By Steve Moody

The World Trade Center terrorist attack doesn’t seem like occurred ten years ago this Sunday. Do you plan on observing it in any special way?

Robert DeNiro will narrate a television special Sunday evening. Some of you will watch that.

Most fire departments will pull their vehicles out onto the front apron and observe a moment of silence. Others will be performing a symbolic stairway climb.

I was asked a question today. “Is the fire service a value or a strain on citizens – and why?” No harm was meant by the question – just a way for the asker to generate some thought. With a little more thought, here’s how I wish I would have answered.

“Firefighters world-wide risk their lives daily for the lives and property of those they serve. None get wealthy. And the majority get little to no monetary compensation. At times the cost of the service – like any service – can put a strain on the citizens. But it never loses it’s value.”

“Firefighters continue to go where others flee. And some will lose their lives doing so. We only hope we never lose as many as we lost on September 11, 2001.”

If you do nothing else this coming Sunday, mouth one simple word – Thanks.

Steve Moody is the Emergency Management Director of Stafford County. He is the former Leavenworth Fire Chief and served as Deputy Fire Chief during his 28 years at the Salina Fire Department. Stafford County Emergency Management Blog

WASHINGTON (AP) — A spacecraft circling the moon has snapped the sharpest photos ever of the tracks and trash left behind by Apollo astronauts in their visits from 1969 to 1972.

Images taken by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter from 13 to 15 miles up show the astronauts’ paths when they walked on the moon, as well as ruts left by a moon buggy. Experts could even identify the backpacks astronauts pitched out of their lunar landers before they returned to Earth.

“What we’re seeing is a trail,” said Arizona State University geology professor Mark Robinson, the orbiter’s chief scientist. “It’s totally awesome.”

However, the photos were not close enough to see individual bootprints, Robinson said.

The pictures were taken two weeks ago and show the landing sites for Apollo 12, 14 and 17. The closest images are of the 1972 Apollo 17 site, the last moon mission.

Apollo 17 Commander Eugene Cernan wrote in an email to The Associated Press that the photo gives him a chance to revisit those days, “this time with a little nostalgia and disappointment. Nostalgia because those special days are fondly etched in my memory and disappointment because it looks like now we will not be going back within the days I have left on this planet.”

Two years ago, images from the same spacecraft from 30 and 60 miles out showed fuzzier images. But this year the orbiter dipped down to take about 300,000 more close-ups. The trails left by the astronauts are clear, but the places where backpacks were discarded, Apollo 17’s moon buggy, and the bottom parts of the three lunar landers are blurry.

“You have to really look at it for a long time to figure out what you’re looking at,” Robinson said. For example, when it comes to the moon buggy he said, “if you squint really hard you can resolve the wheels and that the wheels are slightly turned to the left.”

At first, scientists thought they had a bit of a mystery: They saw more stuff than they expected. It turned out to be packing material and an insulation blanket, Robinson said.

After 40 years there does not seem to be much moon dust covering the manmade trails. It probably will take about 10 million to 100 million years for dust to cover them, Robinson said.

The photos were released a few days after the debut of the new fictional movie “Apollo 18” and before Thursday’s planned launch of NASA’s twin robotic spaceships to explore the moon’s gravity.

Through Greed and Communism the Dream is Lost: The Martin Luther King Washington Monument

By Paul Ibbetson

Opportunities to do good are lost every day. Either through apathy, stupidity, or unfortunately sometimes, bad intentions, situations where good can be done are not only lost, but are replaced with something that is detrimental to society. The Martin Luther King, Jr., Monument in Washington’s National Mall is just such an example. The series of events that brought “this version” of the depiction of the famous civil rights activist to “this location” shows the world just how out of line the culture of our country has now become.

First, the King monument is placed in the National Mall, a location specifically designated for U.S. Presidents and fallen soldiers. There is a strong argument to be made that the sculpture of the civil rights icon would be better placed in a different location. However, this argument pales in comparison to the residual implications derived from who actually created the monument and how King is portrayed in stone.

