As the losses mount...

for all of us, but especially those who live along the Gulf, this clip speaks to the ones that haven't been thought of yet:

The reports keep coming in of workers not being allowed protective gear; not being allowed to seek outside medical attention without being cut from the payroll...

I worked with a lot of dangerous chemicals for part of the time I was at GM, running the phosphate coating system for the bare metal between the body and paint shops. There were known carcinogens you weren't supposed to breathe; there were other chemicals that would be immediately absorbed through your skin before you could wipe it off if you weren't wearing rubber gloves. Most of the time I was very careful about taking every precaution advised as I did my job.

I am grateful I was allowed to!

Between the EPA, OSHA and our President, you'd think someone could make sure these workers are allowed the same opportunity!

Just recently there was a huge settlement to pay the rescue worker from September 11 who were poisoned by the collapse of the buildings that terrible day. The military, far too late for far too many, is finally owning up to it's poisoning of our soldiers in Vietnam with Agents Orange and Blue.

How long before these workers, trying to save an eco-system from a modern day "robber-baron" the likes of which the world has never seen, are fighting to have their needs taken care of while their poisoner returns to paying dividends?

July 4th approaches, along with our annual celebration of our independence. Perhaps we need to declare our independence once again, from corporate tyranny!

May the week be kind to each of you!

alan

A bit of credit...too little too late!

Information Pioneers: Hedy Lamarr from Information Pioneers on Vimeo.

I had read mention of this years ago, but this is a better explanation of the technology. Like so many things through the years, she deserved better at the hands of our government.

I remember reading of the government refusing to pay Nicola Tesla royalties for his patents, saying they were in dispute by Marconi; then when Tesla died in '43 they told Marconi that Tesla's patents were in order and he had no claim...

It would be nice to think they wouldn't do things like that now, but I have my doubts!

May the week be kind to each of you!

alan

Time for a break!

I've been so caught up in the world's tragedies of late, both current and past, that it's time for a mental break! Besides the Gulf and reading up on Minamata disease I've been studying a lot of WW1 documentaries; suffice to say it's amazing how many of our current problems in the world can be traced back to "The Great War" and it's ending. I always knew that the lines drawn on the maps back then had come back to haunt us; I didn't realize how much politicking had gone on behind the scenes to create them.

A man of the time observed that "the United States had never lost a war nor won a conference"!

Seems old Will (Rogers) was right again!

3 weeks ago my wife went on vacation for 2 weeks; we did some things here, some planned some not, and finally got the boat out for the first time this year, to the delight of the grandkids who got to ride and take turns driving.

When she went back to work my daughter-in-law left for a concert jamboree and my son decided that was a good time to tear out their one bathroom, to the subfloor and the studs. When I didn't have the grandkids Dottie did and I went to help him; it's back together now and in much better shape than it began.

Since then it's been catching things up around here, trying not to float away in the rain and watching far too much news.

A photo of Jean Harlow on a friend's blog today made me realize it's time for an escape, so wen I sign off here I'm digging out "Red Dust" or "Bombshell" and slipping away for a while...

May the world be kind to each of you!

alan

The Black Lagoon...

sadly, one no creature could live in!

British Petroleum's oil was 9 miles from Pensacola, Florida when I got up yesterday...

Last night it was in a wildlife refuge just a few miles outside New Orleans, 2/3 of the way through the wetlands lying between the city and the ocean.

When those wetlands die (and they will die from this poisoning) that means the next hurricane the sets her sights on the city that Katrina couldn't kill will have miles of a head start.

And like that iceberg that sunk the Titanic, what we can see is only an "nth" of what lies beneath...though British Petroleum would like to deny that their dispersant agents are causing the oil to "suspend" beneath the surface, the Jean-Michel Cousteau has posted footage of it and much more since.

If you'd like to read more or see more footage, here is a link.

I've mentioned before my Grandmother passing along the belief she learned from the Native Americans when she and my Grandfather were on the reservations; the one that says before you decide anything you should consider how it will affect not just your generation, or your children's, but the next 7 generations who will live with the consequences of what you decide right now.

I fear more than 7 generations will be dealing with the decisions that led to this and the ones being made in their wake! This afternoon I was watching footage as a reporter turned over the rocks at Prince William Sound, Alaska and the tarred rock still lying there was exposed so many years later...Exxon has plowed right on, but they sank the lives of an entire ecosystem as they fed their greed. I don't believe, in the end, British Petroleum will be any different.

May the week be kind to each of you!

alan