The seasons change ,Darkness and Light do battle, The dead are among us

 CNN has a nice post on All Hallows eve and the Pagan and Christian  experience .   I'm not against the Christian  adaption of the holiday or the commercialization but we should admit it

For growing ranks of pagans, October 31 means a lot more than Halloween

By Susanne Gargiulo, Special to CNN

As pumpkins, witches and faux cobwebs have taken over much of North America for Halloween, Clare Slaney-Davis is preparing an October 31 feast that some would consider much spookier, with table settings for her grandparents, a great-aunt and other relatives who have passed away.
As she and her living guests eat, they'll share stories and memories of loved ones they've lost.
The Christian debate over Halloween
Slaney-Davis, who is based in London, isn't preparing the feast for Halloween. Instead, she and pagans around the world are celebrating Samhain, the beginning of the pagan new year, a night when the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead is believed to be the thinnest of any time during the year.
That's why it's a night devoted to ancestors. "We honor them, and we recognize that we don't live in a world of people who are merely dead or alive," says Slaney-Davis, 46. "Ancestors are central to us."
Along with the Catholic holiday All Saints' Day, Samhain is considered an ancient forerunner of Halloween. Samhain began as a Celtic celebration marking the end of harvest and the beginning of winter's hardship.
Today, pagans play down the Halloween-Samhain connection. But the growing popularity of the pagan new year in Europe and North America is part of what many experts say is a global revival of paganism.
Slaney-Davis, who trained as a witch and a druid, says her religion has nothing to do with ghosts and ghouls. "To me, being a pagan means being in divine balance with nature and being responsible for my actions," she says. "I understand that my behavior has an effect on people I don't even know exist. It is not a theology of perfection but one of belonging."
Over-the-top jack-o'-lanterns
But it is a theology that's gaining ground. According to the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey, the number of members of "other religions" or "new religious movements," categories that include pagans, more than doubled between 1990 and 2008, to 2.8 million.
The survey, conducted byTrinity College in Connecticut, reported that the numbers of Wiccans and neo-pagans had also doubled in that time.
Contemporary pagan religions like Wicca and druidism are considered neo-pagan movements.
"(Paganism) is one of the fastest growing religions in the world," says Michael York, a retired religious scholar from Bath Spa University in the UK. "True numbers are impossible to come by because many people are wary to admit they are pagan, and reliable statistics just don't exist."
Movies that scare the people who scare us
While paganism covers a range of individual religious groups, including Wicca, druidism, and shamanism, they're bound by some common denominators, such as roots in ancient, pre-Christian beliefs, and their view of nature and the whole physical world as sacred.
"In traditional religions you have a conflict between God and nature," says York. "But for pagans, nature becomes the truest expression of the divine."
That, he says, is a big reason why paganism is seeing a revival: "If nothing else, because of the impending destruction of our environment, and our focus on finding a way to live in balance with nature."
Another key pagan belief is the freedom for each person to determine his or her own way to and view of the divine. "Paganism doesn't put restrictions on what you can and cannot believe," says Jason Pitzl-Waters, co-founder of the Pagan Newswire Collective and the pagan blog The Wild Hunt. "It grows out of an ethos that there isn't just one sacred way to understand the world."
But that lack of dogma has become something of a stumbling block for the movement. "Because paganism is very individual, it creates the problem of not having a unified voice, because nobody speaks for the movement as a whole," says York.
Another problem pagans face is one of image: For centuries, including during the Roman Catholic inquisition, pagans were denounced as heretics and devil-worshippers.
"One of our greatest challenges is to overcome the hostility of groups that still see us as evil," says Pitzl-Waters. "To some conservative Christian groups, we are an early warning sign of societal collapse."
Just last week, an opinion column in The Christian Post, an online newspaper, warned that the "dark festival" of Samhain is an invitation to the devil. The column said that "even though you don't consciously call upon Satan, his demons are nevertheless present any time a Wiccan goes through a spiritual door by using magic." It calls on Wiccans to ask forgiveness for their sins and to turn to Jesus.
"Part of what is scary for conservative religions is that as a pagan, I consider myself part of the divine," says Holli S. Emore, executive director at South Carolina's Cherry Hill Seminary, which has one of the world's first graduate-level programs for pagan ministry. "That means God lives in me, and that is blasphemous to some. To me, it's a big responsibility to do good and act right."
Scholars say that the neo-pagan view of God being everywhere and in everything is not a foreign idea on the global religious stage. "Much of modern paganism looks to older religions like Shinto, Hinduism and indigenous religions, which see spirit in everything," says Jenny Blain, senior lecturer in sociology at Sheffield Hallam University in England and author of several books on paganism.
"If you add all those to modern paganism, that is a considerable part of the world that does not live with traditional Abrahamic views," she says.
There are signs that paganism is gaining some acceptance in the nonpagan world. For the first time last year, the government of Britain recognized druidism, an ancient pagan belief system, as a religion.
"People either see paganism as dangerous or as a joke," says Pitzl-Waters. "But it is a serious global movement. Paganism has arrived as a world religion. It's not just a bunch of counterculture types playing witchcraft games."
That said, traditional witchcraft rituals, like gathering in circles and uttering spells, have an important place in modern paganism, which further unsettles more traditional religious believers.
"Because Christianity is more conservative, anything seen as supernatural or magic automatically becomes of the devil," says York. "Because of that dichotomy, paganism is automatically seen as satanic."
"People fear what they don't understand," says Emore. "But spells are basically prayers with props. What we call magic is the intentional use of power to achieve change, and just like with prayer, what you are doing is tapping into an inner resource. Gathering in a circle and acknowledging the four elements is nothing new – this is something Native Americans and many ancient nature-based religious people did as well."
For neo-pagans, the four elements – earth, air, water and fire – are closely linked to their view of a sacred planet. "The attributes associated with each element become tools in our meditation and in practices such as spells," says Emore. "Water is associated with emotions and intuition, air with intellect and communications, earth with foundation and stability, and fire with passion and action."
To York, paganism's ancient rituals also help bring a sense of enchantment back into life.
"The ancients had a sense of the magical, but with Christianity came a diminishment," he says. "The magical was denied, everything became inanimate, and from a pagan perspective we lost our connection with the sacred. I think we are rediscovering that now."
"Pagans understand there comes a winter, which is a time to ready for rebirth," York says. "For us, the last 2000 years has been the pagan winter."

