Month: August 2023

A tale of two mug shots, and making water from air

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Globally, 771 million people (10% of humanity) lack access to clean water, and women and girls spend an estimated 200 million hours carrying water every day!

Meanwhile, aquifers are being drained faster than they can naturally replenish. A detailed NY Times analysis found that “The US is taking water out of the ground more quickly than nature is replenishing it. ‘There’s almost no way to convey how important it is,’ Don Cline, the associate director for water resources at the United States Geological Survey, told The Times. Already, there are consequences. In parts of Kansas, the shortage of water has reduced the amount of corn that an average acre can produce.”

Anyone else think this might not end well?

The best solutions to our global water crisis involve conservation and addressing the overpopulation problem. But given how dire our situation has become, we must also embrace sustainable technological solutions (note my emphasis on “sustainable”).

My guest during the second segment of this week’s program is Oliver Njamfa. He’s originally from Cameroon and has lived most of his life in France. Recently, he and his family visited Des Moines. We discussed the work of his non-profit, Aquavera, which extracts water from air. Continue Reading →

My ancestors were depicted as monkeys

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I look at my own background as a second-generation Irish American. To quote from my dad’s short biography in reference to his parents coming to the US 100 years ago, “Anti-Irish sentiment was everywhere, exemplified most notably by the all-too-common sign, ‘No Irish Need Apply.'”

The cartoons above are instructive beyond anti-Irish discrimination. (See Flashbak for more such cartoons.) Dehumanization is key. Whether Irish, Black, Jewish (check out How Cartoons Brainwashed Us With Jewish Stereotype), or some other “undesirable” minority, haters and the power elite endow the target group with sub-human features. Make them look dirty, drunk, angry, and dangerous. Thus demonized, they become easy targets for political and economic oppression, including slavery. (Yes, hundreds of thousands of Irish men and women were forced into slavery. More on that some other time.)

The Irish have, fortunately, moved beyond being targets of racism and discrimination. No doubt, it helps to be white, and there are plenty of other groups for bigots to target. Continue Reading →

Reflections on love and an adventure turned sour

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Of all the forces that drive human activity, love is both the most powerful and least comprehensible. What psychic dysfunction compels the Universe to make a person feel deeply attracted to someone who doesn’t feel the same? It’s as if God finds some sadistic entertainment in setting up both parties for failure — one convulsed in heartache, the other wallowing in guilt.

“Damn you, Universe, or whoever you are,” I say aloud to the insects, frogs and whatever being stirs below in the creek. “You’ve made humanity as dependent upon love as it is upon air, water, and food. Damn you. I’m tired of having my heart broken, tired of breaking someone else’s heart. So there.”

I slip back into silence, content that I’ve bitch-slapped the Universe’s highest existential power, feeling smug that I sent it cowering into some remote hole in a distant galaxy. At least from the perspective of a privileged American, the quest for love is tougher even than the daily quest for food and water. Many times I’ve been tempted to give up, to stop trying, to resign myself to a life without a love-partner.

But just as we persevere in the fight against injustice, we persevere in the search for love. We have no choice. Life without struggle, without love, is the rhythmless dance of the living dead. It is existence without heart, water without movement, night without desert stars or prairie fireflies. So, for the sake of love, for the sake of justice, for the sake of life itself, we keep going, one day at a time, one step at a time, hoping to get it right — if not this time, maybe the next, or the next, or the next. Continue Reading →

Banned books vs freedom

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Like me, Charles prefers freedom over censorship. Yet if Charles were inclined to ban books, the one pictured here would probably be at the top of his list. For you see, Charles suffers from galeophobia, i.e., fear of sharks.

Maybe I went too far teasing Charles about sharks during this week’s program. Did I really have to share material from four separate shark classics: Jaws, Baby Shark, Land Shark, and Sharknado? What’s wrong with me?

If I’d done a simple online search, I would have learned that “a study conducted in 2015 revealed that 51% of Americans are absolutely terrified of sharks.” Continue Reading →

An interview with State Auditor Rob Sand

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As Auditor, Sand goes after fiscal mismanagement — willful or otherwise. During his five years in that office, Sand’s work has included tackling problems Reynolds would rather not see publicly exposed.

It’s safe to say Sand is Reynolds’ primary political nemesis. And that’s a darn good thing, since Reynolds, not content with the current checks on her power, seems intent on consolidating control and becoming Dictator of Iowa. Other than Auditor Sand, there’s not a whole lot standing in her way.

Fortunately, Sand’s not going away. He’s done such a fine job as Auditor that Reynolds corralled her posse at the Statehouse to pass a bill severely restricting the Auditor’s power. The bill was so bad a bipartisan assortment of auditors, CPAs, and fiscal watchdogs across the US condemned it. Continue Reading →