American Rivers Statement on Katrina's New Orleans Impact

Follows a press release from American Rivers. "American Rivers works every day for healthy rivers, abundant fish and wildlife, and thriving river communities."

WASHINGTON, Aug 30 -- American Rivers President Rebecca R. Wodder released the following statement today on the trail of destruction that Hurricane Katrina has left along the Gulf Coast:

Our hearts go out to he victims of Hurricane Katrina and the brave emergency personnel that are coming to their aid.

We have long feared this day was coming. Decades of severe environmental degradation along the Mississippi River have left the region progressively more vulnerable to the winds and floods that accompany a storm like Katrina.

The mouth of the Mississippi River was once a vast wetland delta, a robust cushion to absorb and disperse some of the storm's energy. Today, much of that delta has disintegrated -- sliced up to make way for oil pipelines and starved of new sediment to rebuild itself.

The problems extend far upstream. The Mississippi River and its tributaries are lined with countless miles of levees. Each of these provides a false sense of security for the communities behind them -- and increases the flood risk for their downstream neighbors.

When the winds die down, the waters recede, and the rebuilding begins, we call on lawmakers to learn from the mistakes of the past and not be seduced by the false promise of security behind higher levees. The unintended consequences of this approach are tragically on display today.

Letter to Wife

The following is a letter to my wife establishing my plan of attack upon learning that my cholesterol level is higher than I thought:

First steps:
no more salt, butter, whole milk, constant cheesing, coffee cream & sugar.

The sushi I got was AWESOME. Ok, maybe not worth all caps, but damn near close to, if not better than, You See Sushi. I went to the place I saw that sparked the idea, but not before darting into City Lights for a recommendation. Ironically the only place he mentioned was that place. I got 6 different pieces of nigiri and an 8-10 piece Alaska roll, which was salmon and avocado. Yum. And the nigiri--Yum. Plus miso soup and tea for $9.95. With tax & tip, $12.80. Very reasonable, and I'm quite full. I think the nigiri was hamachi, maguro, ebi, tai, sake, and octopus (can't remember the Japanese for that).

Yes. Cheese. Cheese will now be for special occasions rather than blanketing all sandwiches. Jelly consumption shall be reduced. There is a cup of Lipton Green Tea brewing on my desk next to a 50.7 oz bottle of filtered water.

More fish. The author of Pavlov's Trout speaks of an activity he and his wife share called the Book and Fishing Club, wherein they drive to a stream or river and he goes fishing for a long time while she reads engrossed in the car. Obviously she is reading good books rather than wondering when he is coming back, because he says they both are completely content and happy about the arrangement. I guess she's not addicted to the internets. But maybe we can introduce more actual fresh fish into our lives the old fashioned way. And of course in our Club, you'd be able to do whatever you want, like hike around for a while before settling in for your reading or painting or mosaicking. One of the reasons I did very little fly fishing was because I was with Jesse, who did not truly appreciate fly fishing or being alone -- one with the water and fish. So we were in a boat or sitting on the side of a lake drinking beer with daylong intermittent chit-chat. A fly fisherman really doesn't need a fishing buddy, in fact, is better off without one. But I need you. Yes I do.

And definitely more vegetables, fruits and soy. And somehow incorporate those red chiles into everything so I sweat out all the bad cholesterols.

And probably of most importance, next to less fat -- exercise. I walked today. I should walk everday, multiple times if the occasion permits itself. And work up to more strenuous activities like running or tennis or biking or fishing. And then I shall learn to fly like a bird.

What will I eat tomorrow on Hawk Hill? I have ham & cheese and PB&J, and nuts and sesame sticks. None of those are good. Something else I was reading today said to limit even the amount of vegetable fats, in particular avocadoes and nuts. At least in the mindset of "reversal" rather than "prevention". I 'm already in the high category and I need to get out of it. Once out I can eat a moderate amount of whatever I want.

Bud Light. They say Miller Lite has more flavor. I don't know how Amstel Light compares to the American lights in calories and simple carbs, but I gotta stop drinking Boont and Red Seal Ale.

