caucus99percent

free-range politics, organic community

From a couple of years ago:

Why Tolkien Hated Dune

March into War

March is the start of meteorological spring, and next week will be very springlike here. Sadly this weekend marks the start of another unprovoked war. Doesn't anyone remember the Iraq WMD lies? Evidently not...because here we go again, and without any logical reason. Russia starts unprovoked wars, we start "preemptive" wars. Yeah right.

Okay, so at some point very soon the existing stocks of global oil will be depleted and ther rest of the world will begin to wonder if any of that knowledge the Cubans built up in surviving US embargo conditions survived -- after, of course, Marco Rubio destroys Cuba. We will wonder those things because we will be experiencing those embargo conditions, only there will be no embargo.

Afternoon folks!

This week we start off with a couple of Chicago blues albums, one from guitarist Otis Rush and another, a live album from harmonica player James Cotton with Matt Guitar Murphy and Luther Tucker. After that, we have a rockabillyish sort of compilation album from Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks followed by an album by Stax guitarist Steve Cropper and lots of guests which is a tribute to the 5 Royales. Finishing us up in the diversity department is an album from the band Klaatu that for a brief moment in the mid 70's some loose gossip caused folks to think that it might be a new Beatles album. It's an interesting album nonetheless.

Enjoy the tunes and have a great weekend!

Good morning, good people!

As I read soe's ot yesterday, I marveled at how it sort of paralleled into mine this morning. It is about trying to put our lives today into perspective, contemplating that history, religion, war, economic systems, etc..., have us where we are today.I have his 84 yr old friend who comes to see me every so often at the office. I had 2 hours before clients were to show up, so we had a marvelous discussion of everything from history, religion, politics, capitalism, the medical system, cts, and music. You see, he was a violinist for the Houston Symphony Orchestra and vividly remembers being one of the chosen to play for The Bolshoy Ballet when they came to town, while I vividly remember being in the audience.

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So Israel decided to initiate an aggression against Iran. Naturally, the US followed suit. Iran is returning fire
at targets in Israel and US military bases thru-out the region. The chosen justification for this aggression is
to prevent Iran from producing a nuclear weapon, which they have repeatedly denied attempting.

Happy Friday everyone. Welcome to Friday Night Photos your once a week escape from the day to day insanity of the world we live in. Post any photos, memes, music or whatever else you find of interest that helps tune out the madness.

After cool temps and rain most of last week, it's been sunny skies and very warm temps this week. Today's forecast is for low 80s along the coast and mid 90s inland where I live. Temps are not the only thing on the rise. Gas has gone up 20¢ to $4.29 a gallon in the last few weeks.

Every year from the beginning of February until mid March the Navy's flight demonstration team the Blue Angels are based at NAF El Centro in the Imperial valley. Each morning just after the playing of colors at 8am they have a practice session that last about an hour. Last Thursday another member of the camera club and myself drove out to catch that mornings session.

Why the obsession with history, faith practices, business models, news and politics? One could say to know the past, brings understanding to the present and improves projections into the future. Another way to phrase the evolving puzzle of self or a population group: How I got here, where I am and imagining future possibilities.

Sometimes it is simply for self preservation and a moderately safe future. The US safety net has become an illusion for any US citizen falling from middle class to poverty. As a general rule citizens seem to have been willing to provide funds for a safety net it is just the nonprofits and governments to often use up or save money for themselves.