Personality disorders prevent people from functioning well in life.

Narcissistic personality disorder (click here) is one of several types of personality disorders. Personality disorders are conditions in which people have traits that cause them to feel and behave in socially distressing ways, limiting their ability to function in relationships and other areas of their life, such as work or school....

Donald Trump is not a good example of personality disorders. The traits of a personality disorder can be a part of anyone's personality. The difference is the personality becomes a problem when it effects a person's life. That is not his problem. 

There are people sincerely in treatment for personality disorders and I don't find this use of mental health appropriate. I am sure Donald Trump would approve of treatment of anyone suffering from mental illness. 

I think he is simply attempting to reach people. He wants to prove he is not intimidated on a political platform because he is wealthy or even part of the one percent. I don't find it dysfunctional at all. 

He has a wife. He has a young child. I don't find this a good thing to do. This is New York Society and it is called bloodsport.

If someone wants to be a friend to Donald Trump and is worried for his political aspirations and the impact it may have on his accomplishments to date; it should be a conversation between people with a well established friendship, not an attack for the purpose of politics. 

Someone suffering from a personality disorder is the last person who would sustain or need attacks upon them. I don't think Donald Trump is the one that is pathetic here. 

The facts are obvious. Donald Trump has done more for politics this political season than anyone else. Immigration is now a topic. The candidates are finally writing policy and position. Republicans haven't done that in a political theater in decades. I don't even remember Reagan publishing policies he would propose. It is unfortunate the positive aspects of his candidacy can't be appreciated regardless of where one's personal preferences are.

Wharton doesn't think Donald Trump is insecure.

125 Influential People and Ideas (click here)

1921 The Wharton MBA Program enrolled its first class.

The Best Known Brand Name in Real Estate

Donald J. Trump, W’68

It would be difficult to find a more ubiquitous public business figure of the late 20th and early 21st centuries than Donald Trump. His name graces casinos in Atlantic City, condos and commercial buildings in New York, TV shows, best-selling books, resorts, television programs, and even a Muppet on Sesame Street.

Trump took a successful real estate development business started by his father, Fred, and turned it into a multi-faceted company. Along the way, Trump’s style has produced doubters, but no one could deny his ability to brand his products, and to rise, phoenix-like, from everything from corporate travails to satire.
Trump’s main areas of operation have been in Manhattan, where he is said to control 18 million square feet of real estate, and Atlantic City, where his Trump Organization runs three casinos, all with his name on them — Trump Plaza, Trump Marina, and Trump Taj Mahal.
He got his start when he turned a big profit on a Cincinnati apartment complex his father assigned him after his Wharton graduation in 1968. He then made use of tax credits the New York City government was doling out in the 1970s to build his portfolio of Manhattan real estate....

Shell stating it will be a walk in the park drilling in the Arctic is their engineers. They need their jobs. So, they are blowing smoke up the skirts of Shell's executives.

See, there is a real dynamic between the oil engineers and the oil companies. It is a symbiotic relationship. 

Understand? When one dies so does the other. What a shame.

The oil companies have no real interest in what CAN be done. They are interested in getting it done. They are profit driven. That is all they care about, so when dealing with them there is no expectation for them to actually have sincere knowledge of anything except where they are going to place their exploratory drill bit.

Look, when the Deepwater Horizon exploded, killed 11 people and subsequently sank, the EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) said, the exploratory well drilling had no consequence to polar bears.

There are no polar bears in the Gulf of Mexico. Did that stop the drilling and the catastrophe? No. The government did nothing while the petroleum industry entrapped the people in fear for their jobs in Minerals and Mining Management with scandals of sex and drugs. 

The only people in the USA that care about the Arctic, the country and the people of this country when it comes to exploitation of it's natural resources are the environmentalists and conservationists. And what do the oil companies say about those PROFESSIONALS? 

"Tree huggers" 

Their defense of their exploitation and lousy pipelines that burst with thousands upon thousands of deadly oil spilling into natural areas, polluting stream and rivers, killing everything in the Gulf of Mexico is that the people of the USA that oppose them are Tree Huggers. The professionals who know exactly how stupid these ventures are; simply are called names as if children on a playground. As a matter of fact, a question among my friends is "Where is the playground this time?" The oil companies defame them and call them names. And when one activist has had enough of the lies and misgovern of American public lands and otherwise and decides to bid on a lease to obstruct the drilling he ends up in prison for two years.

