Archive for June, 2007

Elizabeth Edwards has a chat with the Anntichrizzt on Hardball yesterday. It’s funny how the things she has said in the past keep catching up with her.

Goldy has more…

Drinking Liberally in the Tri-Cities is tonight and every Tuesday night. Come join us on the deck at the Shilo for some cold drinks and hot conversation!

Details!

Drinking Liberally in the Tri-Cities
O’Callahan’s - Shilo Inn
50 Comstock RD, Richland

7pm till?

I have much to say and little time to say it. So I will get more active in posting when I can. But in the meantime, check out George Fearing. George is mounting a campaign against our friendly 4th CD Republican, Richard Norman “Doc” Hastings (”Doc” of what exactly?).

There have been rumblings of other Democratic candidates in the 4th but so far none are in sight. But I think we have a good one.

If you want to learn more about George Fearing, listen to his radio interview on “The David Goldstein Show” from 710 KIRO last month… right here.

Enjoy this hot week on the east side folks!!

I’m filling in for The General for the next few days. Mostly just fielding emails…

Drinking Liberally in the Tri-Cities is tonight and every Tuesday night.

Details!

Drinking Liberally in the Tri-Cities
O’Callahan’s - Shilo Inn
50 Comstock RD, Richland

7pm till?

The Hanford Reach is a pretty remarkable place. I was out there last Friday on a half day solo excursion and I gotta tell you it is a pretty amazing place. And like the today’s Tri-City Herald editorial, I have some concerns.

Last week, the editorial board toured the Monument. Well, as much of it as you can see in an eight-hour day. It would take many more such days to see it all.

We drove the complete circumference (about 150 miles) and took several side trips.

Granted we had an escort — with a key to several locked gates — and visited a few places that are currently closed to the general public, like the top of Rattlesnake Mountain and Snively Canyon.

Other wondrous views, however, including the one from the top of Saddle Mountain and the scenic overlook just upstream from the White Bluffs boat launch are available to all.

We saw elk, deer, coyotes, jackrabbits and a long-eared owl that stared us down with huge, stark yellow eyes.

This trip we did not see the porcupines, beavers, bobcats or cougars — but they’re all out there.

Snively Canyon contains the foundations of a pioneer farm house, where the farmer’s grain still grows voluntarily.

A spring of prehistoric water originates deep inside Rattlesnake and carves a swath of tropical green — complete with butterflies — through the canyon.

I rode part of the same route Friday and have in the past been to the top of Rattlesnake Mountain, seen the springs and was simply amazed. I’ve been on top of my share of mountains but there are few in this state that compare in contrast. The wooded mountains in are great, but this place is vast, and surreal.

But on my trip around the Reach’s other side I saw similar signs of garbage and neglect that sparked harsh memories of why one of the best beaches on the Columbia River was simply shut down. I’m still not over it. Some of my local left leaning friends were the catalyst despite the large group of “bi-partisan” friends doing their part and successfully keeping the island clean, we can now no longer enjoy our weekends boating with the kids to our favorite island hangout. But the real responsible folks for it’s closing, and perhaps the Hanford Reach’s future, are those who simply don’t care.

New informational signs have been shot up, and during our visit we picked up handfuls of shell casings from pistols and rifles in areas where they are prohibited. Names are scratched into geologic layers of clay-laden rocks shaped by ancient floods.

The unfortunate reality is, these lands must be managed or end up trashed by bad actors. But the folks who love and use the Reach have a right to help define how it’s managed.

Bad actor’s is putting it mildly. I have some choice words for the shell dropping, garbage dumping, turd brained jackasses that are so seemingly hell bent on ruining it for the rest of us. We picked up the years of glass and garbage left behind by those jackasses and were still no match for intentions of a few bird watchers, kayak pilots, a lawsuit and the Federal Government (Now, near the island, the federal wildlife folks approach you with a menacing sidearm instead of a friendly wave). For all the loud mouthed right wingnuttery I hear about them “liberals” and “environmentalists”, it seems the real cause for the lack of public access to “public” land is an ignorant public.

This is what I saw on my little Friday trip. A bit of wild and a bit of history. And to think that somehow you might only be able to see this with a permit… if you are lucky.

(I still get to ride here)

Rattlesnake Mountain in the background…

Cold War remnants…

Formations along the Columbia…

Tight accomodations for early visitors…

One last pic of my horse…

Use it right or lose it folks!

Over at Horsesass.org, Goldy posted up today a storyboard for a future Washington State Republican Party advertisement that essentially blames Governor Christine Gregoire for how the 08 primary goes down. Despite the simple fact she has no authority (or vote) in the decision.

