Act Naturally

I like wandering around in the woods. it is resorative like nothing else. I think there should be more forests and park preserves and places where people can go and experience things that are not the byproducts of other people, but of nature.

A few years back, there was a conservative politician based drive to cut public funding from parks. Could it be that Conservatives hate public land because they can't exploit it? Anyway, as a result, there was an idiotic fee program put into place that made just enough money to pay for the people that had to be hired to drive all over the place and collect the three dollar fee envelopes from thousands of out of the way parking areas at trailhead parking areas. I always wondered why the amount was three dollars, which is an unlikely amount of dollar bills to have in your wallet. Thankfully, a lot of these fee boxes have been removed. Most people did not like the idea of "Paying twice," once on April 15 and again everytime they wanted to get away from the evils of town.

The biggest problem with fees is that you really never know where the money is going to go. I detested with all my being, paying the fee at the Chattooga river Wild and Scenic River, knowing full well that the money went straight into the general coffers of the National Forest Service. Nothing was spent on the Chattooga river. All it needs is to be left alone. They said the money would go toward better parking facilities or trails or something. Of course there weren't any parking lots that came close to being filled up and some of the trails were actually obscene intrusions into the wild areas which became degraded as a result. So what was the money for? How about "I don't know" for an answer.

Now, Tennessee has a fee at any number of State Parks. It is fairly low but it's a fee nonetheless. It collected just under a million bucks last year. Governor Bredesen knows the fee is unpopular and has now proposed to eliminate it. Well folks, I never thought I'd say this....I'm going against the Governor. I don't think we should eliminate the entrance fee.

"What!" you say.

Keep the fees...but tell us exactly what the money will be spent on. Actually...I'll tell you what the money should be spent on.

Collect the fee at the entrance to our State Parks and Natural Areas and use one hundred percent of that money to...

Buy more land for State Parks and Natural Areas.

If the State of Tennessee had an extra $300 milion bucks, we could have the best Parks and natural areas in the country by buying parts of the Bowater Land that is up for sale and there are other tracks of similar importance. We have a phenominal ecology in this state, but we're losing it fast. Well we don't have $300,000,000.00. But, there's a way to throw another penny or two in the pile and that is to keep the park fees and earmark the money.

There really is no other way to stop sprawl and development. We have to buy the land, or conservation easements of some sort.


So what do you say, folks? After all...All we have to do is act naturally.

Really!

Steve


Further reading:



Land

Tom Tomorrow

Working For Change

Ed's Toe

Ok, It is time for the winter canoe trip.

These shots are from the Edisto river in flood in South Carolina a year or so ago with Charlie, and Gordon. We have high standards of misbehavior on our trips, but it involves more overeating than anything else, since I travel with the best paddling chefs, ever.

Cheers,

Steve



I made Charlie do the work as Gordon disappears into the flooded forest.
Camp, the first night.

Sunday Sermon

"...NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Sunday, January 22, 2006, as National Sanctity of Human Life Day. I call upon all Americans to recognize this day with appropriate ceremonies and to reaffirm our commitment to respecting and defending the life and dignity of every human being..."

Defend the life of every human being...What a noble thing.


From Iraq Body count:

Civilian deaths directly attributed to the United States Military:

28,000 to 31,676

Nearly another 100,000 dead due to secondary causes as a result of the Iraq war.

American Dead?

Closing in on 2300 with no end in sight.

I am ashamed of my country...So scared of shadows...so lacking in courage...

Today is the 30th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision guaranteeing an American citizen's right to privacy. This decision is known as Roe v Wade.

Peace,

Steve

Taxi...

There comes a time in winter when the berries of vintage murder mystery wine come to pleasantness. They sit in clusters coloring the otherwise drab hardwood forest or along the banks of creeks in shadow and ripen slowly, hanging distasteful until that moment when other foodstuffs have been exhausted in the search for sustenance. Now is the time for oversized birds to hang in the tips of dogwoods, too large to be adequately supported by the smallest twigs which carry the deep burgundy berries. Sapsuckers, robins, and others perch among the limbs discussing the fruits like ladies at a tea twittering to themselves...

"Well...This certainly is no Boursin, but once you get past the aroma, you know...And it seems to go well with a bit of pear and lemon...umm...Not the most delightful tidbit, but interesting, eh?"

They won't eat but a couple before they leave. No gorging to be done here. It is difficult work, hanging out at the very end of a twig, dancing about as the twig and morsel bounce under the weight of the modern dinosaur.

Consider the irony: A four ounce descendant of a cousin of Tyrannosaur, right there above my deck chair, eating the berry from a tree that has waited until now to become palatable, insuring for itself the best chances of mobility to a likely spot for germination, growth, and resumption of the cycle of life. At other times there is too much food to choose from, and the distasteful fruit would simply fall to the earth underneath its mother/father onto ground already tapped for the essential nutrients required of that particular plant. New ground is best, and the seed rides the dinosaur taxi to new real estate and is dropped off, literally, with a nice deposit of starter nutrients...repayment of a sort. Self serving in the long run for the dinosaur and its own descendants. Some future winter's meal, prepared by this feathered farmer, will serve its children a decade hence.

The trees grown from seeds that are planted now will nourish our children...Or not. Who foresaw the incredible damage to our Nation that a simple thing like eliminating the "Fairness Doctrine" from our media would have? The worst thing about today's situation is not that we have ceded our Nation's morality to corportions, but that we ourselves prepared the ground for our own destruction as a free country.

Can we be thoughtful enough to plant the proper seeds for our children's future?

I'm betting on it!

Peace,

Steve

Love Comes Tumbling Down

I don't think I could have gotten through college without the money I made playing in a rock band in the 60's. We were rather bad, thankfully, and most of us turned to real jobs at the first opportunity, rather than staying on the National Guard Armory circuit in small town South Georgia. All southern wannabe bands covered soul groups as best we could until Hendrix came along and screwed everything up for those of us who actually could not play the instruments we were dancing around with on stage. But kids came and danced and sang along anyway.

Another way to look at this is to realize that Wilson Pickett put me through school. had it not been for "Midnight Hour" and "Mustang Sally" we would have had to play a lot more Temptations or some other group for which our voices were totally unsuited.

"In the Midnight Hour" is an anthem for the early soul years and horn harmony. Wilson wrote it. One time we were booked at the Laurens County Fairgrounds playing for a politicians barbecue. I don't know why we were booked but $75 bucks was $75 bucks and there we were, screeching into cheap microphones with a bunch of coveralled farmers staring at our hair combed the wrong way. One of them repeatedly came up and told us (not asked... told) to turn that noise down. We did. The only music we could come up with was thirty minutes of instrumental "Hour" and harmonies we made up on the spot, the words making fun of our situation in call and answer improv. It might have been Our finest hour...It was certainly our most creative. The politician was Lester Maddox.

Wilson Pickett just passed away of a heart attack. I have a few minutes alone in the house this morning and I will pick up my old pawn shop Stratocaster and step to a little "Wickett Pickett" before I venture out into the day. I'm turning it up real loud, in the volume makes up for lack of talent theory.

Thanks, Wilson!

Peace,

Steve

*****

When thinking about scientific research into climate change, I find myself comparing it to the mesmerized fascination of a caged rat staring at the face of a snake...waiting...

Wanna know what actual climate scientists are finding out about climate change? I mean without politics? This is a website for and by scientists with a synopsis linking articles that even I can understand.

http://www.realclimate.org/


A soldier returns but not really:

suicide-note


the Story

In our Senator Frist Friday news, there's a startling buzz about his Washington office. Seems he had staffers in his office daytrading on inside info from lobbyists and legislators. If this revelation holds up, somebody is in serious big trouble...Oh wait...Frist is already under investifgation for insider trading...Duh!

Speaketh the President

I know you've been hearing a lot about the new Medicare prescription drug plan, particularly if you have a Mom or Grandmother on the damned thing. Well here you go. Juanita has our dear leader explaining it clearly and concisely in his own words so everyone can understand it.

"Because the -- all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculated, for example, is on the table. Whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those -- changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be -- or closer delivered to that has been promised."

There ya go. Simple isn't it?

Beauty

When it comes to Jack Abramoff, Bush has put his lying muscle into high gear...check this whopper:

"I'm not, frankly, all that familiar with a lot that's going on over at Capitol Hill, but it seems like to me that [Abramoff] was an equal money dispenser, that he was giving money to people in both political parties."

Abramoff never gave one penny to Democrats, people. His whole operation with Tom Delay was the K Street project. K Street is set up to eliminate any Democrats holding any position at any lobbying firm.

The Abramoff scandal is one hundred percent Republican. It's not the Lobbyists, though you may be surprised to hear me say that.

