(click pictures to enlarge)
It's been sprinkling rain, off and on, for the last two days. Storms had been predicted for last night but they passed a little to the east and I only caught a little of them. The weather is suppose to be clearing and the rain should be gone for a while. My plans for today is to go to San Antonio and visit the Alamo. I was there as a young child and remember nothing about the place. There are still a couple of locations that I'm searching for in some "before" pictures. I know one is the Alamo, the others are unknown. Maybe I will run into the past today as I wander around San Antonio.
A few pictures as I was wandering around between rain showers.
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| This type of flood gage is used a lot around here. Apparently heavy rains produce high water quickly but it also recedes just as quickly. To save a bundle of money, Texas puts in these culverts with a flood gage instead of a bridge. Great idea using common sense. Your tax dollars working the way they should. |
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| This is a picture of Luckenbach, Texas. The town from the song. I had heard it was nothing much to the place and I was still somewhat disappointed. I'm not sure what I was expecting but it was little more than a "tourist trap" general store/post office. During better weather, there must be some good musical concerts here because all of the field around here have been converted to parking lots. There must be parking for a few thousand vehicles. The day I passed there, I was vehicle number 5, so it was a slow day for them. |
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| This is the swimming pool that is attached to the dam in the state park. It is still in use during the warmer months. Remember, this dam and pool dates back to the 30's when the CCC built them. |
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| Just a tree that I liked. |
1) Cuba is in the news lately. I do not agree with the actions the president did and is about to do concerning normalizing relations with Cuba. You can call the political system in Cuba whatever you want; communist, socialist or dictatorial. Whatever you call it, it is oppressive and evil. The sanctions were placed on Cuba back in the early 60's to put pressure on them to change their political system. Cuba was a pawn in the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Although our President didn't mention it at all when he announced his change in policy, Cuba sided with the Soviet Union to place nuclear armed missiles in Cuba. We could not allow that then or now. After we placed sanctions on Cuba, the soviets knew Castro would not be able to survive politically so they sent money and material to Cuba to compensate for the sanctions. That kept Castro in power so he could give his anti-American speeches before the U.N. This continued until the Soviet Union itself fell apart in the late 80's. Russia, the heart of the old Soviet Union, continued to support Cuba. Then came a new player to help Cuba. Venezuela, a new anti-America country, started helping support Cuba. All the while, Cuba was sending its soldiers to every hot spot around the world trying to stir up stuff.
Within the last few months the Russians and Venezuelans are having major financial problems in their countries. Each, foolishly based the majority of their economies on oil, the price of which is falling dramatically. Neither will be able to support Cuba in the same manner they have been for the last several decades. That means Cuba will very likely be going bankrupt which will cause the people to revolt against the people in power, the Castros. In place of Castro, there could be a Democracy on the island for the first time in its history. The sanctions were just about to work because the cash that Castro needed to stay in power was about to dry up. For some unknown reason, our president decides now is the time to lift the sanctions. Doing so will allow multi-millions of dollars to flow into Cuba, of which Castro takes his cut. This will allow the Castros and their hand-picked successors to remain in power indefinitely. WHY would the president do this at this time? It makes no sense. One of the reasons they use to justify his actions is they say sanctions don't work. If that is so, then does that mean he will work towards lifting the sanctions that are on Iran, North Korea and Russia? This administration talks out of both sides of their mouth.
Whether you think the president's actions are good or bad, the main problem is that he did it ALONE. He did not consult Congress or the American public. Changing policy that has been in place for 50 years should be debated openly in Congress so both sides can state their case. It should not be done by one man, even if it is the President of the U.S. He has unilateral power over certain things, but this kind of change in policy should not be one of them. My Representative and Senators were left out of this discussion, so far. Hopefully they will weigh in heavily in the next Congress.
It is scary to think of what he will do next.
I had some other Random Thoughts and Things but this rant ran long, so they can wait until another day.
Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.
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