The Three Stooges at a Theater Near You - in Iowa?

The Three Stooges - a review.  Should this be on this blog or not?  I include these thoughts here because this movie is currently playing in Shenandoah, Iowa.  Few movies resound heavily in the heart of man as being profound and inspiring.  Few are found worthy of greatness and renown of true works of art.  Few truly alter human understanding and produce a fruitful field of compassionate philanthropic activity among the sons and daughters of men.  I refer my accolades to The Three Stooges - as they were meant to be.

The Three Stooges

I do not, however, refer to the new release of The Three Stooges.  Only at extreme various times do I find myself nodding off or snoozing during a movie.  Chalk it up to the time of day or even perhaps gas, but when my son and I went to the late showing of The Three Stooges I scarcely knew that I was destined, or doomed, to shame unto unconsciousness.  Sleep, yes sleep was the activity for me not a half hour into the movie.  With each small reach into consciousness came the need or desire to sink back down into nothingness.  It was that bad!

Larry, Moe and Curly are icons!  They are a most righteous collection of misfits!  This new release movie is a failed attempt at mimicking the old episodes and those wonderful characters.  The stunts played by Sean Hayes, Chris Diamantopoulos and Will Sasso pail in comparison to the antics of Larry, Moe and Curly of old.  The new release attempted to link the old and the new by mimicking the process of creating short subject lines in the movie with film cut curtain calls.  Though reinventing the American vaudeville was interesting it certainly loses the modern audience.

I bring about this subject for the safety and concern for all my countrymen in Shenandoah, Iowa.  If you want to retain your sanity and self control then don't see this movie.  If you want to grow to be an upstanding citizen and an exceptional mother or father then don't see this movie.  Likewise, to ensure these great qualities immerse yourself in the Larry, Moe and Curly of old.  It will make you wise and fruitful with knowledge.

Because of the travesty of this new release movie of The Three Stooges I have labeled this post under Disaster.  Go ahead, watch the movie and you'll understand the plight of my heart.  The only thing that drove the dagger further into my heart is getting out of the movie only to find Kony 2012 posters all over the downtown area - including my vehicle window.

Henryville and Marysville Aftermath About Tornadoes

Dozens of lives have been lost in the recent severe storms that raked across the Midwestern and southern states of Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Alabama.  March 1st and 2nd of 2012 will be remembered for a long time for thousands of people in that area.  Especially for those who've lost loved ones or even found loved ones alive in the debris.

Key ingredients came together at this time to foster a hive of severe storms which produced tornadoes.  Warm moist air was streaming northward from the Gulf of Mexico.  Also present was a low pressure system that had just entered the affected area.  Couple those two with the fact that a strong high jet stream flowed southwest to northeast over the greater area.  This spelled disaster and the result is seen on our news reports in the form of death, destruction and recovery.

There are reports that many of these deadly tornadoes had mini-vortices with them.  These "small" tornadoes within tornadoes can arguably be much more damaging than the large tornado itself.  The damage and path of these recent storms are similar to that of the Joplin, Missouri tornado of 2011.  In technical terms these systems are called multi-vortex or wedge vortex because the center of the main funnel becomes unstable, wobbles and spins out up to six vortices that can sustain wickedly fast winds greater than that of the main funnel.  Of course all this is largely meaningless and pure academic to those who've lost everything.

What can you do?  Consider the many possibilities that you can take advantage of to help your fellow mankind in that affected area.  You can donate time and resources to help in the recovery effort.  If you are relatively local to that area your physical efforts would be much appreciated.  However, opportunities to help for the rest of us can take the best form as monetary donations.  The American Red Cross is well familiar with disasters and can always use donations.  The Marysville Fund goes to help the homeless victims in that area.  Funds are sent directly to the charitable and relief organizations who are on the ground assisting at this time.  NOW is the time to donate!

Even if it only takes digging a little deeper into our pockets to help those truly in need then the investment is well worth it.

Missouri River Flood and Super Wal-Mart Construction

At the 9-13 Shenandoah City Council the Iowa Department of Transportation unveiled plans to increase a third lane for traffic northbound turning into the Walmart construction sight.  Plans are moving ahead and the equipment is running.

