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.

Some things I miss in life!!!

When I was little... We had one of these.  Sure you couldn't take it with you, but it didn't interrupt your life every thirty seconds either.  Instead of "Texting", you actually had to have a conversation with someone (The horror!)  You got the phone free from the Phone Company when you got hooked up for service and it was bulletproof.  Drop it on the floor no problem.  No batteries to re-charge ever.  Best of all if it was suppertime, all you had to do was lay the earpiece on the table.  One step silent mode.  Leave a message at the beep.... F%^k that, call back if it's important Sucker!!!!!

Wing windows as they were called, could be adjusted for precisely the airflow that you wanted, from a "Slight breeze" right up to "Gale force."  They were easy to operate, didn't blow air in your face, and I don't think I ever remember one breaking (Unless someone used a rock on it.)  When these existed people actually considered air conditioning to be a luxury.

As long as we're talking about cars, who remembers these things?  We   used to have manual control knobs on the heater.  They were easy to adjust, and operated on little doors inside the Dashboard connected by bicycle cables.  They never broke, and if they did a drop or two of oil on the cable usually fixed the problem.  No electronics were involved, no $300 parts to replace.  I like that you can work all the windows nowadays from the driver's seat, but the old hand crank never ever broke.  (Bonus,) When you went "Parking" with your girlfriend, the window crank knob made a handy place to prop your foot up on.

I guess you could still get a manual transmission if you special ordered it.  It's just another thing that was so much simpler that it never broke.  It wasn't really that big of a deal to have to shift it, and it saved about six or seven miles to a gallon of gas. One last car related one.... Donut sized spare tires suck!!!  If I have a flat somewhere out in the Countryside, I don't want to be stuck with a fifty mile per hour speed getting back to town.  If it's Sunday afternoon, I want a spare tire I can drive to work with the next day (Without feeling like a loser.)  Design a car that has enough trunk space for a real tire for G%d's sakes!!!




We actually still have a "Percolater" coffee maker at our house, and use it sometimes.  The coffee is about a "Gazillion" times better tasting.  You can actually use it on a campfire, or even in your fireplace if the power goes out in a storm!  Oh, and the smell... That glorious smell of a percolator brewing in the early morning.  Go F$%k yourself Mr. Coffee!!!

When was the last time you saw somebody write a check?  I remember when I could go to my local store, and didn't even need an "ID" to write one.  It was as good as my word.  (I had a problem remembering to write them down in the register, so I even had ones that made a carbon copy when I wrote the check.)  We used to actually get paid with a check, are you old enough to remember that?  When payday came, you knew at the end of the day that you got paid!  You didn't have to go online to see if the money transfer went through, Checks didn't have to have "PIN" numbers, they didn't involve identity theft, and after work you could take your "Paycheck" to the store, buy something with it, and they'd give you actual cash for the balance without any "Service fees" whatsoever!

There's something extra special about receiving a handwritten letter in the mail.  Younger folks will probably never experience the excitement of opening that box and finding one.  It meant that someone cared about you!  In my twenties, I had a girlfriend that used to put her perfume on letters she sent me.  Try that with an E-Mail!!!  I still have some love letters, my Great Grandfather sent home to my Great Grandmother. I'll be able to pass them on to my Son someday.  This connection to our past will soon be lost forever!  They say cursive handwriting is also going to be a thing of the past soon.

We used to have a really old house with a great big front porch.  They don't make houses with big front porches anymore.  We had this couch sized porch swing, and used to spend hours sitting there in the evenings.  Neighbors would actually come by and talk to us.  Sometimes they would come up on the porch, and we'd have a conversation.... Sometimes they'd bring "Libations" with them, and we'd have a party!  How well do you know your neighbors?



