Energy

George Bush has decided to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help offset the reduction in production capacity that resulted from Hurricane Katrina. That's probably a good move, psychologically (it will give him more time to act), but I suspect it won't have any appreciable impact on the availability or price of gasoline; the lack of production is part of the problem, but it's refining capacity that will have the most immediate impact on availability and price. Refining capacity was already at its limits before Katrina.

My guess is that we will soon see some very severe shortages of gasoline, leading to rationing, long lines, and angry consumers. To quell the unrest of the populace, George Bush will begin to impose marshall law far outside the confines of where it is now imposed on the Gulf Coast. We'll see the U.S. government, along with state and local governments, do more and more to restrict personal freedoms.

Some people may think I'm crazy to think such things. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm afraid I'm right. It's almost as if Bush and his cronies stumbled upon a means to control the climate...and used it to advance their agenda.

A couple of years ago, I started one of my many failed attempts to write some interesting fiction. One piece is particularly relevant to the last sentence of the paragraph above. Mind you, I was jotting ideas and making notes about things I might include in the book:

Climate Control Service

It's some time in the not-too-distant future...ability to control climate has been attained...hemispheric climate control agencies have been formed by consolidated governments...there are political ramifications of immense proportions, in that one hemispheric climate control agency’s actions have a direct and measurable impact on the other agencies’ actions...evil political powers can try to wreak havoc on the weather of another area, as a military mechanism of control...Middle East gains control of certain climatic agencies in an attempt to develop large areas of arable lands, and to augment their already important control over oil reserves...the crux of the issue is that weather is caused by energy, and there is only a finite amount of energy in the earth’s atmosphere...so, positive changes in one area can create negative changes in another...the bad guys plot to control climatic control services to further their own ends...groups whose livelihoods depend heavily on weather (e.g., farmers) form political interest groups to exert pressure on governments to arrange weather that’s favorable to their interests...farmers & others threaten to create havoc if their demands and expectations are not met (e.g., crop destruction, etc.)...

News report...”Moderate rainfall has been scheduled for the next two days, with accumulations of 2-5 inches planned for the metropolitan area”...”

News report...”Unauthorized climatic interventions have been reported throughout North America by the Climate Control Service; North American President Robert Andressen has ordered the North American Military Protective Agency on full alert and has cautioned European President Jacques Clemente that dire consequences will befall the European Community if these interventions do not cease immediately.”

New Orleans...Maybe It's Too Late

The devastation of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina may be, judging from what I have seen on television, the end of the city. Just a short while ago, I heard that attempts to plug the breeches in the levees have failed and the flow of water into the city is apt to increase rapidly tonight...possibly taking the water level in the city to three feet above sea level.

Even if the levees are repaired, where can the water be pumped to? How long might it take, even if it is possible?

I fear it may be necessary to completely abandon New Orleans. I fear it may be a city that recognizes, too late, that it should not have been where it is.

I suspect it may be necessary to build refugee camps to accommodate hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people. It is so painful to think about how absolutely horrific it must be to have to deal with the aftermath of the storm.

Hoping for Help for Victims of Katrina

I've been watching the horrible reports about the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. It is so awful to see the damage and to image how people are suffering through the ordeal. My immediate reaction this afternoon after hearing about the devastation was to make a contribution to the Red Cross.

Tonight, I heard news reports of so many organizations sending supplies and assistance to the affected area. Interestingly, many of the organizations are religious...churches, the Salvation Army, etc. It makes me think about an earlier post, in which I commented that I appreciate people offering help when it is not tied to their political or religious agendas. I realize I have a bias against religious groups...I make the assumption that they are out to convert people.

But when I see groups go out to help people in a situation like this, I soften a bit. I suspect the church groups that are making the trip to the hurricane-devastated area are not focusing on conversion, but on giving people aid. I suspect the people involved really do want to help. Their religion, as it happens, supports the concept of helping people. I admire that. I just don't admire the other aspects of their faith. But I do appreciate that there are so many that step up to help.

And, it makes me wonder why I rarely see humanist groups, secular groups, avowed atheists, etc. in the news. I wonder if such groups get involved like religious groups. I suspect they might be turned away if they tried to help. But I'd like to see them involved.

At any rate, I hope lots of people who are financially capable will donate to organizations like the Red Cross to help the victims of Katrina.

