(If you are looking for "Chicken Little", you need to see my blog entry for September 21, 2011.)
Today, which I think is the first day of Autumn, I woke up to Good News and Bad News.
Good News First:
1. Hi!
I woke up!
2. Thank you, President Kennedy
Today is the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps, an Organization that shows how great we are as a Nation..
3. No Chubby Checkers
Operation TWIST has been initiated. Maybe the financial outlook will improve.
4. Publication
A book called Time for Outrage has been published in the U.S. It is an English translation of Indignez-vous, a European best-seller written by Stephane Hessel, a 93 year old diplomat, French Resistance fighter in WWII, and a concentration camp survivor.
Mr. Hessel challenges young people to fight the outrageous things that are going on. He wants them to stand up to what is wrong in the world, and like Lou Piel indicated in a recent column.. get off of one's butt and take action.
5. Get lost!
Corn mazes are suddenly appearing around the area. There is a remarkable one being unveiled at the Ag Center in Westminster, Maryland. That MAZE is really AMAZING! Bring the kids and get lost in the maze for a while. It's a lot of fun.
And now for the BAD NEWS!
6. I'm Going Broke again!
The Stock Market is way way way down again and banks are paying almost nothing for the use of your money. But I'm told that is OK because inflation is low. I'd rather have a little inflation.. perhaps that would cause us to have some job creation.
7. Ah Choo!
Once again, the 5 (count 'em) Carroll County (Maryland) Commissioners, in their wisdom, have cut funding for the Department of Health, and FLU shots are no longer going to be given by that organization. People will have to get their shots out in the open at Rite Aid or WalMart or Giant. Some Medical Offices will be giving shots, at least to people over 65.. I guess that is because Medicare may subsidize them.
(These same Commissioners have; however, found the money to hire a hot-shot Conservative advertising expert... as well as to contribute to a hot-shot lobbyist for the Maryland General Assembly.)
Another thing that bugs me about these Commissioners...they like to have their planning sessions in private.. at least they used to before people complained.. when I was Chair of the Carroll County Commission on Aging, I had to make sure that all of our meetings were publicised and open to the general population.
8. "They look alike.."
Twenty six year old twins have been charged with burglary and other crimes in Counties surrounding our relatively crime free Carroll County Maryland. The madula oblongata apparently has yet to mature in these two guys. Its a shame we still don't have a Draft.. maybe that would have gotten them off the streets and into a program to learn a more useful skill than thievery.
9. Did he or didn't he?
The Supreme Court opted not to hear the appeal information for convicted cop-killer, Troy Davis. Apparently, most of the people who testified that they saw Troy do the crime, recanted their testimony. I would think that this would cause a reasonable doubt in the minds of most people. But Mr. Davis was executed anyway... he maintained his innocence to the end.
Finally.. Hope?
10. In an editorial in The Nation magazine dated September 26, 2011, four actions are outlined that President Obama can take, on his own, to relieve the jobs situation. These are actions that do not allow for immediate obstruction by an obstructionist Congress.
a. Forgive the mortgage debt for the millions of homeowners facing foreclosure.
Supposed result: Put 71 billion dollars a year into the economy and create one million jobs.
b. Enact trade and tax reforms and penalize the offshoring of jobs.
Supposed result: Stop the accumulation of trillions of dollars in debt and keep jobs in the U.S.
c. Let Government create pilot programs and public jobs.
Supposed result: The generation of 2.2 million jobs.
d. Let the Federal Reserve lend direct financial support to producers and workers, as they did to the financial sector.
Supposed result: The end of this damned depression.
Do you think that the President will do any of these?
............................
Well, I think that I got quite a lot into this day's hour. At least, I got my juices flowing. See ya.
...........................
Showing posts with label Lou Piel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lou Piel. Show all posts
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Quick Local News from September 17, 2011
This blog will appear periodically and just cover items quickly observed or read in local newspapers within a one hour limit. This set of items is from the Carroll County (Maryland) Times for Saturday, September 17, 2011.
01. Religion
(Apologia: Some of you may know my views on religion, and what I write about may or may not be what I personally believe; however, it is what I am very much interested in and concerned about.)
Lou Piel, fellow CLV resident and preacher published a column with the title: Express God's Love in More Tangible Ways. Lou says: "... ask God, through the spirit, to intervene in our lives... so we would accept the responsibility God has given us."
Lou quotes Francis of Assissi: "Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace."
He also quotes Jim Robinson: "...if we're free, that means we are responsible."
I like Lou's premise, that we shouldn't sit around waiting for things to happen to us.. we need to get off of our butts and help others..
I also like one phrase of Lou's that tells me a lot about him: "In the act of creation, no matter how you understand it. (evolution, creationism)..."
