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Here on the sunny beaches of Florida where I sit, gazing out at pristine Gulf Beaches and blue waters, one would never suspect that a black, cancer lurks over the blue horizon.

My beach is preparing this Memorial Day for festivities on the beach. There is a bandstand, vendors booths and a planned midnight fireworks display that occurs right off my front balcony. There is no sign of disaster.

All is quiet like in the hours before Pearl Harbor. People are sunning on the beach, the sky is perfectly blue with a few wisps of white cloud. The sea is like a lake.

You will forgive me for believing as I do, that in this moment all is well on the Gulf.

As proof of this well being, as I write, I see brown pelicans flying in formation. If you have seen brown pelicans fly you will know that they fly on wind currents with military precision. With skill surpassing any human pilot, they perform death defying dives, with bombing accuracy, nose first into the sea.

I bet I can count six species of plover, heron, egret, and terns right now without getting out of my seat.

So what was that about cancer lurking out there? Is it a mirage?

I am afraid not. The signs are everywhere. The local health food store is collecting supplies for the Bird Sanctuary. It seems that Dawn washing liquid cleans fouled feathers. The call is out for human and animal hair donations. Did you know that hair clippings soak up oil?

What is not being handed out, is respirators. Thats just a fancy word for gas masks.

You see up in Louisiana, a few hundred miles from where I sit, the biggest ecological disaster in history…. I am sorry, let me rephrase that, THE BIGGEST ECOLOGICAL DISASTER IN HISTORY, IS IN FULL FORCE AND EFFECT.

BP, the British Petroleum Corporation that is responsible for this disaster, is as deep into loss control as the fragile coastal breeding grounds of Louisiana are into death.

That’s right folks. They are dead. They can never come back. Well never may be too strong a word. Lets just say when my kids have children, my grand kids will not see life there.

You see it has taken a millennium for the brush to seed and grow in the salty coastal marshes to the point that there are huge “prairies” of salt tolerant plants. The roots of this brush are mangroves, an endangered bush whose roots hang in the water like the tendrils of fire works on the Fourth of July.  They are safe refuge for small critters (a nursery for fish), and they harbor spawning fish, crabs, shell fish, oysters, and plankton. They are the nesting ground for many endangered fowl, from pelicans to eagles.

It is the cradle of life for the entire Gulf and beyond into the Atlantic Ocean.  This is Gods incubator for the seas.  (Gods incubator is covered in oil).

BP figures that if the word gets out how toxic this mess is, then BP will be facing potential lawsuits for years to come!  So along comes BP’s coporporate liability limit men in their $1000.00 suits.

They have determined that if anyone is seen wearing a gas mask at work while cleaning the spill, that will prove that the workers are working in a highly toxic, cancer causing, environment.  BP needs to create the appearance that everything is fine and safe and that working waist deep in oil sludge and gasoline fumes is just hunky dory.  Its no worse than sunscreen and a day on the beach.

Today, BP is still pumping millions of gallons of poison on top of millions of gallons of toxic crude oil into the Gulf.

I sit here on the beach and weep for the sea turtles and the dolphins and the whales, and I wait for tonight’s fireworks on the beach.

Sincerely

Jeffrey Solomon

PS: here is a video you may want to view  http://www.brassche cktv.com/ page/852. html

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My latest letter to the White House…

I campaigned for President Obama.  I am an advocate of alternative energy. I don’t own any stocks so some may consider me ignorant to the ways of power and money.

I am asking that President Obama use the power of the United States government to keep this oil from destroying any more of our fragile gulf ecosystem.  I am greatly disenchanted with this oil spill and how it is being handled.  I feel that not enough was done or is being done.

There is too much concern regarding future litigation; present cost is guiding decisions to control this oil spill.  What is the dispersant?  Why aren’t we demanding to know what they are using?  Politicians aren’t talking about it.

Politicians are politicians because somewhere along the line some oil money got them there.  Every politician in office today is there because of oil money. (and coal money).  I dare you to prove me wrong.

Yes, I’m angry, very very angry.

