88 REMINISCING
Once in a while I have a small thought of my earlier life(Virtually
a lifetime ago) and want to share with you a short time during the Korean War .
When I recently came across a section of an old “Guppey”
type submarine I surely remembered my bunk in the fore’ard torpedo room, sandwiched in between a torpedo
and the motor for the port bow diving plane.
The electric motor was about the same diameter as a torpedo (about two
feet) and fit well there. We had a crew
of about 90 with only about thirty bunks, we had to share with two other crewmen.
That worked OK as we all got seven hours
sleep a night. Unfortunately, this bunk was for the lowest rated guys and it
was too narrow a space . If you wanted to turn over, you had to get out of the
bunk to do it. These “boats” were diesel
and ran on a large store of batteries. I’ve included a photo of my “Dolphins”,
(comparable to a fliers’ wings). One earns
his Dolphins whenyou are able to operate most jobs on the boat , as you must
carry on even after half you crewmates have drowned like rats. I was attracted to subs as I saw them as a
self contained city in one small
package, more for it’s technology than for it’s killing ability.
HISTORY OF ASTROLOGY
As you may have noted from my last blog, I was intrigued by
the distant planets in our Solar system were and changed gears to astronomy.
But still, I came across some old Astrological charts made for me (I cast one
of them) and have always been a little
sceptical of how a planet could have an
effect on our lives, especially at our births, as they seem so far
distant. I became interested in the art
during my time in Los Angeles with Judith Tyberg’s “East- West Cultural
Center’. (She was the first woman to gain a degree in Benares University in the
old days). Anyway, it seems to have
originated by the Sumerians around 2000 BC but used primarily for weather and
Politics only. By 400 BC they pretty
much knew where the planets would be at any time. Which gave rise to Natal and
Horoscoptic Astrology. Egyptian Astrologers were extant at Alexandria , Egypt around
332 BC but Ptolemy was there organizing
Astronomy instead. By 200 AD, the
Indians were working on it but the Arabs finessed the Art about 700 AD. Not everyone was on the bandwagon as Saint Augustine
(350 AD) was skeptical and wondered how twins born at the same time could lead
vastly different lives. I gave it all up when one of my charts said I was a no
good jerk.
WORKERS OF THE WORLD , UNITE !
Since Sanders has been in the spotlight lately, espousing a
Demo-Socialistic take on government, I decided it was time to read THE
COMMUNIST MANIFESTO, some early work of Marx & Engels. They really spent too much time sitting
around in French Cafés drinking coffee & wine as their manifesto is too damn
long and they were enamored with the words “Proletariat (Worker) and Bourgeois
(Boss)”, since they use them both in about every paragraph. They ranted about
the exploitation of the many by the few (You mean the 1%?), in which the Theory
of The Communists may be summed up in a single sentence: Abolition of private property.
They also set out their Ten Commandments ;
1.1
Abolition of property in land and application of
all rents of land to the public purposes.
(Just who is this public purpose?)
2. 2
A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. (Starting
from the top?)
3. 3
Abolition of all right of inheritance. (That
will not be popular)
44 Confiscation
of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
(Wait! That’s Trumps deal)
5. 5 Centralization
of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State
capital and an exclusive monopoly. (Like
our Federal Reserve?)
6.6 Centralization
of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State. (Get
rid of those pesky journalists)
7.7 Extension
of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing
into cultivation of wastelands, and the improvement of the soil generally in
accordance with a common plan. (Environmentalists don’t call them
wastelands)
8. 8 Equal
liability of all to labour. Establishment of industrial armies , especially for
agriculture. (Armies?)
9.9 Combination
of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the
distinction between town and country, by a more equable distribution of the
population over the country. (Right. More to the Gulags in Siberia &
Colorado!)
110. Free education for all children in public
schools. Abolition of children’s factory labour in its present form.
Combination of education with industrial
production, etc., etc.. (We
did do that)
MEIN KAMPF (My Struggle) by A. Hitler
Since Mr. Trump is
appearing to represent most voters in the US, I thought it relevant to review Hitlers’ thoughts on how
to govern since Trump may soon be The Leader of the Free World. About the only
admirable thing I could find about Adolph was how many people do you know that
spent their time in Jail writing a thick book? It did show that hisa intellect
was not much but did show how he was able to generate a significant hatred for
the Jews around him, even though he was mystified how much they looked like
Germans and also human.
PRIORITIES, COST BENEFITS & OTHER FANTASIES Or
HOW YOUR MONEY IS MIS-SPENT
Graton has just
undergone a complete rehabilitation of
handicap related curbs, gutters and walks. I would estimate the cost as
tens of thousands of dollars. How
can this happen? Our roads are nearly
unuseable in certain places, yet, there is plenty of money to tear out concrete
that is not up to the current, ever changing , H’cap standards. As you may
know, I’ve done a lot of work in Graton during the last 30 years, (
restuarants, Atelier One) actually
initiating the renaissance of a decaying town with my Atelier One project, a
building that Sonoma County had
condemned. As you may not know, I’ve
been involved with these H’cap laws for
years, even extending into a lawsuit by
the U.S. Dept. of Justice in Washington D.C. ($350,000). This was from my work for years in designing
large apartment and condominium projects throughout the United States. I had to abandon that work just when I got
good at it due to these lawsuits.
I also know these laws are written by lawyers who have
little knowledge of construction, ergo, the Zero Tolerance principle
that they work on. Some of this
make-work stuff is due to a fraction of an inch deviation (Zero) from the
codes. Some of these moneys are from the
Federal government and probably have no connection with our poor roads and
such. But the public should know where
our moneys are being squandered, as it is from our pockets . But here’s the rub; it is virtually
impossible for the public to know about these projects due to the extreme
secrecy of the proceedings as there are “Lawyers involved”. And they couldn’t
possibly let the public know how heavy handed they are . I’ve written before
(If not, I should have) about watching the our cities’ curbs & gutters
being torn up again as the codes have been updated about every ten years. When
you consider that each corner costs $5,000 or more to change , consider what
the bill is for all the corners of all the cities of all the states in the USA
comes to!
My questions are; And
how much did it all cost? Who initiated the work? Who decided on the scope of work? Who designs these projects?
AN OVERVIEW OF THE
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
With all this brauhau Caucasus I had to see if I could get a
view of how we are governed in this Republic,( It is not a Democracy,
don’t forget.)
See if I have this right:.
PRESIDENT SUPREME
COURT CONGRESS
Cabinet –
Civil Servants Picked by
Pres for Life SENATE
White House Staff 6
year term
National Security Council Two
per State (100)
Budget
Economic Advisors
Environmental
Trade HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Drug Control
Science & technology 2
year term
Maximum 435
INDIVIDUAL
AGENCIES One
/60k to 90k
Postal
NASA
CIA
EPA
Internal Revenue
Government Owned Corp.
FDIC
National Rail Corp.
I guess we have about 50 stats now, but just what are
the following?
North Marianas Islands
Puerto Rico
U.S. Virgin Islands
Haiti?
Grenada?
Although we are basically a two party system, there are
actually about 30 Parties
that you can join.
MY BURNING QUESTION OF THE DAY; Are all politicians afraid to appear without
an American Flag pin on their lapel? That is really embarrassing.
SINCE ALL THE
ABOVE IS NOT WORKING, LET’S JUST VOTE FOR THE LOBBYISTS, since they're running the country anyway.
