It seems that there are two sides on this health care thing, and each side wants to "Take Back America" from the other side. Honestly, I think that some of the people who advocate violence against people who voted in favor of what has been done in the name of the poor and underprivileged and are asking for violence, are probably mistaken in who they think they are following.


Does Jesus preach hate? No! Who does? Who are you really following? Matthew 5:43

Did Jesus hate the poor, and tell us to reject them? NO! Luke 4:18-19 Who are you really following?

Did Jesus tell us to reject paying taxes? NO! Matthew 17:24-27 and Matthew 22:15-22, Mark 12:13-17 and Luke 20:20-26. Plus Paul (I have lots of problems with Paul, but lots of people put the same faith in Paul as they do in Jesus, so here goes) said in Romans 13:1 "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been *established by God*." and in Romans 13:2 he says "Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves." and then in Romans 13:5-7 goes on to say "Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.



Looks like the Book has something to say about this. I just wonder who some of these people are following. From Biblical reference, they CAN'T be following Jesus or God Almighty, so who does that leave...?

Check out II Corinthians 11:13



Who quoted the Psalm to Jesus in Luke 4? You need to look around, for it looks like this being knows Scripture, and can twist them to his ways. People too.



I think I will pray for these people. The lawfully governed United States, long may she live, does not need my prayers. Looks like from reading Scripture, God is on her side.

Guns in the National Parks

OH NO!! GUNS IN THE NATIONAL PARKS! THE BLOODSHED, THE HORROR!!!

Can you see the headlines? They're already out there. They are absolutely without basis, and are frankly stupid. I think our President, a good Liberal, thought long and hard before signing this into law.

I too am a Liberal, though maybe a little to the Left of the President. I believe firmly in health care for all; I think it is something that should be a part of the rights of a citizen. I believe in most of the agenda of the Liberal wing of the Democcratic party except gun control, and I feel that a true Liberal needs to understand that this right, placed in The Bill of Rights, is part of the Liberty (notice the similarity between Liberal and Liberty) fought for by the Founding Fathers (and Mothers, for that matter), and guaranteed to us by the Constitution of the United States, is fundamental to who we are, and the concept of Liberty, particularly that a person has the right to protect themselves, their homes and family.


Now, I remember when Newt Gingrich took over the House of Representatives in 1995. A good bit of that was because Congress passed the Assault Weapons Ban and the Brady act in 1993 and 1994. Both acts had some common sense provisions, particularly the Brady Bill's background check, but both went over the top to assuage the unreasoning hate some "Liberals" had for guns in general. Both lost us the House in the '94 election, and we did not get it back until Mr. Obama brought sweeping change (supposedly; I have yet to see any, particularly on health care) in 2009.


Folks, a gun is not some evil thing that will automagically change an honest citizen into a rampaging bloodthirsty sociopath when he or she touches one!!! It is a tool, same as the tools people find in old fallow fields around here when they go out looking for arrow heads and spear points, and have the same functions. They are used for hunting, target shooting, plinking, killing vermin (wharf rats are a good target), personal protection, and unfortunately, all of our children in the Military are issued one with which to kill the enemies of our land. They are NOT inherently evil, nor will they make the holder so. If you believe this, you have been badly misinformed, and are thinking with emotions, not your brain. An honest, mild-mannered person is not going to change when they are carrying a gun; they are not going to go rabid and shoot you. They are liable to be more mild-mannered; pulling a gun on someone is a life changing experience, and you don't want to do it unless under extreme provocation, and your life is threatened. Once you do that, there is no way back, even if you are exonerated. The responsibility tends to make one cautious; i know many people who have permits and do not carry, because of the responsibility.


Now, in this state, a person carrying a gun in a park, especially a public area is not going to be obvious, due to the concealed carry law. The gun must be concealed from the public. Carrying a gun in the open in public can (but not always) open you up to an obscure law, "carrying a gun to the terror of the public", and you can be arrested for openly carrying. It is up to the law enforcement officer and the judge who hears the case.


