More than 70 days after the most devastating environmental disaster in U.S. history, the Obama Administration has finally decided to accept help from 12 countries and international organizations in dealing with the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The State Department said in a statement Tuesday that the U.S. is working out the particulars of the help that has been accepted.
The identities of all 12 countries and international organizations were not immediately announced. One country was cited in the State Department statement -- Japan, which is providing two high-speed skimmers and fire containment boom. More than 30 countries and international organizations have offered to help with the spill. The State Department has not indicated why some offers have been accepted and others have not.
The continuing existence of a significant population of homeless men, women and children is America’s “dirty secret.” It is nothing less than criminal that a rich and powerful country such as the United States cannot, or will not, provide shelter for all of its homeless citizens.
The continuing recession (when do we stop calling it a recession and call it what it is, a depression) has forced many “average” American families into the streets. In spite of the current Administration’s rosy estimates about a “summer of recovery” the fact remains that there are still far too many men and women out of work. These families are just one paycheck away from sleeping on the streets.
Among all the bad news, however, there is a small ray of sunshine – Ventura County sunshine!
A recent report indicates that homeless counts in Ventura County have dropped 17% this past winter, a success that local officials attribute to more low-cost housing opening up and better coordination of services in cities.
According to a report from the Ventura County Homeless and Housing Coalition, social workers found 1,815 people living on the streets on the night of Jan. 26, 2010. That is a 17% decrease from 2009 for homeless individuals. The total number of homeless families dropped 25%.
Reductions were consistent in Oxnard, Ventura, Simi Valley and other cities with significant homeless populations, said coalition director Cathy Brudnicki.
The drop comes at a time when local unemployment still hovers at around 11% and it shows that local governments can make a significant dent in a chronic problem when they work together. In the last year, housing for homeless and poor families opened in Oxnard and Ventura. A Simi Valley advocacy group was able to find stable shelter for 93 people.
The reduction in the homeless population in Ventura County underscores the power of local government to effectively deal with problems such as homelessness. At a time when more Americans are looking to the bureaucrats in the Federal government for quick fixes to our current problems, real solutions are most often found when local government officials band together and take action.
In the midst of the success of local agencies in finding shelter for Ventura’s homeless population, comes a documentary film, by a local artist, that speaks directly to this issue.
Without Shelter is a documentary film that highlights the organizations in Ventura County that are working to alleviate the daily challenges that face Ventura’s homeless population. The film, as seen through the eyes of individuals living on the streets, depicts the struggles of the men and women who live without shelter.
For more information about the documentary and its director, Richard Brimer, and to learns about ways in which you can help, please click the link below:
EDITOR’S NOTE: If you have been following this blog, you may have noticed that there are far fewer posts than in past months. Writing a blog takes effort and lots of time. For the last couple of months I have been spending more time riding my bike and less time writing. Also, the fact that my daughter is home from college, means that I now spend more time being a mommy and less time being a writer.
If you have missed my articles, poems, and photographs, then I promise you, there will be more coming in the next few weeks. If you have hardly missed my “absence” from these pages, then nothing much has been lost.
Today, June 21, marks the official beginning of Summer in the Northern Hemisphere. For me, summertime brings back fond memories of backyard cookouts, nights camping out under the stars, the sweet smell of jasmine floating up from the jasmine bush under my bedroom window and long, lazy days at the beach, feeling the sun’s rays caressing my limbs.
Summertime is also the perfect time to cruise around town, with the car’s windows rolled down, listening to music playing on the car’s radio.
Here then, are some of my favorite summer songs.
Given recent events, including a world economy that continues to falter and a worsening ecological disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, this may indeed turn out to be a cruel summer.
BANANARAMA - Cruel summer
The next song, by the Los Angeles based group WAR, is an all-time summer, car cruising song.
WAR – Summertime
In California where the summers lasts all year long, the Beach Boys and their hit song, California Girls, are a reminder of why in spite of all of our current problems, California is still the place to be!
Tour de France officials have just announced that all the bikes used in this year's Tour will be subject to X-ray inspections. the reason for this unusual move is that Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara has been at the center of allegations that motors were being placed in bike frames to power the pedals during a race.
