the old ones return

The Alberton Papers Vol. VI, #XX
By Dick Darne 8-18-08
"Elder, where the heck have you been?" One of the thinkers asked. "We haven’t seen you or any of the others for quite a while now."
"Well, like I told you before, we’ve been real busy checking on other thinkers just like you guys here in Alberton. We are happy to note that there are more and more each day but our little experiment in democracy is really in trouble. We’ve always been battered since the beginning, but the last thirty years have been a real kick in the rear end. The rest of the Old Ones are here to share some of their thoughts with you boys." answered Elder.
Sure enough, there they were, inside the think tank, filling it with their presence but not seeming to take up much physical space. The Lady, Padre, Viggie, Mother Nature and Nemi.
In a sad voice, The Lady began: "Your so-called Representatives have failed you big time! That awful FISA bill was an in your face assault on your liberties, not to mention the immunity for the phone companies who went along with the illegal wiretaps. There’s much more, but it falls over in Padre’s area."
"Yes," Padre picked up; "What most people don’t know is that if required to actually defend themselves, they would use their formidable legal resources to produce proof that the top echelons of the executive branch ordered them to do it. The boys where the buck is supposed to stop at couldn’t have that, so voila, immunity. That one shameful episode should cause all who voted for FISA to go down in ignominious defeat, forever reviled for abandoning their sacred trust to defend our Constitution. You all had plenty of warning, as Viggie is about to remind you."
"Oh, yes," said Viggie, unfortunately most people are easily sated with toys, mindless entertainment, propaganda, ala Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, O’Reilly and other bloviating prevaricators from the mainstream propaganda noise machine and the effortless forwarding of any lies that seem so cool. Most of this stuff is right in the open, almost in-your-face, it plays to your fears and the prejudice and bigotry that lies latent in our hearts and minds. Enough from me for now, lets hear what Moms here has to say."
"Thanks, Viggie." Mother Nature sat quietly for a moment before continuing. "I’ve always been attacked by the forces of greed and those among them who were never taught to clean up their messes and those who somehow believe that the Bible says ‘go forth and kick the crap out of the planet’, but the worst are the ‘knowledge-deniers’. Psuedo- scientists in the employ of the greedy ones churning out half-truths and outright lies packaged, seasoned and made yummy for willing knowledge-denier-wannabees. The one thing I can say for sure is that I, along with cockroaches, rats and various bacteria and viruses will be the last ones standing and I’m not so sure they won’t be as good a company as some humans. Finish it up Nemi."
"I’ll make it short and sweet." she said. "Your only hope, and I can’t do it for you, is to hold everyone accountable. Elect people who will investigate, prosecute and punish. If they won’t then you will have to do it yourselves. Fertilize the tree! Clean house from top to the lowest offices in the land."
"And don’t forget injustice is best confronted with a long memory!" interjected Elder as they all faded away.
They will be back. Get your minds straight! dd

things frequently are as they seem

The Alberton Papers, Vol. VI, #XIV
By Dick Darne 8-18-08
"Things frequently are as they seem." Ogden Nash.
After all that has transpired lately in Alberton, one wonders; what next? Sometimes, not knowing all the behind the scene facts, one can be mistaken about what appears to be happening and must rely on what seems to be happening. So off we go, on ruminations of what seems to be.
I was fortunate to have gone to school when Civics, World History, American History and American Government were taught. I was fortunate to have been encouraged to seek the truth and read voraciously (albeit skeptically) everything I could get my hands on. Sometimes fiction can be a great teacher as is first hand observation. My beliefs have been tested over the years and many have been replaced but my core beliefs on democracy and government are still intact, although severely battered at times. I was raised "inside the beltway" next to Washington D.C., I do know what poor government looks like. I know what corruption looks like. I know what pandering politicians look like. I also have seen authority running amok, rife with idiots who have no business being in charge of anything at all, believing that all the citizens that they have been charged to (and supposedly sworn to) protect and serve are nothing but "perps" until proven otherwise with cynicism reserved for old burnt out cops who spent twenty years in the inner city among the worst of the worst.
Now to the "seems". It seems like there was no need to arrest a family member at the beginning of a funeral service for an outstanding warrant for an unrelated incident that occurred elsewhere. It seems like arrest warrants on local people would be easier if there was some connection to the community other than a display of raw authority. It seems like that same connection might even help with what they actually looked like. It seems that demanding respect is not the same as commanding it by virtue of earning it.
To my constituents: if I could take it back, I would gladly "flip-flop" and vote against the hefty bundle of what seems like "blackmail payment" to buy our minimal law enforcement. To you and all the rest of the county: this seems like "creeping fascism" Tell me it ain’t so, but it surely seems that way.
Enough "seeming" for now, I must prepare myself mentally for the retaliation that will surely come to me. Watch my back and think about this.
Ogden had another one: "Only the game fish swims upstream, the sensible fish swims down." But then so does dead fish and garbage. dd