Give me my faith back in this administration and provide some results to Americans that we are truly proud and powerful to do what is right.  Not just bumbling through other countries with destructive power.
Please keep this place clean for those who will come after we are gone.

Do you find that every day niceties are disappearing?  Kindness is interpreted as weakness?  A neurosurgeon I worked with asked me one day if a chair was taken.  “Is it ok if I sit here?”  I told him he was at the top of the food chain and he could sit anywhere he wanted.  We both gave a short chuckle and went on with our day.  That moment stayed in my mind.   He is an example of many memorable encounters with kind people who inspire me to be as they are.  I’m still working on it.

Politeness is different.  Some people can be caustically polite.  You’ve met them, the soft spoken smiling face that gossips with tact.  Kind people are aware of others while grocery shopping, moving aside, or yielding to the product search of a fellow shopper.  They don’t always wave or smile so they can be hard to discover sometimes, but, what a beautiful world this would be if we would all learn from them.

Kind people don’t do things out a sense of reward, they are just innately so.  I think we should celebrate kindness rather than war and death and sacrifice.

I was trying to understand why Goldman Sachs is in so much trouble with the government.  I found an article in the New York Times at…

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/business/25goldman.html?emc=na

Mr. Levin said, referring to testimony given by Mr. Blankfein in January. “They were self-interested promoters of risky and complicated financial schemes that were a major part of the 2008 crisis. They bundled toxic and dubious mortgages into complex financial instruments, got the credit-rating agencies to label them as AAA safe securities, sold them to investors, magnifying and spreading risk throughout the financial system, and all too often betting against the financial instruments that they sold, and profiting at the expense of their clients.” 

They bet against what they sold!?  That is legal?! Is this what we are trying to stop in this financial regulations bill?  If America is a giant casino and we are the players, does Goldman Sachs (et al) own the casino?  Are you investor types out there OK with that?

The more I read about this the more confused I get.  I think, well they must not have understood the huge impact this betting would cause us out here in the trenches.  Then I think, no, they are amazingly intelligent people, they knew, they just didn’t care; and they never will.  We can’t ever expect the casino to do what is right for us, they will always do what makes them money.   We can’t even shake our pointy fingers at them because we have admired them this whole time for their wealth and power while they plotted our demise. Half of us still admire them,  and those are the ones arranging a filibuster right now in the senate.

So we need to pay attention to what our senators are paying attention to.

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfmP

So what is the criteria for being a real American?

Some TV personalities refer to themselves as “real Americans”.  What is a real American?  I was born on a military base and lived the first four years of my life in Germany and many subsequent years in England.  I was in the sixth grade when we moved to America, I felt like I was exploring a world I had only known from television.  I’m guessing most of the world has a warped view of what America is, including many Americans.

Visiting New York City is considered by some as the ultimate American experience.  I was afraid of New York City until I went there with a New Yorker.  The driver who took us from La Guardia to our hotel in Manhattan negotiated the New York traffic at breakneck speed.  It rivaled any ride I had ever been on at any amusement park.  I shook his hand and thanked him for delivering us alive.  He laughed.   Thank God America has New York.

Friends from Philadelphia have a way of making you feel like if you aren’t from Philadelphia you aren’t really a true American.  They have an infectious passion for life and love and the party.  What fun, fun people Philly people are.  thank God America has them.

In Wisconsin you’ll find beauty, cheese, farmers and milk.  The people are tall in Wisconsin.  I felt very short the whole time I was there.  They love their football teams.  You can find an entire town at a Friday night game.  Many are descendants of Sweden, Norway and Germany.  They love snowmobiles, ice fishing, potato pancakes and Brandy.  Makes you proud to be an American.

We flew in to Seattle as tourists experiencing our own country, rented a car and drove to Monterey along the Oregon coast.  This is an American experience I highly recommend;  wild whales, the greatest coffee on earth, gigantic flowers, heavenly seascapes, and very distant people.  The whole time I was on that coast no one got my jokes, the Pacific Northwest is full of  serious people, but, thank God America has them.

