outrider

hitchhiking into the refrigerator

2004-11-12T15:34:00.000-08:00

Well, once again I had an adventure, as I unexpectedly ran into a holiday.

Here I had it all planned out to take city and county buses to get from the airport to my home town, but got stranded out in the middle of nowhere, at a Transfer point, only to find that the next county's buses did not run yesterday, in observance of Veteran's Day, Nov 11th.

Well, there I was, with little food or money, or willingness to pay $99 for a room at the nearby Holiday Inn. It was getting dark. It was getting cold. I was getting down to my long tube ankle warmers and wool hat and gloves that I always carry in my little backpack, in case I get stranded somewhere on a day expedition, hiking, photographing nature out in the middle of nowhere. I already had thrown my 10 foot long by 6 foot wide cloth that I bought long ago at a women's fabric store, cut a shoulder slit and a neck slit in the mid-point along the fold lines, to make a kind of serape and meditating robe, and emergency huddle-up wrap. Also works well as a bird-blind for videographing.

Anyway, I finally got home after 5 hours of hitchhiking and waling along the dark roadway. The stars were bright in the darkness withoout any houses or towns around.

Came upon a house in the woods, which had a big fires up in the tree-level. I wondered why they were burning a big campfire up so high, couldn't figure it out. Maybe a large cone incinerator, like the old days of shake mills burning off the waste wood. But it turned out to be a chimney fire. Maybe helped them to keep from burning down their wood house in the woods, having walked a ffew miles at a vigorous pace to keep warm, and get there just in time.

Also met a few of my 1 in a 1,000 brothers, to talk of many things during the voyage. Some are in rough shape.

More later.

--outrider

Addendum, November 15, 2004

[quote="Juliania"]Thanks, outrider, I very much appreciate your input. I hope all is well with you there. You make my point that what cannot be proven will remain forever in doubt. I prefer certainty, and one must choose - life requires it. I am happy with my choice. Be well![/quote]

--Well, I popped back in for a moment. I'm moving more into the "real" physical world, so less time on the Internet and this discussion board. If I'm going to do more travelling (and meeting souls and ministering to them, often in the mode of St Jude), I need to get back into top shape. That's why I went everywhere for two years by either walking or bicycling, and bought no gasoline during those two years. Last summer, though, I wanted to go canoeing, to get out into the wilderness and meet the wild animals in certain areas, so I fixed up my vehicle again, to carry and transport the canoe. Besides which, someone stole my bike off my back porch in September, a couple of days after two drunken rednecks in a pickup had tried to do much evil to me as I rode my bike on a back street.

Last Thursday, as I was coming back from Florida, I was going to take the county buses back home from where the plane landed. But I got out to a transfer station, only to find that one county was not running their buses, in honor of Veterans Day. It was getting dark. It was getting cold. I could not afford the $99 room at the Holiday Inn down the road.

So I had to start hitchhiking. I put on all my tropical clothing, then wrapped my large cloth (that I use for an emergency wrap, a prayer robe, and a bird blind when photographing) around my shoulders, like a winter wrap, then my wool cap and gloves which I always carry in my day backpack. My last thing out of my small rolling suitcase was a pair of long tubular ankle warmers, that I had also put in when going down to FL, for the cold trip back. But it was colder than I had figured on.

After a couple of rides, and not much traffic (at least not the 1 in a 1,000 that might pick me up), I started to get cold, so had to start walking down the long dark country road. Away from all electric lights, the stars in the deep black sky were brilliant, and I could see millions of stars in the abundant Milky Way, as welll as everywhere else in the night sky...that we normally can't see when electric lights are around.

