The Air

I was listening to the original cast album of Hair the other day and when the song “Air” played I thought “Hmm. not much has changed has it?” But on reflection it has. Greatly.

“Welcome! sulphur dioxide

Hello! carbon monoxide

The air, the air

Is everywhere

Breath deep,

while you sleep

Breath deep” (1)

The song was talking about the choking pollution facing cities across the country and globe. The air was so thick you could see it. (Kind of like Bejing today). Full of particulates and acid forming radicals. When the Clean Air Act was passed in 1963 and amended in 1970 and 1990 the intent was to clean up the air and make it breathable and less toxic. It worked like a charm, and although many cities still have a brown haze of reacted hydrocarbons and other crap, the air on balance is much cleaner. But the unseen gasses in the air are now the focus of much worry. Methane, carbon dioxide and others promote the “greenhouse effect” .Many conservatives deny is real but the science is there in Spades. This effect is named after the warming that you experience in a greenhouse. Sunlight comes in through the glass, the wavelength gets longer and then can’t get back out through the glass. The result is the desired heating of the air. Same thing in the global atmosphere.
The upshot is that you can breathe with more confidence in many places where just 40 years ago breathing was dangerous. But you can’t depend on the future climate to be hospitable because the air is now polluted in a different way. There is a battle in congress right now to give the EPA the legal authority to regulate greenhouse gasses as it does with the other pollutants. For: people that believe the science and don’t want the world to go down the toilet. Against: industries that pollute massively and influence ignorant or greedy people into thinking the science is bad or nonexistent. Very Dangerous Game.

1. Music and Lyrics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hair_(musical)
Hear “Air” here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OC0WqMcTv0&feature=related
Image: chinadigitaltimes.net/china/beijing-environment

Karma or Coincidence?

So, I’m walking down the olive oil isle at Harvey’s and my cell phone rings. I answer and before I can say anything beside “hello” I hear “this is (Beth) Willis, your lawyer”. I said “who?” She said a bit louder and sounding annoyed “Your LAYWER”. I said I didn’t have a lawyer and she had the wrong number. She apologized and we parted amicably.
I got into the truck when it hit me. I had a student years ago named Beth Willis. I wonder if that was she? I looked up the number on the cell phone and called back. No answer but I heard her name on the answering device and it wasn’t “Beth”. I explained why I called back and apologized. A couple of hours later she called me and said “I have a daughter named Beth.” Shorten the story: Wrong Beth; we spent 45 minutes talking about politics, legal stuff and karma. She is retired and does some work for the State and has volunteered to help me with a quest I am about to begin. More on that in a later essay.
For now, I offer this tale as another example of the strange connections that may or may not exist in life. What a trip!!! Life, I mean.
Image: www.chopra.com/laws/karma

Still Gonna Die

What albums would you want if you were marooned in space? No, not a dumb FB game. The top picks for me are “Deep Breakfast” by Ray Lynch and Creedence Clearwater Revival “20 Greatest Hits”. The first is a quiet movement through space and time, all synthesized. While the second rocks all the way through.
I just finished listening to the Creedence album as the insulators finished blowing my porch and garage. Great timing. I didn’t miss a beat. While Fogerty was warning about a “Bad Moon Rising” I was making a marinade with Porter, garlic, pepper, mustard, thyme, basil, salt and a bit of canola oil. Into this will shortly go 2 lovely pork tenderloins, later to be grilled to a pink perfection on the Weber. “Bad Moon Rising” always has given me a bit of a chill, and the message is even more poignant today. There is indeed a bad moon on the rise.
So a good counterpoint to the warning “Don’t go out tonight” is a lovely pork tenderloin tonight. And you know something? Check the lyrics for “Still Gonna Die” on the Old Dogs album. Here is a sample:

“But remember that for all your pain and gain

Eventually the story ends the same...

You can quit smokin', but you're still gonna die.

Cut out cokin', but you're still gonna die.

Eliminate everything fatty or fried,

And you get real healthy, but you're still gonna die.

Stop drinkin' booze, you're still gonna die.

