Author Archives: bpriddy

The Future of Water (update)

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We seldom update one of these posts, and even less often do we do it immediately.  Had we posted on this topic today instead of yesterday we would have changed some information. But here’s an important update that underlines the point we made.

The Corps of Engineers announced yesterday that it was implementing drought conservation measures on the Missouri River.  June runoff from rain (very little) and snowmelt (much reduced) was just 52% of the average amount. The Corps has updated its forecast for upper basin runoff to finally be 60% of average.

It says this will be the tenth driest year in the upper basin since 1898.  Water storage in upstream reservoirs is expected to decline further.  That means less water coming downstream for all of the purposes defined by federal river law.

This doesn’t mean we who live in cities that rely on the river for our water will have to stop watering lawns, wash dishes once a week and clothes once a month and ourselves only on Saturday nights using the same water for everybody in the family (as many of our pioneer ancestors did).  But it adds further weight to yesterday’s discussion.

There isn’t “water, water everywhere” in more and more places.

The Future of Water

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A good part of Missouri has gotten an excessive drenching in the past few days.  But we—and perhaps you—have friends to the west who are being baked well-done by record heat and who are watching forests burn and water reservoir levels drop and disappear.

We might think we are glad we don’t have their problems—although our monsoon week is hardly without problems of its own.

For several years, Nancy and I enjoyed going to the Four Corners area for a week each fall to do archaeological work on or near the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation, adjacent to Mesa Verde National Park. We first recorded rock art from the days of the Anasazi (a Pueblo word meaning “ancient enemies”—we don’t know what those people who lived in the area until the 1200s called themselves because they left no written language). Although popular telling of their story has it that they just suddenly disappeared 750 years ago or so, archaeologists and anthropologists think they know where their descendants are, and they have developed some theories on why they fled the Four Corners area.

It’s thought they are the ancestors of the present Hopi people. One of the factors—the final straw—leading to their departure from the Four Corners area is believed to have been a 45-year drought that left them without the food and other resources needed to survive.

All of this has been brought to mind by recent reports that Lake Mead, which is behind Hoover Dam, has declined to its lowest level ever because of a drought that is now in its 22nd year. The condition is critical for 25-million people including the cities of Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Diego, Phoenix, and Tucson.  The lake has hit a record low, down 140 feet since 2000, creating the bathtub ring you can see in recent pictures. One-hundred-forty feet is about the height of the Statue of Liberty from base to torch tip.

Some states already have imposed water rationing and they expect to tighten restrictions as conditions worsen. Agriculture is in dire straits. Adding to the awful conditions is the rise in major fires in forests that haven’t seen protective rain for years.

It’s hard to understand that green and verdant Missouri faces some water shortages of our own. Today.  Right now.  And stewardship of our water will become more critical as our population increases, as agriculture is under increased pressure to produce more and more food in an increasingly populous world, and as our economy grows.

The Department of Natural Resources 2020 update to its Missouri Water Resources Plan warns, “Although Missouri is fortunate to have rich water resources, localized shortages do exist because of the distance from adequate supplies, insufficient infrastructure or storage, water quality constraints, and other limiting factors. In many areas, surface water supplies are subject to seasonal fluctuations; supplies are frequently at their lowest when demand is the highest.”

Farther into the study we are told, “On average, the 6.1 million people and numerous businesses in Missouri consume 3.2 billion gallons of water each day. Of that demand, 78 percent is supplied by groundwater, while the remaining 22 percent is supplied by surface water.”  Three fourths of our water comes from under our feet.

We often heard testimony in legislative committee hearings on the dangers of agricultural runoff or industrial pollution going into our streams and rivers, our surface waters. A major concern, yes.  But that’s only one-fifth of the water we use or think we need to use.

Studies indicate our population will rise to about seven-and-a-half million people by 2060, well within the lifetimes of some who read these entries—them or their children—putting more pressure on water, a finite resource.  The report suggests a number of policies and practices that need to be started now in anticipation of that growth.

We need to do more than read about them. Our generation has to start something that later generations can continue to meet Missouri’s water needs.

The greatest pressure on our water supply is agricultural irrigation—65% of our water withdrawals go to farming. Major water systems (that provide us with water to drink, to bathe in, to do our dishes, and flush our toilets) are another 25%.

The study says the agricultural counties of Butler, Dunklin, New Madrid, Pemiscot, and Stoddard Counties—all in the southeast corner of the state—are projected to have the greatest growth in demand in the next four decades. High demand also is expected as our metropolitan areas become more metropolitan.

DNR says the state “generally has plentiful water sources.”  Now, it does. But the report also says, “many supply-related challenges exist.”

