Social Security is strong

Social Security is still strong. The recent Trustee's report that came out this week says there is now $2.7 trillion in the Social Security trust fund, which is $69 billion more than last year, and continues to grow.

To keep Social Security strong it is important to look at where wage growth in the nation goes. Those making above the Social Security cap($110,000) need to be included because that is where the growth is expanding most. A very simple inclusion of those making the most money is all that is needed to continue its historic ability to keep the elderly off the streets. Everyone, not just the poor and middle class should be contributing. Social Security is strong and is the most successful program the government runs. Now you won't read the above in your local media because the powerful want to dismantle the program and privatize it so they can make more money.

i've stated this before but it needs repeating. The philosopher Decartes claimed Cogito ergo sum...I think therefore I am. Descartes made the assumption that he was an individual first and lots of people all over the world buy into this today whole heartedly. It took years but finally other philosophers questioned this idea and asked if so where exactly did you learn the language that you needed to come up with this idea? 

If you spend some time thinking about the above there is only one place where the skills we acquire to help us think could come from. Decartes learned the ability to speak and think from others, without them he would never have been able to articulate I think therefore I am.

This is something that i try to work on constantly. We are in this world with others, we are not alone, we have never been alone. We all work together to improve lives whether we recognize this ability or not. Being in the world with others is fundamental to life on this earth. Martin Buber, another philosopher, observed that we can either be in the world seeing others as people or we can be in the world seeing others as objects. Those who see people as objects want to dismantle Social Security, those that see others as people want to keep it intact. Who are you?

Here's a good one...tax payer money, i'll say that again, tax payer money that directly funds USAID has been used to train disadvantaged workers English in the Philippines so they can man call centers. What this does is use our tax money to train other people in foreign countries to take our jobs. Outsourcing is another word for it but i'll bet you never thought you were paying for it with your tax dollars.

On the hill representatives of both parties Tim Bishop D(NY) and Walter Jones R(NC) wrote a letter to USAID on April 19 expressing dismay and urging its immediate dismantling. You can read the letter here http://timbishop.house.gov/uploads/Letter%20to%20USAID-%20Call%20Centers%20FINAL.pdf

i'm reupholstering the living room furniture and need to get back to my project so this one today is a shorty. i especially like this photo below that i took of the guy and his wares on the corner over by the Barron Spot Mall and if you aren't a swimmer you might not know what the one above is. We swam at Haypenny last week and the pattern on the sea floor was so amazing i had to stop and take a pic. Double click on any of the pics here to get a better look. See ya next week.

Personal Responsibility Wars

Personal responsibility rears its ugly head in almost every conversation i have with conservatives. They seem to think that liberals abhor personal responsibility and strive to have the entire population become dependent upon government. NOT TRUE

The propaganda their party has fed them has been extremely successful in focusing their entire attention upon a very small percentage of poor people that are permanently dependent upon government. Most of the rest are ASSISTED and not completely dependent. The assistance goes to poor, middle class, rich, old and corporations alike. But only the poor get all the negative attention.

DENIAL plays a huge role in the failure to include the powerful, the wealthy and corporations in the demands for personal responsibility. So far the poor are the only ones regarded as not personally responsible. Even though they have no power, they don't make any rules, they live hand to mouth they get all the focus in the bulk e-mails or discussions. It is easier to shift all blame to the poor to keep your eyes off the powerful. The poor are used so you don't witness the looting of the Treasury and the nation by those that can.

DENIAL allows large segments of our population to ignore the mechanisms corporations and the wealthy use to avoid responsibility for crimes against all of us. DENIAL encourages conservatives to continue to close their eyes to their abuses and vote against their best interests. 

A few facts...Social Security belongs to all of us, Medicare belongs to all of us, WE PAY FOR THEM, public schools belong to all of us, the prisons belong to all of us, the beaches, the parks, the airports, roads, railroads, hospitals, and bridges everything this nation has invested in belongs to all of us. WE HAVE ALREADY PAID FOR THEM, Don't give it away. Don't let big money in politics convince you to give away your assets.

ASSISTANCE is what made this country great. The taking away of that assistance is what is contributing to the downward economic spiral in our living standards and our place in the world. The continual demolition of government services is contributing to the stratification of haves and have nots. We are giving away our future to vultures whose only focus is profit and expansion over the entire globe. They could care less what happens to this nation or its citizens but they will use every available government law or subsidy or tax break to expand their power.

