Thank You

Hello World Family,

It has been an extremely busy time as you all know, but I wanted to pause and thank all of you who have sent prayers and condolences via email, phone calls, text messages, etc. concerning Pittsburgh's tremendous loss this week of three dedicated police officers.



As some of you know, Paul Scuillo II was a graduate of Central Catholic and a golf team member. While at Bayer, Dove won the Viewer's Choice Award from the BAYER Cause Challenge, a student environmental film festival/contest, he was a golf volunteer at Schenley (now the Bob O’Conner Golf Course)where my daughter was an active student participant and instructor for 8 years. Officer Kelly is a fixture in the East End and a wonderful dedicated husband and father of young women.

I am still trying to come to grips with the incident that caused this loss, and its senselessness, but your comforting expressions of support for their families, our community and acknowledgement our personal sorrow has been tremendous. This is one of the upsides of networks like this: it enables us to touch each other even when our arms cannot reach.


Expressions of condolence and prayer have arrived from around the country, and some from around the world. I especially want to acknowledge our Canadian Brothers and Sisters, who have traveled here just to offer their support. From law enforcement to public officials to wonderful friends, thank you for making the journey here to be with us during this trial of emotion. I will never be able to properly put into words how grateful I am for your support. It is good to see you, and comforting hear from you.

As our Brother Steve Carpenter, a member of the Toronto Police Service said today, " No boundaries here." He is so right.

We are Family.
They are simple words, but I hope they convey what is in my heart:
Thank you, bless you, I love you.

Peace,
Falcon

Victory in the Allegheny National Forest

Hello World Family,
Falcon here; I wanted to give this to you all right away. This is excellent news!
Peace,
Falcon and Dove

April 9, 2009

Contact: Andy Stahl, Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics: (541) 484-2692
Ryan Talbott, Allegheny Defense Project: (814) 221-1408
David Sublette, Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter: (814) 397- 4121

Forest Service Agrees to Conduct Environmental Review of Oil and Gas Drilling in Allegheny

Conservation Groups Hail Agreement

ERIE, PA (4/9/09) – The U.S. Forest Service has agreed to conduct environmental review and allow the public to weigh in on all oil and gas development in the Allegheny National Forest, following pressure from conservation groups concerned that drilling will pollute water and destroy habitat for wildlife like the northern flying squirrel, eastern box turtle, northern goshawk, and timber
rattlesnake.

The Forest Service reached a settlement today with Allegheny Defense Project, Sierra Club, and Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, who filed suit in November after the agency failed to subject 34 proposed oil and gas projects to adequate review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Today's agreement ensures the public's right to weigh in on all
future drilling in the forest before the Forest Service gives it a green light.

The settlement will ensure that citizens have the opportunity to weigh in on drilling projects in the Allegheny National Forest. Over the past 10 years, thousands of oil and gas wells have been drilled in the Allegheny without environmental analysis and public comments. As a result of drilling, more
than 2,000 miles of roads have been built, damaging important wildlife habitat.

“With this settlement the Forest Service is making a commitment to disclose to people living near the Allegheny National Forest what impact oil and gas drilling will have on water quality, recreational opportunities, and the other benefits they expect from the national forest in their backyard.” said Andy Stahl, executive director of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics. "The Forest Service certainly has the duty to set conditions to prevent damage to the surface
land it owns and protect wildlife on that land."

The settlement agreement stipulates that no oil and gas drilling can occur within Wilderness Study Areas, National Recreation Areas, Inventoried Roadless Areas, the Tionesta Scenic and Research Natural Areas, and the Morrison Run Area west to the Rimrock Overlook without environmental analysis and public comment and appeal opportunities.

"These areas contain some of the most remote wildlife habitat and recreation opportunities on the Allegheny National Forest," said Ryan Talbott, forest watch coordinator for the Allegheny Defense Project.
"Because of this settlement, places like Minister Valley, Tracy Ridge, and Rimrock are now protected from unregulated oil and gas drilling. Additionally, the settlement agreement unequivocally states that 'the Forest Service has legal authority to establish reasonable conditions and mitigation measures to protect federal surface resources' from oil and gas drilling. This important acknowledgment signals a new direction for regulating oil and gas drilling on the Allegheny that will better protect water and air quality, wildlife habitat and recreation
opportunities."

The settlement agreement creates an orderly transition allowing the drilling of approximately 585 oil and gas wells since these projects were already submitted to the Forest Service for approval at the time the lawsuit was filed. The Forest Service will postpone approval of approximately 440 other oil and gas wells that were submitted to the Forest Service before the lawsuit was filed, but
were considered “incomplete applications” by the Forest Service. Those proposed oil and gas wells, in addition to all future oil and gas drilling proposals, will be subject to NEPA analysis and public comment.

