It is a time of freedom and fear, of Gaia and of borders, of many paths and the widening of a universal toll road, emptying country and swelling cities, of the public bought into privacy and the privacy of the public sold into invisible data banks and knowing algorithms. It is the time of the warrior's peace and the miser's charity, when the planting of a seed is an act of conscientious objection.

These are the times when maps fade and direction is lost. Forwards is backwards now, so we glance sideways at the strange lands through which we are all passing, knowing for certain only that our destination has disappeared. We are unready to meet these times, but we proceed nonetheless, adapting as we wander, reshaping the Earth with every tread.

Behind us we have left the old times, the standard times, the high times. Welcome to the irregular times.


 
Mother Davis wonders what's next as she reflects upon...

...the news that George W. Bush has issued a new royal edict, oops - executive order, that allows dirty old coal-burning power plants to get to avoid installing technology to prevent air pollution? That technology was mandated by the Clean Air Act that Bush's own father signed into laws almost a generation ago, but now George W. Bush is letting those old coal-burning power plants keep on pumping out pollution at the same level as they did back in the 1960s!

A lot of people don't realize that these power plants are a major health problem for rural populations in the Northeastern United States. Pennsylvania, Upstate New York and idyllic back roads New England is covered in a blanket of smog that poses a significant health risk to the country folk that live there. That smog is a direct result of these pollution plants, and George W. Bush is letting them keep on belching their filth.

It's good for the economy, he says.

What's next, an executive order that lets big, old-fashioned corporations keep on discriminating against women and blacks, 'cause it's "good for business"?

Give Bush another 4 years, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Bush do it.

Registering to vote this very minute,
Mother Davis

Posted by Katherine Davis at 4:17 AM. # (permalink)  




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