Stay away from cooze, you're still gonna die.

You can cut out coffee and never get high,

But you're still gonna, still gonna, still gonna die. "

So screw the moon and the Mayan calendar. As I have often said, LIVE!! (knowing full well that you still gonna die.) Hear the song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdEoputkE98

Image: (Lynch)quietmusic.wordpress.com/
Image: (Creedence) sodahead.com
Image: (Old Dogs) http://www.amazon.com/Old-Dogs etc.

Horse****!!

Ha. Not what you think. Horse meat is a commodity getting attention these days because many pet horses are being sold at auctions that owners think are for pets to go to new owners, but actually go to the slaughterhouse. Estimates range in the neighborhood of one hundred thousand a year, with most going to Mexico, Canada or Europe. In these places the horses are killed and butchered for human or pet food. They are not treated kindly.
So who is to blame for this? Indiscriminate pet breeders “Oh, let’s have our mare have a baby so we can have a colt to raise honey.” is commonly heard around pet horse owners. Then the feed and vet bill goes up and “bingo” the horse gets auctioned. And race horse breeders contribute to the problem by breeding and selecting for the best runners and trashing the rest.
The whole thing turns on two things: Any animal raised to be a pet will get really traumatized if treated like a food animal. Horses included. They get easily terrified and being loaded in trucks with prods, trucked thousands of miles, unloaded in chutes and killed is at best awful and at worst unspeakably cruel. The second is the unwillingness of Americans to view horses as food animals. Most of the rest of the world is quite happy serving horse meat as a normal part of the diet. Yummy. What could be better than a nice juicy horse tenderloin, lightly grilled to a warm pink and served with a good Cabernet? See? You think that is a sick thing even to suggest. But face it folks. Horses are animals like cattle and have a lot of meat on them. Why not eat them? If the raising and slaughter of horses was regulated, humane treatment would be more likely, and a growing number of horse lovers (for meat, not riding) would add to a new commerce. Then all you southerners that have a pet horse or two could actually have a reason for keeping the nags. And make a few dollars as well.
The killing floors of horse slaughter plants are awful places, but outlawing horse slaughter in America won’t solve the problem in Mexico or Canada or France. Regulating the trade makes more sense to me. The other issue is what to do with the 100’s of thousands of horses bred every year, if the meat trade is cut off? Every day starving horses are dumped at humane shelters throughout the country. To get killed and either buried or burned. They die more quietly, but after months or years of abuse. If all the rednecks that breed horses and all the racehorse owners that breed horses could be convinced to back off, that would be a good start to actually solving the problem. The other is to let McDonald’s server “Trigger Burgers”.
Image: http://www.looking-glass.co.uk/news/library2004/2004-6-greek-strays-photos.htm

Gay Marriage and Wearing the Burqa

I keep asking the same question: How will “gay” marriage: A. ruin all the “non-gay” marriages; B. pose a danger to our children who will be taught in school that it is OK to be gay; C. destroy the very foundations of our way of life? These and other claims have been used for years to make the case against gay marriage seem important to the vast number of people in this country that just don’t see the problem.
I didn’t run out and get a divorce or start beating my wife when 5 states passed gay marriage laws. But, you say, I am prejudiced because my family includes generations of gay (and lesbian) members. Baloney. I could still be a homophobe. But I’m not because I never bought into the bible-thumping pastors that rail against the “ungodly” queers among us; these same-sex perverts that stalk and pounce on witless children. What a load of garbage. It is clear that gayness is a birthright not a choice, and that other than sexual identify gays have the same percentage of issues that normals have. Sure there are pedophile gay men. But there are 10 or more times more straight men that are pedophiles. Do you think that the arrests you hear about every day for “kiddy porn” are gay men? Not no, but HELL NO. Most convicted pedophiles are heterosexuals. So get real.
The angst over the marriage of gays is a bible-based issue that has no merit what so ever. And besides, why should State and Federal laws uphold biblical nonsense. How would you Christians like it if Moslems asked (and got) that the States and Feds passed a law requiring ALL women to wear a headscarf or the burqa (1)? Not very much I would guess. So why should we all be expected to live by the bible? This isn’t after all a theocracy. Why should non-Christians care at all what it says in the bible? And why should Christians feel the need to get their religious ideas made into laws that we all have to follow? Remember Separation of Church and State? The founding fathers, those same DEISTS (not Christians) that specifically forbid state sponsored religion. Because it is DANGEROUS. Read about the Spanish Inquisition some time. That was a state sponsored religion. Or the beheading of women in Saudi Arabia. Another theocracy. They are scary people. So get real.
No, the reasons seem clear: Blatant homophobia and scape goating. And with other signs in the air a feeling that the Nation is slowly moving towards fascism. Now I am going to get biblical on you: God help us all.

"THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

THEN THEY CAME for me and by that time no one was left to speak up." (2)

1. and Image:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijab
2, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came...

A Sad, Beautiful and Lost Old Lady

I noticed a very old woman struggling to push a cart from Publix. Two younger women were close behind trying to talk to her. She hadn’t checked out her few items, just put them in the cart and headed out. I figured the younger women knew her and were helping.
On the way out I noticed the older woman was sitting in a motorized shopping cart by the pharmacy, and the two younger women and a Publix employee talking to her. They were trying to find out who she was and where she lived. She looked utterly defeated, just kept shaking her head and mumbling “don’t know. Don’t know.”
There are several lessons here for all of us. Most importantly keep your eyes open for confused older people. There are more of them than ever, and Alzheimer’s along with strokes are becoming more common every day. Another very important thing to do is to be sure older people have some identification with the at all times. A bracelet or necklace with a name and phone number would be ideal.
How did the old Dear get to Publix? Drive? Heaven forbid. But she did get there somehow.
We can all hope this never happens to us or our loved ones, but you know it will, to someone. These older Americans have taken care of the rest of us for decades, and it is our turn to keep on the lookout for them. And if you think “why should I bother with someone I don’t even know?” the answer is because you are presumable human, and endowed with humanity. If that isn’t enough try this: You will feel better if you help someone. Go ahead. Be selfish. Lend a hand when needed. You never know if the next stroke will be yours, and as you fall you think “Please, somebody help me.” Payback time has just arrived.
Image: e-revista.com.pt/industria/b2b/files/2010/02/...

Who says I Don’t Believe in Miracles?

Drains: Love/Hate
You gotta love drains. They carry away much of the refuse of the world, and in your house they swallow the contents of the toilet, the bathroom sink, the dishwasher, the kitchen sink and the washing machine. Not to forget the tub and shower water. I love them for their utility.
Long ago I gave up “hate” as a way of thinking of people and things. Takes too much energy to hate anyone or anything, and in the end it cannot make things better. And, it can make you sick. You hate, your blood pressure goes up. That can lead to stroke or heart attack. If you are going to have one of those, better in the arms of a lover at the precise moment of unendurable bliss. Not good for the lover, but what a way to go!
But I leave one thing on the hate list. Not on the functional end but on the assembly end. Drains are one of the most vexatious devices known to mankind. The go together fairly easily, and then they leak. They come apart easily, get looked at, go together, and then they leak. They come apart AGAIN, get thoroughly looked at and smeared with waterproof putty, go together, and then they LEAK!!!
Judas Priest!!!(See earlier essay called “The F-Bomb” for a discussion of this particular stand in). By now stroke is just around the corner and no lover in sight. Mantra: calm, calm, calm, calm. Deep breath. It works. Take apart; look at it in minute detail for any signs of imperfection (none noted); smear with waterproof putty, WD-40 between the nut and gasket so it tightens easier; assemble carefully; deep breath; fill bowl with water; lift stopper. Dry. No leak. Once again the miracle of WD-40.
On to the toilet and the tub drain. Deep breath. Calm. Calm. Calm. Calm.
(PS on hate list: crown molding is right there next to drains.)
Image: woodstock-georgia.olx.com/water-pipe-leak-fro...

Deny Everything!!

