Newsy Odds and Ends

We’ve been exposed to a lot of conspiracy theories in recent years, but amazingly many have turned out to be true. In an effort to generate a few more, here’s my take on a several recent stories I stumbled cross. 

Do Masks Stop the Spread of COVID? You might not have heard of Cochrane, a UK-based network that produces sound information used by organizations throughout the world for healthcare decision-making. Cochrane has an exceptionally strong international reputation and prides itself on the quality of the evidence supporting its studies. Among its latest offerings is a fascinating study on the efficacy of masks, hand-washing, and other means to stop or slow the spread of respiratory viruses such as influenza, SARS, and COVID-19. 

Cochrane investigated the results of dozens of randomized controlled studies conducted worldwide that examined various physical measures to stop respiratory virus infections. I’m guessing most people would find the results unexpected. Cochrane found that medical, surgical, or N95 masks “make little or no difference in how many people caught a flu-like illness/COVID-like illness.” That’s right, it seems all those masks we’ve bought and worn didn’t really offer very much protection. If this is really true, just consider the ramifications. One thing’s for certain: a lot of folks sure made a lot of money thanks to this “error”. To read a synopsis of the study, here’s the link: Cochrane Study 

Medicare and Social Security need Work. Most seniors don’t like to hear that politicians are even considering making changes to either Medicare or Social Security. I suppose many of us think we’ll probably be long gone before these two programs run out of money and are either completely refurbished or simply disappear. But the truth is really quite different and relates not only to the costs involved but also to demographics. Both the Government Accounting Office and the Social Security Administration agree that these programs are “unsustainable” and will run out of funds by 2037. For the mathematically challenged, that’s only 14 years from now. If you’re my age, 78, or older you may not be around in 2037, but your children and grandchildren will probably still be here and will have paid into these programs for their entire working lives…just in time to watch them go broke. I can’t speak for anyone else, but that’s not a legacy I want to leave behind. 

Politicians are not a courageous lot, and almost all consider reelection far more important than the long-term needs of their constituents or the good of the country. Few politicians engage in strategic thinking since most tend be be tacticians who worry more about the short-term effects of their votes or their latest TV live shot. Perhaps even more disheartening, few of today’s politicians ever consider the lessons of the past, so they continue to make the mistakes that generated those ignored lessons. We see this, too, among the bureaucrats who run the day-to-day operations of our government. They have become a cadre of careerists, too often lacking in moral courage, and dedicated to extending the life and increasing the size of any government programs they manage.

To all you seniors who think Social Security and Medicare will outlive you: don’t count on it. These two programs account for 45% of the federal budget, a percentage that’s increasing every year. Long before these programs run out of the cash needed to keep them going, changes of some type will have to be made. Whether this involves limiting eligibility, extending recipients’ eligibility age, increasing the amount withheld from those who pay into the system, or simply cutting the benefits, something will have to be done, and fairly soon. 

Wind Turbines and Dead Eagles. It seems the widespread expansion of wind turbines has led to a huge increase in dead birds. We’ve heard about this for years, but the data seems to be either classified (the Interior Department refuses to release the actual number) or just downright embarrassing. So…the folks who wrap themselves in the green blanket of alternative renewable energy find themselves at odds with another set of environmentalists who desire to protect God’s creatures. 

I’ve never been accused of being an environmentalist of the radical green or any other variety, but I’ll admit up front that I really like birds. To me they’re among the most fascinating of living creatures. They’re also worth keeping around since God obviously thought they were good enough to create on day five:

So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth” [Gen 1:21-22].

We should, therefore, be careful about how we, as the earth’s stewards [Gen 1:28], care for God’s good creatures. Climate-change radicals, predicting our immanent destruction, consider dead birds (and, it seems, dead humans) nothing more than acceptable collateral damage. Nothing is more important, they tell us, than saving the earth from the ravages caused by man. These are the same folks who have canonized John Kerry and Greta Thunberg, the former a serial liar since his Vietnam days and the latter…well, nobody really knows what she really is or how she got there. The trouble is, people who jump on bandwagons might enjoy the ride, but they rarely anticipate the unintended consequences that bring everything to a screeching halt. But that’s another subject…

