Don't let the Republicans know but thousands of undocumented hunters are coming into the United States for the first time over the Canadian borders. This will drive the GOP nuts. They will be eating our food in impoverished regions and drinking our water in drought stricken areas.

They weren't invited and historically have never been seen in these kind of numbers in the United States. These interlopers can be found from Oregon to Maine and even are starting to penetrate the Southern States. In Hawaii, one was shot for fear they would menace our airport security.

American citizens most likely will hear of this illegal immigration in the next debates. What is all the fuss about? The stunningly beautiful Snowy Owl has for the first time appeared in the lover 48 states by the thousands. They stand two feel tall and have massive five foot wingspans.

MSNBC has given serious space to these undocumented birds. They write on their site:

A certain number of the iconic owls fly south from their Arctic breeding grounds each winter but rarely do so many venture so far away even amid large-scale, periodic southern migrations known as irruptions.

"What we're seeing now — it's unbelievable," said Denver Holt, head of the Owl Research Institute in Montana.

"This is the most significant wildlife event in decades," added Holt, who has studied snowy owls in their Arctic tundra ecosystem for two decades.

Holt and other owl experts say the phenomenon is likely linked to lemmings, a rodent that accounts for 90 percent of the diet of snowy owls during breeding months that stretch from May into September. The largely nocturnal birds also prey on a host of other animals, from voles to geese."

 

 

 

In a first ever effort, Global Journal has listed the Top 100 NGO's (non-governmental organizations) in the world. This was an ambitious undertaking for the Journal and sure to generate debate and maybe even some controversy. The methodology that they used to judge some of the world's most prominent organizations consisted of:

-Innovation
-Effectiveness
-Impact
-Efficiency/Value for Money
-Transparency and Accountability
-Sustainability
-Strategic and Financial Management -Peer Review

You see more on the methodology and the entire list of 100 organizations by clicking here but the top ten are:

1. The Wikimedia Foundation

2. Partner in Health

3. Oxfam

4. BRAC

5. International Rescue Committee

6. PATH

7. CARE International

8. Medecins San Frontieres

9. Danish Refugee Council

10. Ushahidi

 

 

Increasingly the arts community is becoming the voice of the history of the darkest years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The newest project to be unveiled at Sundance Film Festival was Director David France's "How To Survive A Plague" which tells the story of ACT UP in the 1980's and early 1990's. At its first screening, the documentary received two standing ovations. In addition, the film was immediately brought for distribution by Sundance Selects. Jonathan Sehring of Sundance Selects said of the Joy Tomchin/David France entry

This is a towering film in the history of cinema about social activism. Its astonishing use of archival material to reconstruct an era of political indifference in the face of an unimaginable health crisis helps to create a new blueprint for modern activists."

The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a rave review and here are a few excerpts:

Words like “important” and “inspiring” tend too often to be meaninglessly attached to non-fiction filmmaking, but in the case of David France's compelling snapshot of a revolutionary period in AIDS treatment, they are amply justified........

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of David France’s emotionally charged documentary, How to Survive a Plague, is that despite the wealth of books, films and plays dealing with AIDS, this feels like a part of the story that hasn't yet been told – certainly not with such probing insight. Packed with fascinating interviews and stirring footage from the trenches, the film deftly shapes its information stream into a powerful drama recounting the highs and lows, setbacks and victories in the fight for an effective HIV treatment.........

The battle of a small New York-based group of gay activists against the FDA, the NIH and major drug companies might sound more earnest than engaging. It’s not. The film is actually an epic celebration of heroism and tenacity, and less directly, a useful template for any fledgling activist movement, demonstrating the effectiveness of inside/outside strategy. It also shows the enduring government apathy toward gay-rights issues that slowed research funding and cost so many lives.

Variety also joined in the raving about the documentary:

This saga is told primarily through archival videotape (Act-Up was nothing if not media-savvy) often narrated by participants. These include a number of important researchers, but the character emphasis is on the activists, a vivid assortment whose survival the pic cannily holds in suspense.

A veteran journalist who's been reporting on AIDS since the epidemic's earliest days, debuting helmer France and his first-rate collaborators have assembled a package as engrossing in human terms as it is historically informative. Artful editing, original scoring and music supervision make especially valuable contributions.

 

 

Once again Oakland became the battleground for the Occupy Movement. Apparently the mayor or no one else in city government can control the police or maybe even care to control them. As protesters were gathering police lobbed tear gas and fired rubber bullets. After creating total chaos, the police then boxed in the demonstrators and proceeded with the mass arrests.

Recently, the international agency that protects journalists moved the United States down to number forty-seven in 'press freedoms.' The main reason given by the organization was that journalist were by large numbers being beaten and arrested during the Occupy demonstrations despite clearly identifying themselves to law enforcement officials. Not since 1968 have we seen so many journalists being rounded up by the police and arrested.

The only reason to arrest reporters who show identification is to intimidate them from covering the news. Either by making them reluctant to get close to the event or making it almost impossible for them to cover the news.

Here is an excerpt from Mother Jones magazine by journalist Gavin Aronsen about the arrests of six reporters:

On Saturday, Occupy Oakland re-entered the national spotlight during a day-long effort to take over an empty building and transform it into a social center. Oakland police thwarted the efforts, arresting more than 400 people in the process, primarily during a mass nighttime arrest outside a downtown YMCA. That number included at least six journalists, myself included, in direct violation of OPD media relations policy that states "media shall never be targeted for dispersal or enforcement action because of their status."