Who IS This Guy?

I sometimes...increasingly frequently...discover that I've let my emotions take complete and utter control of my good senses. Anger, annoyance, whatever...it captures the ability to dictate how I behave and how I speak to other people. A guy I consider to be generally a pretty nice guy, that would be me, turns into a banchee...screeching, screaming, behaving badly. People I like, people I love, people I don't know...any or all of them can be the subject of my scorn.

This is not new...but it's becoming more common. Could it be the insanity in our political system? Could it be the lack of fairness in our social system? Could it be growing impatience at my inability to completely change the world? Or could it be me...something about me.

All of this reminds me of some of the words to a Greg Brown song...."I don't know this guy." He's speaking of himself.

Food--It's What I Like

This morning, I woke up considerably later than I normally do on weekends, due in large part to the fact that I stayed up very late...reading blogs, watching television, and being generally unproductive. When I awoke, my mind immediately went to one of my favorite subjects...food.

I'm not quite sure why, at 6:45 am, I started thinking about gazpacho, but it was on my mind. I had read some new recipes for gazpacho recently and I decided I needed to find them so I would not lose them...I want to make some of them soon. So, I spend the better part of half an hour finding the Word files in which I had saved the recipes. I am not particularly good at organizing information on my computer at home...much better at the task at the office. After a somewhat frustrating search, I found them. I will plan on making a couple of different receipes for gazpacho soon.

Since food was on my mind, when my wife got up I suggested we go out for breakfast. We went to a very popular pancake place, where she had a pecan waffle and I had a dish composed of two halves of an English muffin, each topped with a sausage patty, a poached egg, and a mushroom sauce, with potato pancakes on the side. Decadent.

I may expand this post later...for now, I'm off to do errands.

Lives in the Balance

Today I had to drive about two and a half hours south to meet with members of an organization's board of directors to discuss the services my company could provide to them. I was able to pick up a radio station from the place I was heading after driving only half-way. I'm glad I did; the station played several songs that I really enjoyed. Much of the music was from artists like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, but there were pieces from artists I didn't know and some from singers/songwriters I know, but not well.

Today, there was to be (and I guess there was) a huge pep-rally for George Bush near his ranch in Crawford, Texas. I wish the folks who participated in that rally had, instead, listened to some of the music I heard:

Lives in the Balance, Jackson Browne
Jerusalem, Joan Baez
You Let Him Take Advantage of You, Guy Forsyth
Empire, Dar Williams

Anyway, I listened to the music and enjoyed it, but it made me think, again, about how many men and women have their lives in the balance at this moment because of George Bush's decision to start a war in Iraq. Still today, though, despite enormous volumes of evidence that the entire Iraq and antiterrorism agenda is based on lies, there are many, many people who think it's more patriotic to support a morally bankrupt administration than to call on our country to change its policies.

When will they finally realize that patriotism is not the same thing as blind nationalism? And when will they realize that what we sometimes mistake for patriotism frequently ignores own history?

I heard a debate, about the time of the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombs being dropped on Japan about the legitimacy of the decision to drop the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II. One of the debaters said the decision was justified because the Japanese attacked us and it spared untold lives that would have been lost if the war had continued. The other responded by asking a question, phrased something like this: "If a country is justified in using such weapons to stop a war because it did not instigate the war, then would Iraq be justified in using such weapons against the United States?" I thought the question had real merit...and it exposed something that too often Americans do not choose to acknowledge; our political policies frequently call for other nations to live by rules we choose to ignore.

It's not just that lives are in the balance anymore. It's that our way of life is in the balance.

Children Cooking

I did not make these up...for the first one, see for yourself at
http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/1154/cookchld.html

A Poem by Sheridan

Children cooking in a pot,
Children cooking get them hot!

Mince them, mash them, stuffed or baked
Grind them, pound them, fluffed or caked.

Children cooking pound for pound,
Children cooking stir them round

Dipped in batter, rolled in dough
Sauced and sauteed, steamed on slow

Children cooking boiled or fried
Children cooking poached or pied

I like children! yes, I do!
But my favorite is kiddy stew.

© 1999 cminor@geocities.com

A Missing Comma
I like cooking children, traveling, music, sport (swim, bicycle, ski) , art, animals... (from a website apparently geared toward dating...)

