington involved in preparing the assessment or who have read the final document.

So the experts who actually do the legwork in the field are telling me that Bush has only made things worse.
Much worse.

So it would seem *gasp* that the White House has not been completely forthcoming with their assessment of this threat.
They want me to focus on terrorism and congratulate them for their efforts and support their war.
They lied to me, telling me that I am safer today than I was on 9/11/2001 in order to garner this support

They really must think I am deluded.

As we speak the white house is looking to spin this report as just another case of botched intelligence.

Just like the kind of bad intelligence that tried to warn them against the attacks of 9/11
Just like the bad intelligence that tried to tell them that there were no WMD’s in Iraq.
Just like the bad intelligence that tried to warn Bush that Iraq was NOT trying to buy uranium from Nigeria – and that he probably shouldn’t lie about it in the state of the union address as that would be an impeachable offense.

Is it not possible that there is nothing wrong with the intelligence?
Perhaps trying to “SPIN” the facts to justify ineptitude and bad policy is to blame here.

Solomon Sez

2006-09-12T11:11:00.000-04:00

A solemn day – a solemn time
I remember how proud I was five years ago today
I am less proud now.

The bizarre and horrific events of that day have only been eclipsed by the events which have followed.
The charge to Afghanistan, which went nowhere
War in Iraq over non existent weapons of mass destruction, based on a deliberate lie.

The people I was so proud of – running off down logical dead ends, flags in hand, waving blindly and meaning nothing.

A presidential re-election that was a joke, obvious vote tampering, using false beliefs about terrorism for political gain…
What happened to the truth?

It is a time for me to gather my thoughts
It was five years ago – get over it?
I don’t think anyone with a soul ever will

Nor should we – for we forget at our own peril.

Peace

Ohio Evolves

2006-09-07T10:54:00.000-04:00

On Feb. 14 of this year The Ohio Board of Education voted 11 to 4 to toss out a mandate that 10th-grade biology classes include critical analysis of evolution and an accompanying model lesson plan, dealing the intelligent design movement its second serious defeat in two months.

Recently there has been some debate about this among my friends and co-workers. Some comments were made about the Big Bang, as well as the role and mechanics of evolution.

Apparently many believe that evolution can not explain the diversity and complexity of modern life forms. The debate sparked this reaction from me:

I have no problem in believing that evolution as a mechanism for creation is probably able to explain everything in the universe as we see it today. Most likely our understanding of the evolutionary process is still fairly simplistic – as the number of variables and the amount of time involved is staggering.

This does not exclude me from the school of creationists… it merely, as has been pointed out, puts the moment of creation back to the big bang, and possibly long before that, and not some arbitrary point in time appx 5,000 years ago As to the nature of the big bang and the origins of everything – well that is still wide open to interpretation.

As I understand it today – the big bang gave birth to an immense amount of “energy/matter” which quickly distilled into what we now recognize to be space, time, energy and matter. – The latter consisting almost entirely of hydrogen.
I do not see any difference between stellar evolution and natural evolution here on earth. Stars formed from the hydrogen and immediately set to work creating all of the other elements. This gave rise to a more and more complex mix of material from which stellar systems could be made.
This not only made our solar system possible, it has disbursed the ingredients needed for life throughout the universe – coincidence?

Maybe.
And maybe that was the plan all along…

Many scientists see evolution as the mechanism of creation, as God intended it to be, with all the necessary parameters and rules built right in. This is much closer to my belief – that it is less of a puppet show – and more of an ongoing process, perhaps even the thought or will of god, playing itself out over time.

As for what we teach in school – well science is science and I don’t think “Intelligent Design” belongs there in the science class. As I recall – when I was taught evolution – it was taught as a theory – the logical conclusion to the evidence as we understand it TODAY without excluding the possibility that there is much more to it then we can comprehend currently.

I think that to people like my fundamentalist co-workers the real problem with this is not that I am discounting the existence of God…. It is that I am making an argument that opens the door to the possibility that Man is not necessarily God’s supreme creation
And that the process is ON-GOING and is in fact going on throughout the universe.

Too bad we don’t teach “Spirituality” in school so that kids can contemplate things outside the realm of empirical and objective observation, and do so without the constraints of any one particular faith. I have benefited much by opening my mind to all faiths and their beliefs about creation.

This has done allot to reinforce my belief that all of mankind really is connected to a small common group of ancestors. Something I always believed in my heart (Faith) and now is being shown to be likely, by the scientific evidence.

Interesting that the very same science that has been resisted by fundamentalists for so long now suggests that not only did the current human population of earth all spawn from one small group of people who began to migrate from Africa 50,000 years ago, but also that it is possible that the group in question may originally have consisted of only two people…

Most of our greatest scientists have been men of faith – many see the world of science and mathematics as expressions of Gods will.
When Keppler realized that Pythagoras’ theory regarding the relationships of the sides of a right triangle was true, whether man figured it out or not, he began to feel that understanding math and science was like understanding the mind of God.

For their rules and relationships exist outside of mans will, experience and even his ability to comprehend them.

