one sunday in March

     This short day (adjusted the clocks why?) began with a nice long rainy dark hike thru the neighborhoods.  I delivered Ruby's bag to her house, which was blessedly unlighted (meaning the kids were sleeping in).  Then to Starbucks.  Coffee and the Times (for once, I remembered my computer!).  Incredible news morning for a junky!

     There's Japan, of course.  Tragedy writ large.  Except... nuclear power is dead (again).  For those of us who were terrified by the events at Three Mile Island (our farm was just south of the nuke), this is good news indeed.  We fled what has been called a 'catastrophic emergency... the partial core meltdown that occurred at the TMI reactor in l979'.  Never again!  Which is why I'm once again working to rid Corvallis of the OSU 'research' reactor.  We sit squarely in the Cascadia Subduction Zone, and we're overdue for a major quake.  The guys who profit by this neighborhood nuke make fun of me... 'you're no scientist, so just shut up'... but it's gotta go, soon.  No more excuses.  And one more reason not to trust scientists.  Damn their arrogant hides anyway.  Headline of the day: "Japan rushes to avert nuclear disaster".  Are we surprised?  Will we learn from this event in Japan?

       Did you read about the North Pole?   Reset your GPS if you plan to visit Santa this summer.  The pole is in northern Canada right now.  Oh yea... we're talking about the magnetic pole, not the geographic pole.  The latter stays pretty much stationary.  It's the magnetic one that's moving on... about 37 miles per year, mostly northwesterly.  If the action continues, the pole will be somewhere in Russia at the end of this century.

      And cheers and kudos for PJ Crowley, the former (until today) State Department spokesman.  He told the truth about the inhumane treatment of our hero, Brad Manning.  Manning is in the brig, accused of leaking secrets while a soldier.  Crowley called Manning's treatment by the military "ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid."  The surprise is that one of them could tell the truth like that.  Obama is letting us down big time.  He will never get my vote again, that is for damn sure.

      Carter's solar panels still aren't reinstalled on the White House.  Two years, and no action.  What the hell is Obama thinking?  Talk about a failed presidency.  Anybody else itching for a change?

      Life is going to become very interesting for all of us.  NASA reports that the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are melting much more rapidly than expected.  That means higher sea levels all around.  Japan is rethinking its investments in sea walls (the tsunami ignored those very expensive walls).  What is the alternative?   Could any of us do better when it comes to limiting our carbon footprint?  That, as we all know, is the answer.  But maybe we really don't want an answer?   Are we choosing destruction, or collapse?

      The first decorative cherries are blooming now.  And the apricot in the neighbor's yard.  And tons of daffodils and crocuses.  Let's hear it for spring!