1970: The Story Around This Picture

That's me with the painted face (the stripes under my eyes are red, in between white stripes, my forehead is blue, with a white peace sign) in May of 1970, demonstrating against the Vietnam War.  I was nineteen years old, in my second year at Michigan State University.

I want to let you know what bookended that picture.  There was about 5,000 people marching about five miles from the MSU campus to the state capitol down Grand River Avenue.  During that march, a white guy drove his car up to the people marching down one side of the street. My friend was a marshall, and was at the point where he drove his car up. He came around the front of the car, and was going to ask the guy what he was doing when the guy floored his car into the marchers.  No one was killed, but a girl got a broken leg. When his car came to a stop, about a half dozen state police, who had been policing the march, ran, grabbed the guy and literally dragged him across the street to a squad car. In the meantime, we did a dance on his car. So, by the time we got to the capitol building, we were not in the best of moods.

When we got to the capitol, the doors were locked and a number of state police were inside dressed in full riot gear to keep us out.  The governor, Republicon William Milliken, came out and said how much he welcomed dissent, to which the crowd chanted "Bull-shit, bull-shit!"

Later that night, some activists attacked the ROTC building on campus and set some curtains on fire, that drew some state police onto campus. A lot of tear gas was fired around to disperse the crowd. 

TBH, a friend and I dropped acid that night and decided to stay away from the action. By the end of the night, I grokked that the revolution was over. It wasn't going to happen. All I could do was write the lyrics to "For What It's Worth" on the blackboard of a class that would commence ay 8:00 that morning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bl-vbBnJ3I

It's Been a While. A Lot Has Happened.

Day after day after day, we are constantly bombarded by some outrage created by our President, Donald Trump. While a sizable portion of our countrymen are enamored with the reality TV star, the majority of our country looks on in horror. While we get focused on Trump's latest shiny thing, his cabinet and his congress go about looting our nation and its people. Distracted by his nonsense we don't notice the worst policies ever visited of the government upon it's people are being perpetrated, with most people being totally oblivious to that fact. 

Those of us who have been watching this develop over the last thirty or forty years have a hard time not saying, "We've been trying to tell you!" But now, the past is the past and it cannot be changed. What we have is the present, and it's up to us here and now. Seriously, dear reader, after living so long and watching how things went, these are pivotal times. Under the crassness and vulgarity that is the Trump brand, there's a real darkness of those that enabled the man to become president. 

The only opposition that can be made to this madman is though the ballot box. For the sake of the republic, we must vote Democratic this fall. The Republican Party is totally in thrall to the American oligarchs. If we participate in primaries, we can determine what kind of Democrat we get. Then, we must always vote for all Democratic candidates to even think of electorally deposing this caste. 

Activate, organize, work, canvas, phone bank, drive voters to the polls come November. First you vote, and then get every other voter you can. Make it a game. How many can you get to the polls to have a Democratic victory against the oligarchs, the real elite? That's the mission. That's our purpose for the next four months. How about you? Can you give a few hours of your time over the next four months to have a chance of fighting back?

I'm trying to appeal to our higher angels. If we want a miracle we have to do our part to bring it about. If we want the miracle of a Democratic wave and victory, then we have to do everything in our ability to bring it about. Let me suggest first hooking up with your local county Democratic Party. If there isn't one in your county, try organizing one. Contact the nearest county party and I'm sure they'd be more than willing to help you out, or even get help from the state party. Start with whatever you have and work to build from there. It can be done, but it does take work. 

I see this as our civic duty. As privileged participants in our society and government, we have an obligation to pay attention and participate in the democratic process of democratic-republic that is our form of government. We probably should be doing a better job of instilling in our young people this responsibility of civic obligation, to pay attention politically, and prepare to be a full citizen to participate in our self-rule. 

So that's what I have tonight. It's been a while since I was here. This was my best outlet tonight, and I hope on the days to come. Here, you'll get the real me. An old white guy, recipient of Social Security and Medicare, but still have to work a part time job, because that's all they'll give me, and it's to only way I've been able to make $15-20/hr since I moved here near twenty years ago, and I need to make ends meet on a monthly basis. If you'd like, I could lay out for you how the middle class got hollowed out by the 1%. Economic war was waged on the middle class by the ultra rich, and the rich have decimated the middle class. Want to see what economic warfare looks like? Look at Detroit, my hometown.

