Mother Nature...Lady Earth.....Gaia

So last week it was the "Week that Women Ruled". Great happenings of self motivated business took place among a number of my lady friends. This week was dominated by a different type of female. "Mother Nature" decided that New York and the Eastern coast of the US overall needed to be reminded of just who's in charge. Setting off the week with a magnitude 6 earthquake in VA that had folk shaking and swaying as hear north as maine, we were put on notice early.

By week's end the nations focus returned to the east as hurricane Irene troops it's way up the coast was NYC locked in for impact by tonight. The city that never sleeps will be brought to a stand still as for the 1st time ever the mass transit system will be shut down and evacuations are currently in progress.

God willing, this time next week we'll all be enjoying a nice Labor Day weekend, laughing at the week we're currently dealing with.

Looting in Japan.......Few & Far Between

I think many things factor into this. A difference in history, the fact that Japan is pretty much 90%+ one race of similar belief.... The lack of diversity, the trust and belief in their government running so opposite to ours that perhaps looting doesn't feel like a need for a people that feel that they will be taken care of by their leaders?

Organized crime. Police aren't the only ones on patrol since the earthquake hit. Members of the Yakuza, Japan's organized crime syndicate, have also been enforcing order. All three major crime groups—the Yamaguchi-gumi, the Sumiyoshi-kai, and the Inagawa-kai—have "compiled squads to patrol the streets of their turf and keep an eye out to make sure looting and robbery doesn't occur," writes Jake Adelstein, author of Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan, in an e-mail message. "The Sumiyoshi-kai claims to have shipped over 40 tons of [humanitarian aid] supplies nationwide and I believe that's a conservative estimate." One group has even opened its Tokyo offices to displaced Japanese and foreigners who were stranded after the first tremors disabled public transportation. "As one Sumiyoshi-kai boss put it to me over the phone," says Adelstein, " 'In times of crisis, there are not Yakuza and civilians or foreigners. There are only human beings and we should help each other.' " Even during times of peace, the Yakuza enforce order, says Adelstein. They make their money off extortion, prostitution, and drug trafficking. But they consider theft grounds for expulsion.

 -Source

Japan Before & After Pix Via Satellite

..........my god.........

Thoughts & Prayer to the People of Japan

Late night as the news replays reports, images and video of the historic disaster still unfolding, I hit a point that I had to turn it off. I could take no more. As a person that believes in God and came up with that background I can't witness things like this without it having a biblical context and that's scary. But in addition to that, is the personal context. I'm happy that my close friends with Japanese and Pacific Island ties were able to reach their loved ones. How do you react to seeing the ocean charging towards you swiping through cars, trucks, houses and boats????

I pray for the strength of the people.....every dark moment has it's sunshine....but it's hard to imagine just how long it'll be for any degree of normalcy to return to Japan.