Liberals believe in personal responsibility and want conservatives to wake up and start demanding changes in the laws. We need laws that will deny corporations and unions the ability to control our elections through the use of unlimited contributions. We want conservatives to wake up and deny corporations and unions the right to buy politicians to do their bidding in congress. Corporations are artificial, unions are artificial they can't have personal responsibility so it lets them off the hook. The only way to control our democracy is to take it back. Lets return to control of, by and for the people and not by corporations. The Citizens United Case is a Pandora's box, conservatives and liberals need to close it down again.

Stop focusing on the poor, look at the real culprits.

There isn't a family alive that will not at some point in their journey through life help their members. If we as a nation don't start recognizing that we are part of a big American family that needs attention we will loose our democracy and all our assets.

See ya next week.

Unelected Corporate Government

There are few things in this world that we feel we can give away for free unless it is done willingly. Most of us pay taxes because we are members of a nation we want to support. We pay the taxes because we recognize that not everything can be done by the private sector or done as cheaply as the government can do it. We recognize the need to shine in the world and we understand that paying for that privilege involves taxes.

Our history details how we fought for and gained fair wages for labor expended. How we fought hard for the 40 hour week, employee based health insurance, and regulations that scaled back dangerous working conditions. We fought hard for a large middle class. But today, all those things we fought so hard for are being chipped away by Unelected Corporate Government.

Unelected Corporate Government is that entity that lobbies legislators and pays for their campaigns. Unelected Corporate Government is what makes legislators expend all their time in office raising money instead of the hard work necessary to govern this land. Unelected Corporate Government is that entity that expects returns on their monetary investments. Unelected Corporate Government wants to lower wages, eliminate employer health insurance and privatize government services so they can suck every tax payer dollar out of the economy and not be regulated.

Unelected Corporate Government loves wars. Wars let them churn out all the hardware they can imagine and make bundles off it in the process.

Over the past 30 years Unelected Corporate Government has established a bulkhead in Washington DC and it is eroding the middle class we fought so hard to establish. No longer can the man of the family support his tribe on one income. Today it takes two just to make ends meet.

Unelected Corporate Government is responsible for lobbing to eliminate regulations on banks that sent our economy into a tailspin and had taxpayers bail them out. Unelected Corporate Government still argues for relaxed regulations so they can do it again. Any time they can suck the tax payer dollar into their coffers is a win. Anytime they can privatize another part of government is a win and a loss to the middle class.

Our national assets, all those things like beaches, parks, roads, bridges, airports and much much more that are to be enjoyed and used by everyone are being robbed from right under our noses. We have already paid for them but Unelected Corporate Government lobbies to give it to them. In fact some on the conservative side are applauding and supporting the robbery without recognizing they are working against themselves and furthering the evisceration of the middle class.

In order for this nation to retain the balance of income levels there has to be a fair share of the investment needed in this nation to keep us strong. No one group should control the assets. Unelected Corporate Government will build a nation of haves and have nots and we need to wake up and stop them.

Here are some questions to ask and ponder.

If Keystone XL Pipeline will reduce our reliance on oil why does it end at a port?

If trickle down is working why are corporate profits high while the living standards of most

middle class families are going down?

Why do more people die from prescribed opiates than heroin? Who is Big Pharma and why are taxpayers paying for the War on Drugs?

Why should the middle class pay more taxes than the 1%?

Why are 88 million people out of the job force? Is it Obama or is it those jobs that were shipped overseas by the trickle downers(corporations)?

Why does a group(ALEC) financed by Exxon, Wal Mart, the Kochs and other heavy players write laws benefiting their needs all over the country while destroying any power the middle class had to be treated fairly?

Why is the middle class shrinking?

Why are wars today paid for by borrowing but wars in the past were paid for by increased taxes or war bonds?

What are the economic costs of our failed wars?

If you don't question you are complicit in the destruction of the middle class as we know it.

St. Croix Above and Below

i had this whole piece i worked on that maybe i'll publish another day. These past few days have been so outstanding that i thought a photo journal would be more fun and maybe elicit good feelings. The black sea urchins are spawning but i didn't have my camera late yesterday. It is a real treat to watch them perching on top of coral with their spines in the most beautiful positions. Normally you never see them move but yesterday early evening they were beside themselves. They pile up on each other then release this fine white thread of reproductive material that turns into a milky cloud. Its a total orgy out there on the inner reef and then they topple off the coral and go back to their holes. This first picture is looking back at Cane Bay from the water. That smudge is a water spot.