Does Trump Deserve Impeachment?

ARTICLE I, SECTION 9, CLAUSE 8 of the United States Constitution says

“No Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”  

This has always been held to apply to the President of the United States. It means that the President cannot accept any money, or other things of value, from a foreign power. That means if the President is found to be profiting off foreign relationships, he is in violation of this clause in the Constitution of the United States, and is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors deserving to be impeached.

If it can be shown that Donald Trump is profiting from foreign sources, he is guilty of violation of the US Constitution and deserves and should be impeached. He cannot be allowed to flout the Constitution for his own personal monetary profit. On March 8, 2017, the Chinese Communist government granted Trump 38 trademarks for China, including one for an escort service. This is how he makes a lot of his money, licensing his name. After constantly, throughout his presidential campaign declaring China a currency manipulator, and after getting these trademarks, and a visit by the Chinese president, Trump now declares that China is not a currency manipulator. His daughter, Ivanka, had a few trademarks thrown in for herself after dining with the Chinese president during the visit.

Call me old fashioned, but I resent the high office of the Presidency of the United States being reduced to a business deal like this, and I believe it to be illegal and worthy of impeachment under the emoluments clause of the United States Constitution.

Healthcare "Debate" 2017 March

You have no idea how much this healthcare "debate" is bothering me. It's probably because I've had some experience over the last ten years with my own healthcare.

I will admit, I did not think much about my healthcare over the first five decades of my life, beyond trying to live a healthy lifestyle, watching what I ate, taking vitamins and supplements, and getting some exercise. Thank God, I was pretty healthy. What I didn't have was health insurance to take care when anything went wrong.

The big problem came in 2008, when I was diagnosed with colon cancer and had to face it without insurance. I didn't have it because I couldn't afford the crummy insurance my company was offering me, but truth be known, their policy wouldn't have paid for it anyway. Thank God, I came through it, and became a cancer survivor. However, the financial burden I incurred has seriously affected my life over the nine years since.

Between 2008 and now, I have been uninsured, had crummy company insurance, had Obamacare, had Obamacare-comparable company insurance, and have finally made it to Medicare, the very best of all. My crummy company insurance wouldn't pay for my cancer checkups at Perlman. or vein work in my legs giving me a good chance of a clot forming and travelling to my heart. Obamacare paid the hospital portion of my colonoscopy with no copay, but my doctor wasn't part of the network, and I'm still paying him off. Going back to company insurance because they had good dental insurance rolled into it, they were not going to pick up a CT scan I needed to get, deductible, you know, and I was on the hook for over $3500 out of pocket. I don't have that kind of money. I make less than $20,000 a year. (At this point, I would like to say that over the last nine years, I payed thousands of dollars on my health care bills. A significant portion of my year income.)

I finally made it to Medicare, and I am needing it. I have been diagnosed with cancer again, and need to have surgery again to root it out. My portion will be a reasonable and manageable part of my income. This is what healthcare should be in America, and why I advocate Medicare For All.

Il Douche and Jim Acosta, 01.11.17

I saw PEOTUS's news conference Wednesday, and was appalled by the arrogant jerk's utter disrespect for the CNN reporter. He was annoyed about the CNN Network's reporting and took his wrath out on the reporter, as if he were the one responsible. Then he accused the reporter nof being rude. No he was rude! What a boorish, classless, and utterly vulgar display of prideful arrogance! He is NOT emperor or king that all others are to kneel and bow down and do obeisance, he is merely the President of the United States (by some fluke of our Constitution, at that). He is our representative and public servant, not our ruler or master. He is a man like you or me. He is not better, nor above us. We give our respect until he loses it. He has with me.

