Saturday, April 22, 2017

Earth Day once more

I wrote this in 2003.  I post it every year on Earth Day.  I've never been more concerned about how politics can adversely affect our plight of environmental safeguards then I am today.  I thank the current administration for that concern.

The words came to me as I listened to an instrumental tune "Farewell" by John Doan.   I heard the words so clearly.  It was one of "those moments" if you know what I mean.

If you click on the Farewell link below and listen, while you read, you just might get what I mean.
Farewell



There's a soul in the life of the land where we live
IT'S CLEAR
IT’S CLEAN
IT’S FRESH
AND IT’S OURS
IT DOESN’T CARE WHERE WE’VE COME FROM
IT DOESN’T ASK WHO WE ARE
JUST
DO WE LOVE
WHERE WE STAND
AT THIS TIME
WE CAN DRINK ALL THE WATER
AND MINE ALL THE COAL
BUT WHEN WE MIX THE TWO TOGETHER
IT TROUBLES HER SOUL
WE CAN TEST ALL THE BOMBS
AND DESTROY EVERY LAST TREE
AND THE ONLY THING IT REALLY DOES
IS ELIMINATE YOU AND ME

THE HARM THAT WE BRING
DOESN’T BOTHER THE LAND
WE ONLY HURT OURSELVES
BY FAILING TO UNDERSTAND
THAT THERE’S A SOUL IN THE LIFE OF THE LAND WHERE WE LIVE
IT’S CLEAR
IT’S CLEAN
IT’S FRESH
AND IT’S OURS
IT DOESN’T CARE WHERE WE’VE COME FROM
IT DOESN’T ASK WHO WE ARE
JUST
DO WE LOVE
WHERE WE STAND
AT THIS TIME


WE ARE GIVEN ALL THE TREASURES
THAT ANYONE COULD USE
BUT IF WE DON’T HAVE VISION
THEN ALL WE DO IS LOSE

WE DUMP OUR PROBLEMS
IN EVERY OCEAN, RIVER AND STREAM
WE LIVE BY A CODE OF CONSUMPTION
THAT DARKENS EVERY DREAM
WE THINK THAT OIL IS OUR GOLD
BECAUSE IT MOVES MACHINES AND MAN
AND ALL IT REALLY DOES
IS REMOVE THE SPRINGS OF LAND
WE NEED THAT SPECIAL CRUDE
BECAUSE WE’VE IGNORED OTHER WAYS
AND ALL WE’VE ENDED UP WITH
IS COUGHING THROUGH A HAZE

OUR CHILDREN’S CHILDREN
WILL REALLY PAY THE PRICE
AND JUST THAT THOUGHT ALONE
DOESN’T MAKE US VERY NICE


AND WHEN THE DUST HAS FINALLY SETTLED
AND ALL THE BILLS HAVE BEEN PAID
IT IS ONLY THE SIMPLE FACT
THAT’S THERE’S ONE MISTAKE WE’VE MADE


WE THOUGHT WE CONTROLLED THE EARTH
BY DOMINATING THE LAND
AND IT SIMPLY COMES DOWN TO ONE THING
THAT WE JUST DIDN’T UNDERSTAND

THAT THERE’S A SOUL IN THE LIFE OF THE LAND WHERE WE LIVE
IT’S CLEAR
IT’S CLEAN
IT’S FRESH
AND IT’S OURS
IT DOESN’T CARE WHERE WE COME FROM
IT DOESN’T ASK WHO WE ARE
JUST
DO WE LOVE


WHERE WE STAND
AT THIS TIME

Have a nice Earth Day

Saturday, April 15, 2017

Military was prepped and now is responding....are you getting nervous yet?

When our new President presented his annual budget with a military spending increase of 58 BILLION dollars it just seemed logical that weapons usage would increase. ( Keep in mind that the previous administration had dropped 25,000 bombs on ISIS held territory in the last 16 months)

A week ago 59 Cruise Missiles were used in response to a chemical attack in Syria.  That chemical attack is being attributed to Bashar al Assad and the missiles were directed at an airbase controlled by Syria, from which they (everybody except Syria and Russia) say the chemical attack was launched.

