Did you feel this morning’s 5.4-magnitude Illinois earthquake??
At 4:30 a.m. Friday morning, that ”all shook up” feeling in the floor wasn’t the King (Elvis) making a comeback, it was a REAL LIFE earthquake folks! Right in the midwest of the continental United States!

In fact it’s an active geological area prone to earthquakes every 300-500 years, the most recent  major earthquake event being 3 major shakers back in the winter of 1811-12 one of which reportedly caused the Mississippi to run backwards, but in nearby Bellmont there was an earthquake registering 5.0 in 2002.

While this quake wasn’t on a scale of the 1811 event (reportedly near 8.0 on the Richter Scale) it does seem very odd to hear of earthquakes in places like Vernon County and the Coulee Region in southeastern Illinois. We are certainly more accustomed to hearing about earthquakes in Japan, the Pacific Rim, or California..

It just goes to show how dynamic and changing this planet really is, and although to us these geologic events seem far between and rare, from a geological viewpoint the earths crust is an ever changing and dynamic environment.
Still..if I had my preferences of where to live, I’d feel a lot safer in Vernon County Illinois than in San Bernadino California.
 

A moment in history nearly slipped us all by, and I have to wonder how this happened? Why would such a MONUMENTAL resolution passed by Congress NOT reach the front pages of newspapers across the continent? Why wasn’t this action commented on in the nightly television news? Not even a peep in hot topics, late night talk shows..

NOTHING!

That says a lot to me. I know in my heart that when something as potentially important as this comes out and little is said about it, the news doesn’t pick up on it, and you KNOW if the Government’s top representatives say nothing about it..there’s GOT to be something wrong. You’d have to read the whole thing to spot it..but I assure you that you undoubtedly will if you do read it. Follow the link below.. just scroll all the way to the bottom and then up a bit.

The Apology that Wasn’t

While I will be among the first to stand up and congratulate Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan. for promoting this resolution, my ability to accept this as a TRUE apology was greatly diminished by the “disclaimer” that Congress had to add at the end of the Resolution. It’s like a teenager saying OOPS! Sorry!! (NOT)

What Congress is afraid of (of course) is that they might actually be called upon to make AMENDS!

THAT’S the real issue here folks.

I mean like HEY! Some businesses might lose their “rights” to pillage that native soil, they might have to pay access fees and make reparations for what they’ve already taken. Some businesses might actually have to relocate!
And what about all the cities that have been built on stolen land. What about the sacred places that have become golf courses?

How can we ever atone for the slaughter of whole villages? Who is there to file a claim for those families..even whole races of people..wiped out in the genocide?

And what about the thousands of lives affected by the deaths of relatives, the damage of forced removal from their homes to boarding schools where abuse ran rampant, and the blatant prejudice? This is ALL recent history folks.. Those people are still alive and can file a valid claims of wrongdoing, and that’s what Congress is afraid of. They can’t REALLY apologise, because then they might have to actually atone for their actions and the actions of past governments.

But you know what?? It’s the only way.

It’s not an apology unless it’s real and you’re ready to do whatever it takes to make amends.

Until then it’s just an apology that wasn’t.

As I watch the very public sex scandal spectacle of former NewYork Governor Eliot Spitzer, I am left to ponder just WHO the victims in this tragedy REALLY are?

Mr. Spitzer being the perpetrator of his OWN demise could hardly be counted as a victim, although he seemed to plead for such recognition in his resignation speeches. His sincerity in apologizing for his actions might actually be masquerading as regret for being caught. Two VERY different things. I’ll leave that for you to decide.

I look at his dutiful wife Silda Wall Spitzer, standing by his side, and wonder what’s going through her mind. Did she REALLY want to be there or did she feel like bolting from the stage and the glare of television and camera lights? No doubt she has entertained thoughts of what her next steps will be, but most likely her actions will be better thought out and with MORE concern for her child and family, than Mr. Spitzer exhibited.. My guess is we’ll see her name shortening back to just Silda Wall some day soon, but who knows? Perhaps she can find room in her heart to forgive her philandering husband.
But is she a victim in this scandal?
Did she ask for this? Did she play a part? On both counts I vote no, I believe she’s an innocent bystander so I’d have to say she’s a victim of this man’s actions.

So what about Ashley Dupree? Is she a victim?
That appears to be a trickier situation on the surface perhaps, but I ask: Is the thief a victim of his “fence”? Unfortunately Ashley by her chosen vocation set herself up as a willing participant in this man’s criminal acts. Some might question what made her choose to become a prostitute, and there could be MANY reasons, but I will challenge ANYONE who claims that she chose that “profession” out of a need to survive simply based on her opulent lifestyle. Oh the tales her upcoming memoirs might tell of other “trysts” with the wealthy and powerful…
I’m sorry Ashley, but although you didn’t choose this scandal, it chose you simply by the life you lead. Your “fence” got caught and you along with him.

So then is the Electorate of New York the victims here?
Can they be blamed for electing to Governor a man who would eventually betray their trust? A man they believed that, by his actions as Prosecutor in the Attourney General’s office, would champion honor, integrity, and moral family values?
Here I would have to side with the people. They were deceived by a man who apparently came to believe that he was “above the law”, or at the very least that he had become invulnerable to the laws the rest of us have to live by.
In my view the people of New York were victims too. Maybe even all the people of the US could be seen in a similar light, being forced to watch yet another of their administrators of Justice and Governance fall from grace into dishonor.

But I’m not done yet..

And this is where I get REALLY upset. I get really angry when I think of what this scandal is going to do to his three daughters. They’re ALL of an age where they will understand what he’s done, and they will ALL have to face the public humiliation in front of their friends and classmates because of their father’s actions. We all know how brutal kids can be to each other, and the twitters and giggles as they walk down the school halls reaches even MY ears.
These 3 girls are the TRUE victims in all of this and will bear this shame and humiliation for the REST of their lives!

And for that Eliot Spitzer I say SHAME ON YOU. You deserve all you get, but my guess is you won’t pay the FULL PRICE you owe!