Then, even more horrifying was, the rest of the reporters went on like nothing had happened! They got totally cowed by him making an example of Jim Acosta. As a body they should have stood up and said, No, you don't get to treat us like that, and walked out, and reported just what happened to the American people. They are the fourth estate, but it looks like like they're lapdogs of the first. (h/t Driftglass and Blue Gal)

Steve Bannon Named Trump's Chief Strategist For Trump

Well here it is. One of the most bigoted men in America, has been named Trump's "chief strategist."  He'll be at Trump's right hand. The major media has been trying to sell us on the idea that Trump would dial back his rhetoric and become more mainstream, more "presidential." Nope. Steve Bannon is nothing less than a white supremacist. He turned Breitbart.com, a far right website into the voice of what is euphemistically called the "alt-right," and more accurately termed neo-nazi, militia oriented, white supremacists. While the majority of Trumpers may not be as far out as these people, I've seen nothing to give me any hope that they would act as a brake on these people. Yet, here Bannon will be, daily having the ear of the President of the United States.

Some of the most out there wackos are being floated for becoming part of Trump's Cabinet. Some examples:

Secretary of State:             John Bolton, Newt Gingrich
Attorney General:              Rudy Giulianni, Trey Gowdy, Chris Christie
Secretary of the Treasury: Steve Mnuchin, Carl Icahn
Secretary of Defense:        Jeff Sessions, Gen. Flynt
Secretary of Health and Human Services: Ben Carson, Bobby Jindal
Secretary of Energy:          Sarah Palin, Harold Hamm

There's more and worse.  In other words, Trump promised us he'd pick the best people to surround himself with. These people are the worst you could imagine. Hell, his vice president is a religious nut (and a heretic in my Christian opinion), who has promised to roll back LGBTQ protections, and overturn Roe v. Wade. Trump has already said he will turn a lot of power over to his VP, because he really doesn't want to take the time to govern properly. It's Pence that is leading his transition team.

Folks, we're in for a world of hurt. Personally, I think he's going to make us look back nostalgically for the Bush years, as rulers who had some semblance of being sane. Believe me, it gives me absolutely no pleasure to say this. I love my country, but we've really screwed the pooch with this election.

Election 2016

So it's between the Democrat, Hillary Clinton, the first woman nominated for President by a major political party, and Donald J. Trump, His Orangeness, and reality TV "star." I was a Bernie Sanders fan, but I will be voting for Hillary for a number of reasons. She may not have been my original choice, but she is so far superior to His Orangeness that it's pathetic.

His Orangeness has demonstrated time after time again that he is ignorant of basic facts about the U.S.  and the world. He has shown an affinity for dictators throughout the world, and has shown sympathy for Russia and Putin. He's sexist, racist, and a damned bullshit artist. No one can predict what he will do, but his narcissistic personality and actions show he is only out for himself.  The Republicans, except for a few, are supporting him as Team Red.

HRC is far from perfect, but at least is a conventional politician. Bernie made her tack to more liberal and progressive rhetoric, and forced the Democratic Party to enact the most progressive platform ever. I voted for Barak Obama (twice), and although he didn't so what I wanted, he sure beat the alternatives. Then again, Republicans, from the very first day he took office decided to deliberately
block whatever he was for, even if it was a Republican policy, such as the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare. It especially impacted Obama's government spending in jump starting the economy when it was in free fall when he took office, losing jobs at the rate of 750,000 a month. The Republicans successfully cut what was needed in half, a third of which was tax cuts. Things probably would have been much better if that had not happened.

This all goes to illustrate how bad the Republican philosophy is. The last time we had a Republican administration, they turned a budget surplus, which was going to pay off the national debt by 2010, into trillion dollar deficits, started two wars on the government's credit card, and then because of their kockamamie economic policy, crashed the economy on the way out the door that Democrats had to pick up the pieces.

The media is absolutely no help in informing the American people. It is only interested in making money, and a horse race is the way they go. Both siderism, that is, both sides are responsible for the mess we are in, is the mantra of the dominant media. Where I live, the dominant media is totally conservative. There is no liberal media that competes with conservative media. It's one reason I go ballistic when I hear ostensibly liberal, progressive people repeating conservative memes.

Bottom line, progressive people, of which I am one, need to realize this is an election between Democrats and Republicans. Third party candidates like, Jill Stein or Gary Johnson have absolutely no chance of winning. That's why I consider a vote not for Hillary Clinton is a vote for His Orangeness. It may make one feel righteous, but it will have the effect of electing the very worst person ever to the presidency, and I lived through the Nixon, Reagan, and George W. Bush administrations.