Galileo also felt this calling – to understand science as the expression of God – and he was amazed at the discoveries he made.
For his trouble – he was excommunicated – not for being at odds with God – but for being at odds with the church.
Who among us would now believe that the world is flat? Or that the earth is the center of the solar system?

Perhaps someday our faith will grow to the point of being able to accept science as an important tool to reveal Gods will and Gods creation

It distresses me that we have to make a distinction between faith and science so clear cut.
The one does not preclude the other, it never has

The inability of most churches and organized religions to be able to assimilate what science teaches us into their beliefs distresses me as well

Science gives us technology which in turn gives us things like pesticides and fertilizer - because that is the direction we choose to drive it in.

But Science also gives us the ability to understand that these may have been mistakes…

Perhaps a little more acceptance of science in the world of faith would help us utilize it in a more productive fashion

The KAT is out of the bag

2006-09-01T15:57:00.000-04:00

In an interview for the Florida Baptist Witness last week – Congress woman and Senatorial hopeful, Katherine Harris, openly spoke her mind about religion in politics.

Yes that’s correct – the woman who threw the election for GW Bush in 2000 by using the names of Texas felons to disallow the votes of thousands of legitimate Floridians with similar names is taking the moral high ground in her bid for the US Senate.

Among other things this frightening woman said:
“we have to have the faithful in government and over time, that lie we have been told, the separation of church and state, people have internalized, thinking that they needed to avoid politics and that is so wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers”

So we now have a senatorial hopeful that does NOT believe in the separation of church and state… And she believes – like Bush – that God appoints our leaders.

So I have to ask – why then do we hold elections at all? Wouldn’t it just be easier to just ask WWJVF? (Who would Jesus vote for?)

She went on to say:
"And if we are the ones not actively involved in electing those godly men and women," then "we're going to have a nation of secular laws. That's not what our Founding Fathers intended, and that certainly isn't what God intended."

I don’t recall God being one of our founding fathers – but perhaps I missed something. I would like to ask a question about that though.
Eighty seven years after this nation was founded there was some division over the intent of the founding fathers with regards to states rights.
Which God is she referring to here, the one the North believed in – or the one the South believed in – during the years 1861 – 1865?

I realize that there are many among us that have never even read the Constitution and the Bill of Rights – and many more who have little understanding as to what they mean. – But I would hope that they would seek and gain that understanding BEFORE they run for congress or the US senate.

A nation of secular laws was fully intended by our founding fathers. I had thought they had made that perfectly clear.

If Katherine’s fear is that we will become a nation of secular laws – then she is living in the wrong country.
Iran is such a place – perhaps she would be more comfortable there.

I have gotten some disturbing emails in recent months; you know the chain mail kind, implying that American patriotism includes belief in, and worship of God.
They go on to imply that since the founding fathers believed in God – so should we all – and if you do not, they go on to say, you should consider leaving.

Why should someone’s loyalty be measured by their faith in God?
Saddam Husain believes in God. So does Osama Bin Laden, and so did Hitler.

On September 14th 2001 I went to visit my dad out on the family tree farm.
As I left my small neighborhood for the country back roads – I noticed all the flags hanging outside everyone’s home. (mine included)

When I got there I asked my dad “are you going to hang up a flag?”

“What for?” he replied without hesitation “Why should I feel the need to advertise my patriotism?”
“Patriotism is something you feel in here (points to his heart). It’s personal to me, and I don’t need to show it off.”
This from a man who volunteered to go off to world war two, where he served as a navigator in the air force.

Though he was a pacifist, he enlisted, because his country needed him.
He put the needs of his country above his personal beliefs.

In 1943 his plane was shot down. The crew had to bail out. One man was so nervous he pulled the ripcord and opened his chute inside the plane.
My dad got him out of the way, got all the others out of the plane then made sure the unfortunate fellow was able to jump without getting tangled up in his own rigging.

All this as the flak from the anti air guns exploded around them and their plane descended in a slow downward spiral, missing part of one wing, and on fire.

All of the crew survived the jump. But they were captured behind German lines. My dad rode out the last 18 months of the war in a German POW camp.
When they were liberated and my dad was nominated for a medal of freedom – he retorted “Nonsense! What on earth for?”

He turned down all his veterans benefits as well.
When he returned from the war he finished school and started a family. He always voted stayed active and informed, paid his taxes and contributed to his community.

When I was young our neighborhood was transforming from a middle class – to a lower class area. – Realtors were using scare tactics preying on people’s stereotypes and fears of blacks moving into their community to get people to sell cheap and move away.

My dad refused to give in to this kind of bullying.
“What good does that do my community, what good does that do my country?” he asked. “The nation invested in me – and I invested in this community – segregated neighborhoods are just plain un-American.”

He cared more about his country than he cared about his property value – How patriotic is that?
So why do I bring all this up?
Well Katherine Harris – my dad does not believe in God.

Get reading

2006-08-31T08:05:00.000-04:00

Google Books is now offering free downloads of out of copyright material

Books such as:
The Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy
by Issac Newton

And The origin of Species
By Charles Darwin

Ahh the classics...

