Trouble Ahead, Trouble Behind: Current Events, Continued...

I won't blast Mormons here

but the fact is that LDS was a major if not the major player behind Prop. 8. By the way I've met all sorts of Deadheads of various and no faiths but has anyone ever met an LDS head? If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. William Blake

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Way to go Judge Walker!

I know this fight is not over. This will be appealed but its still a step in the right direction. Everyone should be free to love whomever they choose and have that acknowledged by society!

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well, um, Hal...

Barlow is LDS. Not practicing, obviously, but comes from a long line of Mormons. In answer to the question, the Mormon Church and also (to my shame, because I'm Catholic like Barlow is Mormon...) the Catholic Church kicked in a lot of money. But it is also the case that the Bay Area is a relative island, even in California, and there is plenty of religious fundamentalism and just plain bigotry to go around throughout the state. And yeah, there was a lot of stirring up of hate among Latinos and among the black churches as well. Indeed, it was much speculated that the very people who turned out to elect Obama also turned out to pass Prop 8, at least where the black churches were concerned. So it's complicated. But it's also just plain wrong and I'm grateful to Judge Walker for his good sense. My own view is that the state should get out of the marriage business and only do civil unions, being that civil marriage is fundamentally about property and responsibility for children, and let religious, cultural, etc. bodies declare whoever they want in their communions married. And yeah, this includes the fundie Mormons if they stick to consenting adults.

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Marye

You've just expressed a point I've made a number of times. The state should get out of the marriage business! Anyone should be able to have a legal union with whomever they choose. Marriage is another matter which is between the persons involved to determine in conjunction with their religious community (if they have one!) My wife of 14 years and I lived together for over 2 years before we were married in a Christian ceremony (which was very important to both of us). The reason was because she was not legally divorced from her first husband because he was an abusive asshole and she was afraid for him to find out where she was! We had committed to each other and considered ourselves "married" before this was officially recognized by the state. This of course meant that previous to our official marriage we had no legal rights or protection. It was not the state's place to determine whether we were "married" or not!

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Well Said TPH1

Everybody wants to stake out turf on the marriage issue.

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My wife and I

have not lived together for over 10 years.....due to irreconcilable similarities......perfect marriage!

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MSG Network..

Is going to be playing a GD concert on tv this friday at 11.. found a preview here.. http://video.msg.com/Home/This-Week-on-Music-Fridays-8 I hope they ask the suitestakes question about this show cause that all i'm gonna watch and i would love to win free tickets to the show of my choice at Madison Square Garden http://www.msg.com/contests/music-fridays

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cool!!

but, what is a suitestake?

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It is..

The sweepstakes that Madison Square garden is having where you can win a luxury suiet for 8 at the concert of you choice at MSG... The entry form is here: http://www.msg.com/contests/music-fridays

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ahhh

sweepstakes....ok....i get it.....of course, if ya actually win, i 'spose ya could call it "sweet"stakes..heeheeee

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"Suitstakes" is perfect

cuz you win a stay in a suite! :-) Would be great if it included a suite with a room full of cookies, eh Johnman?********************************** By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity -- another man's I mean. Mark Twain

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can i just

have the cookies?....heeheeee

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Continuing war protests

For the 4 years that I've worked in this little town near the Smoky Mtns, a group of folks have had a weekly war protest going on. Rain, snow, or ultra-radiant shine, they are out there on Thurs at lunch time, with signs (e.g. Pro-troops, Anti-war!), the occasional VFW hat, and smiles on their faces. The telling part: my guess is that their avg age is on the north side of 65...NOBODY under 50. As this coincides with my payday run to the bank, I drive by most Thursdays, toot the horn, flash a peace sign, and feel like a complete slug and hypocrite for not being out there with them. God bless them though, they are keeping the spirit alive, and reminding us that yes, there is still a war or two going on....

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Bristol Vt, 4-6pm Fridays on the Town green

In my area, God bless'em.

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Moscow, Russia

is inundated with smoke from forrest fires. The air is extremely polluted and unhealthy to breathe.Those poor people!

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The Indus River

continues to swell in monsoon rains this season. 1500 are believed to have perished so far in Pakistan.

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endless summer continues...

...at a beach, lake, pond , sea, ocean or pool near you. Have a greatful weeke!!!

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So, Whats in the drinking water?

