Want fries with that LION BURGER? - UPDATE

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

LION MEAT IS REMOVED FROM THE MENU OF IL VINAIO!!

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There is a restaurant in Mesa, Arizona, USA, that serves lion meat - lions who are purposefully slaughtered to be served from their menu. The Il Vinaio restaurant features lion burgers "in honor of the World Cup soccer matches."

Here's the story.

Here is the restaurant, Il Vinaio.



Here is the contact information for the folks at Il Vinaio; they say they welcome input on their menu.

Seriously, can you look at these magnificent beasts and think, "Yum!"?

They are docile when they're not hungry; killing them is easy for armed humans.

There is so much inhumanity surrounding us today, it's difficult to think of the intentional slaughter of lions for someone's entertainment food.

Thanks to producer/actor Virginia Madsen for bringing this to our attention. She stars in ABC TV's new hit dramedy, Scoundrels. She is not seeking any publicity over this, only to inform the public; I decided to include this information because I saw the show's pilot and really liked it.

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

LION MEAT IS REMOVED FROM THE RESTAURANT MENU!!!

It's here! A career blue print for artists!

Saturday, July 17, in Seattle, I'm conducting a workshop for all artists who want to be more successful, who want to move from working for between nothing-to-barely-something to making a living.

An artist's personal business plan encompasses elements different from the standard business plan we present to bankers, venture capitalists and other investors to show we're worthy of financial support - it's a blue print for our success and personal empowerment.

It's literally a career road map. Understanding our own personal business plan also serves to helps build effective, engaging financial business plans to present to those investors!

Investors don't invest in your project - they invest in YOU! How much are you willing to invest in you?

This is called show business for a reason.

For more information and to register, contact Gina Lockhart, rocketmediaz@gmail.com.

Empowering artists in the Seattle area!

I'm preparing to do something to empower Seattle area artists - I think it will make a genuine difference in their art/craft and chances for success. It's certainly helped the folks I've coached individually as well as myself!

Fake President Rachel Maddow's Speech About Oil Disaster

Meerkats at the Woodland Park Zoo

Photos BP does not want you to see

BP has purchased Google and Yahoo search terms which would make finding such photos much more difficult - I used Bing.

This human-made catastrophe reminds me of the old joke about a drowned man who greets Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates, fuming. He's furious because he drowned even though he prayed and prayed for God to save him.

St. Peter says, "Hey, we sent a First Aid rowboat."

The guy responds there was only a couple feet of water at the time. Besides, he didn't want to leave his house. It was time for Wheel of Fortune to be on TV. Besides, he kept praying to be saved so he was sure God would save him.

St. Peter says, "When the water came crashing into your second story window, we sent a Red Cross motor boat."

The guy protests that the water didn't seem to be moving that quickly. Besides, he kept praying to be saved, so he was sure he would be. He was a man of faith.

St. Peter says, "Yeah, when you were finally up on your roof, we sent an Army helicopter and you still waved it away."

The guy angrily insists that his prayer for God to save him should have been answered by saving him, no matter what else was going on.

Finally St. Peter says, "We tried to save you. We sent the rowboat, the motor boat, the helicopter..."

And so these images - and we've seen too many of them over the years from dozens of spills and disasters - are a warning about what we humans are doing to the planet. If we don't stop, we are going to destroy our planet. Period.

Penguins near Antarctica were found *three years ago* covered in oil from another "spill."

Pictures of birds being cleaned are only a way to feel better about something that needs another, larger solution. The vast majority of cleaned birds only live for a matter of hours, or days, after "cleaning" because they've already been poisoned by ingesting toxic crude oil. "Cleaning" them only extends their agonizing death in order to assuage human guilt and frustration; cleaning them only creates the false hope of onlookers that they will live.

More importantly for BP, it creates the false idea that animals can be rescued from oil spills.

The rowboat, the motor boat and the helicopter have already been sent. It's up to us.

Lies, deceit and carelessness

The Associated Press, with little effort, found dozens of outright lies, deceitful "data" and careless, unkempt records in BP's "response" package - the information they gave congress and others to assure them they would be able to handle any emergency for offshore drilling in deep waters - and how.

You can read their report here.

Some in the US Congress consider this report to be so afoul of actual facts that it's outright criminal.

I wish this meant that those responsible will actually be held accountable, but they have not so far in our history. Perhaps it's up to us to keep the pressure on - but pressure was kept on those who created and caused the deaths from Hurricane Katrina and still no one was held accountable.

Because the Exxon Valdez legal action took 20 years, few were held accountable, and then it was only a slap on the wrist. People in Alaska died waiting for the justice they had been promised, paid only a fraction of what they were rightfully owed - after their deaths.

Banks that robbed millions in mortgage money still have not been held accountable - one bank is trying to get the court to throw out a class action lawsuit by people who lost their homes so it won't have to pay those who were harmed by their predatory banking practices.

