7 May 2011 Be sure to wear clean underwear

“Is The End Nigh? We'll Know Soon Enough

by BARBARA BRADLEY HAGERTY

http://www.npr.org/2011/05/07/136053462/is-the-end-nigh-well-know-soon-enough?sc=fb&cc=fp

“On May 21, "starting in the Pacific Rim at around the 6 p.m. local time hour, in each time zone, there will be a great earthquake, such as has never been in the history of the Earth," he says. The true Christian believers — he hopes he's one of them — will be "raptured": They'll fly upward to heaven. And for the rest?

"It's just the horror of horror stories," he says, "and on top of all that, there's no more salvation at that point. And then the Bible says it will be 153 days later that the entire universe and planet Earth will be destroyed forever."

44 failed & 1 ambiguous end-of-the-world
predictions that were to occur between 30 & 1920 CE

http://www.religioustolerance.org/end_wrl2.htm

Cassi Creek:

            The Religious Tolerance website provides a list of prediction centered on the Christian belief in the return of Jesus.  Their list ends with the year 1920, but they do include a list of dates considered relevant and likely by the Jehovah’s Witnesses group.  These have all come and gone.  The current hot number for universal disruption is now only 2 weeks distant. 

            There is a caravan traveling about the nation predicting the latest end of days onset.  This group believes in the “rapture,” immediate corporeal transportation into the celestial heaven that they expect to find somewhere above the planet’s surface.

            There are many who believe that this event will take place.  The current radio evangelist, Harold Camping, who is championing the 21 May 2011 happening seems to have previously laid his chips on 6 September 1994.  Obviously, his calculations were off or his celestial leaks were unreliable.  The current crop of followers seem all too eager to overlook the fact that they should have all been carried away nearly 17 years ago.  Camping attributes the discrepancy to his failure to read the book of Jeremiah.  I’m not at all convinced that adding that to his summer reading list made any difference. 

            There are going to be some seriously disappointed people when the 22^nd dawns.  I predict a marked increase in the number of new prescriptions for anti-depressants.  One need not be a prophet to foresee those profits. 

            Numerous offers now exist on the internet to care for the pets of those who are instantly transported.  All of them, wisely, demand up-front payment in exchange for continuing pet care.   I’ve not heard of anyone locally signing up pet clients.  I’m willing to believe that there are people who are willing to pay for their pets to fed and watered until the universe is destroyed. 

            The recent series of tornadoes in the South East U.S. provided as close an opportunity to be transported skyward, as most of us will ever care to see.  I’ve yet to see anyone claim to be eager for a repeat flight.  Those who were killed by storm winds obviously were not transported into nothingness. 

            The approach of the “rapture” raises some questions of etiquette.  What is the prescribed clothing for the trip?  Will laundry facilities be available for those departing suddenly without time to prepare for the flight?  Being suddenly flung into the sky can be frightening.  Even the “righteous” may suffer surprise incontinence. Will there be a baggage allowance or must all clothes be left behind?  Can family members go beyond the boarding gate to say “good bye,” or must they wave from the security gate?  Will there be a security check to rule out the non-righteous?  Will photo IDs be required?

            And of course, what excuse will you offer on the 22^nd when you need your old job and your old family back?

            If you need to pre-arrange pet care, my going rate is $500.00 per pet, cash only, and paid in advance.  I’ll also need a key to your home.   I like dogs, and I’m quite certain I’ll be smiling on the morning of the 22^nd.  Either way, be sure to wear clean underwear.

6 May 2011 Nothing of import

            Today is a housekeeping day. 

            We drove to Greeneville.  This is of note only because the local roads are no longer choked with debris or occupied by convoys of clean up and maintenance workers repairing storm damage. 

            We got haircuts.  The shop I use was also the shop Gloria used.  Her hairdresser moved up the road and we no longer can make do with a single stop.  While I was getting my haircut, reports of looting in Greene County were confirmed.  Old style barbershops were known for the quality of information they offered.  This one is high quality.

            Went grocery shopping today, refilling the pantry, no luxury items.  Took two stops to fill the list. 

            On the return trip, we drove up Little Cassi Creek Road.  This is where the EF-3 nature of the 2^nd tornado is most evident.  Whole sections of the mountainside have been reduced to nothing but toppled and broken trees strewn in all directions.    It resembles nothing so closely as the aftermath of a TAC Air bombing run. 

            Dinner tonight is Italian sausage, white bean, escarole soup. 

Shabbat Shalom!

5 May 2011 Surviving spring in the Midwest

5 May 2011  Surviving spring in the Midwest

            Spring, in the Midwest United States, is an exercise in determination. 

            The Missouri-Mississippi-Ohio basin is a battleground with no way for humans to win. 

