Monday, January 31, 2011

Batten down the hatches



Batten down the hatches is an old nautical term meaning secure the ship in preparation for an oncoming storm.  It's sound advice at sea and sound advice ashore.   So I'll be busy today preparing for what the weatherman calls a "dangerous storm" heading our way.   Not that there's much to do except restock the pantry before the snow starts flying Tuesday night.


The weatherman is saying we'll get one and a half to two feet of snow and wind gusts of up to 40 miles per hour!    That's harder than the wind roars through the halls of Congress.  The storm is expected to continue until midday on Wednesday.   If what he predicts comes to pass, I'll be busy  digging out the driveway by that afternoon.


According to the Kalamazoo Gazette the weatherman has "warned that the the storm could rival the Blizzard of ’78, a monster that blasted the state with nearly 2 feet of snow on Jan. 26, 1978. Kalamazoo saw 22 inches of snow from that storm."


I remember it was a Thursday night when the snow began falling.   I went to work at the post office and by the time my shift ended Friday morning I couldn't get my car out of the parking lot.  It was a mile or mile and a half walk home, with a stop at a grocery store along the way to pick up a 12-pack of beer.   By Sunday afternoon they'd pushed most of the snow out of the parking lot with plows and I was able to dig my car out and drive home.


Some people complain about these winter storms, but in Michigan most of us take them in stride.   And some of us actually are looking forward to this one.   Those would be school children  in the area who are gleefully  counting on a day off  Wednesday.   




Lori Sullivan is dwarfed by banks of snow following the
Great Blizzard of '78




                             
Dan Sullivan supervises snow removal operations
Lori Sullivan pauses from her duties for a snapshot














Sunday, January 30, 2011

Revolution in the air

By now, everyone knows they're raising holy hell in Egypt.  The people are in the streets demanding democratic reforms.   Rumors are flying all over the Internet and on the corporate news shows.   Thousand of prisoners  have escaped or been released from Egyptian prisons and are terrorizing the streets of Egyptian cities.   Police have deserted their posts.   Army tanks clank down the streets of Cairo.  Revolution is in the air.   And it's all being brought to you via  twitter and shown live on the Internet.

What does all this portend?   For Egypt?  For the United States?   For the world?

Nobody knows and anyone who says they do is lying.   Primeval forces have been unleashed.   The  genie is out of the bottle.   You have to go all the way back to when Yahweh unleashed ten plagues on Egypt to force  the stubborn Pharaoh to let Moses and the Israelites go to find something comparable to what's happening in Egypt today.

I expect the End Timers will see all this as a sign of things to come, a preface to Armaggedon.   Paranoia? Who knows?

All I know is that this crusade we've been on since 9/11 to bring democracy to the Middle East hasn't exactly worked out as the United States government planned.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

21st Century Paranoid Blues
copyright 2010 Dan Sullivan

Private eyes eyeballing
Everyone they meet
Sensors in the hallways
And cameras on the street
Mailmen sending tips
To the F. B. I.
Men with black binoculars
Scanning the sky

I don't mean to panic you
I'm only tellin' the truth
It ain't paranoia if they're coming after you

Judge is in his chamber
Someone wake him from his nap
There's three men in suits
And they're planting wire taps
A man on TV says
"If you break it you own it"
They listen to your calls
And you don't even know it

I don't mean to panic you
I'm only tellin' the truth
It ain't paranoia if they're coming after you

A bug on your computer
Sees every move you make
They can watch where you go
See every road you take
Satellites track you
In your home and in your car
An app on your cell phone
Tells them right where you are

I don't mean to panic you
I'm only tellin' the truth
All this paranoia and it's coming after you

Drama queens and Brahmins
Chanting in a foreign tongue
Hobos takin' No Doz
In the yard with railroad bums
They're headin' for the highways
They're leaving by train
The Bankers took the money
And they made their getaway

I don't mean to panic you
I'm only tellin' the truth
All this paranoia and it's coming after you

Houses underwater
In Detroit and New Orleans
Don't go blaming God
For what happens on the Street
No one went to prison
Who would ever believe
A jail could be so crowded
There'd be no room for those thieves

I don't mean to panic you
I'm only tellin' the truth
All this paranoia and it's coming after you

Clark Kent eyes
Pat downs and watch lists
Old ladies and babies treated
Like they're terrorists
They say we must adjust to
Those things we can't avoid
If you stand up for your rights
They'll call you paranoid

I don't mean to panic you
I'm only tellin' the truth
It ain't paranoia if they're coming after you

All this paranoia and it's coming after you
It ain't paranoia if they're coming after you