View from the Top of the World, north, 1975
10 February 2009
09 February 2009
Civil Defense: Thank You Kentucky National Guard
During the recent federal disaster suffered by Kentuckians due to the predicted severe ICE STORM, that devastated a major swath of our Bluegrass, I would like to thank the Kentucky National Guard for sweeping and rescuing people in the critical area in Western Kentucky, the most severely isolated storm region. (FEMA)
As for the FCC and its control of our airwaves, I, along with many others from what I am reading in news papers, were at the mercy of battery operated RADIO. All my INFORMATION about the outside world came through the SONY am/FM SW radio I depend on when needed. At 7AM on the morning of the initial power outage I had to listen to a powerful signal (as a Christian Radio Station signed ON) OVERRIDE and drown out the Louisville station on which I wanted to learn current emergency. Rock and roll praise of Jesus was no help considering I had a flooding basement to deal with, a generator to fuel, start and manage, plus a phone line about to crash. My cell phone lasted long enough to deal with my little emergency. And the utility company contracted tree trimmers have yet to arrive (14 days) to remove the heavy oak branches weighing down my main power line to the transformer and pole on the street. Patience is a virtue.
Apparently WHAS-84, that beacon of community information is no longer an option which beamed some fanatical rant of right wing ignorance by some egocentric licenced RANTER who calls himself "the center of the known radio universe". A space probe piloted by this idiot would be a great idea for a Mars Space Program.
I have always believed our National Guard troops were recruited for defense of the state, and National Emergency. Unfortunately many have been asked to defended our nation in a foreign country since 2003 serving many return assignments while limiting the numbers back home. This war will eventually cost US $3,000,000,000.000. I don't know what a trillion anything looks like. So, speaking of investing in our homeland security...
What kind of EMERGENCY RADIO PLAN is still in place in the USA that serves the public in a time of EMERGENCY. Compared to an ice storm a major earthquake from the New Madrid Fault region (which we expect to occur) will create a LONGER, more severe and structurally more damaging event to old architecture, gas and power grids and impact water lines than the ice storm caused.
Digital television cannot be the solution to informing the public in a time of an extended interruption to electrical service. What will be done with the broadcast bands left open after the nation goes DIGITAL in June (delayed from the February planned date)? And what has happened to the EMERGENCY BROADCAST SYSTEM which still tests its signal on TV each week informing us with the mantra:"This has been a test, if this had been an actual emergency you would have been told to tune to a channel for more emergency information.
So, WHAT'S THE PLAN? What IS an EMERGENCY other than a nuclear attack?
We Need a Plan. Knowledge is power when power doesn't run a TV. Talk Radio is no help in a LOCAL EMERGENCY. How can usaserve.org fit this need?
08 February 2009
Wyeth Country
demolished for an interstate bypass, this Pennsylvania Farm stood downwind, ironically, from Bethlehem Steel, now too gone
one site became an access ramp the other becoming a casino
progress, they call it
Evolution and Wonder: Understanding Charles Darwin | Transmutation Notebook B, Page 45 [Speaking of Faith® from American Public Media]
Evolution and Wonder: Understanding Charles Darwin Transmutation Notebook B, Page 45 [Speaking of Faith® from American Public Media]
The Tree of Life
one of the most universal of visual art motifs, from Persian Rugs to Native American blankets, Egyptian Tomb paintings to American Quilts...
The Tree of Life
one of the most universal of visual art motifs, from Persian Rugs to Native American blankets, Egyptian Tomb paintings to American Quilts...
