it's finally raining.

...We're the heirs of men and women who lived through...winters at Jamestown and Plymouth...rebuilt Chicago after a great fire...San Francisco...earthquake...reclaimed the prairie from the Dust Bowl of the 1930s...

hi folks
it's finally raining, now. thank goodness. it seems like the first time in weeks.

My car has negative cat pawprints written in its covering of dust.

anyway speaking of tilth below is the Bush speech abbreviated.

have a great day. --suzy

ps. today I spoke with Wayne at the Jacksonville Center today and we tossed around some ideas about the new exhibit on sustainability now being planned at the Sustainable Living Education Center in Floyd. Homesteading and carbon offset were both mentioned as possible themes.

Wayne also has a friend with a great deal of practical knowledge about urban gardening...

So. if you are interested in becoming involved with this initiative get in touch with SLEC or Association of Energy Conservation Professionals.

thanks for reading. have a great day.

click here to help work on the dogs on trucks robot.

Bush's speech, abbreviated:

...speaking to you from the city of New Orleans... millions of lives...cruel and wasteful storm...grieving for the dead, and looking for meaning in a tragedy that seems so blind and random...witnessed the kind of desperation no citizen of this great and generous nation should ever have to know...calling out for food and water, vulnerable people left at the mercy of criminals...the bodies of the dead lying uncovered and untended in the street....

...community of Chalmette, when two men tried to break into a home, the owner invited them to stay...doctors and nurses...carried...patients on their backs up eight flights of stairs to helicopters.....Steve Scott of the Biloxi Fire Department...lost my house...lost my cars...I still got my family...I still got my spirit...

...a core of strength that survives all hurt...faith in God no storm can take away...clear the ruins and build better than before...

...great city will rise again...gather the dead, treat them with respect...prepare them for their rest...

...Our goal is to get people out of the shelters by the middle of October...

...beginning to bring in mobile homes and trailers for temporary use...sending extra doctors and nurses to these areas...money that can be used to cover overtime pay for police and fire departments while the cities and towns rebuild......federal government will undertake a close partnership with...Louisiana and Mississippi...New Orleans...Gulf Coast cities...rebuild in a sensible, well-planned way...goal is to get the work done quickly...taxpayers expect this work to be done honestly and wisely...we'll have a team of inspectors general reviewing all expenditures...

...Governor Barbour, Governor Blanco, Mayor Nagin, and other state and local leaders will have the primary role in planning for their own future...communities will need to move decisively to change zoning laws and building codes, in order to avoid a repeat of what we've seen...as many jobs as possible should go to the men and women who live in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama...

...Our third commitment is this: When communities are rebuilt, they must be even better and stronger than before the storm. Within the Gulf region are some of the most beautiful and historic places in America...

...also some deep, persistent poverty in this region...has roots in a history of racial discrimination...cut off generations from the opportunity of America...confront this poverty with bold action... lrestore all that we have cherished from yesterday...let us rise above the legacy of inequality...When the houses are rebuilt, more families should own, not rent, those houses...Americans want the Gulf Coast not just to survive, but to thrive; not just to cope, but to overcome...want evacuees to come home, for the best of reasons...they have a real chance at a better life in a place they love...

...I propose the creation of a Gulf Opportunity Zone, encompassing the region of the disaster in Louisiana and Mississippi and Alabama..provide immediate incentives for job-creating investment, tax relief for small businesses, incentives to companies that create jobs...loans and loan guarantees for small businesses...minority-owned enterprises...to get them up and running again...entrepreneurship...break the cycle of poverty... we will take the side of entrepreneurs as they lead the economic revival of the Gulf region...

...propose the creation of Worker Recovery Accounts to help those evacuees who need extra help finding work..up to $5,000...job training and education...child care expenses...

..to help lower-income citizens in the hurricane region build new and better lives, I also propose...Urban Homesteading Act....identify property in the region owned by the federal government, and provide building sites to low-income citizens free of charge, through a lottery....they would pledge to build on the lot...either a mortgage or help from a charitable organization like Habitat for Humanity...Home ownership is one of the great strengths of any community...must be a central part of our vision for the revival of this region...

Our cities must have clear and up-to-date plans for responding to natural disasters..disease outbreaks..terrorist attack, for evacuating large numbers of people in an emergency, and for providing the food and water and security they would need. In a time of terror threats and weapons of mass destruction...consider detailed emergency planning to be a national security priority...

I also want to know all the facts about the government response to Hurricane Katrina...

...Four years after the frightening experience of September the 11th...Americans have every right to expect a more effective response in a time of emergency...review every action and make necessary changes, so that we are better prepared for any challenge of nature, or act of evil men, that could threaten our people...

The United States Congress also has an important oversight function to perform...Congress is preparing an investigation, and I will work with members of both parties to make sure this effort is thorough...

...In the life of this nation, we have often been reminded that nature is an awesome force, and that all life is fragile...

Americans have never left our destiny to the whims of nature -- and we will not start now......trials have also reminded us that we are often stronger than we know -- with the help of grace and one another...remind us of a hope beyond all pain and death, a God who welcomes the lost to a house not made with hands...remind us that we're tied together in this life, in this nation -- and that the despair of any touches us all...

...The funeral procession parades slowly through the streets, followed by a band playing a mournful dirge as it moves to the cemetery. Once the casket has been laid in place, the band breaks into a joyful "second line" -- symbolizing the triumph of the spirit over death. Tonight the Gulf Coast is still coming through the dirge -- yet we will live to see the second line..

Thank you, and may God bless America.

the President

tags: civil war, reconstruction, progress, soil science, Jim Crow, legacy, Bush, Dust Bowl, South, environment, ghetto, offer, remediate, plan, poverty, racial discrimination, Gulf Opportunity Zone, Urban Homesteading Act, home ownership, minority, Jamestown, New Orleans, show me the money, tilth, homesteading, carbon, guilt offset