Sunday, June 28, 2015

Hwy 90 Katrina Sculptures Update

It's hard to believe that Katrina roared through hear almost 10 years ago.

Along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, many oaks killed by the storm surge were brought somewhat back to life as tree sculptures.

Here is a link to one of my blog posts about their humble beginnings.

Now the same wood sculpture artist who created them - Martin Miller - is coming back to assure that they'll be taken care of. Here's the video:

Volunteers refinish tree sculptures on Highway 90

WLOX.com - The News for South Mississippi

Reaction to SCOTUS' Ruling


Glenn Beck warns his radio program could be shut down due to the gay marriage ruling.



Ted Cruz equates the SCOTUS rulings (Obamacare and Gay Marriage victories) to 9-11 and Pearl Harbor


Black Pastors vow Civil Disobedience if SCOTUS approves gay marriage.

The 10 Most Wild Lines From Antonin Scalia’s Extreme Dissent Over Gay Marriage.

Just Colbert


Invoking biblical history,Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas warned, “Both Moses and Jesus stated that it was God’s law that ‘a man will leave his father and mother and a woman will leave her home and the two will come together as one.’ That defined marriage … The Supreme Court ruling is heartbreaking for the turmoil it will mean for our nation’s future.”

There is SO much more out there......


Saturday, June 27, 2015

My Hero



Britany Ann Byuarium (Bree) Newsome scaled the 30-foot pole using a harness just after dawn as officers yelled for her to come down on the Columbia grounds, organizer Tamika Lewis told the Daily News.

The whole story is at this website.

It made me cry with pride.

Here is a link for more info about her .

Not Monday Morning Smile

It may make you get a lump in your throat, but this precious dog has SO MUCH love to give.......




Explanation

Published on Jun 16, 2015
Losing Bella felt like a nightmare for her owner after she ran away from a dog sitter while he was in Florida. With help from family and friends, a frantic search went on for 3 long days. After calling many shelters and putting out flyers, they finally got information on her location, she was in Queen, New York! (her owner lives in Manhattan). Here's the emotional reunion between the two! What an amazing moment!


Source & embed code: https://rumble.com/v2zlo5-bella-and-l... ube License

Friday, June 26, 2015

History is Made


"It is so ordered." This moving quote from Justice Anthony Kennedy's historic #marriageequality ruling will give you chills. #LoveWins #NOH8

Monday, June 22, 2015

Monday Morning Smile

Piscina para perros

Posted by Cerebro Digital on Friday, 4 July 2014

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Call Me Sensitive, but....

This woman should know political correctness


Her name is Judyz Nir Mozes and here is her tweet:


The wife of a top Israeli official took to Twitter to tell a racist joke about President Obama. “Do u know what Obama Coffee is? Black and weak,” Judy Nir Mozes Shalom, a TV show host and the wife of Israeli Interior Minister Silvan Shalom, tweeted on Sunday.


Interesting: Ravens vs Crows

This story comes to you through a partnership between Audubon and BirdNote, a show that airs daily on public radio stations nationwide.

Go here to hear the podcast

You’re outside, enjoying a sunny day when a shadow at your feet causes you to look up. A large, black bird flies over and lands in a nearby tree. You wonder: is that a crow or a raven?

These two species, common ravens and American crows, overlap widely throughout North America, and they look quite similar. But with a bit of practice, you can tell them apart.




You probably know that ravens are larger, the size of a red-tailed hawk. Ravens often travel in pairs, while crows are seen in larger groups. Also, watch the bird’s tail as it flies overhead. The crow’s tail feathers are basically the same length, so when the bird spreads its tail, it opens like a fan. Ravens, however, have longer middle feathers in their tails, so their tail appears wedge-shaped when open.

Listen closely to the birds’ calls. Crows give a cawing sound. But ravens produce a lower croaking sound.

We’re back looking up at that tree. Now can you tell? Is this an American crow or a common raven?

That’s a raven. The bird calls you hear on BirdNote come from the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. To hear them again, begin with a visit to our website, BirdNote.org. I’m Michael Stein.

Adapted by Dennis Paulson from a script written by Frances Wood.
Calls provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Ambient track American Raven recorded by R.S. Little, American Crow recorded by G.A. Keller.
Forest ambient and featured raven recorded by C. Peterson
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2012 Tune In to Nature.org September 2012 Narrator: Michael Stein

Friday, June 19, 2015

Charleston Massacre


"It's distressing contemplating another story like this," says Barry Blitt. His image, “Nine,” appears on next week’s cover, in response to the shootings in Charleston.
Read the full Cover Story here


Here is a link to a story that discusses each of the murder victims.

Charleston

People REALLY come out of the holes when something as horrific as Charleston happens. Their true colors are shown. Headline/links examples:

Another Bush - Jeb (presidential 'hopeful') Doesnt think the killer was motivated by racism.

The governor who won't just go away - Jindal - Says President Obama's comments on the Charlston massacre "shameful" on Faux News


Why South Carolina should remove the Confederate Flag from the Capitol.

Faux news people wonder if the shooting was a "War on Christians"


Another hopeless presidential hopeful - Rick Santorum - claims the killings a part of a broader assault on "religious liberty" in America.