No, in fact, it is the scheme that ambitious Republican creeps, like Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay, set in place piece by piece to enrich themselves by setting up the "Will Legislate for Money" operation where the old principle of "One person, one vote" has been buried under the new K Street version, "$100,000.00, one piece of legislation that totally favors your gambling operation or Multinational corporation."

Further reading (short version) is here:

americanprogress

They're Lying

Ok, I have to do something about the flying squirrels in the attic. After I figure out how they're getting in there, I'll put metal wire over their front door if possible. I like to be aware of the night rovings of the beastie world, but I have to have a little sleep, eh?

Is it mating season already?


Have you noticed the usual suspects franticly puting the old "Clinton did it" excuse for Bush's illegal wiretaps? In addition to the blather, they're lying about it. Why isn't it some kind of crime agains tour democracy when the Presidential spokesman lies?

here's the short version:

The Clinton justice department did not break the law with its secret search of the premises of foreign spy who had worked his way into the CIA, Aldrich Ames. In doing that they realized the potential for abuse and supported a law change that made warrantless searches illegal under the FISA act, which had been enacted because of Nixon's criminal abuse of power during Watergate. Clinton never performed an illegal search or wiretap, contrary to what Scott McClellan implied. Bush did.

Here's an even shorter version:

Clinton followed the law and caught a spy.

Bush broke the law and caught....well nobody so far. Nothing. Zip. After thousands of wiretaps for which there is no judicial oversight...Not squat!

Now here's the part that troubles me...

Why did the Bush administration go to such extreme lengths to perform wiretaps without a paper trail?

That is the only thing they gained by breaking the law.

It appears that Colin Powell may have been wiretapped. Members of the United Nations may have been wiretapped. Reporters may have been wiretapped.

"These are bad people." said President Bush. "Remember, these are bad people."

Yeah, right. Bad people like Americans who believe in the Constitution!

Peace,

Steve

Speech

I've got just one thing to add to Al Gore's speech yesterday....

YEE HAAAAAHHHHH!!!!


Al Gore

Sunrise

Some things seem totally bad, as in the pine beetle epidemic that wiped out a huge percentage of the pine trees in the South over the last five years. The carcasses have mostly fallen over and are beginning to return to the earth, though some still stand, making it important to locate your tent in the daylight. The woodpeckers have been doing well but their bounty of wood boring insects may be coming to an end, as dead soldiers fall and the woods open up to winter daylight.

For me, the removal of the evergreeens on the eastern edge of the gorge has given me a direct view of the rising sun. I watched it rise above the horizon at 7:46 by my stove top clock, painting the hill tops red for a few minutes. The red dot on the other side of the gorge was actually a bald eagle. He's gone white with the risen sun...And the clouds have moved in, so I guess it's gonna rain soon.

I started wondering what actually counted as the moment of sunrise? After a little checking I found this US Naval Observatory site, which has a calculator for anywhere in the world. It officially calculated my sunrise at 7:48...I'll go set my clock.

Have fun.

Sun and Moon Calculator

Steve

Why I live in East Tennessee

A recent early Spring day at Potter's Falls:




Thomas

Bogartz

Last night I was kidnapped, put in a car, driven far away from my beloved and protective woodland refuge into the bowels of Thunder Road, led into a chef owned restaurant and forced to eat pieces of dead duck, and that only after I had been tempted with a small plate of sea creatures followed by a few slices of a Japanese cow.

I have regrets.

One has these when forced to make unfortunate choices. I cannot remember previously leaving a last lonely glassfull of wine, that had nearly reached adolescence, still trapped inside its expensive bottle. Those who know me will tell you that I always give respect to the elderly and It was the presentation of the small green and red glass of 40 year old port, I swear, that caused me to abandon one pleasure for another. I didn't want to offend my captor, after all.

The morning is clear, and thankfully, so is my head. Careful pacing is required if one is to make the midnight journey home in safety. Last night as I stood between the car and house, I looked at Orion standing up on the cliff across the gorge. Other than Cygnus on a perfect night and the Dippers, no constellation looks so much like its name. A few discreet clouds, illuminated by the full moon, caused me to admire such a clear night that I could just make out the nebula in Orion's "sword" even in the wolf light.

Cities are curious things, filled with scared people who must have their night lights to chase away gremlin fears. On evenings like this, I am grateful for cities and their sublime pleasures. Out here, I have my own fears, but they do not include the monsters of the darkness that hide under the bed. I am afraid that one day, too many people will escape from the city and, bringing their fear-lights, they will steal Orion's sword from me. Don't they realize the price they pay, accepting an ineffective amulet for protection from a monster existing only in their imaginations? Don't they realize it is a false choice?

I guess it is the same human mechanism that drives us to trade the freedom guranteed by a Constitution for the false security of a corrupt fanaticism. I think humans can escape this false choice with awareness and thoughtfulness. For my beliefs, I prefer forget the industrial age illumination and choose the imaginary sword lighting the winter sky.

Peace,

Steve

Window

Looking out this morning got me to thinking.

Eagles have the better paint job but when the wind is gusting to 35 knots, buzzards are better fliers and sure do seem to enjoy it. Why do I think of the "Undertakers Ball" when I see vultures ripping up the sky?

The yard deer are starting to eat the rhododendron. Time to cut up a soap bar and hang the pieces on plants I'd like to still have in the spring. The twin button bucks are really growing fast. As I watch them, I wonder what they are feeding on...besides my garden?

The wind knocked another tree down across the paved road in front of one of the neighbor's farm driveway. AS usually happens, the other folks that live back here got a saw and cleared it out, cutting the hardwood into firewood lengths. As a group, the neighborhood clears a couple of trees a year out of those folks way. Since 1988 no one remembers them ever saying "thankyou." We'll talk about them but it won't matter. Even if the tree is lying across their driveway and everybody else can get by, the neighbors will still get together and cut it up... But we'll talk about them.

The woodpeckers were everywhere this morning. I wondered about this until I noticed that the wind had knocked the suet feeder down onto the porch and Maggie, the cat, was standing guard, trying to look disinterested. The birds are studying the situation but refuse to get closer than a certain distance. Maggie gets up to the deck by climbing twenty feet up a dogwood tree. She is all fluffy looking but when some one tries to pick her up, they realize that she's hard as a concrete block wearing a fur coat. The coyotes don't mess with her and the dogs get out of her way when she walks up to the water dish. Oddly, even though she lays her ears back and cat growls at them, the racoons eat whatever they want of her food. It's a rock, paper, scissors, pecking order out there, and I don't pretend to understand it.

It's cold today, dusting us with snow, and I have to restock the firewood on the back porch. This is a good chore. it has a far more tangible reward than things like cleaning, which also must be done before the wife gets home from her mother's house in Virginia. We men have decided that it's better for her not to know what the house looks like when she's been gone. After we clean up, it will still be a mess by her standards. I don't pretend to understand this either.

Peace,

Steve

The years teach much which the days never knew. ..The days come and go like muffled and veiled figures sent from a distant friendly party, but they say nothing, and if we do not use the gifts they bring, they carry them as silently away.

Emerson

Full Wolf Moon

So Friday the Thirteenth and the full moon fall on the same day....Oooooeeeeeoooooo....

One of the things I pity city dwellers for is night lights. When I get to be Emperor of the Universe, I will have them turned off. Until then, you poor urbanites will not know the monthly wonder and peace of a world seen only by the illuminations of a full moon.

A gift I would give each person would be a clear winter night in a deep hardwood forest with the full wolf moon. Last night was close enough. Clouds are coming to the Cumberland Plateau so we may miss true fullness. Friday and Saturday nights will share the brightness. I hope you folks get the chance to find someplace to go, even if only for a little while.

At our house, there are lots of windows and no curtains. The only time this is a problem is when the Air National Guard is flying night maneuvers or there is a full moon. Did you know that black helicopters are not chased away by a naked middle aged man standing on the deck of his cliffside bedroom giving them the finger?

The other time bare windows are problematic is when a body is trying to sleep through a moonlit night. I don't under stand why anyone would want to sleep all the way through a moonlit night, actually, but I do get the concept of needing just one more little nap before the alarm goes off. It's hard to get that last one in with a bright beam lunar headlight shining in your face.

The four legged vigilantes we feed on the back porch seem to feel the need, on such nights, to alert us to the movement of every beast larger than a shrew. This is an audible alarm only, since any real confrontation results in the dogs demonstrating that they have mastered the art of barking ferociously while retreating at full speed. My studies indicate that the only animal they will approach within strinking distance of is a skunk, of which we apparently have plenty. Everything else has free rein to eat the new fruit trees or the remaining greens left in the kitchen garden, as long as whatever it is can ignore the incessant yapping...and most of them do.

So I'm groggier than normal this day. I'll try to steal a nap sometime after lunch. I count it as a blessing that I don't sleep through the night. It is such a stunning world.

