Category Archives: Public Service

Terrible Earthquake In Haiti – Most of Capital City Destroyed

by Editor | 3 Comments

Most of the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince, has been destroyed by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake that hit yesterday. Bodies are lying in the streets. The death toll is expected to be enormous and the survivors need immediate help. The Red Cross is taking donations and sending teams to Haiti. You can donate to the Red Cross International Response Fund.  Also, giving blood is always one of the very best things you can do because it fills the blood banks and can be used almost anywhere.

You can also donate to Doctors Without Borders, which is putting medical personnel on the ground in Haiti to assist in saving lives.

How to Save Someone’s Life

by Editor

Ever wondered just what you’d do if you found someone on the ground unconscious? Here’s what you’d do. CPR. But there’s a new, simpler way to do it that works better than the old way. The video shows you how to do it.

5-Year Old Collects Cans, Feeds 18,000 People

by Editor

A 5-year-old girl named Phoebe decided she wanted to collect cans in order to raise money from the 5-cent per can deposits.  With the help of her day care center in San Francisco, she raised $3,736.30 from cans and cash donations.  That translated into 17,800 people being fed via local food banks.  If a 5-year-old can do that, imagine what wealthy Americans and corporations could do.

‘Persepolis’ Author Marjane Satrapi Appeals for Iran Help

by Editor

Marjane Satrapi is the author of the magnificent graphic novel, Persepolis.  She also co-directed the movie adaptation of the book.  Her story is about being a young girl growing into womanhood in Iran.  She is now appealing for help from the United Nations to protect the people in Iran who are protesting against a brutal totalitarian religious regime for freedom.  Here is her note:

Dear Friends

To all who believe in freedom and democracy
Please sign this petition to the United Nations to stop the violence,
arrests and torture in Iran.
The situation is really really bad.

Please forward it to whoever you know
Best and lots of love
Marjane Satrapi

Pixar Grant’s a Girl’s Dying Wish

by Editor | 2 Comments

PixarUpDisney’s Pixar Animation Studio received a message from a friend of the family of ten-year-old Colby Curtin who was dying of cancer.  The message told Pixar that the girl wanted to stay alive long enough to see Up.  She was too sick to risk being moved to a movie theater and a DVD was the only possible option.  It seems that Pixar management dispatched an employee to the girl’s home with a DVD, a poster and some toys based on the movie.  The girl was able to enjoy the screening even though she could not open her eyes.  As the movie played, her mother described the images on screen.  The girl passed away several hours later with her family at her side.

This is sad story, but it’s a great thing Pixar did and it was a wonderful wish for a little girl to have.  Very nice.  I’m sure this simple act by a few people at a big company made a sick little girl very happy in her last hours.  Well done, Pixar.

White House Terrorizes New York City

by Editor

The Obama administration has committed what amounts to an act of terrorism.  The president’s Air Force One backup plane was flown low in banking circles around lower Manhattan, trailed by an F16 fighter plane that appeared to most observers to be giving chase.  In an FAA memo released today it became clear that the administration knew the flight could cause panic in New York but threatened the New York City police and the mayor’s office with federal sanctions if they let the secret get out into the public.  The president has since apologized and said that he is furious and had no knowledge of the flight.  But it’s his plane.

I am becoming increasingly concerned that my support of Mr. Obama may have contributed to placing an absolute incompetent in the office of president.  An act like this shockingly callous flyover simply beggars belief.  Having lived in New York City for ten years, I know that if you manage to send thousands of New Yorkers running out of their buildings screaming in terror, you have really done something profoundly frightening.  New Yorkers are a hardy lot and have a real ‘been there seen that’ attitude.  These people were terrified at what was happening in the sky above them.  The windows of their buildings were shaking because the plane came in so low.  It came right at them!  The White House says it was for a ‘photo-op’ so that they could take pictures of their airplane with the Statue of Liberty behind it.  Seriously!  These people are running the United States.

I think that the hero-worship of Mr. Obama needs to end immediately and we need to ascertain just exactly what is going on here.  The NBC video above which shows Obama’s press secretary saying ‘I don’t know’ about the flight is very scary.  Perhaps Mr. Obama will consider parking a yellow rental truck in front of an Oklahoma federal building next week for a ‘photo-op.’  That should help build his reputation there, don’t you think?

By the way, NBC news anchor, Brian Williams is furious too and thinks somebody should pay for what happened.