I think that I will send Lou an email.
2. Religion
The Vatican is trying to get a break-away traditional Catholic group to rejoin the church.. but first, they must accept some core church teachings of the current Roman Catholic faith. The ultra-conservative Society of St. Pius X is opposed to the liberalizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council. That group was founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1969 and split with Rome over some issues, such as the church's relations with Jews and allowing the celebration of the Mass in languages other than Latin.
I believe that the Mass is now allowed to be celebrated in Latin.. I'll have to look further into the Jewish issue.. which may be related to a Bishop who denied the Holocaust.
3. Inventions and Such
President Obama signed a bill on Friday that overhauled the U.S. Patent system. The new law was set up to address the almost 700,000 patent application backlog. It now takes about three years to get a patent. (The article mentions that Thomas Edison only had to wait for seven weeks to get his photograph patent.. did they mean the phonograph?)
The act calls for the hiring of almost 2,000 examiners.
Wow! Republicans went along with this bill!
4. Religion again
In a letter to the editor, Wayne Butcher of Hampstead writes what may or may not be a tongue-in-cheek statements: "... a large number of Christians in this country believe the Bible to be historically accurate..." and: "Apart from the fact that the Bible definitely teaches that the Earth is little more than 6,000 years old, some simple observations reveal that the Earth is quite young..."
Wayne then gives some examples... as I read them, I do believe that Wayne is pulling our legs. He either is a reincarnated Voltaire, or a misguided Fundamentalist. (And "there is nothing wrong with that"... as Seinfeld would say.)
5. Even more Religion
Robert Wack, who I believe is, or was, a CLV Board Member, and a member of the Carroll County Common Council, writes about "...yet another back and forth about evolution versus creationism or intelligent design."
Bob believes that both sides of the argument are correct, because they are talking about two different things. His final paragraph bears repeating here:
"Science is about facts, evolution is science and the theory works, as well as our theories of gravity and electricity. Creationism is about feeling and faith, and it too works, but it is not science. Where science ends, faith begins, and it is on that frontier the two can coexist in harmony."
Good job, Bob. Let's hope Fundamentalists someday agree with you.
6. Elder Abuse
As the civilian coordinator of the TRIAD/SALT group in Carroll County, Maryland, I am very much interested in the apprehension and jailing of persons who abuse Senior Citizens. TRIAD is a group of three interested parties.. Police Organizations, AARP, and interested Senior Citizens. SALT is an acronym for Seniors and Law-enforcement Together. We meet regularly to address crimes against our elderly population.
The newspaper mentions a woman who has been charged with embezzling over $100,000 from an elderly woman with Alzheimers, for whom she had legal power. If true, this is an example of Elder Abuse. (Of course, being charged with a crime does not mean the person is convicted of a crime.)
According to a probable cause statement mentioned by the newspaper, "... made approximately 3,900 purchases out of the account of (the alleged victim) for ... own personal gain."
How much of this goes on is unknown. In TRIAD, we try to teach Police and Citizens how to spot and report instances of Elder Abuse. This is a big subject and we are getting ideas from Ombudsmen and other professionals. We are also planning to institute bank teller training, so they can be more alert to questionable withdrawals. We meet on the third Thursday of every month at the Westminster, Maryland Senior Activity Center.. at ten am. Everyone is welcome to attend.
7. Stink Bugs
Bryan Butler, regional fruit educator for the University of Maryland Extension Service in Carroll County writes that our area was spared a lot of stink bug damage because of the heavy rains and excess vegetation to distract them from produce. A second generation of the bugs did not appear. However, a lot of work is still being done on the problem.. as well as the on-going problems with gypsy moths and Japanese beetles.
Well, nobody told our stink bugs that they were not much of a problem. We had four Earthboxes with zucchini squash, yellow squash, cucumbers, and lots of tomato plants. Stink bugs destroyed the zucchini and yellow squash plants (after we got a few good sized squash though) and almost destroyed our cucumber plants. (We are still getting some stunted cucumbers.) After they did their damage there, they began to shove their probiscus points into our tomato fruit. I now have to pick the tomatoes while they are still green, before they are attractive to the bugs.. and hope that they ripen in the kitchen.
.......................................................
OK.. the hour is up See you next time. Meanwhile, visit my website: http://joe-vaughan.com/.
.........................................................
01. Religion
(Apologia: Some of you may know my views on religion, and what I write about may or may not be what I personally believe; however, it is what I am very much interested in and concerned about.)
Lou Piel, fellow CLV resident and preacher published a column with the title: Express God's Love in More Tangible Ways. Lou says: "... ask God, through the spirit, to intervene in our lives... so we would accept the responsibility God has given us."