Was there ever really a time when we would stand up and admit we had done something wrong then try to make it right again? Was there ever really a time corporations actually cared about the people whose money they take? Was there ever really a time people took responsibility for their actions without hiding behind a lawyer, paid to twist the law like a garter snake?

As the corporate chiefs tend to be pretty emotionless about the people they or their businesses harm as a "cost of doing business," it's time to - without emotion - make them accountable. As people and as corporations.

The animals - including hundreds of thousands under water you won't see until their bodies rise to the surface and wash ashore - are suffocating from being covered in oil. As in, they cannot breathe. Imagine dying such a death and not understanding what the hell is going on. That is what they are suffering. Few that are "cleaned" will survive because they've already been poisoned when they try to clean their fur or preen their feathers.

This is not anthropomorphism, this is a factual account of what is killing them and how they are dying. And yet - precious little is and has been done to either prevent or clean up the catastrophe of hundreds of millions of gallons of crude oil smothering the Gulf, and soon the sea.

Interestingly, there are numerous oil spills that wreck havoc on water and wildlife; it's just not reported or reported as extensively because there are no photo ops as there are here - this is a National Geographic photo.

"Negative" feelings

I've been in a great discussion about "negative" feelings - most resulting from traumatization by the destruction of the BP (Big Profits) oil rig explosion and subsequent outpouring of hundreds of millions of toxic crude oil barrels into the Gulf of Mexico, killing innocent, vulnerable wildlife in its path and 11 humans from an initial explosion.

Worse, BP spokespeople then lied about every aspect of the leak: It would be a relatively minor problem (lie); Damage would be minimal (lie); They were doing everything possible as quickly as possible to clean up the polluting crude (lie), There is no plume - underwater oil mass - damage (lie - there are 3); and the list goes on.

They refused to give hired beach clean up workers (now unemployed fishers) hazmat protective attire because the photos would make BP look bad. Now the vulnerable workers are sick. You don't have to walk or swim in it to be stricken - inhaling does just as well.

Animals are poisoned as soon as they try to clean their coats or preen their feathers because they ingest the poisonous, toxic oil (remember the poisonous chemicals used to try cleaning up the oil) - now the question is whether to kill these oil-saturated creatures outright and spare them the agony of a painful, horrifying death or try to clean them up, knowing that many will die anyway because they have ingested the lethal crude.

Mind you, BP originally told the US ("Drill, baby drill!") Congress that they have the means and tools with which to repair and clean up any oil spill from any deep sea oil drilling rig they commanded (Transocean actually owns the rigs - rig workers report that a Transocean and a BP rep had a loud argument aboard the rig that exploded just before it blew. The Transocian rep wanted to repair a leaking valve, the BP guy wanted to save money and simply seal it off. Ka-boom. 11 workers were killed.).

Does this mean BP committed perjury testifying before Congress? That can put those folks in jail - though they'll testify they really didn't know BP hadn't a clue about cleaning up their messes, and they have expensive lawyers who will fight tooth and nail to keep these criminals out of jail.

I'm sure many in BP feel that "accidents happen," just as Libertarian/GOP candidate Rand Paul does, and that everything will blow over once the hole is plugged and everything goes back to "normal." The question is whether "normal" will ever be experienced as "normal" again. They expect their stock values to rise again and to continue making money hand over fist. Staying "positive." "Moving forward," rather than learning from their past errors, fixing them, holding people accountable and *then* moving forward.

There have been several ghastly oil spills that killed massive wildlife, livelihoods, and precious ecosystems in the past 30 years. Each time, governments and the oil businesses swore to make it all better. They did not. What they did was limit the liability of oil companies. What they did was settle for "fixes" that failed 20 years ago and continue to fail.

Oil company development money is spent on new drilling techniques, not on how to deal with disasters, spills or leaks.

Back to the subject at hand: "Negative" feelings.

There is no such thing as a negative feeling. Feelings are feelings and we were given feelings for a reason. To protect us, encourage us to learn and allow us to enjoy life.

It does no good to try to cover feelings up - they are organic and full of energy. Like trying to seal off that leaking oil rig valve or forcing a lid on a pot of boiling water to prevent steam from escaping. Boom. Explosions occur.

Or addictions that serve only to cover feelings needed to be dealt with until, again, self destruction becomes a path of denial. The first thing recovering addicts do is begin to recognize they can deal with feelings they have been trying to drown, suffocate or bury.

Trying not to recognize what is true only makes what is really true grow whichever way it can, mutating and becoming destructive. Like gay fundamentalist Christians who try to deny who they are, causing that organic energy to explode in self-destruction instead of recognizing and loving themselves for who they truly are and dealing with it in whatever healthy way they can.

I guess for me the first thing I need to do is recognize I have a feeling I'd rather not have. Like being so incredibly furious with BP and governmental agencies that haven't a clue what to do to stop the madness!