Peace,

Steve

Any Ideas, Anyone?

Ok, here are the predictions:

1. Alito will be confirmed. The news media simply aren't covering the hearings in any meaningful way.

2. Lots of noise will be made about impeaching George W. Bush. Could go either way as more and more scandal floats to the top.

3. Tom DeLay will be convicted, as will several other Republicans but Alito will be the vote needed to get Bush and them off the hook, ultimately.

4. The Roane County jail will be remodeled and at least one judge will not get reelected...and it's a judge I like, actually.

5. The Roane County commission will look entirely different after the next election cycle. This is not necessarily good, but it could be.

6. Global warming will take off in a huge way. Say bye to the Arctic ice cap and polar bears.

Feeling cheerful now?

America is broken. I can rant all I want to prove that but it wouldn't help, would it? What we need are ideas to get behind, simple effective ideas. Since the politicians won't do it, we must.

Here is a list of 21 that have been whittled out of thousands that were submitted. Some I like, some I don't. What do you think?

At the very least, there is discussion going on. That's a start.

ideas

Hey, folks, this is where we are. The only thing we can do is start turning this ship around and do our best. If you aren't willing to get your hands dirty, stay inside and keep out of the way.

Peace,

Steve

Hi Ho, Hi Ho...

I'm working today.

This interferes with my posting in a big way, particularly when the old steam powered connection at the cabin isn't working. This will come as a great relief to the County Commissioners, one of whom resigned over the jail issue. I hate that. I would rather they just realize that they represent all the people and not just the rich ones. Particularly the rich ones who don't even live here.

So far, none of the commissioners nor the bail bondsman have given us their side of things in the comments section. Wonder why?

The Alito hearings are amazing. Not the hearings themselves, so much, but the dichotomy between what is actually happening and what is making it into the public consciousness. It couldn't be more obvious that Alito was chosen to get Bush off the hook when the warrantless spying hits the courts. From now on, the President will be above the law. The term you will hear a lot about is the term, "Unitary President" which is another term for fascist dictator.

As we hear comments from insiders that there were "millions" of NSA wiretaps of "Bad people" we are left to speculate on why the Democrats in the Senate keep rolling over and offering only mild and ineffective opposition as the country tanks.

Sigh...

Steve

Slippery Judge

The Scribble

The End of America

Sitting here at the table, I just noticed a white dot on the other side of the ridge. These white dots have meaning. They are weather predicters, usually forcasting a winter drizzle.

Picking up the massive set of binoculars by the window, I can see the eagle sitting in the top of a pine tree. He see's me better than I can see him, and this seems unfair, but it is the way of the world. I don't know why the eagles prefer to sit around on gloomy days instead of hunting the edges of Watts Bar Lake for dead things, but they do. Sometimes several of them will gather up and talk, especially if it gets foggy. The conversation is reminiscent of a bunch of old women in a bar. Animated, rasping, and meaningless to me. I love it.

It dawns on me that this is the symbol of my government. Eagles are regal birds, half predator...half vulture. How fitting!

There are many forms of government, but the funny thing is that the citizens themselves rarely actually choose their own government.

Neither you nor I chose the one we have here in the U.S.A. That was done for us a long time ago. Even then, the American form of government that was put in place was worked out among a few movers and shakers in a mixture of idealism, greed, and self interest. The original American form of government was essentially a Libertarian incarnation, and it simply did not work. We switched over to a democratic republic with the framework set down in the highest law of the land entitled, The Constitution of the United States of America.

Twern't perfect. Nothing ever is, but it has been a danged fine document up until now. It had one overriding concept, in that it expected the people who had a burning desire to control our government to be infected with greed and self interest to a far greater degree than with idealism, ergo, the checks and balances concept, with an innovative Rock, Paper, Scissors arrangement that took the elementary Yin-Yang balance to a new order of magnitude. This very day, Congressional hearings will start that will determine the future of this form of government.

Samuel Alito is a fine advocacy lawyer. Unfortunately, advocacy is uncalled for on the Supreme Court of the United States, unless it is advocacy for the Citizens, something which has never ever been found in Alito's record. The confirmation if Alito will change our form of government from Democracy to Fascism. You folks who think his biggest issue is Roe v Wade are so wrong, and it's scary. Alito believes in an imperial presidency. He believes that the President can issue a Presidential Statement and define the meaning of a law. If he is confirmed, it means the end of the American experiment.

George Bush will decide what laws mean from now on. Well that's fine, right? We elected him King, right? ACtually, no.


Flashnack 2000.....Ok, so I've been told that "Bush won, get over it" so many times I'm sick of it. Folks who support Bush seemed so smug and gloating after the 2000 election. Bush did not win Florida and should never have been President. Further research proves that Al Gore won Florida by at least 29,000 votes.

There were 175,000 votes overall that were so-called “spoiled ballots.” About two-thirds of the spoiled ballots were over-votes; many or most of them would have been write-in over-votes, where people had punched and written in a candidate’s name.

...in an analysis of the 2.7 million votes that had been cast in Florida’s eight largest counties, The Washington Post found that Gore’s name was punched on 46,000 of the over-vote ballots it, while Bush’s name was marked on only 17,000.

Al Gore won Florida in a decisive victory and his brother Jeb stole it for him. Under recount rules in Florida, these ballots were valid. Here's the proof:

Florida

So there ya go. Alito thinks it is ok for Bush to listen to your phone calls without a warrant. No paper trail. Alito thinks that Corporations have the right to privacy and human beings don't. Roe v Wade was a Right to Privacy issue...abortion was just the framework. America will be very different if he is confirmed and Conservatives retain their hold on all three branches of American government.

It was a great country while it lasted.

Peace,

Steve

Can we Disagree for the Common Good?

It's over...there were thousands more signatures turned in than are needed to force our local jail bond issue to a referendum. This has been a fun experience and I've met or spent time with a number of people who I knew, but now know better.

Roane County is better for the activism of its citizens. This is a small community in some ways, even though there are 52,000 people here. They need to talk to each other more often. Not only that, but...

We have to learn how to disagree with each other.

As it is, we seem to be running as fast as we can to one side of an issue or the other, ripping each other's reputation to shreds in the process, when instead, we should be sitting down and, as a great philosopher once said...

"Reason together."

It's OK to argue! Let's just don't stay mad about it.

We will never totally agree and this is a good thing. It keeps us from holding hands and cheerfuly marching over a cliff together. Some one has to think about it and say, "Hey guys! Are we sure this is such a good idea?"

Then we have to listen and think.

The problem is that in today's political world, it has become fashinable to attack that someone on a personal level rather than giving pause and thinking about what they are saying. This world is too small to survive if this is how we will deal with each other from now on. On the local level that same sentiment applies. this small piece of Tennessee needs the activism of its people. In order for activism to work, we have to let each issue play out to its conclusion shake hands and say, "Good game!" and turn to the next problem. This is where we find ourselves now.

There will be no new jail at Roane County Community college. The number of signatures guarantees that the referendum will fail. A narrow majority of Commissioners voted in favor in the first place and the people have over ruled those eight. This being America, the losing faction on the commission will not be ordered to commit Hari Kari. They will take their seats at the next meeting and continue with their mission to govern this county as the people require. They are not evil. There were simply wrong. And we still have problems we need their help to solve. We have to choose an alternate solution to the jail problem, for instance.

Personally, I think the jail should be looked at right after we deal with the $20,000,000.00 or more needed to give our students the opportunity for a first class education in Roane County.

I want each commisioner to know that we can disagree and still work together.

Now, I have heard from a Commissioner and a Bail Bondsman who disagree with things posted on this blog. I offered both of them the opportunity to publish a comment. Nothing special about them, though, I offer everyone an opportunity to comment. The Commissioner has declined up to this point and we'll see about the Bondsman. We need their information in order to make a good decision. We'll see if they share with us.

If they present facts, I'll move their comments to the front page. If it's opinion, it can stay in the comments for all to read. And guess what? The Commissioner and the Bondsman are just like all of you. You can comment at any time you wish.

It's a free blog. have at it.

Peace,

Steve

Two O'clock on Friday

I sat at the petition table outside a local grocery store while the retired gentleman that had been collecting petition signatures went to take a little break. Very interesting...

Several folks hustled past in the cold and several people smiled and said they'd already signed. Several folks stopped, chatted, and filled out the form. Why are "They" trying to do this?" was the most common question followed by, "It doesn't make sense." One man in his Fireman uniform parked his firetruck in the parking lot and came over after he had picked up something for the firestation. He gave a short oratory on who was behind the whole thing, signed, and left. "It's those _______ people" he said. "It's all about money."

