Sunday October 26th
Tony Hillerman passes on at the age of 83
Oklahoma farm boy,
WWII GI, in the thick of it,
Newspaperman,
Friend and keen observer of all the varied tribes around him
(white ones too!),
Family man,
Wonderful storyteller and writer,
Friend to millions (like myself) who had never met him,
Future friend to many more!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
NPR's FreshAir
remembered Tony Hillerman Thursday October 30 -
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96319543
I feel like sharing the email their recollection inspired----------
Fresh Air Thank you for remembering Tony Hillerman.
I've been a resident of the Colorado corner of the greater Four-Corners region since 1979, and discovered Hillerman in the mid eightees. He has stood my test of time in a way no Zane Gray or Louis L'Amour (fun as they are) ever could.
He managed to bring to life a certain essence of America's southwest desert in a human way, others haven’t touch.
I think it was his extraordinary cross between the gritty newspaper man and an extremely insightful and sensitive down home human.
He will be missed, but joyfully remembered.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Why start this blog?
This post is lost at the bottom of the stack,
but I think it's a good time to bring back to the top of the stack for reference sake.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Why start this blog?
*************************************************************
Because I'm disappointed
both in our establishment and in the public's docile acquiescence
to the steady flow of officialdom's
misinformation, destructive actions and unnecessary failures.
I'm heartbroken by
our governmental and corporate leaders
steadfast refusal to honestly examine
the undeniable challenges our society is facing.
Simply because fulfilling greed comes first.
The media is especially maddening
because they seem dedicated to broadcasting
delusion & misleading sensationalism
intent on distraction
rather than supporting
a substantive learning process.
**************************************************************
I'm also a believer in our Founding Father's brand of Free Speech.
A Free Speech that wasn't about talking, so much as dialoging.
This form of speech requires an attuned receiver.
The listeners suspend judgment
long enough
to absorb what is actually being said
before returning to evaluation mode & judgment calls.
The benefit is that it allows us to better understand
why we should disagree -
or, it might open up
unexpected knowledge & potentials.
In dialogue once a speaker finishes, he, she reverts back to listening
and thinking.
It's an expression of
respect & acknowledging our mutual humanity...
a good thing to do.
*****************************************************************
I know I don't have any answers
but I also know I have something worthwhile
to inject into the greater dialogue
please read on.......
McCain's visit and the Memes Courier's open letter to him
Today has been an interesting hectic day. Senator McCain came to Durango, Colorado to give heart to his supporters.
This gave me the opportunity to present an open letter to McCain supporters by way of a news pamphlet I've been working on and self publishing for various political occasions.
Some day I'll get it together with a website that can present the Memes Courier as I've formatted it on paper rather than this rigid blog format.
In any event, it's the ideas that are more important than the look.
I've taken each item in my Open Letter to McCain and posted them individually.
I share this because it is looking as though Senator Obama may well become our next President. That happening would be a great victory for many progressives.
However, that will only be the beginning of the struggle.
I believe the great challenge will be to eloquently convince the Republicans (and yes Democrats have a bunch to learn too.) of the weak underbelly of so many of their convictions. To crack their shell of fear and anger.
We need to get back to realizing we are all Americans and in order to success with the extreme challenges plowing at us, we are going to need to work together for a goal greater than our individual petty bickering and contrived fears.
Sincerely, Pete the Carpenter
This gave me the opportunity to present an open letter to McCain supporters by way of a news pamphlet I've been working on and self publishing for various political occasions.
Some day I'll get it together with a website that can present the Memes Courier as I've formatted it on paper rather than this rigid blog format.
In any event, it's the ideas that are more important than the look.
I've taken each item in my Open Letter to McCain and posted them individually.
I share this because it is looking as though Senator Obama may well become our next President. That happening would be a great victory for many progressives.
However, that will only be the beginning of the struggle.
I believe the great challenge will be to eloquently convince the Republicans (and yes Democrats have a bunch to learn too.) of the weak underbelly of so many of their convictions. To crack their shell of fear and anger.
We need to get back to realizing we are all Americans and in order to success with the extreme challenges plowing at us, we are going to need to work together for a goal greater than our individual petty bickering and contrived fears.
Sincerely, Pete the Carpenter
Friday, October 24, 2008
The Memes Courier
✯ EXTRA ✯ The Memes Courier ✯ EXTRA ✯
Friday, October 24, 2008
Dear Senator McCain,
welcome to Durango, Colorado, I hope you don't mind my asking some questions.
that are outlined in the following posts,
to start off I keep wondering:
Why can’t we have a respectful, civil dialogue?
Friday, October 24, 2008
Dear Senator McCain,
welcome to Durango, Colorado, I hope you don't mind my asking some questions.
that are outlined in the following posts,
to start off I keep wondering:
Why can’t we have a respectful, civil dialogue?
Senator McCain,
in your campaigning you make it sound like you believe
it is possible to return America back to a more prosperous time
reminiscent of the fifties, or eighties.
How is that possible?
Are you paying attention to the world news beyond the financial pages?
it is possible to return America back to a more prosperous time
reminiscent of the fifties, or eighties.
How is that possible?
Are you paying attention to the world news beyond the financial pages?
Iraq War...
How is encouraging and inflicting hideous destruction,
along with sowing the seeds of hatred
helping anyone’s future world?
along with sowing the seeds of hatred
helping anyone’s future world?
Abandoning Biological Preserves to oil drilling
Senator McCain how can you so completely ignore the generations yet to come?
Shouldn’t we stop being so glib about ringing every last drop of oil out of the earth ASAP -
why not leave some of it for our kids?
While the world’s need, greed & consumption of oil continues growing ~ the resource base has not and will not.
Do you have any ideas besides Drill Baby Drill?