                                      

These century plants all over the island are just so majestic when they bloom. This one at Off The Wall is finally getting its yellow flowers.

 

This is the same file fish trying to hide in the second pic and losing his spots. Isn't his yellow eyelid beautiful?

Black Durgon's are so hard to photograph but i got a few in among the Wrasse.

 Ghost fish, they are so hard to see against the sand even when the water is crystal clear. Actually i think the bigger ones are bone fish but i would like to be corrected if i'm wrong.

 Purple Sea Fan...this ones veins were very distinct yesterday.

More ghost fish...no they are permits.

 This little green was so cooperative yesterday...isn't his shell the most beautiful you have ever seen?
















This was a first for me. In all the years I've been swimming i have never seen two Peacock Flounders together. Double click on it so you can really see how close they are. Spring is here.

You hardly ever see Rust op Twist with no waves. The island has been drying out a bit.

Sunset two nights ago. Very sepia toned.

Sunset half an hour later, same day.

See ya next week.

St. Croix is a healthy place to live

There has been a lot of media coverage concerning the arguments in front of the Supreme Court this week that review the individual mandate to purchase health insurance in the Affordable Care Act.

i've been reading up on the issue and have been struck by comments coming from right wing spokespersons and ordinary citizens speaking their minds in different venues.

One conservative politician seemed to think that American lives would be shorter if the Affordable Care Act remains in place. He claimed that Canadians and English that want to live longer come to the US for care. So i decided to look it up and as it turns out Canada is number 12 for long life and England is 30. All the top ten have some sort of Universal Health Care that is paid for out of taxes while the US languishes at 50^th place.

The idea that the US is the best nation in the world for health care really needs addressing. If being best has to do with longevity then we are far, far, far from being even in the top ten. i looked this up first by Googling and found reference to a study looking at the years 2005-2010 for all the countries of the world. During my examination i was shocked and pleasantly surprised by the statistics but wanted more info. So i went to the CIA's World Factbook https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2102rank.html and found the nation had dropped down more slots from the first study i looked at.

Amazingly, and this was completely new to me, i found that the US Virgin Islands are a better place to live for longevity than in the United States. The VI is 39^th and Puerto Rico is 44^th . Wouldn't this be a great marketing asset? Come and live in the Virgin Islands because according to the CIA's world wide analysis you may live longer.

Personally i've always thought life here is healthier than in the states but after reading the list i now have proof.

There were 9 Magnificent Frigates but I missed one

Regarding the court case, i have never been in favor of the Individual Mandate preferring a nation wide single payer system where everyone contributes through taxes. If you look at the top ten on the list they are living years longer than we are with some form of single payer or universal health care. Why we continue to believe we are number one when the evidence goes against it and even our own agency publishes the fact that we aren't just boggles the mind.

The idea of being forced to buy insurance is not what is disagreeable as we already do that here with automobile insurance. Its the fact that health care is different from every other commodity and insurance companies making money off our illness puts an added cost burden on all of us. If you took out the profit motive for insurance companies we would probably be paying less in overall taxes than we do in insurance and taxes combined. Doctors would have less stress filling out one form instead of multiple forms and hospitals could collect the money they need to operate instead of arguing with insurance companies over payouts. We have the highest health costs in the world and rank 50^th. You would think with the highest costs we would be number one. Well we aren't and we continue to slide downward.

Today is the last day of arguments at the Supreme Court and everyone that cares about health care is watching. The Affordable Care Act is just the beginning of trying to get more Americans covered. There are aspects that all of us can love and hate in this bill but i think most of us would agree the insurance companies have a strangle hold over all of us that does not make the nation healthier.

See ya next week.

Bananaquit caught in a Hurricane Lamp (saved by me)

Social Security is not broke

Social Security is not broke. i'll say it again Social Security is not broke. It has never been broke and will be fully funded for another 25 years at which point it faces a gap. If you have a gap at the end of the month but know more revenue will be coming in the next month you don't view yourself as broke unless there is no revenue stream at all. In fact most of us perceiving a gap will try to close it by bringing in more revenue.

