Monday Musings: January 17. 2011

Today is obviously Martin Luther King Day - two giant steps forward. Today is also the 50th anniversary of one of the most pivotaly speeches in American history - President Eisenhower’s (Republican from Kansas!)  “Farewell’ speech in which he warns America of the military-industrial complex.

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist.” President Dwight D. Eisenhower

Listen to this segment on NPR. Disappointingly, they understate the case as America marches a thousand steps backward:

Watch the video. No, no! Don’t watch it. Close your eyes and get past the grainy black and white image, so out of phase with our shiny HD world. Listen. Listen with Iraq and Afghanistan in the front of your mind.

We are a nation of hopeless addicts. It’s no wonder we can’t solve the problems of mere drug addiction in the United States, when we are unwilling to honestly address our addiction to the obscene amounts of money that flow - often unchecked and unaudited - into the military-industrial complex coffers. With the economic downturn, it’s even more critical. Now we/Obama can’t cut jobs. Jobs that have been carefully spread around through districts with willing  drug lords - called Congress - as the enablers. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall during Obama’s ‘Come to Jesus’ moment when he figured out that he was ‘hooked’, too - with a near collapse of the economy.

We chose not to pay much attention to Eisenhower’s message. We also chose not to pay much attention to the rise of corporate influence that has undermined and grossly distorted our democratic processes. No wonder the Tea Party is angry. I am too.  I just wish they’d be angry at the real perpetrator rather than the laundry list of red herrings that the punditry on Fox points them at.

Case in point: Florida and The Clean Water Act.

Listen to this segment on NPR.

Poor babies. The State of Florida - handmaiden, in this case, to RepubliCorp and Big Sugar et al - is being ‘picked on’ and made an example of by that nasty federal government. If this isn’t a perfect example of the tail wagging the dog, nothing is. It’s also a textbook example of how corporate interests - fanned by Fox - are really behind the effort to inflame the uninformed - the Tea Party particularly - with rallying cries of “FEDERALISM is running RAMPANT!” Gasp. Gag. Sob. Crocodile tears.

Having worked for an environmental services consulting firm, I had to learn a bit about The Clean Water Act. I learned that it was a really good thing. It has pre-emptively kept our waterways, estuaries, and wetlands thriving and vibrant for wildlife - and people. We have cleaner drinking water, and a better environment for it.

I’m also from Florida, and watched, horrified as giant agri-business and real estate took out their dicks and pee’d all over some of the most beautiful, unique and endangered wetlands in the world. Repeatedly. Turned them into cesspools. All the while telling the simple-minded that it was jobs that were at risk, and the economy, and that the government that would protect this priceless jewel was the enemy. No, it was their corporate profits at risk. Untold is the story of how tourism - the number one industry in Florida - after pillaging the environment for more subsidized sugar - was nearly destroyed with the Everglades.

Growing up in Miami, I heard plenty via the local Haitian community about the violence and criminality perpetrated on Haiti by Papa Doc Duvalier. So yesterday, Bebe Doc Duvalier (the son) goes home from exile in France - perhaps a worse criminal than his father, if that’s possible. How outrageous. How sad. How wrong that he can just walk back into a vulnerable country to do what? Time will tell. He should be arrested and put before an international tribunal.

I’m so happy that ‘The King’s Speech’ won at the Golden Globes. That bodes well for a very well deserved Oscar. 

Fashion ‘Hits’ included: Anne Hathaway in Georgio Armani Prive, Natalie Portman in Viktor&Rolf, Emma Stone in Calvin Klein Collection, Heather Morris, Kyra Sedgewick in Emilio Pucci, Edie Falco in Valentino, Piper Perabo in Oscar de la Renta, Catherin Zeta-Jones, and Elizabeth Moss in Donna Karan. Geoffery Rush was oh, so dapper. This, folks, is how it’s done.

Fashion ‘Mis-statements’ included: January Jones in Versace, Olivia Wilde in Marchesa and Kelly Osbourne in Zac Posen.  In the WTF Category: Helena Bonham Carter in “Something the cat dragged in”, Julianne Moore in an old bridesmaid dress, and Sandra Bullock - with BANGS FROM HELL - in something really uh, droopey.

