Exhortation Twenty                               Time Capsule   What is Newsworthy?   After nearly a two-year drought, drying up reservoirs and salmon spawning beds, the local utility authorities declare the need for more money and place a legal surcharge on all power users. They declare that the surcharge is only temporary.     Users of electricity are strongly encouraged to conserve power usage. Of course, the consumer public is motivated to do so in the face of rising power costs.     After the rains return to their once normal abundance and the reservoirs and rivers are at the brink or overflowing their banks, a hearty applause and thanksgiving is expressed to those who made an effort to reduce their power consumption.     Shortly thereafter, the Utility Authorities then show their appreciation by informing the consumer public, because their customer base did such a good job lowering their power usage, budget demands were not met and fell short of their forecasted goal. Therefore, the surcharge will remain in effect to help make up for their budget deficit.     Another dry spell and a year later… The local CBS News Affiliate reports, “that after a year long investigation, it was determined that the energy crisis of last year had little to do with seasons of drought but was the result of poor management.”   Indeed, “power corrupts…”     In other news, the same CBS Affiliate reported a newly elected Mayor in a small Florida town as having made an official proclamation to cast Satan out of her town. The ACLU was offended by her use of Religious freedom in the context of her governmental appointment. By their reaction to her proclamation and obvious miss-interpretation of our Constitution, they made themselves out to be hypocrites. The News Anchor stated, “I think someone needs to relax.” Whose hearts are complacent about the reality that stirs all around us, I ask?     The news continues, reporting a new problem in Puget Sound regarding sunk and derelict boats. The report took us to Friday Harbor, a popular destination for tourists and once booming fishing village. In the broadcast the statement was made, “Hundreds and perhaps as many as a thousand such wrecks are scattered throughout Puget Sound.”  What an understatement! Come on you people! Focus not on the wrecks themselves, which provide for marine sanctuary and artificial reef systems. Focus instead on the deliberate, illegal, scuttling of vessels with gasoline and diesel still in their tanks! As a first hand witness and diver, I can tell you there are thousands. Spilt fuels are what is polluting our delicate food chain.  Now there is a headline news story! Does your camera crew care to go diving, I ask? Care to speculate and wonder why our salmon stocks are diminishing and whales are committing suicide?   As a long time Live aboard in Puget Sound, I am humbled, even ashamed to admit that this self serving system of so called justice has not only kept my mouth shut, but many others as well. Litigation and costly lawsuits strangle the innocent and muffle their voices.   Indeed, “power corrupts…”     Would it interest you to know that the kind of graft and corruption which brought ENRON down to its’ knees exists in even the smallest corners of incorporated America? While it appears that a few of the victimized at ENRON will receive some degree of help, those of us who are victimized by the same graft and corruption in smaller, less visible companies get little or no help and are often crucified by the system, which serves itself. We largely go unnoticed. What little recourse we do have consumes what little resource we had. I am a witness and victim to this ever-increasing graft and corruption. How about you? Where do you stand? What love has your neighbor shown you?     I wrote to the television station, my concerns over their reporting style and perversion of reality used to provoke a particular response and produce fear and panic among its viewers. I never did get back a response. Who am I? I’m just a little guy. I’m not newsworthy! Are you beginning to recognize the signs? Though television reporting today is largely a vanity affair of sensational gore, it does reflect the desires of many. Where carrion is found, there the vultures will gather.    Now, about the bald face lies, that same CBS Affiliate falsely claimed that the Northwest was experiencing a decline in the crime rate. So much more transgression has been brought to light in recent months than I can ever recall prior. How about the increased number of high-speed Police chases or the much over done Police brutality often resulting in fatality? Increasing by great numbers are the child kidnapping and rape/murder cases. Husbands killing wives and children, wives killing husbands and children, Teachers having sex with minor students, kids with guns and oh, we can’t leave out the recent revelations and testimonies of victims regarding the sexual abuse within the Catholic Priesthood. How does that indicate a decline in crime? I think it is interesting to note that in a State with increasing unemployment and an unstable economy, crime rates are reflective of suffrage.     Though no one wants to talk about it, there is a direct link to Washington States current problems with its long time resident, Boeing Corporation. Unlike past years when Boeing employees were laid off and later re-hired, the lay-offs this time are permanent. What they’re not telling you is that American jobs have been on the selling block for some time now. Jobs for parts assembly and manufacturing are being sold to foreign countries because America is no longer taking care of her own best interests and valued labor pool. Companies like Boeing can’t stay alive, let alone compete in a false economy. So, they go elsewhere. Thanks to poor leadership, corrupt Unions and Insurance companies, this country that was once called “Land of the Brave, Home of the Free,” is faltering and about to collapse. Do you see the vultures circling overhead? Look closely; the wolves are just behind that tree.