No, it's not the president and it's not the first one who ever heard the phrase "You're fired!" on The Apprentice. It's Meredith Vieira, who announced live on NBC's Today Show this morning that she would be leaving in June "to spend more time with her family."
If she had been in the newspaper business, the line would have been "to pursue other career interests."
Poor, poor Meredith. I wonder what kind of buyout she got for her early retirement? I know, one normally doesn't get a buyout for an early retirement unless they are with a company needing to trim fat, cut expenses or get rid of overpaid 60-year-olds ... you know ... you're not dumb.
And that's the reason Meredith will get a package. It's because of her widely criticized "softball" interview with Donald Trump, where he was actually allowed to put forth his position on the president's place of birth in great -- and repeated -- detail. Viera, you see, failed to interrupt, attempt to disrupt or otherwise try to talk Trump down. Too much of a softie, I guess.
Over the next 72 hours, Trump was interviewed several more times with most being likened to the effort from CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, who was credited with "being able to battle down" the birther issue. The translation of "battle down" means to continually interrupt, ask the same question in 13 dozen different ways and to try and keep your subject from getting a word in edgewise.
While you'll not see it happen, Vieira's interview of Trump could be compared to any of Katie Couric's interviews of the president -- from his days as a candidate until now. It had the tone of talking with a second grader about the Easter Bunny ... while Ms. Couric's take on more of a tone of an awestruck teen getting to interview the Beatles for the school paper.
I hate to see Vieira go. I like her and, despite what anyone says, her interview of Trump allowed him to hammer home the birther issue to the point that it got the president off his duff and provide the document that should have been provided the first time his eligibility was raised.
Will I vote for Trump? Nah. I'm still studying the qualifications of Larry ... since Moe's in the White House and we've been talking about Curly's interview with Vieira.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Thank a nurse this week
This is National Nurses Week and, I'm willing to bet, the very great majority of us have received health care from a nurse at some point in our lives.My wife, Stephanie, in an RN and has also helped train nursing professionals as an educator in the Louisiana Community College System. Her daughter, Tanishia, has her BSN and is currently working as an LPN while she studies for her West Virginia state boards ... and my niece, Gale, has her BSN and is a nursing supervisor in the Morgantown, WV area.
All three love what they do and all three are really, really good at it.
My wife, though, gets special kudos ... she was my caregiver when we fought my cancer and she held my hand so many times when the poking and prodding was going on and she pushed me along when my legs couldn't do what my brain was telling them.
And all through that, she worked Critical Care Transport for Forsyth Medical Center — so, does that mean she was a 24-hour-a-day nurse?
Not only was she my nurse, but she was — and still is — my rock.
As an educator, she was tough and fair and those she taught, time and again, thanked her for being tough, because they learned things under her they learned from no one else.
Stephanie helped Tanishia take care of my late mother-in-law, Nora, during her four-month long illness. Tanishia logged long hours throughout, working to ensure her Nana was well taken care of.
Back when I had cancer, Gale was going to school and got to do a little nursing on me one time when I was all tubed up ... and wound up as an active participant in the care of her dad, my brother-in-law, Bob, as he battled multiple myeloma.
I know all three love what they do, but the reality is that none of them signed up to care for a husband, mother, father, grandmother — but that's what makes a nurse special. It's not just a job.
I love all three of "my" nurses and just wanted them to know they are appreciated.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
"If the levees hold ..."
If we heard that phrase once, we heard it all day long as my sister, brother-in-law and I headed to the Mississippi Delta on Saturday to "see the flooding."
I know it sounds morbid, but we spent 20 years or so of our respective lives in the region where the flood forecast ranges from high and dry to up to four or five feet deep ... If the levees hold.
"I'll take them home and keep 'em in the trailer, then bring it all back after the water goes down," Harold, who maintains an active email network of former Louise students, said. "How high do you think it will get?" my sister, who was a year behind Harold in school, asked.
