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Mountaintop

L. Carey Rowland — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 08:00:15 +0000

Mountaintop, a song

Well I walked out,
I walked out to Pisgah mountain.
Well ole Martin Luther King
he'd been up to the mountaintop
and I wanted to see what he had seen.
And ole Moses, oh
he'd been up to the mountaintop,
and I wanted to see what he had seen.
When I reached the top of Pisgah mountain,
what did I see?
I saw a promised land
just waiting for me
and waiting for all of ye.

Well I walked down from the mountain
and into the town.
Well ole Martin Luther King
he'd been to see the big man,
and I wanted to see what he had seen.
and ole Moses
he'd been to see the pharoah,
and I wanted to see what he had seen;

The promised land is what you make it to be.
Struggle,
struggle to unwind
your unconstant state of mind.
Just take a walk up the mountain, my friend,
and you will see:
what goes on down in that dirty old town
is bound to be.
So you can make up your mind, my friend,
and make it up good.
Are you looking for the promised land?
Or are you dying?
Are you dying
in a wasteland?
'cause I may be asking you now;
I may be asking you,
but some day, Lord yeah,
He's gonna ask you too
and what you going to say?
What you gon'na say when my Lord comes on that day?

Carey Rowland copyright 1978

Your link in the Money Chain?

L. Carey Rowland — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 00:16:39 +0000

You probably learned about the Food Chain in sixth grade. It goes like this:
Tree draws nutrients from soil.
Beetle eats woody parts of Tree.
Bird eats Beetle.
Cat eats bird.
Wolf eats cat.
Wolf dies, decays to soil.
Tree draws nutrients from soil.
Its the food chain, a linked succession of life-sustaining events that stretches back to the dawn of time.
What about the money chain? Have you heard of that?
It goes like this:
Wheat draws nutrients from soil.
Farmer harvests wheat.
Farmer sells wheat to Mill.
Mill converts wheat into flour (value added), sells flour to bakery.
Bakery makes doughnut (value added to product), sells it to girl.
Girl takes doughnut (service added) to man stranded in his car in traffic; girl reaps generous tip.

This really happened. The girl's name is Stacy; the time was 1973; the man was in a long gas-station line because of the OPEC-generated fuel shortage; the Donut was a Dunkin', and I heard about this on All Things Considered.

The sequence of events illustrates the money chain.
Money is circulating every day among people everywhere. Its what people do. Some folks have a little extra, maybe enough to make an impulse purchase--like a doughnut--purchased merely because some energetic 7-year-old, gently guided by her father, provides the go-get-'em service while hungry people are stuck in a gas line.

Like I said, this really happened. During the gas shortage of 1973, a guy (thousands of people, actually) was waiting in his car in a long line of cars, to buy gas. Seven-year-old Stacy positioned herself in a parking lot where she could strategically approach the stranded motorists. It was an improvised opportunity borne of a a child's courage, her father's wise resourcefulness, a potential buyer's appetite relative immobility. young Stacy converted the circumstance into a profitable activity.

Stacy was thinking out of the box. Although the drivers' vehicles were motionless or crawling, the girl's neurons were firing on all cylinders, devising a way to make lemonade, as it were, out of a lemony situation.
Ventures like hers have made the USA the prosperous country that it is today.

Oh yes, we are still prosperous, relative to most the of people who live on this developing planet. We are still prosperous, even if many of us are stuck in the right place at the wrong time, or in the wrong place at the right time, or just stuck in the employment line, maybe a line like the one you'll see cast in bronze at the Roosvelt Memorial across the lake from the Jefferson Memorial in Washington.

What about you? Have you explored the money stream to see if there's a little liquidity stream pooling up in your environs where you might gather a few buckets of cash? Or some other resource. Have you checked it out? Have you opened your eyes, as Stacy did, to the possibilities for increase right around the corner from you, or a few exits down the beltway, a few stops away on the subway.
Or are you just waiting for something to land in your lap? Expecting a phone call from Employment Security? Listening for a knock on the door from the union boys?
Don't hold your breath; look around. You may find a silver lining in those clouds.

Its the American way, and the only way we'll ever get out of this mess, because I hate to tell ya, Virginia, but there ain't jobs out there for everybody. Some of us are going to have to spring out for the promised land. Better get busy and find something to do. You might be the next Bill Gates, or Oprah.

