I must say I’m a big fan of Community Refund, a not-for-profit set up by this group of Nicaragua real estate developers, promoters and commentators.  It’s basically a funding mechanism driven by a pretty unique model – one that I hope inspires other real estate actors across Central America.

The mission is a simple one:

“To ensure that the real estate activity taking place in Nicaragua also benefits the local community”

The implication is that often the local community in areas that receive an influx of real estate development and sales activity don’t always benefit from the flow of real estate dollars. And that’s not a good thing for investors either.  Real estate values will appreciate more quickly (and more sustainably) if the local area also develops and improves.

Makes sense right?

So what’s so special about the model?  Well it tries to include all parties to a real estate transaction.  And when you count them up, there are quite a few:

• the real estate agent
• the title insurance company
• the real estate attorney (both sides)
• the seller
• the buyer
• the architect/builder (for pre-construction sales)

During a closing there’s lots of money sloshing around, and it’s precisely at that time that Community Refund encourages the real estate actors to donate a percentage of their commission, their policy fee, their legal fee, their sales price and so on.

And it seems to be working.  More and more Nicaragua real estate agents have started to participate; some of the more prominent legal firms have taken part and the title insurance companies are also supportive.  The goal of course is to spread this activity to include every real estate transaction, and not just the occasional one.

And then perhaps to share the model more widely.  Perhaps to Costa Rica or to the Panama real estate market (see article).  Community in action!

Looking for homes and sometimes the most difficult job and ever especially when those houses need a lot of work. “No houses need more work done than the homes in new Orland’s. After the floodwaters receded, many hundreds of people left New Orleans never to return or claim their land. There was too much to repair. But now many properties to rent are available at incredible prices in remarkable neighborhoods.

The tragedy in New Orleans was the greatest man-made disaster in modern history. The overtopping of the levees claims by the Army Corps of Engineers is a falsehood. The high watermark can be seen on all levees leading up and down the canal system of New Orleans. The only problem that led to the failures of the loveI at a part of 20 different spots. What’s due to rudimentary mistakes in their design and construction. Engineers did not take proper samples to see that the base materials below their Levy were strong enough to support. Specifically they did not check for Sam. When water seeps through the sand it was able to go directly under the levee. If the engineers had properly noticed this and engineered against it, there would be a way to stop water moving from the canal to the towns.

The cover-up that followed was due to the Army ability to keep funding flowing. The army corps of engineers is only interested in keeping their jobs. They do not care for our safety. And are only interested in the almighty dollar. I never thought our military would be corrupted by such blatant capitalist buffoonery. But I guess I could have expected given the past 15 years of war. I’ll never understand how America slid into the status of police state but I hope one day we can get back to our democratic roots.

Our local vets at Banfield Pet Hospital in Gulfport Mississippi, often give talks to the local community about proper care for their animals and they recommend certain products that they think the community will appreciate.  At the most recent meeting, one of their recommendations was for some litter box furniture for cats.  They informed us that cats crave privacy when going about their toilet business and these furniture products can keep a litter box out of view and keep all those nasty smells inside! They are designed to look like a standard end table and come in many different colors and materials so you can also find a design that matches your other home furniture.

There are few pet stores in town where we can buy pet products so I often  take advantage of no sales tax and free delivery by shopping on the internet.  My grand kids can’t believe that their old granny even knows what the internet is but I absolutely love it!

We all belong to a particular community. But, have we ever wondered what can we do to help improve the overall standing of our community? If you think your busy schedule from work or business is what inhibits you from doing something productive, then, this is the perfect chance to get out and be involved. It won’t take a great deal of your time. Simple active contributions on your part would make a big difference to your community.

Below are some suggestions on how you can be a part of the changes for the better in your community. Learn them and try to do one each day if given the opportunity:

1. Support the litter-free programs in you place. This is a good way to start doing some concrete actions for the improvement of your community’s surroundings and garbage concerns. If you see litter along the pavement while you walk, pick it up and throw it to the nearest garbage bin.
2. Volunteer for medical missions or youth programs held in your community. This is an effective way to give something back to your community. If you have the expertise to teach some Adobe Photoshop free download tutorials, volunteer as a teacher and set aside a free time where you can show them how to use this software and become talented with the use of internet that will later on be a source of their income.
3. Buy locally made products in you community. Not only you will add extra income to your community’s total earnings but you can also get extra service for availing their products offered in your place like free delivery.
4. Promote the beautiful tourist spots found in your community. This is one way to attract possible visitors to your place. Cite fun-filled activities that anyone can enjoy in their trips. Additional number of tourists would mean possible extra earnings for your local government that will eventually lead to more money to put on improvements of your community’s services and other infrastructures.
5. Exercise your vote. This is a good example of a good citizen in your community. When elections are announced, check out for any local candidates belonging to your community or who support any advocacy focused on your community’s progress. Vote wisely for the most suitable and reliable candidate.

