tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60461292011-07-30T11:50:06.119-07:00Looking AskanceViewing with disapproval, suspicion or distrustWeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.comBlogger421100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-19691668567262326942009-05-04T15:07:00.000-07:002009-05-04T15:14:28.474-07:00Been out of town, off line and when back on spending far too much time with twitter. You may note that my blogging is evolving. That's a weak attempt to justify the above photo of one of humanity's true heros. Back to more worthy blogging later -- or not. Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com41tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-85837432997431637722009-03-27T15:23:00.000-07:002009-03-27T15:44:37.180-07:00At about 2 AM, June 11, 1943 a B-24 Liberator heavy bomber crashed between the towns of Weed and Mount Shasta, California about 8 miles north of where we live. The bomber was on a night navigation training mission out of Salinas, CA army air force base, with a crew of 10 aboard. The cause of the crash was the failure of two engines on the the same wing. Four of the crew bailed out and survivedWeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-65919369419444720002009-03-24T14:25:00.000-07:002009-03-24T14:47:51.070-07:00I recently finished a biography of Isak Dinesen by Judith Thurman. Isak Dinesen is the pen name of Danish author Karen Blixen. Blixen's most famous book is "Out of Africa", her memoir of the 17 years she spent in British East Africa, now known as, Kenya. It was published in 1937. The book was made into the Academy Award winning film, of the same title, staring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford.Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-22899370510668114592009-03-15T22:53:00.000-07:002009-03-15T23:14:09.329-07:00Were the Stanford grad below and Alex Trebek ("Jeobardy") above separated at birth?Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-48492050767858343142009-03-09T22:25:00.000-07:002009-03-09T22:37:24.992-07:00Will this Stanford grad recognize himself? He's pointing to the year he graduated. There is a brass plaque every couple feet along the quad colonnade for all the years that Stanford has been in business, which is quite a few plaques.Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-20116700608892505992009-03-07T13:53:00.000-08:002009-03-07T14:04:33.563-08:00If you are ever in Santa Rosa, CA and were or are a "Peanuts" fan, be sure to visit the Charles Schultz museum. It's very well done with hundreds of original Peanuts panels and a recreation of Shultz's studio among other interesting items. You can also pose beside life size Peanuts characters as seen above with yours truly and our former Sunnyvale neighbors, Janet and Glenn Hubbard who now liveWeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-50185956538644072202009-03-05T17:40:00.000-08:002009-03-05T17:58:10.221-08:00The photo above depicts the subtile beauty of the Kansas "Flint Hill" country. In his book, "PrairyErth", William Least Heat-Moon fills 624 pages with a poetic, yet factual and historical tale of the people and places of Chase county, Kansas in the heart of the Flint Hills. It's a read that will not disappoint. Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-28035523641844660522009-03-04T22:48:00.000-08:002009-03-04T23:18:07.607-08:00Here's how it looked after the series February, 2009 record snows had passed. Posting this in celebration of Jennie's birthday. She loves it when Mount Shasta is solid white and the sky is blue. Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-47104038724126752892009-03-03T22:25:00.000-08:002009-03-03T22:28:43.715-08:00Here's a photo of the Big snow of mid February, 2009 that fell in Mount Shasta, CA Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-49831021792371755762009-02-25T17:52:00.000-08:002009-02-25T22:17:48.168-08:00Twitter and KerouacWould Jack Kerouac like "twitter"? That is the question. I like twitter for it's simplicity. Jack might use it to write haikus.BIG snow melts awayCursor blinks at start of lineWhat should be writtenTo see if there would be a response I began posing questions about Kerouac and his writings in twitter's 140 character "update" field, not knowing if anyone would read, let alone Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-13068348645837215552009-02-07T15:17:00.000-08:002009-02-07T15:47:53.048-08:00More random thoughts. I promise I will get back to actually looking askance but with times as dark as they are it seems appropriate to keep it light for a while. There is nothing lighter than "twitter." I've signed up for this interesting web phenomenon. For being as apparently simple as it is (essentially blogging with a limit of 140 characters) it is