On Febuary 5, 2008…

…People will be going to the polls

…For AMERICA’s First National Primary Day

< /screentext >

< narration: same; soundtrack: "upbeat", "patriotic" >

***

==Board 2==

[Gregoire stock photo, b/w, low contrast]

< screentext >

Except You!

Besides the fact that Dwight Pelz would look much more menacing in a low contrast black and white photo, I would love to hear what Mid Columbia Republicans (or anyone else), thinks of this latest WSRP attempt at message framing. I’m sure all of you are still convinced the election was stolen and well… it looks like, according to Goldy, this is the point. I have been amazed at the lengths the republican party would go for some time now. Remeber the “Fake Sex Offender Notifications”? Is this the direction you want your party to go?

Stay away from them this morning. They have a strange effect on the weak.

[my morning's IM session]

Iggy says: Well, when the Creation Museum puts it this way…..

…..I like the straight simple line much better too. I guess I’m reborn now! Wanna pray with me?

Jimmy says: Not really…

Iggy says: Everything is so much easier now!

Jimmy says: Ah… the simple things in life…

Iggy says: You mean that since I had a revelation over a strawberry bagel, that somehow makes me simple? I’m calling HR.

Jimmy says: I had a strawberry bagel too, and I’m still ok… egad… leave me alone.

Iggy says: Since I’m a new convert…. I don’t have my Christlegs just yet. I guess I have to go home and start memorizing scripture to spout at you.

Jimmy says: I’m moving my cube

Iggy says: If you do move….it’s all part of God’s design.

Iggy says: Am I annoying yet?

Jimmy says: Yes

A long time ago I thought I wanted to be a Geologist. You know, one of those guys to goes all over the mountains and valleys trying to better understand our planet, how it formed. And of course, while I was at it I could see really neat things like volcanos, or study things like ancient floods. But then I found out just how hard it was to get a job in the field and how much work it was with all the interdisciplinary training in chemistry, physics and so on (not to mention lousy pay). Frankly, I didn’t have the muster. But I still love looking at formations of solid basalt covered with sediment under another rock formation and pondering how it all happened. I could probably brush up and talk about it quite well… waxing over fossil records buried deep within sediment millions of years old. But with my recent discovery that the Creation Museum is looking for a geologist, I think I missed my calling. If I had just studied theology as my major with a minor in Geology I could be fully qualified to be a Creation Museum employee effectively skipping all that extra work with chemistry, physics… fortunately I got the critical thinking part down pat.

Speaker and Researcher of Geology
Reports to: Mark Looy (for the moment)

Duties and Responsibilities

- Speak to layperson (and occasional science) groups across the country as requested through AiG Outreach Dept. Expected travel a minimum of 25%.
- Literature and field research.
- Write regular articles for web and other AiG publications.
- Produce books, DVDs, curriculum materials, etc.

Education, Experience and Skill Requirements

- Doctorate in geology preferred, or some other related scientific discipline (e.g., paleontology).
- Minimum of 5 years’ field or teaching experience in study discipline.
- Extremely strong knowledge of creation – understanding both the biblical and scientific arguments.
- Articulate and engaging speaker is a must, along with the willingness to be mentored in order to become an even better speaker (i.e., to be “teachable”).
- Ability to express concepts in writing

Items needed for possible employment

- Resume
- Salvation testimony
- Creation belief statement
- Confirmation of your agreement with the AiG Statement of Faith

(It’s just so full of fun I encourage you all to apply)

This is going to be a tough position to fill and I would really like to meet the person who gets this job. Possibly one of the most impossible professions to get on the payroll and somehow explain an ideology that is in direct opposition of the discipline. Forget the sedimentary record and general geologic records… I guess there was just one big flood afterall. Or radiocarbon dating where we can date fossil records [edit: I said millions and was corrected - see brushing up] up to 60,000 of years back. One of the most important qualifications is that you are “teachable”; or have previously been brainwashed, or are now willing to be so. Good luck with that because a Geology professional, with the diversity of disciplines that the profession requires, will be the toughest sell out there (my secret mind would just love an anonymous blogger/geologist to take the job and report back).

But to top it all off, to get the job, along with a salvation testimony, creation belief statment, you must comply with the “Confirmation of your agreement with the AiG Statement of Faith” (not exactly an equal opportunity employer) for which you must agree, amongst the other madness:

No apparent, perceived or claimed evidence in any field, including history and chronology, can be valid if it contradicts the Scriptural record.

Just so it’s clear… er… I gotta go feed my Stegosaurus.

Update: It looks like the Creation Museum removed their employment page and are now, like the Bush Administration, recruiting directly from such admirable institutions as Bob Jones University and Pensacola Christian College.