As reported by John Hayward in Human Events, in oddly bizarre fashion, the King monument was not commissioned for creation by Americans, but was rather given to the fifty-seven year old Chinese Communist, Lei Yixin. Yixin is known among other things for his stone depictions of the Communist Chairman Mao Tse-tung. He thus created a depiction of King that some would say runs counter to a true reflection of the man and what he stood for. Martin Luther King Jr. looks decidedly Asian. The civil rights leader, who was known for both kindness and compassion, is reflected in stone by Yixin having a stern look on his face and with arms folded as if he is in opposition to those who view him. In the stone statue King also grips an unknown document with force, and one can only guess if the artist meant the document to be one with biblical scripture, the constitution, or one of Mao’s many version of the “Little Red Book.”

Some have asserted that the carving of this statue should have been commissioned to a black artisan; however, I think that King would have preferred to look at quality of character, and artistic ability, over color of skin.  With that observation in mind, it is still hard to fathom that King would have wished that his memorial depiction to be created to exhibit a Communist mentality, certainly void of the Christian values he championed. The “angry Asian, the Communist Martin Luther King, Jr.” monument also includes inscriptions of many of King’s famous quotes, but minus his famous “I have a dream,” apparently, purposely omitted. This lack is almost fitting as little of King’s true Christian nature is on display.

The final note, in what has become a sad story, is that it appears that the King monument was never intended to be designed for posterity, but rather for family profit. As reported in the New York Post, the Martin Luther King, Jr., family charged to the foundation that built the monument $800,000 to use King’s words and image. This King family money scheme further removes the appropriateness of the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial being placed alongside distinguished U.S. Presidents and fallen soldiers whose families never asked, nor received any residuals for the honor of being memorialized. Sadly, there are now no redeemable qualities to retrieve from exhibiting a King memorial in Washington, as both Communism and family greed have instead simply created an anathema of a monument now placed in the National Mall.

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life deserves a more honorable and precise legacy than what is depicted in the new Washington memorial. It is said that the reported inspiration for the piece came from King’s “I have a dream” speech in which the civil rights leader stated, “Out of a mountain of despair, a stone of hope.” Instead of a noble transformation, people in the National Mall will now view a Marxian mountain that is too arrogant and more fitting to a Communist bloc than to the powerful role Martin Luther King Jr. played in a movement for equality gained through passive resistance and the power of prayer. Opportunities to do good are lost every day, but some are more painful to watch than others.

Paul A. Ibbetson is a former Chief of Police of Cherryvale, Kansas, and member of the Montgomery County Drug Task Force. Paul received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Criminal Justice at Wichita State University, and is currently completing his Ph.D. in Sociology at Kansas State University. Paul is the author of several books including the 2011 release “The Good Fight: Why Conservatives Must Take Back America.” Paul is also the radio host of the Kansas Broadcasting Association’s 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 award-winning radio program, Conscience of Kansas airing on KRMR The Patriot 105.7 FM, www.ibbetsonusa.com. For interviews or questions, please contact him at [email protected]

 

The views and opinions expressed in this post are soley those of the author. These views and opinions do not represent those of SalinaPost.com, and/or any/all contributors to this site.

By Tom Wilbur

Birth.  Life.  Death.  The cycle of life, in three words.

From the moment we are born, we are created by God to grow—in stature, skills, understanding, wisdom, maturity, and spirituality.  He has given us the tools to embrace the day and make a difference in the lives of each person we meet.  The opportunity to love and share, create and nurture, need and provide.  And then, interestingly enough, we’re given these physical bodies we inhabit, and then we die.

Some of us hit life’s snooze button early on—we’re pacing ourselves, and anxious to get the day over with as fast as possible.  Others are as energized about this day at age 95, as they were when they first appeared to the world from their mother’s womb.  We have met these people on occasion, and they are incredibly interesting, dynamic and fun.

Still others seem to be driven to make positive changes in all that they touch.  Their world may revolve around a specific place— maybe their home town is their sphere of influence.  Or an industry.  Or people of their same race or ethnicity.  Or their church.   Or the classroom.  But they are engaged, and involved in creating an environment for a better life….for everyone.

