M (Marla's Musings)

Breathe In Breathe Out Move On

2010-11-09T23:35:00.000-08:00

The lyrics to this particular Jimmy Buffett song resonate so much with me on multiple levels. Here are the full lyrics:

I bought a cheap watch from the crazy man
Floating down Canal
It doesn't use numbers or moving hands
It always just says now

Now you may be thinking that I was had
But this watch is never wrong
Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On

And it rained, It was nothing really new
And it blew, we've seen all that before
And it poured, the Earth began to strain
(Lake) Pontchartrain leaking through the door, tides at war

And it rained, It was nothing really new
And it blew, seen all that before
And it poured, the Earth began to strain
(Lake) Pontchartrain buried the 9th Ward to the 2nd floor

According to my watch the time is now
Past is dead and gone
Don't try to shake it just nod your head

Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On
Don't try to shake it just bow your head

It resonates with me the same way it may resonate with the people of NOLA, but differently as I did not lose my house, livelihood, family there. Just being there in early 2006 and completely freaked out by the still-(still, 5+ years later)-standing damage to the place.

There's nothing to fear anymore though. Events like this are bad, yes but there is hope, that things will get better. In NOLA now they are getting better bit by bit.

Now, as I am transitioning to another role again, I keep NOLA, and this, in mind. Bow to the change and let it roll off you like a duck would roll the waters of the flood from Lake Pontchartrain off.

There's everything to play for. There's hope on the horizon. There's magic in the air. There's the chance of change where there once was the certainty of stagnation. Recognizing all this and most of all, trusting it. Drawing a deep breath.

Breathe in.

As I slowly breathe it out, I send out my worry with it.

Breathe out.

Expel the fear from my mind and from my body. I let it go and am glad of my ability to make positive choices, to reach for the best and to actually be in with a fair chance of getting it.

If I am confident today, it is because I can... move on...I am extremely fortunate in so many ways... Now is the right time for me to take an in-depth look at my life.

Move on.

Another Transition in Progress

2010-11-07T10:19:00.000-08:00

Howdy everyone.
Time for another transition. My post at work was discontinued and as such, my last day was 5 November. This is a good thing in many ways: I am now studying more, trying to get thru a Master's programme in Development Studies, have more time with Loki, more time to walk and play with him, and time to reflect on all kinds of things.

My last week of work was filled with the joy of friends visiting from Seattle and a nice picnic at work with the team.

My first reflection over the past two days, has been that I am glad to have the chance to stay in Geneva and to study while looking for another role. My successes in the past two years here have included making friends, learning some French, and succeeding at getting a few grants in for my job - with the help of a team of amazing women.

....

First, well, really, second, eKos Diary Edit attempt tonight

2010-11-03T16:58:00.000-07:00

I have only posted some links to the overall Eco-Series on Daily Kos and to my portion of editing. Link to diary list(all of them edited by a few of us) is above.

Tonight I am thrilled to bring you news of the DailyKos Community concerning development - sustainable and otherwise.

Village Green: Cities Matter but regions and neighborhoods may matter more from Kaid at NRDC (I also linked to an NRDC diary last time but I have no conflict here, just searching terms!) - I chose this first diary as it relates to a book by Paul Collier I am reading now, and I loved the images used in the diary! This paragraph also relates to the book, Collier's "The Plundered Planet" and to my interest in development:

The environment doesn’t respect political boundaries, either: the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers receive runoff from Virginia and Maryland as well as from the jurisdictional city of Washington; the Chesapeake Bay watershed (above) includes parts of seven states. Regional transportation patterns completely ignore jurisdictional boundaries. The air in Chicago moves freely around the seven counties and 284 separate communities just within the Illinois part of the region, to say nothing of those in nearby Wisconsin and Indiana. Very little of the energy consumed within the jurisdictional limits of the city of San Francisco is generated there. And so on. Statistics about only what is happening inside city limits very seldom tell us much about what is relevant environmentally.

I also like the maps and images in the diary. A map/image can show so much without need of much 'translation' usually!

More on Development...I would like to draw attention to the diaries on Haiti by Allie123. I have shared this list of Haiti diaries with a former colleague of mine who is half-Haitian half-Swiss. Development, how it has been managed in the past, and how things are progressing now, in Haiti, is critical to understanding what works for people, the environment, and a country that is currently on its knees.

An excerpt from Allie123's recent diary: Cholera, Floods, Hurricanes and nowhere to go:Haiti:

It is the system that is killing Haitians and if enough of us speak out it can change.

The earthquake didn't kill them, the hurricane didn't kill them either, neither did cholera the system killed them and until we speak out loudly enough and change US policy the system will continue to kill them.

This system of poverty, cycled with environmental degradation, and poor governance are all tied together to make what is happening now even more tragic.

Please read her diaries and note that there are things that we can all do to help Haiti, sources listed in her diaries. For another good book on Haiti's degradation, read Jared Diamond's "Collapse."

(All times Eastern USA!)

Sunday Train by BruceMcF Sundays @ 7-8PM
Wind Power Series by Jerome a Paris Various
EcoAdvocates Wednesdays @ 8-9PM
EcoJustice Mondays @ 10PM
ECSTASY Sundays @ 1PM Thursdays @ 10PM
Dawn Chorus Birdblog by lineatus Sundays @ 9AM
Science Tidbits by possum Mondays @ 3:30PM
Foraging Diaries by wide eyed lib Sundays @ 4PM
eKos Earthship Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays @ 10:30-11PM
This Week in Dirty Coal by DWG Mondays @ 1-3PM
A More Ancient World by matching mole TBD (Sundays or Wednesdays)
Climate Change News Roundup by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse Sundays @ 10PM
Alternative Energy Round-Up by mark louis Mondays and Thursdays @ 6PM
Macca's Meatless Mondays by beach babe in fl Mondays @ 6PM
Green Diary Rescue by Meteor Blades Thursdays and Sundays @ Midnight

Blog Action day 2010 "WATER"

2010-10-11T06:40:00.000-07:00

Read more at the link and think about this fact: from the Non-Profit Press link above.

"The average American uses 159 gallons of water every day – more than 15 times the average person in the developing world. From showering and washing our hands to watering our lawns and washing our cars, Americans use a lot of water. To put things into perspective, the average five-minute shower will use about 10 gallons of water. Now imagine using that same amount to bathe, wash your clothes, cook your meals and quench your thirst."

Clean water for everyone is a basic right.

2010 Horyzon Fundraising Run/Walk Event a Tremendous Success

2010-10-05T11:16:00.000-07:00

On September 18, 2010, World YWCA partner organisation Horyzon, of Olten Switzerland, participated with the World YWCA on a run/walk event that helped to benefit the World YWCA Power to Change Fund as well as a local Horyzon project in the Olten area. The run had 241 participants, including 4 staff members of the World YWCA and the 2010 World YWCA interns, Ravicka Phillip and Kuena Diaho. In total, over 3,300 kilometers were walked and/or run in 2 hours and nearly 35,000 CHF were raised by the runners/walkers. The World YWCA Power to Change Fund will receive a portion of the funds raised.

Horyzon and World YWCA have been partners for several decades, and the Olten runs have supported World YWCA projects all over the world. The impact of these events is tremendous, and the partnership is truly appreciated. Ravicka Phillip, 2010 World YWCA Intern from the YWCA of Grenada, said "I was very happy to be part of this event which allowed us not only to get some exercise and have fun but to raise money towards a good cause." She went on to say that " The Power to Change Fund has benefited many young women and women including in my country, and am pleased that the organisers and our partner, Horyzon, were able to bring the people of Olten together to support the Fund. It also shows that even the smallest of events can raise large sums and that can be an initiative that small associations contemplating fund-raising ideas can learn from."

"For many years, the sponsored runs have been an important source of funds for Horyzon. Apart of the funding, it is a good way for children and young people to have fun and to show solidarity at the same time. It was a good experience doing good with my feet for once!" said Adamo Antoniadis, of Horyzon, Switzerland, who helped to inspire the World YWCA team. Lynn Sorrentino, World YWCA Fundraising Coordinator said that the event "was a terrific chance to meet some inspiring people and it was really helpful to getting the word out about the World YWCA and our work."

The Power to Change Fund invests in the leadership development of women and girls to advance social change around the world. Stringent guidelines and application procedures guide the grant-making process. Grant amounts of USD 10,000 to USD 25,000 are made each year to to successful YWCA associations that are national headquarters affiliated to World YWCA- that apply. There is a limit of one grant per year per member association. Through the Power to Change Fund, women and young women are equipped with skills, knowledge and resources and can be a powerful force in changing lives and communities around them.

The Olten run/walk is only one way in which the World YWCA raises funds that support on-the-ground YWCA projects around the globe. World YWCA member associations, partners and individuals help to fund the ongoing technical support and operations that facilitate Power to Change projects and global advocacy for and by women: YWCA women are indeed the "Women Creating a Safe World". World YWCA programmes and YWCA Power to Change projects are making a difference in communities, are changing women's lives for the better, and are empowering women to continue to lead change. Women need to continue to remain in solidarity through giving of time, treasures and talents. Please consider making a contribution today to the World YWCA as we continue working toward a safe and secure world for women around the world.

Contribute today to the World YWCA: DONATE TODAY CLICK HERE

Two Thousand Meals

2010-09-19T13:59:00.000-07:00

Two Thousand Meals: An evening to celebrate art and humanity...a fundraiser that I am helping with...

Two Thousand Meals is a photography exhibition and silent auction to raise funds for the work of Carrefour Rue organization. Carrefour Rue provides meals and other services for Geneva's most needy. Join us for a fantastic evening of photography and cocktails and help raise enough money to cover the cost of two thousand meals.

Where: Capocaccia, Rue de la Confederation 8, 1204 Genève
Date: Wednesday, 22 September 2010
Time: 7pm Opening of Exhibition & Silent auction and at 9pm Presentation of Street Life photographic montage
Details: Donation 20 SFR suggested upon entry • No host bar

For more information about Carrefour Rue, visit: http://www.carrefour-rue.ch/
-------------------------------------------------
Deux mille repas: une soirée pour célébrer art et humanité

Deux mille repas, c'est une exposition photographique ainsi qu'une vente aux enchères par écrit visant à récolter des fonds en faveur de l'organisation Carrefour Rue. Carrefour Rue fournit à Genève des repas et de multiples services à ceux étant le plus dans le besoin.

Joignez-vous à nous pour une soirée inoubliable, photographies et cocktails, qui permettra de sucroît de financer deux mille repas.

Lieu: Capocaccia, Rue de la Confederation 8, 1204 Genève
Date: Mercredi 22 september 2010
Heure: 19.00 Ouverture de l'exposition et de la vente aux enchères par écrit. 21.00 Présentation du montage photographique de Street Life

Détails: L'accès est sujet à un don de 20 Sfr.- • Les boissons ne sont pas comprises dans le prix d'entrée.

2010-07-28T02:29:00.000-07:00

What is wrong with service for one's country? Whether military (I come from a huge military-Army-family that has served in 3 different wars in 3 different generations...and I also would think service for community could be a good idea too, helping out the poor people or serving on a committee to plant trees, or even helping serve food to very poor kids. I've read the entire bill on Thomas.gov and it is not a slavery bill. It's about community and building a strong USA again. Besides, the Minutemen are already 'serving' homeland security like this bill asks, you know with protecting the borders, so serving near the new wall should be ok.

Read the entire text as presented, not the spin on the text:
LINK

And for those that truly want to hand over all their guns to become conscientious objectors, then there is a section on that too. Section 109.

Also as someone who has two friends now in this war, I think more people who yell about service should sign up and help my friends come home, as they are both on their 3rd tours of duty.

And this bill provides jobs too.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

2010-07-13T06:57:00.000-07:00

THE GREAT PACIFIC GARBAGE PATCH

Imagine the Pacific Ocean
Imagine the Pacific Ocean, the largest ocean on Earth, extending from the Arctic down to the Antarctic, and covering 65.3 million square miles (169.2 million square kilometers) in area. One thinks of the Pacific in terms of its boundaries—the beaches in Eastern Australia, islands in the Philippines and Japan, coastal waters of Alaska and British Columbia, the West Coast of the USA and Baja California, and Tierra del Fuego. One thinks of the Ring of Fire, sandy and rocky beaches, magnificent sunrises and sunsets, palm trees, and sailing to one of the many islands/island groups: Hawaii, Easter Island, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Marquesas Islands, Samoa, Society Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuamotu, Tuvalu and the Wallis and Futuna islands.

What else is in the Pacific?
There are sharks, seabirds, whales, dolphins, turtles, corals and other invertebrates, seamounts teaming with life, and garbage…a lot of garbage, in the Pacific Ocean. What? Garbage is not part of the image of pristine beaches and glorious sailing trips? One does not think of tiny microscopic pollutants, small particles of plastic that resemble confetti, or chunks of plastic suspended in the water column and on the surface as part of the Pacific Ocean, but one should.

How do we know that a Garbage Patch exists?
In 1988, a paper published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the United States predicted the existence of a floating patch of garbage and pollutants based on results obtained by several Alaska-based researchers between 1985 and 1988 that were researching the levels of plastic pollutants in the water. Extrapolating from this research, they hypothesized that relatively stable waters, like the North Pacific Gyre, would allow for the collection of debris, plastics and pollutants simply due to the nature of the calm waters and the ocean currents pushing all the pollutants together. Since then, international researchers, NOAA, National Geographic, and many special research expeditions like Project Kaisei, have documented the size and scope of the patch and its impact on marine life. The size of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is estimated to be a minimum of 270,000 square miles (700,000 square kilometers), about the size of the state of Texas, yet it may be much larger, research is still ongoing.

What makes up the Patch? What harm is it causing?
The pollution is made up of plastics and chemical pollutants. Pollution from farming, land-based chemical use, waste-removal practices, beach litter, dumping of waste by cruise ships, and shipping waste all contribute to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. There are reports that a confetti-like layer of plastics is visible in many part of the Patch.

It is not a large island of garbage that one can see by sailing right up to it, it is dispersed through the layers of the water column and in an area that is very large. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch has a very high level of plastic particulate suspended in the water column and this gives it the appearance of confetti and allows for sailors to notice the pieces that are a bit larger, too. The plastic debris, once deposited and transported by the currents, degrades by being in the sun (photo-degradation), and as it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces, it concentrates in the upper water column. As it disintegrates, the plastic ultimately becomes small enough to be mistakenly ingested as food—entering the food chain, and harming pelagic sea birds, turtles, fish by starving them by filling up their stomachs with plastic. The microscopic particles and chemical pollutants like PCBs and hormone-disrupting toxins that are produced by the photo-degradation also contribute to the overall decrease in health of the marine animals and the entire ecosystem in the Pacific Ocean.

How can we clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?
There are a number of research projects ongoing to determine ways to clean up the Patch as well as to mitigate ongoing pollution. Several scientific and private groups are working on methods to gather, remove, and recycle the plastics. A holistic view includes preventing pollutants from entering the water as a first step, through better legislation and enforcement of laws penalizing polluters and requiring cleanup. Then a next step is to implement programmes to remove the pollution and recycle the plastics that form the current Patch. Ongoing monitoring and evaluation and research of the harmful effects must also be a part of the cleanup so that these effects can be addressed to lesson the extent of damage.

Ensuring that other areas of the world’s oceans are not impacted would be a beneficial comprehensive approach to making the oceans healthier–as researchers are currently studying the formation of a North Atlantic Garbage Patch—and then cooperating at local, national, international and global levels to reverse the impacts of the pollution and start a new trend of clean water sailing, pristine beaches and islands, and better water quality for the sea birds, turtles, fish, plankton, dolphins, whales, sharks, and other organisms.

Gulf Oil Spill Re-Update

2010-07-08T23:36:00.000-07:00

Reporting from the site - SeaTurtle.Org

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been a hot topic for the last two months. So much so that US President Obama gave his first live television address from the Oval Office on the topic, calling it the "the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced". According to the latest reports, 430 sea turtles have been found so far in the spill region, along with thousands of birds and countless fish.

For sea turtles, 338 have been found dead and 68 live and dead turtles have been found with visible evidence of external oil. More than 30% (78,000 sq miles or 200,000 sq km) of the Gulf of Mexico US Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) has been closed to commercial fishing because of pollution and safety concerns. The well head continues to leak massive amounts of oil. NOAA oil spill trajectory models suggest that the oil will continue to spread.

How do I volunteer to help?

Call the Deepwater Horizon Response Volunteer Request Line at 1-866-448-5816 or visit the Web sites below.

* Louisiana:
http://www.volunteerlouisiana.gov/

* Mississippi:
http://www.volunteermississippi.org/1800Vol/OpenIndexAction.do

* Florida:
http://www.volunteerfloridadisaster.org/

* Alabama:
http://www.servealabama.gov/2010/default.aspx

Volunteer Hotlines:

* Report oiled shoreline or request volunteer information: (866)-448-5816

* Submit your vessel as a vessel of opportunity skimming system: (866) 279-7983 or (877) 847-7470

How do I report oiled wildlife?
Call (866) 557-1401

YWCA of Angola - Girls Building Bridges

2010-04-29T06:20:00.000-07:00

Girls Building Bridges in the context of HIV and AIDS in Angola - from the World YWCA news site:

In Angola, half the population is under 18 years of age. The youth of today are the future of the country, and training and information are therefore absolutely essential.

The YWCA of Angola assessed the situation in the region of Cazenga and found that extreme poverty and the effects of the economic crisis have obliged a number of young girls from 11-17 to prostitute themselves, rather than go to school. As a result, these girls are more prone to contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs), such as HIV, and have little or no understanding of the risks incurred. Although it is their parents’ role to educate them on these matters, this is not usually the case. The YWCA of Angola therefore decided to implement a programme in Luanda to address these issues and get these girls off the streets.

The main objectives of the programme were to increase young girls' knowledge of HIV and AIDS so as to avoid the risk of HIV infection; give them sexual education classes to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions, and empower them to take positive actions in their life by building self-confidence and overcoming discrimination and violence against women and girls. Various activities were carried out to meet these objectives:

Two forums were held where two women pastors, a nurse, a policewoman and the principle of a school transmitted their experience and motivation to the young girls. Hearing their elders speak about their careers and their personal marital life was most inspiring for these girls.

A debate on sexual rights was organised, where participants gave their definition and opinion on love and sex. A psychologist, a gynecologist and a specialist in STIs went through the various steps of life from childhood to adulthood and explained the mechanisms of female and male sexual organs.

The YWCA of Angola was invited by 2 schools and 3 churches to share their experience with groups of young girls, and to speak about the objectives of the programme.

In addition, the young girls were offered training in information technology (IT), decoration, pastry-making and sewing.

A total of 60 motivated young girls participated in the program. As a result, the participants now have a better understanding of HIV and other STIs; and how to prevent them. These programmes have also helped build the girls' self-confidence, made them aware of the importance of education, and inspired them to contribute to society.

This programme was funded by the “Power to Change Fund”, which is a permanent fund of the World YWCA that endows leadership development programmes for women and girls worldwide. Thanks to this fund, women and young women are equipped with skills, knowledge and resources which allow them to become, in turn, powerful forces in changing lives and communities around them.

DONATE TODAY: Power to Change: DONATE

International Women's Day March 8

2010-03-05T06:57:00.000-08:00

Honouring Women of the YWCA Movement on International Women's Day - March 8

Women from all around the world have been honoured through the World YWCA Honouring Women Leaders programme since it was launched in 2007. Women who are young, and young at heart; women who are from big cities and small villages. Honoured women come from all walks of life: teachers, mothers, accountants, politicians, volunteers, peace makers, doctors, advocates for women's rights, and above all, leaders. On International Women's Day, March 8, consider Honouring a Woman Leader, including young women leaders, in your community by submitting their name to the Honouring Women Leaders programme.

Four women from the YWCA of Canada Lethbridge and District are the most recent honourees to be placed on the Honour Roll and have been nominated by Kristine Cassie, CEO of the YWCA Canada Lethbridge and District. The four women will receive their certificates on World YWCA Day, April 24, 2010. Of the women, Cassie says that each is a true leader in her own way:

"Beverley Hranac began her involvement with the YWCA in 1983. She moved from being a participant in programming to becoming a volunteer instructor in the Health and Wellness Department. Some participants have been in Bev’s classes for 20 years. Bev is dedicated, hard-working and a true inspiration to the people that she serves. Bev has inspired her daughter to be a YWCA volunteer."

"Kelly Areshenko has been a volunteer Health and Wellness instructor at the YWCA since 1983. Kelly is knowledgeable, dependable and friendly and values her personal growth opportunities as much as the privilege to teach others. She has a real sense of community. Her passion for fitness and community shows in her classes. Kelly is committed to the YWCA.”

"Marquise Bouron-Harris began her involvement with the YWCA in 1979. As a young mom, she began volunteering and has grown to recognise how the YWCA is a part of who she is. She believes that the YWCA has something for everyone. Marquise was given permission to learn, dream, reach goals, explore and she invests her time in leading other women to believe in themselves and helps them realise that they can live with the philosophy of “yes I can!”

"Natalie Primeau is a school teacher in our community as well as an active volunteer. She has been involved with the YWCA since 1988. Natalie takes time to move out of her regular routine to assist people where they need it. She is dedicated to meeting new challenges, and she encourages the people around her to be the best they can be."

Mildred Persinger's long-standing dedication to the YWCA movement was honoured in 2007 and again at the March 2010 Commission on the Status of Women. Former World YWCA General Secretary Musimbi Kanyoro says of Persinger: "Perhaps she is best known for chairing the very first United Nations Women's World Non Government Organisation Conference held in 1975. It takes talking to Mildred to know what a great leader she is, and has been, for women. Mildred served the global women's movement as a YWCA woman. She always affirms people and her willingness to share her experience and mentor younger leaders is still evident in her work. I was a beneficiary of her mentorship and will forever remain grateful to her. During the 10 years I served as the General Secretary for the World YWCA, I knew I could lean on Mildred. One telephone call and I got a meeting set up in New York or an article for Common Concern. I join the world in honouring a great sister, a woman of faith and action."

Today, it’s your turn to Honour a Woman Leader as part of International Women’s Day celebrations. For every woman you recognise, we ask that you donate to the Power to Change Fund in her honour or memory.

Links:

* How to honour a woman
* Honouring Women Leaders Honour Roll

a story, too...for a new year, a look back at ten years

2010-01-01T08:30:00.000-08:00

Before I tell you my story of the last ten years, I will tell you that one of my favorite memories of childhood - it is of my Mom, Brother, Grandma and Grandpa going to Pike's Peak in 1978, with Grandpa driving, the whole time talking to us in the backseat not looking where he was going and there were only very small guard rails back then. Scared the hell out of me, and I was only 9 years old. My mother was freaking out too.

So, a story. I am 40 years old.

10 years ago, I was married. Living in Seattle since 93/94. I just adopted (on December 30) my dog Loki (who is still here with me). At this point had been at Microsoft for 2 full years. Had done a little traveling but hated to fly. Was active with the Dems in Seattle, and was excited to volunteer for the campaign that year. I love Al Gore, even now. I spent 2000 election night in DC with friends and my then-husband. I was then awake for two more days freaking out.

That was at the start of my major life changes.

Since election night 2000, I decided to divorce my husband (we are still friendly enough to chat once in a while, he is happily married with a beautiful daughter now). I felt numb - like there was something I was supposed to do but did not want to - and shut down - it was the kid thing. I could not give up my life for kids - my mom got married, and stopped most her hobbies and was married to my dad 46 years before she passed in 2007. I did not think I could have a healthy life and marriage and balance work and all those responsibilities. So I sought out a therapist and discussed life priorities, which I should have done before I was married.

Since then, I became way more active in local charities, worked a ton at Microsoft, moved onto a boat that I still own, and I quit Microsoft officially in 2008...worked for the Obama campaign and for Darcy Burner too - volunteering a lot over that year for the Dems. I left msft as I wanted to do fund raising work full time, instead of as a volunteer, and try my hand at grant writing and, so far, have been moderately successful at this new endeavor.

In between all these years in this decade, I sought out another therapist for my fear of flying and learned to manage it well and now I love to fly and continue to travel. I also kept playing with my dog, kept hiking and sailing and kept up my promises to myself to be a better person if I could.

I also decided to be real with my desire to be permanently child free and with great health care (thanks to Microsoft) I got sterilized. Best decision I ever made for my health aside from the usual checkups and pokes each year and visits to the dentist etc. :-) I also invested in better care from an acupuncturist for sinus issues, started a real plan to eat better overall, and continued to walk a lot each day and it has paid off with maintaining a healthy weight.

I took a job in November 2008 (2 days after the election) in Switzerland and love the decision to work abroad. I am learning French and learning how to be a better fund raiser and grant writer. I am meeting interesting people. Learning to try new things and love open-heartedly as best as I can (it is hard though, to want a partner but want freedom too, I still struggle. Not sure I want to be married ever again.)

I have made lots of mistakes in the last 10 years, that I have tried to learn from. I dated some amazing people, but one or two losers too. I tried hard to do the right thing for myself and for the most part have also been able to act with integrity all the decade, with only a few minor slip ups here and there regarding relationships or poor choices with people I thought were friends. I have become a better person overall now who commits to things and sticks with them, and this includes friends and family. When things are toxic I change the situation, if I can, and am healthier for it.

I don't have a desire for material things really - my boat at home is my home - a very small place to live simply and with a small carbon footprint. I don't own a car and won't buy one when I return to the US either. I plan to try to live even more simply and be better to the world and my little part of it, in Seattle, like I do here in Geneva, and like I have done for years, to a bigger extent though.

My next decade will challenge me in many ways I am sure.

I have 2 more years here in Geneva. After November 2011, I plan to return to the USA, and try to find work fund raising for an environmental or political group. Preferably in Seattle or San Francisco. Things are never simple but I hope that I can look back in another 10 years and see that I made good decisions for myself and for friends and family that are a huge part of my life.

Thanks for the opportunity to write this and to share.

Happy New Year!

Long-term resolving...

2010-01-01T06:50:00.000-08:00

In the next 5 years and beyond, I resolve that I will:

1. Act with integrity, always.
2. Learn French and Arabic to be passable at communicating.
3. Travel more.
4. Love open-heartedly no matter the consequences...
5. Be good to my friends and family.
6. Play with Loki as much as I can, since he won't be here forever.
7. Make good decisions always if possible, and if not, learn from the not-so-good ones.
8. Work to make this a better world thru my actions.
9. Cherish the time I have here.
10. Listen more, learn more, and love more.

new numbers...

2009-12-28T22:47:00.000-08:00

1 واحد WaHid
2 إثنين Ithnayn
3 ثلاثة Thalatha
4 أربعة Arba'a
5 خمسة Khamsa
6 ستة Sitta
7 سبعة Sab'a
8 ثمانية Thamaniya
9 تسعة Tis'a
10 عشرة Ashara

RIP, Zoey dog

2009-12-19T10:18:00.000-08:00

zoey

Zoey was LuAnn's dog, Loki's best friend.

She passed yesterday.

So long, good furry friend.

Enjoy chasing squirrels and UPS men in doggie heaven.

loki and zoey

2009-12-12T12:34:00.000-08:00

Today is a day for reflection.

My mom would have been 78 (she passed almost 3 years ago). My doggy Loki and I went for a nice walk, cleaned the house, and I brushed him (not this photo, this one was in summer).

While I miss my mom a lot, as well as other family members, I am pleased to say that I do things to honor her (and them) on their birthdays and dates of death - things that make me remember how awesome they were.

So, one for Mom: Thank you for letting my brother Jerry and I take the white fluffy dog home, the one we found in front of Kmart, all those years ago...thanks for calling Dad to check in that it was OK to bring a stray dog home and agreeing that we'd walk her and feed her and brush her. You taught us a lot with our new doggy, 'Lady' and Loki, to this day, thanks you for letting me have a dog at age 12! You were an awesome, caring, compassionate, amazing Mom.

2009-11-08T07:51:00.000-08:00

Ok so....while sometimes I won't engage on things like politics, this is another issue... I do feel that I need to clarify a few things... I am absolutely convinced that not only large (megafauna) animals will not be here in 40-50 years but many insects, birds, amphibians, and small mammals will also be gone. Climate change and human impact, mostly related to habitat destruction will be the major contributing factors. official protection measures and lack of quality habitat/reserves are also issues.

