In the Battlefield of Big Ideas, It's Not All Downhill

On the border where I live, there are two sides. When it comes to politics, there are many sides to the issue. My friends On The Border Line have their ideas and agenda and, in America, it’s your right to push for your ideas and agenda. Whether or not I agree with them is another story. Over the past few weeks, I have submitted a series of letters to the editor in the Hudson Star-Observer that discussed the OTBL’ers agenda and tactics.

I have tried to stay away from personal attacks and tried to focus on their agenda. I might have made some unflattering analogies and expressed observations they didn’t like, but hey, it’s all part of the political debate process. If I personally attacked any individuals OTBL, I apologize. If I pissed them off because I pulled up the shades on their agenda and provided the community a glimpse of what’s going on in their clubhouse, then I did what I what I set out to do. If they got more publicity than some people think they deserve, that’s all right with me. I believe in the freedom of information and I certainly don’t want those people keeping their light under a basket.

I haven’t noticed any letters from them in the Star-Observer challenging my observations. Believe me, Mr. Bill Danielson would have been responding with his own letters, if what I was saying weren’t true. Sure Danielson and friends took some cheap shots at me on their website, but it was expected. Some on that site stood up for me and said I provided useful observations and have a legitimate bone to pick with the site administration. I first went on their site, because I thought they actually wanted to discuss and debate the issues. That wasn’t the case. Their approach is to dictate and to bully their opponents.

They have mentioned that I was booted off their site because I used profanity, hate speech and/or pornography. Concerning profanity, I would never use any words I my comment that Vice President Dick Cheney wouldn’t use on the Senate floor. I didn’t use profanity. I submitted a request to the admin for evidence of this a few weeks ago and he has yet to reply. They are probably too busy measuring the mileage from the North Hudson School to the Houlton School. Concerning hate speech, I really like to know their definition of “hate speech.” Maybe they meant they kicked me off because I wasn’t using enough hate speech in my comments. They might have some minimum standard of hate speech they require participants to use or else they give them the boot. As close as I got to pornography was when commented that they had a political circle jerk going and may have had they heads stuck up Ayn Rand’s philosophical skirt. I hope that these people aren’t listening to the KQ Morning Show…

If they think I’m a sore loser because I was kicked off their website or I have an ax to grind with them, they are wrong. This is a battle of the big ideas and my set of big ideas is different then theirs. I like this comment that OTBL’er Bill Danielson used to explain his agenda: “I know for myself, and I can only speak for myself, that I engage in this battlefield of ideas for one and only one reason – to further my own, and my family’s, self interest.”

I respect Danielson’s agenda, but it is very different from mine. He’s concerned about only his piece of the pie and I concerned about the whole pie. He wants the piece he can get and I want to make sure everybody is getting his or her fair share of the pie. It’s not important to me that everybody get the same piece of the pie. However, life has taught me there are people born at the table with a fork in hand and pie already on their plate and there are others with no way of making it to the table and others being pushed farther away from the table through no fault of their own. In order to share the pie fairly, some intervention is required. It’s not a market of perfect competition where Adam Smith’s guiding hand guides the supply and demand lines to the point where society reaches nirvana. If this was the case, they could have left out the story in the Bible about Jesus and the loaves and fishes.

I doubt Mr. Danielson could pick me out in a police line and I’m sure I couldn’t pick him out. However, our paths may have literally crossed in a pursuit of another passion we hold in common – downhill skiing. If what I read on OTBL is correct, Mr. Bill participates in the racing leagues at Afton Alps. Although I’m a big fan of ski racing and have been asked to join teams at Afton, I prefer the moguls and freestyle skiing. Downhill racers – or “stick chasers” – live in a well- defined, pre-set course that would compare to someone who might argue political and social issue from a strict ideological perspective where it’s black and white: you are on course or disqualified and the timing is competitive. Mogul skiing provides more freedom and openness that allows the skier to experience a greater variety of challenges and terrain. It compares to politics in a less-defined and more pragmatic sense where there is much more gray area: there’s no time clock and you can fall down and get back up and continue on.

OTBL’ers often include the familiar phrase “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” in their communications. They like to look back and sprinkle their ideas with patriotic quotes written by our founding fathers. I embrace the meaning of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” as long as you tag it with phrases that include “regardless of race, color, and creed.” OTBL’ers want to retreat to 1776. I prefer to embrace the spirit of 1776, but work to advance our nation and the world with my sights on 2076 and beyond.