Denialism - not yet in the OED. It refers to large proportions of a cultural unit denying some truth even though the truth is unequivocal. Examples are the denial of Darwinian evolution as fact, or the denial of the science of global climate change. This phenomenon seems to be more entrenched in America than anywhere else in the world and one has to ask “Why?” There are a large percentage of people in America that are “believers” of some kind. Believers by definition don’t require evidence to assert a position. For example, if someone says that they believe that the earth is flat in the face of evidence to the contrary, they just “believe” it. But that doesn’t make it true. Fact is true and belief is not. The real difference is simply this: Evidence-based assertions do not have to be “believed” because they have the benefit of facts to support the assertions, while belief-based assertions have faith but no facts for support and often fly in the face of the known laws of physics. Belief in levitation is an example of this.
The swing to denial of science-based conclusions in this country is a dangerous trend. Ignoring warnings about the ultimate shift in climate that will lead to disaster make the arrival the disaster even more disastrous. Lack of planning leads to unsuitable response. Educating children to “believe” rather than follow the trail of facts leads to an electorate that is easily led and easily deceived. This puts control of the country into the hands of believers or cynics who play the believers like a pipe organ. I see both of these already in place and working.
Who are these believers? Well, I have been taken to task for apparently confusing “conservative” with “evangelical” or “fundamentalist”. So with that in mind, I propose that the fundamental world view of some Christians and conservatives form the core of the denial mind set. Pounding the Bible and expounding on the “truth” of their own narrow view resonates with many Americans. Why? Because they lack the intellectual experience to see the conflict and see the obvious fallacies. They are unable to see through the raving to the evidence-based conclusions.
Unfortunately, much that is good about America is being co-opted by a small but vocal minority who denies reality and spout belief. This dangerous trend must be stopped and reversed if America is going to reclaim the position it once held in the world: A place with world-class universities where free thinking produced tremendous advantage for American industry and commerce; A place where foreign nationals, once educated, stayed to contribute their labor to an ever growing American corner on innovation and production. That seems to be going fast, and other places are catching up with America.

Our response seems to be to fall back on “belief” and relegate science to the back seat.

Image: theculturedoctor.com.au/blog/2009/10/

Trub Trub Squirel with a Nub

My old and very funny buddy John Cone had a cat named "Trub". Now you might think this was shorthand for "trouble", and you might be right. The cat had almost no tail and had his own little Dr. Seuss rhyme: "Trub Trub cat with a Nub". So everybody called him "Trub".

Well, a couple of weeks ago a squirrel showed up under a bird feeder in the back yard with half a tail. Instantly he became "Trub", with his own rhyme. We have pondered the lack of tail. Speculated about a hawk, or dog or some other near miss resulting in a loss of tail tip. Could it be genetic? Could Trub have generations of half-tailed squirrels? Could Lamarck be right? (I doubt that.) We will never know.

But, that got us thinking about John and family. So, I looked him up and got an email address. I will send him this little musing and see if we can get together again, if only in cyberspace.

You never really know where the day will go, do you?