1. Asian Elephants declining:
Source 1: Asian Elephants Declining

"Asian elephants used to live from Iraq to southern China. They are forest animals, and the forests they once occupied have been cut down to make way for farms and villages. They are now mostly confined to hilly and mountainous regions where human contact has been minimal. These small, isolated tracts are ill-suited to sustain Asian elephants. A single adult eats about 330 pounds (150 kg) of grasses, roots, leaves, and bark per day. When forests were more extensive, the elephants migrated with the seasons. This allowed them to find fresh food supplies, and it also gave plants and trees time to regenerate after the elephants left. Today there is nowhere for them to go. Recent figures indicate that there are about 55,000 Asian elephants left, with an available habitat of about 190,000 square miles (494,000 sq km). By contrast, the African population is about 10 times this size, living on nearly 3 million square miles (7.7 million sq km) of habitat"

Source 2: IUCN:

International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources

Covers all areas in Asia where there are populations of Asian Elephants. All areas are at risk due to human encroachment, cultivation, and general loss of habitat for development.

For example:
"In north Sumatra, a combination of high human population and the clearance of enormous tracts of forest for oil palm, rubber, and coconut plantations has virtually eliminated elephants. In the mountainous province of west Sumatra too, competition for land has led to the near extinction of the animal. "

IUCN Red List (2008)

There is a 2009 list out too, with worse news.

"In this volume, you will find the most up to-date information on the patterns of species facing extinction in some of the most important ecosystems in the world and the reasons behind their declining status.

One of The IUCN Red List’s main purposes is to highlight those species that are facing a high risk of global extinction. However, it is not just a register of names and associated threat categories. The real power and utility of The IUCN Red List is in what lies beneath: a rich, expert-driven compendium of information on species’ ecological requirements, geographic distributions and threats that arms us with the knowledge on what the challenges to nature are, where they are operating, and how to combat them."

• Nearly one-quarter (22%) of the world’s mammal species are known to be globally threatened or Extinct, 63% are
known to not be threatened, and 15% have insufficient data to determine their threat status.

• There are 76 mammals which have gone Extinct since 1500, two are Extinct in the Wild and 29 are ‘Possibly Extinct’.

• The country with by far the most threatened species is Indonesia (184). Mexico is the only other country in triple figures with 100 threatened species. Half of the top 20 countries for numbers of threatened species are in Asia; for example, India (96), China (74) and Malaysia (70). However, the highest levels of threat are found in island nations, and in particular the top three are islands or island groups in the Indian Ocean: Mauritius (64 %), Réunion (43 %) and the Seychelles (39%).

• Habitat loss, affecting over 2,000 mammal species, is the greatest threat globally. The second greatest threat is utilization
which is affecting almost 1,000 mammal species, especially those in Asia.

While scientists debate how many species exist, there are growing concerns about the status of biodiversity, particularly population declines (e.g., the Living Planet Index which monitors population trends in 1,686 animal species shows an overall decline of 30% for the period 1970 to 2005 (Loh et al. 2008)) and the increasing rates of extinction of both described and undescribed species as a direct and indirect result of human activities.

Source 3: Global Biodiversity Outlook:

In using the Convention’s indicators to survey current trends, Global Biodiversity Outlook 2 demonstrates that biodiversity is being lost at all levels, for example:

Deforestation, mainly through conversion of forests to agricultural land, continues at an alarmingly high rate. The loss of primary forest since 2000 has been estimated at 6 million hectares annually.

Coastal and marine ecosystems have been heavily impacted by human activities, with degradation leading to a reduced coverage of kelp forests, seagrasses and corals. In the Caribbean, average hard coral cover declined from about 50% to 10% in the last three decades.

Trends of some 3,000 wild populations of species show a consistent decline in average species abundance of about 40% between 1970 and 2000; inland water species declined by 50%, while marine and terrestrial species both declined by around 30%.

Studies of amphibians globally, African mammals, birds in agricultural lands, British butterflies, Caribbean and Indo-Pacific corals, and commonly harvested fish species show declines in the majority of species assessed.

More species are becoming threatened with extinction. The status of bird species show a continuing deterioration across all biomes over the last two decades and preliminary fi ndings for other major groups, such as amphibians and mammals, indicate that the situation is likely worse than for birds. Between 12% and 52% of species within well-studied higher taxa are threatened with extinction.

Source 4:
PNAS

Climate change and habitat destruction are hastening the process:

"Climate change is expected to alter the distribution and abundance of many species. Predictions of climate-induced population extinctions are supported by geographic range shifts that correspond to climatic warming, but few extinctions have been linked mechanistically to climate change. Here we show that extinctions of two populations of a checkerspot butterfly were hastened by increasing variability in precipitation, a phenomenon predicted by global climate models. We model checkerspot populations to show that changes in precipitation amplified population fluctuations, leading to rapid extinctions. As populations of checkerspots and other species become further isolated by habitat loss, climate change is likely to cause more extinctions, threatening both species diversity and critical ecosystem services."

SOURCE 5: Size Matters...

"Our results also suggest that as human impact on natural environments continues to increase, declines towards extinction will be more rapid, on average, in large species compared to small species with similar biological characteristics, or which are exposed to similar levels of human impact. This can be illustrated using our model predicting extinction risk from the level of external threat. We predicted extinction risk for two hypothetical species that vary in body mass but are identical in other respects (we assigned both species the median values for all mammals of geographic range size and degree of exposure to external threat). From this model we obtained a predicted extinction risk index value of 1.00 for a species of 300kg compared to only 0.38 for a species of 300g. The difference in predicted risk stems solely from the difference in body size and the interaction between body size and external threat. This, together with the interactions between other risk promoting factors and body size, suggests that the ongoing loss of the world’s large mammal biodiversity could be far more rapid than currently predicted (for example, by extrapolating from current extinction risk levels (22, 23)). The likelihood of this loss being highly selective, clustered in large-bodied groups such as ungulates and primates, means the concomitant loss of mammalian evolutionary history and ecological diversity could also be greater and more rapid than currently expected."

SOURCE 6: ARKive

835 listed mammals (only mammals, there are lists of 1396 bird species, 350 fish species and 330 species of amphibs.)

Source 7:
Anthony Barnosky
Climate Change and Human Impacts:

"Humans tend to impact the bigger animals, with the smaller animals as collateral damage," he said. "Climate change is just the opposite - it affects the little guy first and then, through them, the big guys. Today, we see humans taking out the bigger animals and climate change affecting the smaller animals, so we can expect to see some pretty dramatic changes in the ecosystem.

One major problem today is that, because of human encroachment, there are no refuges for animals that might want to relocate because of climate change."

---

Decreased fecundity, increased habitat loss, minimum viable population numbers all add up to a much lower chance of Asian elephants lasting another 50 years as a species.

With only 50,000 total left, and with the rates of decrease, extinction is more likely than not, due to everything from overall fecundity (reproductive capacity), habitat contiguity (small islands of populations of animals go extinct faster), to sex ratio of male to female, to sustainable population sizes, to poaching of the males for ivory, lack of enforcement of laws (CITES< MIKE laws but also local and national laws), to time to breeding age, to competition for resources, to human-elephant conflict (poisoning), and other factors.

There is a good website ASEAGwith good articles on population viabilities and lots of statistics on extinction coefficients for you to read, including that poaching models (high vs low rates) show that in many places (like Myanmar) Asian elephants could become extinct as soon as in the next 31 years. Variance of rates of poaching have a big impact obviously on the overall population of elephants everywhere, just as habitat destruction leads to smaller islands of populations and the resulting population decline beyond a level of sustainability.

My point primarily was related to loss of biodiversity in general, and specifically to human-caused habitat destruction and fragmentation, climate change destruction, and the lack of (breeding, feeding) spaces for megafauna to survive, and thus become extinct in our lifetime.

Perhaps some people are right that 50 years is too soon to say that they will all bee extinct (esp since they live so long)....but a sustainable population of elephants, globally, I do not think will exist in 50 years and I still bet that the majority of the sub-species will be gone from Asia and a majority of African elephants will also be gone.

a long time between posts

2009-11-01T10:03:00.001-08:00

It has been a long time since I have posted anything.

Greetings fellow Seattle-ites and dock-dwellers....

Happy Halloween and 'Fall Back' this weekend! How is the dock and how is the winter and fall weather treating you so far? Loki misses everyone, and was so glad to see Robert and Nancy, he remembered them. That was good to see, that he remembered... He hoped as well to see the puppy Buda but that was not happening. :-)

Now that The Dark Half of the Year has arrived, I figured I should send an email and say 'hi...' and see how everyone's summers were. It has been a full year (on Nov 7) since I have arrived in Geneva, meaning that I am 1/3 thru my contract, and of course thinking of returning to Seattle, especially now that I have spent time this year with Kim, Loren, with Robert and Nancy and am missing the dock, the morning walks, the park, and all of you. The sense of community and strong relationships and friendships we have there are one of the major aspects I miss. I was sad to hear about Big Jim, and also to reflect on how, even this far away, I feel a sense of connection to the dock and sadness at the loss, and just a general sense of missing people.

But, on a good note, things here are OK overall. Geneva is getting colder and the leaves are turning, it is amazing, and nice to have such a dramatic change of seasons. In other news I am looking to move house soon too. My lease is up soon and I want to find a smaller place that is closer to work, and cheaper. So, I have started to pack and show the apartment. If anyone knows anyone who is moving here let me know. :-)

I hope all is well on the dock and that the latest wind storms last week did not do any damage to anyone's boat.

Take care, big hugs, and much love and we both miss all of you, and having coffee with many of you, the ducks, and watching the lake in the morning!

Vote Today for the YWCA USA

2009-08-22T00:15:00.000-07:00

There is a vote happening now.

It is on this page:

CLICK TO EMPOWER

The charity that wins the vote, will gain $100,000 USD from the Allstate Foundation.

I just cast my vote for the YWCA USA, again today.

You can vote once a day.

Vote today please:
CLICK TO EMPOWER

This is easy 'fundraising' where you vote to have Allstate give away some money from the Allstate Foundation!

So here goes. From the site:

Domestic violence impacts the lives of women and their families. The Allstate Foundation supports survivors through resources targeted to build financial independence and educates the public on how hard it is for people to leave an abusive relationship without economic resources.

I work for the World YWCA in Geneva. The YWCA USA is a large member association of ours. There are over 300 YWCAs in the USA.

The YWCA helps women.

Vote today please:
CLICK TO EMPOWER

Success Stories:
Across the country, through an extensive network of programs, the YWCA is helping women reclaim their lives and regain their self-esteem.

Below are just a few stories from some of the women we've helped.

The stories at this link can be viewed as QuickTime or as Windows Media Player files. LINK: SUCCESS VIDEOS of YWCA USA

Here are some of the many programs that YWCAs around the USA do for women:

1. Shelters and transitional housing for women in need or escaping violence. I have visited the one in Seattle and the one in Greater Atlanta.

2. Day care for working moms.

3. Advocacy and work on social justice around the USA thru its programs:

Social Action and Advocacy are the cornerstones of the YWCA. Since our inception almost 150 years ago, “service” has been linked to “action.” In communities across the United States, YWCAs continue to work to improve social and economic conditions for all people. As the nation’s oldest and largest national multi-cultural women's movement, the YWCA is comprised of over 300 local associations, regional leadership and a national office in Washington D.C. - - who all work together, across the nation work to strengthen our voices in the nation’s capital and in state and local governments.

The YWCA brings first-hand knowledge of how federal level policies and programs affect women, girls and their families in communities across the country. Historically the YWCA has fought for issues such as the abolition of child labor, the 8-hour workday and desegregation.

Today, the YWCA carries on their long tradition in social action and advocacy to meet the twin goals of women and girls' empowerment and racial justice.

4. Job training centers.

5. One program in Warren Ohio at the Warren YWCA is about after school recreation, health, wellness and more: Warren YWCA

6. YWCA USA site is http://www.ywca.org You can find your city's YWCA listed there. You can shop there.

This short list is only a part of why you need to vote today for the YWCA USA in this poll. The other part is the 1300 communities and thousands of women the YWCAs in the USA serve.

Vote today please:
CLICK TO EMPOWER

Indonesia, Philippines and Papua New Guinea

2009-07-29T01:55:00.000-07:00

Today I leave for a work trip to Asia and Pacific.

World YWCA will be training about 90 women on sexual and reproductive health and rights, and addressing issues of violence against women.

Many reports to follow of the experiences.

World YWCA Caribbean Regional Training A Success!

2009-06-22T11:04:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share with you how the Caribbean Regional Training went...The World YWCA trains young women leaders! THIS IS A REPORT FROM THE WORLD YWCA WEB SITE.

Caribbean YWCAs Commit to Intergenerational approach to ending violence against women and ending HIV

The Caribbean YWCAs Regional Training Institute (RTI) held in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago from May 24-29, 2009 concluded with strong recommendations for strategies to address violence against women and the spread of HIV in the region.

Fifty Caribbean women and young women, representing women leaders from diverse walks of life, came together to strategise ways to unite and end violence against women and the spread of HIV in the Caribbean. Hosted by the YWCA of Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean YWCAs RTI adopted a two-year regional focus strategy addressing violence against women, HIV and AIDS and sexual and reproductive health and rights. The strategy has three key main elements:

1) Leadership and Capacity Building: affirmed importance of young women’s leadership and an intergenerational approach, as well capacity building
2) Advocacy and Services: placed emphasis on advancing human rights for all women and girls, comprehensive prevention, provision of safe and inclusive spaces
3) Good Governance and Accountability: confirmed the importance of transparency and accountability, good internal leadership and emphasis on need for monitoring and evaluation.

Women's Health, and access.

2009-06-01T05:53:00.000-07:00

For those of you who care about women having access to safe reproductive health choices, including access to safe abortion, you may consider donating $20 in memory of Dr. George Tiller, the doctor who was shot dead in his church on Sunday in Kansas.

Memorial funds have been set up at NNAF NNAF and the WRRAP Organization WWRAP both of which help women who can't afford to pay for an abortion. It will be the George Tiller Fund, also, a memorial has been set up with the group, Medical Students for Choice MS4C

I just donated 35$ to ppkm, planned parenthood of Kansas/Mo. PPKM

Southern Cross

2009-05-25T10:08:00.000-07:00

Got out of town on a boat goin' to southern islands.
Sailing a reach before a followin' sea.
She was makin' for the trades on the outside,
And the downhill run to Papeete Bay.

Off the wind on this heading lie the Marquesas.
We got eighty feet of the waterline.
Nicely making way.
In a noisy bar in Avalon I tried to call you.
But on a midnight watch I realized why twice you ran away.

Think about how many times I have fallen,
Spirits are using me, larger voices callin'.
What heaven brought you and me cannot be forgotten.

----

On hot days (today it was 32C here in Geneva) and when I am homesick, I listen to this song, by Jimmy Buffett (or CSNY). I am missing Seattle today really badly.

I miss all the dock people and my boat.

And I wish I was there.

Ah Seattle.

Cheers.

things I learned in Paris

2009-05-12T14:54:00.001-07:00

1. Do not stay in a youth hostel at age 40.
2. Coffee is really great there.
3. cheap flights (less than 100CHF total, taxes and all) are a good idea unless you get home past 12 midnight on a 'school night'.
4. The Catacombs are amazing.
5. Jim Morrison's grave is jammed in between a bunch of others. Alain Bashung is also buried there, with about 200 other famous people (Pere LaChaisse cemetary): Oscar Wilde, Moliere, Modigliani, Heloise, Getrude Stein, the Laliques, and tons of others.
6. Bring your camera charger and adapter.
7. Don't wear clogs for 3 days of walking.
8. Paris is a huge city.
9. The view from the Eiffel Tower is great as is the view from the Arab World Museum.
10. There is so much to see and smell and taste there that 3 days is not enough time!

Paris....

2009-05-12T14:47:00.000-07:00

Home in Geneva after week in the USA

2009-05-04T09:39:00.001-07:00

Today's flight home was short - only 7 hours from DC.

It is so nice to be home to Loki, to see Becky and to sit on the plane with Marie-Claude, coming from the YWCA USA annual meeting.

And on top of that today I rented out my garage space for the next 2+ years! Waiting to hear if the houseboat in Seattle is rented yet - had an open house last week and waiting for new tenants to apply and get papers back...if you know anyone who wants to rent a houseboat for a year in Seattle for $1300 a month let me know.

Ok now on to unpacking, laundry, meeting notes and work tonight a bit - just slept all day.

A random photo to share:

World YWCA Day is April 24 - Donate Today

2009-04-20T13:03:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

World YWCA Day is April 24, Friday.

FROM THE WORLD YWCA SITE:

World YWCA Day on April 24 is designed to connect YWCAs to the collective power of a movement that changes the lives of women and girls worldwide. The theme for this year's World YWCA Day is ‘Women Creating a Safe World’. The theme builds on the upcoming World YWCA Council 2011 in Zurich, Switzerland that will focus on the importance of personal and community security for women and young women and will explore the links between violence and HIV and AIDS.

Gumbonzvanda urges the YWCA movement to use World YWCA Day to honour women leaders, share skills with local YWCAs, and donate to the Power to Change Fund. “ On World YWCA Day, we are saying it is possible to have a different world; where humanity is celebrated, where human dignity is a lived experience, everywhere, everyday.

The video message is a ‘great communication tool’ for member associations to share on World YWCA Day says World YWCA Fundraising Co-ordinator Lynn Sorrentino. “YWCAs around the world can share the message of the General Secretary with their members and partners. They can use the video as an introduction for their Around the World Breakfasts, or as an introduction for other fundraising events,” reflects Sorrentino. “The video message reaffirms the purpose of the World YWCA. It is a great tool to share with new members and potential partners, and the video message reminds staff and volunteers of the importance of the global work of the YWCA movement."

LINK TO VIDEO:
http://www.youtube.com/user/WorldYWCA

DONATE:
http://www.worldywca.net/donate/index.php

Thank you!

Madagascar

2009-03-29T09:40:00.000-07:00

I work for a women's organisation and we have 'sisters' in a fledgling organisation in Madagascar. I wanted to share with you this info.

VMLF (Vondrona Miralenta ho an'ny Famandrosoana - a women's association that promotes women's participation in politics in Madagascar, has written the following statement to encourage the "...adopt(ion of) sound political practices; we must change in order to move towards a society that is more progressive; more tolerant; and more equitable."

Read on for facts on Magagascar, a country slightly twice as ig as Arizona; a country in Africa very rich in many resources....read what the African Feminist Forum thinks, and what you can do to help out if you so chose.

First the call from VMLF:

CALL FROM VMLF
Learn lessons from History; Resolve the crisis; Reconstruct in the short term

We, members of Vondrona Miralenta ho an’ny Fampandrosoana (VMLF), association working to promote women’s increased political participation in Madagascar, are outraged and grieving because our sons, daughters, sisters, brothers and friends had been slaughtered.

We express our deepest sorrow and concern about the loss of human lives and the deadlock in the life of our nation. In the face of this tragic bloodshed, we affirm that it is utterly inappropriate to take sides with any particular force, and we call on all stakeholders to uphold the Nation’s interest over any party consideration.

Therefore, to the best of our knowledge and belief, and with as much serenity as possible, we declare that the forces which had been fighting over the last few weeks share the responsibility for the present disaster.

The recent history of Madagascar has demonstrated that political practices characterized by power struggles among politicians; democratic deficit; corrupted governance; social injustice; the protection of private interests at the expense of public interest; and, the instrumentalization of the population through demagogic propositions, have led our country into successive crises. It is the same process which had brought about the political crises of 1972, 1991, 2002, and the current crisis.

We are determined to contribute to change in political practices and governance in Madagascar, and we affirm that the following principles must be the minimum basis for the code of conduct of political leaders, whether they are in power or in the opposition:
Renounce declarations that provide false information and create confusion, fear or unreasoned hatred among the population;
Listen to the minority(ies), out of respect for the freedom of opinion, even if one has been elected by a majority (which always remains relative anyway);
Respect the separation between the management of public affairs, and religious and private economic activities.

The resolution of the present crisis requires the immediate creation of a totally neutral and independent body that will be tasked with the establishment of a transitional institution that will be in charge of:
Undertake the necessary reforms of the Constitution and Electoral Code;
Design mechanisms that can guarantee the separation of the executive, legislative and judicial powers, in order to prevent attempts to accumulate power in the hands of a single individual or party;
Ensure the effectiveness of the decentralization process, by sharing responsibilities with each and every decentralized entity and providing them with the means to discharge these responsibilities;
Prepare and organize elections, which will start as soon as feasible at the municipal level and end with the presidential elections;
Ensure gender equality, that is an equitable and balanced representation of women and men in decision making at all levels, in order to compensate for our slow progress (Madagascar ranks at the bottom end of SADC in terms of the percentage of women in Parliament)

For all these deaths not to have been in vain, we must adopt sound political practices; we must change in order to move towards a society that is more progressive; more tolerant; and more equitable.

Consider the statement from the African Feminist Forum:

African Feminist Forum

STATEMENT TO THE AFRICAN UNION COMMISSION ON THE BLOODSHED AND POLITICAL CRISIS IN MADAGASCAR

We, the undersigned members of the African Feminist Forum, are grieving with our Malagasy sisters, following the tragic bloodshed of 7 February 2009 in Antananarivo.

We join Malagasy women in condemning the use of deadly means of repression against unarmed demonstrators. The use of violence in order to silence dissenting voices is becoming a recurrent feature of political crises in many African countries: in the DRC, Sudan, Kenya, Zimbabwe and now in Madagascar. This has gone hand in hand with gross violations of peoples’ rights to be free from fear and hunger, together with the continued marginalization of women in political processes and decision making.

As African women striving to promote the accountability of our leaders to their peoples, respect for human rights, and a culture of peace in our continent, we are deeply concerned about the growing number of violent and militarized responses to popular demand for democratic change in governance, and for getting out of abject poverty. We strongly support our Malagasy sisters’ call for sea change in political and economic governance across the African Continent, including the equal representation of women at all levels of decision making.

As a first step in this direction, we urge the African Union Commission

Ø to appoint a high-level African woman to be part of the team that will facilitate the resolution of the political crisis in Madagascar ;

Ø to ensure that regular consultations with Malagasy women and their organizations will take place during their mission to Madagascar ;

Ø to ensure the equal participation of Malagasy women and their organizations in the process for the resolution of the crisis, as well as in the subsequent political processes, including elections.

In solidarity with women in Madagascar, we stand ready to support the efforts of the African Union Commission towards a peaceful resolution of the political crisis, and the achievement of our common goal of ensuring that the values and principles of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights will be translated into reality in the lives of all African women and men.

Consider the following blurb from the CIA World Factbook:
CIA Madagascar Info

"Having discarded past socialist economic policies, Madagascar has since the mid 1990s followed a World Bank- and IMF-led policy of privatization and liberalization. This strategy placed the country on a slow and steady growth path from an extremely low level. Agriculture, including fishing and forestry, is a mainstay of the economy, accounting for more than one-fourth of GDP and employing 80% of the population. Exports of apparel have boomed in recent years primarily due to duty-free access to the US. Deforestation and erosion, aggravated by the use of firewood as the primary source of fuel, are serious concerns. President RAVALOMANANA has worked aggressively to revive the economy following the 2002 political crisis, which triggered a 12% drop in GDP that year. Poverty reduction and combating corruption will be the centerpieces of economic policy for the next few years."

Write a note supporting the women of Madagascar to:

Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Jocelyn Bertin RADIFERA
chancery: 2374 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone: [1] (202) 265-5525, 5526
FAX: [1] (202) 265-3034
consulate(s) general: New York

And consider supporting these women in the following ways:

Send an email or donation supporting the women of Madagascar to:
The African Women's Development Fund: AWDF
To support the African Feminist Forum: AFF

- the AFF is part of AWDF:

The African Feminist Forum is hosted by the African Women’s Development Fund

Address: AWDF House, 78 Ambassadorial Enclave, East Legon, Accra, Ghana
Post: PMB CT 89, Cantonments, Accra, Ghana
Email: aff@awdf.org

Donations to the World YWCA for core programmes that support women globally:
World YWCA Donations
(DISCLAIMER: I work for the World YWCA so if that influences your decision to help that is fine but I want you all to know I am being transparent.)

Thank you for listening and I hope that things improve soon for the women in Madagascar.

Gardening at the White House

2009-03-20T12:33:00.000-07:00

I am so excited about this!!!

I have squash plants (18 of them about 3 inches tall so far) and also have 40 or so little tomatoes starters about an inch tall. I live in an apartment but have good balcony space for a great garden soon! Loki Dog wishes I could grow hamburgers on the balcony, but tomatoes and squash will likely be it.

At any rate, on the garden front - I'll be excited to see the garden and the results both here and at the White house:

On Friday, Michelle Obama will begin digging up a patch of White House lawn to plant a vegetable garden, the first since Eleanor Roosevelt’s victory garden in World War II. There will be no beets (the president doesn’t like them) but arugula will make the cut. While the organic garden will provide food for the first family’s meals and formal dinners, its most important role, Mrs. Obama said, will be to educate children about healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables at time when obesity has become a national concern.

The Obamas will feed their love of Mexican food with cilantro, tomatilloes and hot peppers. Lettuces will include red romaine, green oak leaf, butterhead, red leaf and galactic. There will be spinach, chard, collards and black kale. For desserts, there will be a patch of berries. And herbs will include some more unusual varieties, like anise hyssop and Thai basil. A White House carpenter who is a beekeeper will tend two hives for honey.

I come from a family where we always had a garden in the back yard.

Growing up, we had an orange and lemon tree that each produced a couple dozen each winter. Squash, lettuce, spinach, basil, tomatoes and peppers, pumpkins, plum trees, and other things. My dad grows stuff still on his little balcony now that he's moved out of the house he retired to 14 years ago. He had a huge garden there, with fruit trees and pecan trees (hundreds of pounds of those each year resulted in mailing of boxes to family several years in a row...)

I remember not eating spinach for 2 years because there was a worm in it once when my Mom and I were cleaning it. Yep, got over that when I finally realized organic means bugs and well, bugs like a little worm you can wash off is way healthier than fertilizers and pesticides and well, anything, made by Monsanto.

I love that we will have a White House veggie garden. :-) An yes it is an easy and cheap shot, but it's a mighty nice change over a veggie IN the White House.

Fish are breathing easier in Saginaw Bay

2009-03-07T12:54:00.000-08:00

In one of her first actions as director of the Environmental Protection Agency, Lisa Jackson has ordered the Great Lakes office of EPA to stop negotiations with the Dow Chemical company — begun in the last days of the Bush administration — over controversial dioxin cleanup in the Saginaw Bay watershed.

Perhaps there will be some progress toward cleanup of dioxin sites like this. According to the article, "Dow Chemical’s Midland plant has contaminated 50 miles of the Saginaw Bay watershed with dioxin — one of the most potent cancer-causing chemicals known."

Glad that there is some progress happening in this direction. So are the fish and inverts that are still there (very few).

2009-03-01T03:13:00.000-08:00

OLD Blog posts from my former blog, reposted here to share...

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Work email
Current mood: productive
Category: Web, HTML, Tech
I got this out of an article in the Seattle weekly and cracked up so had to share. This is exactly my job, in a nutshell, related to working at MSFT....

"E-mail at work is not about communication. It's about jockeying for position and distributing wisdom. I myself like to sprinkle in a few words that I've found to be useful in my own life, always with my own little humorous twist. As one of my more well-known e-mail signatures put it, "Who says you can't be gentle as you seize your inner divinity?" Slip the cliché in the back door, that's my motto.

If work e-mail does contain any actual content, it's usually along these lines: "Thank you for bringing to my attention the horrible disaster that will result from my continued inaction. In lieu of my actually doing anything, please accept this random assortment of meaningless buzz words, designed to make the people CC'd on this message think that I give a fuck about any of this shit: messaging framework, vision statement, granularity, POR, ROI, facetime, customer-centric, tasked with, pushback, metrics, rearchitected, mind share, branding perspective, outstanding deliverable, take it offline. Thanks!" Heck, you couldn't understand any of that stuff even if you wanted to, so why even try? Focus instead on the random bits of insight from self-help books that may show up in your colleagues' signature files. Because a word of light from the mouth of an enemy is worth two misguided words of your own."

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Dif Eq
Current mood: thoughtful
Category: Friends
Dif Eq - pronounced "Diff E.Q." in one word, like "diffyQ".

Tonight I was on the phone with a good friend of mine for several hours and she brought up Dif Eq.

Differential Equations.

While I normally relegate math and physics stuff to topics like baseball (you can teach almost all the fundamentals of physics in one baseball game) and talks with Roger (my marina friend who teaches higher math and wave physics at JMU)...tonight I had an insight that she provided - the Dif EQ of men and women.

Let’s define Differential and Equation first. Here are the definitions I am using for this blog:

Differential: Latin: [L. differre to carry apart] pertaining to a difference or differences.

Equation: 1. A set of properties, their intended actions and reactions with or without a given goal, and a possible and achievable solution if a goal is a presented.
Equation: 2. The act or process of equating or of being equated.

