New Orleans again...leadership

I saw this Quote by Neil S. Kavanaugh in the "Northside Journal."

"For generations we have elected men and women based on what they say they will give us, not on their leadership ability." It's nice to see something in print that I believe is the root of the problem, not only in Louisiana, but in all or our government. I've been saying it since President Clinton was running for President. Remember Jennifer Flowers, the state troopers and all the allegations? A much quoted sentiment was that Clinton's private behavior was not important. We were told that only his political record mattered. Everything in me screamed, "NO!" Integrity and leadership are the MOST important qualities in a candidate.

Government is incredibly complex. Candidates may promise all sorts of things and they may be entirely sincere, but when they are actually on the job, things are a lot more complicated. That is why a lot of well meaning politicians end up not being able to deliver on campaign promises. They learn that they have to compromise and play the game if they want to see ANY of their ideals realized. We elect politicians because we want the things they promise, but what is the difference between a politician who does his or her best to be true to their consistency and one who simply promises whatever they think the voters want to hear? For example, I recently read an article saying that Hillary Clinton tried to join the Marines. Hmmm...

I'm going out on a limb and saying that integrity and leadership are just about all that matters in an elected position. "Just about" is the operative phrase. That is, provided that the politician knows how to surround himself or herself with talented people who know what they are doing and have the same kind of integrity AND the politician knows how to delegate and accept advice. If I vote for someone who has this type of character and skills, I can be confident that the best is being done for all of us. I've seen this time and time again in local politics. It is a little easier to see on the local level. I'm a great writer of letters to my elected officials. I always love it when they either call or write back to me with the reasons they felt they had to vote they way they did. Even if I disagree, I admire honesty, integrity and leadership. I can have confidence in that kind of person.

So what happened in Louisiana? There has been an entrenched bankruptcy of quality government for a long time. Don't blame the politicians entirely. It's been said that most people get the kind of government they deserve. That is a huge problem in government today. We have a staggering Federal debt and yet people don't want to vote for a politician who says that they will cut programs that effect us. Right now the Federal government is promising the hurricane victims just about anything they want. Is anyone asking if we can afford it? Who is going to pay for this? Why is this hurricane so different? One man, interviewed by FOX, was contemptuous of the money he had been given by the government. He wanted the government to just give victims $20,000 each and let them get on with their lives. So, we are supposed to give him $20,000 because his ancestors came on a slave ship and he chose to live below sea level protected by a levee system that ought to scare just about anyone? Look at the picture. The man has his arm around a white woman and it's so normal it took me a minute or so to catch on to the caption under the picture. We've come a long way from that slave ship.

I live on a barrier island in Florida. I pay a lot for insurance. I pay more for flood insurance. It has never occurred to me that the government should pay me damages because I chose to live here. The people of the United States don't owe me any thing except maybe basic emergency relief. If I will only vote for people who promise to take care of me so that I won't have to take care of myself, then shame on me.

We have got to start electing politicians that will do what is best for this country even if it means giving up our personal gravy train. We have got to give up this idea of "entitlements." We have to elect officials who act responsibly doing hard things like fixing levees, highways and other necessary things that should be the business of government and not pretty things that put money in the pockets of our friends. We have to help our indigent population with programs that require that they help themselves.

We have to look at the character of our candidates and vote for people who will be responsible with the money we pay with our taxes. Louisiana should be a wake-up call for all of us. The Louisiana government gambled and lost. They broke faith with their people because they didn't do the most important thing that government is charged with. They didn't look out for their citizens and keep them safe and they are compounding the lack of leadership by blaming others for their own shortcomings.

On New Orleans

I hate all the blaming! We've all had trying times and wished in retrospect we had done some things differently. Some laws and policies need to be changed, but there is another time for that. I don't think it ever occurred to any of us that so many people would not have evacuated. They've rescued 10,000 people and there are still more! I also didn't realize that there were so many poor, old and elderly who couldn't evacuate. In retrospect, they should have had busses to take the people out before the hurricane, but who knew? I don't think any of us in hurricane areas will make that mistake again. This is the first time a hurricane has hit an area so urban and highly populated. Andrew went through and we all breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn't the heart of Miami or New York or Washington, DC. Our nation's capitol would be an even worse disaster. It is a city of the powerful and the poor. What about the museums? It would be a mess. Who could think of all the variables?

All that blaming keeps me from focusing on all the wonderful things that people have done. I think we should all be so proud of what lengths American people have gone to to help. Focus on Houston and her open arms. Focus on the 15 year old boy who commandeered a bus and drove old people and babies to Houston. Focus on what happened when the full force of the US Government stepped in. Focus on what neighboring states have done. Focus on the prayers and tears of a nation. The outpouring of help is something our nation can be proud of and the grippers and blamers are taking that away from us. When did it get to be this way? I don't remember this kind of second guessing during Agnes, Camille or Gilbert.