surprisingly powerful. For example I'm Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-51775897309796889322009-02-05T15:35:00.000-08:002009-02-05T16:06:32.943-08:00I will no doubt return to the theme of the obscene wealth gap, but for now I'd like to take up a happier subject -- William Shakespeare. I became a Shakespeare addict when I visited the Folger Shakespeare Library's exhibit at the old Museum of Natural History in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park (I can't recall what year that was). Something about his universality clicked and I've been a Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-75672073199951103282009-02-05T15:13:00.000-08:002009-02-05T15:27:10.976-08:00Where does the time go. My last post was in 2007 and here it is February 2009. Much political water has passed under the blogging bridge since then. We now we have a president who admitts that corporate executive compensation is way out of line. That the gap between rich and the rest of us is a Grand Canyon wide. What's worse is that many of the executives being paid the huge bucks have, by Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-1169856383700860242007-01-26T16:06:00.000-08:002007-01-26T16:06:23.780-08:00"... it is well-known that industrial lobbyists routinely craft the legislation that is supposed to regulate their industries ... it's not because they're greedy, it's because thay can." -- Thomas Frank in The Nation April 8, 2002Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-1163811888750757782006-11-17T17:04:00.000-08:002006-11-17T17:04:49.090-08:00THE WEALTH CHASMAgain I log some startling facts from a Molly Sklar piece recently published in "The Progressive Populist"The new Forbes 400 list of richest Americans is billionaires only. The combined wealth of this 400 is a record breaking $1,250,000,000,000 -- that's one and a quarter TRILLION bucks. That's about the same amount as the combined wealth of half -- 57 million -- the American Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-1162862220996124072006-11-06T17:17:00.000-08:002006-11-06T17:17:01.540-08:00No More EvilWe will "rid the world of evil," President Bush said on September 14, 2001. The last world leader to attempt such a thing -- Pope Urban II, who launched the First Crusade in 1095. He never figured out a good exit strategy either. -- Jack Hitt in "Mother Jones"Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-1160113630200418562006-10-05T22:47:00.000-07:002006-10-05T22:47:10.263-07:00SWEETHolly Sklar came up with this sweet way to note the huge jump in CEO vs average worker pay from 1980 to 2004:"Income gaps in the workplace have become increasingly outrageous, as seen in the growing gap between worker pay and CEO pay. We can demonstrate it with a pile of chocolate.Give one piece of chocolate to your worker stand-in and 44 pieces to your CEO stand-in. That was the 1980 Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-1155791789827547112006-08-16T22:16:00.000-07:002006-08-16T22:20:58.943-07:00Minimum WageThe federal minimum wage for workers has been stuck at $5.15 for nine years since 1997. That wage provides a total annual pay for full time work of $10,500. In that same period the members of congress have given themselves a pay raise every year for the last eight for a increase of $32,000 to a total annual pay of $168,000.You might want to ask your congress critter about the Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-1149817408053130122006-06-08T18:43:00.000-07:002006-06-08T18:46:24.746-07:00A Judge's Wisdom"The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning, but without understanding." -- Justice Louis Brandeis, 1928Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-1149136288200457202006-05-31T21:31:00.000-07:002006-05-31T21:31:28.210-07:00Molly Does It AgainMolly Ivins sums up the real meaning of the "Kenny boy" Lay "Jeffy boy" Skilling convictions in her own inimitable style. Check it out via the link below.Molly's ArticleWeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-1147672745446158262006-05-14T22:59:00.000-07:002006-05-14T23:01:50.130-07:00Just Digits!?!?In the following article about telcom corporations turning over records of all our phone calls to NSA, a White House "official" is quoted as insisting "It's just digits." Well our credit card and social security numbers are "just digits." Our bank statements are "just digits." In this digital age everything we want to keep private is "just digits." The White House "official" Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-1147394526329539322006-05-11T17:42:00.000-07:002006-05-11T17:42:06.396-07:00Detention Centers by Halliburton ?If you learned that Halliburton now has a contract in the amount of $385 million to build a series of "detention centers", each to house up to 5,000 