Pundits on the other side don't want you to ever consider closing the Social Security gap by requiring an elevation in the amount of income that is subject to Social Security deductions. Today you only have to deduct for any income you make under $108,000 per year. This means all those people making over $108,000 per year don't have to make deductions on the excess.

So while the little guy making $20,000 a year sees 7.5% of his income deducted, the guy making $350,000 per year only sees 2.3% of his income deducted if their employers are paying the other half. Anyone out there think this is “fair”? It is very easy to fix the gap by raising the income level. After the past two stock market blowouts i think most people realize they have one income stream they can always count on and that is Social Security. Lets fix it not destroy it.

On another note i was reading a piece the other day that is a review of a book written by Dave Grossman a Special Forces Colonel at West Point. His book called “On Killing” provides an abundance of evidence to show that most men and women are reluctant to kill a fellow human being. According to his research human beings are not natural warriors and that it is war itself that brings out aggressiveness. He says that even during actual battles many soldiers will not shoot at their enemies and will fire into the air.

Since that massacre last week by one of our own in Afghanistan i have been wondering why we aren't out of there yet, especially since polling shows a majority of Americans want us to leave. We spend 2 billion a week, i'll say that again, 2 billion a week in Afghanistan. Ralph Lopez says spending 2 billion a week to buy hatred is too much. i tend to agree with him.

Imagine what 2 billion a week here at home could do. It could fix those deteriorating roads and bridges, make mass transit more affordable, bring back some of those laid off teachers, firemen and policemen. i'm sure we could think of lots to do with 2 billion a week.

And on a final note. The rise in gasoline prices has nothing to do with President Obama. Demand is down and in fact we have been exporting some of our product overseas. When demand is down Wall Street bets on higher gas prices in the future which is what is causing the price to rise at the pump. Speculators account for 64% of all contracts where as in the past they only accounted for about 30%.

“Bart Chilton, a commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission—the federal agency that regulates trading in oil futures, among other commodities—warns that too few financial players control too much of the oil market. This allows them to push oil prices higher and higher—not only on the basis of their expectations about the future but also expectations about how high other speculators will drive the price.

In other words a relatively few players with very deep pockets are placing huge bets on oil and you are paying.” Robert Reich

Wall Street has gone to court to stop aspects of the Dodd Frank law that would protect consumers against these type of practices, if you want your gas price to continue to rise please don't support repeal of this important legislation.

See ya next week

St. Croix can change

Change will not come from the Virgin Islands government. Our government is too imbeded in its bureaucracy to help the island through this economic crisis. In fact it is creating more hardship by following the austerity programs that seems to be the idea du jour all over the world.

Change will come from within the community. It will come from those citizens that use digital technology, social media and the airwaves to wake up residents, visitors and investors alike to the idea that St. Croix is ripe for a new identity. Only we, those of us that live and work here, can create the vision that new jobs and opportunities are just waiting for us to discover and reap the benefits.

i'm sure there are lots of areas we could look into and last week i talked about legalizing marijuana. Here are 8 sub categories that have already been talked about but need repeating.

