DDT

Rachel Carson wrote "Silent Spring" in 1962.
I read the book a few years later believing everything I read.
Being a hunter and fisherman, wanted to preserve my way of life. I earned a degree in Natural Resources Management.

Carsons main attack was on the chemical DDT, the chemical that came on the market in 1939 and has been credited for saving 500 million people. It eradicated malaria in every developed country on the planet.
Paul Muller won the Nobel Prize in Medicine "1949" for developing the chemical.
According to Dr. Mark Levin, a Federal Court could find no proof that DDT caused harm to life forms. No matter, the EPA by that time was powerful enough to sidestep the courts and ban the chemical anyway. Rachel Carson with one book changed the world. She is praised by environmentalists. Others have difficulty with the preventable death of millions, most under the age of five years.
It is estimated that in Africa alone one million people die each year from mosquito born pathogens.
Maybe Carson's intentions were legitimate; maybe she shared the beliefs of the abortionists who insist the undesirables be kept under control.
I take no hard stand on the matter but would like to know the truth.
I do believe malaria or some other former scourge will return to the states, and I would pay any price for it to save my grandchildren.
Let's not forget, children of my generation followed the spray trucks down the streets of America during the 50's and early 60's.

Quemados, Cuba

The forty nine year old Army Major sat down to pin a letter to his wife. (31, Dec. 1899)
" Only ten minutes of the old century remain," he scribbled in the Columbia Barracks.

A few weeks earlier the Military Doctor had placed a young Ohio man in sealed room with several mosquitoes which had been infected with Yellow Fever at various hours and days prior. The room was divided by a screen where his control group would sleep. The insects went about their cruel work while the men beyond the screen slept in peace. For decades the Doctor had been looking for the cause of the deadly disease. Under controlled conditions the test human and control group were monitored.
A halt would be called to construction on the Panama Canal if some solution wasn't found to this deadly problem.

He concluded: The prayer that has been mine for twenty yeas, that I might be permitted in some way or at some time to do something to alleviate human suffering has been granted! A thousand Happy New Years - - - Hark, there go the twenty-four buglers in concert, all sounding "Taps" for the old year.

Major Walter Reed

Thought

There is an old saying: It's better for a lion to lead an army of sheep than a sheep to lead an army of lions.

Picture to the left is the Alabama Vietnam Veterans Memorial near Huntsville.

Can you spare a dime

On the floor of Congress:

Mr. Speaker - - - - preceding sentences -
I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has no power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it.

We have the right, as individuals to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity, but as members of Congress we have no right to appropriate a dollar of public money.

Congressman from Tennessee, David Crockett

Sometime prior, Crockett had returned home after helping pass a relief bill for citizens devastated by a fire that caused the loss of homes and property. Crockett got his butt chewed out by a Tennessee citizen who knew the Constitution. He wouldn't make that mistake again.

The bill he opposed failed.
That would make FEMA and a thousand other wasteful bureaucracies unconstitutional.
Too late - we're all victims with outstretched hands: That's how citizens are cuffed.

It can't happen here

I learned today that John Walker Lindh's attorney had been appointed to the Post of U.S. Assistant Attorney General.
For those who do not remember, Lindh was the young American who joined the Taliban against the U.S. He is now serving twenty years.
It took me an hour to verify this information including the fact that Attorney General Eric Holder's law firm "Covington and Burling" has made a lot of money defending terrorists. Holder's old partner, David Remes is defending one or more of those who plotted and carried out the bombing the USS Cole. Seventeen sailors were killed, thirty nine injured.
Wonder why the White House wants to bring Gitmo detainees to the US and give them lawyers?

It is not illegal for these men to be appointed to high office in the U.S. Government, but there are a lot of people wondering why dozens of like minded people are put in sensitive positions.

Uproar from US citizenry forced the President to dismiss self proclaimed communist Van Jones from his staff. It didn't matter. He was reconstituted and placed in another key position.