Men and women’s differentials are noted in many ways...I can think of differentials in ways...
Pertaining to differences in men and women.
Pertaining to differences in how we think, how we act, how we love, how we understand each other, how we interpret the world, how we become ourselves.
Pertaining to differences in our reactions to actions of others.

To carry apart...hmmm....to pick apart, to separate....to notice the differences. There are many obvious differences in men and women. The ones I am interested in are the ones that are not obvious to each party since they are so close to the heart. Why is it that our society encourages us to pick apart, carry apart these differences when at heart, all anyone wants is to be loved, to love, to be equal and to share a path that leads to the eventual goal of happiness and contentment? If the equation in life is to obtain a set of properties (the "happy, loved/loving, secure, peaceful" properties as a list to start with), how do we do the math when both parties are separate parts of the equation before the = sign?

What is the process of equating? What does it mean to be equal and to be a part of a bigger whole, especially if the underlying theme is "differential?" What about integrals? Being an integral part of someone’s existence?

I think that being able to understand calculus as "the area under the curve" (not the curve ball)....may mean that we strive to understand the arc of our curve, the area of our impact, our reach, on each other and the world. Perhaps this is why I studied biology and zoology, instead of mathematics.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Mark Harmon, Prince of Bel Air, Will Smith, Fresh Prince of Bel Air
Current mood: thoughtful
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities
Poster Porn of Mark Harmon, Prince of Bel Air, Will Smith Ain't All That Black, The Fresh Prince

LuAnn, Paula, Newton, Zoey, Loki and I were googling Mark Harmon tonight. The TV was on and I said something about him being a pool boy in some movie in the 80's.

Gotta love IMDB.com.

The movie starred Mark and Kirsti Alley and is called Prince of Bel Air, and is all the cheese you can think of- completely 80's SoCal. It is on netflix too. The reviews alone on IMDB are worth reading.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091791/

Paula said she thought Will Smith was in it, as it was a made for TV movie, and I said I did not think there were any black people in it- but we figured out we were thinking of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, not the pool boy movie. At this point Paula pointed out that she did not think of Will Smith as being all that black.

I don't know why but this whole conversation just deteriorated into Mark Harmon on a gay poster boy fan site and well we all just fell out about that and the fact that he's married to Pam Dawber. Mork and Mindy.

So there you have it. A blog about searching IMDB for Mark Harmon as a pool boy. The random stupid stuff I remember from 86 that does not involve Bon Jovi.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Personal Essence
Current mood: thoughtful
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes

Today I had a great session with my therapist. We talked about a book called "Undefended Love" www.undefendedlove.com and we went over a chart called "Personality Preoccupations and Strategies". The discussion reinforced to me that my personality is a mix of caretaker, justice-seeker, self-improver, and how well I did nor did not mesh with others on an essential level.

The chart had a column that described the essential qualities sought in others based on my qualities and my personality preoccupations. In myself I value my generosity; in my essence, I seek out generous people. In myself, I want to be needed and seen as having integrity; in my essence, the qualities I seek in others as goodness, truth, and strength of character. In my essence, one thing I need to learn is that if I cannot always be a caretaker that I am still, in my soul, valuable and open-hearted.

The therapist and I talked about how there are a group of triads around these themes and personality preoccupations and that they are based on some fundamental emotions - fear, of failure; for example. Being resilient and able to manage emotional responses, express even negative emotions well, and getting closer to one's essence is at the heart of becoming a whole, functioning, mentally healthy adult with the capacity to love yourself and from that, bring love into your world.

Interestingly enough, this weekend I began working on some checklists and writings found at the web site, www.loveandforgive.org about very similar themes. This web site is where my new profile quotes come from.

The therapist and I talked about loving yourself too, in the sense of knowing yourself and what you will accept into your life and what is healthy for you to accept and to reject. We discussed where my lines are for accepting and rejecting. I will reject heinously abusive co-workers. I will reject people who lie or obfuscate. I will accept people on a path of "conscious choices" and I will accept people who forgive themselves and others and just "are". I can accept people up front as long as they are true and open.

Of all my friends (some here and some not), I can say that the people closest to me know what I am talking about in terms of valuing my "self" and trusting my essence so that I make the right decisions that will guide my path. Of my closest circle, every one of my friends has learned or is learning to be open-hearted and how to be true to themselves. I have friends who have called off weddings, who have sought to solve big world issues, take on big challenges in life, who are true spiritual guides, and who are amazingly powerful leaders, but they only got this way by being open and undefended, many after years of struggle.

At dinner last night a good friend and I talked about the concepts of the love and forgive website and how to gain acceptance and incorporate new learning .. a conscious decision to a new space emotionally. We talked about how not to be angry and the concepts of letting go. Forgiving people, even yourself, is about letting go of any negative emotion; you forgive the person for the action and you can differentiate between actions that come out of fear, shame, or rage. Having a ceremony to forgive is a good idea and cathartic but it must be true and open-hearted.

In any case, the web sites and book above are great tools and have been helpful to me so far, I hope to learn more. :-)

Cheers for now, 'nite all.

Meet Dubs, the New UW Husky Mascot

2009-03-01T02:42:00.000-08:00

http://huskymascot.blogspot.com/

Baby Malamutes are so cute. :-)

Blackwater - and "Rights: Privatised Away" by David Cronin

2009-02-16T10:45:00.000-08:00

If you read thru the archives you'll see that I wrote about Blackwater previously, and have been active in tracking what they, GreyStone and other firms do, in general.

Today I got this news brief via: IPS News....

RIGHTS: Violations Privatised Away
By David Cronin

BRUSSELS, Feb 10 (IPS) - The intimate involvement of the private sector in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq received international attention in September 2007, when staff with the security firm Blackwater shot dead 17 civilians in the vicinity of Baghdad's Nisoor Square.

Though the U.S. has made the most extensive use of such companies in the history of modern warfare, it is in Europe where they originated. Back in 1967, senior political and military figures in Britain formed Watchguard International as a response to a left-wing coup in Yemen five years earlier. Now recognised as the world's first private security firm, its original intention was to shore up governments that could otherwise be overthrown.

Four decades later, the European Union is being urged to introduce regulations so that better oversight of private security firms can be guaranteed.

The article goes on to discuss how firms like Blackwwater have been operating in "a legal vacuum in Iraq, Afghanistan, Congo and Somalia during recent years. In Iraq, the Coalition Provisional Authority that took charge after the country's president Saddam Hussein was toppled, went so far as to issue an order providing immunity from prosecution by Iraqi courts for international contractors."

The government of Switzerland is discussing with various partners and consultants the idea of how private security firms can be monitored, and it looks like 17 countries are in the discussions which center on the concept that, "the granting of immunity from prosecution to certain private security firms as an "unjustified idea."" Human rights abuses such as those that happened at Abu Ghahib are at the center of these discussions.

Hélène Flautre, a French Green member of the European Parliament (MEP), suggested in the course of the debate that all EU military operations should have officers who liaise between soldiers and private firms that have been hired to provide particular services.

"Where subcontractors are allowed, this shouldn't represent an evasion of international humanitarian law," she said.

Michael Gahler, a German Christian Democrat MEP, said: "It is very important that we shouldn't give private security companies a law-free area. Employing them should not be a way of avoiding international law. That has to be the yardstick."

Just as presidents are above the law, neither should firms like Blackwater, their employees, or other private firms and contractors that commit crimes or human rights abuses.

DONATE

2009-02-11T07:20:00.000-08:00

Donate.

http://www.worldywca.net/donate/index.php

Greetings from Geneva,

I am putting on my networking hat, and asking my friends, readers, and family to donate directly to the World YWCA work. I know that the financial crisis is looming large for many of us. I've lost 40% of my retirement account. I know many people who have lost jobs in the USA. But it is up to each of us to reach out during these hard times, if we can, to help each other. Last week, I donated $30. Yes, many of our staff (of only 22) donate directly from their paychecks each month to our work. My boss donates every month.

What the World YWCA funds:
http://www.worldywca.info/index.php/ywca/world_ywca/our_priorities

Women's health, leadership, HIV and AIDS programmes, peace with justice, sustainable development, and the prevention of violence against women.

The World YWCA reaches 25 million women and girls through its member associations across the world. Through the support of donors and individuals who give generously throughout the year, the World YWCA is able to sustain work in over 120 countries. Now the World YWCA has introduced a secure online donation system that allows you to easily make a contribution that will help the YWCA movement equip women and girls with skills, knowledge and resources to create positive change in their lives and communities.

The secure online donation system allows you to give in two ways:

1. Invest in the Future

If you donate as an investment in the future, your donation goes to the Power to Change Fund and will support a permanent fund of the World YWCA that endows leadership development programmes for women and girls worldwide.

2. Invest in the Present

If you donate as an investment in the present, your donation will support the priorities of the Core Programmes at the World YWCA. Your contribution supports the core work of the organisation, including global advocacy and local programmes that target the root causes of poverty, violence, injustice, stigma, and discrimination.

What this means to you:

1. You now have a place to send your family members when they ask you what you want as a Holiday/Birthday/Valentine's Day/Christmas gift! They can now donate online very easily!
2. You now can send your family and friends, personal networks, a link to the home page and mention that they can donate online.
3. International Women's Day (March 8) and World YWCA Day (April 24) are coming up and you may wish to ask your networks to support these tremendous efforts....

w o r l d y w c a | w o m e n l e a d i n g c h a n g e

a global movement of 25 million women and girls working for justice, peace, health, human dignity, freedom and the environment in 120 countries

Tonight I met Governor Howard Dean in Geneva

2009-02-01T15:14:00.000-08:00

and tomorrow I will write about it. :-) He's in town for the WEF meeting in Davos, 4..5 hours up the road.

Only a few people got tear gassed yesterday at the Geneva protests. interesting time had by all the shoppers and the riot police....some pictures to come.

Night all.

Obama's Investiture - at last

2009-01-21T12:18:00.000-08:00

Greetings to my family and friends and fellow Obama volunteers and workers:

At last. After a very long campaign. A lot of long days phone banking. A lot of miles done by the staffers and volunteers and the man himself. A lot of fundraising events and meetups and calls to donors. A lot of late nights and early mornings.

Last night in Geneva, the American Democrats Abroad group hosted an event for 600 people at a cafe in Confederation Center. There were big screen televisions for viewing the event, and the crowd cheered, cried, and accepted our new President and Vice President and the grand challenge of renewing America and recovering from the past 8 years of bad policies and bad decisions.

During the last part of the inauguration, while the National Anthem was being sung, the power to the televisions went out...and the 600 people at the cafe COMPLETED singing the Anthem, in unison, and with a heartfelt sense of hope, and pride. Pride in our new leaders, and a sense of 'owning' the Anthem and accepting that our country has a huge set of challenges ahead and that we are each responsible for creating a better America.

It's been a long road to get here. Now, on to the hard work. :-)

Here is his first day's work plan:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/1/21/122810/451/413/687097

Cheers!!!

Tonight, The Last Night: 8 years of EPIC FAIL PRESIDENCY, now over

2009-01-19T14:12:00.000-08:00

I was thinking tonight about where Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson will be sitting at tomorrow's Obama Inauguration. Then I started to think about all the failures and crimes inflicted upon the citizenry of our country in the name of ideology in the past 8 years. Really, lying about a blow job is hardly a significant crime compared to, say, outing and not protecting your nation's CIA agents...

Here is a list of actions taken by the Epic Fail Presidency to ponder. It's a 125-item-long list: http://www.publicintegrity.org/investigations/broken_government/articles/full_list/

Links to each item are on the page, with several paragraphs about why each failure of the Bush Administration is, well, an Epic Failure to Serve the Citizens of the USA.
*
Consumers & Workers
o Limited Ability To Block Dangerous Imports
o FDA Enforcement Actions Way Down
o USDA Challenged Over Meat Safety
o Lack of Adequate Foreign Drug Oversight
o Problems in Oversight of Food Safety
o OSHA’s Laissez-Faire Attitude
o FDA Failure To Ensure Drug Safety
o Failure To Protect Consumers From Unsafe Products
o Oversight Collapse Leads To Mine Safety Issues
o Agricultural Quarantine Inspection Stumbles
o Eroding Budget Erodes Consumer Safety
o Lack of Quorum at the CPSC
*
Contracting & Workforce
o A Failure of Whistleblower Protection
o Labor Relations Authority: Low Morale, Backlogged Cases
o Contractors Failing Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan
o Human Capital Issues Plague Government
o Surge in Outsourcing Creates Problems in Performance, Oversight
o Chronic Understaffing at the EEOC
*
Education
o No Child Left Behind: A Few Bumps in the Road
o Reading First: Scandalous and Ineffective
o Student Loan Scandal Costs Students
*
Elections
o Paralysis at the Federal Election Commission
o “McCain-Feingold” Fails To Solve Campaign Finance Problem
o Election Assistance Commission Has Not Met Mandates
*
Emergency Management
o Hurricanes Expose FEMA Woes
o FEMA Trailers Filled With Formaldehyde
o We Can’t Afford Another Flood
o SBA Emergency Assistance Failed for Katrina
o Flood “Protection” in New Orleans
*
Energy
o No Robust, Sustained Alternative Energy Policy
o Foreign Oil Dependence Has Grown
o Refinery Bottleneck Puts Squeeze on Gasoline Supply
o Move to a 21st Century Electricity Grid Is Stalled
*
Entitlements
o Unsustainable Medicare Spending
o Failure To Reform Social Security
o Social Security Disability Backlogs
*
Environment
o Climate Change: Hide the Assessment
o Failure To Advance Climate Change Policy
o EPA Deprives Public of Information on Toxics
o Science Policy Politicized
o Politicization at Department of Interior
o EPA Stalls on Perchlorate Regulation
o Mountaintop Coal Mining Alters Appalachia
o EPA and OMB Slow Toxic Chemical Risk Studies
o Scandal, Incompetence at Minerals Management Service
o EPA Misleads on Air Quality After 9/11 Attacks
o EPA Ignores Advisers on Particulate Matter Standards
o Everglade Restoration a Man-Made Disaster
o Superfund Program Loses Funding, Momentum
o Toxic Mercury From Coal Plants Unregulated
o Nuclear Waste Problem Unsolved
o EPA Fails To Put Children First
o Failure To Launch: Satellite Delays
o EPA’s Free Pass for Aging Power Plant Emissions
*
Finance
o Shaky Start for Troubled Asset Relief Program
o Skyrocketing Deficit
o Oversight Fails To Keep Pace With a Changed Market
o Lax Oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
o SEC Allows Investment Banks To Go Unregulated
o More Corporations Pay Less in Taxes
o Audit Rates of Rich Fall, Audits of Poor Spike
o Lack of Regs Fueled Accounting Scandal
o U.S. Companies Hiding Revenue Offshore
o Mismanagement and Cronyism at HUD
*
Health
o Medicare Fraud Out of Control
o 45 Million Americans Without Health Insurance
*
Information Protection
o Failures in Cybersecurity
o Millions in Equipment Missing From Indian Health Service
o An Epidemic of Missing Laptops
*
Justice & Security
o Too Close to the Edge on Torture
o CIA Renditions Draw Controversy
o Politicization of Department of Justice
o Failure To Protect Sensitive Technology
o Arbitrary Detention at Guantanamo
o Osama bin Laden Still at Large
o Lack of Progress on Immigration Reform
o WMD Nonproliferation Needs More Attention
o National Security Agency Mismanages Info Technology
o $30 Billion Virtual Border Fence Faces Problems
o First Responders Still Can’t Communicate
o FBI Abuses Power To Request Personal Information
o Agencies Failed To Share Intelligence on 9/11 Terrorists
o Pakistan Remains an Al Qaeda Haven
o FBI Failure To Create a Modern Computer Network
o Nuclear Sites Lack Adequate Security
o Losing the Battle for Hearts and Minds
o DHS Still Getting Up to Speed
o Terrorist Watch List Mismanaged
o Poor Retention of Counterterrorism Staff
o Inability To Track Foreign Visitors to U.S.
o Lack of Due Process for Terrorism Suspects
o FBI Struggles To Confront Multiple Threats
o NORAD, FAA Unprepared for Aerial Attack
o U.S. Guns Arming Mexican Drug Cartels
*
Military
o False Premise for Going to War
o Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal
o Mismanagement at National Reconnaissance Office
o Poor Health Care for Veterans
o Failure To Regulate Security Contractors
o Pentagon Office’s Misleading Intelligence
o Military Failure To Secure Iraq After Invasion
o Lack of Armored Protection for Troops
o Pentagon’s Slow Adaptation to a War-footing
o Inadequate Planning for Post-Invasion Iraq
o Failure To Secure Weapons in Iraq
o Mismanagement of Major Weapons Acquisitions
o Veteran Disability Claims Languish
o Delay in Opening U.S. Embassy in Iraq
o Air Force Failure To Maintain Nuclear Weapons Accountability
o Taliban Resurgence in Afghanistan
o 190,000 Missing Weapons in Iraq
*
Other
o NASA Inspector General Lack of Oversight
o NASA’s Failure To Ensure Safety in Human Space Flight
o Massive Backlog at Patent Office
o Census 2010 Stumbles at the Starting Line
o FCC Chairman Martin Under Fire
*
Transportation
o Failing To Modernize Air Traffic Control
o Human Fatigue in Transport Accidents Still Unaddressed
o Close Calls on the Runway
o FAA in the Dark on Maintenance
o Record Delays in Air Travel
o FAA Inspectors Cozy Up to Airlines
o Highway Funding Woes
*
White House
o Controversial Assertion of Executive Power
o Excessive Executive Secrecy
o Signing Statements Thwart Congressional Intent
o Vice President’s Office Exempts Itself From Information Safeguards
o Executive Office of the President “Loses” E-mails

Obama = Optimism

2009-01-18T03:52:00.000-08:00

Per Frank Luntz:

Americans are scared right now, and the optimism that is being generated by Obama could go a long way to restoring confidence and when that confidence is restored, Americans will feel freer to put money back into the economy.

I am giddy with optimism. I know that effectively the Bush mis-administration was over Friday at 5, so I had a drink to celebrate. I am listening now, Sunday afternoon, to Tesla, and Motley Crue, dancing thru my apartment as I clean.... George and Dick: Don't Go Away Mad, Just Go Away.

Not only is there optimism. There is a sense of competent management coming in, a sense of justice about to be served.

Polls indicate that most Americans think Mr. Obama is going to kick some serious butt and do a good job. This optimism is shown in a poll by CBS News...
"His favorable rating, at 60 percent, is the highest it has been since the Times/CBS News poll began asking about him. Overwhelming majorities say they think that Mr. Obama will be a good president, that he will bring real change to Washington, and that he will make the right decisions on the economy, Iraq, dealing with the war in the Middle East and protecting the country from terrorist attacks. Over 70 percent said they approved of his cabinet selections." Also, per the San Jose Mercury News, they write what many of us have worked so hard toward this last 2 years:

We hope Obama will rebuild relations with allies alienated by Bush's bellicose policies. We hope science, rather than politics, will govern environmental, energy and health policies. It's time to balance "homeland security" with Americans' right to privacy.

Right now, we are on the tipping point to a better future. Sure there may be some disappointment but please, let's celebrate with a positive outlook, and go out there and recharge, renew, and reinvigorate our nation.

Gaza: Occupation 101

2009-01-08T13:41:00.000-08:00

Candle light vigils today for the women and children of Gaza. Thinking about the YWCAs of Palestine and East Jerusalem. Wishing that little kids would not get blown to bits by politicians with too many weapons and too few brains and less compassion.

Watched some of this movie: http://www.occupation101.com/about.html

Cities I have visited Map

2009-01-04T08:59:00.000-08:00

Everyone loves maps, and even more if they are interactive, working on it here...

Create your own travel map or travel blog

Travel Info at TripAdvisor

German Village Experience

2009-01-02T01:42:00.000-08:00

This is a fluff travel blog that needs more work and more details. I will get to that on Sunday once I get back to Geneva. So I have spent the last 2 weeks in Monaco, France and Germany. Tomorrow is my last day in Nussdorf am Inn with friends. This little German town has its own wikipedia page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nu%C3%9Fdorf_am_Inn

and its own website: http://www.nussdorf.de/

The mountain near here is called the Heuberg, and it is 1338 meters tall. We climbed it on New Year's eve and saw a beautiful sunset and got some good pictures. Loki had a blast, playing in the snow. I on the other hand had fun with my new friends but was a bit scared, going down some very steep slopes and over the ridge. We stayed in a friend's cabin up there near the top of the mountain, and lit off fireworks for new year's and had a nice fondue dinner and played Jenga until 2 a.m.

This area of Bavaria is very pretty with its own castle (Castle Neubeuren) and cutesy little shops. A great Italian/German restaurant here, run by a nice couple, with wonderful food...

On December 30 we went into Kufstein Austria (Kufstein's page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kufstein) for their New Year's eve party, and fireworks from that castle. That was pretty fun, dancing to a DJ and a band, having mulled wine, and celebrating a day early with the locals. the best part of the night was the DJ playing Bon Jovi and the crowd dancing and screaming - they love Bon Jovi here. :-)

Tomorrow Loki and I head back to Geneva, which is an 8 hour drive, but it will be kind of sad to have to go back to work after two weeks off.

Broken Chair

2008-12-21T06:21:00.000-08:00

Angel and I went to see the Broken Chair yesterday and walked by the UN. Broken Chair is a project of Paul Vermeulen. The sculpture is in front of the main entrance to the Palais des Nations in Geneva in August 1997, where it was intended to remain for three months, until the signature of the Ottawa Treaty in December 1997 in Ottawa. Following ratification by 40 countries, the Treaty became effective as an instrument of international law on 1st March 1999.

The failure of significant countries like the United States, to sign the Treaty and the strong public support for the sculpture caused it to left in place until 2005, when it was removed to allow extensive remodelling of the Palais des Nations. After completion of the work, it was reinstalled in the same place in front of the United Nations Office at Geneva on 26 February 2007.

The reinstallation of Broken Chair in February 2007 was officially dedicated by Handicap International to support the signature of an international treaty on a ban on Cluster Bombs (Convention on Cluster Munitions), which is due to be be signed in Oslo in December 2008. The CCM was opened for signature at a ceremony at Oslo City Hall on 3-4 December 2008. By the end of the ceremony, 94 states had signed the treaty, and 4 (Ireland, the Holy See, Sierra Leone and Norway) had submitted their instruments of ratification. Signatories included 21 of the 27 member-states of the European Union and 18 of the 26 countries in NATO. Among the signatories were several states affected by cluster munitions, including Laos and Lebanon. Several major producers of cluster munitions, including the US, Russia, China, India, Pakistan and Brazil have not signed the Convention.

Day of rest

2008-12-21T05:23:00.000-08:00

Angel's here. She's resting now. She really is not feeling well.

I just looked up the text of the UDHR to read a few bits, since I felt a bit under informed last night while chatting to friends....Article 24:
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

I also found some cool absinthe info - there are 37 brands of it produced here in Switzerland:

http://www.feeverte.net/guide/country/switzerland/

Derek, Sean and Laura will be happy to hear that.

"My Kids Will Probably Serve Over Here"

2008-12-16T12:06:00.000-08:00

4,062nd to die: April 30, 2008 – Army Staff Sgt. Chad A. Caldwell, 24, of Spokane, died in Mosul, Iraq, of injuries sustained while conducting combat operations. He was assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, at Fort Hood, Texas. A graduate of Cheney High, Caldwell was on his third tour of duty in a war he once thought would end quickly, his family said. But the sergeant, married with two children, recently told a reporter. "My kids will probably serve over here." He made a similar comment to his mother, Carol Caldwell. "It was his goal to get things done so that wouldn't have to happen, and to secure a future for his family," she said. At a memorial service, chaplain Maj. Paul Dirksmeyer said, it was "because he was such an extraordinary person that he became such an extraordinary soldier."

More than 4,145 troops/young men and women/citizens/fellow humans have died since the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. How many Iraqis/young men and women/citizens/fellow humans have died? Estimates I have seen from health orgs like Health Alliance International estimate 1-1.8 million, up to 2 million.

And George ducks as a shoe sails past his head, missing the point entirely, cracking a joke.

Where are the War Dead in the Media? Why don't we see the coffins every day that a new batch come home to Dover? The Seattle Weekly has a War Dead list (the link is in the title).

George, your term end cannot come fast enough. Let's hope that in the short time you have left, you don't fubar anything else.

Wordle

2008-12-14T13:05:00.000-08:00

I created the Wordle below by using text from the Unembedded blog post below. You can make one too - use the title link to create your own and save them!

http://wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/147270/Unembedded

and this one: about Bush getting almost nailed with a size 10 shoe;

http://www.wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/386277/Bush_and_Shoes

Shoes and Bushie

2008-12-14T12:59:00.000-08:00

A size 10 shoe sailing past Dear Leader's head at a presser with Maliki is not news. Understanding what it means is.

Going to the U.N. for a lecture...

2008-12-02T11:34:00.000-08:00

Ok kids. I am working in Geneva now and have been to the UN twice already and to the US Mission once....

But next week, besides the Democrats Aboard Party in Geneva for Obama, I am going to an interesting talk on Human Rights at the UN.

Thoughts on this lecture are welcome and I will report on it when it is over to the lovely, thoughtful audience here at DailyKos.

Register to attend if you are in Geneva:

http://www.unog.ch/unog/website/dg.nsf/(httpPages)/BBA625FF305E9EE1C12574E40035B8E6?OpenDocument

Let's start with content. Here is the content of the lecture.

FROM THE UN WEBSITE:

The United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) are organizing a series of open lectures on a regular basis at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, entitled The Geneva Lecture Series. The lectures aim to foster awareness of a number of pressing global challenges among audiences in Geneva and beyond, with a focus on how each individual can contribute to resolving such challenges (Concept Note content is below).

The second lecture, delivered by Shirin Ebadi – 2003 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate – and Wole Soyinka – 1986 Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature – on the topic “Are human rights universal?”, will take place on
10 December 2008 from 4:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The open debate with the public will be followed by remarks by H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco, President of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Fondation. The event is organized within the framework of the overall programme of events marking the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Following the lecture, the public will be invited to participate in a debate moderated by a well-known journalist. Simultaneous interpretation in English and French will be available for the duration of the whole event.

For those not able to attend the conference, please note that the event will also be broadcast live on Webcast (http://www.un.org/webcast).

The Concept Note gives some background and also includes this info, which is important:

Fostering public debate and dialogue on universal concerns

The Geneva Lecture Series offers a unique platform to foster awareness on
specific global challenges and deepen and broaden the participation of
citizens and civil society at large in the on-going diplomatic and inter-
governmental processes.

Within the framework of a selected theme, some of the following challenges
will be addressed:

Promoting peace and security
Strengthening international cooperation over disarmament and non-
proliferation
Promoting conflict prevention
Enhancing peaceful conflict resolution mechanisms
Fighting against terrorism
Preventing narcotic drugs trafficking and crime
Eradicating extreme poverty
Combating against HIV/AIDS
Protecting biodiversity
Curbing climate change
Increasing the development and the use of renewable energy
Protecting the environment
Developing the global economy in a sustainable manner
Enhancing humanitarian and disaster relief efforts
Strengthening international cooperation over immigration control
Advocating human rights
Fostering cultural diversity
Promoting gender equality
Protecting intellectual property

UNOG and UNITAR are assisted in the organization and promotion of the
lectures by a support committee, comprised of representatives of the various partners involved. The partners include relevant United Nations agencies and a limited number of sponsors (media, private companies, foundations, etc.) who have expressed their willingness to support this initiative through in- kind contribution or funds, and whose name is associated to the event.

Relevant rules and guiding principles of the United Nations with regard to
fundraising and partnerships will apply to all.

After brief welcoming remarks by the heads of UNOG and UNITAR, one or
two prominent speakers are invited to give a lecture explaining to a broad
audience the various challenges facing the international community around a specific theme. Following the lecture, a moderator leads an open discussion, in which participants have a rare opportunity to raise questions and engage in discussions with internationally renowned speakers. Moderators are selected among the media, heads of International Organizations or other high level personalities from civil society or the world of politics.

In addition to the open discussion with the invited speaker(s), a number of mechanisms/tools are put in place to ensure a wide dialogue around each
lecture. Each event is broadcast live through the UN webcast. A Geneva
Lecture Series website is also developed which will present a range of
relevant information and documents for each lecture.1 Further, media
partners generate on-line discussions through their own websites ahead of
the lectures, bringing to each speaker a selection of questions forwarded by their readers/listeners.

Two to three lectures are planned annually.