There appears to be questions about who actually used the chemical weapons.  I sure hope this isn't one of those tactics used to misdirect.  A few days seems awfully quick to respond.  I would have thought some deeper investigation necessary  before launching missiles.

There's obviously a huge difference between bombs and missiles.  And since we've never seen a video of the 25,000 bombs dropped by the previous administration and there was an immediate video of the missiles being launched from our ships in the Mediterranean I'd say that's a huge policy shift.

The weapons manufacturers probably like to show their stock holders where their revenue is generated.....and our President, who actually lives in Florida, in case you haven't been paying attention, is a bit of a braggart so basically it's showtime.  And it's going to get louder and louder until someone steps in and says.........ENOUGH!  I'm pretty sure that someone has to be the American people.


Then two days ago our government dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb ever used on a remote mountainous region in Afghanistan. That bomb is called the MOAB....with the nickname being Mother of all bombs.




 
The next day there was an actual video showing the MOAB cloud as it detonated.

It appears that we are entering a new phase of live action coverage....which resembles an old phase that I recall from the Vietnam time period.  Those nightly video's of the war in South-East Asia were fundamental in helping to establish  a vocal opposition to not only that war but war in general.

Perhaps the Nobel Peace prize President from Chicago understood that principle and therefore didn't allow media coverage of all the bombs being dropped on ISIS held territory.  You know there are video's of every single one of the 25,000 bombs dropped by the US led coalition....but have you ever seen even one?  Ten years from now they will be shown on the History Channel.

Oh and by the way......apparently Russia has the Father of all bombs called The FOAB, which they say is considerably larger that The MOAB.

I'm thinking that there's a good chance we might see a video of that big daddy some time in the very near future. 

Tit for tat and so on and so forth.

Our President did say, during the election process, that he would bomb the *%#! out of ISIS and I always thought it was odd to ignore the fact that Obama was already bombing the *%#! out of them.  I guess our new leader simply meant that he would be using bigger bombs.

And so I simply ask......what's the next size weapon to be used?

And then we have this other new development......
Press release;
WASHINGTON — The commander of American forces in the Pacific has ordered an aircraft carrier and several other warships toward the Korean Peninsula in a show of force by the Trump administration just days after North Korea tested another intermediate-range missile.
The officer, Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., the head of the military’s Pacific Command, diverted the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson and its wing of fighter jets from a planned series of exercises and port calls in Australia, the command said in a statement. The Vinson and three guided-missile destroyers and cruisers steamed out of Singapore on Saturday for their new mission in the Western Pacific.


(April 19th update) Apparently this "armada" wasn't doing what the White House originally reported......and then yesterday the article in LA TIMES said it was moving toward the Sea of Japan so your guess is as good as any. time for personal research. Let's call Bill O'Reilly.....he's got some time on his hands.


 The problem with North Korea vs ISIS is that the leader of North Korea actually has an army with uniforms and tanks, a Navy with ships, an Air Force with planes and last by not least.....an undisclosed amount of Nuclear weapons.....oh and did I forget to mention that that leader is bat-s**t crazy.  Add that mix to a population of 26 million people that appear to be undernourished and all dress the same and you have a recipe for a major horror story.  My guess is that if you live in North Korea and you aren't in the military....you will be soon.

It seems we've relied on China to keep NORTH KOREA in check but from all indications China has no idea  how to  put limitations on the ETERNAL PRESIDENT, Kim Sung 111, or Jr or whatever he likes to be called. Even a scarier thought is that China doesn't want to limit Jr's behavior.  Maybe they like the war machine that North Korea has become....and the reason they like it is because they know whose side they will be on when the ultimate s**t hits the fan.

I'm not predicting that the ultimate s**t will hit the fan but allowing a certain type of personality  to be in charge of the most powerful military that the planet has ever known and then letting that person convince the general population that the military needs to be stronger and  bigger just doesn't seem like a scenario with a reasonable or peaceful ending.

I think back to those wonderful cold war times when only two countries had Nuclear capabilities.....

Where's Elvis when you need him? 

Oh yeah I forgot......he was also a military guy.

