Over-development

I just wanted to call attention to Karen's post about about the potential development of wetlands in Redwood City, California.  The land is presently designated as open space, but Cargill wants to build 12,000 housing units and 1 million square feet of office space on a salt marsh.


Generally speaking, local governments seek development (almost regardless of its merits) because it provides them property or sales tax revenues.  Commercial or industrial development is of course the "best" in this regard, because it doesn't attract in children who have to be given an education or receive other costly services.

This is a problem in so many places!  Even during this deep recession, when there are millions of empty shops and foreclosed homes, unnecessary or unwise development continues.  In contrast, I was so impressed in touring England to see a sharper differentiation between cities and the surrounding countryside.  We saw much less of the wasteful sprawl that is commonplace here.  (Still, it is a subject of concern there, too).

Let's help keep America Beautiful, if we possibly can. Let our children and grandchildren admire it too.


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Back to Reagan country!

As it turns out, I am going back to Reagan Country in north-central Illinois for a long weekend.  We were there last weekend, after the Pumpkin Fiasco, and now I'm returning for a volleyball match, but also to visit some additional historic sites.  Here's a guide:


There was a time in the past when I would have avoided Reagan territory for political reasons (and my wife still feels that way).  But my own mood has softened.  First, I like it that Reagan came from not very prosperous circumstances--we saw the modest apartment he was born in.  And second, I agree with Obama that Reagan was a transformational figure:

"I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that, you know, Richard Nixon did not, and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. He put us on a fundamentally different path, because the country was ready for it. I think they felt like, you know, with all the excesses of the '60s and the '70s, you know, government had grown and grown, but there wasn't much sense of accountability in terms of how it was operating, and I think people just tapped into — he tapped into what people were already feeling, which is we want clarity, we want optimism, we want a return to that sense of dynamism, and, and, you know, entrepreneurship that had been missing."

And thirdly, I guess, not only as a speaker, a Great Communicator, Reagan was an intellectual powerhouse compared to the Palin-Beck-Bachmann-teabagger crowd.  Perhaps not him personally, but there were people around him who were actually interested in policy ideas!  And they wrote books about them, actual books!  I worked on a lot of those issues when I was in Washington, and I wrote quite a bit about them, too.  

Things have gone downhill in his wake.  There aren't any "conservative intellectuals" left now, and there used to be many.  

So now I don't avoid travel to central Illinois, but do kind of consider Alaska off-limits.  Although with the Governor resigned, perhaps I ought to go up there--before the glaciers melt away.

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V is for?

I tried to watch the new ABC show "V"  (apparently a remake of an earlier series) for two reasons:  (a) it is science fiction, which I like, and (b) watching the promos for it, I had a definite feeling that the show is making an anti-Obama statement, and possibly was even designed for that purpose.  The attractive-appearing aliens from space come offering "hope" and speaking other Obama-like messages, offering benefits like greatly improved health care--when, of course, they are really up to evil.  And of course in the mind of the far right, Obama is an "alien," not an American.  So I wanted to see how the show played out.


The trouble is, I found V to be too boring, and turned it off after about 20 minutes.  I did think the big hovering spaceships (saucers, really) were rather cool.  But the characters seemed shallow and unimpressive, and I just couldn't get into it enough to find out where the story is going, in terms of either politics or plot.

I do hope the earthlings survive, though.  In any contest between us, and even some "superior" life-forms from some other part of the galaxy, I am hoping that we win out.  That is my perhaps myopic but still definite "planetary patriotism."  Someone else is going to have to watch this show, however.

There is no question that "entertainment" shows can have a political message, and there is at least some reason to believe that they can have political impact.  I enjoyed 24 for several seasons, but really in the end it came down basically to a justification for torture.  Was Dick Cheney an advisor on scripts?  I imagine, perhaps, so.

I am sure these questions will be covered in the various news and opinion outlets, and V's political ramifications will be perhaps over-explored.  But I for one found V quite tedious.  Whether Republicans will, I can't say.

Live long, and prosper!

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My Dump Truck Poem

I lead a "personal poetry sharing circle" at a nearby Senior Center.  Consequently, in my capacity as "leader," I felt I had better write a poem as an "example."  The following is what I came up with.


It isn't polished, and perhaps isn't even complete.  And it is kind of depressed, don't you think?  Probably showing the frustration of being very retired.  


But anyhow, it is what I wrote, as of this morning.  The group meets this afternoon.  I am going to take it.