Few opt for Zostavax - the Shingles Vaccine? Not us. We’ve got an appointment for Wednesday. It’s amazing, but a report on NPR this morning says that of the 50 million people that should get a dose of the shingles vaccine in America, only 10 percent do.

After Mr. Maven’s experience with it, I wouldn’t even consider NOT getting the vaccine. As one woman interviewed for the NPR piece said, “it’s more painful than childbirth” and goes on for months, even years. It’s now obvious that much of the pain Mr. Maven has suffered with - thinking it was a pinched nerve in his neck - was in reality the after effects of shingles.

“The recommendation is for everybody over the age of 60 to get a shot,” says Dr. Richard Dupee, a geriatric specialist at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. The vaccine’s maker, Merck and Co., has asked the Food and Drug Administration to lower eligibility to age 50.

So, if you have had the chicken pox (and 99.9% of Americans have), and you are over the ago of 60 - or have special risk factors like me (cancer) - then you want to consider getting it. ASAP.

January ‘Thaw’ is upon us. It’s hit all time records here, and folks were out in shorts today. This ‘surprises’ everybody each January. It’s not always this warm, but this isn’t exactly unusual. Winter is still lurking out there, waiting to bite.

Update on Tuesday, January 18, 2011 at 04:46 by mavenandmeddler

Oh, just wanted to mention that I’d finally gotten around to revising the search by category and tags - hopefully to enable to mine the content more fully. I’ve got Page by Category appearing on all active pages now, and the Archives have been revamped to break each journal into finer detail for searches.

Give me some feedback here - let me know if it’s better or worse.

-maven

Friday Fish Wrap: February 5, 2010

On this eveings KOLO-TV evening news, Tad Dunbar was doing a lead-in for his Dunbar Report show, d offering the following:

Nevada First Lady, Dawn Gibbons - First Lady until the divorce is final, that is - will be hosting her last official function at the Governor’s Mansion in Carson City, Nevada.

She will be hosting a benefit for former prostitutes. The effort is designed to help the’ ladies’ find both  self respect and a path to a better life.

I sat there thinking “Wait for it.”

Tad paused artfully, and went to say what had just raced through my brain,

“Only in Nevada.”

LOL

###

I have a question.

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Baptist nitwits damage Haitian orphan efforts

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — “God wanted us to come here to help children, we are convinced of that,” Laura Silsby, one of 10 Americans accused of trafficking Haitian children, said Monday through the bars of a jail cell here. “Our hearts were in the right place.”

Unfortunately, their brains were somewhere else - south and in back. Where it’s really dark. So to speak. You’d think that this group had heard about what the road to Hell was paved with.

This bunch tried to smuggle 33 children out of the country, but were detained at the Dominican Republic-Haitian border. Now they’re in a Haitian jail cell - which can’t be nice - and people are understandably upset.

The 10 missionaries are mostly from Idaho. Sorta figures.

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Friday Fish Wrap: January 22, 2010

Oh, my! The Itzhak Perlman performance last night at the Pioneer Center was, perhaps, the highlight of my week. Perlman has still ‘got it’ in great musical abundance, as he seemed to communicate via telepathy with pianist Rohan De Silva.

My favorite piece was the 1933 Suite Italienne for violin & piano, by Igor Stravinsky. Adapted from the eighteenth century works of  Giambattista Pergolesi, Stravinsky himself described it as the “the epiphany through which the whole of my late work became possible.” For me, it musically evokes the entire zeitgeist of modernism, much like Raymond Loewy did for industrial design.

(Susanna Yoko Henkel - violin Itamar Golan - piano)

Even better, Natacha went with me. I asked her if she’d ever been to a live classical performance before. She hadn’t. Her only previous experience with classics was hearing a Mozart CD back in Africa. I think more tickets are in order. She really loved the experience.

Furthermore, the performance was a welcome bit of time away from the Haiti overload. I feel guilty even saying that. The people there can’t escape it.

The goods news is that Haitian kids - from the Gods’ Littlest Angelsorphanage - are already with new adoptive families in the United States, and the push is on to find desperately needed medical supplies for the incoming orphans.