Evolution and Wonder: Understanding Charles Darwin | Beagle Diary: Woollaston Island, Tierra del Fuego [Speaking of Faith® from American Public Media]
Evolution and Wonder: Understanding Charles Darwin Beagle Diary: Woollaston Island, Tierra del Fuego [Speaking of Faith® from American Public Media]
Ignorant modes of education reform in the USA, which falls behind the science based successes of other major players on our blue planet, have left the USA in the political fog still lingering in the 19th century. After the media-fed misrepresentation of the Scopes Money Trials in the first half of the 20th century the attitudes of many un-evolved, and mostly powerful Caucasians in Congress and the Senate, have only proved one theory still held (not to mention a Creation Museum) in our young country: The Missing Links themselves are alive and prospering in Washington DC in comfortable trees ignoring their roots...WE THE PEOPLE. It is all about Faith, after all. Cream pies, shoes and free press are the only WMDs WE THE PEOPLE can use to evolve. After a few more fat cats leaving a days' worth of "work" meet the photo-op makeover of a custard pie (say, YOUTUBE) on the face, then change will happen in a land run by clowns. And, Mr. President, you are no clown: you already understand what the problem is. (It does not depend of the definition of the verb IS). The moment Clinton uttered the phrase I completely understood his intent: The moment "W" asked "What is this global test?" to Al Gore in a debate... I instantly GOT IT. It's all about education. Thinking outside your own "sphere" is what I call it. A diploma isn't everything and the most intelligent people I have met were self-made people in Appalachia. Like "plastics" (Mrs. Robinson) "MARKETING" is America's new mantra and spin doctor; likewise, even Rush Limbaugh flunked out of college yet, likewise, Einstein did something with his brain (and Lincoln, the self-educated man) because a MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE. Dan Quayle has a museum in Indiana! Murphy Brown would have loved Sarah Palin's role as 'candidate'. Thanks to Will Rogers in the guise of Tina Fey WE THE PEOPLE saw some light at the end of this long, long tunnel. And instead of assisting education funding in Kentucky the state legislature is concerned about a ROCK that OHIO stole from Kentucky's Ohio River and is fighting that case while the commonwealth recovers from its biggest natural disaster in history.
Darwin and Lincoln and Poe all celebrate their 200th year of their birth in this, 2009, a year of change in a country learning little from its history. Our species must adapt to this new technology to improve our future (the Archives of the US do not yet accept or deal with PowerPoint programs YET) and the world is flashing by our 'business as usual' approach to politics. We must deal with that. We better do something about it. All we are saying is, give intelligence a chance: Change is good, life is change. Or there is extinction. God is in the details, everywhere. Enjoy the brilliance of Darwin's mind. I am proud to call the chimps cousins; they do more for their society than politicians who removed "education" from the current RECONSTRUCTION PACKAGE, which is what it will eventually be called. Lincoln is back; America is waiting for action...and the next election.
Ignorant modes of education reform in the USA, which falls behind the science based successes of other major players on our blue planet, have left the USA in the political fog still lingering in the 19th century. After the media-fed misrepresentation of the Scopes Money Trials in the first half of the 20th century the attitudes of many un-evolved, and mostly powerful Caucasians in Congress and the Senate, have only proved one theory still held (not to mention a Creation Museum) in our young country: The Missing Links themselves are alive and prospering in Washington DC in comfortable trees ignoring their roots...WE THE PEOPLE. It is all about Faith, after all. Cream pies, shoes and free press are the only WMDs WE THE PEOPLE can use to evolve. After a few more fat cats leaving a days' worth of "work" meet the photo-op makeover of a custard pie (say, YOUTUBE) on the face, then change will happen in a land run by clowns. And, Mr. President, you are no clown: you already understand what the problem is. (It does not depend of the definition of the verb IS). The moment Clinton uttered the phrase I completely understood his intent: The moment "W" asked "What is this global test?" to Al Gore in a debate... I instantly GOT IT. It's all about education. Thinking outside your own "sphere" is what I call it. A diploma isn't everything and the most intelligent people I have met were self-made people in Appalachia. Like "plastics" (Mrs. Robinson) "MARKETING" is America's new mantra and spin doctor; likewise, even Rush Limbaugh flunked out of college yet, likewise, Einstein did something with his brain (and Lincoln, the self-educated man) because a MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE. Dan Quayle has a museum in Indiana! Murphy Brown would have loved Sarah Palin's role as 'candidate'. Thanks to Will Rogers in the guise of Tina Fey WE THE PEOPLE saw some light at the end of this long, long tunnel. And instead of assisting education funding in Kentucky the state legislature is concerned about a ROCK that OHIO stole from Kentucky's Ohio River and is fighting that case while the commonwealth recovers from its biggest natural disaster in history.
Darwin and Lincoln and Poe all celebrate their 200th year of their birth in this, 2009, a year of change in a country learning little from its history. Our species must adapt to this new technology to improve our future (the Archives of the US do not yet accept or deal with PowerPoint programs YET) and the world is flashing by our 'business as usual' approach to politics. We must deal with that. We better do something about it. All we are saying is, give intelligence a chance: Change is good, life is change. Or there is extinction. God is in the details, everywhere. Enjoy the brilliance of Darwin's mind. I am proud to call the chimps cousins; they do more for their society than politicians who removed "education" from the current RECONSTRUCTION PACKAGE, which is what it will eventually be called. Lincoln is back; America is waiting for action...and the next election.
07 February 2009
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