It used to be that

life for me was

a big snow plow

astride the front of

a huge dump truck


Barreling along


Cleaning out, clearing away

Getting things done!

Aimed at accomplishments

and having some, too.


I was the driver.

Strongly, skillfully

I made a path

I blazed a trail

I won awards


I followed some others, true, but also

Some others followed me

Slowly, the path widened up, straightened out


Quite a good job, and

Quite a bit of hoopla!

Kids came to watch in their scarves and thick coats

they threw snowballs, and constructed

snow men

Overall, it was quite a show


But now, life for me is more like a west-bound train

passing silently in the night 

over empty prairies and

past small towns

with no lights left on

and few residents left, either


A place to turn back, perhaps

to the buffalo

A place where just a drink of cool water

Causes excitement for many from many, many miles away


No one to wave to

Nothing to whistle at

And no reason to stop

Before the end of the line

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Good Mileage?

I got to drive my new car (a Subaru Forester) this past weekend out "into the country"--yes, there really is quite a bit still left, west of Chicago, if you go out far enough, to the middle of Illinois-- and noted the gas mileage.  On a 300 mile trip, I clocked in at 26 miles per gallon.


That doesn't seem too bad to me, but it doesn't seem too good, either.  Don't you think that nowadays you need to get over 30 miles per gallon before you are getting "good" mileage?  On some future trip, where we will be driving mostly expressways, I will try to crash that barrier.

But what I also noticed is how far out the "suburban sprawl" has gone, with big developments near tiny rural towns and on far fields.  (One example is Pingree Grove, which had only 124 residents at the time of the 2000 census, but has grown rapidly since, and I guess is still doing so despite the recession and housing collapse--not sure about that, though).

My first thought is, no one should live there at all.  This is some of the best agricultural land in the world.  It ought to be left alone.  Northern Illinois University has made an effort to document the changes and the loss of this primary food resource.

But a second issue relates to fuel consumption.  People who live so far out, so far away from employment and shopping, have to drive everywhere, all the time:  no other sort of transportation exists, or is possible.  Getting more fuel-efficient, less-polluting automobiles isn't much of an improvement if we have to have more of them, driven further each day.

I personally feel slightly guilty on this issue, as the development we have moved into was once open space.  Not exactly farmland:  actually, much of the area was a US Naval air base.  But on the good side, it isn't "way out," either.  Developed communities surround us on all sides.  And much of our shopping at least can be done with a drive of just a mile (although none is really in very easy walking distance, at least not if you are carrying packages).  Even the excellent high school is just a couple miles away.

Anyhow, it seems to me that there is a big tension between the push for better-mileage cars and the continuing dispersal of population in search of cheaper houses.  All of the political attention (and consumer interest) seems to be focused on the former aspect.  But isn't the latter just as important??

Actually, I imagine that many of these "rural" homeowners have lost their homes because, in search of the American Dream, they were mislead into mortgage they couldn't really handle, certainly not as jobs were being lost.  But that is small comfort:  there is no way to "unbuild" the construction.  The land is now gone, forever.

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Pumpkins galore!

We will go this weekend out to the Sycamore IL Pumpkin Festival.  That's where my (first) wife and I were married, where our son was born, and where she is buried (and I will be one day, too:  the marker is in place).  I want to put a few miles on my new Subaru, and also check its gas mileage.


This is the kind of small town/rural activity that I enjoy.  There is a huge display of pumpkins on the DeKalb County courthouse lawn, and a bunch of interesting food, like Bat Wing Sandwiches.  On Sunday, there is a parade.  Probably we will go to the Pancake Breakfast and especially the Pig Roast Luncheon.

Also, we will go to the cemetery in honor of the Mexican Day of the Dead, which is a time actually for happy memorials, not sadness.  

This to me is America.  Local festivals, inexpensive (or free) entertainment, church breakfasts and suppers.  Parades.  Pumpkins and turkeys and hams and pie, lots of kinds of pie--there were so many good ones over in Michigan!.  It isn't only Apple pie that's American!  Cherry pie is, too.  Right?

And multi-ethnicity also.  Why not participate in a Mexican tradition (we have for several years now)  Isn't that a part of America?  Everyone here came from someplace else.  Even "native Americans," who came across a land (or ice?) "bridge" from Asia.  (Although apparently some don't like to admit that, as it contradicts their religious beliefs and traditions, just like some Christians don't like to admit you-know-what and when it all happened).