Participants and Speakers

The Geneva Lecture Series is open to anyone who is concerned with the
future of our planet, including representatives of international organizations, media, academic institutions and NGOs, as well as citizens of Geneva and beyond. People outside of Geneva who cannot attend in person are invited to participate via Internet.

All media agencies accredited to the United Nations Office at Geneva as well as local media companies are particularly welcome to join and support this initiative, as their participation helps raise awareness of these crucial global issues in the general public and maximizes the impact of the lectures.

For each lecture, UNOG and UNITAR select a theme and speaker (s).
Internationally recognized leaders and experts in their respective fields will be invited as speakers, including such personalities as Nobel laureates, former United Nations Secretaries-General and Deputy Secretaries-General, economic leaders (particularly from emerging economies), current or former political leaders, artists who are engaged in awareness-raising or operational activities, writers and other international prominent figures.

http://www.unitar.org/gls

So here are my questions to you, readers:

1. Would you attend something like this?
2. What questions do you have for the speakers?
3. What are your thoughts on the UN in general?
4. How do you see the UN fitting into the 21st century - goals, methods of work, plans, etc?

Any additional thoughts are welcome.

I am attending this meeting since I am working for a NGO here in town, the World YWCA.
http://www.worldywca.org

Thanks for comments!

Loki made it to Geneva!

2008-11-14T14:34:00.000-08:00

Alrighty then. After a week of trying to work, find a place to live, filling out forms, getting official stamps, riding buses and trams and walking everywhere, I am happy to say that while I am tired, Loki made it here just fine and I am really excited tomorrow to go to the market for fresh veggies and fruits and bread with him! Dogs can go everywhere here!

Today was a big day in Loki Dog's life. He is here now, sleeping in front of my couch in my hotel. Tuckered out.

He arrived in Geneva at 9.30 a.m. and my boss and I got to the airport at 10. He had to go to DNata to get some papers - his airway bill and vet papers from the USA.

From DNata, we walked over to the window with the veterinarian. He looked at all the papers for 15 minutes, took his scanner and left to go see Loki and get Loki scanned. Loki has two chips - one AVID USA chip and one AVID ISO European style chip. We had to pay the lady 44 CHF (about 38 dollars) for looking at our papers and the airbill.

The vet was gone for 15 minutes, in the interim my boss Jane and I chatted with a man importing 10 crocodile and diamond watches. Each watch was certificed by CITES and had to go thru customs as well as thru the vet/animal trafficing office. Each watch per this guy was worth about Euro 150,000 - so about $225,000 each. Watch. Each. Watch. And he is standing here with us, and showing us these watched. he said that they sell rapidly here in Geneva. Of course they do. Their value, he said, was more than just the price and the diamonds. I asked him what value the crocodiles thought the watches were orth and he laughed, made a gun/shooting gesture and laughed more. Not sure I understood that part of the conversation that well.

Anyhow, we then got to go upstairs to Customs, where we paid another 88 CHF (72 dollars, give or take). They looked at his papers. They stamped the papers. then the vet stamped the papers, and then we got to pick up Loki.

He was so mad! He hates being in a crate. He howled and yelled at me and jumped around a bit and then decided to try to get outside before the last guy, at the door, looked at the papers and let him go. A ton of paperwork, stamps (the Swiss are big on stamping papers with official stamps/seals. I have to bring papers, forms, and official copies of letters, work permits, local bank info and passport to each and every apartment I visit).

Anyway, back to Loki....Loki and I were done with papers and went outside, got his crate into my boss's car, and went to the hotel. Where we got to change rooms (to a ground floor room with a door directly outside to the cow pasture areas!!!) and where Loki promptly pottied outside!

After moving all my stuff from one room to another, the hotel manager patted Loki for like 3 minutes, and was so excited to see a dog so "superb!"

Then Loki and I got back into my boss's car and went to work where all the women came down to see him and to love on him a bit! It is great! He can come to work as much as he wants to and everyone like him! he gets locked into my office and can see outside at the park and birds so he likes that.

Later in the day Loki took his first bus ride ever. Got on the Number 5 from Le Pommier to Gare Conravin, with a coworker, Juliarty, and then transferred to another bus to Miremont. He did so well and I even have pictures to post soon. He does not like the bus much but was able to lay down just fine. And it is only about 3 CHF for him to ride around town for a couple of hours. the best thing about the bus ride was these three teenage boys who came up to us, and asked in English if they could pet him - one boy was from Kenya, one from Zimbabwe, and one from Australia. They also patted him a ton, talked about how excited they were that Obama won (I asked where they were from, they asked me, we talked politics, it is the way it goes here in this town and other towns so far....)

So, in addition to Canada, the USA and 37 states in the USA, Loki has now been to France and Switzerland. Next month for Christmas he gets to go to Germany! Fun!

Anyhow, that's all for now, I need to get to sleep, all this has made me tired. And I am still jetlagged a bit, not very clear thinking going on in my head some of the time!

Night all!

A few musings on life in Ferney-Voltaire and Geneva

2008-11-11T10:07:00.000-08:00

I am still tired from jetlag but enjoying France (where I am staying short term) and Geneva, Switzerland (a 15 minute bus ride from my apart'hotel) a lot.

Today, Nyaradzayi Gumbonzwanda, General Secretary of the World YWCA (where I work now), lead the ecumenical services for the World YWCA/YMCA Week of Prayer for peace, women's rights, human rights, and justice. I work with many devoutly Christian women from all over the world - Cameroon, Haiti, Zimbabwe, Chile, New Zealand, Ireland, Scotland, England, Kenya, France, Tanzania, Hungary, other Eastern European countries, etc.

My boss is going to take me on Friday to the airport where I am going to be able to pick up Loki Dog Friday morning, if British Air gets him here OK, take him back to my hotel, get him oriented a bit, and bring him into the office in the afternoon. My boss actually has encouraged me to bring him each day if I need to. I have a separate office that I share with another woman, so I can keep him in one area and not wandering around. I may try to walk over the border with him Saturday - he has a passport, too, and since I am living in France and working across the way, the walk is only 45-60 minutes to the office, it will do us both some good to walk. We shall see if the Swiss like this or not for the short term. I have already been stopped on the bus once at the border, on Sunday, when the bus stopped and the Swiss border patrol looked at all of our passports. that was fun.

Saturdays in Ferney-Voltaire are market days where farmers bring food to market, and also there is bread and cheese etc. Last Saturday I was sleeping due to crazy jetlag so I missed it, but Loki and I will go this weekend. People here are so dog friendly. He is allowed in the hotel too, there are at least a couple of other dogs here so far.

So far I have set up my bank account, have looked at one apartment (and applied for it), have set up 4 more apartment appointments this week, and have figured out how to use the bus system between countries. It is all easy. If there was room on the bus for Loki, I could take him aboard for a fare. He can also go on trains, and can get an annual pass if I wanted too - but I am not sure yet how often I plan to use a pass like this for him and it is a bit pricey.

Everything here is pricey, in fact. I paid 3 Euros for a toothbrush ($3.78 and 4.48 CHF, Swiss Francs). Apartments range from 1000 CHF ($845) to upwards of 1700 CHF which has to be my absolute limit as I also need to be able to afford food for Loki and I on my budget. France is more pricey right now, but the markets change daily so at some point I bet toothbrushes go down to 2 USD. Ha. Housing in Geneva is at a premium since there are so many international firms and non-governmental organizations here. In fact, it is doubly hard since I am only on a Work Permit B, so I have to live inside the Canton of Geneva. Limited but that is OK.

I do miss all my friends in Seattle and abroad, however I have to say that learning French is fun and forcing myself to interact with the locals as much as possible is fun. It is not scary at all to be here, but I do worry this week about getting Loki here and that he does OK. My apart'hotel is nice and big (same square footage about as my boat but on one level so he will have room!). I hope to find a place with about 40-70 square meters of space, which works out to 430-750 square feet, so a bit smaller or a bit bigger than my boat. Either way I am sure hoping to find one close to work so I so not have to walk far or take a bus for an hour across town to get to work. I am trying to avoid a car for the next 3 years. They do have Mobility cars here - like ZipCar in the USA and I may join this network for use of a car - way cheaper, but not sure I even want to do this as opposed to renting one once a month to drive to another place. We shall see. Flying is cheaper anyhow - Geneva to Paris is 45 CHF now, only $37, one way. Very cool, on EasyJet. I plan to go there for my birthday next year since I will be 40.

The food is good - I have been grocery shopping once, to get ravioli, cheese, fruits, kombucha juice (you can get this ins the USA too), and veggies. I can eat cheaply and well since I am cutting out most meat again - it is pricey here, but better certainly as there are no hormones allowed, or drugs, etc for meat producing animals. I don't know the exact regulations and I do want to look this up but I am just getting settled now, can do this during the holiday. Anyway. I have eaten at the ILO cafe (International Labour Organization) and at the UN cafe once and the food is great, even though it is provided by Eurest, the same caterer for Microsoft. It is the quality that is better here, and that you can have wine with lunch if you want. the chocolates are good too but I am trying to stay away from too much good stuff right away, else I may need to walk more than 2 hours a day total to/from work with Loki. :-)

I will update everyone when I get a place to live. for now, Voltaire's little village is fine. Here is a link: Ferney-Voltaire for your reading enjoyment.

Keep hoping to run into George Clooney at the Hotel du President Wilson, but he's just been to town in September for a fundraiser for President-Elect Obama. So next time he is here I will try to hang out with him. :-) Or rent a Mobility car and drive over to Lake Como to see him. I bet he'd like Loki.

Geography info and Factoids on Geneva from Wikipedia

2008-11-09T03:16:00.000-08:00

From the wikipedia:

Geneva is located at 46°12' North, 6°09' East, at the south-western end of Lake Geneva, where the lake flows back into the Rhône River. It is surrounded by two mountain chains, the Alps and the Jura.

The city of Geneva has an area of 15.86 km2 (6.1 sq mi), while the area of the Canton of Geneva is 282 km2 (108.9 sq mi), including the two small enclaves of Céligny in Vaud. The part of the lake that is attached to Geneva has an area of 38 km2 (14.7 sq mi) and is sometimes referred to as Petit lac (English: small lake). The Canton has only a 4.5 km (2.8 mi) long border with the rest of Switzerland; out of a total of 107.5 km (66.8 mi) of borders, the remaining 103 are shared with France, with the Départment de l'Ain to the North and the Département de la Haute-Savoie to the South.

The altitude of Geneva is 373.6 meters (1,225.7 ft), and corresponds to the altitude of the largest of the Pierres du Niton, two large rocks emerging from the lake which date from the last ice age. This rock was chosen by General Guillaume Henri Dufour as the reference point for all surveying in Switzerland.[6] The second main river of Geneva is the Arve River which flows into the Rhône River just west of the city center.

The climate of Geneva is temperate. Ice storms near the Lac Léman are quite normal in the winter. In the summer many people enjoy swimming in the lake, and frequently patronize public beaches such as Genève Plage and Bains des Pâquis.

First 24 hours in Geneva

2008-11-08T09:34:00.000-08:00

My first 24 hours in Geneva have gone smoothly with one complication: Loki is still in Seattle and my friends are caring for the fuzzy dog until next week when he has to fly by himself to Geneva.

My random observations:

There are cows in the field behind the Citadines Ferney Voltaire, my apart'hotel here ins France. Loki will like this tremendously when he arrives. He loves cows.

The Roquefort cheese here literally tastes the same as in Seattle. Must get out to a cheese farm soon in France.

The election of Obama has so far allowed me to meet some really awesome people (who like my Obama button!) and I have had one free lunch and a drink out of it so far- the wave of love for Americans and faith again in the people of the USA seems to have been restored. Everyone loves Barrack Obama.

The coffee here is better than a lot of places I have been. Had some good Chinese food last night, great beignets with pommes (apple filled fried donuts, can't beat that). And the espresso was fabulous but between that and the jetlag I was not able to sleep really well.

Today walked around Geneva with my boss and her daughter to run errands to Orange Cell phones and SwissCom. I will get a Swiss number soon. not sure of the plan yet. Also bought shampoo and a few groceries at Migros. You have to have your fruit weighed before you get to the cashier, here, unless it is sold by the piece. The very nice cashier weighed my oranges for me. I also have my unique Trader Joe's bag for groceries here, so glad that I brought it. Thank you Susan for that!

I will be in an apart'hotel until Dec. 7, by which time I hope to have found a place to live with Loki. They do not allow people to live on sailboats here. A sailboat for $18,000 USD would have been a cheap way to live compared to $1,500-$1,800 per month rent. Ah well, it is OK.

Today I bought a bus pass too. That was good news. It is a one month pass and cost 92 CHF (92 Swiss Francs is 78 US Dollars for a monthly buss pass from France to Geneva...it will be cheaper inside Geneva and around.)

Hans-Joerg (HaJo) is coming to visit from Cologne on Nov. 21-23. Angel from Stuttgart may come by end of the month or early December. I hope to take her to the Christmas market here in Geneva. And Nicki from Italy may come too (She is Dave's cousin). In January a neighbor of mine Kim is also coming for work so I hope to have a visitor at least every 4 weeks or so.

Work starts Monday, and I am very excited about it. :-) I hope to soon be blogging in French too. With translations in English. :-)

The only sad news today is that Darcy Burner conceded to Sheriff Hairspray. That is sad indeed.

OK off to work on more French and have some homemade dinner of ravioli, tomatoes, and juice.

Au revoir!

Democrats Abroad - Geneva Election Night Events

2008-11-02T00:43:00.000-07:00

Forwarded Email:

Democrats Abroad
ELECTION NIGHT ! COME BE A PART OF HISTORY!
On Tuesday, November 4th, Switzerland for Obama is throwing an Election Night in honor of DEMOCRATS ABROAD !

Switzerland for Obama is holding a political party for the Democratic party at the Hotel Le Richmond in Geneva, starting at 10 pm ….and going all night !

What a campaign ! What a year ! What a candidate! What an election !

The 2008 Presidential election has generated unprecedented passion and excitement for all of us. So in order to bring the campaign to a ringing close, Switzerland for Obama will honor Democrats Abroad, and the titan work of all Democrats and Democratic volunteers who have contributed so much during this long and exhilarating campaign.

Come watch history in the making on Tuesday November 4th at the Le Richemond Hotel in Geneva! All Obama supporters and Democratic supporters welcome, Americans and non-Americans! Starting at 10 PM and going all night. We'll have live CNN coverage on several screens, music, and more!

Light food and coffee served all night and breakfast buffet in the morning from 7-9 on Nov 5th. Cash bar for drinks open all night.

Entrance fee is CHF 50 but there is a discount if you buy your ticket early!! Discounted tickets available between 27 and 31 October for CHF 35! Stop by the Hotel Le Richemond and buy your ticket from Monday afternoon onwards from the hotel's concierge. (CASH ONLY)

Net proceeds from ticket sales will go to Landstuhl Hospital's Wounded Warrior Center.

ELECTION NIGHT *Live non-stop CNN coverage
*Best of the web Political Humor: Jon Stewart, Steven Colbert, SNL, You Tube, political ads…
*Interactive Web Site links
*Live Blogging
*Streaming to other Democrat Election Night Parties around the world
*Election Artwork Exhibition
*Campaign round up with focus on need to win states, and important Senate and Congressional races
*Election Wrap up and Updates beginning at Midnight, and continuing every half hour until the polls close in Alaska at 6 am
*Political Breakfast to analyze the results
*Net Proceeds to Landstuhl Hospital's Wounded Warrior Center

WHERE
Hotel Le Richemond
Salle Paul Klee
Entrance : 4 rue Plantamour, 1201 Genève

WHEN
Tuesday, November 4th starting at 10 pm …
And going all night until Wednesday, November 5th , 9 am.

WHAT
Entrance Fee: 50 CHF
(Tickets for sale at Le Richemond Hotel concierge, CASH only.)
Food, snacks & coffee served all night are included in the price
Cash bar for drinks.
Breakfast served from 7 -9 am on November 5th

This email is being sent to you from the Switzerland list(s) on behalf of:
Democrats Abroad
430 S. Capitol Street, SE
Washington, DC 20003

LIVE, NOW at Seattle's Univ. of Washington Library

2008-09-09T19:16:00.000-07:00

Unembedded – Four Independent Photojournalists on the War in Iraq.

DETAILS:

What is this?
Unembedded is a national touring exhibit of 60 images that tell the story of the war’s impact on the lives of the Iraqi people “on the ground” where the war is being waged. It is a powerful expression of the effects of war that go largely ignored by the mainstream media. You can view the exhibit online at: http://www.unembedded.net.

We need to raise $1000 more dollars to offset the loan we took out to bring this show to the University of Washington. To date we have pledges and funds totaling about $8,700 and several people and groups have already donated to the effort. I have put in about 50 hours of time on this project as a volunteer since July, and have donated food and $100 - and I am unemployed, and a student!

What is our goal?
Our goal is to bring attention to the effects and implications of the war before the election this fall. We would like to ensure the exhibit is accessible to both students and the community-at-large.

I am writing on behalf Health Alliance International and a group of Seattle activist organizations and individuals to invite your participation and support in bringing Unembedded – Four Independent Photojournalists on the War in Iraq, to Seattle's University of Washington Odegaard Library for exhibit from September 20th to December 10th 2008.

The goal of the exhibit is to help raise public awareness about the impact of US policy in Iraq through eyewitness accounts of events on the ground. Unembedded is a useful departure point for educators in journalism, photography, art, social and political sciences. The photographers encourage exhibit hosts to schedule publicly accessible programs related to the war in Iraq while the exhibit is in place and to promote broad public viewing and discussion of the work.

The exhibit will be displayed during fall quarter in the Odegaard Undergraduate Library at the University of Washington and will include interpretative panels about the war’s effect on human health and the environment in Iraq, as well as its impact on returning American veterans, their families, and communities. Thousands of students will see the exhibit every day.

This show is important to me, to America, to our youth, to the Seattle Anti-War community, and to YOU, because it shows the real effects of Bush's War on the Iraqi people. If you are anti-war, I'd like to ask you for $25 (matchable by companies like Microsoft and Boeing, since Health Alliance International is a 501-3c non-profit!).

RECEPTION WITH THORNE ANDERSON, KAEL ALFORD: October 12
Two of the photographers, Thorne Anderson and Kael Alford will speak at a major event at the University of Washington Kane Hall on October 12th at 5 pm.

I would like to invite each reader to a special photographer’s viewing and reception at 4 pm on October 12th, and to ask for a contribution to help defray the costs of the exhibition. All organizations or individuals that make a donation of at least $100 will be listed as co-sponsors of the exhibit, unless you request that your name or organization should not be acknowledged in this manner.

To donate, you can make a tax-deductible donation online:

http://depts.washington.edu/haiuw/hai/help/category/donate/make_a_contribution/
This page leads you to the Click and Pledge site:

https://128bit.clickandpledge.com/Default.asp?ID=11383

Please specify “Unembedded” in the comments field.

CONTACTS:
Wendy Johnson MD, MPH
Health Alliance International
email: wjohns AT u.washington.edu (replace AT with @ sign please)

Amy Hagopian, PhD
University of Washington
Hagopian AT u.washington.edu (replace AT with @ sign please)

Mike Dedrick
Veterans for Peace
mikededrick AT comcast.net (replace AT with @ sign please)

EXHIBIT SPECS AND INFO:
The goal of the exhibit is to enhance public awareness of the effects of U.S. policy in Iraq through eyewitness accounts from the perspective of journalists who live, work, and travel independently, outside the U.S. military embedding program. Unembedded can be a useful departure point for educators in journalism, photography, art, social and political sciences. We encourage exhibit hosts to schedule publicly accessible programs related to the war in Iraq while the exhibit is in place and to promote broad public viewing and discussion of the work.

There are:

52 photographs 20 x 24 inches
8 photographs 30 x 40 inches
2 introductory panels 20 x 24 inches

A soundtrack excerpted from the documentary film “The Blood of My Brother” by independent filmmaker Andrew Berends is provided with the exhibition on a CD. This ambient soundtrack will be played during openings or throughout the run of the exhibition at the discretion of the venue. The soundtrack consists of short monologue clips in English and Arabic, interspersed with ambient sounds.

To donate, you can make a tax-deductible donation online:

http://depts.washington.edu/haiuw/hai/help/category/donate/make_a_contribution/
This page leads you to the Click and Pledge site:

https://128bit.clickandpledge.com/Default.asp?ID=11383

Please specify “Unembedded” in the comments field.

Thank you for reading about this and helping us raise the last $1000 for the exhibit!

Palin: Sanctioning Wolf Kills

2008-09-02T22:27:00.000-07:00

Defenders of Wildlife and I feel the same way about shooting wolves from helicopters: It's not sound wildlife management and it's horrible. Here's what they said last year:

For Immediate Release
March 27, 2007
Contact(s)
Tom Banks, (907) 276-9453 ext 1
Defenders of Wildlife Asks Judge to Shut Down Palin's Wolf Bounty Program

Bounty Law Repealed in 1984 – Alaska Does Not Have Regulatory Authority to Impose New Incentives

Anchorage, AK -- Today Defenders of Wildlife, the Alaska Wildlife Alliance and the Alaska Chapter of the Sierra Club asked the Alaska Superior Court to shut down Governor Palin's $150-per-wolf bounty program citing the fact that Alaska's bounty laws were repealed in 1984 and the State has no current legal authority to implement the bounties.

"The Governor is overstepping her legal authority by offering cash payments for each wolf killed by aerial gunners," stated Tom Banks, Defenders of Wildlife's Alaska Associate. "That's a bounty by anyone's standards regardless of what they call it."

Hoping to boost the number of wolves killed this year by permitees, Palin announced the state would pay $150 for each kill. According to an Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) news release, the bounty was instituted to "motivate permittees to redouble their efforts and to help offset the high cost of aviation fuel, ADF&G will offer cash payments to those who return biological specimens to the department." The state's press release, issued last Wednesday, indicates that "Permittees will be paid $150 when they bring in the left forelegs of wolves taken from any of several designated control areas."

"Governor Palin needs to take a close look at wildlife management practice in her state and restore the use of sound science," concludes Banks. "She said would heed the will of the public, but it's increasingly clear she's only listening to that segment that is willing to sacrifice Alaska's natural heritage for the benefit of a few."

The judge is expected to make a decision fairly quickly.

Defenders and the co-plaintiffs expressed an additional concern that the bounty offered by the State will encourage the illegal killing of wolves outside the control area.

Defenders of Wildlife is represented by Mike Frank of Trustees for Alaska, a public interest law firm, and Valerie Brown, an Anchorage attorney in private practice.

###

Defenders of Wildlife is recognized as one of the nation's most progressive advocates for wildlife and its habitat. With more than 500,000 members and supporters, Defenders of Wildlife is an effective leader on endangered species issues. For more information visit www.defenders.org

Here is the latest information (I have edited it down a bit for copyright care) on this issue from SLATE.com on 9/2/2008:

Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska and John McCain's vice presidential pick, is an enthusiastic hunter who has proposed legislation and cash incentives to encourage aerial wolf gunning, the controversial practice of shooting wolves from an aircraft. Do people in Alaska really shoot wolves from planes?

Yes, but only with the government's permission. Aerial shooting yields better results than traditional hunting, since it allows the hunter to cover a lot of ground quickly and track target animals from a clear vantage point. Historically, hunters also used planes to drive animals—polar bears in Alaska and elk in Montana, among others—toward gunmen waiting on the ground. But many hunters found the practice unsportsmanlike, since it violates the "fair chase" ethic, and animal rights activists call it inhumane, since airborne gunmen rarely get a clean (i.e., relatively painless) kill. In response to concerns like these, Congress passed the Federal Airborne Hunting Act of 1972, which made it illegal for hunters to shoot animals from a plane or helicopter.

The federal legislation does have a loophole for predator control, permitting state employees or licensed individuals to shoot from an aircraft for the sake of protecting "land, water, wildlife, livestock, domesticated animals, human life, or crops." (This doesn't just apply to wolves; coyotes and foxes are sometimes gunned down from aircraft, especially in Western states.) Since 2003, Alaska has issued aerial wolf-hunting permits in select areas where moose and caribou populations are particularly endangered. The idea is that by killing the predators, the airborne gunmen can ramp up the number of moose and caribou that human hunters can take home for supper.

An aerial wolf-gunning team typically consists of two people—one to fly the plane, and one to shoot the animals. Former crop sprayers tend to make good pilots because they are used to flying close to the ground. Airborne hunters tend to fly single-engine Super Cub planes at very low speeds and at altitudes of less than 100 feet—sometimes swooping down to 10 to 15 feet above the ground. But flying so slow and low can be dangerous, and there have been a number of reported deaths in recent years as a result. Helicopters have the benefit of being able to hover very close to the ground, but they're prohibitively expensive for private pilots. (A small helicopter might cost as much as four times more than a Super Cub.) This past spring, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game lent its helicopters and employees to the predator-control effort.

There are two methods for making a kill during an aerial hunting expedition: Either you shoot the wolf while airborne or you track the animal from above, then land and shoot it from the ground. Legal limits on "land and shoot" hunting have been far less stringent: For many years after shooting from the air was outlawed, anyone with a hunting or trapping license could practice "land and shoot," provided he or she walked a certain distance from his plane before opening fire. Current rules in Alaska require a delay between landing an aircraft and killing an animal: In most cases, hunters must wait until 3 the following morning before they can get started.

Back in the 1950s, Alaska paid government employees and bounty hunters to take out thousands of wolves, but today's aerial wolf killers are unpaid. (They can make some money by selling the wolf pelts.) Palin tried last year to have the state pay $150 for every wolf killed, but the state superior court shot that down as an illegal use of bounty payments, which were outlawed in that state in 1984.

Text of Barack Obama's acceptance speech

2008-08-28T20:06:00.000-07:00

Barack Obama: To Chairman Dean and my great friend Dick Durbin; and to all my fellow citizens of this great nation.

With profound gratitude and great humility, I accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States.

Let me express my thanks to the historic slate of candidates who accompanied me on this journey, and especially the one who traveled the farthest -- a champion for working Americans and an inspiration to my daughters and to yours -- Hillary Rodham Clinton. To President Clinton, who last night made the case for change as only he can make it; to Ted Kennedy, who embodies the spirit of service; and to the next vice president of the United States, Joe Biden, I thank you. I am grateful to finish this journey with one of the finest statesmen of our time, a man at ease with everyone from world leaders to the conductors on the Amtrak train he still takes home every night.

To the love of my life, our next first lady, Michelle Obama, and to Sasha and Malia -- I love you so much, and I'm so proud of all of you.

Four years ago, I stood before you and told you my story -- of the brief union between a young man from Kenya and a young woman from Kansas who weren't well-off or well-known, but shared a belief that in America, their son could achieve whatever he put his mind to.

It is that promise that has always set this country apart -- that through hard work and sacrifice, each of us can pursue our individual dreams but still come together as one American family, to ensure that the next generation can pursue their dreams as well.

That's why I stand here tonight. Because for 232 years, at each moment when that promise was in jeopardy, ordinary men and women -- students and soldiers, farmers and teachers, nurses and janitors -- found the courage to keep it alive.

We meet at one of those defining moments -- a moment when our nation is at war, our economy is in turmoil, and the American promise has been threatened once more.

Tonight, more Americans are out of work and more are working harder for less. More of you have lost your homes and even more are watching your home values plummet. More of you have cars you can't afford to drive, credit card bills you can't afford to pay, and tuition that's beyond your reach.

These challenges are not all of government's making. But the failure to respond is a direct result of a broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush.

America, we are better than these last eight years. We are a better country than this.

This country is more decent than one where a woman in Ohio, on the brink of retirement, finds herself one illness away from disaster after a lifetime of hard work.

This country is more generous than one where a man in Indiana has to pack up the equipment he's worked on for 20 years and watch it shipped off to China, and then chokes up as he explains how he felt like a failure when he went home to tell his family the news.

We are more compassionate than a government that lets veterans sleep on our streets and families slide into poverty; that sits on its hands while a major American city drowns before our eyes.

Tonight, I say to the American people, to Democrats and Republicans and independents across this great land -- enough! This moment -- this election -- is our chance to keep, in the 21st century, the American promise alive. Because next week, in Minnesota, the same party that brought you two terms of George Bush and Dick Cheney will ask this country for a third. And we are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look like the last eight. On November 4, we must stand up and say: "Eight is enough."

Now let there be no doubt. The Republican nominee, John McCain, has worn the uniform of our country with bravery and distinction, and for that we owe him our gratitude and respect. And next week, we'll also hear about those occasions when he's broken with his party as evidence that he can deliver the change that we need.

But the record's clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time. Sen. McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than 90 percent of the time? I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to take a 10 percent chance on change.