I am for change.

L. Carey Rowland — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 18:48:08 +0000

Economic growth has always been driven by emerging nations.
As the sun once set on the British Empire, it is now, in its unstoppable path from east to west to far east, now going down on the the good ole days of the good ole USA. The time of our manifest destiny expansion is winding down.

Now we have, instead of the good ole days for which we older Americans yearn, the good new days, which our children and grandchildren will inhabit, while we take on more passive, though hopefully wiser, roles. Our golden age of adaptation is begun. We need to adjust our goals and practices to accommodate the great moving mandala of opportunity.

Can we meet the challenge of our age, or will we atrophy into welfare statism while crying prescription-drug-laden tears into our beer?
The times they are a changin'. We must rise with our acquired storehouse of knowledge (one if by land) and wisdom (two if by sea). Here's the first principle for our next phase of development:
Necessity is the Mother of Innovation.

Our great growth phase is over. Merryn Somerset Webb, in a valiant search for the occluded silver lining, grapples with this inconvenient truth in her article in yesterday's Financial Times.

She passes along a statistical observation which she had gleaned from James Anderson, which points out that the rate of global growth peaked in the mid-70s at 5%. "Since then," notes Ms. Webb, "it has been around a respectable 3 per cent."

It seems to me that this "rate of global growth" slowing coincides with the big-picture decline of our own overall economic growth. It is a natural development that, we now find, has landed us in the present predicament, not unlike the "stagflation" of that late 1970s malaise.

But our present malady is surely more severe, and much deeper in its effects upon our comfortable existence.

And its root cause is this: the torch of economic dynamism is now being passed to a new set of runners. The new movers and shakers of capitalistic endeavor of our era have, in this round, a little more state-controlled coordination than in previous thrusts. Like it or not, this is the way things happen in a planetary development fueled upon fewer resources than we humans had before. The Hegelian dialect is surely demonstrable here in the great scheme of things. Capitalism and Statism are merging, as we speak, to produce something entirely new--something that is intrinsically more restrictive than the old models, and yet somehow, necessary. It is the way progress happens in the 21st century.

Conservatives are not comfortable with this. I am, myself, a conservative, but also a realist. Good ole-fashioned competition, in the future, will require more exquisite channels of organization. And there's no way we Americans, for instance, can perpetuate this prosperity thing without playing by the new rules. Those new regs, dictated not by us fat'n'happy yankee consumers but by the new kids (China) on the capitalist block require more correlation with government.

Read 'em and weep, free-market absolutists.
Nevertheless, there is hope yet for us entrepreneurs and wannabees. There is most assuredly a worldwide thrust of free enterprise, also by necessity, on the micro level. This is happening in China, and it can happen again here. Like the great irony of life itself, in order to think big, we must again learn to think small.

The new young-bucks in the global chemin de fer are now laying another BRICK in the superstructure of planetary wealth and development. Merryn Somerset Webb also mentions in her FT article the somewhat symbiotic interplay of imitation and innovation by which economic processes expand. These principles for efficiency and improvement mortar together the fundamental building materials: capital, education, and technology transfer.

All together they constitute a new economic lattice-work that will surpass our obsolete edifices.

These inevitable changes will hit some of us pretty hard. But as the old gaming challenge goes: Put up or shutup. Or written another way: Quit y' er whinin. Get used to it. Or stated yet another way:

Do or die.

While we have a dire need to renovate the way we comfort-seeking Americans do things, what we really need now in the face of such challenges is optimism.

President Obama, among many hope-seeking others, supplies it. Yesterday he told auto workers: " Don't bet against the American worker. Don't bet against the American people." Jackie Calmes reports in her New York Times article that our President hopes to drive the now-subsidized automakers toward overhauling their operations and make necessary sacrifices.

Sacrifices? Yes.

In other words, change with the times. Necessity is the mother of Innovation. We've got some Federal Reserve Notes to send in your direction, but you've got to make good use of them.

Is that possible? Is it possible that highly-institutionalized, multi-layered redundant American industry can figure this stuff out and make best use of both governmental loans and stockholder investments? Is it possible they (we) can emerge from this camel through the eye of a needle downsizing tribulation better equipped to prosper in future conditions?

Our life depends on it.

