Friday, April 28, 2006
See, it can work...
I've been reading in the MSM about this group of folks down in Middletown who got all up and bothered by a plan to put up a big-assed radio tower a few hundred feet from their houses. They said this isn't a good thing and the state -- who hatched this idea in the interest of saving some money -- should find another spot where peoples' views weren't ruined. And guess what? The state and the town found a way to do that, with the help of a business owner who agreed to host this much-needed piece of emergency communications equipment on a site that didn't detract from a neighborhood's character. The town will charge less for the company's electricity and all's well.
Now even Rodney King must be smiling about this little tale, one small lesson in what can happen when people listen to one another, stop for a minute and really consider what the other "side" is saying and then see if common ground can't be found. Now this was a relatively straightforward matter, but it's the attitude that matters, as in most things. This was a community acting like a community. And it's damned refreshing. This is the character trait we need to be seeking in six months -- Red or Blue.
And now the news...
ITEM: Microsoft shares lost more than 11 percent -- $32 billion in asset value -- after the company said it planned to significantly beef up investments in many areas where it is not dominant. Analysts said such investments, while risky, may pay off in the long term but could hurt more immediate financial results.
THOUGHT: This is a sign of the core greed that is doing this nation great harm – now, and even more so 10 or 20 years from now. A company opts to invest more heavily in R&D to try to assure its future, and build new business that might create jobs, and it is brutally withered by investors – that’s us. Don’t DO that! Give us the money – NOW! Don’t pour money into a modern-day Manhattan Project to win a dominant market position in 2015 in the manufacture and sale of solar/wind/thermal energy equipment, or non-internal combustion engines. Punch more holes in the ground and give people $100 rebates so they can buy more dead dinosaur juice. Somehow, we have forgotten that we built this country, we didn’t order it up on eBay and have it delivered next-day air. It took time, just as it took time to build Microsoft. It is time to stop talking – and taking – so much and start considering and giving the seeds a chance to germinate.
ITEM: Rumors of immigration roundups prompted thousands of illegal immigrants to stay home this week and are making some afraid to participate in a national immigration protest planned for Monday. Immigration officials said they were unfounded,but rumors of random sweeps were rampant from coast to coast, prompting thousands of immigrants to stay home from work, take their children out of school and avoid church. The absences caused the rumors to build, as some thought their missing friends and co-workers had been arrested.
THOUGHT: Somehow, I’m ashamed by this – that our public discourse leaves thousands already living in the shadows afraid to leave their homes, send their children to school or visit a house of prayer. I’m sure this followed word of the massive roundup of sex offenders the Attorney General touted the other day. I’m sure it was quite easy for an illegal Mexican or Guatemalan to conclude that they were next. And yes I am ashamed that any group of people – save for those sex offenders – would huddle in fear of a roundup with shades of Kristallnacht in the Land of the Free. Something’s very wrong and I wish to God I had something to offer that would even begin to contribute to a solution on this issue.
ITEM: A fire that damaged a house in New Hampshire is being blamed on the family dog who apparently jumped up on the gas stove to get food left on top and forgot to turn the burner back off. No one was home and no one was hurt. The dog escaped.
THOUGHT: I’ve been asked to speak on behalf of Rex and I can say unequivocally that he had nothing to do with this unfortunate affair. Rex will come forward when he is assured of a full and fair airing of the facts uninfluenced by the mainstream media, which is obsessed with the notion that any creature exercising the very freedoms our forefathers gave their lives for must be acting with evil intent. Rex pledges to promptly bite the leg of any member of his household found to have anything at all to do with this conflagration and further wants to assure the people of New Hampshire that he will everything in his power to find the real fire starter. If you’ll excuse me, I've got to go clear some brush.
I've been reading in the MSM about this group of folks down in Middletown who got all up and bothered by a plan to put up a big-assed radio tower a few hundred feet from their houses. They said this isn't a good thing and the state -- who hatched this idea in the interest of saving some money -- should find another spot where peoples' views weren't ruined. And guess what? The state and the town found a way to do that, with the help of a business owner who agreed to host this much-needed piece of emergency communications equipment on a site that didn't detract from a neighborhood's character. The town will charge less for the company's electricity and all's well.
Now even Rodney King must be smiling about this little tale, one small lesson in what can happen when people listen to one another, stop for a minute and really consider what the other "side" is saying and then see if common ground can't be found. Now this was a relatively straightforward matter, but it's the attitude that matters, as in most things. This was a community acting like a community. And it's damned refreshing. This is the character trait we need to be seeking in six months -- Red or Blue.
And now the news...
ITEM: Microsoft shares lost more than 11 percent -- $32 billion in asset value -- after the company said it planned to significantly beef up investments in many areas where it is not dominant. Analysts said such investments, while risky, may pay off in the long term but could hurt more immediate financial results.
THOUGHT: This is a sign of the core greed that is doing this nation great harm – now, and even more so 10 or 20 years from now. A company opts to invest more heavily in R&D to try to assure its future, and build new business that might create jobs, and it is brutally withered by investors – that’s us. Don’t DO that! Give us the money – NOW! Don’t pour money into a modern-day Manhattan Project to win a dominant market position in 2015 in the manufacture and sale of solar/wind/thermal energy equipment, or non-internal combustion engines. Punch more holes in the ground and give people $100 rebates so they can buy more dead dinosaur juice. Somehow, we have forgotten that we built this country, we didn’t order it up on eBay and have it delivered next-day air. It took time, just as it took time to build Microsoft. It is time to stop talking – and taking – so much and start considering and giving the seeds a chance to germinate.
ITEM: Rumors of immigration roundups prompted thousands of illegal immigrants to stay home this week and are making some afraid to participate in a national immigration protest planned for Monday. Immigration officials said they were unfounded,but rumors of random sweeps were rampant from coast to coast, prompting thousands of immigrants to stay home from work, take their children out of school and avoid church. The absences caused the rumors to build, as some thought their missing friends and co-workers had been arrested.
THOUGHT: Somehow, I’m ashamed by this – that our public discourse leaves thousands already living in the shadows afraid to leave their homes, send their children to school or visit a house of prayer. I’m sure this followed word of the massive roundup of sex offenders the Attorney General touted the other day. I’m sure it was quite easy for an illegal Mexican or Guatemalan to conclude that they were next. And yes I am ashamed that any group of people – save for those sex offenders – would huddle in fear of a roundup with shades of Kristallnacht in the Land of the Free. Something’s very wrong and I wish to God I had something to offer that would even begin to contribute to a solution on this issue.
ITEM: A fire that damaged a house in New Hampshire is being blamed on the family dog who apparently jumped up on the gas stove to get food left on top and forgot to turn the burner back off. No one was home and no one was hurt. The dog escaped.
THOUGHT: I’ve been asked to speak on behalf of Rex and I can say unequivocally that he had nothing to do with this unfortunate affair. Rex will come forward when he is assured of a full and fair airing of the facts uninfluenced by the mainstream media, which is obsessed with the notion that any creature exercising the very freedoms our forefathers gave their lives for must be acting with evil intent. Rex pledges to promptly bite the leg of any member of his household found to have anything at all to do with this conflagration and further wants to assure the people of New Hampshire that he will everything in his power to find the real fire starter. If you’ll excuse me, I've got to go clear some brush.
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