Who went to prison when 11 people died because the rig and it's crew were pushed beyond all safety margins?  Who went to prison when the Gulf of Mexico died?

No one. The CEO was given a Gold Parachute and sent on his way to continue to race his boat. 

If I wanted to make a point I would take all the rigs of Dutch Royal Shell and add up all the people that died working for them. The entire history. The eleven that died within the ambitions of BP is nothing. That is a drop of water in a sea of dead employees of petroleum companies.

The North Atlantic Ocean is a very rough place. The folks that work along it's shores think nothing of that character of the ocean. I was in Iceland and watched men on "Sea Doo"s run the waves. They were completely unafraid wearing wet-suits. Amazing. And of course, it was their heritage. They came from strong families of sea fairing history. 

The Pacific is unforgiving. The Arctic has no rules and while the oil engineers see a walk in the park, I wonder how many employees will die because they never listen to people who know better. 

And. Ah. The activist that went to prison to stop the auction of American public lands, stopped an illegal auction. It wasn't legal in the first place. But, he went to prison anyway. 

Real Clear Politics (click here)

On July 13, 2015 Donald Trump was at 9.3. It was the lowest number of confidence with Republicans since then. But, He should not be over confident. There has a dip and a leveling. But, he is consistently achieving a higher recognition as a viable candidate for President of the USA. 

He is the strongest candidate when he maintains 'the people' at the center of his campaign. He is also sincere. He isn't really playing around. What you see is what you get. 

Dick Cheney has competition. At least it's not bird shot, but, only a sport's concussion.

Typical Scott Walker bull-oney. The President doesn't legislate.

Here is the job description.
 

ARTICLE II

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT

SECTION 2. POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE PRESIDENT (click here)

Clause 2. He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Court of Law, or in the Heads of Departments. 

And, of course, Congress is going to jump to attention with the submission of ALEX legislation templates by Walker as they did as a governor.

His legislature in Wisconsin has been awe inspiring. So, original. So, ingenuous.

Hillary Clinton is absolutely correct. Lives of unarmed African Americans will not be saved by changing hearts.

Her tone was spot on. 

I empathize with the African Americans that brought facts to the questions they asked, but, they needed to be told in a tone of voice that was more emphatic to have them realize there has to be structural changes within the way the USA carries out the laws of this country. It's not going to happen with "Pretty Please."

Hillary Clinton has a very good record on minority issues and she is definitely on the side of those people that spoke with her. She is anxious and willing to make the changes necessary in the USA to end the senseless deaths of African American men and women. I have a great deal of confidence in her willingness and ability to carry out the needed changes.

The "TONE" issue is laughable and very, very typical of a prejudice against women. 

Why are women suppose to have a tone of voice that will sing lullabies to babies? President of the USA doesn't simply put babies to bed in HER capacity to handle the country's problems. I am quite confident Hillary Clinton can sing lullabies to her grandchild with the best of grandmothers. I am not interested in having her put people to sleep at the State of the Union Address.

Birth Right Citizenship

It has merit. I think the USA has an obligation to honor birth right citizenship with long standing allies and vice versa. NATO's countries have given birth right to Americans born in their borders and the USA should do the same. That would apply to Japan, Australia and New Zealand as well. I am sure I am leaving a few out like Canada, but, our allies do allow such circumstances with Americans.

I think there is peril in such a provision for the USA with other countries that are not necessarily allies. Not only that, there is such a thing as "Birth Vacations" with women from China. They are here for one reason and that is to have their children born in the USA. Enough already.

I need to read some on it I suppose, but, it should be addressed. We really don't know what Birth Vacationers plan for the USA. That is a concern.

The issue is not simple to write as legislation and it isn't a simple problem. There is a lot to be considered and it needs to be structured to protect the country and allies, but, not alienate anyone the USA legitimately has interests in as long term allies.

Some of the complications is "What happens to students on VISAs do if they  get pregnant by an American or engage in a paternity responsibility while in the country?" 