Oliver Sells Out

2006-08-08T13:49:00.000-04:00

Oliver Stone has made a new movie – one which promises to make Hollywood rich
"World Trade Center" is drawing huge crowds to the box office and is getting critical acclaim.
Only New Yorkers seem to be shying away from this film.
I love New Yorkers.

Why would I not want to run out to see this movie?
I already know that in the face of the tragic events of 9/11 Americans showed themselves to be strong, united and most of all, human.
So why do I hesitate?

In 2003 I would have welcomed this film – maybe even in 2004, but not now.
I am hearing just how great this movie is, the patriotism, the unity, the nationalism and the portrayal of American courage.
And I guess that’s it. I am sick of the patriotism, the flag waving unity, the mindless self righteous nationalism.
No it’s not the events of that tragedy that put me off, I am not afraid to relive that horrible day.
My problem is with the events that have followed that day.
My problem is with where all that wonderful patriotism and national unity have taken us.

Vengeance for 9/11 and the attempt to bring those responsible to justice have taken us to Iraq
The so called “War on terror” has brought us to a place that had nothing to do with 9/11 to wage a war that had no legitimate purpose
Meanwhile the perpetrator of the attack on America still runs free.

Estimates show around 40,000 Iraqi civilians have died –estimates because our armed forces are not keeping track of the dead.
3,200 dead here at home – 40,000 Iraqi civilians…

But the thing that really got me down today was that the story about Oliver’s new movie appeared on the same page of my paper as a story about American soldiers raping and killing an Iraqi child – along with murdering her whole family, including a five year old.

I know I know… Innocent until proven guilty – right? – Good thing they weren’t sent to Gitmo
But just reading their own sworn statements was enough to make me sick.

America suffered that day in 2001 but why bring that suffering home to a 14 year old girl and her family in Iraq?
All that Nationalism, patriotism, unity and courage – for what – for this? – So our soldiers can commit crimes like these while a world doesn’t care?

Sorry Oliver Stone…
I am ashamed this day – not proud – to be an American L

The blood Bush has laid on my hands has been bad enough.
But this time I don’t know. There is more than just blood now – there are the tears, the grief and the anguish of a young girl raped and murdered, staining my heart.
Her pain is my pain – and thought of her horrible screams will haunt me – though I never heard them – they are there reverberating in the national subconscious.

We came to liberate these people from a brutal dictator. I wonder if they feel they are any better off. – I can think of two children at least who don’t.

Four American soldiers are claiming they are the victims of “combat stress”
Soldiers that should have never been there in the first place.

For the record

2006-07-14T10:18:00.000-04:00

Earth has suffered irreversible damage: study
Updated Thu. Mar. 31 2005 5:55 AM ET
CTV.ca News Staff

Humans are damaging the Earth at such an unprecedented rate that the strain on the planet may destroy about two-thirds of its ecosystem services, according to a landmark international study.

The consequences of humans' activities are severe and include: new diseases, sudden changes in water quality, creation of "dead zones" along the coasts, the collapse of fisheries, and shifts in regional climate, according to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Synthesis Report.
"At the heart of this assessment is a stark warning," said the 45-member board.
"Human activity is putting such strain on the natural functions of Earth that the ability of the planet's ecosystems to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted," it said.
The four-year, 2,500-page assessment was drawn up by 1,300 researchers from 95 nations in an effort to inform global policy initiatives.

Scientists warn that about 60 per cent of the ecosystem services that support life on Earth, such as fresh water, air and water regulation and natural hazards, are being destroyed.
The report warns that the consequences of this degradation of the environment will significantly worsen over the next 50 years.

"Any progress achieved in addressing the goals of poverty and hunger eradication, improved health, and environmental protection is unlikely to be sustained if most of the ecosystem services on which humanity relies continue to be degraded," said the study.
The report says humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly in the past 50 years than any other period.

"This was done largely to meet rapidly growing demands for food, fresh water, timber, fiber and fuel," a statement said, adding that this resulted in an irreversible loss of life on Earth, with some 10 to 30 per cent of mammal, bird and amphibian species threatened with extinction currently.

The changes in the ecosystem are owing to humans' efforts to meet rapidly growing demands for food, fresh water, timber, fibre and fuel, the report says.
"More land was converted to agriculture since 1945 than in the 18th and 19th centuries combined," according to the report's authors.

"More than half of all the synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, first made in 1913, ever used on the planet has been used since 1985."

And the current state of affairs is likely to be an obstacle to meeting the Millennium Development Goals agreed to by world leaders at the United Nations in 2000, the report says.
"The over-riding conclusion of this assessment is that it lies within the power of human societies to ease the strains we are putting on the nature services of the planet, while continuing to use them to bring better living standards to all," said the MA board of directors in a statement.
"Achieving this, however, will require radical changes in the way nature is treated at every level of decision-making and new ways of cooperation between government, business and civil society. The warning signs are there for all of us to see. The future now lies in our hands."
In a message launching the reports, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan said the environment can only be protected by understanding how it works.
"Only by valuing all our precious natural and human resources can we hope to build a sustainable future," Annan said.