Much of the groundwater originating from bedrock aquifers in northern and west-central Missouri is highly mineralized and unsuitable for most uses. In northwestern Missouri, precipitation is generally the lowest in the state, and the lack of surface water availability during prolonged droughts can result in water shortages. Timing is also important in determining the availability of water, since peak demands often coincide with the driest times of the year and multiyear droughts can lower aquifers and drain reservoirs that typically provide ample supply. Even when available, the quality of the water may not be suitable for all intended uses without treatment.

We already are facing a critical problem in dealing with our water supplies. The DNR report says, “More than half of the state’s community public water systems became active prior to 1960, meaning that without repair or replacement original water pipes, mains, and equipment are nearing or exceeding their average expected lifespan…Many small drinking water utilities have indicated that they lack the funding not only to proactively manage infrastructure needs, but also to meet current water quality standards and adequately address water losses.”

At the other end of the process (to coin a phrase): “Similar to drinking water infrastructure in Missouri, a significant portion of wastewater infrastructure may be approaching the end of its expected life.”

Need an immediate reminder of how precious Missouri’s water supply is and how carefully we must use it and prepare for its future use is no farther away than the greatest of our rivers?

This past April 7, the Missouri River Basin Water Management Division for the Corps of Engineers noted the snowfall in the upper basin had been poor.  “We expect upper basin runoff to be below average,” said Division Chief John Remus. The Corps thinks the snowmelt runoff into upstream reservoirs to be 83% of the annual average this year.

Water is going to become more precious.  You and I might not notice it.  But our grandchildren could.  We aren’t going to turn into the Southwest by the end of the week.  But we have to understand that the way we use water today can’t be the way our next generations will use it.  And we need to prepare for those times.

Unlike the ancient pueblo peoples of the Colorado plateau in the 12th and 13th Centuries, we won’t have anyplace to go when the great drought hits us.

If you want to read the entire 2020 Missouri Water Resources Plan you can find it at:

https://dnr.mo.gov/mowaterplan/docs/2020-mo-water-resources-plan-highlights.pdf

Racing: King of the Road, End of the Road, The Road Ahead

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Chase Elliott confirmed he’s this generation’s king of the road courses.  A long-time NASCAR owner’s exit raises issues of other exits ahead, a big team gets a big win, and a big name gets a new deal.

(NASCAR)—Chase Elliott led 24 of the last 25 laps at Road America last weekend to wrap up his seventh career road-racing victory.  Only Jeff Gordon with nine and Tony Stewart with eight have more victories when turning the steering wheel right as well as left.

The win on the four-mile long road course at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin was even more impressive because Elliott started 34th in the field of forty. He climbed to tenth in the first sixteen-lap stage, and was a front-row starter for the third stage.

It’s the seventh win in the last eight Cup races for Hendrick Motorsports (eight of the last nine if you throw in the All-Star race) and the tenth in this year’s twenty points-paying races.  Kyle Busch, who interrupted the recent Hendrick domination last week, came home third behind Christopher Bell. Both drive for Hendrick’s top competitor, Joe Gibbs Racing.

Atlanta is the next designation for NASCAR, next weekend.

(THE END OF THE NASCAR ROAD)—Last week’s sale of Chip Ganassi Racing to Justin Marks’ Trackhouse Racing surprised just about everybody, including Ganassi, and raises questions about how much longer the major owner-names that have dominated the sport for decades will hang around.

Ganassi says he had no plans to sell his operations until Marks talked him into it.  Marks gets the whole Ganassi kit and caboodle for 2022. But more investment will be necessary before Daytona next year.  The cars that Ganassi is running this year won’t be used next year as NASCAR switches to its Next Gen car that is designed to be cheaper to build and run and to look more like the cars we see on the streets.  It appears that at least one of the two drivers now with Ganassi will not be retained—either Kurt Busch or Ross Chastain.  Trackhouse already fields a car for Daniel Suarez and will keep him next year.  Busch said at Elkhart Lake last weekend that he already is talking with Trackhouse about staying with the team.  His contract with Ganassi ends at the end of this year.  There have been reports that Busch also is being considered for a possible second car by 23XI racing, the Denny Hamlin/Michael Jordan team that runs Bubba Wallace now. The team, however, has only one charter this year.  Marks has said both Busch and Chastain are “under consideration” for the second Trackhouse car next year.

The Ganassi sale is a dramatic reminder that “Next Gen” might not only apply to cars.  Last year’s creation of 23XI Racing by Jordan and Hamlin was a first step in reshaping NASCAR ownerships with younger faces.  Hamlin, who will be 41 in November, is winless this year, and is running out of time to win a Cup championship, has followed Tony Stewart, 50, into transitioning from driver to owner (although not to owner-driver).  Stewart took half ownership in Haas Racing in 2008 and Stewart-Haas has four drivers in CUP this year: Kevin Harvick, Aric Almirola, Chase Briscoe and Cole Custer. None has won a race this year and Harvick is the only one in position to make the playoff field—which will be set after only six more races.