Shouldn’t we stop being so glib about ringing every last drop of oil out of the earth ASAP -
why not leave some of it for our kids?
While the world’s need, greed & consumption of oil continues growing ~ the resource base has not and will not.
Do you have any ideas besides Drill Baby Drill?
Global Warming, Climate Change..
why does the right-wing continue to strive to muddle the issue solely focused on saving the status quo business plan?
The climate is a real important, fascinating, and these days,
troubled thing and for you to continue treating it as some abstract intellectual construct,
rather than the foundation of Earth’s Life Support System ~ that it is,
is a grievous sin against future generations.
*For a historical review of the climate controversy read “Storm World,” by Chris Mooney.
The climate is a real important, fascinating, and these days,
troubled thing and for you to continue treating it as some abstract intellectual construct,
rather than the foundation of Earth’s Life Support System ~ that it is,
is a grievous sin against future generations.
*For a historical review of the climate controversy read “Storm World,” by Chris Mooney.
Consumption of Resources...
Senator McCain why can’t you address the conundrum of a society dependent on ever increasing resource consumption against a planet that has its irrefutable limits?
I understand the fear of economic hardships.
Still, we can’t afford to forget that Earth’s dynamic systems trump all else
and they don’t care one fig for our world economy
or the thinking of its elite,
therefore we should stop pretending that difficult revelations and knowledge can be ignored.
*For a thought provoking read try:
“The World Without Us” by Alan Weisman.
I understand the fear of economic hardships.
Still, we can’t afford to forget that Earth’s dynamic systems trump all else
and they don’t care one fig for our world economy
or the thinking of its elite,
therefore we should stop pretending that difficult revelations and knowledge can be ignored.
*For a thought provoking read try:
“The World Without Us” by Alan Weisman.
Abortion...
I’m continually amazed by the bizarre right-wing ability to proclaim their conviction in:
“The Right to Life” and “The Sanctity of Life”...
for an unborn being, then in the same breath support a war that has inflicted untold “9-11’s” upon another distant, yet innocent, citizenry.
Right-wingers will exclaim: but that’s self-defense!
Why not ask: What about the troubled mother who must make an agonized decision based on self-defense for herself and her existing family?
How can you be so oblivious of the all around tragic ordeal abortion is for those involved –
*possibly the most thoughtful piece written on the topic - Rachel Richardson Smith’s essay: “Abortion, Right and Wrong”
“The Right to Life” and “The Sanctity of Life”...
for an unborn being, then in the same breath support a war that has inflicted untold “9-11’s” upon another distant, yet innocent, citizenry.
Right-wingers will exclaim: but that’s self-defense!
Why not ask: What about the troubled mother who must make an agonized decision based on self-defense for herself and her existing family?
How can you be so oblivious of the all around tragic ordeal abortion is for those involved –
When will you grant women their own right to
self-defense ~ dignity ~ empathy ?
self-defense ~ dignity ~ empathy ?
*possibly the most thoughtful piece written on the topic - Rachel Richardson Smith’s essay: “Abortion, Right and Wrong”
Our National Interest...
Senator McCain for all your sarcasm and insults,
I still don’t know how you perceive our National Interests,
other than "drill & blast!"
The world’s future is much more complicated than that! Isn’t it?
Just what is your vision of America’s National Interest
for the challenging & revolutionary future heading our way?
for some interesting reading try:
“The Limits Of Power,” by A. J. Bacevich
“U.S. Versus Them: The Costs Of Hawkishness”
Peter Scoblic
I still don’t know how you perceive our National Interests,
other than "drill & blast!"
The world’s future is much more complicated than that! Isn’t it?
Just what is your vision of America’s National Interest
for the challenging & revolutionary future heading our way?
for some interesting reading try:
“The Limits Of Power,” by A. J. Bacevich
“U.S. Versus Them: The Costs Of Hawkishness”
Peter Scoblic
Food as a National Security Item. .
Senator McCain have you read the October 9, 2008
New York Times Magazine article by Professor Michael Pollan.
An open letter to the next President ~ it starts:
“It may surprise you to learn that among the issues that will occupy much of your time in the coming years is one you barely mentioned during the campaign: food.
Food policy is not something American presidents have had to give much thought to, at least since the Nixon administration — the last time high food prices presented a serious political peril. Since then, federal policies to promote maximum production of the commodity crops (corn, soybeans, wheat and rice) from which most of our supermarket foods are derived have succeeded impressively in keeping prices low and food more or less off the national political agenda.
But with a suddenness that has taken us all by surprise, the era of cheap and abundant food appears to be drawing to a close.
What this means is that you, like so many other leaders through history, will find yourself confronting the fact — so easy to overlook these past few years — that the health of a nation’s food system is a critical issue of national security.
Food is about to demand your attention.
WTO’s vs. Society’s rights...
what about people’s rights vs. the rights of mega-corporations?
Corporations who spout pretty commercials and slogans,
yet, in practice act more like voracious sociopathic malcontents
than responsible, intelligent forward looking neighbors?
*Suggested reading “The Silent Takeover,” by Noreena Hertz.
*Suggested viewing “The Corporation,” by M.Achbar, J.Abbot & J.Bakan.
Corporations who spout pretty commercials and slogans,
yet, in practice act more like voracious sociopathic malcontents
than responsible, intelligent forward looking neighbors?
Don’t the well-to-do owe the masses
~ upon whose toil our economy runs ~
anything?
~ upon whose toil our economy runs ~
anything?
*Suggested reading “The Silent Takeover,” by Noreena Hertz.
*Suggested viewing “The Corporation,” by M.Achbar, J.Abbot & J.Bakan.
Senator McCain, what about our Biosphere...
that web of biology, air, water & earth.
You know, that over reaching organism that makes life possible on this planet.
In fact, what we humans are a part of.
Does its health matter to you?