We now have more than the required number of signatures but some will be thrown out so we need to get plenty of extras. The core group of organizers want to get enough to shake the commissioners into realizing they had better back up and come up with another plan. From here on, every signature is one more message to the Commission. Hopefully, they will have sense enough to rescind their previous vote and come up with something that makes more sense.

As it is, I am having fun talking with people. Nothing like a popular cause to unify folks.

Gotta run, now...Mr. Collins needs a little break. Wave if you drive by!

Peace,

Steve

3300

In my never ending quest for Truth, Justice, and the American way, I will be forced to go to our highschool basketball game tonight in Oliver Springs. Having dear friends on both sides, I have more fun watching them each yell at the refs for favoring the other team.

I will, of course, be there to gather jail petition signatures. Getting to watch a little highschool hoops is just the duty to be endured... I love this stuff.

I know you guys are tired of this jail issue....Me too. But what must be done, must be done.

Good people have let themselves be used as pawns in the Corporate/Right wing ideological battle against public schools for too long now and it's time to fight. The secret goal is to overload government with debt so deeply, that the great moral issue of working for the common good cannot be funded. This is the Conservative plan as espoused by Newt Gingrich so long ago. Corporations Good, human beings Bad.

Why else do you think there is such a push to load us up with debt on such a transparently stupid prison project, when our schools are in serious need of attention?

(Well ok, I know that the consulting firms make a killing on these projects and push the hell out of them, but can't I indulge myself on the right wing nut jobs at the same time? Thank you.)


We're on the home stretch in the jail referendum petition drive. This has really brought our county together, in an odd way. For the first time in memory, we have the Young Republicans and the Young Democrats standing shoulder to shoulder calling for signatures.

If I were a County Commissioner and had refused to vote to allow the people to decide for themselves whether or not to spend this huge amount of money on a prison...I might be thinking about making a public announcement Today, that I would rescind my vote! ...Or whatever it would take to get on the right side of this issue. Roane County voters will remember who voted against them in the next election.

I'll make sure of that!

Sign and deliver your petitions, as soon as possible. Call us and we'll come get them.

603-6981 (update: this is the correct number)

*****

Glad to see Facing South back up and running. Here's a couple of clips from a bit about the Bush Administration's pathological obsession (stole that phrase) with destroying all that is good about America:

"I worked for four Republican Presidents and two Democrats and during the course of that career, never have I witnessed such an ideological war on the natural resource laws, policies or practices or institutions," Mike Finley, former superintendent of Yellowstone National Park, said in a speech today. "Even our national parks are not safe from this assault."

Preliminary assessment of the Department of Interior’s proposed revisions to the existing (2001) Management Policies raises concerns that the overall impact of the language changes in the draft weaken protections for our national parklands, in particular, park air quality and wilderness, and could lead to increased use of Jet Skis, off-road vehicles, commercialization, and grazing at the cost of preservation.

Parks Under Attack


Here's a quick overview of Republican scandals over the last year. There are sooo many....

scandalous



Peace,

Steve

Jail House Rock

You folks who "ain"t from around here" will have to bear with me for a minute. I have local housekeeping to deal with for a minute.


Ok, so as of Tuesday we are about halfway done gathering the number of signatures we need. The only people who haven't offered to sign the petition are those who simply don't know enough to decide. Too bad, because if we don't decide, the eight people on the County Commission, who can't give you a real reason for the jail when you corner them, will be able to raise your property taxes by over $2,000,000.00 a year.


here's a quick check list:

1. The given reason for the Jail, overcrowding, is an administrative problem and doesn't really exist.

2. Roane County does not release anyone on their own recognizance, they have to make bond. (This is incredible, actually...Be sure and say hi to the Judges next time you see them out to lunch with the bail bondsmen.)

3. Ten percent of the prisoners don't belong to Roane County in the first place. (Duh...guess what step one to eliminate overcrowding should be?)

4. The budget for the new jail as presented to the public is woefully inadequate and very misleading. (Surprise!)

5. No accurate cost for transportation has been presented. This will be huge. (You mean the commissioners aren't telling us the whole story?....Shocked! Shocked! I tell you!)

Why the Rockwood representatives want that jail down near their town is a mystery to me, anyway. Don't they know that if you have jails, you have created a gathering place for the most nefarious of the underclasses in America? The dregs of society? I mean, why would the good citizens of Rockwood want to create, near their homes right in their own community, a haven and gathering place for...

Lawyers?

Print this out and get every registered Roane County voter you know to sign it and get it to us by this Thursday. We'll have signing tables set up at all the Roane County Food City locations. You can drop them off there or emaill me and we'll come pick your petition up.


Jail Petition


I had the pleasure of spending time with Congressman Harold Ford yesterday, and frankly, I'm impressed.

Apparently, so is everyone else that meets this guy. While the Republican smear machine works overtime to tar Harold with the deeds of his relatives, he seems to keep his head high, look people in the eye and ask folks to judge him own his own record of public service...Unblemished and impressive.

I've been in the room with any number of politicians and most of the time I feel like I need a shower afterward. Harold Ford is something different. We'll see if Tennessee is ready. I hope so.


Peace,

Steve

What's this List missing?

Several folks sent messages about my List. A very good friend asked why I didn't mention "Love more?"

I thought I did, but not in that exact term. I view love as an action, not just an emotion.

In that vein, I encourage you to read Denise's "comment" to my list.

Peace,

Steve

Financial Green

I tend to post alarming happenings here, but this will be different. I have often said that the humankind will turn from destroying this planet to saving it only when enough of them realize there is no other choice. Ecosystems have a certain amount of resiliancy and no more. Beyond a certain point there is no recovery. This beautiful planet's ability to support us is shrinking fast, closing like a knothole that humanity must pass through in order to survive. The only question in all this is, "How small will the organizations of humanity allow that knothole to become before they start trying to turn the economic ships of the world?"

It is a monument to the collective human death wish that our economic systems are set up to profit from the destruction of the very forces that sustain life on Earth.

At what point will this change?

There are hopeful signs in this world and here is a very large one. This is a framework whereby environmental considerations will be included in that most evil of all documents

....The Business Plan.

Here are tenets of the framework:
disclose the greenhouse gas emissions of all its operations;

make $1 billion available for investments in renewable energy;


set up a think tank to identify other lucrative green markets;


work on public policy measures relating to climate change;


conduct more rigorous assessments of its new projects' impacts on the environment and on indigenous people;


refuse to finance extractive projects in World Heritage sites or any projects that violate the environmental laws of the host country.

Sounds pretty strong. The most hopeful thing of all is who this business plan is from:

Goldman Sachs, the world leading investment bank. Noting that two thirds of the world's resources are being depleted unsustainably and calculating that the Earth's ecosystem provides $33,000,000,000,000.00 worth of value each year to human enterprise, Goldman Sachs has taken the stance that money has little value if there is no planet on which to spend it.

That figure was thirty three TRILLION dollars, by the way. That's what Mother Nature means to us. Here's the full report:

Business Plan

Peace,

Steve

List

Things to do this coming year:

1. Work on being kinder.

2. Get fit.

3. Be more active Environmentally.

4. Play more.

5. Bring rationallity to the Taj Ma Jail debacle.

6. Impeach Bush.

7. Teach Critical Thinking to a Baptist.

8. Read a book on digital photography.

9. Raise my children well.

10. Save the World.


There....That should do it!

Love to all!

Kids before Criminals

Here's more goody on the Roane County jail situation:

Anyone who has been inside a Roane County School knows we have higher needs than a Taj Ma Jail...And we certainly don't need to pay $650,000, that's $24,000.00 an acre, for land with a building that has to be torn down before construction can start. That tract of land is right next to Roane State Community College, anyway.

With a 250 acre brownfield site less than four miles away, why are our commissioners being so dumb? My theory is that they are just being mentally lazy and are letting themselves be led around by folks with an agenda that is not in Roane County's best interest.

Let's help them out on this one.


Here is a printable petition for those who want to help force the jail construction issue to a public referendum. It Is our money they are spending, after all!

Jail Petition

Jailbaiters

Sign the petition.

While most of the world worries about the shadow government running America into the ground, us citizens of Roane County, Tennessee have learned that we have a shadow government of our very own...the Jailbaiters.

These are folks who want the taxpayers of Roane County to build a new jail. That, in and of itself, is no big deal. The problem is that the jailbaiters want to build a Taj ma Jail and plop it down in what might be the worst location in the whole county. We have a lovely community college here with a beautiful campus, and yep, right next to that wonderful facility is where the jailbaiters want their jail.

I don't really understand why.

First of all, there are alternatives to building a new jail in the first place. Sure the one we have is overcrowded but it is less overcrowded than our school system and there doesn't seem to be any screaming rush to fix that glaring problem. Well of course not, silly reader... If there's one thing everybody knows, it is that if you care about community development, you borrow all the money you can and raise property taxes so you can have the finest jail facilities anywhere around. When people look at a community, we all know that the first thing people check out is how nice the jail is.