In the "Get a grip" category there were two stories in the news this morning: A Jet Blue stew. was arrested at his home in NYC by the SWAT team after quitting his job in a rather dramatic fashion after a passenger hit him in the head with as carry-on the passenger was trying to get out of the overhead bin before the plane was at a complete stop. The passenger swore at him and the stew. proceeded to go on the PA and swore back at the passenger, concluding at the end "That's it, I'm done". He then took two beers off the beverage cart, inflated the emergency exit slide, opened the door and slid to the tarmac. Now he is a national hero on the internet. No copycats, please! Next, earlier this year a woman was pissed-off she couldn't get her McNuggets at the drive-thru and went bonkers fighting with the employees. She ended that altercation by taking a hammer and smashing the drive-thru Plexiglas window. A bit of overreaction there. Fast-food rage? Again,no copycats -- pretty please? You can almost here the Snap! as the gray matter short circuits...

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bzzzzt!!...crackle!!!

error!....error!!

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Customer service sucks!

"The dire wolf collects his due while the boys sing round the fire"

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China: World's biggest polluter

Historical and projected carbon dioxide emissions (in millionsof metric tons) for China, the United States, and the world, 1990–2025. Carbon dioxide emissions (percentage of world total) Location 1990 2003 2015 2025 United States 4978 (23.4) 5796 (23.1) 6718 (19.9) 7587 (18.9) China 2241 (10.5) 3541 (14.1) 7000 (20.7) 9349 (23.3) World 21,223 (100) 25,028 (100) 33,663 (100) 40,045 (100) Remarkable trends: With all efficiency and conservation included, the US is still upping the amount of CO2 emissions. At present, the US and China are roughly equal in emissions. While the US share of world emissions is dropping, China's share is growing at an alarming rate. This amount of emissions is unsustainable. Did you ever wonder how much CO2 is expended to produce all that plastic packaging we throw away each day??

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Necessary but depressing news!

Its frightening the rate at which we are destroying our beautiful home. Our lifestyle is totally unsustainable but as a group we don't want to accept it. We're already convincing ourselves that the Gulf oil catastrophe was not that bad! Time to take the blinders off people!

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Starting on a more positive track

OK, I've beaten War, The Economy, and Ecology to death in this thread. I'm going to start a more positive trend towards really uplifting current events. Hopefully, stuff that will make everybody feel good and leave you wanting to hear more. This has been inspired, believe it or not, by the "Making a Difference" segments of the NBC nightly news. It's hard to find the good, positive stuff because the news, blogs, etc. all slant to the bad stuff. I think it is really important to give light to the better half. Hopefully, to make it on topic, I can find some things that are directly Grateful Dead/Deadhead related. Sorry if if the events I've been writing about has got you down.

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Not me Gonzo

Been loving your diligence with posting facts! And that's a fact!********************************** By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity -- another man's I mean. Mark Twain

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gonzo

Hope you didn't take my post the wrong way! Sometimes we need to be depressed, like when the facts are depressing! Please continue to keep us informed.

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Help Wanted: Radical to rant and rage

Me and lamagonzo put in our time, I guess it's time for one of those folks on the sidelines to get off the bench and join the team! Nothin' left to do but smile,smile, smile

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ranting fatigue

I enjoy your blogging guys but don't worry about taking a rest. A few of us here put in our time way back and got a bit weary and entered semi retirement. I am sure some new folks will take up the cause.....

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badger

sometimes I wish Hal and GRTUD and some of the others would come out of retirement though!********************************** By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity -- another man's I mean. Mark Twain

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summer vacation

Thanks TL, let's just say I am on summer vacation from the site. Which so far has consisted of a three day Bluegrass Festival, a Little Feat show, lots of hiking, two days of kayaking and of course the garden and visits from relatives. Coming up later Bob Dylan/John Cougar Melloncamp show and a Jesse Collin Young show. Summer's here and the time is right for dancing in the streets. If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. William Blake

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jeez, hal

no beer or cookies?...or beer?

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The first piece of good news...

...is that nobody really argues against left-leaning positions on this site except for, perhaps, Dewlover -- who seems to be on a crusade against Obama. Oh, and one regular here in favor of nuclear power. I enjoy a good debate but we're all pretty much on the same side on most issues, albeit with varying degrees of intensity. I guess opening up your mind via music and "other" things breeds empathy. It really has nothing to do with left or right or center. More like a wish for others to be happy and free of suffering rather than an intense focus on making big piles of money at the expense of others. These days, in retrospect, I see the kind of decisions (stepping on and over others) and the hours (60-80 a week) I would have had to put in to make millions of dollars, and keep them. My best wishes to others who made millions doing/creating things truly useful to others of modest income. So, a toast to those us this summer who took the path less traveled! Saluud! ~ Long may you run! ~

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Hey Hal!!