Your comments and participation in this effort are greatly appreciated. Although it is not always easy to do, I would prefer that participants try to excess their ideas with a minimum of cut-n-paste quotes from famous people. You can get that take from our the other border bloggers. Try saying it in your own words. A suggestion is to write your comments in a Word document and craft your response there. Then cut-n-paste it in a comment or post. That allows you to use spellchecker and you can save a diary of your own posts. This is all about the freedom of expression and open debate. I’m not going to play the role of Big Brother and slap down those comments I might find offensive.

If you got questions, need more info and/or have some off-line discussion for me, shoot me an e-mail: ohwilber@yahoo.com.

Catch the lastest edition of POWER NEWS on Hudson CATV Channel 15

Power News V will have its first showing on cable Channel 15 this weekend. Power News is always shown at 5 PM on Sundays. On Saturday, July 23 it will be shown at 7PM. Then on Sunday, July 24, it will be shown at 7AM and at 5PM.

Power News may also be shown at various other times during the week. Please check the paper for those times or check the schedule on www.accesstv15.com . In addition to the published scheduled there will be late night/early morning unscheduled reruns of Power News on Channel 15. Power News VI should be ready for showing about Sept 1. Until then Power News V will be shown each week.

Power News is also shown on Eau Claire Channel 11 which includes Menomonie. If you are a "Charter" cable subscriber you should be able to get beginning in August. Then too, it is on Baldwin and New Richmond public access TV.

Here is a summary of Power News V:


Education News/Views by Jeff Ryan. Jeff gives reasons why schools in Wisconsin need to be funded adequately by our State Assembly and State Senate. He champions our wonderful education system in the State of Wisconsin.

Legal News/Views by Jamie Johnson. Jamie interviews Keith Rodli of River Falls. They discuss "ADR", i.e. "Alternative Dispute Resolutions". Several avenues are mentioned including mediation. These are alternatives to full blown court case in our legal system to resolve disputes.

Labor News/Views by Bernie Hesse. Bernie discusses "Sweat Shops" and our need to be alert to their products and their abuses. He also discusses proposed legislation to help curb the sweat shops.

Morality News/Views by Randy Fredrikson. Randy interviews Dan Bruch about the history of the early Christians with respect to war and peace. They discuss the four principles of a just or unjust war as stated by St. Augustine. They apply these principles and others with respect to US Wars including the Iraq war.

The total show is about one hour and twenty minutes.

It is packed with information and will make you think.

Welcome Hudson Star-Observer Readers

Welcome to Above the borderline!

As someone who grew up on top of the hill in Hudson, I always have been use to an excellent view of the valley. Like everything in life, nothings perfect and completely faultless. Hudson and the surrounding valley is no exception.

I've been battling with my friends from ONTHEBORDERLINE. I respect their right to express their opinions and ideas, but I don't agree with many of their ideas and they way they go about promoting their agrenda. They want to go back to 1776 and I want to prepare for 2076 and beyond.

I am interested in the exchange of ideas and information to positive change. Feel free to join in the debate. If you are interested in posting your ideas and information on this site, shoot me an e-mail at ohwilber@yahoo.com and I will set you up with posting rights. This site isn't tilted to the political right or left. If there is any tilt, it is a forward lean towards to improving the community and life in the valley.

Posting comments is easy. Say what you want. Use wantever blog name you want. Unlike some site, you don't have to be a "Dr." to comment hear. Considering the mission of the site, being "Do-gooder" helps -- but it's not a requirement.

So pitch in and enjoy the view!

Balance of Testimony

Sunday, September 25, 2005

William Danielson
PO Box XXXX
Bloomington, IL 61702-XXXX

Richard Trende
Chief of Police
Hudson Police Department
Hudson, Wisconsin 54016

Re: Accounting of the events at the Hudson School Board Meeting of June 14th, 2005.

The following was written by me on June 14th, 2005 and published on the internet via the OnTheBorderline web log. It represents my virtually contemporaneous, first hand, and eye-witness recollection of the events which transpired earlier in the evening of June 14th.

It should be noted that I arrived at the June 14th meeting shortly after the meeting commenced and sat down in the rear of the auditorium, initially alone, but in full and unobstructed view of all who were in attendance as well as the comings and goings of any persons into or out of the auditorium. I was subsequently joined later in the meeting by Curt Weese and, briefly, Mark Pribonic in seats next to where I was located.

Relevant excerpts, as published on June 14, 2005 in the OnTheBorderLine web log:

“Two local citizens were forced to leave a public school board meeting tonight by two Hudson Police officers. In an episode that I will regard as "Gestapo tactics", a local school board has resorted to calling in local police to remove citizens whose views are inconsistent with their own.

