The Buck and Mike Blog

Stephanie Nielson (nickname Nie Nie) writes a popular Mesa, AZ, based blog, Nie Nie Dialogues. Nie Nie and her husband, Christian, were involved in a serious small plane crash on August 16. The pilot, Doug Kinnerd, died in the crash, leaving a wife and four children. Nie Nie and Christian were lucky to survive but are not out of the woods yet. Even if all goes well they will be in the hospital for quite a while and recovering for many months. Their medical bills are astronomical. The couple has four small children, who are currently being cared for by Nie Nie’s older sister, Jane. Jane’s blog is the best source for updates on the family.

An outpouring of love and support for the family has resulted in a stunning group of auctions today, with more than 275 items—and many are truly amazing. Like a signed Maroon5 guitar and concert tickets, weekends at resorts, custom quilt, custom painting, a beautiful chandelier, jewelry, chocolate (!), and much more. Please support the family by bidding today. You can see the list and link to the auctions at http://www.designmom.com/.

Ongoing, please consider donating to help them by clicking below:

During this election year we have heard a lot of crap about who is patriotic and who is not. So-and-so candidate is not patriotic because he doesn’t wear a flag pin. Another candidate is unpatriotic because he stood too far away from the American flag to be photographed by everyone at every angle. The very idea of questioning a candidate’s patriotism is insulting. Like they want to take a pay cut and serve their country so they can sell out to Italy because they like pizza? Dumb!
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Gas here is now $4.40 per gallon and I got a bike (the Electric Blue Novara Runabout pictured here). I purchased the used bike at the Community Cycling Center, a wonderful place that takes donated bikes, refurbishes them, and resells them at reduced prices to help finance their operations and outreach, including classes on bike safety and mecanical repairs. A most worthy cause.

I bought my helmet at A Better Cycle, “a worker owned and collectively run used bicycle shop in sunny South East Portland” that, wouldn’t you know it, closes every May 1 for International Workers Day. (Welcome to the Peoples’ Republic of Portland.) The two spacey 20-somethings insisted on this one, the Bern Watts. It’s a “multi-impact” hardhat style developed first for skateboarders and adopted by bikers.

So what’s with the “multi-impact” thing? “Oh, that way you can fall on your head repeatedly and not have to replace your helmet,” he said, “I have one and I store it in the freezer so my head keeps cool in the summer. Awesome, huh?”

Uh, yeah, dudes. Awesome.

Just as we approach the Easter season, I was sickened to read that three Mormon missionaries had been photographed vandalizing a Catholic shrine built specifically to remind pilgrims of the stations of the cross, the path Jesus is said to have walked on his way to his crucifixion. The Shrine of the Stations of the Cross is in the small town of San Luis, Colorado, east of the city where my Mother lives. We can say that three young men clowning around together could cross a line that none of them would have individually (mob rule), that they were young, or any number of excuses, but the fact remains that representatives of a religion with a history of being persecuted should know better and should be ashamed. Apparently, they are. At least one has written an apology, hand delivered to the Shrine’s congregation by the mission president. The missionary was still serving in Colorado and has been sent home in disgrace.

The event happened in 2006 and the two other missionaries have since completed their missionary work and have gone back to their homes (the three were from California, Idaho, and Nevada). Their local LDS Church congregations will convene disciplinary councils to determine what action should be taken against their church memberships. From the sounds of today’s Deseret News article, the LDS Church is urging severe punishment. The Church has turned their names over to the authorities for criminal charges. As ordained representatives of the church at the time, the three could now face excommunication.

As a Mormon missionary in Colombia in 1968 (see photo above) I had a contrasting experience. I wrote to Rev. Pat Valdez of the Shrine of the Stations of the Cross expressing my sorrow for their loss and sharing my own missionary story. (Click here for the text of that letter.) The stupid and immature actions of these three young men do not reflect the attitudes of the vast majority of Mormons. I like to think they would act as my companions and I acted 40 years ago. We worked hard to heal divides. I want to think that all our our efforts were not wasted.

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Today is the second anniversary of the day Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. There are very few cities in this country with such a distinct and rich culture. Yet if such a catastrophe had struck Boston or San Francisco, would half the population still be living in FEMA trailers today? Sadly, poverty and class still figure in the recovery equation.
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Today is my birthday (no big deal, it’s just a number. Right?) I share my birthday with actors Chris O’Donnell and Sean Hayes and with shortstop Derek Jeter. I hate them for being rich, but congratulations to all of us!

More importantly, I’m proud to promote two events that happen today:

Day of Action to Restore Law and Justice to restore habeas corpus and all of our rights. Sponsored by the ACLU, partners include Amnesty International, the National Religious Coalition Against Torture, League of Women Voters, Episcopal Church, Hip Hop Caucus, Human Rights Watch, and many other fine organizations.

National Day of Silence, a day of protest and action against the new draconian legislation that increases online music royalties to the point of putting most stations out of business.

Oh, and Paris Hilton was freed from jail today.

I wonder which story will get the most press coverage.

No, I’m not talking about the kind of mule that smuggles drugs!

When we were preparing for our recent trip to Costa Rica, we stumbled upon an interesting idea that we would like to share: American travelers to Costa Rica can take with them small items to donate to local students. We discovered that it’s an ingenious way to help out with little expense and effort on the part of the traveler. We got to be “mules” for school supplies!
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