Lessons Not Learned

Trees and power lines. Every year the same story. A storm blows through somewhere, and people being what they are, haven't removed any of the trees that endanger their power lines or homes. And the power companies, hell  bent on saving money, haven't buried the lines.

Apparently, many people love their trees more than their comfort or survival, and in many cases, more than their homes, businesses or lives, since every year trees go crashing through roofs destroying stuctures all across the country, taking down the power lines as they go, smashing and electrocuting folks in the process.

What this repeated destruction guarantees is  - guess what? - higher insurance costs and higher power costs for everybody.

The power companies, in a repeated demonstration of total short-sightedness, won't go the one-time extra cost to bury their lines in places where trees loom over them. They seemingly prefer to endlessly rebuild the same lines the same way and in the same places, over and over.  So which way will cost less? Bury them once, or rebuild them every time a storm blows through?

It seems insurance companies will eventually have to base insurance premiums in these areas on how close you let trees grow to your home. The closer they are, the higher the premium.  If you are taking the risk, then you pay for the privledge.... not me. Perhaps insurance companies will do what they did with flood insurance, pawn the stuff off on the government and the taxpayer.

These recent storms demonstrate another dismal fact: How totally unprepared we all are for nature's normal tantrums. People in places like Iraq are building  their homes out of poured concrete - roof and all - and they don't even have tornados shredding their communites, or floods washing them away, ot trees falling on them. Even a direct hit from an M1 Abrams tank has a problem demolishing one of  those places.

Try that with one of our flimsy stick-built structures.

We all take our chances that our home will never suffer from nature's fury, and most of us have dodged the bullet so far.

But when your neighbors house goes up in flames from a  forest fire, or shredded by an F-5 tornado, or smashed flat by a twenty-ton tree, or washed away by a swollen river, we still have to pay the price. We all pay for the insurance.

We all  have to pay, one way or another.
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Rodney King Gone

A public memorial for Rodney King will be held Saturday at Forest Lawn cemetery in the Hollywood Hills. King died two weeks ago of what police believe was an accidental drowning at his home in Rialto.
Jesse Jackson, the Reverend Al Sharpton and others are expected to eulogize King. Many of King’s relatives are devout Jehovah’s Witnesses and may hold a separate memorial at a later date.

http://www.scpr.org/news/2012/06/29/33034/rodney-king-funeral-set-saturday-forest-lawn-cemet/

Below is listed  a comment from the article.

The man was a habitual criminal. The incident that launched him to notoriety triggered a series of some of the darkest chapters in this country. He deserves nothing but our scorn and disgust.
1. He led police on a high speed chase putting hundreds at risk. When caught, he assaulted the arresting officers, showed the world that Tasers are ineffective on a heavily intoxicated person and took a medium set of lumps. The police showed admirable restraint in not going further.
2. When the misguided trial of the officers involved resulted in the correct verdict, an opportunistic segment of the black community ran amok. They used the verdict as an excuse to loot, burn, rampage and murder. The human and economic cost of the riot was incredible.
Deaths: 53;
Injuries: 2,383, including 227 critical;
Fires: 5,383 structure fire calls;
Arrests: 15,008, including 2,628 felonies, 1,352 illegal aliens,
Damage estimate; $785 million;
Dispatched to Duty -
Los Angeles Police Department - 5,000 (1,700 to 2,100 deployed at any one time):
California Highway Patrol - 500, (200 to 250 officers deployed at any one time);
Los Angeles County Sheriff Department - 850;
National Guard - 9,844 (2,602 deployed on street, 2,460 support staff, 4,782 in staging areas;)
Federal troops - 3,313
3. The federal government shattered the concept of double jeopardy by trying and convicting some of the acquitted police officers. America learned that the Constitution is essentially meaningless if the US government wants your head on a platter to appease the a special interest group.
4. He surfaced again and again, always as the result of criminal violations. And always grossly intoxicated.
Rodney King leaves a legacy of death and destruction. A legacy of the inevitable end result of a growing entitlement driven population. King gave us a taste of the future under Progressive Socialism.
It is fitting that Al Sharpton will eulogize King. It is Sharpton and Jackson and their ilk who spawned and nurture the entitlement mentality that created King. The hate mongers continue to divide this nation, for that is the only road they know to power and wealth.

How much of this is total truth I do not know, but no doubt the costs to society that Rodney King  caused is staggering.

118F In Kansas

Norton Dam, Kan., hit 118 F. on Thursday.

Across the midewst, Millions lost electrical power due to the heavy demand put on the electricl grid by air conditioners.

Something those Kansans need to understand real fast:

Obama and that lunatic Lisa Jackson at the EPA are in the process of shutting down three power plants in Kansas, around 3,000 megawatts* down the tubes, not being replaced by anything.

Enjoy the heat , boys and girls.

And those millions that lost lights, cooling and all their appliances including computers... as their all-electric home went dark?

They better wake up fast also.

* The average coal-fired plant produces around 1,000 megawatts. It is beyond reason to shut down this amount of power generation without first having built something to replace it. Not only replace it, but increase the power available, since they are already overloading their grid. This action by Obama and the EPA is not only beyond reason, it is patently insane, something only a lunatic would do.
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Power-Less

Take a close look at that map.

