I happen to believe the Eurozone is correct in their decisions regarding their current economies.

Australia has finally given the green light for accepting New Zealand apples. File photo / NZ Herald

The Global Plutocrats have gotten too big for their britches.  They need the governments more than the governments ever needed them.


The global governments did not cause the problems faced in today's economies.  We need to remember whom EXACTLY caused this disaster in the first place and it wasn't any government that did.  It was unregulated and out of control private sectors that turned homes into commodities.


One has to realize the 'so called' power thee Plutocratic Organizations believe they have.  They wanted and may have downgraded New Zealand's financial structure because of earthquakes.  I believe Japan is receiving the same 'once over.'  This is hideous unless the Plutocrats live in "Cloud City."

By Ana Nicolaci da Costa

LONDON | Wed Aug 17, 2011 7:44am EDT

(Reuters) - German government bonds (click title to entry - thank you) rallied on Wednesday and were likely to remain supported as French and German plans for closer fiscal integration in the euro zone did little to soothe concerns that the regional debt crisis could still spread.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel unveiled plans for economic governance, seen as essential first steps to the eventual fiscal integration within the single currency area many in markets say is needed.

But the meeting revealed no concrete measures to tackle the region's immediate concern: funding for weaker euro zone states.

"Investors are a bit disappointed…

Gee, what a shame they are disappointed.  Wow.   No free money for Wall Street today.  I guess they’ll actually have to stop sitting on gold and actually invest in expanding economic growth and INVESTING their money instead of counting it.  Oh.  My.  God.  They might loss a dollar or two to make a buck in a decade.  

Power generation emissions lowest in a decade (click here)

6:22 PM Wednesday Aug 17, 201

Greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation are at their lowest in a decade, the Government said today.

Acting Energy Minister Hekia Parata said a report from the Ministry of Economic Development showed that last year 74 per cent of New Zealand's electricity came from renewable sources.

Greenhouse gas emissions declined 11 per cent on the previous year.

- NZPA

It would seem as though New Zealand and its citizens are thriving and achieving goals anyway.  And Wall Street should be grateful for that unless they want to sit on top of gold bars forever that will stagnate over time anyway.  Since when are sovereign countries less important than Plutocrats?  Since the USA Republicans sold their souls?  I don't think so.

NZ apples cleared for importation into Australia (click here)

5:55 PM Wednesday Aug 17, 2011

The way has been cleared for the importation of New Zealand apples to Australia after 90 years of waiting.

Australia today gave the green light for accepting New Zealand apples although growers will have limits placed on them to prevent the spread of diseases such as fire blight and European canker.

Only commercially-mature fruit will be allowed to be imported, under guidelines proposed by the Australian director of Animal and Plant Quarantine.

Fruit will need to be washed by high-pressure water spraying and brushed in the packing house to remove surface contamination of pests and trash such as leaf litter.

The import conditions require that NZ growers be registered to export to Australia and apply in-orchard controls for fire blight, European canker and apple leaf curling midge, including ongoing targeted monitoring, spraying and pruning…

Why isn't there more research into these obscure viruses? Hendra. Nipah.

These viruses effect livestock, but, also take human lives.  In this case there is a very vital thoroughbred race horse industry.  It would seem as though some of them are being becoming very ill and being destroyed from the Hendra virus.


The index case, (click title to entry - thank you) a mare, was housed with 23 other horses after falling ill and died two days later. Subsequently, 19 of the remaining horses succumbed with 13 dying. Both the trainer and a stable hand were involved in nursing the index case and both fell ill within one week of the horse’s death with an influenza-like illness. The stable hand recovered while the trainer died of respiratory and renal failure. The source of virus was most likely frothy nasal discharge from the index case....


Rarely do Americans experience Australian Thoroughbred Horse Racing.  They are beautiful animals.  Valuable animals.  But, what appears to be benign negligence of research on the surface into these 'modern day' viruses (Hendra was first realized in 1994, I believe.) really is a collapse of a research institution I once worked for.  This is exactly the kind of work we did, successfully and profitably.