Pizza. I can never eat pizza with you again. It has to be reserved for emergency beer drinking food. Surely you understand. No? We'll have to discuss that then. And as you suggested replace portions of beer with red wine and sake. Alcohol is alcohol is sugar, but beer is the worst for keeping the fat cells well fed.

So there you have it, Sweetie. Olive oil, vegetables, soy and water.

Love Chuck

I think this means the Cheese Log is going to see fewer cheese reviews. But it also means there will be less pressure to fill it with cheese, thus opening up its role as a ranter's haven. I suppose I can rave too.

What about Cindy Sheehan?

I wanted to get something started with this new page and asked my brother if he wanted to do something on his site concurrent with mine. He suggested we write a little somthing about Cindy Sheehan and her on-hold vigil in Crawford, Tex. I thought that might be a little heavy for the Cheese Log, but you know what? So is a stilton, and that's going to get covered here too eventually.

But in my reponse to him I wrote this:

Who cares? Nothing she does matters. Yeah, she's a ligtning rod. But she's a lighning rod for a bunch of liberal anti-war protestors. Great. Now there's a face to go with the "movement". The administration has not, does not, and will not care what the American people think. There are billions of dollars to be made in this war for Bush and those that got him his job, and it does not matter to them what 250 million citizens think.

He thought that ought to be my post, right there. So there you have it, completely unthought out through and through.

But should that be the extent of it? Is there more value to this woman's action than I give credit? According to True Majority she is doing wonders, and they report:

Cindy herself described it best in her blog: "True Majority has raised money to dog George Bush when he leaves the ranch. Every time he leaves, there will be a GSFP member, MFSO members, VFP members, and Code Pink members who will protest him and say "Meet with Cindy." We will not let him have a 5 week nice vacation when there are millions of people in harm's way in Iraq due to his careless policies. The people of Iraq and our soldiers are suffering. Why should George have a nice vacation?"

But what is this going to accomplish? More importantly, what is her meeting with Bush going to prove? He met with her once already -- we're still in Iraq. If he meets with her again he'll just give her the same lies about our involvement as he gives the rest of the country in one of his rare appearances.

Nonetheless, I suppose I'm glad she started this. He should not get off as easy as he has thus far, though it makes little difference to his actions. And of course, I hope her mother is alright, gets better soon, and Cindy can return to her vigil.

Italian Castelrosso

According to Murray's Cheeses:

This pasteurized red cow's milk cheese is a cousin of the famous “King of Italian Cheese,” Castelmagno from Piemonte in northeastern Italy. Similar in appearance, it has a natural thick, gray rind smattered with yellow mold, and a dry, crumbly, snowy white paste. The flavor is mild: lactic, buttery, and clean with a gentle, residual tang similar to Lancashire and other English cheddar-styles. The straightforward flavors are an ideal foil to Italian condiments such as grape mostardo and chestnut honeys.

We tried this cheese tonight, bought from the Rainbow Grocery Co-op in San Francisco. It was so delicious. Erin says it is her favorite now. It's quite flavorful, has a nice rind, but has no pungent flavors that might turn off some eaters.

We will buy it again. And at $9.99/lb. it is not that unreasonable.

ChuckBaldwin.com Announces Two New Pages

Yes. We have new content. Two new pages have been added. The Cheese Log is a new page for discussions of a lighter nature than are usually found on this page. It will contain cheese commentary, of course, but that's just where it gets going. I foresee it or another similarly formatted page replacing this page as the Main Page. The software backing up this page is too slow and too old to effectively do what I want, quickly and easily anyway. We'll see though. It may be too difficult to migrate the date from here to another place so this page may be forced into retirement.

The second new page is the Bird Log. I have stepped up my fascination with our avian friends and volunteered as a HawkWatcher with the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory. This has unexpectedly bumped up my interest in more common tweety birds, but you can read all about it at the Bird Log.

Get to both pages via the links in the sidebar on the right. The new technology will also make it much easier to simply add the links in the text rather than explaining where to find them.

Woo-hoo!

All posts listed earlier than this post on this page were moved from the from this page.
I hope you enjoy them all in both places.
Thanks,
Chuck