I know we can’t quit this effort. In fact, I’m already beginning to see the smallest stirrings of incredible potential for some many good things to come of this catastrophe - if we don’t falter.

Here’s a concept to mull over: what about putting GLA or your favorite Haitian charity in an automatic billpay, so that $25 or more goes every month for the rest of the year?

I don’t know about how you manage to piss away $25, I know I spill that much in liquor.

It’s all so bizarre … an unapologetic secular humanist atheist helping a very religiously based orphanage. Or, at least it’s weird until you see the faces of those kids. That seems to transcend philosophical differences.

So, besides Haiti, what would you say defines this week?

I say it’s the outrage that just came out of the Supreme Court in the form of a decision that, essentially, says: all bets are off, and corporate America trumps the average flesh and blood voter.

That’s right. Bloodless, artificial entities - bundles of contracts - are being given the same First Amendment speech rights as you and I. This is pure deviltry and could completely destroy our representative democracy.

As Colorado Senator, Michael Bennet says: ” This new ruling allows corporations to flood our political system with unlimited contributions, effectively drowning out any citizen’s voice opposed to corporate interests.”

The good news here: Public Citizen is mounting a campaign to stop this deliberate hijacking of democracy. I hope you will join them. Go to the Public Citizen website and learn more, then contact your representatives and senators to tell them that they need to enact immediate legislative relief from this wrongheaded decision.

Here is analysis by Shields and Brooks (in the last part of the video):

Here’s another bright spot: Just when you thought Obama had retired, he’s actually getting tough with the banking and financial industry - essentially doing what I’ve been whining about for a year now - and re-instituting the Glas-Stegall Act. This would again separate banks from outfits like Goldman-Sachs. The point here is to protect FDIC - taxpayer protected savings - from greedy highbinders who want to play games with derivatives et al.

It also looks like Elizabeth Warren might get her wish, and the American people get some protection, with a real financial consumer protection agency. I hope. I hope.

Now if Obama would get rid of Larry Summers and Tim Geithner - neither of whom wanted these reforms - and get some people in there with a more populist bent that aren’t married to Wall Street ….

And, finally a totally cool thing may happen in New Mexico.

If you’re a regular reader you may have noticed the Move Your Money campaign, started by Arianna Huffington and a few others. It’s about moving your money out of the banks that are ‘too big to fail’ like Bank of America, Wells Fargo et al.

According to Huffington Post: 

“New Mexico state representative Brian Egolf has introduced a bill to move the state’s money out of Bank of America and into banks and credit unions chartered in New Mexico.”

And, Governor Bill Richardson is onboard, too. Luv ya, Bill ! (I was an early Richardson supporter in 2008).

Rock on!!

Well, I’m going to dive into a cold Manhattan now.

Oh, hey L. C. … sorry that I wasn’t working this afternoon and unavailable:

Have a wonderful weekend. Sunday could be an awesome morning for skiing after the snow dump we’ve had lately.

I’ll let myself out.

maven

Haitian relief and Lori Carpenter

Ed Pearce of KOLO-TV, the ABC affiliate in Reno, Nevada has this interview:

These days Lori Carpenter’s thoughts rarely stray from people she knows thousands of miles away in Haiti.

Work continues at her hydrology consulting firm in south Reno, but she works the phone and computer keeping an eye on an orphanage outside Port Au Prince.

Carpenter is on the board of directors of God’s Littlest Angels orphanage and she’s been trying to get some of its children out of the country and trying to get supplies in.

Today’s news is good. Seventy eight children left for new homes in the U-S, making room for a few of the hundreds of thousands of new orphans created by the earthquake.

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Breaking Good News from Haiti

This hasn’t even reached the news media yet, but I just got a phone call that 78 Haitian children from the God’s Littlest Angels orphanage are being prepared to board a United States Air Force military transport for Miami, Florida where they will be met by their adoptive families.

Dixie Bickel, co-founder of the GLA orphanage, will accompany them and then head right back to Port-au-Prince to process 12 more ophaned children.

MEDICAL NEED UPDATE: There is, according to Dixie, an urgent need for Tetanus vaccine for the incoming children.