Anyway, I feel that that poor couple who were killed by Gary Michael Hilton may have been able to repel him and get the law on him if either of them were armed. This predatory behavior of sociopaths and ruffians has been going on for some time in our National Parks - I remember when a female hiker on the Appalachian Trail was held by a psychopath and abused after he killed her boyfriend with a gun he was carrying illegally!!

So, am I worried about people being given a pass to carry a weapon on the National Parks? No. Not as long as I have the right also.

Note; though I am a Liberal, and somewhere between a Social Democrat and a Democratic Socialist (and no, I am not a Communist), I do own guns, I do shoot occasionally, and sometimes hunt (with indifferent success).

Banned from Carolina Rails Yahoo List

Ah yes, I got myself banned from the Carolina Rails group for speaking my mind. Yes, I was feeding a troll, and yes, I was trading abuse for abuse. These last three years have been difficult, and I get emotional easily. Really no excuse, but...

One of the group members posted a news story about some students at UNC Chapel Hill marching against the use of coal in their physical plant, since coal is a significant polluter of our air. I realize that many of our railroads haul coal for most of their revenues, especially Norfolk Southern, which runs right through my home town. I also know that this coal gives many of a railroad man, including my dad, when he was working for NS,, and in now, retirement, my mom since my dad is gone, a good living. But, coal is dirty, it ruins mountains when strip mined, and ruins mountains when the acid rain and fog comes through.

An aside here; there is really no such thing as "clean Coal" technology, as much as the President wants to believe in it. Coal throws tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, furthering global warming. And if you don't "believe in" global warming, I feel terribly sorry for you. They're having to haul snow into Vancouver, for God's sake!

Well, some blowhard came on talking about how we shouldn't worry about that, that people did horrible things to each other, crimes, rape, murder, child abuse, and the damned Liberals are worried about a few trees, that we were all a bunch of crybabies, and should be lined up and shot, or some such. (Maybe not shot, but the feeling was there.) He apologized in advance for "letting his fingers get away from him", saying he hoped nobody was offended, but he felt it "had to be said". Well, I was offended, and I told him so, and since he wrote the message to the whole group, I wrote my reply to the whole group, feeling it "had to be said", and a nice little flame war erupted between me and a right wing knee-jerk jackass. (Or two maybe, I don't know.) Anyway, it went on until I replied that he shouldn't ought to say such nasty things (he had resorted to cussing here), and I was an ordained minister and didn't appreciate it; actually, I did say a few nasty things, and did put in a few bad words, just leaving out letters. Ah well. Anyway, I was summarily banned from this group and this jackass wasn't!!!

If this wasn't a real humdinger already, I got a very sanctimonious letter from a preacher who said I shouldn't post bad words, even if I left letters out (he is right I shouldn't, and I stand corrected), and I should apologize to the moderator (I did), and this Glenn Beck/Rush Limbaugh clone who was abusive and actually threatening (I'll be Damned, and I won't leave any letters out!!), and proceeded to quote me something from Thessalonians, one of Paul's letters to one of his fractious churches. I wrote him back a nice letter, saying how I understood his concern (though it really wasn't any of his business), and would take it under advisement, but please don't quote Paul at me, as, in my book, Paul was a zealot and a firebrand, and wasn't in any way a Messiah, and a lot of his writing directly contradicted Jesus' teachings, who Christians ought to be following and quoting anyway. I actually quoted a few of Jesus' sayings back to him. When he got into Original Sin, I told him I wasn't too sure of that, and he hasn't written me back. Obviously, this minister is one of those people who believe in the total inerrancy of Scripture, which I cannot(including Adam and Eve, and Adam's sin), for a number of reasons. (One of them is that I am a Scientist...) Curiously, he hasn't written me back.

Ah well, I just wanted to share this with people. This moderator, in my not so humble opinion, was simply not doing his job, and still isn't. If anybody writes to him on my behalf, please be nice, and please do NOT be abusive, threatening, or preachy, just tell him that you support me in my rebuttal to this troll, and to please do a better job of fairly moderating a group.