Show us: explain how you see Earth’s current condition,
and how you envision future challenges regarding our Biosphere.
You know, that over reaching organism that makes life possible on this planet.
In fact, what we humans are a part of.
Does its health matter to you?
Show us: explain how you see Earth’s current condition,
and how you envision future challenges regarding our Biosphere.
Creationism...
and extremist’s demand to cling to supposedly literalist Biblical interpretations.
When will we question the practice of proclaiming subjective interpretations of ancient texts as everyone’s ultimate Word of God... reality?
For more detail take a look at August 10th posts:
There they go again...
What is Science’s Sin?
God Flowing into the Word.
When will we question the practice of proclaiming subjective interpretations of ancient texts as everyone’s ultimate Word of God... reality?
For more detail take a look at August 10th posts:
There they go again...
What is Science’s Sin?
God Flowing into the Word.
McCain: Don't spread the wealth?
Senator McCain Says:
“No! You should not ‘Spread your Wealth around!’ ”
“No! You should not ‘Spread your Wealth around!’ ”
Mr. McCain, are you telling Americans that hoarding is where it’s at ? . . . Is that it?
Because that’s what it sounds like.
You make it easy to believe Republicans are only interested in creating more mega-millionaires and billionaires.
How does that sort of hoarding help our community?
Isn’t our economy and community about cycling wealth through all the layers of society?
Senator McCain, you highlight one of the mistaken beliefs that go to the heart of recent Republican failures: “What’s mine is mine and *!@$ you and yours!”
Rooted in Reaganomics this faith imagines an Earth that’s a true cornucopia. A fount of limitless resources, just waiting for our plunder. Maximizing profits (at any cost) is the battle cry.
The notion of natural limits was/is treated with dismissive ridicule, in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
To this day, in the midst of a growing global crisis - not one big-shot, be he/she media, politician or business titan acknowledges that when you get down to it -
It’s the Resource Base silly! Well, perhaps it’s fear of having to acknowledge that Reaganomics has been viscously abusive & destructive of our resource base and the Biosphere* that sustains it all. *You know, that magnificent biological web that is our life support system.
Do Republicans willfully ignore these facts because they are more important than profits? . . . and Republicans are still unable to consider anything more important than profits?......................
Is that it?
a problem with politics
~~~~~~~
Rove style (Neocon) Republican politics
- which actually has nothing to do with true honorable conservatism -
has sold too many Americans a false myth based on a self-centered faith
that God supports their own materialistic dreams above and beyond
the shared dreams of all humanity.
How can Americans thwart Rove’s willful attack
on civil public discourse?
~~~~~~~
Rove style (Neocon) Republican politics
- which actually has nothing to do with true honorable conservatism -
has sold too many Americans a false myth based on a self-centered faith
that God supports their own materialistic dreams above and beyond
the shared dreams of all humanity.
How can Americans thwart Rove’s willful attack
on civil public discourse?
~~~~~~~
Then there is the climate issue...
Then there’s the climate...
Another issue that has been saturated with misleading claims intent on diverting attention from real world challenges... when what we need is honest information and
an interested public.
Neither side has it figured out for sure.
What’s for sure is that we all need to work on this together,
realizing the goal is something greater than our individual group’s agendas. ~
Instead of relying on media sound bites, learn about the real story behind our changing climate. And, what that means for us ?
~ ~ ~ CHECK IT OUT ~ ~ ~
US Global Change Research Programwww.usgcrp.gov
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/GlobalWarmingUpdate/
For access to a wealth of information and many authoritative links go to: www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/05/start-here/
Global Climate Change research explorer site.
www.exploratorium.edu/climate/primer/index.html
For a detailed head to head with naysayer arguments visit the website: gristmill.grist.org/skeptics
The UK’s government site examining various over used climate naysayer myths: www.metoffice.gov.uk/corporate/pressoffice/myths/index.html
UN Framework Convention Climate Change:
http://unfccc.int/2860.php
also
& http://www.climatehotmap.org/
also
& http://www.architecture2030.org/
also
& http://climatechangeeducation. org/science/
EPA Climate Change Kids Page
http://epa.gov/climatechange/kids/
For up to date science reporting:
www.sciencedaily.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PBS Frontline presented an excellent update to the
multifaceted Global Energy / Climate story, called “HEAT”
on October 21st.
See it on the web, go to:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/view/
multifaceted Global Energy / Climate story, called “HEAT”
on October 21st.
See it on the web, go to:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/view/
A vacation Village at Wolf Creek, at 10,000 feet above sea level?
A Village at Wolf Creek Pass, Colorado?
When it comes down to it...it doesn’t matter if developer LMJV wants 2,100, 1,000, 500 or 5 units bulldozed into Alberta Park, at 10,000 feet elevation.
The proposed Village at Wolf Creek will do irreversible damage to an exquisite pristine Colorado biological resource of National importance.
No way around it.
You know it. They know it. We know it.
You know it. They know it. We know it.
The question to ask is: Does the Republican boast of total commitment to our National Security concerns, go beyond the military & Wall Street profit margins?
-> How important is a vast quantity of pure Rocky Mountain water ?
-> How important are the source waters of the Rio Grande River ?
National Security is about more than our ability
to drop bombs on other people.
to drop bombs on other people.
When push comes to shove isn’t water more important than oil?
Or, would Republicans disagree?
Or, would Republicans disagree?
{In the 1980’s Washington bureaucrats (Reagan Cronies) overruled the Rio Grande National Forest Service’s REJECTION of McCombs outrageous land-trade offer of sage brush land for a parcel out of the heart of one of America’s grandest watersheds ~ below Wolf Creek Pass. McCombs grand property-rights claim is ethically illegitimate !}
McCombs (& LMJV), please deed that land back to USA’s land trust.
The Red McCombs’ Biological Preserve It has a nice ring to it.
