Flight

Here's the little airplane that we flew over to Orcas Island in last week. It's a c.1967 Mooney and is frighteningly light and versatile. Oddly enough, I feel mush safer in these little vessels of the sky versus those behemoths that (any more) more closely resemble cattle cars off to the stockyards versus the travel of pleasure of yore.

Weeks ago I wrote an application for federal funds for renewable energy from Obama the Commie. (Just kidding.) I have very strong leanings towards many fledgling industries being supported by governmental efforts and resources. I am also for redistribution of wealth versus it's increased concentration in the hands of fewer and fewer. So I guess by definition, that makes me a socialist. I wish socialism wasn't such an ugly word in this country. Most other industralised nations embrace the concept of governmental constraints and ownership in industries such as transportation (air, rail, bus), banking, health care, ... the list goes on.

What's even sadder, is that few people have any faith that our government is capable of doing anything effectively or without blunder. When I was a child, we were putting people on the moon, and today, we doubt our government's ability to do anything, such as build high-speed rail. ("The U.S.," I'm frequently told, "is way too big for a rail system like Europe," even though the distance from Paris to Aix en Provence is comparable to that of Chicago to Denver; except that the former goes over hills and valleys, while the latter has nothing but Great Plains to cross.) Today, we are nation of defeatists and naysayers, and have given up all hope on government and industry, which are really the same thing anymore.

And I won't even get started on the right-left paradigm...

Sorry about the building rant - I'll stop at that.

But we won some funds and today our work is cut out for us too build out a plant that will adhere to the parameters of the funds and hopefully make some money in the process. Tonight I relax and enjoy the fruits of my efforts. But soon enough, the work will begin again in earnest.