We have to remember that with technology, comes things that aren't necessarily "Advancement".  We've gained a lot in our lives, but we seem to be losing things also.... Things that matter.  It seems to me that the challenge is not to fall for what big Corporations tell us we "Have to have", just because it's the latest and greatest gimmick that they've come up with to sell us more of their s^#t.  We need to be aware that we're losing our connection to one another in the process.  Our lives shouldn't become more complicated, simply because we're being told that it has to be so.  Maybe it's time we start sending a message with our purchasing choices that we need simpler lives.  We survived the "Good old days" without "Kindles", 'Smart phones", or big screens.  I know people who will be in the middle of a conversation with you, but if they get a text... They'll walk away and start texting back.  Sometimes the only apology you get for this is a raised index finger as if to say that little box in their hand is way more important than I am..... F%#k that!!! I don't accept it, it's rude!!!  Let's get back to caring about one another more than we care about our gadgets.

WHAT THE MEDIA ISN'T TELLING YOU ABOUT UKRAINE AND RUSSIA!!!

Please, please, PLEASE take some time out of your busy day, and explore the links I've provided you (Red) in this blog.  It's IMPORTANT that we understand how things really work in our World!!!

          First a little background on Ukraine.... As you may know the finances of the Ukrainian government are in the Crapper, they're flat broke as are most  Governments these days.  This includes the US by the way, each American taxpayers share of the Federal debt is (As of this writing) is a little over $151,000!!!  I don't know about you, but I'm going to have a little trouble coming up with my share of this.  Anyhow, the Democratically elected President of Ukraine (Viktor  Yanukovich) had asked the European Union for a bailout.  The EU., along with the International Monetary Fund, offered a deal that, quite frankly.... Sucked.  Don't get me wrong, the Yanukovich administration was as corrupt and had it's nose as firmly planted in the Country's Oligarch's behinds as possible.  This is what got them in trouble in the first place, but the IMF was offering a bailout deal that only gave Yanukovich enough money to pay back what Ukraine already owed to the European too big to fails, and it required massive austerity in the process.  A 40% tax on natural gas, wage freezes, and massive Government budget cuts, were some of the "Requirements".  The Country there was being being squeezed at the time from both sides.  Russia was also putting sanctions on the Country.  But Yanukovich went to Vladimir Putin with his hat in his hand anyway, and asked for the money.  Putin you see has had dreams of a "Eurasion Union" for some time.  Not a new Soviet Union, but an economic marriage similar to the European Union.  Ukraine is a  key component in this Chess Game.  

Ukraine has long been a pawn
in US., and Russian relations.

 
     Not only do key natural gas pipelines run through Ukraine from Russia to Europe, but Ukraine is an agricultural power house.    Putin was glad to offer Yanukovich a deal that he simply couldn't refuse. It included $20 Billion, and a 30% discount on natural gas.  Unfortunately this infuriated opposition leaders in the country (Who wanted ties with the EU.,) and massive public demonstrations began.   As things spiraled out of control for  Yanukovich, and it looked like there would even be a revolution, he held a meeting with opposition leaders, and had agreed to a deal that reduced his presidential powers, and allowed for early elections.  When it looked like things might settle down however, snipers began indiscriminately shooting people in the streets.  Things spiraled out of control, and the Yanukovich Government was eventually overthrown.  No one seems to know who these snipers were, but Yanukovich's Security Chief has gone on the record, as saying they were mercenaries hired by the CIA.    What isn't disputed is a leaked conversation between Hillary Clinton's assistant (Victoria Nuland,) and the US Ambassador to Ukraine (Geoffrey Pyatt) where they stated F$%k the EU, and went on to literally hand pick
the new Neo Nazi Prime Minister of Ukraine.  The Country is now in what could almost be called a civil war.
                                                                  
    Now let's switch gears, and start exploring how all of this will impact YOUR LIFE.

1. 

