A Community Effort: The Yucatan Sign

In the coming harsh economic times (we haven't seen anything yet), people will have to start pulling together to make it.  Divided we fall is a true principle and this urge to scatter apart will not serve us well in trying times.  Because of growing difficulties in our little part of Houston County, there has been a conscious effort by those of us on this end of our road to start doing things to help each other.  So we've been exchanging home grown foods and the like, something that used to be common place in rural culture.  It is a good thing that has been lost in our profligate era of debt and materialism over the past few decades.

So what started this local change of behavior?  It started with a sign.

In the early 1990's, the local Yucatan Supper Club shut down and took their sign down.  That sign had been used as a way point by UPS, FedEx, and other delivery services for ages.  Some of us got together, led by my late mother to put up a sign on the corner of the crossroads as a replacement.  It was a simple design, with the added bonus of a flower box at the bottom. 

Over the years, it served us well, but age and weather caught up to it.  In recent years, all the stain had worn from it, with the wooden letters blending into the boards and beginning to fall apart.  We often talked about repainting it, but never got around to it.

A deck project changed that, with leftover stain inspiring two of our neighbors to get moving on the long talked about restoration.  The sign was dismantled, new letters purchased, flowers planted, and leftover paint used to do most of the painting.  Donations and labor were contributed by Mern Flatten, Randy Roland, the Rykhus family, my dad and me.  On August 24th, we bolted the sign back up:

Bank Failures Coming Closer to Home

Houston County, we have a problem.

Yesterday, this article jumped out of the headlines, as Spring Grove is a town I spent a good chunk of my school years in or around.  Jennings State Bank was the 95th bank to fail in the United States in 2009 and the first local one. It may not be the last.  The FDIC has warned Security State Bank of Lewiston to correct their lending practices and their Hokah branch is in Houston County.  Until recently, Houston County had been unaffected, not a surprise for a small county.  It is a temptation to say we are too small to fail, but realistically that is not the case.

It is clear we are not done with bank failures, whether they be local or national. Today brought another round of gloomy news, with a report from the special inspector general appointed to look into the banking stress tests conducted a year ago.  The biggest banks were said to be financially sound when Treasury Secretary Paulson knew otherwise.  To wit, he lied about it. Citigroup and Bank of America are singled out in the article, but there have been rumblings that Wells Fargo is not in good shape as well. Apparently, the "too big to fail" argument won out over honesty with Bernanke and Paulson.

None of this inspires confidence at any level.  When cover ups begin, they are usually due to one of two things: the desire to protect oneself from trouble or blame and the other being paralyzed fear of large consequences too horrific to contemplate.  My suspicion is that the latter is the case. In the end, no amount of running from reality will make bad things go away.

Time to prepare for reality on an individual basis, as the current crop of politicians and bureaucrats have no desire to face it.

UPDATED:

Looks like the national level isn't as big as it gets, the question now being posed is whether the World Bank is going to fail.

Around the Web in 180 Minutes

Okay, it depends on how fast a reader you are, but the following links should keep a person busy for awhile.  My room finally has a ceiling again which needs "mudding" and a few gaps filled yet.  One day I'll get to sleep in my bed again...

Unbalanced Balance

Lately I've been seeing PC's infected by trojans posing as anti-virus software that traces back to the Russian mob.  That caused my antennae to go up and so I found the latest trojan very interesting as it does more than stealing passwords or extorting money to regain control of the computer.  They've finally made one that can intercept and steal money from online banking sessions.  At this rate nothing will be secure on the Net.

Ruining the Hacker's Picnic

Then again, maybe ants are the solution. At least for corporate networks there is a new technology being explored that may counter trojans and other malware faster. Unless this is used by ISP's I don't think it will be of much benefit for home users.  Still it is a fascinating idea and I look forward to hearing more about it.

Need More Sun Cosmic Rayscreen

With the sun being shy of late, refusing to warm the Earth as much and generally not putting out solar flares, another problem has arisen.  Now we are being exposed to increased amounts of cosmic rays.  I wonder which of the Fantastic Four's powers I'll get.  If it is a new ice age coming, I'll hope for the Human Torch's abilities.

So How's That AK-47 vs. M-16 Rivalry going?