The topic is not simple. But, "Birth Tourism" has to stop.

The law would not effect people already here or already born in the USA. They would grandfathered in under the 14th Amendment.

There is a new man on the block.

Does Hillary Clinton know how to spell sexism?

She has been treated differently than any other government official within the same status as she and has been singled out for repeated attacks by Congress.

The statement has been made every email within government is classified. I think it was Bob Woodward that made that statement. If that is the case, then the investigation into all of Congress and the Executive Branch and the Supreme Court needs to be carried out. 

If the former Secretary of State is being attacked it has to be aberrant emails then the rest of government and the investigation has to be involved in discovering any pattern and/or aberrant practices. 

See, Rep. Goudy wants all sorts of hearings regarding the Clinton emails when he doesn't have the authority. If the government can't prove Hillary Clinton was malicious in her behavior when there is no proof to the governance of anyone else to such a degree regarding emails, they haven't got a case. 

It's sexism plain and simple. 

The rules apply to everyone. It is the burden of the US Justice Department to prove the use of private emails by Hillary Clinton was malicious and willful. She has already stated it was convenient. That is not malicious. She was interested in performing her duties expediently with a private server. She sought to enhance her performance in her role as the Secretary of State, that isn't malicious.  

There was not an explicit, (click here) categorical prohibition against federal employees using personal emails when Clinton was in office, said Daniel Metcalfe, former director of the Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy, where he administered implementation of the Freedom of Information Act. High-level officials like Clinton need the flexibility to sometimes use a personal email, such as responding to a national security emergency in the middle of the night.

Hillary Clinton never violated laws of the USA. She had status to carry out her duties as necessary. There isn't anyone else that can pass judgement on that when any of her activities were secure and lacked malicious content.

She is being singled out for attacks. Knock it off. Goudy needs to conclude his Benghazi committee and put forward information to the US Justice Department for any infraction in the law. The fact is Secretary Hillary Clinton had far more power during her years in the Executive Branch to carry out her job than Mr. Goudy could ever have.

Enough said. If the harassment of the former Secretary by the media doesn't stop the campaign has an obligation to end it through legal action. The attacks are malicious with intent to defame, including the frequent appearances of Gouty at FOX News.

I don't really give a fly about what 'disturbs' the media about Hillary Clinton, stop the sexism! 

Oh, one other thing. The disturbing reality is THE PRIVATE SERVER was more damn secure than .gov. There has to be real damage to the government before people can call up laws. There is no damage. There is no crime. She had the RIGHT to run her department as she saw fit. 

8/18/15 @ 5:51 PM
Hillary Clinton states, "I had a personal email just like other high ranking government officials did."

Really.

I think the Snap Chat account was a great comeback. She needs to stop addressing the email issue. It is harassment and she can't get her message out. At the Iowa State Fair she was asked one question and it was about emails. They may as well be asking when are you going away and not coming back. She has to stop addressing those questions as the US Justice Department should be addressing this during a press conference. 

Ben Carson is being handled with kit gloves by FOX News Sunday so they can trash him later to benefit another candidate..

Carson states socialism is exactly what is happening in the USA now. "...I want things to be fair for everyone. I don't want to pick and choose who the winners and loser are....(the flat tax)...if you make $10 billion, you pay a billion. Some would say he still has $9 billion...and that is socialism....with elites at the top, a rapidly diminishing middle class and a fastly developing DEPENDENT class. That is not America...."

He then goes on to say it is easy to raise the progressive tax on a few than many. This is engineered ideas that have no basis in fact or in definition. FOX News Sunday's Wallace never states Ben Carson is wrong about his definition of socialism and allows him his deception. 

FOX News is loading up the 'political speech' for Republican voters to navigate the election waters to put their favorite son into the nomination and presidency.

"Good Night, Moon"

The Waxing Crescent

2.3 day old moon

5.7 percent lit

August 15, 2015

PHOENIX -- Much of the West (click here) was smothered in a blanket of heat Saturday with triple-digit temperatures hitting Phoenix, Los Angeles and other cities.

Above-normal temperatures were expected through the weekend as a high-pressure system centered over New Mexico acted like a lid to block cooler air, leaving valleys, deserts and mountains high and very dry.