All Hallows eve, Ruining a good Pagan Holiday

    I must admit , feeling abandoned by my mother's god, with both her death and the death of one of my elder brothers, I became much more a worshiper of the Earth and the things it offers us ( water, oxygen, food etc ) than the idea of a supreme God offering benevolent guidance from above. If there was one all powerful god above She would have smites us quite a while ago.  I  am not a particular fan of All Hallows Eve ( Halloween ) as it is in its present   form.  Our society has turned it into  a commercial event. Lets sell something !

  But we've done that with all our holidays, (Christmas, Easter, Labor day etc )  And thus we've cheapened them.

  Those cultures that have been able to hold on to some sort of culture, Latin America, Mexico , south Louisiana , Ireland , Eastern Europe. Hold onto some appreciation of what All Hallows eve is all about. Appreciation of the changes of the season and remembrances f the ancestors and their  influence on us today


   Samhain. All Hallows. All Hallow's Eve. Hallow E'en. Halloween. The most magical night of the year. Exactly opposite Beltane on the wheel of the year, Halloween is Beltane's dark twin. A night of glowing jack-o-lanterns, bobbing for apples, tricks or treats, and dressing in costume. A night of ghost stories and seances, tarot card readings and scrying with mirrors. A night of power, when the veil that separates our world from the Otherworld is at its thinnest. A 'spirit night', as they say in Wales.