You carmakers--both owners and workers--better get busy doing the right things to make us leaner and stronger, not fat and happier.

That kind of surgery doesn't happen without a few cuts.
.
Meanwhile, back at the tranche: Has anyone built any trains in this country lately? Do we even know how anymore?

EPA Examines Natural Gas Mining Technique

Jason Miller — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:06:30 +0000

Amid growing reports of dying livestock and polluted water supplies, the Environmental Protection Agency is focusing its attention on a technique for exploiting previously unreachable natural gas deposits, one gaining traction across the country in the race to find cleaner alternatives to burning coal.

Hydraulic fracturing, commonly called fracking, uses high pressure water and sand mixed with chemicals to blast rock deep underground to extract natural gas. The process has been around for decades and industry estimates say 90% of the 450,000+ gas wells in the United States rely on fracking for operations.

What a word. Fracking. I find it hard to believe anything good could come from such a word. I understand that we need to find better alternatives to coal and oil. Natural gas seems an obvious choice given that it can run existing electrical power plants. Yet in our haste to solve one problem, it seems prudent not to cause an even more immediate and catostrophic one.

As uncomfortable as our lives would be without iPhones and air conditioning, no fresh water really is lights out for us. Game over.

Praise God for the NAACP

L. Carey Rowland — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 13:27:48 +0000

Praise God for the NAACP, an organization in which a person is still able to publicly testify, without nitpicky persecution, about what God has done for her.

Shirley Sherrod recently addressed a convention of their members at the Freedom Fund banquet. She delivered a powerful, timely message for that organization, and indeed for our nation during this perilous time. You may want to watch Shirley's entire address as it has posted online, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9NcCa_KjXk

Her testimony constitutes an exemplary demonstration of how one person who has love, a constructive attitude, and a little help from God can overcome adversity. Ms.Sherrod has persevered though lifelong persecution and hate to make a positive impact on a dysfunctional society. Hers is a rare contribution in a world ithat desperately needs help.
I'd like to share with you a few selections from what she told the NAACP that night of March 27, 2010. The rest of this blog consists of quotes I have selected from Ms. Sherrod's message:

"I knew that on the night of my father's death (in June, 1965, ed.), I felt I had to do something.I had to do something in answer to what had happened. My father wasn't the first black person to be killed. He was a leader in the community. He wasn't the first one to be killed by white men in the county. But I couldn't just let his death go without doing something in answer to what had happened. I made the commitment on that night at the age of 17 that I would not leave the south, that I would stay in the south and devote my life to working for change..."

(Later...)
"Two weeks after I had gone to school at Fort Valley, they called and told me that a bunch of white men had gathered outside our home one night and burned a cross...."

"My mother and my sister were out on the porch, with a gun...she saw some of them; she recognized some of them. She said: 'I see you. I know who you are.'"
"She became the first black official in Baker County, just 11 years later, and she is still serving, y'all. She's chair of the board of education, and she's been serving almost 34 years."

"I didn't know how I would carry out my commitment that night..."

"...that night...I was back in one of the bedrooms praying, asking God to show me what I could do. I didn't have... the path wasn't laid out...there that night...I just made a decision that I would stay and work (instead of moving up north, ed.), and young people, I want you to know that when you are true to what God wants you to do, the path just opens up, and things just come to you. God is good; I can tell you that."

"...I've come a long ways. I know that I couldn't live with hate, you know. As my mother had said to so many, "If we had tried to live with hate in our hearts, we would probably be dead now. But I've come to realize that we have to work together, and it's sad that we don't have a room full of whites and blacks here together tonight, because we have to overcome the divisions..."

We stand at a tipping point.

L. Carey Rowland — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 21:08:14 +0000

Michael Boskin, of the Hoover Institution:
"It's dangerous for society to get into a position where more than half of the voters get back from the government more than they pay in taxes."

What about this?

The former Council of Economic Advisors chairman also contends that Obama administration policies have increased the percentage of Americans who "get back more from the government than they pay." He says that percentage is now 50%.

Mr. Boskin states further that under leadership that minimizes federal control (instead of expanding it), we could get back to having only 40% of our people collecting more than they pay in.
What about this?

Is it possible under present conditions to reverse our societal drift toward governmental supervision of our livelihood?
Would such a reversal be beneficial, or should we continue to assign more responsibility for our welfare to federal agencies?
Suppose we were able to turn back that tide toward federal control. Who would benefit?

