August 2011 Archives

I have had a few days to ponder the current 'situation' of my son being in the military. I obviously have my own perspective; I'm doing my best to see things from his perspective; and I honestly haven't thought too much about other people's perspectives so far, but a couple of things happened this week to make me stop and think about what it might mean to others. I got a letter from his Company...

Historians have always told us to make sure we learn our history or we will be doomed to repeat. That sounds easy enough, but we must be sure to understand the lesson first. Our parents told us about the boy who cried wolf, Pinocchio, and other all of the Brothers Grimm tales.  Those all had simple lessons that were easy to learn. Yet, how do we take the convoluted events of our lives and convert...

It gets worse....

Cross posted from this small planet....

Quechee, Vermont, only about 4 miles from our home in Woodstock is one of our state's quaint villages and home to the famous Simon Pearce glass blowing plant.  The covered bridge about 50 yards from there is about 20 to 25 feet above the Ottauquechee River, just downstream of and old damn.  This evening water from Irene topped the road over the bridge.  That's over 25 feet above the normal level of the river.  Here's...

Vermont is washing away while CNN is covering Chris Christie's umpteenth press conference and MSNBC is back to weekend crime shows. Bridges washed out, people swept away, hundreds of houses flooded. The Ottauquehee River at my home in Woodstock is at least 15 feet above normal, neighbors below have been evacuated. All of Wilmington is reported as being almost completely underwater Oo. Oo. I wonder if the Simpsons are on tonight?...

On this, the anniversary of MLK's "I have a dream" speech, I would like to suggest that we take a moment to reflect on what we have accomplished since 1963, and the work that we still need to do. We are still not at the point where "content of character" means more than anything else, so I would say we still have much to strive for.I would also like to talk about a dream of...

My New England hometown is getting hammered by rain from Irene....

This week I have had visions of Marie Antoinette, powdered wigs, posh surroundings, starving peasants and so forth in my head, for some reason. Headlines this week included one about Ick Perry handing the Feds a bill for $350 million for incarcerating illegal aliens. This is the same guy that once called the idea of a border fence "nonsense" and resisted efforts to emulate Arizona's strict approach to illegal immigration, positions that helped him attract...

What is the role of government in society and during disasters?  Read about it at this small planet....