Please help convince
“Red” McCombs (& LMJV) and
the Mineral County Commissioners
to reconsider their plans for VWC -> before the damage begins.
“Red” McCombs (& LMJV) and
the Mineral County Commissioners
to reconsider their plans for VWC -> before the damage begins.
The true test of the patriot is the ability to sacrifice for the National Good,
along with the foresight & wisdom to understand.
along with the foresight & wisdom to understand.
Get involved, get informed, click:
www.friendsofwolfcreek.org
www.coloradowild.org
www.friendsofwolfcreek.org
www.coloradowild.org
Most importantly, please help try to convince the Mineral County Commissioners to take a fresh look at their questionable assumptions regarding that project and it’s regional impact.
1201 N. Main St. ~ Creede, CO 81130
(719) 658-2331 or email: lizsherrie@yahoo.com
mincty@hotmail.com
& Wolf Creek Access EIS (NFS),
c/o Content Analysis Group,
1584 S. 500 West, Suite202,
Woods Cross, UT, 84010,
or e-mail: wolfcreek@ contentanalysisgroup.com
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Abortion: Right and Wrong ............ and Colorado's Proposition 48
Regarding Colorado's Proposition 48:
It tries to mandate that a freshly fertilized egg has the same legal rights as a full fledged human.
Why are Republican "pro-lifers" trying to pump so much raw anger into their arguments?
The abortion issue is not a cartoon that can be summed up in superficial soundbites.
Why do right wingers constantly try to ignore the complexities in life?
In any event, Rachel Richardson Smith, wrote an essay that stands to this day as one of the most intelligent, thoughtful articles written on the issue of Abortion.
Originally published in Newsweek, March 25, 1985.
Here is the full text:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Abortion, Right and Wrong
By Rachel Richardson Smith
I cannot bring myself to say I am in favor of abortion. I don’t want anyone to have one. I want people to use contraceptives and for those contraceptives to be foolproof. I want people to be responsible for their actions, mature in their decisions. I want children to be loved, wanted, well cared for.
I cannot bring myself to say I am against choice. I want women who are young, poor, single or all three to be able to direct the course of their lives. I want women who have had all the children they want or can afford or their in bad marriages or destructive relationships to avoid being trapped by pregnancy.
So these days when thousands rally in opposition to legalized abortion, when facilities providing abortions are bombed, when the president speaks glowingly of the growing momentum behind the anti-abortion movement, I find myself increasingly alienated from those pro-life groups.
At the same time, I am overwhelmed with mail from pro-choice groups. They, too, are mobilizing their forces, growing articulate in support of their cause, and they want my support. I am not sure I can give it.
I find myself in the awkward position of being both anti-abortion and pro-choice. Neither group seems to be completely right—or wrong. It is not that I think abortion is wrong for me but acceptable for someone else. The question is far more complex than that.
Part of my problem is that what I think and how I feel about this issue are two entirely different matters. I know that unwanted children are often neglected, even abandoned. I know that making abortion illegal will not stop all women from having them.
I also know from experience the crisis an unplanned pregnancy can cause. Yet I have felt the joy of giving birth, the delight that comes from feeling a baby’s skin against my own. I know how hard it is to parent a child and how deeply dissatisfying it can be. My children sometimes provoke me and cause me endless frustration, but I can still look at them with tenderness and wonder at the miracle of it all. The lessons of my own experience produce conflicting emotions. Theory collides with reality.
It concerns me that both groups present themselves in absolutes. They are committed and they want me to commit. They do not recognize that gray area where I seem to be languishing. Each group has the right answer—the only answer.
Yet I am uncomfortable in either camp. I have nothing in common with the pro-lifers. I am horrified by their scare tactics, their pictures of well-formed fetuses tossed in a metal pan, their cruel slogans. I cannot condone their flagrant misuse of Scripture and unforgiving spirit. There is meanness about their position that causes them to pass judgment on the lives of women in a way I could never do.
The pro-life groups, with their fundamentalist religious attitudes, have a fear and an abhorrence of sex, especially premarital sex. In their view abortion only compounds the sexual sin. What I find incomprehensible is that even as they are opposed to abortion they are also opposed to alternative solutions. They are squeamish about sex education in the schools. They don’t want teens to have contraceptives without parental consent. They offer little aid or sympathy to unwed mothers. They are the vigilant guardians of a narrow morality.
I wonder how abortion got to be the greatest of all sins? What about poverty, ignorance, hunger, weaponry?
The only thing the anti-abortion groups seem to have right is that abortion is indeed the taking of human life. I simply cannot escape this one glaring fact. Call it what you will—fertilized egg, embryo, fetus. What we have here is human life. If it were just a mass of tissue there would be no debate. So I agree that abortion ends a life. But the anti-abortionists are wrong to call it murder.
The sad truth is that homicide is not always against the law. Our society does not categorically recognize the sanctity of human life. There are a number of legal and apparently socially acceptable ways to take human life. There are a number of legal and apparently socially acceptable ways to take human life. “Justifiable” homicide includes the death penalty, war, killing in self-defense. It seems to me that as a society we need to come to grips with our own ambiguity concerning the value of human life. If we are to value and protect unborn life so stringently, why do we not also value and protect life already born?
Why can’t we see abortion for the human tragedy it is? No woman plans for her life to turn out that way. Even the most effective contraceptives are no guarantee against pregnancy. Loneliness, ignorance, immaturity can lead to decisions (or lack of decisions) that may result in untimely pregnancy. People make mistakes.
What many people seem to misunderstand is that no woman wants to have an abortion. Circumstances demand it; women do it. No woman reacts to abortion with joy. Relief, yes. But also ambivalence, grief, despair, guilt.
