Orbits of a deluded mind

Finishing the exploration.

As the city employees who were my escort took me deeper and deeper into the former high school, the dust and age of the ‘left-overs’ gave the impression that these areas had been largely untouched even by the swatters and metals thieves. There were several areas that disturbingly colder than the surroundings. Before it’s asked, no, I didn’t notice any permanent residents.

1


( Read more... )

I was researching a photo article I wanted to offer to several publications including Alabama A&M (University). The article focused on a little known abandoned gem lying in the heart of downtown Huntsville. In the winter of 2011, I managed to get a guided tour of Huntsville’s former segregated African American high school. William H. Councill was the founder and first president of what became Alabama A&M (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama_Agricultural_and_Mechanical_University) in 1890. Councill, a former slave, rose to become a lawyer, newspaper editor, legislator and Alabama Supreme Court Justice. He was without doubt one of the rare cases of success in the Jim Crow era.


It seems appropriate then that the US Martin Luther King Jr holiday (and several days after), I offer some images of the high school building named in his honor.

( Read more... )

In the United States, today is the Martin Luther King Jr holiday. Several years ago the US chose to honor the slain civil right leader on his birthday to recognize his and in effect, many thousands of others contributions to be equal regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, and by extension, sexual preference (note: many civil rights laws enacted have been used to protect the LGBT community).

In Huntsville, there is a relic of that era. A former segregated high school building still stands in silent testimony of the days when black children and white children did not attend the same schools. Welcome to William Councill High School.



( School’s Out For-ever )

History still in the making

At the end of my previous post, I asked ” What does an 80 year old cotton mill and NASA have to do with each other? Huntsville is a city of contrasts. It was a center for the cotton industry for the first half of the 1900’s. In the second half of the 1900’s, Huntsville became the host to the developing US Space and Rocket program. Lincoln Mill was the bridge between the two eras.



( Past, present, & future [14 behind the cut] )

1. The Hawes Communications Bunker (Visit #4 because she wanted to see it);
2. The Atolia Tungsten Mines (4 miles square – 100+ mine openings);
3. Randsburg, CA (A Class C “living” ghost town – 300 houses, 78 residents);
4. Boron Minimum Security Federal Prison Camp (This required two visits)

The Visitors Center
Unlike most prisons, this facility seemed to have very low key security for the visitor compound. Remember that inmates here were low risk, non-violent offenders. Think middle age, white collar and stupid. As such, the security for visitors and directed at inmates was very loose compared to a ‘traditional’ jail or prison you see in the movies or television.


Safety first - this warning seemed to be more to keep kids from climbing the fence, back in the day.

( This house is not a home [20 behind the cut] )

One of the things that I've noticed in the primary election yesterday in New Hampshire was the heavy turn-out by voters. Before that in Iowa, caucus participation was equally heavy. Today none of the new services seem to be picking up on a possible trend. Americans are taking very substantial and significantly increased interest in the election process. In Iowa, the numbers I read showed a nearly 40% increase in voters across the board. I haven't seen figures from NH, but the reports of polling sites making emergency requests for more ballots due to "record heavy turn out" is very heartening.

I hope this trend continues

I'm planning to send a copy of this message to the Icelandic embassy. The e-mail in the previous link is to the translator/friend of hers.

----------------------------------------------

To His Excellency, Albert Jónsson, Icelandic Ambassador to the United States,

An Open Letter Regarding the Treatment of Miss Erla Osk Arnardottir Lillendahl


Yesterday I learned of a horrendous and heinous breach of some very basic principles of conduct and behavior that most citizens of the United States hold dear. The treatment that Miss Lillendahl received in the hands of representatives of US Homeland Security during her recent visit to the United States was appalling and shameful. The behavior of the officials who detained her was inexcusable and aberrant in my eyes.

I visited Iceland years ago as a member of the US Air Force. The warmth, friendliness and easy going nature of the Icelandic people stuck in my memory. Those attitudes are also typical among common citizens here in the US. Her treatment at the hands of a group of small-minded, vicious, security bureaucrats is not what we expect of our government’s representatives.

Most Americans have expectations of fair or normal treatment for people whether they are US citizens or visitors to this country. Sadly my government has become irrationally paranoid of terrorists. That fear has been instilled into the organizations that are supposed to watch and protect the borders. What happened to her was neither fair nor normal. It was a breech of respect, protocols, basic rights and due process. I can only speak for myself in this letter, as a private US citizen. As such, please convey to Miss Lillendahl my sincerest and heartfelt apologies. Hopefully in years to come, she will be able to visit this country without fear of harassment. On that occasion, I hope she will be able to see for herself the real measure of good will, friendliness and hospitality common among the citizens of the United States.

With deep regret,



http://www.iceland.org/us/
mailto:icemb.wash@utn.stjr.is

The Bush Adminisitration...


Not content with merely lying, defrauding and cheating; the admininistration has finally cut ties to the Evangelical / Christian community. What better way to show the dark side in which King George serves than do so than on the newest dollar coin?

Treasury Department has released (accidently?) a new one dollar coin. A large batch of these beauties have a unique birthmark. "In God We Trust" isn't there.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Godless_Dollars.html

Funny, but the Treasury is making no effort to recover the "at least 50,000 error coins were put in circulation" and some of which are selling openly on eBay. Funny how demand in dollar coins suddenly skyrocketed?.. I wonder, if they'd shown Sacagawea in a loin-cloth*, or Susan B in her younger, wilder, mini-dress years*, whether their coins might have been a bit more popular. It's a shame the Eisenhower "thumbs-up" (Steve Colbert style) coin was rejected in the stodgely 1970's.





* This is humor, refer to wikipedia under the subject of wild, silly sarcasm before commenting that JJ is being insensitive