"This is a victory for everyone who enjoys the natural beauty of the Allegheny National Forest. This agreement will shed daylight on a process that has been hidden from public view for far too long.” said Sierra Club representative David Sublette. “Oil and gas development threatens to destroy the
sensitive wildlife habitat and spectacular wilderness that draw thousands of visitors to the Allegheny each year. The public should at least have an opportunity to weigh in before oil and gas companies are allowed to build roads and drill wells in this pristine area. This agreement represents a significant policy shift for the Allegheny National Forest.”

Pittsburgh: Schedule and Closings for Police Officers' Ceremony

Hello World Family,
Falcon is reporting with a heavy heart on the arrangements for the fallen Pittsburgh Police officers gunned down on Saturday, April 4 in a domestic incident. Since so many of you are coming to Pittsburgh from all over the world, I wanted to provide this information to you, and to thank you for the many calls, letters, and conveyance of sympathy that you have sent to us. It is appreciated more than words will ever be able to say.

Falcon and Dove would like to personally offer our condolences to all the family and friends of the fallen officers, and well wishes to the hero officers who survived, and wish them a speedy recovery. Falcon has visited at the funeral homes and offers prayers to you always. We cannot express our grief at your loss strongly enough. We send you our love and our prayers for healing.

FALLEN HEROES CEREMONY
Officers Scuillo, Kelly, and Mayhle are lying in state at the City-County Building on Grant Street in downtown Pittsburgh, and will be there from now until 10:30 am tomorrow, Thursday, April 9. Yes, the City-County Building will be open all night to accommodate visitors.

TRAFFIC RESTRICTIONS

No parking on Grant Street, and traffic is now one lane in each direction on that street

Curb lanes are reserved for police officers

No parking on the Blvd. of the Allies from Grant St. to Commonwealth Place

No parking on Second Ave. from Ross Street to the 10th Street Bridge

During the procession from the City County Building to the Petersen Event Center on the University of Pittsburgh campus in Oakland, roads on the processional route will be closed. The route will follow Grant St. to the train station at the East Busway entrance. From there, it will go along the busway to Oakland and exit at Fifth Ave. and DeSoto, go up the hill and arrive at the Pete. This is a public ceremony and anyone who wants to may attend. It will begin at 1pm.

There may be updates to this post as the evening progresses. Please check back if you need further information, and as always, check the news websites:
www.thepittsburghchannel.com
www.kdka.com
www.wpxi.com

Birth, Death, Love, and Rachmaninoff

Hi World Family,
Falcon, here. This is one of the more challenging blog posts I have ever written. It has happiness, death, and music… and all of these must be included in the events of this weekend past. Let’s start with the good stuff.

Angus of the Tribal Rock group BROTHER along with his lovely wife welcome the arrival of their son, Asa to the breathing world. He is fantastic and all is well. Falcon and Dove are thrilled that there is another tribal rocker in the world and wish them and all the members of the band well. We hope to see them this summer on the road, and we thank them for sharing their joyous news with our family. We are all One. It is nice to hear of more beautiful voices gracing our world. It is what makes reporting the next few things more focused, but not any easier.

By now, any of you who have paid any even remote attention to the television, radio or Internet news know what happened here in Pittsburgh yesterday morning. There was yet another mass shooting (yes, there is now a category for this, any time more than three individuals are shot in a single incident) in this country, and this time, in Falcon and Dove’s own proverbial back yard. This involved the injury and death of 5 police officers: 3 dead, 2 injured. A young man believed that his life no longer had any importance and meaning, and texted his friend telling him that he ‘would die today’. He didn’t, but three other fine men did. Two officers, answering a domestic call were shot in the head by the frustrated and fearful young man, and when a third officer, off the clock and on his way home in the very same neighborhood, heard the call on the radio and arrived to help, only to suffer the same fate. There were 100 shots at a time at three points during the morning ordeal, and it was so severe some neighbors were evacuated while the SWAT teams moved in to secure the perimeter so that the officers injured and killed could be attended to by EMS. It was that bad. As this awful story played out live on television, my thoughts went to the families and friends of these officers and how devastated they would be when the names were revealed. Everyone was on pins and needles for much of the day, and then at three, the young Mayor Luke Ravenstal had the sad duty of revealing to the world who was lost, who survived, and the particulars of what had happened. Pittsburgh Police Chief Nate Harper gave a detailed report of what occurred. It just saddened us all.

