Occupy Journey says nice things about us

Its me, yall! I'm a superstar.

Above photos are from a video of our anti-Keystone XL Pipeline event last month. I don't know WHAT I was saying, but I'm sure it was important.

Occupy Journey, a homeless Occupier, comments on Occupy Greenville:

OK, since this is suppose to be about Occupy Greenville, lets talk about them for a minute. The six people I met were out of this world. They were very helpful with supplies when all of my gear was stolen by replacing some of it. They even helped with cash to get the bus ticket for the next city. All of this makes it difficult to say that like many other cities I’ve seen, I wish they were doing more to support the community. They really are a GREAT bunch of people in Greenville, homeless (for the most part) and the occupies.

I'll take that as a compliment.

Yes, we certainly DO need to do more... but as he also points out, we are down to about a half-dozen, albeit a terribly brave half-dozen. We feel stretched to the limit. Nonetheless, we know where we need to increase our efforts and thank you for the kind words and gentle criticism.

I miss you Mr Occupy Journey, come back and see us soon.

April is the Cruelest Month

Falls Park, Greenville SC. Photo by your humble narrator.

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From Mountain Xpress comes the following:

How much is that nuclear plant in the window?
by Nelda Holder on 04/30/2008

The N.C. Utilities Commission has decided that Duke Energy will not have to disclose cost estimates to state residents in preparing for a proposed nuclear-power plant to serve North and South Carolina customers, according to a report today by The Raleigh News & Observer. The twin-reactor plant is proposed for construction in Cherokee County, S.C. — just south of the N.C. border. Most of the customers served would be in North Carolina, however, where the Utilities Commission has now agreed with Duke Power that state law protects the cost estimate as a “trade secret.”

“Customers would ultimately pay for any new power plants through their monthly rates,” the article states, noting that some estimates for a single reactor run in the $9 billion range. Duke Energy argued that revealing cost estimates would affect vendor and contractor negotiations and keep the company from getting the lowest cost.

A South Carolina decision on the question of disclosure is anticipated in May, according to the article.

Meanwhile, a public hearing concerning the same proposed plant — which would be located some 60 miles southwest of Asheville — has been scheduled by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for Thursday, May 1, at 7 p.m., at Gaffney High School, 149 Twin Lake Road in Gaffney, S.C. More information is available through Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League or by contacting Mary Olson with the Nuclear Information and Resource Service at 675-1792.

— Nelda Holder, associate editor, Mountain Xpress.

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Left: traditional holy card of St Joseph Cottolengo of Turin.

It is the traditional, liturgical Catholic feast day of St Joseph Cottolengo of Turin, one of the Vincentian saints who counseled us to care for the poor. In keeping with that, I wanted to share a great blog entry from Parkside Q, titled Biting the hand that feeds me. Parkside linked me a view days ago, and then I went to snoop and found this fabulous entry. (And isn't that the way it works?)

I admire the self-awareness of the author, as he honestly describes his discomfort in encountering a homeless man on the subway, begging for spare change:

I've only been here a few months, but I can already feel myself becoming calloused toward that man, and the 5% of New Yorkers that have been walking miles in his well-worn shoes. But this time, I genuinely felt bad that I have been so caught up in my life that I've been ignoring others' suffering. His main concern on that train was trying to find his next meal; my biggest problem was trying to find reception for my next text message. Kind of puts in perspective what's really important, huh?

Read the whole thing!

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Also see Content Regulation and Porn Laws by Renegade Evolution... don't forget to guard those pesky Civil Liberties they keep trying to yank away from us!

And finally, Treehugger notes that US Consumers "Get the Cheap Stuff":

We had a faint hope that the rise in food prices might lead people to buy more carefully, perhaps cook more from scratch instead of buying prepared food, or even cut back on meat and eat more vegetables. No such luck; according to the IHT, Americans are just buying more crap, because the cheap calories come from the most processed, corn-based foods.

While they keep telling us to lose weight! (Is there a problem here?)
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Listening to: Grateful Dead - Eyes of the World
via FoxyTunes

Save the libraries!

Left: Graphic by Aaron Louie.

From Mountain Xpress, here is Ileana Grams-Moog, discussing an ongoing, national issue--the continuous, rapid depletion of public library collections. She is describing the process in Asheville (NC) but it could just as easily have been anywhere:

From my time working as a librarian, I know that all libraries cull their collections on an ongoing basis. But what’s happening now is apparently a permanent downsizing. Nor is it only fiction that is disappearing. Science, history, biography, psychology, cooking, gardening, crafts: Every area is being depleted. Many—indeed, most—of the books being sold are out of print and therefore not easily available elsewhere, if at all. This is especially deplorable in areas where old books contain information not available in new ones. In cooking, gardening, crafts, yoga, poetry, history and even in science, in fields such as animal behavior and paleontology, old books contain detailed, lively information that’s no longer covered in more recent ones. To get rid of these books is the equivalent of deliberate, collective amnesia.

I was told that the criterion used is how recently the book last circulated. I just bought, for $2, a book that I took out about a year ago (and that cost the library more than $30 when acquired).

The other issue is storing the books, if they are not discarded. The public appears willing to pay for libraries, but not usually willing to spend tax money to build warehouses for old books that no longer circulate. (What's to become of the thousands of old, dated books, if indeed they are kept?) There are thousands of volumes discarded every year, everywhere. Most municipalities have periodic book-sales, and if you have ever been to one of these, you know some really fantastic, unique books are culled from local collections, constantly.

And what about the user-atmosphere of the libraries themselves? In larger cities (and increasingly, in small ones, too) homeless people sleep in libraries during the day, use the restrooms, panhandle when security guards aren't looking, etc. Have Borders and Barnes & Noble become the new 'library'--as educated, suburban readers prefer not to deal with the riff-raff that is the general public?

For an entertaining and informative take on the library biz, check out Blogging Librarian.

And I can only add, with considerable vehemence, SAVE THE LIBRARIES!!!!!!
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Listening to: The Volebeats - Radio Flyer
via FoxyTunes