Zeitoun by Dave Eggers is the true story of Abdulrahman Zeitoun's life as a painting contractor in New Orleans before, during and after Katrina. He is a Syrian-American known by his last name because people found it easier to pronounce. He arrived in Houston by ship and found an American woman to marry and raise a family and start a successful business. His family evacuated before the hurricane but he decided to stay and look after the rental properties they owned. The hurricane did little damage in his part of the city but the flooding caused by the levee breaches did extensive flood damage. He helped rescue some people who were stranded and fed some abandoned pets. He owned a used canoe which he used to get around. About a week into the aftermath of Katrina, he and three other men were arrested on suspicion of being looters or terrorists. He was held incommunicado for about three weeks before he was able to smuggle out a message to his wife who was able to contact a lawyer for help in arranging his release. The experience humiliated him and caused weight loss and aging. His wife is suffering from a mysterious illness which may be PTSS, post traumatic stress syndrome.
This book is well worth the read. Then please recommend it to a friend. A portion of the purchase price is being donated to the rebuilding of New Orleans.
About one month ago I had my first bout of vertigo and I didn't know what was happening. I had difficulty walking a straight line and I felt like I might fall on my face. I have osteoporosis and a fear of falling. After resisting it for 4 days, on the fifth day while at work in a hospital ER taking xrays, I asked an ER doctor what I should do. He wanted to run some tests sooner rather later. I punched out on the time clock and checked into the ER.
Two and a half hours later, I had a diagnosis and a prescription for some medication. I was told to go home and rest and that I could work the following day. I felt much better knowing that my condition was not serious. That is I felt better until I received the bill about one week later, $2600.00.
$2600.00 oh my! $2600.00 oh MY! $2600,00 OH MY!
Something new to worry about. I have both Medicare, the public option, and a Medicare supplement insurance, the private option. Medicare costs about $100 per month and the Medicare supplement which is private insurance about $50 per month. How much would they pay and how much must I pay? About 3 weeks later, I learned from the hospital that Medicare was paying about $2200.00, leaving $450 on the table still owing. We have yet to hear from the Medicare supplement insurer. Based on past performance, I estimate they will pay $10 to $100. That will leave me owing $350 plus.
If you watch TV at all, you have seen the glowing ads for Medicare supplement insurance. Sign me up they say and claim you MAY save thousands of dollars on the 20% of charges not covered by Medicare. The operative word is MAY. I MAY be struck by lighting while in a bathtub, but is it likely? NO to both. I expect to hear from the Medicare supplement insurer in the next 30 days. I am not holding my breath.
In the near future, the Obama administration is going to produce substantial progress in settling the decades-old conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Palestinian Arabs. If you want to increase your background knowledge at this time about the founding of Israel, I suggest two novels by Leon Uris, an American Jew who passed away in 2003. The books are The Haj and Exodus. Exodus is the better known book which was made into a movie starring Paul Newman in 1960.
Both books are novels that read like history that reads like life. Neither is dry or dusty. I suggest reading The Haj first which describes the events leading to the founding of Israel before WW2 mostly through Palestinian Arab eyes, while Exodus is mostly post WW2 through Jewish eyes. I like to read several books on a subject at the same time to meld varying viewpoints. In this case, it is better to read the books in chronological sequence, although Exodus is the better book and written first.
Uris is very pessimistic about the chances for peace with the Palestinians. Of course, his is only one view and it is the opinion of a Jewish writer. It would be interesting to get the viewpoints of Palestinian Muslim Arabs. In any case, the Obama administration is poised to facilitate negotiations between the two sides.
All's fair in love and war and healthcare reform is NOT love. I cannot understand all the anger about healthcare reform. Don't people want to live longer and pay less to do so?
I reserve my anger for big insurers who won't pay their bills, big banks and other credit card issuers who send me daily letters telling me about higher fees and interest rates in my future because of the economic times. I also reserve my anger for Chinese made junk because it is all that I can afford when my income has stagnated for many years thanks to Republican economic policies.
