T: One Million years to Terminate

Our oceans are one of our greatest resources. They can sustain us, offer abounding recreation and their vast beauty is unsurpassed. Once upon a time every beach had the potential to yield up secrets, hidden away in bottles – the sea is a dependable messenger. Nowadays the anticipation of finding a message has given way to the certainty that it is just garbage, thoughtlessly thrown into the sea. From the shore or over the side of a ship, bottles etc. do not just disappear. It is shocking to know that it takes 450 years for a plastic bottle that enters the sea to decompose, but it takes over one million years for a glass bottle. People think it'll sink to the bottom. Out of sight, out of mind. Plastic in our oceans is often mistaken for food by marine animals but so is glass. High concentrations of glass have been found to block and or cut the breathing passages and stomachs of many marine species, including whales, dolphins, seals and turtles. In most cases they bleed to death. People become contaminated from household products or by eating contaminated seafood and pass it on to the containers they thoughtlessly throw overboard.

Besides material pollutants our seas and oceans receive the brunt of human waste, whether it is by deliberate dumping or by natural run-off from the land. Wonder why people die from eating fish and shellfish? Because our human waste is digested by them. The fish get ill and the chain reaction "what goes around comes around" reaches it's full life. Rubbish discarded at sea is often washed ashore onto our beaches polluting the coastline. There is more rubbish on the beach in the winter, because of the prevailing winds and large waves which force the litter ashore. A staggering amount of waste, much of which has only existed for the past 50 years or so, enters the oceans each year.

I guess the reason this article is important to me is I grew up near the ocean. I surf, sail, water ski, and have enjoyed it's glory on many occasions. I have been a part of the problem and now I want to be a part of the solution. We do things unconsciously because the issues have not been brought to our attention, when they are we need to make amends. Here are some F.A.C.T.S we all need to know. Below is a list of how long things take to decompose in the watery brine. In the parenthesis is the years. Also below are organizations with F.A.C.T.S. worth checking out! Together with knowledge we can make a difference.

1. glass(1 million)
2. rope (500)
3. plastic(450)
4. straws, stirrers (450)
5. cans (80 -200)
6. caps, lids (50)
7. food containers/wrappers (50)
8. cups, plates, forks, knives, spoons (50)
9. plastic bags (10 - 20)
10. cigarettes/cigarette filters(1-5)

www.cleanoceanaction.org
http://www.solarnavigator.net/volvo_ocean_race.htm
http://www.climatecrisis.net

C: Is for Chivas

Last year Tom invited me to a Johnny Walker tasting. I had never been and I thought why not. Though I am more of a red wine, champagne kinda girl I found that Scotch was rather tasty when mixed. The event was also an amazing multi media presentation that was informative. I learned that though I may not buy the product I would recommend it and thus their advertising dollar was well spent. When Tom again invited me to the Chivas tasting I was excited as I wanted to compare the two events and see if my horizons could be expanded. What I learned was how a company can waste an exuberant amount of funds to accomplish the exact opposite of what was intended. Billed as The Chivas Life w. Jeremy Bell, Chivas Regal offered an evening of complimentary Scotch, Dancing, and Hors' Dourves. Touring the country to spread it's message, but what is it? You are greeted by girls dressed scantly in showgirl attire and Mr. Bell in a kilt. Right then and there was a mixed message. It was obvious by the cocktails a Chivas Apple Martini and A Chivas Sidecar that they were trying to accommodate the female market. When you went to the bar the drinks were 1/2 Chivas and then ice and then mixer. Their website states on the front page "Here at Chivas we're committed to responsible drinking so we need to ensure that you are over the legal drinking age and that you are legally permitted to view this site in the country that you are in." I am surprised a lawsuit has not occurred from the lack of responsibility. They also had a chocolate fondue which again made no sense. Whiskey/Scotch does not go with chocolate. It was explained to me that the 18year old has hints of chocolate. Really? At the JW tasting I knew all the scents. Yet here....? When it came time for the tasting it was done in sections with the rest of the group looking in. No multi media, no information just Jeremy Bell making jokes. I learned nothing except Chivas is smoky an I like JW better straight.

What happened next was the most surprising. They were giving away three DVD players to the best dancers. Now I can dance. Especially club style. So I handed my purse to Tom and off I went. The 1st DVD went to a man who couldn't move. Next one of the dancers pulled me on stage and Mr. Bell gave a DVD player to a girl who had two left feet. So disgusted I jumped off the stage and a girl grabbed me to dance and before I could dance Mr Bell gave her the DVD. I later had a chance to ask Mr. Bell why? His response "I promised the DVD's before the dance contest." In other words it was rigged. The stupidity of this statement was I told him I was a writer. This experience has turned me against Chivas. Chivas needs to take lessons from "The Striding Man" and that is a F.A.C.T.

