The Weekly Watch

Now returning as the Sunday...
Open Thread image.jpg

CStMS will be moving her essays to Wednesday to relieve el of creating two open threads every week. So as usual please feel free to chime in with whatever is on your mind. I'm calling today's edition:

Burnt Out, Washed Up, and Blown Away

In homage to powers of nature... wildfires, hurricanes, floods, and the erosion of social cohesion. Perhaps we can find some good in the tragedies as any rational person must admit to climate chaos, a failed political system, a collapsing economy, and a polarized society. Awareness is a first step toward change. We can't force societal change, but we can as individuals select a better path to survival. I'm fine, but the young people deserve our best effort.

The equinox is this Tuesday. It arrives early in the morning on September 22 (9:31 a.m. EDT, 8:31 a.m. CDT, 7:31 a.m. MDT and 6:31 a.m. PDT). To me, this is a time to find balance. A time to be a part of the whole and flow with (rather than against) the universe. A time to prepare for the coming changes.
https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-se...

Back in February someone at c99 recommended Chris Martenson's COVID coverage, and I've been a fan ever since. He is shifting his emphasis now to resilience and regenerative agriculture. No wonder I like him. (The first clip is 12 min and the second one is 9 min)

We must change our ways in order to survive. The evidence the planet is warming is all around us...multiple named hurricanes, record heat and resulting wildfires, cascading polar ice loss, the disappearance of insects and birds (a true canary in the mine). It may be too late to stabilize the system, and the political system is too captured by the fuel industry to even begin to act...they are mostly in denial. So where does this leave us? As individuals to act? Should we build communities? I'm of the opinion it is time to sidestep the government and act...be the change we want to see.

I'm not religious...perhaps a bit pagan or even pantheist...but no organized religion for me. I am however tolerant of others call to worship. I bring this up because the next clip features a religious community, but it is the community design not the religious aspects I want to feature. (the entire clip is 42 min, but just watch 10 min or so to get the idea of the community structure).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR4DTHDoMws

It would not be comfortable to me to have a forced dress code and expected behavior. However, the cooperative nature of sharing a business, growing food, schooling, and all the daily chores looks pretty sensible to me. Certainly much better than this strict Mennonite community in Belize https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFFS2jtv4pM (6 min)
https://belizemennonites.blogspot.com/2019/02/shipyard-belize.html

There are non-religious communities too...
"A Simpler Way: Crisis as Opportunity" is a free-to-view, feature-length (1.3 hour)documentary that follows a community in Australia who have come together to explore and demonstrate a simpler way to live in response to global crises. Throughout the year the group build tiny houses, plant veggie gardens, practice simple living and permaculture principles, and discover the challenges of living in community.

Here's another example of a rural commune here in the US
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpvClTxHBe8&t=35s (25 min)

This Virginia commune and seed production coop is also very interesting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLzFd4YP9dI (28 min)
I use their seed company https://www.southernexposure.com/ and like supporting them.

Many people have created better communities. Will most follow suit? I think not. We're too stuck in the system to escape. I guess my point here is that if I felt stuck in a place I thought was unhealthy and far away from nature I would consider looking for a like minded community in an area to which I was attracted. https://www.ic.org/directory/

I think the election is going to be contested no matter who wins...and it may take weeks to count (and challenge) absentee ballots. This is set up to be a very volatile time. Add the RBG death and supreme court appointment into the mix and it doesn't look good to me. Change is never easy, Will we use the moment to cast off the corporate chains that bind us? I doubt it, but it is possible, so I'll hope for that outcome.

“Hope” is the thing with feathers - (314)
By Emily Dickinson

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.