After an unsuccessful afternoon effort to occupy a former convention center, the more than 1,000 protesters elected to return to the site of their former encampment outside city hall. On the way, they clashed with officers, advancing down a street with makeshift shields of corrogated metal and throwing objects at a police line. Officers responded with smoke grenades, tear gas, and bean bag projectiles. After protesters regrouped, they marched through downtown as police pursued and eventually contained a few hundred of them in an enclosed space outside a YMCA. Some entered the gym and were arrested inside.

As soon as it became clear that I would be kettled with the protesters, I displayed my press credentials to a line of officers and asked where to stand to avoid arrest. In past protests, the technique always proved successful. But this time, no officer said a word. One pointed back in the direction of the protesters, refusing to let me leave. Another issued a notice that everyone in the area was under arrest.

I wound up in a back corner of the space between the YMCA and a neighboring building, where I met Vivian Ho of the San Francisco Chronicle and Kristin Hanes of KGO Radio. After it became clear that we would probably have to wait for hours there as police arrested hundreds of people packed tightly in front of us, we maneuvered our way to the front of the kettle to display our press credentials once more.

When Hanes displayed hers, an officer shook his head. "That's not an Oakland pass," he told her. "You're getting arrested." (She had a press pass issued by San Francisco, but not Oakland, police.) Another officer rejected my credentials, and I began interviewing soon-to-be-arrested protesters standing nearby. About five minutes later, an officer grabbed my arm and ziptied me. Around the same time, Ho—who did have official OPD credentials—was also apprehended.

As I waited in line to be processed and transported to jail, Ho approached me with an officer who had released her from custody. The two explained to my arresting officer that I was with the media. "Oh, he's with the media?" the officer replied, although I had already repeatedly told him as much and my credentials had been plainly visible all night. He appeared ready to release me, until a nearby officer piped in, without explanation: "He's getting arrested."

 

 

There is something magnificent about a classy bathroom. Sitting in a deep tub with a fireplace roaring next to you and surround sound music caressing your ears. Even more special are those showers that hit you from every direction. Especially if they are large enough for a romantic couple to work up a good lather with each other! When you add nature to the equation and bring the outdoors in to the indoors it becomes close to heaven. Architizer.com recently had a story about showers.

 

 

"Your Eyes...." by David Mixner

My love,
When I look into your eyes
I see the moon rising to a brilliant song,
And the comet streaking across the Monterrey sky.
The waves pound by our Fire Island bedside.
The smells from our travels linger on your body.

Our journey is unique,
The road has had many twists and turns.
The passage has been uncertain,
Filled with strangers seeking a glimpse.
The crowds are ignored as we passionately embrace.

Love has no limits.
There can be no fences.
Stand on the edge with me and
Marvel at the beauty of the unknown.
Fall into the splendor of overwhelming sunsets,
So we again can return to our song.

Your youth challenges me unto new ground.
The body gives me delights previously unknown.
My age teaches patience to enjoy the lush green.
Spirituality is our bed upon which our souls make love.

Although we witness the harshness of the world,
There is no sword of war that can deny me your love.
Our love rises above the cascade of angry voices
To create a world of flowers, incense and music.
In our travels we have even touch the sun.

All of this I remember
When I look into your eyes my love,
I see you and I see the world.

 

 

My passionate love affair with writing began at a very early age and wasn't fulfilled until the latter part of my life. The years in between were spent overcoming the myths and justifications that danced in my head about why I could never be a writer.

Growing up, books were my great escape. With no television and minimal contact with the outside world, books were a magic carpet that transported me to far away places. My beloved mother, Mary, insisted that all three of her children not only be literate but also love books. We had shelves that dad had made and they were filled with books in the front room. Most of them were very old and out-dated since they had been picked up at penny sales or given to my mother by others.

Amidst those books was a set of encyclopedias that had blue covers with gold printing. They were published sometime in the 1930's and someone had given them to mom. Despite being decades out-of-date, we loved those books filled with knowledge. Often mom, with great pride, would say, "Go look it up in the encyclopedias." Most likely by the time we left home, I had read almost every volume.

Of course old knowledge can be a trap and in my freshman year in high school (we were transported from our small rural school by long bus rides to a more sophisticated high school) we had a science class project. Going home, I planned my outline and then took down the old blue cover books of knowledge and worked hard to prepare for my first high school science report. When I presented it, the information was so old that my teacher, Mr. Downey, made fun of me in front of the class as they all roared with laughter. My refuge of knowledge had betrayed me in the most humiliating way.

Quickly I learned the library had access to current information. At the same time I began to fall in love with Steinbeck, Capote, Williams and other great American writers. With a dictionary by my side I would look up words that I never encountered before reading their books. Amazed at their ability to make sentences flow with imagery that boggled the mind. I was in awe. Later in college I discovered the classics and current international writers.

I yearned so badly to be a writer but was convinced that my background, schooling and the little blue books of knowledge had left me in the dust of that possibility.

Sometimes we find our dreams come true out of necessity and that is how I became a writer. After being arrested in front of the White House over DADT in 1993 all my clients left me almost within a week. No one would hire me and quickly my debts became massive over the next three years. A literary agent named Todd Shuster approached me about writing what would become my first book -Stranger Among Friends. Desperate for funds, the fear, low self-esteem and barriers had to be discarded.

At first my attempts to duplicate the beauty of the sentences of my favorite writers had to be forever vanished from my writing. My strength was not the flow of my prose nor the structure of my sentences. Storytelling was my ticket to writing and I was an excellent story teller. With that, at the age of fifty, I published my first book.

After three books, two screenplays, a play and this blog, I have realized a lifelong dream. I have joined the pantheon of those before me who put pen to paper to hopefully, in some small measure, enlighten the human condition.

I am a writer