A: Is for free art

When you do film, TV or promotion work you are constantly waiting for checks that are owed. Sometimes they are beyond late and you have your choice of eating or going out. Not in New York. If you love art, entertainment need not be expensive. You can find free-admission days at many museums,

Sunday in the Park with George, any one? Well, on Fridays from 4-8 for free you can. Georges Seurat opens October 28th at The Museum of Modern Art and you can pointillism to your hearts content.


Did you pass or fail science? The New York Hall of Science in Queens
(www.nyhallsci.org) offers free admission on Fridays from 2-5 p.m. and Sundays from 10-11 a.m. Sound Sensations: The Inside Story of Audio allows you to customize a jazz composition and electronically change your voice. You don't have to be a brain to learn.


Modernism more your thing? Journey to The Brooklyn Museum of Art the first Saturday of every month from 5-11pm(www.brooklynmuseum.org) Saturdays are free from 11 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. at the Jewish Museum (www.thejewishmuseum.org).

Pay whatever you wish Fridays from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Whitney Museum of American Art (www.whitney.org) where Georgia O'Keeffe, Alexander Calder among others show a Modern look that changed the history of art. My friend Richard Prince is showing his spiritual side at the Guggenheim and on Fridays from 5:45 p.m. to closing you can absorb his magic at a magical price. The MET has always offered pay as much as you can policy which New Yorkers can always be grateful for.

Though your pockets be bare it is a F.A.C.T. that artistically your brain will always be enriched with culture if you only know where to look.

F: Is for Eastside Fashionable

OK back to the things that make New York so mystifying. Every week, hell everyday a new club or restaurant is trying to catch our eye. Nick Valencia was the man who let you through the ropes at Cielo. He then worked his way up to managing and boy can that man pour a mean drink but that was as far as you can go with out owning the joint. Thus was born "Label" the newest hot spot hidden behind the guise of an empanadas stand. Now don't get me wrong the taste of warm toasted cheese, beef, chicken, or vegetable corn empanadas does exist at 174 Rivington Street. The fact is they come from these Nick's family uptown. "Label's" prices embrace the neighborhood with wine at $8, well drinks $7 and mixed drinks range from $8-$11. Seasonal cocktails are an important part of Label. This winter cravings will catered to by a creamy hot chocolate, Irish coffee, warm apple cider and some other hot liquor drinks that are in the process of being perfected.

"Label" combines an intimate Music bar that serves up fresh music programming. The music is the key component of "Label" exploring the non-commercial end of the electronic music spectrum. A program called Spreadlove invites music lovers, DJs and producers to submit their playlists to Mr. Valencia. He in turn can help them spread the love of music through his industry standard DJ equipment and 14 strategically placed high quality speakers. The space seats 35 people at its cozy banquettes and bar. Nine hundred square feet of warm ambient lighting, varied textures and soothing aromatic blends will heighten the senses. This fall, enjoy the sounds, flavors and fresh experience and make it a F.A.C.T.

S: Is for scary times

My friend Elizabeth just called me to tell me of something she just heard on TV. A homeless man was sleeping on the steps of a church on East 103 street and three people set him on fire while he slept. Many homeless people sleep outside the Army Recruiting Center and the church along 103rd St. It has become a haven to those in need, in a city that provides far less than what is called for. Gary Williams can't believe what's happened in his own neighborhood. Williams used to see the victim every morning on his way to work. "He doesn't bother anybody he just sleeps in the corner." The victim was taken to Cornell Medical Center where he has second and third degree burns on over 75-percent of his body. Witnesses saw three people running from the scene. They are said to be children. According to Mary Brosnahan, the executive director of the Coalition for the Homeless, there has been a 65-percent rise in attacks on the homeless in the last year alone.

Last year a elderly women was beaten to death for $3. Gay bashing is on the rise. People trying to get help, are manhandled by the police and die. Children are being abused and though they make the news, what really is being done about it? Sure we all ohhh and ahhhh about it but what are we doing? Are we speaking out? Are we changing laws? Are we making waves? No!