And yet another link to the idiots at Faux News Fox & Friends advocated for more guns, arguing people could’ve defended themselves if they were armed.

“Had somebody in that church had a gun, they probably would have been able to stop him,” host Steve Doocy remarked. “If somebody was there, they would have had the opportunity to pull out their weapon and take him out.”

J. Todd Rutherford, the minority leader of the South Carolina House of Representatives, appeared on CNN with Jake Tapper to say that the shooter was a Fox News fan and that is why he went on a murder spree.

Tuesday, June 09, 2015

Karma


During the months after Katrina, House Speaker Dennis Hastert had this opinion about rebuilding New Orleans:

"It looks like a lot of that place could be bulldozed," he told the Daily Herald of Arlington Heights. Asked if the government should spend billions of dollars to rebuild," Hastert said: "I don't know. That doesn't make sense to me.


Ten years later, Karma has paid "Denny" a visit. From MotherJones.com:


According to the indictment, Hastert aroused suspicion by making a series of $50,000 cash withdrawals from his bank, which was required to report any cash transaction over $10,000 to the Treasury Department. After the bank questioned Hastert about those withdrawals, he began taking out unusual amounts of cash that were just shy of the $10,000 reporting threshold—a red flag to bankers, who reported him to the feds. The cash was allegedly part of $3.5 million in hush money that Hastert, a onetime high school wrestling coach, had agreed to pay a former student to keep quiet about allegations of sexual abuse.

Beautiful New Orleans



Published on Jun 8, 2015
Aerial footage of the beautiful Crescent City captured in 4K.

Courtesy of Simon Andersson on Youtube


Tuesday, June 02, 2015

Katrina Memories Website

Called "Love, Write, Light", this website contains and will accumulate first person stories of Hurricane Katrina victims. It is a crowdsourcing campaign in anticipation of Katrina’s anniversary. Funds raised will be used to help light up statues erected in 17 locations, called “evacuspots,” around the city, so they’re visible 24 hours a day. People needing help in evacuating are supposed to gather at those spots. This is the brainchild of the website Evacuteer.org .





What originally brought me to this site was a piece written by a writer who resides in New Orleans, Chris Rose .

Chris is loved by many, not loved by a some due to his personal problems after Katrina. He wrote articles in the post-Katrina world that are contained in his book "One Dead In Attic" .

Here is his letter to America in the weeks following Katrina:

"Dear America,

I suppose we should introduce ourselves: We’re South Louisiana.

We have arrived on your doorstep on short notice and we apologize for that, but we never were much for waiting around for invitations. We’re not much on formalities like that.

And we might be staying around your town for a while, enrolling in your schools and looking for jobs, so we wanted to tell you a few things about us. We know you didn’t ask for this and neither did we, so we’re just going to have to make the best of it.

First of all, we thank you. For your money, your water, your food, your prayers, your boats and buses and the men and women of your National Guards, fire departments, hospitals and everyone else who has come to our rescue.

We’re a fiercely proud and independent people, and we don’t cotton much to outside interference, but we’re not ashamed to accept help when we need it. And right now, we need it.

Just don’t get carried away. For instance, once we get around to fishing again, don’t try to tell us what kind of lures work best in your waters.

We’re not going to listen. We’re stubborn that way.

You probably already know that we talk funny and listen to strange music and eat things you’d probably hire an exterminator to get out of your yard.

We dance even if there’s no radio. We drink at funerals. We talk too much and laugh too loud and live too large and, frankly, we’re suspicious of others who don’t.

But we’ll try not to judge you while we’re in your town.

Everybody loves their home, we know that. But we love South Louisiana with a ferocity that borders on the pathological. Sometimes we bury our dead in LSU sweatshirts.

Often we don’t make sense. You may wonder why, for instance – if we could only carry one small bag of belongings with us on our journey to your state – why in God’s name did we bring a pair of shrimp boots?

We can’t really explain that. It is what it is.

You’ve probably heard that many of us stayed behind. As bad as it is, many of us cannot fathom a life outside of our border, out in that place we call Elsewhere.

The only way you could understand that is if you have been there, and so many of you have. So you realize that when you strip away all the craziness and bars and parades and music and architecture and all that hooey, really, the best thing about where we come from is us.

We are what made this place a national treasure. We’re good people. And don’t be afraid to ask us how to pronounce our names. It happens all the time.

When you meet us now and you look into our eyes, you will see the saddest story ever told. Our hearts are broken into a thousand pieces.

But don’t pity us. We’re gonna make it. We’re resilient. After all, we’ve been rooting for the Saints for 35 years. That’s got to count for something.

OK, maybe something else you should know is that we make jokes at inappropriate times.

But what the hell.

And one more thing: In our part of the country, we’re used to having visitors. It’s our way of life.

So when all this is over and we move back home, we will repay to you the hospitality and generosity of spirit you offer to us in this season of our despair.

That is our promise. That is our faith."

As a follow-up to that letter, read his letter written 10 years later.


Chris Rose can be reached at noroses@bellsouth.net.

Monday Morning Smile