Saint Joseph - Sell our House!

OK, we're looking for some good house selling mojo now.

Our house has been on the market for over a month and we barely have a month left until we need to move to Cleveland! We've added a seller's agent incentive and dropped the price hoping to get more interest but no offers yet...

So in comes St. Joseph - patron saint of carpenters, homeowners and fathers. I couldn't find a statue so we'll give this medallion a week or so. If nothing happens I'm headed back to the Catholic book store hoping they have some more St. Joseph statues in stock by then!

I also printed some prayers with St. Joseph's picture on them to read then put under doormats and found a nifty St. Joseph prayer card (below) to put behind a valuable picture or under a pillow.

Border Volunteer Trial

July 22, 2008

Trial for Border Volunteer, Cited for Littering while Picking Up Trash


Tucson, AZ-Tuesday, July 22, 2008:

A humanitarian aid volunteer goes to federal court Friday over a littering citation received while picking up trash along the Arizona – Mexico border. No More Deaths volunteer Dan Millis, 29, has entered a plea of not guilty to the Class B Misdemeanor offense of littering on a National Wildlife Refuge. He faces a maximum penalty of six months in jail and/or $5,000 in fines.

The trial is this Friday, July 25, at 9:30 a.m., at the DeConcini federal courthouse, 405 W. Congress, in Tucson. A press conference will be held in front of the courthouse at noon or immediately following the trial.

Millis and three other humanitarian aid volunteers were picking up trash and leaving jugs of drinking water along border trails in Brown Canyon north of Sasabe on February 22, 2008, when they were confronted by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Law Enforcement. Officers informed volunteers that they could neither leave water nor recover trash without proper permits, and Millis was presented with a $175 ticket for littering.

“I didn't pay the ticket because I'm not guilty,” says Millis. “Littering is a crime, humanitarian aid is not.”

Millis, a volunteer with No More Deaths since 2005, has previously brought groups of high school students to the border to pick up trash. He coordinated an educational partnership with the Leave No Trace program and currently coordinates No More Deaths' participation in the Pima County Adopt-a-Roadway program.

“I felt especially compelled to leave drinking water out that day, because only two days earlier I found the body of a young girl in the desert. She was only fourteen,” states Millis. “It was heartbreaking.”

238 migrants were found dead in the Arizona borderlands during the 2007 fiscal year. During the summer of 2007, No More Deaths encountered 388 migrants along the Arizona – Mexico border, including twenty seven women, fourteen children, and one pregnant seventeen-year-old. Many required serious medical attention. No More Deaths has been working to provide humanitarian aid to people along the border since 2004, including the Brown Canyon area where Millis was cited.

“The Samaritans and No More Deaths have been working in Brown Canyon for several years. We've never had a problem like this before,” says Millis.

No More Deaths is concerned that vandalism and confiscation of life-saving water and other humanitarian aid supplies is an egregious offense that is becoming too common in the Arizona desert. U.S. government policies of walling people into the remotest deserts, continuing human rights abuses, and impeding attempts at direct relief are unjust and need to be stopped.

Southside Presbyterian Church Pastor Emeritus and No More Deaths co-founder John Fife states, “Regardless of the outcome of this trial, we're going to continue our humanitarian aid work whenever and wherever it is needed, until there are no more deaths in the desert.”

For more information, please visit www.nomoredeaths.org, write us at action@nomoredeaths.org, or (928) 821-0331.



En Español...

22 de Julio, 2008

Juicio el viernes de voluntario humanitario, multado mientras recogía basura


Tucson, AZ-Martes, 22 de Julio, 2008

Un voluntario de asistencia humanitaria va al juicio federal el viernes por una citación recibida mientras él recogía basura por la frontera de México y Arizona. Daniel Millis, 29, voluntario con No Más Muertes, se ha declarado no culpable al delito menor de Clase B de ensuciar espacio público en un Refugio Nacional. Millis se puede recibir una pena máxima de encarcelamiento de seis meses o una multa de $5,000 (US).

El juicio es a las nueve y media de la mañana, este viernes 25 de Julio en la corte federal DiConcini, 405 W. Congress en Tucson. Habrá una rueda de prensa a las doce o inmediatamente después del juicio frente a la corte.