            The end of winter brings wildly fluctuating temperatures to the region.  Humidity, high humidity, is a constant.   Spring weather fronts funnel warm, moist Gulf air masses into the drainage basin.  Trapped between the Rockies and the Appalachians, the moist air stays there and provides an increase in the misery quotient. 

            The rivers that drain the interior U.S. are primarily mountain born and snow fed.  Good weather for the ski industry yields an increased risk of spring floods.  There are always spring floods.  The only uncertainty is where, compounded by when and for how long.  One of the three great rivers, often all three, will flood every spring.  In addition to the snow melt and ice break up, the potential for flood is increased by the inevitable spring thunderstorms. 

            The months of spring in the upper Midwest are graced by the season of whirling winds.  Tornado season arrives with the spring thunderstorms.  The air mass interactions, driven by the shifting jet streams, produce huge squall lines that dump inches of rain on the already saturated ground.  Towering thunderstorms forming along the frontal boundaries also bring hail, high line winds, microbursts, and lightning strikes.  This pattern can repeat every day for weeks in some springs; preventing access to farm fields for planting, damaging already planted crops, destroying homes, forests, and heralding the worst threat.

            Tornado season brings risk to the entire central U.S., from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border.  The squall lines spawn tornadoes as they move from West to East.  Damage can be next to negligible, or devastating.  These are among the most frightening of nature’s anti-personnel devices.  There are those fortunately not too common situations when all the factors are primed for super cell thunderstorm formation.  These formations can spawn the most powerful tornadoes cataloged.  They literally blow towns off the map.  This year, we’ve seen a new record for the number of tornadoes in a 24-hour period, 312 now confirmed and a few more may be added to the official count.

            This spring we seem to be getting the worst of all options.  Strong winter storms and greater than normal snow pack, combined with very heavy rainfall in the region have brought all three great rivers to well over flood stage.  The confining levees, 50-foot tall primaries and 30-foot tall secondaries were first constructed in the 1930s by men working for the WPA and other depression –era programs.  Many sections were built using mule teams and wagons to haul earth.  Now those barriers are insufficient to contain this year’s floods and are being blown apart to control where the floodwaters are flowing; sacrificing cropland to save urban areas.   

            It seems as if the combined forces of normally cyclic weather are trying to force people out of the Midwest.   It isn’t personal, nature doesn’t take notice of our efforts to control it; only the damage we create and leave behind. 

            By the end of spring, the rivers will have returned to their valleys and much of the storm damage will be cleaned up, or at least, piled up for removal.  The fields that were flooded will be dry with cracked mud and weeds to show where the levees were blown apart.  And by next spring, someone will be crying for rain. 

Linked below, N.E. Tennessee tornado map 27 & 28 April 2011.  Entirely too close for our comfort. 

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mrx/?n=tor_outbreak_map

4 May 2011 “Took him to the graveyard, didn’t bring him back.”

4 May 2011  “Took him to the graveyard, didn’t bring him back.”

            http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/04/us-binladen-legitimacy-idUSTRE74318620110504

“Concerns raised over shooting of unarmed bin Laden, burial”

            Cassi Creek:

The article quotes several former government officials, attorneys, and others who find fault with the execution of bin Laden when, they believe, he might have been captured, extradited, and tried in a court of law. 

            The decision to shoot or not rightfully belonged to the men on the ground inside the compound.  I think they chose correctly. In the immediacy of combat they had no time to treat him as a criminal suspect and worry about his rights.  He’d already claimed credit for the 9-11 attacks.  If he lied about that, it became his problem.  I believe, and more importantly, those who have access to actual intelligence believe, that he is guilty of the murders of thousands of people worldwide.  The extraction team was deployed with a “dead or alive” mission objective. 

            The matter of burial is also going to become a point of dispute. 

            “BURIAL AT SEA CONCERN”

“Son Had, spokesman for Jema'ah Ansharut Tauhid, the Islamic group founded by Indonesian firebrand Abu Bakar Bashir, said it was clear that bin Laden had become a martyr.

"In Islam, a man who died....in fighting for sharia will earn the highest title for mankind other than a prophet, that is a martyr. Osama is a fighter for Islam, for sharia."

But for many Muslim leaders the greater concern was bin Laden's burial at sea, not land. His body was taken to an aircraft carrier where U.S. officials said it was buried at sea, according to Islamic rites.

I.A. Rehman, an official with the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said it was more important than the issue of how bin Laden was killed.

"The fact that he was not armed is a smaller thing...There will be more focus on whether he was buried in an Islamic way. There has been reaction from Islamic clerics that he was not properly buried and this will be discussed for some time."

Saudi Sheikh Abdul Mohsen Al-Obaikan, an adviser to the Saudi Royal Court, was more direct.

"That is not the Islamic way. The Islamic way is to bury the person in land (if he has died on land) like all other people."

