A Letter to my Non-Skydiving Friends

I think people that are skeptical about human impact on our environment should try skydiving. I used to jump in Sparta in Southern Illinois. It was close to the Baldwin coal fired electric plant. There was a brown line in the atmosphere you passed through on the way to altitude. I always felt better about breathing when we flew above it.

As you looked out over God’s country you couldn’t help but notice the quilt of man made terrain as for as the eye could see. There wasn’t an inch of property that wasn’t totally shaped by people.

When you think about space being only 62 miles up you get a sense of how thin our bubble of atmosphere is.

Of course the real problem is our population explosion. I know I sound like a broken record, but the planet’s population has tripled in my lifetime. Our planet can’t handle this kind of exponential growth.

There are consequences from our actions. Why do people deny it?

Photo is the ascent to our first Missouri POPs (Parachutists over Phorty) formation record in 2004. We beat it a year later. I’m hidden in the back on the left. Pic stolen from Goon Squad celebrity and Master of Ceremonies Calvin “Calmodee” Britt.

Don't Pick Your Nose

I suspect 90% of colds and flu are caused by sticking your finger in your nose. My nose runs all the time. I involuntarily wipe the back of my hand across my nose a lot.

It does seem like we’re overreacting to the H1N1 A outbreak. If you consider 36,000 people die every year from the usual strains of flu and only 150 have died from this one. All but one occurred in Mexico. It turns out most of these were symptomatic pneumonia deaths and could have been the second wave of their regular flu cycle.

The authorities are afraid of this one because it’s entirely new and they’re not sure how it will mutate.

For evolution skeptics you might consider viral mutation as part of the mountain of evidence. (Had to get that in)

I’m not sure why it’s called swine flu. It has an Asian pig, an American pig, an avian and a human gene.

Egypt is slaughtering its entire pig population (250,000). Egypt pays non Muslim Christians to use pigs for garbage disposal. The country already has sanitation problems. Without the pigs it’s really going to be a mess. Apparently Muslims can’t even touch the filthy beasts. I’m ignorant about this. If anyone knows about this rule could you explain it to me? I’m hopelessly perplexed by religious practices.

This flu is being spread by humans, not pigs!

The High Road

Even as an atheist I believe in the Golden Rule “Do unto others” or in my language practice empathy. This should be national policy.

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D- Mass.) told colleagues during a debate on military commission legislation. “We punished people with 15 years of hard labor when water boarding was used against Americans in WWII.

The case of Abu Zubaydah is used as an example of why enhanced interrogation techniques are necessary. Former CIA director Michael Hayden said on Fox News: "The critical information we got from Abu Zubaydah came after we began the EITs [enhanced interrogation techniques]."

One of Zubaydah's FBI interrogators, Ali Soufan, remembers it differently. Soufan wrote in The New York Timesthat Zubaydah talked without being coerced.

Two high-ranking former FBI sources say that intelligence breakthroughs came before Zubaydah was subjected to harsh techniques, not after. Rohan Gunaratna, has similar recollections. He is an al-Qaida expert who has worked with U.S. government agencies on terrorism issues.

"Gen. Hayden is dead wrong" about harsh techniques getting information from Zubaydah, he says. "I have tremendous respect for Gen. Hayden, but he is wrong in this case."

Another pro torture claim: That harsh interrogation tactics led to the arrest of American Jose Padilla. Gunaratna was the government's expert in the Padilla case. He said they got the key lead on Padilla from Zubaydah without using torture.

The fact that the CIA water boarded Khalid Sheik Mohammed 183 times and he never lead them to Osama bin Laden says it all.

The ticking bomb scenario is pointless when it’s been determined for years that a person being tortured will tell you what you want to hear, not necessarily the facts.

America has to lead by example or stop pretending we’re on any moral high ground.

Cuba

The 5^th Summit of the Americas opened on the same day as the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. Was that on purpose?

Obama has eased some of the restrictions placed on Cuba. But after saying his administration would “engage with the Cuban government on a wide range of issues — from drugs, migration, and economic issues, to human rights, free speech, and democratic reform,” he stopped short of saying he would normalize relations. 

According to John McCain, “The U.S. should continue to pressure the Cuban regime to release all political prisoners unconditionally and to hold free and fair elections with international supervision. Unless these conditions are met, lifting the economic embargo would only serve to strengthen the Castro dictatorship and delay Cuba’s inevitable transition to democracy.” I think that would have happened by now if it wasn’t for the embargo.

What makes Cuba different from China, another communist regime with human rights issues?

Money does. China is a huge trading partner.

Cuban exiles have lobbied with the power of cash and votes. But that’s the old guard. Younger Cubans are beginning to see things through eyes not blurred by the rage of a desire for revenge. They wouldn’t go back if they could.

The Castro government has been able to blame the U.S. embargo on all of its problems angering its citizens and rallying them around Castro. Was Batista better?

We need to have a uniform system of justice if we expect any kind of respect from the rest of the world.

New Coke Update

I was listening to NPR yesterday when I was surprised to hear a story about Passover Cokes. These are Kosher and made with real cane sugar. My buddy Tony turned me on to them. It’s the only time I’ll drink them anymore.

I did an Associated Content story about the “New Coke Conspiracy”. If you haven’t already read it check it out. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/465387/the_new_coke_conspiracy.html?cat=35

 The radio show mentioned real sugar Cokes were favored by Coke drinkers over the corn syrup version. Coca-Cola swore there was no difference. Of course they do. They get corn syrup for free! We subsidize corn in this country. I think corporations like ADM are as big and evil as the oil companies. Except for Fritos there is absolutely nothing redeeming about corn.

Cows that are fed corn have to have vitamin supplements or they will die. People that eat cows are only getting a fraction of the nutrition they would from cows that graze. They use feed corn to make ethanol which leaves a carbon footprint equal to petroleum. If they allowed cows to graze they wouldn’t produce the nitrogen for fertilizer that runs off into our rivers. This is what’s causing the dead zone in the Mississippi Delta the size of New Jersey.

I read somewhere years ago (although I can’t substantiate this) when some American Indian tribes changed from hunter-gatherers to corn harvesters they disappeared.

Anyway New Coke is only a symptom of a much darker conspiracy. Federally funded empty calories.

As for me I love the burn of a real Coke!