Hello everyone,
I am a 27 year old that has just found out I have MS. That is why I've been trying to get involved with healthcare reform. I've donated the little extra money I have, I have signed petitions, I have called my senators (many times) and I have written and called the Whitehouse many times but I feel like we are just spinning our wheels. As opponents to healthcare reform step up their lies and attacks I think that we need to step up our responses. I am NOT talking about violence. I am talking about dramatic peaceful protest ones that will make an impact and stick in peoples minds. Ones that bring the true cost of our current healthcare system back to the for-front. I think we need to redirect the media attention to WHY we need this reform. Lets show them why, remind the visually why we need this and who will suffer if we fail.
I belong to an email list and we have been passing ideas around and would like to get a few of these ideas started but alas we don't know where to start. I'm writing to everyone I can think of to see if anyone can get these going. Here are the ideas. First, one suggestion was made to hold a welcoming committee for congress on the congress steps. This welcome would consist of sick people that NEED this healthcare reform. Let introduce the congress to the sick people their decisions will affect. Lets give them faces to remember when they vote and negotiate on our lives. Again let me reiterate that this would be a dramatic yet PEACEFUL protest. Another idea is to ask people to send in pics and stories of health insurance companies murder victims (people who have died do to corrupt health insurance companies practices) and we put them on billboards. We also collect them and put them in a book with the birth and death years on the bottom of the pics and send the books to all the members of congress. We could also have protests were every person has a sign with a different persons pic and we march. Just imagine seeing thousands of people marching with pictures, each one different, and knowing that each person marching is also a victim who no longer has a voice. Imagine receiving a book of faces and knowing that they died because of greed. Lets remind the country what this movement is about. Lets make sure that the dead are not forgotten. Lets speak up for those who can no longer speak. Please if anyone can help us get this going let me know.
Thanks for your time.
Emily Votaw
I'm not sure who else saw this but I'm so glad they are doing this. Is our LOCAL government going to privateis education as well? The schools need our support no more than ever.
Idaho teacher sells advertising space on tests
POCATELLO, Idaho – Good morning, class, and welcome to U.S. history, brought to you by Molto Caldo Pizzeria.
In a cash-strapped Idaho high school where signs taped near every light switch remind the staff to save electricity, an enterprising teacher has struck a sponsorship deal with a local pizza shop: Every test, handout and worksheet he passes out to his students reads MOLTO'S PIZZA 14" 1 TOPPING JUST $5 in bright red, inch-high letters printed along the bottom of every page.
"I just wanted to find a way to save money," said Jeb Harrison, who teaches history and economics. "We have to sell ads for our yearbook, for our school newspaper. I don't think this small amount of advertising will change my classroom."
School officials were not wild about the idea, but Pocatello High School Principal Don Cotant relented after Harrison explained the advertisements could help illuminate such topics as the Great Depression.
"I had concerns. I didn't know what this would open up for us," Cotant said. "But we've let this happen because it makes a point about what economic hard times can force people to do."
As school districts across the country face the worst economic outlook in decades, educators who have long reached into their own pockets to buy classroom supplies are finding creative ways to cover expenses. But selling ads on schoolwork is practically unheard of.
The 12,000-student school district in and around Pocatello — an old railroad town of about 55,000, where Idaho State University and a semiconductor plant are among the biggest employers — is looking at a shortfall of up to $10 million next year because of expected cuts in state aid. A tax increase was voted down last month, and school officials have frozen spending on field trips, teacher training and basic supplies such as paper.
Molto Caldo Pizzeria, about a mile from the high school, agreed to supply paper for Harrison's five classes — 10,000 sheets, valued at $315, and imprinted with a pizza ad. That should be enough paper for the rest of this school year and all of the next one.
On a recent day, Harrison handed out photocopies of Dust Bowl images, emblazoned with the pizza ad. The ad also appeared on an economics test he gave last week on the Depression.
"I thought it was a great idea. I mean, the levy didn't pass. We can't get enough money from the state. We've got to find some way to get it," said one of Harrison's students, 17-year-old Benjamin Simms.