Their names are as follows: Eric Kelly, a 14-year veteran of the force; Stephen Mayhle and Paul Sciullo III, both of the Pittsburgh Police since 2007. These men take on the responsibility along with others in police, fire, EMS, etc. of protecting our communities every day. They know a day may come when they are required to make the ultimate sacrifice for their communities, and yet, they still go to work every day. Yesterday, April 4, a lovely spring day in Pittsburgh was the last morning these three men got to say hello to their friends and families, talk about the Pirates spring training coming to an end, and discuss the Pens chances for the playoffs. They will not get to hug one more friend or their children; no more kisses in the kitchen or at the front door. We expect that there are many scenarios that may take the life of a police officer, fire fighter, or other public servant on any given day. The following scenario was completely unnecessary and could have been avoided. A clearly disturbed young man who had a history of violent incidents and unbalanced behavior had a house full of loaded guns with his mom hiding in the basement, believed that his guns might be taken away, and planned to go out with a show of force. These men did nothing but show up at the door on a domestic call, and got shot in the head.

This young guy had a machine gun for ‘recreational purposes’. He committed his crimes with an AK-47, a rifle, a handgun, and more. Although he was injured, he did survive…but his life is over. He will be in jail forever.

Falcon feels the need to vent about this: Since Venus Retrograde (check our previous post warning that this period, according to our Native calendar could pose difficulty for those on the brink of poor decision making), there have been nearly 100 people killed in mass shootings. Reasons vary from loss of job to loss of lucidity. One thing must be mentioned: they all involve guns.

Let’s be clear; we know guns don’t shoot themselves off, and the practical approach is to address the problems being faced by those on the edge of reason and make sure that they have the proper counseling and treatment. That is clearly not being done, and one reason may be that many of these challenged individuals are in family and friend structures completely incapable of recognizing that those in question are not well. The family structure is not well, and that didn’t start yesterday. These are long term unrecognized or denied problems and this must change. One more thing, though: I don’t hunt with an automatic weapon. Needing one to sneak up on a deer seems completely unnecessary to me. My bow and arrow have never accidentally ‘gone off’ and hurt or killed somebody.
I like the idea of being defended, and my best defense is between my ears. Weapons are the first choice of the desperate and the depraved. Sensible, reasonable people try to reason before they resort to violence. Automatic weapons in the hands of the disturbed seems to happen all too frequently.

Okay, so Falcon always tried to present solutions. Here are a couple of suggestions. First of all, physicians, clergy, teachers, professors, social club members, organizations, friends and family members MUST get involved with getting these people the help they need. If you see a problem, say SOMETHING to SOMEBODY! Yes, your observation may be the important one that gets this person the help they need. Don’t allow fear to be your ‘mind killer’ as Herbert Frank would have said.

One more thing: where is the love? What has happened to ‘love they neighbor, as thyself?!” As thy self…love your self! LOVE FIRST! Give your friends and neighbors a hug, or if you can’t, just let them know that they are not alone. A kind word may be the difference between a smile and more receptivity to their own self worth, or despair and an unfocused spiral into the depths of the unrecoverable.

Just for the record: you are not your job. It’s a job. You can get another one. Volunteer somewhere until you do get another job. Who knows? You may meet someone with a job for you out there while you are giving to others. A job doesn’t define your self worth. It never did, it never will. You are so much more than what you do. You are worthy of love even if you don’t have a job to identify yourself by. You are loved, even if you don’t hear people say so. You would be missed if you were gone. You have made significant contributions to the world in every small act of kindness that you do. Do not despair. There is light at the end of the tunnel, and no, that is not an oncoming train. It is the light of love and understanding. It is the light of your own heart, shining back at you. Just look up; you’ll see it.

Yes, and Rachmaninoff. Falcon attended the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s performance this weekend, and it was magnificent. Serge’s Symphony Number One was performed here this weekend for the first time, ever by the PSO. The performance on Saturday night was dedicated to the police officers who were injured or killed in the incident in the Stanton Heights area of the city.

Rach was WAY ahead of his time. He knew that maybe all of his works wouldn’t be accepted right away, and this particular piece wasn’t well received initially, but now it is clear that his influences were nearly intuitive to what was to come not only in classical music, but it the forms of music that as of yet had no name. Here’s my point: he would probably be surprised that his first symphony was dedicated to some local heroes who lost their lives in the course of their noble occupations. He would be humbled, I would think. Imagine if he had never written that piece? How different would today be? It’s the same with each of you.