Authorities warned people not to leave small children or pets in cars, where temperatures can quickly soar. Los Angeles and other cities were keeping libraries and other facilities open late to serve as cooling shelters for those without air conditioning.

Phoenix broke a daily record Friday, reaching 117 degrees, and the expected Saturday high of 116 would top a 1992 record by 4 degrees, National Weather Service meteorologist Dan Leins said.

"Stay inside if you can," he said. "It's dangerous, regardless of how acclimated you are to the climate, because it can be deadly."

Saturday was Phoenix's 18th day this year with temperatures above 110 degrees, CBSaffiliate KPHO reported....

Our technology is shameful. In full view it is immoral. We have harnessed space travel to abandon Earth, but, we have not harnessed the wind and sun to make Earth a place we would rather stay than leave. The USA should be ashamed of it's ambitions without investing in the well being of our children and their Earth. 

I am not concerned about the EPA under the leadership of Secretary Gina McCarthy. However, Gina McCarthy, like most of the Obama Cabinet is far to polite and doesn't come forward to blame Congress for the neglect of decades. Congress has neglected not only the dangerous of the mines in the western USA, it has neglected the needs and environmental safety of future generations. She needs to make it clear the EPA has worked diligently to be sure the USA was providing much overdue demands for lower pollution of greenhouse gases. 

Morality.

It gets lost in our political dialogue. The Republicans define morality as the age of a fetus and not the fact the world it will be born into will be one of heat, suffering and droughts. This with a threat to drinking water and sustainable agriculture that is absent of dangerous GMO manipulation. The Republicans stop at religion to define morality. Pope Francis has made it clear morality defines the assets left to the next three generations to come. 

Morality is an investment in more than one's soul, it is an investment to insure all Americans will inherit a world better than the one left by aging Americans. It isn't just jobs that insure each generation of Americans will do better than the one before it, it is also the world in which we live that has to be better for each subsequent generations of Americans. 

We need to start measuring the improvements left to the next generation of Americans. We need to measure it each year, each month, each President, each Congress and each political leader.

How much closer has each day put us closer to moral and sustaining goals?

Pope Francis clearly states the responsibility of each generation is to the next. He clearly states morality exceeds the simple birth of a child, but, the world in which that child is born into.

If the USA is to expect the global community to clean up the troposphere and stop pollution of greenhouse gases, then it has to set the example and demand others to match our expectations. And for other countries already moving into the 'safe zone' environmentally, it would be appropriate to remind the USA of it's responsibilities as well.

The global community of people have to set the expectations for their governments and demand people to lead in the way a moral world would take it.

I. DIALOGUE ON THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

164. Beginning in the middle of the last century and overcoming many difficulties, there has been a growing conviction that our planet is a homeland and that humanity is one people living in a common home. An interdependent world not only makes us more conscious of the negative effects of certain lifestyles and models of production and consumption which affect us all; more importantly, it motivates us to ensure that solutions are proposed from a global perspective, and not simply to defend the interests of a few countries. Interdependence obliges us to think of one world with a common plan. Yet the same ingenuity which has brought about enormous technological progress has so far proved incapable of finding effective ways of dealing with grave environmental and social problems worldwide. A global consensus is essential for confronting the deeper problems, which cannot be resolved by unilateral actions on the part of individual countries. Such a consensus could lead, for example, to planning a sustainable and diversified agriculture, developing renewable and less polluting forms of energy, encouraging a more efficient use of energy, promoting a better management of marine and forest resources, and ensuring universal access to drinking water.

165. We know that technology based on the use of highly polluting fossil fuels – especially coal, but also oil and, to a lesser degree, gas – needs to be progressively replaced without delay. Until greater progress is made in developing widely accessible sources of renewable energy, it is legitimate to choose the less harmful alternative or to find short-term solutions. But the international community has still not reached adequate agreements about the responsibility for paying the costs of this energy transition. In recent decades, environmental issues have given rise to considerable public debate and have elicited a variety of committed and generous civic responses. Politics and business have been slow to react in a way commensurate with the urgency of the challenges facing our world. Although the post-industrial period may well be remembered as one of the most irresponsible in history, nonetheless there is reason to hope that humanity at the dawn of the twenty-first century will be remembered for having generously shouldered its grave responsibilities.

