A little something for friends and family.

     Many years ago, I spent vacation time each year with friends and family on Utah's Lake Powell.  Fed by the mighty Colorado River, a lot of folks aren't as familiar with this lake as they are Lake Mead.  Powell is situated above Lake Mead (Hover Dam,) and is a huge lake in the middle of the desert.  It's essentially the top end of the Grand Canyon filled with water.  It's supposed to cover 254 square miles or over 162,000 acres!  It has a shoreline that's longer than the US West Coast.  The ongoing drought in the area has produced some astounding pictures.  Those loved ones that I enjoyed so many good times there will be astonished at them.  Here's to the moments we had fishing, partying, and having fun on my Brother's (And Sister in Law at the time's) boat "The Good Guys".  Note; I don't own the rights to the following photos, and am using them under "Fair Use Doctrine".

We used to pull into shore and "Camp" at this outcropping called
the "Rincon"

It's high and dry today.

Another satellite image of the lake.

Boat ramp.

 

"Rainbow Bridge" is the World's
largest natural arch.

This water feeds Las Vegas, and California.  Nearly half of the Us's fruits, nuts, and vegetables come from California........  A 50 foot drop in this lake's water level is equal to over two and a half trillion gallons of water.  Just something to think about.

Why I no longer wish to ""Celebrate"" the Fourth of July!!!.

• We now live in a nation where our Politicians belong to the rich.  It doesn't matter whether they are so called Conservatives or Liberals.  Like it or not our nation is as corrupt as any third world dictatorship ever was.  The Supreme Court through the "Citizens United" decision has ensured that our Government is for sale to the Highest bidder.                                                                                                                       
• We now live in a nation where the Government has given itself the right to kill it's own citizens without a trial, without a jury, and regardless whether that person is guilty or not.  There is no pretense of any pursuit of justice here, simply by the say so of a few government officials you can be assassinated. The right to face your accuser is gone, the right to a trial is gone.  The Government has declared that based on anything it wants to call a matter of  "National Security", it doesn't have to say why you are considered a threat, and it doesn't have to justify it's actions. Merely by their declaring that you are a threat you can be murdered by your own Government.  It has already happened several times, and even includes a 16 year old boy!!!                                                                                                                       
• Our E-Mail... Online activities, and as many as  one hundred and twenty five BILLION of our phone calls A MONTH are being monitored by our Government without any pretense of "Probable Cause".                                                                               
• To "Serve and Protect" has now become "Oppress and Destroy".  The agencies that are charged with keeping the peace are increasingly committing violence against their own people.  Despite all the fear mongering in the Media about terrorist threats, you are eight times more likely to be killed by your own Police Department than a terrorist.                                                                                                     
• Your Police Department is now a military.  Under the pretense of having to have "More tools" to fight terrorism thirty four billion Dollars worth of tanks, machine guns, armor, and advanced weapons has been given to them by your Government.                                                                                                        
• Your Police Department can engage in the outright theft of your property without trial, or you having been convicted of a crime.  They are increasingly doing so simply to create profit for their agency.                
• Your home can be assaulted by the Police at any time without any more justification than the claim that an "Informant" said you have something the Government has banned.  The Police don't have to tell you who your accuser is, and in the process you, your family member or pets can be murdered without any accountability.  This now happens 80,000 times a year, and in fact one in 208 American homes have now been  assaulted by militarized police brigades.  These "Swat Teams" are run by private corporations using YOUR tax Dollars, and have declared that they are not accountable to the public. They don't have to tell you anything about their activities.                                                                      
•  You can be shot in the back by Government agents without threatening them, and for merely committing the "Crime" of camping on a public hillside.  The Police are not held accountable for these murders.                                                                                                                                                    
• By now you may be thinking "Ok, this guy's a nut job", but am I?  I mentioned above that our Government is for sale to the highest bidder... Even some of the Country's most prestigious organizations are beginning to admit that you don't live in a Democracy (Republic.)                                        
• Your Government has given itself the right to come into your home, grab you, and PERMANENTLY and lock you up, without a trial, without telling you what you are charged with, without even telling your loved ones where you are... To ensure that it can do this to large numbers of us at a time the Government has said it can use the Military to do so... In direct violation of the Posse Comitatus Act.    
• Your Government is engaging in a systematic program of seizing private property.  It's trying to take vast tracts of property without compensating it's owners.  

     As you can see... We no longer live in a "Free Country".  We have nothing to celebrate on July 4th.  Some who have begun reading this blog will have shrugged and "Clicked" on to another page by the time they get this far... Some will be making any excuse to consider me a "Crackpot" in their head by now, making any excuse to ignore what I'm saying.  It's too surreal for them to deal with, their "Cognitive dissonance" will have triggered mental self defense mechanisms... A few of you have read, and understood.  If you can't take the time to explore all the links I have provided for you in this blog, at least hover over them with your curser, and see that I'm not blowing smoke.  You see I've taken a risk in even typing this blog up for you.  By the time you read this, even though I don't advocate any violence of any kind, my activities have likely been scrutinized by agents of the Government for retaliation... And my ability to travel freely in my own Country has probably been restricted.