Always, always there is resistance to science, isn't there?  However, I am going to get a flu shot before we leave town.  I am not much of a "Denier," as the Republicans tend to be.  Instead, I am a card-carrying, multi-degreed member of the reality-based community, where people do get sick and doctors and medicines and research can sometimes help and we badly need health insurance reform. 

So were my parents.  

And, of course, I'm a Buddhist, too.  They are the real experts on Suffering.

As to origins, actually, we all "came" from Africa.  That is the best contemporary understanding, and has been for quite a while now.  So, in a way, we are all "African-Americans," as well as Italian Americans, Irish Americans, German Americans, Polish Americans, Russian-Americans, or whatever mix.  Or some complex combination thereof.  That is in terms of genetics (unless of course you are like Sarah Palin and simply don't believe in genetics, either).

But it was long, long ago.  Well before the Stone Age.  Before the Age of Anything.  Back in the Dreamtime, I guess.

They do have some pumpkins in Africa, however.  Great big ones!  My friend who is in China now says, there, not so many--at least not in the cities.

But pumpkins have been around quite a while.  And of course they make a fine pie, too.

Have a Happy Halloween!  Treat the costumed kids, and light a pumpkin for yourself.

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Looking for America (lyric by Paul Simon)

"Let us be lovers we'll marry our fortunes together." 
"I've got some real estate here in my bag." 
So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner pies 
And we walked off to look for America. 
"Kathy," I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh 
"Michigan seems like a dream to me now 
It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw 
I've come to look for America." 

Laughing on the bus; 
Playing games with the faces; 
She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy; 
I said "Be careful his bowtie is really a camera." 

"Toss me a cigarette, I think there's one in my raincoat." 
"We smoked the last one an hour ago." 
So I looked at the scenery, she read her magazine 
And the moon rose over an open field. 

"Kathy, I'm lost," I said, though I knew she was sleeping. 
"I'm empty and aching and I don't know why." 
Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike: 
They've all come to look for America 
All come to look for America 
All come to look for America

----

I have such a strong fear for the future of our country, and our recent trip to Detroit (with so many empty buildings, so many roads in poor repair, even in "nice" neighborhoods) added to it.  Seeing what has happened to the north woods of the UP and Wisconsin didn't help, either.  I guess in the UP many of the towns died when railroad service was lost some decades ago now--as has happened to smaller cities and towns all over our nation.

My wife and I have driven all over the U.S., practically (but not quite) the entire country, almost always off the interstate, where you can see how people are living and businesses are doing (or failing).

It is disheartening.  In Indiana, for example, what was billed as the state's largest Pontiac dealer was empty, closed down, when we passed by last Spring.

Watching the news, which covers politics as if it were a meaningless sport rather than the essence of democratic decision-making, makes it worse.  (And that is when the commentaries are merely superficial, and not overtly biased and partisan, which is often the case, too).

This is such a beautiful country!  Have you ever seen the Grand Canyon?  (Everyone should!)  


How about the Grand Tetons?  Yellowstone and Yosemite?  The Everglades, and so many more spectacular, interesting, unique places?

When will we ever find our way again?
When will we get our country back?

So many great leaders have pointed the way.  Jefferson, Lincoln, the Roosevelt cousins, and certainly Barack Obama too.

When will we ever find our way?  Don't you want to rediscover America?  I certainly do.

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The Devil is WHO?

I am aware that there are people "out there" (including amazingly a couple on Vox, which as a whole is such nice bunch) who think that our President, Barack Obama--probably the smartest man to hold the office since Thomas Jefferson, and certainly the one of best character in recent memory--is nonetheless somehow The Devil.


Not only The Devil--but a foreign-born (possibly Kenyan, the homeland of tall people who run very fast) and a "socialist-facist-Muslim" (sic) Devil.  (In addition, of course, to being black)

However, recent news makes clear that this is an error.  A serious case of mistaken identity.

(The envelope please)

(wait for the crowd to become silent).  

The tension is high.  There are backers of suchlike as Bernie Madoff and many, many other barons of Wall Street; the list of nominees is extensive).


However, the real Devil--replacing last year's genuine and perhaps the most powerful Devil of modern times, Dick Cheney, who was the rightful successor to that other very wickedly effective Devil, Karl Rove, is . . .