The Olympic time-trial champion, 29, and his Saxo Bank team have strongly rejected these accusations.
With electronic gears permitted in bikes, the International Cycling Union feel it necessary to tighten checks.
Following the accusations and reports circulating at the beginning of the month, Cancellara said: "It's so stupid I'm speechless."
While his team Saxo Bank insisted they were "strongly opposed to any form of cheating" and that there was "absolutely no truth to this story".
However, the UCI is determined to ensure the most prestigious race in the calendar, which starts in Rotterdam on 3 July and finishes in Paris on 25 July, is not blighted with further controversy.
On January 2009, a new U.S. President was inaugurated. I, along with a majority of the American and world-wide public, lauded the election of a man who had so much promise for hope and change. Now, 15 months after the momentous elevation of a man of color to the highest office in the land, we are discovering that the man who spoke so brilliantly about a New America is very good at talking, and not much else.
The other day I listened as Obama took to the airwaves to speak, from the White House Oval Office, about the Gulf oil spill and his proposed plan of action. A nation, devastated by the worse ecological disaster in U.S. history, eagerly awaited for its Commander in Chief to lead his countrymen. We expected to hear Franklin Delano Roosevelt after the bombing of Pearl Harbor or John F. Kennedy during the Cuban MIssile Crisis. Instead, what we got was a man who is very good at speaking with great rhetorical flourishes but whose words are hollow and empty.
As I listened to Obama speak to the nation I realized one thing: the Emperor is wearing no clothes, the Emperor is naked.
What a disappointing performance by the man who was elecged ont he promise of Hope and Change.
(NOTE: The following is from article that originally appeared in Rolling Stone magazine, issue No.: 1107.)
THE SPILL, THE SCANDAL AND THE PRESIDENT
By Tim Dickinson Jun 08, 2010 4:30 PM EDT
On May 27th, more than a month into the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history, Barack Obama strode to the podium in the East Room of the White House. For weeks, the administration had been insisting that BP alone was to blame for the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf – and the ongoing failure to stop the massive leak. "They have the technical expertise to plug the hole," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs had said only six days earlier. "It is their responsibility." The president, Gibbs added, lacked the authority to play anything more than a supervisory role – a curious line of argument from an administration that has reserved the right to assassinate American citizens abroad and has nationalized much of the auto industry. "If BP is not accomplishing the task, can you just federalize it?" a reporter asked. "No," Gibbs replied.
Now, however, the president was suddenly standing up to take command of the cleanup effort. "In case you were wondering who's responsible," Obama told the nation, "I take responsibility." Sounding chastened, he acknowledged that his administration had failed to adequately reform the Minerals Management Service, the scandal-ridden federal agency that for years had essentially allowed the oil industry to self-regulate. "There wasn't sufficient urgency," the president said. "Absolutely I take responsibility for that." He also admitted that he had been too credulous of the oil giants: "I was wrong in my belief that the oil companies had their act together when it came to worst-case scenarios." He unveiled a presidential commission to investigate the disaster, discussed the resignation of the head of MMS, and extended a moratorium on new deepwater drilling. "The buck," he reiterated the next day on the sullied Louisiana coastline, "stops with me."
Meet Obama's sheriff, Ken Salazar.
What didn't stop was the gusher. Hours before the president's press conference, an ominous plume of oil six miles wide and 22 miles long was discovered snaking its way toward Mobile Bay from BP's wellhead next to the wreckage of its Deepwater Horizon rig. Admiral Thad Allen, the U.S. commander overseeing the cleanup, framed the spill explicitly as an invasion: "The enemy is coming ashore," he said. Louisiana beaches were assaulted by blobs of oil that began to seep beneath the sand; acres of marshland at the "Bird's Foot," where the Mississippi meets the Gulf, were befouled by shit-brown crude – a death sentence for wetlands that serve as the cradle for much of the region's vital marine life. By the time Obama spoke, it was increasingly evident that this was not merely an ecological disaster. It was the most devastating assault on American soil since 9/11.