Tiny Houses

I listened to a really interesting story on National Public Radio yesterday about a guy (Jay Shafer) who has built some tiny little houses (the story says as small as 70 square feet, but subsequent checking at his website show that he has much smaller buildings...the really tiny ones look like Park Trailers). He lives in one of the smallest of them in the redwoods of California. His company (Tumbleweed Tiny House Company) builds and sells the houses and plans for them (see the link below if you have an interest).

He says he's working on a subdivision of small houses (around 200 square feet) that have winding paths connecting them, a commons in the middle, and cars relegated to the perimeter.

I've been intrigued by very small homes for quite awhile. One of my sisters mentioned a web site to me some time ago and I explored it...I love the little places, but have discovered they are not priced so low as you might think. Anyway, here are some links if you're interested in exploring.

NPR website story link (with link to story you can listen to):
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4815029

Tumbleweed Tiny House Company website:
http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/

Tired...Lazy...Need a Day Off

I've been thinking about what to write today...nothing jumps out at me. I considered writing about the fireworks we saw in and around Boston over the weekend of the Fourth of July, but that would require more energy than I have at the moment.

I could write about the 20-year-old pickup I just bought...but until I get it inspected and get a clear title, I don't want to expend the energy.

I'm tired, feeling extremely lazy, and wanting a day (or a month) off. Actually, I'd like to retire. Not sure I'll ever have the resources to do that, though. So, for the moment, this is my post...to all the thousands of readers (OK, to all the single digits of readers), please accept my apologies for having no energy and no inclination to write, at least not right now.

Thinking Across Time in Foreign Languages

I came up with the title of this post, believe it or not, while I was trying to conceive of a session title for an association management educational program geared toward encouraging association executives to think not merely "outside the box," but "across time in foreign languages." The idea was to create a session that would cause participants to question their most basic values and beliefs and to try to see their organizations and their own roles in those organizations from a completely different perspective.

The session would be intended to jolt people out of their comfort zones, force them to put themselves in the positions of people from other cultures and systems of belief, and consider what might happen if the world's current power and control structure were to change dramatically. For example, how would their lives be different if Islam, rather than Christianity, were the dominant faith in this country...or if atheism were dominant and Christians and Jews and Muslims were persecuted? What would their lives be like if the accumulation of wealth were regarded by society as an assault on the common man (or woman)? How would their associations be affected by the imposition of Urdu as the official language of the United States? What would life be like if the basic infrastructures of U.S. society were decimated?

Well, the session title was met with vacant stares by the people to whom I suggested it. Even after I explained it, I was questioned about whether it would attract any interest. It didn't matter...I had become intrigued by my own idea (as I am wont to do).

So I started thinking more about the concept and began imagining various scenarios that would fit with the idea. A very old television program, the name of which I can't recall, came to mind...it was about what happened to a guy when everyone around him started, fairly rapidly, speaking a language that he did not understand. Initially, the word "lunch" was replaced by "dinosaur." I remember that because the character in question was asked by a young colleage, "Do you have any suggestions about where I can take my girlfriend for a nice dinosaur?" The context quickly explained that the younger guy meant what we would call "lunch," but the changes had already begun. Soon, everyone around the older character were speaking gibberish. And that concept fits nicely into my theme: Thinking Across Time in Foreign Languages. What would we do if confronted by massive changes in our societies, in our personal lives, in the environment? How can we make ourselves give thought to these sorts of things? How can we enable ourselves and, more importantly, our political leaders, to think about these sorts of huge transitions that could affect us? Not just things that may happen, but things that COULD happen?

So, dear reader, tell me this? Do you understand what I am saying here? Do you have any thoughts on the matter? Post a comment!

Making Plans for Mexico

My wife and I are making plans to go to Mexico in December, just after Christmas. We'll only be able to spend about a week, but that should give us the opportunity to taste what life in a small Mexican town (on Lake Chapala, near Guadalajara) is like. It's full of ex-pat Americans and Canadians, we understand, so English is widely spoken. So, for those of us who have never learned Spanish, it will be an easy introduction to Mexico. One of my brothers and his wife have a house there...from the pictures, it looks like a marvelous, luxurious place...and they are willing to accommodate members of their families who want to make the occasional visit. My wife and I have wanted to go for a long time, but haven't been able to make the timing work until now...but we're committed to making it work now. With good fortune, at least one of my sisters may join us there, and possibly another one of my brothers. I'm looking forward to it.