Would the working people of the USA be better off in the long run to be working for the government? Or would we ultimately fare better in working for other (say, entrepreneurial) "we the people" among us?

Send the President a message

L. Carey Rowland — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 12:29:30 +0000

The Sierra Club is organizing an email campaign to the President.
Participants urge that we develop a policy to work beyond oil dependency within twenty years.
If you would like to affirm this message, send your personalized email via this Sierra Club site:
https://secure2.convio.net/sierra/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=4435

the children of the world play in spite of it all

L. Carey Rowland — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 23:06:34 +0000

Somewhere in the world today a child lives and breathes. But not all is well.
But the child doesn't know it.
Somewhere in the world today a young one cluelessly entertains himself in the dusty rubble of an earthquake aftermath. But the child is unaware of the extremity of its need,

because...well, it is only a child--innocent, unaware, having little previous standard of comfort with which to compare its present dearth.

In Haiti, not so terribly far from the atrocity of deepwater oil that devours our attention, not so terribly far from the spewing hydrocarbonous monster... in the next oceanary body of water over, beneath the last planetary disaster that engulfed our pathos...in the place called Port au Prince...

a child picks up a cast-aside, one-quart oil container--an empty, black plastic Havoline bottle--and fashions a toy truck out of it...

an imaginary model of the truck that will one day haul away the rubble?

a plaything to carry the audacity of human hope through the midst of chaos?

A photo of this child's toy, this plaything improvised from beneath the wreckage inflicted by some immense, far-flung planetary fault, is but one of many images that Stephanie and Lesa share with us, the comfortable online world, from their collective efforts to assist Haitian recoveries.

They saw what they saw and they can't deny it. Maybe you should see it too.

Escambia County Florida disaster respnse

L. Carey Rowland — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 22:55:20 +0000

Wendy Staebler posts an exemplary local disater response plan on TPM.:
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/w/w/wwstaebler/2010/06/an-example-of-comprehensive-in.php

Balance your child in a teeter-totter world

L. Carey Rowland — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 12:10:28 +0000

There are two essential elements in the process of child-raising:
Nurture,
and Nature.

Women are uniquely equipped (whether by God or by evolution is for you to decide) to provide the nurture component, which births the child and teaches the child that he/she is loved.

Men are uniquely equipped (whether by God or by evolution is for you to decide) to provide the nature component, which initiates the birth, and subsequently teaches the child that he/she is not loved, and that the world doesn't give a dam about (you), and you better find a way to provide for yourself.

These two put together--motherhood and fatherhood--equip the young person adequately for life in a hostile world.

Can a single parent do a great job at raising the child?
Absolutely, yes.

But the dual administration of those two balancing principles--nurture and nature--has to come from somewhere.
That's why somebody said it takes a village to raise a child.

If you're a single mom, get linked up with a functional community so your child can obtain the nature balance that you alone cannot provide.
If you're a single dad, get linked up with a functional community so your child can obtain the nurture balance that you alone cannot provide.

Please excuse my quaint perspective on this matter, but that's what this father has noticed over the years.

Despite Safety Concerns, BP Atlantis Continues Drilling Off Lousiana Coast

Jason Miller — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 16:16:49 +0000

Despite the Obama administration putting new deepwater drilling on hold for six months, operations already underway in the Gulf continue.

There is no indication from Interior Secretary Ken Salazar when they will be reviewed anew, though he did say they mailed a sheet of safety demands to all lease holders.

It remains unclear on what this means to on-going operations, though, with regards to halting production until those measures were addressed.

BP has another huge Gulf drilling operation called the Atlantis. It is 124 miles off the Louisiana coast and may have many of the same safety issues that led to the current disaster as it was built using the same lax standards and offers the same emergency procedures.

Kenneth Abbott, who worked on the Atlantis, recently raised concerns about over 6,000 missing documents that are needed to operate the rig safely. He also alleges safety systems that are out-of-date and a mechanical infrastructure unapproved by engineers.

The former project control supervisor joined an environmental group in filing suit against the federal government to force the Minerals Management Service (MMS) to shut down the platform. Mother Jones has the whole story, but I find it hard to believe that the entire industry hasn't been triaged yet as the first order of business on April 21. It may be economically devastating to require widespread shutdowns of on-going oil operations, but we should be able to stop all deepwater drilling until those measures are in place.