I watched in 2000 when "people of conscience" in Florida cast enough votes for third party candidate, Ralph Nader, to make the election close enough to trigger a recount under Florida state law. Then, because of justices elevated to the Supreme Court by Bush 41, voted to halt the recount, and give the election to Bush 43, which was called by W's brother Jeb, and his minion, Secretary of State, Katherine Harris. I do not want to see any replay of that atrocity. When the media finally got around to recounting the vote, Gore would have taken Florida and the election.

You may not like Hillary. She's not my favorite. But the only way to prevent the worst alternative possible, is to hold your nose and cast your vote for her. Then we can live to fight another day. We must continue to fight for our progressive principles up and down the ballot. If you don't like the choices get out and work for better. Not just vote, but work to get others to vote for our principles. If you were a Bernie supporter, like me, then continue working for the revolution. Don't just sink back into your apathetic holes, but work to bring about the change you want, and not expect others to do the work for you.

To my friends in Georgia. Georgia is in play in this election. Let's not give Georgia's electoral votes to him by not voting for her.

My Ancestors

One thing I use this blog for is to document some of our family history for my children and grandchildren, if I should pass without telling them these things. I recently posted this on Facebook to a fellow Pollack's page regarding why so many Many Polish immigrants went to Chicago. SInce I grew up in Detroit of 100% Polish stock, I wrote this:

My ancestors moved to Detroit, which also had a large Polish community, e.g., Hamtramck. When my father, born in Detroit in 1913, started school at age five, he was bilingual, neither of which was English (Polish and Ukrainian). They put him in second grade where the teacher spoke Polish. He ended up graduating from high school at fifteen, lettering in swimming. My mother was also Polish, born in Standish, MI, before her family moved to Detroit. Polish was spoken in my home when my parents didn't want their children to know what they were saying, lol. I grew up in the Polish National Catholic Church, created to say the catholic mass in Polish, and centered in Scranton, Pennsylvania. My mother was a great soprano, who sang in the church in Polish, both PNCC and mainline Catholic in Boyne Falls, MI, which yearly has a Polish Festival the first weekend of August.

Immigration and Assimilation

My father was the son of immigrants from Poland. My grandfather was a baker, and started a bakery in Detroit. They lived over the bakery, and there was a yard out back. When my father started school, he was bilingual, neither language was English. They put him in second grade because the teacher spoke Polish. He did well and graduated from high school just before he turned sixteen.

I've been in cities where, in a certain area of town, a different language than English was spoken. It takes a while for total assimilation to occur. But it will. As long as we are an accepting culture, not an exclusionary one, they will be assimilated.

Dr Carson, do you know how to research in the modern world?

My facebook threw this up at me from one of my conservative friends:



I wanted to give him this reply:

Maybe because not everyone is insured yet. If we'd have expanded Medicaid in Georgia, part of Obamacare, six hundred thousand more people would have been covered (and using mathematics, at least three hundred thousand women), and be able to have their health needs met. This was part of Obamacare that Gov. Deal, and our Republican State Legislature, would not allow us Georgia citizens to have, even though we paid the taxes for it. And they did it for crass political reasons.

Women went to Planned Parenthood to get their healthcare needs met. They got birth control, that prevents the need for abortions. They were able to get mammograms to be on the lookout for breast cancer, and were able to get other healthcare that is specific to women. Abortions amounted to less than three percent of their business, and none of it paid for with government funds, which is specifically prohibited by federal law, and has been for decades. The latest videos are edited slanders against Planned Parenthood. To believe them is to believe a lie.

Are you going to believe a private interest group that has targeted Planned Parenthood and produced an edited video in order to besmirch an organization that does a lot of good for a lot of people. The video has been shown to be edited to make Planned Parenthood appear to be horrendous. It's a piece of propaganda, nothing more. That's why to believe them is to believe a lie, and the organization that produced them should be called out as liars. No one of any decency need believe what they assert.