Marianne Donnelly, chairwoman of the school board, said the ad apparently violates a district policy barring schools from directly promoting businesses. But she said the board considers the ad harmless and is not making an issue out of it.
"Give the teacher credit for creativity," Donnelly said. "There's no question we're in desperate financial straits."
Elsewhere, nonprofit organizations are helping teachers obtain free or discounted classroom supplies, and Web sites match educators with benefactors willing to buy materials. But Harrison's approach has at least one critic worried the idea will spread.
"It crosses a line," said Susan Linn, a Harvard psychologist and director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. "When teachers start becoming pitchmen for products, children suffer and their education suffers as well."
Earlier this school year in San Diego, Rancho Bernardo High School math instructor Tom Farber allowed students' parents and local businesses to pay $10 to print messages on quizzes, $20 for space on tests and $30 for final exams. Most parents printed inspirational messages, some started plugging their businesses. He raised $625 in one semester.
District administrators expressed concern that the practice could lead to legal problems if an ad were ever rejected, but Farber ended the practice before they could intervene. He sold his last ad in January, after making enough to get through the rest of the year.
"If the district says I can't do it, then they need to provide the money necessary for me to do my job," Farber said.
Okay so I sent out the letters for a high-speed rail and it was shot-down. Some really good points were made: 1) How can we get a high speed rail when we can't even get bike-lanes? and 2) How do we get the stuff our community needs....where do we start? Well Phylis King was kind enough to answer that last question for us. Here is her response to my "what can we do?" question:
Dear Emily,
The first step is to allow local option tax authority. Currently only the state can raise taxes to pay for public transit and this legislature will not allow that to happen--they want to tie the hands of local elected officials and future legislators!!! So local option authority would allow counties to do what is best for themselves. It would put a proposal on the ballot with what the proposal is and how much it would cost over what time period and allow the voters to decide that they want public transit or bike lanes or whatever. Once the county has enough money, it would start purchasing buses, trolleys, van pools and right-of-way for rapid transit. The legislators who are most opposed to this are Rep Mike Moyle, Rep Scott Bedke, Rep Ken Roberts and Rep Lawrence Denney--this is the House majority leadership. Send them letters, emails and phone calls. We (the Democrats and a couple of Republicans) have the legislation written, we just can not get it heard.
Thanks for writing.
Representative Phylis K. King
Idaho House seat 18 B
Boise, Idaho
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full ofdoubts. Bertrand Russell
So in response to this our letter writing group (three people in a coffee shop, come and make it four...please) is going to write to try and get this going. Please come it's fun and really relaxed. For the first time since the election I feel like we can make a real change to help our local communities. So please join us. We have the meeting listed in the events, so check it out. There is coffee too.
His reply to me
Emily - Thank you for your email. I
> worked on local rail between Coeur d Alene and Spokane in
> the 90s. There are a number of problems, not the least of
> which is expense. Second, you need infrastructure to get
> people from terminals to wherever they need to go and we
> have little mass transit anywhere in Idaho. I do believe
> your idea is forward thinking. John Goedde
My reply to his reply
Dear Senator Goedde,
I'm glad that you tried for a rail line in the 90's it means you have some experience with it. Let me point out though, it is 2009 and many things have changed. Lets try again. If we as Americans gave up so easily we would still be a colony. We have the drive, the know-how, the work-force and now with the Stimulus we have the money. Your right also in stating that we need the infrastructure to run this train and the public transportation to work with it. What I say to that is well lets do it. When are we going to move forward? You call me a forward thinker, thank you, I think that if the Federal Government had thought forward they may have seen the financial chasm we fell head-first into. When is Idaho going to stop back peddling and start to move forward? The planet and the rest of the U.S.A is not going to wait for us to feel like getting up and doing something.