Doing your part in your community that poses greater opportunities is a good start in helping build a wonderful community that is nice to live in. Now is your chance to prove your worth to your community and make a big difference to everyone’s life.

Gulfport, Mississippi has a great reputation as a tourist destination for people from all over the country as well as from all over the world. There are a number of truly great and luxurious hotels and resorts in the area but what if you are camping kind of family, the kind who prefer cooking over an open outdoor fire pit rather than eating out of a hotel room microwave? What does the Gulfport, MS area have to offer you? The answer is far more than you might imagine.

Where you choose to pitch your tent however will depend on how much of a camper you really are. There are those who really love to rough it. They enjoy a campsite that is truly away from it all. No TV, no running water, no bathrooms and the only source of heat coming from the previously mentioned outdoor fire pit. Their idea of an ideal camping trip truly does involve getting away from it all.

For these hardier souls the Gulfport, MS area has a number of formal campsites to offer. The Moody’s Landing site, which is just five miles from Brooklyn, MS, is such a site. it offers amazing views and an abundance of land but little in the way of other amenities.

But some campers want a few more of the comforts of home available at the campsite that they choose. The idea of living without electricity or a nice hot shower is not at all appealing to them even though sleeping under the stars is.

Fortunately for everyone many of the campsites in the Gulfport, Missisipi area offer the best of both worlds. For example the Gulf Islands National Seashore offers both wilderness camping along the Davis Bayou and campsites further inland that feature all the conveniences of modern life including formal playgrounds, shower rooms and on site restaurants.

Many North Gulfport residents have installed an undersink water filter in their homes in recent years to ensure that their drinking water supply is safe.  With the environmental disasters that have swept the community, many residents are taking extra precautions to make sure their family has access to clean drinking water.  Many North Gulfport residents have also been urging friends and family in other areas to install a water filter in their own homes, regardless of how safe their water supply may appear. Contaminants appear in tap water supplies all across the world, but many people are unaware about the safety issues that these contaminants may cause.

If you are in need of an undersink water filter for your North Gulfport home, your best option is to research several models online and see which one will work best for you.  A brand that many NG residents recommend is Culligan, and appropriate filters range in the $200 to $600 range with occasional upkeep costs (e.g., replacement filters).  Many residents feel that it’s well worth the cost!

The North Gulfport region in Mississippi is famed for its wonderful fishing.  Even with the devastating damage to the areas reputation caused by Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill, the region continues to be a fishing industry hotspot.

Local officials have proposed expanding the port of Gulfport in order to jumpstart local industry. Local community leaders are opposing this move, saying the funds that would be used on this expansion would be better spent on reconstructing and repairing communities directly impacted by Katrina.

The economic justification for expanding the port rests on the upcoming expansion of the Panama Canal.  Some argue that a portion of the increase of ship traffic up the East Coast will stop at the newly improved Port of Gulfport, bringing additional economic activity to the area.

Part of the project would be the expansion of the local rail lines to a full six tracks.  These would be needed to transport the Chinese goods unloaded from the ships in Mississippi to the rest of the country.

If this plan was implemented, it does seem likely it would spur economic growth.  Initially it would be the construction jobs to actually perform the expansion of the port and railroads.  Once this was complete there would be ongoing employment for dockhands loading and unloading the huge cargo vessels.

Storage capacity in the area would have to be increased.  Local refrigerator sizes and capacities would have to be increased greatly to handle imported perishables, and not just fish caught in neighboring waters.

All grown in the North Gulfport community comes at a cost however.  Poor neighborhoods in the area would be sliced and diced by the increased amount of rail and truck traffic.  While some would benefit from the additional jobs and others from customers having more to spend at local businesses, there is always a group left out of the benefits of economic growth.

These people would suffer all the downsides and none of the upside.  If the decision is made to go ahead with the expansion, attempts should be made to accommodate these citizens and ensure all share the bounty this project potentially offers.