"Well, we're at 105 feet," he said. "The Corps says it could go to between 107 and 109. At 107, the water's here ... holding a tape measure against a tree. We hope it's 107 because the house would safe ... but at 109, the water would be here and the house ruined because the floors are hardwood. We're hoping we'll be okay ... if the levees hold.
There it was again ... those four words on which the lives and hopes and dreams of so many now hang ... if the levees hold.
We followed the backroads into Louise, along the way passing many other families with trailers backed up to the doors and others heading toward the main highway.
It was, in a way, surreal. My sister and I grew up on Highway 14, west of Louise, and went to school with many of the folks now scrambling to save their belongings and the collections of a lifetime, such as Harold and Hilma of everything left behind when their father died at age 99 not too many months ago.
In Louise, we stopped and talked with Hoover Lee, former longtime mayor of the community and a lifetime resident.
"My daddy was here in '27," he said, referring to the great flood of 1927. "They walked over and stayed in a boxcar until they could get an engine to take them to Yazoo City. Mrs. Mecklin's house (Old Dr. Mecklin) still has the marks on it where they kept up with the water then, but they say we're safe ... that it won't flood here ... if the levees hold."
Between Louise and Greenville, my brother-in-law's hometown and where my sister and I claim, there was little to be seen other than barren fields or a beautiful, early stand of corn. Fields that once produced bale after bale of cotton now hold the promise of golden corn silks and ears full of kernels ... if the levees hold.
After an hour or two in Greenville, we headed south ... winding up in the Issaquena County seat of Mayersville. Driving past the community center, it looked as if most in the area had gathered for what had to be a meeting to discuss what was coming. We wound up on top of the levee, visiting with four other "gawkers" -- one from Little Rock, another from Florida and two from Jackson -- "My brother lives here," Little Rock said. "I brought them (referring to his three companions) to see it." He shared that locals had been advised to leave, but laughed and said his brother "would probably sleep through it."
Of all the places we went, only Mayersville was looking into the eye of a flooding certainty ... more even than the area around Wolf Lake. There's no "if" factor in play there ... because the levees south of town get a bit smaller and the water always rises ... and in this year when all the experts say record levels will be reached, there's but one thought that dominates ... what if the levees don't hold?
I know it sounds morbid, but we spent 20 years or so of our respective lives in the region where the flood forecast ranges from high and dry to up to four or five feet deep ... If the levees hold.
 |
| Good Hope Baptist Church |
At Good Hope Baptist Church, in the Wolf Lake Community located between Yazoo City and Louise, former Louise schoolmates Roy Lee Cleveland and Randy Hill had just finished loading the central air units in the bed of a pickup to protect them from damage, but the outlook wasn't so good for the building, where water was expected to rise as much as halfway up the front doors.
"We're at 105 feet (above sea level) and the (Army) Corps (of Engineers) says we should expect it to go to 109, which would be about here," Randy said, making a slash type mark at his waist before adding the caveat, "if the levees hold."
 |
| Harold Horton |
Power will be cut off in the area over the next few days and just up the road, familiy members, like Harold Horton and Hilma Horton Nibben were at the home where they grew up, gathering furniture and family mementoes and loading them to take them to safety.
"Well, we're at 105 feet," he said. "The Corps says it could go to between 107 and 109. At 107, the water's here ... holding a tape measure against a tree. We hope it's 107 because the house would safe ... but at 109, the water would be here and the house ruined because the floors are hardwood. We're hoping we'll be okay ... if the levees hold.
There it was again ... those four words on which the lives and hopes and dreams of so many now hang ... if the levees hold.
We followed the backroads into Louise, along the way passing many other families with trailers backed up to the doors and others heading toward the main highway.
It was, in a way, surreal. My sister and I grew up on Highway 14, west of Louise, and went to school with many of the folks now scrambling to save their belongings and the collections of a lifetime, such as Harold and Hilma of everything left behind when their father died at age 99 not too many months ago.