We NEED jobs, this will provide them. We NEED the money to do it, the Stimulus has provided it. We need to boost our local businesses and economies, this will help to do that. We NEED to stop spending so much money on road repair EVERY year, this will cut down on the cost. We NEED to protect our people, this will help with that. We NEED to preserve our environment and prepare for energy changes, this will do that. If we don't take this opportunity to do this now when the funds and workforce are available then it will be 10 times the cost and work in the future when we'll have no choice but to do it.
This is a productive way to create jobs, save energy, boost local profit, boost local quality of life, show the taxpayer you care and NOT create new laws or make government bigger or any of the other right-wing propaganda that is thrown around. If Idaho's government wants to use Stimulus money to help the locals and not violate any of the base Republican beliefs this is a great way to do it.
I as an American know our countries past and know that when we want to do something we do it. There is no task to hard for the American people. We are up to the challenge, we are just waiting for our Government Officials to catch-up with us. So lets do this and make Idaho a better and more profitable place to live. My Generation has been asleep for awhile but we are waking up and we are fully caffeinated and ready to rock and roll. So either help us out or we can just vote you out of the way. This is not a game this is our future and our kids futures and we take that very seriously, it's about time everyone does. Thank you for your time.
This is a copy of the letter I sent to ALL of Idaho's Senate, House members and the the Otter.
Dear Representative Henderson,When do you think we will get a light rail system or decent bus system here in Idaho? I live in north Idaho and it would be so easy up here because we only need 2 routes for a light rail system and it would ease the burden on our roads and make us more energy efficient. One route would go alone I-90 to connect us to Spokane, WA and Montana and the other route would go along Highway 95 to reach the fast growing communities north and help with all the wrecks on the very busy commute route. Please put in a good word for getting Idaho smart, community focused and energy efficient. Thank you, Amylouise Adira
Well Idaho has joined many other states in not only accepting the recovery money but creating a website so that we can see our money at work. I strongly encourage us all to take a look and let them know how we feel about what they are doing. The site is: http://www.accountability.idaho.gov/
Happy dance
Idaho Public TV listings
Mar 19 - 8:00/ 7:00 pm MT/PT Wolf Delisting
Mar 26 - 8:30/ 7:30 pm MT/PT Stimulus Plan
Apr 2 - 8:30/ 7:30 pm MT/PT Idaho Transportation Department
Just some info incase people are interested and don't know yet. All of these issues are important and we need to pay attention to not only the National news but what our local government is doing. If we don't know what they are doing then how are we going to tell them how we feel about it?
Hello! Well I am very glad that my letter to the editor was published in my local paper and the paper of the county to our north (I got an email from a campaign friend living in Sandpoint). Here is my letter:
RECOVERY: How wise is rejection?
Congress recently passed the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act to prevent the U.S. from sinking into a second Great Depression. In celebration of Idaho values, I would like to suggest that Idaho not partake in the benefits of this recovery.
It is clear from letters to the editor and state and federal voting records that Idahoans enjoy poverty of every kind, from the poverty of ideas to poverty of economy. Idahoans seem to love government buildings that wastefully consume excessive energy instead of streamlined buildings full of energy-saving retrofits installed by employed locals. We enjoy poor roads and crumbling bridges instead of jobs that improve them.
Why fix schools when we are nearly successful with being last in the nation for quality of education? If we improve school buildings to be more cost effective and energy-efficient, the students and teachers might get the wrong idea that we value them.
Healthcare is another area we don't need help. Being sick and without healthcare is our right and we don't want data entry jobs to input medical records into computers or have energy-efficient hospitals. If we employ those people and fix the system, too many would enjoy employment, and if we improve the energy efficiency of buildings and streamline paperwork, it will bring the cost of healthcare down. How can we possibly enjoy a good depression if we stay healthy?
As the rest of America sinks to our level of joblessness and foreclosure they moan and complain. Here in Idaho, a state that has voted Republican for decades just so we could successfully abolish the middle class, clean air and water, and dependable infrastructure, we value our right to fail our population. It is important for Idaho to see the wealthy get tax breaks while we salute their success from the doubled unemployment lines. We revel in the culture wars that encourage citizens to leave the packing up of possessions in foreclosed homes long enough to vote to thwart the civil liberties of neighbors.