the wiki bits

Samhain ( /ˈsɑːwɪn/, /ˈsaʊ.ɪn/, or /ˈsaʊn/)^[1] was a Gaelic harvest festival held on October 31–November 1. It was linked to festivals held around the same time in other Celtic cultures, and was popularised as the "Celtic New Year" from the late 19th century, following Sir John Rhys and Sir James Frazer.^[2] The date of Samhain was associated with the Catholic All Saints' Day (and later All Souls' Day) from at least the 8th century, and both the secular Gaelic and the Catholic liturgical festival have influenced the secular customs now connected with Halloween.^[3]
The medieval Goidelic festival of Samhain marked the end of the harvest, the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darker half". It was celebrated over the course of several days and had some elements of a Festival of the Dead. Bonfires played a large part in the festivities. People and their livestock would often walk between two bonfires as a cleansing ritual, and the bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames.<sup>[4]     

        
       click here for                                                                    Poem about All Hallows eve</sup>

      All Hallow's Eve is the eve of All Hallow's Day (November 1st). And for once, even popular tradition remembers that the Eve is more important than the Day itself, the traditional celebration focusing on October 31st, beginning at sundown. And this seems only fitting for the great Celtic New Year's festival. Not that the holiday was Celtic only. In fact, it is startling how many ancient and unconnected cultures (the Egyptians and pre-Spanish Mexicans, for example) celebrated this as a festival of the dead. But the majority of our modern traditions can be traced to the British Isles.
      The Celts called it Samhain, which means 'summer's end', according to their ancient two-fold division of the year, when summer ran from Beltane to Samhain and winter ran from Samhain to Beltane. (Some modern Covens echo this structure by letting the High Priest 'rule' the Coven beginning on Samhain, with rulership returned to the High Priestess at Beltane.) According to the later four-fold division of the year, Samhain is seen as 'autumn's end' and the beginning of winter. Samhain is pronounced (depending on where you're from) as 'sow-in' (in Ireland), or 'sow-een' (in Wales), or 'sav-en' (in Scotland), or (inevitably) 'sam-hane' (in the U.S., where we don't speak Gaelic).
      Not only is Samhain the end of autumn; it is also, more importantly, the end of the old year and the beginning of the new. Celtic New Year's Eve, when the new year begins with the onset of the dark phase of the year, just as the new day begins at sundown. There are many representations of Celtic gods with two faces, and it surely must have been one of them who held sway over Samhain. Like his Greek counterpart Janus, he would straddle the theshold, one face turned toward the past in commemoration of those who died during the last year, and one face gazing hopefully toward the future, mystic eyes attempting to pierce the veil and divine what the coming year holds. These two themes, celebrating the dead and divining the future, are inexorably intertwined in Samhain, as they are likely to be in any New Year's celebration.

      As a feast of the dead, it was believed the dead could, if they wished, return to the land of the living for this one night, to celebrate with their family, tribe, or clan. And so the great burial mounds of Ireland (sidh mounds) were opened up, with lighted torches lining the walls, so the dead could find their way. Extra places were set at the table and food set out for any who had died that year. And there are many stories that tell of Irish heroes making raids on the Underworld while the gates of faery stood open, though all must return to their appointed places by cock-crow.

