Light/Breezes

Light/Breezes
SUNRISE AT DEATH VALLEY-Photo by Tom Cochrun
Showing posts with label McClatchy News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label McClatchy News. Show all posts

Saturday, February 29, 2020

How deeply is he despised?

 left coast lamentations
   We had been a woman entrepreneur, an ad agency employee, a college professor, a jazz and big band trumpeter and a journalist.
     We are California voters. We were figuring the odds, like millions of US citizens are doing. What combination of ticket will carry the popular vote and perform well in those "key" precincts and counties that tab up the electoral college.
    Well read, well informed aside, there is still indecision about for whom to cast a primary vote. We handicapped each candidate's value and appeal.
    With tracking polls being what they are, we wondered if Bernie wins the most delegates, will the Democrat party coronate or karate chop him? Would Bernie's appeal bring those one time "abandoned, ignored, forgotten" Democrats who voted instead for Trump, to their senses?  Would Berniecrats back another Democrat?
     What is Super Tuesday likely to produce and portend?
     Oh, and the conversation also swung to visas and length of stay in EU nations, the price of housing and such in sane nations where the great ignoramus and his fascism are despised.

shoving mike in front of the bus

        I first knew Mike Pence when he was a radio talk show host and failed congressional candidate. The earlier Pence was a more genuine article. Once he took right wing and pro life money, he got squirrelly, but they bought his way onto more radio stations and after a few tries he finally got elected to congress.
     After a few terms he was marinated and lusted for power. His run for governor was part of a strategy to make a presidential run.
     By most accounts, he was a miserable governor and embarrassed the state and even the portion of the Indiana Republican party that continued to produce brain waves. (Remember they were the party that "primaried" a Lion of the Senate" Richard Lugar.)
      Those Republicans with the function of reason were thinking about throwing Pence over after his first term. But the great ignoramus called.
      The nation has seen the kind of VP he has been. It got worse for him when the stable genius grabbed him, like body armor, a human shield, and made him the point man. If anything goes wrong with the COVID-19 strategy, Mike takes the fall.
       After 3 years of being a yes man, Pence is now anointed as the scape goat. Pence gave Trump what he demands, loyalty. Trump pays him back, true to form while he lies to us about the public health threat and while making it all about himself, just "another attempt to remove him" from office.
       I wonder if Mike despises the idiot monarch too?



reaching for a metaphor
     A child on a felled ancient tree, and the mind runs, to ideas like legacy, consequence, and meaning. 
     The climate, the gig economy, the remnant hatreds of race, identity, the prospect of well being, the changing nature of work, defending privacy, even defining privacy are among the under currents of demographically relevant issues in this 2020 election. 
     As much as any of those may touch us, their latent significance will bloom in more profound ways, after most of us have left the arena.
     All I can mutter is our political system needs a generational transfusion, and a new field of developing and equipping candidates, but most vitally a new way of thinking about the ideas and the ideals that underpin our way of doing politics and government. The first thing that should go, is money. There are more important factors that need to be the influencers and drivers. Maybe we could start with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 

a trip up the coast
 Wilderness and nature are always a good antidote.

 The Big Sur wilderness is like the mothers milk of creative thought and respite.


a corruption of spirit
   McClatchy journalists have led the reporting on a story that symbolizes how broken and morally corrupt a government that operates amidst greed, big money and perverted ideology can be. That government is the US and the case in point is K2.
    K2 is the Karshi-Khanabad base in Uzbekistan where US forces were housed, even though it was known the abandoned base was contaminated with cyanide, blister and nerve agents.
    7 thousand US forces were assigned duty at K2 between 2001-2005. McClatchy has verified that chemical, nuclear, and biological officers tested the facility three times in 2002 alone. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld knew he was assigning troops to a dangerous posting.
    Today hundreds of those veterans have been diagnosed with cancer and chronic illnesses. Now they struggle with the Veterans Administration to even recognize their illnesses are connected with their tours of duty at the dangerous base. 
     Ponds of water at K2 were so contaminated they were called "Skittles" because they glowed with bright colors, like the candy. 
     The troops were abused by command decisions that further endangered their lives, even as they were already in a combat position. When a nation permits decisions like Rumsfeld's and the approval he had from Vice President Dick Cheney, it is morally corrupt. What Rumsfeld and Cheney did and approved is criminal. It goes on the list of other criminal and corrupt actions that duo perpetrated.
     It is the moral failure of all of us to permit these veterans, and others who have been injured or become ill while in service to us, to be denied anything but the best care and attention.
     There is much to despise about those things we permit or have done to undermine the principles and ideals that coalesced in the experiment of some 244 years ago.
     This election cycle is an opportunity for a desperately needed curative. It begins with thinking and is founded on honesty. 
      
    See you down the trail.
     

Monday, August 7, 2017

REQUIRES A SECOND LOOK

   Reminded me of a Sci-fi thriller. Transformer vs Fish Cloud.
     It was an odd and solitary cloud. Please note-I was not the odd and solitary shopper at the big box parking lot to pause and snap a shot, there were others taking note as well. 
       At first glance we thought it was a stuffed animal put atop the ledge at the Vets Hall on Farmer's market Friday.
        No, he was the real deal and seems to wish I'd get out of the way so he can keep an eye on his companion, busy at the market. 

