Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Half-a-Century Later.....no progress.

A colony on the Moon?  Next step; Mars?  How long til we reach out for the stars?

Three questions asked after the USA proved to the world just how capable they were at massive efforts to achieve unbelievable goals and landed Astronauts on the face of the moon. 

That was just over 48 years ago!

And now our vaunted space agency, NASA, has been mired for the eight years of the past administration in dealing with Earthly situations....most not even remotely related to Aeronautics and Space, the middle two letters in its name. The just-departed Obama administration was quite determined to do anything but seek any "space" achievements.

Half a century later, nearing the end of my life, we have done NOTHING of any great consequence for those many years....excepting, of course, the marvelous Rovers exploration of Mars.

Time is nigh.....Mankind cannot for very long feel comfortable sitting on this island Earth with all our "eggs" in a small basket susceptible to many threats from Earth itself, and from the very space we are discussing.

Unfortunately, unless the Russians/Chinese/anybody else makes a bold move likely to give us egg-on-face, our political class will utilize our money for other purposes.....most involving nothing more than vote-buying; their bread and butter!

Sad....Such a lost potential.

Time for us to worry about mankind, not vote-buying!

Friday, July 28, 2017

Ya Can't Fix Stupid!....Thus the GOP Again Wilts & Dies!

John McCain is no doubt a super-patriot. He is a long-serving Senator. He proved his stripes once again last night as an idealist/RINO.....hiding under the cover of "We need openness!" he cast the destructive vote concluding the 7 year GOP quest to end ObamaCare, or at least begin the repeal of its most odious features.

He accomplished NOTHING in terms of his stated goal....openness and cooperation.

Let me ask John one question.....When, from the inception of Government control of health care legislation through sneaky, squeaky passage of same in a shameful display of deals/hidden and twisted DEM arms, and then on down through the years as DEMs crowed and displayed ZERO inclination to adjust or change the legislation, have those DEMs ever indicated they would do else but negotiate and work together to SPEND MORE and end up in single-payer Govt, control of the 1/6th part of the US economy under healthcare?   The correct answer, Mr. Senator McCain, is N-E-V-E-R!

That makes your statement last night and your joining with your fellow DEMs a total success for them, and a destructive, stupidly-reasoned blow to your alledged party of choice.

RINO ONE! That needs to be his call sign.

Sunday, July 2, 2017

Well, yeah...but we meant well!

The title suggests the theme of most Main Stream (Lame Stream) media reactions when caught in lies, deceit, and misinformation.

They seek cover under the Constitution as if they were the stalwarts of  protection of our freedoms! Instead they are the very antithesis of the freedom of speech...intending to both squelch the free speech of those opposed to their ideology, and cover themselves as the rightful purveyors of their free speech to keep the population under their thumb.

How very, very sad!

As a newsman some 40 years ago, I remember well the age when we, as newsmen, found it our charge to provide to our listeners/viewers the facts as presented by both sides.

NO editorial opinion!

NO slanted coverage.

IF WE FELT the need, and offered editorial comment, we did so by labeling it up front as such!

The times have changed, and today's circus media feel empowered to direct our views, offer their opinion as fact, and ignore the actual in favor of the fiction of their own opinion!

SAD!

So SAD!

Duke

Thursday, June 15, 2017

"Deadline Every Minute!"

That was the title/Banner of a speech given by my then boss, the President of WREX-TV, CH 13, Rockford, IL in the late 1960s. While I cannot remember his name the speech was to the NAB, National Association of Broadcasters and concerned the ever-tightening spiral of time between new stories. How prophetic!

Today that spiral is a whirlpool, at best, and a black hole at the worst.

Now it is acknowledged and involves the "instant" media...

We are in much the same spiral in this arena as we are in the growth of knowledge. Neither is being handled very well.

Knowledge, as I recall, was supposed to be doubling about every five years....in 1990. While I have not seen a report on it, I'd guess that has dropped to less than 2 years in today's super-heated knowledge generation.

In the media where my old station aired news in the morning; 2 15 minute casts at 7 and 8; another 15 min. block at noon, and then the traditional 6pm and 10pm 30 minute blocks of news, weather, and sports, now 24/7/365 is near true....although the night hours have actually receded in live stuff from the old talk nights of midnight to 5 or 6am.

Sometimes I get a headache just thinking of it all. I enjoy periods such as this, alone in my office, typing away, silence in the room, except for the cars passing by in my neighborhood.

Maybe a month in a cabin in the mountains would be pretty amazing.....no TV, no phone...no tablet. Just nature!

Duke

BIG BOX Collapse!

If you but look at your own purchasing habits, and barring a completely intoverted way of life, you will know why the demise of "Big Box" retailers.

Sears announces closing of more than 100 stores....Macy's, the same, etc., etc. They cannot compete with the Amazons of the world. Overhead is the reason. Convenience to the stay-at-home shopper is a close 2nd.

I even find myself visiting stores I still frequent, and after eyeing the merchandise, going home to check the online price. In other instances I do not even visit the stores. I bought my new RAM 1500, and immediately began looking at some needed additions......YES, the additions to date were for a good reason, and i have avoided the decorative in favor of practical. I went online, found a retailer who delivered to my home, and I installed most of the additions, but left my local mechanic to install the step bar for entry.

We are a society of convenience, and Big Box is no longer the convenience.

Sunday, April 30, 2017

& Then The Media Became Self-Empowered!

And it came to be, in the newsrooms of the USA that there were droves of "journalists"...self-appointed, based upon their journo-school, and political leanings, who decided they were, in fact, THE people who knew what was, and what should be. They were so self-assured that they determined, in concert and singularly that they were obligated to tell the people of the USA what the think; how to think it; and when to think it. Their hubris knows no bounds.

They cannot even fathom that this strange beast, a non-politician, is eating their lunch, and making them even more the clowns than they were. The score, despite their 89% negative stories on Trump, is somewhere in the range of Trump 78 and the media 15 with a few still not in touch!

Keep it up media idiots! You shall join the Democrat Party in suicide by idiocy!

Saturday, January 7, 2017

It wasn't me...But, if it was....It is "Their" fault!

The dodging, twisting, lying obfuscation coming from Obama, Clinton, and other Democrat sources (YES, including the Left-Owned so-called "Main Stream" Media) regarding the so-called Russian involvement in impacting our election process is the most comprehensive and "fake news" effort I have ever witnessed!

Despite the best efforts of these lefty mouthpieces the fact remains....the emails exposed have not been denied, proven wrong, or disputed by ANYONE (Well, except DNC temporary "leader" Brazile who gives vague and lacking-in-detail assurances they are untrue), NOT ONE of them!

These Democrats were shown in the emails to be liars, cheats, manipulators of the media, and much more by the devastating content of the emails. These folks are squealing loudly about foreign interference in our process....but, in no way disputing the emails, and the facts they contain.

I am assuming their attitude is....you can do what you want to lie, cheat, interfere-with, etc. but as long as you don't get caught it is O.K.

Most amazing of all to me are the legions of DEM supporters who will blindly latch on to whatever argument is offered by the DEMs and their Media-minions, and simply accept it as truth. The DEMs can do no wrong.

Get a life people. I admit I watch FOXNews.....and they provide more complete info than the rest of the so-called main stream media combined.....but, I also check the other sources to see what is being offered....I read from many sources.

Even should I accept as fact the Russians were hacking and exposing DEMs, particularly Hillary and her staff/advisors, I still say....1) The exposure of facts is not a bad thing, and, 2) The fact the hacks occurred all across the past 8 Obama years, and were not addressed by him or his party, makes his sudden interest and objection after a losing election, all the more political.