Nov. 22, 1963

For those of you old enough, I'll ask the well worn question. Do you remember where you were on November 22, 1963?
Sure we all do.
C.S Lewis, an Irish born novelist, literary critic, essayist, and Christian apologist died that day. Lewis is known for writings such as "The Screw Tape Letters," "The Space Trilogy", and others. Lewis was an atheist in this early adulthood. He gravitated toward Christianity over the years. Lewis came to believe that the atheist philosophy couldn't answer his troubling questions about the universe, and all it encompassed.

That same day another man died. He was Aldous L Houxley, also an English writer known for works like "Brave New World", and "Oxford Poetry." Huxley started out just as confused as Lewis. Huxley took another route which led him into parapsychology, and mysticism. Psychedelic drugs were part of his journey.

And yes John Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

Long As I Can See The Light - CCR

Lighthouse on the Mississippi Gulf Coast

This area took the brunt of Katrina, but was overshadowed in the news by flooding and loss of life in New Orleans a few miles west.

Osteichthyes

ICHTUS is an acronym in Roman letters.
It so happens that these letters form a Greek word that mean "Fish"

Iesous Christos THeou Uios Soter - "Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior"

Ancient etchings of the iconic fish are found on the walls of Christian catacombs.

In that time, the anti-christian observer wouldn't have paid much attention to the scratchings.

Devil Hog

Harley has a new motorcycle with orange/red flames. Leading the flame front is the face of the devil. The advertisement says he's looking for his next lost soul. Written on the back fender are the words "Trust Me"
This paint job had to be OK'ed every step, all the way to the top. That includes Willie G. Davidson.
When I was a kid, this would have been the coolest, but I don't think I would want to sport cross bones, skulls, and demons at my age. Must be that looming mortality.

Marsoup and Salid

May stuffed her giraffe (Lola) into her pants and said,

"Look Papaw, I'm a Kangaroo"

She loves to wrestle; jump on her poor grandfather's tummy;

a flying Norweigan Slam.

She calls it "gressle"

Night Moves

Think I had some dust on my scanner

35 mm, a little grainy but fun to take.
Open shutter, count 3

Open shutter, count 5

Open shutter, count 7

Open shutter, count 7.56

I had a friend once who ate so many moon pies one cheek of his butt went dark

Narcissus

There are some who believe that our Commander In Chief once knelt before a quiet pool totally smitten by what he saw.



Over the years I have worked with two men who knelt before those waters.

To describe the wreckage they cause is beyond my ability. I will only say that ultimately they destroyed their careers

Giving

I promise never to bring this up again.

Today I was watching the cartoon channel with my granddaughter minding my own business.

Some pictures of Haiti came on the screen, then some teenagers appeared in a studio recording a song. Yeah, you guessed it, "we are the freaking world"



It occurred to me that arguably the largest single block of donors are far from wealthy. Furthermore they would be insulted if they were included as part of the "World." They avoid any association with that word.



Of all the fifty states, Mississippi ranks 49th in annual gross adjusted income (CBS 2000 report) of $ 31,056 yet it ranks number one in giving to charities $ 4,070, not to mention its time. The top ten states in giving were all in the south plus the Dakotas, and Mormon Utah.



Massachusetts who ranked 4th in the nation in annual income , $ 51,812 gave only $ 2,545.

Others on the bottom were Minn, NJ,Co, Wis, Maryland.

Looking for hospitality? Don't go to Massachusetts.

Separation

I've got to get on another subject before my 4.5 readers think this is a religious blog rendering my rancorous reputation irreparable.

Where was I, yeah, when the City of Washington DC was just cranking up there weren't any churches. George Washington laid the corner stone of the new capital building in 1793. Congress moved in around 1800. Church services had been held in the building for some time before they rolled in. By 1837 there were over twenty churches in the city, but the Capital Building remained a very popular place of worship. In fact, church services continued there until after the War of Northern Aggression.

Facts like this really chap Progressives, ----- wait, they're changing their name "Populists"
That'll fool us won't it!