The pro-choice groups do not seem to acknowledge that abortion is not a perfect answer. What goes unsaid is that when a woman has an abortion she loses more than an unwanted pregnancy. Often she loses her self-respect. No woman can forget a pregnancy no matter how it ends.
Why can we not view abortion as one of those anguished decisions in which human beings struggle to do the best they can in trying circumstances? Why is abortion viewed so coldly and factually on the one hand and so judgmentally on the other? Why is it not akin to the same painful experience families must sometimes make to allow a loved one to die?
I wonder how we can begin to change the context in which we think about abortion. How can we begin to think about it preemptively? What is it in the trauma of loss of life—be it loved, born or unborn—from which we can learn? There is much I have yet to resolve. Even as I refuse to pass judgments on other women’s lives, I weep for the children who might have been. I suspect I am not alone.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
It tries to mandate that a freshly fertilized egg has the same legal rights as a full fledged human.
Why are Republican "pro-lifers" trying to pump so much raw anger into their arguments?
The abortion issue is not a cartoon that can be summed up in superficial soundbites.
Why do right wingers constantly try to ignore the complexities in life?
In any event, Rachel Richardson Smith, wrote an essay that stands to this day as one of the most intelligent, thoughtful articles written on the issue of Abortion.
Originally published in Newsweek, March 25, 1985.
Here is the full text:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Abortion, Right and Wrong
By Rachel Richardson Smith
I cannot bring myself to say I am in favor of abortion. I don’t want anyone to have one. I want people to use contraceptives and for those contraceptives to be foolproof. I want people to be responsible for their actions, mature in their decisions. I want children to be loved, wanted, well cared for.
I cannot bring myself to say I am against choice. I want women who are young, poor, single or all three to be able to direct the course of their lives. I want women who have had all the children they want or can afford or their in bad marriages or destructive relationships to avoid being trapped by pregnancy.
So these days when thousands rally in opposition to legalized abortion, when facilities providing abortions are bombed, when the president speaks glowingly of the growing momentum behind the anti-abortion movement, I find myself increasingly alienated from those pro-life groups.
At the same time, I am overwhelmed with mail from pro-choice groups. They, too, are mobilizing their forces, growing articulate in support of their cause, and they want my support. I am not sure I can give it.
I find myself in the awkward position of being both anti-abortion and pro-choice. Neither group seems to be completely right—or wrong. It is not that I think abortion is wrong for me but acceptable for someone else. The question is far more complex than that.
Part of my problem is that what I think and how I feel about this issue are two entirely different matters. I know that unwanted children are often neglected, even abandoned. I know that making abortion illegal will not stop all women from having them.
I also know from experience the crisis an unplanned pregnancy can cause. Yet I have felt the joy of giving birth, the delight that comes from feeling a baby’s skin against my own. I know how hard it is to parent a child and how deeply dissatisfying it can be. My children sometimes provoke me and cause me endless frustration, but I can still look at them with tenderness and wonder at the miracle of it all. The lessons of my own experience produce conflicting emotions. Theory collides with reality.
It concerns me that both groups present themselves in absolutes. They are committed and they want me to commit. They do not recognize that gray area where I seem to be languishing. Each group has the right answer—the only answer.
Yet I am uncomfortable in either camp. I have nothing in common with the pro-lifers. I am horrified by their scare tactics, their pictures of well-formed fetuses tossed in a metal pan, their cruel slogans. I cannot condone their flagrant misuse of Scripture and unforgiving spirit. There is meanness about their position that causes them to pass judgment on the lives of women in a way I could never do.
The pro-life groups, with their fundamentalist religious attitudes, have a fear and an abhorrence of sex, especially premarital sex. In their view abortion only compounds the sexual sin. What I find incomprehensible is that even as they are opposed to abortion they are also opposed to alternative solutions. They are squeamish about sex education in the schools. They don’t want teens to have contraceptives without parental consent. They offer little aid or sympathy to unwed mothers. They are the vigilant guardians of a narrow morality.
I wonder how abortion got to be the greatest of all sins? What about poverty, ignorance, hunger, weaponry?
The only thing the anti-abortion groups seem to have right is that abortion is indeed the taking of human life. I simply cannot escape this one glaring fact. Call it what you will—fertilized egg, embryo, fetus. What we have here is human life. If it were just a mass of tissue there would be no debate. So I agree that abortion ends a life. But the anti-abortionists are wrong to call it murder.
The sad truth is that homicide is not always against the law. Our society does not categorically recognize the sanctity of human life. There are a number of legal and apparently socially acceptable ways to take human life. There are a number of legal and apparently socially acceptable ways to take human life. “Justifiable” homicide includes the death penalty, war, killing in self-defense. It seems to me that as a society we need to come to grips with our own ambiguity concerning the value of human life. If we are to value and protect unborn life so stringently, why do we not also value and protect life already born?
Why can’t we see abortion for the human tragedy it is? No woman plans for her life to turn out that way. Even the most effective contraceptives are no guarantee against pregnancy. Loneliness, ignorance, immaturity can lead to decisions (or lack of decisions) that may result in untimely pregnancy. People make mistakes.
What many people seem to misunderstand is that no woman wants to have an abortion. Circumstances demand it; women do it. No woman reacts to abortion with joy. Relief, yes. But also ambivalence, grief, despair, guilt.
The pro-choice groups do not seem to acknowledge that abortion is not a perfect answer. What goes unsaid is that when a woman has an abortion she loses more than an unwanted pregnancy. Often she loses her self-respect. No woman can forget a pregnancy no matter how it ends.
Why can we not view abortion as one of those anguished decisions in which human beings struggle to do the best they can in trying circumstances? Why is abortion viewed so coldly and factually on the one hand and so judgmentally on the other? Why is it not akin to the same painful experience families must sometimes make to allow a loved one to die?