The Real and Actual Devil for the year 2009 is:


Joe
Joe

The members of the Academy of Evil, a large and very well-dressed group who showed off their expensive baubles during the red carpet preview, erupts in near-unanimous jubilation!  


Joe has of course recently distinguished himself by indicating that he will prevent a vote in the Senate on health insurance reform--something reasonably opposed by the several giant "health care" insurers headquartered in his state, who want to milk us and the government for every dollar possible, by taking $ from the well and denying care to the ill.

But this isn't his first official betrayal, of course, but one of many.  The most prominent of course was that--although he was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2000, and actually won office according to the popular vote--a choice that now, looking back, seems as astonishing as the Republicans' selection of Sarah Palin as Vice-Commander in Chief simply because she could see Russia from her porch--anyhow, despite the honor and trust that had been placed on him, he turn-coated in 2008 and worked against his party's nominee.


Anyhow, my apologies to all you (mostly minor league) evil-wishers, evil-doers out there, trying to tear down America, spoil the democratic process, eliminate science and make thoughtful discussion impossible, eviscerate the Constitution, erect more billboards, destroy small towns, and leave us all without savings, rights, jobs, houses, or health care services--but you have been bowing down to the wrong deity.  The true, horned, red-skinned, tail wagging, grinning devil of 2009 is the junior Senator from Connecticut.  I am sure you will enjoy his company when you go one day "down below."

"Traitors" you will notice occupy the lowest and innermost circle.

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Economic recovery?

My retirement portfolio, which hit its nadir in 12/08, has recovered about 20% of its diminished value since Obama took office.  (That's nearly $140 in enhanced retirement savings--enough for a couple years in a retirement home, according to the figures I have seen).


It would have recovered more if I hadn't spent over $30,000 on a new car.  But that had to be done, because the lease on my prior auto had run out.  (Well, I imagine I could have found a cheaper car--but I wanted four-wheel drive and other goodies).

Anyhow, I think I can get along this year without an automatic Cost of Living (COLA) adjustment to my Social Security benefits.  In the past, most of them have been pretty small anyhow.  The explanation given for no-change this year is that consumer prices have fallen some.

The Obama administration is asking for a $250 payment to help make up for this loss.  However, at least in my own case, that hardly seems necessary.  The improvement in the stock market is far more important.  

And I definitely don't feel like one of those "hardest-hit" by the Bush/Wall Street recession.  I know that there are many others who are much worse off than my wife and me.  And I realize, too, that there are many others--the true villains of the piece--who have hardly been punished financially at all.  (I don't consider having one's income cut from, say, $50 million a year to, say, $35 million a year "punishment" in any meaningful sense).

(I find I am still incensed by the fact that John McCain simply didn't know how many houses he (and his wife) own!  The wounds from a campaign take a long time to heal up, and mine definitely have not).

However, for the Wall Street bunch, the real financial villains, I think they should get prison-time, and not renewed bonuses that are apparently in the offing. 

I am glad to have the stock price increases, for which admittedly, I did nothing (except pick Apple, now over $200) as a stock to own.  The stocks selected by professional advisors and "wealth managers" (sic) did quite a bit worse.  But then, I did nothing to cause the prior losses, either.

The whole situation is shameful.
For shame!

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Pumpkins at our front door

Pumpkins 2009
Pumpkins 2009
The biggest pumpkin we bought at a nearby church.  Some of the cost was being devoted to a variety of good causes, and we liked that.  I picked the one with the bumpy skin:  hope it doesn't have cancer!

Actually, I had a skin cancer once.  Was told by the doctor, after minor surgery, "Well, we got it in time."  I had no idea at all that it was dangerous!  Now I claim that the scar is from a mountain climbing accident.

The little pumpkins represent various local grandchildren.

It is hard to tell from this angle, but the large green gourd has a long neck that makes it look rather like a duck or goose.  Geese, as it happens, are causing consternation in our development, because of their numbers and frequent droppings.  I enjoy them though--the geese, not the drops--and indeed all the other wildlife that has been around (including a coyote, which has some residents terrified).  They want to call Animal Control.  I figure, the animals were here long, long before we were.

Let Them Be
Go in Peace

That's my attitude, but I would be afraid to speak up for it at a neighborhood meeting--if we ever have one.  I figure my views on most things are very much in the minority, and perhaps are minority of one.  Actually, I guess that's why this blog is called "scene from a side road."  I figure almost no one will agree with me.

The pumpkins do look nice though--don't they?
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