Lou quotes Francis of Assissi: "Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace."
He also quotes Jim Robinson: "...if we're free, that means we are responsible."
I like Lou's premise, that we shouldn't sit around waiting for things to happen to us.. we need to get off of our butts and help others..
I also like one phrase of Lou's that tells me a lot about him: "In the act of creation, no matter how you understand it. (evolution, creationism)..."
I think that I will send Lou an email.
2. Religion
The Vatican is trying to get a break-away traditional Catholic group to rejoin the church.. but first, they must accept some core church teachings of the current Roman Catholic faith. The ultra-conservative Society of St. Pius X is opposed to the liberalizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council. That group was founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1969 and split with Rome over some issues, such as the church's relations with Jews and allowing the celebration of the Mass in languages other than Latin.
I believe that the Mass is now allowed to be celebrated in Latin.. I'll have to look further into the Jewish issue.. which may be related to a Bishop who denied the Holocaust.
3. Inventions and Such
President Obama signed a bill on Friday that overhauled the U.S. Patent system. The new law was set up to address the almost 700,000 patent application backlog. It now takes about three years to get a patent. (The article mentions that Thomas Edison only had to wait for seven weeks to get his photograph patent.. did they mean the phonograph?)
The act calls for the hiring of almost 2,000 examiners.
Wow! Republicans went along with this bill!
4. Religion again
In a letter to the editor, Wayne Butcher of Hampstead writes what may or may not be a tongue-in-cheek statements: "... a large number of Christians in this country believe the Bible to be historically accurate..." and: "Apart from the fact that the Bible definitely teaches that the Earth is little more than 6,000 years old, some simple observations reveal that the Earth is quite young..."
Wayne then gives some examples... as I read them, I do believe that Wayne is pulling our legs. He either is a reincarnated Voltaire, or a misguided Fundamentalist. (And "there is nothing wrong with that"... as Seinfeld would say.)
5. Even more Religion
Robert Wack, who I believe is, or was, a CLV Board Member, and a member of the Carroll County Common Council, writes about "...yet another back and forth about evolution versus creationism or intelligent design."
Bob believes that both sides of the argument are correct, because they are talking about two different things. His final paragraph bears repeating here:
"Science is about facts, evolution is science and the theory works, as well as our theories of gravity and electricity. Creationism is about feeling and faith, and it too works, but it is not science. Where science ends, faith begins, and it is on that frontier the two can coexist in harmony."
Good job, Bob. Let's hope Fundamentalists someday agree with you.
6. Elder Abuse
As the civilian coordinator of the TRIAD/SALT group in Carroll County, Maryland, I am very much interested in the apprehension and jailing of persons who abuse Senior Citizens. TRIAD is a group of three interested parties.. Police Organizations, AARP, and interested Senior Citizens. SALT is an acronym for Seniors and Law-enforcement Together. We meet regularly to address crimes against our elderly population.
The newspaper mentions a woman who has been charged with embezzling over $100,000 from an elderly woman with Alzheimers, for whom she had legal power. If true, this is an example of Elder Abuse. (Of course, being charged with a crime does not mean the person is convicted of a crime.)
According to a probable cause statement mentioned by the newspaper, "... made approximately 3,900 purchases out of the account of (the alleged victim) for ... own personal gain."
How much of this goes on is unknown. In TRIAD, we try to teach Police and Citizens how to spot and report instances of Elder Abuse. This is a big subject and we are getting ideas from Ombudsmen and other professionals. We are also planning to institute bank teller training, so they can be more alert to questionable withdrawals. We meet on the third Thursday of every month at the Westminster, Maryland Senior Activity Center.. at ten am. Everyone is welcome to attend.
7. Stink Bugs
Bryan Butler, regional fruit educator for the University of Maryland Extension Service in Carroll County writes that our area was spared a lot of stink bug damage because of the heavy rains and excess vegetation to distract them from produce. A second generation of the bugs did not appear. However, a lot of work is still being done on the problem.. as well as the on-going problems with gypsy moths and Japanese beetles.
Well, nobody told our stink bugs that they were not much of a problem. We had four Earthboxes with zucchini squash, yellow squash, cucumbers, and lots of tomato plants. Stink bugs destroyed the zucchini and yellow squash plants (after we got a few good sized squash though) and almost destroyed our cucumber plants. (We are still getting some stunted cucumbers.) After they did their damage there, they began to shove their probiscus points into our tomato fruit. I now have to pick the tomatoes while they are still green, before they are attractive to the bugs.. and hope that they ripen in the kitchen.
.......................................................
OK.. the hour is up See you next time. Meanwhile, visit my website: http://joe-vaughan.com/.
.........................................................
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