      As a feast of divination, this was the night par excellance for peering into the future. The reason for this has to do with the Celtic view of time. In a culture that uses a linear concept of time, like our modern one, New Year's Eve is simply a milestone on a very long road that stretches in a straight line from birth to death. Thus, the New Year's festival is a part of time. The ancient Celtic view of time, however, is cyclical. And in this framework, New Year's Eve represents a point outside of time, when the the natural order of the universe disolves back into primordial chaos, preparatory to re-establishing itself in a new order. Thus, Samhain is a night that exists outside of time and hence it may be used to view any other point in time. At no other holiday is a tarot card reading, crystal reading, or tea-leaf reading so likely to succeed.
      The Christian religion, with its emphasis on the 'historical' Christ and his act of redemption 2000 years ago, is forced into a linear view of time, where 'seeing the future' is an illogical proposition. In fact, from the Christian perspective, any attempt to do so is seen as inherently evil. This did not keep the medieval Church from co-opting Samhain's other motif, commemoration of the dead. To the Church, however, it could never be a feast for all the dead, but only the blessed dead, all those hallowed (made holy) by obedience to God - thus, All Hallow's, or Hallowmas, later All Saints and All Souls.
      There are so many types of divination that are traditional to Hallowstide, it is possible to mention only a few. Girls were told to place hazel nuts along the front of the firegrate, each one to symbolize one of her suiters. She could then divine her future husband by chanting, 'If you love me, pop and fly; if you hate me, burn and die.' Several methods used the apple, that most popular of Halloween fruits. You should slice an apple through the equator (to reveal the five-pointed star within) and then eat it by candlelight before a mirror.
      Your future spouse will then appear over your shoulder. Or, peel an apple, making sure the peeling comes off in one long strand, reciting, 'I pare this apple round and round again; / My sweetheart's name to flourish on the plain: / I fling the unbroken paring o'er my head, / My sweetheart's letter on the ground to read.' Or, you might set a snail to crawl through the ashes of your hearth. The considerate little creature will then spell out the initial letter as it moves.
      Perhaps the most famous icon of the holiday is the jack-o-lantern. Various authorities attribute it to either Scottish or Irish origin. However, it seems clear that it was used as a lantern by people who traveled the road this night, the scary face to frighten away spirits or faeries who might otherwise lead one astray. Set on porches and in windows, they cast the same spell of protection over the household. (The American pumpkin seems to have forever superseded the European gourd as the jack-o-lantern of choice.) Bobbing for apples may well represent the remnants of a Pagan 'baptism' rite called a 'seining', according to some writers. The water-filled tub is a latter-day Cauldron of Regeneration, into which the novice's head is immersed. The fact that the participant in this folk game was usually blindfolded with hands tied behind the back also puts one in mind of a traditional Craft initiation ceremony.
      The custom of dressing in costume and 'trick-or-treating' is of Celtic origin with survivals particularly strong in Scotland. However, there are some important differences from the modern version. In the first place, the custom was not relegated to children, but was actively indulged in by adults as well. Also, the 'treat' which was required was often one of spirits (the liquid variety). This has recently been revived by college students who go 'trick-or-drinking'. And in ancient times, the roving bands would sing seasonal carols from house to house, making the tradition very similar to Yuletide wassailing. In fact, the custom known as 'caroling', now connected exclusively with mid-winter, was once practiced at all the major holidays. Finally, in Scotland at least, the tradition of dressing in costume consisted almost exclusively of cross-dressing (i.e., men dressing as women, and women as men). It seems as though ancient societies provided an oportunity for people to 'try on' the role of the opposite gender for one night of the year. (Although in Scotland, this is admittedly less dramatic - but more confusing - since men were in the habit of wearing skirt-like kilts anyway. Oh well...)
      To Witches, Halloween is one of the four High Holidays, or Greater Sabbats, or cross-quarter days. Because it is the most important holiday of the year, it is sometimes called 'THE Great Sabbat.' It is an ironic fact that the newer, self-created Covens tend to use the older name of the holiday, Samhain, which they have discovered through modern research. While the older hereditary and traditional Covens often use the newer name, Halloween, which has been handed down through oral tradition within their Coven. (This is often holds true for the names of the other holidays, as well. One may often get an indication of a Coven's antiquity by noting what names it uses for the holidays.)
      With such an important holiday, Witches often hold two distinct celebrations. First, a large Halloween party for non-Craft friends, often held on the previous weekend. And second, a Coven ritual held on Halloween night itself, late enough so as not to be interrupted by trick-or-treaters. If the rituals are performed properly, there is often the feeling of invisible friends taking part in the rites. Another date which may be utilized in planning celebrations is the actual cross-quarter day, or Old Halloween, or Halloween O.S. (Old Style). This occurs when the sun has reached 15 degrees Scorpio, an astrological 'power point' symbolized by the Eagle. The celebration would begin at sunset. Interestingly, this date (Old Halloween) was also appropriated by the Church as the holiday of Martinmas.
      Of all the Witchcraft holidays, Halloween is the only one that still boasts anything near to popular celebration. Even though it is typically relegated to children (and the young-at-heart) and observed as an evening affair only, many of its traditions are firmly rooted in Paganism. Incidentally, some schools have recently attempted to abolish Halloween parties on the grounds that it violates the separation of state and religion. Speaking as a Pagan, I would be saddened by the success of this move, but as a supporter of the concept of religion-free public education, I fear I must concede the point. Nonetheless, it seems only right that there should be one night of the year when our minds are turned toward thoughts of the supernatural. A night when both Pagans and non-Pagans may ponder the mysteries of the Otherworld and its inhabitants. And if you are one of them, may all your jack-o'lanterns burn bright on this All Hallow's Eve.