I have been watching FOX almost non-stop and I have seen members of the press so effected by what they have seen that they were nearly in tears; and I have seen them doing something about it. So much can happen when we don't take time out to blame. We're all angry about a lot of things that happened or didn't happen, but we knew it was going to be a catastrophic disaster and that is part of what catastrophe means. I'm not aiming this at any of the exhausted, over-stressed people who are in the middle of all this, or the people who are trying to help them. When things go this wrong, we sometimes need people to lash out at. I am aiming it at politicians or special interest groups who take time in a press conference to stir up trouble instead of finding out what else needs to be done. They write articles about everything they see is wrong...even as far fetched as global warming (what caused Galveston or Camille or Gilbert?) when they could use the power of the press to list what we can do in our communities to help. We should all be on the same side...the side of the victims.

I think this is a wake-up call for all of us. It could be called a dress-rehearsal. When the crisis is over and we can sit back and look at what has happened the Mayors, Governors and the Federal agencies should get together and critique the operation. Blaming will get us nowhere. To be very blunt, the Democrats and liberal media who are taking partisan jabs at President Bush and the government are making fools of themselves. Blaming President Bush for the hurricane makes them look like idiots. Did they flunk General Science in high school? Scientists who study hurricanes say that this is just part of a regular cycle. We've actually been blessed with very few hurricanes between 1975 and 1995, but there were plenty of hurricanes in the decades before 1975. Florida suffered from serious drought for several years and the reason was that we didn't have enough hurricanes to replenish the aquifer.

It's embarrassing. Years ago I was a Democrat, but now I am ashamed of the party. I wouldn't want people to know that I am more interested in partisan politics than the plight of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. This disaster needs all of our attention and we should all take note of the people who are sitting back and criticizing instead of helping. I know I am. I want to be a part of a government which is not afraid to look at something like this and say that this response was "unacceptable" and not be afraid to make it right. I am in awe of what was done in 24 hours and I am very proud of it. I hope that the people overseas ARE watching. They saw a situation that got terribly out of hand including the lawlessness and today, in only 24 hours they saw a country rise to meet the challenge in an unbelievable way.

Stop for just a minute and think about what happened in perspective. An area the size of England suffered a double catastrophe...devastation from a strong category 4 hurricane and then the failure of the levee system in New Orleans flooding the poorest sections of the city where about 12,000 residents didn't follow the warning to evacuate. The situation was so dire yesterday that there were questions about ever being able take this city back. In 24 hours incredible progress was made. The Convention Center and the Superdome were evacuated. Lawlessness was brought under control and people were transferred to places where good people were waiting to help them. All of the sudden there is a feeling of empowerment. We can do this. We are Americans. The ones who have will help the ones who have lost everything. We are at our best in times like this. I'd like to see any other country that could have done better.

Summerland

Summerland by Michael Chabon

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book but the plot was convoluted at times. The story is about Ethan Feld who doesn't seem to fit in anywhere and his friend, Jennifer T. Rideout. Both kids are struggling with not belonging, especially in their families. They are on a losing baseball team and while Jennifer is good at baseball, Ethan just wants to quit. Jennifer, however, won't let him. In another dimension is a faerie world that is desperate for a champion, but what they get is Ethan. All of the action brings these two worlds together in a dramatic ending.



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The Red Tent

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Her name is Dinah. In the Bible, her life is only hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the more familiar chapters of the Book of Genesis that are about her father, Jacob, and his dozen sons. Told in Dinah's voice, this novel reveals the traditions and turmoils of ancient womanhood - the world of the red tent. It begins with the story of her mothers - Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah - the four wives of Jacob. They love Dinah and give her gifts that sustain her through a hard-working youth, a calling to midwifery, and a new home in a foreign land. Dinah's story reaches out from a remarkable period of early history and creates an intimate connection with the past. Deeply affecting, The Red Tent combines rich storytelling with a valuable achievement in modern fiction: a new view of biblical women's society.

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The Sherwood Ring

The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of my all time favorite books. I finally managed to get a copy when it came back in print. It is the story of a young woman who comes to spend the summer with her uncle in the old Revolutionary home which is also populated with a number of ghosts. She has a relationship with the ghosts and a young man she meets on her way to the house. It is a delightful book! While it isn't quite as exciting as it was when I first read it about 45 years ago, it is still a great story.


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Angels & Demons (Robert Langdon, #1)

Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I felt really betrayed with this book in several ways.

1. The ending is all wrong. The reader is led down one path and is waiting for the ending to resolve all the false clues and suddenly, from left field, comes the perpetrator.

2. The ending is inconsistent with what you know about the characters. I hate this. If people are going to act in a psychotic way, there are clues to their behavior in everyday life. On the surface, sociopaths can fool a lot of people, but in reality, there are always signs and eventually the people around then feel uneasy. Something is not right. Serial killers are usually dysfunctional individuals who are most frequently loners. Brown ignores this and gives us a murderer that is not plausible.

3. The author has a hidden agenda and betrays the reader with it. This, I think, bothered me the most. Until the end, I thought that Brown wrote with compassion and understanding, but in the end he tries to manipulate the reader.