Neither man was uttering any foul language, epithets, or otherwise speaking to issues unrelated to the operation of the school district - their manner comported completely with any reasonable interpretation of the board's own guidelines for citizen participation. In fact, both men were recognized by the board to speak for a period of no more than five minutes.

One of the citizens, Curt Weese, rose during the citizen's request to speak period to address several matters relevant to the district. During his allotted five minute time to address the board, Mr. Weese was interrupted not due to his manner (which was direct and very cogent), but rather the content. It could not have been clearer that the school board chairman, Annette Cook, simply could not bear to listen to this citizen directly rebut another board member's recent letter to the editor of the Hudson Star Observer. A letter admonishing citizens for what he described as frivolous requests for information.

After several interruptions (and some brief interchanges) of Mr. Weese by the board chair, and at least one other board member, the board moved to take a five-minute adjournment in order to stifle Mr. Weese who was simply trying to complete his presentation. It should be noted that Mr. Weese was highlighting several pieces of information that has been obtained from records requests. Quietly, and without incident, Mr. Weese left the mic to return to his seat even before all the board members had risen for the brief adjournment.

During this adjournment period, one of the school board members, Cindy Crimmins, apparently called her husband who is a police officer for the City of Hudson (also has been the police liaison to the school district). Officer Crimmins showed up at the school board meeting with two other officers, including an officer by the name of Hartman.

The officers arrived just after the brief adjournment, standing at the back of the auditorium as another citizen was addressing the board on a separate issue (that will undoubtedly surface on this blog). At this point in the proceedings, everything was business as usual(total attendance, including board members and police, was approximately 35 in an auditorium that holds several hundred) and the meeting was going along without interruption or disruption. Mr. Weese noticed the officers arrival and got up from his seat and approached the officers in the back of auditorium, chatted briefly with them, and then sat down again.

At this point in the meeting another citizen, Marion Shaw, was recognized to speak for five minutes to the board. Mr. Shaw was immediately interrupted during his presentation regarding his concerns about district expenses by several board members. When he tried to finish his presentation (Shaw was reading from a prepared statement so as to be able to present all of the information within the time allotment), the board chair called him out of order, made a signal to one of the officers, who then escorted Mr. Shaw out of the auditorium without incident.

Subsequently, the other uniformed officer, Hartman, approached Mr. Weese, who was seated next to me, and asking him to leave the premises to "answer some questions." Mr. Weese asked why? He also asked if he was being arrested. The officer told him after some discussion that he (Weese) was reported to have been "disruptive" in a complaint by Crimmins and was now being asked to leave - the officer told Weese he could either walk out peacefully or he would be "physically injured" by the officer on the way out.

Folks, I was sitting right next to Mr. Weese when he was threatened by this pathetic character who found it necessary to also berate as well as threaten Mr. Weese (calling him "infantile"). ….”





The above information is presented for purposes of clarification as regards a joint statement previously submitted by Mr. Curt Weese which contained a statement by me indicating agreement with his recollection. I think it becomes rather obvious, given the contemporaneous timing of the above accounting, that my statements are utterly consistent.



I hope this further clarifies matters in your investigation of the events of the evening of June 14th, 2005.





Sincerely,



William Danielson

The Five Life Principles

1. Do no harm
2. Make things better
3. Respect others
4. Be fair
5. Be loving

These came from the column "Ask The Ethics Guy" by Bruce Weinstien in the 6/13/2005 edition of the St. Paul Pioneer Press

Weinstein says the secret to living a rich, satisfying, happy life is to be found in these five simple principles. He says we've known about these principles for 5,000 years. Every religious tradition in the world teaches them, as do parents in every country.Without them, civilization would be impossible, because there would be nothing buyt chaos everywhere. These principles have a transforming effect on who we are and where we go in life...

Who is Sisyphus?

Sisyphus is the absurd hero.