Idaho has a plan to fully live out the trickle down theory of economics until every Idahoan has lost their job, failed their children through lack of education, and has no more air to breathe; we don't need the pesky feds coming up with money for jobs. They can keep their "change;" our status quo is failing us just fine. We welcome a Great Depression of our own making, so "thanks, but no thanks" to economic recovery.
AMYLOUISE ADIRA
Post Falls
3/9/09
Calling the remaining troops in Iraq Support troops rather than Combat troops sounds like a bushism to me. I consider sending additional service men to Afghanistan totally unacceptable. Obama needs to replace the moron's crew ASAP!
THERE IS A METHOD TO HIS MADNESS. OUR PRESIDENT B. OBAMA HAS DONE MORE FOR OUR COUNTRY IN ONE MONTH THEN ANY OTHER PRESIDENT. SO I'M GONNA TAKE ONE MINUTE OF MY TIME TO THANK HIM AND SUPPORT HIM ALL THE WAY. SO HERE IT IS (THANKYOU PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA!!!) AND YOU CAN COUNT ON MY SUPPORT. DOING SOMETHING RATHER THEN NOTHING IS WHAT SEPERATES US FROM THE ANIMALS. AMERICA IS EXPERIENCING A VERY HUMBLING TIME IN ITS HISTORY BUT WEV'VE HAD IT TO GOOD FOR TO LONG AND MAYBE SOMETHING GOOD WILL COME OUT OF THIS. MAYBE THIS WILL BRING FAMILIES TOGETHER WE HAVE BECOME A CULTURE OF EVERYONE FOR HIMSELF AND THATS JUST NOT RIGHT. WE NEED TO GATHER OUR MORALS BACK UP AND JOIN THE ONE FOR ALL AND ALL FOR ONE CLUB CALLED THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!!
RANDY OF MI.....
If you are reading this, I must assume that you are familiar with the President's new effort at pulling together the very effective and efficient network of people like us who are responsible for his historic election. It is called Organizing for America, and Mitch Stewart of the old transition staff has been selected as the manager of this effort. There are YouTube clips found in Mybarackobama.com that explain this well.
However, since Stewart's selection as manager a couple of weeks ago, we out here in the boonies have been waiting for some specific direction on how to organize ourselves at the precint level. So far, we have not seen any direction other than an email from Stewart asking us to host meetings on February 20 to review the new economic recovery program.
Currently, we have (at least) Idaho for Obama, Canyon County Democrats, MoveOn, Americans for an Informed Society, C of I for Obama, Mybarackobama.com, etc. all of whom are competing with one another for meeting time. Often, for example, MoveOn wants to hold meetings in conflict with those requested by the Mybarackobama.com organization.
And, then, there are those of us who are independents or disappointed Republicans or conservative Democrats who don't want to be "organized" into any kind of a partisan group. We don't want to be Democrats or Republicans or any of the extant political groups. We want to be for ideas, platforms, agenda, policies that are geared toward getting our great nation back to its Constitutional foundation. The Obama organization has such a platform/agenda, and it is my hope that the Organizing American Program is exactly the kind of program we need. That it is currently being supported out of the Democratic National Committee resources is a bit scary, to say the least. But Obama is full of HOPE; so, I am joining him in this great effort.
After several futile tries to find any Canyon County groups that are non-partisan but pro Obama agenda/platform/etc. and in anticipation of the upcoming direction from Organizing America, I have decided to try and organize one here in Caldwell.
This organization will be temporarily called Achieving Our Vision in Caldwell. If I am actually able to form such a group, I will ask the group to name itself and to establish its own protocols of behavior.Ultimately, the people who might want to join this group are not so much for Obama, the man, but are definitely for his agenda for positive change.This blog entry is an invitation to Canyon County residents and is my beginning at finding like-minded people who want to pull together to do our part in fulfilling our common vision, the Obama vision, of where our nation needs to be.
Those interested should send me an email at bboston@cableone.net or comment on this blog. Thanks