The Lord of Darkness Appears

The Lord of Darkness, along with his evil spawn, have an article in the Wall Street Journal. Their warmongering is forefront. 

Never forget, Big Dick Cheney made millions on the Iraq war. He's a war monger and war profiteer. 

Why Are Christians SO Upset About This?

The 2015 National Prayer Breakfast was held this past week.

The National Prayer Breakfast is a yearly event held in Washington, D.C., on the first Thursday of February each year.

The founder of this event was Abraham Vereide. The event—which is actually a series of meetings, luncheons, and dinners—has taken place since 1953 and has been held at least since the 1980's at the Washington Hilton on Connecticut Avenue NW.

The breakfast, held in the Hilton's International Ballroom, is typically attended by some 3,500 guests, including international invitees from over 100 countries. The National Prayer Breakfast is hosted by members of the United States Congress and is organized on their behalf by The Fellowship Foundation [aka, The Family], a Christ-centered organization. Initially called the Presidential Prayer Breakfast, the name was changed in 1970 to the National Prayer Breakfast.
It is designed to be a forum for the political, social, and business elite to assemble and build relationships. Since the inception of the National Prayer Breakfast, several U.S. states and cities and other countries have established their own annual prayer breakfast events.

Every U.S. president since Dwight D. Eisenhower has participated in the annual event.

President Obama attended this year, and gave a few remarks. The right wing, the conservatives, the Republicans, went nuts in their condemnation. First, what did he say?

Lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ. In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.

What do you think? Is that an outrageous thing to say? Fox News and the right wing seem to think so. Starting with the Crusades,

Die Hard Democrat

Ok, I'll admit, I am a die hard Democrat. I can never see myself voting for a Republican, because I don't believe in what they stand for and promote. I may not agree with the Democrat, like what Obama's doing with the TPP, but they're always, on the whole, a far cry better than what the Republican espouses.

The country is way worse than it was when I was growing up, and it started with Reagan. The forces that trashed this fair country for the last thirty five or forty years, backed, and were empowered by Reagan. I will never forget that after twenty of twenty eight years of being ruled by Republican administrations, we had the greatest economic calamity since the great depression, and that so-called fiscally responsible Republicans, for the second time, ran up enormous deficits. Their total economic viewpoint was shown to be absolute trash.

Reagan campaigned on balancing the budget, yet ran up the greatest debt, for every year of his administration, in the history of the country, which continued under Poppy Bush (HW). Clinton turned this totally around and was running surpluses by the end of his tenure, with a plan to pay off the debt by 2010. Poppy's boy, W, said we didn't need no surpluses, totally reversing the budget by his policies, and running a trillion dollar deficit by 2008, the year of the greatest crash since the Great Depression. Any Republican that denies this fact, and there are many, should be called out for their lying tongues, never to be believed again, and consigned to oblivion.

Thoughts on Valdosta Race Relations Post I

I had the opportunity, and to be honest, the pleasure, of attending the 30th annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration Association's Founder's Banquet this past Saturday, January 3, 2015. We guesstimated about seven hundred people in attendance. There were many notable Valdosta citizens there, including Mayor John Gayle, City Manager Larry Hanson, city councilman Alvin Payton, city councilwoman Sandra Tooley, county commissioner Joyce Evans, state representative Dexter Sharper. along with many other lesser known, but very important citizens of our community.

Most of the tables seemed to be sponsored by different churches in the area, along with other charitable organizations, and probably the city government, considering the mayor, city manager, and chief of police were in attendance. I was with the Lowndes County Democratic Party table. I noticed the Republicans were nowhere to be seen.

However, on a sadder note, I also noticed there were merely just a handful of white people in attendance. There is no reason that we white people cannot honor the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr, and celebrate his memory with our African-American fellow citizens of our great country. He was highly instrumental in obtaining basic Constitutional rights to an historically oppressed and abused racial minority, and bringing it through peaceful, non-violent tactics and techniques, even in the face of the most vicious and violent opposition; an opposition that stretched all the way into the upper echelons of American government and society.

There is a greater, spiritual, context to these issues that MLK was aware of and talked about. We do well to leave what others tell us of MLK, and go to the source. Read, watch and listen to what he said, Then decide for yourself.