I wonder how we can begin to change the context in which we think about abortion. How can we begin to think about it preemptively? What is it in the trauma of loss of life—be it loved, born or unborn—from which we can learn? There is much I have yet to resolve. Even as I refuse to pass judgments on other women’s lives, I weep for the children who might have been. I suspect I am not alone.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Friday, October 10, 2008
A vacation Village at Wolf Creek, at 10,000 feet above sea level???
~ ~ ~ A Village at Wolf Creek ? ~ ~ ~
When it comes down to it...
it doesn’t matter if LMJV wants 2,100, 1,000 or 500 units bulldozed into Alberta Park.
Should LMJV’s dream be realized, it will do irreversible damage to an exquisite
Colorado biological resource.
No way around it. You know it. They know it. We know it.
Republican’s boast about their total commitment to our National Security concerns.
How important is a vast quantity of pure Rocky Mountain water ?
How important are the source waters of the Rio Grande River ?
Has LMJV been paying attention to the world news? Not just the world economy, which should tell us volumes.
But also, the state of our biosphere, and the climate changes our globe is truly experiencing?
Are developer’s aware of the various Earth monitoring data that NASA publish on the web ?
{ One would hope that our National Forest Service guardians and decision makers are. }
{ Let’s hope, and pray, they care enough not to ignore the long term future. }
Check it out, the picture is grim for the future of our life style as we love it... fortunately, there are alternatives.
Nation Security is about more than our ability to drop bombs on other people.
When push comes to shove
water is much more important than oil !
Or, would Republicans disagree?
Mr. McCombs the true test of the patriot is the ability to sacrifice for the National Good,
along with the foresight & wisdom to understand.
When it comes down to it...
it doesn’t matter if LMJV wants 2,100, 1,000 or 500 units bulldozed into Alberta Park.
Should LMJV’s dream be realized, it will do irreversible damage to an exquisite
Colorado biological resource.
No way around it. You know it. They know it. We know it.
Republican’s boast about their total commitment to our National Security concerns.
How important is a vast quantity of pure Rocky Mountain water ?
How important are the source waters of the Rio Grande River ?
Has LMJV been paying attention to the world news? Not just the world economy, which should tell us volumes.
But also, the state of our biosphere, and the climate changes our globe is truly experiencing?
Are developer’s aware of the various Earth monitoring data that NASA publish on the web ?
{ One would hope that our National Forest Service guardians and decision makers are. }
{ Let’s hope, and pray, they care enough not to ignore the long term future. }
Check it out, the picture is grim for the future of our life style as we love it... fortunately, there are alternatives.
Nation Security is about more than our ability to drop bombs on other people.
When push comes to shove
water is much more important than oil !
Or, would Republicans disagree?
Mr. McCombs the true test of the patriot is the ability to sacrifice for the National Good,
along with the foresight & wisdom to understand.
Dear Mr. McCombs... an open letter,
Dear Mr. McCombs,
Excuse my forwardness but you are at the point in your career where considerations of your legacy carry ever greater weight. You are also in a unique situation to radically enhance or damage that legacy through your future actions at Alberta Park.
Going ahead with your proposed project would be a grievous mistake with far reaching damage not only to that particular spectacular and precious parcel of watershed land, but also the stability & health of the local communities and even down stream communities.
The Village at Wolf Creek has all the making of a monster white elephant that others will be straddled with. Bulldozing ahead with the VWC project in the face of massive and weighty reasons for its timely abandonment would villainize your legacy. Please stop.
These strong objections don’t come from any animosity toward you - they are rooted in a sober appraisal of the most likely economic scenario of the next decades, combined with a recognition that current indisputable weather & water trends also need to be factored into future decisions.
Please step back from a selfish determination to force a developers dream ~ a dream conceived in the 1980’s when it was believed natural limits could be ignored ~ upon a population that simply doesn’t need the problems your project would inevitably force on them.
The proposed Village at Wolf Creek project is past its viability ! Please find a way to allow your 300 acres of Alberta Park to be returned to the United States Public Land Trust where it rightfully belongs, safe for future generations to enjoy its many economic and esthetic benefits.
Think of it ~ ~ ~
THE RED MCCOMBS WOLF CREEK PRESERVE"
trade profits for respect
Sincerely, Peter Miesler
Excuse my forwardness but you are at the point in your career where considerations of your legacy carry ever greater weight. You are also in a unique situation to radically enhance or damage that legacy through your future actions at Alberta Park.
Going ahead with your proposed project would be a grievous mistake with far reaching damage not only to that particular spectacular and precious parcel of watershed land, but also the stability & health of the local communities and even down stream communities.
The Village at Wolf Creek has all the making of a monster white elephant that others will be straddled with. Bulldozing ahead with the VWC project in the face of massive and weighty reasons for its timely abandonment would villainize your legacy. Please stop.
These strong objections don’t come from any animosity toward you - they are rooted in a sober appraisal of the most likely economic scenario of the next decades, combined with a recognition that current indisputable weather & water trends also need to be factored into future decisions.
Please step back from a selfish determination to force a developers dream ~ a dream conceived in the 1980’s when it was believed natural limits could be ignored ~ upon a population that simply doesn’t need the problems your project would inevitably force on them.
The proposed Village at Wolf Creek project is past its viability ! Please find a way to allow your 300 acres of Alberta Park to be returned to the United States Public Land Trust where it rightfully belongs, safe for future generations to enjoy its many economic and esthetic benefits.
Think of it ~ ~ ~
THE RED MCCOMBS WOLF CREEK PRESERVE"
trade profits for respect
Sincerely, Peter Miesler
Wolf Creek Access EIS
{In many ways the NFS is stuck in the middle. It should be remembered that back in 1986 the RioGrandeNationalForest denied Red McCombs landswap proposition. Foresters who know that parcel of land, know that bulldozing a vacation community into the middle that mountainside and watershed is a lousy idea from A to Z. But, the matter has been deftly taken out of their hands.}
The people that really need to be convinced are the Mineral County Commissioners. In any event, here's what I had written as of 10-9-8.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wolf Creek Access EIS ‘Content Analysis Group’: please consider the serious scientific & economic evidence that speaks against this project.