Will your summer vacation conclude with a trip to red rocks perhaps?? Still wishing I could have met up with ya in Portland! "The dire wolf collects his due while the boys sing round the fire"

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i'll argue against both positions anytime

left OR right...i STILL don't trust either side, and i probably never will...that being said, i believe both sides have a right to voice their respective opinions, that's what the first amendment is all about.........cookie, anyone??

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Macademia ones...

...to you Johnman. I guess cookie monsters get an exemption!

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Johnny Carson...

...shows are online now. Over 3,000 of them. You can see the future stars before they got really famous and, of course, all of Johnny's monologues at johnnycarson.com. Thanks for the laughs Johnny and putting a smile on our faces as you tucked us in for the night with your humor.

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China - polluter

No idea how true this is, so nail me if it's just a Chinese legend. I was in a meeting with a (still) well-known "green" architect about a dozen years ago. He was telling us a story about Chinese prosperity and the subsequent implications of expansion of that prosperity. The story had to do with visiting a Chinese village in the dead of winter. There was apparently some kind of permafrost that covered the interiors of their dwellings. In most cases, the frost was, well, white. In a few cases, it was dull grey, almost black. The reason? The prosperous households could afford to buy coal, and burning it left a layer of soot on the walls. So...the expansion of prosperity has come to pass, and the implications he spoke of are becoming reality. But hey, we in the US still have the Chinese beat on a per-capita basis, for now.

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Don't know about the interiors...

...of Chinese dwellings being covered with soot. Very well could be. But as the Chinese modernize their middle class will have windows/walls/floors with seals. The coal factor is the killer. It is their primary source of fuel and they are putting one coal-fired power plant online a week. This is directly reflected in the the upped CO2 output. Per capita income in the US is around $41k a year, 17th the world. In China the pci is around $3.8k. After visiting China (Tibet, actually) last year I honestly have no idea how they sustain. Wearen't#1Wearen't#1Wearen't#1Wearen't#1Wearen't#1!!!!!!!!!

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Interesting press spin on Steven Slater

He was the steward on the plane who quit with 'tude. Now it seems the other passengers are saying he was in a snit the whole time the plane was in the air. There is a definite pivot going on to portray Mr. Slater as negligent and possibly dangerous and callous. I guess we'll never know if he looked out the window to see if anybody was in the way of the escape chute inflating and deploying so no way to tell if there was reckless endangerment. One thing is true, no jury will unanimously convict him. What we do know for sure is that deploying the emergency slide will put the plane out of action for a couple of days and cost Jet Blue millions. I think that is why the press is spinning this. If society makes heroes out of rebels who burn employer millions when they quit it is a problem. I never really noticed it until I lived in Vermont but it is a widespread occurrence. Barns are torched, heavy equipment is vandalized, etc., etc.. If the employer is a tyrant or a cheapskate the employees at the bottom of the ladder know how to grab them by the balls, twist and then get away with it. Often months and years after they quit. Was Jet Blue deserving of the loss in this case? Well, if they had free checked bags, more carry-on bins and gave gate-checked bags back to passengers when they stepped off the plane none of this would have happened. I agree with Colbert, Steven Slater is my Alpha-Dog Of the Week.

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Soot

Yeah, I don't know if the story is true or not, but it was effective. There was another, called the "cotton underwear bill of rights." If every person on earth had a right to cotton underwear, all of the arable land in the world would be taken over by cotton production, or at least the part that can produce cotton. As cotton isn't exactly the most environmentally friendly crop out there, and as you also can't eat it, that's a problem. Also probably not true, but again, there was a point to be made. Source was Bill McDonough and his partner Michael Braungart. Lots of companies trying to "green" themselves with their assistance have had a falling out with these guys (mine included)...but they are very interesting and entertaining speakers, to say the least.

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McDonough & Braungart's point was?

That the rapid modernization of the world cannot be sustained? That all industrializing cultures will want the same things? Agree; Agree. Everybody can't have everything and we are in no position to say who can have what. The free market rules. If there is demand, there will be supply. Look at the mess Mexico is in. I think you must work for a somewhat enlightened company to have them hire consultants to become more green. What is the owner's motivation (your company) to become more green? Doing The Right Thing (a warm, fuzzy feeling) or Saving Money (being seen as savvy). Probably a mixture of both. I would have thought all these conservation programs that businesses engage in and such government incentives as the Energy Star program and tax breaks for energy efficient windows, insulation and high-mileage cars would have cut CO2 emissions but the statistics don't bear it out. Frightening. The only thing that will help is a good old-fashioned depression coupled with an epidemic equal to the Bubonic plague. Looks like we're in a vice one way or the other.. Anybody out there want to create a Deadhead Biosphere? Our own self-contained and self-supporting community in a bubble?