Olympics

Well, you gotta hand it to them Greeks. They thought up a lot of stuff, like running and wrestling and stuff. But I would have been not a little aggravated if I had just run twenty six miles and instead of a check for $ 100,000.00, the Budweiser girl tore off a tree branch and wrapped it around my head.
I'm enjoying the opening ceremonies in George Vancouver BCE. It's really colorful with all them Native American dancers doing the boogaloo, and ubanga stomp. As ya'll know I complain a lot but once in a while with reason. Tonight, all of a sudden this singer cuts down on "We Are The World" for one of them Olympic world wide group hugs. As my daughters will tell you, I'm still mad over that dad blame Michael Jackson song. How bout this line " God has shown us by turning stones to bread."
Yo Mike, if you weren't dead, I'd call you a dumb ass.
In the story you see, Satan says, "if you're such a big shot, turn these metamorphosed boulders to whole wheat"
Now if our savior had shown off that day, we would'uv been in a terrible fix.
But he didn't YO Mike, If you weren't dead - - -

I Believe I'll Dust My Broom

Well gang, I have wonderful news for all those who chant beneath the oaks.
The U.S. Air Force Academy is preparing a place of worship on a hill overlooking the Chapel on campus. This sacred place will be for Druids, Pagans, Earth Worship of all sorts, Wicca or witchcraft, and most all sorts of perversion.
For those who desire to be at the dedication, it will be March 10th.

What happened to the good ole Army Air Corps----------That's pronounced Corpse for Marxists

Roger Roger

I ran across the cold trail of Roger Baldwin this week. This ole boy became a conscientious objector in Wilson's WWI, and spent a year in prison. (so did a lot of other Americans) In 1917 the US passed the Draft Act. Baldwin formed a group to defend conscientious objectors. They later became the National Liberties Bureau. It took an active part in the "Scopes Monkey Trial in Tennessee" and also defended James Joyce and his book "Ulysses" for its profanity. Modernists loved the book.
Modernists rejected an almighty Creator. To them Enlightenment was so uneducated.

Baldwin was a big fan of the anarchist Emma Goldman. (Hay Market Riots in Chicago) turned her on. In short - Workers United (has a socialist ring to it doesn't it)
The riot's martyrs were annually remembered on May Day. (it's interesting that May 1st is the day witches and warlocks kick up their heels. "Just a sprinkling for the May Queen" Led Zeppelin.
MacArthur called on Baldwin to help in establish Civil Liberties in Japan
Carter awarded him the Medal of Freedom
For what its worth, I have an extreme revulsion for Jimma and Mac.
Although Baldwin later rejected Communism, his ACLU was well established to defend mostly wrong causes, especially anti-Christian.

Liberty Bell

There is an inscription around the top of the Liberty Bell.
"Leviticus XXV.X Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the Inhabitants thereof.

Why hasn't the ACLU looked into this absurd display?

Old Chief is Dead

I was reading this past week that Phillip Martin, Chief of the Mississippi Choctaws passed away. He had been chief for twenty eight years. (Philidelphia Mississippi)
I remember reading that the last huge chunk of Mississippi under Choctaw control was ceded to the government 27 September, 1830 at the "Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek." The location is near today's Macon, Mississippi.

Shortly after, they took their belongings and African slaves to Oklahoma Territory.
Greenwood Lefleur, a half breed Frenchman was one of the chiefs represented along with Mushulatubbee, and Little Leader. Lefleur "the Greenwood Flower" never left Mississippi. He had become wealthy and was heavily involved in State Politics. His name slowly became Leflore, probably because whites with Scott, Irish, and English backgrounds didn't like the French pronunciation.
One would assume that Greenwood Mississippi is named for Lefleur.
It's interesting that the flower signed away the people's land yet stayed behind.
The same was true in leadership of the Chickasaws of North Mississippi, West Tennessee.
George Colbert was a halfbreed Scott who became wealthy. The Colbert's operated what was called a stand, (a stop on Natchez Trace) and Colbert's Ferry on the Tennessee River.

The Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma furnished troops to the Confederacy during the war. They felt they had gotten a raw deal from the U.S. Govt. and felt that a Confederacy of Southern States would be more to their liking.

I don't know how Phillip Martin's small Mississippi Band managed to stay in their homeland.

That Empty Place

I remain convinced that countless people are searching for some meaning to their lives.
That belief was underscored today when I heard a reporter on Stephen King.

It seems that during an interview, it was mentioned to King, something like, " You have achieved pretty much everything you ever pursued. What would you want that you don't have."

To the interviewer's surprise King said, and I paraphrase, "I would like to delve into the possibility that Christ actually rose from the dead. If that's so, then he would be on a level above everything.
I found it interesting that here is a man that millions would trade places with. Though it wasn't said, King gave the world a peek into his inner thoughts. "Something is missing inside me and I can't find that thing to fill the void."

To put it in good ole boy terms Mr. King, "If you look fur it, you will find it" You won't find it in a dark corner but in the brightest light.

Our Declaration

Upon the signing of the Declaration Of Independence, scores of streets named "King" were torn down and changed to "State Street"

The same went for "Queen Street" changed to Congress Way

In New York an equestrian statue of George Rex was pulled down and melted into 42,500 bullets.

The slogan was Life, Liberty, and Property
Jefferson preferred the words Pursuit Of Happiness

America is struggling to hold these divine gifts.

A Caveman Can Do It

I suppose all of us at some time or another have complained about something adnauseam without offering anything constructive to solve the problem.

I read an article decades ago about how the basic design of houses, especially in more advanced countries, hasn't changed in hundreds of years.
In light of all the inexpensive talk about alternative energies, the green redistribute the wealth movement, you would think that we would have evolved in home construction other than building too large and too expensive.

Actually I have given a lot of thought and research to underground or partial underground homes.
It's impressive to go on line and see what people have done with subterranean homes. Some of these homes look like dwellings of the rich and famous on the inside, and inside is mostly all you see.
I forget what underground temperature is - something like 58 deg F. A home underground can almost be heated with a candle and needs no cooling. Moisture is the biggest challenge. There is no external upkeep or shingle replacement. Being Americans, it's possible that we don't want to go this route because houses are a way of saying "look how successful I am!" Underground homes wouldn't afford us bragging rights, but tornadoes would no longer be a fear.

Another thing we are seeing are large subdivisions being built on agricultural properties. This is not the best use of our land. With underground housing, home builders would be looking for hills to build in, leaving the valleys open.

We tend not to change until we have to. If the uncontrolled EPA gets its way there may be more innovative ways of home construction down the road.

Wind Power

I heard on the news this week that several of the large wind turbines in the northern plains had some trouble the past few days. It seems that the hydraulic systems froze and the windmills couldn't work.
Better go out and air up my tires.

Seed Bank

Ok, I'm getting off this subject today.
For pocket change one can go to a farm supply store next month and buy seeds for almost every garden vegetable. Make sure the seed is "open pollinated" that is "NOT HYBRID!)
For those who don't know, seeds from hybrid crops and vegetables if planted will not produce anything. You can see how easily a large corporation could grab control of food supplies.
Keep your seed in the freezer or in a dry cool place. Replace every three to five years. Corn will keep frozen and still germinate up to ten yrs.
I learned this the hard way - don't plant a bunch of corn from just one dozen ears. By the second season it will be so inbred that it won't produce. This is redundant but important. Buy open pollinated seed corn - mix yellow and white if you want, a pound here, a pound there to make sure of a diverse genetic gene pool. When replanting, shell a little corn off 100 different ears if possible (you must save seed and dry it) For those who know Christianity, you've heard of first fruits. When saving garden seed you must take the first fruits from your garden an extract the seeds for next year even though you would really like to eat it.
As far as who is going to sit up every night with a gun to keep out hungry people, well, you're on your own.

Hunger Ain't Cool

If my last three posts stirred the least bit of interest in my 4.5 followers, you should check out one person.