More Crime reports from Bozeangeles

• This harps back to one of my earlier posts on how the mountains were a refuge for the crazy people
• A  Sample of our Bozeangeles Crime report  (For KR )
•  
• Someone scribbled obscenities with a crayon on play equipment on North 24th Avenue at 8:43 a.m.
• Someone may have broken into a West Main Street apartment and written a suspicious message on a board near the door.
• “Andy the pooper man” has left his truck on Olive Street for a week. Birds have picked at the garbage bags in the truck bed and exposed the dog feces.
• A woman told dispatch two men entered her Durston Road apartment and were forcing her to move. It turns out she was actually at the hospital and under medication that caused her to become confused.
• A bear was seen wandering through the alley between Lamme and Davis streets at 7:54 p.m.

• A moose was struck and killed by a man driving on Big Sky Spur Road at 6:40 a.m.
• A Hidden Valley Road woman asked dispatch to have a sergeant look at satellites under her house. She said she is suing people and the U.S. Department of Justice has been involved.

Bozeangeles city govt. bleeds the beast

 Been sick  and the news in the commical makes me sicker. The Bozeman city commission is playing  black mail with the tax rate.  Basicly saying if you don't let us  raise money one way we will rasie property taxes  on the homeowners again.  There is something wrong with the city commission. Thjey need to broaden the tax base, instead they are forcing the home owners ( The people who have made a commitment to the city )to pack up and leave.  Here is todays post from the commical, It would be nice to see  Amanda Ricker  and the commical stand up to the city, but the press here is not free.

The Bozeman City Commission on Monday will consider cutting street impact fees by one-third.
David Graham, president of the Southwest Montana Building Industry Association, says decreasing the fees charged to developers for new roads could stimulate the sluggish Bozeman home-building market.

 

But city staff claims there’s a tradeoff. To make up for the lost fees, they say current residents would have to pay more in property taxes.
Bozeman planning and finance department heads claim the city would need to raise taxes by 5.5 percent a year to replace the $750,000 a year that’s currently generated by street impact fees.
“All property taxpayers would be funding the infrastructure expansion related to our growing community,” states a memo to commissioners from Planning Director Tim McHarg, Assistant Planning Director Chris Saunders and Finance Director Anna Rosenberry.

Into the Fall crud season

  The Fall crud season is upon us and both little Goat and I are hacking and  watching our noses drip. The Bridger's have a little more snow and the Halloween decorations are popping up. At least one house down the street has put up Christmas  yard art. That's pushing it don't  you think

The Bozeman Police Department reports

• A roofer’s Rottweiler was roaming around West Olive Street at 10:41 a.m.
• A 17-year-old boy was slamming doors, throwing furniture and hitting walls on West Villard Street at 5:22 p.m.
• A black bear was seen “just chilling on the porch” in the area of South Sixth Avenue and West Alderson Street at 8:06 p.m.
• People were yelling, screaming and playing bass-heavy music on South Rouse Avenue at 10:49 p.m.
• A man said a small, red, heavy-duty truck full of cocaine was heading west near Churchill and Norris roads at 1:16 a.m. The man said he studies MapQuest maps and God gives him visions. He also said he was in a mental hospital for 15 years and was shocked 11 times for schizophrenia.
• A group of kids threatened another group of kids on Village Drive at 5:28 p.m.
• A drunken 47-year-old man fell and cut his forehead while getting out of a trailer at 10:23 p.m. on Red Oak Drive.

a quiz on pictures

   slate has a fun little slide show quiz on Tea Partiers vs March on Wall street, let me know your score


http://www.slate.com/slideshows/news_and_politics/quiz-occupy-wall-street-or-tea-party.html

does the GOP even want to win the White House

  sitting up here in Montana it seems as if the GOP is afraid to put up a viable candidate because they have no real solutions  for our problems. They'd rather sit in opposition and say " No, that Won't work, " over and over.