The truth is, on issue after issue that would make a difference in your lives -- on health care and education and the economy -- Sen. McCain has been anything but independent. He said that our economy has made "great progress" under this president. He said that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. And when one of his chief advisers -- the man who wrote his economic plan -- was talking about the anxiety Americans are feeling, he said that we were just suffering from a "mental recession," and that we've become, and I quote, "a nation of whiners."

A nation of whiners? Tell that to the proud autoworkers at a Michigan plant who, after they found out it was closing, kept showing up every day and working as hard as ever, because they knew there were people who counted on the brakes that they made. Tell that to the military families who shoulder their burdens silently as they watch their loved ones leave for their third or fourth or fifth tour of duty. These are not whiners. They work hard and give back and keep going without complaint. These are the Americans that I know.

Now, I don't believe that Sen. McCain doesn't care what's going on in the lives of Americans. I just think he doesn't know. Why else would he define middle-class as someone making under $5 million a year? How else could he propose hundreds of billions in tax breaks for big corporations and oil companies but not one penny of tax relief to more than 100 million Americans? How else could he offer a health care plan that would actually tax people's benefits, or an education plan that would do nothing to help families pay for college, or a plan that would privatize Social Security and gamble your retirement?

It's not because John McCain doesn't care. It's because John McCain doesn't get it.

For over two decades, he's subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy -- give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is -- you're on your own. Out of work? Tough luck. No health care? The market will fix it. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps -- even if you don't have boots. You're on your own.

Well it's time for them to own their failure. It's time for us to change America.

You see, we Democrats have a very different measure of what constitutes progress in this country.

We measure progress by how many people can find a job that pays the mortgage; whether you can put a little extra money away at the end of each month so you can someday watch your child receive her college diploma. We measure progress in the 23 million new jobs that were created when Bill Clinton was president -- when the average American family saw its income go up $7,500 instead of down $2,000 like it has under George Bush.

We measure the strength of our economy not by the number of billionaires we have or the profits of the Fortune 500, but by whether someone with a good idea can take a risk and start a new business, or whether the waitress who lives on tips can take a day off to look after a sick kid without losing her job -- an economy that honors the dignity of work.

The fundamentals we use to measure economic strength are whether we are living up to that fundamental promise that has made this country great -- a promise that is the only reason I am standing here tonight.

Because in the faces of those young veterans who come back from Iraq and Afghanistan, I see my grandfather, who signed up after Pearl Harbor, marched in Patton's Army, and was rewarded by a grateful nation with the chance to go to college on the GI Bill.

In the face of that young student who sleeps just three hours before working the night shift, I think about my mom, who raised my sister and me on her own while she worked and earned her degree; who once turned to food stamps but was still able to send us to the best schools in the country with the help of student loans and scholarships.

When I listen to another worker tell me that his factory has shut down, I remember all those men and women on the South Side of Chicago who I stood by and fought for two decades ago after the local steel plant closed.

And when I hear a woman talk about the difficulties of starting her own business, I think about my grandmother, who worked her way up from the secretarial pool to middle-management, despite years of being passed over for promotions because she was a woman. She's the one who taught me about hard work. She's the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could have a better life. She poured everything she had into me. And although she can no longer travel, I know that she's watching tonight, and that tonight is her night as well.

I don't know what kind of lives John McCain thinks that celebrities lead, but this has been mine. These are my heroes. Theirs are the stories that shaped me. And it is on their behalf that I intend to win this election and keep our promise alive as president of the United States.

What is that promise?

It's a promise that says each of us has the freedom to make of our own lives what we will, but that we also have the obligation to treat each other with dignity and respect.

It's a promise that says the market should reward drive and innovation and generate growth, but that businesses should live up to their responsibilities to create American jobs, look out for American workers, and play by the rules of the road.

Ours is a promise that says government cannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves -- protect us from harm and provide every child a decent education; keep our water clean and our toys safe; invest in new schools and new roads and new science and technology.

Our government should work for us, not against us. It should help us, not hurt us. It should ensure opportunity not just for those with the most money and influence, but for every American who's willing to work.

That's the promise of America -- the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation; the fundamental belief that I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's keeper.

That's the promise we need to keep. That's the change we need right now. So let me spell out exactly what that change would mean if I am president.

Change means a tax code that doesn't reward the lobbyists who wrote it, but the American workers and small businesses who deserve it.

Unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America.

I will eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and the start-ups that will create the high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow.

I will cut taxes -- cut taxes -- for 95 percent of all working families. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle-class.

And for the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, I will set a clear goal as president: in 10 years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East.

Washington's been talking about our oil addiction for the last 30 years, and John McCain has been there for 26 of them. In that time, he's said no to higher fuel-efficiency standards for cars, no to investments in renewable energy, no to renewable fuels. And today, we import triple the amount of oil as the day that Sen. McCain took office.

Now is the time to end this addiction, and to understand that drilling is a stop-gap measure, not a long-term solution. Not even close.

As president, I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power. I'll help our auto companies re-tool, so that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built right here in America. I'll make it easier for the American people to afford these new cars. And I'll invest $150 billion over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy -- wind power and solar power and the next generation of biofuels; an investment that will lead to new industries and 5 million new jobs that pay well and can't ever be outsourced.

America, now is not the time for small plans.

Now is the time to finally meet our moral obligation to provide every child a world-class education, because it will take nothing less to compete in the global economy. Michelle and I are only here tonight because we were given a chance at an education. And I will not settle for an America where some kids don't have that chance. I'll invest in early childhood education. I'll recruit an army of new teachers, and pay them higher salaries and give them more support. And in exchange, I'll ask for higher standards and more accountability. And we will keep our promise to every young American -- if you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford a college education.

Now is the time to finally keep the promise of affordable, accessible health care for every single American. If you have health care, my plan will lower your premiums. If you don't, you'll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves. And as someone who watched my mother argue with insurance companies while she lay in bed dying of cancer, I will make certain those companies stop discriminating against those who are sick and need care the most.

Now is the time to help families with paid sick days and better family leave, because nobody in America should have to choose between keeping their jobs and caring for a sick child or ailing parent.

Now is the time to change our bankruptcy laws, so that your pensions are protected ahead of CEO bonuses; and the time to protect Social Security for future generations.

And now is the time to keep the promise of equal pay for an equal day's work, because I want my daughters to have exactly the same opportunities as your sons.

Now, many of these plans will cost money, which is why I've laid out how I'll pay for every dime -- by closing corporate loopholes and tax havens that don't help America grow. But I will also go through the federal budget, line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better and cost less -- because we cannot meet 21st century challenges with a 20th century bureaucracy.

And Democrats, we must also admit that fulfilling America's promise will require more than just money. It will require a renewed sense of responsibility from each of us to recover what John F. Kennedy called our "intellectual and moral strength." Yes, government must lead on energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes and businesses more efficient. Yes, we must provide more ladders to success for young men who fall into lives of crime and despair. But we must also admit that programs alone can't replace parents; that government can't turn off the television and make a child do her homework; that fathers must take more responsibility for providing the love and guidance their children need.

Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility -- that's the essence of America's promise.

And just as we keep our keep our promise to the next generation here at home, so must we keep America's promise abroad. If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament, and judgment, to serve as the next commander in chief, that's a debate I'm ready to have.

For while Sen. McCain was turning his sights to Iraq just days after 9/11, I stood up and opposed this war, knowing that it would distract us from the real threats we face. When John McCain said we could just "muddle through" in Afghanistan, I argued for more resources and more troops to finish the fight against the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11, and made clear that we must take out Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants if we have them in our sights. John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell -- but he won't even go to the cave where he lives.

And today, as my call for a time frame to remove our troops from Iraq has been echoed by the Iraqi government and even the Bush administration, even after we learned that Iraq has a $79 billion surplus while we're wallowing in deficits, John McCain stands alone in his stubborn refusal to end a misguided war.

That's not the judgment we need. That won't keep America safe. We need a president who can face the threats of the future, not keep grasping at the ideas of the past.

You don't defeat a terrorist network that operates in 80 countries by occupying Iraq. You don't protect Israel and deter Iran just by talking tough in Washington. You can't truly stand up for Georgia when you've strained our oldest alliances. If John McCain wants to follow George Bush with more tough talk and bad strategy, that is his choice -- but it is not the change we need.

We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don't tell me that Democrats won't defend this country. Don't tell me that Democrats won't keep us safe. The Bush-McCain foreign policy has squandered the legacy that generations of Americans -- Democrats and Republicans -- have built, and we are here to restore that legacy.

As commander in chief, I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm's way with a clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home.

I will end this war in Iraq responsibly, and finish the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. I will rebuild our military to meet future conflicts. But I will also renew the tough, direct diplomacy that can prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and curb Russian aggression. I will build new partnerships to defeat the threats of the 21st century: terrorism and nuclear proliferation; poverty and genocide; climate change and disease. And I will restore our moral standing, so that America is once again that last, best hope for all who are called to the cause of freedom, who long for lives of peace, and who yearn for a better future.

These are the policies I will pursue. And in the weeks ahead, I look forward to debating them with John McCain.

But what I will not do is suggest that the senator takes his positions for political purposes. Because one of the things that we have to change in our politics is the idea that people cannot disagree without challenging each other's character and patriotism.

The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no party. I love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America -- they have served the United States of America.

So I've got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first.

America, our work will not be easy. The challenges we face require tough choices, and Democrats as well as Republicans will need to cast off the worn-out ideas and politics of the past. For part of what has been lost these past eight years can't just be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits. What has also been lost is our sense of common purpose -- our sense of higher purpose. And that's what we have to restore.

We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country. The reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than for those plagued by gang-violence in Cleveland, but don't tell me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals. I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination. Passions fly on immigration, but I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers. This, too, is part of America's promise -- the promise of a democracy where we can find the strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort.

I know there are those who dismiss such beliefs as happy talk. They claim that our insistence on something larger, something firmer and more honest in our public life is just a Trojan Horse for higher taxes and the abandonment of traditional values. And that's to be expected. Because if you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters. If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.

You make a big election about small things.

And you know what -- it's worked before. Because it feeds into the cynicism we all have about government. When Washington doesn't work, all its promises seem empty. If your hopes have been dashed again and again, then it's best to stop hoping, and settle for what you already know.

I get it. I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for this office. I don't fit the typical pedigree, and I haven't spent my career in the halls of Washington.

But I stand before you tonight because all across America something is stirring. What the naysayers don't understand is that this election has never been about me. It's been about you.

For 18 long months, you have stood up, one by one, and said enough to the politics of the past. You understand that in this election, the greatest risk we can take is to try the same old politics with the same old players and expect a different result. You have shown what history teaches us -- that at defining moments like this one, the change we need doesn't come from Washington. Change comes to Washington. Change happens because the American people demand it -- because they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership, a new politics for a new time.

America, this is one of those moments.

I believe that as hard as it will be, the change we need is coming. Because I've seen it. Because I've lived it. I've seen it in Illinois, when we provided health care to more children and moved more families from welfare to work. I've seen it in Washington, when we worked across party lines to open up government and hold lobbyists more accountable, to give better care for our veterans and keep nuclear weapons out of terrorist hands.

And I've seen it in this campaign. In the young people who voted for the first time, and in those who got involved again after a very long time. In the Republicans who never thought they'd pick up a Democratic ballot, but did. I've seen it in the workers who would rather cut their hours back a day than see their friends lose their jobs, in the soldiers who re-enlist after losing a limb, in the good neighbors who take a stranger in when a hurricane strikes and the floodwaters rise.

This country of ours has more wealth than any nation, but that's not what makes us rich. We have the most powerful military on Earth, but that's not what makes us strong. Our universities and our culture are the envy of the world, but that's not what keeps the world coming to our shores.

Instead, it is that American spirit -- that American promise -- that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that binds us together in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eye not on what is seen, but what is unseen, that better place around the bend.

That promise is our greatest inheritance. It's a promise I make to my daughters when I tuck them in at night, and a promise that you make to yours -- a promise that has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west; a promise that led workers to picket lines, and women to reach for the ballot.

And it is that promise that 45 years ago today, brought Americans from every corner of this land to stand together on a Mall in Washington, before Lincoln's Memorial, and hear a young preacher from Georgia speak of his dream.

The men and women who gathered there could've heard many things. They could've heard words of anger and discord. They could've been told to succumb to the fear and frustration of so many dreams deferred.

But what the people heard instead -- people of every creed and color, from every walk of life -- is that in America, our destiny is inextricably linked. That together, our dreams can be one.

"We cannot walk alone," the preacher cried. "And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back."

America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to be done. Not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for. Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save. Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend. America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone. At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise -- that American promise -- and in the words of Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.

Thank you, God Bless you, and God Bless the United States of America.

Wordle for Unembedded

2008-08-28T11:02:00.000-07:00

I created the Wordle below by using text from the Unembedded blog post below. You can make one too - use the title link to create your own and save them!

http://wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/147270/Unembedded

$6000 to go! You can help!

2008-07-31T22:52:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago, some friends helped me to raise $200. Last night I helped to facilitate a fund raising event. My friend, Dr. Wendy and I helped to raise $700 at a house party. Over the past month, we have worked with Peace groups in Seattle, the Department of Communications, Real Change, and other organizations to try to reach our goal of $10,000. We have raised $4,000 to date for our cause.... the money we raised was not for Obama, nor for any Congressional candidates. I donated $100 already, plus some in kind donations of time and energy, and I am unemployed right now, a mere student going to school this fall. :-)

We are bringing an exhibit of 60 photographs to the University of Washington Odegaard Undergraduate Library in Seattle. These 60 photos are called UNEMBEDDED. WAR IS VIOLENT. These images will stir you. Some of these images are graphic, but they are necessary.

The goal of the exhibit is to help raise public awareness about the impact of US policy in Iraq through eyewitness accounts of events on the ground. Unembedded is a useful departure point for educators in journalism, photography, art, social and political sciences. The photographers encourage exhibit hosts to schedule publicly accessible programs related to the war in Iraq while the exhibit is in place and to promote broad public viewing and discussion of the work.

RECEPTION WITH THORNE ANDERSON AND KAEL ALFORD
Two of the photographers, Thorne Anderson and Kael Alford will speak at a major event at the University of Washington Kane Hall on October 12th at 5 pm. The exhibit will be displayed from mid-September to December 5th.

I would like to invite each person who wants change in America, each anti-war activist, each person who's lost a friend or family member in this war, each person who cares about the direction our foreign policy is taking...to the photographer’s reception at 4 pm on October 12th, and to ask for a contribution to help defray the costs of the exhibition. All organizations or individuals that make a donation of at least $100 will be listed as co-sponsors of the exhibit, unless you request that your name or organization should not be acknowledged in this manner. In order to pay for the show, transportation, security and display of the exhibit and the opening reception, we will need to raise $10,000.

DETAILS:

Exhibit runs September 20th - December 5th, 2008

*Special Event: UNEMBEDDED: Four Independent Photojournalists on the War in Iraq

October 12th, 2008
Artist Lecture and Reception
Unembedded Photographer Thorne Anderson:
"Through the Looking Glass: Seeing Iraq from the Other Side"
Book signing to follow
4:00 - 5:00pm Viewing & Reception at Odegaard Undergraduate Library
5:00 - 6:30pm Artist Lecture at Kane Hall

* View images and listen to the background stories about the powerful and visually stunning photographs captured by four independent journalists working outside the U.S. military embedding program in Iraq since 2003. Photographer Thorne Anderson will share his experiences witnessing and documenting daily events, the brutalities of this ongoing, deadly war juxtaposed against moments of peaceful reprieve. The perspectives of these independent journalists is also captured in the book, Unembedded: Four Independent Photojournalists on the War in Iraq, which aims to enhance public awareness of the effects of U.S. policy on Iraqis themselves. As they attest in their artist’s statement about the exhibit, "This is Iraq as we witnessed it, living and moving among its cities and citizens for months on end."
*Time: September 20th - December 5th, 2008
*Location: University of Washington Odegaard Undergraduate Library

To donate, you can make a tax-deductible donation online:

http://depts.washington.edu/haiuw/hai/help/category/donate/make_a_contribution/
This page leads you to the Click and Pledge site:

https://128bit.clickandpledge.com/Default.asp?ID=11383

Please specify “Unembedded” in the comments field.

We greatly appreciate your consideration of a contribution to support this extraordinary exhibit and hope you will be able to attend the reception.

2008-07-27T22:47:00.000-07:00

Obama's Royal Ride in Amman, Jordan.

Direct link to flash video:
Obama and Abdullah

Yes it will be nice to have a statesmen in office in less than 100 days, and with Obama's tour of Europe, Jordan, Israel, and Iraq over, I think our outlook is getting brighter each day!!!

I don’t care whether you like Obama or not. There is nothing negative about having the King of a foreign nation treating our potential president with such enthusiastic charm and respect. The key to diplomacy is having someone respect you and your positions.

World leaders want a US President with whom they can speak and negotiate. They expect an American president to be educated, a good listener, and intelligent.

That is what Obama displays and has impressed upon the leaders he's met: that he can work with them on the world's serious challenges.

WHY did King Abdullah of Jrdan have to give Obama a ride to the airport you may ask?
Condi said that Obama needed to find his own way to the airport and that the Embassy could not help him. Or McCain, but the timing of this memo release was RIGHT before Obama's trip:

NEWSWEEK says "As Democrat Barack Obama began an overseas tour, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told employees at U.S. embassies to provide only minimal help to visiting presidential candidates.

The orders went to all overseas posts and told government employees not to do anything that might show favoritism or amount to improper campaign activity. The department said the State Department issued similar orders ahead of presumed Republican nominee John McCain's overseas tours to Iraq, Mexico and elsewhere this year, but limited the communication to embassies in countries the Republican planned to visit.

Officials said the orders had been in the works for months and it was just coincidence that they were issued Thursday, the day the presumptive Democratic candidate left Washington for a much-watched trip to Afghanistan, Iraq, the Middle East and Europe."

GOOOO OBAMA!!!
http://www.barackobama.com

Garbage Land - Book Review

2008-07-20T19:43:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth Royte's

Garbage Land, On The Secret Trail of Trash
Less Trashy Holidays - a Perspective!
I originally write this blog in December right before the holiday, but have reworked it a bit to post here on this site.

If one thing has come out of this book for me, it is that it has educated me enormously and reinforced many of the habits I've had for years.

My recycling habits and trash awareness were formed early in my childhood and strengthened since attending Humboldt State University in Arcata, CA (mentioned in the book for its wetlands constructed for waste/sewage treatment: untreated waste goes thru a series of ponds and comes out at the end of the series as clean water (more about the Arcata Wetlands here: http://www.humboldt.edu/~ere_dept/marsh/flow1.html).

Garbage Land is written in four parts:

To The Dump, Avoiding the Dump, Flushing it Away, and Piling On.

Ms. Royte covers topics such as where trash from your can sitting on the curb ends up; to various aspects of recycling glass, plastics, paper, and household toxic wastes from batteries to computers; to the topic of how garbage processing affects our water, soil, and air quality.

The chapters that echo the theme of not buying what we don't need resonated with me as much as the sections on plastics (I'll get to that in a second). The Buy Nothing message related to Black Friday and the message of buying items in "no packaging" or "little/recycled packaging" brings me back to what I bought this past year and how I paid more attention to where I bought gifts and how they were packaged. This past year it was my goal to buy as much "American Made" as possible. About 75% of the gifts met this requirement. I found gifts like handmade earrings of local artists from De Leon Springs, Florida (the glass beads are from recycled glass from consumers in Florida); handmade soaps from the Boll Weevil Soap company in Enterprise, Alabama; shells I found on the beach that I made into ornaments and jewelry; and American made wood photo frames into which went my own family photos.

Royte's book continuously reinforces the idea that buying stuff creates waste: duh... it generally takes more materials to make and package items than the items themselves. Sorry, that is very plain, so I will quote her:

""Two hundred thirty-two million tons of municipal waste a year, the EPA's national figure for 2003 isn't a small pile. But the more important point is that [that] two percent is not unrelated to the 98 percent, which has everything to do with the back end of our upwardly mobile lifestyles. Remember William McDonough: "What most people see in their garbage cans is just the tip of the material iceberg: the product itself contains on average only 5 percent of the raw materials involved in the process of making and delivering it." And remember Paul Hawken: for every 100 pounds of product that's made, 3,200 pounds of waste are generated.""

The waste I produced by the stuff I bought for the past holiday season includes, in fine detail:

1. gasoline, oil, and carbon dioxide and assorted other wastes while driving during these excursions, to see family, to buy a few things, etc.
2. paper: recycled packaging made from little or no post-consumer recycled papers, so that makes me think that I need to pay more attention to items made with post-consumer recycled materials...
3. plastic: bags I reuse for dog waste but then they go into the trash and to the landfill...plastic tape to wrap gifts in, this gets thrown out...
4. more paper: holiday wrapping paper will mostly get reused in my household, but can only be reused twice usually before it gets too old, then it gets recycled
5. The 6 Foot Noble Fir Christmas tree from Home Depot....ok this is a bit difficult to admit as for the past 13 years I have not had a formerly-live-farmed-tree. This will get composted per the yardwaste in my neighborhood here in NJ, I think, but I plan to find out more and take it (again using gasoline, etc) to a composting tree shredder if not.
6. more plastic: the tree stand. I wanted to metal one but could not justify the $50 it cost compared to the $17 plastic one. More on recycling and off-gassing of plastics....below....
7. water: water for the tree, water for production of goods I bought, water for growing the tree....I am sure there is more water involved here - in the glass making and cleaning process perhaps for the earrings I bought...Garbage Land covers a lot related to water, water quality, and how the closed water system we live in is being 'trashed' by our wastes.
8. electricity for the holiday lights and the lights themselves, again made of plastics and glass and wiring...and chucking them if you have replaced 10-15 of the bulbs and cannot get them to work...
9. All the stuff (durable goods) that gets bought that only gets used once a year (but this stuff gets produced and makes trash...) icicle tinsel - don't have any but I wonder how much that stuff gets used and what it takes to make it?
10. Food waste: for the large holiday meal we hosted, there is waster and some can be composted, but food waste is a large part of the overall garbage load for a family of four. Royte's book covers the food waste angle and related composting really well, I learned a lot in this section.

I am sure I am missing something in this list.

Plastics: Garbage Land covers in great detail all of the interesting facts about the production, use, byproducts of, pollution from, off-gassing of, recycling (or not, depending on where one lives and the type of plastic), toxins in, and history of plastics.

Royte discusses cancers attributed to the effects on the human body of the off-gassing from various plastics. "Satan's Resin" is the chapter in the book and I think it is one of the most important chapters in the book since there is so much plastic in our daily lives: it pervades everything we do, use, and are exposed to. Do this: take stock of everything plastic in your house and the type of plastic it is, read up on it, and see if you can help eliminate a significant portion of it from your waste and use stream. It is a fun project. I did this over the course of this year and found that there are a lot of choices I have when purchasing (not buying stuff in plastic, or made from plastic when there are metal or glass alternatives, for example). But there are some items in our households made with plastics that we would have difficulty living without: refrigerators for one, and as a blogger...computers, for another....a lot of modern plumbing in homes uses PVC pipe, too. Think of the things like light switches, cell phones, smoke detectors, plug plates, jugs for shampoo (glass bottles would be slippery and a wee bit dangerous for shampoo).

So...what I learned:

There are a number of people who think that recycling is only a small part of the overall garbage solution. The biggest thing should be producer responsibility. Getting all producers to recycle: the creation during manufacturing of those 3,200 pounds of materials to make the 100 pounds of finished product would be a huge win for the planet's limited resources. Burying or incinerating waste makes it easy to make more waste. Consumer goods like computers, washers, dryers, cars, bookshelves, CDs, phones, toys, and all the stuff we use... should be able to be taken back by the manufacturers (and in some cases are) to make more usable goods. Until a higher majority of these items that we consume and recycled at the source of production, there will be a mounting pile of garbage covering our world and polluting our waters, soils, and air. Even if every family in the USA recycled, it would help tremendously, but the key is buying less/using less and also getting the large corporations who make consumer goods to take back and recycle what they can in order to avoid the continual extraction of natural resources to meet our needs.

On that note, if you want to check out the book from the Library in your town here is the info:

Elizabeth Royte
Garbage Land: on the secret trail of trash
isbn: 0-316-73826-3

Excerpt: http://www.bookbrowse.com/excerpts/index.cfm?book_number=1632

Other book reviews of this book posted here:

http://www.motherjones.com/arts/books/2005/07/garbage_land.html

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/08/garbage_land-_a.php

Book Review: "Blackwater: Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army"

2008-07-16T08:24:00.000-07:00

Book Review: "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army"

I just finished "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army" by Jeremy Scahill. Scahill is an award-winning investigative journalist, who's reported from Iraq, the former Yugoslavia, and Nigeria. He writes a very compelling, very well researched (the reference index is 45 pages long, citing articles and materials from all over the world.)

Check it out from the library (what I did) or buy it on Amazon (link: http://www.amazon.com/Blackwater-Rise-Worlds-Powerful-Mercenary/dp/1560259795) or Powell's (link: http://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=9781560259794).

From the Publisher:

Publisher Comments:
Meet BLACKWATER USA, the world's most secretive and powerful mercenary firm. Based in the wilderness of North Carolina, it is the fastest-growing private army on the planet with forces capable of carrying out regime change throughout the world. Blackwater protects the top US officials in Iraq and yet we know almost nothing about the firm's quasi-military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and inside the U.S. Blackwater was founded by an extreme right-wing fundamentalist Christian mega-millionaire ex-Navy Seal named Erik Prince, the scion of a wealthy conservative family that bankrolls far-right-wing causes.

Blackwater is the dark story of the rise of a powerful mercenary army, ranging from the blood-soaked streets of Fallujah to rooftop firefights in Najaf to the hurricane-ravaged US gulf to Washington DC, where Blackwater executives are hailed as new heroes in the war on terror. This is an extraordinary exposé by one of America's most exciting young radical journalists.

Now, on to my book review...

Chapter 1: The Little Prince - and Chapter 2: Blackwater Begins are the background everyone needs to understand the basics of this movement and its roots and ties to the Christian Movement. Chapter 1 is about the founder of Blackwater, Erik Prince. He's wealthy and from a wealthy family from Michigan, and his dad donated (just as he does) millions of dollars per year to Christian causes, including Hope College. The family history has ties with Focus on the Family, The Family Research Council (where young Erik interned), Amway (Erik's sister Betsy married the son of the Amway founder, Richard DeVos)...and with Newt Gingrich. The Prince family and DeVos family bankrolled Newt's "Contract with America". Remember that?

Erik Prince's resume includes a stint in the US Navy SEALs, where he served in places like Bosnia, Haiti and the Middle East. He was also an intern with George Bush I, for 6 months...he also has donated to Rick Santorum, Jesse Helms, Richard Pombo, Tom DeLay, and the national Republican Congressional Committee. Note how many (yes all) of the people he's bankrolled have such stellar, squeaky clean records...yeah, um NONE.

The chapter covers more of his history as a Republican donor, his religious ties, and his start of Blackwater during Cheney's Sec Def days (89-93) during the massive privatization of the US military. This effect was what kickstarted the growth of Blackwater.

Chapter 2 covers how the military privatization movement, and various national tragedies aided in the growth of Blackwater's business. In 1999, Columbine's tragedy was the impetus for Prince to start "R U Ready High" - a training facility on the Moyock, NC Blackwater compound.... and the privatization of security forces began here in earnest per Scahill's book. By 2000, was going along at a moderate pace until October when the USS Cole was attacked. That gave Blackwater more GSA contracts and then of course, on 9/11, Blackwater "hit the jackpot" according to Scahill.

Today, with the gassing by Blackwater that's being reported, I think Scahill has a few new chapters to write in the next edition of this book or it's sequel, which might be written after Blackwater's influence has spread even more....

Chapter 3: Fallujah Before Blackwater and Chapter 4: Guarding Bush's Man in Baghdad cover a lot... The killings of the Blackwater contractors in Fallujah "would alter the course of the Iraq War" per Scahill. What he means by this is that the people of Fallujah viewed invading US Forces with the colored glasses that were given to them in Gulf War 1 by George Bush I, when "errant bombs" from warplanes killed "more than 130 people" per Scahill's telling of it, and many of those killed and wounded were children.

Rumsfeld was the most senior US Official to visit Iraq at this point, and after the second round of killings in the Fallujah attacks, he said, "What is significant is that large numbers of human beings...have been liberated." Mission accomplished.

Paul Bremer's tour of Iraq is covered pretty well too, including his "divine guidance" and discusses his near zealotry for his Christian faith and its influence. Bremer's ties with Blackwater are that he was guarded by $600 a day Blackwater employees (36 of them), two K-9 teams, 3 helicopters and their pilots to cart Bremer around Iraq. The US taxpayers bore this cost, among many others, as the privatization of military duties continued.