1. Energy...the end of June the gasoline market will open up. No longer will we be dependent upon the oil refinery to supply our energy needs. Entrepreneur's that have the backing of wealthy investors have an opportunity right now to corner the importing of gasoline to St. Croix and maybe the other two islands. Something like a cooperative could work where business owners pool their resources and create an entity that would benefit all of them. The government is not going to arrange any importer but will work with anyone that sees a future in that commodity. Lots of talk has revolved around the rack problem but remember Texaco used to bring it in over by the airport. Is there another rack there?
2. Alternative Energy...the island is ripe for becoming a testing laboratory for universities and companies that need to test their products before making them available commercially. Just recently i wrote to Professor Sadoway at MIT who has developed a liquid metal battery. One battery the size of a freight container could power 200 houses from the sun and wind power. If this becomes commercially available our island could solve its energy needs. i had no qualms asking him to use us as a testing ground, maybe others have their own ideas about who to approach. He did respond positively.
3. Retirement communities, nursing homes and assisted living facilities...If we could beef up our hospital St. Croix would be a perfect place for African American boomers to retire. Instead of bleeding residents back to the states to retire because of a lack of medical options we could keep everyone here and bring in more which would create jobs.
4. Sports venues...we don't have to build a stadium to get athletes to the island. All we need is better maintained roads. Local enthusiasts have volunteered to go to conventions and set up booths touting the fact that you can bike, run, and swim every day of the year. Biking races, running races, long distance swims, marathons, triathlons, biathlons all these bring in hundreds of competitors and their families that spend at least three or four days on island filling hotels, restaurants, car rental agencies and taxi cabs. We could spread out these competitions to bring in people every month of the year.
5. Technology... the technology park at the University that is trying to get companies to re-locate here and use the facilities as incubators for new companies that are on the cutting edge of the digital universe. Maybe you know someone that needs a place that will have world wide connectivity. Talk to them, get them excited about the island, put them in touch with the University.
6. Eco-tourism...we are one of the few islands left in the Caribbean that is not over-developed. Because of this we can continue to market St. Croix as a place to come that values and preserves its open spaces. A place that doesn't have high-rises blocking views of the ocean and is not so over-crowded that finding paradise just can't happen. We have beaches, hiking trails, parks for birding and boating opportunities. We could highlight its history and use this to our advantage. Already the National Park Service is renovating the properties in Christiansted and trying to create a museum that will tell more of the sordid history of slavery.
7. Entertainment...we have wonderful musicians right here, we have talented actors and their support crews. Someone could set up sound studios, filming venues, animation terminals etc. Make this into a place that draws in the huge revenues that go into making films. Don't say we can't do any of the above...we can all it takes is vision and a commitment to working together, networking and talking the place up.
8. Food Products...Everyone knows that Tabasco comes from Louisiana and we already have our signature Rums...what we need is a world renowned food product that we could export, maybe that's Ms. Anna's but maybe someone out there can come up with a new idea that puts us on the food map.

Most of us here have great skills that could be put to use re-creating St. Croix. We have so much untapped potential that i look upon this economic crisis as a challenge for all of us.

i have a sign up over my computer that says “What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not FAIL? So i ask all of us...What would you do?

See ya next week.

Legalize Marijuana on St. Croix

i was sitting in the Dr. office Monday and almost every other person had lost their jobs or would be loosing their jobs. One woman walked out from her exam and hearing us discussing jobs started railing about the injustice of being the only person working in Mental Health at Charles Harwood and she had been let go. How were her patients needs going to be looked after and why were senators relatives and friends who had just been hired in the summer and had no experience not let go first? She had been there eighteen years and was close to retirement. This place is going to contract economically faster than we can absorb she cried and then who will we blame?

She was a dynamo, capturing the entire room in her travails but leaving undefeated for she was fighting back. She was not going to roll over and accept her job firing. She was going to start discussions with everyone she could and still find space to laugh about her situation.

Most of us there were discussing new ideas to help move the island into a better place for everyone. The mood was not defeatist at all in fact it was very optimistic. All of us recognized the need for an economy built upon demand that could be self sustaining. But the form that was going to take eluded us. We needed someone like her to go out and fight for a new identity.

For too long we have been known as the industrial island not a vacation mecca like St. Thomas or St. John. This has hurt us commercially and financially because we really aren't well known, we are off the vacation radar.

Everyone, i don't care if you are rich, poor or in-between wants to live in a peaceful place. They want to live their lives unencumbered by fear of home invasion, robbery or unintended death. Unfortunately St. Croix has its problems that are brought on by a lack of jobs, lack of education and a thriving drug industry.

Eight indicators reflect a peaceful society according to research that has been done by the Institute for Economics and Peace, you need:

• Well-functioning government
  

• Sound business environment
  

• Equitable distribution of resources
  

• Acceptance of the rights of others
  

• Good relations with neighbors
  

• Free flow of information
  

• High levels of education
  

• Low levels of corruption
  

These are items that we as an island nation could easily work on and market to the world. St. Croix needs an identity and one such identity could be that unlike the tourist islands we are a residential island that seeks residents that want to transform the island into a place that we can all live on peacefully.

Our society is involved in self defeating thinking and behaviors that continue to depress living standards. “Peace is statistically related to better business environments, higher per capita income, higher educational attainment and stronger social cohesion,” says the Institute for Economics and Peace.
In order to create that environment for all of us it means that we as a community have to work at building structures that can contain violence, or get rid of structures that encourage violence.

With the economic turmoil that has wracked the island over the past few months we are looking at the very real potential for increased criminal activity and all its assorted negative impacts upon us.