We can't afford another Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf before the first one is even contained.

What about this non-toxic dispersant?

L. Carey Rowland — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 11:03:59 +0000

In an earlier report from Lauren Craig of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, she had mentioned a non-toxic dispersant.

The bio-engineered product, called AccelClean, is produced in Irvine CA; it was being promoted for possible use in Louisiana against the oil spill. Lauren has provided a link to the manufacturer's website, which claims that their biotic product breaks down oil without the use of solvents or harsh chemicals:

http://www.abiocat.com/about.shtml

Here, for instance, is one of their claims:
"By integrating chemical and biological reactions at the molecular level, C.O.D.E.® creates new paradigms in green chemistry, improving chemical performance, while lowering water and energy use. Further benefits are realized by replacing traditional chemistries that are harmful to the user and the environment."

I've done some limited reading on this subject, from a layman's perspective. I am posting here, as Lauren did on the LABB blog, a link to the site of Advanced BioCatalytics Corporation:

http://www.abiocat.com/about.shtml

If you have knowledge in this area of biotechnology, perhaps you can check on the company's claims and offer us an informed report.

Y'all vacation in the deep south, y' heah now?

L. Carey Rowland — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 21:28:15 +0000

Will you be taking a vacation this summer?
If so, let me suggest a few destinations.
How about New Orleans? There's no place like it in the US. It's like a little chunk of old France dropped down next to the Mississippi, with a shot of deep south ambiance mixed in for a cool evening highball. They do great cuisine down there; you can still get the best unique creole seafood on the planet. This would be a good time to partake of it; it may become scarce.

Take a train to New Orleans. The Southern Crescent is a richly cultural ride, and you get to see the great American south along the way, accompanied by the low, hypnotic rhythm of the rails, and the rare clatter of silverware in iced tea on white tabelecloth in the dining car. At least, that's the I remember it.

If, after a few days in the the Big Easy, that ole crescent city gets a little too steamy for you, head east along the Mississippi Coast to Biloxi, or Mobile, or even as far as Pensacola.

Live a little. Stop to smell the magnolias, and the sea breezes. Spend a few bucks along the way; the locals will appreciate it. Enjoy classic southern cooking, with cornbread and mustard greens. Feast on broiled flounder, or fried red snapper, in the fine dining establishments.

While you're strolling on the beach after dinner, carry a plastic bag or two. If you see anything that's not supposed to be there, like beer cans, bottles, or six-pack plastic thingies, do us all a favor and remove them. If you find tarballs, hell, throw them in the bag too. They're like planetary do-do; nobody wants to step on them.

A big oil wad would make a curious memento of your 2010 vacation. And it would be one less nuisance that someone else doesn't have to step over, or swim around.
I'm serious, y'all. Think about it.

A Reply From Billy Nungesser: How You Can Help The Gulf

Joe Wood — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 21:28:34 +0000

Last week, I sent a note to Billy Nungesser, the President of Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana--a place which has been hit especially hard by the effects of the oil spill in the Gulf. I let him know that there are people up here and other places who would like to help, but don't exactly know how they can.

Today he replied, and here is some information he'd like me to pass along to anyone who wants to help.

GUIDANCE FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO HELP THE ANIMALS IMPACTED BY THE DEEPWATER HORIZON OIL SPILL

1.    For information on volunteering, please refer to the following:

a.    www.oilspillvolunteers.com

b.    http://www.audubonaction.org/site/Survey?ACTION_REQUIRED=URI_ACTION_USER_REQUESTS&SURVEY_ID=3400

c.    http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/page/2931/46359/

d.    http://lsart.org/

2.    For information on donations, please refer to the following:

a.    https://loon.audubon.org/payment/donate/OILSPILL10.html

b.    http://www.tristatebird.org/dwh/help

3.    For those who wish to donate to the LSU, School of Veterinary Medicine's Wildlife Hospital of Louisiana (NOTE: THIS IS FOR WILDLIFE NOT IMPACTED BY THE OIL SPILL)

a.    Make out the check to "LSU Foundation"

b.    In the memo line, put: "SVM Wildlife Hospital of Louisiana"

c.    To make an on-line contribution, go to https://www.lsufoundation.org/contribute.php

d.    Complete the form

e.    In the section labeled "Please select your gift designation(s)"

f.    Select your beneficiary unit: Choose "School of Veterinary Medicine"

g.    Choose a Fund: Choose "Wildlife Hospital of Louisiana"

