Well here we are. It’s been 100? today and it will be 100? tomorrow. Now we find out we have a tropical storm , possibly hurricane eventually , headed our general direction. I’ve got to say it’s one of the things I really love about Texas and the third Coast, if you don’t like the weather just wait five minutes. Seriously, this storm could bring much needed water for the drought stricken central part of the state . Here, on the other hand , we’ve had plenty of rain and don’t need the aggravation.
Nonetheless preparations have been made. Actually I made the them last year and stored everything away. Plywood has been cut, the generator has fresh oil, and we’ve got plenty of stores in the pantry in the fridge. So come on down Debbie, if you dare. We’re old pro’s around here when it comes to summer storms. Besides, I knew a Debby once, a shy, wall flower of a girl. ….wait a minute, … Shit, now I remember, she ended up working for the Obama campaign !

We’re screwed

From late May to mid July the Crepe Myrtel’s really go to town… Bloom wise. The ground is covered with them and a trip out to the feeders results in a shower of blooms. Best yet, when the wind blows just right, they cover the neighbors pool in a carpet of red. Much to his aggravation;)

We succeeded in taking that picture [from deep space], and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother and father, every inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of our species, lived there on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam.

The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and in triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of the dot on scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner of the dot. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity ? in all this vastness ? there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us. It’s been said that astronomy is a humbling, and I might add, a character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.

?Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space, p. 6

Sorry for the poor quality. The doves were easily spooked.

I found a realy interesting article on GM, the current regiem and how this partnership is similar to a famouse childrens book (one of my favorites by the way).

Enjoy

Submitted by Mark Modica on Thu, 03/15/2012 – 09:37

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Fresh off the heels of its European Car of the Year award, the Chevy Volt has been named “Vincentric Best Value in America.” You just can’t make this stuff up. I didn’t know that there were so many awards in the auto industry, but the less that the Volt sells, the more awards it seems to win. After this latest award, it dawned on me that the Chevy Volt is eerily like Wilbur, the prize-winning pig from the classic children’s tale, Charlotte’s Web.

Wilbur was a runt of a pig, destined to go to the slaughter house. He is befriended by Charlotte A. Cavitica, a spider who realizes Wilbur’s days are numbered if she can not promote enough hype to save the pig. Charlotte spins her web in eloquent fashion above Wilbur’s pen. She spells out accolades describing Wilbur, starting with “some pig.” The hype builds as the desperation to save Wilbur grows. Subsequent webs declare Wilbur as “terrific” and “radiant.” The whole barnyard pitches in until the public is fooled into believing the webs and Wilbur’s life is spared.

So now we have the endless accolades for the Chevy Volt, despite the fact that the public doesn’t seem to want the car. The equivalent to the helpful barnyard animals in the automotive version of Charlotte’s Web feature not only General Motors (with Bob Lutz now in Charlotte’s role), but the Obama Administration, mainstream media and, playing the role of Templeton the Rat, General Electric.

You see, Templeton didn’t have much sympathy for Wilbur, but he learns that if Wilbur dies he will no longer be able to feed at the pig’s trough. And the green energy trough that feeds GE is filled with billions of dollars supplied by taxpayers. It is certainly worth the price of the thousands of Volts GE is buying to ensure that the trough continues to be filled; and President Obama has been a very generous farmer in dealing out the feed. Helping to save both the pig and the farmer would greatly benefit GE.

When spinning her well-meaning web of deceit, Charlotte says something about “people will believe anything…” This philosophy now drives a strategy of proponents for the Volt who currently blame low sales of the vehicles on a right wing campaign to kill the car instead of the obvious reason that the car is too expensive for what it offers. Like the first of Charlotte’s webs, the previous excuse that supply could not keep up with demand just wasn’t enough and more webs of deceit need to be spun.

Unlike the children’s tale, the Chevy Volt story is costing taxpayers billions of dollars. GM loses thousands of dollars on every vehicle sold, so the motivation to save the car from the slaughterhouse appears to be political in nature. Like Wilbur, the car will continue to get accolades; after all, there are people in very high places that have a vested interest in seeing the vehicle succeed. The price of feed, or in the case of the Volt, subsidies, may have to go up to save the pig…I mean car. American taxpayers are expected to believe that the “terrific” and “radiant” green agenda is worth raising EV subsidies (which go to wealthy purchasers of the vehicles) to $10,000. I don’t know if Charlotte will be right about people believing anything, but all I can say is “that’s some pig!”

Mark Modica is an NLPC Associate Fellow.