This man, sentenced to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain and then watching its descent, is the epitome of the absurd hero according to Camus. In retelling the Myth of Sisyphus, Camus is able to create an extremely powerful image with imaginative force which sums up in an emotional sense the body of the intellectual discussion which precedes it in the book. We are told that Sisyphus is the absurd hero "as much through his passions as through his torture. His scorn of the gods, his hatred of death, and his passion for life won him that unspeakable penalty in which the whole being is exerted toward accomplishing nothing." (p.89). Sisyphus is conscious of his plight , and therein lies the tragedy. For if, during the moments of descent, he nourished the hope that he would yet succeed, then his labour would lose its torment. But Sisyphus is clearly conscious of the extent of his own misery. It is this lucid recognition of his destiny that transforms his torment into his victory. It has to be a victory for as Camus says:

I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain! One always finds one's burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night-filled mountain, in itself forms a world. The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy. (p.91). Sisyphus' life and torment are transformed into a victory by concentrating on his freedom, his refusal to hope, and his knowledge of the absurdity of his situation. In the same way, Dr. Rieux is an absurd hero in The Plague, for he too is under sentence of death, is trapped by a seemingly unending torment and, like Sisyphus, he continues to perform his duty no matter how useless or how insignificant his action. In both cases it matters little for what reason they continue to struggle so long as they testify to man's allegiance to man and not to abstractions or 'absolutes'.

The ideas behind the development of the absurd hero are present in the first three essays of the book. In these essays Camus faces the problem of suicide. In his typically shocking, unnerving manner he opens with the bold assertion that:

There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide. (p. 3). He goes on to discover if suicide is a legitimate answer to the human predicament. Or to put it another way: Is life worth living now that god is dead? The discussion begins and continues not as a metaphysical cobweb but as a well reasoned statement based on a way of knowing which Camus holds is the only epistemology we have at our command. We know only two things:

This heart within me I can feel, and I judge that it exists. This world I can touch, and I likewise judge that it exists. There ends all my knowledge, and the rest is construction. (p. 14) With these as the basic certainties of the human condition, Camus argues that there is no meaning to life. He disapproves of the many philosophers who "have played on words and pretended to believe that refusing to grant a meaning to life necessarily leads to declaring that it is not worth living." (p.7) Life has no absolute meaning. In spite of the human's irrational "nostalgia" for unity, for absolutes, for a definite order and meaning to the "not me" of the universe, no such meaning exists in the silent, indifferent universe. Between this yearning for meaning and eternal verities and the actual condition of the universe there is a gap that can never be filled. The confrontation of the irrational, longing human heart and the indifferent universe brings about the notion of the absurd.

The absurd is born of this confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of the world. (p.21) and further:

The absurd is not in man nor in the world, but in their presence together...it is the only bond uniting them. (p. 21) People must realize that the feeling of the absurd exists and can happen to them at any time. The absurd person must demand to live solely with what is known and to bring in nothing that is not certain. This means that all I know is that I exist, that the world exists ,and that I am mortal.

Doesn't this make a futile pessimistic chaos of life? Wouldn't suicide be a legitimate way out of a meaningless life? "No." "No." answers Camus. Although the absurd cancels all chances of eternal freedom it magnifies freedom of action. Suicide is "acceptance at its extreme", it is a way of confessing that life is too much for one. This is the only life we have; and even though we are aware, in fact, because we are aware of the absurd, we can find value in this life. The value is in our freedom, our passion, and our revolt. The first change we must make to live in the absurd situation is to realize that thinking, or reason, is not tied to any eternal mind which can unify and "make appearances familiar under the guise of a great principle," but it is:

...learning all over again to see, to be attentive, to focus consciousness; it is turning every idea and every image, in the manner of Proust, into a privileged moment. (p. 20) My experiences, my passions, my ideas, my images and memories are all that I know of this world - and they are enough. The absurd person can finally say "all is well".

I understand then why the doctrines that explain everything to me also debilitate me at the same time. They relieve me of the weight of my own life, and yet I must carry it alone. (p. 41) Camus then follows his notions to their logical conclusions and insists that people must substitute quantity of experience for quality of experience. The purest of joys is "feeling, and feeling on this earth." This statement cannot be used to claim a hedonism as Camus's basic philosophy, but must be thought of in connection with the notion of the absurd that has been developed in the early part of the essay. Man is mortal. The world is not. A person's dignity arises from a consciousness of death, an awareness that eternal values and ideas do not exist, and a refusal to give in to the notion of hope or appeal for something that we are uncertain of.

In the following essays, Camus presents examples of the absurd person. We are given Don Juan, the actor, and the conqueror as examples of people who multiply their lives in an attempt to live fully within the span of their mortality. But more important is the creator who is discussed in the essay "Absurd Creation". "The absurd joy par excellence is creation." For in creating a work of art the creator is living doubly in as much as his creation id a separate life. "The artist commits himself and becomes himself in his work." Works of art become, then, the one means for a person to support and sustain a lucid consciousness in the face of the absurdity of the universe.
The present and the succession of presents before an ever conscious mind, this is the ideal of the absurd man. (p. 81) Art is for Camus an essential human activity and one of the most fundamental. It expresses human aspirations toward freedom and beauty, aspirations which make life valuable for each transient human being. Art defies that part of existence in which each individual is no more that a social unit or an insignificant cog in the evolution of history.