Other top drivers are, or might be, moving into top positions in major teams.  Jeff Gordon’s move to Vice-Chairman of Hendrick Motorsports positions him to be in an ownership position when Rich Hendrick, who will turn 72 this month, decides to step away.

Brad Keselowski is rumored to be ready to leave Penske Racing as a driver and move to Roush-Fenway Racing with an ownership stake.  Jack Roush, who is 79, sold half of his team to Fenway Sports Group in 2007. He handles the competition operations while Geoff Smith is President of the company and handles business activities.  Roush once had five teams in Cup (including Missourians Carl Edwards and Jamie McMurray at the same time), but was ordered by NASCAR to cut his group to four. RFR went down to three teams for 2012 and has only two drivers this year—Ryan Newman and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.  Newman is out of playoff contention and Stenhouse ranks 19th in points. The playoffs only include 16 drivers.

Penske Racing is still headed by Roger Penske, who is 84 and has become the owner of the INDYCAR series and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  Tim Cindric is the President of the racing segment of the giant Penske Corporation. It appears the Penske NASCAR Cup operation will lose Keselowski at the end of the year and championship crew chief Todd Gordon, who is retiring after more than a decade on the pit box. Team Penske has 128 Cup wins but only two this year, one each by Keselowski and by Joey Logano.

A couple of other owners are no longer spring chickens: Joe Gibbs, who will be 81 before the end of the year, and Richard Childress, who already is 76.  Richard Childress Racing has 109 Cup wins in 48 years but only four since Kevin Havick won four times in 2013.

Unmentioned so far as a possible future big-name owner in the top series is Dale Earnhardt, Jr., whose JR Motorsports has met success in the second-tier series.  Earnhardt, who will be 47 this fall, has indicated he would like to move up but the economics behind purchasing a Cup franchise are problematic.

(INDYCAR)—Team Penske finally has won an INDYCAR race in 2021. Josef Newgarden dominated the race at Mid-Ohio but had to fend off a furious challenge in the last few laps from Ganassi’s Marcus Ericcson.  The victory was one day after the fiftieth anniversary of Penske’s first win in Indy cars—Mark Donohue won the Pocono 500 on July 3, 1971.

Newgarden won by about nine-tenths of a second. He started from the pole and led all but seven of the 80 laps.  He had started P1 in the previous two races but had lost the leads in the last three laps of both previous races. Points leader Alex Palou, an Ericcson teammate was third and another Ganassi teammate, Scott Dixon was fourth, giving Ganassi three of the top four finishing positions for the race.

It’s the first INDYCAR win for Penske since the last race of the 2020 season.

Palou’s podium finish expanded his points lead over Pato O’Ward to 39 points. Dixon, the defending and six-time series champion is running third in points, 56 back.

Newgarden, credits the “real magic” of the inter-team working relationships for his success at Mid-Ohio, and as a two-time series champion. In a Forbes magazine interview, he says, “We cultivate a culture where we feel we have the best of the best with the ability to focus—good or bad in the past races—we are constantly focusing forward on the next task.”

The Forbes article (https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2021/07/02/on-50th-anniversary-of-first-indycar-win-roger-penske-reflects-on-success-at-the-track-and-in-business/?sh=521e57d329d0) is with Penske and focuses on his successes on the track and in his private business.

In the article, Penske says his father’s advice has been his guiding philosophy: “Effort equal results.”  He also says in the article, “Teamwork, technology, communication, precision, and performance under pressure are all keys to winning on the track and they are critically important to building a successful business and delivering for our customers.”

And retirement does not seem to be in his vocabulary.

(FORMULA 1)—-Max Verstappen extends Red Bull Racing’s winning streak to five, its longest winning streak since 2013.  Verstappen won the Grand Prix of Austria, starting on pole, and coming home 18 seconds ahead of Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas. Lando Norris took his McLaren to third ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who drops farther behind Verstappen as he chases his record eighth F1 title.

It was  landmark victory for Verstappen, who has dominated F1 lately. Formula One’s Lawrence Barretto observes that the race is the first time in his career that Verstappen has startaed first, led every lap, and posted the fastest lap of the race. He has led 142 consecutive laps in picking up his third straight win, his fifth of the year. He now leads Hamilton by 32 points. Hamilton has three wins. Carlos Sainz is the only other winner on the circuit this year. It’s the fifth straight win for his engine manufacturer, Honda, which has not seen a winning streak this long since Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost took the first eleven races in 1988 for McLaren.

Just before the race, Mercedes announced it had signed a contract extension with Hamilton that will keep him with the team through the 2023 season.  He has won six of his seven championships with Mercedes.

