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?