In Louise, we stopped and talked with Hoover Lee, former longtime mayor of the community and a lifetime resident.
"My daddy was here in '27," he said, referring to the great flood of 1927. "They walked over and stayed in a boxcar until they could get an engine to take them to Yazoo City. Mrs. Mecklin's house (Old Dr. Mecklin) still has the marks on it where they kept up with the water then, but they say we're safe ... that it won't flood here ... if the levees hold."
Between Louise and Greenville, my brother-in-law's hometown and where my sister and I claim, there was little to be seen other than barren fields or a beautiful, early stand of corn. Fields that once produced bale after bale of cotton now hold the promise of golden corn silks and ears full of kernels ... if the levees hold.
After an hour or two in Greenville, we headed south ... winding up in the Issaquena County seat of Mayersville. Driving past the community center, it looked as if most in the area had gathered for what had to be a meeting to discuss what was coming. We wound up on top of the levee, visiting with four other "gawkers" -- one from Little Rock, another from Florida and two from Jackson -- "My brother lives here," Little Rock said. "I brought them (referring to his three companions) to see it." He shared that locals had been advised to leave, but laughed and said his brother "would probably sleep through it."
Of all the places we went, only Mayersville was looking into the eye of a flooding certainty ... more even than the area around Wolf Lake. There's no "if" factor in play there ... because the levees south of town get a bit smaller and the water always rises ... and in this year when all the experts say record levels will be reached, there's but one thought that dominates ... what if the levees don't hold?
Friday, May 6, 2011
This Mississippi River flood is difficult to grasp
Growing up in the Mississippi Delta, and along the Mississippi River, it wasn't unusual to see high water in the spring, but I'm having trouble getting my mind around the flood waters heading south.
The 1927 flood ... known as The Great Flood ... is the benchmark in regards to water levels, yet the water moving downstream is forecasted to dwarf that one. Jeez!
If you haven't stood on the river's bank and watched the water flow past, I would think it would difficult to grasp ... but not unlike having grown up in the region and being familiar with a landmark and learning it is forecasted to be under water in a few days.
Every spring, when it rained and the water backed up the dredge ditches, we'd have flooding out on Highway 14 in Humphreys County. Never, though, do I remember the closing of major highways. Along US 49 West, between what we knew as Anchor Curve and Wolf Lake, there were a number of reliever canals dug in the late 1950s and early 1960s that were designed to bring high water between the retention levees, but this year, they are talking about closing that roadway!
There were always fields that would flood, but this year, the water around Wolf Lake is projected to get so high that friends are moving their belongings and officials have said they will cut electrical power to the area.
I've read the reports of the flood ... and I've read what I've written, and I simply can't comprehend it.
One thing I can comprehend, however, is the need for prayer ... for all who stand in front of the relentless flow.
The 1927 flood ... known as The Great Flood ... is the benchmark in regards to water levels, yet the water moving downstream is forecasted to dwarf that one. Jeez!
If you haven't stood on the river's bank and watched the water flow past, I would think it would difficult to grasp ... but not unlike having grown up in the region and being familiar with a landmark and learning it is forecasted to be under water in a few days.
Every spring, when it rained and the water backed up the dredge ditches, we'd have flooding out on Highway 14 in Humphreys County. Never, though, do I remember the closing of major highways. Along US 49 West, between what we knew as Anchor Curve and Wolf Lake, there were a number of reliever canals dug in the late 1950s and early 1960s that were designed to bring high water between the retention levees, but this year, they are talking about closing that roadway!
There were always fields that would flood, but this year, the water around Wolf Lake is projected to get so high that friends are moving their belongings and officials have said they will cut electrical power to the area.
I've read the reports of the flood ... and I've read what I've written, and I simply can't comprehend it.
One thing I can comprehend, however, is the need for prayer ... for all who stand in front of the relentless flow.
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