Chapter 5: Scotty Goes to War, Chapter 6:The Ambush, and Chapter 7: "We Will Pacify Fallujah" cover some of the details of the Ambush of Scotty and other Blackwater contractors...

No, not Scotty McClellan....this is Scott Helvenston, another former Navy SEAL and whose great-great uncle Elihu Root was a US Secretary of War and a Nobel Peace Prize winner (1912). Helvenston went to Blackwater to work for a short stint, a couple of months, to try to make a year's salary. Helvenston bought into the Iraq/Al Qaeda ties and thought he was going to be guarding Bremer. Turns out he went to Iraq, but Scahill tells us the gruesome tale of how Helvenston and others with him ended up being the Blackwater employees who were killed in Fallujah. Scotty ended up with his coworkers hanging from that bridge....

The news reported in many cases that the 'civilians' were mutilated - but that is not the case. Blackwater private contractors/mercenaries are not technically civilians, in the sense of say, a reporter is a civilian.

Scahill goes on to discuss more the motivations of the Fallujah killings of the Blackwater employees and the responses by Bush/Cheney and what good ole Scotty McClellan was telling the reporters and public about all of this.

Chapter 8: Najaf, Iraq: 04.04.04covers more on the ground battle and involvement of Muqtada al Sadr. Scahill again informs the reader with a very detailed chapter on the Najaf shootout where Blackwater employees were giving orders to Marines. Scahill details the battle and how the Marines and Blackwater folks interacted, and continue to interact to this day in Iraq.

Chapter 9: This is For The Americans of Blackwateris a chapter devoted to the rippling effects of the Fallujah killings of the Blackwater employees. According to this chapter the "perpetrators" were never found. There is a lot of discussion in this chapter on the news coverage of the Blackwater Bridge incident and the further uprising of the Iraqi resistance.

Chapter 10: Mr. Prince Goes to WashingtonThis chapter discusses the meetings Prince had a week after the ambush discussed in the previous chapters. His meetings were with Republican Senators Ted Stevens, George Allen, Rick Santorum, and John Warner all members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The lobbying by Blackwater of folks like this and of others including Porter Goss, Duncan Hunter and Tom DeLay is covered in detail, as are the topics of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the granting of sweeping immunity by Paul Bremer for Blackwater's operations in Iraq.

Order 17 is iterated here as Scahill tells us about Bremer's signing of this order that declares Contractors shall be immune from Iraqi legal process with respect to acts performed by them pursuant to the terms and conditions of a Contract or any sub-contract thereto which basically means that they are not accountable for any atrocities they commit. Nice.

Chapter 11: Caspian Pipeline Dreams For those of you interested in World Oil and all that it entails, this is the chapter for you. Want to know more about Erik Prince's and Blackwater's involvement in Tajikistan, the Caspian pipeline, and Dick Cheney's involvement (remember the Energy Task Force?) in all this...read this chapter carefully. It covers Blackwater's training of the elite Azeri forces to protect the US interests in this region.

Chapter 12: Blackwater's Man in Chile starts off nailing the Bush administration for failing to build a "Coalition of the Willing" where Blackwater recruits and hires teams from around the world very effectively. I think I mentioned above that they have hired teams from SOuth America, Azeri teams, teams from Honduras, and other places and from other times (cold warriors for example). Augusto Pinochet and some of the commandos that worked for him are mentioned here in detail, as well as the infamous US Army SOA: School of the Americas (training ground for more that 60,000 Latin American soldiers, many of which were trained at SOA for the 80's and 90's "dirty wars". The chapter covers 13 or 14 pages about the Blackwater Chilean recruiter Jose Miguel Pizarro, a "staunch defender of Pinochet" per Scahill. His work with Blackwater and the web of ties he has with the US Army (he was also a Chilean Army officer before he went to Paris Island and Fort Know for US Army training). Very interesting stuff here about Pizzaro's pitch to Erik Prince to use Chilean forces, providing a service to Blackwater...and this chapter covers how Blackwater was using the Chilean forces in Iraq.

Chapter 13: The Whores of War This chapter is about the aftermath of Fallujah here in the USA - what the families of the Blackwater employees have gone thru and are to this day still going through. The lawsuits, the news coverage, the coming to terms with their sons being mercenaries in this war on terror.

It covers the fine details of suing Blackwater, Rep. Waxman's investigations, the protections afforded (or not) Blackwater by the US Government as a subcontractor, and more. I think that the new FOIA rules posted to DailyKos a couple of weeks ago will be a tool used in the future on companies like Blackwater and Halliburton as we go deeper down the rat hole that is Iraq.

Chapter 14: The Crash of Blackwater 61 Again more coverage into the investigation of the crash of this flight, and the families' coming to terms with it all. This flight was a fubar waiting to happen based on Scahill's telling of how the plane, teams, pilots, maps, terrain, and more created a series of events and circumstances that would lead to the crash.

The discussion of Presidential Airways continues here too, giving more insight into the various layers of the Blackwater Corporation.

My favorite part of this chapter though was Cheney's 9/16/01 quote on NBC's Meet the Press: that the government "should work through, sort of, the dark side" and "A lot of what needs to be done here will have to be done quietly, without any discussion, using sources and methods that are available to our intelligence agencies, if we're going to be successful. That's the world these folks operate in. And so it's going to be vital for us to use any means at our disposal, basically, to achieve our objective."

Chapter 15: Cofer Black: The Gloves Come Off The man who helped mastermind the capture of Carlos The Jackal (up to this time the world's "most famous terrorist" is Cofer Black. The whole chapter is about Cofer's history in the CIA, his Ambassadorship, his work for Colin Powell and again Henry Waxman's investigations into Black's work.

For spy novel enthusiasts, this stuff is way more interesting than anything that Le Carre or Ludlum could ever write. Scahill covers Black's history and current work with respect and entices us to really understand what it is that our government is doing with former spies and the "outsourcing of the war on terror" and the hunt for bin Laden.

I am sure that googling Cofer Black would produce some interesting hits, or even searching this site. I have not done either yet but would love to learn more about him.

Chapter 16: Death Squads, Mercenaries, and the Salvador Option...brings us to Ambassador John Negroponte, Kissinger's man in Vietnam from that war. Just like the chapter on Cofer Black, this one covers all the experiences and tour of duty in Iraq. The "Salvador Option" is:

The Salvador option "dates back to a still-secret strategy in the Reagan administration's battle against the leftist guerilla insurgency in El Salvador in the early 1980s. Then, faced with a losing was against Salvadoran rebels, the US government funded or supported 'nationalist' forces that allegedly included so-called death squads directed to hunt down and kill rebel leaders and sympathizers"

Chapter 17: Joseph Schmitz: Christian Soldier The Inspector General. Fraud. Enriching contractors under his watch. he resigned. Yet another corrupt "ideological soldier for right-wing causes" per Scahill.

More Christian zealotry, Iran Contra, the Boeing Defense Scandal, and more are part of this chapter... a lot of bad stuff is to be found in the former Inspector General's history, his family members' history, and their work for Bushie. Schmitz lists on his official biography that he's a "member of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta" and Scahill again documents very well his history then goes into his ties with Blackwater. Schmitz also carried around Rumsfeld's 12 famed principles in his lapel pocket. Nice.

Here is a bizarro twist and insight into Schmitz's family: his sister is Mary Kay LeTourneau of Seattle/Villi Fualaau (12 year old male when they met), pregnant love childc jail time notoriety.

Chapter 18: Blackwater Down: Baghdad on the Bayou Coverage of Rita and Katrina and Blackwater's involvement in the aftermath of Katrina in NOLA and all along the Gulf Coast. There are the same themes in this chapter as all the previous chapters, the Christian tie-ins (to Jimmy Swaggert's World Evangelism Bible College and Seminary), how they managed to be completely, unnecessarily over-armed for the work of helping to clean up the flood damage.

Scahill writes here that "...critics saw the deployment of Blackwater's forces domestically as a dangerous precedent that could undermine US democracy."

He also covers the Border fence issue and their contracts with that mess, and the K Street collapse of the Alexander Strategy Group, Blackwater's lobbying firm and how they were part of the whole Jack Abramoff scandal.

The last page of the chapter starts the introduction to the expansion of Blackwater's global reach for international contracts in places like Darfur. This is why defunding them via a Congress that would have to do their jobs, will not matter - the company has international contracts totaling as much or more money as they have already gotten from the US government.

Chapter 19: "The Knights of The Round Table" While it greatly disturbs me that the title of this chapter is what it is, the title is purposeful. Blackwater has a mission just like King Authur's Knights did, but a wee bit more nefarious and greedy certainly.

Covered here are topics:
Blackwater North (Illinois).
Blackwater West (California).
Blackwater Jungle Training Center at Subic Bay Philippines (former US Navy base).
Darfur aspirations.
SOFEX: Special Operations Forces Exhibition and Conference, in Jordan.
Christian Freedom International and Blackwater.

Cofer Black keynotes a conference in 2004 introducing GreyStone: registered as a business in Barbados, incorporated in 2004 and the logo on they former website of the sword and the stone.

GreyStone is an international security services company that offers your country or organization a complete solution to your most pressing security needs. We have the personnel, logistical support, equipment, and expertise to solve your most critical security problems.

The UN Peacekeeping forces and Blackwater's pitches to "do all that they do, but cheaper and faster."

Scahill also covers more of the future-looking Cofer Black again and the re-branding of mercenaries as legitimate private soldiers and some interesting info on the mercenary trade association, IPOA: Internal Peace Operations Association to which belong Blackwater, ArmorGroup, Erinys, Hart Security and MPRI. One of the board of directors of IPOA is a VP of Blackwater, Chris Taylor.

The best part of this chapter is the discussion of the legal protections granted to contractors like Blackwater under Order 17, mentioned above. Kucinich's questioning of Shay Assad (Pentagon's director of Defense Procurement and Acquisition) and showcasing how South Africa outlawed mercenaries. The history of South Africa and mercenaries and the "Prohibition of Mercenaries Act" that the South African Parliament introduced in 2005. Perhaps our Congress can take a cue from these folks and work on this inside the USA?

WRAP-UP:
Scahill's book is an eye-opening, shocking, well-written investigative piece that I highly recommend. The expanding role of firms like Blackwater, Kellogg, Brown and Root, ArmorGuard, and other private security firms is an important part of the military and political landscape of not only the USA but of the world and should be studied by anyone who wishes to be informed, shocked, and aware of how Blackwater and others like it are so closely tied to the Christian Fundamentalist movement and war profiteering.

2008-07-15T00:05:00.000-07:00

Well.

Over at The Sanctuary blog, there is an article on the May, 2008 raid, by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) on Agriprocessor Inc.'s hiring of illegal immigrants and the details of that raid:

The Sanctuary

There is also an article on this raid posted by NightProwlKitty on Daily Kos here:
ICE RAID Postville IA

Dr. Erik Camayd-Freixas is one of the Spanish Interpreters that will testify later in July to Congress on what happened that day.

Thanks to Duke at The Sanctuary and to NightProwlKitty at DailyKos for bringing this issue to light.

Here is Dr. Camayd-Freixas' 14-page essay for you to read. It is a very sad tale. It tells about the clear overstepping of boundaries by ICE, and Department of Homeland Security, all in the name of 'security.'

INTERPRETING AFTER THE LARGEST ICE RAID IN US HISTORY:A PERSONAL ACCOUNT

Erik Camayd-Freixas, Ph.D.
Florida International University
June 13, 2008

On Monday, May 12, 2008, at 10:00 a.m., in an operation involving some 900 agents, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) executed a raid of Agriprocessors Inc, the nation's largest kosher slaughterhouse and meat packing plant located in the town of Postville, Iowa. The raid ...officials boasted... was "the largest single-site operation of its kind in American history." At that same hour, 26 federally certified interpreters from all over the country were en route to the small neighboring city of Waterloo, Iowa, having no idea what their mission was about. The investigation had started more than a year earlier. Raid preparations had begun in December. The Clerk's Office of the U.S. District Court had contracted the interpreters a month ahead, but was not at liberty to tell us the whole truth, lest the impending raid be compromised. The operation was led by ICE, which belongs to the executive branch, whereas the U.S. District Court, belonging to the judicial branch, had to formulate its own official reason for participating. Accordingly, the Court had to move for two weeks to a remote location as part of a "Continuity of Operation Exercise" in case they were ever disrupted by an emergency, which in Iowa is likely to be a tornado or flood. That is what we were told, but, frankly, I was not prepared for a disaster of such a different kind, one which was entirely man-made.

I arrived late that Monday night and missed the 8pm interpreters briefing. I was instructed by phone to meet at 7am in the hotel lobby and carpool to the National Cattle Congress (NCC) where we would begin our work. We arrived at the heavily guarded compound, went through security, and gathered inside the retro "Electric Park Ballroom" where a makeshift court had been set up. The Clerk of Court, who coordinated the interpreters, said: "Have you seen the news? There was an immigration raid yesterday at 10am. They have some 400 detainees here. We'll be working late conducting initial appearances for the next few days." He then gave us a cursory tour of the compound. The NCC is a 60-acre cattle fairground that had been transformed into a sort of concentration camp or detention center. Fenced in behind the ballroom / courtroom were 23 trailers from federal authorities, including two set up as sentencing courts; various Homeland Security buses and an "incident response" truck; scores of ICE agents and U.S. Marshals; and in the background two large buildings: a pavilion where agents and prosecutors had established a command center; and a gymnasium filled with tight rows of cots where some 300 male detainees were kept, the women being housed in county jails. Later the NCC board complained to the local newspaper that they had been "misled" by the government when they leased the grounds purportedly for Homeland Security training.

Echoing what I think was the general feeling, one of my fellow interpreters would later exclaim: "When I saw what it was really about, my heart sank..." Then began the saddest procession I have ever witnessed, which the public would never see, because cameras were not allowed past the perimeter of the compound (only a few journalists came to court the following days, notepad in hand). Driven single-file in groups of 10, shackled at the wrists, waist and ankles, chains dragging as they shuffled through, the slaughterhouse workers were brought in for arraignment, sat and listened through headsets to the interpreted initial appearance, before marching out again to be bused to different county jails, only to make room for the next row of 10. They appeared to be uniformly no more than 5 ft. tall, mostly illiterate Guatemalan peasants with Mayan last names, some being relatives (various Tajtaj, Xicay, Sajché, Sologüí...), some in tears; others with faces of worry, fear, and embarrassment. They all spoke Spanish, a few rather laboriously. It dawned on me that, aside from their nationality, which was imposed on their people in the 19th century, they too were Native Americans, in shackles. They stood out in stark racial contrast with the rest of us as they started their slow penguin march across the makeshift court. "Sad spectacle" I heard a colleague say, reading my mind. They had all waived their right to be indicted by a grand jury and accepted instead an information or simple charging document by the U.S. Attorney, hoping to be quickly deported since they had families to support back home. But it was not to be. They were criminally charged with "aggravated identity theft" and "Social Security fraud" ...charges they did not understand... and, frankly, neither could I. Everyone wondered how it would all play out.

We got off to a slow start that first day, because ICE's barcode booking system malfunctioned, and the documents had to be manually sorted and processed with the help of the U.S. Attorney's Office. Consequently, less than a third of the detainees were ready for arraignment that Tuesday. There were more than enough interpreters at that point, so we rotated in shifts of three interpreters per hearing. Court adjourned shortly after 4pm. However, the prosecution worked overnight, planning on a 7am to midnight court marathon the next day.

I was eager to get back to my hotel room to find out more about the case, since the day's repetitive hearings afforded little information, and everyone there was mostly refraining from comment. There was frequent but sketchy news on local TV. A colleague had suggested The Des Moines Register. So I went to DesMoinesRegister.com and started reading all the 20+ articles, as they appeared each day, and the 57-page ICE Search Warrant Application. These were the vital statistics. Of Agriprocessors' 968 current employees, about 75% were illegal immigrants. There were 697 arrest warrants, but late-shift workers had not arrived, so "only" 390 were arrested: 314 men and 76 women; 290 Guatemalans, 93 Mexicans, four Ukrainians, and three Israelis who were not seen in court. Some were released on humanitarian grounds: 56 mostly mothers with unattended children, a few with medical reasons, and 12 juveniles were temporarily released with ankle monitors or directly turned over for deportation. In all, 306 were held for prosecution. Only five of the 390 originally arrested had any kind of prior criminal record. There remained 307 outstanding warrants.

This was the immediate collateral damage. Postville, Iowa (pop. 2,273), where nearly half the people worked at Agriprocessors, had lost 1/3 of its population by Tuesday morning. Businesses were empty, amid looming concerns that if the plant closed it would become a ghost town. Beside those arrested, many had fled the town in fear. Several families had taken refuge at St. Bridget's Catholic Church, terrified, sleeping on pews and refusing to leave for days. Volunteers from the community served food and organized activities for the children. At the local high school, only three of the 15 Latino students came back on Tuesday, while at the elementary and middle school, 120 of the 363 children were absent. In the following days the principal went around town on the school bus and gathered 70 students after convincing the parents to let them come back to school; 50 remained unaccounted for. Some American parents complained that their children were traumatized by the sudden disappearance of so many of their school friends. The principal reported the same reaction in the classrooms, saying that for the children it was as if ten of their classmates had suddenly died. Counselors were brought in. American children were having nightmares that their parents too were being taken away. The superintendant said the school district's future was unclear: "This literally blew our town away." In some cases both parents were picked up and small children were left behind for up to 72 hours. Typically, the mother would be released "on humanitarian grounds" with an ankle GPS monitor, pending prosecution and deportation, while the husband took first turn in serving his prison sentence. Meanwhile the mother would have no income and could not work to provide for her children. Some of the children were born in the U.S. and are American citizens. Sometimes one parent was a deportable alien while the other was not. "Hundreds of families were torn apart by this raid," said a Catholic nun. "The humanitarian impact of this raid is obvious to anyone in Postville. The economic impact will soon be evident."

But this was only the surface damage. Alongside the many courageous actions and expressions of humanitarian concern in the true American spirit, the news blogs were filled with snide remarks of racial prejudice and bigotry, poorly disguised beneath an empty rhetoric of misguided patriotism, not to mention the insults to anyone who publicly showed compassion, safely hurled from behind a cowardly online nickname. One could feel the moral fabric of society coming apart beneath it all.

The more I found out, the more I felt blindsighted into an assignment of which I wanted no part. Even though I understood the rationale for all the secrecy, I also knew that a contract interpreter has the right to refuse a job which conflicts with his moral intuitions. But I had been deprived of that opportunity. Now I was already there, far from home, and holding a half-spent $1,800 plane ticket. So I faced a frustrating dilemma. I seriously considered withdrawing from the assignment for the first time in my 23 years as a federally certified interpreter, citing conflict of interest. In fact, I have both an ethical and contractual obligation to withdraw if a conflict of interest exists which compromises my neutrality. Appended to my contract are the Standards for Performance and Professional Responsibility for Contract Court Interpreters in the Federal Courts, where it states: "Interpreters shall disclose any real or perceived conflict of interest... and shall not serve in any matter in which they have a conflict of interest." The question was did I have one. Well, at that point there was not enough evidence to make that determination. After all, these are illegal aliens and should be deported -no argument there, and hence no conflict. But should they be criminalized and imprisoned? Well, if they committed a crime and were fairly adjudicated... But all that remained to be seen. In any case, none of it would shake my impartiality or prevent me from faithfully discharging my duties. In all my years as a court interpreter, I have taken front row seat in countless criminal cases ranging from rape, capital murder and mayhem, to terrorism, narcotics and human trafficking. I am not the impressionable kind. Moreover, as a professor of interpreting, I have confronted my students with every possible conflict scenario, or so I thought. The truth is that nothing could have prepared me for the prospect of helping our government put hundreds of innocent people in jail. In my ignorance and disbelief, I reluctantly decided to stay the course and see what happened next.

Wednesday, May 14, our second day in court, was to be a long one. The interpreters were divided into two shifts, 8am to 3pm and 3pm to 10pm. I chose the latter. Through the day, the procession continued, ten by ten, hour after hour, the same charges, the same recitation from the magistrates, the same faces, chains and shackles, on the defendants. There was little to remind us that they were actually 306 individuals, except that occasionally, as though to break the monotony, one would dare to speak for the others and beg to be deported quickly so that they could feed their families back home. One who turned out to be a minor was bound over for deportation. The rest would be prosecuted. Later in the day three groups of women were brought, shackled in the same manner. One of them, whose husband was also arrested, was released to care for her children, ages two and five, uncertain of their whereabouts. Several men and women were weeping, but two women were particularly grief stricken. One of them was sobbing and would repeatedly struggle to bring a sleeve to her nose, but her wrists shackled around her waist simply would not reach; so she just dripped until she was taken away with the rest. The other one, a Ukrainian woman, was held and arraigned separately when a Russian telephonic interpreter came on. She spoke softly into a cellular phone, while the interpreter told her story in English over the speakerphone. Her young daughter, gravely ill, had lost her hair and was too weak to walk. She had taken her to Moscow and Kiev but to no avail. She was told her child needed an operation or would soon die. She had come to America to work and raise the money to save her daughter back in Ukraine. In every instance, detainees who cried did so for their children, never for themselves.

The next day we started early, at 6:45am. We were told that we had to finish the hearings by 10am. Thus far the work had oddly resembled a judicial assembly line where the meat packers were mass processed. But things were about to get a lot more personal as we prepared to interpret for individual attorney-client conferences. In those first three days, interpreters had been pairing up with defense attorneys to help interview their clients. Each of the 18 court appointed attorneys represented 17 defendants on average. By now, the clients had been sent to several state and county prisons throughout eastern Iowa, so we had to interview them in jail. The attorney with whom I was working had clients in Des Moines and wanted to be there first thing in the morning. So a colleague and I drove the 2.5 hours that evening and stayed overnight in a hotel outside the city. We met the attorney in jail Friday morning, but the clients had not been accepted there and had been sent instead to a state penitentiary in Newton, another 45-minute drive. While we waited to be admitted, the attorney pointed out the reason why the prosecution wanted to finish arraignments by 10am Thursday: according to the writ of habeas corpus they had 72 hours from Monday's raid to charge the prisoners or release them for deportation (only a handful would be so lucky). The right of habeas corpus, but of course! It dawned on me that we were paid overtime, adding hours to the day, in a mad rush to abridge habeas corpus, only to help put more workers in jail. Now I really felt bad. But it would soon get worse. I was about to bear the brunt of my conflict of interest.

It came with my first jail interview. The purpose was for the attorney to explain the uniform Plea Agreement that the government was offering. The explanation, which we repeated over and over to each client, went like this. There are three possibilities. If you plead guilty to the charge of "knowingly using a false Social Security number," the government will withdraw the heavier charge of "aggravated identity theft," and you will serve 5 months in jail, be deported without a hearing, and placed on supervised release for 3 years. If you plead not guilty, you could wait in jail 6 to 8 months for a trial (without right of bail since you are on an immigration detainer). Even if you win at trial, you will still be deported, and could end up waiting longer in jail than if you just pled guilty. You would also risk losing at trial and receiving a 2-year minimum sentence, before being deported. Some clients understood their "options" better than others.

That first interview, though, took three hours. The client, a Guatemalan peasant afraid for his family, spent most of that time weeping at our table, in a corner of the crowded jailhouse visiting room. How did he come here from Guatemala? "I walked." What? "I walked for a month and ten days until I crossed the river." We understood immediately how desperate his family's situation was. He crossed alone, met other immigrants, and hitched a truck ride to Dallas, then Postville, where he heard there was sure work. He slept in an apartment hallway with other immigrants until employed. He had scarcely been working a couple of months when he was arrested. Maybe he was lucky: another man who began that Monday had only been working for 20 minutes. "I just wanted to work a year or two, save, and then go back to my family, but it was not to be." His case and that of a million others could simply be solved by a temporary work permit as part of our much overdue immigration reform. "The Good Lord knows I was just working and not doing anyone any harm." This man, like many others, was in fact not guilty. "Knowingly" and "intent" are necessary elements of the charges, but most of the clients we interviewed did not even know what a Social Security number was or what purpose it served. This worker simply had the papers filled out for him at the plant, since he could not read or write Spanish, let alone English. But the lawyer still had to advise him that pleading guilty was in his best interest. He was unable to make a decision. "You all do and undo," he said. "So you can do whatever you want with me." To him we were part of the system keeping him from being deported back to his country, where his children, wife, mother, and sister depended on him. He was their sole support and did not know how they were going to make it with him in jail for 5 months. None of the "options" really mattered to him. Caught between despair and hopelessness, he just wept. He had failed his family, and was devastated. I went for some napkins, but he refused them. I offered him a cup of soda, which he superstitiously declined, saying it could be "poisoned." His Native American spirit was broken and he could no longer think. He stared for a while at the signature page pretending to read it, although I knew he was actually praying for guidance and protection. Before he signed with a scribble, he said: "God knows you are just doing your job to support your families, and that job is to keep me from supporting mine." There was my conflict of interest, well put by a weeping, illiterate man.

We worked that day for as long as our emotional fortitude allowed, and we had to come back to a full day on Sunday to interview the rest of the clients. Many of the Guatemalans had the same predicament. One of them, a 19-year-old, worried that his parents were too old to work, and that he was the only support for his family back home. We will never know how many of the 293 Guatemalans had legitimate asylum claims for fear of persecution, back in a country stigmatized by the worst human rights situation in the hemisphere, a by-product of the US-backed Contra wars of 1980s' Central America under the old domino theory. For three decades, anti-insurgent government death squads have ravaged the countryside, killing tens of thousands and displacing almost two million peasants. Even as we proceeded with the hearings during those two weeks in May, news coming out of Guatemala reported farm workers being assassinated for complaining publicly about their working conditions. Not only have we ignored the many root causes of illegal immigration, we also will never know which of these deportations will turn out to be a death sentence, or how many of these displaced workers are last survivors with no family or village to return to.

Another client, a young Mexican, had an altogether different case. He had worked at the plant for ten years and had two American born daughters, a 2-year-old and a newborn. He had a good case with Immigration for an adjustment of status which would allow him to stay. But if he took the Plea Agreement, he would lose that chance and face deportation as a felon convicted of a crime of "moral turpitude." On the other hand, if he pled "not guilty" he had to wait several months in jail for trial, and risk getting a 2-year sentence. After an agonizing decision, he concluded that he had to take the 5-month deal and deportation, because as he put it, "I cannot be away from my children for so long." His case was complicated; it needed research in immigration law, a change in the Plea Agreement, and, above all, more time. There were other similar cases in court that week. I remember reading that immigration lawyers were alarmed that the detainees were being rushed into a plea without adequate consultation on the immigration consequences. Even the criminal defense attorneys had limited opportunity to meet with clients: in jail there were limited visiting hours and days; at the compound there was little time before and after hearings, and little privacy due to the constant presence of agents. There were 17 cases for each attorney, and the Plea offer was only good for 7 days. In addition, criminal attorneys are not familiar with immigration work and vice versa, but had to make do since immigration lawyers were denied access to these criminal proceedings.

In addition, the prosecutors would not accept any changes to the Plea Agreement. In fact, some lawyers, seeing that many of their clients were not guilty, requested an Alford plea, whereby defendants can plead guilty in order to accept the prosecution's offer, but without having to lie under oath and admit to something they did not do. That would not change the 5-month sentence, but at least it preserves the person's integrity and dignity. The proposal was rejected. Of course, if they allowed Alford pleas to go on public record, the incongruence of the charges would be exposed and find its way into the media. Officially, the ICE prosecutors said the Plea Agreement was directed from the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., that they were not authorized to change it locally, and that the DOJ would not make any case by case exceptions when a large number of defendants are being "fast-tracked." Presumably if you gave different terms to one individual, the others will want the same. This position, however, laid bare one of the critical problems with this new practice of "fast-tracking." Even real criminals have the right of severance: when co-defendants have different degrees of responsibility, there is an inherent conflict of interest, and they can ask to be prosecuted separately as different cases, each with a different attorney. In fast-tracking, however, the right of severance is circumvented because each defendant already has a different case number on paper, only that they are processed together, 10 cases at a time. At this point, it is worth remembering also that even real criminals have an 8th Amendment right to reasonable bail, but not illegal workers, because their immigration detainer makes bail a moot issue. We had already circumvented habeas corpus by doubling the court's business hours. What about the 6th Amendment right to a "speedy trial"? In many states "speedy" means 90 days, but in federal law it is vaguely defined, potentially exceeding the recommended sentence, given the backlog of real cases. This served as another loophole to force a guilty plea. Many of these workers were sole earners begging to be deported, desperate to feed their families, for whom every day counted. "If you want to see your children or don't want your family to starve, sign here" -that is what their deal amounted to. Their Plea Agreement was coerced.