Amidhan, a member of Indonesia's Ulema Council (MUI), the highest Islamic authority in the world's biggest Muslim society, said he was more concerned about the burial that the killing.

"Burying someone in the ocean needs extraordinary situation. Is there one?," he told Reuters.

"If the U.S. can't explain that, then it appears just like dumping an animal and that means there is no respect for the man ... and what they did can incite more resentment among Osama's supporters."

(Additional reporting by Jeff Mason in Washington, Michael Perry in Sydney, Alistair Scrutton in New Delhi, Rebecca Conway in Islamabad, Olivia Rondonwu in Jakarta, Aaron Gray-Block in Amsterdam; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)”

Cassi Creek:

            The United States is not legally or ethically responsible, to those who wage war against it and its citizens, to provide burial or other means of body disposal upon their demise.  The process of assuring that the deceased’s religious concerns are observed resides in the deceased or the legal next of kin.  The United States is under no obligation to satisfy the precepts of any religion or to transport and release the body of executed criminals to their next of kin. 

            If there are Muslim clerics unhappy with the manner in which bin Laden’s body was disposed of, that is not a concern of the United States or its citizens.  In point of fact, the United States placed members of its armed forces at grave risk to assure that the body of bin Laden was removed from its place of death so that it could be prepared for burial in Islamic manner. 

            If these same clerics wish to voice concern, they are free to do so.  However, should such matters be used to stir up anti-American sentiment, the United States may wish to present the responsible parties with the bill for services rendered; to include:

Body retrieval, hourly use of four helicopters and the replacement price of one Blackhawk helicopter.

Hourly wages of U.S, Navy personnel engaged in extraction, body retrieval, body preparation for and translation expenses at burial

Shroud and weighted body bag

Hourly operational costs of U.S.S. Carl Vinson CVN 70

 while engaged in body recovery, transport, and burial. 

            The United States went out of its way to handle the body of bin Laden with appropriate respect.  In fact, it was treated with respect that the deceased did not merit.   Ask the families of any of his victims, worldwide.  They would, no doubt, have been far less considerate of religious concerns. 

There is no way to please everyone!

               

3 May 2011 Where have all the letters gone?

            Among recent events that lead to head scratching and frustration is the case of the disappearing posts. 

            I have been a member/participant on a fly-fishing forum for 7 + years.  I read more than I post, particularly in recent months.  But I am sometimes moved to add a comment to an open thread or open a new thread.  For 7 years, this has posed no problem beyond hand and arm fatigue brought on by excessive posting. 

            In the last few days, post tornadoes, I’ve discovered that I am unable to post to the forum.  My comments appear in typed form on my monitor but the block of text somehow vanishes into the great unknown and does not show up on-line.

            Most likely, the culprit is some sort of privacy or security cookie setting that is unique to IE9, the browser I am using.  I’ve resisted the switch to FireFox so far.  Since most of what I am concerned with is either text or still photographic in nature, the on-line video mania has failed to encourage me to tweak my platform for video. 

            Unfortunately, since I can’t enter text and count on it to show up online, I have no way to work with anyone to resolve the situation.  I’ve run through all my routine cleaning and recuperative routines without any resolution.  I’m going to see what the net book provides in on-line entry. 

            Currently it is 82°F with a forecast low of 41°F tonight.  Today’s hike with Mike took place with 20-30 mph down valley winds, making the return trip, up valley, quite a slog.  We have an 80% probability of rain with thunderstorms imbedded in the front.  Given the wind, rain, and still ongoing clean up after the 27^th, 28^th; I suspect sleep will be hard to come by this evening for many residents. 

2 May 2011 USA chants inappropriate

            OSAMA BIN LADEN KILLED; ‘JUSTICE HAS BEEN DONE’

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/osama-bin-laden-is-killed-by-us-forces-in-pakistan/2011/05/01/AFXMZyVF_story.html

“Osama bin Laden, the long-hunted al-Qaeda leader and chief architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, was killed by U.S. forces Sunday in what officials described as a surgical raid on his luxury hideout in Pakistan.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/achenblog/post/osama-bin-laden-killed/2011/05/02/AFxfAJYF_blog.html

Osama bin Laden killed

“By Joel Achenbach

In his final moments, Osama bin Laden had a choice — something his victims weren’t given. On the airliners, in the towers, at the Pentagon, innocent people suddenly had no way out. But bin Laden had an option. He could have surrendered. He refused, and the Navy Seals did what they were trained to do…

            “It’s ominous that bin Laden was living so openly in a walled compound down the street from Pakistan’s version of West Point. Of course the U.S. didn’t tip the Pakistani government about the impending operation.”

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/02/bin.laden.color/index.html?hpt=T2

(CNN) -- Americans celebrated early Monday in a show of patriotism against the man who committed his life to attacking U.S. citizens, while those directly affected by Osama bin Laden's terrorist plots quietly reflected on the closure finally gained from his death.