Those of us who aren't military minded just seem to be totally outnumbered. 

I sure hope those of you are are military minded have a clue on how all this is suppose work out without f**king up the entire planet....or more specifically, the entire human race. 

I think it's really important to elect calm, rational  and highly intelligent people  to positions of power and authority.....but that's just me.

Are you getting nervous yet?

Michael Timothy McAlevey



 















Sunday, April 2, 2017

THE WAKE-UP CALL

I was 22 years old in 1968 when I heard the FNPWUCA

First National Political Wake-Up Call Alarm

The undercurrent of tension had been semi-soft since November 22, 1963 and then following the MLK and RFK murders the vibration and intensity increased substantially and on November 5 1968 the sound became something that wasn't going to subside anytime soon. The music got louder and the parties and gatherings got longer and the drugs got more colorful and then the campus protests became more frequent following the 1968 Presidential election.
Richard M. Nixon received 302 Electoral College votes 

and 
Hubert H. Humphrey received 191.   
THAT WAS A WAKE-UP CALL for so many young people not only in America but around the world, regarding how the people in power were being allowed to carry out their agenda due to overwhelming support from the American voting public.

As the internal awakening of the youth movement on campuses increased and the White House's paranoid agenda strengthened, especially regarding law and order, and as our involvement in South-east Asia intensified, the Peace Movement protests grew in sizable numbers with the tension reaching  an horrific  peak on May 4th 1970 when four students were gunned down at Kent State.

Suddenly the Peace rallies were less peaceful and the paranoia from within the Administration became epic until all we heard was a call for restoring Law and Order throughout the land.  Richard Nixon was attempting to strangle all forms of protest through whatever means possible and historical documents uphold that recorded paranoia (except for the infamous 18 minutes) but first another election was upon us and George McGovern was hosting the Democrats banner of peace and hoping to strengthen the Progressive movement, which at the time was simply referred to as being the Liberal left....or f**king commies and dirty hippies, depending on who was talking.

THE NEXT DECIBEL LEVEL OF THE WAKE-UP CALL CAME ON NOVEMBER 7, 1972

Richard M Nixon....................521 Electoral College votes
George Stanley McGovern.......17 

The shock waves reverberated throughout every true liberal heart and soul in America and since the Electoral College vote was so lopsided it had to indicate only one thing.....the liberal or Progressive movement in America was virtually crushed.....almost into oblivion.  

Ironically the county I lived in, Marin County, was one of McGovern's victory areas. I often refer to how out of touch we were in Marin due to the simple fact that everybody in that county was positive McGovern was going to kick Nixon's ass.

From the election of 1972 to the resignation in 1974 Richard Nixon's entire agenda was an attempt to ward off the bad press, the odd stories of paranoia, the resignations of his inner circle cohorts and to quiet a very loud and foucsed wake-up call.

It was extremely loud....
and it basically was saying....."don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out."

I'M ALREADY HEARING THAT TYPE OF WAKE UP CALL REGARDING OUR CURRENT PRESIDENT, WHO HAS ONLY BEEN IN THE WHITE HOUSE FOR A LITTLE OVER 2 MONTHS.

I'M PRETTY SURE THE SOUND IS LOUDER or at least as loud as ANYTIME DURING PRESIDENT NIXON'S FIRST TERM.

And it's not going to get quieter anytime soon because every single day decisions are made that simply wake people up  (and many of those people supported The Donald) to the reality that not only is he out of his element but that his people are hell bent on ignoring anything having to do with creating a safer, cleaner, compassionate future for America.  The denial of scientific information adds its own unique decibel level to the wake-up call.

The only question is will the wake-up call be answered before the mid-term elections in 2018 or will it be answered even sooner?

WAKE-UP calls cannot be ignored forever......no matter how hard one tries to block out the obvious reality.

(It's always struck me funny how oblivious and obvious look so similar with just a little li creating the difference)

I personally hear the rooster quite well and even if someone chops off his head and has a tasty BBQ chicken dinner......there are millions and millions more roosters.....and it looks like they might be gathering together for one extremely loud.......

WAKE-UP CALL.

Michael Timothy McAlevey