musings from alberton

The Alberton Papers Vol. VI, #XVIII
By Dick Darne 8-11-08
Musings from Alberton
Tonight I sit here wondering why. Why being what the ancient philosophers would have you ask of everything, yet some things are not ours to learn. I think of the tally of folks, five young and five old, who have left our community this year and try to make sense of it. The older, while the loss is no less, can be rationalized by attribution to the "natural order of things". We are born, we live our lives and in the end , die we must. Back to Mother Earth, fodder for new life, souls living on, where we know not for sure but surely something more complex than anything man has ever devised or conceived of must surely be recycled somewhere somehow. The passing of the younger becomes a double blow, it is not expected, it is out of the natural order as we understand it, yet if one were to look at the larger picture, one might observe that in the natural world, among lesser creatures, it happens all the time. Some are raised to be slaughtered just as in our world we raise fine young people and send them off to be slaughtered in senseless so-called foreign adventures that are more often than not hatched in lies, reared in vainglory and harvested for profit by the warmongers. Then I begin to wonder, what is different about a culture that tolerates drunken drivers? While they are surely severely punished, it is always after the fact. Loved ones gone , pain and grief for the survivors, profit for the rumsellers.
We are fortunate to have a caring populace here in Alberton, one’s pain becomes the pain of all. We come together at times like this but shouldn’t we come together without reasons like this? Any minute, any time the grim reaper may show up and we know not who or when. Let’s live accordingly.
A few weeks ago we lost Emily. She had finally found a smoother road but we never know the time. As always, Alberton is a lesser place without her. Danny was one of our young men who was a victim of whom? The driver or us? We’ll miss you Danny Boy. Kent, you are in a fight for your life and we are all pulling for you.
After all this, I have learned no more but I thank you for allowing me to share my musings with you. Keep caring about others. dd

fuel price comparison

The Alberton Papers Vol. VI, #XVII
By Dick Darne 8-4-08
"Before you and Lars leave, there’s one thing that has been puzzling the folks around here and we’ve taken on the job of supplying the real facts." asked Bill.
"Oh, wunnerful, wunnerful", replied Sven. "We love questions, so what’s puzzling you boys?"
"Well, since prices have risen for all kinds of fuel, people want to know what’s the cheapest way to heat a house. I mean, which is cheaper now days, propane, electric, natural gas, oil or wood?" said Bill.
"Funny you should ask," said the Professor, I was just talking to Dick and while he was rooting through his almost fifty years of archives, he came upon the answers in one of the old boiler handbooks. It is a list of heating values for different fuels and the amount of each to equal one million BTU’s. all that’s left would be to use the current prices and compare."
"Of course there are many other factors, such as actual efficiency, insulation and the weather, so the only valid comparison could be made by using a particular house for a comparison and year to year can be different unless you factor in the actual weather conditions for each year. Fortunately records are kept for the amount of ‘degree-days’ per month per year, but that’s another lesson." added Lars.
"Here is the chart:" said Sven.
Fuel comparisons based on 1,000,000 BTU’s .
Nat. Gas = 1 decatherm
Propane = 10.89 gal.
#1 oil = 7.46 gal.
# 2 oil = 7.19 gal.
Wood = 286 lbs. (Approx. 1/14 cord)
Electric = 294 KW
"Now," said Sven, " there’s a few more things.. If we are considering one particular dwelling, and we have properly installed and operated equipment, then we are ‘apples to apples’.
Next consider that electric heat is 100% efficient, that is, all the KW goes to heat your home. All fossil fuels require that a portion of the heat energy be used to make the chimney operate, so we must use an ‘efficiency factor, which can be as low as 60% for some older equipment or as high as 90% or higher for some of the more modern equipment. This means that you divide the answer by the ‘efficiency factor’ to arrive at the true cost."
"Where do you find this ‘efficiency factor?" Johnny asked.
"All equipment made in the last 20 years has a sticker with an ‘AFUE’ rating, which stands for ‘annual fuel utilization efficiency’ which takes into account all sorts of factors which may affect efficiency. Your tax dollars fund the research, so use it." interjected Lars.
"So, now and a one and a two and an example coming right up." exclaimed Sven. "Using propane, electric or wood, we ran some calculations to see how they compare..
We used $2.25/ gal. for propane at 80% eff., 10.2 cents/ KW for electric at 100% eff. and $140/cord for wood at 70% eff. So, for one million BTU’s, the winner is........$30.63 for propane, 29.98 for electric and $14.29 for wood. If you were lucky enough to have Natural gas, it would have been a little under $20. See you boys next week. Keep cerebrating." dd