Another Month

Friday's (Sept 29, 2006) issue of Science is well worth the read. Prepare for a long session: it's all about making a body from genes. We're getting very close to a description of how we got here from there. Scientists are very far along compared to what I learned in Embryology a long, long time ago. But, geneticists and anthropologists are still stumped about the development of the human neo-cortex - the stuff that makes us Homo sapiens instead of a chimp or gorilla.
 

What's more obvious, but only now documented, is the melting of the Polar ice. Greenland's glaciers are melting THREE TIMES FASTER than thought. Nope, folks, there's no global warming going on ... it must be the heat of those wrecked UFO warp drives imbedded in the ice. Like the one they found in The Thing.

It looks like there's going to be an El Nino this winter, which is the explanation for this year's relatively calm Atlantic hurricane season. That means it is time for California and Mexico to batten down the hatches. This earlier-than-usual El Nino will probably dump a lot of water on the West Coast, which would be nice if we could handle it. Since not even rich California is set up to handle the excess liquid, it floods down rivers and loosens up hillsides. Hundreds of homes and highways routinely get wiped out by the storms. Shoreline cliffs recede rapidly, taking everything built on top out to sea, as in Pacifica, California.

Did you notice that the El Nino is earlier than usual?  That's a global warming effect.

Once again, despite the desparate condition of the State, the Nation and many of its citizens, it looks like the "undecideds" are in charge of everything. The election will be decided by people who are today scarcely aware that there is an election on November 7, who do not know what's at stake, who do not know who are the candidates or what are the choices, and, best of all, who haven't a care in the world about the outcome.

I already believe the system is broken. I am beginning to have severe doubts about the merit of holding elections, at least as they are carried out in the United States.

It's true: your vote doesn't matter. There's even an ad on TV telling people "Don't Vote." Maybe it's a spoof, or double-think, or joke, but it looks pretty real to me. Here's a case where the irony is so well played that it isn't ironic.
 

Affairs of State
 

The Bandit and his neo-con gang are out there again calling names and making threats against the citizenry. We all know those not in favor of Bandit policies must be traitors, but the Bandit must feel our education needs updating. The Conservative Congress just passed a bill which makes it possible to arrest people without a warrant, and withholds evidence against those on trial. I wonder how long it will take to connect these two things?

Congress also passed a law to enable building a 700 MILE FENCE along the U.S.-MEXICAN border. This project will spend billions on a divider longer and more difficult to cross than the Berlin Wall. It will be policed with high-tech equipment and armed Border Patrol agents. The project is a latter-day Maginot line intended to prevent the Barbarian hordes from sweeping across the desert. The Romans tried this sort of defense at the Rhine 2 millennia ago, hoping to keep the unwashed north of the river. Of course, it was ignored that those who crossed the Rhine got wet, some would say bathed, and thereby looked like Romans. Anyway, it didn't stop the Goths, the Visigoths and all the others who sacked and ruined Rome. Somewhat farther north and several centuries later, the Berlin Wall didn't work, either.

Why do I think about things like this? Some would say it's in my blood: the Battaglia name means, translated from Italian, "battle" or "warrior." I was told I am descended from those German barbarians who leveled Rome. (Checking Google, you will find many Battaglias in Germany, northern Italy, Sicily as well as Argentina and the U.S.) Unfortunately, I am also an ingrate who, because previous generations were subjected to Italian civilizing influences, doesn't approve what those warlike ancestors did.

Here is the Big Question: Is The Wall  intended to keep Mexicans Out or Gringos In?