If everything goes perfectly, the increase in cost to the taxpayers will be roughly two million bucks a year...essentially forever...about half for the building and the other half for the increase in the operational cost of running the much larger jail.... If everything goes perfectly....With an average jail population of 120 denizens, that is an increase of $16,666.66 per each. Not total cost per each...this is the proposed increase in spending.

Just for fun compare $16,666.00 to the per capita income for Rockwood, TN, one of the towns in our county. The average Rockwoodian makes $13,000 a year. I'm guessing a little schooling could help that, but the commissioners aren't proposing any additional school funding.

"We borrow and spend on criminals" the Commissioners say.

Why do we want to increase spending on the worst segment of our population? The local joke is that there are only eight people in favor of the jail...and all eight are County Commissioners. Is there something we don't know? Why do these folks want a Taj Ma Jail? It's not like they're gonna spend any time there....oh wait....Hmmmm?

Well, in an effort to take this matter to the voters of our fair county, a resolution was introduced before the commission that called for a referendum. "Let the people decide" was the call. It failed to pass after one commissioner switched his vote from what he had promised. "I lied" he is fond of saying...he has such a cute way of posing when he's caught in a lie...Anyway, the vote was eight to seven to deny the voters the chance to decide.

How can eight people be so out of touch with what their constituents want? Who knows but there's something we can do. Sign a petition asking the commission to let the voters decide.

You must be a registered Roane County voter. I need someone to post it on the web so I can link to it. For now, I have to email the petition to folks who want it. Let me know.

We have a week. We can make sure this goes before the people for a decision. In one hour, yesterday, we got 250 signatures. The citizens of thios county seem to have different priorities from the Commissioners. I think they mean well,actually. Most of them are friends of mine. Let's just hope they listen.

Steve

Drip Drip

I fell asleep with the TV on. At some point I crawled up to bed, woken in all probability, by a dog protecting the house from some heinous member of the rodent family. As of 8:26 this morning I still do not know who won the Peach Bowl. I'll find out soon enough.

It is now New Year's Eve and football is all that will be on the broadcast channels with the occasional break for some program pretending to be a news show. There won't be much actual news...Mostly these things are just for entertainment purposes. President Bush seems to be involved in a domestic spy scandal that would ordinarily result in his impeachment but instead we will hear "How to pick a puppy" and a hangover quiz.

The Justice Department has a full scale investigation going on, but not on the Presidential violation of the Constitution. Nope...The investigation is all about finding that hater of America who LEAKED that the President was violating the Constitution. Do you think the laws of our once great nation are upside down when lesser laws can be used to punish people for passing along the knowledge that "High Crimes" are being committed? And by someone who went in front of the American people and swore, with his hand on a christian bible, to defend and protect the Constitution of the United States of America?

Well now you know who the true enemies of America are...The tattle tales.

Well in spite of this, let me wish a Happy New Year, to all...Especially whoever it was that leaked all over George Bush.

Steve

After a grey Day

Hand held from the deck on Friday, Dec. 30, 2005.

Soon it will be the second half of this decade. Doesn't 1999 seem so recent? Did we party well enough? Let's not make the same mistakes in the last part of what may go down in history as the Last American Decade.

Why do we pursue wealth so vigorously and happiness so ineptly?

Peace,

Steve

Present

Everybody in Tampa said to tell you folks Hi.

Ok, that's not true but you enjoyed it for a second there now didn't you?

Things are almost back to normal in this SNAFU world we live in. By the time we got back in town, most of the presents we had ordered had arrived...a week late. One very important present that I purchased for the wife arrived while we were gone...Our former housecleaner, who has retired, took a substantial bribe to clean up the house while we were out of town. It's amazing!

I hate cleaning, but I appreciate a clean house. Some people have more than just a knack for tidying things up and Rose is the best. When she closes the door on her way out, not only are those little black things that grow in small dark corners gone, but the cushions on the couch are artfully arranged, my underwear folded in the dresser drawer, and the dogs have had a special treat.

I personally have never folded an underwear.

I have tried to think of a way to tell you what the experience of walking into a house that has been Rose'd and all I can come up with is that everything has become art. The magazines haven't been stacked neatly but are now a presentation. Getting out of the shower this morning I hesitated to take a towel from the wooden dowel rack. Each towel was folded and placed just so. I dripped silently for several seconds before violating the scene, cold but appreciative.

We have managed to set a new record for maintaining an immaculate house this year. It was easy, too. The secret was, after Rose cleaned the house... We stayed at a motel in Tampa as long as we could.

Peace,

Steve

12/25/2005

Why I live here:



click to see the larger image. This one looks like dog.....I'll try to work on it over the next day or so. I'm traveling so no time now. Sorry.

s

Before the onslaught

Card from Robert

I want to share this card from Robert.

Wish Upon a Star

Know what? I say we put away all the crap for a day or two and just be nice to each other, whaduyasay?

"Tis the Season, for lack of reason"

There's so much bs being tossed around, it's hard not to get hit with some of it. Why do folks want to whip up grief this time of year? I mean that war on Xmas thing? It's really the other way around, what with Xmas being a war on the traditional winter solstice celebration of the god, Mithra.

Let's not worry about little things like facts in this season of celebration.

Most of the Xmas story is just a pleasant little myth, with little basis in biblical fact. No two biblical books come anywhere close to agreeing on anything, including which town Jesus was born in or even the virgin birth itself.

...You know those "Wise men" who rode in on camels? No camels, actually, and to consider the five miles they traveled "coming from a far"...well they had to be toady old things for what should be a nice before breakfast walk to seem like any distance at all. They definitely weren't kings...they were astrologers, you know, and real "Wise" men don't pay much attention to astrology, now do they?

There is a great divide amongst christians, conveniently labeled "conservative" and "liberal." The conservative or fundamentalist view is that the christian bible is unerring and true in all aspects. Liberals tend to own up to the glaring inaccuracies and contraditions, though not always.

Belief defies reason and we can just leave it at that. It's ok.

I like some aspect of nearly all winter solstice traditions. There is a commonality that transcends dogma. It is best said in a phrase that conservatives do not seem to believe and liberals seem incapable of bringing about. Nevertheless, I hold it in my heart and wish, for whatever good that will do, to all humankind and every other denizen of this beautiful suffering planet:

Peace on Earth, Good Will toward All!

Merry Christmas!

It is not the tangible, but the transcendant, that heals our hearts.

Steve

*****


Further reading is here:
religious tolerance

Taken just now.

Quote of the week

"Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so." -- George Bush, April 20, 2004

*****

Here's something fun to play with. Replace my answers with yours and post them in the comments at the blog:

Four jobs you've had in your life: Process and design consultant, engineer, rock musician, short order cook

Four movies you could watch over and over: F9-11, The Helstrom Chronicles, Help, Young Frankenstein

Four places you've lived: Dublin, Ga. Winston Salem, NC, Memphis, TN, Long Creek, SC,

Four TV shows you love to watch: The Daily Show, C-span, Gol TV, Freeview Concerts

Four places you've been on vacation: St. Simon's Island, Ga, Costa Rica, Santa Cruz, Ca, Lilly Spring, Santa Fe River, Fla.

Four websites you visit daily: Buzzflash, Kos, Allhatnocattle(?), The Illustrated Daily Scribble

Four of your favorite foods: Salmon, Tom Yum, Thai Curry, turkey-toe peas

Four places you'd rather be: Costa Rica, La Seo D'urgel, Spain, Cumberland Island, GA, Gibson Ridge, Cumberland County, TN

Each and every one, a Champion!

"You're not one of those people who believes human beings came from worms, are you?"

(Oh, yes. I am, actually. )

"You aren't one of those people who believes in the Talking Snake Theory, are you?"

Darwinian Theory is so simple that it is a constant source of consternation that anyone bothers to claim that it is false. Here it is in a nutshell:

1. Every child of any organism is born different in some way from its parent(s) and siblings.

2. Sometimes life gets tough, for one reason or another, and not all offspring survive long enough to make their own offspring.

3. The ones that do survive make offspring that look more like the parents than the members of the previous generation who didn't reproduce.

4. After enough generations of being born different, the current crop of offspring in any lineage will not look much like the founding fathers and/or mothers mentioned in item 1.

There you go...That's all there is to it.

But....it gets complicated from there. Just as any conceivable number may be correctly written by combining only two symbols, one and zero, There is no life form yet encountered on this planet that is not formed under the direction of its own personal genetic code. Every living thing we know of on planet Earth has DNA.