Political interference kill business success from what I've seen and no nation is more politically corrupt than Russia.  The AK-47 is one of the most popular weapons of the modern age due to its simplistic ruggedness and reliability.  However, not even that toughness can withstand the corrosive politics in Russia. I'd still prefer to have an AR-15 variant than the Kalashnikov, but it is amazing how far things have fallen over there.  At least the knockoffs of the M-16/AR-15 are superior to the original and it is still being made.

We Aren't Out of the Recession

It is getting to be a weary task to type about all the things going wrong with the economy and Obama's Administration.  There is simply too much material and it is too easy to do, which makes for a depressing exercise. As a result, I'll be posting more about other things.  But one point has to be made and that is the dishonesty about there being an economic recovery right now.  It simply is not happening and there are no concrete signs of it happening soon. Unemployment is still rising, now at 9.8% but closer to double that if you count those who've given up on finding work or taking part time jobs.  Manufacturing is down, durable goods orders are down, credit card and loan defaults are up, and the 95th bank failed for the year.

But the biggest indicator to me that things are going to get worse is the problems charities are facing.  When they are having to assist their own workers, things are dire.  We'll be seeing soup kitchens and tent cities in the future.  I pity the young, for they most likely will never know the standard of living we've had since the 1950's.

Searching for Where the News Can Be Found

Or a Personal Quest for Journalistic Quality

I've always been fascinated by history and current events (which is simply "live" history), seeking out knowledge wherever I could.  This dates to the stone age before the Web, back when we had to read newspapers, magazines, books, and watch Walter Cronkite on the CBS Evening News. Eventually, as cable finally made its way into our family life, there was the news addict's dream made real by CNN and then the quick fix provided by CNN Headline News.  Heady (or headliney) times, it couldn't get better than this! 

Of course, it wasn't easy to get some of the quality newspapers as The New York Times and The Washington Post were only available at the library. But I did have a subscription to Newsweek for a couple of years that I treasured.  That fell by the wayside due to a lack of money brought on by disability, but in the early 1990's I purchased my first computer, a Packard Bell 486SX-25 with a 2400 baud modem in it.  After perusing bulletin boards on dial-up, I received one of those unavoidable America Online floppies in the mail.  I joined the service and began to find news in virtual print once again.

Watching Less, Reading More

In the meantime, various cable news networks had popped up and while available on satellite TV, I felt there had been a decay in quality slowly becoming evident.  By the mid-90s, format changes were making it all feel more tabloid like, more entertainment and personality driven.  Cable news hit its zenith during 1991 when covering Operation Desert Storm and never quite hit that level again.  I watched it less and less.

So I turned toward content I could find online, though it wasn't easy or convenient to find.  The Web came into being and I dipped my toe in the water via AOL's built in browser.  As internet service became available locally, I signed up to the very primitive connectivity in my rural area.  After giving up on it and returning to AOL, the service finally became reliable and I signed up again using OS/2 Warp's Web Explorer to crawl around the new web.  I remember that new place called Yahoo just starting up, then Netscape taking the web browser to a whole new level.  By that time the OS wars were over and I was stuck with Windows95. At last came a new piece of software that looked like it would fulfill all my dreams of news gathering in one place.

A News Junkie's Dream

That program was called Pointcast and it was wonderful!  I could set it up to download the news from all sorts of sources, including The New York Times and The Washington Post.  It all flowed into the program in the background when I was dialed into the Net and I could read it once disconnected.  That was needed, because even a 56k modem in 1996 took awhile to get any content off the copper wires.  It was bliss, news nirvana, and I couldn't stop extolling it to others I knew.

Of course, it didn't last.  The infrastructure wasn't there yet for so much data being downloaded at once, it was overloading servers in business environments which were the main users of Pointcast.  Missed opportunities and the rise of Yahoo killed the endeavor within a few years.  I mourned that software's passing almost as much as OS/2 Warp's.

Signs of the Times

Thankfully, the newspapers and news cable stations had discovered the value of the Internet by then.  It meant I had to read while online, but the content was still there.  However, I started to see the same symptoms of rot that I'd seen with news TV.  The New York Times in particular was becoming less a journalistic bastion of integrity than a source of polemics.   By 2003, the Jayson Blair scandal broke and I wasn't surprised, as my trips to their website had gone from multiple times a day to once daily. The rot had become visible. At that point, it was a slow road to infrequently visiting the once venerable institution.  These days, articles are written the same way as editorials and there really is no difference.