In front of the White House, chants of "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!" filled the night air, and the quickly growing group spontaneously broke into an off-key rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Cassi Creek:    In the immediate aftermath of the WTC/Pentagon attacks, American citizens were infuriated by video tapes showing celebrations in the streets of Ramallah, as would-be-Palestinians voiced their approval of the murders of thousands of Americans of many faiths by Islamic extremists, funded and directed by Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda organization. 

            I shared their anger at the murderous event and at the response by approving thousands.  To me, such mob behavior is not a hallmark of civilized people.

            Last night and today, American citizens are the ones behaving like a mob of religious extremists celebrating the death of an enemy.  The display of mob behavior has little to do with patriotism.  This is far more akin to a teavangelist anti-mosque mob intermingled with drunken fans taking to the streets after some meaningless athletic competition. 

            These chanting mobs are not a display of patriotism.  That actual display involves thousands of Americans working quietly in the background, in defense department roles, in intelligence gathering roles, and in every day police and security roles.   It came about quietly and continues to be quiet. 

            There is now some public confusion over the role and presence of Pakistani intelligence and military personnel on the ground with U.S. troops.  I suspect the initial U.S. denial of any cooperative efforts is correct.  Our military would not care to risk Pakistan blowing this operation as the Afghans did at Tora-Bora. 

            I take no pleasure in bin Laden’s death but believe it was justifiable and appropriate for the time and place. 

            Last night we dined on tandoori ribs, buttermilk-potato dumplings and saffron couscous.  Tonight we will have a pot of pho with thinly sliced beef. 

1 May 2011 Workers of the world unite…

            While the rest of the industrialized world provides workers with nationalized health care and vacation packages designed to produce a healthy workforce, the United States is leading the charge in a return to the days of robber barons and sweatshops.  Never have the world’s workers needed unity more. 

            There are pundits bemoaning the apparent beginning of the United States loss of world economic dominance in every newspaper, on every talk radio program, and on Fox News every second of airtime.  It’s quite likely that the decline of the U.S and the demise of the Pax Americana are upon us.  What these pundits fail to realize is that the politicians and political parties they prop up and in many cases direct from behind are responsible for the social, economic, and political conditions we now face.  When playing to the poorly educated one gets poor candidates for office and a voter base driven by our own brand of tribalism and Taliban. 

            The current field of potential GOP presidential candidates makes Nixon look good by comparison.  That is frightening!  The voter base that supports the GOP is no longer comprised of men and women who had the intellect of Buckley.  Eisenhower and Teddy Roosevelt could not win a GOP nomination today.  Instead, the GOP is playing to teavangelists, a base driven by theocracy, racism, and anti-intellectualism.   That base is so poorly grounded in reality that they believe the trickle down myth and the lie that tax cuts for the super-rich will bring jobs back to American workers.  With a voter base like that, this nation is set to self-destruct by becoming a theocratic oligarchy.  We should take a hard look at the Latin America of the Colonial era.  That is likely to be the future of the U.S.

            Today’s petty annoyances are becoming today’s aggravations.  The cable TV and internet service have been dropping off-line this morning.  In each case, it has required a phone call to Comcast to generate an automated refresh signal to bring them back up on line.  Yesterday, such an interruption would have been of no consequence.  Today, after a night with all our accustomed services restored, a hot shower, and a home-cooked breakfast, those interruptions trigger inappropriate annoyance. 

            We slip back into our accustomed routines so easily, while others have real worries to deal with. 

            There is a line of storms off to our west, moving slowly toward us.  It is bringing rain to regions that do not need any more. The Mississippi valley is already experiencing serious flooding and anticipates more.  The NWS is predicting the possibility of severe storms in the lower Mississippi valley Monday.  While they don’t predict another extreme outbreak, there is the possibility of more tornadoes in an area already blown apart last week. 

            I know that I’ll be monitoring the storm forecasts and the actual tornado genesis and tracking much more closely for a long time to come.  That perceived need to monitor something I can do very little about beyond prepare as much as possible is one thing driving my annoyance.  When I booted up the radar scans this morning the presence of the storms to our west gave me a moment’s pause. 

            It is amusing that the N.E. corner of Tennessee’s low frequency of tornadic storms was one of the major reasons we chose this area when we left Florida.  The NWS records listed 7 documented tornadoes in the years 1954-2004.  We’ve had five or six, including those of the 27^th & 28^th, since moving here in 2006.  The changing climactic conditions along with a La Nina Pacific ocean circulation have resulted in a persistent southward shift in the jet stream that brings the storm tracks more closely over us.  It is going to keep my attention on the weather, and the climate, for some time to come.  And yes, it is attributable, at least in part, to global warming.