The research institution was the Agricultural Division of American-Cyanamid  in West Windsor, New Jersey.  It was a fascinating place to work.  Very exotic.  Very engaging.  There was never a challenge to great and its activities were backed by the international community.  


I was there two summers ago after decades of absence and the place was shuttered and abandoned.  It was a damn shame.  When I pulled up to the guard house there were a couple of people inside and when I told them I once worked there they could not get enough of me.  We went on a tour of the place while I was there.  They wanted to know more about what occurred there.  So I told them.  I also told them American Cyanamid got a bad rap for being a chemical company.  Not that they were saints, their Bound Brook plant was a huge disaster with its chemical pools, but, the research that went on including their Lederle Lab division did really vital work.


I think a German concern bought them out and then closed it down for whatever reason they did.  But, the place is enormous.  The labs are still there unless the township did something with them.  The greenhouses must be worth at least a million or more a piece.  They were state of the art and I am not sure they still aren't.


What the Ag Division did was to act a 'a global research and development' lab.  Literally.  The scientists there would bring 'problems' of any kind from around the world for research and cures.  Heck, there was a time we even had India's cows there for research into a disease they were ailing from.  The animals were isolated.  We never had a case of a disease entity that escaped into the USA population of any animal or plant.  Besides, we had the cure anyway.


It was a great place.  The main research building had three wings, animal, plant and chemical.  It was very productive.  The American Cyanamid Hannibal, Missouri plant was built because of the work from the Ag Division.  We had some incredible stories to tell.  As a matte of fact, I believe our beagles were among the first to be free of heartworm.


I took one of them home after he was cured.  He lived a long time afterward.  He was a great dog.


That was in the mid-to late 70s.  It was unfortunate all the divisions of American Cyanamid were sold to the highest bidder to allow such valuable people, facilities and activities to end.  It is a tragedy actually.  Then people wonder what happened to the economies around the world.  


That complex was part of a 'culture' in the Princeton area.  We had a Princeton address.  But, in New Jersey there were other companies in the area, Squibb was one of them.  We really enjoyed the 'juice' of investigative disease research.  I think there was a company in Somerset County called "Boroughs Wellcome" and I am probably misspelling that.  And of course, Johnson and Johnson is still around.  We were in research when J&J built their Baby Products Division in Skillman, New Jersey.


Its a darn shame.  The WHO should obtain that old American Cyanamid facility if it is still available.  They could find some real value in that property and its research complex in West Windsor.  If it is still there.  It was still there in the summer of 2009.


But, these new viruses need that kind of intense attention.  They mutate quickly and cause human death.  There is absolutely nothing saying they will remained contained in an international venue where transport by plane and ship is nothing.  Currently there is a big argument about the mistreatment of live cattle from Australia to Indonesia.  The humanitarian focus is interesting, but, more to realize the 'ease' in which disease processes can be exported with entities that take a month or more to manifest symptoms.


There needs to be more than record keeping and tracking by the WHO.  They need an active research staff that actually finds cures.  This research of such entities to end their impact both on life and economies is mostly abandoned by the Plutocrats.  They don't find it profitable the way they LIKE to make vast amounts of money.  This research is vital and MORAL.  Those 'qualities' are not valued in the modern day market place and the world shows it.


...Right now on the east coast of Australia where I live, (click here) we have an outbreak of the deadly Hendra Virus (HeV) which kills horses and humans and even infects dogs and I have to admit that I’m scared, especially as I own 3 horses and 3 dogs. Over the last month of July 2011, 14 horses have died and have potentially infected 55 people who are being tested for HeV and remain under observation along with any horses, dogs and cats that also came into contact with the sick horses. This is required even when that contact occurred before the infected horses started to exhibit any symptoms of the virus, as they were potentially infectious for at least 2 days beforehand while they were still outwardly symptom free....