Idiots Around the World

I posted a comment on the Yesterday's Tractor website. The comment was a summary of a post on this blog...a treatise on rural life. I made a point of telling readers that my blog is one posted by someone whose viewpoints might be different from many other posters...I tend to be liberal leaning and I am not a religious nut. The reaction was phenomenal. With few exceptions, I was roundly criticized for being a liberal...no need to post in that site, thank you, and was treated like dirt. Shortly after posting my message, it was removed, with no explanation.

Commitment versus Comment

I speak of the need for people to help others who are in need by offering aid to those who need it most, but sometimes I question how deeply I am committed to that philosophy.

My niece spent two years in the Peace Corps in Paraguay, living a very austere life, making a real difference. I spent two years appreciating her efforts, but I never made the effort myself.

Sometimes I think my commitment is merely comment; people who actually do the work, people who actually give their time and expertise and energy, can legitimately speak about commitment. My musings are simply comments. I admire my niece and everyone else who actually does something, instead of simply talking about it.

Sometimes, geezers have a lot to learn...and maybe we will learn it, eventually.

Turmeric

Language can be a strange thing. At least the English language can be odd. Take, for example, the word "turmeric." I rarely hear people say the word (after all, the only time people use it, normally, is in connection with recipes they have tried or want to try), but when I do hear it pronounced, it's almost always pronounced t mr ik, but if you look at the way it's spelled, it should be pronounced tûr mr ik. But I also hear it pronounced tyü m r ik.

Anyway, after seeing the word in a recipe and hearing it pronounced in different ways, I started thinking, "I know I've had turmeric in food, but I don't recall what it tasted like." So, I went to the spice rack, pulled out the little rectangular can of turmeric, and put a bit on my finger and tasted it. That's when I realized that people who have actually eaten turmeric pronounce it
t mr ik, just like it tastes.

Saw the Tractor

I saw the tractor I talked about in yesterday's post. Rode it around a bit, used the finish mower. The problem is that it doesn't have a front end loader, which is an implement I think I would find most valuable. And, it would cost me several thousand bucks to add one. So, my thoughts are that I should keep looking. And I saw a pickup truck that I may want to buy...only $1950 for a 1985 F150 XLT with a V8 engine, air, power windows, etc., etc.

By the way, George Bush is now planning to make a series of speeches to justify and build support for the illegal and immoral war in Iraq. I would love the opportunity to visit George with my new tractor, when I get it. The fascist MF!

Meeting a Man About a Tractor

This blog is not created by a guy with a one-track mind. Check out the posts I've made so far...I may have adult ADD.

Today, I'm writing about my day tomorrow. I'm leaving the house about 7:30 a.m. to drive to a farm about 50 miles north-northwest of where I live to take a look at a Kubota B7100 tractor, a 4 wheel-drive diesel garden tractor with a 16 HP engine and a 13 HP PTO. (I'm learning the lingo.)

I don't desperately need a tractor. But I could use one on the acre or so I own a few hours south of here, particulary as I get closer to the decision to build a house there.

So, tomorrow I'm going to meet a man about a tractor. I do, indeed, want to work the land. What is it with me, anyway?

Dealing with Terrorism and Domestic Turmoil

No one wants to acknowledge any legitimacy in terrorist acts. That goes against everything we believe, everything we've been taught. But, if we are to have any hope of putting terrorism behind us, we had better look at what terrorists are saying and why they are doing what they are doing.

Terrorists are not orchestrating suicide bomb attacks out of spite for us. They are trying to kill people to send a message to us. We're not getting the message. If we had listened to their message before they started to attack, we might have avoided the awful events of September 11 and the horrors of the Madrid and London bombings. I'm not defending the terrorists; their actions are barbaric. But, we could have diffused the situation if we had acknowledged that different cultures have different values and different expectations. Instead, we operate under policies that attempt to insist that everyone see the world from our vantage point. We exercise the ultimate bigotry by insisting that our world-view is the right world-view.

We need to really listen to what terrorists are saying and we need to acknowledge their statements. In many respects, we need to change our policies to reflect the fact that other countries, other cultures, do not share our values.