While living in the Ozarks, I met people that didn’t like going into the next county because it was full of foreigners.  A co-worker used to bring in the best beans and corn bread on the planet, everyone brought in eggs to share, and they added syllables to words. They build houses where there is no land, on the sides of cliffs. I miss them and thank God America has them.

We took a trip to the Grand Canyon on a whim.  The Grand Canyon is otherworldly.  What can describe America better than the Grand Canyon and it’s American Indians, Mexican Americans, Ranchers, Artists, and Sedona.  One of the most fulfilling whims I ever had.  Americas Grand Canyon is a must see.

So, how can any one person state representation of “real Americans”.  Diversity is America.  Thank God.

“Rich people give poor people jobs. Plain and simple. With out rich people, poor people won’t have jobs. See all the liberals want the government to take away all the rich peoples money, but don’t ever give any of there own.” This is a quote from an apparent Republican to his liberal facebook friend.

When did this happen?  The rich paying for the poor?  Define poor.  Do you think the richest Indian was the one with the fanciest horse?  Or was the bravest Indian the one with the fanciest horse?

I was extremely impressed with a Missouri gentleman that built our kayak from strips of wood.  He explained the procedure and that his boats would withstand some of the wildest rivers in Missouri and Arkansas.  It took about 4 months for it to be completed and now it is a gorgeous lightweight kayak that is durable, usable art .  I suppose some of the glues, and paints may have had Chinese roots or came from a factory owned by a wealthy corporation, but, for the most part our beloved vessel was handmade by an American. He had a home, a car, a workshop, diabetes and a smoking habit.   He made his own way in his own shop living a free American life that many of us might envy.

Insurance would have been impossible for him to obtain if it hadn’t been for medicare.  He qualified for socialized medicine because he lived long enough too.  Prior to that I think he plucked chickens in a factory or something like that so he would be insured. Why is our society set up like this? Because the guys that own the chicken factories don’t want us to be free.  If we are free and don’t need the insurance they provide, we may leave and start an organic chicken farm that would compete with them.  We would be poor, but, we would be free and insured.

“Another word for freedom is nothing left to lose”  I so miss the days when everything I owned fit in my car and I traveled about, working at random restaurants, taking ballet classes and teaching ballet classes.  I never broke a body part or had a kidney stone or appendicitis.  I never thought about healthcare or health insurance.  If I had needed healthcare back in those days I would have been financially screwed.  I guess I was poor, but, I didn’t feel poor, I felt  free.

Life happened.  Husband, kids, and a job that provided health insurance for us all.  There went my freedom.  I don’t think it should have to be that way.  I think we should be able to make things, grow things, be brave and ride a fine horse.  I think we should have the choice to be free and at the same time be responsible.  I don’t think providing healthcare for all is the rich paying for the poor.  I think it is all of us pitching in for all of us.

Now there is hope that no American will be locked in to a job they hate because they need the insurance for their family. There is hope that more Americans can start their own businesses and innovative ideas while able to obtain affordable insurance.

An Arkansas community I once lived in is a perfect example of an innovative and talented populace. Most were uninsured. If you’re an uninsured person with a kidney stone or breast cancer or a gallbladder attack your finances and maybe even your life are at risk. No American should ever experience the devastation involved in being turned away from a Doctors office or ER because they don’t have insurance or enough money to be seen.

Most of the people I have met who are unsure if changes are needed have medicare or private insurance. They are satisfied with the way things were and are immensely afraid of this new healthcare reform law.  Just know that Americans over 65 or disabled have been taken care of by taxpaying Americans for many years after a hard fought fight.   Now,(after another long hard fight)  we will also provide for the healthy uninsured working class; which is the last hurdle intended when Medicare was signed in to law in 1965 by the Johnson administration.

Misfortune is an inevitable part of being alive. I see health care reform as a way of rallying together to help each other prepare for inevitable misfortunes. We are our brothers keepers so lets be grateful that  healthcare for all has happened.
I just don’t understand the culture that opposed Americans helping Americans. Who were we fighting?

