I appreciate the local volunteers who help with counseling, legal aid, and physical assistance to the women and children that are escaping abusive homes.

so happy that our young men get it

men walking the talk

see post below for info on Doves walk through the village today

Domestic violence awareness

Doves is doing good work in Big Bear and I support them.

http://kbhr933.com/current-news/men-challenged-walk-mile-shoes-doves-hosts-domestic-violence-awareness-month-kickoff/

fundraiser and eye opener

Men who hit women are cowards and should be despised and rejected by our community

on his way to save the day

the parish priest is coming by to visit mom
and bringing the Bishop of San Bernardino with him. Today

the money problem:

I solved it and
it did not take much time
the Need for more dollars for Health ( isnt it really sickness insurance?) care.
and in fact probably the greater part of the deficit. Heck, this may take care of Social Security too.

They * tax cigarettes and they tax alcohol, they tax luxury boats and cars and tires. There is a proposal to tax sodas and fruit drinks..... But if you really want to steal some money from people caught in the bind of addiction, Tax COFFEE. yes it would cause a revolt, and it would not sit well with all the coffee drinking staffers on Capitol hill, but the congress would probably exempt themselves anyway.

* YOU know who they are unless you are one of them.

Camera Critters

Camera critters lets me post pics like this for no reason other than "you might laugh at it".

its a big deal for Big Bear

this weekend is the
Big Bear lake International Film festival
I am volunteering a few hours each day
and trying to make the most of people watching and reading during the slow times

just for warm

Today's task
replace the control unit on the wall furnace
it is getting cooler out and
mom needs all the heat she can get.

--------------------

books I am reading / previewing
"Voices behind the Veil'
The world of Islam through the eyes of women.
Editor: Ergun Mehmet Caner

from something beautiful - to something really UGLY

remembrance sep 11 continued

The Cross at Ground Zero
by Frank Silecchia Little Ferry, New Jersey

I’m an excavation laborer, and a member of union local 731. Pick-and-shovel work is my trade. I live in New Jersey, but I’m a New York City native, Brooklyn born and bred. After the Towers collapsed, my city was hurting. When I heard they needed guys like me for search-and-rescue work at Ground Zero, I couldn’t get there fast enough.

I’d seen the news coverage, but that didn’t prepare me for the reality. Down there it was like hell on earth. Fires burned out of control. Destroyed vehicles littered the streets. Everything was blanketed with dust; the air was filled with a choking stench. I soaked a bandanna with water before wrapping it around my head to cover my nose and mouth. I went to work wondering if I’d be able to get through this.

Six firefighters and I entered World Trade Center building six, which had been flattened by Tower One. We took a smoke-filled stairway down into the garage levels, searching for survivors. There were no cries for help, no signs of life. We spray-painted orange Xs to indicate where we’d searched and to help us find our way back.

After 12 hours of searching, we’d recovered three bodies. By then I was exhausted, but I couldn’t quit. “Think I’ll take a look over there,” I told the firemen, motioning toward the remains of the lobby atrium.

Picking my way through the massive piles of debris, I peered into what had become a sort of grotto. Illuminated by the pale light of dawn were shapes . . . crosses. What? How did these get here? The largest was about 20 feet high. It must have weighed a couple of tons.

In that little grotto I felt a strange sense of peace and stillness. I could almost hear God saying, "The terrible thing done at this site was meant for evil. But I will turn it to good. Have faith. I am here." I fell to my knees in front of the largest cross. Tears came, and I couldn’t stop them. I cried like a baby.

Finally I was able to pull myself together. I grabbed my gear and left the strange grotto to go back to search-and-rescue work. But first I spray-painted “God’s House” on the atrium ruins.

Digging day after day at Ground Zero was the hardest work I’d ever done. Often I was so drained I felt I couldn’t go on. That’s when I’d go to God’s House. Standing there in front of that 20-foot-high steel-beam cross, I always felt my strength and spirit renewed.

Word spread. The cross had the same healing effect on others too. Firemen, police, volunteers, grieving survivors, visiting dignitaries and clergy. They would walk into God’s House, see the cross and fall to their knees crying, like I had. Some people sang, some prayed. Everyone left changed.

There are some who say that the cross I found is nothing more than steel. That it was just plain physics that broke the steel beam into the shape of a cross when it plunged through the roof of building six. But I believe differently.

So does my friend Father Brian Jordan. He was a chaplain at Ground Zero, and is a priest at St. Francis of Assisi in midtown. When the time came for what was left of building six to be removed, God’s House faced demolition. Father Jordan talked to officials and persuaded them to save the cross. After it was removed from the site, iron workers fixed the cross to a concrete base, then hoisted it up and mounted it atop a 40-foot foundation that had been a pedestrian walkway outside the World Trade Center. It stood high enough that the rescue workers who were down in the pit could see it whenever they lifted their heads.

Ground Zero was not obviously a place of hope. But it was there that I learned we can always have faith. In fact, we must have faith if we are to go on. New life will rise from the ashes. I know that because the cross was a sign, a promise from God that he is with us even in the face of terrible evil and untold suffering. Especially then.

The above article originally appeared in Guideposts magazine. Visit the recently updated guideposts.com today.

9 12 project

you may not love Glenn Beck ( like I do )
but you have to love the nine principles
and twelve values that make up the 9-12 project

take a look
or watch Fox between 1 and 3 today ( Eastern time)
to see more

Timothy Paul Gilbert - project 2996

2996

For a moment I thought it was a mistake
Then I prayed it was not real
a show, a fiction, a play.
My world never will be the same
I lost something on Sept 11, 2001
we all did.
I thought I knew some of the pain
when I walked near Ground Zero in October
the smells, the sounds. smoke still coming from the pile.
All of us were in a daze, pictures and names on windows and walls
went on for blocks. we walked in the night as strong men worked
to uncover what was left of the thousands buried there.
we saw that small chapel, I forget its name,
where people came to pray and cry and ask why
we were able to leave and go home and hug our children
so many never get to walk away
don't feel loves strong embrace
when I started to read their stories
I think I am JUST NOW getting a tiny picture
of what a horrible and tragic day that was
9-11-01

c. ds 2006

In my effort to honor Timothy Paul Gilbert I am sharing
these comments which were posted by friends of his on a commemoration page:

"It has taken me 2 years to be able to say goodbye to all those I knew
at Cantor Fitz. I had the honor & privilege of working and sitting side
by side with Tim for the first couple of years he come to the NY
office. My prayers are with him, his family & all those whose lives he
touched. Keep shining down on us from heaven Tim
May god bless you & keep you."
------------------------
"Not a day goes by that I don't think of you. We have suffered a great
loss. You were one of the greatest men I have ever known. You would
always make me laugh, and you were so down to earth. You were always
such a pleasure to be around. You will never be forgotten. Tim, when I
see your children, I see you. When I see Jackie, you are there. You
were the greatest dad, and such a loving husband. I have been blessed
to have known you, and miss you so much."

"God Bless the Gilbert Family."

thanks a bunch

My facebook page has been disabled
it took them ten days to even reply to my original complaint
and now another week later
they solve my problem, which I had already fixed,
By taking down my account.

So what?
I was just building a small prayer circle to pray for and help
individuals. Its harder to do that without my account...

But with God nothing shall be impossible

major drooling

good thing they are well varnished

1000 words worth

l
Laguna Beach, ca