If you want climate change move to Arizona

As a person who holds pretty tightly to his science roots this junk about climate change is getting to be a bit much. It’s the Battling Bickersons to the Nth. Really does it matter whether we, as in the human population of the world, are responsible for these “catastrophic” climate changes? Not to mention that both the “we’re making the world hotter” and “the weather is cyclic” sides seem to possess plausible studies and associated arguments?

It actually stands to reason that humans have affected the climate. We are by far the most successful of all species, short cockroaches, mosquitos, and the Canadian geese around Southpark Mall. And, if you take the geese as an example, there’s no question that we have befouled our environment. Have you tried walking the grounds in the mall area? It’s loaded with green Tootsie rolls, courtesy of our illegal alien goslings.

The problem with predicting climate change is that it changes all the time. Even as sophisticated as the weather folk are, there always seems to be that rogue storm or twister that confounds every one. Back in the ‘60s some clever entrepreneur came up with one of the cleverest ideas of all time: The Weather Rock.

What is a weather rock you ask?

Simple, it’s a chunk of field stone that you put out on your deck or in your yard. Want to know what the weather’s like; if the rock is wet, it’s raining. If it’s dry, it’s not raining. If it’s under a mound of the white fluffy, it’s snowing.

I don’t know how many of them sold, but the idea of making money from that just shows what kind of goose we Americans are. Yes, a silly one.

But in reality, things like the climate change over time. Whether we humans have any real effect on how hot it is getting is hard to judge. After all, according to science, it was pretty hot some time back when there weren’t any humans to blame it on. Of course, the atmosphere back then wasn’t exactly the best for our species, but hey what they heck we’re really just speculating here, aren’t we?

One thing is for certain, at some point one of the two parties is going to be able to stick their tongues out and say, ‘I told you so.’ But I for one don’t believe for an instant that I will be around when that day comes.

Forever, it seems, there have been differences of opinion in science. Back in the day, people believed in the Ptolemaic view of the universe. You know, the one the Pope liked so much, where everything rotated around the Earth, and by proxy the Vatican. But then along comes some upstart named Galileo and he turns the whole thing on its ear.

Science it seems led Galileo to believe that the Sun was the center of our solar system. Of course, the church came out adamantly against such a view, even though we now know it was mostly true, right.

It’s not a lot different from the view held by many that the world was flat. Forever, it seems, the people argued that the world was essentially a disc. The Earth was little more than a Frisbee in space and if you sailed your ship too far, obviously, you would fall off the edge. That too was believed for years before Thor Hayerdahl fell off the edge of the Pacific Ocean in his ship the Kon-Tiki.

Then, in 1969, it was proven even further as astronauts sent back shots of the Earth that resembled a Delft plate. And, as we all know, seeing is believing and by gum that big blue and white thingy looked flat-like a plate.

And yet, it seems like the Good Ol’ U-S-of-A just can’t help but give money to scientists to study all kinds of things. So I guess tossing a few more millions at figuring out whether humans are responsible for the weather heating up isn’t too crazy. But if it keeps on going this way, the next thing you know the government is going to start funding something really stupid like cow emanations.

Temple Avenue Roundabout: Goddard vs VDOT - Round 2

Back in the mid-1950s when the Virginia Department of Transportation was building what was then known as the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike they had a land acquisition problem in Colonial Heights. Land acquisition, or eminent domain as the politicos like to call it, is the taking of real property from an owner for benefit of the community and paying them “fair market value.”

So, when the construction parade was heading south on the turnpike in 1956 VDOT realized that one local family owned a key piece of land they needed for both the highway and the current Temple Avenue exit ramp. Lloyd Goddard Jr. owned a working 80-acre dairy farm that included the tract from the old railroad bed to Conduit Road to the creek just beyond Temple Avenue. No doubt when it came time to purchase the land the state was drooling because the property fit in perfectly with their highway scheme.

So the land acquisition people stepped in and purchased almost half the farm, about 30 acres, for approximately $14,000. Such a deal. They left the Goddard family with a much smaller plat, part of which became what’s known affectionately by some in the community as Goddard’s Pond. But the pond was a pasture when the state purchased the property.

Along with the land, the state also took the barn, the silos, and damaged part of the homestead according to details recorded in the deed. Now, due to the ramp construction for the soon-to-be-old-Temple-Avenue exit and a number of natural springs, the pasture became a pond. So much for that seven acres of land.

After the state makes good on the new purchase, Lloyd Goddard III said they would still own two smaller pieces on West Roslyn Road. One piece, on the north side of the street, abuts the current on-ramp and is used as a pasture for horses. The other piece is a plot next to Faith Baptist Church, which Goddard believes it is too small to build on or do anything else with.

“The plans for the new exit ramp go right through the house. And the ramp will be up on the old railroad right of way on the opposite side of the pond from where it is now,” according to Goddard. There is little question that the state is back to finish off the land acquisition process it started with the Goddard family about 60 years ago.

The big question is what is fair market value?

Goddard said no one has actually approached him about purchasing the property, but they all say that’s where the new exit will be going. When he asks about it, they just tell him that real estate is fluid and they will wait until the time is right to make the purchase. Not being up front about the land acquisition is probably a bit upsetting to Goddard. It should be upsetting to all property owners in the community because it means that if the Man wants your property there isn’t much you can do about it.

Goddard’s homestead was built in the early 1800s, perhaps as late as 1820 although the only record Goddard has been able to track down shows 1830. His family has owned the house and land since about 1910, when Goddard’s great grandparents paid $3,000 for the 80 acre property they ran as a dairy farm.