F1 moves on to Silverstone and the GP of Britain on July 18.

Before there was Dave Ramsey—

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(There was Dr. Frank Crane who dispensed the same advice.  He did it with one column, not a series of lessons that detail how to accomplish the same goals Dr. Crane espoused.  The bottom line for both is—use common sense.  Dr. Crane wrote this in 1920.  See if it doesn’t sound like the kind of basic advice we see in Dave’s daily columns as he explores—-)

THRIFT

Thrift simply means the application of thought to money.

It doesn’t mean saving merely. It means to think every time you have to do with m

It means to make money with energy, to spend money wisely, and to save money systematically.

Some people have the idea that it denotes a superior person not to care about money. This idea is wrong. It indicates a lack of sense and a lack of morals.

Money carelessness means unhappiness by and by. It is one of the surest ways to slump into self-pity if not to crime.

The first thing needed in order to be thrifty is principle. You must make up  your mind and stick to it.

Principle number one is that a person can live on nine-tenths of what he does live on.  If you spend $1,000 a year you can get along on $900. Save the other $100.

To make $10 and spend nine means success.  To make $10 and spend $11 means ruin.  Which way are you headed?

Thrift is a general moral tonic. It develops character. It takes self-denial and hence creates self-mastery, which is the thing that every human being needs.

The period

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Independence Day is upon us.  July 4th. We’re going to spend the whole long weekend celebrating July 4th. Not many people will thinking of “Independence Day,” though.

We think they should, especially at this time in our national history.

It is a day, or a weekend, to examine the most quoted—and greatly misunderstood—section of the Declaration of Independence. We misunderstand it because someone, apparently in the 1820s, inserted a period in a crucial sentence

Have you read the Declaration? All of it?   Have you read it SLOWLY enough to understand what it is about?  Even if you have read it, have you THOUGHT about it?

From numerous platforms in numerous towns someone will perform a public reading of the Declaration of Independence.  It will be more performance than reading, more ceremonial than meaningful.

Princeton Professor Danielle Allen’s Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality is a line-by-line exploration of what the document means and how carefully-worded it was by its creators.  She argues that while Thomas Jefferson is considered the hero-author of the Declaration, he was only one of dozens who molded it into the living document it should be today—rather than the misunderstood symbol it is in the minds of many people.

She points to the best-known (and, she maintains, misunderstood) sentence. The National Archives, which has the original engrossed document, transcribes it this way on its webpage:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Allen argues that the insertion of a period after “pursuit of Happiness” is wrong and has led generations of readers to misunderstand the intent the authors intended.

How does she know the period doesn’t belong? “Jefferson’s first draft did not have this period, nor did any of the copies that he and Adams produced…In every draft that Jefferson copied out and in the draft that Adams copied out, each of the five truths is separated equally from the others with the same punctuation mark. The manuscript in the ‘corrected’ journal, as Congress’s official record of its work was called, does not have the period. Nor does the Dunlap broadside, the first printed text of the Declaration…Those who etched these phrases on the Jefferson monument also did so without a period. All agree: this well-formed syllogism is a single sentence.”

She asserts the period makes the Declaration a celebration of individual rights. But she contends the drafters intended the phrase “to lead us directly, and without interruption, in this single sentence through ‘consent of the Governed,’ and to the phrase ‘most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.’  The sentence laying out the self-evident truths leads us from the individual to the community—from our separate and equal rights to what we can achieve only together.”

Or, as she puts it earlier in her book, “All people have rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…Properly constituted government is necessary to their securing these rights (and) all people have a right to a properly constituted government.”

Harvard Public Policy Professor Robert D. Putnam addresses that question in his new book, The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and how WE Can Do It Again.  He looks back to the assessment of our still-young country by Alexis deToqueville who studied democracy in America in the 1830s and, as Putnam puts it, “Rightly noted, in order for the American experiment to succeed, personal liberty must be fiercely protected, but also carefully balanced with a commitment to the common good. Individuals’ freedom to pursue their own interests holds great promise, but relentlessly exercising that freedom at the expense of others has the power to unravel the very foundations of the society that guarantees it.”

His study looks at times when this country “experienced a storm of unbridled individualism in our culture, our communities, our politics, and our economics, and it produced then, as it has today, a national situation that few Americans found appealing.”

But, he says, “We successfully weathered that storm once, and we can do it again.”

Putnam argues that The Gilded Age of the late 19th Century, a time when individual liberties were placed above the common good, gave way to the Progressive Era of the early to mid-20th Century in which the common miseries and challenges of The Great Depression, World War II, and the Civil Rights movement made us a nation seeking a mutual good, a nation in which “we” confronted and reconciled individual liberties and universal freedoms.. But since then we have retreated to an “I” period, when the idea of achieving liberty as a community has given way to another period of “unbridled individualism in our culture, our communities, our politics and our economics.”