Other warnings:
Deforestation influences the abundance of human pathogens such as malaria and cholera
Scientists project there will be progress in eliminating hunger but at rates too slow to halve the number of the hungry by 2015.

It is the world's poorest people who suffer the most from changes to the ecosystem.
Only four ecosystem services have been improved in the past half-century. These include: increased crop, livestock and aquaculture production, and increased carbon sequestration for worldwide climate regulation.

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment's work was prepared under the supervision of a 45-member board of directors, co-chaired by Dr. Robert Watson, chief scientist of The World Bank, and Dr. A. Hamid Zakri, director of the United Nations University's Institute of Advanced Studies.

The Time Has Come... Pt 2

2006-06-26T14:13:00.000-04:00

All roads lead us home…

http://www.climatecrisis.net/

A few months ago I wrote to most of you after making a startling connection in my mind about environmental issues in relation to humanitarian issues.
This idea was spurred by the question presented to me as to who would be the better choice for speaker at the annual NYS Farm Workers Assoc Gala.
The choices were Robert Kennedy Jr. and Elliott Spitzer.
Kennedy – defender of human rights Vs. Spitzer – defender of the environment…

I thought long and hard about these two men – and the message each would bring – I never really came to a conclusion as to who would be the better speaker
I did however make a connection between these two issues. It occurred to me then – and I will reiterate now, that there is no difference between the two:

“We are rapidly approaching a time where ideals like liberty and freedom from oppression will no longer matter
For the death of mother earth will swallow us all - free and oppressed alike"

I my previous letter I also stated that:

“There is no more important calling than this – NONE –
Any man or woman who rises to this calling is deserving of our greatest praise, our undying gratitude, and our undeterred support / commitment”

I had no idea at that time that this film was in production.

Having now seen it – I will stand by those words and I am hoping with all my heart that you will as well.
I love you all – just as I love this planet we inhabit and I am asking you all to see this movie and keep an open mind.
It is not a movie about Al Gore – Al is simply the messenger, and the message he delivers is one that we all need to hear.

Regardless of my opinion of the man in the past – I will now stand by my words above – and offer my undying gratitude and support
I feel that strongly – If you live on this planet – you need to hear this message.

This is not a political issue – it is no longer merely an environmental issue –
This is a moral issue –
JFK once addressed the nation on the issue of the inequality and disparity caused by segregation in our schools and our society; in his speech he stated:

“We are confronted primarily with a moral issue. It is as old as the scriptures and is as clear as the American Constitution.”

I call upon these words once again in the hopes that they will wake up a few more sleeping souls and divert them from the paths of despair or denial and move them to paths of awareness and action.

There will be much controversy over this film I am sure – I have already begun to see arguments against it – some politically motivated – some coming from organizations supporting the takeover of governmental functions by the private sector.

To me these arguments are as empty and as hollow as the words of a mass murderer who, when confronted with a list of his offenses including over sixty horrendous homicides, defends himself by saying
“I only hit that last guy once – he must have died of a heart attack.” .

I will leave you to form your own opinions – but as I said a few weeks ago:

“I myself have known this to be a very distinct possibility – since 1976
Since then the number of believers within the scientific community has gone from a handful – to an overwhelming majority
The only fact still being debated with any credibility – is the timescale”.

So– ten years – one hundred years – what is the difference? Perhaps the point of no return has passed – but perhaps it has not.

We know that the issue is real – to know such and not act on it is IMMORAL in every sense.
To continue to hide behind a media smokescreen of confusion and doubt is CRIMINAL in every sense.

We are born – we live and then we die – some two thousand generations lie behind us since we left our ancestral home on the plains of Africa.

In that time we have populated the planet. We have gone to the moon, to the bottom of the ocean. We have mapped our chromosomes, peered back to the very edge of time, and pondered the molecule, the atom and the quark.

How many generations will now follow after us? What will be their destiny?
If you have children, want children or even just know and love a child, please consider this question.
What will be our legacy?

“One thousand years from now - global history will show any who might survive what the biggest crimes against humanity really were”

Is this how we want to be remembered? As the generation who discovered the truth about our own impact upon this planet – yet refused to acknowledge it, or act upon it?

I was surprised by this movie- not by the evidence – but by the parallels between the life of Al Gore and my own…
If indeed you do not trust the man – being a politician – then I ask you to please trust me on this one.

For I have followed the same path of enlightenment and understanding of these issues –
NONE of the scientific data presented in this film was new to me.
I learned about atmospheric measurements of CO2 being done in the Pacific as a child
I followed along as the Global Oceanic Seafloor Core Sampling project was going on – I own a published copy of the results.
I learned about the significance of Arctic and Antarctic Ice core sampling. – Polar Icecap thickness data from the Navy and from Jacque Cousteau…

I have seen the studies on ozone depletion – as well as on movement of Antarctic ice flows.
I have studied oceanic biodiversity and change, climatology, learned about the decimation of the coral reefs around the world. The impact of harvesting the rainforest, slash and burn agriculture…

I have studied the broadening of the Sahara – the impact OF the people there; the impact ON the people there.
The list goes on – and on – I have devoted forty years of my life to learning about this issue. Most of these studies did not set out to prove anything about global warming – many had nothing to do with global warming at all…

There is no campaign to fool the world’s people – There has been no intent to make an issue out of something that is not sustainable – or provable.