Krystal talked about election instability this week
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0gN_oRVya0 (10 min)

I heard someone suggest the country has not been this divided since the civil war. That's one reason I'm suggesting looking at your situation and community. However there is no where to hide from ecosystem collapse and climate chaos. It will effect us all no matter where we live. Hang on it's going to be a wild ride. Many of you are still breathing smoke. There's still flooding in south Alabama, and another hurricane brewing in the gulf. Triple digit temperatures in Siberia, melting permafrost and liberating methane, and causing wild fires. https://thediplomat.com/2020/07/siberia-on-fire/

Whenever I'm feeling down about it, I think of someone like Julian, a journalist being tortured for revealing our war crimes. You think you've got it bad? There is a total absence of law...it has evaporated. The system has become a charade...an illusion...much like our elections.

Of History and Hope

By Miller Williams

We have memorized America,
how it was born and who we have been and where.
In ceremonies and silence we say the words,
telling the stories, singing the old songs.
We like the places they take us. Mostly we do.
The great and all the anonymous dead are there.
We know the sound of all the sounds we brought.
The rich taste of it is on our tongues.
But where are we going to be, and why, and who?
The disenfranchised dead want to know.
We mean to be the people we meant to be,
to keep on going where we meant to go.

But how do we fashion the future? Who can say how
except in the minds of those who will call it Now?
The children. The children. And how does our garden grow?
With waving hands—oh, rarely in a row—
and flowering faces. And brambles, that we can no longer allow.

Who were many people coming together
cannot become one people falling apart.
Who dreamed for every child an even chance
cannot let luck alone turn doorknobs or not.
Whose law was never so much of the hand as the head
cannot let chaos make its way to the heart.
Who have seen learning struggle from teacher to child
cannot let ignorance spread itself like rot.
We know what we have done and what we have said,
and how we have grown, degree by slow degree,
believing ourselves toward all we have tried to become—
just and compassionate, equal, able, and free.

All this in the hands of children, eyes already set
on a land we never can visit—it isn’t there yet—
but looking through their eyes, we can see
what our long gift to them may come to be.
If we can truly remember, they will not forget.

HOWARD ZINN: ...You know, should we tell kids that Columbus, whom they have been told was a great hero, that Columbus mutilated Indians and kidnapped them and killed them in pursuit of gold? Should we tell people that Theodore Roosevelt, who is held up as one of our great presidents, was really a warmonger who loved military exploits and who congratulated an American general who committed a massacre in the Philippines? Should we tell young people that?

And I think the answer is: We should be honest with young people; we should not deceive them. We should be honest about the history of our country. And we should be not only taking down the traditional heroes like Andrew Jackson and Theodore Roosevelt, but we should be giving young people an alternate set of heroes.

Instead of Theodore Roosevelt, tell them about Mark Twain. Mark Twain — well, Mark Twain, everybody learns about as the author of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, but when we go to school, we don’t learn about Mark Twain as the vice president of the Anti-Imperialist League. We aren’t told that Mark Twain denounced Theodore Roosevelt for approving this massacre in the Philippines. No.

We want to give young people ideal figures like Helen Keller. And I remember learning about Helen Keller. Everybody learns about Helen Keller, you know, a disabled person who overcame her handicaps and became famous. But people don’t learn in school and young people don’t learn in school what we want them to learn when we do books like A Young People’s History of the United States, that Helen Keller was a socialist. She was a labor organizer. She refused to cross a picket line that was picketing a theater showing a play about her.

And so, there are these alternate heroes in American history. There’s Fannie Lou Hamer and Bob Moses. There are the heroes of the civil rights movement. There are a lot of people who are obscure, who are not known. We have it in this Young People’s History. We have a young hero who was sitting on the bus in Montgomery, Alabama, refused to leave the front of the bus. And that was before Rosa Parks. I mean, Rosa Parks is justifiably famous for refusing to leave her seat, and she got arrested, and that was the beginning of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and really the beginning of a great movement in the South. But this 15-year-old girl did it first. And so, we have a lot of — we are trying to bring a lot of these obscure people back into the forefront of our attention and inspire young people to say, “This is the way to live.”

A Map to the Next World

By Joy Harjo

for Desiray Kierra Chee

In the last days of the fourth world I wished to make a map for
those who would climb through the hole in the sky.
My only tools were the desires of humans as they emerged
from the killing fields, from the bedrooms and the kitchens.