It's like witnessing the bungling of the US government dealing with hurricane Katrina all over again, only the vast majority of bodies floating by this time are those of animals, not people. Because BP said they'd handle the leak and clean-up, President Obama believed them and watched with the rest of us as all BP did was desperately try to PR spin the horror we could see unfolding with our own eyes - telling us we weren't seeing what we were actually seeing.

And observers wonder why we no longer believe anything the government or big business. Bank meltdowns - built on PR lies and other fabrications with a virtual socialist collusion with government agencies; Enron - built on PR lies and other fabrications with a virtual socialist collusion with government.

And there are more of these messes to be uncovered. At least news media are starting to take their jobs seriously again after serving as a lap dog to both parties and big business for so long.

So how to deal with these feelings: first recognize what they are and where they come from.

What happens to most of us is that our anger, our rage is not just based on current events. This outrageous dishonesty and betrayal by both big business and government can spur emotional memories of every similar event in which we were lied to and betrayed, causing us grievous harm and sadness. Count Katrina in that mix. And Enron. And Exxon Valdez. And Big Bank failures. And.. the list goes on ..

Now express the emotion in a way that can lead to healing. Demand accountability. Vote. Be an informed shopper and investor. Demand that those responsible make the damage they have committed whole again in some way rather than wrangle themselves out of any accountability by legal maneuverings. Do what it takes to stop feeling helpless.

Figure out some positive action (!) that will lead you beyond frustration and helpless rage. A list of all you can do, organizations you can assist, government offices you can contact is here.

You can read a story that covers legal recourses against BP on behalf of animals - wildlife and pets - who have been harmed, killed and deprived of their natural habitat here:

Focus on the fix. If you believe in prayer, focus on the fix. Pray for individuals and groups that can fix this bloody mess. If you don't believe in prayer, focus on helping those who work on these issues - from colleges and universities to individuals like Kevin Costner. Focus on government agencies and timid companies to clear the path for people who can fix this - Costner's 23 million dollar invention has not been used because of red tape.



Keep informed on what is and can be done. I find the person with her finger on the pulse of this issue scientifically, culturally, humanely and politically is MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. She and her staff have done their homework and have excellent information on stories themselves as well as working on solutions.

Welcome whatever feelings you have. Identify them. Then take action to work through them because if we don't, they'll come out sideways and in forms we'd rather not express.

Anger and hurt are great motivators. But inspiration comes from within - moving us to take action that can clear the path for positive solutions to a horrific situation. Let's not let all those lives - human, plant and creature - be lost in vain.

Jamais encore. Never again.

Facebook

I realize I've been neglecting my blog because I've been posting the latest and thoughts on Facebook.

Only with Facebook, one never knows if one's posts will be broadcast on the home page, so I think I'd be better off paying more attention to my blog, then flipping over to FB to give abbreviated forms of updates.

So much has been going on, I would almost have to post several short posts on one blog page to keep up.

But I believe I'll do that rather than post on FB to the neglect of my blog, which has been the case for the past 3 months!

If you are a regular reader of my blog, I apologize for being MIA. Even when I'm shooting a film I've posted for the past several years, so I'll keep that in mind. In February my website received more than 360,000 hits, so I know you are out there!

Briefly, life is good. The only sad notes are of course the massive catastrophe in the Gulf and my little dog Mistletoe is in the last weeks of her life. After copious tears at the realization that her time is coming to move on from her earthly body, we've kept the atmosphere fun, upbeat and musical - payback for all the joy she's brought to our lives over the past nearly 16 years.

Words cannot describe ....

Forgive the brief commercial, but the advertiser is sponsoring this report. I don't know whether to cry, throw up or scream. This sort of disaster has been predicted, but those who were doing the warning were dismissed as "tree huggers" and environmental alarmists, just as those who are warning us about the climate crisis.

For sure, I'm taking some sort of action, lending my voice to those who want accountability and reform. Accountability and reform have been promised for decades by every president who has experienced a major oil spill, Democrat and Republican, but nothing significant has ever actually been accomplished.







Turn down your sound for this video - it's not necessary.

Mother Nature should sue!

A sinkhole hole in Guatemala sucked down a three-story building and a home. As astonishing as that is, the news coverage has been downright amazing, claiming that "Mother Nature" did this because she got pissed off!

Are they kidding?

Mother Nature - nature - doesn't take sides or become emotional about its natural course or work. Nature is nature.

Scientists can explain what caused the sinkhole, and they will assuredly not attribute any emotion to the elements that created this phenomenon.

Mother Nature should sue over such silly "news" coverage. Anthropomorphism at its most witless.

It reminds me of people who live in areas that flood and complain that every year, they have to put up with floods! As much as they try to stop the flooding, it still floods.

It floods, people, because. It. Is. An. Area. That. Nature. Floods. For whatever reason, there's a natural explanation and cause, and as much as we try to control our environment, Mother Nature is a force stronger than any of us individually, as a group or business or country.

People, however, can screw up nature and wreck havoc because of their emotions - one that comes to mind: greed. Or the desire to control what really cannot be controlled. Or....