January Revisited

No doubt I beat a dead horse regarding the weather around here, but as a warm weather person I am astounded ( disgusted...)by  how crummy it can be. These pics were taken an hour ago about 1/2 mile from downtown Warren at a place called Morrison Run. The creek, which flows through a wooded valley then underneath the railroad tunnel beside the road,  empties into the Allegheny river a quarter mile further downstream.The ice ledge in the last photograph is two feet thick and the snow in the woods is about a foot deep. The road itself is solid ice covered by last nights dusting of snowfall, and because this area is shaded by Hemlock trees and the steep  terrain, it likely won't fully melt for another three weeks. The dog and I had been unable to access the road for almost two months because of the snow( her legs literally are not long enough), and only the past two weeks of moderate melting have progressed things this far. The snow has melted elsewhere except for  plowed piles, thus coming here is like entering a separate micro climate-as if we had risen several thousand feet in elevation. Although I do appreciate the beauty of winter, after four months it grows tedious, and I long to wear short sleeves and ride my mountain bike...
POSTSCRIPT: March 31st- Five more inches of snow so far this morning...Really? I mean..really?

Winter 2015 Postscript

Coldest day of the year with about 1 1/2 feet of snow on the ground...nothing compared to Boston but much worse than Denver or even Billings, Montana...Global warming lately has meant cold and wet east of the Mississippi and warm and dry to the west...The Conewango river empties into the Allegheny river just beyond that last bench, both of them frozen solid enough for ice fishing. A 93 year old woman says that she cannot recall such a prolonged cold spell in Warren although she does remember the river freezing in the past. The coldest local temperature this day was about seven miles from here at -32F. If the temperature goes above 32 F next week it will be the first time in weeks.
POSTSCRIPT: March 21st-The map illustrates global temperatures for the 3 months of December, January and February. It indicates that-unlike most of the planet-the area east of the Mississippi is in some kind of polar trough that has broken all previous records. Of course, some east coast people dismiss the concept of global warming because of this anomaly, and prefer to mock Al Gore etc. Personally, I prefer to trust the science, although I must admit that I am not all that concerned about the eventual effects of climate change. Carbon dioxide levels have been much higher in the past during which time temporal forests and dinosaurs survived near the north pole. Certainly present day life will have to adapt to the changing environment, which means that Florida and Manhattan may eventually be underwater and the west will have to import water or substantially increase desalination and other measures. Granted, I do not see the political nor personal will in most people to address the problems voluntarily( ..hence the resurgence in truck and SUV sales as soon as gasoline prices went down last month), but I assume that societies will adapt by necessity rather than choice, which is typical  human nature...That is, if the oceans and other ecosystems do not crash completely and kill all of us...

Furguson or whatever...

Heard a voice on the radio claim that cops killing black men may amount to modern day lynching, which made me think 'wait a minute'..... According to studies conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, between 1976 and 2011 there were 279,384 black murder victims, of which 262,621 were murdered by other blacks-a 94% figure. As awful as that statistic sounds, the rate of black people killed per 100,000 persons has dropped from around 50 murders in 1976 to around 25 as of 2005. That is still way more than the white rate of around 5 murders per 100,000 in 1976 which had dropped to around 3.5 in 2005. Despite the street protests and genuine grievances in some cases, the bulk of the violence remains black on black, so the real outrage should be directed to that continuing problem.
POSTSCRIPT: April 2015~It seems as though the recent murder of the black man by the Charleston cop-eight shots in the back- WAS a lynching by gun... Ignorant white trash...makes me wonder about justice including an eye for an eye...just tell the guy to start running...So no doubt racial problems still exist, but don't forget that we fought a civil war over this issue and that half of the 500,000 white guys killed were trying to improve the situation...
POST~POSTSCRIPT~ An inspiring book is 'THE PACT' by Drs. Sampson Davis, George Jenkins and Rameck Hunt describing their journey through medical school as they raised themselves from the projects of Newark, N.J.by sticking together and focusing on the positive.