It’s about more than a road !
~~~~~~~~
Why has the real world value of keeping the fens & wetlands of the greater Alberta Park area cohesive & pristine been ignored?
The fens is a delicate product that took centuries to get to its current condition.
It has a complex structure and population that simply can not be reconstituted.
The foundations for roads and parking lots and buildings will dig deep into the fens intricate structure, destroying its integrity.
During the construction phase and later occupation, despite assurances from the developers, contaminates will find there way into the ground water flow.
What about the major wildlife corridors that travel directly through that land and have done so for ages. Plopping a village in the middle of their domain is going to further harm their continued viability.
Consider the ever spreading wilderness-urban interface. Free open corridors for wildlife are becoming ever rarer.
Are a bunch of luxury homes another notch deeper into their habitat justifiable by any but the greediest of standards?
Snowfall storage and future water needs. Considering that Wolf Creek Pass gets some of the greatest snow falls in the nation, and is part of the Rio Grande River watershed ---> shouldn’t we factor in those economic benefits? Decision makers please do not ignore these facts!
Economics, the world economy is undergoing a major upheaval, one that should leave no doubt that the future is going to be a leaner place. The time has arrived for reevaluating priorities and rethinking the importance of protecting biological resources.
The people that really need to be convinced are the Mineral County Commissioners. In any event, here's what I had written as of 10-9-8.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wolf Creek Access EIS ‘Content Analysis Group’: please consider the serious scientific & economic evidence that speaks against this project.
It’s about more than a road !
~~~~~~~~
Why has the real world value of keeping the fens & wetlands of the greater Alberta Park area cohesive & pristine been ignored?
The fens is a delicate product that took centuries to get to its current condition.
It has a complex structure and population that simply can not be reconstituted.
The foundations for roads and parking lots and buildings will dig deep into the fens intricate structure, destroying its integrity.
During the construction phase and later occupation, despite assurances from the developers, contaminates will find there way into the ground water flow.
What about the major wildlife corridors that travel directly through that land and have done so for ages. Plopping a village in the middle of their domain is going to further harm their continued viability.
Consider the ever spreading wilderness-urban interface. Free open corridors for wildlife are becoming ever rarer.
Are a bunch of luxury homes another notch deeper into their habitat justifiable by any but the greediest of standards?
Snowfall storage and future water needs. Considering that Wolf Creek Pass gets some of the greatest snow falls in the nation, and is part of the Rio Grande River watershed ---> shouldn’t we factor in those economic benefits? Decision makers please do not ignore these facts!
Economics, the world economy is undergoing a major upheaval, one that should leave no doubt that the future is going to be a leaner place. The time has arrived for reevaluating priorities and rethinking the importance of protecting biological resources.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Wolf Creek Development Tangled with Political Ties
Mike Soraghan wrote a
Denver Post story (2-5-6) entitled: “Wolf Creek Development Tangled with Political Ties”
The article outlines some of the political juice that has pushed this project. It is a long story, but here are some key quotes:
"Washington - Texas billionaire B.J. "Red" McCombs... lobbied to get the official who oversees the agency appointed, and ... has since met repeatedly with the official to discuss the controversial project, records and interviews show.
"McCombs pushed to have Mark Rey, a longtime timber-industry lobbyist, appointed undersecretary of agriculture, overseeing the Forest Service...
"McCombs is a longtime donor to Republicans and a friend of the family of President Bush (Sr). He's given more than $475,000 to congressional and presidential campaigns since 1989, 91 percent of it to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics...
"McCombs tapped former U.S. Rep. Tom Loeffler, now a Texas lobbyist and a top fundraiser for Bush.
"It's not clear whom McCombs and Loeffler approached on Rey's behalf. But after Rey was selected, Honts wrote a letter to McCombs regarding Rey's appointment.
"It is my understanding that your effort and former Congressman Loeffler's efforts had an impact at exactly the right time in the process," said Honts' ...
"After Rey's appointment, Honts got access to him at key steps in the process of reviewing the Village at Wolf Creek proposal, according to Rey's calendars, obtained by The Post...
"The first of three meetings was Nov. 28, 2001, about two months after Rey was sworn in. Rey's calendars show he's had several more meetings with McCombs' representatives...
"In February 2003, Rey again met with Honts to discuss access to the site of the McCombs project. It was about two weeks after McCombs had given $25,000 to the national Republican Party...
"Also at the meeting was Honts' lobbyist, Steve Quarles, chief litigation counsel to the American Forest and Paper Association, where Rey was an executive in the early 1990s...
"McCombs has paid Quarles at least $40,000 a year, documents indicate that Quarles supplied the language for a important Forest Service letter that defined McCombs' access to his property...
"In June, Rey met once again on Wolf Creek, this time with McCombs himself. They had an hour-and-a-half "working lunch" in the secretary of agriculture's dining room...
"Randy Karstaedt, an official at the Forest Service's Lakewood regional headquarters, said that Tenny (McCombs deputy) monitored the Wolf Creek situation closely...
"In August 2004, Karstaedt e-mailed a regional planner with concerns about Honts' and Quarles' demands to see early drafts of an environmental impact statement on their project before agency officials had the chance to review them...
"When a farm subsidy bill passed without a pro-McCombs (VWC) amendment in May 2002, McCombs wrote to DeLay to thank him for trying and asked a DeLay aide to try again. Five days later, McCombs contributed $25,000 to the Republican National State Elections Committee..."