For the soul is a wanderer with many hands and feet.

The map must be of sand and can’t be read by ordinary light. It
must carry fire to the next tribal town, for renewal of spirit.

In the legend are instructions on the language of the land, how it
was we forgot to acknowledge the gift, as if we were not in it or of it.

Take note of the proliferation of supermarkets and malls, the
altars of money. They best describe the detour from grace.

Keep track of the errors of our forgetfulness; the fog steals our
children while we sleep.

Flowers of rage spring up in the depression. Monsters are born
there of nuclear anger.

Trees of ashes wave good-bye to good-bye and the map appears to
disappear.

We no longer know the names of the birds here, how to speak to
them by their personal names.

Once we knew everything in this lush promise.

What I am telling you is real and is printed in a warning on the
map. Our forgetfulness stalks us, walks the earth behind us, leav-
ing a trail of paper diapers, needles, and wasted blood.

An imperfect map will have to do, little one.

The place of entry is the sea of your mother’s blood, your father’s
small death as he longs to know himself in another.

There is no exit.

The map can be interpreted through the wall of the intestine—a
spiral on the road of knowledge.

You will travel through the membrane of death, smell cooking
from the encampment where our relatives make a feast of fresh
deer meat and corn soup, in the Milky Way.

They have never left us; we abandoned them for science.

And when you take your next breath as we enter the fifth world
there will be no X, no guidebook with words you can carry.

You will have to navigate by your mother’s voice, renew the song
she is singing.

Fresh courage glimmers from planets.

And lights the map printed with the blood of history, a map you
will have to know by your intention, by the language of suns.

When you emerge note the tracks of the monster slayers where they
entered the cities of artificial light and killed what was killing us.

You will see red cliffs. They are the heart, contain the ladder.

A white deer will greet you when the last human climbs from the
destruction.

Remember the hole of shame marking the act of abandoning our
tribal grounds.

We were never perfect.

Yet, the journey we make together is perfect on this earth who was
once a star and made the same mistakes as humans.

We might make them again, she said.

Crucial to finding the way is this: there is no beginning or end.

You must make your own map.

Carry On
Stephen Stills

[Verse 1]
One morning I woke up and I knew
You were really gone
A new day, a new way, I knew
I should see it along
Go your way, I'll go mine
And carry on

[Verse 2]
The sky is clearing and the night
Has gone out
The sun, he come, the world
Is all full of love
Rejoice, rejoice, we have no choice
But to carry on

[Verse 3]
The fortunes of fables are able
To sing the song
Now witness the quickness with which
We get along
To sing the blues you've got to live the dues
And carry on

[Bridge]
Carry on
Love is coming
Love is coming to us all

[Instrumental Interlude]

["Questions" Outro]
[Verse 4]
Where are you going now, my love?
Where will you be tomorrow?
Will you bring me happiness?
Will you bring me sorrow?

[Chorus]
Oh, the questions of a thousand dreams
What you do with what you see
Lover, can you talk to me?

[Verse 5]
Girl, when I was on my own
Chasing you down
What was it made you run?
Trying your best just to get around

[Chorus]
The questions of a thousand dreams
What you do and what you see
Lover, can you talk to me?

I wish you all the best as we wander into the future. The thread is open...

Share
up
15 users have voted.

Comments

Awareness is a first step toward change.

Taking the blinders off. Dig into the positive. There is a way.

Thanks for sharing!

Carry on.

up
8 users have voted.
Lookout's picture

@QMS

Glad you dropped by. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.

The garden has been good this year. Have the fall crops in, and still harvesting okra, a few tomatoes, lots of peppers, crowder peas, and harvested the first batch of turnip greens yesterday. Still have to dig the sweet potatoes, but that will wait till mid to late October. So plenty to keep me occupied.

The fall wild flowers are cranking up and that adds fun to the walks.

Take care and be well!

up
8 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout high in the sky.

Your garden tales are always interesting so today I thought I'd add the changes in the very different world that I inhabit. Every longtime urban gardener in and around New York has surely noticed what I've seen. All the old common wisdom has been challenged if not erased.