At least The Washington Post kept it's integrity, I told others. For the most part, it did until the 2004 election drove it over the edge.  While not going into the absolute free fall that has turned the Grey Lady into a very bad joke, it did become more openly partisan.  Of course it was always a left wing newspaper, but a very respectable one.  After John Kerry's loss in the Presidential race, the paper began to go down the same road as it's New York rival.

This was unpleasant to recognize, because I didn't feel like I had much in the way of alternatives.  Oh there was the rising blogosphere, but that wasn't developed enough at the time.  Talk radio never appealed, because it is primarily personality driven with a penchant for theatrics.  NPR is possibly the best antidote for insomnia, between its nonstop leftist slant and gray drones speaking in the academic cadences of those who've never really lived life. 

Signal Degradation

What of cable news?  Infotainment at best, rarely any journalism present these days.  Sensationalism is the main content, with talk radio style theatrics thrown in. Not a surprise as many shows are hosted by talk radio hosts. Most cable news networks are far left, with MSNBC on the lunatic fringe side of the spectrum and CNN catering to the left base.  Fox News is still tabloid in style, which I despise.  At least they report the stories the other networks refuse to, since that is where the ratings and eyeballs are. I feel as if I am praising Fox with faint damning's. The other networks are more concerned with being an active component of the Democratic Party than in being journalists. That includes the tattered remnants of the once proud broadcast network news shows.


A New Media:  Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss?

These days, the blogs are where to find information that the left wing media suppresses. Still, there is a huge amount of emotionalism to this new media and one has to sift them to get good information.  It reminds me very much of the yellow journalism days of the 1800's.  The idea of journalistic integrity is a late 20th Century idea and I often wonder if there ever has been such a thing.  But trying to obtain that illusion at least keeps things more grounded in reality and honesty.

Currently, society in the United States is fragmenting rather than uniting.  The rise of blogs is a good indication of that, with the constant wars fought between even those claiming to be on the same side.  Just search for LGF or LittleGreenFootballs along with the word 'banning' to see the kind of wars that get fought, as that blog goes further left.  Of course, that is an exaggerated example as that blog has turned into an intolerant, totalitarian cult-like place.  Once upon a time it was in my links on this blog, but hasn't been for some time now.


Looking Across the Pond

So where to find the news?  I suggest reading the full links from various blogs, getting the original articles in case things have been misinterpreted or spun. You have to work to find out the truth, don't expect anyone to deliver it to you on a platter. For traditional news that hasn't totally degraded, check out newspapers from the United Kingdom, such as The Telegraph and The Times. It was a link on Drudge that inspired me to write this post, as I discovered I was part of a trend.  Imagine that, me being trendy!

It appears that there are more than a few of us American news junkies reading the newspapers of Great Britain to get news about our own country we don't get in print here.  What a sad and alarming thing statement that is!  I don't think our newspapers are dying due to a lack of an audience, but due to becoming completely out of touch with the majority of Americans. 

The Death of an Independent Media?

Now there is talk of the government bailing out the liberal newspapers, consolidating the leftist message by turning them into possessions of the government.  Because the majority of the federal government is made up by bureaucrats, it doesn't matter which party is in possession of the Oval Office.  Those faceless feds tend to be very liberal, which means the papers will be semi-official organs of big government no matter what.

Pravda anyone?

Sadly, that question won't mean a thing to many too young to remember the Soviet Union.  When a government controls the news, there can be no freedom.  It is up to us, the American people, to prevent this from happening.  Do we have enough people willing to fight for their freedom in this fragmented society?  It isn't enough to defend the Constitution, we must make sure that a vibrant and independent media exists, otherwise the First Amendment is just words.

Me, I'm wondering if I'll have to keep searching for honest journalism in the future.  The fact I'm looking to British newspapers for news isn't good.

The Decline of Polite Culture and Other Items of Interest

I started this blog for the purpose of being something of a journal so that I could look back and see what was going on in my life.  Unfortunately, between being a private person and not having much of a life, I see most of my posting being about things outside of my control.  That is, politics and world events. 

Ah well, it beats being a narcissist, I suppose.