Email to Demarcus Marshall, Lowndes County Commissioner, District 4

Dear Commissioner Marshall,

Thank you for your service to Lowndes County as my county commissioner these last years.

Commissioner Marshall, I ask that you would attempt to get a majority of the commissioners to pass an ordinance, with teeth, that would effectively prevent Sabal Trail from running the pipeline through our county. You could even start with outright prohibition of any pipeline company surveying for, or contructing a pipeline through Lowndes County without the expressed written consent of the Lowndes County Commission.  I intend to write other commissioners to ask them to join with you, and to get it on the chairman's agenda for a vote. You could do this if you so chose. 

Know that if you would do this, you would have my sincere gratitude from the bottom of my heart. I think doing this would be for the benefit of the citizens of Lowndes County, and it would be you to whom history would point to as the one who supported the effort. 

Thank you,

Email to Crawford Powell, Lowndes County Commissioner, District 3 Re: Sabal Trail pipeline

Dear Commissioner Powell,

Thank you for your service to Lowndes County as my county commissioner these last years.

Commissioner Powell, you will leave the commission at the end of the year. I ask as this one parting gift to the citizens of Lowndes County, that you would attempt to get a majority of the commissioners to pass an ordinance, with teeth, that would effectively prevent Sabal Trail from running the pipeline through our county. You could even start with outright prohibition of any pipeline company surveying for, or contructing a pipeline through Lowndes County without the expressed written consent of the Lowndes County Commission.  I intend to write other commissioners to ask them to join with you, and to get it on the chairman's agenda for a vote. You could do this if you so chose. 

Know that if you would do this, you would have my sincere gratitude from the bottom of my heart. I think doing this would be for the benefit of the citizens of Lowndes County, and it would be you to whom history would point to as the one who supported the effort. 

Thank you,

Email to Richard Raines, County Commissioner of Lowndes County, GA Re: Sabal Trail pipeline

Dear Commissioner Raines,

Thank you for your service to Lowndes County as commissioner, and thank you for your words of support for the Sabal Trail pipeline opposition after the last commission meeting. I especially took note of your statement that, "none of the commissioners think this pipeline is a good idea." You particularly said you wanted to do something substantial. 

May I ask that you do just that, something substantial? You could write an ordinance that would ban any pipelineline company from surveying property, and any construction whatsoever without the express written consent of the commission. Then you could also write an ordinance with a list of requirements that a pipeline would have to follow that would pretty much make it impossible to run through Lowndes County. One requirement could be they could not cross or tunnel under rivers, or through karst geology. 

Commissioner Raines, you will leave the commission at the end of the year. I ask as this one parting gift to the citizens of Lowndes County, that you would attempt to get a majority of the commissioners to pass an ordinance, with teeth, that would effectively prevent Sabal Trail from running the pipeline through our county. I intend to write other commissioners to ask them to join with you, and to get it on the chairman's agenda for a vote. You could do this if you so chose. 

Know that if you would do this, you would have my sincere gratitude from the bottom of my heart. I think doing this would be for the benefit of the citizens of Lowndes County, and it would be you whom history would point to as the one who spearheaded the effort. 

Thank you,

Wisenbaker Shares His Plans As Commissioner

So read the title of the ValdostaToday article. (BTW, in case you don't know, commissioner-elect Tally Mark Wisenbaker is brother of Gary Wisenbaker, editorial page director of ValdostaToday.com, and director of parent company, Black Crow Media. Needless to say, Mark will probably get some good press and influence during his tenure as a county commissioner.)

I got to briefly meet commissioner-elect Wisebaker at the county commission meeting of November 11, during which I gave an "emphatic speech" (according to the Valdosta Daily Times) in opposition to the proposed Sabal Trail pipeline, asking the commissioners for some kind of resolution against this thing. After the meeting, I was trying to find my way to the front to talk with the commissioners more informally, when Mr. Wisenbaker and I came face-to-face and he introduced himself to me, which I appreciated since he will be my district representative. I understand he is against the pipeline also, which I greatly appreciate, and hope he can help us turn this thing back.