It shows the power plants the Obama Administration and that unhinged female Lisa Jackson at the EPA will be closing down in the near future. They are not planning to close them down, they are in the process of  actually shutting them down.

These targeted plants and generating units provide over 10% of the nations electical power. If one of them is near where you live, standby for brownouts and blackouts - which will always occur at the worst possible times: During extremely cold or extremely hot weather.

That means no lights or heat  during a winter storm, no lights or air conditioning during a summer heat wave.

You Obama-loving liberals out there,  you gotta start understanding what  those maniacs in Washington are doing. You need to realize how Obama and his collection of lunatics will severly affect your life, your job, your future.

Wind, solar, tide, or biomass generated power will jot even begin to replace this 10% loss of electricity... not even 1%. You have the internet, look up the facts. Take twenty minutes out of your happy-go-lucky life and do the damned math yourself,  instead of mindlessly accepting the  drivel being spouted  on  TV. When you find facts you don't agree with, don't just conclude they are made up trash from people who don't like Obama.

 Quit being a mindless pawn.

To all you  liberals out there that think Obama and his plans for America are good for you... Better wake up before learning the hard way becomes your newest habit.

If you are one of those people who think that ignoring what those lunatics in Washington are doing won't affect you, get ready for a real life-changing shock. A freight train barrelling down the track doesn't give a damn if you see it or not... You're still gonna get hammered.

Texans: Three of those plants provide power to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Shut them down and you get to experience first hand why hardly anybody settled in the area until air-conditioning was invented.

Electricity makes our civilization and society possible. If you think otherwise, there's - right now - an excellent chance you will soon get to find out otherwise.

I hope you like dirt farming. With hand tools.  It just may be in your future.

A Nightmare Beyond Comprehension

We used to live in Colorado Springs only a couple miles from where the mandatory evacuations are taking place. I cannot imagine looking out of my window and seeing the above view.

I had worked for a Corporation located in the Garden of the Gods Industrial Park. The place is now in the mandatorty evacuation area also.

A fire like this a few years ago could have cost me my home and my job.

That, my friends, is what real nightmares are made of.
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Beyond The Concept Of America's Horde Of Savage Barbarians

Here's a quote ( and the above pic)  from Brigid's blog, Home on the Range:

http://mausersandmuffins.blogspot.com/

What is Chivalry? A knight was expected to have not only the strength and skills to face combat in the violent Middle Ages but was also expected to temper this aggressive side of a fighter with a chivalrous side to his nature. There was not an authentic Knights Code of Chivalry as a prescribed document - it was a moral system which went beyond rules of combat and introduced the concept of Chivalrous conduct - qualities such as bravery, courtesy, honor, and gallantry toward women. Documented in 'The Song of Roland' in the Middle Ages Knights period of William the Conqueror who ruled England from 1066, it consisted of these tenents -

To fear God and maintain His Church
To serve the liege lord in valour and faith
To protect the weak and defenceless
To give succour to widows and orphans
To refrain from the wanton giving of offence
To live by honour and for glory
To despise pecuniary reward
To fight for the welfare of all
To obey those placed in authority
To guard the honour of fellow knights
To eschew unfairness, meanness and deceit
To keep faith
At all times to speak the truth
To persevere to the end in any enterprise begun
To respect the honour of women
Never to refuse a challenge from an equal
Never to turn the back upon a foe

Try finding any of those qualities in the makeup of the four animals in my previous post.

Try finding any of those qualities in any lawyer or Wall Street banker.

Try finding any of those qualities in anybody in the White House or Congress.

Try finding any of those qualities being taught at our schools and colleges.

Try finding any of those qualities on any TV show today.

Yes... There's a reason why we are where we are today.

The Barbarians Are Running Amok

The above four, plus two more yet to be arrested, figured that a man's life was worth less than an order of Chinese food and 48 dollars.

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20120621/ARTICLES/120629929/1177?Title=Five-facing-charges-for-murder-of-delivery-driver

From the Article:

"After shooting Zhen Bo Liu on a dark Wilmington street, the gunmen stole his food delivery of chicken wings and shrimp fried rice and shared the meal among their accomplices at a nearby house. After eating, they returned to view Liu's body and rummage through his car.

When police arrived on South 13th Street to begin their investigation into Liu's June 14 death, the only things missing from the 60-year-old delivery driver's vehicle was the order of food and $48 in cash."

Chicken wings and shrimp fried rice.  Just delivering them in America can be more deadly than a year of driving the dirt roads of Afghanistan.

Like I've said before, the Barbarians are no longer threatening us at the gate, they are on our streets. And those witless fools in Washington think we don't need to own or carry.

There was a TV ad some time ago about something or other that said "Don't leave home without it".

Nowadays they would be talking about your piece.
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Green Energy Cost Comparisons

Somebody did the math:

Below are the statistics on the cost of power generation in 2010 from the Australian Government’s own Productivity Commission:

- Coal fired power station $79 per kw/h (kilowatt hour)
- Gas fired power station $98 per kw/h - 1.2 times the cost of coal power
- Wind power $1,502 per kw/h - 19 times the cost of coal power
- Solar power $4,004 per kw/h - fifty times the cost of coal power

And you already know that Obama and that lunatic broad at the EPA are intent on shutting down our coal fired plants no matter what the cost to us all... and force us to go green.