We have been slow in many ways, to put the pieces of evidence into context, but that era has passed. The evidence has now lead us, as has been so appropriately stated, to an inconvenient truth.

My Philosophy has been shaped by people like Aldo Leopold – father of the modern conservation movement – whose ideas were met with skepticism and denial in 1948. Those same ideas are accepted today to be unshakably rock solid, profound and extremely insightful. Today these same ideas are UNIVERSALLY accepted world wide as the truth.

Carl Sagan…
I was already following this path of enlightenment when Carl Sagan came along and spoke of “Spaceship Earth” in the early seventies.
At that time I thought that this message was so fundamental and so easy to understand that surely the whole world would begin to embrace the idea of being environmentally responsible. I thought wrong.

Carl Sagan is gone – but his dream is still alive
Now we are being offered a second chance to wake up and embrace a philosophy of environmental sustainability.
I ask you now to please get on board – not for my sake – but for your own – for all of our sakes.
Please join me
PLEASE

As usual – I will quote a song:

Come mothers and fathersThroughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road isRapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

“The Times They Are A Changing” Bob Dylan – 1964

All roads lead us home…
Please do what you can to protect that home – for today and for tomorrow
For we have no other place to go

Thanks once more to all of you who managed to read this all the way through
My heart goes with you
Bobbb
Citizen of Earth

I speak Earth Talk

PS
For those who did not get this – or have forgotten – here is my original rant – from earlier this year

Big Picture time – Human rights = Environmental issues

It is as fundamental as this – in the simplest and most basic of terms.

The rights to eat, drink, breathe without being poisoned
The right to expect your grandchildren will be able to do the same…
I say to you now – that there is no difference between hate crimes – and environmental crimes
Ignorance, arrogance and greed give spawn to them both
Respect for people includes respecting the places they live – i.e.: Mother Earth home to us ALL

To give birth to freedom, democracy, etc while allowing arsenic and lead to slowly kill your people
To celebrate liberty while the icecaps melt and drown our coastlines and the ozone layer fades away
To pretend to give democracy to oppressed countries while mass consuming their resources and spewing them back in the form of industrial waste, and worthless consumer goods…

Heed well this message I come to deliver to you this day:
One thousand years from now - global history will show any who might survive what the biggest crimes against humanity really were

We are rapidly approaching a time where ideals like liberty and freedom from oppression will no longer matter
For the death of mother earth will swallow us all - free and oppressed alike
The rights of the people and the rights of the planet are so intimately connected as to bear no difference whatsoever
Would you discipline your children for fighting and teach them to respect each other – WHILE THE HOUSE WAS BURNING DOWN???

We all breathe the same air; drink the same water share the same earth
Every church, temple, synagogue, mosque, circle of gathering on this planet, every agnostic free thinker and every atheist should recognize this by now
We all need to respect and defend one another from the darkest side of human nature
Our sacred home – this fragile ball of earth, fire, air and water, demands the same respect – the same defense – the same priority
There is no more important calling than this – NONE –

Any man or woman who rises to this calling is deserving of our greatest praise, our undying gratitude, and our undeterred support / commitment

"We will leave this world an empty stone
Or this shining ball of blue, we can call our home…
Ashes ashes; all fall down
Ashes ashes; all fall down"
Grateful Dead - Throwing Stones -
Peace out
bobbb

Wondering...

2006-05-24T10:12:00.000-04:00

Should I be concerned that absolutely no one reads this Blog?
Am I just wasting my time here?
My analytical side says "Who cares? - Just keep writing and keep your thoughts organized. It's their loss... "
But my Ego is saying : "Hey! What about me?"

I have not had one new profile view in over 3 months - and no comments in weeks.

If no one cares who I am or what I say - than my message is lost -
I must now therefore seek a new pulpit from which to speak - so this may well be the last post you see here.

Perhaps if I allowed advertising and porn pop ups on this page more people would show an interest?

Sorry - that's NOT going to happen
And to anyone who does come here to read - sorry for the cynicism

The Toll

2006-04-26T12:50:00.000-04:00

Twenty years ago today an explosion rocked reactor number four at the nuclear facility in Chernoble
People speak of 9/11 and the brave men and women who died that day
Running in while everyone else was running away

Who now remembers the brave souls - who ran into the worst nuclear accident in history?
Many have died - more are dying
Proponents of nuclear power cite reports that Chernoble related deaths will number no more than four thousand.
Greenpeace cites reports that put that number closer to one hundred thousand.

The New York Times refers to Chernoble as the worst nuclear disaster in history
Aparently our descision to drop two atomic bombs on Japan does not constitute a disaster...
Perhaps because this was a premeditated act of war
I wonder if they consulted with any of the survivors of Hiroshema or Nagasaki before defining the words "nuclear disaster"?
But this is not the day for that outrage - or for the debates surruonding nuclear power and arms.