I’ve been reading  and watching news on Haiti.  So impressed with how the World is rallying for this little island country. Rwanda sent $100,000!  Isn’t Rwanda really poor?  Isn’t that like getting 50 cents from someone who only has a dollar?   It is heartwarming to watch the people of the world take on the tragedies of strangers.

Some folks go through life as though the world owes them more.  Most are extremely grateful and tend to give back.  Giving is interesting; it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with spiritual or political  tendencies, or income.  It is an inclination.  This mind set exists all over the world and when tapped, achieves wonderous results.  Can this wonder be learned?

If my life so far can be considered a survey, my conclusion is caring can’t be taught.  The joy of caring can only be experienced.   You walk through a grocery store and see someone with too many items in their arms — they drop something — do you pick it up for them or do you walk on thinking “why didn’t they grab a cart?”.   You see a Mom taking a photograph of her husband and baby — do you stop and offer to take a picture of the three of them together or do you just keep walking, not wanting to break your stride or step outside your box?

Merging traffic can be a beautiful example of strangers caring about strangers and everyone doing the right thing.  Often, it isn’t such a beautiful thing, don’t be the reason why.

I was in a conversation with a physician I work with the other night at the hospital.  He described me as “uber liberal” and decided I needed to be reformed and informed.  He started printing up things for me to read from his Fox network.

This Physician is very very afraid of our government running anything.  On the other hand,  if you leave the government out of our lives then you end up with a place — well –  Haiti is a graphic example of a  weak government.  Us worker bees need to be protected.  We are the ones out here in the trenches doing the work.  We don’t mind, we’re happy and have amazing respect for our founding fathers’ plan for checks and balances and equal rights.  They were a bit hypocritical about equal rights, writing and signing the constitution while their slaves tended to their farms, but, their ultimate plan was ingenious.

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The Physician and I are an example of check and balance.  His check is the need to be compensated for all the patients he fights hard to save.  Many of them are self abusers, over-eaters, smokers, alcoholics, prescription drug abusers.  They vary from uninsured, medicaid, Medicare as well as the insured.  Some try to sue him for an anomaly that is most often a result of their own self abuse.  The litigation involved is extremely expensive and is driving up healthcare costs.  Tort reform is his primary concern to improve our health care system.   I definitely get his point and I also am angry at the folks making a living out of being sick.

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My balance is the waitress with a kidney stone, the restaurant owner with chest pain, the guy that builds kayaks by hand with diabetes, the lady with a shop full of locally made art.   To them insurance is a gamble; those without are gambling they won’t need it,  those with individual insurance pay dearly for a catastrophic plan.  How can we remain innovative Americans if we can’t leave Wal-mart to try our hand at Tilapia farming or growing bamboo or opening a breakfast joint.  We aren’t really free as long as we are locked in to a job because we need the insurance?

Did you know that Latvia has a Baltic Beach Party sponsored by Red Bull and Coca Cola?

I was embarrassed I didn’t know where Latvia was so I looked it up.  They are just like us here in the U.S. except they are a tiny country and they speak Latvian.  My friend said, ” didn’t Mork from Mork and Mindy come from Latvia?”

Well, anyway, I decided I wanted to learn about Latvia.  They, like us, are suffering a recession after years of grotesque prosperity. Corruption in their government has created a  health care industry that no one would use as a template.

The Soviets occupied the country after driving out the Nazi’s.  Latvia  regained independence in 1991.  14 governments in 16 years and now Ivars Godmanis has led a new four-party centre-right government since December 2007.

They have billionaires and ads for Mercedes SLS AMG,

they have brave women…

and they celebrate being rich and being beautiful.

They have something called the Day of the Blonde in the city of Riga.  Rumor has it the first Christmas tree was decorated in Riga in the 1500′s.

They celebrate many days of independence from things that happened while under Soviet rule. Latvians don’t like to be called Russians –>different culture, different language so don’t do it. Their comments become foul and cruel and fists pound tables if you call them Russian or Soviet.  They are a proud new member of the EU and NATO and are working hard to straighten up their democracy and stay prosperous and free.

