Let’s say for a minute, the worst happens, and after all the talks and all the fail safes, a nuclear weapon is launched and explodes in the middle of the United States. Depending on the size of the bomb and the wind direction, as many as 25 states could be affected and possibly more. It’s a given that the water and food supply would be compromised and it would be an ongoing challenge for those who were not incinerated by the initial blast. In the late 50’s and early 60’s, there were what was known as designated fallout shelters around the country which were basically rooms in the basement of heavy concrete buildings. This was to protect people from radiation exsposure There was water stored in large barrels and food packaged like military rations in ready to eat pouches. With the ongoing paranoia over Iran acquiring nuclear weapons it has some people preparing for the worst. They call themselves “doomsday preppies.”

They are making safe rooms in their homes, building basement strongholds, and some have even buried large steel container trailers in their backyards for underground housing. They say that once disaster strikes, the required necessities will have to be obtained by trading for what you don’t have with those that were also fortunate to survive. More than likely there will be no FEMA to come to the rescue so the job of staying alive will present many obstacles. The air will be poisoned for quite sometime so some have stockpiled oxygen tanks and some have even invested in experimental oxygen producing technologies similar to what’s on the International Space Station. Once a tragedy of this magnitude strikes, your money will be worthless. Your survival from that point will depend on what you have on hand at that moment. Preppies are stocking food pantries in their survival shelters, and there is even a company now that will sell you all the K-rations you can handle. They have a shelf life of “forever” and I hear that they taste pretty good. They had better taste good, since you could be eating them for a long time.

It’s funny how the same plant growing system that marijuana growers use to grow their plants indoors, could be the same type of set up you will have to use to grow your food. Grow lamps need power you might say, but the preppies have come up with ideas on that. Storage batteries. They have added additional spaces to their “bunkers” to house banks of batteries that they are charging from the wind and solar power that some have already operating on their property. They say that if and when the unthinkable happens, they should have enough electricity to power some creature comforts such as a radio, some sort of ventilation system, and of course,  grow lamps which will also provide some heat. Some people say the these people are overreacting to something that may never happen, but then again, if it happens are you prepared? The government tells us we should have a survival plan in place already for emergencies, so maybe we should stockpile a few more cans of food, a can opener, and some water just to be safe. Oh, might as well get some more batteries, a radio, some RTE’s, ready to eat meals,  I wouldn’t call it overreacting but it couldn’t hurt could it?

“Music is my religion. When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace. Excuse me while I kiss the sky.” Is this the rant of a drug fueled musician or the words of a prophet? Which ever you prefer there is no denying the fact that the statement rings loud and true. James Marshall “Jimi” Hendrix was born on November 27, 1942 and gave no warning that he was about to change the way we listen to music and placed his brick at the foundation of what was to become psychedelic music.

After a short stint in the Army as a paratrooper, he was given a medical discharge because of a bad back and started working studio gigs and road shows as a guitarist with groups such as the Isley Brothers. But one day he decided to go to England and join the multitude of rock and blues bands that were just starting to take over the charts in America. Before we knew it we were put under the spell of the Jimi Hendrix Experience. It wasn’t long before he was labeled one of the most influential guitar players of the 20th century and even greats like Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughn acknowledged that they were amazed at his poetic song writing and space aged guitar licks that demanded that you have a black-lite and a lava lamp and your favorite “bong” to join the masses in Electric Ladyland.

In 1969, at the peace, love, and music venue known as Woodstock the crowd was awakened on the second morning to the sound of Jimi Hendrix’s four minute, four second version of The Star Spangled Banner, considered one of the highlights of the mega event. Sadly the music ended for the guitar superstar on September 18, 1970 when he died after a heroin binge caused him to choke on his own vomit. Who’s to say why music greats decide to live their lives fast and furious and then crash and burn at such a young age. Jimi Hendrix made history in the four short years of fame that made him bigger than life and at 28 years old it was over. The list of musical talent gone too soon is long and distinguished and tells a story that all is not glitter and gold and fame does not equate peace and tranquility. One of Jimi Hendrix’s most famous lyrics was “See you in the next world and don’t be late.”

Welcome to a “New America” where some police shoot suspects first and ask questions later, and where now because of that,  police are getting ambushed and killed in a flurry of unwarranted retaliations. A bad few shouldn’t be considered a representation of all police officers and public opinion should never lead to murder.  New America, where it’s not safe to study the Bible in a church, a place that has long been identified as a sanctuary, because  people are now being murdered in a house of worship. That unspeakable crime has led to the outlawing of the southerners beloved “stars and bars” flag which has led to more racial violence and has started a rip in the fabric of America that could tear this country apart. Banning the confederate flag has started the pot of discontent to boil in the south, and is an underlying motivation for some who wish to become president. We in this New America have modified Bible sayings and the Constitution in the name of present day evolutions that demanded immediate change. For 6,000 years marriage was defined in the Bible as a union between a man and a women, but now that statement is no longer true. There are those, more now than in any other time, who are convinced that the Bible is little more than  glorified fabels. What we do know is that the Bible was written without the author(s) vision of the probabilities of mankind’s future discoveries choosing instead to believe that we would follow the teachings of God’s law without question and would evolve at a snails pace.

The unrest in the world is self evident and a lot of religious orders are starting to question if we have set ourselves on a path to a rapid non-existence by drifting farther and farther away from the teachings in the Bible. As time ticks by and technology become more commonplace, we are starting to dissect the Bible stories looking for inaccuracies or scientific facts to reinforce our choices to wade into sin. We as a people have a hard time seeing that which is right in front of us. You don’t have to be a religious fanatic to see the world turning upside down and spinning a little faster. Even the youngest of children know that we have poisoned our air and that the drinking water will one day run out if we don’t do something to address the problem. Grade school children study climate change everyday and everywhere and have a better understanding than most of our shortcommings as planet caretakers. American politicians love to talk about the national debt being out of control and how their children will have to carry that burden into the future, but there will be no future if we don’t pitch in to stop the destruction of Earth right now. But in New America there is no global warming only rumors.

America is quickly becoming a country divided and right now there seems to be a presidential candidate for every diverse American agenda. You don’t go along with same-sex marriages, there’s a candidate who will address your concerns except you’ll have to attend a clandestine fundraiser where that issue can be discussed without the public finding out because going against or speaking negatively about legalizing same-sex marriages would be a death wish for any candidate right now. Don’t care too much for Obamacare? There’s 16 GOP candidates ready to cut 7 million people off healthcare for you. Those same16 Republican and Tea Party candidates are getting on their soap box and telling everyone who will listen that America went to hell when Obama was elected. Gays getting married, healthcare for everybody, demands for higher wages, peaceful resolutions to war, rounding up war criminals, how dare he let this happen in “our” America. They have vowed to overturn everything he did if we would just let them back into the White House. There’s only two things wrong with that, first the majority like the things that Barack Obama has accomplished, and second, the GOP have a bigger fish to fry called Donald Trump, the “great white hope”.

We wanted change and we got change, good for most, bad for some, but the question to ask is did we adopt the changes too fast? Did we give birth to radical change prematurly? Who can honestly say, only time will tell, all we can really say is that we can either learn to embrace the recent changes in our evolution or stay at each others throats until the end of time.

DLTPONCHO33