An Exciting Speech

Obama sent shivers up my spine with this speech. It's long, but it's really worth listening to all thr way through.

The speech is called "A More Perfect Union" in case this link dissolves:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hisownwords/

peace

Path of the Monarch

To me, a monarch butterfly is pure inspiration. It is as delicate as an onion skin, yet as strong and determined as an orca whale. I see them tumble and waver through the sky at the edge of my parents' beach on Lake Ontario at the tail end of summer before they take a last deep breath to cross south.

Their migration spans the three great nations of North America. They know no boundaries set by humans. They don't recognize our systems and ways, yet we are making it increasingly difficult for them to survive.

"...researchers are greatly concerned that the entire monarch butterfly migration and overwintering phenomenon in eastern North America may collapse in the near future if the Mexican government does not fully enforce the logging ban."

I read about clear-cutting in Mexico in The New York Times today. The article led me to this NASA website that contains disheartening photographs:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17943

In November 2000 the Mexican president declared this "core zone" for southern overwintering a protected space. Unfortunately the illegal logging persists. And get this: the loggers sometimes go in armed! I can just see them aiming at the fluttering orange targets. Silly men with guns. Don't they know how hard it is to shoot a butterfly?