After walking a couple of miles, I saw a big fire up in the air in the woods, ahead on the left. The fire was bright orange, about three feet across, and 6 feet high, like an old flare-up from a waste-burning cone outside the old-time shake and shingle mills. But as I walked nearer along the road, I saw that it was a house beneath. I wondered why they had built such a big fire up high off the ground, what kind of nighttime revel might be taking place, as could have happened in the illogical 70's. But as I came close to the dirt driveway, I saw that this house in the woods, with its gathered around old wrecker cars and trucks, had a chimney fire. After waiting a bit for any mad watchdog to come toward me barking insanely (there was none), and I was reluctant to walk up and knock on the door, a woman eventually came out onto the small front porch. By then, the fire had died down to a small one with side tints of green and blue. I told her they had a chimney fire. A car passing stopped, to see what was going on. After explaining, I asked him where he was going. He named the town that is near my destination, then quickly stepped on the gas to speed away with a smirk. I continued down the empty dark cold road, running into, then breaking through the barriers I had been facing: worries about getting cold, or getting hungry, or dangerous murderous rednecks cruising for someone to kill, or not being able to tolerate the rising bodily pains. I also had a bad head cold that had persisted in Florida for a couple of weeks, as I helped senior citizens.

But my trek only made me stronger.

And I sensed no bad vibes, no impending dangers from the occasionally passing rightwingers in their fancy cars.

I eventually arrived, late that night, at my house. Tired but energized, stronger, healthier, and more confident that there is still much good in this universe. And that I still had a place and a purpose in it.

And they continued, walking through the earth, led unwittingly by the Holy Spirit, ministering to lost or bruised souls, with signs following.

As for me, I now know that I want to choose to do only good, and to do as much good I can, wherever I can. I also know that whatever good we put out into this universe which may currently be filled with much darkness and evil, is not lost. There is still much good to be found, to be planted, to be nurtured.

--outrider

Arbitrary censorship and deletions of posts on NOW board

2004-07-13T14:00:00.000-07:00

outrider-onward

Posted: 13 Jul 2004 13:53 (to NOW Politics board)
Post subject: Speaking of arbitrary censorship and deletions of posts

-----------------------
Speaking of arbitrary censorship and deletions of posts, on July 8th, I posted a post, whose entirety appears below the dotted line. It was quickly deleted, along with all my other posts of that day. I made inquiry of Myra about this post , as follows (but have yet to receive a response or explanation):

Please explain why the following post was deleted, and by whom:

--------
Some African sayings

[Related to the drumming and the Dance and the storytelling and the oral history. Oral communication was the only news network in ancient West Africa, in the Malinka Empire. It seems that oldest of news networks spoke more truth than our present corporate mass media. --outrider]

Some African sayings from kane’s website:

· Lack of knowledge is darker than night (Nigeria, Hausa)

· Do a thing at its time and peace follows it (Mandinka)

· Even the Niger River must flow around an island (Nigeria, Hausa)
sometimes the strongest person must turn aside. [My interpretation: even the mighty and powerful cannot destroy the Truth, but must sidle around it. --outrider]

· When the drumbeat changes, the Dance changes (Nigeria, Hausa)

· He who rides the horse of greed at a gallop will pull it up at the door of shame (West Africa, Fulani)

[end of post]

----------------
I have noticed that whenever G.R.Quinn comes onto a NOW board, all my posts disappear.

--outrider

Bush Seeks Shift in Logging Rules

2004-07-13T13:08:00.000-07:00

NYTimes.com > Washington

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Bush Seeks Shift in Logging Rules
By FELICITY BARRINGER

Published: July 13, 2004

WASHINGTON, July 12 - The Bush administration on Monday proposed scuttling a rule from the Clinton administration that put nearly 60 million acres of national forest largely off limits to logging, mining or other development in favor of a new system that would leave it to governors to seek greater - or fewer - strictures on road construction in forests.

The announcement abandoning the so-called roadless rule was made by Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman in Boise, Idaho, where opposition to the rule issued by President Bill Clinton as he was leaving office was most pronounced.

Ms. Veneman described the proposal as a way to sidestep the tangle of litigation over building roads through national forests and to improve local participation and federal flexibility in determining the use of national forests.

"State governments are important partners in the stewardship of the nation's lands and natural resources," she said.

A spectrum of environmental groups reacted with disappointment and outrage to the announcement.

"This doesn't ensure that a single acre of roadless area gets protected," said Marty Hayden, legislative director for Earthjustice, one of several groups that are defending the Clinton rule in federal court.

