Now for something completely different. I was driving east on I-10 just west of Vidor when I saw cars slowing down and quickly coming to a crawl. Anyone who lives around Southeast Texas probably knows I-10 has been in a state of perpetual construction for quite awhile. This is true especially in spots east of Houston, such as at the Trinity River bridge, and between Beaumont and the Texas-Louisiana border.
So I wasn’t very taken aback when I saw a sign that said: “Left Lane Closed.” I’m sure I muttered an expletive though. But what raised my conciousness to the WTF? level was then seeing a portable road sign indicating traffic should move to the left. I thought: “Huh?” Now if the left lane was to be closed shouldn’t the traffic shift right rather than left?
Imagine how metagrobilized I was when next I came across one traffic sign saying “Left Lane Closed” in the left lane and “Right Lane Closed” in the far right lane. Just how perplexed this all left me is a little reminiscent of the joke about a truckload of thesauruses crashing. “People were astonished, bewildered, bewildered, blown away, bowled over, confounded, dazed, dumbfounded, flabbergasted, floored, overwhelmed, shocked, startled, stupefied and thunderstruck.”
Yes, it even blew my mind.
It seems like a “One Lane Road” sign would have been more explanatory in this situation. But there wasn’t one and I will eventually get over it.
The WC-130 aircraft looked frighteningly huge as it ascended over the waters of the Mississippi Sound. How could something that large, flying at what appeared to be such a gradual pace, make it off the Keesler Air Force Base runway and over the beach highway in Biloxi without falling out of the sky, I used to ask myself?
They seem too big and slow to fly but they do and those of us on the Gulf Coast are grateful that they do.
I never really thought that much about what the planes were doing or where they were going. Nor did the fact that I only saw these planes fly so languidly when I hung out on a hot summer day with my friends provide a clue as to the aircrafts’ missions.
I knew, back then, that a lot of different activity went on at Keesler. I got my first pair of glasses — black, horn-rimmed ones which several later would look cool if you went for the Elvis Costello look— at Keesler because the dispensary at the Seabee base didn’t have an opthamologist or even an optometrist.
My homeboy, Jonathan, who lived with his first wife and then-baby girl over in Biloxi, attended air traffic control school at Keesler during a hitch in the Air Force. After I got back from Sea duty, one of my office subordinates on the ship transferred to Keesler to attend Chaplain’s Assistant school even though he was in the Navy.
But only years later would I figure out that those huge, slow planes that I saw at some time during summers on the Mississippi Gulf Coast beach were so important to my life when I decided to be a p’ert-near coast resident.
Those planes I saw, but didn’t know or particularly care what they were for back then, were Hurricane Hunters.
The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadronat Keesler fly the WC-130s, or Lockheed Martin WC-130J Hercules if you want to get technically anal about it, into tropical systems to detect vital information which helps hurricane forecasters determine what a storm might do and where it might go. Often the Air Force Reserve crews manning the aircraft will fly right into the eye of a hurricane. You might think “calm” when talking about the eye until you remember you have the hurricane surrounding you.
This is one of those days, today, you might see one of these big slow planes take off and ever so slowly climb up into the sky over the Mississippi Sound and its barrier islands. A National Hurricane Center advisory around noon Central Daylight Time indicated an Air Force reconnaissance plane was approaching a low pressure center between Grand Cayman and Honduras. The NHC has given the system an 80 percent chance for tropical cyclone development.
Of course, the cable news media is all over the possibility of a storm like a gecko on an insurance commercial. That is because of the massive BP oil spill that continues to pour into the Gulf of Mexico and onto land from Louisiana to Florida.
My most not-favorite CNN anchor, Rick Sanchez, was making much ado about this not-even-tropical depression and the hurricane “models” which are already predicting paths for what could become the first named storm of the season. If it be comes a tropical storm it would be named Alex. The weather woman on CNN is at this moment as I write this saying which model would be “preferable” as for where the storm may go. She means what would be the best track for the storm, if there is a storm, as it might affect the oil spill and limit subsequent damage, if there is damage and if there is a storm. That is truly putting the dog before the pony show. The reason is that the models of where this storm might head currently extend from Tampico, Mexico, to Apalachicola, Florida. That’s a lot of ground, uh, water to cover and it includes the area in which I live.
In just the last five years I have been through three hurricanes, a tropical storm and four or five evacuations, if you count all those folks who came to this area from Hurricane Katrina until being chased away by Hurricane Rita. If I left out a storm, I apologize.