A most obvious example of what is called "Natural Selection" is the race to fertilize an egg. We are all victims of this process. At some point prior to our birth, a race was held between a few million sperm with an egg as the finish line. The winner was crowned champion by being allowed to supply the missing chromosomes needed to produce a viable ovum, and TA DA, We began our unique existance, at some point, hopefully, ready to hold another race.

There are and have been gazillions of such races. Here is the story of some of them that includes the "worm" mentioned at the start of today's blatherings.

Enjoy.


Science Friday



Season's Greetings!

(anything wrong with that?)

Steve

"Breathtaking Inanity"

The creationist lie exposed in penetrating brilliance.

In the case of "Tammy kicks School Board Butt", Judge Jones has written a new chapter in the bible of American free thought. While the FundXtians blather incessantly with open mouths and closed minds, others see this as a watershed event that may help drive another nail in the coffins of those who would study ignorance and force into the same cesspool of darkness, not only their own children, but, and more purposefully evilly, the children of the otherwise enlightened. Creationists want to force science teachers to spout creationist idiocy, and thereby attempt to make your child as superstitious and incapable of critical thought as they wish to make their own.




The Federal Court ruling against a Pennsylvaia School Board action that attempted to force science teachers to teach "Not-science" has given his Rudeness the opportunity to interpret the Federal Court decision in words that the immoral pushers of intelligent design can understand, those craven hypocrites.

Of course, the Judge, himself a Bush appointee, has a way with the word also:

"...this case came to us as the result of the activism of an ill-informed faction on a school board, aided by a national public interest law firm eager to find a constitutional test case on ID, who in combination drove the Board to adopt an imprudent and ultimately unconstitutional policy. The breathtaking inanity of the Board’s decision is evident when considered against the factual backdrop which has now been fully revealed through this trial. The students, parents, and teachers of the Dover Area School District deserved better..."


"Breathtaking inanity"...How that phrase rolls through the mind when considering the creationist viewpoint.

Cutting to the meat of the ruling, Judge Jones wrote...

"Both Defendants and many of the leading proponents of ID make a bedrock assumption which is utterly false. "

It has been a while since I quoted the Rude Pundit, but here is my opportunity. The Rude Pundit has a slightly different turn of phrase that communicates essentially the same thought:

"Hey, Churchy, shove yer pandas up yer lyin' asses, and stop wastin' everyone's time ..."

Laced with profanity well used, you may read the rest for yourself:

rudely put

Judge Jones, however, has written a beautiful piece of legal opinion that really should be bound and published, but of course, I have it for you fine people. It makes excellent reading for anyone who wishes to understand how immoral the creationist movement is, and to what lengths of a black art they are willing to raise the skills of lying.

The Opinion

Peace comes to those with courage. Good will toward all, but especially toward Tammy Kitzmiller, who had the courage to stand up for the teaching of reason, and to United States District Court Judge John E. Jones, who so eloquently turned the proper phrase in the pursuit of Truth, Justice, and the American way.

From now on, when someone says "I am a creationist", It will be tantamount to saying, "I am ignorant, and will do whatever it takes to remain that way."

Steve

It's the Fascism, Stupid

Winter means ice in the South. Sure it gets a little colder but nothing like 35 below up north where they go ice fishing. (What kind of bait do you use to catch ice, anyway?) We get decent snow some years but mostly we get ice storms. Ice doesn't bother the deciduous trees but the pines, still having their needles, suffer greatly.

So last Thursday we had our first real ice storm of the season and lots of folks are still lacking electricity almost a week later. Here at the cabin in Long Creek things are fine, except for a few limbs to clear away, but intown Greenville got hammered. Our friend Joe's neighborhood was elderly and distinguished with a canopy of beautiful mature trees. I hope the damage is not so bad as to change the character of that fine place. The South loses too many trees each year as it is.

*****

Another old institution has fallen in America, and that is the free press. Having been handed documents obtained by the ACLU under the Freedom of Information Act indicating that President Bush ordered secret spying on American citizens, the NY Times refused to print the information until they were forced to by one of their own reporters. There are several implications to this that bother me, notwithstanding the President's defense that he is allowed to make up his own laws in time of war...absolutely ridiculous in the light of day and even more frightening.

No, what really bothers me is what is essentially a cover up in which the NY Times participated. The ACLU provided the government documents to the Times prior to the last Presidential Election. Government officials demanded that the Times not run the story under the auspices of National Security (bogus reasoning given even a moment's thought) and Bush won the election. Would the information that George Bush had committed a possibly impeachable offense have changed the election result? It would have taken less than one percent of the voters to reverse the result, remember, notwithstanding the "I've got capital" B S from Bush.

The New York Times has failed America. Who do we turn to?

I am a card carrying member of the ACLU, as you should already know. I have a question for them. Why did they only give the information to the NY Times? The Times after all, is not the bastion of fair goevernance they once were. I realize that printing the facts is considered "Liberal" but here we have another instance of failure to do so, to put up alongside Judith Miller's and Armstrong Williams' prostitution for those in power. The electorate of America has the right to know what was going on at the very moment of the one decision it is allowed to make in its own governance. Why didn't the ACLU provide these documents to George Bush's hometown newspaper in Crawford, Tevas? They've done a fine job of printing the facts.

America will always, from time to time, have evil people in high positions. If we ignore truth...they will get away with their evil deeds and the next villian will feel even more emboldened.

It takes courage, Mr. Editor...Do you have it?

It takes courage, Mr. Lawyer...Do you have it?

It takes courage, Citizens...

Steve


*****

Here's the bottom line on why Bush wanted secret spying. There is no other reason except to cover up their actions.

Under the actual law, they can act immediately but have to get approval by the court within 72 hours. But there is a paper trail. That's the only difference. The checks and balances part of our legal system is what George Bush finds inconvenient and wishes to eliminate.

Here's Charlie's take on it:

From Toccoa

Sue sent this Doonesbury Cartoon to us:

Happy Holidays and Merry Xmas

We're putting the Christmas tree up today. One of the benefits of waiting until after both boy's birthdays is that the trees go on sale...if you can find one, that is.

I like the tree. It is a good pagan symbol co-opted several hundred years ago by christian religious officials who figured Easter was too long to wait for a good party.

"Why miss a good excuse to eat a pig?" they were probably thinking. "It's really dark and cold and we could use some fun, eh?"

(For convenience I have taken the liberty of translating the Northern European "Ja" into the more familiar "eh", which is Canadian, as you well know, eh?)

The currently popular traditions of eating ham, burning a log, hanging evergreen boughs, holly, mistletoe, and of course, "Da Tree" are derivations of the good old "Feast of the Pagan god, Jul. The Jul feast seemed like way to good a deal to leave to the pagans, so Pope Gregory told Mellitus to get out in front of the celebration and get those heathans to convert to christianity and start sending their monetary patronage to Rome...or else the pope's kind and loving god would have them killed. Mellitus told the pagans that they had been wrong about the winter solstice thing and the party was really about the birth of christ.

(The pagans might have asked Mellitus if christ were simultaneously born at a different time in the southern hemisphere, but they only had astrologers to make stuff up at that point in time, having not yet imported astronomy from Greece in its logical form, and so they didn't know that the winter solstice happened at a completely different time of year in Terra del Fuego.)

The pagans, being pretty tipsy with all that meade, ham, and turnip greens coursing through their veins, decided that there was no sense in letting some fanatical weirdo in a red suit and funny hat kill a good buzz, so they told Mellitus, "Sure, whatever, Dude. Take a load of your sandals and have a hit off the old horn of plenty, or something like that." ( you believe me about the turnip greens, don't you?)

The Pope got his money, the pagans got their party, and Mellitus died and got to be a saint.

And after centuries of tortured history, I have a tree in the living room. We decorate it and watch the needles fall off. It's a grand tradition based, not on popes or pagans, but in family togetherness.

I like it for several reasons. It brings back childhood memories of times when I didn't understand how screwed up adult humans really are. There's food and drink and good smells...and... Everybody tries to be nice to each other.

Well not everybody but we ignore those people. They can kill their own happy buzz, but not ours, right? I mean, anyone who wants to puff up and be offended when someone else wishes for their happiness is simply unworthy and forgets the original meaning of christmas...

War on someone else's winter holiday traditions and beliefs.

So let the meade flow. Peace on Earth and Good will toward all...

Steve



*****





Kurt Vonnegut makes a few political observations:

Loaded pistols are good for people unless they're in prisons or lunatic asylums.

That's correct.

Millions spent on public health are inflationary.

That's correct.

Billions spent on weapons will bring inflation down.

That's correct.

Kurt


From our "All Morality comes for God" Department, this news report:

The End of the Case - Sat, Dec 17, 2005

Accused sex attacker Peter Braunstein was captured yesterday after a two-month nationwide manhunt. He was reading Lee Strobel's The Case for Faith, which, as I noted here, has an interesting take on the problem of evil -- including an enlightening chapter explaining why we should worship a God who kills little children.

