"Our long national soap opera is over"

There are other headlines now creeping quietly to the top of my home page.  Thankfully, it is no longer all about Casey Anthony; unfortunately, much of it is tragic.

Betty Ford passed away on Friday at the age of 93.  Rest in peace, dear lady.

Space Shuttle Atlantis lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on Friday, the last flight of the 30 year shuttle program.  We need our space exploration program for so many reasons.  In my view, the end of manned flights is a terrible, short-sighted mistake.

The drought in East Africa is only getting worse.  10 million people are at risk as a result.  The pictures of the affected children are devastating. They are dying from dehydration and malnutrition.  People who were caught up in Caylee's story should now turn their love of children to Africa.  Please click on this link for one story.

To say humanitarian efforts are needed is a gross understatement, but there is a very peculiar barrier to rendering this aid:

"Al-Shabab, which controls most of Somalia’s territory and is listed by the United States as a terrorist organization, has until now barred outside humanitarian aid groups from areas it dominates."  Read the entire article.

I don't have a good answer for this, except to feel sick to my stomach.  I am not surprised that terrorist organizations and corrupt governments put their own wealth and welfare above that of their most vulnerable citizens.  Heck, we do that right here in the good old USA.  But children are dying ... 

I think I am depressing myself with the news.  Let me move on to food for a little while, as that always cheers me up.  Rob and I made a quick trip to Publix late this afternoon, and found a few good ingredients for the cooking frenzy.  It will probably be a small frenzy, as I made the Italian Sausage and Vegetable Soup tonight, and posted the recipe.  There are still plans for chicken with peaches, something with pork chops (haven't decided on the exact recipe yet), and kraut sveckle, a Hungarian cabbage and noodle dish.

I still haven't finished Antimony.  My knitting time seemed to evaporate upon our return home.  Either I am too tired, or too busy at the office to take a real lunch break, or too involved playing Angry Birds.  No, I meant Scrabble.  Heh heh.  But I'm getting there.  Which has not stopped me from peeking over at the Ravelry site for more shawl patterns.

Just peeking, you understand.

One small step back into Casey-Land ... there has been a tidal wave of public opinion regarding the state-by-state creation of "Caylee's Law", which would make it a criminal offense to fail to report a missing child or an accidental death within certain prescribed periods of time. Knee jerk reaction, perhaps, but I am still in favor of it.  Look, if all parents were loving and caring, we wouldn't need it.  We also wouldn't need Chapter 39 of the Florida Statutes, or it's counterpart in every one of our states.  But the fact is, there are an awful lot of awful parents in this world, and if the rest of us don't do what we can to protect children, who will?  A society is known by how it cares for it's most vulnerable citizens, and the fact that so many of us were riveted by the short, tragic life of Caylee Marie Anthony gives me hope that other children may not have to suffer her fate.