Sixth NSW horse dies from Hendra virus  (click here)

August 17, 2011 - 1:34PM

A sixth horse has died from the Hendra virus in NSW, the NSW Department of Primary Industries has confirmed.

The horse died at a property near Ballina, on the far NSW North Coast, on Monday.

"The property has been quarantined and the infected horse has been euthanised and buried on the property," NSW Chief Veterinary Officer Ian Roth said in a statement today.

Advertisement: Story continues below

Dr Roth said the horse was noticeably ill late on Sunday, and deteriorated rapidly during the night and into Monday.

Two other horses on the property were at risk, he added.

"These horses will be closely monitored and, following an initial test, further laboratory testing will be carried out 16 and 32 days following the last contact with the infected horse," he said….

What is this negative language about President Obama?

Congress is in recess.  It is summer break for the First Daughters.  He goes on a bus tour to speak with people about what occurred in DC over the last couple of months in which he refused to let Congress recess over July 4 holiday and the media calls this a vacation.


I don't think so.  

Obama Tours Rural America To Talk Jobs (click title to entry - thank you)

Then...


Palin goes on a bus tour for what would seem no reason at all and the media calls it a Photo Op Tour.  


What's "W"rong with this picture?


President Obama doesn't even have his name on the bus or his web address for a PAC with his name attached to it.


Hello?


To add insult to injury, Former President Clinton states a Texas Governor is good looking?


To whom?


President Obama isn't exactly chopped liver, okay?


Then Palin wants to 'take the country back.'


Back to what?


It seems as though the media needs a more FAIR AND BALANCED approach to their commentary.  

Okay then.  It would seem as though 'the hair' has it.


Worrisome.  Very..  President Clinton sure about this?


CHICAGO, Aug. 15 (UPI) -- Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's corruption conviction means others charged in the federal investigation will soon know their fate, officials said.

Blagojevich (click here) will be sentenced Oct. 6 for his role in what federal prosecutors have called "Operation Board-Games," the Chicago Sun-Times reported Monday....

Desalination plants NOT aqueduct.. Aqueducts expose water to the heat and evaporation.

e

There is an 'energy' balance with desalination plants.  The more GREEN the land the more CO2 absorbed.


It ain't rainin'.  Have to start somewhere.






The GREENER the land the higher the biotic content and the higher the water vapor in the air. 


THINK "Rainforest."


When the desalination plants outlive their NEED because it is raining.  Shut 'em down.

Why isn't Jim Hightower nationally syndicated??????

There are only three left of his hardcover book.  This book was copyrighted in 2008.  Now we know where Palin got her 'fish comments' that she made in July 2009.

I like what he has to say.  You know there is something average homeowners in Texas can do to reverse the 'impression' drought is making on that state.

Ever hear of "Drip Trickle Irrigation?"  It is a form of irrigation that uses 'minimal' amount of water to irrigate crops.  But, homeowners can reclaim their lawns and start to return biotic content to the parched land by applying that slowly and methodically.  

Article from Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service:

"Drip (Trickle) Irrigation Systems" (click here)

Let me explain slightly more.

To the right is a drip trickle irrigation hose.   This one is 500 feet long.  It is flat with holes in it every few inches to allow the water coming through the hose to 'leak' out.  That is the way it is suppose to work and there are suppose to be holes in the hose.


The land in Texas is far too, too parched to launch into lawn sprinkler or massive irrigation projects.  It won't accomplish anything sustainable.  But, if homeowners, as the sun is going down, puts drip trickle 'hoses' across their lawns, even if they are only dirt right now,  and allows the soil to get moist, not muddy, but wet looking; the land will start to turn around.  It won't be difficult.

To put these techiques  to work during daylight hours will be self defeating.  The water will dry up and never serve any good purpose during a hot sunny day on parched land.

Then an Australian method  is really, really interesting.  The Aussies have profound drought and are experts at this , but, they place 'tarps' over ground at night.  If there is enough of a temperature drop to develop a 'dew' from whatever moisture might be in the air, they pick up the tarps in the morning before the sun comes up to secure the water gathered there overnight.