Many would argue that any change in policy now would be capitulation; we would be bending to the terrorists and "the terrorists would have won." I argue that we should have been listening to the warnings for years and we should have shaken our bigotries and opened our minds to other world-views. Now, if we steadfastly refuse to bend because it would be seen a capitulation to the enemy, we will be sealing our own fates; ongoing terrorist attacks, a world increasingly hostile to us and to our policies, and a deepening resentment for our excessively materialistic lifestyle. Blind nationalism is a very stupid path to take.

Our decision to unilaterally attack Iraq, without provocation (or with George Bush's fabricated rationale) was yet another reason for the Muslim world, and to a greater extent the extremists who launch terror attacks, to view us as a hostile country that must be confronted to reduce our imperialist ambitions.

Successfully dealing with terror will require a new government (free of rabid bible-thumpers and blindly superpatriotic nationalists) populated by people who are willing to concede that cultures can have different values. We need to engage in a truly global dialogue and shape our policies to embrace a world-view that acknowledges diversity in social, religious, and political institutions worldwide. If we keep doing what we've been doing, we're likely to see the institutionalization of radical religious policies that target the United States in every way. And, we're likely to see the growth of religious zealotry here, with the attendant attacks on our civil liberties.

Unless we change our policies and our view of the world around us, we are steering toward a world in which the rest of the world is our enemy and we have a domestic turmoil the likes of which we have not seen since the Civil War.

The Woman I Most Admire

The woman to whom I refer in the title is my wife. My wife, who with few complaints and simple determination, faced down breast cancer. My wife, who simply dealt with the horrific experience of a mastectomy, followed by an awful round of chemotherapy, the scars of which still remain; her hair never grew back the way we were told it would. But she dealt with all of it, far better than I did. I admire her for her quiet determination.

Support the Farmer by Buying Local

The United States has lost more than 67% of its farms since 1920, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Fewer than one million Americans now claim farming as a primary occupation; there are more prisoners in the US than there are farms. The trend toward eradication of the family farm continues today. If individuals and families do not make a personal commitment to buy from local farmers, I am afraid the trend will only accelerate.

According to WorldWatch Institute, in the United States, food typically travels between 1,500 and 2,500 miles from farm to plate, as much as 25 percent farther than in 1980. The latest information I can find from the Department of Agriculture, from 1969, puts the number at a still remarkable 1,300 miles.

Only about 10% of the fossil fuel energy used in the world's food system is used in production; the other 90% goes into packaging, transportation, and marketing. (Geoff Tansey and Tony Worsley, 1995) If you buy from local producers, the energy used in packing, transportation, and marketing will be considerably less than if you buy products produced thousands of miles away.

I encourage readers to visit FoodRoutes.org by clicking to learn more helping farmers and preserving our local food supplies by buying locally.

On Religion

Paula Poundstone. Randy Newman. Lance Armstrong. Dave Barry. Albert Einstein. Bill Gates. Studs Terkel. Isaac Asimov.

They have something in common. They do not (or did not) believe in god. So what? Does that change your opinion of them? If so, please visit another blog; I have nothing to say to you .

Contributing to the Greater Good

I admire people who get personally involved in helping people who are less fortunate than themselves...people who don't need a church or a service club or an employer to do good work, but who help others because they feel a sense of personal responsibility.

I wish I could count myself among such people, but it's rare than I engage in purely altruistic behavior with strangers. I'm more the sort of person who will participate with a group of others who have an inclination to help, so long as the group does not use its good works to blackmail the recipients.When I hear of churches that send groups off to foreign countries to build houses, etc., I'm always suspicious that part of the deal is an implicit expectation that the recipients will accept the church's religious message. To me, that's not true altruism. True altruism is done simply because it's the right thing to do; someone needs help and someone else, upon learning of the need, fills it.

There are hundreds, probably thousands, of organizations that exist to help people in need. The ones I admire are the ones founded on the principle that they will offer help where help is needed, with no expectation of any quid pro quo.I'm not able to contribute financially to every organization whose mission I support, but at least I can recognize many of them and can recommend to you, the reader, than you try to make contributions to one or more of them when you can. Here are some of the organizations I recommend to you:

Action Against Hunger
Provides a broad range of disaster relief for all types of disasters, from house or apartment fires to floods, earthquakes, and hurricanes.