On this Independence Day weekend, let’s read the Declaration—slowly—and without that period and understand that ALL of us have rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  But with rights come responsibilities.  And it is the responsibility of ALL of us to make sure that “a properly constituted government” is in place to secure those rights.

—rights that belong to all of US.

As Professor Allen notes, “If we abandon equality, we lose the single bond that makes us a community, that makes us a people with the capacity to be free collectively and individually in the first place.”

—and lessens the chances for all of us to enjoy our shared desires for  life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

 

Ken Schrader: The Racer’s New Racer

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(ROSSBURG, OHIO)—Ever wonder whether some of today’s race drivers could do well on dirt? Or whether the old guys still have it?  Guys like Helio Castroneves, a four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 who has only driven on pavement, or Bill Elliott, who is 65 now, or Paul Tracy who earns a living by telling people about INDYCAR races instead of driving in them, is 50 and hasn’t driven in a race for 15 years, or Bobby LaBonte who has finally made the transition from track to booth?

They’re racing in the SRX series—Superstar Racing Experience, which ran its third race of the season Saturday night at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway, a dirt track.  Stewart and NASCAR championship crew chief (three of Jeff Gordon’s four titles) are the creators of the new series that matches drivers from different eras and disciplines in cars that are as equal as they can be

The man who does his best to make sure the cars are as equal as possible is Fenton native Ken Schrader, a year older than Elliott, who still competes from time to time at his own track at Pevely and in Modified Stocks, Midgets and ARCA cars in a lot of other places. He’s the chief test driver for the new series, which he says focuses on “good ol’ racecars that let the driver’s ability shine through.”

He talked about the series at Knoxville (Iowa) dirt track a couple of weeks ago—and reminisced a little about some of his runs there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzIEslHM88Q

Stewart won the race on his home track Saturday night, coming from last place (12th) at the start of the Feature.  But he had to hold off local star driver Kody Swanson to do it.  And Castroneves, running the second race of his life on dirt, was third.  Other drivers in the series: Willy T. Ribbs, Tony Kanaan, Michael Waltrip, Marco Andretti, Scott Speed, and Ernie Francis Jr.  Francis is a seven time champion of the Trans-Am Series.  Speed is a champion Rallycross driver.

The debut season for SRX Racing is only six races long.   The remaining three races will be run at:

Lucas Oil Raceway (Indianapolis) next Saturday night; Slinger Speedway (Slinger Wisconsin) on July 10, and Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway on July 17.  CBS is the broadcast partner for the series.

After the first three races, Stewart has a big points lead over Castroneves and Francis. Andretti, taking a break from fulltime INDYCAR competition, is fourth, ahead of Labonte, Tracy, Waltrip and Elliott. Kanaan and Ribbs round out the top ten.

(NASCAR)—NASCAR’s doubleheader weekend at Pocono was nothing if not unpredictable. Late race circumstances ended two winning streaks and produced unanticipated winners.

Kyle Busch, driving a crippled car, emerged on top of the Sunday race when he squeezed every last mile out of his fuel while two frontrunners had to make late splash-and-go pit stops.  Busch’s transmission locked into fourth gear with more than 100 laps to go and he toasted the clutch trying to re-start in fourth gear—with a big push from his pit crew.  Several competitors elected not to top off their tanks during a caution period with 45 laps left. But Brad Keselowski lost the gamble and the lead with eight laps left. William Byron had to pit with three left and Denny Hamlin pitted on an empty tank a lap later, giving Busch a big lead over Kyle Larson, who was trying to make up for his disappointing Saturday finish.  Busch finished 8.6 seconds ahead of Larson, who also was trying to nurse his fuel supply to the end.

Busch’s win for Joe Gibbs Racing was the first time a Hendrick Motorsports driver had not finished first since May 9th—seven races, including the non-points All-Star Race.

Kyle Larson’s hopes of becoming the ninth driver in the modern NASCAR era (since 1972) to win four straight points-paying races came to an abrupt end with a blown tire on the last lap of Saturday’s Pocono race.   Larson had waged a fierce battle with teammate Alex Bowman for most of the last twenty laps before finally getting past him with three to go.

But on the second turn of the “tricky triangle” track, Larson’s left front tire let go and put him into the wall.  He kept his car going and finished ninth.  Bowman crossed the finish line seven-tenths of a second ahead of Kyle Busch.  It’s Bowman’s third win of the year.

Larson has built a good lead when the white flag signaled the start of the last lap but as he exited turn two he found his car “wouldn’t turn.”  He thought some debris from another car punctured his tire.

Bowman’s win was the sixth straight for Hendrick Motorsports, its longest streak since 2007.