Anyway, back to our birds…

It seems wind turbines are particularly threatening to soaring birds of prey; i.e., eagles, falcons, hawks, osprey, even condors. These birds spend most of their time just soaring above the earth, scanning the ground or water for prey; thus, they are far more likely to collide with the blades of wind turbines. Talking about this with an acquaintance the other day, he wondered how this could happen since those huge blades seem to move so slowly. He didn’t understand why birds couldn’t avoid them. What he really didn’t understand was the speed of the tips of those blades. As an old helicopter pilot, I’m very familiar with blade-tip speed. A large wind turbine can have blades well over 200 feet long, which can generate blade tip speeds in excess of 150 miles per hour. A blade, weighing several tons, and moving at that speed, can certainly catch a soaring bird by surprise. Another contributing factor: the location of turbines in areas where such birds are especially plentiful. For example, wind turbines located offshore can adversely affect seabirds and migratory birds who fish or pass through areas where offshore turbines are usually located.

When it comes to birds killed by wind turbines, what kind of numbers are we talking about? Nobody knows for sure, but it seems the numbers are growing. 10 years ago (2013) it was estimated that over 500,000 birds had been killed by turbines. But most estimates came from the wind turbine industry, probably not the most objective source. Current estimates by the federal government, another questionable source, vary but range upwards to 400,000 per year. These numbers are expected to increase considerably as the number and size of turbines increase. 

Golden Eagle and Wind Farm

Many bird lovers are most concerned about the long-term effect on eagles. Eagles, of course, are a protected species, and individuals who kill a bald eagle can be fined $5,000 and spend up to a year in jail. I found it surprising that wind farms are allowed a certain number of eagle “takes” — a polite euphemism for the number of eagles the spinning blades are allowed to kill every year. When the wind farm exceeds its takes, the company gets fined. At the Two Rivers Wind Project in Wyoming, the total number of bald eagles legally killed annually by wind farms would be almost 30% of the eagle population in the area. It would be very hard for any species to withstand such losses.

Now we’re hearing rumbling along the east coast about the unexplained deaths of unprecedented numbers of whales and other sea mammals, allegedly related to the construction and operation of offshore wind turbines. The powers in charge all deny any connection, while the locals, including the professional fisherman who claim they know the area best, disagree. I just find it interesting that these wind turbines seem to be at war with both of the species God created on that fifth day: “the great sea monsters…and every winged bird.”

I’m not smart enough to know what to do about all this, but it seems we have jumped into technologies without really studying their possible, usually unintended, effects on the rest of our interconnected world. The fact that we don't understand these connections should lead us to move with extreme caution as we introduce new technologies. We see this as well when it comes to electric vehicles and the potential environmental effects of battery production and rare earth mining.

Politicians just love to do seemingly important things by making grand gestures and forcing their will on those who elect them. Sadly, far too often they make these decisions in favor of those entities that provide them with the most money. Perhaps they would be far more successful and certainly more worthy of our votes if they simply let the market — i.e., the people — make those decisions within a framework that balances both good and not-so-good consequences. 

Western Trip Part 2: Go West, Old Man

I meant to post yesterday, but my world became far too crowded with tasks and other demands to do much of anything else. By the time I had time, I was too tired to think, much less write. Of course, this morning wasn't much better. After 8 a.m. Mass I facilitated our weekly parish Bible Study, then attended a clergy meeting, followed immediately by a liturgy committee meeting, and finally got home at about 1 p.m. For some reason I just don't feel retired. But as Dear Diane is fond of saying, "For someone who loves what you do you sure do complain a lot." And in truth I do enjoy what I do, since being a deacon in our parish is a joy, especially now with our new church almost finished.
Yes, we're building a new church that will seat 1,100 people. Our current building, which began life as a small mission church, seats only about 500 people crammed together in less than moderate comfort. Since over 5,000 people now attend Saturday Vigil and Sunday Masses during our peak (winter) season here in central Florida, we must schedule between nine and eleven Masses every weekend to handle the crowds. Once we move into the new building, sometime in late July, things will improve drastically. But before then there's a lot of work to do, a lot of preparation to be made. It's all very exciting, though. God has certainly blessed our parish, this wonderful community of believers. May He continue to do so.
I'll include some photos of the new church in a future post.
_____________________

Now, back to our trip West...