We began week two Monday, May 19th. Those interpreters who left after the first week were spared the sentencing hearings that went on through Thursday. Those who came in fresh the second week were spared the jail visits over the weekend. Those of us who stayed both weeks came back from the different jails burdened by a close personal contact that judges and prosecutors do not get to experience: each individual tragedy multiplied by 306 cases. One of my colleagues began the day by saying "I feel a tremendous solidarity with these people." Had we lost our impartiality? Not at all: that was our impartial and probably unanimous judgment. We had seen attorneys hold back tears and weep alongside their clients. We would see judges, prosecutors, clerks, and marshals do their duty, sometimes with a heavy heart, sometimes at least with mixed feelings, but always with a particular solemnity not accorded to the common criminals we all are used to encountering in the judicial system. Everyone was extremely professional and outwardly appreciative of the interpreters. We developed among ourselves and with the clerks, with whom we worked closely, a camaraderie and good humor that kept us going. Still, that Monday morning I felt downtrodden by the sheer magnitude of the events. Unexpectedly, a sentencing hearing lifted my spirits.

I decided to do sentences on Trailer 2 with a judge I knew from real criminal trials in Iowa. The defendants were brought in 5 at a time, because there was not enough room for 10. The judge verified that they still wanted to plead guilty, and asked counsel to confirm their Plea Agreement. The defense attorney said that he had expected a much lower sentence, but that he was forced to accept the agreement in the best interest of his clients. For us who knew the background of the matter, that vague objection, which was all that the attorney could put on record, spoke volumes. After accepting the Plea Agreement and before imposing sentence, the judge gave the defendants the right of allocution. Most of them chose not to say anything, but one who was the more articulate said humbly: "Your honor, you know that we are here because of the need of our families. I beg that you find it in your heart to send us home before too long, because we have a responsibility to our children, to give them an education, clothing, shelter, and food." The good judge explained that unfortunately he was not free to depart from the sentence provided for by their Plea Agreement. Technically, what he meant was that this was a binding 11(C)(1)(c) Plea Agreement: he had to accept it or reject it as a whole. But if he rejected it, he would be exposing the defendants to a trial against their will. His hands were tied, but in closing he said onto them very deliberately: "I appreciate the fact that you are very hard working people, who have come here to do no harm. And I thank you for coming to this country to work hard. Unfortunately, you broke a law in the process, and now I have the obligation to give you this sentence. But I hope that the U.S. government has at least treated you kindly and with respect, and that this time goes by quickly for you, so that soon you may be reunited with your family and friends." The defendants thanked him, and I saw their faces change from shame to admiration, their dignity restored. I think we were all vindicated at that moment.

Before the judge left that afternoon, I had occasion to talk to him and bring to his attention my concern over what I had learned in the jail interviews. At that point I realized how precious the interpreter's impartiality truly is, and what a privileged perspective it affords. In our common law adversarial system, only the judge, the jury, and the interpreter are presumed impartial. But the judge is immersed in the framework of the legal system, whereas the interpreter is a layperson, an outsider, a true representative of the common citizen, much like "a jury of his peers." Yet, contrary to the jury, who only knows the evidence on record and is generally unfamiliar with the workings of the law, the interpreter is an informed layperson. Moreover, the interpreter is the only one who gets to see both sides of the coin up close, precisely because he is the only participant who is not a decision maker, and is even precluded, by his oath of impartiality and neutrality, from ever influencing the decisions of others. That is why judges in particular appreciate the interpreter's perspective as an impartial and informed layperson, for it provides a rare glimpse at how the innards of the legal system look from the outside. I was no longer sorry to have participated in my capacity as an interpreter. I realized that I had been privileged to bear witness to historic events from such a unique vantage point and that because of its uniqueness I now had a civic duty to make it known. Such is the spirit that inspired this essay.

That is also what prompted my brief conversation with the judge: "Your honor, I am concerned from my attorney-client interviews that many of these people are clearly not guilty, and yet they have no choice but to plead out." He understood immediately and, not surprisingly, the seasoned U.S. District Court Judge spoke as someone who had already wrestled with all the angles. He said: "You know, I don't agree with any of this or with the way it is being done. In fact, I ruled in a previous case that to charge somebody with identity theft, the person had to at least know of the real owner of the Social Security number. But I was reverted in another district and yet upheld in a third." I understood that the issue was a matter of judicial contention. The charge of identity theft seemed from the beginning incongruous to me as an informed, impartial layperson, but now a U.S. District Court Judge agreed. As we bid each other farewell, I kept thinking of what he said. I soon realized that he had indeed hit the nail on the head; he had given me, as it were, the last piece of the puzzle.

It works like this. By handing down the inflated charge of "aggravated identity theft," which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 2 years in prison, the government forced the defendants into pleading guilty to the lesser charge and accepting 5 months in jail. Clearly, without the inflated charge, the government had no bargaining leverage, because the lesser charge by itself, using a false Social Security number, carries only a discretionary sentence of 0-6 months. The judges would be free to impose sentence within those guidelines, depending on the circumstances of each case and any prior record. Virtually all the defendants would have received only probation and been immediately deported. In fact, the government's offer at the higher end of the guidelines (one month shy of the maximum sentence) was indeed no bargain. What is worse, the inflated charge, via the binding 11(C)(1)(c) Plea Agreement, reduced the judges to mere bureaucrats, pronouncing the same litany over and over for the record in order to legalize the proceedings, but having absolutely no discretion or decision-making power. As a citizen, I want our judges to administer justice, not a federal agency. When the executive branch forces the hand of the judiciary, the result is abuse of power and arbitrariness, unworthy of a democracy founded upon the constitutional principle of checks and balances.,

To an impartial and informed layperson, the process resembled a lottery of justice: if the Social Security number belonged to someone else, you were charged with identity theft and went to jail; if by luck it was a vacant number, you would get only Social Security fraud and were released for deportation. In this manner, out of 297 who were charged on time, 270 went to jail. Bothered by the arbitrariness of that heavier charge, I went back to the ICE Search Warrant Application (pp. 35-36), and what I found was astonishing. On February 20, 2008, ICE agents received social security "no match" information for 737 employees, including 147 using numbers confirmed by the SSA as invalid (never issued to a person) and 590 using valid SSNs, "however the numbers did not match the name of the employee reported by Agriprocessors..." "This analysis would not account for the possibility that a person may have falsely used the identity of an actual person's name and SSN." "In my training and expertise, I know it is not uncommon for aliens to purchase identity documents which include SSNs that match the name assigned to the number." Yet, ICE agents checked Accurint, the powerful identity database used by law enforcement, and found that 983 employees that year had non-matching SSNs. Then they conducted a search of the FTC Consumer Sentinel Network for reporting incidents of identity theft. "The search revealed that a person who was assigned one of the social security numbers used by an employee of Agriprocessors has reported his/her identity being stolen." That is, out of 983 only 1 number (0.1%) happened to coincide by chance with a reported identity theft. The charge was clearly unfounded; and the raid, a fishing expedition. "On April 16, 2008, the US filed criminal complaints against 697 employees, charging them with unlawfully using SSNs in violation of Title 42 USC §408(a)(7)(B); aggravated identity theft in violation of 18 USC §1028A(a)(1); and/or possession or use of false identity documents for purposes of employment in violation of 18 USC §1546."

Created by Congress in an Act of 1998, the new federal offense of identity theft, as described by the DOJ (http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/fraud/websites/idtheft.html), bears no relation to the Postville cases. It specifically states: "knowingly uses a means of identification of another person with the intent to commit any unlawful activity or felony" [18 USC §1028(a)]. The offense clearly refers to harmful, felonious acts, such as obtaining credit under another person's identity. Obtaining work, however, is not an "unlawful activity." No way would a grand jury find probable cause of identity theft here. But with the promise of faster deportation, their ignorance of the legal system, and the limited opportunity to consult with counsel before arraignment, all the workers, without exception, were led to waive their 5th Amendment right to grand jury indictment on felony charges. Waiting for a grand jury meant months in jail on an immigration detainer, without the possibility of bail. So the attorneys could not recommend it as a defense strategy. Similarly, defendants have the right to a status hearing before a judge, to determine probable cause, within ten days of arraignment, but their Plea Agreement offer from the government was only good for... seven days. Passing it up, meant risking 2 years in jail. As a result, the frivolous charge of identity theft was assured never to undergo the judicial test of probable cause. Not only were defendants and judges bound to accept the Plea Agreement, there was also absolutely no defense strategy available to counsel. Once the inflated charge was handed down, all the pieces fell into place like a row of dominoes. Even the court was banking on it when it agreed to participate, because if a good number of defendants asked for a grand jury or trial, the system would be overwhelmed. In short, "fast-tracking" had worked like a dream.

It is no secret that the Postville ICE raid was a pilot operation, to be replicated elsewhere, with kinks ironed out after lessons learned. Next time, "fast-tracking" will be even more relentless. Never before has illegal immigration been criminalized in this fashion. It is no longer enough to deport them: we first have to put them in chains. At first sight it may seem absurd to take productive workers and keep them in jail at taxpayers' expense. But the economics and politics of the matter are quite different from such rational assumptions. A quick look at the ICE Fiscal Year 2007 Annual Report (www.ice.gov) shows an agency that has grown to 16,500 employees and a $5 billion annual budget, since it was formed under Homeland Security in March 2003, "as a law enforcement agency for the post-9/11 era, to integrate enforcement authorities against criminal and terrorist activities, including the fights against human trafficking and smuggling, violent transnational gangs and sexual predators who prey on children" (17). No doubt, ICE fulfills an extremely important and noble duty. The question is why tarnish its stellar reputation by targeting harmless illegal workers. The answer is economics and politics. After 9/11 we had to create a massive force with readiness "to prevent, prepare for and respond to a wide range of catastrophic incidents, including terrorist attacks, natural disasters, pandemics and other such significant events that require large-scale government and law enforcement response" (23). The problem is that disasters, criminality, and terrorism do not provide enough daily business to maintain the readiness and muscle tone of this expensive force. For example, "In FY07, ICE human trafficking investigations resulted in 164 arrests and 91 convictions" (17). Terrorism related arrests were not any more substantial. The real numbers are in immigration: "In FY07, ICE removed 276,912 illegal aliens" (4). ICE is under enormous pressure to turn out statistical figures that might justify a fair utilization of its capabilities, resources, and ballooning budget. For example, the Report boasts 102,777 cases "eliminated" from the fugitive alien population in FY07, "quadrupling" the previous year's number, only to admit a page later that 73,284 were "resolved" by simply "taking those cases off the books" after determining that they "no longer met the definition of an ICE fugitive" (4-5).

De facto, the rationale is: we have the excess capability; we are already paying for it; ergo, use it we must. And using it we are: since FY06 "ICE has introduced an aggressive and effective campaign to enforce immigration law within the nation's interior, with a top-level focus on criminal aliens, fugitive aliens and those who pose a threat to the safety of the American public and the stability of American communities" (6). Yet, as of October 1, 2007, the "case backlog consisted of 594,756 ICE fugitive aliens" (5). So again, why focus on illegal workers who pose no threat? Elementary: they are easy pickings. True criminal and fugitive aliens have to be picked up one at a time, whereas raiding a slaughterhouse is like hitting a small jackpot: it beefs up the numbers. "In FY07, ICE enacted a multi-year strategy: ...worksite enforcement initiatives that target employers who defy immigration law and the "jobs magnet" that draws illegal workers across the border" (iii). Yet, as the saying goes, corporations don't go to jail. Very few individuals on the employer side have ever been prosecuted. In the case of Agriprocessors, the Search Warrant Application cites only vague allegations by alien informers against plant supervisors (middle and upper management are insulated). Moreover, these allegations pertain mostly to petty state crimes and labor infringements. Union and congressional leaders contend that the federal raid actually interfered with an ongoing state investigation of child labor and wage violations, designed to improve conditions. Meanwhile, the underlying charge of "knowingly possessing or using false employment documents with intent to deceive" places the blame on the workers and holds corporate individuals harmless. It is clear from the scope of the warrant that the thrust of the case against the employer is strictly monetary: to redress part of the cost of the multimillion dollar raid. This objective is fully in keeping with the target stated in the Annual Report: "In FY07, ICE dramatically increased penalties against employers whose hiring processes violated the law, securing fines and judgments of more than $30 million" (iv).

Much of the case against Agriprocessors, in the Search Warrant Application, is based upon "No-Match" letters sent by the Social Security Administration to the employer. In August 2007, DHS issued a Final Rule declaring "No-Match" letters sufficient notice of possible alien harboring. But current litigation (AFL-CIO v. Chertoff) secured a federal injunction against the Rule, arguing that such error-prone method would unduly hurt both legal workers and employers. As a result the "No-Match" letters may not be considered sufficient evidence of harboring. The lawsuit also charges that DHS overstepped its authority and assumed the role of Congress in an attempt to turn the SSA into an immigration law enforcement agency. Significantly, in referring to the Final Rule, the Annual Report states that ICE "enacted" a strategy to target employers (iii); thereby using a word ("enacted") that implies lawmaking authority. The effort was part of ICE's "Document and Benefit Fraud Task Forces," an initiative targeting employees, not employers, and implying that illegal workers may use false SSNs to access benefits that belong to legal residents. This false contention serves to obscure an opposite and long-ignored statistics: the value of Social Security and Medicare contributions by illegal workers. People often wonder where those funds go, but have no idea how much they amount to. Well, they go into the SSA's "Earnings Suspense File," which tracks payroll tax deductions from payers with mismatched SSNs. By October 2006, the Earnings Suspense File had accumulated $586 billion, up from just $8 billion in 1991. The money itself, which currently surpasses $600 billion, is credited to, and comingled with, the general SSA Trust Fund. SSA actuaries now calculate that illegal workers are currently subsidizing the retirement of legal residents at a rate of $8.9 billion per year, for which the illegal (no-match) workers will never receive benefits.

Again, the big numbers are not on the employers' side. The best way to stack the stats is to go after the high concentrations of illegal workers: food processing plants, factory sweatshops, construction sites, janitorial services-the easy pickings. September 1, 2006, ICE raid crippled a rural Georgia town: 120 arrested. Dec. 12, 2006, ICE agents executed warrants at Swift & Co. meat processing facilities in six states: 1,297 arrested, 274 "charged with identity theft and other crimes" (8). March 6, 2007 ...The Boston Globe reports...300 ICE agents raided a sweatshop in New Bedford: 361 mostly Guatemalan workers arrested, many flown to Texas for deportation, dozens of children stranded. As the Annual Report graph shows, worksite raids escalated after FY06, signaling the arrival of "a New Era in immigration enforcement" (1). Since 2002, administrative arrests increased tenfold, while criminal arrests skyrocketed thirty-fivefold, from 25 to 863. Still, in FY07, only 17% of detainees were criminally arrested, whereas in Postville it was 100% ..a "success" made possible by "fast-tracking".. with felony charges rendering workers indistinguishable on paper from real "criminal aliens." Simply put, the criminalization of illegal workers is just a cheap way of boosting ICE "criminal alien" arrest statistics. But after Postville, it is no longer a matter of clever paperwork and creative accounting: this time around 130 man-years of prison time were handed down pursuant to a bogus charge. The double whammy consists in beefing up an additional and meatier statistics showcased in the Report: "These incarcerated aliens have been involved in dangerous criminal activity such as murder, predatory sexual offenses, narcotics trafficking, alien smuggling and a host of other crimes" (6). Never mind the character assassination: next year when we read the FY08 report, we can all revel in the splendid job the agency is doing, keeping us safe, and blindly beef up its budget another billion. After all, they have already arrested 1,755 of these "criminals" in this May's raids alone.

The agency is now poised to deliver on the New Era. In FY07, ICE grew by 10 percent, hiring 1,600 employees, including over 450 new deportation officers, 700 immigration enforcement agents, and 180 new attorneys. At least 85% of the new hires are directly allocated to immigration enforcement. "These additional personnel move ICE closer to target staffing levels"(35). Moreover, the agency is now diverting to this offensive resources earmarked for other purposes such as disaster relief. Wondering where the 23 trailers came from that were used in the Iowa "fast-tracking" operation? "In FY07, one of ICE's key accomplishments was the Mobile Continuity of Operations Emergency Response Pilot Project, which entails the deployment of a fleet of trailers outfitted with emergency supplies, pre-positioned at ICE locations nationwide for ready deployment in the event of a nearby emergency situation" (23). Too late for New Orleans, but there was always Postville... Hopefully the next time my fellow interpreters hear the buzzwords "Continuity of Operations" they will at least know what they are getting into.

This massive buildup for the New Era is the outward manifestation of an internal shift in the operational imperatives of the Long War, away from the "war on terror" (which has yielded lean statistics) and onto another front where we can claim success: the escalating undeclared war on illegal immigration. "Had this effort been in place prior to 9/11, all of the hijackers who failed to maintain status would have been investigated months before the attack" (9). According to its new paradigm, the agency fancies that it can conflate the diverse aspects of its operations and pretend that immigration enforcement is really part and parcel of the "war on terror." This way, statistics in the former translate as evidence of success in the latter. Thus, the Postville charges-document fraud and identity theft-treat every illegal alien as a potential terrorist, and with the same rigor. At sentencing, as I interpreted, there was one condition of probation that was entirely new to me: "You shall not be in possession of an explosive artifact." The Guatemalan peasants in shackles looked at each other, perplexed.

When the executive responded to post-9/11 criticism by integrating law enforcement operations and security intelligence, ICE was created as "the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)" with "broad law enforcement powers and authorities for enforcing more than 400 federal statutes" (1). A foreseeable effect of such broadness and integration was the concentration of authority in the executive branch, to the detriment of the constitutional separation of powers. Nowhere is this more evident than in Postville, where the expansive agency's authority can be seen to impinge upon the judicial and legislative powers. "ICE's team of attorneys constitutes the largest legal program in DHS, with more than 750 attorneys to support the ICE mission in the administrative and federal courts. ICE attorneys have also participated in temporary assignments to the Department of Justice as Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys spearheading criminal prosecutions of individuals. These assignments bring much needed support to taxed U.S. Attorneys' offices"(33). English translation: under the guise of interagency cooperation, ICE prosecutors have infiltrated the judicial branch. Now we know who the architects were that spearheaded such a well crafted "fast-tracking" scheme, bogus charge and all, which had us all, down to the very judges, fall in line behind the shackled penguin march. Furthermore, by virtue of its magnitude and methods, ICE's New War is unabashedly the aggressive deployment of its own brand of immigration reform, without congressional approval. "In FY07, as the debate over comprehensive immigration reform moved to the forefront of the national stage, ICE expanded upon the ongoing effort to re-invent immigration enforcement for the 21st century" (3). In recent years, DHS has repeatedly been accused of overstepping its authority. The reply is always the same: if we limit what DHS/ICE can do, we have to accept a greater risk of terrorism. Thus, by painting the war on immigration as inseparable from the war on terror, the same expediency would supposedly apply to both. Yet, only for ICE are these agendas codependent: the war on immigration depends politically on the war on terror, which, as we saw earlier, depends economically on the war on immigration. This type of no-exit circular thinking is commonly known as a "doctrine." In this case, it is an undemocratic doctrine of expediency, at the core of a police agency, whose power hinges on its ability to capitalize on public fear. Opportunistically raised by DHS, the sad specter of 9/11 has come back to haunt illegal workers and their local communities across the USA.

A line was crossed at Postville. The day after in Des Moines, there was a citizens' protest featured in the evening news. With quiet anguish, a mature all-American woman, a mother, said something striking, as only the plain truth can be. "This is not humane," she said. "There has to be a better way."

Anti-War? Help me raise money for Unembedded Photo Show in Seattle

2008-07-09T12:39:00.000-07:00

Today I am writing on behalf Health Alliance International and a group of Seattle activist organizations and individuals to invite your participation and support in bringing Unembedded – Four Independent Photojournalists on the War in Iraq, to Seattle's University of Washington Library for exhibit from September to December 2008.

YES I AM ASKING YOU FOR MONEY! AND I AM INVITING YOU TO A SPECIAL RECEPTION TO MEET TWO OF THE PHOTOGRAPHERS WHO CREATED UNEMBEDDED!

Unembedded is a national touring exhibit of 60 images that tell the story of the war’s impact on the lives of the Iraqi people “on the ground” where the war is being waged. It is a powerful expression of the effects of war that go largely ignored by the mainstream media. You can view the exhibit online at: http://www.unembedded.net. Look at the images, and if you want to share this with other people, help my friend Doctor Wendy Johnson and I show this exhibit to folks in Seattle at UW this fall!

The goal of the exhibit is to help raise public awareness about the impact of US policy in Iraq through eyewitness accounts of events on the ground. Unembedded is a useful departure point for educators in journalism, photography, art, social and political sciences. The photographers encourage exhibit hosts to schedule publicly accessible programs related to the war in Iraq while the exhibit is in place and to promote broad public viewing and discussion of the work.

A small group of committed University of Washington faculty members, students and community activists are organizing to showcase the Unembedded photography exhibit at the University of Washington.

Our goal is to bring attention to the effects and implications of the war shortly before the election this fall. We would like to ensure the exhibit is accessible to both students and the community-at-large.

The exhibit will be displayed during fall quarter in the Odegaard Undergraduate Library at the University of Washington and will include interpretative panels about the war’s effect on human health and the environment in Iraq, as well as its impact on returning American veterans, their families, and communities. Thousands of students will see the exhibit every day.

This show is important to me, to America, to our youth, to the Seattle Anti-War community, and to YOU, because it shows the real effects of Bush's War on the Iraqi people. If you are anti-war, I'd like to ask you for $25 (matchable by companies like Microsoft and Boeing, since Health Alliance International is a 501-3c non-profit!).

RECEPTION
Two of the photographers, Thorne Anderson and Kael Alford will speak at a major event at the University of Washington Kane Hall on October 12th at 5 pm. The exhibit will be displayed from mid-September to December 10th at the Library. In addition, we are currently working other organizations and artists to hold related events on campus and in the greater Seattle community focusing on politically-themed art before the election in the fall.

I would like to invite each of you who support our troops to donate and would like to invite you to a special photographer’s viewing and reception at 4 pm on October 12th, and to ask for a contribution to help defray the costs of the exhibition. All organizations or individuals that make a donation of at least $100 will be listed as co-sponsors of the exhibit, unless you request that your name or organization should not be acknowledged in this manner. In order to pay for the show, transportation, security and display of the exhibit and the opening reception, we will need to raise $10,000.

To donate, you can make a tax-deductible donation online:

http://depts.washington.edu/haiuw/hai/help/category/donate/make_a_contribution/

This page leads you to the Click and Pledge site:

https://128bit.clickandpledge.com/Default.asp?ID=11383

Please specify “unembedded” in the comments field.

We greatly appreciate your consideration of a contribution to support this extraordinary exhibit and hope you will be able to attend the opening reception.

CONTACTS:
Wendy Johnson MD, MPH
Health Alliance International
email: wjohns AT u.washington.edu (replace AT with @ sign please)

Amy Hagopian, PhD
University of Washington
Hagopian AT u.washington.edu (replace AT with @ sign please)

Mike Dedrick
Veterans for Peace
mikededrick AT comcast.net (replace AT with @ sign please)

EXHIBIT SPECS AND INFO:
The goal of the exhibit is to enhance public awareness of the effects of U.S. policy in Iraq through eyewitness accounts from the perspective of journalists who live, work, and travel independently, outside the U.S. military embedding program. Unembedded can be a useful departure point for educators in journalism, photography, art, social and political sciences. We encourage exhibit hosts to schedule publicly accessible programs related to the war in Iraq while the exhibit is in place and to promote broad public viewing and discussion of the work.

There are:

52 photographs 20 x 24 inches
8 photographs 30 x 40 inches
2 introductory panels 20 x 24 inches

A soundtrack excerpted from the documentary film “The Blood of My Brother” by independent filmmaker Andrew Berends is provided with the exhibition on a CD. This ambient soundtrack will be played during openings or throughout the run of the exhibition at the discretion of the venue. The soundtrack consists of short monologue clips in English and Arabic, interspersed with ambient sounds.

Please help us show these images to the many potential young voters at Seattle's University of Washington Odegaard Library this fall. Please donate online by July 30.

Thank you to everyone in advance for donating. I'll report in two weeks on the progress of the fund raising but will be reminding people of this every day on the web!

EPA Enviro Facts - What do YOU live Near?

2008-07-07T22:30:00.000-07:00

I moved to NJ for 4 months this past winter and while in the Garden State, discovered a cool tool on the EPA site: Enviro Facts and Enviro Mapper. You can plug in your US zip code to find out about water quality, toxic emissions, air and soil quality, and more - things like SuperFund sites near your home, or brownfields.

The tool URL is:

http://www.epa.gov/enviro/

You can use advanced queries, mapping functions, and get your hands on all sorts of interesting data.

Let me show you how I used the tool:

1. I moved to zip code 07071, Lyndhurst, NJ and wanted to see what was around there, how polluted it was.
2. First I checked out the big map, EnviroMapper tool, on this page: http://www.epa.gov/enviro/html/em/ and selected "Window to My Environment" (you can also pick from the other options):

a. Window
b. EPA regulated facilities
c. Environmental Justice Geographic Assessment Info
d. Brownfields info
e. Super Fund info
f. Toxics Release inventory (TRI)
g. Surface Water info
h. Cleanups in my community
i. Waste Management Facility siting tool

Results for the EnviroMapper got me a window of links to do further reading and a very cool map!!! On that map I was able to link to more information on:

- Home Pages for Federal/State Partners:

AIR/CLIMATE
- What is the air quality?
- What facilities emit to the air?
- Where is air monitored?
- What is the Ultra Violet(UV) Index?

LAND
- What facilities handle hazardous waste?
- What facilities have Toxic releases to land?
- What are the Superfund Sites?
- Are there Brownfields Areas?
- Where are the Cleanups?

WATER
- What is the drinking water quality?
- What facilities discharge to water?
- What watersheds cross the area?
- Are there polluted waters?
- Where is water monitored?
- Are there any fish consumption advisories?
- Are there any beach advisories/closures?

CROSS MEDIA
- What chemicals are released?
- What industries have releases?

WHAT IS BEING DONE ABOUT MY ENVIRONMENT
- Environmental Justice Assessment
- Reporting and Tracking
- Restoring and Protecting
- Working Locally

You can also use this cool mapping too to draw a map that shows features such as schools, congressional boundaries, water features, hazardous waste sites, hospitals, ground water monitors, and more. If you look at the map created by inputting 07071, you can see how polluted Lyndhurst, NJ is, and what kinds of pollution data are being collected and how it impacts the watersheds, the air, soils, and more.

There are in zip code 07071 the following, based on data from this map:

1. Number of facilities reporting to EPA (this is good, they are reporting stuff...) in Lyndhurst is 450. This includes all kinds of businesses, with air emissions, water releases, hazardous waste, etc...including garbage dumps.
2. Impaired water bodies.
3. Numerous SuperFund sites (there are a lot of trash dumps in this area).
4. Almost 100 Hazardous Waste sites
6. You can also see more info on this web page: http://www.epa.gov/epahome/whereyoulive.htm input your zip there...for all kinds of fun info!

Hazardous Waste sites in your 'hood:

The EPA defines Hazardous Wastes as:

Hazardous waste is a waste with properties that make it dangerous or potentially harmful to human health or the environment. The universe of hazardous wastes is large and diverse. Hazardous wastes can be liquids, solids, contained gases, or sludges. They can be the by-products of manufacturing processes or simply discarded commercial products, like cleaning fluids or pesticides.

In regulatory terms, a RCRA hazardous waste is a waste that appears on one of the four hazardous wastes lists (F-list, K-list, P-list, or U-list), or exhibits at least one of four characteristics—ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, or toxicity. Hazardous waste is regulated under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Subtitle C. For more information on the RCRA statute and links to the regulations, visit RCRA Laws and Regulations.

Let's go broad, then deep, to all of NJ and to one site specifically

A list of National SuperFund sites can be found, starting on this page: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/npl.htm

I clicked on this page:
http://cfpub.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/srchsites.cfm and searched all of NJ, in general, to reveal 565 active SuperFund sites in the state.

So I went thru the list of the first 25, and found one for a company named "American Cyanamid" and drilled down to see the list of contaminants on this page: http://cfpub.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.contams&id=0200144
and discovered that the contaminants here include: ETHYLBENZENE, TOLUENE,
BENZENE, LEAD, MERCURY, and MANY MORE. Wow. All that going into the soils and into the ground water. Interesting.