The image to the left is how the hoses are used to 'water' crops in a garden.

Now the 'idea' of using tarps over the ground can actually serve two purposes.  To gather moisture in the air that might be there, but, also to protect the ground 'newly' watered with the irrigation method that just dampened it.  The tarps will keep the ground from 'giving up' its acquired moisture from the evening before and will be ready to add more moisture to it the next evening.

It doesn't matter at this point if the ground is covered with a tarp during the day to create a shadow over it as there isn't anything growing yet.  Start to get this picture.  The soil is starting to build up moisture that will eventually 'saturate' it enough to allow seeds to be planted.  There has to be a loose and good soil bed for the seeds.  Seeds will germinate in the dark, so to preserve their integrity under a tarp until they push through the soil is just fine.  It will protect them until they are ready to develop small roots and photosynthesis.  It is fairly delicate work, it isn't as though one can simply saturate the ground and expect this to work, it might not.  More than likely saturation will wash away valuable nutrients that might still be there for the seedlings.


Initially, a vigorous grass without necessarily a decorative quality, such as 'switchgrass' might be the best start.  It is fairly hardy and won't succumb to daytime sun even if it is strong.  The tricky part is nurturing the grass once it is sprouting to continue to thrive.  Adding water to dampen the soil and enough shade, even by tarp, to prevent it from drying up.  What will eventually occur is a 'crop like' grass lawn that will provide shade to its own roots.  Once that is in place the more decorative grasses can be added in between the Prairie Grass while it is then trimmed back slowly to prevent it from going to seed but yet preserving the moisture in the ground.

The picture to the right is a 'drip trickle ring' for trees. Trees are vital to the re-establishment of 'water vapor' in the air.  Their root systems take ground water and move it up the trunk of the tree to the leaves.  There is evapotranspiration that occurs at the leaves in order to move more water up the trunk of the tree along with more nutrients.  The more trees that can be 'estalished' the better.  It is the water vapor that will reverse the trend of the drought.

Gardeners should love this stuff.  It is a real challenge and if done correctly and with dedication there will be neighborhoods and even large areas depending on the resident that will see moisture back in the soil.  That is not the best part though.


Even if the biotic content of the land returns to 'neighborhood' type setting, such as one sees in Bakersfield, California, that will start to create and nurture its own 'moisture content' in the air.  As that occurs it will become easier and easier to bring back biotic content in the surrounding areas of the communities, then onto ranges and then before everyone knows it there will be prairie rather than parched land.  That dynamic sometimes takes a season or so, but, with vigilance it is possible.  The important aspect to fighting drought is to MAINTAIN the biotic content of the land without question.  Vigilance and dedication to the land as a 'commodity' no different than cattle is the only way to stop this emergency, reverse its effects and start to keep 'water vapor' in the region of Texas so good things can happen.


Texas can do this.  If Jim Hightower is worried about it and uses resources he can trust to achieve insight, I know Texas can do this.  They will be doing it for themselves, the beauty of their state, their local economy and the well being of the nation and its economy.  Humans can't live without water and a biotic content that drives that capacity is the only way anyone should consider to be important.


Good luck.  

Australia has all kinds of problems with the illegal drug trade conducted within Indonesia. Not funny. This mess never stops.

Convicted ... (click title to entry - thank you) 

Mark Standen at the Supreme Court. 

Photo: Brendan Esposito

A corrupt ex-cop has been convicted over the importation of illegal drugs ("Just the tip of the iceberg", August 12). Headlines have shouted this wrongdoing as if it is shocking and unexpected.

And for this to be in the organisation charged with preventing drug trafficking.

I am not surprised. There are huge profits to be made and Mark Standen was just a middleman. It is a temptation some cannot resist, even those in positions of trust.