We will have paying jobs, our college graduates, our children, and grand children, when they finish their education they can stay here instead of moving to Atlanta,” Wisenbaker said. “We will have other jobs that will be attractive to them and I think that’s very important.” - 

I truly, truly hope so. He goes on to say,

 “We have 500 acres of industrial park vacant with infrastructure ready to go,” Wisenbaker said.

“We have a technical school that can train you, we have the military college, VSU, the medical center, PCA paper mill in Clyatville. Moody Air Force base is the key to our security economically here because they bring so many people here.”

I once heard Dandy Don Meredith say to Howard Cosell on Monday Night Football, "Howard, you have a firm grasp of the obvious." I mean no offense to Mr. Wisenbaker, but all he has said is very general. What does he think a number of people in the various responsible positions in Lowndes County have been trying to do for the last, I don't know, forever? If he has some special insight or plan, that's great, and I'd like to hear it.

Here's what he says his plan is:

I intentionally didn’t pry or look into anything. I wanted to be fresh and new and get it straight from the horses mouth instead of from hear say, from other people saying, ‘ here is how the county does this or that,’  Wisenbaker said. “I feel like I’ll be better off by getting it straight instead of different sources that are just speculating. 

It seems to me, he could have started looking at how the county is doing things a long time ago, and gone through the learning curve he's on now.  There are no people he can talk to now, that he couldn't have talked to a year ago.

I'm looking forward to what he is going to do, and really hope he can produce more and better jobs in Lowndes County, that can keep our children and grandchildren here, just as his family has had the pleasure.

The Mystery

The Mystery. that's how I like to put it. It's my guess there is something more to life than we normally perceive. I think that because of what I have experienced, and experience today. There is another dimension from our usual, mundane perception that we take for reality. It's a Mystery, in that, it's generally obscured. We have to exercise some effort in order to ferret out the truth.

You can experience it the same as me. Meditation is a good beginning. Do a little reading of the mystics. Meister Eckhardt, Rumi, Hildegard of Bingham and Theresa of Avila, Krishnamurti,  and even Eckhart Tolle. Most importantly, get in touch with what is inside of you. We all have it in common, yet few are aware of this part of ourselves, a part that makes us truly human, and a spiritual being.

From Mystery, comes the word mystic. It is the mystics that are aware of the spiritual realm, the spirituality of every religion. It has never ceased to be an important revelation to me, that the mystics of their respective religions had more in common with each other, than the mystics of the various religions had with the fundamentalists of their respective religions. It has always been the fundamentalists of all religions that sanctioned and sanctified the most atrocious acts, like war and oppression, in all of history. I encourage all, individually, to pursue the spiritual, to seek to become aware of the Spirit in every moment, and the Truth, the Reality, inherent in every moment.

My eComment to FERC in opposition to Sabal Trail

As a citizen of Lowndes County, Georgia, I am opposed to the Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC’s plan to run a thirty six inch gas pipeline, with a billion cubic feet per day capacity, through my county.

I am opposed to the construction of the pipeline for a number of reasons. The two main ones are:

1.      Over the last year, I have been to numerous meetings and have spoken to scores of people in several counties and two states. All of the people that I have seen and heard are unanimous in their opposition to the pipeline. Never once have I met a local citizen who spoke in favor of having the pipeline. Now these citizen’s governments are hearing their constituents and are passing resolutions and ordinances in opposition to the pipeline, including the Dougherty County (GA) County Commission, the Albany, GA, city council, and the Hamilton County (FL) County Commission. There may be others, and there appear to be others that will follow suit.

In other words, the apparent unanimous desire of the public is to say No to this pipeline. The people’s voice should be heard loudly and clearly.

2.      This whole thing started with Florida Power & Light (FPL) saying it needs the gas to produce electricity in Florida. The data I have seen calls this need into question. Even if Floridians have a need for this electricity, FPL could easily produce that amount via solar on a fraction of the acreage Sabal Trail is wanting to take from the landowners.

In other words, the gas is not needed. There is no need for this pipeline.

Given these, and scores of other reasons written by hundreds of others to FERC, I ask you deny Sabal Trail the permit for this pipeline.

Thank you,

James Parker