We as a community can either sit back and let it happen or try to deflect those repercusions.
i think one method of deflection is to legalize marijuana. Make St. Croix, just like we did the casinos, the only island where marijuana can be grown and sold legally. We all know where to buy it even if we don't partake. We have lots of people that are hustling every day making a living off illegal drugs because they have no other options. If we legalize marijuana all these young men and women would have instant jobs. We could create a new economy, generate new taxes and cut down on some of the senseless killing that takes them out. Maybe we could even see our crime rates plummet bringing on that peaceful environment.

i know this may be a rather radical suggestion, others have made it before me and California has tried passing laws that have failed so far. NORML works all over the country trying to legalize it and Hawaii is trying to decriminalize along with over two dozen other states that have various forms of laws they are trying to pass. It is coming, some state will pass a law legalizing it and start gobbling up the money. Why shouldn't we be first, reaping the economic benefits instead of always being last. Think about it.

See ya next week.

Leap Day

One of the first things children learn in school and at home as they are growing up is to follow the rules. Rules help children to stay safe, be fair, learn and get along. Rules invite children to respect truth and honesty, to listen, and to take care of things. When children don't follow the rules it can impact other children, parents and their teachers negatively. Children aren't independent beings, they depend upon others for guidance and sustenance and need rules to control their behavior. It is important that they learn quickly how to follow them.

Now consider that adults and children on the other hand do have options regarding rules. If they choose not to follow the rules chaos may very well be the result. Adults understand that we follow rules to coordinate ourselves with others so that everyone has basic expectations regarding interactions. But what can we learn from children?

Most adults think there are only two ways to go about rules(law), you either follow them or you don't. But children have a third way which is to ask “WHY” before they agree to blindly follow. Parents and teachers spend years explaining and reinforcing “WHY” particular rules are important. It takes a lot of work to get all children to obey the rules and toe the line.

Today we are bombarded from both sides of the political spectrum by those that either want to “level the playing field” or have everyone lie down and accept that “life isn't fair.” The “life isn't fair” group says trust business, don't regulate them, let them use free speech and money to create laws that gut environmental protection, depress wages, close down the postal service, gut public education(we don't need an educated population), let our infrastructure rot and make access to non emergency health care a right only the wealthy can afford.

The left calls the media a conservative mouthpiece while the right says its controlled by liberals. Well both groups are wrong. The media's sole purpose is to trumpet the corporate mantra that business is right and all others are wrong. The corporate media is involved in hiding all the harm corporations have caused all over the world. We need look no further than this island to see the damage corporations have done to the south shore. To see the red mud and hulks of their machinery rotting away under the rising sun now that they have drained all they can.

As George Monibot has said “The corporate press is involved in a naked attempt to rebuild the nation around the demands of business” and not the population. For instance having a postal service was written into the constitution so the population could have reasonable access to the national debate without business skewing the discussion towards their interests alone. Today we are losing that communication portal under the push to privatize. Some may say the internet is replacing it but please remember that the internet is not a substitute for free speech as long as we pay private portals that try to exert control over what passes through or how you gain access to material or even the speed at which your connection delivers it.

Rules and ideology replace thought. Rules and ideology are comfortable but they won't help you make progress for yourself or the community. Rules and ideology work when change is slow but today we see change banging at our doors. We have to create an environment on this island and in the nation as a whole that at least attempts some leveling. People and business need to be regulated, no one group should hold sway over the other. No amount of power and money should allow corporations to walk away from their responsibilities to the communities they impact.

Today is a leap day, an out of the ordinary day, a day to think differently....so like the children above do...start asking WHY we should lie down and accept another rotting hulk on the south shore just because life isn't fair.

St. Croix Ag Fair 2012

St. Croix celebrated its 41 annual Agricultural Fair this past President's weekend. Its always been one of my favorite activities of the year and i partook 2 out of the 3 days it was on. i think the reason i enjoy it so much is the food is always fabulous; how could it not be when everyone is competing to win first prize in their specialties.

All sorts of different bands showed up to grace the stages, you had steel pans playing by the duck pond, reggae, quelbe and Heritage Dancers performing on the big stage and smaller bands and performers doing their magic on the third stage. You'd see people you hadn't seen in ages bopping along to the music or sitting in the prepared chairs under the tents seat dancing.