This segment of the meeting turned lengthy as it led into discussion of dangerous traffic on Highway 59 especially due to the Interstate 29 closure.  The Iowa DOT admitted that they haven't done a traffic count along 59 since probably 2008.  Shenandoah Police Chief announced that traffic has increased three-fold since the detour took affect.  The DOT may utilize resources to check the traffic count north and southbound on 59, but they are firm that the third lane will be built.

A suggestion came up during the meeting that we need to investigate into the possibility of installing traffic cameras in a couple locations on Highway 59 within the Shenandoah city limits.  Though becoming unpopular in places such as California these cameras may benefit the cause of safety for the effected stretch of road.

I am for this idea of traffic cameras.  The pressures on truck drivers is understandable.  They are squeezed for time on an already tight schedule.  The detour doesn't help any.  However, safety must and should always prevail especially within city limits.  I don't mean to focus on truck drivers but rather local resident drivers as well.  This matters to not only fellow drivers but also to the safety of pedestrians.  There are a great many Shenandoah residents who's occupation is located at Orchard Corners or the several businesses along Highway 59.  Walking this stretch of road is extremely dangerous and hazardous.

The entire stretch of road is a disaster waiting to happen.  In order to control the situation steps must be taken to tone down the speed and and level of aggressive driving currently taking place.  It's not just "through" traffic. Because of the detour many of the businesses have prospered under single to double digit percentage increase in business.  We've got through traffic as well as increased traffic turning onto 59 that must be considered.

All our fears up to this point have been aimed at the recent history of the detour affects.  Now compound on that the fact that we are fast approaching the snow and ice season.

I advocate an extra stoplight at the intersection of 59 and the south entrance to Orchard Corners and/or the installation of traffic cameras both there and also at the current stoplight by Mondo's.  I'd strongly suggest that from now into the foreseeable future and beyond we all take extra care in our surroundings while driving the new "Interstate 59."

9/11 Terrorist Attacks Felt in the Midwest Heartland of Iowa

September 11, 2001 – 9/11 – 911, or whatever else it may be called. Few epic moments define our modern world and the United States of America. Arbitrarily, the Republic was shaken to the core in downtown New York City. I remember that day though it was a couple thousand miles away in the Midwest. As I reflect may I offer a few observations for the future.

I was working in a warehouse in the small community of Riverton, Iowa. Riverton has always jokingly and seriously been known as the town that floods when it sprinkles. Situated squarely between Shenandoah and Hamburg, Riverton resides right on the Nishnabotna River. The setting is given when we heard that the north tower had been struck. That was a pivotal moment in the American psyche, that was to define the following course of this country. During those moments we didn't know if it was an accident or an act of terrorism. We wanted to believe in an accident. Why? Because the thought of terrorism was too large, too coordinated and quite frankly too Hollywood to be real. We've lived so long in a “comfort zone” and just survived the bloated “dot com” boom that our own pride prevented the consideration of the worst.

There was no television in the warehouse so we intently and quietly listened to the radio for developments. Constantly the media projected numbers. Numbers, numbers, a ceaseless string of numbers! “Up to 60,000 may be dead!” Though physically we were not in the center of the circus of vertigo in New York City, emotionally we were connected as one nation in peril. THAT - was the bonding glue that will survive the United States of America now and in the future as it did at that moment.

I remember my supervisor coming in a while later and with a degree of fear and anger.  She said that another plane struck the tower. She, herself, a long time military patriot hearkened the innate call of danger. At that moment we didn't know that it was the other tower that had been struck. We continued to listen intently for confirmation of the second plane. The resolve was all but complete – the United States of America had been attacked. Whether we liked it or not we were now at war with an army most vague to identify.

Andrew Card informs President Bush the U.S. is under attack.

The confident heart fell as if in a refiner's fire when the news came that the towers crumbled to the ground. The towers came down but the curtains opened up to a future unknown. So vulnerable we felt. So open and helpless became the individual American. So unprepared was this people as we lingered in disbelief.

After work I hurried home to view the constant updates and rehash on the news channel. Time and time again like so many I watched the reruns of the falling towers. For days the numbers varied and finally settled to a number.

Not long after the symbol of the world financial institution fell I strongly noticed how still the sky was. Following protocol the President of the United States was taken to a safe military bunker. Yet, soon thereafter orders manifest that all aircraft were to be grounded.