   Saddam Hussein (Public domain image)

         This is why the US really invaded Iraq!  Iraq has the fifth largest proven oil reserves in the world.  according to the Energy Information Administration, at the end of 2012, it was the second largest producer of oil in OPEC.  
2.       Why has Obama salivated to overthrow the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria?  Why are we supporting the so called insurgents there, even though it's well known that many of them are Al Qaeda members???  Syria doesn't really have much in oil reserves.  Proven reserves are about 4 1/2 billion barrels, which seems like a lot, but that would supply the US for only a little more than four months.  I don't agree with everything the author says in the following link, but they got one thing right when they said "Syria stands at the door to the emergence of the Eastern Alliance, the new dominant energy pipelines, a new payment system detached from the US Dollar and Anglo banks."  Syria War: Is it about the last gasp for the PetroDollar?  
3.      Why have the media, and War hawks in Washington tried to create fear over Iran's nuclear program for years?  This is the real reason for Washington's angst over Iran!  Notice how it was such

   

   A gold Dinar (Africa's answer
   to the Euro) 

   a big deal a year ago, and now the Media doesn't even hardly mention Iran's so called "Nuclear bomb program"???  I guess it's not a big deal anymore!!!                                                    4.     Why did we really overthrow Muammar Gaddafi in Libya?  What's the Benghazi scandal about?  This is the real reason that he was overthrown!!!         

           Time and again, the people who through corruption have really seized control of the US., Government have demonstrated that above all else, they are interested in maintaining the value of their fortunes, which happen to be comprised of US Dollars.  Contrary to what some conspiracy theorists may be saying, it's not in their interest to ""Collapse the US economy"" by de-valuing the Dollar, and instituting a so called "One World currency", because they will lose money in the process.  Unfortunately, they have backed themselves into a corner over Ukraine.  My guess is that they are secretly scared sh@tless!!! It was expected that Russia would "Take it's lumps", but Putin has called their bluff.  As he assumed control of Crimea, and then annexed it, Barack Obama had no choice in order to "Save face" than to begin imposing sanctions on Russia.  As a response though, Putin has pushed through a massive natural gas deal with China (Not exchanged in Dollars!)  China has signaled it's allegiance with Russia over Obama's sanctions.  They've already begun distancing themselves from exposure to US Government debt.  Beijing has begun stockpiling massive amounts of gold, and dumping US treasuries.   An adviser to  Vladimir Putin, warned that Russia would dump it's US Treasury bonds, in response to sanctions, and it now looks like they may be making good on that promise.  In the last week Putin sealed a deal with Kazakhstan  and Belarus creating an "Eurasian union".  These countries will increase trade (Not in Dollars) and represent 15% of the Worlds oil reserves, and a fifth of all Natural gas!!!  Iran reported a week ago, that it's about to seal a deal to sell 500,000 barrels a day to Russia, and guess what?  Here's a hint.  No pictures of George Washington are involved!!!  Again Conspiracy Theorists will lead you to believe that this will lead to World War 3, but let me share a conspiracy theory of my own.  I don't believe this will happen, because either Russia or China sent a warning a while back to Washington that they could launch an "EMP" device over the US any time they chose to, destroying the US power grid and all electronics.  I also believe that the US military is not as "Hardened" to resist an EMP as they would like to be.  Along with this scenario, Russia's new ally (Iran) could easily seal off all middle eastern oil, as admitted by the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  Despite recent oil production increases here at home, we still rely on foreign oil, and the US military is the biggest single consumer of oil on the Planet. 

So what's it all mean for you?  I give a 50/50 chance of the following.....

     There's a very good possibility that we can expect the US Dollar to crash within the next 12 months, as Russia and China drive it into the dirt.  This means what's called "Hyperinflation" here at home, where everything that you buy becomes many times more expensive than it is now.  The US stock market will crash, and our Government will be unable to function because it's credit is maxed out.  No one will lend us any money!  The Federal Reserve will print Greenbacks wildly, creating even more inflation.  Goods from overseas, will become un-obtainable, as the price for them skyrockets.  Blame will be placed everywhere.  Racial violence will become horribly frequent, rioting in the streets, and massive fires breaking out.  There may be martial law.  You will wait for hours in line at the grocery store for your allotted pound of burger, and forget even thinking about filling up at the pump.   As the Country sinks deeper into an economic death spiral, there will be looting everywhere.

This is the Armageddon,  You should be worrying about!!!