Schmoozing at the fair becomes an art form if you have come with a friend or relative. Time slows down as you get reacquainted with those you haven't seen in ages and it can be your turn to wait while your partner chats or their turn to wait while you chat. It can take hours to get from one end of the fair to the other. Most everyone is happy as the kids and grownups have booths tending to their needs. When you get tired a trip over to the yellow tables under the mango trees will get you out of the sun and give you a chance to rest your bones and eat some food.

i have never been at the fair when the line for Armstrong's ice cream doesn't stretch out both sides of the van and inside the food building more lines await as you salivate over the delicious smells; trying to make your mind up how many things you will try this year can be daunting. i always like to cruise all the booths looking at the ribbons before i decide where to eat. More time for chatting is always available as you wait for the ladies so colorfully dressed to dish out your food.

Over at the west end of the fair produce and plant vendors are set up waiting to sell you this seasons crops. More lines and more chatting as you wend your way up and down the aisles trying to find that plant that will fit perfectly in the empty spot waiting at home. Schools display their projects and ribbons grace the winners booths. Parents and past parents check their kids schools to see how they did.

But this year there was a gaping hole in the plant building. The section Hovensa usually takes over to display its contribution to the island was empty. It was strange passing it and not seeing Hovensa workers handing out goodies to hoards of kids after they had passed some test they had to do first. i think this was my first real physical indication that they are on the way out. i have to say it was sad not to see them there.

Back outside the animals did their thing. The cows, pigs, goats, rabbits, chickens, birds and turtles waited in their pens or cages to be gawked at by adults and children alike. No one can pass them by and not see something to touch their heart. In the petting area the looks on children's faces when they picked up a rabbit or stroked a chick was enough to make my day.

i ate, schmoozed, watched and strolled and can't wait to do it again next year.

See ya next week.

Mardi Croix...Don't Worry

“Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body and what you are to wear. Surely life is more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky, they do not sow or reap or gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they are? Can any of you, however much you worry, add one single cubit to your span of life.”

And why worry about clothing? Think of the flowers growing in the fields; they never have to work or spin; yet I assure you that not even Solomon in all his royal robes was clothed like one of these. Now if that is how God clothes the wild flowers growing in the field which are there today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, will he not much more look after you, you who have so little faith?

So do not worry; do not say, "What are we to eat? What are we to drink? What are we to wear?" It is the gentiles who set their hearts on all these things. Your heavenly Father knows you need them all. Set your hearts on his kingdom first, and on God's saving justice, and all these other things will be given you as well.
So do not worry about tomorrow: tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:25

If you have ever read the Catholic Bible or the New King James Matthew's piece in Chapter 6 about worrying is a real gem. i've read both and they differ in the final line in ways that has me, a lapsed Catholic, preferring the Catholic version which is above.

Attending Catholic school made it mandatory that we read and understand the bible. Religion class was an integral part of growing up and did more to induce the use of the words “WHY” or “WHERE IS THE PROOF FOR THAT” by myself than any other class i've ever had to sit through. i drove the nuns nuts with my unending questions. i was never one to just sit back, absorb, and believe. i questioned incessantly, still do, i drive people nuts with my questions.

But i do think that section of Matthew's about not worrying took hold. Either i was born without the worry gene, which i doubt, or i took it to heart at a very young age, for to me worrying is a complete waste of time. It solves nothing.

i think most of us understand that worrying can cause illness. When you constantly think about what could happen it can interfere with your appetite, your relationships and your job performance. It can cause high anxiety and panic attacks, it can result in sleepless nights and a lot of distress. In some excessive forms, worrying can cause physical ailments like:

• difficulty swallowing
• dizziness
• dry mouth
• fast heartbeat
• fatigue
• headaches
• inability to concentrate
• irritability
• muscle aches
• muscle tension
• nausea
• nervous energy
• rapid breathing
• shortness of breath
• sweating
• trembling and twitching
  

• suppression of the immune system
• digestive disorders
• muscle tension
• short-term memory loss
• premature coronary artery disease
• heart attack
  

Those are a lot of symptoms that a chronic worrier has to contend with. Luckily there are simple methods to tamp down the worry gene. Meditation, giving up caffeine, relaxing, having a strong social network, exercising, worrying for only 15 minutes a day, wearing a rubber band and snapping it whenever you catch yourself worrying and recognizing that you are a worrier.

So like Matthew said in the last line: “Do not worry about tomorrow: tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”