4. The numerous false leads are either inadequately explained or simply don't exist. A writer, no matter how thrilling the middle chapters of his book are, doesn't get a free ride in the last chapter. Things need to be explained, clues need to be sorted out and resolved. Characters need to burst forth in the clothing they have been wearing throughout the novel, not a new and bizarre garb. If it has been a costume, the reader needs to be able to see where he was mislead, and it has to make sense.

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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5)

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In this book we see our three heros as teenagers, and they really are! I think they are bickering and quarreling through the whole book! I found it annoying, but so totally accurate for their age that it made me smile. They are constantly at cross purposes and cross with each other. In this book, the writing takes a much darker turn and younger kids who enjoyed the first four books may find this one a little too dark and dangerous.

The story starts with Ron and Hermoine knowing about the Order of the Phoenix and Harry being kept in the dark. The problem is that Voldemort is back and he wants to kill Harry. The Order members know how much danger Harry is in and they want to protect him. The Ministry of Magic is no help because they are determined to believe that Voldemort is not back despite all the evidence.

Voldemort also wants the prophecy concerning Harry Potter which is held at the Ministry of Magic down a dark corridor. Harry is getting glimpses of what Voldemort sees as he works his evil. This is helpful when the snake, Nagini, bites Mr. Weasley and leaves him is dying. Harry is able to alert Professor Dumbledore and someone is at the Ministery of Magic immediately. Since Harry is being kept out of a lot of the business of the Order, he is determined to find the prophecy himself.

The best part of this book is Delores Umbridge. The Ministry of Magic is trying to squelch all rumors that Voldemort has returned and so they install Umbridge as the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. The Ministry doesn't believe the children should actually practice defensive spells because there is no need. They believe that the students should read carefully edited text books about dark arts in the past. Delores, however, in her fluffy pink everything, is just pure evil. She's a villan you love to hate. Every time Harry and crew do something, she has poor old Filch hammer up another decree on the wall. Eventually, just about everything is banned, but the kids, of course, have found a way around the rules.

(Just a little note, the casting in the movie for the part of Delores Umbridge, I think, was wrong. It would have been better to cast someone whose character was evil posing as someone who is good rather than the other way around. Delores doesn't ring true until you have seen the movie a couple of times and have already identified with her as an evil person.)


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The Coffin Quilt: The Feud Between the Hatfields and the McCoys

The Coffin Quilt: The Feud Between the Hatfields and the McCoys by Ann Rinaldi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was excellent. The feud is the background to the story of young Roseanna McCoy who meets and falls in love with Johnse Hatfield. It is told by Fanny McCoy who understand the futility of the feud an its terrible impact on everyone.

The tragedy of the relationship is made more poignant because of the coffin quilt Roseanna works on to preserve the memory of family who are killed over the feud. Coffin quilts were made in the Appalachian Mountains and contained a graveyard in the center of the quilt and an outer border of coffins. When a person is born or married into the family, a coffin with his or her name on it is appliqued on the outer border. When they die, the coffin is moved into the graveyard in the center.

Coffin Quilt: http://folkwaysnotebook.blogspot.com/...

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Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
It seems like this book started a whole new genre in Southern writing. It's the South at it's best and worst. It is sleepy little towns at their best and worst.

The book is about two women, Ninny whom Evelyn, who meets in a nursing home while her husband visits with his mother. Ninny tells about the town she was raised in and various threads weave in and out. Sometimes the book is confusing and hard to keep in order, but I remember sitting outside on the porch in Mississippi and listen to my family tell stories and it seemed like they went just this way. As a child, I did not want to interrupt to have a detail clarified because someone would notice that it was way past my bedtime, or I had something else I should be doing, or worst of all, what they were discussing wasn't a subject I should have been listening to.

The old story is about Idgie and Ruth who run the Whistle Stop Cafe and raise a boy together. It isn't totally clear to the town if it is a lesbian relationship but it is just accepted in Whistle Stop. I don't see any inconsistency with it in the book because the old South has always been very tolerant of people who might be called characters.

Idgie idolized Buddy Threadgood and when he was killed, something happened to her. She was always a tomboy, but she became wild and nothing civilized her until Ruth came one summer to teach Vacation Bible School.

As Ninny tells the tale to Evelyn, we also see a change in her. She starts taking hormones for menopause and selling Mary Kay cosmeticis. It is as if she wakes up and begins to be a person. While the book was better than the movie, the one scene where Kathy Bates (Evelyn) rams a young woman's car is absolutely priceless and worth seeing the movie for.


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Stranger in the Woods: A Photographic Fantasy

Stranger in the Woods: A Photographic Fantasy by Carl R. Sams II
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of the most beautiful children's books I've ever seen. I met the authors at an ALA conference the year this was published and the authors told us how much fun they had hanging out with the snowman and photographing the animals that came up to see it and sometimes take a nibble. I have no idea how many copies I have given as gifts to little ones I know. It's a wonderful gift.

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The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I studied this in college and enjoyed it even though we had to read it in a week!  I loved the characters and they have always seemed as if they really existed to me.  Tom Jones is like one of Dickens' characters.  He's a beloved rascal.  I intend to read this one again after all these years and see how it looks to a far more adult mind.


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