For decades, everybody knew not to plant outside before Memorial Day or you'd be risking frost. That's certainly no longer true. Now, if you wait until Memorial Day to secure your plants for the summer, if you live in the City as I do, you may have difficulty finding what you want. We all get our balconies going early in May but keep them in containers that we can bring indoors if necessary.

And Labor Day as the end of the blooming season? My petunias, geraniums, etc, certainly haven't heard that as I am looking at their gorgeous blooms as I type.

Crosby Stills and Nash are at lot more optimistic than I can be at this time. Hearing them as I read the words brought me back to a much better time.

Not so sure that what's coming to us all is love.

up
7 users have voted.

NYCVG

Lookout's picture

@NYCVG

CSNY come out of a more positive time, but even today there is love...just don't know if it is coming to us all.

Glad you can have a balcony crop. The roof top gardens of the cities are interesting too.

rooftop.jpg

Living growing things help us to be better humans I think.

Thanks for the visit and story!

up
10 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Once you have correctly assessed your particular open balcony or terrace or rooftop settings---how much wind you have to contend with and how much sun do you actually get, for example----almost any space can be used for planting something. I couldn't live happily without indoor plants all year and flowers (now) for almost three seasons.

@Lookout

up
6 users have voted.

NYCVG

Lookout's picture

@NYCVG

...and for some reason turned over all our potted plants down on the cistern deck. Don't know if it was looking for grubs or just didn't like the flowers (or perhaps their odor?).

Like you we have house plants too. Our 40+ year old philodendron finally got so big, I had to cut it back and now have three pretty large ones from the cuttings. Finally wised up to plastic pots to make them easier to tote in and out.

Glad you can have plants around your home.

up
7 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout lol

Yes on the plastic pots. I used to love heavier fancier pots. Common sense gradually won out.

up
3 users have voted.

NYCVG

mimi's picture

or not? I think about the collapse and destruction of the Third Reich and what it has brought us afterwards. One of the best constitutions we ever got. Our basic law is quite good and stable, I think many Germans trust in that.
Basic Law for the Federal Republic or Germany.
It's in no way an assurance or insurance that it couldn't collapse from one year to the next.
Mostly the trust is gone, imo. As ordinary citizens here in my neighborhood would say: I have it in my guts (or more vulgar 'in my urine') that there are huge changes to the worse coming.

I want to think about something nice and positive now. I planted four trees, one apple, one pear, one plumbs and one cherry tree, then I planted one blackberry bush, two raspberry, one
gooseberry bushes and two litte ones, I don't even know and the name has sliiped me memoery by now, so I will have something of a surprise coming up next year. I build four raised beds and had at least four cubic meters of mulching compost to move. The problem is we have no way to get rid of all the debris of grass clippings, cut off brancnes without help of a garden company and that is way too expensive.

In this strange world of mine, a gardener is in fact an automechanic, who has not appetite to do gardening much. Luckily that 'gardener' has a terrific youngster son, who is a genius in metal work and can fix almost anything. He helped me build a pergola to keep the neightors out of my view. Those neighbors are afraid of our beautiful old trees. Heh, they could fell on their garden and destroy their house and kill them. I had to get a tree expert to write up something legally protecting about the health of our trees and that we don't have to cut them down. Jeez these trees are over eighty years old and they are beautiful.

Well, enough of chatting for now.

I am so aware how lucky, privileged I am, but I miss to be able to help those who need it.
Being privileged sucks too.

Thanks for your weekly watch. Soon it is winter timees here and the garden goes to sleep a little and I got more time reading.

Be well and stay put with us here. Thanks for your work.

up
10 users have voted.
Lookout's picture

@mimi

Something fun and productive.

Better to do, and not worry about the times to come. It will unfold and perhaps then we can react.

Glad your trees are protected, and good luck with the new plants.