I bet if he were reading The End of Faith, we'd never hear the end of it.

I watched a Sam Harris speech this morning on C-span. He is the author of The End of Faith. More here:

the_end_of_the_case

Ice, would too suffice

Just got the report that the power is out at the cabin in Long Creek. (SC) from and ice storm. I wish I were there.

The houses I migrate between are at the end of the road...and then some. Power outages are inconvenient but not much more that that. As for ice storms themselves, except for the damage to the pine trees, I love them. Nothing in my experience can top the beauty of a moonlight walk in an ice covered forest. Last night was the longest night of full moon this year. Roughly thirteen hours and a bit of full moon, while today we'll have just over ten hours of sun...which just popped over the eastern ridge three minutes ago...that would be 7:54 am here in TN.

Cold, clear night, full moon overhead, the forest beasties were running about the gorge exciting the dogs, which bark and yip and keep a safe distance. I like waking up at night, wondering what it is that Casper and Kuma are protecting the house from? The wife is not as happy about it..."Would you go yell at those damned dogs?" she says, hoping to get one more power snooze before the little black radio starts talking.

"President Bush gave in to pressure from Senator McCain and accepted a ban on torture" the little black box on the bedside table said.

My country is run by the insane.

Peace,

Steve

*****



Dan Kurtzman has a list of the 25 Mind Numbingly Stupid Quotes" of 2005. Tennessee's Senator Frist is near the head of the class with TWO mind numbingly stupid quotes...the first, unintentional...the second, downright meanspirited...the crassest sort of politics of which he should apologize, which he has not, and be ashamed. I don't think Republican leaders have that particular emotion in their makeup. Human tragedy is simply the stage set for their manifest greed.

Cases in point from "Doctor" Frist:


23) "Get some devastation in the back." --Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, to a staff photographer as he posed for a photo op while visiting tsunami-ravaged Sri Lanka, Jan. 6, 2005

and:

15) "I question it based on a review of the video footage which I spent an hour or so looking at last night in my office. She certainly seems to respond to visual stimuli." --Sen. Bill Frist, diagnosing Terri Schiavo's condition during a speech on the Senate floor, March 17, 2005


stupidquotes

I think the biggest lie this year was this one:

"Congress saw the same Intelligence I did." George W. Bush justifying his war.

This is just plain not true. The President has all kinds of writers wo make things up for him and I don't think he thought of this himself because I've heard it repeated by several Republican mouths. No matter how many times they say it, though, It is still not true...It's a Lie!

Of course we all knew that, but just to make it official, here's the Report to Congress:

Report

Morning

I had a great insight during the night. Woken up by the flying squirrels wintering over in the eave, here at the cabin in Long Creek.

It was so clear...obvious...I was in that demilitarized zone between sleep and wakening, each set of forces battling for superiority. I was pulling for sleep to win, so I ran the concept through my brain a few times, promised to write it down in the morning, and surrendered.

I'm quite rested now and clueless to whatever it was.

Probably just dreamed I had a great idea. This happens in the daytime sometimes, even when I'm fully conscious. "Seemed like the thing to do at the time." I tend to say later.

This happens to other people too..."Hey! You know what would be a good idea? Let's invade Iraq, get rid of Saddam, move all our military bases out of Saudi Arabia like Osama wants us to and set them up in Iraq. It'll be fun!"

History books get written on such matters.

No book will be written on my incredible insight which would have required immediate action... It has evaporated, In the twilight of the predawn.

Might be for the best. It's a beautiful morning in the winter woods, and even five minutes is well spent wandering.

Peace,

Steve

*****

President Bush gave figures for the Iraq war dead yesterday that were different from mine. He used the number of verifiable and identified civilian deaths, which is just under 31,000, and doesn't include all casualties from all war related causes. The biggest difference appears to be in who is counted as a civilian and who is counted as an insurgent.


Also, I don't understand the difference in the Administration figures in the American wounded. How can they list tens of thousands of medical evacuations and say there are only 9,000 wounded? What's up?

Orion

Orion doesn't actually look like this to the nude eye. It will be tilted 90 degrees to the left tonight and only the brightest stars will show up.

Go outside and look up.

Peace,

Steve














More like that. And that's Rigel at top left and Betelgeuse at lower right.

Nebulosity

That's Venus beaming at us in the evening sky. Mars is still up there but it's losing brightness at a fast clip, as the Earth outruns it on the planetary merry go round. I did manage to see a few Geminids in the wee hours after moonset. It's been mostly cloudy so this morning was a bust. If you can roust yourself before dawn and look east you'll see Jupiter rising a couple of hours before the sun.

Friday night, we were returning from the Hal Holbrook/ Mark Twain performance, headed East on I 40. A large meteor crossed the sky and broke into two pieces before flaming out. It had to be large in order to be seen through the light pollution of downtown Knoxville.

Friends ask me why they don't see these things and I do, often pointing them out for others to catch the last instant of meteor flight. I don't know, really, but I think it is because I look for them. I have actually pointed out more than one person's "first" falling star. Is the sky really that easy to ignore?

The winter is a wonderful time to look up. Here is the easiest unwordly ting to see...the Orion Nebula. There are three bright stars all lined up in the southeastern sky about ten tonight or most nights if this one is cloudy. To the right of the three stars that make up Orion's belt, you can see three more stars angled down to the right. Take your binoculars and look at the middle star. Not a star is it?

Peace,

Steve

Eugene

(I didn't research this but I think it's pretty accurate. I have noticed my memory getting a tad convenient as I grey up.)

President Bush was in Minnesota yesterday making speeches to boost support for his senseless and unpopular war. As Bush made his tour to support a Republican candidate for Senator, a man who had formerly held that senate seat, and who had opposed the previously most unpopular war in American history, Eugene McCarthy, died.

I remember the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated and Lyndon Johnson assumed the Presidency. The Vietnam war raged on and as Americans started to die in large numbers, it became clear that there was no real plan to win that war and that the Johnson administration had not told America the truth.

As the Presidential election neared, Eugene McCarthy publicly opposed his own party's president because of the war. Johnson announced he would not run for reelection, a monumental event in American history. Johnson was a conflicted man of high pricipal in some respects, and low principals in others. He was a Texan. Eugene McCarthy wore his principled idealism as a badge and ran for President against a field including Hubert H. Humphrey, the Vice President, and Bobby Kennedy, brother of the slain, John.

Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in the third most tragic day of my life up to that point. I had lost a father and a president...As boyhood friends began to die in a war that had no point, one of the two men I was counting on to save us was killed. Eugene McCarthy was the other one. He went to the American people and simply told the truth, quietly and eloquently. Backed by money from defense contractors and others in the business world and lacking the moral imperative against telling a political lie, Hubert Humphrey won the nomination but was unable to shake his association with the failed war effort and lost the election to Richard Nixon, who had told the American people he had a "Secret Plan" to end the war.

More Americans were killed in Vietnam after Nixon was elected than before. Defense contractors made billions. In the next election George McGovern ran against Nixon on an anti war platform and was beaten by Nixon, who's campaign strategy was to state, "We have to fight Communism over there, so we won't have to fight it over here," or words to that effect. Nixon then proceeded to do exactly what McGovern said and pulled out of Viet Nam in the most shameful day in American Military history, as far as defeat is concerned, essentially beaten by Ho Chi MIn.

Nixon was forced to resign as his continued operation as if the laws of America did not apply to him caught up with him. It was the honorable actions of a few Republicans that tipped the balance in favor of justice. At some point, the American people just had enough of being lied to.

Odd, though, that up until a certain point, Americans seem to choose the Liar...And they have always known better. Instead of Eugene McCarthy, they chose Humphrey. Instead of Humphrey they chose Nixon. Instead of Carter, they chose Reagan.

And recently, instead of Gore and Kerry, they chose Bush. (Well they didn't, actually, but they let the election be close enough to steal, so in effect they did choose the liar)

Eugene McCarthy died an honorable man, to the end. Unchosen by America.

Peace,

Steve

What light through yon forest shines?

...Tis the dawn, and the hot tub calls me, siren like, to its enveloping wetness, where, having returned a womb of my own devise, I watch woodpeckers, possessive, repel the chickadees from the suet log...Juliet. I have my coffee. You are forgotten.



Saw Hal Holbrooke last night at the Tennessee Theater. Sam Clemmens died 100 years ago but his words are current. He seems to have disliked poiticians, lawyers, and criminals. Of the three, I believe he considered criminals to be the least disingenuous group.

Here is a Presidential quote from the previous week. It was relayed to the public via at least three Republican sources. three republicans telling the same lie is certainly not unusual, but they seem to have been stunned at the words of George W. Bush:

“Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush screamed back. “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!”