Snowden and the NSA

    I am reading a book by Glenn Greenwald titled "NO PLACE TO HIDE" about Edward Snowden and the NSA, and I recommend it to anyone wanting to know the truth about his whistleblowing. One reason there was so much blowback from our government was that Snowden was no hack, rather a highly competent, informed cyber security expert who simply became morally disturbed by some of the things that the U.S. was and is doing. He seemed to be fully prepared to be ostracized and perhaps imprisoned for his actions, but felt morally compelled to inform the public about the extent of the governments spying. For instance, our government has the capability to remotely turn on your cell phone and use it as a listening device. So assume that for at least ten years every single phone call, email, and online action has or could have been tracked and saved to a massive database. Snowden's fear was that most of us would just shrug and say 'well, we figured that was happening' and not care, or feel powerless to change things, which has happened to some extent. But he wanted the public to be informed and make that choice rather than the rich and powerful cloistered behind the cloak of  "terrorism threat". No doubt some plots have been thwarted by the NSA, and I am no paranoid skeptic regarding our government, but as we witness the sheer incompetence of so many people in power, it heeds us well to be aware of the potential abuses.
        More information from the book:  People complicit with the NSA, such as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Senator Diane Feinstein, say things like "people have gotten really comfortable not only sharing information of different kinds, but more openly and with more people" and 'the collection of metadata does not constitute surveillance because it does not include the content of any communication'. Yet neither one would willingly make public their E-mail contacts and passwords nor allow video cameras into their homes. Mr. Zuckerberg spent $30 million dollars to buy the four houses adjacent to his Palo Alto home in order to assure his own privacy. So both the government and those people directly responsible for intruding into the average citizens privacy have gone to great lengths to hide their own...just more hypocrisy among those on power. I'm not sure where all this is heading, but as the 1% amasses over 50% of the world's wealth in the next few years, you can be sure that they will do all the can to preserve it.

Torture Report Released Today

      A report detailing Americas torture of detainees~first ordered by ex-vice president Dick Cheney-makes me increasingly determined to never to pay more taxes than absolutely necessary to the... assholes...who run our government. Money is power to them and the only recourse is to deny them any of mine. Fortunately I have maintained a modest standard of living for most of my life, so in monetary terms I have not been complicit with the utter corruption and sub standard thinking of politicians and many in corporate power. None of them represent me. That is, I would never have spent trillions on war while allowing our infrastructure, health care system, education system and other more worthwhile causes to decline for lack of resources. The choices those people are making-weapons and vengeance and torture-are equating us with those over whom we claim moral superiority, and it has become big business to promote and sustain the status quo. But do not call me naive. I am quite familiar with the dark side of people.
    To me, it always comes down to individual choice, and the CIA guys who were literally in tears as they witnessed the sadistic things they were doing should have had the courage- the Soul- to walk away from a job that so compromised their own and Americas dignity; when you ignore what is right and good you become the enemy you fear and despise, which makes rationalization of your actions- both at the time you  and in hindsight- inadequate.
     As for ISIS retaliating for the release of the report, two thoughts: 1) They already claim God as their main reason for killing, so details of American abuses can simply reinforce their resolve.2) If America Is ultimately held accountable for what it has done...so what? Isn't that what we teach our children?
     POSTSCRIPT:  The immediate response of ISIS to the torture report was to release a new video of themselves throwing a gay man off of a roof and then stoning him to death. So that's the mentality of the guys we are dealing with..( A good book detailing the rise of the group is "Black Flags- The Rise of ISIS" by Joby Warrick. It tells the long history of the present predicament, and the convoluted and complicated situation in the middle east, never mind the simplistic sound bites this nation prefers.) Despite American mistakes I still assume that we were torturing people with good intentions-if such a paradoxical thing is possible-and I suppose in their minds the ISIS guys genuinely believe they are right in trying to create a Islamic state. The profound differences reside in the 'ideals' of Islamic extremism and the ideals of democracy. Even our slave owning founding fathers debated the hypocrisy of the "all men are created equal" part and we eventually lost 500,000 mostly young men trying to achieve the ideals in our constitution.

Early Winter, etc.

Winter has come early this year, and most of the nation seems to have been affected. I attribute it to the polar ice cap melting and affecting air flows,resulting in what meteorologists call an "omega block" but I really don't have a clue. In other news, the FBI reports 1.16 million violent crimes in 2013, the lowest number since 1978, which illustrates that the paranoia in the media is exaggerated spin. I was very much alive in 1978, and had hitchhiked across the country in 1977 without incident, so even back then crime was not a major problem. Rather, as always it is prevalent in certain areas and neighborhoods, and that is where our attention should be focused.

Change of Consciousness

     Beth's daughter Kim was married back in October to longtime boyfriend Rich, and the future looks long and bright- Congrats to them!
     Beth and I sat on the porch handing out candy on Halloween, and that's what the kids were greeted by...Judging by the turnout I think everyone had a good time and went away amused, despite some drizzle...
     As for raising consciousness, I've decided that beginning this election and henceforth I shall vote exclusively for women regardless of party affiliation. Politics in this nation does not need a change of people, rather a change of consciousness, and only by giving women power will we adopt a more inclusive, socially compassionate outlook. Yes, there are good and bad people of either sex but being male I am quite aware of the masculine ego and the old boys club. Until we get a majority of women-with their biologically different perspective-into both governments and corporations, I do not think this country will move forward. What you observe in government and public policy is what men running things have sunk to, so it's time to think outside the box. Females outnumber males in the United State and outnumber them in higher education, so it's not a moment too soon for them to assume their fair share of everything.