In The Myth of Sisyphus then we find the philosophical basis for the stranger, the doctor, and the judge-penitent. This is the starting point of Camus's thought. Camus is concerned here as in his other works with persons and their world, the relationships between them, and the relationships between persons and their history. In The Myth of Sisyphus he opposes himself to the rationalism of classical philosophy which seeks universal and enduring truths or a hierarchy of values which is crowned by God; he believes that truth is found by a subjective intensity of passion; he maintains that the individual is always free and involved in choice; he recognizes that persons exist in the world and are naturally related with it;he is deeply concerned with the significance of death, its inevitability and its finality. The absurd is a revolt against tomorrow and as such comes to terms with the present moment. Suicide consents to the absurd as final and limitless while revolt is a an ongoing struggle with the absurd and brings with it man's redemption.

One can see now why Sisyphus is the absurd hero. He is conscious of his plight: it was his scorn of the gods, hatred of death, and passion for life that won him the penalty of rolling a rock to the top of the mountain forever, and he does not appeal to hope or to any uncertain gods. His is the ultimate absurd, for there is not death at the end of his struggle. All is not chaos; the experience of the absurd is the proof of man's uniqueness and the foundation of his dignity and freedom.
All that remains is a fate whose outcome alone is fatal. Outside of that single fatality of death, everything, joy or happiness, is liberty. A world remains of which man is the sole master. What bound him was the illusion of another world. The outcome of his thought , ceasing to be renunciatory, flowers in images. It frolics - in myths, to be sure, but myths with no other depth than that of human suffering and like it inexhaustible. Not the divine fable that amuses and blinds, but the terrestial face, gesture, and drama in which are summed up a difficult wisdom and an ephemeral passion. (p. 87) One could do worse than to consider the myths-retold in the works of Camus.

Exerts from "The Absurd Hero" by Bob Lane (laneb@mala.bc.ca)

Missionary doctor Marilyn Scudder dies

6/3/2005 Exerted from obituary by Trudi Hahn in Minneapolis Star-Tribune


This is a picture of the Mvuni hospital in Tanzania where Dr. Maryilyn Scudder worker. It services the needs of over 40,000 people in the Tanzania country side. If you can help the Mvuni Hospital help others, see the link.



In the spirit of trying to make the world a better place, I came across an obituary on Dr. Marilyn Scudder who died in Salaam, Tanzania on May 16, 2005 at the age of 66. I'm a daily reader of the newspaper. The daily newspaper of choice for me is the St. Paul Pioneer Press-Dispatch. My ties to the Pioneer Press-Dispatch go back to when I started delivering this paper at the age of eight. Legally, it was my brother's paper route, because you had to be 10 to offically have a route. Back than the Pioneer Press and Dispatch we split between the morning and evening papers. My brother and I delivered both.

The first thing I read in the paper is the obituaries. I try to prepare myself for the surprise death of someone I know or am related to. Also, I read the obits of people of note. The obituary of Marilyn Scudder was inspiring to me and goes with the theme of this blog site.

Scudder was born in 1939 to medical missionary parents in Amarah, Iraq. She was the 102nd missionary in her family. Nearly all the missionaries in four or five generations of Scudders had served in the Middle East. She moved with her family in 1949 to Kuwait, where oil had been discovered but had not yet transformed poverty-stricken “old Kuwait,” where she played in dirt streets as a child.

She attended boarding school in India, received a bachelor’s degree from Hope College in Holland, Mich., and an M.D. in 1965 fro the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. After a year’s internship in Kalamazoo, Mich., she moved to the Twin Cities and began a residency in ophthalmology and a fellowship in retina studies at the University of Minnesota.

Her work in Africa began in 1970 when she was head of the eye department at a hospital in Mvuni, Tanzania. She returned to Minnesota in 1971 for further study, and in 1973 joined the eye department at a medical center in Moshi, Tanzania, where she became department head in 1979.