Like the attacks by Al Qaeda, the disaster in the Gulf was preceded by ample warnings – yet the administration had ignored them. Instead of cracking down on MMS, as he had vowed to do even before taking office, Obama left in place many of the top officials who oversaw the agency's culture of corruption. He permitted it to rubber-stamp dangerous drilling operations by BP – a firm with the worst safety record of any oil company – with virtually no environmental safeguards, using industry-friendly regulations drafted during the Bush years. He calibrated his response to the Gulf spill based on flawed and misleading estimates from BP – and then deployed his top aides to lowball the flow rate at a laughable 5,000 barrels a day, long after the best science made clear this catastrophe would eclipse the Exxon Valdez.
Now that teenage sailor Abby Sunderland has been rescued by the French fishing ship Ile de la Reunion, Abby has found time to continue writing her blog. Here are excerpts from her recent blog entries:
Abby’s Blog Sunday, June 13, 2010
Everything is going well out here. I'm still getting used to walking around on board and it takes both hands to keep myself from falling up and down the narrow halls. I'm still having trouble typing on this key pad but I've got a few more days to get the hang of it.
Everyone on board has been really friendly. They have come a long way out of their way to help me and I am so thankful that they did. My mom has told me about all that the different rescue groups did to help find me. So thank you to all of you. I had only hoped that a ship would pass by me within a few weeks. I am really in awe. Thank you to everyone involved.
The captain is a big, friendly, bald guy with a big beard. He speaks English pretty well and he says, "Is no good to worry about the boat. Is just a boat, you is safe. You should not think about the past." Which is true, but its hard to keep my mind off everything that's happened.
...
NOTE: The actual rescue operation was carried out during very rough conditions. At the time of the rescue, winds were blowing hard, creating very high waves. The French fishing vessel had to maneuver in these rough seas as it approached Abby’s 40 foot (12.2 meters) sailing ship. At one point during the rescue mission, the captain of the fishing vessel fell into the water and had to be rescued himself.
Abby then continues her entry for June 13 ...
I have started writing. At first I decided that I wasn't going to write a book. But then I started to think about all the good times Wild Eyes and I have had together. All that's left of the voyage of Wild Eyes are my memories, eventually they will get fuzzy and I won't remember all the details. I don't want that to happen. Wild Eyes and my trip have been the best thing I have ever done or been through and I don't ever want to forget all the great times we have had together, or the bad ones for that matter.
The story of Wild Eyes is over, but my story is still going. I'm still out on the ocean headed to a little island called Kerguelen and then will be on another boat for ten days up to an island near Madagascar. From there I will eventually make it home.
So, on goes my adventure!
Abby
Abby’s Blog June 12, 2010
Hey everyone,
Sorry I haven't written in so long as you probably already know I had a pretty rough couple of days. I can't write much now as I am typing on a french key pad as well as trying to stay seated in a bouncy fishing boat.
...
NOTE: Are French keyboards different from English keyboards? Who knew!
The Abby goes on …
There are plenty of things people can think of to blame for my situation; my age, the time of year and many more. The truth is, I was in a storm and you don't sail through the Indian Ocean without getting in at least one storm. It wasn't the time of year it was just a Southern Ocean storm. Storms are part of the deal when you set out to sail around the world.
As for age, since when does age create gigantic waves and storms?
The novel (and the musical) tell the story of a middle-aged Spanish nobleman who dreams of the old days when knights in shining armor went about the countryside, fighting unbeatable foes, willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause and loving pure and chaste from afar.
Most people are familiar with the play’s more famous musical numbers, The Impossible Dream, I, Don Quijote and Dulcinea. There is one song, however, that just takes my hear away every I listen to it.
So here, for all of you lovers who have loved and lost, is my favorite song from Man of La Mancha, “Little Bird, Little Bird.”
Hold on to your love and kiss him (or her) and never let go, or you may find yourself alone, under a cinnamon tree wondering where your love went.
(NOTE: The video clip below is not from the production of Man of La Mancha, but this duet is so sweet that I thought it captured the true spirit of the song. Enjoy!)