I have taken my ball and bat and gone home, and doubt I will ever be a member of this group again. I went and started my own called Rails of the Southeast, and will do the same thing, only will be firmly moderated. If somebody wants to start a flame war, I will just moderate their posts. If they keep it up, I will cut off their posting privileges until they get over it. I won't ban anyone unless they directly threaten me.

I just had to say this, it "just had to be said".

Golfed out

I am about out of patience with the young golfer (who shall remain nameless) who is having family troubles. I am about tired of a country that can make its sports figures multimillionaires, and its teachers and professors paupers.

I used to respect this young man for his supposedly mixed heritage, his determination and seeming wholesomeness, but it looks like fame and riches have corrupted him.

The first thing I was disturbed about was his support and involvement in a golf course and country club that has been tearing the hell out of mountainsides near Swannanoa NC, and making a nasty scar on formerly pristine mountains. Posters of him looking out over mountains and asking rich folks to look at what inspired him sprung up on roadsides here, and made me mad.

Son, we don't need another d___ed golf course!!!!!  We simply don't. Golf courses are nothing but an ecological wasteland, with monoculture fairways and greens, and trees that are "sick" or "dying" taken out, leaving no habitat for many hole nesting birds. These greens are poisoned to keep out Japanese Beetles (and thus moles), fertilized with stuff that artificially increases growth, liberally laced with herbicide to keep out any "unwanted" plants, and planted with plants and trees that have never grown in this place, and often escape to become weeds. We just don't need another one. Oh, and you rich Yankees and Floridiots, go back to New York. We just won't do things the way you like it done here, and we are an independent people, and make rotten servants. Which is what you will want when you get this gated, exclusive "community" built. Servants. You certainly don't want these Hillbillies playing golf next to you, or (GASP!!!) living next to you.


Son, from a person of moderate background, you have gotten into the stratosphere because of golf. These whitebread golf types you are pandering this ecological disaster to would not give you the sweat off their... uh necks if you weren't stinking rich, and wouldn't pee on your "Cablinasian" butt if it were on fire except for your millions. They will only use you as long as you make them money, and they will drop you.

I would like to make a suggestion to you. Why don't you use some of these millions you have to help environmental causes, help the homeless, help hungry people in your own country. We just don't need another ecological disaster playground for the stinking rich here in Western North Carolina, though I am sure we are going to get one.

Just my two cents.
End of rant.
Off of soap box.

My Views on Food and Animals

I see so much these days about people boycotting this and that, and people trying to pass laws that adhere to their (sometimes narrow) views about ethical animal treatment. Some of these I agree with, like the brave people who are shown on "Whale Wars". Others I am ambivalent about, like the people who march in front of furrier shops. And still others make me absolutely mad enough to bite nails and spit Rebar, like Vegans and Veggie Nazis telling me how and what I should eat. There are a couple of these who post to a local free newspaper, and their growling, whining and mumbling about forcing our school children to eat a Vegan diet in school finally got to me, and I wrote in. Of course, I got flamed, and one person held these idiots up as saints, for all the stuff they had done to promote Vegetarianism in our area, and the "sacrifices" they had made in this cause. Never mind that I have been promoting the love of Nature for years. Never mind that I have spent a majority of my life teaching Environmental Education, and teaching people of all ages to love Nature, and protect Her in any way possible.
Many of the people the New Age people claim to love are the so called "Native Americans", who actually, if you don't know their Tribal or National affiliation, prefer to be called Indians. Many of these groups produced men and women of great Spiritual acuity, and they ate many kinds of animals, including Bison and deer. All these wannabe veggies and vegans go nuts over "Native Americans", but sort of slide right over the facts that they ate (and still for the most part eat) many species of wild game that these people hold in absolute reverence. If pressed, they will say "well, that is their tradition". Bull feathers. It is my tradition too. My grandfather fed his family during the Great Depression with a shotgun, and I was taught to hunt by my mother's brother. These people will say "we are more conscious than that". Than what? Is the Cougar any less conscious than we when she drops out of the tree and breaks the deer's neck with one great paw? Do we have the hubris to say we are more conscious than she? Do we need to divorce ourselves from Natur Herself in order to be "conscious"? I think not.