screwing our veterans
      More than 700 veterans, family members and former employees of a Halliburton subsidiary were kicked in the teeth by a federal judge who dismissed a major lawsuit against the defense contractor over burn pit operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
        The Vets alleged the burn pits caused them chronic and deadly respiratory diseases and cancer. 
        Patricia Kime of McClatchy news reports US District Court Judge Roger Titus wrote that the company, KBR, could not be held liable for a military decision. The judge said he didn't have jurisdiction to hold the Pentagon responsible. 
         The suit had tied together cases across the US and included 63 specific complaints and 44 national class action suits.
        KBR operated the burn pits running them near where troops lived and worked. Allegedly KBR burned stuff that should not have been put in the pits; paint, batteries, computers, fuel, plastic, medical waste. 
       Plaintiffs report a range of diseases resulting from exposure, including life threatening conditions, gastrointestinal disorders, neurological issues, cancer and constrictive bronchiolitis. 
       The judge said KBR was just following orders and that it was a military matter.  Victims and family members are furious. 
       It is pretty much par for the course. We put men and women in harms way, sometimes even greater jeopardy because of poor command decisions, and then we leave vets holding the bag. Combine that with the Inspector General's finding of wholesale fraud and waste in both wars-in the Billions, and you are left with corporations that made huge war profits, bonuses for executives and our loyal troops sick and dying and no one is held responsible. 
      It is important to recall that many of these war contracts were no bid deals, engineered by Dick Cheney for his Halliburton and KBR pals.
      It's a damned shame we don't better respect, honor and treat those who serve. It is a continuing stain in our history, but so too is war profiteering. Has been ever such. Another of many reasons war is indeed, hell.
      Maybe the Republican majority in Congress and the Republican president will come to the aid of the distressed vets of Iraq and Afghanistan. What's to stop them?   

     See you down the trail.   

     

Thursday, March 17, 2016

YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW & THEY'RE NOT LAZY THEY'RE JUST NAPPING

LAZY SLUGS?
   Stretches of the Pacific Coast in central California are breathtakingly rugged.
  And there are stretches that break from jagged to sand. About 30 years ago a colony of elephant seals migrated to one of those sandy expanses north of San Simeon and this late in the "season" those who remain behind are a few adult males, a lot of juveniles and those recently born. They share a habit-napping. Soon they'll depart for their solo journeys north. Males to Alaska and females to Canada for the eating  season. Once they've had their fill they will return for birthing, mating and more napping.

YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW
    Sunshine Week is observed by what is left of America's Newspapers. It has been a time to reflect on the public's right to know including openness and access to public records. This year essays and articles have explored the First Amendment in light of new communications technology.
    Anders Gyllenhaal, vice president for news at McClatchy wrote an especially thoughtful piece which you can read here, courtesy of the American Society of News Editors.
    The Apple - FBI issue is undergirded by our first freedom amendment. I wonder when we will confront whether artificial intelligence is also entitled to our full constitutional rights, especially as regards freedom of speech and freedom of the press. That day is coming, but in the meantime there are more mundane questions about whether advertising is covered by the First. Corporations are trying to find shelter there.
     As political correctness and what some call our new social media activated "shame culture" continue to erode our skill of reason, what happens to freedom of speech? Should a professor not raise a controversial concept in fear of perpetuating a "micro aggression?" What does that say about academic freedom? Can Texas school boards get away with eliminating slavery from their texts teaching of the civil war?  Is a computer generated search of information covered by the first freedoms? Thorny issues and as Gyllenhaal points out those who have stood up for the first amendment in the last 200 years have been news papers, news groups and journalists. In 2016 those groups are shrinking and loosing influence while tech companies and social media are gaining power and users. They do not have the same raisons d'etre or mission as a news organization. Their values may not be founded on the First Amendment. Ultimately it is the role and even responsibility of citizens to know, understand and act wisely about these matters. Sunshine week is a time to let a little light into your brain.
THE BACK HILL


FAVA UPDATE
   The formation of pods is a good thing. A first harvest can not be too far off and that means prepping one of my favorite dishes; orecchiette pasta, browned sausage, sautéed favas in the appropriate seasoning, grated parma-reggiano and topped a dollop of creme fraiche.

    Be of good cheer.
    See you down the trail.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

AN AMERICAN DILEMMA & A CURSE OF STARDOM Plus PICS

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE DRONE WAR?
      McClatchy News is out with an insightful and illuminating report including data on the kill rate of US drones under the command of the Obama administration.
      We, the US, have eliminated more than top commanders of Al Quaeda. Others, including non combatants, have also been killed.
      Drone strikes are a lethal reach in modern war, but they are the source of a complex and thorny debate. Precise, but not perfect, the control, use and implication of drones are something in which every American has a stake. What do you think?
GOING PRO BLUES
   I wonder what Dr James Naismith would think of the game of basketball that he invented in 1891 while teaching at a YMCA school. And I wonder how he'd think about college players, dropping out of school to turn professional.
     It's that time of year when college stars are dashing the hopes of fans and coaches as they announce they are entering the NBA-going for the big bucks.
 Fox Sports 
      All season I've been telling friends that Victor
Oladipo, IU's sensational junior would make a great NBA Player.  I just didn't want to see him leave yet.  He announced he is making himself available to be drafted.  I've also been sounding off about another Hoosier standout and scorer-
Bleacher Report
7 foot Cody Zeller.  I think the kid has great potential, but he's not there yet.  His two older brothers, Tyler and Luke are already in the NBA but Cody needs another year in college ball to gain skills that he presently lacks.  His disappointing performance against Syracuse in the NCAA demonstrates his need for more strength, more finesse and more seasoning.  Other big men can make him look like what he is, a 20 year old kid. He's got to learn to "play bigger" and to quit lowering his shoulder when he drives, and a few other skills that would make him a better pro.  Too early for Cody, I fear. The lure of big money is a curse to the young athletes.  Some leave school too early and have only middling careers as players.
A GOOD YEAR FOR LUPINE


A SEASONAL MATCH



   See you down the trail.