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i have a question

not that either one is a sound choice, but what is worse for the environment, oil or coal? and aren't they basically the same, from a fossil fuel perspective? I also wish to point out, not every employee who burns their former employer is a hero, some are just disgruntled individuals who cannot accept that they may have been let go for cause, and would rather place the blame somewhere else then accept that they may be at fault. Obviously this is not the case with Mr. Slater, but some people thrive on the attention.

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Oh.....and can we make that

peanut instead of macadamia?...for give me for being picky, but i am an avowed peanut addict...heeheee!!!

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ARRRRG!!

that should have been "forgive".....sorry!

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I don't know which is worse, J'man

Somehow I'm guessing coal because it is so dirty at the point of production. Not that oil isn't, just less so, I imagine. Maybe somebody has a definitive answer. And yer absolutely right that not all employees are justified at getting back at their boss. That is the other thing I notice living where I do. The amount of abysmally stupid people doing abysmally stupid things. If it's that bad in the rest of the country then I would say the Idiocracy is in full bloom. However, there is a law being drafted that would make a civil workplace mandatory and I say let the lawyers feast when the bill is signed. Owner/bosses would no longer have the right to bully, yell and belittle their employees in the workplace and I say it is high time for that. Past high time. There are a lot of businesses that have been passed down from parent to child where the habit of the parent becomes the habit of the child. That is, the bad habit of abusing their employees. I am extremely passionate on this subject. If the boss/owner can't control his mouth then let the wrath of shyster lawyers rain down on them like a tropical downpour. WE ALL DESERVE A CIVIL WORKPLACE and shouldn't have to put up with incivility from bosses, customers or other employees. Really. And no twinkie defense either (It was the junk food I ate, yer'honor. I really have no control when my blood sugar rises). Speaking of blood sugar J'man - I'm only giving you lo-cal cookies from now on. Here are some peanut ones.

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Doing Well by Doing Good

Before we got spun off, we were owned by a company whose chairman had an environmental epiphany in the mid-90s. Long story, but he assembled an environmental "Dream Team" to work on making the business sustainable in the true, and not greenwashed sense. The effort was completely sincere -- I believe that unequivocally. The team included Paul Hawken, whose book, "The Ecology of Commerce" prompted the epiphany; Amory Lovins, who is just a genius, I think; David Brower; Jon Picard; and a couple of others that I can't recall. McDonough was part of that team, but got dropped over some licensing issues (the money part), I believe. Those were very fun, very inspiring times for a traditional manufacturing plunderer of the earth. We're still carrying the torch, but this economy sure ain't making it easy. Chocolate chip cookies here, if you please... Oh yeah, the point was exactly that: if the entire world behaved as Americans do in terms of consumption...well, there just ain't enough world to go around.

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Coal vs oil

I don't know a definitive answer to this either but I did live in the coal fields of VA for almost 8 yrs. Coal is a huge environmental hazard at the point of production. The entire area becomes covered with coal dust. Stores, houses, cars etc. The streams in the area are very polluted and some stink. They smell of sulfur etc. When mountain top removal mining methods are used things are even worse. Mining is very dangerous for the health and well being of those who do it. We've all heard about the recent catastrophes in WV, but this is a drop in the bucket to the miners who die or have a miserable quality of life from black lung and rock dust disease. Rock dust is the stuff they spread in the mines to keep down the coal dust and prevent explosions but this dust can be just as bad for the lungs of the miners as the coal dust. I'm not sure how the carbon footprint numbers compare for oil and coal which would be more relevant to answering johnman,s question, but I do know that coal production has a horrible impact on the environment surrounding the mines.

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Coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear energy

They all have detrimental impacts to the environment. You could make a case for pros and cons to each of them. "The dire wolf collects his due while the boys sing round the fire"

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pollution solution ?

Now please don't get angry but I just wanted to point out that in the Book of Revelation, chp. 11, verse 18,it says that God will "destroy them which destroy the earth". I've wondered how Saint John could have foreseen that one day mankind would be capable of destroying the earth when they didn't even know how big the earth was back then. I guess you could say God is the biggest environmentalist of us all. Let it be known There is a fountain That was not made By the hands of man Many blessings to you all

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heavy words

to contemplate...................indeed!!

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heavy words indeed

I live among a lot of folks who seem obsessed with the book of Revelation. Funny how they seem to have overlooked that part! Most of them seem to think the Earth was put here to be used up!

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