The following is an excerpt from an article that appeared in the July 26, 2011 edition of the Kitsap Sun:
Federal housing grants for Kitsap County have decreased between 10 percent and 16 percent over the past year, with more cuts expected in 2012. Between 2009 and 2013, Kitsap's programs serving the homeless will have shrunk by 47 percent, equaling a loss of approximately $490,000 a year, according to local social service providers.

Read more: http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2011/jul/26/public-comment-on-special-levy-for-the-homeless/##ixzz1TS05ul7l      

 

 

Republicans claim that government spends too much money. When we have veterans and families living on the streets, government is not spending nearly enough.

Blessed Are The Merciful

Today, I met a young lady named Rachel who is involved in an interesting project. Rachel and a group of other young people from her church are spending a week living on the streets in an attempt to bring attention to poverty and homelessness in America.

The young people are being supervised by an adult from the church during the week so that they will remain safe. Rachel seemed sincere in wanting to help and I hope that she and her friends do indeed bring some attention to the often ignored people that are trying to survive on the streets.

The USS John C. Stennis

Today, I watched the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis depart from the Bremerton Naval Shipyard. The John C. Stennis is an awesome display of engineering and a good example of what the United States can build.

The Stennis is going on a 7 month deployment overseas. I hope that the entire crew returns home safely to their families when the mission is over.

This summer be a part of something BIG

This summer be a part of something BIG

Take Action | World Food Program USA

Take Action World Food Program USA

Good Quotes

The following are a couple of quotes I came across on the web.I think they are worth repeating.



"Only when the last tree has been cut down; Only when the last river has been poisoned; Only when the last fish has been caught; Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten."

(Native American proverb)



"We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not yet learned the simple art of living together as brothers." (Martin Luther King)







Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/sewage-plant-fire-befouls-nys-hudson-and-harlem-rivers.html#ixzz1T1v8ab5y

Domestic Violence

When I walking home this evening, a car with a male driver and a woman in the passenger seat approached me on the road next to the sidewalk. For a couple of seconds, the woman glanced at me. The male driver's reaction to this everyday occurrence was to grab the woman by the hair and pull her head back.

In my opinion, anyone that would have such a violent  reaction to an innocent look between strangers is dangerous. I pray that the woman in the car gets away from this jerk before he seriously hurts her.

Courage Under Fire.

In one of Bremerton's parks there are two actual anti-aircraft gun platforms from a World War Two era ship. Each platform was operated by two gunners.

For a few moments, I tried to imagine what it must have been like during a battle with the guns blasting away and your shipmates depending on you to destroy the enemy aircraft before they could damage or sink the ship.

It must have taken tremendous courage for the gunners to stay at their posts while enemy planes beared down at them at 400 miles an hour.

What is that noise?

For the past few days, a regular pounding noise has been coming from the Naval Shipyard. In my imagination, I see a giant pounding a huge nail. I am curious as hell as to what the actual cause is.

Guard Dogs

The other day, I passed a home that had two Pit Bulls chained in the backyard. A sign on the fence warned of guard dogs. A dog should never spend  its life being chained up and used as a dubious means of security.

Urban Sprawl

I grew up in a suburb of Seattle called Federal Way.Federal Way is named after an old highway that runs through town. In the 1980s, there was a movement to change the name of Federal Way to "Evergreen". Even then the idea was ludicrous given the urban-sprawl look of Federal Way.

In the early 1970s, the developers had not yet been given free rein to do as they please and Federal Way still had a few charms left. One of the most interesting attractions was a cluster of gothic-style buildings called "Olde European Square".

A few small shops were spread around a commons area and a sweeping outside stairwell led to a skating rink on the second floor of one of the buildings.

Roller skating was one of my favorite activities when I was a kid. It took  multiple bruises before I learned how to skate, but after that I went to the rink nearly every week.

On a night that I will always remember, I held hands with a girl I liked as we slowly skated around the rink.

The skating rink was closed in the late 1970s, but the gothic buildings remained until the 1990s when they were torn down and replaced with an electronic appliance store.

Crude Language

I am no prude, but yesterday I was walking in my neighborhood when  I heard a woman who was outside in a yard using some of the most vulgar language imaginable. When did it become ok for people to use  such crude language in a public area?

Tuesday Events

Last Tuesday(7-12) as I was walking downtown a Great Dane that weighed about as much as I do ran towards me barking loudly. For a few seconds, I thought I was going to be eaten. Then the dog's owner called the dog back. I wish that dog owners would teach their canine to behave BEFORE they let them run loose and frighten or injure an innocent person.

Later on in the day, I performed three hours of community service in order to pay for a parking ticket that I received a month ago. My fellow inmates on the chain gang were doing time for shoplifting,domestic violence, and a traffic infraction.

We spent a few hours cleaning up a park in a section of Bremerton called "Manette" and removing weeds from a sidewalk in east Bremerton. And so my debt to society is paid.

Strange Encounter Five.

Just before the Warren Avenue Bridge in Bremerton I passed a young man who was carrying a large golf club and was walking a Pit Bull. I suppose if one security method failed he could fall back on the other.

Smoking in Bremerton

For whatever reason, Bremerton has an excessive number of smokers. Everywhere I go in the city, I smell cigarette smoke and cigarette butts litter the sidewalks. Someone once told be that Bremerton residents smoke so much because of the bad weather, but Bremerton's weather is no better or worse than other Puget Sound cities.

 My own feeling is that the cigarette plague is related to the Naval Base that gave Bremerton life. Because of the machismo nature of military life, smoking might seem daring and exciting.I wish every smoker could see how nasty,dirty, and inconsiderate tobacco use actually is.