  James Carville  who hails from Louisianna where I grew up seerms to agree. Check out his essay on CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/13/opinion/carville-gop-2012-field/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

Militia Compound for rent

  Things are tough all over , or if as the radio host implies in her essay are the far right optimistic ?

There has been talk that the Tea Party will sweep the next elections. Quite frankly, I think these are rumors spread by tea party candidates, so I don`t put much faith in them, but just in case, this apocalyptic event occurs, I thought I should make arrangements for my survival. As I considered my options for re-location abroad or at least to Canada, I got an idea; it might even be a great idea.

Out in Montana are the militia groups -- you know those people who wear camouflage outfits everyday and carry guns and live on compounds dreaming of the day they overthrow the government.  Well, if seems to me that if the Tea Party people claw their way into office, there will be no need for the militia. The goals of the militia people and the Tea Party are pretty much the same, so what will the militia have to fight about?  Nothing. Perhaps, in this situation, the militia people might want to leave the compounds and join society again.  However, those who cannot accept life under Tea Party rule might not be too thrilled to continue the life they lived, and they might seek a change.  Okay, this is my idea: A Political Time Share.

It`s the perfect solution.  As the right-wing extremists pack up and head to other parts of the country to enjoy their election victories, progressives will need a place to regroup and plan their comeback, so why not trade places? The ex-militia can have the progressives` homes and the progressives can have the compounds.  Everyone can enjoy each other`s domiciles until elections deem another move is warranted.

I see no downsides to this arrangement. How nice would it be to see the once reclusive army-clad, gun-toting militia sitting back and enjoying a Caramel Macchiato at Starbucks or shopping for pastel-colored clothing at the local mall?  Okay, pastel-colored clothing might be asking too much. The militia folk  will probably still feel the need to wear their everyday army wardrobe, but they will have to adjust to not taking their AK 47s wherever they go -- although with the new government, who knows-- that might be allowed as well.  Another adjustment: the one-time revolutionaries will have to face the fact that in society, women have certain rights-- not as many as before the Tea Party-- but, hopefully, there will be some that would still make it illegal for the militia types to grab them off the street and claim ownership to them.

And what about the new compound residents?  What will their adjustment be like?  Well, the first change they might make to the compound would  probably be to tear down the barbed wire to make room for the organic gardens filled with vegetables and "special herbs".  Then, they would try to make the ammunition-laden villages a bit more welcoming to outsiders.  They might convert the underground weapons bunkers into sports bars and the ammo huts into community centers or perhaps even free medical clinics where people can just drop by for help without asking an HMO`s permission to get well.

There is a good possibility that the new compound residents will have to learn to shoot weapons I know they hate to hear this but living in the Montana wilderness might prove to be more of a challenge than they originally thought.  They will not be able to jump in their Priuses to make a run to the nearest Whole Foods Supermarket. Now, they will have to hunt their food, and this might be a problem if they invited PETA people into the compound with them. Problems with food catching might be avoided if the  PETA people and the meat lovers go to separate compounds.  I hear Idaho and the Dakotas might have a few empty compounds as well if the election goes to the Tea Party crowd.

Well, I am going to start making preparations for the moves.  I should dig out my old real estate license, and I guess get it reinstated.  I`m not sure exactly what the legal requirements are to broker Political Time Shares. Anyway, my office doors might open on Wednesday November 7, 2012 unless, of course, the Tea Party movement starts fading out and loses the elections. If this happens, no one will feel the need to re-locate, and my business venture is done before it starts.