From the Denver Post

This is not about the EPA, it is however about a lax Congress and their neglect of our land. What are we leaving generations to come? What is the legacy of Congress and it's protections? It isn't good. I rather clean up the country's water supply and dangers to it then bail out banks.

August 16, 2015
By Bruce Finley

The opening of the Kohler Mine that has been bulkheaded August 13, 2015. Although bulkheaded, the mine is slowly leaking water that is making it's way into the Animas River....

Nobody tracks total discharge, (click here) likely equal to at least one Gold King disaster every two days — impairing rivers and streams

After the 3 million gallon Gold King Mine blowout, Colorado officials began scrambling to create a map of a problem they've known about for years: 230 other old mines statewide leaking heavy metals-laced muck into headwaters of the nation's rivers.

These old mines have leaked so much for so long, thousands of gallons a minute, that state agencies don't track the combined toxic flow. But by the estimates at sites where the Environmental Protection Agency has stepped in, the overall discharge equals at least one Gold King disaster every two days — spreading cadmium, copper, lead, arsenic, manganese, zinc and other contaminants.

"We're not OK with any of this. We're not OK with contaminated water running into waterways," said Ginny Brannon, director of reclamation, mining and safety for the state.

"It is beyond our control. We inherited what we inherited. We took that, all those sites, and every year we steadily move forward with the goal of cleaning it up. We do as much as we can every year. We would love to do more. If we had the money."

The EPA has calculated that 40 percent of river headwaters in the West are impaired by acid mine drainage. In Colorado, state health officials Thursday determined that discharges from the 230 old mines have contaminated 1,645 miles of rivers and streams....

V. JUSTICE BETWEEN THE GENERATIONS

159. The notion of the common good also extends to future generations. The global economic crises have made painfully obvious the detrimental effects of disregarding our common destiny, which cannot exclude those who come after us. We can no longer speak of sustainable development apart from intergenerational solidarity. Once we start to think about the kind of world we are leaving to future generations, we look at things differently; we realize that the world is a gift which we have freely received and must share with others. Since the world has been given to us, we can no longer view reality in a purely utilitarian way, in which efficiency and productivity are entirely geared to our individual benefit. Intergenerational solidarity is not optional, but rather a basic question of justice, since the world we have received also belongs to those who will follow us. The Portuguese bishops have called upon us to acknowledge this obligation of justice: “The environment is part of a logic of receptivity. It is on loan to each generation, which must then hand it on to the next”.[124] An integral ecology is marked by this broader vision.

160. What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up? This question not only concerns the environment in isolation; the issue cannot be approached piecemeal. When we ask ourselves what kind of world we want to leave behind, we think in the first place of its general direction, its meaning and its values. Unless we struggle with these deeper issues, I do not believe that our concern for ecology will produce significant results. But if these issues are courageously faced, we are led inexorably to ask other pointed questions: What is the purpose of our life in this world? Why are we here? What is the goal of our work and all our efforts? What need does the earth have of us? It is no longer enough, then, simply to state that we should be concerned for future generations. We need to see that what is at stake is our own dignity. Leaving an inhabitable planet to future generations is, first and foremost, up to us. The issue is one which dramatically affects us, for it has to do with the ultimate meaning of our earthly sojourn.

161. Doomsday predictions can no longer be met with irony or disdain. We may well be leaving to coming generations debris, desolation and filth. The pace of consumption, waste and environmental change has so stretched the planet’s capacity that our contemporary lifestyle, unsustainable as it is, can only precipitate catastrophes, such as those which even now periodically occur in different areas of the world. The effects of the present imbalance can only be reduced by our decisive action, here and now. We need to reflect on our accountability before those who will have to endure the dire consequences.

