JanieTheMensch

VIDEO: Pachico Mayoral on NBC Nightly News
Protecting the friendly gray whale
La Laguna de San Ignacio, B.C.S., Mexico
Laguna San Ignacio, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is home to sea turtles, peregrine falcons, ospreys, and hundreds of thousands of migratory water fowls and shorebirds, and is the last undeveloped gray whale birthing lagoon on the planet. Laguna San Ignacio is part of a 248-mile-
coastline wetland complex that includes inter-tidal mudflats, salt flats, sandy beaches, and mangroves. This wetland complex is a global treasure and one of the world’s most biologically significant coastal sites. THE PROBLEM In 2000,
thanks to national and international pressure, the Mexican government cancelled an industrial salt production project, which would have devastated Laguna San Ignacio. BUT THIS VICTORY DID NOT MEAN PERMANENT PROTECTION OF LAGUNA SAN IGNACIO: a new salt production federal concession, mega-resorts, and land speculation threaten to dramatically alter the pristine lagoon, and hundreds of square miles of wetlands and mangroves. www.PachicosEcoTours.com
THE SOLUTION
In Laguna San Ignacio, fishermen, fishing cooperatives, tourist outfitters and guides, and local businessmen have more to gain in the long run from whale-watching eco-tourism as well as sustainable fisheries. Local people can be effective stewards of wildlife habitats if technical support and economic alternatives are provided. WiLDCOAST, Natural Resources Defense Council, Fundación Azteca, Pronatura-Noroeste, International Community Foundation, Fundación Mexicana para la Educación Ambiental
A.C., and Fondo Mexicano para la Conservación de la Naturaleza A.C., joined forces with local organizations and community members to form the Laguna San Ignacio Conservation Alliance to provide alternatives that allow sustainable development and conservation. The Alliance's goal is to preserve one million acres of coastal ecosystems. In 2005 the Alliance established a 120,000-acre conservation easement comprising all the communal lands within the ejido Luis Echeverría Alvarez (ELA) on the southern shore of Laguna San Ignacio. In 2006, WiLDCOAST and the members of the Laguna San Ignacio Conservation Alliance established 36 private conservation easements to secure the protection of 20,000 acres in the ELA, completing the protection of the entire ejido. This legally binding deal is the largest private land-conservation agreement in North America and is being touted as a model for conserving both the environment and the area¹s cultural identity. The Laguna San Ignacio project not only protects key coastal ecosystems, but also provides local communities with the economic means and technical assistance to design and implement sustainable development projects. The ELA decided to protect all of its 140,000-acres in the eastern shore of Laguna San Ignacio, in return for the establishment of a conservation trust fund. In just one year, the ELA has been able to use the fund to improve the local economy by implementing agroforestry projects, whale watching training, and community and ecotourism improvements. www.WiLDCOAST.net www.COSTASALVAjE.com
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There Is No God
by Penn Jillette I believe that there is no God. I'm beyond atheism. Atheism is not believing in God. Not believing in God is easy -- you can't prove a negative, so there's no work to do. You can't prove that there isn't an elephant inside the trunk of my car. You sure? How about now? Maybe he was just hiding before. Check again. Did I mention that my personal heartfelt definition of the word "elephant" includes mystery, order, goodness, love and a spare tire? So, anyone with a love for truth outside of herself has to start with no belief in God and then look for evidence of God. She needs to search for some objective evidence of a supernatural power. All the people I write e-mails to often are still stuck at this searching stage. The atheism part is easy. But, this "This I Believe" thing seems to demand something more personal, some leap of faith that helps one see life's big picture, some rules to live by. So, I'm saying, "This I believe: I believe there
is no God." Having taken that step, it informs every moment of my life. I'm not greedy. I have love, blue skies, rainbows and Hallmark cards, and that has to be enough. It has to be enough, but it's everything in the world and everything in the world is plenty for me. It seems just rude to beg the invisible for more. Just the love of my family that raised me and the family I'm raising now is enough that I don't need heaven. I won the huge genetic lottery and I get joy every day. Believing there's no God means I can't really be forgiven except by kindness and faulty memories. That's good; it makes me want to be more thoughtful. I have to try to treat people right the first time around. Believing there's no God stops me from being solipsistic . I can read ideas from all different people from all different cultures. Without God, we can agree on reality, and I can keep learning where I'm wrong. We can all keep adjusting, so we can really communicate. I don't travel in circles where people say, "I have faith, I believe this in my heart and nothing you can say or do can shake my faith." That's just a long-winded religious way to say, "shut up," or another two words that the FCC likes less. But all obscenity is less insulting than, "How I was brought up and my imaginary friend means more to me than anything you can ever say or do." So, believing there is no God lets me be proven wrong and that's always fun. It means I'm learning something. Believing there is no God means the suffering I've seen in my family, and indeed all the suffering in the world, isn't caused by an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent force that isn't bothered to help or is just testing us, but rather something we all may be able to help others with in the future. No God means the possibility of less suffering in the future. Believing there is no God gives me more room for belief in family, people, love, truth, beauty, sex, Jell-O and all the other things I can prove and that make this life the best life I will ever have.
