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A Mystic's Reassurance for Our Times
09.22.06 (11:45 pm)   [edit]
"The roads are different, but the goal is one.

When people reach the goal, all those who yelled at each other along the road, "You are wrong!" or "You are a blasphemer!" forget all possible differences.

There, all hearts sing in unison."

- Rumi

----- Surely my own passionate and righteous indignation inflames others to puff up and hurl epithets my way.

Then recoiling, holding myself tightly and gathering new strength to take next steps I search inside me for the lens of perspective and remember, "love, forgiveness, appreciation."

But how to act on that? Figuring it out, we'll save this beautiful planet for future generations.

1 Comments
 
Just Three Years Ago ... The Electric Car Was On the Road
09.21.06 (9:43 pm)   [edit]
You must see this film - and the Bush Oligarchy must be brought to account:

http://tinyurl.com/ohthw

"It was among the fastest, most efficient production cars ever built. It ran on electricity, produced no emissions and catapulted American technology to the forefront of the automotive industry. The lucky few who drove it never wanted to give it up. So why did General Motors crush its fleet of EV-1 electric vehicles in the Arizona desert? WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR? chronicles the life and mysterious death of the EV-1; examining the cultural and economic ripple effects caused by its conception and how they reverberated deep into the halls of government and big business.

The year is 1990. California is in a pollution crisis. The smog is so bad that the state is on the verge of returning to the haze days of the 1970 brown outs. Desperate for a solution, the California Air Recourses Board (CARB) targets the source of its problem: Car exhaust. Inspired by a recent announcement from General Motors about an electric vehicle prototype, the Zero Emissions Mandate (ZEV) is born. It requires 2% of California vehicles to be Zero Emission Vehicles by 1998, 10% by 2003. It is the most aggressive smog fighting mandate in the history of both the state and the automotive industry.

Eager to satisfy the largest car consuming market in the world, GMs EV-1 electric vehicle is launched in 1997 with great fanfare from California consumers. It was the first perfect car of the modern age, requiring no gas, no oil, no mufflers, and no brake changes (a billion dollar industry itself.) A typical maintenance checkup for the EV-1 consisted of replenishing the windshield washer fluid and a tire rotation.

Fast forward to 6 years later... The fleet is dead. EV charging stations dot the California landscape like tombstones, collecting dust and spider webs. How could this happen? Did anyone bother to examine the bodies? Yes, in fact, someone did. And it was murder.

The EV-1 threatened the status quo: the truth behind its murder closely resembling the climactic outcome of Agatha Christies Murder on the Orient Express. Twelve suspects, each taking their turn with the knife. Automakers, legislators, engineers, consumers and car enthusiasts from Los Angeles to Detroit work through the motives, alibis and fallout to piece the complex puzzle together. There were many enemies of the EV-1 and their motives were almost as strong as their alibis.

WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR? is not just about the EV-1. Its about how this allegory for the state of todays oil prices and air quality can also be a shining symbol of societys desire to better itself and the world around it. For a brief moment in time, we were closer to that dream than we'd ever been before, and while that milestone may have been crushed, it has not been forgotten."

2 Comments
 
Farewell to Steve Irwin
09.19.06 (10:00 pm)   [edit]
Watching the memorial service for the Crocodile Hunter, I'm overwhelmed with sorrow and appreciation for this very simple, gentle man from Down Under. You gotta love the words from John Williamson for calling to mind the work and humility of Steve-o:

Hey True Blue

Don't say you're gone

Say you knocked off for a smoko

And you'll be back later on

Hey True Blue

Hey True Blue

Give it to me straight

Face to face

Are you really disapearing

Another dying race

Hey True Blue

You old bastard

True Blue

Is it me and you

Is it Mum and Dad

Is it a Cockatoo

Is it standing by your mate

When his in a fight

Or just Vegemite

True Blue

Hey True Blue

Don't say you're gone

Say you knocked off for a smoko

And you'll be back later on

Hey True Blue

Hey True Blue

Give it to me straight

Face to face

Are you really disapearing

Another dying race

Hey True Blue

You old bastard

True Blue

Is it me and you

Is it Mum and Dad

Is it a Cockatoo

Is it standing by your mate

When his in a fight

Or just Vegemite

True Blue

True Blue

http://tinyurl.com/fzjzh

4 Comments
 
Tranquility and Friendship
09.19.06 (4:53 pm)   [edit]
This is for Lori Schuster: Is it just me, or do countless others find animals - both domestic and wildlife, a constant source of distracting tranquility? Helping a friend focus on her breathing this afternoon to settle down from an ordeal at work, I mentioned that muscles might start to relax like the loosening of soil with a spring rain. We know of course that soil has loosened "because suddenly the earthworms are above ground and at play," I insisted. She took that metaphor into her own remembered imagery of feeding the trout at a family pond, using a can of night crawlers ... fish of all sizes and ages came alive at the surface, even snatching a small frog that skipped across the pond as if to join the fun. Now she might add the flickering of fireflies at dusk becoming night, and the sounds of cicadas singing to bring along the quiet of evening in time for a good night's sleep. My personal favorites with animal friends include birds at the feeder, squirrels in the trees, deer in the back yard, an opossum in the tree outside the window, a boofy toad on the sidewalk to the house, ... especially my dog Gracie, who reminds me that I need the company of friends.
0 Comments
 
Macacca Jock vs Male Chauvinist
09.18.06 (10:41 pm)   [edit]
Senator Allen looks to be bolstering his race against Jim Webb. Despite Allen's absolute goofiness, Webb hesitates like a true Democrat, and pulls all punches. Meanwhile Allen hits the mark time and again with all his flailing wildly at Webb's genuine integrity. Check out the debates during the last two days. Webb is Officer and Gentleman in truest sense. Allen's a true street-fighter. http://hughhewitt.townhall.co... What will it take to return Congress to the labor-worn hands of Liberals, who wish only to take care of Americans, and bring and end to American beligerence overseas? - ak
0 Comments
 
Childhood Obesity
09.17.06 (1:47 pm)   [edit]
Can you believe that we live now at a time when children rely on volunteers to show up at public schools *before* school begins to encourage kids to get exercise?? There's an albeit admirable program called "Happy Feet" that targets elementary schools in the Blacksburg (New River Valley) Virginia region. Started by some Nutrition academics from Virginia Tech, perhaps at last prevention will impact the futures of American citizens.
0 Comments