{For the complete text visit
The Denver Post Archives or email: citizenschallenge@gmail.com.}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Documentation can be found at: www.friendsofwolfcreek.org/whitepaper/index.html
Denver Post story (2-5-6) entitled: “Wolf Creek Development Tangled with Political Ties”
The article outlines some of the political juice that has pushed this project. It is a long story, but here are some key quotes:
"Washington - Texas billionaire B.J. "Red" McCombs... lobbied to get the official who oversees the agency appointed, and ... has since met repeatedly with the official to discuss the controversial project, records and interviews show.
"McCombs pushed to have Mark Rey, a longtime timber-industry lobbyist, appointed undersecretary of agriculture, overseeing the Forest Service...
"McCombs is a longtime donor to Republicans and a friend of the family of President Bush (Sr). He's given more than $475,000 to congressional and presidential campaigns since 1989, 91 percent of it to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics...
"McCombs tapped former U.S. Rep. Tom Loeffler, now a Texas lobbyist and a top fundraiser for Bush.
"It's not clear whom McCombs and Loeffler approached on Rey's behalf. But after Rey was selected, Honts wrote a letter to McCombs regarding Rey's appointment.
"It is my understanding that your effort and former Congressman Loeffler's efforts had an impact at exactly the right time in the process," said Honts' ...
"After Rey's appointment, Honts got access to him at key steps in the process of reviewing the Village at Wolf Creek proposal, according to Rey's calendars, obtained by The Post...
"The first of three meetings was Nov. 28, 2001, about two months after Rey was sworn in. Rey's calendars show he's had several more meetings with McCombs' representatives...
"In February 2003, Rey again met with Honts to discuss access to the site of the McCombs project. It was about two weeks after McCombs had given $25,000 to the national Republican Party...
"Also at the meeting was Honts' lobbyist, Steve Quarles, chief litigation counsel to the American Forest and Paper Association, where Rey was an executive in the early 1990s...
"McCombs has paid Quarles at least $40,000 a year, documents indicate that Quarles supplied the language for a important Forest Service letter that defined McCombs' access to his property...
"In June, Rey met once again on Wolf Creek, this time with McCombs himself. They had an hour-and-a-half "working lunch" in the secretary of agriculture's dining room...
"Randy Karstaedt, an official at the Forest Service's Lakewood regional headquarters, said that Tenny (McCombs deputy) monitored the Wolf Creek situation closely...
"In August 2004, Karstaedt e-mailed a regional planner with concerns about Honts' and Quarles' demands to see early drafts of an environmental impact statement on their project before agency officials had the chance to review them...
"When a farm subsidy bill passed without a pro-McCombs (VWC) amendment in May 2002, McCombs wrote to DeLay to thank him for trying and asked a DeLay aide to try again. Five days later, McCombs contributed $25,000 to the Republican National State Elections Committee..."
{For the complete text visit
The Denver Post Archives or email: citizenschallenge@gmail.com.}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Documentation can be found at: www.friendsofwolfcreek.org/whitepaper/index.html
Resident responds to Wolf Creek developer Red McCombs
The Summit Daily ~ July 25, 2006
"Resident responds to Wolf Creek developer Red McCombs"
This is an interesting article regarding a rhetorical question from
Mr. McCombs, it starts out:
“All my life, I have always wondered why there is antagonism toward developers,” said billionaire developer B.J. “Red” McCombs recently during a (one sided ) forum on his proposed resort atop remote Wolf Creek Pass, in southwestern Colorado.
I can answer Mr. McCombs...”
Ken Wright then goes on to give five reasons for the antagonism.
The article makes for an excellent "main street" reality check. Find it at:
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20060725/COLUMNS/60726012
"Resident responds to Wolf Creek developer Red McCombs"
This is an interesting article regarding a rhetorical question from
Mr. McCombs, it starts out:
“All my life, I have always wondered why there is antagonism toward developers,” said billionaire developer B.J. “Red” McCombs recently during a (one sided ) forum on his proposed resort atop remote Wolf Creek Pass, in southwestern Colorado.
I can answer Mr. McCombs...”
Ken Wright then goes on to give five reasons for the antagonism.
The article makes for an excellent "main street" reality check. Find it at:
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20060725/COLUMNS/60726012
Dear Hal Jones, ( of Leavell-McCombs Joint Venture)
Hal Jones, front man for Leavell-McCombs Joint Venture, developer behind the proposed Village at Wolf Creek states:
“We’re excited about this project. Our goal is to make things more harmonious with what’s up there at the site. We’re taking a completely new approach”
Given that bold statement
can we ask Mr. Jones of Leavell-McCombs Joint Venture :
>> What IS up at the “site” - that is Alberta Park near Wolf Creek Pass?
>> How would you describe that parcel as it currently stands?
>> Does it have a value beyond its development potential?
>> Can you comment on the value of retaining wildlife corridors?
>> Can you comment on the value of pristine water resources?
>> Can you comment on the current financial upheaval that seems to highlight the folly behind the 1980’s, (and still revered) Reaganomics ~ that is: faith in ignoring natural limits, and ‘deifying’ the “greed is good” boast)?
“We’re excited about this project. Our goal is to make things more harmonious with what’s up there at the site. We’re taking a completely new approach”
Given that bold statement
can we ask Mr. Jones of Leavell-McCombs Joint Venture :
>> What IS up at the “site” - that is Alberta Park near Wolf Creek Pass?
>> How would you describe that parcel as it currently stands?
>> Does it have a value beyond its development potential?
>> Can you comment on the value of retaining wildlife corridors?
>> Can you comment on the value of pristine water resources?
>> Can you comment on the current financial upheaval that seems to highlight the folly behind the 1980’s, (and still revered) Reaganomics ~ that is: faith in ignoring natural limits, and ‘deifying’ the “greed is good” boast)?
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