LITTLE BIRD, LITTLE BIRD - Video
LITTLE BIRD LITTLE BIRD - Lyrics
Little bird, little bird, In the cinnamon tree, Little bird, little bird, Do you sing for me? Do you bring me word Of one I know? Little bird, little bird, I love her so, Little bird, little bird, I have to know Little bird, little bird. Beneath this tree, This cinnamon tree, We learned to love, We learned to cry; For here we met And here we kissed, And here one cold and moonless night We said goodbye
Little bird, little bird, Oh have pity on me Bring her back to me now 'Neath the cinnamon tree, I have waited too long Without a song. Little bird, little bird, Please fly, please go little bird, little bird, And tell her so. Little bird, little bird.
I knew it would not take long before comedians began to poke fun at BP and its team of inept and greedy executives - from Tony Hayward all the way down to the guy who carries Tony's briefcase.
The situation in the Gulf is still dire, containment is nowhere near in sight: so pause for a moment and enjoy this moment of hilarity.
Thanks go to my friend Aengus McCallen for sending me a link to the video.
Thousand Oaks teenage sailor Abby Sunderland has been found safe and well. The news was first announced late Thursday night at a Simi Valley church where friends had gathered for a prayer service, 20 hours after the family lost radio contact with their daughter and she set off emergency distress beacons.
Search coordinator Mick Kinley, acting chief of the Australia Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) that chartered a commercial jet for the search, said the Wild Eyes keel was intact, the yacht was not taking on water and Abby was equipped for the conditions, he said.
A search plane — a chartered Qantas Airbus A330 jet that left Perth early Friday — made a 4,700-mile (7,600-kilometer) round trip from Perth to Sunderland’s boat.
Qantas spokesperson Tom Woodward said the airliner flew five hours out to sea to reach the area where the beacons were transmitting then maneuvered for another hour before spotting the 40-foot (13-meter) yacht. In all, it hovered over the site for two hours, Qantas said.
In a refreshing development, AMSA stated that it would not be seeking compensation for the search, which initially fell just outside of Australia’s search and rescue region.
“That’s the way the system runs,” search coordinator Kinley said. “We would expect people to rescue any Australian yachtsman (in these conditions). It’s our obligation to do this and we’ll fulfill those obligations as Australia does.”
(Thank you Aussies!)
The CROSS maritime rescue center on the French island of Reunion, off Madagascar, said it had sent three boats in her direction and they were expected to reach her Saturday.
A French fishing vessel, the Ile De La Reunion is expected to arrive at Abby’s location early Saturday morning.
Merci beaucoup!
What a tale Abby will have to tell when she returns.
Last March I wrote about Abby Sunderland the 16-year old girl from my hometown of Thousand Oaks, California. Abby is attempting to sail solo around the world on a sailboat.
This morning (California time) news broke out that Abby may be in trouble as she sailed East on the Indian Ocean from the tip of the African continent to Australia. During the past two days Abby and her boat, the Wild Eyes, have encountered rough seas, with 20 – 25 feet (6.1 to 7.60 meters) high waves and gale force winds of up to 60 knots per hour (69 miles per hour or 111 kilometers per hour).
This morning authorities in Australia received transmissions from two emergency beacons on Abby’s boat. Efforts to contact Abby by satellite phone have failed. The closest land to Abby's boat was Reunion Island, which is east of Madagascar. The nearest ship was 400 miles away. Rescuers were trying to contact the ship.
Zac Sunderland, Abby’s brother, told a Los Angeles radio station in Los Angeles that Abby’s support crew was "still trying to figure out the rescue situation."
"There's two boats headed out to her position." Zach said. "One of them is an estimated 40 hours, the other is 48. So right now we're just trying to figure out if there's any way faster. She is in the middle of nowhere pretty much, in the Southern Indian Ocean, there's nothing closer.”
French, Australian and American ships have been dispatched to join the search and rescue efforts.
Experts familiar with the area where Abby was last known to be, have commented that conditions can quickly become perilous for any sailor, let alone a 16-year old girl, exposed to the elements in that part of the world.
"We've got to get a plane out there quick," said family spokesperson Christian Pinkston, adding that the teen's family in Thousand Oaks was asking for prayers for her safety.