What else is there to say?

Or:

What else needs to be said?
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Well. That Settles It

Or so she thinks:

United Nations Development Programme head Helen Clark told AFP in an interview:  “So the issue is how to get human development that will see it continue to rise for the world’s poorest people and people in developing countries. Because frankly human development in the West – we don’t need more cars, more TV, whatever. Our needs are by and large satisfied, although the recession has put a lot of strains on that.”

Helen Clark(Above). she would  happily change your life... for the worse.

Clark, the former prime minister of New Zealand,  also stressed the responsibility of richer countries to reduce their environmental footprint: "There is, in my opinion, a very heavy responsibility on the countries of the north to look at how they sustain their living standards with a much lower environmental footprint."

Former prime minister of New Zealand... That explains a lot. Of course, it's just her "opinion" Unfortunately, she is in a position to force that opinion down other peoples throats.

No more new car, or that larger flat screen,  She already believes we don't need any guns, period.

We must all start sacrificing our own future so those 12th century savages in places like Yemen or Afghanistan or Somali can have more of... well... everything, things we have worked hard for - but they haven't.

Ms. Clark no doubt wants her UN department to spread things from the "richer countries" around more - at our expense of course.

What a twit. No doubt a highly educated twit, which also helps to explain her obvious bias.

Highly educated, well-placed,  politically powerful. Definitely not stupid. But very. very dumb.

Amazing X-Ray

Medical experts have been left stunned after the stainless steel spear narrowly missed every major blood vessel in the brain of 16-year-old Yasser Lopez.

A dramatic X-ray scan shows part of the spear protruding from his skull after rescuers cut down 18 inches of the spear from the outside of his head to allow doctors to carry out a full radiographic examination.

We all wish the kid a full recovery. Howver, what caught my eye was the acute angle of his upper teerh. Compare it to the below X-ray.

The difference is quite noticable. One must assume it is caused by different DNA backgrounds.

Is this angular difference random in the general population. or is such a thing more directed to a specific race?

Not trying to be a racist here, I'm just curious. Perhaps the kid is severly buck-toothed.

The Little Spacecraft That Couldn't

Re-enter, that is...

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif., June 15 (UPI) -- A U.S. Air Force space plane in orbit for more than a year will come back to Earth this weekend, say officials who remained mum on the mission's purpose.
The robotic X-37B, after 15 months in space, is set to land Saturday at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base, although weather and other factors could change that, officials said.

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Technology/2012/06/15/Secret-US-space-plane-prepares-to-land/UPI-24061339801247/

Well of course they remained "mum" on the missions purpose - 15 months in orbit? That's a incredibly long time for a test flight. Too long.

My money says they lost control of this craft months ago, and now they have either re-established  some sort of control, or it's about to come down all by itself  because of a degrading orbit.

If it lands where they want it to, well and good. If it hits someplace that makes no sense, then it's probably coming down out of control and they will release some sort of blather about breaking up during reentry, or something dubious like that.

I have little faith in today's batch of space engineers, a bunch of  eight-to-fivers trying to re-design what came before them, all monitored and controlled by a legion of "safety at all costs" bureaucrats whose only job seems to be the slowdown of America's space efforts.

I certainly hope I'm wrong, that it lands exactly as originally planned. Perhaps there is still a core of  exceptional people somewhere in our national space effort that can do the job.

Doesn't matter too much -  With people like Obama in charge, our national space efforts are doomed anyway. It will be up to people like those who built and launched the SpcaceX to put us back into space.

Let's Hope He's right

Some lamenting union thug - after Walker's win in his recall election - moaned on a TV interview that Walker's win  meant  "The end of Democracy in America."

Let's hope so. America was not created as a Democracy, was never intended to be a Democracy.

It was created as a REPUBLIC.

It's the Progressives/Socialists/Marxists/Communists that have been trying for decades to bury the Republic and replace it with a Democracy. They're close to succeeding with the present president and Congress.

But... perhaps we Americans have caught on in time.

Again... Let's hope so.

Stoned

Last Tuesday afternoon, my abdominal cavity decided to blossom into a world of pain. For about three hours, I tried to pass it off as excess gas, or acid reflux, or heartburn, but I finally realized something out of my ordinary experience was happening, so off to the hospital went I.

Turns out I was passing a kidney stone and the CAT scan indicated it was about 4mm in size, although it felt like it was the size of a marble. It took two days to pass the thing, during which time I urinated into a plastic funnel with a filter in it. The kidney stone dropped into the funnel yesterday afternoon, but I'm still recovering from the after effects of the pain. Seems most of the organs in the abdominal cavity have been somehow highly upset by the event and have not yet settled back down.

Of course, being 73, recovery from such a thing is a bit slower than I would hope for.

It's amazing that a teeny-weeny 4mm "stone" can cause such pain, so much so that the pain killers have no effect during some of the process.
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