Either way I am not going to panic because the real apocalypse is right after the elections, so I am sure that even if people don`t want the militia bunkers after November, they might be scurrying to find one in December, and since all the militia will probably be raptured because except for the overthrowing the government stuff, they are Christians, and that leaves a lot of empty bunker space ready to be filled.  I think I am going to call Re-Max. They may have a place for an original thinker like me on their board of directors or at least out in Montana

Its here

Snow on the Peaks to the East frozen tomatoes in the yard. Time to put away the kayaks, lawn furniture, bikes and little Goats toys . Fall has reared its cold , unforgiving head. On the bright side its time for hot Curries, Gumbos and Soup.

      Also the Political season is heating up can you believe a GOP primary in January ? Maybe if we get the  Field narrowed down we can start talking about the issues .

getting out side just in time for winter

New Climbing Boulder dedicated today . The last segment of the Bozeangles Boulder initiative is going to be dedicated today just in time for winter. Little goat is excited, Thanks to the Bozeman Chronicle for details.

The goal was to construct boulders within a short walking or biking distance of most Bozeman residents.
Now, with the completion of the area’s fifth and sixth boulders, that goal has been accomplished. Saturday, the newest boulders will be unveiled in a dedication at the Gallatin County Regional Park.
“We are so fortunate to have this unique amenity on our Main Street to the Mountains trail system,” Penelope Pierce, executive director for the Gallatin Valley Land Trust, said in a prepared statement. “It is so special to be able to bike or walk on the 60 miles of trail we have in Bozeman and stop to climb along the
way.”
http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/city/article_289569ea-f142-11e0-bf42-001cc4c03286.html

One Step Forward two steps back

  Well fall has raised its ugly head here in the Bozeangeles Metroplex. The Bridger Mt.s are brown and  there are leaves blowing across the yard. I for one am not ready for Winter and I don't think the city is either . There are a lot of grim looking people driving around and walking the streets. Its hard to get a smile , even with a bad joke.

 Perhaps it has to do with the lack of jobs and all the empty store fronts. In the Shopping mall where I work  there are more  empty spots than last year. Last Month one new  retailer moved in but two moved out.  And its  just as bad downtown.


On the Bright side the city took steps to enforce a cell phone ban on driving and yakking.

Bozeman City Commissioners say they're interested in passing an ordinance that restricts cell phone use while driving.
Using a cell phone behind the wheel "should be a ticketable offense at some capacity," Deputy Mayor Sean Becker said Monday night during the commission's regular meeting.
After holding a policy discussion about potential "distracted driving" laws, the commission asked city staff to gather more information and draft an ordinance for its consideration.

Chaos is the time to adapt and Evolve

  The Economy is tumbling the Bozeangeles Metroplex is breeding a lot of angry people . The Country won't get beyond their petty views and actually do something to solve the problems. We need to think about the important things

Out Of The Industrial ashes a spot of Green

   This is inspiring and possibly a guide line for the rest of us and our big city's that have grown too large and lost their ability to feed and employ their populace . Of course the far right would call this socialism I would call this  resilience

NPR posted this and has a great series and community and urban gardens. the link to the original is at the bottom of the page.

Detroit is a surprisingly green landscape during the spring and summer months. The site of many houses that are crumbling, boarded up or missing altogether is tempered by community gardens and even some urban farms.
There are some serious urban gardeners in this country, but few can match the agricultural output of Paul Weertz.
"I farm about 10 acres in the city, and alfalfa's my thing. I bale about a thousand bales a year," he says.
That's alfalfa grown within Detroit city limits. The 58-year-old public school teacher lives alone in a single-family house in the Farnsworth neighborhood.
There are a dozen chickens and 10 beehives on Weertz's property that belong to a neighborhood honey co-op. An acre of land behind his house used to be occupied by other single-family homes but is now covered with fruit trees, vegetables and a pungent patch of basil.
Weertz has been buying abandoned homes and vacant parcels in his neighborhood, where lots go for as little as $300. He's been encouraging young people who want to farm to move into the neighborhood. Weertz's neighbor, Carolyn Leadley, runs Rising Pheasant Farms when she's not caring for her 10-month-old son.
"We're definitely micro-farming, but we're making a living off a sixth of an acre," Leadley says. "I've been very pleased — pleasantly surprised at how much I've been able to pay myself per hour. We took on an employee. I'm like, 'OK, We're a real business now. We have to pay taxes and do things right.' "

Related NPR Stories

 

Like The Lions, Detroit Finally Has A Winning Season

Food

Urban Fish Farming: Wave Of The Future?

