In Search of the Human Spirit

Governor Ted Kulongoski is getting a taste of reality. For one week he’s living on $21 for food. That’s the amount that food stamp recipients get a week in the state of Oregon.

Kulongoski set out on his trip to grocery store with someone who receives food stamps. She was there to help him make cost effective choices. He quickly realized that $21 doesn’t go very far. He had to review the prices of everything he purchased. No specialty items, no organic, no junk.

The total came to $21.97. Kulongoski had to give up three items. He came home with 19 items. Of course, Kulongoski knows that at the end of the week he gets to have his organic bananas and fancy soup. But, he knows food stamp recipients have to live like this until their lives improve.

Kulongoski embarked on this week long adventure to raise awareness. That $21 was supposed to feed a family of four. Kulongoski hopes that by showing folks how little food stamp recipients receive, they get the amount increased to something that a family of four can survive on.

Dale Murphy, former Atlanta Braves outfielder, is inserting himself into the discussion on steroids use. He’s founded the organization “I Won’t Cheat” to tackle the problem.

Murphy see’s cheating permeating American society. The ends justify the means. It doesn’t matter how you get there just as long as you win. It’s a philosophy that spreads from athletes to politicans to business owners. While Murphy knows about the illegality of using steroids or cheating to get your way, he’s attempting to attack the problem from an ethical standpoint. He wants to get to kids before they get to high school to teach them that cheating is wrong no matter what you gain from it.

According to Murphy, by high school, students have already been drawn into the world of steroid, sometimes with their parent’s consent. He recalls a situation where a parent confided to him that his son was a good pitcher, but if he could get the speed on his fastball up to 98 he’d go in the first round of the draft. Pressures like this lead people do cheat rather than do the hard work necessary to meet their goals. According to the website, 1 million high school students are currently taking steroids.

Murphy’s program seems simplistic. The goal is to teach kids that cheating is a choice and then getting them to do what’s right. He also supports lifetime bans for anyone caught using illegal performance enhancing drugs. The consequences have to be high enough that the risk doesn’t seem worth it.

There is already some interested in his program though it’s only being used in Utah. The NBA and MLB have asked about the program. He’s also hearing from parents who are eager to keep there kids off all drugs.

Murphy hopes to take the program nationwide. You can learn more about it at www.iwontcheat.com.

On Sunday, Major League Baseball celebrated Jackie Robinson, the first African American to break baseball’s color code. The main event was at Dodger Stadium. This was fitting since the Dodgers owner, Branch Rickey, was the one who signed Robinson.

The celebration included speeches from Commissioner Bud Selig, Robinson’s widow, Rachel, and others. There was a Gospel Choir and Rachel Robinson received an award for all the good work she continues to do for baseball including her work with the Jackie Robinson Memorial Foundation. Frank Robinson, the first African American Manager, and Hank Aaron, the homerun king, threw out the ceremonial first pitches. All of the Dodger players and staff wore #42 in Robinson’s honor.

During the broadcast on ESPN, they interviewed several people including Rachel Robinson, Hank Aaron, Don Newcombe, Dave Winfield, and Peter Gammons. These interviews were enlightening and heart breaking. Jackie Robinson’s only friend in baseball was Branch Rickey until Pee Wee Reese put his arm around his shoulder during a game where the fans were especially brutal. Rachel Robinson had neither friend nor family in New York and the players’ wives shunned her.

Hank Aaron showed that no matter how much progress we make, we still have a long way to go. When he set out to break Babe Ruth’s homerun record, his life and the life of his wife and three children were threatened. He stated that he didn’t really even enjoy that year because of the hatred and death threats.

Now it’s 2007. It’s ironic that while we celebrate this moment in history we are trying to come to terms with the Don Imus insults. Yes, we’ve come a long way, but there is still alot of work to be done.

If you’d like to see more on the celebrations, go to the MLB Website: Sacred No. 42 on Display in Baseball

This is an update on the story I ran Sunday on the veterinarian who was trying to save dogs from puppy mills. She made it to the breeder’s auction and was able to save 71 dogs. They bid on the worst of the lot knowing that almost all the other bidders were looking for breeding dogs for their own puppy mills.