Today is a solomn day
A day to remember those who put their personal safety aside - and ran into danger
So that others would escape

My heart goes out to them - and I thank them for their courage
Twenty years is a long time
Yet were you to travel to any of the area's within 20 miles of Chernoble today
You would be advised not to linger

Black Hole Mind

2006-04-20T10:27:00.000-04:00

Black hole mind
No thoughts can escape
The gravity of your self importance
Omnipotent
Nothing will leave you
Not even your light
Brooding dark thoughts
In a gravity well of ignorance
Black hole mind
Forgive my proximity
As I bypass the threshold
Of your event horizon

NO I will NOT Forget

2006-04-18T14:01:00.000-04:00

As we approach the 36th anniversary of the Kent State Massacre (May 4 1970) let us remember the importance of speaking out against war

There was a time that people speaking out against war got so much attention that the government felt it was necessary to start gunning them down

It didn’t work

After the Kent State Massacre FOUR MILLION College students took to the streets – peacefully
Virtually shutting down every major University in the country.
The war mongers don’t like to admit it – but those students and their fellow protesters ended the war in Viet-Nam

Somehow the Nation did not rally behind a policy of gunning down our own children
The protest had brought the war home - where everyone could see it for what it was
Public opinion turned against the war for the first time within a month after the Kent State Shootings.

The Four Dead in Ohio:

Allison Krause - Age: 19, 110 Yards

William Schroeder - Age: 19, 130 Yards

Jeffrey Miller - Age: 20, 90 Yards

Sandra Scheuer - Age: 20, 130 Yards

"What if you knew her and found her dead on the ground?"

What if she was YOUR child?

Ohio
lyrics by Neil Young

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,

We're finally on our own.

This summer I hear the drumming,

Four dead in Ohio.

Gotta get down to it

Soldiers are gunning us down

Should have been done long ago.

What if you knew her

And found her dead on the ground

How can you run when you know?

Gotta get down to it

Soldiers are gunning us down

Should have been done long ago.

What if you knew her

And found her dead on the ground

How can you run when you know?

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,

We're finally on our own.

This summer I hear the drumming,

Four dead in Ohio.

I for one will never forget this moment
I was 13 years old
I still cry – every year as this day passes
I will question EVERY military action our government takes
For my trust was lost that day – lost for ever

Your Boycott Won't Work

2006-04-14T12:41:00.000-04:00

I recently received one of those “Chain” emails requesting me to take part in a boycott of Exxon – Mobil in order to force a “Price War” at the pump between the major oil companies.

On the off chance that you have received this as well – I am going to address it here.

The Email is said to be the brainchild of a retired Halliburton engineer – this is the company that provides gasoline to our troops in Iraq at a cost of $1.49 / gal when the local price is $0.99 - so I am suspicious right from the start.

The notion that if you don’t buy gasoline from Exxon – Mobil you will force a price war is seriously flawed...

Why?:

Oligopoly – Google it

We are not looking at the standard model of free enterprise here – tactics like this won’t work

The real game is being played at the refinery – not at the pump

If everyone buys their gas from …Sun Oil lets say - and we leave Exxon-Mobil out in the cold – Sun’s refined stockpiles of gasoline will drop dramatically – causing them to refine more oil – and to alter their refinement structure to produce more gasoline / barrel and less heating oil, jet fuel etc…

The problem is that SUN doesn’t have an unlimited supply of oil to refine – they will be forced to either buy crude – or refined products from the other big oil refineries Including Exxon – Mobil.

They will not hesitate to do this – they do it ALL THE TIME – they have an agreement with the other refiners. For all intents and purposes – there is no competition between the major oil companies – just the illusion of it.

This situation has been exacerbated “For our own good” by the secret Bush energy policy which has opened up these price fixing arrangements between refiners to an unprecedented level.

Why else would the price at the pump be setting records while the stockpiles of both US crude and US refined gasoline are at the highest level in History?

It doesn’t matter where you go to buy your gas – it all comes from the same 7 major refineries. If the laws of supply and demand were in place here the price of gas would drop to around $0.99 - $1.19 / gal

If we had to compete fairly on an international market – you would be paying over $4.00 / gal already – so the notion that $2.79 / gal is expensive – is a subjective one at best

People are too quick to point the fingers at the oil companies – huge multi national corporations with no conscience…

If someone kept leaving your refrigerator door open at night and the cat got in there and ate all your favorite foods – would you only blame the cat?

Especially if the door was intentionally left open every night while you sleep - by someone in your home with a vested interest in fattening up the cat??!!

You need to STOP COMPLAINING at the pump and START ASKING your president, senators and congressmen – WHY is it that the price of gas is so high while we are experiencing the largest surplus of overstock in history? - While the oil companies are reporting the largest profit margins of any company in history – ever ?????

Perhaps the “Secret” energy policy is flawed? – Both Bush & Cheney have a vested interest – in feeding the cat

They are getting rich while changing the law to allow Exxon – Mobil and their friends to rob you blind

Bad cat!

Bad Bush!

Bad Cheney!!!!!!!