"Dr. Vandana Shiva" she's been fighting one Ag. Chemical Company for years. It's interesting to see what this large corp. has done to India.

Who Dat Gonna Take My Food

Continued from last blog:
It's interesting that agricultural crop patents are being bought up by chemical companies rather than agricultural companies. That would be like me setting up a law practice.

I know of two genes that have been spliced into these corn patents. The first is a gene that allows the farmer to spray Roundup "Monsanto's favorite chemical" directly on young corn to kill grass and weeds. The corn should die but doesn't. The other is a protein that insects can't digest but isn't supposed to harm humans. The problem is, few if any tests were done before the cornflakes hit you breakfast table.
GMO is what you Google - - genetically modified organisms
Doctors are seeing a new ailment. It exhibits lesions with organic hairs growing from them. It has a name, but hasn't been linked directly to the GMO's. There is high suspicion.
Forget the under ware frequent flyer for a moment and consider what would happen if large corporations controlled the food supply. Keep an eye on Mr. Taylor.
Yeah, Yeah, I know, the sky is falling.

New Food Guru

While we were watching the destruction of Haiti, an interesting man was appointed Deputy Commissioner For Foods in the U.S. His name is Michael R. Taylor.
So what!
Mr. Taylor is a really big wheel in Monsanto chemicals.
So what!
Monsanto has gone world-wide buying up corn, soybean, wheat, rice, cotton, and many other seed patents and turning them into their own Frankenstein.
So!
During the Clinton administration he pretty much wrote the rules for rBGH. That's the stuff they put into milk cows to make them produce more, the milk and ice cream your kids consume.
Really!
For short attention spans - see next blog.

Bio Fools

I just caught the tail end of a discussion on the radio the other day. It seems that the enlightened ones are planning to go all out with bio fuels. To borrow a line from Blazing Saddles "We Must, We Must." or maybe "It's twue, It's twue." So what if a few million peasants starve, lets turn water into wine or corn into moonshine.
There's one catch. The mentally deficient believe they know more than PhD's in agronomy. According to what I caught in the discussion, these Bio buffoons want to extract more and more organic material from the fields, not just its fruits. We're talking stalks, leaves, everything.
I do happen to have an undergraduate degree in Agriculture, but if you were raised on the farm, turning your corn stalks back into the earth is like the ABC's of existence.
This movement is a disaster. I can picture a field hard as concrete because it has no organic matter left in it, not to mention all the fuel and chemicals used to get the net gain of alcohol.
And pollution, that's a no-brainer.
If I didn't know better I would think it deliberate.

There Ain't No Food Shortage

I was watching Bulls and Bears or some program on Fox. One investor said he would be investing in Agriculture. The reason? He stated that U.S. food stockpiles are lower than they have been in decades.

Calvin

Last time I was talking about Calvin
I always liked John Calvin, he was a good ole boy.
His Momma'nem was Presbyterians.
Calvin was a purdy good preacher til he hooked up with a man named Klein
and went into the clothing bidness.

Armenianism

My last post mentioned Armenia.
It is interesting to juxtapose Calvinism against Armenianism.
Put simply, if your mam and pap were Calvinists, you probably have led a guilt free life.
You were predestined, saved because you were too far gone to do it yourself, and when you got your salvation, you kept it, or it kept you.

On the other hand, if you were raised in an Armenian style religion, you may have been on a life long guilt trip since you have to help get yourself saved, since you weren't hand picked, and by the way, you can slip out of salvation pretty fast.

To each his own. Actually today it's more in vogue to take a pinch of this and a dash of Eastern Mysticism, a teaspoon of Hindu, two cups of Astrology, and some burnt underwear.
Thank goodness no one is following Moloch, ooops, my bad.
Now where did I leave my Chrystal's?

White Folks

All these years I've been told that Caucasian is synonymous with Anglo Saxon.
Can that be true since Caucasia is a region including Southern Russia, Turkey, Northern Iran, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Georgia Tech.
Not my expertise.