We try to stop the drugs and spend about $2.2 billion each year doing so but less than 20 per cent is captured. The high street prices of the drugs means that a user with a desperate need who cannot afford it from his or her own income resorts to dealing, stealing or prostitution. Added to the user's misery is that of his or her family and of anyone who is unfortunate enough to be robbed to pay for the drugs. And there is no guarantee about the safeness of the drug….

Years back Shapelle Corby wanted to try to convince the world she wasn't involved in the drug smuggling between Indonesia and Australia.  Then her brother was caught red handed a few years later.  There is always this corruption with the entire drug cartel that pays off government and law enforcement providing the venue they want for continued illegal trade.

Corby to await sentence cut news  (click here)

August 17, 2011 - 2:44AM

Convicted Australian drug smuggler Schapelle Corby will learn on Wednesday if she will have her 20-year sentence reduced further as part of Indonesia's Independence Day celebrations.

Authorities at Bali's Kerobokan Prison have recommended that Corby's jail term be cut by five months.

Corby will learn if her sentence for drug trafficking has been cut during a ceremony at the jail to mark Indonesia's Independence Day.

Renae Lawrence, the only female member of the Bali Nine, is also in line for a sentence cut with authorities having recommended her term be reduced by six months.

The two women had their sentences reduced by similar amounts on Independence Day last year, and by 45 days at Christmas.

Corby, who was sentenced to 20 years in jail after she was caught at Bali's international airport in 2004 with 4.1kg of marijuana in her bodyboard bag, has already had her prison term cut by almost two years….

Will Indonesia ever have a government it can trust?

Graft suspect (click title to entery - thank you) Muhammad Nazaruddin, center, is escorted by police officers as he steps out from the plane upon arrival from Colombia, at Halim Perdanakusumah airport in Jakarta, Indonesia, Saturday, Aug. 13, 2011. The former ruling party lawmaker arrived in Indonesia under tight security Saturday, three months after fleeing the country for allegedly taking millions of dollars in bribes. (AP Photo)

The biggest crime Indonesia has is being an OPEC nation without a dictatorship.

It is like every little tin god that comes into power makes off with the treasury.  You know in the USA it is bankrupt bankers that are immune from prosecution by "W,” but in Indonesia it is a little more prosecutible, especially when Interpol gives a hand.  But, jeeze.  How are things in Kuala Lumpur?   Maybe the government officials need to be provided an incentive to keep their hands out of the cookie jar.  Like, maybe a ‘trust fund’ for them when they leave office with a clean record of service. 

The people of Indonesia are great people.  They protect their waters, or at least try to.  They try to bring equity to all the different ethnic groups.  They have volcanos that displace their populous on a regular basis.  They make room for threatened and endangered species while protecting vital rainforests necessary as carbon sinks for Earth.  They are really great people, but, they get these LOSERS in the government that can't seem to understand the Indonesian Treasury is not theirs to have. 


They are sort of like Cheney that sabotages every effort to find a Vice Presidential candidate to allow him to get into the Oval Office and reek havoc all over the globe to 'bailout' his 'cooked books' at Halliburton.  Next time can we simply give the idiots at Halliburton immunity and offer to bail them out?  Okay?  I mean the corruption that goes on when the USA doesn't step to the plate and the deaths globally are really not acceptable.  At least the way the corruption happens in Indonesia there aren't any wars and mass death of ethnic minorities.


For real.


I am serious.  Sooner or later and preferably sooner the USA has to take responsibility for what 'goes on' with the high level of corruption of its government.  The Indonesians do.  They don't allow 'powerful' people to walk all over them.  Maybe we need Interpol..  I mean what the hell already!


The difference between the citizen experience in Indonesia and the USA is that they uphold justice and morality within their government and society.  I am referring to 'sexual morality' which is a religious dogma.  It is about the way decent people can hold their government accountable for corrupt practices that are created by 'loopholes.'  