"Everything could be up for grabs," Mr. Hayden said.

Ms. Veneman's announcement was a signature moment for the Bush administration's environmental policy. After three years of gradually retreating from Mr. Clinton's sweeping preservationist rule, which covered about 30 percent of the 191 million acres of national forest and was embraced by environmentalists, the administration is decisively rejecting it and substituting a process that makes state officials the moving force in deciding whether to log or to conserve forest lands.

The administration had offered at best a perfunctory defense of the rule when it was challenged by the State of Idaho, but the preliminary injunction by a federal district judge there striking down the rule was later overturned by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco. Last summer, another federal judge, in Wyoming, struck down the roadless rule; Earthjustice and other groups are appealing that ruling to the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, in Denver.

James L. Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said in an interview: "The context for this was: ad hoc doesn't get us to where we want to be; one-size-fits-all was creating some real issues at the margins. Can we construct a process that will be respectful of local needs and still let us put an important focus on conservation of roadless areas? That's what this is about."

Under the proposal, Mr. Connaughton said, a governor could petition the Forest Service to expand existing roadless protections, keep them the same, or contract them. For each state, he added, "it will put in place a more strategic vision of how roadless conservation will be handled."

The announcement Monday also reflected the administration's willingness to break with allies in the conservation field. Jim Range, a former senior Republican Congressional staff member who in 2001 helped establish the Forest Road Working Group to advise the administration on the issue, issued a statement saying that the loss of the protections was a disappointment.

"The current regulation established an important degree of certain protection to these valuable areas, which provide important fish and wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities for American hunters, anglers, campers, hikers and others," Mr. Range, who is also chairman of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, said.

"The new process by which state governors can submit new roadless area protection plans will perpetuate the uncertainty associated with this issue,'' he said, "and may lead to a substantial reduction in the level of protection that roadless areas are afforded."

(Page 2 of 2)

The proposal, which will be open to public comment for the next 60 days, includes a provision for an 18-month period in which governors can prepare their requests. During that time, changes to a roadless designation could be made with the approval of the Forest Service chief, Dale Bosworth.

After that, the governors could seek changes in designations in individual forest management plans that predated the Clinton rule. At the time the rule was proposed, about 58.5 million acres of national forest was roadless, but roads were contemplated on more than 34 million.

The national division over the issue of roads and timber harvests was visible in Congress last month. In a close vote, the House approved a measure prohibiting the use of federal money for new logging roads in the Tongass National Forest.

The Tongass, a West Virginia-size swath of rock and timber in southeastern Alaska, had been exempted from the Clinton rule's protections by an earlier decision. Last week, the Forest Service announced the approval or likely approval of two timber projects in the forest, which are likely to require more than 25 miles of new roads.

The 12 states most affected by the roadless issue, which contain 97 percent of all roadless areas in the country, are Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Gov. Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho, a Republican, appeared with Ms. Veneman at Monday's news conference and said of roadless protections: "There's a right way and a wrong way to make that determination. Today the federal government and the Bush administration is doing it the right way. We now have a roadless process that can be accomplished by respecting state sovereignty."

Montana's governor, Judy Martz, a Republican, said in a statement, "The president has again proven that he and his administration understand that state, tribal, and local governments are best equipped to make key decisions about the future of our public lands."

But in a conference call with reporters, New Mexico's governor, Bill Richardson, a Democrat and energy secretary under Mr. Clinton, said, "These are areas that the federal government should manage consistently from state to state."

Mr. Richardson called the current proposal " bad policy, bad environmental policy, bad Western policy." The Bush administration, he said, "wants to drill, drill, build, build."

Allison Dobson, a press officer for John Kerry's Democratic presidential campaign, said in a statement: "This battle has been hard-fought. A clear majority of Americans support the roadless rule, and it's unfortunate that George Bush has chosen to ignore the needs of not only the wildlife, but the many Americans who enjoy recreation in these areas."

Mr. Connaughton, in his interview, said, "They are national lands for a public purpose."