Millis y tres más voluntarios de asistencia humanitaria estaban recogiendo basura y dejando jarras de agua en los caminos fronterizos de Brown Canyon al norte de Sasabe el 22 de febrero 2008 cuando se vieron enfrentados a oficiales policiales del U.S. Fish and Wildlife. Los oficiales les informaron a los voluntarios que no se permite recoger basura ni dejar agua sin permisos especiales y Millis fue presentado con una multa de $175 (US) por ensuciar espacio público.

“No pagué la multa porque no soy culpable,” dice Millis. “El ensuciamiento de espacios públicos es un delito, mientras la asistencia humanitaria no lo es.”

Millis, un voluntario con No Más Muertes desde el 2005, ha traído a grupos de estudiantes de escuela secundaria a la frontera para recoger basura. También coordinó una colaboración educativa con el programa Leave No Trace (No Dejar Rastro) y hoy en día coordina la participación de No Más Muertes con el programa de Adoptar una Carretera del Condado Pima.

“Me sentí especialmente animado y obligado a dejar agua en los caminos aquel día, porque dos días antes yo había encontrado el cadáver de una joven en el desierto. Solamente tenía catorce años,” dice Millis. “Sentí lástima en mi corazón.”

Se encontraron hasta 238 migrantes muertos en las tierras fronterizas de Arizona durante el año fiscal 2007. Durante el verano del 2007, No Más Muertes se encontró con 388 migrantes por la frontera de Arizona/Mexico, incluyendo veintisiete mujeres, catorce niños, y una joven de diecisiete años embarazada. Muchos requirieron atención médica muy grave. Desde el año 2004, No Más Muertes trabaja con la meta de proveer asistencia humanitaria a la gente por la frontera, incluyendo la región de Brown Canyon, donde Millis fue citado.

“Los Samaritanos y No Más Muertes han trabajado en Brown Canyon por varios años. Nunca antes nos ha pasado un problema tal como este,” dice Millis.

No Más Muertes se preocupa por el vandalismo y la confiscación del agua y otras provisiones de asistencia humanitaria. Opinan que tal vandalismo es una ofensa vergonzosa que se está haciendo demasiado común en el desierto de Arizona. La política del gobierno estadounidense de forzar a la gente a los desiertos más remotos, continuar los abusos de derechos humanos, e impedir los intentos de asistencia directa no es justo y necesita ponerse fin.

El Pastor Emeritus de la Iglesia Presbiteriana Southside y el co-fundador de No Más Muertes John Fife afirma, “A pesar de cualquier resultado de este juicio, vamos a continuar nuestro trabajo de asistencia humanitaria cuando sea y donde sea que se lo necesite, hasta que no haya más muertes en el desierto.”

Para mayor información, favor de visitar a sitio Web www.nomoredeaths.org, escribirnos a action@nomoredeaths.org, o (928) 821-0331

Fredder is Better!

Polly (the single speed Paragon) had two tweaks since the last post.

First, I adjusted the chainline using Sheldon Brown's (may he RIP) excellent article.

Pretty easy using the spacers included with the Forte single speed kit. The whole thing runs a lot quieter now that I adjusted for nearly 6mm of offset that my "eyeball" method had come up with.

The second tweak was to get a more stable right front fender mount than zip ties. Here was effort #1:


The Rock Shock SID Race XC fork does not come with fender mounts. But if you are willing to possibly scratch your $500+ suspension fork, a hose clamp works fine. I bent the loopy part of the fender mount to match the fork angle, cut a bit of old latex tubing and fastened it all together like this:
Top:
Bottom:

Now that is FRED!

Oh yeah, total cost of new stuff needed to convert this bike to a single speed commuter:
Single Speed Tensioner/Cog Kit: $21
Fenders $20
Tires: 2x$8 ($16)
Bell: $7.95
Hose Clamp: $2.25
Misc Screws: $1.89

Total: $69.09

Transformer Bicycle

The transformation is complete. My Gary Fisher Paragon (circa 1995) has been a great bike. Aside from new rims and a SID Race fork in 2001 it was pretty much all original. I did some off-road racing on it and began cyclocross racing with this bike.

Its parts were a bit weary so I decided it would make a GREAT fixed/single speed bike.

I had raced fixed gear on the velodrome and wanted to go that route first but cost and time were prohibitive.

Fixed gear chain tensioning is normally accomplished with horizontal dropouts on a bike, but derailleur based frames like mine have vertical dropouts...