NASCAR goes road racing at Road America next weekend.

(INDYCAR)—INDYCAR took a little break last weekend and will be back on-track at Mid-Ohio on July 4.  The track is one of Scott Dixon’s best venues. He’s won there six times and needs a win to tighten the championship points race.  He’s third with two of the young lions of INDYCAR ahead of him: Alex Palou, up by 52 points and Pato O’Ward, who is 28 points ahead of Dixon.

(FORMULA 1)—This year is looking more like Max Verstappen’s year.  He handily beat defending F1 champion Lewis Hamilton in the Styrian Grand Prix. Hamilton admitted his Mercedes had nothing to a challenge Verstappen’s Red Bull ride.  Verstappen started from pole, took a good lead on the start and never lost command of the race. Hamilton was second and his teammate, Valtteri Bottas, was third.

(Styria is a state of Austria).

Verstappen has now won four races to Hamilton’s three.  The victory is the third straight for the Red Bull team. He leads Hamilton by 18 points after Red Bull’s fourth straight win. The race was the eight F1 GP of the year. There are fifteen more chances for Mercedes and Hamilton to regain the dominant position in the series.

F1 returns to the same circuit next week. But that race will be the called The Austrian Grand Prix.

(Photo credit: SRX)

 

Fearmongering

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(Some observers of today’s socio-political climate have commented that our fears are being cultivated by those who seek political domination. The antidote is obvious.  Refuse to fear those who are different, or in Biblical terms, “Love your enemy as yourself.”  The poet Edwin Markham encouraged us to be unafraid when he wrote:

He drew a circle that shut me out-
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle and took him In!

Dr. Frank Crane tells us, in so many word, “Be not afraid…..”)

THE CREED OF THE UNAFRAID

Whoever He may be who sits in the Heavens and rules the universe, I shall not be afraid of Him. And if it be but a force, it shall not frighten me.

Whoever created my soul intended for me to live my life.  Sickness may come to me; it can destroy all of me but not my courage.

I shall not be afraid to love to trust wholly.

I shall not fear my passions but learn to drive them like thoroughbreds.

I shall not be timid on account of my weaknesses, but learn to guard against them.

I shall make friends with Destiny, and adjust myself to events. No man shall cow me. I have a right top standing room on earth.

I shall not falter to look any human being in the face. I believe that ghosts become harmless natural objects when one walks up to them; hence if anything causes me fear I shall examine it and try to understand it.

I shall exercise due caution but shall not be afraid of my food, of microbes, of disease, nor accidents. Against all of these I am best prepared by a clear, fool mind.

I shall not be afraid that I cannot sleep.

I shall stubbornly shut my mind against all morbidity, such as suggestions of failure, insanity and suicide.

I shall treat with contempt all superstitions, warnings, and premonitions, fortune telling, prophecies, and all like humbuggery.

Is shall not fear on account of my past. The consequences of my errors I shall take like a man.

Knowing that death is due to mortals at any moment, I shall live for it now and at all times, it shall find me unafraid.

Patriots

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The time between the first Juneteenth National Independence Day and the traditional Independence Day on July 4th provides an opportunity to think about patriots and patriotism. It’s an important discussion to be having this year, as we approach the six-month anniversary of the attack on the national Capitol by many people who think they are patriots.

Their definition of patriotism is repugnant, we hope, to the huge majority of Americans.  We shall not explore that matter specifically today.

Instead, we are going to turn to a study announced the other day by WalletHub, a personal finance website that attracts attention to itself with surveys of public attitudes on this and that. It’s a good gimmick because Americans love two things in particular: surveys and lists.  And WalletHub provides them.

The self-serving nature of the surveys aside, they do often provide food for thought.  So it is with the recent one that ranks Missouri in the top 20 most patriotic states, thanks largely to a number 1 ranking in required civic education.  Otherwise we’re about where we are in so many ratings—middling.  That ranking for civic education boosts us to 18th.

The five most patriotic states according to the WalletHub system of rankings are Montana, Alaska, Maryland, Vermont, and New Hampshire.  The five least patriotic states in this survey are California, Michigan, Connecticut, Florida and New York.

One thing the survey does is debunk any feelings of superiority by Red States.  The survey shows there is little difference between them. The average rank of red, or Republican, states is 25.68.  The average rank of blue, or Democratic, state is 25.32.

It appears the red and blue states, however, are cumulatively much less patriotic than individual states.  Montana, number one, has a rating of 61.91.  New York, at number 50, has a rating of 21.64.  The cumulative ratings of red and blue states as blocs would rank them 49th among the individual states.

How do you measure patriotism?  Patriotism is an abstract term, a personal term, and trying to measure what is in one’s heart is difficult.  But WalletHub tries to use external factors.

