i always question

Your Extended Vote

2006-02-24T18:46:00.000-05:00

OK, you are a good citizen and vote every election day, including all the primaries and any other opportunity you have to exercise your right and obligation as a voter. But as many voters today, you feel frustrated, it just seems not to make much difference no matter how good of a voting citizen you are.

Rejoice with the power you have to change things and vote every day, in fact vote several times a day through your actions and your economic clout. Everyone of us has the opportunity and responsibility to manage our own lives to benefit both ourselves, our family, friends and the community we in which we reside. The later you can define as broadly as you wish.

If you feel the price of energy is too high, use less. If you don’t like the impact of big box stores in your community, buy from your little local merchants. If you don’t like processed foods, buy organic. There is a huge number of choices that we make everyday that in the long term effect the kind of world we in which we live. Take responsibility for your actions and vote for what you think is right and benefits your community. Some of the choices involve how much you are willing to spend, but that is a choice you must excersise according to your means.

So start voting today for the world you want to live in tommorrow.

F16s and Hunger

2005-03-26T06:44:00.000-05:00

Just after my last post, I walked out and got the newspaper. A headline on the front page announced that President Bush and the United States has agreed to sell Pakistan F16s. India being extremely upset that the United States would sell this advanced military aircraft to its traditional enemy and neighbor protested and the United States has agreed to also sell India the same plane.

Both countries with the support of the United States have again demonstrated their interesting priorities. Approximately 20% of both countries population are undernourished - that is about 250,000,000 people. The old debate, Guns or Butter...

From a very practical and selfish standpoint, how effective are F16s in dealing with the hungry and disenfranchised that breed political unrest and extremists?

The Bigger Picture - Schiavo

2005-03-26T05:53:00.000-05:00

What would happen if we took all the resources that have been dedicated to this debate and used them to help solve a much bigger problem? One child dies every five seconds of hunger and related causes - take a look at the United Nations, World Food Programe site. Can you imagine the potential that we allow to die every day?

Cardinal Bartone, thank you for recommending “The Da Vinci Code.”

2005-03-21T13:37:00.000-05:00

I, like the Cardinal am behind in my reading and have not gotten to and may never have gotten around to reading “The Da Vinci Code.” But because of the Bartone’s belated interest in the book, it is now a must read. The Church has often in the past marked as great reads some of the best prose and scientific research ever written. Thanks Cardinal!

Alternative News

2005-03-20T08:14:00.000-05:00

I was doing a little reading recently about alternative news coverage, or I should say alternatives to our network news. I came across Link TV, which offers news from around the world via some satellite stations and to a lesser degree through streaming broadband video. It was fun playing with the broadband internet technology and following their sources for news to other online services of major world news providers. So if you would like to be exposed to other sources (with english audio translations) including Middle East stations, German TV and the BBC (in English, english), give it a try.

Will return to political contributions shortly.

A Question about Political Contributions

2005-03-17T20:25:00.000-05:00

Should those who make the laws be able to accept contributions from those who benefit from those laws?

Political Contributions

2005-03-16T07:36:00.000-05:00

What do you think about political contributions? Who should be able to contribute? Are political contributions part of our rights to express ourselves in the political process or have they become an avenue to simply attempt to influence the recipient? I will be exploring this more fully, and would apprciate your comments.

A Little House Keeping

2005-03-16T07:31:00.000-05:00

I have been away for awhile and have not posted for a couple of weeks. Had good intentions of doing some writing while on the road, but that did not happen. I should now be posting once a day.

Other topic is that I have become very interested in Streamlining America and am going to create a blog just dedicated to this topic in the next week. Stay tuned for the introduction of that blog and perhaps a new web site.

Streamlining America - Some Interesting Reading

2005-02-27T10:29:00.000-05:00

An interesting technology and a probably unlikely candidate to focus on in conjunction with it would be eBook readers and Henry David Thoreau. Here is an individual that streamlined his life and life style in Walden to an extent that most of us will never attempt to duplicate. But it is worth a look and consideration for what follows, and you can read his works for free on your computer or handheld. If you already have a reader on your device proceed to step two.

Step one is to download a reader to your device, in my case I use Microsoft Reader (There are a number of other readers available.). Go to www.microsoft.com/reader/downloads/default.asp and download the appropriate software for your device.

Step two is go to a site such as Blackmask Online, which offers free book downloads (Most old classics are now in the public domain.) To go to Thoreau at Blackmask, click on www.blackmask.com/page.php?do=page&cat_id=240 and from the titles listed I would suggest Walden or Walking (I am reading Walking now and it is only about 50 pages on my laptop.). Simply click on MsReader and if you are online, the rest should happen automatically. Once the book is downloaded, open Microsoft Reader and open the book.

You should be able to do the downloads in a matter of a few minutes, downloading a book is often faster than ordering one online. That is streamlining!

Streamlining America - Conservation 2

2005-02-25T15:19:00.000-05:00

My concept of conservation is not doing with less, but having more while using fewer resources. How can that be?

Streamlining America - Conservation 1

2005-02-25T15:13:00.000-05:00

Where does conservation fit into Streamlining? In an era of skyrocketing energy costs, why do you hear nothing about conservation? In the past this became a national goal and strangely over time did appear to drive down energy costs. Could supply and demand actually work again in our economy? Certainly they do, but why hasn’t the government encouraged energy conservation? Would your lifestyle be better if energy costs were at the level they were four or five years ago?

Intro - Streamlining America

2005-02-24T13:57:00.000-05:00

This is the first in a series of thoughts about Streamlining America and in response to the question I posed a couple weeks ago about streamlining vs. bigger. The choice of the term “streamlining” was made, in my mind, to reflect both improved efficiency and quality in the lifestyle and structure of America. The idea that “bigger is better” is a concept that should have run its course ~ it is more of a marketing /sales concept than a reflection of what is best for the long term. Always Question and your comments are welcome.

George Bush, Deep Throat, the University of Illinois and Smithsonian Magazine

2005-02-08T06:39:00.000-05:00

What do the above have in common? A little over a year ago the Smithsonian Magazine published an article about the research done by a class at the University of Illinois http://deepthroatuncovered.com/ identifying Deep Throat and it wasn’t George Bush the elder. Thought it would be of interest to those recently on the web that were talking about the Bush – Deep Throat theory.

Bahia Honda Bridge Graphic - Florida Keys

2005-02-07T15:43:00.000-05:00

I have done a number of interesting photographs and graphics on my moosicmountainwild.com photo site and wanted to see if I could figure out how to post one here...

Bigger vs. Streamlined

2005-02-07T06:44:00.000-05:00

In any process, if you had the choice of making it bigger or streamlining it, in general, which would you choose? Please Comment...

The Polarization of News (why i always question)

2005-02-06T10:31:00.000-05:00

We are living in a world that appears to be more polarized everyday. In many ways it is probably our own fault, particularly in the news industry. It seems natural that we all seek out views that we as individuals can accept or more to the point agree with our current beliefs. So in reality we choose all too often to bombard ourselves with information that reinforces where we already are instead of opening our minds to various opinions and looking to where we want or should be going.

So now you have why this Blog is being created and its goal, “i always question.”