It seems to me that these days, we feel compelled to teach our children that they should learn about events and places and things—and that all children should be brought up to be able to recite certain stuff.  And place a lean mark in a multiple choice circle on an exam.  We present information, and then we test kids on it—feeling that there’s a requirement to place a quantitative standard in place– and gauge how we are doing in comparison to each other.  No Child Left Behind might fall in that category.  Or ACT tests.  Or simple assessment grades.

I am fascinated by a quote my brother, Paul, recently shared with me, by Pablo Casals, the Spanish cellist, who said:

Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that will never be again. And what do we teach our children?  We teach them that two and two make four, and that Paris is the capital of France.  When will we also teach them what they are?

We should say to each of them:  Do you know what you are?  You are a marvel.  You are unique.  In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you.  Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move.

You may become a Shakespeare, a Michaelangelo, a Beethoven.  You have the capacity for anything.  Yes, you are a marvel.  And when you grow up, can you then harm another who is, like you, a marvel?  You must work, we must all work, to make the world worthy of its children.

We are all marvelous creatures, with a string of a million moments that make up our existence. The challenge Casals sets forward is– as he states: We must . . . make the world worthy of its children.  I wonder what kind of grade we should give ourselves on that one?

Do we provide a world of love, opportunity and support for our children?  Do we demonstrate values like integrity, grace, and humility in serving others?  Do we create an environment that develops the core being of our children, instead of making them into recitation devices?  Is there a way for us to measure how well we are doing in that regard, or is it even necessary?  Do we provide the appropriate opportunities to allow them to develop, first as a child, learning to adapt to their surroundings?  Do they have time to play, and explore?  Or do we as adults live our lives vicariously through them, with tethers, restraints, and boundaries based upon our own notions of who they should become?

I grew up in a time and space where kids actually went outside for the day just to be outside.  I know it’s hard to imagine.  We interacted with other little humans, instead of hiding behind electronic devices.  We could carry on a conversation.

We built treehouses, and had Kool-Aid stands.  We played in the mud and the water of a recent rain— chased frogs, and dug up earthworms.  We had to be accountable to the moment, and to each other . . . lest someone scrape their knee, or fall from their bike. Sometimes we ventured a little too far, and did something so bad, we got a spanking.   Yep, a spanking.

We kicked the ball up and down the street with the other kids in the neighborhood, and lived in homes where the front door was rarely locked, and where children were safe to roam.  And when it got really hot on a Kansas summer day, we’d drink water from the hose outside, or maybe come inside for a while and play board games, or read books—delighting in a cool glass of sweet tea from a neighborhood Mom’s pitcher in the fridge.

Watch TV all day?  Unthinkable. Spend more than a minute of two on the phone?  We couldn’t.  We had a thing called a party line, and had to share.  Ship inappropriate movies into our homes?  Never happened.  We were kids, and were allowed to be kids for a while—as we developed our minds, and grew.

Take kids out of church on Sundays to play organized sports? The reverse was true—in order to be in a league in our home town, you were required to attend Sunday school—at least if you intended to participate in organized sports through the Y.M.C.A.

Obesity in children was the exception to the rule.  So were non-nuclear families.  Divorce and bankruptcy happened occasionally, not the majority of the time.  People paid their debts, and there were consequences for not doing so.

I guess I’m just an old fogey now, yearning for simpler times for our children . . . times when we were actually allowed to be kids— and allowed the time to look at the sky above and contemplate, instead of beating yet another level on a handheld video game, or being overwhelmed with nightly homework.

Maybe there ought to be a class in school called, “Play, Dream, and Achieve”.  We wouldn’t need to give out a grade.  It would be, what it is . . . simply giving kids time to process life.  And every so often, a child could actually be left behind, to allow more time and more space for their aspirations and goals to be developed, nourished, and supported. More time for their developing brains to mature—without fear of retribution, or feeling inadequate based upon a set of scores.  More time to think, and dream, and run, and jump, and play.  After all, what’s the hurry?

We could create such a world for our children.  We should create such a world for our children.

Think of the possibilities.

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Tom Wilbur is President/CEO of BANK VI in Salina.  He is a lifelong resident of Salina, is a graduate of the University of Kansas, and has been a regular editorial contributor to newspapers and magazines.  He can be contacted at [email protected]