Sunday, May 23, 2010

Do You Get Discouraged?

It seems quite evident that this nation, The United States, has never quite lived up to it's reputation. In fact in numerous cases we have failed miserably to be the place where one would find "...liberty and justice for all." Not only do we fail to deliver to our own but we tend to promote pain suffering death and misery to many other places around the world.


As a nation, we seem offended by any criticism. We don't want to hear it from other nations and we damned sure don't want to hear it form our own people. If an American criticizes American, that person is considered a traitor!

Our flaws and failures are so numerous that to someone who cares it seems overwhelming. It creates a sense of disillusionment. We seem to constantly tout and sing our good points only to realize that we are fooling ourselves. Most others see us for what we are...arrogant, self centered, and greedy.

The majority of foreigners seem to admire many elements of American society and culture but still hold a sense of dismay that we do certain things around the world that we do. They wonder how we could be so callused and self serving...so willing to exploit anyone anywhere to get our way. We seem so willing to dictate to everyone how they should conduct their matters of policy,
yet are unwilling to live by the same policies we demand of others.

Should a nation base its policies on mere self-interest? Should a moral standard be an essential element of a nations policies both at home and abroad?

We have so many good laws on our books and in our history...but we do not enforce them. We virtually ignore white collar crime. We visit war crimes on innocent civilians around the world and no one is held accountable. We created a climate of human torture from the highest levels of government, yet no official has been held accountable, or placed on trial. Its as if the catch phrase "National Security" is the excuse for doing any thing we want whether its legal or not. Our government violates our bill of rights every single day and no one seems able to stop it. We have traded off the most precious founding ideas of the nation. ...and for what? To make money? Our nation is a great whore...not out of desperation but out of greed.

Many Americans would love to see a drastic change in all this! Many work to that end...but it seems we make little progress. What's wrong? People do have a sense of morality. Why cannot that sense of right be applied to our government?

Do you get discouraged with this endless battle.........because it seems that we are loosing it?

We should never give up making our world a better place. We should demand morality from our government not the promotion of our "national interests".

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Big Hotel


From the page: "Big Hotel is a 4 piece band that plays the "Rock That You Forgot".

The band's main focus is music from the 80's. We try to avoid the usual top 40 or classic rock cover band material; but our sets also include the best of the 60's and 70's as well."

Big Hotel is a must see if you are in the Tyler area. The band members include:

Diane Gatewood - Vocals
Mark Lumpkin - Bass Guitar & Vocals
Bruce Adams - Guitars & Vocals
Hank Gatewood - Drums

Every member brings an incredible energy to the performance. Diane, Mark, Bruce and Hank play with years of professional experience and it shows.

Friday, April 30, 2010

When Grandfather Speaks

When Grandfather Speaks
(click to view full image)




I can feel the great love and respect for the grandfather in this painting. Ironic this culture was destroyed by the Christian white man who professed to honor thy father and mother. As a matter of fact, this realization is what put me on the path of rejecting western thought and religion. The native American tribal culture had what I consider the closest thing to a perfect order that man has ever had... and probably ever will.

Friday, February 5, 2010

The Science Behind The Haiti Earthquake


From the page: "We take a closer look at the science behind the Haiti earthquake of 12th February 2009 – as well as other earthquakes. For the first time here on GSGE we interview leading experts;

Prof. Timothy Dixon from Geodesy Lab at University of Miami: published an article already back in 1998 revealing the risks of earthquakes in Haiti. He works with both Paul Mann from University of Texas who in 2008 confirmed that the risks were eminent, and Eric Calais, Purdue University who manages the GPS network that monitor tectonic plate movements in Haiti. These three groups have sent geodesists with GPS equipment, to Haiti where they gather data that will reveal the crustal movements caused by the quake. You can follow this National Science Foundation funded team via their blog.

Ass. Prof. William Hammond from University of Nevada in Reno: Explains how they use GPS to monitor plate movements – and earthquake swarms. Bill Hammond also appears in National Geographic’s Naked Science: Earthquake Swarms.

Dr. Amir Kaynia from the International Centre for Geohazards in Oslo, Norway: Talks about the difference between predictions and early warning and discuss other geohazards connected to earthquakes."

Bente is a SUPERSTAAAAAAH! Boy, I better get an autograph from her before the celebrity bug bites her and she gets all uppity. ;-)

I encourage everyone to visit Astrocast.TV. Fascinating site where you'll learn the science behind the technology used by space-based instruments and how they are used to help us benefit from them.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

A Green Space - A Green Earth - with Bente Lilja Bye


Our Team

Bente Lilja Bye

Astrophysicist and Earth Science Expert

Bente is one of the small handfull of my StumbleUpon friends who I would love to meet one day... Maybe we could swap cowboy boots for a Viking helmet?

From the page: "Creating advanced technology and growing in numbers, humans are able to make big changes of the surface of our planet; so-called re-engineering Earth. Reducing rain forest or rapid urbanization are two good examples. This re-engineering even influences the climate. Many of these manifestations of human activity are visible from space and provides us with a helpful perspective that are useful for when we try to manage the planets resources."

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Friday, January 8, 2010

Never a Year Like '09

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