Don’t get me wrong. I am concerned about the BP gusher as I have been for awhile and not just for the oil-covered pelicans although I hate to see the environment f**ked up. But I am likewise concerned for my neighbors here on the Upper Texas Coast. That is why I am glad those building-sized, puzzling slow Air Force-looking planes I used to see when I was a young sailor are out there flying with confidence in the Gulf of Mexico hunting hurricanes. The information that those airmen out of Keesler gather is important to a lot of people and probably more folks than usual — because of the BP spill in the Gulf — await what comes from the storms that the Hurricane Hunters risk their lives to investigate.
The sacking of Gen. Stanley McChrystal by President Obama as commander of international forces in Afghanistan was not the only choice the CINC could make. But even if one disagrees with the outcome it was clearly a right choice.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal receives tips from an Afghan governor on growing a beard once his days as an active duty general are over. That might not be too long.
McChrystal, and his entourage to a greater degree, shot off their mouths to an irreverent writer for a Rolling Stone piece. That article said some unflattering things about Obama and his entourage. The rest is, of course, history now as Obama accepted the general’s resignation — the age-old way of dismissing a top general — and has appointed Iraq surge architect and current Central Command leader Gen. David Petraeus.
Gen. David Petraeus, at modified "parade rest."
The manner in which Obama relieved the general and the way in which McChrystal handled his firing was honorable, which was to be expected in proper military-civil decorum. I would guess that some on the right, some on the left and even some in the middle may have objected to the outcome. For those people, I would ask that they bear in mind that our military is constitutionally led by civilians. For top military leaders and their staff to make disparaging statements in public about their chain of command is not only wrong-headed in the sense that it does not contribute to the well-oiled military machine, it is also illegal.
Any buck private or seaman recruit should remember the so-call “punitive articles” of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Those are the military laws for which one can be punished by actions ranging from non-judicial punishment to court martial. Recruits are taught that when a military member disses a government official, those offenses are seen as especially heinous in the eyes of a military that prides itself on being different from military juntas found in banana republics.
Technically, Gen. McChrystal could have or still could be charged with Article 88 of the UCMJ, which prohibits commissioned officers from talking smack about government officials. It doesn’t come with a very heavy sentence and I don’t know if any officer has been convicted of it in years. In the case of senior officers such as McChrystal, he pretty much received the max being forced to fall on his sword, although it is yet to see what happens to his career or if he will retire.
Enlisted and non-commissioned officers have a similar offense although it is one that might be difficult to sustain in court these days as it falls under the so-called “catch-all” Article 134, a.k.a. the General Article, to wit, as the “Manual for Courts Martial” says quite frequently:
“Though not specifically mentioned in this chapter, all disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces, all conduct of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces, and crimes and offenses not capital, of which persons subject to this chapter may be guilty, shall be taken cognizance of by a general, special, or summary court-martial, according to the nature and degree of the offense, and shall be punished at the discretion of that court.”
Keep in mind this article takes in the kitchen sink from “Abusing Public Animals” to wearing an unauthorized badge or medal.
I read the offending article in Rolling Stone and found it to be mostly flattering for McChrystal. He is a rare “snake-eater” Special Operations type who rose to the highest ranks. He is well-liked by troops and is known for “leading from the front.” I did not find many of the comments very offensive at all. But I can see how they were perceived as being over the top because they were directed at Obama and his people. The most damning comment I saw was in a subtitle and I am not sure that came directly from McChrystal.
One also must remember that some of history’s best generals have been everything from reckless to insubordinate to downright insane.
However, our Constitution takes precedence over one individual no matter how good a fellow he or she may be. I hope Petraeus does as well with Afghanistan as he appeared to do with Iraq. My only question is, will he also be handling duties as CENTCOM commander simultaneously with his Afghan leadership role? If so, that could be a problem.
If some good is ever to emerge from the disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil spill perhaps it will be something later noted as a point in time that the United States became serious about energy independence.
Who knows how President Obama’s call this week — certainly not his first exhortation on the matter and not to be confused with extortion, which dip stick GOP Congressman Joe Barton accused the president of in getting BP to establish a Gulf damage fund — will really change any minds. But practically everyone in this country, whether they are oil and gas lobbyists or Earth Mothers with cloth shopping bags, knows energy independence is something this nation must eventually pursue. The question is when will that pursuit turn really serious?
