Wednesday Sept 21st. ~ 2011 ~

I got back from the fall Tucson Gem Show a few days ago where I was exhibiting at the Whole Bead Show. As I drove through Hatch on my way to I-10 west towards Tucson, I was totally shocked to see an amazing 5 megawatt CPV project.

The last time I drove on that stretch of road from Hatch to Demming in February there was no hint that this was to be built. I had a bit of a sense of how big each of these panels was. It seemed that each panel was about the size of a small house and there seemed to be close to a hundred of them.

Here in the Southwest these types of installations just seem to make so much sense and are so efficient. A megawatt is one million watts… that is a lot of power and here is how to put it into perspective

A typical house has a 200 amp main,
That breaks down to 10-20 amp circuits
A 20 amp circuit is equal to 2400 watts.
This installation can power 25,000 homes with ease.

This is totally cool!  Biggest CPV Project in US Up and Running in NM

Elizabeth Warren spoke these words and it is the clearest summation of what I have been trying to find words for. It is clear, concise and comes directly to the point. I thank you Elizabeth and I wish you great success in your Massachusetts Senate 2012 Campaign. I hope that your ideals catch on and I wish that I could vote for you!

"There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody! You built a factory out there - good for you.
But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn't have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory….
Now look. You built a factory and turned into something terrific or a great idea - God Bless! Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along."

Sunday September 18th ~ 2011

One week ago this nation held vigil for those lost on Sept. 11th 2001. As I looked through the posts on my Face Book feed there was the same question asked over and over again; "Do you remember where you were when you heard the news?" Well, I do remember, vividly, yet to me, that is not the question I desire an answer to. The question that I keep asking is: "Do you know where our country has gone?"

I am dismayed at the fundamental shift that this nation has taken in this last decade and it saddens me to my core. For the briefest of moments, right after this tragedy, this nation actually cared for its citizens. We were kind to one another, courteous, aware of the people around us and took the time to see if any one needed a hand or a shoulder and I was proud to be a citizen of this Nation.

Over this last decade we have allowed a small group of people with very boisterous voices full of hate, fear mongering and bigotry to become our loudest voice, all with the banner of a God or Jesus Christ behind it to give it credence. Last week in the GOP debates, the crowd cheered as Texas Gov. Perry (with his God Driven Campaign) lauded his states execution accomplishments and a member of the audience yelled "YES" when asked if a man in a coma with no health insurance should be left to die.

Osama Bib Laden is accomplishing his stated goal. He sought to destroy our Nation from within and he may be succeeding. He has driven a wedge through the core belief in what this land of opportunity was founded on. We came together as a melting pot and this mix of people, cultures and faiths was and is our greatest strength. Our base ideal; that all are equal under the law, are all able to thrive and grow, that we do unto others as we would have others do unto us, is what has driven this nation for well over 200 years.

Yet now, I see all of that slipping away from our grasp. I see greed, fear, hate and a distain for difference eroding the moral foundations that so many generations of this nation have died fighting for. And for what? What are they gaining with all of this hatred?

To my unbelieving eyes, see a portion of our Nation that despises our President because of the color of his skin. And what blows me away is that most of these are people that claim to be faithful and God-fearing people that put God and Country first. Do they even know where this country came from? Do they not realize that their families were also once immigrants that came to these shores from another country seeking freedom and a chance to thrive? They claim to love America yet hate Americans and what this Country stands for.

Do so few see that there is no other place in the world that you can arrive, join in and become a core member of that society. One cannot move to China and become Chinese, one cannot move to France and become French or move to Germany and become German but you sure as hell can move to the United States of America and become an American. Do you not see that is what has made us great?

I despise this class warfare that is being perpetrated by the GOP. It is actually a war they may be winning. The desired goal is to destroy the middle class, by removing it's voice in our Government and to enslave the lower class of citizens to where they have no way out of their lot in life. All of this is being made possible with their hate speech and them telling you who you need to be afraid of and whom you need to hate. They are accomplishing this with vitriolic speech and the false pretense that what made this nation great is what is destroying it.

I do not know how to make it stop, then I find a quote like this: 

"We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people." ~ John F. Kennedy ~