Most of the people who use the lands, he added, "are state citizens." Each governor, he said, is free to apply for the full protections afforded by the Clinton rule.

Asked if in a decade, under this proposal, there would be more or fewer roadless areas, he said, "Couldn't say. Couldn't say."

Subscribe Today: Home Delivery of The Times from $2.90/wk.

Life goes on. But American Democracy does not

2004-07-12T23:00:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm still free. Freedom of speech. Freedom to demonstrate against the Iraq War and Occupation. Freedom to speak against the Unelected Bush. Freedom ofmovement.

But for how much longer?

See my blog titled, "No 2004 Election?" for details of Ridge seeking the authority to postpone and suspend the Election. Which authority should only belong to the Congress, as the duly elected Representatives of the American People.

Never in the history of the United States has a national election been postponed or canselled. Not in war or danger. Not even when the White House was burning in the War of 1812. Not during the Civil War. Not during World War II. Not during the Cold War. Only in Florida in 2000, when the Supreme Farce intervened, and declared Dubya the winner, without a full and just count of all votes.

--outrider

Prosecutors to Lay Charges Today

2004-07-08T06:14:00.000-07:00

http://discussions.pbs.org/viewtopic.pbs?t=4812

Prosecutors to Lay Charges Today
-----------------------------------------
Good morning sunshine.

Say, MA, is all the information, about the corruption of the Bush Administration, all in one book, yet? That way we could just take the book and hand it to a semi-disillusioned person who voted for Bush in 2000, of feels he or she has to "support the President [or Commander-in-Thief] in wartime".

--outrider
____________

"When you Lay with dirty dogs, you git bitten by the same fleas,
an' they's corruption in the Bushes." --outrider 7/8/04

*********
Corrupt-o-crassy

Def.: When two Bushes in hand are worth more than all the muddled birds of America who look upon the crass corruption (for the corporations) that has stolen their government, and benefitted the People not at all.

--outrider 7/8/04

See you on the NOW boards

2004-07-08T02:10:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm outta here. Can't get any information or Help pages.

pbs.org/now -> discussions

I like the "Ongoing Discussions" better.
Too many nasty rightwingers on the
NOW Politics & Economics board.

Also, the board for the latest POV film,
"War Feels Like War"
had a lot of intense posters
that are worth perusing.

The POV film itself,
which premiered on PBS Tuesday night
was well worth watching, I think.

Leave a comment, if you like.
Good night.

--outrider

"Help" pages not showing info

2004-07-08T01:44:00.000-07:00

When I click the Help pages or "Known issues", I have a huge empty page. Scrolling way down, I find a few sidebar listings, but not the answer to the "Help" question.

--outrider

How do I find other bloggers by subject?

2004-07-08T01:40:00.000-07:00

I don't see a regular button to click, to search blogspot for other posters by subject or interests. I guess I'll just have to keep looking around

--outrider

My first blog post

2004-07-08T00:46:00.000-07:00

Time to start my blog.

I have been writing and posting to the NOW (with Bill Moyers) discussion board since it started in 2002

I entered my first forum on the Internet at Washington Week in Review (the Friday night PBS program that has 4 journalists discussing the week's political news) in October 2001.

I have been "arguing for America" as I call it.

I wish the rightwingers had not chosen to turn the Great American Dialogue into a nasty rude playfield.

---
I have a fairly substantial personal website, which showcases my professional photography, my computer graphics, and some of my writings.

It takes quite a while for me to post a new page, what with getting all the html correct, so it is not as large as it should be.

I taught Video Production up at the local college, for a few years.

I've taken my workingman's tour of the world through about 26 countries, and have always lived off the local economy. So I've worked in about 9 countries...at least a hundred jobs of totally different skills...everything from hi tech to pre-industrial agriculture in Third World countries. From legal to blackwork. I speak 7 languages, and understand 10 other languages, and kind of understand a couple dozen others.

I've lived completely without money or possessions for 2 years at a time...twice: once in America, from 1970-74, and in Europe Asia and Africa.

Anyway, here goes my first blog post.

--outrider