Some of the ideas I get for my musings come from news.google.com. It is the best news aggregator that I know of which presents a wide range of news and views from a wide range of sources. Today, I looked up “alternative energy” and found a number of interesting stories on the subject such as a press release about an effort to make a documentary and book about driving a hydrogen-powered ’72 Mustang cross-country.
They want to make a documentary that is like Al Gore meets the Blues Brothers.
Steve Schappert & Steve Melycher, a.k.a. “Steve Squared,” will drive the Mustang “with a hydrogen generator that produces hydrogen on demand that has tripled gas mileage in similar vehicles. They will be meeting with other Hydrogen experts along the way and asking them to share some knowledge to see if we can all figure out how to make a car run completely on water,” according to a “PRLog” press release.
The movie concept, says the release, would be something like “Introducing Al Gore to the Blues Brothers.”
Meanwhile, other alternatives such as biofuels face challenges at a time when American energy independence has become an outcry in the country. Myra P. Saefong of “MarketWatch” writesthat biodiesel and ethanol face difficultiesin the marketplace if the biofuels continue to lack tax incentives.
Then articles I scanned today take on the subject of oil sands, solar energy, wind, you can just about name it and it’s being cussed and discussed. And in the words of that classy broad and ex-con Martha Stewart, “That’s a good thing.”
But talk is also cheap, unless you are high up in the government. What we need is Action, Jackson! No, not Action Jackson, the 1980s movie starring Carl Weathers, Vanity, Craig T. Nelson and Sharon Stone, but action, Jackson, as in “action, you all” or as we say it in Texas, “ya’ll.”
I honestly believe that the only way this country will achieve both energy independence and the balance needed in switching from a hydrocarbon-based economy is through a “Moon Landing” sort of program. I speak, of course, of the project John F. Kennedy pushed to have an American on the moon in less than 10 years. Will such a project be expensive? You betcha, as “Drill Baby Drill” master Sarah Palin would say. Does such a prospect threaten to turn the World’s economic equilibrium on it’s ear? Could be.
Nonetheless, we have all these forms of energy out there that can substantially decrease this country’s use of foreign oil, or oil drilled by foreign or multinational corporations that blow up and come oozing onto our shores.
Oil is never going away, at least in my lifetime. But there are so many alternatives to it, so many people who are willing to drive great distances in cars more than 30 years old powered by water just to show others that we don’t have to use so much of oil. Yes, it would eventually help the environment. But also, yes, it could keep this nation from having to fight wars with nations that don’t particularly like us but with whom we are dependent on for their Black Gold.
A lot of different thoughts cloud my mind right now regarding the massive Gulf of Mexico oil leak. Primarily, I think we need to “stop the damn leak.” But that has proved to be some kind of difficult.
I am glad that the pundits and those who oppose the President are so right and sure about matters that they can lay everything at Obama’s feet. I feel history will judge whether he acted swiftly enough and surely enough. I can’t help but think Obama is not only getting some bad advice, but has for quite some time received bad advice. I say that just taking all in total. That too, however, will only be judged by history.
The pundits have me pretty irked. This Newsweek article aptly tells how I feel about the pundits before and after the president’s speech on the oil spill. CNN made such a big deal about the broadcast coming from the Oval Office and essentially compared the speech to other great events like Nixon’s resignation, Reagan talking about the Space Shuttle Challenger’s explosion and GW Bush speaking from the Oval after 9/11. To those on the Gulf Coast, this event is perhaps that momentous, but the punditry just goes way overboard interpreting symbolism sometimes.
Yes, the same Joe Barton who has never met an energy company executive with a bag full of money he didn’t like had the gall to call the meeting between Obama and Hayward yesterday in the White House “a shakedown.” Talking about pot calling the kettle black. How many oil company and electric company and nuclear power company executives have Joe Barton shaken down over the years? Of course, if they got rid of all the hypocrites in Congress most of the two chambers, including pretty much all the GOP sides, would be missing.
It gets a little old to see the congressional members get their little spotlight in which they can either light into the villain of the day or else kiss their asses.
We shall see what we shall see. Too bad all those folks on the Gulf Coast have their lives hanging in the balance while we wait on that which becomes history.
UPDATE:Barton later apologized for the “misconstruction” of his comments toward Hayward after apparently being threatened with the loss of a House committee position by GOP leadership. The dressing down must have been with House Minority Leader John Boehner holding his nose. It seemsthe Ohio pol bought some $50,000 in BP stock just months before the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig from which the massive oil spill began. On the other hand. Maybe Boehner was jealous that he didn’t shakedown BP after its wealth spiraled downward.