Nice to "see" you!

up
7 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Granma's picture

@mimi you have done a lot. May your fruit trees begin to produce a little for you very quickly.
I'm pleased to hear your lovely big trees are safe and you can enjoy them.

up
7 users have voted.
Azazello's picture

Here's some YouTubes, two I've watched and two I haven't.
I thought this was amusing, "fomenting peace":
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P0oau5L91A width:500 height:300]
Max and Stacy were good, Michael Hudson in the second half:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7tVM5x6Lcs width:500 height:300]
I'll try to get to these later, Glenn Greenwald on Useful Idiots and Joe Rogan with Edward Snowden,
Have a nice day.

up
6 users have voted.

We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

Lookout's picture

@Azazello

I caught the Max and Stacy, and the first part of Glenn's interview...mainly about the Reality Winter screw up.

I always appreciate your contributions here and in the EB. I hope y'all have cooled off. We were in the 50's this AM...and did get a bit over an inch of rain out of hurricane Sally.

up
6 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Azazello's picture

@Lookout
Low 70s in the morning, highs in the 90s.
Nothing we can't handle although forecasts call for yet another warmer and drier than "normal" winter.

up
3 users have voted.

We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

Lookout's picture

@Azazello

Living Happily in the Past...
Mark Blyth, political economist at Brown's Watson Institute, and political scientist Carrie Nordlund share their take on the news. (32 min)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2tLbmPwHS8

up
5 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

enhydra lutris's picture

regular column. Just starting with the videos and links. Resilience and regeneration is the perpetual underlying theme and one wonders why,how and when that came to be so. There are many answers to that, having to grow with growth and the propensity of "civilization" to wage war upon nature.

I haven't checked out the links yet but noted your statement that:

It would not be comfortable to me to have a forced dress code and expected behavior. However, the cooperative nature of sharing a business, growing food, schooling, and all the daily chores looks pretty sensible to me.

I have railed, struggled and resisted that my whole life, and it is insidious in our culture and society in ways that we don't really appreciate. We see the uniforms of the uniformed, but not of all of the rest. It has taken my entire life to see an evolution away from dress codes for all. Bankers, businessmen and bureaucrats with their suits and ties and, for a period of time there, even hats. Farmers, sensibly enough, in bibs, but not precisely carpenters' bibs nor painters'. Painters' bibs and/or coveralls. Mechanics and machinists in coveralls. We had "working man's" stores retailing the appropriate costumes for the trades, and others selling the elements of garb deemed or designated appropriate for things like park personnel, UPS drivers, cabbies and such or the milkman's special costume, which vanished along with said milkman. Even loggers, to some extent. Scrubs. And, before it had a name, "business casual", the stuff that school teachers and the like wore. Some of it was based on practicality and some of it was in part a form of insignia. Some, like business attire was totally impractical, and that is why it is slowly dying, but the vestiges still abound. Sometimes mandated by rule, sometimes by culture and/or tradition, and sometimes by the peculiarities of the trade or business.

Just had to mention that.

Gardens and gardening are a natural element of resilience and regeneration, and used to be far more common. It should be about time to plant potatoes, which I haven't done in years, though I'm considering a tower this year. But time to plant is now all crazy. When is it really? Our apple tree has been raining apples so much we really must harvest, but by normal standards it is still too early and yet, this morning I saw blossoms on the ends of a couple of branches. What the hell is with that?

Ah well, time to get going about the business of the day, whatever that may be. I'm supposed to receive a new computer tomorrow, a powerhouse windows machine, which I must slowly de-window and convert into a replica of this one, only with more muscle and fewer flaws and failings. Accordingly, I've got to sneak in a little prep for that, which I envision taking a week or so, but which I will no doubt rush through.

be well and have a good one.

up
9 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Lookout's picture

@enhydra lutris

...to tackle the de-window / Linux conversion. I paid a tech buddy to do mine. I continue to use my old window(7) based desktop most of the time. When it dies, I'll set up a Linux based desktop at that point. Getting used to it on the laptop in preparation.

