Historic Hwy 70
I took this in the last fall season off historic Hwy70. It was one of my first attempts at trying to capture a scene taking into consideration the elements that composed it.
Year: 2006
Flying
Four days to go! I will board my flight and head into the air ultimatly to end up landing in one piece at New Orleans. My friend will be there to pick us up and take us to their new home. I am so excited as I have not seen her or her husband in a very long time since they moved from California to Mississippi.
I do not do big commercial airplanes well. My brother flys small aircraft and I have a blast when he does stunts trying to scare his sister. I have no fear of jumping out of an airplane with a parachute on, it is a gas, pretending to be a bird, yeh! But, there is something about the giant cigars with wings stuck on them that bugs the heck out of me. Maybe it is being seated along with a hundred other plus souls in a tube piloted by strangers – umm no real logical explaination – I just hate it.
Last August we flew to Vermont. I spent most of the flight pretending I was somewhere else and when that did not work, I tried to take pictures out the tiny window and identify any land features I could make out through the clouds. It was annoying at our layover to not have a lighter or a book of matches. Even if I wanted to chance going outside for a quick smoke, I would be reduced to begging to perfect strangers for a light. One gal on our flight was detained because she had a lighter in her pocket. Scared the heck out of her, they pulled her out of line and off she went. She told me later she had forgotten it was there and the experience although the security personnel were pleasant, was in her words “freaky man, freaky”.
I somehow felt more secure when everybody had to wait in line to be scanned along with all his or her carry on luggage. I found it reassuring that my luggage had been gone through and checked. They even left a polite little memo advising me that it had been searched. It is not that I am afraid of dying if it is my time to go but I really do not want to go because some fanatical nut case decide that it was his or her turn to go while we are 35,000 thousand miles up in a metallic cylinder without a parachute
I guess there are some impositions on my time and privacy I am willing to submit to in order to gain a little sense of security.
Scrutinizing the Source
While perusing the web this morning, I came across an article that puts forth the premise that the present administration’s goal in Iraq has been met. That Bush and Chenney wanted less of Iraq’s oil not more.
And what did the USA want Iraq to do with Iraq’s oil? The answer will surprise many of you: and it is uglier, more twisted, devilish and devious than anything imagined by the most conspiracy-addicted blogger. The answer can be found in a 323-page plan for Iraq’s oil secretly drafted by the State Department. Our team got a hold of a copy; how, doesn’t matter. The key thing is what’s inside this thick Bush diktat: a directive to Iraqis to maintain a state oil company that will “enhance its relationship with OPEC.”
Enhance its relationship with OPEC??? How strange: the government of the United States ordering Iraq to support the very OPEC oil cartel which is strangling our nation with outrageously high prices for crude.
Specifically, the system ordered up by the Bush cabal would keep a lid on Iraq’s oil production — limiting Iraq’s oil pumping to the tight quota set by Saudi Arabia and the OPEC cartel.
There you have it. Yes, Bush went in for the oil — not to get more of Iraq’s oil, but to prevent Iraq producing too much of it.BUSH DIDN’T BUNGLE IRAQ, YOU FOOLS
THE MISSION WAS INDEED ACCCOMPLISHED
The Guardian
Monday, March 20, 2006
by Greg Palast
It is not that this is a great revelation or a new idea but the mention of a 323 page plan supposedly drafted by the State Department drew my attention. It annoys me when authors put forth their opinions and use unsubstantiated statements and mysterious reports that cannot be confirmed to support these opinions.
Palast is totally reaching with this “invade Iraq to raise the price of crude and enhance relations with OPEC” angle. His lack proper references and supporting documents stand out as a good example of why not to believe everything you read. It will be interesting to see if this unsupported opinion hits the blogoshere and is used as support for another bloggers article.
If I came across this article on a personal blog I probably would not bother with mentioning it’s obvious failings but this is an author that is described as
“The most important investigative reporter of our time” [Tribune Magazine] in Britain, where his first reports appeared on BBC television and in the Guardian newspapers.”
in the about section of his web site along with numerous quotes from other major publications.
Know thy source. An opinion is just that an opinion but when secret and mysterious sources are used to support an opinion I tend to believe that the opinion can not stand alone on it’s own merits.
Tradition
A young girl watches her mother cut the ends of a roast and place it in the roasting pot. She asks her mother why do you cut the ends off? Her mother says, I do not know, it is the way my mother always did it. Later on, the young girl asks her Grandmother, Grandmother why do you cut the ends off the roast. Her Grandmother says, my mother always did it that way. The next time the young girls talks to her Great Grandmother she asks, great Grandmother, why do you always cut the ends of the roast off before placing it in the pot? Her Great Grandmother answered, I had too – the only roasting pot I owned was too small.