Close Calls

A good friend of mine who lives lives in Kentucky e-mailed me today. A tornado touched down in his backyard. There was a lot of tree damage but his house survived in good shape. That's as close as I'd ever want to come to a tornado. Actually, that's closer than I'd care to come.

I'd rather deal with a hurricane. At least there's some warning. There's time to decide if one should bug out or hunker down. Tornadoes give very little warning.

My lovely wife and I had some tornado encounters this past winter in Florida. They weren't backyard close, but close enough for high winds to strip all the leaves out of trees.

Tornadoes are rare here in the mountains of New Hampshire. They aren't completely unheard of, but it can happen. They don't last long and tend to be weaker than those in tornado alley. The worse damage in recent memory involved some lost roof shingles and damage to a garage. The weather service at first denied it was a tornado, but someone had video so they had to admit it was a tornado.

My buddy's e-mail reminded me that live changing events can come out of nowhere. Had the tornado landed just a little bit to one side his house would have been turned to splinters instead of his trees. We can't take the future for granted.

That doesn't mean we don't make plans for the future. We just should not believe those plans are set in stone. Sudden change can literally drop out of the sky.

-Sixbears

Let's invade Colorado

The United States makes a big deal about bringing Democracy to the rest of the world. The Republicans decided that the good folks of Colorado don't have a say in nominating a presidential candidate. That blatant disregard for the will of the people is just the sort of excuse the US uses to invade other countries.

Of course, the Democrats aren't doing much better. Just look at the states where Bernie wins the state but Hillery gets most of the delegates.

Personally, I think this year is a major turning point in American politics. It has never been clearer that the system is rigged. Outsiders who upset the established order are not only unwelcome, they are locked out. If a billionaire can't get a fair shake, just think how little they care for the average Joe.

Trump and Bernie aren't even really that far outside of the mainstream. Trump is part of the 1% business class. He's exactly the sort of person who gravitates to the Republicans as he shares most of their interests. Bernie isn't throwing Molotov cocktails, he's working within the system.

Love or hate the outsider candidates, the system is supposed to be open to everyone. It hasn't been for sometime, but now it's blatantly obvious to everyone. The big question is where do we go from here? The big thing to remember is that the two party system is not part of the Constitution. It's one of those things that developed over time. Political parties that lost touch with their people have disappeared before.

Looks like this might be the year the parties really start to unravel. It's both a time of opportunity and danger. Things could get better or they could actually get worse. Interesting times.

-Sixbears