Things we can do:

Vote the energy Nazis out of office – IMPEACH AS NECESSARY

Challenge your representatives to start playing hardball with the big oil companies – they can be voted out of office too – remind them of that

Support campaign – lobby reform

USE LESS GASOLINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We waste an estimated 20 – 30% of the gasoline purchased at the pump Oversized vehicles, vehicles left idling, remote car starters and unnecessary trips are top wasters – check your tire pressure – get tune-ups - slow down - car pool – ride the bus – insist on better mass transit

Demand solar tech be made available – tax cuts for doing so etc…. There is more that we can do

FOOD for thought:

Q: What do you get when you cross aging hippy ideals with profit hungry major oil companies that have no conscience?

A: BIODEASEL !!!!! Do we really want to run our cars on corn while the world starves? It is estimated that to grow that much corn in North America – Canada will have to be annexed – and its citizens relocated – so that Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec and BC can be farmed for corn - fuel.

Not to mention the fact that you will be paying $2.79 / ear for corn at your local market

New Leaders Wanted

2006-04-04T09:15:00.000-04:00

Today’s leaders don’t just live in the fog – they generate the fog for a living
From Hillary – to George – all I see is a spectrum of delusion – none wants to accept reality.
Perhaps we need a new set of leaders – ones who recognize reality
Perhaps we should ask…

What is reality?
Take a deep breath – that’s reality – you’re breathing it
It fills your lungs, your home; it’s all around you - everywhere
A balanced and perfectly maintained mix
Of Nitrogen, Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide, and more
Air is reality

Look out your window – see reality out there?
It comes in the form of weather, rain and snow
The clouds are real, we write songs about clouds – they look poetic
But the reality is that they are made from billions of droplets of water vapor
They are merely part of a vast cycle – an important cycle – the water cycle
Water is reality

Step off the sidewalk and cross a gravel path
Do you hear something? You hear reality crunching beneath your feet
Hundreds of millions of tiny stones gathered to this place
Each tiny pebble has a story behind it, a story that is millions – even billions of years old – and still going
Stories of volcanoes, earthquakes, glaciers and floods
Earth is reality

Feel the warmth of the sun on your face
The warm glow of reality – it bathes us with photons and sustains all life here on earth
Deep underground – the molten fire
It creates the continents – makes the atmosphere
Energy generated – by atomic decay underground – by atomic fusion ninety three million miles away in space
Energy, without which we would be a dead frozen rock in the void
Fire is reality

Every living being on the planet other than man easily understands this concept
They are all connected to reality – every day
It can’t be that hard to comprehend
Long ago Asian philosophers understood this
They postulated that all reality is based on these four elements
Without the benefit of a Harvard education, or a fellowship at MIT
They were connected to reality – they spoke Earth Talk

Where are these teachers now? Surely there are still some among us
From their basic understanding of reality shall the new leaders come
With understanding and compassion
For this precious planet we all share and call home

Whether a gift of God – or a gift of Nature
It matters not –
Mother Earth has given life to ALL of us
It’s time to start showing her some gratitude – and respect
No matter who or what you believe holds your spirit
Without Earth, Fire, Air and Water
That spirit would have no home – no life – no place in the universe
This is the reality we need our leaders to embrace
Before it is too late

Love your mother
Reconnect
Speak Earth Talk

Convenience- or annoyance?

2006-03-22T09:56:00.001-05:00

Remote car starters? - I hate em

I'm leaving work on Friday - and I have to push my way through a group of fellow employees huddled around the cafeteria door.
They are laughing, joking and having a good time as they discuss their plans for the weekend.

As I walk through the parking lot I pass no fewer than six vehicles idling away with doors locked and no one inside.

Realizing I have forgotten my checkbook - I head back inside to retrieve it from my desk
Five minutes later - I am on my way back out - past the same crowd of idle chatters - past the same row of idling cars

My problem with this?
It's 46 degrees outside! - just how much "warming up" does a vehicle need?
Especially since the sun is shining bright - and when I get into my car - I have to open windows

My mechanic friends tell me that more than a minute of warming up is excessive -
even when it is COLD outside (46 does not constitute cold)

How much fuel is being wasted every day in this country simply because people don't want to get into a cold car and start driving?
What's wrong with burning gasoline for no other reason than your physical comfort for that first few minutes of driving time?

If the moral issue of wasting fuel and polluting the air more than necessary - while your children die in wars created to ensure that you have a ready supply of said fuel and global warming threatens to bring the world as we know it to a watery end doesn't bother you...

Then consider the good old rule of economics - supply and demand

Your waste - increases demand - which in turn drives up prices - FOR EVERYONE!

One of my coworkers told me - "I don't give a shit what anyone says, I aint going to get into a cold car in the morning!"

Well I have thought about this for a week and I have decided that I am not going to keep paying higher prices at the pump while others continue to waste gasoline like it didn't matter to anyone.