As to uniforms...I ditched neckties from 18 on. If someone requires one I don't participate. None the less I find myself wearing about the same thing everyday...straw hat in summer, felt in winter. I like Les Paul's line...people listen with their eyes. We are visual creatures. Sadly I think most people want to put others in boxes.. and clothes are a common means of categorization.

Hope you have good day no matter what business you get into!

up
7 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

enhydra lutris's picture

@Lookout
least twice, but never on a machine at all like the one I'm getting. I'm more concerned about cloning the directory tree and files off of this one onto that one when it is done because I have some old legacy stuff running under an emulator on here, including my favorite editor that I use for all my OTs and such.

up
6 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Lookout's picture

@enhydra lutris

I enjoy using them but I'm not a very good computer mechanic. Sure has made photograph and document management into an interesting process. Quite different from going to the library and having to really search for information.

Heard Corbett describe the internet censorship as the burning of the Library in Alexandria https://www.corbettreport.com/episode-384-the-library-of-alexandria-is-o...
Thought it was an interesting analogy.

All the best!

up
8 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout uniforms. I am still required to dress a certain way for court, and even when staying in the office for appointments, there is a perception out there that I should look like a lawyer. Men must wear a jacket, and if they do not wear a tie, it is sure noticed. Jeans will get both men and women lawyers held in contempt, pay a fine or sit it out in jail.

I will have a vegetable garden planted in spring. It has been years since I had one, but I have knowledgeable hands pitching in now. I agree all our old plant and harvest dates are now wrong. Lots of adjustments and tweaking are necessary.
Take care, and good luck with your computer project.

up
5 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Lookout's picture

@on the cusp

I did some research one time about neck ties. Here's how absurd they are. Victorian age they even covered chair legs. The neck tie was to keep you from seeing the buttons inserted in a button hole. You gotta be kidding. So the standard men's business attire is silly.

Gardening and cooking go well together. Have fun!

up
8 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout The back vent allowed the coat to straddle the horse and cover the rider's legs. The bottom coat button was not buttoned for easy access to one's sword. (It is still verboten to button the bottom button of a vest or jacket, guys.)The predecessor of the tie was a kerchief, which often served as a halter.
Oh, the lively discussion and decisions about what to plant, where to plant it, how much to plant, what to can, how to can, etc...,will get way, way ahead of good "discussion" involving cooking!
Take care!

up
7 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Lookout's picture

@on the cusp

https://www.fashionmuseum.co.uk/

....but didn't know the horse and sword related coat story. Funny how the past follows us in time. I often wear a wool jacket like you describe in winter... a well spent $3 from the goodwill up in LaFayette (GA). Get most of my cotton work shirts there too...$1 each.

Sounds to me like y'all know how to make things fun. I've always liked the idea of relationships multiplying happiness and dividing sorrow. All the best!

up
8 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Granma's picture

@Lookout Men's business wear if you just stand back and look at it is ridiculous. Women's dress clothing is about the same. High heels, especially spike heels? And high heels on boots? What is now business casual makes far more sense for men.

What many poorer, working class women wear much of the time is almost a uniform, stretchy tight leggings, and men and women in running shoes for daily wear. I'm trying to think what else. I think the clothing people wear still varies somewhat according to what part of the US you live in, not just because of climate but in terms of fashion or lack thereof.

up
5 users have voted.
Lookout's picture

@Granma

I feel sorry for those enticed into high heeled shoes and ties.

It is a lot like cars...fancy ones to impress.

We are way too focused on our own image instead of each others well being.

Glad you came by today...hope the smoke has cleared and rains stop the fires.

up
5 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Granma's picture

@Lookout and the sun is shining. Almost everyone comments on how nice it is to breathe clean air. We appreciate it. I'm sad for the many still stuck with smoky air in other west coast places as the fires continue to burn.

up
6 users have voted.

