This is a time for important anniversaries. We’re looking straight into the heart of the 9/11 anniversary this year with terrible rumblings shaking the foundations of our free and open society. The earth itself is about to turn the northern part of our planet away from the sun and into winter. Lost in this reflective time is likely to be an anniversary that we might not want to remember or think comes close in the wash of time and history. This is the second anniversary of the meltdown on Wall Street that has defined our economy ever since.
Pharisees
Terry Jones is more than the Pastor of a small church in Gainesville, Florida. He is the man who can calmly look into the camera and explain why he intends to publicly burn a copy of the Koran in what he says is “… Not a message of hate. Our message is a message of warning to the radical element of Islam”. The constant attention of this incident and his bizarre inability to understand his own actions has made Jones into much more than just a Pastor. He has become a media darling, the center of attention – and it has given him the ignoble status of Pharisee.
Defined by Labor
Today is Labor Day in the USofA and Canada. You may be off at the State Fair or taking one last long summer day up at the cabin on the lake. I understand that very few people will read this in the middle of the last day of summer routine.
But that’s fine with me. What I have to say might be better on the Tuesday after Labor Day.
Methane
Just in case we didn’t get the message the first time, another oil rig has exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. It was evacuated safely and there appears to be no leak. But given that it was another BP rig, the nooze and politicos are eager to point fingers at the oil company. They shouldn’t. Anyone who does not think that industrial accidents are always going to be a part of a dangerous industry is delusional. The blame for all of these disasters rest with a nation that has an insatiable thirst for oil.
Fortunately, there are many things that can be done. One that I favor involves a step by step process by which we move to a methane based fuel system. Let me explain as briefly as I can.
State Fair
Nothing says Minnesota better than the State Fair. For those of you who are not from Our Fair State, this is the 10 12 day celebration of all things fried and on a stick, punctuated by tremendous traffic jams. Minnesotans would read that summary of what this is about and be appalled, of course, because it’s much more than that to the people who rely on this summer’s end tradition to mark the passing of their lives. But for those of us who have “Not From Here” stamped on our foreheads, The Fair and the intense focus on it this week will always seem a bit strange. In a state where the local dialect uses the word “different” as an insult, I’d like to simply say that the experience seems to me to be a bit … unusual.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Barataria - The work of Erik Hare 