American Red Cross
Provides a broad range of disaster relief for all types of disasters, from house or apartment fires to floods, earthquakes, and hurricanes.

AmeriCares
Provides disaster relief and humanitarian aid and provides immediate response to emergency medical needs, as well as supporting long-term humanitarian assistance programs

CARE
Assists by facilitating and strengthening poor communities' capacity for self-help, providing economic opportunities, delivering relief in emergencies

Direct Relief International
Distributes medical supplies and pharmaceuticals

Doctors Without Borders
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international independent medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural and man-made disasters, and exclusion from health care.

Oxfam America
Oxfam America is a Boston-based international development and relief agency and an affiliate of Oxfam International. Working with local partners, Oxfam delivers development programs and emergency relief services, and campaigns for change in global practices and policies that keep people in poverty

Rural Life

Before reading this post on rural life, the reader should understand: I have never lived a rural life. However, I have been reading a good bit about the day-to-day challenges of farm life and have what may be an inexplicable desire to live in the country, work the land, and experience first-hand the challenges and rewards of rural life.

People who are able to successfully contend with life on a farm or ranch deserve far more respect than most people typically accord them. The conveniences I take for granted in my urban life are rare treats for my rural brethren. For them, the grocery store is not just down the block. Blockbuster Video is not readily available for their entertainment, not that they would often have the time to watch videos. I drop my shirts at the drycleaners and pick them up later the same day. I suspect folks in rural environs rarely have a need for a drycleaners...but when they do, it's most certainly not convenient.

I have a lawn service take care of mowing my yard. I call a pest control service when I see evidence of ants or roaches. Whenever my refrigerator runs low on fresh vegetables, I can visit the supermarket to get a fresh supply. If my wife and I are not in the mood to cook dinner, we can visit one of hundreds of wonderful restaurants in our area, dining on anything from pad kee mao at a Thai restaurant to lamb vindaloo at an Indian restaurant. Most rural communities in my part of the country don't have a lot of Thai or Indian restaurants...most have a Dairy Queen, or, at best, a locally-owned diner whose proprietor learned to cook vegetables in the old school: cook them until they are soft enough to drink from a glass.

So what is it that I find appealing about living without all these conveniences that I have come to expect? Part of the appeal is the sense of self-sufficiency that can come from living on a farm or a ranch. Many of the things we take for granted come to us as a result of the work of the farmer or rancher. He or she works hard to put food on our table. And that food also finds its way to his or her table. I imagine it must give the farmer or rancher a great sense of pride to know that, as a direct result of his work, people have food on the table.

How many of us who live the easy life in urban America give much thought to what it takes to run a productive farm or ranch? How many of us view farmers and ranchers, consciously or not, as "hicks" who don't possess the degree of sophistication that we urbanites have? I'm afraid honest answers to those questions would shame us. Rural folks might have similarly jaundiced thoughts about urbanites if they were to see the vacant looks in our eyes when asked about aflatoxin, Power Take Offs, barrows, 3-point hitches, disc harrows, box blades, scraper blades, swathers, jacks & jennies, ROPS, or ridge-till.

Lately, I've been working to learn a bit more about rural life...what it's really like. Like city life, rural life has its ups and downs. Methamphetamine use, I'm told, is actually a much greater problem in rural communities than it is in the city. Poverty is as much of a problem, if not more so, in small towns and in unincorporated areas than in cities. Unemployment is high in rural America (thanks, in part, to the diminution of the small farm, courtesy of corporate agriculture). Rural life is hard, no doubt about it. But it can be exceptionally rewarding, I think, because the effort it requires to live successfully gives people a real sense of accomplishment when things go right.

I have tended to think of life on a farm as being less expensive than life in the city. That may be true of farm-hands, but farm owners are in an expensive business. The costs of farm machinery that is absolutely required to operate a farm today are astronomical. Aside from the money invested in equipment, the farmer must invest enormous amounts of time to learn how to operate and maintain farm machinery, because he does not have the luxury of dropping it off at the dealership for repair. And the farmer must invest heavily in seed, fertilizer, and other farm chemicals. And land is getting increasingly expensive. I'm told that, if a farmer had to buy the land today to grow his crops, he would not be able to do it because the price of land has gotten out of reach. So, today's farmer either works land he inherited (or bought many, many years ago) or he leases land from someone else who bought the land long ago.