At this time, we are asking any other types volunteers to register through Volunteers of America at volunteer@voagno.org in order that we may utilize your talents in the best way and location possible. You can also call Mr. Woody Hosler @ #504-483-3557. You may also register through Samantha Pichon at #504-390-5366 or via email at spichon@archdiocese-no.org in order that we may utilize your talents in the best way and location possible. In addition, we have a non-profit agency here in Plaquemines Parish whose mission is to assist people specifically in our parish - it is called the Committee for Plaquemines Recovery. You can visit their website at www.cprrebuilds.org where you will find a link for donations. CPR has been in business in Plaquemines Parish for several years assisting in the rebuilding from Hurricane Katrina and is now assisting in our recovery from this oil spill disaster as well.

In addition, we have two donation opportunities at this time for those who wish to donate toward assisting with the oil spill:

Plaquemines Parish Special Events (not tax deductable)

8056 Hwy 23

Suite 200

Belle Chasse, LA. 70037

Attention: B Puckett

Committee for Plaquemines Recovery (is tax deductable)

8056 Hwy 23

Suite 200

Belle Chasse, LA. 70037

Attention: B Puckett

Billy Nungesser, Parish President

Plaquemines Parish Government

8056 Highway 23, Suite 200

Belle Chasse, LA 70037

Office (504) 274-2461

Fax (504) 274-2463

email: bnungesser@plaqueminesparish.com

down and dirty in Louisiana, an up-close report from Grand Isle

L. Carey Rowland — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 14:23:00 +0000

If you want to get a close-up view of what's really going on in Louisiana, check out this informative, on-the-island report from the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, an organization that has been monitoring the effects of the oil industry for more than ten years.

Anne Rolfe's blog post from Grand Isle is quite (dare I use the word in this tragic situation?) refreshing, in this respect: It's a personal report from a woman who has intimate, historical knowledge of how the oil industry has impacted people in the bayou state.

This particular link, from "the other side of the berm" is, among other things, an honest, eyewitness perspective of the awkward interface between local folks and the world-generated legion of media personnel and volunteers.

Ms. Rolfes presents a fascinating perspective on what is going on down there at the epicenter (from a human standpoint) of our nation's worst-ever environmental disaster. She opened my eyes to several curious details about the cleanup effort there. I'll mention just two of them here:

a.) Two businessmen from California who are, writes Anne, "... hawking a bioengineered, non-toxic, 100% biodegradable oil dispersant product that works by activating water-borne microflora. Armed with a visually impressive video of the stuff in action, they have succeeded in working their way up through the BP bureaucracy to the point of becoming eligible for product field trials-a feat that I understand only about 14 out of hundreds of thousands of products can boast so far. It all sounds pretty good... I wish them luck."

b.) Volunteers from outside can work for days without encountering a local resident. Anne refers to this personnel disconnect as "weird" because the home folks are generally not interacting with traveling volunteers; they have been asked--by whom I don't know-- to not talk about what's happening Or maybe they're just sick and tired of the whole thing.

This cataclysm is weird. I know the feeling. I experienced somewhat it in 2005 when my wife and I were doing post-Katrina volunteer work in Baton Rouge, but were unable to go to New Orleans because of military or governmental restrictions.

The nightmarish surreality of this disaster prompts me to think in terms of Huxley's phrase, "brave new world." Only "the brave" would hazard a trip down to the marshes now, to look square into the face of this monstrosity of human recklessness.

Be advised, though: one Greenpeace writer, mikeg says people are not advised to travel there. I can understand that. It could be mass confusion. I caught a glimpse of that tendency in post-Katrina work, though the Red Cross was exemplary in their handling of that overflow of manageable volunteers.

Nevertheless, that word "brave" ricochets in my mind. I can't help thinking that if we are to continue living in a land of the free--free of oil pollution, that is-- we must truly rise to the calling of being a home of the brave.

Thank you, Anne Rolfes, for going to Grand Isle, and for giving us your informed view of what is happening there. I'm sure this is but the first of many such reports. Keep up the good work