detainees, would you look askance? Yeh, me too. Here's the story: The Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) subsidiary of Halliburton has such a contract awarded by the Army Corps of Engineers last January. Yep KBR is the Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-1145929744325451952006-04-24T18:10:00.000-07:002006-04-24T18:55:10.196-07:00Opus Dei and da Princeton CodeThere's a spooky article in the March 13 issue of The Nation. Robert George (absolutely no relation!), a Princeton Professor is out to rid the world of those pesky liberal, secularist academics that infest the nation's colleges and universities. Along the way, so the article claims, he's gotten funding for his work from a long list of far right organizations Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-1145757424260833222006-04-22T18:57:00.000-07:002006-04-22T18:57:04.310-07:00Molly Takes on ImmigrationMolly Ivins has the right idea when it comes to the illegality issue of Mexican immigration. In a recent column she writes as follows:"Should you actually want to stop Mexicans and OTMs (other than Mexicans) from coming to the U.S. here is how to do it: Find an illegal worker at a large corporation. This is not difficult -- brooms and mops are big tip offs. Then put Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-1145581117764094032006-04-20T17:58:00.000-07:002006-05-31T21:39:30.820-07:00Maximum Hourly WageLast year (2005) the CEO of Wal-Mart earned $3,500 an hour. The CEO of Halliburton earned about $8,300 an hour. And the CEO of ExxonMobil earned about $13,700 an hour. How happy we are to buy gas at $3.00 a gallon in order to do our part toward covering that $13,700.Note: If you work full time for minimum hourly wage you make $10,500 a YEAR.Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-1143436647853809382006-03-26T21:17:00.000-08:002006-03-26T21:17:27.863-08:00Molly Ivins blasts the weak-kneed Democrats in this article in the March issue of "The Progressive." Check it out with a click.Molly Ivins in "The Progressive"Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-1136675071783530972006-01-07T15:04:00.000-08:002006-01-07T15:04:31.816-08:00PRESS RELEASEVulcan Inc. A subsidiary of Global Energy, Inc.Vast quantities of energy are wasted when volcanoes erupt, explode or collapse. Vulcan Inc. proposes to tap this wasted energy by a controlled implosion of Mount Shasta. In order to do this without endangering lives, Vulcan has purchased Siskiyou county, California and will relocate the small population of 55,000 to a resettlement Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-1134264574224157122005-12-10T17:29:00.000-08:002005-12-10T17:29:34.256-08:00Important Web Site
I encourage you to visit this important web site:
http://www.snowcrest.net/weshawk/Faineant.htmlWeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-1130999171749989672005-11-02T22:26:00.000-08:002005-11-02T22:27:55.386-08:00Mountain Top, West VirginiaThere is a disgusting technique used by greedy corporations to rip coal from the Appalachian mountains. It's called mountain top removal or MTR. Here's how it works: First they clear cut the oak and other hardwood trees from the mountain top and bulldoze them into huge piles, then burn them like trash. Next, using massive shovels, they scrape off the topsoil down toWeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-1129597778728915022005-10-17T18:09:00.000-07:002005-10-17T18:09:38.756-07:00Father Knows Best
George Dubya apparently didn't read his dad's memoir, "A World Transformed", or if he did, he didn't follow Dad's advice. The following is a quote from George the first's memoir wherein he describes why he didn't send his Desert Stormers on to Baghdad:
"Trying to eliminate Saddam ... would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. Apprehending him was probably Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-1128734917953740082005-10-07T17:57:00.000-07:002005-10-07T18:28:37.956-07:00From time to time, with a salute to Jonathan Swift, I will make "a modest proposal." They will be something like Bill Maher's "New Rules" but more in the style of Swift's 1729 essay, "A Modest Proposal." Here's my first:A Modest ProposalI would urge all those who voted for George W. Bush to sew a big red B on their outer garment. Surely they would take pride in this and it would save the rest Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-1128045136964822312005-09-29T18:52:00.000-07:002005-09-29T18:56:07.013-07:00Disaster CapitalismSometimes it's informative to fall behind in your reading. I recently picked out, from a stack of unread publications, the May issue of "The Nation." Thumbing through it, I was stopped by the title of an article by Naomi Klein -- "The Rise of Disaster Capitalism." Since this was written many months