Somewhere between Ventspils and Kolka cape in Latvia (ex-Soviet country) is located two radio telescopes (also known as “zvjozdachka” – the star), that in those days were one of most secret elements in soviet army. There are two antennas left – RT-32 (main dish is 32 meters in diameter) and RT-16 (16 meters). The smallest one – RT-10 – was taken away when soviet soldiers left Latvia in 90-ies. With those antennas Russian forces were able to spy phone calls everywhere they wanted. So what are they doing with these two now?

This guy had a pretty impressive collection of car photos, here is one of them and his comment…

“I am from Latvia. Some people say, in Latvia is the biggest percent of
exclusive cars in northern Europe. I am a starting photodraph, and my biggest
passion is taking some nice shots of cars.
You can look at my latvian car
collection, and I hope you like it
and it will be great if you publish this photos right here, because people
think that Latvia is a very poor country.
Who knew?

“Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
— Eleanor Roosevelt

I read an article in the New York Times about a lady named Marlane from the town of Eleanor West Virginia.  The town was named after Eleanor Roosevelt.  In the time of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency the government created towns with jobs for folks that lost their jobs and couldn’t feed their children. The government project was called the New Deal.  Obviously there was immense opposition to this blatantly socialist endeavor.  Some  commended the government for stepping up to the plate and addressing the needs of hungry Americans whose children had never tasted milk or flushed a toilet.

These are the initiating paragraphs of the article…

Early spring, in the Depression year of 1935. A poor girl from coal-mine country, a dark-haired girl of 4, rocks beside her mother and two sisters in a car moving through the rain-swept night. Soon they will join her father, a Great War veteran who pads his shoes with cardboard. He has been working for months on some distant government relief project.

When the car finally stops, the sleepy girl can see only a blur of mud and midnight. Not until morning does she take in this government project: a new American town, raised from a field by her father and other men with families caught in the stalled gears of a broken economy.

The girl is told: You’re home now, Marlane.

I had to read on and as I did I thought about how this would turn ugly in today’s America.   The Chicago Tribune and the New York Times were 1935 versions of Fox and MSNBC.  Then, like now, a lot of people didn’t like government interventions but there wasn’t a television to throw it in their face.  So the New Deal carried on and enriched some lives during the Roosevelt administration.

Some of it was disturbing.  The creation of all white communities, cod liver oil for all children, toys brought in government trucks for Christmas, and you could be evicted for not complying with the rules. According to Marlane, the rules were easy, and the home, the job, the milk, the indoor plumbing and the toys were gifts from the Roosevelts.

Jobless folks like Marlane’s parents probably did not vote, they were busy looking for a job.  Yet, the Roosevelts did everything they could think of in the time they had to create a better life for the jobless.  This upset many of the Americans who did vote.  They did not want to pay for what may have been considered the lazy and the uneducated.

There are politicians who really do want to help people.  Hard to know which  politicians are really trying to do good things for not-so-fortunate Americans.  If the the not-so-fortunate Americans get a job, a home, breath clean air, and obtain some health care,  the fortunate will not lose their fortunes?

Lately I’m thinking all political sides are ruled by corporations.  I think corporations love money and their money God creates hate and fear, which also happen to be the two key ingredients of war.

Television, which is a huge corporation, provides information.  TV is paid for by huge corporations that tell them what to tell us.  These same corporations have caused us to lose our jobs.   They told us to buy American, now they tell us it is a global economy.  I tried to buy American made products for Christmas.  I had to give everyone money — that is the only thing I could find that it is made here.  They tell us what to buy — and we do what we’re told.  Are we losing our drive, our moxy, our innovation?  Don’t be afraid of government, be afraid of corporations and television.

When I finished reading the article I wanted to comment on how well Dan Berry captured the town and Marlane’s frustrations.   Marlane loves her town and it’s history and the innovation it’s very existence represents.   I learned from the history that Dan Berry covered so well in his article.  I learned to care. Half the country cares Marlane.  The other half is watching TV and doing as they’re told.

To read the NYTimes article go to

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/25/us/25eleanor.html