Indonesia has it tough, far tougher than the USA in securing domestic peace.  It is a country of islands and within those islands are ethnic minorities that are victimized by other ethnic minorities.  I has a vast distance from its policing operations to some of the more distant islands.  So, to respond to violence is not necessary immediate, they sometimes take days to respond simply because their 'dispatch' is a greater distance from their operations base.  But, for as difficult it is for dispatch to these areas, over the decades, there has been far better 'peacefulness' within the country.  Nothing is perfect in countries challenged in these ways, but, the police do a fairly good job of it. 


I remember demonstrations years ago.  I am trying to remember whether it was linked to violence in the USA with the 911 attacks.  The demonstrations were allowed to continue and there was peaceful and orderly demonstrators taken seriously by their government.  It is an interesting country, but, they don't people rob their country blind.  Interesting people.  I guess, I congratulate them for a quick return of the bozo.  Their level of justice when it comes to these issues is actually more advanced than that of the USA.  There are too, too many examples of high level corruption, especially under Bush/Cheney that can be pointed to as being 'swept under the carpet.'  That isn't the case here.  The USA needs to do better.  Far better.

Fukushima

Published: Aug. 15, 2011 at 5:53 PM


...Atmospheric chemists (click title to entry - thank  you) at the University of California, San Diego, say their estimate is based on air sampling that detected a signal of radiation all the way across the Pacific from the reactor damaged in the March earthquake and tsunami.


Fifteen days after Fukushima operators began pumping seawater into damaged reactors to cool them, a spike in levels of radioactive sulfur from the resulting steam vented into the atmosphere from the plant was recorded by UCSD researcher Mark Thiemens, a university release reported Monday.


Thiemens and his colleagues calculated that 400 billion neutrons were released per square yard of the cooling pools surfaces between March 13, when the seawater pumping operation began, and March 20.


Concentrations a half-mile or so above the ocean near Fukushima must have been about 365 times higher than natural levels to account for the levels they observed in California, the researchers said.


"In any disaster, there's always a lot to be learned by analysis of what happened," Thiemens said. "We were able to say how many neutrons were leaking out of that core when it was exposed."

It was a tornado that was forming and hadn't left the ground yet.

Indiana State Police (click title to entry - thank you) and authorities survey the collapsed rigging and Sugarland stage on the infield at the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis, Aug. 14, 2011. Five people died in the stage collapse. (Darron Cummings/AP Photo)




From the reports about this tragedy, the wind was 'rolling' according to eyewitnesses.


"Speed Sheer" occurs before tornadic winds go from being on the ground to moving to an upright funnel cloud.


The crowd had no way of knowing or being warned the wind had the potential to turn their world into a threat of death.


Speed shear is the change in wind speed with height. In the illustration below, the wind is increasing with height. This tends to create a rolling affect to the atmosphere and is believed to be a key component in the formation of mesocyclones which can lead to tornados.


Pilots sometimes see this in the sky as 'roll clouds.'  Dust storms have this characteristic as they 'roll in' to an area.


The conditions were right for a turbulent wind event.  


..."The weather changed in a matter of minutes and the stage collapsed in a matter of seconds. We are shocked and saddened by this horribly tragic circumstance and we are all praying for those affected," she wrote on her website, where she also recalled the events of the night as like "a bad dream."...


Under the best of circumstances, finding tornadoes to report is like finding a needle in a haystack.  The USA Weather Service and NOAA radio do a remarkably good job of warning people as soon as there is any perceived danger.  NOAA Radio has an aggressive methodology that begins with any hint of strong thunderstorms.  It is a brilliant way of letting people know there is danger in the area related to unstable air masses.


When was the last time there has been simply drizzle or a steady, regular 'all day' rain in the USA?  That reality is rarely heard of anymore.  Rainbows come 'under cloud' banks in the sky where 'water vapor' is in the atmosphere; literally underneath dark storm clouds as the sun pokes through any break in the cloud bank.  That used to be unusual as were double or the very rare triple rainbows.  Now.  It happens all the time.  This climate is hot and dangerous.  The water vapor is in the upper levels of the atmosphere and the heat is on the ground.