But they are working on this in terms of cleanup activities, it seems per the activity report page (with pdf files of the info, in detail): http://cfpub.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.CleanupActs&id=0200144

I do think that companies need to be held responsible, and laws enforced, to ensure that this stuff does not get further into, or more frequently released, into the ground water or soils of our neighborhoods. I think that point, in the first place, is the biggest issue: that this is allowed to happen at all is heinous, so making sure the EPA is doing their jobs along with other enforcement bodies and services, is up to us to monitor.

Now...why should you care about stuff like this?

Well, for one thing I bet you are like me, in that you think it is important to understand what is happening around you. For me that includes what's going into my drinking water, my air, and my soils. I am also concerned about radioactive wastes, and those are listed in the site/tool set as well.

My main reason for writing this diary and posting all these links is to get people thinking about where they live, what they can research on their own with these tools, and if it concerns people enough, maybe we can help to monitor the progress of cleanups and also prevent certain wastes from getting into us (not just our environment.)

In the comments put a list of the stuff you live near - I would love to see what people find in their own back yards. http://www.epa.gov/epahome/whereyoulive.htm

Wolves to be shot - 428 of them

2008-06-17T12:08:00.000-07:00

UPDATE on IDAHO WOLVES:
Looks like there will be 428 shot and killed this year during the new open season since they are no longer "endangered." More of a update soon. This is disappointing news as of April 2008.

More info on the plans here with multiple resources being cited:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/23/21113/0505/711/521012

Time to make more phone calls to the papers and Fish and Game as well as Defenders of Wildlife and Wolf Haven.

PBN - Pushback Blog Network

2008-06-17T11:59:00.000-07:00

Today I am going to post about the PBN, or Pushback Blog Network. I am adding a widget to this page to highlight the work that this team of bloggers does.

My first post will likely be an analysis of Al Gore's endorsement of Barack Obama at this late date (we all know why, but it is important, I think, to analyze it in context.)

Now, on to add the widget to the page and get this sorted out for publishing.

Wolves, Not "Otters"

2007-01-17T14:12:00.000-08:00

UPDATE on IDAHO WOLVES:
Looks like there will be 428 shot and killed.

I think that shooting and poisoning wolves is hideous, and I like wolves better than I like Republican “Otters”. Idaho Fish and game and the USFWS lists options on their pages for what to do if you have “a Wolf Problem” but there is nothing about what to do if you have “an Otter Problem” so I am helping you out here with this info.

DistributorCap diaried the proposed Wolf Hunt yesterday. Link: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/1/12/124052/915

This is an action diary to supplement that news diary.

I want anyone who has time and a few spare cell phone minutes to write one email on the contact form linked below, and make one call the the Office of Governor Otter. I have called Otter's office, the Idaho Statesman, Wolfhaven.org and Defenders of Wildlife today. Plus sent mails to each.

WHY? WHY? WHY?
Why kill most of the wolves? Idaho Fish and game and the USFWS lists options on their pages for what to do if you have “a Wolf Problem” but there is nothing about what to do if you have “an Otter Problem” so I am helping you out here with this info.

Email form: http://gov.idaho.gov/ourgov/contact.html
Phone: 1-208-334-2100 Otter’s Administrative Assistant has taken SEVERAL HUNDRED calls today and yesterday about this. That’s a LOT of calls.

All bio info on Otter is directly from the governor's own website. All Wolf bio info is from Dr. Ralph Maughan's Wolves blog, listed with links below.

From the Idaho Statesman, 1-16-07: “Facts must guide the state's decisions — not a trigger-happy governor jumping the gun on the science.” ... link: http://www.idahostatesman.com/106/story/67709.html

Otter:
C.L. "Butch" Otter was elected Governor of Idaho on November 7, 2006. He previously served three terms in Congress representing Idaho’s 1st District (2000-2006). Governor-elect Otter is a father of four and grandfather of three. He is married to the former Lori Easley. They live on their ranch near Star.

Wolf:
Part of the initial release in January, 1995, was a black female wolf number B11F named Blackfire. She was originally from SW Alberta Canada (along with the others released). She was was named by school children in Meridian, Idaho. She was between 1-2 years old at capture. Blackfire and the others were released to begin their new lives at the edge of the Frank Church/River of No Return Wilderness.

Otter:
Governor-elect Otter was born in Caldwell on May 3, 1942. He graduated from St. Teresa’s Academy (now Bishop Kelly High School) in Boise, attended Boise Junior College (now Boise State University), and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the College of Idaho (now Albertson College of Idaho) in 1967.

Wolf:
For months after release, Blackfire was cruising around, often lost to trackers. This was because she would migrate back and forth over the Continental Divide, traversing the Salmon River Mountains and cutting across the outskirts of the town of Salmon, Idaho. [Lokimom here: I lived in Salmon Idaho during this time, working for the BLM, and it was a very interesting time to be there.]

Otter:
He served honorably in the Idaho Army National Guard’s 116th Armored Cavalry from 1968 to 1973, and later was awarded honorary doctorates from Mindanao (MIN’-den-ow) State University in the Philippines and Albertson College of Idaho in Caldwell.

Wolf:
In the winter of 1995-6, Blackfire met and paired with a male, B7M. B7M had been only a yearling at his capture in Alberta. The pair migrated to Montana's Big Hole Mountains and Valley where they remained for a couple of years and established the Big Hole Pack as alphas. Life was good for a while, hunting and playing in the sun during summer. Then they discovered cows. Blackfire and her mate were captured again in 1997, taken to the Nez Perce pen in Yellowstone Park and then reintroduced into Idaho in August. In August 1997 Blackfire and B7M were released on the North Fork of the Clearwater River in northern Idaho, after being moved about in order to confuse them so that they would not remember where the cows were in the Big Hole valley. This was for their safety and a means of managing them instead of killing them.

Otter:
Governor-elect Otter’s 30-year career in business included membership on the Board of Directors of the J.R. Simplot Company. He also served as Director of the Food Products Division, President of Simplot Livestock, and President of Simplot International. He retired in 1993. When he was elected to Congress, Governor-elect Otter was serving his fourth term as Idaho’s Lieutenant Governor. He served in that office longer than anyone in Idaho history. He previously represented the people of Canyon County in the Idaho House of Representatives for two terms (1973-1976), was on the Idaho Republican Party Central Committee and was Chairman of the Canyon County Republican Party.

Wolf:
Blackfire and her mate are now called the Running Creek pair, and they have settled in the Selway/Bitterroot Wilderness. In the spring of 1998, they had their first litter of pups. They officially became the Big Hole Pack at that point. Only alpha animals in wolf packs breed and once the pair breeds, they become a pack.

Otter:
Governor-elect Otter is a member of the Roman Catholic Church, the National Rifle Association, the Maple Grove State Grange, the Idaho Cowboys Association, the American Legion, Idaho 4-H Million Dollar Club, a Grand Slam member of Ducks Unlimited, and a lifetime member of Safari Club International.

Wolf:
Blackfire and her mate also had litters in 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2005. Blackfire had 3 pups in 2002. Still the alpha male of the Big Hole Pack, B7M was seen in July 2005 and the pack also had pups with them in the Bitterroot Mountains. Blackfire and B7M and their pack are still crossing over the Montana/Idaho border, and surviving, a story of successful wolf reintroduction and management.

Other contacts for ACTION:

Defenders of Wildlife:
http://action.defenders.org/site/PageServer?pagename=act_homepage&JServSessionIdr012=q9leigu712.app7b

www.WolfHaven.org:
Wolf Haven International
3111 Offut Lake Road
Tenino, WA 98589
800-448-9653 (U.S. only)
360-264-4695
fax: 360-264-4639
John Blankenship
Executive Director
director@wolfhaven.org

Ralph’s Wolves Blog: http://wolves.wordpress.com/. Most of the data for the info on Blackfire and her mate came from his records posted. I have put that part of the story in blockquotes to call it out as being from Ralph’s pages and pages of data and I have modified the info to be in narrative story form.

FWS: http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/species/mammals/wolf/

Idaho Fish and Game: http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/cms/wildlife/wolves/
Documented Pack Status: http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/cms/wildlife/wolves/pack_status.cfm

Al Gore on SNL

2006-05-14T17:05:00.000-07:00

This is hysterical!!! I just want to hug the man. Run, Al run!!!

So youTube had to take the video down, so here is the transcript...

"SNL opens with a space shot
Announcer: Scientists have long speculated that infinite parallel
worlds exist (5 different earths on screen) in different ways than the
world we know. On these earths, history has taken different paths, on
one, dinosaurs and man coexist, on another, the Russians were the
first man to walk on the moon, on another still, Clay Aiken defeated
Ruben Studdard. Come join us as we travel through the fabric of time
and space to one of these mysteries, one of these parallel earths
(earth turns into U. S. Presidential Seal)

Announcer: And now a message from the President of the United States

(Al Gore seated at his desk in the Oval Office)

AG: Good Evening my fellow Americans. In 2000, when you overwhelmingly
made the decision to elect me as your 43rd President, I knew the road
ahead would be difficult. We have accomplished so much yet challenges
lie ahead. In the last 6 years, we have been able to stop global
warming. No one could have predicted the negative results of this.
Glaciers that were once melting, are now on the attack. As you know,
these renegade glaciers have already captured parts of upper Michigan
and northern Maine, but I can assure you, we will not let the glaciers
win.

And now, in the 2nd week of May, 2006, we are facing perhaps the worst
gas crisis in history. We have way too much gasoline. Gas is down to
19cents a gallon, and the oil companies are hurting. I know that I am
partly to blame, by insisting that cars run on trash. I am therefore
proposing a federal bail-out to our oil companies because hey, if it
were the other way around, you know the oil companies would help us.

On a positive note, we worked hard to save welfare, fix Social
Security, and of course, provide the free Universal Healthcare we all
enjoy today. But all this came at a high cost. As I speak, the
gigantic national budget surplus is down to a perilously low 11
trillion dollars. And don't get any ideas. That money is staying in
the very successful lockbox. We're not touching it!

Of course, we could give economic aid to China, or lend money to the
Saudis--again. But right now, we are already so loved by everyone in
the world, American tourists can't even go over to Europe anymore
without getting hugged.

There are some of you, who would like to spend our money on some
made-up war. To you I say, 'What part of "lockbox" don't you
understand?' What if there's a hurricane, or a tornado? Unlikely, I
know because of the anti-hurricane and tornado machine I was
instrumental in developing. But, what if? What if the scientists are
right, and one of those giant glaciers hits Boston? That's why we have
the lockbox.

As for immigration, solving that came at a heavy cost. And I
personally regret the loss of California. However, the new Mexifornian
economy is strong. El Presidente Schwarzenegger is doing a great job.

There have been some setbacks. Unfortunately, the confirmation process
for Supreme Court Justice Michael Moore was bitter and divisive.
However, I could not be more proud of how the House and the Senate
pulled together to confirm the nomination of Chief Justice George
Clooney.

Baseball, our national pastime, still lies under the shadow of steroid
accusations. But I have faith in Baseball Commissioner George W. Bush
when he says, 'We will find the steroid users, if we have to tap every
phone in America'.

In 2001, when I came into office, our national security was the most
important issue; the threat of terrorism was real. Who knew that 6
years later, Afghanistan would be the most popular spring break
destination? That 6 Flags Tehran is the fastest growing amusement park
in the middle east?

And the scariest thing we Americans have to fear is LIVE FROM NEW
YORK, ITS SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE! "

More Katrina pictures

2006-05-12T10:20:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to add a few more images...here. An amazingly up and down week, emotionally. A lot to process in terms of what happens when so many small towns and a city like this are destroyed.

I wanted to post some links here for people who might want more info:

Hurricane Katrina - http://www.hurricane-katrina.org/

More images and liberal commentary: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/5/11/204043/848

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina

http://www.nola.com/katrinaphotos/

Katrina Thoughts Day 2, part 2

2006-05-10T18:13:00.000-07:00

This morning Loki and I drive thru the business district and parked in the lot next to JAX and walked thru the French Quarter.

I took one photo for my friend LuAnn, of the Royal St. Inn for her. There were maybe 150 people in the area. We walked to Cafe du Monde (www.cafedumonde.com), had black chicory coffee and beignets and walked thru the market, around the quarter....we walked for 2 hours before it got too hot and we came back to the hotel to cool down. Loki does not do well when it is over 80.

Perhaps 1/2 the shops were open. I did not feel like buying anything, especially not the T-shirts that said things about FEMA, the Corps of Engineers, the hurricane itself, did not want to buy any beads or masks or cocktails to go.

Jackson Square is beautiful as ever. The mighty Mississippi was flowing fast and it was windy today. There are storms predicted tonight, possibly with lightning.

In the late afternoon Loki and I walked down St. Charles and got some pizza and an Italian soda and watched people. A few tourists passed us, but mostly there were locals walking to and from work. There was a US Marine who parked in front of the pizza house after 4 very funny parallel parking tries. He had a nice smile though and a big sidearm. Went into the chained, locked mysterious building next to the pizza house. No sign on the door so it was probably top secret. Just hope he does his job better than he parks a rental car.

The St. Charles line street car is not running. Lots of car and foot traffic and many bicycles.

In the past 2 days when I have been out walking with Loki everyone who sees us stops to say how beautiful he is. Three people today asked if he was a wolf, then commented, "That's a damn big dog." Women swoon over him and say, "He's so beautiful! Can I pet him?" And the little kids usually get really, really big eyes when he looks at them at eye level. Some of them shriek but most of them pet him and think he is fuzzy. The best part of this trip has been the staff at the Garden District Inn. I paid for my room via PetFriendly.com thru Hotels.com and well, this hotel, after Katrina is no longer pet friendly but Adriana the manager said that since they are still in transition she did not care as long as he was quiet and did not eat the couch in my room.

Last night, Pat and I had dinner at Mr. John's Seafood House on St. Charles and of course had pasta. The bartender Kevin spent 14 years in Seattle living on Cap Hill and knows the bartender Katie at the Venus and Mars Bar so when I go in there I am supposed to say hi to her for him, and he is coming out to see his old flame and Katie in July...small world and what a nice guy.

More Katrina Thoughts, Day 2 part 1

2006-05-10T09:34:00.000-07:00

I wrote some of my thoughts down last night and decided to post them here today.

Today is the first time I have been here in 4.5 years.
Today is 8+ months after the event and things still look like a war zone.
There is so much to do and so many political roadblocks to getting things done. We need something like a Civilian Conservation Corps to come in and just camp out like during rescue efforts but instead do the cleanup. But where do they take the debris? Who pays them?
In some areas there is still no water, no electricity, no sewer, nothing. Until you can clean up the mess you can't all the way restore these things, I think. There are homes in the middle of roads in part of the city...
This place is not going to be better for a LONG DAMN TIME.

There are all kinds of political things happening - FEMA is leaving until the City and State can tell them what they need (or so I hear); the Army Corps of Engineers has something to do with permitting the process for cleanup, groups like Common Ground are rebuilding some homes and suing the city and other entities for the rights to keep mostly damaged-homes around to rebuild, all kinds of infighting seems to be happening.

The locals that are back (something like 1/5 of them only) are doing some things like weekly walk-thrus and cleanups of areas. They'll pick a street and take away trash....people are working on homes, and once each neutral zone (the zones of grass strips between each way on a residential street) are cleaned up, there is more room for debris there so more stuff can be hauled off.

So what happens next? Or, what's been happening in the 8+ months since August 29?

The City may even be bankrupt, but I cannot find hard data on this. From another blogger at DailyKos.com, they have said:
"Their tax base is shot. The metro bus service just defaulted on a $6 million loan payment. The the city has cut back on garbage collection because the money isn't there to pay for it. So now besides the piles of soggy housing debris still on the sidewalks, there are also now piles of stinking garbage sitting in the hot sun. Many of the traffic lights north of St. Charles are broken, many major intersections have turned into four way stops."

I wish everyone could come here and see the mess still. It's heinous. It's one thing to see photos of some wrecked and empty houses -- but what you can't see from the photos is how the destruction goes on for miles and miles and miles.

One other thing I heard from Pat about water pumping was that for every 1.5 MILLION gallons they are pumping into city water (so people like Loki and I have water in our hotel!) there are so many 'holes' and leaks that they lose 1 MILLION gallons of it, EACH day. Just to the water leaking out around various parts of the city. We saw a bubbling sidewalk near the USCG building as one example of a broken pipe...It was found that three of the huge pumps that remove water from the city are burned out, they took on salt water which ruined the windings in some of the pump motors. It's not likely they will be fixed before the coming hurricane season...per NOAA looks like the majority of hurricanes this year will go UP the Eastern Seaboard not thru the Gulf. But still there is a chance they will get hit.

There is only one open hospital in the entire city. After eight months, there are NO public schools operating at all, only private schools and three charter schools.

It's sad that the local, state, and federal governments can't work together to put together some emergency aid for New Orleans so that this city can at least collect the garbage, fix the streets, remove the flattened homes, pay for public transportation, and have working traffic lights. They have fixed the levees and the bridges and many of the freeways that became "lily pads" for people in the floods, so there is progress there.

An article I read a couple weeks ago was about "debris missiles". The friend I was with (again in the USCG and a registered Democrat!) commented on that - he said that yes, if they get any winds here from any type of strong storm that all those piles of garbage and debris will become projectiles that could hurt people (any of them in the areas that sill have large piles of debris that is.) That is scary.

On the employment thing as well, one person I chatted with on the street (you talk to everyone when you have a dog!) - he said there is TONS of work but it is hard at times to get paid by whoever you are working for and it is expensive to live here (compared to where he lives normally which I did not ask). He is a painter working on a house in the Garden District and he is having a heck of a time getting a paycheck - his contract boss is having a hard time getting paid by the owners who are not getting paid by insurance, etc etc - and of course many people are not getting paid at all by insurance yet to fix anything. There is lot of employment opportunity, but no middle and low income rental housing available for working people. Even the working poor who owned their homes in places like the Lower Ninth Ward can't come back to live and work - many of their employers are gone from the city and of course they have no place to live and cannot afford rent.

Signs of hope...I have seen several signs around the city (due to the latest mayoral election) that say: "Do You Know Where To Vote? Call this number....the Secretary of State" This guy (who is NOT running again) is running the elections this year to make them work and doing the best he can. Even if only a small fraction of the population is back, is registered to vote, and knows where to vote.

One final note:
The Bush administration is spending more in one day on Iraq than in one month in New Orleans. When will out Congress-critters step up and fight for New Orleans? Many of the locals are fighting as best as they can, but like I said abpve there is so much b.s. going on politically it is hard to see when this city will be renovated, the wetlands fixed, urban housing brought back, and all those things that go into fixing up a city flattened.

www.nola.com/katrina

Katrina Damage, Day 1

2006-05-09T20:06:00.000-07:00

Today is May 9. It's my birthday and the day I took the first "Destruction Tour 2006 - Katrina" with my family friend Pat. (He's mentioned in a post below and there is a pic). This is the first of many writings I will be doing on the things I see. I took no video today because I was in shock...

We went from my hotel in the Garden District (minor damage in this area) and drove around for several hours. This place is a mess.

First we went from the Garden District up to Mid City where there was some damage. Going closer to Lake Ponchartrain, we drove thru Metairie and then onto the Lake Shore near West End. Things here were destroyed. Absolutely destroyed. There were places where houses were washed off their foundations when the lake came over the berms. When the 17th Street canal levee burst (near here) there was an entire section of homes that were gone. Just gone.

In the pictures I have posted here and on

http://spaces.msn.com/marlasmusings

you can see that houses have spray paint marks on them. The X marks mean:

1. Who searched the house (SPCA, Housing Authority, FEMA, NOPD, etc)
2. Date it was searched
3. If there were any dead bodies found (thankfully all the numbers in all my pictures are 0)
4. If there were animals (and if they were dogs or cats), if they were aggressive or not, when they left Food and Water (F/W)
5. If there were people taken away alive

From West End, we drive along the Lake (thru Lakeview) and stopped at the US Coast Guard station on the Lake. Then we toured the marins near there. There are boats on top of docks still, boats, as you can see in the pictures here and on the spaces album, that are stacked on land. Pushed there by the water surge and winds.

This is 8 months after the storm and this IS cleaned up. It is being done slowly but surely in some palces, not at all in others, and FEMA has pulled out until the City Government and State folks can figure out what they need FEMA to do.

Potable water from emergency services:

Appreciation and Gratitude

2006-05-07T18:20:00.000-07:00

What does it mean to appreciate someone? What does it mean to be grateful for something like a sunset or a good wave or the unconditional love of a dog? How can you tell people that you appreciate them without sounding mushy? How do you show your dog you appreciate them? Is it important to appreciate the things people do for you? Why?

Well, it’s all about relationships. Appreciation and showing people that you are grateful is part of rewarding people for treating you nicely and supporting you, and it is about reciprocating a good feeling. Solid relationships are built on mutual trust, mutual respect, and being able to be vulnerable and appreciative. At least that is what I think. :-)

When you appreciate someone what is it that you are doing? You are saying to them, “Thank you.” and “Your doing that means a lot to me.” and “I will help you when you need the help, too, so thanks for supporting me.” Appreciation is one of the foundations of long-lasting friendships - knowing that you can trust and care for each other as genuine people and that doing little things and big things for each other is part of that give-and-take that makes you like each other. To me, being able to accept help when you need it is another way of showing that you appreciate someone’s offer - not being too stubborn to do everything on your own makes you vulnerable and makes you open to receiving love in this form. That kind of love nourishes us.

So I asked a few people what they appreciate about life, about themselves, about love, and about their partners. I got a variety of answers.

One of my girlfriends said that she appreciates her boyfriend because he challenges her to be a more well-rounded person by doing things she wouldn't normally do. He is also very encouraging in her desire to be a healthy person. He doesn't think they need to have the same opinions/tastes/desires to be happy together - he values differences and uniqueness in people.

This friend also said that the three things she appreciates about life... you get to experience pure, unconditional love, you get to learn from your mistakes and continually , positively change the way you are and the way you experience things, you get to lay in the sun and listen to birds chirping.

Several friends mentioned that they appreciate that they recognize and value good friends and strong friendships and that even though at times we “may have our differences and hurdles that we all are committed to being better people.”

Another girlfriend said she appreciates the way her friends get together and hang out having beers, sailing, making food together, and just talking. Building a basis for stronger friendships by just “being” with friends.

I am grateful to have such loving, kind, friends whom I owe my sanity to, plus a lot more.

In the past 14 months while my mom has been ill, I have learned to appreciate the following:

-Mom being healthy, now.
-Friends who are there for you when you need them to be, because you don’t know what to do.
-Having people to listen to me bitch about stuff. Constantly. OK, I am SO done with that y’all.
-Calling Mom every other day just to hear her talk about the weather and ask me if I need anything.
-Family around the US who rallied to help support Mom with letters, cards, visits and calls and helped to plan a great family reunion in November in Florida.
-Friends who have sent cards and chocolates to Mom to cheer her up.
-The joy of simply being. Walking Loki, morning and night. Chatting to friends on the dock.
-Going to new places and experiencing new adventures.
-Learning to surf. Still can’t stand up but hey, I will this season!
-Family Medical Leave. Thanks President Clinton.
-A good job with health benefits.
-Getting boxes of stuff in the mail from great friends!
-Deciding to break a new year’s resolution in order to have coffee with someone new. Thanks Sean, for being you.

UTILA, BAY ISLANDS, HONDURAS

2006-04-20T11:25:00.000-07:00

My Trip to Utila Honduras, March 25- April 1, 2006
My friend Ashley from work asked if I would be interested in going to Utila in October 2005. A dive trip to the Caribbean with friends like Ashley and Mark? Sure!

Ashley and I:

Mark:

Some info about Utila:

Map (everyone loves maps!): http://www.aboututila.com/Maps/IndexMaps.htm

Island size: 8 miles by 3.5 miles approx.

Island Dive sites map: http://www.aboututila.com/Maps/Map_Dive_Sites.htm

Location: The Bay Islands are off the Central American Coast - they are part of the country of Honduras.

Whale Sharks: www.wsroc.com - support their work! Darcy does a great presentation about the research they are doing.

Population: approx. 3,000

Historical books: http://www.aboututila.com/UtilaInfo/BooksUtilaHistorical.htm and a paper on history of the island: http://www.aboututila.com/UtilaInfo/Paradise-Paper/TOP-Utila-Contents.htm

Lodging: www.utilalodge.com is where we stayed

DiveMaster: Albert
Boat Captain: Willie

Our itinerary was: Seattle to Houston to Roatan to Utila. Continental Airlines.

The plane left Seattle at 6 a.m. March 25 and we got to Utila about 5 p.m. Central Time (they are only 2 hours ahead of Seattle.)

Our taxi ride from the airfield to the lodge was great! It poured rain in BUCKETS... like I have never seen and we were in the back on a pickup truck. No shell. Yes, several of us were soaked by the time we got to the lodge, but it was so much fun!

Dinner that night was the introduction to the lodge staff and the orientation. The lodge staff was wonderful, the food the entire week was great and you couldn’t ask for nicer hosts and a funnier crowd of people to travel with.

After dinner we wandered outside the dining area to check out the docks and the fish swimming below the lodge. Ashley and I saw spotted eagle rays and several species of small fish, including sardines. Night falls around 6 p.m. and the sun is up around 6 a.m.

TYPICAL DAY:
Our diving days always started with breakfast at 7 a.m. and then prepping gear and getting on the boat around 8 a.m. for the 2 morning dives. Then we’d head back around 1-ish for lunch and do either an afternoon or evening dive. If we did an afternoon dive, then dinner would be around 6:30, if we did a night dive it would be much later.

Water temp is about 78-81. I wore a 3 mm wet suit since I get cold easily.

Each dive is about 60 minutes and most dives I am staying above 60 feet. The water is very clear however and it is easy to keep going down to check things out.

NIGHT DIVE NOTES:
I did one of the 2 night dives, and I love night diving. Mainly due to the fact that you see cool critters at night that you don’t see during the day and also due to the Utila BLUE bioluminescence! Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism as the result of a chemical reaction during which chemical energy is converted to light energy. The name originates from the Greek bios for "living" and the Latin lumen "light". Bioluminescence may be generated by symbiotic organisms carried within a larger organism. It is generated by an enzyme-catalyzed chemoluminescence reaction, wherein a luciferin (a kind of pigment) is oxidised by a luciferase (a kind of enzyme). Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is involved in most instances. The chemical reaction can be either external to cells, or an intracellular process.

Octopus at night:
Mark took this photo, he is the Octopus Whisperer I swear...

SOUTHERN CROSS:
Night time on a clear night in the Southern Hemisphere....you can see the Southern Cross. Here is what it looked like from our deck:

This constellation is near the South Celestial Pole, around which the stars in the southern sky rotate. The Southern Cross is used for navigation in the southern hemisphere. Australia and New Zealand have versions of the Southern Cross in their national flags.

CRITTER LIST:
Here is a listing of the animals I saw in, around, above, and under the waters of Utila Island.

OCEAN CRITTERS:
Angelfish
Barracudas
Bioluminescense
Boxfish
Conch
Corals - tons
Cuttlefish
Damselfish
Green Moray Eel
Groupers
Jackknife fish
Nudibranchs
Octopus
Rays
Royal Grammas
Sardines
Sea Stars
Sea Turtles
Sea Urchins
Shrimp
Spadefish
Spotted Eagle Rays
Squirrel Fish
Surgeonfish
Tarpon
Triggerfish (Durgan)
Trumpet fish
Tunicates
Yellowstriped Grunts

BIRDS:
Pelicans
Blackbirds
Crows
Frigate Birds
Terns
Various small birds

A few more pictures should be posted to this page soon: http://spaces.msn.com/members/marlasmusings

Sunday Train by BruceMcF	Sundays @ 7-8PM
Wind Power Series by Jerome a Paris	Various
EcoAdvocates	Wednesdays @ 8-9PM
EcoJustice	Mondays @ 10PM
ECSTASY	Sundays @ 1PM Thursdays @ 10PM
Dawn Chorus Birdblog by lineatus	Sundays @ 9AM
Science Tidbits by possum	Mondays @ 3:30PM
Foraging Diaries by wide eyed lib	Sundays @ 4PM
eKos Earthship	Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays @ 10:30-11PM
This Week in Dirty Coal by DWG	Mondays @ 1-3PM
A More Ancient World by matching mole	TBD (Sundays or Wednesdays)
Climate Change News Roundup by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse	Sundays @ 10PM
Alternative Energy Round-Up by mark louis	Mondays and Thursdays @ 6PM
Macca's Meatless Mondays by beach babe in fl	Mondays @ 6PM
Green Diary Rescue by Meteor Blades	Thursdays and Sundays @ Midnight