@Lookout That is a good excuse to go back, huh?
Planting and so on will be a blast for two or more!
Loud and raucous conversations about how much corn, "what the hell is a crowder pea?", and yellow squash sucks/does not suck. Good times!
Some of the most elegant garments I own were bought at yard sales. I have a wool tween blazer that I got for $3.00 and I had it on when visiting the wool factory store in Ireland. The store manager came up to me, "Very nice blazer."

up
6 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Lookout's picture

@on the cusp

We also went to the hot springs for a "bath". The Brits are a bit prudish and required a bathing suit. The Germans, Austrians, and Swiss are not so hung up on nudity.

I've got a trip to SW England on the bucket list, but Scotland is next when it is possible. The western islands this time. Seems like you had a trip planned for there that was covid - canceled.

All the best to you both!

up
6 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout the Scotland trip. Aarrgghh...

up
3 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

enhydra lutris's picture

but not massively or definitively, however my wife just called out "Junco!" from the other room. That is FOS (First of Season) Dark Eyed Junco (DEJU) here. Here, in Castro Valley, that is the harbinger of Autumn, so there we are.

be well and have a good one

up
6 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Lookout's picture

@enhydra lutris

They are winter time ground feeders (hanging out under the seed feeder) here. Excellent...coolness should help with the fires too!

up
5 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

So we should take down his statues too? Is that the most important thing about MLK? Is that the most important thing about Columbus? Are the most important things about Jefferson that he owned slaves and one was both his wife's half-sister and his mistress?

up
1 user has voted.

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Lookout's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness

we should tell them about MLK cheating on his wife ... hey he's human too. The whole truth and nothing but the truth is my idea of education...the good and the bad.

edit to add: especially the part about the FBI using his affair as a threat.
https://www.newsweek.com/declassified-jfk-file-details-fbi-sex-smears-ab...

Former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover's antipathy to King is well documented, and he went to extreme lengths, including authorising breaking into and bugging King's home and offices, to destroy his reputation. The zeal of the FBI's campaign against King has been outlined in tens of thousands of declassified FBI memos from the 1960s, and Congressional hearings on the FBI's harrassment of King in the 1970s.

The declassified file is not the first time FBI information about King's infidelity has been made public. The wiretaps that recorded information about King's affairs—which the FBI tried to use against King—first emerged via congressional hearings in the 1970s.

I'm not into the statue removal, but I'm for markers at statues giving background. On the yard of the AL capitol in Montgomery is a statue of a doctor who used black folk for pretty brutal experiments. Instead of taking down the statue it should have a marker at its base telling the story. I think most US statues are WWI vintage...let's explain that war in clear language as a a total waste of lives at every statue. To remove the stone mt carving would be a tragedy in my eyes...instead provide background of that war and those generals. I think you catch my drift. Most monuments honor war and should instead be regrets of conflict.

Your mileage may vary but that's my take.

up
6 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout

I'm not into the statue removal, but I'm for markers at statues giving background. On the yard of the AL capitol in Montgomery is a statue of a doctor who used black folk for pretty brutal experiments. Instead of taking down the statue it should have a marker at its base telling the story. I think most US statues are WWI vintage...let's explain that war in clear language as a a total waste of lives at every statue. To remove the stone mt carving would be a tragedy in my eyes...instead provide background of that war and those generals.

Anniston very recently voted to move a confederate statue from the main drag to Janney Furnace. That's where statues of Generals, Confederate and Union, belong - at the battlefields where they fought so that they can be in historical perspective. A few years ago there was a controversy in Chicago. There was a WW II POW camp at the lakefront. Dead SS prisoners were buried with the twisted cross on their grave markers. The proposal was to replace the foul swastika with the flag of the current Federal Republic of Germany. In the end it failed. I agree with that on grave markers. They died for that flag, let them be buried under it. IIRC, FRG Germany did NOT want their flag over SS graves. Nor should the Stars and Stripes fly over Confederate graves. Or the graves of British soldiers from Revolutionary times. Let them have their Union Jack. Or their regimental flag.

Things happened. yes, shit happened. I don't propose hiding the facts, but put the facts in perspective. Recently, I followed some links about the Revolution of 1918 and I can understand why many people went fascist, despite Ben Franklin's admonition about Liberty and Safety. Today's Dems approval or looting and arson by #BLM should look at history. By acquiescing to terrorism they are promoting votes for Trump.

up
0 users have voted.

