Bits and Pieces: Part 2

Drought in Western States: I was born in southern California. On my 11^th birthday my family moved to New England, but those first 11 years were formative ones. We respected water as the greatest natural resource other than air. Smog was an issue for us. I had serious asthma as a child and smog conditions worsened it. In time California came to clean its air but it still has major issues with smog and air pollution. Accompanying air quality is water supply. So much national treasure has been focused on supplying California and the southwestern states with adequate water supplies. But drought still beckons as it always has. It is the nature of the place. But for Heavens Sake, why does the region do so little to conserve water and fail to acquire more water from desalinization?

Look everywhere in California and you will find an astounding number of private swimming pools. It is almost viewed as an inalienable right in the state. Oh, you live in California; how big is your pool? And so the stories go, along with green lawns, lush gardens and water gulping houses with three and four bathrooms and two if not three kitchens. All fully equipped with water guzzling appliances.

You want to manage drought? Use less water! You need more water? Desalinize sea water at your front door. And please, do not come begging to the rest of the 50 states to bail you out of your profligacy. We are managing our water and air supplies with our own resources and disciplines right here in Illinois. So please do so on your own, too.

Making for War Not Peace: Count the nations rattling sabers – Russia; China; North Korea; Trump (well he’s a person not a country!). OK; we have three nations practicing their war skills in public as a threatening gesture, not a training exercise. NATO exercises don’t count because that’s what military allies do; they practice coordinated maneuvers because their commands are housed in different national hierarchies. Practice is necessary. But flying jets over passenger flights (Russian antics) and buzzing US naval ships by Russian fighter jets, and building islands so they can defend them in ever larger sweeps of the China Sea (China), are all acts of provocation. Creating chillier interactions regarding movement of naval ships (China to US) only cements the intents. And then we have North Korea. Of course you laugh. So do I. If – and it is a really big if – North Korean has the capability to launch a killer nuclear attack on the US, then the world is at peril, not just the US. So it is in the interests of all nations to curb North Korea, perhaps even to neutralize them so their population can be ‘saved’ from starvation and horrible living conditions. Because China and Russia do not stand up and speak on this issue means they are part of the problem and it is intentional on the part of all three of these nations to disrupt the peaceful yearnings of the globe.

You would think we all would be tired of war. It does no good other than defense, but then you have to have an aggressor to be defensive. And that’s the reason behind China, Russia and North Korea’s actions. They wish to provoke a skirmish even if it is labeled an accident. That way they can claim they were only defending themselves. Do they truly believe anyone believes such nonsense?  Hmmm. Well maybe they do; their own people obviously believe it or else they wouldn’t allow such antics to occur. But then that supposes a representative and democratically elected government is in place in each of those three nations. Not even close. Well, now we can sense the larger picture. China’s economy is in freefall with their cash reserves vanishing. Russia’s economy is in shatters and the noose is tightening ever more so. North Korea has nothing whatever to lose no matter how much they play act.

The people of the earth have wasted so much energy, treasure and life on war. And the mindset seems never to change for the better. Only temporarily for that. Only temporarily. More’s the pity.

The VP Tango:  Interesting to watch defeated republican presidential candidates now be considered for the vice presidential nomination. I always thought this was a significant move and valued it. Not so this time around. It appears the VP slot will be given only to those who will make the most peace within the party. Chris Christie doesn’t want the job because he yearns to have more impact. So he is currying favor in the Trump party so he can get an appointment on the cabinet team later on. That’s if Trump wins the election, not a likely prospect at this time. But even rumors abound that Hillary will ask Bernie to be her running mate. Perhaps this peace offering will calm the waters of her party and prepare the way for a unified campaign against Trump?

May 13, 2016