162. Our difficulty in taking up this challenge seriously has much to do with an ethical and cultural decline which has accompanied the deterioration of the environment. Men and women of our postmodern world run the risk of rampant individualism, and many problems of society are connected with today’s self-centred culture of instant gratification. We see this in the crisis of family and social ties and the difficulties of recognizing the other. Parents can be prone to impulsive and wasteful consumption, which then affects their children who find it increasingly difficult to acquire a home of their own and build a family. Furthermore, our inability to think seriously about future generations is linked to our inability to broaden the scope of our present interests and to give consideration to those who remain excluded from development. Let us not only keep the poor of the future in mind, but also today’s poor, whose life on this earth is brief and who cannot keep on waiting. Hence, “in addition to a fairer sense of intergenerational solidarity there is also an urgent moral need for a renewed sense of intragenerational solidarity”.[125]

The Sunnyside Mine

The mines in this region contained more than gold. The rocks were highly profitable. The mines were emptied of their wealth. The mines left already unstable geology more so. Then add to that water and there enormous hydrostatic pressure throughout the region.

Au is Gold (click here).

Pb is Lead (click here)

Mn is Manganese (click here) 

Ag is Silver (click here)

Zn is Zinc (click here) 

Cu is Copper (click here)

Secretary McCarthy did not cause the problem. She is the most qualified to bring expertise to correct all that has gone wrong, including any input from USGS. The region is complicated, mined into instability, contains enormous amounts of water to provide hydrostatic pressure to the entire mining area. 

While Secretary McCarthy carries out the clean up, she needs to relieve the private contractor and/or employees of their responsibility and bring in other departments including USGS to evaluate the entire region. I have to say the past owners are correct. The region is dangerous. The hydrostatic pressures will ultimately cause the same result if left to negligence. So, the continued clean up of these mines have to go forward. I am thinking USGS will be able to determine the best place to start to try to pump the water out and if there will be instability anyway. 

The mines cannot be entered they are far to dangerous. So the work has to proceed with caution. 

It is a mess. A complete mess that has gotten worse with time. This clean up should have been conducted a long time ago.

The difference between past administrations and President Obama's administration is that when the mines finally collapsed and poisoned the rivers anyway, Republicans would have said it was from too much rain or some other lame excuse. This clean up needs to be done and it has to proceed with caution to protect workers as well.

IV. THE PRINCIPLE OF THE COMMON GOOD

156. An integral ecology is inseparable from the notion of the common good, a central and unifying principle of social ethics. The common good is “the sum of those conditions of social life which allow social groups and their individual members relatively thorough and ready access to their own fulfilment”.[122]

157. Underlying the principle of the common good is respect for the human person as such, endowed with basic and inalienable rights ordered to his or her integral development. It has also to do with the overall welfare of society and the development of a variety of intermediate groups, applying the principle of subsidiarity. Outstanding among those groups is the family, as the basic cell of society. Finally, the common good calls for social peace, the stability and security provided by a certain order which cannot be achieved without particular concern for distributive justice; whenever this is violated, violence always ensues. Society as a whole, and the state in particular, are obliged to defend and promote the common good.

158. In the present condition of global society, where injustices abound and growing numbers of people are deprived of basic human rights and considered expendable, the principle of the common good immediately becomes, logically and inevitably, a summons to solidarity and a preferential option for the poorest of our brothers and sisters. This option entails recognizing the implications of the universal destination of the world’s goods, but, as I mentioned in the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium,[123] it demands before all else an appreciation of the immense dignity of the poor in the light of our deepest convictions as believers. We need only look around us to see that, today, this option is in fact an ethical imperative essential for effectively attaining the common good. 

The entire region has been degrading for decades. The problem started with Lake Emma and the Sunnyside Mine.

Now, I wouldn't necessarily call it bad luck. There was profound lack of geological data in the case of this mine.

...It was just (click here)
such a case of bad luck that happened in the Sunnyside mine at Silverton,Colorado’s mining disaster. The mine had worked its way under Lake Emma and the miners complained about the safety of the situation.

Mining engineers are not geologists.

The complaints were researched by the mining engineers and it was determined that the mine was well within the margin of safety. At a depth of 90 feet below the lake, the margin of safety was well within the limits. With the safety concerns addressed the mining company managers decided to go forward with removing the last pillar under the lake. This pillar was so rich in gold, a 4” seam of bright shiny gold ran the entire length of the pillar. 

This pillar was the last structure remaining between safety and disaster. Now, someone is going to tell me the miners were wrong and the owners were right. Sure. And, of course, the pillar of rock was worthless, too.