I recently came across a television channel devoted to rural life and I am impressed with it. It's called RFDTV (named after Rural Free Delivery, RFD). It's geared toward farmers and ranchers, providing educational content aimed at making them more productive; it also has entertainment content directed toward rural communities. Recent programs I've watched (including AG PhD, Farmweek, Horse Sense, Training Mules and Donkeys, and Farm Bureau Today) have dealt with:

• correcting soil compaction caused by heavy farm equipment (soil compaction can limit root depth; the program sited corn grown in fields that have been properly prepared to address compaction as having up to 100% greater productivity than that grown in compacted fields)
• training horses to follow gentle leads
• comparisons between different types of tractors and implements used with them

I've learned alot about farm equipment, etc. from other websites, including the following, and if you're interested in learning more about rural life, you may find them of interest:

• Massey Ferguson farm equipment
• Yesterday's Tractors antique/used tractor website
• Agriculture Online
• Living the Country Life magazine
• Half Century of Progress
• Farm Videos
• Dairy Herd Management
• John Deere website
• Craig Cameron Horsemanship website

Fascism in America

Cindy Sheehan wants to talk to George Bush. She wants to talk to him about why her son, Casey, had to die in Iraq. She wants to question Bush about whether his reasons for taking the unprecedented action of a preemptive attack on another country were legitimate. She demands answers about the reason her 24-year-old son was in Iraq.

Bush is steadfast in his resolve not to speak with her. He spoke with her once before; that's enough. Emphasizing his 'human' side, Bush expresses empathy for her and says she has the right to protest outside his ranch in Crawford, Texas, but he refuses to sway. Like always, Bush will not admit to any mistakes; he will not admit to his lies, his subterfuges, his gross deceptions.

Ultimately, Bush doesn't care about Cindy Sheehan. He doesn't care that her son died as a direct result of his calculated decision to attack a country that didn't pose a threat to the United States. His concern is whether his 'leadership' is unwaivering. In his myopic vision, a 'leader' never changes his mind, once a decision is reached. His supporters can depend on him; they know he will not change his mind, because he is inflexible. His supporters know their paychecks will arrive and their bonuses will remain intact.

Bush proclaims himself to be champion for the common man. He claims to be a fervent defender of freedom and a devoutly religious man. His response to Cindy Sheehan tells another story. It tells a story that is frighteningly similar to the story of Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip.

Buzz Windrip is the main character in a book by Sinclair Lewis, It Can't Happen Here. He is a charismatic Senator who champions the cause of the common man, but who is in the pocket of big business and who is favored by religious extremists, due to his careful use of religion as a political weapon. He eventually becomes the ultimate ugly capitalist. Boosted by Hearst newspapers (the FOX News of its day), he successfully incapacitates Congress and the Supreme Court, and then strips the people of their freedom and installs a fascist dictatorship.

Bush, in his treatment of Cindy Sheehan and in his treatment of the rest of us, is positioning himself as a dictator. He does not have to account for his actions. He must only insist that he is doing everything he can to protect us; he suggests that disagreements with his position are unpatriotic. Bush has figured out that an enormous number of Americans have been misguided into equating religious zealotry with patriotic strength and he is catering to that attitude. Unless the rest of us join hands with Cindy Sheehan, who is simply seeking answers about her son's death, we will be giving tacit approval to Bush to install a dictatorship. We will be offering our support of living in a society guided by corporate greed and religious bigotry. We will be endorsing Fasiscim in America.

A Stab at Poetry

A poem I wrote a few years ago. I revisit it occasionally, trying to make it better, clearer. It says something I can't put into words otherwise.

Spirit

Parched, cracked earth.
Empty skies and endless horizons.
Cold, savage winds that carry with them sharp, brittle shards of sand that
bite into skin like claws.
Relics of stunted trees, long-ago crippled by too-much wind and too-little water.
Rusted, broken barbed-wire fences, the decaying work of people with a lot of spirit and not enough money.
Screeching hawks and searching buzzards.
Everything is raw, pointed, sharp here.
Shelter is rare.

Amid this desolation is striking beauty.
It is the beauty of absolute isolation and the purest of privacy.
The core of nature rests in these stretches of mile upon mile upon mile.
We can think here. We can understand ourselves, and each other.