before the one two punch of Katrina and Rita, Kline could not have known Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-1127885948077975272005-09-27T22:39:00.000-07:002005-09-27T22:45:00.716-07:00Beat LyricBring back Jack KerouacWith his notebook and his old rucksackBring back Neal CassadyWith his Hudson and his LSDBring back ol' Al GinsbergAnd let him howl the wordWe need their souls todayBecause we've lost our way.lyrics copyright 2005 Wes GeorgeWeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-1126241687406390022005-09-08T21:47:00.000-07:002005-09-08T21:54:47.413-07:00Indecent ExposureThe disaster in New Orleans has acted as a harsh filter separating the classes. Yes, this tragedy forces us to admit to the dreaded "C word." Those with cars and cash were able to heed the evacuation order. Those without were left on their own at the bottom of the New Orleans bowl to die or swim for their lives to the shelter of last resort, the ironically named Super Dome. Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-1125639768419249002005-09-01T22:31:00.000-07:002005-09-01T22:42:48.423-07:00Not Time to BlameIt may not be the proper time to place blame for the horrific disaster in New Orleans, but it is time to start gathering information. Here's one piece of data that I've come across:In 2001, FEMA warned that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in the U.S. Nevertheless, the Bush administration cut New Orleans flood control funding by 44 Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-1125466996882802962005-08-30T22:40:00.000-07:002005-08-30T22:49:55.580-07:00Resource WarsHas anyone out there read "Resource Wars" by Michael T. Klare? It's a sobering prediction of the coming conflicts over resources as demand increases and supply declines. Oil of course tops the list of scarce, high demand resources, but close behind is water. Many major river systems span several countries and as human and industrial demands accelerate wars over water rights will Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-1123550599023811662005-08-08T17:02:00.000-07:002005-08-08T18:34:26.860-07:00Avian FluI quote from an article by Mike Davis in "The Nation": "Avian Influenza is a viral asteroid on collision course with humanity. The flu subtype known as H5N1, now endemic in waterfowl and poultry throughout East Asia ... is the most lethal strain of influenza ever seen, killing chickens, people and even tigers with terrifying ease."Retiring Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary, Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-1122851887560004122005-07-31T15:37:00.000-07:002005-07-31T16:18:07.566-07:00Back to looking askance -- viewing with disapproval, suspicion or distrust. These days one looks askance most of the time. Let's take an issue local to where I live near Mount Shasta in far north California. Nestlé, the largest food and beverage corporation in the world, based in Switzerland, sent representatives to a small rural special district near here to negotiate for exclusive rights to Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-1122783235652662562005-07-30T21:13:00.000-07:002005-07-31T15:36:09.766-07:00It's unfortunate that Blogger does not work well with Apple's Safari browser. Spell check doesn't function and trying to upload a photo crashes Safari. But I must say that "Blog This" works well for just posting text such I'm doing now.Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-1122772993907737892005-07-30T18:03:00.000-07:002005-07-30T18:23:13.913-07:00Wow! It was way back in aught three that I started my blogging. Who knows what influence I might have by now if I'd kept it up. Oh well, other things were accomplished. What pulled me back into blogging was a new dad started posting comments about his experience leading up to fatherhood and now that his daughter -- my grand daughter -- has arrived he continues to comment on this exciting new Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-1070676341456673312003-12-05T18:05:00.000-08:002003-12-05T18:07:16.066-08:00This is a practice post. So don't expect anything exciting. For some excitement read Michael Moore's new book, "Dude, Where's My Country?"Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6046129.post-1068186170440264782003-11-06T22:22:00.000-08:002005-07-30T17:47:41.836-07:00Thanks for checking out my log. I hope you find something of interest. For this first item I'd like to encourage readers to visit the following web site: www.poclad.org. POCLAD stands for Program on Corporations Law and Democracy. It's not as dry as it sounds. The bright folks of POCLAD have studied the history of corporations and concluded that most if not all of our current political, Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05157940045130360517noreply@blogger.com0