Food

Finally, New Yorkers Can Bee All They Can Bee

Economy

Farms Take Root in Detroit's Foreclosures

Leadley grows tomatoes and ornamental flowers outdoors on two vacant lots she's trying to buy from the city. She also has trays of sunflower shoots growing in her attic. Leadley's location inside Detroit allows her to deliver her produce to the city's huge farmers market and local restaurants by bicycle.
In a neighborhood where drug dealers are as resilient as weeds, one neighbor finds Leadley's farm an eyesore. The 28-year-old urban farmer persists.
"I hope what I'm doing makes the neighborhood more attractive — that people would want to move into the neighborhood — because, at this point, there is no reason why anyone would want to move into this neighborhood," she says. "There are no stores besides liquor stores in this entire neighborhood."
Over in the North Corktown section of Detroit, the leaves of an edible Japanese plant called mizuna are harvested with a pair of scissors. Greg Willerer farms 12 city lots — about an acre of land.
"I take this whole growing food for my neighbors and friends and other people in the city very seriously," he says, "and I'm going to eat this stuff, too."
Willerer's business, Brother Nature Produce, sells about 200 pounds of salad greens a week, and there are 27 families in his community-supported agriculture co-op who get produce from him. He's farming abandoned lots that he has adopted but does not own. Willerer says he has been trying to buy the lots from the city of Detroit for more than a year.
"The city could, literally, at any time come in and say, 'We're going to develop these lots and you're going to have to move,' " he says.
Indeed, a community garden in a section of Detroit known as the Cass Corridor will soon be uprooted because the two city-owned lots it occupies have been sold to a doggy day care operation.
Ashley Atkinson works for a gardening advocacy group called the Greening of Detroit and is a member of the city planning commission's Urban Agriculture Workgroup. Atkinson says that farming in the city is not illegal, but it's not totally legal either.
"It's a policy vacuum. So, there's no policy to protect them, but there's lots of policy that could result in tickets and fines for an activity like high vegetation in a residential neighborhood," she says.
City Council member Kenneth Cockrel Jr. says he supports urban agriculture and is hopeful that the council will enact regulations by the end of the year. Yet he says that even now the city has not been issuing violations to urban farmers.
Back in the Farnsworth neighborhood, Andrew Kemp tends a lush garden on seven city lots he owns. His wife, Kinga Osz-Kemp, has a cottage industry making herbal salve with beeswax from the neighborhood hives and herbs from their garden. The family says it never has to buy garlic or honey. The Kemps also get all the eggs they need from four hens that wander around their yard.
"It could never happen in another city. I mean, this is ridiculous to think about this much land," Kemp says. "There are very few houses that have another house next to them. So everybody can have at least an extra yard, you know. That's really the gift of Detroit."

http://www.npr.org/2011/10/02/140903516/the-gift-of-detroit-tilling-urban-terrain

Rick Perry's Job Creation Plan

  So the credit below goes to USA.com  but you can get your favorite political view from your web site of choice. Do we need to solve our own problems by invading another country ? Its either an issue of enforcing our own drug laws better or  de-criminalising  most drugs and taxing it. Sending our kids off to another war may make the Military industrial Complex happy but it does not do our country any good.

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (AP) – Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry says he is open to sending American troops to Mexico to help battle drug cartels.

Perry, the Texas governor, likens the situation to Colombia, where the government accepted American military support in battling the war on drugs.

Perry says the current violence may require similar military action.

He often calls for more National Guard troops to help protect the Mexican border and stem the flow of illegal immigration. But Saturday's comments go further. They indicate he's open to deepening America's military involvement across the border.

Perry's comments came at a Saturday afternoon reception at the home of New Hampshire Republican gubernatorial candidate Ovide Lamontagne.

A spokesman later clarified that Perry is open to all options to cooperate with Mexico.