Those white streams in the sky from the wake of a plane's exhaust disappeared altogether. Especially for a person out in the rural country those planes represent civilization and the surety that America is vibrant and moving. In other words “business as usual.” Suddenly in just a few minutes of epic event, American skies were just thrown back to the 18^th century when all that occupied therein were the birds. Yet, even the birds seemed more somber and reserved. It was as if a divine power which blanket this great nation called upon all life to mourn.

The rest is history but that is where I was. No wonderful activity or spectacular place that I was. Yet, equally important as all other American stories mine will live in infamy as a chapter in my life to be shared with my own children and grandchildren.

I will not discuss religious doctrines or political thoughts. I will share, however, what my life has taught me of this great nation. For current society and posterity sake may it serve to expand wider fields to view.

We are a wealthy nation. Yes, we do have pride here as well perhaps even to a dangerous level. We are also the most charitable and helpful nation on earth. Whether we are liked as a nation or not, we are still indisputably sought out and looked toward for leadership and example. We have a mighty military commissioned to protect our own as well as allied nations. We have massive social deficiencies but the foundation, though weakening, principles of this nation remain in the hearts of so many.

Should this not be so? In such a whirlwind world should we not count it as an inspired gift that we have a country constructed in such a way as to encourage and foster leadership and worthy attributes? The basic heart of man is good and true. If that heart is given the opportunity to thrive it will change it's world. This is what liberty has profited us. Our country has been outlined to provide man liberty and freedom. That liberty and freedom enables happiness. Happiness derives from personal initiative in the progress of work and family. Liberty naturally wants to expand because that happiness in the heart compels the host to share it and testify of it.

We as Americans wear the robes of liberty. How we exercise it determines their colors. Liberty thrives only when connected from one heart to the next – and the next. When we as a nation are bonded as one - liberty cannot be conquered. After the attack a decade ago we were “one” for a time. That oneness is what gave us resolution of heart. It's what gave us the will to stand on our borders, arms locked, till death if the need were to arise for the preservation of our country and spirit of liberty.

We have a duty attached to the expensive liberty which we are to cherish. We have the duty to preserve order by participating in local, state and even federal government and policy making. We have a duty to be willing to protect and preserve this nation and it's tenets. We have a duty to raise our families to the best of our abilities with our posterity's interest at heart. It is the rising generation that will carry the banners of family and liberty forth into the future.

I love this country! I love what it has provided me and my family. I love the responsibility placed upon me even by the cries of our Founding Fathers from the grave. I love that we are able to clasp hands in fellowship even though we may have differing faiths. I love the liberty-inspired free enterprise and free market degree that we have. It's what helps to foster personal growth, expansion and happiness.

I hereby testify that we are a truly inspired nation. That inspiration put to pen so many years ago is born into the hearts of every true American whether domestic born or immigrant. With this liberty we can rise above the political turmoil which we now suffer. Life doesn't have to be complicated. The principles of liberty and freedom are not difficult to understand. Any institution, organization or branch of society that pins it's will against it's own people in a direction of misdirection and confusion is not born of liberty.

We of strong hearts and compassionate minds have the commission, ourselves, to make the difference in this world. Let us all get out there and serve our fellow citizens with love and concern. As our conviction toward our neighbor strengthens our flag will indeed blind all those powers who wish to bring our banner to it's knees. Long may the flag wave pure and happy!

Storm Damage Recovery in Shenandoah Iowa

In light of the recent dual storms last Thursday it is proper to note the speed and professional manner of the Shenandoah Street Department and also the emergency personnel.  These were very dangerous storms including hail and straight line winds.  We commend those who quickly clean up and maintain a working functioning community.

At the Shenandoah City Council meeting on Tuesday, 23 August, 2011, Mayor Richard Hunt expressed his appreciation for these personnel on behalf of the City Council.

Many citizens should also gain acknowledgment from the effects of these storms.  Sidney, Iowa, by mandate was shut down due to storm damage.  Other communities such as Coin and Essex received excess storm damage.  Many people from all around pitched in with their gloves and chainsaws to lighten the burden of those fellow citizens.  Communities and agencies donated resources for the relief effort.

Though disasters are undesired they do help us "regroup" as a society.  It gives us pause and reflection.  It serves to prompt us to action for the common good of those around you.