Four generations have lived there. Over the years the Goddard’s sold a few small pieces, the seven acres where Priscilla’s is now for one. Besides the obvious historical value of an antebellum home in the city, records show that confederate soldiers camped on the land. Whether confederate troops used the house as well is possible, but Goddard said there is no documentation to support the claim. The home was also a place where hobos would stop for a sandwich, he said, they had left a marker and his grandmother would leave sandwiches out for them to eat. The railroad bed itself has historical significance, although the state is going to preserve it by burying it, Goddard said. It was a mere quarter mile from Dunlop Station and likely was the train General Robert E. Lee used when he sent reinforcements to the Howlett Line during General Benjamin Butler’s attempts to take Richmond and Petersburg.

Goddard took control of the property when his father signed the deed over to him in 1984, two months before his father passed away. When the state comes to “buy” his property, as it inevitably will, how does such family history fit into a term like “fair market value?”

Given how the state acted back in the ‘50s and the fact that the plans for the new exit ramp, a roundabout situated directly on top of where the old railroad bed cross under Temple Avenue, it’s no wonder Goddard seems a bit nervous. While the price the state paid for the property in their first purchase may have been fair market value at the time, it seems like highway robbery when looked at through the prism of 2013.

Even Goddard admits the state needs to do something to improve the exit ramp and to allow the city to grow. What they do, or how they go about doing it, really doesn’t matter. But it would seem that when you advertise a new road plan that involves taking someone’s homestead away that it would be just fair marketing to talk to the prospective seller. While “seller” might not be the best term for someone whose land is being grabbed by the state for the betterment of the community, it sadly is the term that will likely be used when the deal is struck. Make no mistake, if the state moves forward with the roundabout solution to the I-95-Temple interchange Goddard’s remaining property will be absorbed.

At the meeting last week, the state right of way personnel seemed pleased that only one piece of property would need to be acquired to construct the new ramp. And in truth, it’s pretty amazing when you consider other road projects. But for that one family it amounts to losing everything. Sixty years ago highway construction left the Goddard family with less than a 10^th of their farm. Now, the state is coming back to get the rest of his family’s homestead. It makes one wonder what the fair market value is on that.

Dennis Rodman to pressure Un to release Kenneth Bae

Ping pong diplomacy played a big part in then President Richard M. Nixon’s diplomacy with China, which stands as perhaps the only major accomplishment of his regime. During that time period, US relations with China and its leader Mao Zedong were not the best. But a timely meeting of table tennis teams seemed to thaw the two leaders’ differences and heralded a new start in U.S.-China relations.

So maybe the idea of Dennis Rodman stopping by North Korea on a snowy evening for some basketball diplomacy isn’t so much of a stretch of the imagination than it might seem. Maybe, just maybe Dennis will be able to do what no one else seems to be able to do, get a point across to Kim Jong Un. It can happen, right?

Yeah right!

The idea of a hard-core dictator like Un getting along, and perhaps even listening to, a person like Dennis is out there somewhere in deep space. Not that it matters, mind you, but Dennis brings a certain amount of baggage with him, from rings, piercings, tattoos, and cross dressing. I am sure that Premier Un is liberal enough to see past all of that and realize that Dennis comes with a message of peace and love from his own country to North Korea.

Put down your nukes, Dennis says, and we will do likewise. Treat the south better than we treat our own south, and the US will come to embrace his country. Prove that your nation is truly peaceful by opening your prisons and releasing all your political prisoners, and the US will remove sanctions, pull back its forces in South Korea, and point the Pacific fleet at China, where it should be, Rodman might say.

Funny how people like Dennis Rodman, Jane Fonda, a myriad of Hollywood personalities, and other uber-rich people think they have the perfect solution for every American political dilemma. By right of assumption they seem to think they know best how to run the country, when in reality they have a hard time running their own lives. But don’t let that get in the way, just look at all my awards, you know I have to be special, right?

Truth be known, if we had some competence in Washington, both sides of the aisle included, we might actually accomplish a few things. But the theory of checks and balances has now become the theory of imbalanced throttling. So many of our elected officials, both near and far, are out for themselves with their political office merely standing in as a way to acquire their means.

Winning a political office used to be an honor. It used to be considered a duty to serve as a senator, congressman, or president. Now it’s more of a goal. Unethical behavior by our elected officials is rampant. You needn’t go very far to see it—how about just a trip to Richmond? Even in our own backyard, dishonesty prevails. The most recent example of which, and probably the one with the most visibility, regards the current governor Bob McDonnell. But don’t stop there. We have plenty of examples, just look at the current day’s news.

But let’s get back to international politics. Rodman, naively, believes he has some influence over Un, but he really doesn’t. Whether Un releases American missionary Kenneth Bae or not, I can assure you Rodman will have little to do with the ultimate decision. Where the decision will unfold is whether the North Korean powers that be feel they have weaned enough PR out of Bae. If they think it plays better into their ultimate plans to free Bae, then they will free him. If they think they can get more mileage out of keeping him locked up, he will stay in prison.

What egos people like Rodman and Fonda must have to think that their support or visit could in any way sway the views of these dictators. It is beyond belief. In the end, their visits will only do more to support the countries they are visiting and the regimes that are in place there. Changing a lifetime of ideology takes more than an NBA championship ring, an Oscar statuette, or a few trips to the collective.