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July 30, 2010

Record heat, everywhere. June was the fourth consecutive month that the combined global land and sea temperature records have been broken. Yet our Congress can't get the job done.

It's the Opportunity, Stupid!

And if you are counting all the legislation that fails to pass due to partisanship, don't forget this one...

Congress Fails to Pass Aid Package for Sick 9/11 Responders

And finally, after writing three books about Jesus Christ, after the untold hours of research she did for those books, Anne Rice has announced that she is no longer a Christian. She has left Christianity but not Christ. Anne holds onto her faith and belief in God the creator and his son Jesus but she is done with belonging to any organized religion. Definitely worthy of much thought. We should all ponder this for I believe it is not only a viable option but most probably the very best option for the sake of your soul.

Anne Rice Ditches Christianity for Christ



July 16, 2010

It has now been 87 days since the BP Deepwater Horizon Gulf of Mexico oil well fiasco. The well is capped, again, and BP is saying they may have stopped the oil leaking into the gulf. So now what? Now whatever bad happens from today forward will not be charged to BP? Oh sure, you can take them to court but basically they are out of it now, right? But...  http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/toxic-dispersants-near-gulf-harm-humans-and-wildlife
"'The oil, after they hit it with dispersants, moves around beneath the surface and they can't track it,' she continues, "they are using dispersants so they can minimize their liability."

"Barely two hours after our arrival, I pull Erika aside. My eyes are burning with pain, I feel dizzy and lightheaded. 'So are mine and so do I,' she says, 'And my skin burns. Look at this." She turns her head and one of her cheeks has a light-red rash.'"

"The denials from BP, the Obama administration, the Coast Guard, and other governmental organizations like NOAA are what enrage Tracy more than anything else. In fact, BP is having response workers in Mississippi and Alabama go through metal detectors so they can't even take their cell phones out with them when they go and do their response work.


'We're living here and see this everyday. You can't tell us we don't have the BP cough that we've never had before. It makes us feel like the government thinks we are stupid little toddlers and that concerns me. They are constantly telling us not to be afraid and that is what scares the hell out of me. We shouldn't have to trade our estuary and our kid's lives to protect someone else's investment. We shouldn't have to trade ourselves.'"


http://sharing.theflip.com/session/599f13d8c137305a6a9ac22d0fcb7141/video/16098029


(I remember as a child catching crab in Grand Isle with a net, a line and turkey necks. I have never seen nor heard of anything like what is seen on this video. I did see crabs try to crawl out of the bucket to get back into the water but I never saw crabs crawl out of the water.)


"The day before, in Chalmette, Louisiana, I spoke with Dr. Riki Ott. Dr. Ott is a marine toxicologist and Exxon Valdez survivor who has been monitoring BP's actions and how they are affecting what we know about the damage the oil disaster is causing and threats posed to those working in the polluted zone.


'This is a hazardous waste cleanup,' she told me as we sat in the city hall chambers where she was soon to hold a public forum, 'BP needs to be evacuating the Gulf coast and paying for that, in addition to costs for relocating people and compensating them for what they've lost.'


It is that serious. My eyes still burn and my chest is tight, long after we exited the toxic soup of air and water that is south of New Orleans. Toxic chemicals from dispersed oil and the dispersant itself now permeate all the air, leaves, water and wildlife of the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and parts of Florida and Texas. You are breathing this same air as you read this.


The only question is, how many parts per million of toxics are now in your lungs as well?"






July 13, 2010

In the Sanctuary of Outcasts by Neil White


The Louisiana Leper Home was founded in 1894 in Carville, Louisiana. Through the years it has changed hands and names but in 1991-1994 it included a minimum security federal prison. The situation was unique for the patients who called this home as well as for the prisoners. There was apprehension on both sides.


In the early 1990s, Neil White was a busy journalist/publisher working hard to provide his family with all the nice things money could buy. He got his priorities mixed up and resorted to check kiting in order to keep his business afloat.  In 1993 he was given an 18 month sentence for bank fraud.  His sentence was served in Carville’s minimum security prison and while there, he wrote this memoir.


To pass the time in Carville, White decided to view his situation as a journalist’s assignment. He proceeded to get to know the leprosy patients and their perspective on life in Carville in order to write about it.  The unanticipated result was that at the end of his time served he knew himself better and had a new perspective on his own life:


“Walking among the leprosy patients – whether in the cafeteria, the hallways, or the Catholic Church – helped me see my own good fortune. Watching them made self-pity impossible.” 


“For reasons I could not fully explain I felt an overwhelming sense of euphoria. I still did not know exactly how to change, but I had discovered some simple truths: A good life with my children did not require wealth. It was vital to be honest, without worrying about my own image. And helping others was more noble than winning awards.”


The most memorable lesson in the book, the one I hope to remember and live by comes at the end.  Over the course of his stay he befriended a woman, Ella. Ella came to Carville as a twelve year old child. When her family was told she had leprosy their belief was they could do no better for her than to put her away in Carville. She would be a shunned outcast all of her life on the outside and at the time, the Leprosarium was the best if not only place in the nation set up to care for these patients. So now in her last years of life, White finds Ella and treasures her wisdom more than the nice clothes, perfumes and fine wines he knew before coming here. White confesses to Ella his worry that he was not yet a new person and he wasn’t sure he was ready to leave this place that had taught him so much.  Ella tells White the following story:


In the early days of Carville the Coco-Cola distributor from Baton Rouge sent the chipped and cracked coke bottles to the leper colony. The business people at Coco-Cola were afraid the public would boycott them if they found out the coke bottles they were drinking from had once been used by someone with leprosy. Since the distributor could refuse to take return bottles that had chips and cracks they sent those re-filled bottles to Carville. Over the years Carville ended up with crates of damaged bottles they could not return. Then one day the patients came up with an idea of recycling these bottles. They used them for flower vases and bowling pins and sugar dispensers and they took hundreds of the bottles, turned them upside down and shoved them into the dirt around the flower beds for an attractive border. Ella showed the garden to White and told him the story of the coke bottles. Then she said,


“CoCola bottle still a CoCola bottle. Just found ‘em a new purpose... You is what you is.”


Neil White was not going to be a different man when he got out. He is still to this day the same man he has always been. But today Neil White has a new purpose.




July 9, 2010

Through the years I have been asked more than once, "What is your favorite book of all time?". Every time I heard that question I thought, "How on earth do I know? I have read so many good books and there are so many left to read." But I think today looking back I am ready to answer that question. To Kill a Mocking Bird by Nelle Harper Lee. As to why, I can not say it any better than Anna Quindlen does here.

Happy 50th Birthday Scout!

***********************************************************

FYI,
Worst Case Scenario?
Crazy? What about ...
this
and...
Dr Ott?

"When good people in any country cease their vigilance and struggle, then evil men prevail." Pearl S. Buck


 
Peace out.
  
 

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This page was last modified on Friday, July 30, 2010