There are over two hundred community land trusts in the USA and one of those is the North Gulfport Community Land Trust or NGCLT for short. When Hurricane Katrina devastated the area with flood waters it all but wiped out many family homes of people that were already struggling to make ends meet. This is where the community formed the Trust to help protect the local people from land developers coming into the area and help bring life back to the area for residents that were there before the disaster.

Instead of big companies coming in and building food and designer shoes stores on the land the idea is for this land to be protected on behalf of the people. Will the NGCLT succeed in doing this? We can only hope, but what we do know is the only way this will happen is through the support of members, sponsorships by small businesses and fund raising activities.

Today I want to discuss something widespread in mental hospitals across the country. Sure, you can find cases of great hospitals, unfortunately there are a lot of .. well ..not so great ones.

How you are treated in hospitals depends on the hospital staff. Hospital staff are basically free to ignore the law with little fear of meaningful consequences. While in theory your rights are protected by law, in practice you have little protection:

The only real protection you have against abuse is the morals and professionalism of the staff. If you are lucky, they will treat people with psychological disorders as patients and human beings. If not, you are viewed as a “psycho” to be controlled. While the quality of individual staff members will vary, the hospital culture itself will be your best indicator of how you will be treated. If the hospital has a reputation for requiring their staff to follow the rules, treat patients humanely, and discourages a code of silence (the “white wall of silence” or “white code of silence”) then you have a good chance of actually being helped. On the other hand if the hospital has a reputation for ignoring problems, allowing mistakes to be covered up, and hiring substandard staff then you will likely be further damaged. In the “Consumer Info” section there are some suggestions on how to tell the difference, and some suggestions on what to do to protect yourself.

Another issue is how acute mental hospitals operate today; in these HMO driven times they are very cost conscious. The insurance company wants you out as soon as possible and this means medications. The days of talking to a therapist are over. Today you will be examined, drugged, observed, then turned loose with an absolute minimum of contact with the staff. Staff costs money, so only the absolute minimum required are on duty. This means that there are few resources available for you to just sit down and talk with someone. The staff on the ward with you are the lowest paid and least trained. Therapists are not usually available outside set group therapy.

If you start to “decompensate”, the staff will do little other than to demand you change your behavior and take more meds. If you decompensate enough to cause trouble then they will get physical, and since there are few staff on duty, this threshold is very low. The staff cannot afford to have you set off the other patients, so they react very quickly to any disturbance. At this point you will be forced to take sedatives and/or anti-psychotics and possibly secluded or restrained as well. Thus an easily preventable problem escalates into a life (yours) threatening situation. Patients die in restraint. While the hospital will give lip service to “de-escalation” procedures, it is quicker and cheaper to just drag you into a room strap you to a bed and shoot you full of drugs.

The “white wall/code of silence” has two aspects. The tracking and disciplinary systems are run by medical professionals for medical professionals. The information is kept from the public by law. If the watch dogs tend to turn a blind eye towards misdeeds, the public is none the wiser. This allows serial killers to masquerade as angels of mercy who freely move from one hospital to another. Secondly staff supports staff. If one staff witnesses a misdeed, they won’t blow the whistle. They don’t want to alienate their co-workers.

What We Want:

1. Recension of the 5150, mitigation of its civil rights impact.
2. Correction of the hospital log to reflect what really happened.
3. Meaningful and verifiable changes to ensure future patient safety and rights.

“I want to see a mighty flood of justice, a river of righteous living that will never run dry”

The North Gulfport Community Land Trust (NGCLT) is a non-profit organization set up to provide permanent affordable housing for the local community. Gulfport is situated on the Gulf coast to the east of New Orleans. Somewhat surprisingly a disproportionately large number of the local population have the surname Thomas, a name that originated in Wales, part of the United Kingdom. Those with this name may be interested in the origins of the name Thomas. First found in Llwyn Madoc, Breconshire, where the family claims to be descended from Owen Glendower, Lord of Glyndwyrdwy, Prince of Southern Wales. The name is one of the most common found today in Wales.

The coat of arms is a black chevron on a silver shield with three ravens. The family motto is in Welsh and translates as ‘To God be thanks’.

The name was found first in America in Virginia in 1621. It is thought that most of the holders of the name in the Gulfport area are probably descended from a slave owner who was resident in the area.