"Morning Papers" - Its Origins

The Rooster
"Okeydoke"

President Obama needs to hold a "Jobs Summit." Invite the Wall Street Bankers. Right, Moon?

The Full Moon
Waning Gibbous
16 days old
98.3% lit.


August 13, 2011 at 6:37 PM


"Good Night, Moon"


Watch out for the meteor shower.  I think it is sooo very cool the meteors have arrived in full moonlight.  Job well done.

Moon casts spell on meteor shower  (click title to entry -  thank you)

Full moon too bright to see remnants of comet

By Charlie Gorney

The Register-Mail

Posted Aug 14, 2011 @ 06:24 PM

About a dozen people with a shared interest in nature gathered Saturday at sundown at the Blackthorn Hill Nature Preserve to observe the yearly Perseid Meteor Shower.

ALEXIS - 

Though the bright full moon made it difficult to spot the occasional meteor, all enjoyed the cool, cloudless night outside.

Daniel Thompson, biologist and Western Illinois Nature Group board member, organized the event....


In Case You Missed the Breath Taking Views of the Perseid Meteor Shower (click here)

Of course any "Jobs Summit" would have to include education and the future of our math and science experts.

There is a narcissism within the Texas Culture that does not allow for democracy.

Sunday, July 31, 2011
Photographer states:  Red River between Jackson county, Texas and Harmon county, Oklahoma.


The problem facing Texas in the way of a  profound and deep drought which has completely destroyed the land was avoidable, but, NOT if you are Texan.


I don't just mean the Climate Crisis, but, the very use of the land and the value placed on it.


Texans are not Americans, they are Texans. They are God Almighty Texans and it was completely obvious during the presidency of "W".


There was absolutely no reason for any of the problems the USA is facing due to lack of good governance from Texas including illegal immigration.  Ever ask yourself exactly how many illegal immigrants were killed due to the fact they were illegal?  The Wild West, you know.  Anything goes and 'by damn it' that is the law.  The law of Texas is no law.  Live by the gun and die by the gun.  The highest death penalty rate in the nation.


"If I owned Texas and Hell, I would rent out Texas and live in Hell." - Philip Sheridan, major general in the Civil War and military governor of Texas and Louisiana afterwards


There is a lot "W"rong with the culture of Texas, but, their 'tough talking' language conveys 'authority' to most average people.  It is completely bizarre a state dead set on self-destruction for the sake of a 'buck' actually believes its governor and/or any 'favorite son' has anything to offer the rest of the nation other than a 'giant lone star' on the dance floor on inauguration evening.


The Texas culture of 'hard headed and self righteous justice,' "Wanted Dead or Alive,"  "The Smoking Gun," goes back a long, long time and has absolutely no place in the 'greater USA' except in mythology or as examples of poor governance.  Texas is stuck in time and it is why there are never any real conservation efforts when the OBVIOUS is coming down the track like a runaway rail car.  The drought could have been stopped and mediated, but, instead it is effecting the well being of the entire water supply of the nation including the Great Lakes.


Texas didn't even try.  Their money is their god and there is no reason to save any land from drought.  Their value system is so corrupted they rather defend their greed in the face of poor governance with 'attitude.'  Now, their self righteous negligence is imperiling a nation's agriculture and water supply.  In Texas today, side walks explode because of triple digit heat that over rides the 'expansion' spaces between concrete blocks.  The ranchers have had to sell off all their livestock because there is no water for them to drink or grassland for them to graze.  It will be a half a decade or more for the cattle business to recover AFTER the drought ends.


There is no excuse for this.  There is no governance or value beyond greed and certainly no respect for life in any form it takes.  Absolutely no concern or respect for an entire nation that is receiving the degradation to its biotic content because Texans never gave a dam about theirs.


May 8, 2011
Pearland, Texas
Photographer states:  My mom's yard, Pearland, Texas.