According to Shirley Shumaker, a longtime friend of Scudder’s from New Brighton, MN, “She felt there was plenty of medical advice in the United States. She wanted to be whee she was really of use.”
Sponsored by a German group, the Christian Blind Mission International, the eye team took medical safaris by vehicle and small plane to 30 mission and government hospitals all over Tanzania. People walked for miles to get eye care in the country and then walked miles to get home. Scudder retired from surgery in 2001 and went to live and work with the Franciscan Capuchin Sisters of Maua, on the western slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro near the village of Sanya Juu. There she continued training nurses and holding eye clinics. She was diagnosed with primary amyloidosis in 2002. She was buried May 21 at her home on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

The goal: to change the world

Exerts from editorial by Glenda Holste in St. Paul Pioneer Press on 6/3/2005

“The message from the United Nations’ coordinator resonates with the fire and practical optimism of a classic Midwest prairie populist: Informed, engaged citizens can change the world.”

Holste’s editorial centers around the United Nations’ “Millennium Development Goals” and the current town hall tour by Eveline Herfens, executive coordinator of the UN’s Millennium Goal campaign. To make such a campaign work and these goals to reached, we have to “get them down out of the rethorical clouds and into your hands.”

What are the goals that have been approved by the 191 countries making up the UN?

They are as follows:
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
2. Achieve universal primary education.
3. Promote gender equality and empower women.
4. Reduce child mortality.
5. Improve maternal health.
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
7. Ensure environmental sustainability.
8. Develop a global partnership for development.

The target date for reaching these goals is 2015. All 191 UN member nations have pledge to do their part.

"Cyberbulling"?

This morning at the laundry mat, I picked up a copy of Awake!, a weekly publication put out by the Jehovah Witnesses. I found the article below, in a section called “Watching the World.” I include it here, because I believe it helps illustrate some of the negative uses of today’s technology to hurt people and spread the negative gospel preached in the virtual Ethernet of our world.

While having coffee with a friend of mine last weekend, we were discussing a local news/political blog site. My friend was supportive of the blog posters who actually used their own names – especially when attacking the school and government officials. He might totally disagree with them, but at least they are willing to sign their names at the bottom of their comments. The other side to his comment is that these blog posters use more than one post name – depending on how negative they want to be. In other words, when there might actually be some grains of truth in the posts, they will sign their actual names to the posts. Otherwise, they use a nickname.

Below is an article that discusses some of the Internet bullying that goes on:


Cell phones and the Internet are social lifelines for many young people. "They cal also be their social death," says Canada’s MacLean’s magazine, since "cyber bullies" can use E-mail, instant messaging, and cell-phone text messaging to torment victims. "A quarter of young Canadian Internet users report having received material that said hateful things about others," says MacLean’s. Such electronic bullying has moved police to issue reminders that written death threats are a crime. MacLean’s advises parents to talk to their children about the people and places they visit on-line and to put computers in an open area of the home where it is easy to monitor what children are reading and sending. The report warns children never to respond to a bully's message and never to "give out their long-in codes or passwords to others, even their best buddies," in order to prevent their private information from being passed on to others.

Life on the borderline...

Come on! Let's save the world...

5/26/2005

In a beautiful valley the river of my life flows. The river is wide -- but not too wide -- and the hills are high -- but not mountians. Four seasons bring ice, snow, rain, green, orange, red and brown colors. More and more people are seeking out the offerings of my valley and with them come an ever expanding array of ideas about life, politics, education, reacreation, progress and history.

I was born 50 years ago 20 miles from where I type this. My father grew up 20 miles from here. My grandma and her people grew up 20 miles from here. Here grandfather built the log cabin she was born in and cut down the last of the white pines.

Looks like we are staying put. From the factory where I work, I can alomost see the house I grew up in. It is six miles as the crow flies. When I was a paperboy, I could hear the same factory's whistle, as I headed down the hill to delivery my morning papers.

On my way to work now, I stop for coffee and get the same paper I delivered over 40 years ago. Then I cross the same river my father crossed for 35 years to work at the same factory. A couple of my brothers and one of my sisters cross that river too, as do a number of the guys I grew up with. "Globalization" has not found us yet and our company hasn't embraced the concept of "outscouring" -- yet.

The world keeps turning and the bills keep getting paid and we keep saving for retirement. Where this all leads, we can only guess, but I would like you to join me on this journey and share your insights and perspectives with me and join together to make the world a better place for us, our children, their children and the future generations that we will leave this planet to.

Is this a noble cause? Definately. Can we do it? You are living proof that it can be done. Why should you be part of this crusade? ...you made the call...

Feel free to join in the conversation and join with me as we embark on the seemlingly impossible task of polishing up this "big, blue marble" we call Earth...