Some of the dogs were so sick they could not travel. They have been sent to animal rescue shelters and sanctuaries in Florida. The rest will be brought home to California where necessary medical treatments will be started.

102 year old Elsie McLean probably has had a long list of achievements in her long life. Last week, she added a new one to the list–a hole in one. This is a record as she is the oldest golfer ever to get a hole in one.

McLean’s feat was accomplished at Bidwell Park in California. The avid golfer was astonished when her friends told her the ball was in cup. She’d never had one before.

Prior to this, Harold Stilson broke the age record in 2001. He was 101 years old.

Monday our nation suffered a tragedy. A gunman killed 32 people at Virginia Tech University and wounded several others.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the victims and all who are dealing with this horrific event.

Have you ever heard of the deplorable practice called “puppy mills”? They are business where dogs are breed one litter after another without any care for their health or safety. They are kept in cages their entire life and usually die of overuse. Even if a dog falls sick, they still have to breed.

The puppies are born with a host of health problems (some of it from inbreeding), unbeknownst to the future owner. They sometimes sell to pet stores or over the internet. They can bring big money. The new owners find out very quickly that they’ve cost of buying one of these puppies can double or triple the first month because most of the puppies have serious health problems.

A veterinarian from the San Francisco Bay Area named Helen Hamilton, heard about a dog auction, a “kennel liquidation” in Arkansas. The puppy mill owner died and the family wants no part of the business. There are 300 dogs to be sold. Hamilton has taken in $9000 in donations and is still raising money. She and other local vets will be going to Arkansas in hopes of buying as many dogs as they can afford.

They know that all the dogs they save will need expensive medical treatment. But they don’t care. They will do whatever is necessary to rescue them. They also know that it’s a losing battle because some of the dogs will be bought by other puppy mill owners. They have high hopes though.

I hope she buys them all.

An Honest Sheriff

If you a sheriff and were involved in a car accident, what would you do? When Sheriff Dennis Kocken of Brown County, Wisconsin was involved in a car accident, other police took down the details and processed the paperwork. Kocken as off the hook.

However, his conscience gnawed at him. A couple of weeks later, he wrote himself a ticket for a traffic violation. He charged himself with an unsafe lane change.

Kocken was following a suspected speeding car. He had to swerve to avoid a tire in his lane. When he swerved, he smacked into the car in the other lane.

Kocken could have gotten away with it. He probably had no choice but to swerve. This is the way the Sheriff saw it, “As sheriff, I’m held to the highest standard in law enforcement. How can I hold officers accountable if I don’t hold myself accountable.

In 1941, African American men began training with the Army Air Corps. They were the pilots of the Tuskegee Institute of Alabama.

They fought against the Axis in World War II. They fought the enemy in the air and racism back home. They escorted Allied bombers and downed 250 enemy planes.

Despite their successes, the men came back home to find nothing had changed. They military ignored them. The public still saw them as inferior. It didn’t matter they they had proven themselves as men and heroes. They were Black in White America. One Airman remembers being in an airport in uniform and having a white woman ask him to carry her bags. Nothing had changed.

It’s taken over 65 years for America to appreciate the Tuskegee heroes. 290 members of the Tuskegee Airmen made their way to Washington, D.C. They were honored with the Congressional Gold Medal. After World War II, the men went back to their lives and the rampant American racism. I have no idea why it took the government so long to honor these brave men. It’s been way overdue.

The standoff between Great Britain and Iran has ended peacefully. Negotiations between the two nations has lead to the release of the 15 sailors. The group boarded an airplane and landed in London this afternoon.

Iran captured the sailors 13 days ago. They accused them of being in Iranian waters. There was posturing over whether the 15 would be tried under Iranian law. Cooler heads have prevailed.

On Wednesday, President Ahmadinejad honored the people who captured the British soldiers. Then in a strange twist of events, he made an announcement that the sailors would be freed as a gift for Easter, Passover, and the Prophet Mohammed’s Birthday which all fall within the same period. All the sailors met publicly with the President. All were smiles though details of their treatment were unclear.

The sailors arrived in London at 12:02pm. They then made a journey to Devon. They were then reunited with their family members.