Even before Tuesday’s deadly magnitude-7.0 earthquake, Haiti, one of the world’s poorest countries, was awash in orphans, with 380,000 children living in orphanages or group homes, the United Nations Children’s Fund reported on its Web site. This was the result of repeated natural disasters like hurricanes in addition to crushing poverty unlike any other country in the hemisphere.

The number of ophaned children now in immediate need is anticipated by some agencies to grow to nearly one million.

According to GLA orphanage officials the immediate need is for Tetanus shots, and they simply don’t have the vaccine.

Since Tetanus vaccine must be kept cold during shipment, a solid plan for transport is crucial.

The call is going out from Maven&meddler to anybody with contacts in the pharmaceutical industry for donations of Tetanus vaccine in packets of 100 or 1,000, to contact me or GLA directly to arrange for pickup and transportation to Haiti.

This is a critical need.

Thanks.

maven

Story about Lori Carpenter and Haitian relief efforts

By Ed Pearce of KOLO-TV, Reno, Nevada:

(Click here to view video)

Lori Carpenter is by profession an hydrologist. She runs a successful consulting business, Huffman and Carpenter, in Reno.

These days she’s spending a lot of time on the phone and computer seeking another kind of success, the kind measured in lives saved. Wednesday morning found her working the phone trying to get a group of Haitian children out of the disaster area to families in the U-S and Europe.

“It’s been a lot of tense days, she says. But not without success. A group of children left for Holland the day before. Now she’s waiting for word on another group hopefully headed for homes in the U-S.

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Check out Dixie's blog from the GLA orphanage for Haiti coverage

If you want some heartbreaking but astounding coverage of day to day life in Haiti - at the God’s Littlest Angels orphanage, check out Dixie’s blog.

Rock on, Dixie!

Give safely and responsibly for Haitian earthquake

I was just notified that Guidestar.org - one of the main charity ‘vetting’ organizations - has approved God’s Littlest Angels (GLA) as an approved Haitian relief charity and has listed GLA on their website. So, you can feel good about giving to GLA - and not just take my word for it.

But the fact remains that unscrupulous people are always going to be out there trying to get into your wallet. Heck, I’m from Miami … where scamming approaches being a form of performance art. Remember Hurricane Andrew?

Now, God’s Littlest Angels is now listed with Guidestar.org, JustGive.org, Greatnonprofits.org and the Network for Good.

That said, here are some tips from Guidestar.org President and CEO, Bob Ottenhoff: 

1. Be pro-active, not re-active.
   It’s not necessary or wise to respond to every call or request. Instead, follow the steps below to give wisely.

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First groups of Haitian orphans on the way to safety

As I was told just earlier this afternoon, a small group of orphans were being airlifted to Pennsylvania, while a larger group from the God’s Littlest Angels orphanage - which I’ve been talking about - is on their way to Holland.

The story doesn’t end here, though.

The United Nations Children’s Fund has estimated Haiti had 380,000 orphans before the quake hit. This means that an unbelievable influx of new orphans will be flooding the existing orphanages in the days and weeks to come.

These facilities are just not able to support that tide without a lot of monetary support. One bit of good news, two airplane loads of supplies will be on their way to Haiti with funds raised in Colorado by God’s Littlest Angels Ministry.

But, really folks, this is going to be really dire for the weeks and months to come.

Please, make even a small weekly donation if you can to the GLA folks. I vouch they are honest, caring and highly experienced to deal with this crisis. And, keep an eye out here for further news on some upcoming plans to re-build sustainable, earthquake resistant housing in Haiti.

There is a glimmer of bright on the horizon if we don’t falter.

Hey, if an atheist can be this committed to the GLA cause, so can you.

maven

Logistical support for aid from Reno, Nevada?

In this mornings Reno Gazette Journal, local Haitian, John Moliere Berthoumieux - a  food processing and technology manager for Ralston Foods Inc. is seeking help to transport cereal products to the stricken capital - where many of he and his wife’s family members and friends are still unaccounted for.

If there is any way you can help, or pass this along to somebody else who could help, would you please?

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Monday Musings: January 18, 2010

This morning, I happened to replay the interview between Bill Moyers and Thomas Frank - author of “What’s the Matter With Kansas” and “The Wrecking Crew”. If you haven’t read these two books, then you may not have a firm grasp of the current sociopolitical landscape and how it has been taken over by the so-called ‘conservative’ right - the election of Obama notwithstanding.