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

enhydra lutris's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness
Columbus. Somebody was bound to make that voyage eventually, and probably within a decade or so. His behavior helps demonstrate what the whole "exploration" schtick was all about, as well as the blistering hypocrisy and immorality of "Their Most Catholic Majesties", Ferdinand and Isabella as well, of course, as The Church.

be well and have a good one

up
1 user has voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

magiamma's picture

and all

clear hot day today. A new butterfly was born today. two more chrysalises are waiting to open. Life continues in spite of our madness. It give me hope in an odd sort of way. The day was extremely hot and the bees are thirsty. my bioswale is coming along albeit too slowly for my liking. It is what it is. Read this this morning and am just getting to it now. Mostly a garden day. woke up with a need to see progress. It is one of the things I have some control over.

And having control over something is critical for my well being. Way too many crazy out there. And I can see the edges fraying. People so want to get back to normal. Any kind of normal.

So there you have it. Be forceful and emotional.

Take good care people.

up
6 users have voted.

Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

Lookout's picture

@magiamma

A nice one here...been very pleasant.

Caught this clip which echoes many of my thoughts...(27 min)
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA4weghMLt8]

Wish you the best on your swale. Always takes a while (as my friend calls it) to create major environmental modification. We have 30's vintage terraces that continue to work (for the most part). Of course more (water management) could be done as always. Get with the flow and ride the wave.

Take care!

up
3 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Unabashed Liberal's picture

stop back by after a late dinner, and read your excellent news compilation. Thank you for all the hard work you do!

[Edit/Update: LO, got to drop by and read and watch. Especially enjoyed the resilience video. For sure, we're in for some really dramatic changes over the next years, and, very much need to change our way of thinking.]

Saw that you're able to get out more, lately. Glad to hear that. Thanks for the link you provided some time ago (for masks). Have found a decent supplier of Level III surgical masks, but, not getting ripped off buying N95's is quite a bit more dicey.

I plan to be respectful of RBG's passing, and, not start harping on this topic until after her funeral--but, hope to use her and Bernie as examples of people who have heavily used the OAP System; and, therefore, advocate for all of us 'regular folk' getting their level of excellent and almost free healthcare.

IOW, not interested in a pared down "managed care" health plan, with gatekeepers--whose function is to deny healthcare procedures and services.

I sorta figured, since RBG was so often having medical problems attended to, that she might just be under the care of the OAP. (Office Of Attending Physician)

BTW, the OAP provides medical care to Congress and the SCOTUS Justices--for nominal amount of $600 plus change, annually.

No deductibles, no co-pays, and, no co-insurance. Period.

Eureka! I've found proof--she's referenced receiving care from them in a Reuters interview. Yeah!

Heck, give me some of that OAP healthcare.

Scr*w Traditional Medicare, Medicare Advantage, and MFA. Biggrin

Seriously, glad to hear that you're gardening has gone so well this season. Enjoy yourself, and stay safe.

Mollie

"The leaders of this new movement are replacing traditional liberal beliefs about tolerance, free inquiry, and even racial harmony with ideas so toxic and unattractive that they eschew debate, moving straight to shaming, threats, and intimidation."
~~Matt Taibbi, The American Press Is Destroying Itself, June 12, 2020

"I know, I know. All passion; no street smarts."
~~Captain West, 1992 Rob Reiner/Aaron Sorkin Movie, A Few Good Men

“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went.”
~~Will Rogers, Actor & Social Commentator (1856-1950)

up
4 users have voted.

Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

Lookout's picture

@Unabashed Liberal

Saw elsewhere that you know Monroeville. I've been to the courthouse there.
Community scholars 007.jpg

Community scholars 008.jpg

...and conducted experiments at Auburn's little field there, but I think it's been closed down. There's a full experiment station in nearby Brewton.

We don't have health care in the US...only treatment for sickness... sick care for profit.

Hope all is well with you and yours.

up
3 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”