It does matter - to us all

So I am writing to my senators and congressmen to ask them to crack down on gasoline waste -

And to request that remote car starters be made illegal here in New York State

Please feel free to join me

The Wall

2006-03-17T08:50:00.001-05:00

We wrote this on the day of Germany's re-unification
While the world watched in fascination The Berlin Wall was taken down

While Ronald Regan gloated – and Russia stood by – waiting for recognition that never came
We all wanted to remember the wall - what it was – why it was
And we wanted to remember all those uncounted lives ended or disrupted by that long hard wall
A Wall of hate and mistrust

Ten years have past – As I read this & listen to the hastily concocted performance
I can't help think that the point was missed by most of the world

Russia still waits – for recognition that never comes
The Ghost of Regan still gloats… and that gloat lives on - in the smirk on Bush's face and in the knowing look in Karl Roves eyes.

And as memories fade the poppies now grow on the graves of those who learned what the wall was really all about

The Fear was supposed to end that day – in 1992
The Fear was supposed to end.

Reminiscing Down the Wall

These days will stand and
With this changing at a glance
Of it all…

Boundaries up in arms
Then comes the changing of the guard
Bring it on!

Comes time to change but then
Containment stays the same
Now were lost…

When cold goes to warm
And your name is chiseled in the ice
You fear the thaw.

Feast your eyes on this…
Feast your eyes on this…
Feast your eyes on this…
Feast your eyes on this…

Born to the Right
And then we fight the good fight
Take credit for the fall…

Under its own weight
Did crash on down the Iron Gate
No risk at all

Who commands the light?
We would- if we could stand for right
And not just stand tall!

When you reminisce
This point;
You really shouldn't miss
Change changes all

Change changes all

Feast your eyes on this…
Feast your eyes on this…
Feast your eyes on this…
Feast your eyes on this…

Reminiscing down the wall…
Reminiscing down the wall…
(40 plus years to the fall)
Reminiscing down the wall…
(Who has now the angels?)
(Who hears the call?)
Reminiscing down the wall…

Feast your eyes on this…

Solomon's Ramada
Broadcast live from the WRPI studio 10/03/92

Peace

Moment of Clarity

2006-03-16T09:52:00.000-05:00

Thursday am around 9:30

Numbing cold tide
Like death
Overtakes my mind

Thursday morning around 9:30
Falls away like fractal shards of frozen time

In that crystal moment
I feel the past
A ghost over my shoulder
It calls to me

And I look back
Across all time

Over the twisted strands that are me
My heritage, is information

The unbroken chain spans billions of years
And somewhere
In each of those uncounted moments
I was there

Each moment is me
I am my universe
Racing toward unknown destiny

Thursday morning around 9:30
Goes on around me like some bizarre, grotesque dance

And all of the purposes
Which govern our daily lives
They seem so unabashedly trivial

And petty

Suddenly, without warning
As the sum of all truth
And the meaning of all creation
Seem just within the grasp of my thought

A cloud of haze and sounds like
Cheap star-trek special effects
Pulls me back
With stern iron grip

The phone is ringing...
The clock is running...
The people come and go
So quickly

Thursday morning around 9:30
What am I doing here?

Can you please see that this goes out with today’s mail?
I’m going to go get another cup of coffee…….

OK The time has come to speak... all roads lead us home

2006-03-15T16:05:00.003-05:00

Big Picture time:
Human rights = Environmental issues

It is as fundamental as this – in the simplest and most basic of terms.

The rights to eat, drink, breathe without being poisoned
The right to expect your grandchildren will be able to do the same
I say to you now – that there is no difference between hate crimes – and environmental crimes
Ignorance, arrogance and greed give spawn to them both
Respect for people includes respecting the places they live – i.e.: Mother Earth home to us ALL

To give birth to freedom, democracy, etc while allowing arsenic and lead to slowly kill your people
To celebrate liberty while the icecaps melt and drown our coastlines and the ozone layer fades away
To pretend to give democracy to oppressed countries while mass consuming their resources and spewing them back in the form of industrial waste, and worthless consumer goods…

Heed well this message I come to deliver to you this day:
One thousand years from now - global history will show any who might survive what the biggest crimes against humanity really were

We are rapidly approaching a time where ideals like liberty and freedom from oppression will no longer matter
For the death of mother earth will swallow us all - free and oppressed alike
The rights of the people and the rights of the planet are so intimately connected as to bear no difference whatsoever
Would you discipline your children for fighting and teach them to respect each other – WHILE THE HOUSE WAS BURNING DOWN???

We all breathe the same air; drink the same water share the same earth
Every church, temple, synagogue, mosque, circle of gathering on this planet, every agnostic free thinker and every atheist should recognize this by now
We all need to respect and defend one another from the darkest side of human nature
Our sacred home – this fragile ball of earth, fire, air and water, demands the same respect – the same defense – the same priority
There is no more important calling than this – NONE –

Any man or woman who rises to this calling is deserving of our greatest praise, our undying gratitude, and our undeterred support / commitment

"We will leave this world an empty stone
Or this shining ball of blue
We can call our home…

Ashes ashes; all fall down
Ashes ashes; all fall down"
Grateful Dead - Throwing Stones

2006-03-15T12:59:00.000-05:00

Never give up
Even when it seems hopeless
Especially when it seems hopeless