The only reasonable option to have this frame be a true fixie is to use a neat hub from White Industries called the ENO. It has an elliptical axle offset that allows the variable chain tensioning required for fixed gears.

The next option was to use my existing freehub and a chain tensioner - similar to a single-cog rear derailleur but with no motion. I ended up going to the nearby Performance Bicycle Shop for their Single Speed Conversion Kit. (Sorry LBS friends, it is the best bike shop around - see an older post below about that.)

Well, I tore off the derailleurs, shifters and cables. I removed the cassette and made a guess at alignment (more on that later.) I removed the front granny and inner chainrings and moved the outer 42 tooth chainring to the inner position to help with alignment.

The single speed kit came with three cogs: 16, 18 and 20 tooth. I made the chain length compatible with the 20 tooth cog so that it can be used. The tensioner seems to take up the slack when using the 18 or 16 tooth cog just fine.

Enough talk - we want pictures!

Sweet ferrules - rear brake cable running down the middle (no front or rear derailleur cables needed!)


Chain tensioner will allow 16-20 tooth cog on the back. The 42-16 is being ridden day to day but with the Burley attached or with an XtraCycle conversion the 18 or 20 will be handy:


Starting to get a little Fred (definition #2) with these repurposed blue anodized aluminum chainring bolts! (Note the chainring mounted inside, where the middle ring would normally go...)


Fender mount #1 (actually a disk brake mount...)


Fender mount #2 (zip ties == duct tape for bicycles...)


And a bell - even more Fred! (Note the lack of shifters on that clean bar...)


The complete SS machine with 20+ year old Blackburn Mountain rack, Forte 1.5" city tires and Freddy Fenders installed:

Ticket to ride

We live in perhaps one of the most bike UNFRIENDLY towns in the US. To be fair, the mayor has commissioned and initiative to look at expanding the possibilities for bicycle commuting. Yet, for the past 100+ years that had not been part of the plan - hence the lack of access and understanding.

A few years back a local bicycle shop (since closed) asked if they could purchase and install bike racks at the junior and senior high schools. The school board turned them down because they were using busing as a leverage point to obtain more funding for operations.

(i.e. The school board STOPPED busing kids for a period of time claiming a "budget crisis" which forced parents to all DRIVE their kids to school and get fed up enough with the inconvenience to pass a tax levy... Coercive?)

I've been trying to defy this unfriendly bicycling tone by riding anyway - even pulling Gus around in the Burley trailer on the safer roads (lots of alleys actually.)

Decided to trek to the grocery last evening - rack and single pannier attached:


Not a bad haul and only 20 minutes of biking round trip. It would have taken the same time to drive:

Reduce, reuse, refurbish... (#2)

The propane grill we purchased 5 years ago was having some issues. The burner unit and flame guard had rusted through. I was certain we were in for a new grill but looking at prices ($300 and up...) I figured a repair was in order.

New burner, new flame guard, new briquette rack, new mesquite ceramic briquettes - $55.

Looks and works brand new:


Now we're cooking (veggies) with GAS!

Reduce, reuse, refurbish...

We are in the process of selling our home and all the little things we didn't know were wrong with our house need fixing. Our basement bathroom was used so seldom that the balance spool on our shower faucet had seized allowing only cold water to come out. Try as I might with some chemical resolve, it would not budge. Options: plumber $300 + parts $150, complete new faucet $250 + plumber $150, purchase a balance spool from Moen online and do it myself for $90.

An insane price to pay for such a small part (about 2.5 inches long...):


It really is incredible how easy it is to find information on the Internet. One little Google and a call to Moen and I was on my way. The plumber was going to replace the main valve which wouldn't have solved the temperature mixing problem.

Oh yeah, all I needed for tools were two screwdrivers and a small pliers. Not bad.

...Not on My Bike

I've seen this commercial before. But in the context of watching the first stage of the 2008 Tour de France (and contemplating our upcoming move to facilitate year-round bicycle commuting) it seems a bit counter to the aims of cycling. I understand the need for advertising dollars but this commercial ultimately discourages kids from finding transportation that doesn't involve internal combustion:



Good for the kid though - repairing a heaping Gran Torino so he can get around at 10mpg and not ride his bike to Autozone any more... Oh yeah, he'll be going back to Autozone A LOT with that PoS. ;-)

Good luck passing the emissions test!

Not really an unexpected commercial as the auto industry struggles to keep "the feeling" and nostalgia of classic muscle cars alive both literally with new high-power gas-guzzling models and metaphorically as in this commercial.