Image: "Stubby" at www.new-jersey-birds.com/2010_04_04_archive.html

Thoughts on Jesus

Why is Jesus a cool guy? Consider the issue of a historic Jesus. In other words, was there really a man that lived, was named Jesus and was considered by others or himself as a messiah or prophet? When he died was he really resurrected? There is no agreement on these questions to the level of certainty. So if we suppose that there was such a person, what could we know about him? The New Testament claims to document some of the known life of this prophet. No real-time transcriptions of his utterances are known, and most are reconstructions well after the fact. Could they be perfectly remembered, misremembered, made up entirely or “inspired” after the fact? Possibly any or all of these could be the case. Taking the Jesus as represented by all that is written (no, I don’t know all that is written, and many people are quite willing to ignore documents that don’t fit their model, like the newly discovered Gospel according to Judas) he seems to have been a holy man, a philosopher, a healer, a teacher and a peace-bringer. His teachings seem consistent over his life. Tolerance, love, inclusion, caring and nurturing are among his reported philosophies. He is seen as opposing oppression and fighting for good and righteous causes. He is seen as a common man, living simply and doing good works. He could be a formidable enemy too, and was not afraid to speak and act his mind. He spent his short life in the service of others, as a Rabbi in later life according to some. What about a personal relationship with this guy? All you need to have a personal relationship with anyone is knowledge of what you think they want, stand for, believe and who they are. A personal relationship is one in which you “know” the other at some level and believe (share) in the same core values, or in some cases do not. For example, you may have a personal relationship with the devil in daily struggles but not accept the core values ascribed to that entity. So, personal relationship can and must be individual and derived from one’s own sense of the other. OK. So that brings us to Jesus’ core values. We all understand them, I think, as love and what emanates from love. He seemed to care about and accept everyone at a personal level without distinctions. He seemed to want everyone to be saved from the sin and evil of the world. He was ready to sacrifice himself to achieve that goal (possibly). He was most definitely not a sappy simpering sanctimonious preacher. He was aflame with passion and angry with much of the world he saw. He spoke out in the face of hate with love, a very dangerous thing to do. Often asked: WWJD? I know what he would do. He would speak out against intolerance, hatred, wrongfulness and bigotry. He would rail against the false prophets (as are most of them at one level or another) and take the high ground of love, peace, forgiveness and redemption. He would support the rights of all against the oppression of them by others more powerful. He would not tolerate meanness, treachery, lying, cheating, stealing or other common attributes of public figures and clergy. He would be at all times ready to embrace and love others. He would move among us with ease and be one of us without striving for gain or glory. He would speak against religious practices and arguments that separated, segregated or denied others full inclusion in life. He would surely be killed for his teachings.
You don't have to believe in the God to practice the principles. You just have to know Jesus. A very cool guy.
Image: Osiris Resurrecting: http://www.daytonartinstitute.org/exhibits/egypt/images.htm

Who is Really "Crippled"?

I belong to a group of fans of the writer Nicola Griffith. Along the way she described herself as a "cripple" because she has MS, progressive I think, but not sure about that. I really resent the term because it is so pejorative. I have never heard someone that isn't crippled mean something nice or good when using the word "cripple", even though according to the OED it simply means "One who is disabled (either from birth, or by accident or injury) from the use of his limbs; a lame person." This is the context Nicola meant; simply unable to "walk like she should do" (Rosie by Eric Bogle, citation coming later) I have a good friend crippled by polio as a child and living in a wheel chair. She is a star. Entrepreneur, wife, mother, friend. Crippled? No doubt. But handicapped in life? Not that I can see. Sure, there are things she can't do that she may want like need to do. But who doesn't have things like that? She can't walk like she should do. Period. Crippled is a state of body. Disabled is a state of mind.

This brings me to "Rosie". Eric Bogle is an Aussie song smith from Scotland. He writes some of the most emotion-laden songs I have heard, among them is Rosie . Because I want to respect his copyright request I will provide a link to the song lyrics on his website. Go there and read the full text. http://ericbogle.net/lyrics/lyricspdf/rosie.pdf and go to this link to hear him sing it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzYHLgUwXJ4 Here are a few excerpts, hopefully not enough to piss him off.

"She may not walk like she should do,
she may not talk like she ought to
Sometimes the anger and the pain show through in her frustrated cries
But when she smiles at me I can see The Little girl who lives in Rosie’s eyes"

And he finished with this:

"I once knew a barren crippled man who stood straight and strong and tall
A bitter, heartless, loveless man, with no pity and no soul
But because his limbs were strong and clean no one turned aside their face
He was a perfect shining mirror for the perfect human race".

Nicola may be crippled by MS, but not in will or action. My friend may be crippled by polio, but not in will or action. Where am I going with this? Not sure really. I just hate the idea that people see physical cripples as somehow unworthy, while people strong of limb, regardless of soul, as worthy.

I hate labels that seek to diminish or mock or denigrate. Period.

Image: http://ashokbanker.com/2008/08/
OED: Type "cripple"