If confirmed as true...how can any American NOT call for his resignation?

He Said what?

Peace,

Steve

Yay! We make the top ten...

And then click to see who it is:

Pollution Scorecard

You say you want a Resolution?

So I have a question...

Since Republican Congressman Duke Cunningham has resigned in disgrace and is going to jail for bribery, it is apparent that his votes in Congress were the result of criminal activity. The Congressman's vote was paid for by Corporations, through lobbyists. His was not the only one.

Tom Delay represents K street lobbyists, not the people in his district. None of his constituents have contributed to his defense fund (ok, one...but he is a crook). Almost all of Tom's defense money comes from corporations...out of state corporations.

Several other Republican Congressmen are under investigation and will probably be arrested or forced to resign. (Now don't think I'm letting the Dems off the hook. It's just that Dems are small time at stealing money. The Republicans are soooo much better at it.)

So the votes were bought. Republican Nick Smith was reported to have even been bribed on the floor of Congress, though he refused. (This is under investigation with charges expected)

So many bills have passed by one or two votes...bribed votes...as it turns out.

And the Republican House Leadership has continually violated rules in order to pass legislation and deliver the goods to their corporate puppetmasters.

Now that all this is coming to light. Here's my question:

Shouldn't we go back and recount the votes?

Wouldn't that be the honorable and fair thing to do?

Here's the bottom line: The Conservative agenda cannot be supported without corruption and lies. If we allow the fruits of corruption to stand, the corporate criminals win. A huge case in point is the "Prescription Drug Bill", and Nancy Pelosi introduced a resolution listing and condemning the rules violations and corruption involved in passing that bill.

A resolution condemning corruption!

Failed to pass by a party line vote. Now ask yourself another question...If all the congressmen who are indicted or under investigation were prevented from voting. would the Resolution condemning corruption have passed?

I am not personally in favor of Capital punishment, but I might be persuaded if it applied to public officials who accept bribes.

Imagine, if things were fair,

Steve



Resolution

Stats and Comments

Statistics first:

U.S. military dead in Iraq, including suicides, 2,125;

US military amputeed, wounded, injured, mentally ill, all now out of Iraq, 49,500;

Iraqi civilians dead, 118,900.


Now the comment:

The Nobel prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter, in his acceptance speech to the Nobel committee.

"The invasion of Iraq was a bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of international law," he said.
"The invasion was an arbitrary military action inspired by a series of lies upon lies and gross manipulation of the media and therefore of the public ... a formidable assertion of military force responsible for the death and mutilation of thousands and thousands of innocent people.

"We have brought torture, cluster bombs, depleted uranium, innumerable acts of random murder, misery, degradation and death to the Iraqi people, and call it 'bringing freedom and democracy to the Middle East'."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1661531,00.html

And now, from our shop 'til you drop Department...The perfect gift for Christmas:



The Scribble

Why I Live In Tennessee

And why you should come visit!

experience


And...You folks who live here and who haven't been to every single one of these places...You should be flogged daily until you remedy this egregious error in your personal experience.

Peace,

Steve

Brass Frog Greets the Dawn

It's so unusual to have a normal winter in the gorge, so far this year. We have forgotten what to do in preparation for cold weather. I left the well house open and the water was frozen when Thomas turned on the shower.

The good part about this...I went outside in the cold before dawn. Orion is just starting to hide behind the south face of Walden Ridge and there's a deer below the house whistling at my intrusion on what ever was going on before I headed out to the well house with a kettle of boiling water.

Later, I took this shot. It looks over the garage and music room. The brass garden frog never stopped playing his banjo.

Peace,

Steve

Fixed

I've had my fix.

This is the time of year I need it and by golly I deserve it. The woods are bare, except for a few oddball shrubs that haven't gotten the message. The dark of winter season has taken over...maybe not officially with the winter solstice, but go out side and you'll see for yourself...The dark is here. So how do I fix it? I find a Witch Hazel tree and get my spirits lifted.

Some of you may remember the Witch Hazel tree next to the creek that was cut down by some brain dead fisherman. I mourn at the stump every time I walk by the water. I was concerned that this might be the only witch hazel near the house, and that i might not be cheered by the blooms springing forth in the darkest of seasons...fortelling of the solstice and lighter days ahead. Then I took some good friends on a hike to the overlook above the house.

The ridge has had a rough time in recent years. Arsonists set fire to five or six thousand acres back there and the ridge got burned over several times. The pine beetles killed the larger fire resistant trees, and with their falling, the ridge has been nearly impossible to hike through. This year, finally, the fallen trees have decomposed to the point we can crash through and remake the trail. Several plants have sprouted from the roots that survived the fires. As we crawled over the rock at the top of the ridge, there were several head high branches that had sprouted from the earth...and they were blooming.

I am surprised at what simple things make me happy. Now I know where the Witch Hazels are living and blooming in their fall rites. They are small, but they have survived.

We probably will too.

Peace,

Steve


*****


David Letterman: Top Ten New Strategies for Victory in Iraq:

10. Make an even larger ‘Mission Accomplished’ sign.

9. Encourage Iraqis to settle their feud like Dave and Oprah.

8. Put that go-getter Michael Brown in charge.

7. Launch new slogan, it’s not ‘Iraq’ it’s ‘Weraq’.

6. Just do whatever he did when he captured Osama.

5. A little more vacation time at the ranch to clear his head.

4. Pack on a quick thirty pounds and trade places with Jeb.

3. Wait, you mean it ain’t going well?

2. Boost morale by doing his hilarious locked door gag.

1. Place Saddam back in power and tell him, ‘It’s your problem, dude.



via

The Oak Ridge School paper scandal has hit the airwaves. #9 has the transcript at the Blab Forum: ( just scroll down til you see it)

The Blab Forum

Breaks the Ice at Parties

Someone asked me how I figure out what to write about. Actually, it is more like figuring out what NOT to write about. As a self styled warrior for "Truth Justice, and the American Way," there's plenty to attack, but sometimes you just gotta have fun.

Having fun sometimes means getting involved in civil conversations with actual conservatives. It is a vile philosophy, what with its hatred and lying, but the folks serving in the trenches of conservatism are usually just followers and not necessarily evil unto themselves. Having a couple of glasses of wine and laughing at them can be fun. Here's a party game you can play with conservatives. AS soon as someone asks a question about politics, start your stopwatch. Conservatives usually cannot go more than sixty seconds without lying. This equires a bit of actual factual knowlege on your part, but then that is why you read this blog, eh?

One thing you will notice, by the way, is that a Conservative never admits being wrong. Caught in a bald faced lie, they tend to start shouting about Bill Clinton.


Start the clock.


Usually, the first lie you will catch a conservative saying involves the old "Liberal Media" myth. No peer revued study has ever found this to be true, and in fact, things are quite the opposite.

Fox News is the most obvious right wing outlet outside of Rush's daily foamings. Anyone who gets their "news" from Fox is simply misinformed. Testing of people who watch various news programs demonstrated that the most informed people in America actually watch "The Daily Show" instead of news. This is even funnier because this is a Fake news show and which apparently presents more facts than the real ones. Weird huh? Fox news watchers were significantly more ignorant...to the point of believing things that were not just false, but that could be true only in an alternative universe.

Now we are seeing the solidly right leaning MSNBC channel attack the Whacko Right, Fox News talking heads for, of all things, lying. Fox isn't just right wing...If you are on Fox, your totter never comes close to a "teet"...It's "Tot's" only for you, or else they kill your children.

Keith Olbermann, of MSNBC, has a war going with Bill O'Reilly, of FOX News. Olbermann is playing the game in a big way. He calls O'Reilly , "The worst person in the world!" Quite a tag to sport around. World championship "worst-ness" is dificult to acheive. Here's one big "O" going after the other:


Bill O'Reilly. On the Today show, no less. Now how the hell did that happen? Says, quote, "These pinheads running around going, 'Get out of Iraq now,' don't know what they're talking about. These are the same people before Hitler invaded in World War II that were saying, 'Ah, he's not such a bad guy.' "

BZZZZZZZZZZT!!!

That's a lie, of course.

Wanna know who went to war to defeat Hitler? America's Super Liberal, President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Democrat...Founder of Social Security.

Wanna know who was saying, "That Hitler, He's not such a bad guy."? Geroge W. Bush's dear old grandfather, Prescott Bush who made a fortune dealing with Hitler and sent George to Yale.

Somewhere today, if you run into a conservative, you will hear a conservative tell a lie. Get your buzzers ready, folks...and hey! Have some fun out there!


Peace,

Steve


ps: And try to remember that most conservatives aren't bad people just ignorant...though usually by their own choice.


Here's the Olbermann riff:

O'Reilly's the Worst!