Value who you are and what you bring to the proverbial table each day. You never know what will leave a lasting impression of inspiration and innovation to future co-workers, friends, children, family members, and the community at large. Never doubt that you are sacred. Love yourself most fiercely. Never doubt that you are loved. Need inspiration? Pull out this blog any time you want. Better yet…write your own.

With much love,
Peace Brothers and Sisters,
Falcon and Dove

Tribal Rock Group BROTHER makes Classic Titles available for Download

Hello World Family,
Falcon, here. One of my favorite rock bands ever is a group from Down Under called BROTHER, who has some of the most intricate, uniquely fierce songs on the world music stage. They have lots of CD's that are strong, but my personal all time favorite has been "Blackstone Tramp". It is now available for download! Please see the notes from BROTHER below:

Blackstone Tramp available again:

A lot of the old cd titles have long been out of print.

Beginning right now with Blackstone Tramp we are going to make those titles available for download.



Angus - "blackstone tramp was the first album we recorded with dalbo, back in '96 when both my brothers were still in the band. we came straight off the road and into the studio. you can feel that energy in the tracks. i'm excited to finally have those old records available again, not just as bootlegs. about bloody time, you say? i'd have to agree."

Order the digital down Blackstone Tramp album or individual tracks at BROTHER's Mongrel Marketplace. Purchase of Blackstone Tramp are processed separately from other Mongrel Marketplace orders.

Let us know what title you'd like to see available next! Email Leila @ leila@BROTHERmusic.com.



BROTHER
http://www.brothermusic.com
www.myspace.com/BROTHERmusic
www.twitter.com/BROTHERmusic



For booking & media inquiries: leila@BROTHERmusic.com
For general inquiries: info@BROTHERmusic.com
For merchandise inquiries: merchandise@BROTHERmusic.com
or mongrel-marketplace@brothermusic.com

Steelers 2009 Exhibition Schedule, Preview of Fall

Hello World Family and Steelers Nation,
Here is information just released today on the Steelers schedule for 2009, including playing the Arizona Cardinals for the first preseason game.

Start setting aside some dates. Buffalo fans and Canucks, there may be another Buffalo game in Toronto, I heard...there will be a Buffalo game at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh; please see below.
Enjoy, Family!
Peace,
Falcon and Dove

Steelers 2009 Schedule

PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers will begin the 2009 exhibition schedule against the Arizona Cardinals, the team they defeated in Super Bowl XLIII.
Team spokesman Dave Lockett on Monday confirmed the following schedule of Steelers preseason games:

• Steelers vs. Arizona at Heinz Field, Aug. 13, 8 p.m.
• Steelers at Washington, sometime on the weekend of Aug. 20-24
• Steelers vs. Buffalo at Heinz Field, sometime on the weekend of Aug. 27-31
• Steelers at Carolina, sometime on the weekend of Sept. 3-4

Those games are for practice, but they count for real starting on Sept. 10, when the Steelers host AFC South champion Tennessee in the NFL's 2009 season opener at Heinz Field.

The rest of the Steelers' regular-season schedule hasn't been announced yet, but it is known that they will play at home vs. Oakland, San Diego and Green Bay; on the road vs. Denver, Kansas City, Chicago, Detroit and Miami; and the traditional home-and-home series against division opponents Cincinnati, Baltimore and Cleveland.

EDT: Earth Hour 8:30-9:30pm Tonight!

Hello Brothers and Sisters,
Today around the globe, people are giving up their energy usage for one hour to demonstrate how much energy we use and can save when we put conscious effort to it.
Earth Hour is a rolling global deliberate brown-out that everyone can participate in by unplugging all unnecessary stuff for one hour. There are many ways to let everyone know what you did afterward by checking in with various sites, including You Tube, Harry Potter Alliance (register by Household), WWF, and many, many environmental organizations. Want to tell us what you did? Email us at:
falcondove@areyasimmons.com

Our hour time slot is 8:30-9:30 Eastern Daylight Time.

Ideas for your one hour of lights out?

Well...you could tell stories by candlelight, have a campfire (where safe to do so) and talk about things you want to do this year to save energy, talk about your funniest times when there was a power outage (not miserable or life threatening times), and get to know your friends and family members again through first hand, face-to-face contact. There is something special about looking into the faces of those you care about in natural light, or candlelight. Look in their eyes...and smile, laugh, share, sing, drum, dance, and celebrate. Just have fun!

Peace, World Family,
Falcon and Dove