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Diebold Leaks 2008 Election Results Early
Then I Met You
The Proclaimers
Thought that I’d be happy ♥ Going to be so happy
Living life alone and never sharing anything
Thought that I was finished ♥ Thought that I was complete
Thought that I was whole instead of being half of something
Thought that I was growing ♥ Growing older, wiser
Understanding why this world held nothing for my spirit
Thought that I was destined ♥ Destined to be nothing
Destined to be nothing in this world and then I met you
Thought that God had failed me ♥ Thought my prayers were useless
Thought that he would never give the chance for me to praise him
Thought the book was written ♥ Thought the game had ended
Thought the song was sung and I could never sing another
Thought my faith was misplaced ♥ Thought my back was broken
Broken by a weight that I was never fit to carry
Thought I knew this city ♥ Thought I knew all about it
And then one night I went to The Northlake and you were waiting
I am pack leader to three fabulous Labradors, keeper of the cats, a wife, an aunt, a college graduate, an atheist, a massage therapist, a social introvert, comic relief, the black sheep, a caffeinated philosopher, an artist, an interior design star in my own home, and a recovering cultist. I am sensitive, intuitive, emotional, and assertive. I believe in humility, kindness, eye contact, laughter, family planning, sustainable living, bigfoot, presumed innocence, intention, non-profits, respect, national health care, honesty, inspiration, comprehensive sex education, decriminalization of drugs, karma, peace, social security, accountability, separation of church and state, and trees. While I am a lover, I am also a fighter. My passionate fire for my causes can burn you, or smoke you out, but it keeps me warm and I am not interested in anyone seeking to extinguish it. My gift for empathy can overwhelm me and I am definitely prone to sadness living in this world. Still, I find my natural place is optimism and hope. I expect everyone to live their best life, give freely, listen, act out of love, and work with integrity. The rain has returned and I have the entire outdoors nearly all to myself. My favorite time of year is when the PNW gray chases everyone indoors. I have yet to dissolve in the rain. I do live in my Happiest Place.
HOW TO BE THE FAVORITE AUNT Step 1: Start early. Even infants have preferences. Offer to hold the baby every time the child is in a content mood. Happy babies sense adoration while being held. Step 2: Fix what's wrong. If you know the little urchin is hungry, warm a bottle. If the child smells like a dung heap, grab a diaper. The favorite aunt is an all knowing source of comfort in the child's eyes. However, this only works if you know why the child is unhappy. If you don't have a clue why the baby is crying, hand that child off like a hot potato. Step 3: Refrain from being the "mean one." Some contenders for Best Aunt think holding a crying baby endears them. This is not always the case. Crying babies are miserable and those that hold them captive without providing relief are associated with unhappiness. If you can't fix the problem, don't touch that baby. Step 4: Stay away from your sick niece or nephew at all costs. Sick children are ornery children, no matter what age they are. You cannot become the favorite aunt to a miserable, cranky youngster who hates everyone. If the child is sick, get out fast. Step 5: Provide the fun firsts. Bring the first chocolate bar. Buy the first ice cream cone. Organize the first trip to the beach, the fair, the zoo or the mall. No matter how old your niece or nephew, providing the child with favorites makes you a shoe-in as a favorite yourself.
An Expert's Lessons on Being an Aunt Many families have a special aunt, a quick-witted woman who delights her nieces and nephews with funny stories -- and a patient ear. For Karen Washabau, that aunt, Mary Elizabeth Ford, was known simply as "Mef." As she tells her husband, Dave, Mef (pronounced "Mehf") was an independent woman, a history teacher who for years lived on her own in a small house in Altoona, Penn. In 1954, Karen -- still learning to write -- wrote her first letter to her aunt. But it wasn't her last. As Karen recalls, "I never kept a diary in high school. Instead, I just wrote letters to Mef." By her estimate, Karen wrote between 450 and 500 letters to her Aunt Mef. And when Mef died in 1985, at age 74, she found the letters -- all of them -- carefully stashed in a cupboard. Given her age at the time, Karen says it's no surprise that many letters revolved around boy troubles. One example began, "Dear MEF, All this is, is one sob story, so be prepared." After three pages, the note ended with the add-on idea: "But then, what are aunts for?" MEF's response came almost immediately -- and it cited Mrs. Miniver, the classic novel by Jan Struther. "Here's what I think aunts are for," she wrote. "Aunts are to be a pattern and example to all aunts, to be a delight to boys and girls, and a comfort to their parents -- and to show that at least one daughter in any generation, in every generation, ought to remain unmarried, and raise the profession of auntship to a fine art. Thank you, Karen, for reminding me of this. I shall have to keep trying again and again to live up to it." For her part, Washabau had no doubt of her aunt's ability to meet expectations. "MEF was probably the gold standard."
"What it lies in our power to do, it lies
in our power not to do." Aristotle