You may have gathered that I am what Veggie Nazis call a "meat eater". Oh, I eat all kinds of things, potatoes, squash, beans, corn, other vegetables, but they focus on the meat, and say it is WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!

I have a few questions. If a wolf goes out and pulls down an elk or deer, what do you say? Some of these people will cheer the wolf on. What? What's that you say? "It is the wolf's nature!" Really? And it isn't mine? How dare you tell me what is my nature! Wanna turn the wolf vegetarian? You might be able to manage it, but not with Cougar. Cougar requires meat, and the fresher the better. Once again, do NOT tell me that my nature is different from theirs. That is a type of hubris that has separated humans from their nature for thousands of years, the idea that we are somehow outside the natural process. It has also been instrumental in destruction of Nature, the thinking that we are outside Her laws.

A human eating meat is no different from a bear or raccoon eating meat. We are all omnivores, made to eat almost anything, from vegetable matter to raw meat. Not me. I think that fire was probably an adaptation to eating a variety of stuff and not have it kill us. Fire can purify a lot of things

Golden days

The days of late summer are golden, with maybe just a tinge of brass. The sun is following a southward path every day toward the Equinox, and the days turn from a sultry heat to a pleasant mildness. A flush of flowering has begun, following the doldrums of summer, that time when the Mountains are just an unrelieved green with but few spots of color. Late summer is a golden time here with all the yellow composites abloom. Of course, those are not all that is blooming, not by a long shot, but in many places, they are in the majority, and Goldenrod can cover whole fields.

Late summer and early Fall flowers!!!

I am struck by the flowers this year. For once we have had something approaching normal rainfall here in the Southern Appalachians around Asheville, Land of the Weird. Normal rainfall here is something approaching 50 plus inches a year, making some scientists call our forests a "temperate rain forest, but not for the last few years. For the last several grueling years, we have been afflicted with an unrelieved drought. Flowers that normally burgeoned with color were scraggly, or did not bloom at all. Whole sections of forest, rooted on thin soil over rock simply dried up and died.

This year, every field, hedgerow, roadside and wet pasture is lush with growth that just a few weeks ago was a deep hunter green, but now has burst into a myriad of colors, many of them some shade of yellow, but of course, not all. Goldenrod covers many a field and roadside, turning them into burnished gold.

 Bill Hilton at Hilton Pond http://hiltonpond.org has written several articles about Goldenrod, and if you go to his site, you can enter "goldenrod" (without the quotes) into the search box, and get lots more info. Bill is a top notch Naturalist, and writes great articles. (He writes in the third person with the "editorial we" which I find mildly annoying, but everything he writes is solid.)

I have heard so many people say "oh, I'm allergic to Goldenrod". My first response is to say "no you're not". Of course, I often get the "are you callin' me a liar?!" of ignorant folk. My usual reply is "no, I am saying you are an ignorant so and so". I hate it when people do that, just so you know.

No, the real culprit is Ragweed, a rather camouflaged and cryptic member of the same family that is wind pollinated. Notice the wasp on the Goldenrod in the last picture. It is transferring pollen. The pollen of Goldenrod is heavy, and must be transported by insect. On the other hand, pollen of Ragweed is light, and is carried by wind, often miles from the parent plant.

This one blended in so well with its background, I put it on the hood of the car to photograph it. Notice the green flowers all along the top.

Another that was made famous by a book and a movie is a purple flowered plant made famous by a book and movie of the same name, namely Ironweed.

Ironweed is found in low pastures near a stream where it usually stays rather damp. This one was found on a stream bank.

Speaking of stream banks. The Swannanoa River near Asheville, particularly the Azalea area is hopping with flowers this year. Goldenrod is everywhere, painting whole areas of the riverbank gold, and in other places the Joe Pye Weed is king.

Remembering

Check the political and social blog of Blue Ridge Discovery at http://alexnetherton.wordpress.com/2009/09/11/.