UCC Names New Editor (it's me...)

Well, it is official - the United Church of Christ posted a release about my appointment as Editor of United Church News and News Director for the denomination.

United Church News Names New Editor

My resignation letter to the congregation and its supporters can be found here.

It is an exciting and emotional time of transition. I truly love being the pastor of Nexus Church - it is the most amazing group of believers I have ever encountered. I'll miss each person dearly and our work of growing a new church together.

Yet, the call to this new ministry area is, in many ways, a life long goal of be involved in journalism professionally. I am honored and humbled to have served with the people of Nexus Church in the Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky Association of the UCC and to this new call at the national setting of the United Church of Christ.

Blessings,
GB

Is Vegetarianism The Only Moral Choice Ahead?

I've been looking a lot at the possibilities of adopting a vegetarian diet. Reasons I didn't were mainly around convenience and dietary concerns about protein. As a fairly active amateur tri-athlete and cyclists the "enough protein" argument has come up a few times.

Lots of vegetarians and vegans have concerns about the way meat is raised. Factory farms with cows in head-stocks who are overfed to the point where they are nearly immobilized and must be slaughtered. (I'm sure lots of you have seen the PETA video...) Or chickens caged their entire life and fed hormones that make them feel hungry so they overeat and come to their slaughter weight in 1/3 the normal "free-range" time. Obviously disturbing stuff - including health concerns over the hormone/antibiotic laden produce. Yet, animal rights was not a convincing enough reason for me to become a vegetarian.

Well, lots of recent reading has convinced me that not only for health reasons, but for moral reasons, vegetarianism may be the only moral choice.

(As an added bonus vegetarianism is on the list of "Stuff White People Like" - #32!)

Sojourners Magazine reports that a pound of meat takes around 8 pounds of grain to raise an animal to slaughter weight (I heard an NPR report last week that said the cost is closer to 10 pounds...) For this discussion I'll use the lower 8lb figure.

Chicken (35cal/oz) = 560cal / lb
Steak (50cal/oz) = 800cal / lb
Corn/Grain (24cal/oz) = 384cal / lb

That means it takes at least 3072cal (384cal * 8) of grain to produce one pound of edible meat.

Now it turns out that US consumers eat on average 222 pounds of meat a year! Sojourners reports that amount is up 78 pounds from 1950 levels.

So another little exercise...

If I eat 222 pounds of chicken per year that means I would have consumed 124,320cal of meat for a grain cost of 671,994cal.

What is happening to those extra 547,674 calories? It is getting crapped out into cesspools that are polluting our groundwater (OK, a little off topic.)

547,674 calories of grain is equivalent to 1500 calories per day - a caloric intake that most of the world wishes they had available to them.

547,674 calories is 1426 pounds of grain that is being take out of the mouths of hungry people in the developing world so that I can have the convenience of quick energy.


By one person, me, moving towards a vegetarian diet I will consume fewer resources and (theoretically) provide the daily caloric needs for an entire other person. If only it were that easy.

Crusade? Not really. Just one way I can make a smaller footprint - to live simply so that others may simply live.

Of course, the global food crisis is much bigger than a bunch of spiritual/morally motivated individuals changing their eating habits. It involves massive changes in food policies that protect the poorest people in our world. Sojourners Magazine, July 2008, lists "7 Steps Toward Food Sanity":

1) Reduce the influence of money in politics. In the past decade, US agribusiness spent almost $1 billion lobbying our government for policies that often undermine poor people's capacity to feed themselves.

2) Press legislators to shift support to family-scale sustainable farmers in all aid and trade legislation.

3) End export subsidies that undercut small farmers abroad-agricultural subsidies in the industrial countries mainly help the biggest farmers and processors.

(Gregg note: this is the biggest problem with Mexican poverty - massively underpriced subsidized corn exports from the US literally starve Mexican farmers off their land. If we want to see a decrease in undocumented Mexican migration to the US we need to end these unfair practices of NAFTA...)

4) Make real the "right to food," which is now inscribed in 22 national constitutions around the world.

5) End the agrofuel program-one-third of US corn production will go to ethanol this year.

6) Re-establish national and global food reserves to buffer price swings.

7) Create policies that encourage cooperatives and ensure fair wages, progressive taxes, and the right to organize unions.


Long post - more another day...