I ask the readers of this blog to please pray for Abby’s safe return.
Thank you.
To read more about Abby’s journey, please go here:
On April 20, 2010, a semi-submersible exploratory offshore drilling rig, owned by British Petroleum, in the Gulf of Mexico exploded after a blowout and sank two days later, killing eleven people and causing a massive oil spill threatening the coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, and Florida.
BP is a British global energy company; it is the world’s third largest energy company and the fourth largest company in the world. BP is also the UK's largest corporation.
BP’s abysmal environmental and human rights track record prompted Mother Jones magazine to name BP as one of the "ten worst corporations" in both 2001 and 2005. In 1991 BP was cited as the most polluting company in the US based on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) toxic release data. BP has been charged with burning polluted gases at its Ohio refinery (for which it was fined $1.7 million), and in July 2000 BP paid a $10 million fine to the EPA for its management of its US refineries. According to Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) research, between January 1997 and March 1998, BP was responsible for 104 oil spills.
Here are some samples of BP’s recent environmental and human rights violations:
Mist Mountain Project
There have been calls for BP to halt its "Mist Mountain" Coalbed Methane Project in the Southern Rocky Mountains of British Columbia. The proposed 500 km² project is directly adjacent to the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.
Canadian oil sands
BP is one of numerous firms who are extracting oil from Canadian oil sands, a process that produces four times as much CO2 as conventional drilling. The Cree aboriginal group has described BP as being complicit in “the biggest environmental crime on the planet.”
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline
BP has been criticized for its involvement with Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, due to human rights, environmental and safety concerns.
Colombian pipeline
In July 2006, a group of Colombian farmers won a multi million pound settlement from BP after the British oil and gas company was accused of benefiting from a regime of terror carried out by Colombian government paramilitaries to protect a 450-mile (720 km) pipeline.
Refinery safety violations
On March 2005, BP's Texas City, Texas refinery, one of its largest refineries, exploded causing 15 deaths, injuring 180 people and forcing thousands of nearby residents to remain sheltered in their homes. The incident came as the culmination of a series engineering problems that had been largely ignored by BP’s management.
An investigation by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board "offered a scathing assessment of the company." The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) found "organizational and safety deficiencies at all levels of the BP Corporation" and said management failures could be traced from Texas all the way to BP’s executives in London.
As a result of the incident, BP pleaded guilty to a felony violation of the Clean Air Act, was fined $50 million, and sentenced to three years probation.
On October 30, 2009, after a follow-up investigation, OSHA fined BP an additional $87 million — the largest fine in OSHA history — for failing to correct safety hazards revealed in the 2005 explosion. Inspectors found 270 safety violations that had been previously cited but not fixed and 439 new violations.
The “talk-big-and-do-nothing” Obama administration has been widely and roundly criticized for its feeble and ineffectual response to the human and environmental catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. Seventeen countries, including Canada, France and the Netherlands have offered to send help and lend their combined expertise to stem the damage caused by BP’s criminal negligence. To date, however, the Obama administration has not acted upon the offers of help.
The images below are extremely difficult to look at. As horrific and heartbreaking as these images may be, they represent only the tip of the iceberg. The damage now being caused to animals, birds and fishes will last for years, if not for generations.
As you look at these images, I urge of you to think of action that you can take to put pressure on BP to do the right thing and clean up its act. I also urge you to think of ways, at a personal level, to help reduce the world’s dependence on fossil fuels so that images of oil-covered animals, birds and fishes will soon become a thing of the past.
Peace out!
Gulf Oil Spill
MAKE BP PAY!
NOTE: Images used on this post are copyrighted. They are used here for educational and illustrative purposes only. No commercial use is intended. The various copyright owners fully reserve all rights to their work.
GULF COAST UPDATE (06.08.2010):
In an interview with the Today Show's Matt Lauer this morning, President Obaman offered his most candid response yet about the disaster, bluntly telling Lauer he's been talking to experts about "whose ass to kick" when it comes to responsibility for the mess.
Mr. President, the time to talk tough is over. Wildlife is being systematically destroyed, important habitats may be lost forever, and families in the Gulf coast are suffering.