While we are first in civic education requirements and 18th in the average number of military enlistees per 100,000 population, we are 23rd in percentage of voters who took part in the 2020 presidential election; 24th in percentage of veterans among adult citizens; 26th in Peace Corps volunteers per capita and volunteer hours per resident; 27th in volunteer rate and AmeriCorps volunteers per capita; 28th in active military personnel per 100,000 people.

WalletHub has a “panel of experts” that define patriotism apart from the statistics. It provided their comments in a news release accompanying the survey:

What are the characteristics of a good patriot? 
“Patriotism is about loyalty – an attachment to a particular place and/or way of life. A good patriot exhibits dedication to that way of life, sacrificing one’s private time and even resources to work on behalf of one’s community. The patriot, however, does not seek to impose that way of life upon others nor to blindly follow without questioning. Like any good relationship, a patriot is committed and generally trusting but also preserves the right to question and exercise healthy skepticism.”
Christie L. Maloyed, Ph.D. – Associate Professor, University of Louisiana at Lafayette

“While some may argue that a good patriot is blindly loyal to their country, in fact, a key characteristic of the good patriot is the willingness to hold their country accountable in terms of living up to the high ideals it professes, or upon which it was founded.”
Sheila Croucher – Distinguished Professor, Miami University

Is there a link between socioeconomic class and level of patriotism?
“Studies suggest schools in places with higher socioeconomic characteristics engage in more critical approaches to history and civics than schools with lower socioeconomic characteristics. These schools are more likely to give students experiences in debate, dialogue, and critique—these concepts are important for healthy patriotism. On the other hand, studies also suggest military recruiters are more likely to seek students from schools in communities with lower socioeconomic characteristics. Having limited economic access to higher education, students in these communities are more likely to serve in the military.”
Benjamin R. Wellenreiter, Ed.D. – Assistant Professor, Illinois State University
“There can be. When there are fewer economic resources in a community, there are often fewer chances to engage in community building as many individuals need to focus on meeting their basic needs, working long hours or multiple jobs, caretaking, and other commitments. Moreover, many areas experience civic deserts, areas where there are fewer opportunities to participate. In these communities, there are fewer organizations to join. This can happen due to depopulation or economic hardship.”
Christie L. Maloyed, Ph.D. – Associate Professor, University of Louisiana at Lafayette

What measures should schools, and local authorities undertake in order to promote patriotism among citizens?
“I would love to see civic education become a larger priority around the country. Most American students learn the history of our founding, but citizenship requires more than historical knowledge: it requires a commitment to active participation in the community and politics (with voting as a minimum), and a willingness to work with fellow citizens to address our shared problems and to advance a common good, along with the media and information literacy to stay informed about one’s community and nation. Civic education requirements vary greatly from state to state, but few have gone far enough.”
Libby Newman – Associate Professor, Rider University
“The measures should come from individual citizens more than schools and authorities. Patriotism is a grass-roots concept. We need citizens to engage in dialogue with one another, work to experience and understand multiple perspectives, volunteer when the need arises—both military and civilian— and be continually committed to societal improvement. Schools and local authorities should be transparent in their work and take stewardship approaches to their responsibilities. Patriotism is taught through action as much as it is through the word.”
Benjamin R. Wellenreiter, Ed.D. – Assistant Professor, Illinois State University.

What makes you a patriot?  Or do you even consider yourself to be one?

What is the difference between patriotism and nationalism—and which poses the greater danger?

These two weeks between the Independence Days are time to weigh those questions.

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Hendrick can’t lose; Penske can win

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(NASCAR)—Make it four in a row for Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson, including the non-points All-Star race.  Next week he’ll try to join eight other drivers since 1972 to win four points races in a row. Five of those eight drivers went on to win the season championship.

Larson has dominated the three points races he’s won, leading 264 of the 300 laps at Nashville Sunday and running his total to 648 laps led of the 772 laps in those three races.  He has not finished lower than second in his last seven races, including the All-Star race.

Larson attributes much of his success to his crew but he also thinks his peripatetic racing schedule has been a factor.  Larson left Nashville after his win Sunday planning to run a series of open-wheel races during the week before resuming his NASCAR seat next weekend at Pocono.

The win is the fifth straight points victory for Hendrick Motorsports.  Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott won races before Larson started his streak.

(INDYCAR)—INDYCAR powerhouse Team Penske is in its longest dry spell in more than two decades.  The team is still looking for its first win of the year. The last time it went this deep into the season without a win was 1991, a disastrous year in which no Penske driver sat in victory lane.

Josef Newgarden thought he had broken through at Road America this weekend, starting from the pole and leading a race-high 32 laps.  But his transmission betrayed him two laps from the end and left him limping around the track for the final two laps as Alex Palou raced ahead for his second win this year.