And then spring comes.
Torrents of rain, flashes of brilliant lightning.
Water changes the land, and it changes us.

Gray and brown transform into shades of pale green.
Grass grows where even seeds shuddered before.
Pink flowers stab the sky and yellow petals shower the earth.
The land replenishes itself and strains at its boundaries, bursting with energy and color.

Colors do not mask the desolation.
They enhance it and make it palpable.
We can think here. We can understand ourselves, and each other.

The President's Language Lesson

Usurper Bush was visiting a primary school. One of the classes was in the middle of a discussion related to words and their meanings. The teacher asked the pretender if he would like to lead the discussion on the word "tragedy." So the illustrious leader asked the class for an example of a "tragedy."

One little boy stood up and offered, "If my best friend, who lives on a farm, is playing in the field and a tractor runs him over and kills him, that would be a tragedy." "No," said Bush, "that would be an accident."

A little girl raised her hand: "If a school bus carrying 50 children drove over a cliff, killing everyone inside, that would be a tragedy."

"I'm afraid not." simpered the pretender. "That's what we would call a great loss."
The room went silent. No other children volunteered. Bush searched the room. "Isn't there someone here who can give me an example of tragedy?" Finally at the back of the room a small boy raised his hand.

In a quiet voice he said: "If Air Force One carrying Mr. Bush was struck by a "friendly fire" missile and blown to smithereens, that would be a tragedy."

"Fantastic!" exclaimed Bush. "That's right. And can you tell me why that would be a tragedy?"

"Well," says the boy, "it has to be a tragedy, because it certainly wouldn't be a great loss and it probably wouldn't be an accident."

Courtesy of my brother.

Cheney/Edwards Debate--October 2004

I wrote this immediately following the debate between Dick Cheney and John Edwards on October 5, 2004.

If the United States ever hopes to recover its position of leadership and respect in the world, our citizens must elect leaders who are honest, competent, and willing to admit-- and correct--their mistakes. The debate between Vice President Dick Cheney and Senator John Edwards underscored the fact that the leaders of the Bush administration cannot claim any of those traits this country so badly needs in its leaders.

Bush and Cheney both have argued that the preemptive war against Iraq was part of the war on terror in response to the 9/11 attacks. Yet Cheney said he has never suggested a connection between Iraq and 9/11. The fact is he has been one of the most vocal administration officials to argue that an alleged meeting (the existence of which has been widely discredited) between hijacker Mohamed Atta and an Iraqi agent in April 2001 offered evidence of an Iraqi connection to the 9/11 attacks.

Cheney's comments during the debate were laced with claims that the Administration's policies have been working to make America stronger, more prosperous, and more secure. Establishing a policy of preemptive attack cannot strengthen America. Establishing policies that encourage downsizing jobs and sending them offshore cannot make America more prosperous. Sending our soldiers to war under false premises and failing to establish a plan for ending the war cannot make America more secure.

Old People...A Vignette for a Book

Here is a vignette that I wrote quite awhile ago while I was working on an idea for a book. I got sidetracked, but I come back to this vignette on occasion, polishing it a bit here and there, wondering what I can do to finish it and what I can do to make it work in my book. And, I wonder, what can I do to give myself the discipline to write the book I set out to write?

They were old people, people who had experienced the spectacular joys of love and friendship and passion. And they had suffered through incomprehensible pain; the struggles and heartache of friends dying, loving relationships gone irretrievably sour, lost jobs, repossessed homes, and thousands of other less dramatic though crushingly painful events that helped shape them and mold their lives. Their faces bore the marks of these occasions. Years of weather and love, laughter, anger, fear, and loss had once carved deep ridges into their old faces, the creases of life in the faces of men and women in their sixties and early seventies. But these people were beyond that...they were in their late seventies and early eighties, some even older. The passage of so much more time had softened those ridges into worn canyons, wrinkles that no longer suggested specific, traumatic events in their lives but, instead, revealed years and years of life, wearing relentlessly on what had once been supple skin.

While I stood watching them, I wondered who among them had been passionate lovers and fierce fighters. I wondered what issues had prompted them to stand their ground on matters of principle. What fundamental values had driven them to be bold, in their prime, and what ideas defined them as people? I wondered what had happened to the burning embers of passion that had driven their desires in years long past.

© 2004 Musings from Myopia Blogger