After our brief stay in Tombstone, Arizona, Dear Diane, Maddie and I continued West, heading for San Diego. We made our way across the desert and then over the mountains just east of San Diego, amazed at all the wind turbines strung out across the landscape. (Warning: editorial comment follows) It will be interesting to see what happens to this government supported industry if the tax credits it has reaped for years actually expire and are not renewed by Congress. This subsidy costs you and me over $6 billion annually and really does little to encourage the development of more efficient sources of energy. Anyway, I really don't support the idea that the federal government should be picking winners and losers in any industry. After all, these are the same folks that brought us the efficiencies of the Veterans Administration. (End of comment)


It was wonderful to once again find ourselves in San Diego and we enjoyed our drive through the city as we let our GPS take us straight to our hotel, the La Quinta Inn in Old Town. (The inn allows dogs and all three of us were ready to get out of the car and relax a bit.) Once checked in and recovered, we called our dear old friends, Sally and Chuck Smiley, and firmed up our dinner plans for the evening.

CAPT C.B. Smiley, USN (Ret.)

Dear Diane and I had been married for only a few short months when we moved into our first home together in San Diego. That was in January 1969. Actually, that first home was in Chula Vista, a San Diego suburb not far from my duty station, a Navy helicopter squadron based at Naval Air Station Imperial Beach. It was there that as a young Lieutenant (j.g.) and fledgling pilot I met then-Commander C. B. Smiley, the squadron's executive officer, and later commanding officer, who for some reason known only to him, took me under his wing and taught me how to be a good naval officer and an even better human being. The student, however, never matched the high standards set by the teacher's own example. And today, when I mentally flip through the pages of my internal encyclopedia and find the entry for "A Good Man", Chuck Smiley stares back at me in my mind's eye. In the same way, his wife, Sally, became Diane's mentor and taught my 22-year-old bride how to survive and flourish as the wife of a naval officer. Sally could do no wrong and there were many conversations in our new family that began with the words, "Well, Sally says..."

Sally and Diane

Early that evening we met Sally and Chuck at their fabulous downtown condo and together made our way to a nice waterfront restaurant, the Pier Cafe, that offered pleasant outdoor seating for both humans and dogs. The seafood and service were quite good, the conversation even better, and the company the best. It was a perfect evening and the USS Midway, now a remarkable naval museum, could be seen from our table.

Chuck, by the way, was a key member of the team responsible for bringing the USS Midway to San Diego and turning it into the city's greatest tourist attraction. If you go to San Diego, be sure to spend some time aboard the Midway. You can't miss it: it's the big aircraft carrier right off Harbor Drive. Check out the website here. 

Midway from the San Diego shoreline

Here's a photo of Chuck, me, and our two crewmen, Mike Longe and Glen Slider shortly before we flew the mission to recover the Apollo 13 astronauts when they returned from their ill-fated trip to the moon and back. We were all a lot younger back in 1970.



The next morning we drove up the coast, marveling at the growth of what were once little seafront towns between San Diego and Los Angeles. After an hour or so of off-highway driving we arived at beautiful Laguna Beach and the hillside home of other dear friends, Darlene and Warren Aut. We've known them both since those early Navy days in that first squadron. Warren was Chuck Smiley's executive officer way back then and went on to achieve flag rank and become Admiral Aut. And Darlene was one of Dear Diane's very best friends; they were loyal Navy wives who supported each other and raised families on their own while their husbands were away for months at a time, flying off of ships in the Pacific Ocean.

View of the Pacific from the Auts' living room

Darlene and Warren have a new dog, an Australian Labradoodle named Sally Benjamin. A bouncy, fluffy little thing, about twice the size of our dog, she and Maddie seemed to get along well during our two-day stay. Diane and I needed the non-hotel rest. After a week of cross-country driving, their lovely home overlooking the Pacific provided the perfect therapy. Thank you, Darlene and Warren.

Sally Benjamin and Maddie enjoying each other

Darlene and Warren join us for lunch in Laguna Beach

We left our friends and made our way inland so we could visit Sequoia National Park and be humbled by its huge, ancient trees. I'll have to tell you about it tomorrow. The evening Bible Study session is fast approaching, so I must leave.

But before I leave today, let me say only that memory is a wonderful thing, one of God's splendid gifts. Through it we can relive those meaningful events of past days and revisit all the good friends who did so much to bring goodness into our lives. 

God's peace...