This is where the bad luck comes in. The lake bottom sediment had filled and concealed a crevice that came out at the gold laden pillar underground. When the pillar was removed the miners discovered a “soft pocket” of was made of glacial rock flour. Glacial rock flour is just what it sounds like; rocks that have been ground by glaciers into flour. 

Now. GLACIERS from the ice aqe dominated this area and created geological deposits. This instability is a very real issue. Engineers are not the folks to evaluate geological formations. The geology was known and one might ask, how did the lake get there in the first place. Well, could it be because the glaciers ground the land into pulverized sediment and the glacier was melting and retreating and a 'watershed' developed from glacier weight and erosion. Hm. Sounds interesting. Basically, this region of Colorado had gold. But, it also had unstable geological structure.

It was worked a little to find its limits. It ended up being about twenty feet long and four feet wide, but more scary was that the top could not be found and this spooked the miners, who refused to re-enter the area. The new plan was to drain the lake the following summer so the gold ore could be retrieved. This was sort of the calm of good luck before the outpouring of bad luck. Sometime after the last workers clocked out on Saturday, the flour plug gave way to the force of water above it. This deluge of water filled the mine and emptied through the lower mine portals completely emptying the lake in only a couple of hours. The lake covered a couple of acres of land. Rocks, glacier till, and flour plugged every nook and cranny of all the mine workings with natural clay-like cement.

152. Lack of housing is a grave problem in many parts of the world, both in rural areas and in large cities, since state budgets usually cover only a small portion of the demand. Not only the poor, but many other members of society as well, find it difficult to own a home. Having a home has much to do with a sense of personal dignity and the growth of families. This is a major issue for human ecology. In some places, where makeshift shanty towns have sprung up, this will mean developing those neighbourhoods rather than razing or displacing them. When the poor live in unsanitary slums or in dangerous tenements, “in cases where it is necessary to relocate them, in order not to heap suffering upon suffering, adequate information needs to be given beforehand, with choices of decent housing offered, and the people directly involved must be part of the process”.[118] At the same time, creativity should be shown in integrating rundown neighbourhoods into a welcoming city: “How beautiful those cities which overcome paralyzing mistrust, integrate those who are different and make this very integration a new factor of development! How attractive are those cities which, even in their architectural design, are full of spaces which connect, relate and favour the recognition of others!”[119]

153. The quality of life in cities has much to do with systems of transport, which are often a source of much suffering for those who use them. Many cars, used by one or more people, circulate in cities, causing traffic congestion, raising the level of pollution, and consuming enormous quantities of non-renewable energy. This makes it necessary to build more roads and parking areas which spoil the urban landscape. Many specialists agree on the need to give priority to public transportation. Yet some measures needed will not prove easily acceptable to society unless substantial improvements are made in the systems themselves, which in many cities force people to put up with undignified conditions due to crowding, inconvenience, infrequent service and lack of safety.

154. Respect for our dignity as human beings often jars with the chaotic realities that people have to endure in city life. Yet this should not make us overlook the abandonment and neglect also experienced by some rural populations which lack access to essential services and where some workers are reduced to conditions of servitude, without rights or even the hope of a more dignified life.

155. Human ecology also implies another profound reality: the relationship between human life and the moral law, which is inscribed in our nature and is necessary for the creation of a more dignified environment. Pope Benedict XVI spoke of an “ecology of man”, based on the fact that “man too has a nature that he must respect and that he cannot manipulate at will”.[120] It is enough to recognize that our body itself establishes us in a direct relationship with the environment and with other living beings. The acceptance of our bodies as God’s gift is vital for welcoming and accepting the entire world as a gift from the Father and our common home, whereas thinking that we enjoy absolute power over our own bodies turns, often subtly, into thinking that we enjoy absolute power over creation. Learning to accept our body, to care for it and to respect its fullest meaning, is an essential element of any genuine human ecology. Also, valuing one’s own body in its femininity or masculinity is necessary if I am going to be able to recognize myself in an encounter with someone who is different. In this way we can joyfully accept the specific gifts of another man or woman, the work of God the Creator, and find mutual enrichment. It is not a healthy attitude which would seek “to cancel out sexual difference because it no longer knows how to confront it”.[121]