In case anyone else is reading, a few things that caught my interest while being quite ill the past two weeks:

Victor Davis Hanson has a wonderful piece on the decline of polite behavior that is well worth reading through.

If you want good insights into the problems of the Middle East, few countries embody all the difficulties faced more than Lebanon.  That's where Michael Totten's work has been invaluable and his account of meeting Walid Jumblatt, the Druze leader is absolutely fascinating. Read the whole thing.

Drew Emmer at Wright County Republican has posted Gov. Mitch Daniels' (R-Indiana) op-ed on the coming reduction of tax revenues governors across the United States will be facing.  It is time for government to tighten their belts just like everyone else. There are a lot of people struggling financially right now, including me.

Facebook is not a secure or safe place to be, unfortunately not a lot of people know how to make it safer.  Several weeks ago, a young friend of mine had his laptop infected by a hostile ad on Facebook that took quite a bit of doing to kill.  Watch out for anything claiming to be an antivirus that spawns popups like crazy!

I Know Seminary Is Hard, But...

Also found this on Drudge today: a report on a Satan worshipping teen setting fire to a church in California.  It turns out the fire was set in the chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Orangevale.  Being a Latter-day Saint myself, of course it caught my attention.  Since the fire was set shortly after 7 AM and the girl is fifteen, I knew she'd done it during Seminary.

One of the best things about my church is the religious education program that encompasses more than just 'Sunday school.' Since I converted late in life, I missed out on two of the better ones, Institute and Seminary.  Where Institute is for college & college aged members, Seminary focuses on that most precarious of times in one's life -- the teenage years.  In a modern world filled with all kinds of self destructive behaviors pushed by our culture, it is a refuge for kids trying to make the shaky transition from child to proto-adult.

Every school day morning, teens go to seminary early in the morning, before public school classes begin.  That requires a real commitment by the teen and by their parents, who have to get up just as early to run them to Seminary classes.  Besides teaching the Gospel, this requirement of hewing to a daily routine teaches perseverance and the ability to make and keep commitments. Yes it is hard to make that daily commitment and see it through.  That's no reason to set a pew on fire, however tempting that may be in the throes of teenage angst. 

A quote by President Gordon B. Hinckley illustrate the simple blessings that can come from attending:

“We urge all for whom it is available to take advantage of it. We do not hesitate to promise that your knowledge of the gospel will be increased, your faith will be strengthened, and you will develop wonderful associations and friendships”

Sadly, it appears this young woman hasn't taken full advantage of what has been offered her, instead she has allowed herself to be led down a dark path.  When kids start worshipping Satan, there are major problems below the surface.  That's why I'm gratified to see how the local Church and authorities are handling this in a truly Christian way -- by requesting that she not be punished and that she be given the counseling she so obviously needs.

In dealing with such cases, we need to follow the example of the Savior on the cross who said of those who crucified him, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Luke 23:34

70 Years Ago in Poland and Obama's Appeasement Fetish

I was reading The Drudge Report today and ran across the following fact.

September 17, 1939, Joseph Stalin attacked Poland as part of a deal with Hitler to split the country.  How do you commemerate this day if you are President Barack Obama?  You sell out the Poles to the Russians again! Representatives from the administration are in Poland and the Czech Republic to tell them the missile defense shield is off, something Putin has been demanding for some time. For a newly elected president who was supposed to be so intelligent, so smooth, so diplomatic and knowledgeable, Obama and company have shown themselves to be utterly tone deaf in foreign dealings.

There is a chance this callous behavior isn't born of ignorance and stupidity, though.  News has come down that Russia will be assisting Venezuela in obtaining nuclear technology.  The same Chavez run socialist state that has given assistance to Iran, a state rushing headlong toward the atomic bomb. Meanwhile, recent diplomatic caving ins to Iranian and North Korean negotiating demands puts us in a very weak position regarding nuclear proliferation. The pattern of wooing enemies and alienating allies from Honduras to Poland suggests a desire to oppose everything America has stood for in the last century.  It appears to be a rejection of everything done to protect the United States in the last sixty years.

At one point, people thought Jimmy Carter was the worst comparison to Obama that could be made.  Right now, he's making Carter look good by comparison. We live in very dangerous times and weakness is the last thing we need to be showing right now.