My Destination

“My destination is freedom itself and if I find it I will share the wealth.”   New Riders of The Purple Sage

The Dark Side of Facebook and Twitter

   I actually caught a bit of the local news out of Denver at lunch time yesterday. They ran a segment on a fellow who was standing on a corner handing out resumes to passing cars in the hopes of getting a job. Towards the end of the segment they noted that many employers were no longer looking at resumes and instead were looking at many prospective employees Facebook and Twitter accounts.
     This disturbs me in that these sites mainly give an insight in to someones social and sometimes political leanings and in no way show a persons work ethic or experience in the job place.
     What if I applied at a resort or corporation where the human resource manager was a born again christian or had right wing political leanings. If he looked at my Facebook or Twitter account what would he or she see?
     They would certainly see some likes of some good quality food sites, but beyond that they would see a Libertarian with Buddhist/ Taoist leanings, who likes hippie rock & roll and outlaw country music and if they looked further it would lead them to my blogs which I do discuss, in my own amateur way, political and social issues that concern me. None of this says anything about my desire to put out the best food possible, my desire to watch food cost and the way I try to treat every business as it were my own. I think it is a great injustice for someone to hire or not hire someone based on these social networks. It really makes me wonder if maybe we are putting too much of ourselves out there for anybody around the world to see. Anybody, Anywhere! 

The Merry Go Round of Politics, Oil and Terrorism

                                “A desperate disease requires a dangerous remedy.”  Guy Fawkes

        I think it would seem to anybody with any common sense that our thirst for crude oil is destroying not only our planet but our society as well.

         In our own hemisphere, we have polluted and damaged the jungles of the Amazon, the gulf coast and all the way to Alaska. Through government deals with corrupt Middle Eastern Officials, supplying them with cash and weapons we have weakened our status with the common man throughout the world and inadvertently trained and sponsored terrorism. Greed and corruption are so rife in the oil business; our politicians in Washington turn a blind eye to our supposed friends, the Sheiks of Saudi Arabian, while they pour money into extremist Muslim organizations so their kingdoms are not attacked from within. If Saudi Arabia is such a good friend, then why were most of the high jackers from 9/11 and even Osama Bin Laden from Saudi Arabia?

       I watched a very good movie called “Syriana” that raised a lot of questions in my mind. That led me to a book Called “Sleeping With The Devil” by x-CIA agent Robert Baer. He fully follows the money trail and greed from Washington to the Saudi king and princes’ to the terrorist themselves. There is no doubt in my mind (I know this is going to be very unpopular) that our government and elected officials, our thirst for oil is as much to blame for 9/11 as anyone else.

    I don’t think there are any easy answers to wean ourselves from our thirst for crude oil. Both the movie and the book will show you that. I think we are going to have to look at multiple solutions. In my time in living in the west, I’m encouraged by the wind and solar farms that are springing up. In other areas we may have to look at geothermal options and natural gas or on our coast harnessing the power of the waves. I think one of the main ways we need to look at a change in our “Energy Policy” is to make it our patriotic duty not to support the use of crude oil.

    We also need to realize that when it comes to the rest of the world we are not a very good police force. We supported Batista in Cuba, The Shah in Iran, we supported Saddam Hussein in his early years, after the French fought for ten years and got out we got embroiled in Vietnam, the CIA trained and armed Osama bin Laden against the Russians, and the list goes on.

     We are the number one arms dealer in the world!  A part of every dollar we spend on oil goes to funding terrorist groups. We spend more on health care than any other country. But yet we are 37^th in performance, 50^th in life expectancy and 38^th in birth mortality rates. I can’t afford health insurance, I live in fear every time I get a cough, afraid it might turn into pneumonia, every time I go on a hike or scrambling up a hill side, in the back of my mind what if I fall and break a leg. When you go to a hospital, the first thing they ask is how are you going to pay.  It would seem our government is more concerned about arming governments who are not popular with their own people then keeping our citizenry healthy.

     I consider myself a patriot. I believe in the Constitution, the right to the pursuit of freedom and happiness. Our Government has lost sight of our basic freedoms and will run rough shod over everything and anyone that gets in the way of their thirst for greed and power.  It’s our duty, our right as a free people to stand up for our rights, to write about the injustices that our government is involved in, to vote and continue voting until true change comes about. We need a major change! The time is ripe for a rational, third party that is for the people and by the people and not in bed with big corporations or has a religious agenda. But we as a people need to be involved all the time. We can’t vote someone in and then just go home. We need to be involved at the local level in our government, we need to vocalize and often, in order to be heard in Washington, only then will there be true change. We need to turn off the video games, quit thinking that “American Idol” is news and be involved in our government and our society at the local level in order to initiate true change, only then will there be true positive change in our society. It may already be too late, I’m not sure and I try to be positive, but if there is not a major change in the next few years in the way our government does business and that is truly what our government has become. We will go the way of Rome; we are already heading that way in a major way

"The Music Never Stopped"

          I’ve had the extremely good luck of checking out some wonderful movies from our excellent Grand County Library system. I have already written about the inspiring “Blindsight” in another blog entry. The latest movie I checked out quite by accident. I was drawn to it by the title,

“The Music Never Stopped”.  It’s a lyric from a “Grateful Dead” tune. Now, for those of you who know me, or have read any of my dribblings from my blog entries, know that I can find a place for a “Dead” lyric in almost everything. Before you roll your eyes and pass on this movie, because of my love and constant mention for everything “Grateful Dead”. Let me tell you this is a beautiful, beautiful movie.

     The film is about a boy that leaves home during the turbulent late sixties after an argument that took place in all too many homes of the time.  I know this, not because it happened to me personally but because I saw and heard about it from friends that did live this same story at the time. The grown boy is later reunited with his parents due to his developing a brain tumor that leaves the young man without any memory after the early 1970’s. The father and son are reconnected with the music of that time. It is a beautiful story of a father and son, their trials and turbulence during a trying time of all who lived during that volatile time of music and politics.  It is also a story of how music and love conquers all prejudice and is a bridge through which we all can unite. It will make you laugh; it will also make you weep. It is very touching in so many ways. I recommend it very highly. The ending is both sad and joyful in the same moment, few films could pull this off, but this one does it magnificently.

"Blindsight"

        I was lucky enough to watch a video last night called “Blindsight”.  It’s about how Eric Wehenmayer, who is blind and has climbed Mt. Everest and Sabrye Tenberken, who is also blind and trekked through China and Nepal by herself and then opened the only blind school in Tibet, took six blind teenagers and climbed to 21,500ft at the doorstep to Mt Everest. Eric is actually from Golden Colorado a charming little town just outside of Boulder.

     This is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen.  I have never been one to look for heroes and inspiration outside of myself but this video is a tribute to the human spirit and what can be done. It is truly a beautiful and inspiring video. It shows how the kids have overcome the superstitions and prejudices of Tibetan society and how they were empowered by this climb to go on and improve their lives. One child had suffered terrible physical abuse and all the kids had suffered mental abuse from the beliefs of Tibetan society. 

      It fully details the struggle of the kids and their sighted guides with all the dynamics of such an endeavor.  It will make you weep, laugh and tug on your heart strings. The photography alone is worth watching the video.  The kids singing “Together Forever” is precious, especially at the end. Be sure to watch the extras where it shows the kids coming to America and what they are doing with their lives.

    

       I have often thought what I would do if I hit the lottery. I would definitely give a big chunk of cash to Braille Without Borders.  Everyone should watch this video; I can’t say enough good things about it.

respectability

    politicians, buildings and whores gain respectability with age!