The win gave Palou a 28-point lead over Pato O’Ward in the series standings and made him the first Chip Ganassi Racing driver to win more than once since Dario Franchitti did it in 2011.

Newgarden finished 21st, the second straight disappointing week for the two-time series champion. Last week, he was leading the second race of the twin bill at Detroit when O’Ward got past him with three laps left.  Newgarden led the first 67 laps.

The third Penske driver, Will Power, was in position to win the first of the Detroit doubleheader races when the race was stopped because of a crash with only a few laps remaining.  His car wouldn’t re-fire when racing resumed, clearing the way for a win by O’Ward.

(FORMULA 1)—It is increasingly clear that Lewis Hamilton’s bid for a record eighth Formula 1 championship will not be easy.  Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, behind by three seconds after his last pit stop, chased down Hamilton and passed him on the next to last lap of the Spanish Grand Prix, and picked up his third win of the year.  His win total equals Hamilton’s and gives him a 12-point lead over the defending F1 champion.

Hamilton’s second place finish left him with a three-race winless streak for the first time since 2019.

Every starter finished the race, a rarity in F1. It’s only the tenth time in all of Formula 1 history that all cars were running at the end.

(Photo credit: Hendrick Motorsports)

 

Our contentious era

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(Twenty years ago or more, when party control of the Missouri legislature changed, one of the leaders of the new minority theorized that his party could reclaim its former position if it just made the new majority look bad enough.  Pretty obviously, that was a wrong-headed idea.  But it pervades the thinking of our state and national politics today worse than ever and a public tired of the many who would rather fight than to work for the people’s best interests might utter, as Shakespeare’s Mercutio did, “A plague on both your houses.”   Dr. Frank Crane could have been speaking of our contentious times a century ago when he wrote about—-)

THE ETHICS OF CONTROVERSY

Everything is disputable. I am willing to entertain arguments in support of any proposition whatsoever.

If you want to defend theft, mayhem, adultery, or murder, state your case, bring on your reasons; for in endeavoring to prove an indefensible thing you discover for yourself how foolish is your thesis.

But it is essential to any controversy, if it is to be of any use, first, that the issue be clearly understood by both sides.

Most contentions amount merely to a difference of definition. Agree, therefore, exactly upon what it is you are discussing. If possible, set down your statements in writing.

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Most argument is a wandering from the subject, a confusion of the question, an increasing divergence from the point. Stick to the matter in hand.

When your adversary brings in subjects not relevant, do not attempt to answer them. Ignore them, lest you both go astray and drift into empty vituperation.

For instance, President Wilson, in the “Lusitania” incident, called Germany’s attention to the fact that her submarines had destroyed a merchant ship upon the high seas, the whole point being that this had been done without challenge or search and without giving non-combatant citizens of a neutral country a chance for their lives. Germany’s reply discussed points that had no bearing upon this issue, such as various acts of England. Mr. Wilson, in his reply, wisely refused to discuss these irrelevant 128things, an example of intelligent controversy.

Keep cool. The worse your case, the louder your voice.

Be courteous. Avoid epithets. Do not use language calculated to anger or offend your opponent. Such terms weaken the strength of your position.

A controversy is a conflict of reasons, not of passions. The more heat the less sense.

Keep down your ego. Do not boast. Do not emphasize what you think, what you believe, and what you feel; but try to put forth such statements as will induce your opponent to think, believe, and feel rationally.

Wait. Give your adversary all the time he wants to vent his views. Let him talk himself out. Wait your turn, and begin only when he is through.

Agree with him as far as you can. Give 129due weight, and a little more, to his opinions. It was the art of Socrates, the greatest of controversialists, to let a man run the length of his rope, that is, to talk until he had himself seen the absurdity of his contention.

Most men argue simply to air their convictions. Give them room. Often when they have fully exhausted their notions they will come gently back to where you want them. They are best convinced when they convince themselves.

Avoid tricks, catches, and the like. Do not take advantage of your opponent’s slip of the tongue. Let him have the impression that you are treating him fairly.

Do not get into any discussion unless you can make it a sincere effort to discover the truth, and not to overcome, out-talk, or humiliate your opponent.

Do not discuss at all with one who has his 130mind made up beforehand. It is usually profitless to argue upon religion, because as a rule men’s opinions here are reached not by reason but by feeling or by custom. Nothing is more interesting and profitable, however, than to discuss religion with an open-minded person, yet such a one is a very rare bird.

If you meet a man full of egotism or prejudices, do not argue with him. Let him have his say, agree with him as you can, and for the rest—smile.

Controversy may be made a most friendly and helpful exercise, if it be undertaken by two well-tempered and courteous minds.

Vain contention, on the contrary, is of no use except to deepen enmity.

Controversy is a game for strong minds; contention is a game for the weak and undisciplined.