I've actually been speaking about this for awhile. I use my life as an example because when things happen to me I can see the effects it will have on others. I've done two now three columns on Iraq For Sale: The War Profiteers. This film exposes Halliburton and its subsidiary, KBR, CACI International and Blackwater Security Consulting. "Iraq for Sale” is about unspeakable greed and fraud, misery and betrayal, and brazen waste of public tax dollars for private enrichment. It details the depth of control corporate war profiteers exert over our elected representatives and the danger these alliances have created for soldiers and innocent civilians. Grassroots financed “Iraq for Sale” was funded entirely outside corporate America. More than 3,000 people donated $367,892 to help Greenwald and Brave New Films produce and distribute this documentary. Finally people speaking are up.

It is a F.A.C.T. that we live in traumatic times, where the actions of the Government trickle down to it's people because the examples are few. It is a F.A.C.T. that for now, Freedom of Speech is still a right. It is a F.A.C.T. that actions speak louder than words. It is our right to search out the F.A.C.T.S. and make our own decisions. At the rate that our rights are being taken away and the multitudes seek to deceive now we be a good time to exercise your rights and that is a F.A.C.T.

T: Thoughts through out time.

I was telling Tom tonight I didn't know what I was writing about, then I went to a site. I read the comments that someone wrote about something I wrote to explain something. Viola! My subject came to me. It is amazing that when people are cornered or have to explain their actions they always put the blame on somebody else. They never take the responsibility of their own actions. Better to misplace the blame. The most tragic example of this is the Salem Witch trials. Several young girls playing with witchcraft got caught instead of facing their crimes under pressure they falsely accused over hundred and fifty people of witchcraft. Nineteen were hung, one pressed to death for holding strong to who he was and five died in prison. Slander and what is also known as libel is what caused this damage. It continued out of greed. Several of the girls had fathers who wanted and coveted their neighbors properties and funds so they allowed this debauchery without a thought to others lives or their good names. It even continued afterwards when others tried to defend them. Rev. William Milbourne, a Baptist minister in Boston, publicly petitioned the General Assembly in early June, 1692, challenging the use of spectral evidence by the Court. Milbourne had to post 200£ bond or be arrested for "contriving, writing and publishing the said scandalous Papers." In 1695, Thomas Maule, a noted Quaker, publicly criticized the handling of the trials by the Puritan leaders in Chapter 29 of his book "Truth Held Forth and Maintained." For publishing this book, Maule was imprisoned twelve months before he was tried and found not guilty. Various petitions were filed between 1700 and 1703, demanding that the convictions be formally reversed. Those tried and found guilty were considered dead in the eyes of the law, and with convictions still on the books, those not executed were vulnerable to further accusations. In 1704, another petition was filed, requesting an equitable settlement for those wrongly accused, but it wasn't until May 1709 a reversal of attainder and compensation for financial losses was won.

We haven't learned from the examples that have come before us. McCarthyism followed. Bush is radically headed in that direction with his newest laws. Defamatory remarks are carelessly strewn over the net without the proof to back it up. When one does have proof those in denial attack hoping to keep the heat away. I have stated several times in this column, I am not afraid to speak my mind and stand up for myself and the rights of others. In this day and age it is a F.A.C.T that you need the F.A.C.T.S.

C: Is for celluloid and cliimate calamities

Tyler and I both love Viggo Mortensen so we couldn't wait to see "Eastern Promises". This film promised to end or shall I say begin where the "History of Violence" left off. "History of Violence" has one of the best sex scene's ever and I will never be able to look at a stair case again without my mind a-wandering. "Eastern Promises" should of been called "Violence" 1,2,3 and then some". From the moment this film starts, throats are slashed, bodies decimated and young girls brutalized in a cold methodical way. The violence accumulates in a fight sequence, set in a Russian steam bath. It pits the naked Mortensen against two knife-wielding Russians who aren't about to play fair, and, staged for maximum audience reaction. The scene's outrageous, punishing, gory, exploitations, stopped us from getting a peek at the star's kibbles and bits. Damn! I have yet to have figure out the point of this movie unless it's never to go into a Russian bath.

All in a day: An earthquake has hit the western coast of Indonesia's Sumatra Island. A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.1 occurred in the Pacific Ocean near the island of Guam. A powerful earthquake hit the Auckland Islands, south of New Zealand mainland, A tectonic earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale on jolted western coastal area of Aceh Province. A small earthquake shook San Diego. A volcano on a Yemeni island in the Red Sea was spewing a deadly mix of lava and ash for the third straight day. Villagers near the crater of a simmering volcano in Java, Indonesia will be evacuated soon as increased volcanic activity. A small eruption on Mt Ruapehu threw rocks, volcanic debris, ash and water from the crater.

We have treated Mother Earth badly and she is fighting back and that is a F.A.C.T.