It was even more disturbing than when I first saw it. Frank is right that Americans have become part and parcel in a culture with an attention span shorter than a gerbil. The media is a black hole. Todays’ ‘big story’ can be forgotten in the blink of an eye. I don’t exactly blame the media for this. They’re chasing dollars. But what is the excuse for the American public? Or our legislators?

This is most apparent in the current round of Obama bashing from both left and right.

How soon they all forget who and what caused all this. And, the mainstream media lets the bashers get away with it. So does the Democratic Party.

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Friday Fish Wrap: January 16, 2010

Haiti.

That seems to define the week for me. What about you?

Whatever else I was in a twit over, I’ve forgotten about it, having the horrific, heartbreaking images of human suffering burned into my retinas and heart. If this isn’t the worst of the worst, then I don’t know what would be.

All of our national soap opera over health care reform, the nuttiness of teabaggers and Sarah, who did what to whom pales by comparison. What an arrogant, self absorbed bunch we can be at times.

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A list of relief organizations you can donate to for Haiti aid

A lot of people want to help relief efforts in Haiti. So here is a list. You should understand that this is just a beginning, and should exercise due diligence and care in giving to organizations. Mavenandmeddler.com or its publisher in no way endorses or promotes these organizations. We suggest you check them out through CharityNavigator or Network for Good. In fact, you can donate to various charities right through these two organizations.

Please also remember that this situation needs to be stabilized before more volunteers can even get into the country. It is currently very dangerous, air travel is limited due to the lack of air traffic control and limited airport services, the harbor in Port au Prince has been damaged heavily. Right now, we all need to stay out of the way of the intial relief response - please take this from somebody trained in emergency management and critical incident reponse.

You can only help with your dollars right now, in addition to words to government officials around the world to step up to help Haiti - once and for all. This country has been let down one too many times.

Here is a list of charitable organizations with Haiti relief operations:

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You can help Haiti's newest orphans

My employer, Lori Carpenter and her husband, Clay Cooper, have had a long association with the God’s Littlest Angels (GLA) ophanage outside the village of Fermanthe, in the mountains above Pétion-Ville, Haiti.

In May, 2007, they traveled again to the GLA orphanage with a team of eleven engineers and architects, to locate a clean water well, and design new facilities to better serve the needs of Haitian orphans.

Lori and Clay are parents to two lovely Haitian orphans, brother and sister, Shedy and Kendy.

Here is a great film detailing the week long efforts at Fermanthe in 2007 (use the hyperlink).

Meanwhile. the need is growing exponentially at GLA, as the loss of human life - parents and caregivers - will swell the ranks of GLA’s ability to provide without help from us.

Here is an interview with GLA co-founder, Dixie Bickel with Today Show host Matt Lauer, speaking about the night of terror at the orphanage:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

You can go directly to the GLA website and donate, but as things are, the website is busy, and you may have to check back in. Don’t let that deter you. Please come back and give what you can.

Haiti: Pushing the limits of human misery even further

Back in 2008 I posted pictures and story of the devastation from a hurricane in Haiti, sent by friends of my employer who has two adopted children from Haiti, and who has also worked building clean water systems down there.

At that time, I posed the question of what are the limits of human misery:

http://www.mavenandmeddler.com/purely-maven/2008/9/10/post-hurricane-dispatch-from-haiti-what-are-limits-of-human.html

Unfortunately, this abject nation once again tests those limits, and their population of poor continue to demonstrate how both terribly fragile and resilient the human animal is.

I’m just not sure whether Haiti will be capable of coming back from this most recent blow.

If there was ever a time for the world community to drop the fighting that consumes much of their time, energy and resources - and redirect it to Haiti in a positive manner - this is it.

maven

Post Hurricane Dispatch from Haiti: What are limits of human misery?

Updated on Tuesday, September 9, 2008 at 22:42 by mavenandmeddler

With the serial hurricanes that have been making the rough life in Haiti even rougher latey, I asked Lori if she would like to present some information on current conditions there. She jumped at the chance. Thanks, LC.

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