The Namesake Part 2

In an earlier post I talked about the movie "The Namesake" with Kal Penn, and how I related to the movie because of my own unique name.

I've read this headline many times throughout the years. "What's in a name?" Names become an important part of the parenting process, and in our case with our son, was an evolving process right down to the very day he was born.

I guess I've always wanted to name my son after me, since it's always been such a unique name I figured it couldn't hurt to pass it along. And since my wife is English, I figured having a Roman numeral at the end of a name wouldn't be so unusual, since they seem to do a fair amount of that in the United Kingdom.

But our son is not a member of the Royal family or a noble. Nope, he's just one-half English, one-half American/German/Irish (if it's possible to combine those three into one-half) and all parts darn cute.

We started early on with the name Lucas, and for those of you who know me and are asking if it has anything to do with Star Wars, the answer would be yes. Kind of.

Lucas was certainly at the top of the popular comtemporary names in many of the pamphlets and books we read, so it also didn't hurt that it was also the last name of Star Wars director George LUCAS, or that the main character in Star Wars is LUKE Skywalker. Soon after he was born, I got an e-mail from an old friend. Incidentally, this friend has a son named Indiana (as in another George Lucas franchise Indiana Jones).

The e-mail went like this:

"I have an over/under going with our old friends to see how long it takes you to say ‘Luke, I am your father...’

If it has already happened – I win."

By the time I had received the message, it had already happened, so indeed he had won.

While we then had a first name, and the last name was already a given, the search for a middle name would come to us through a series of unfortunate life events.

Joanne's grandfather Anthony Kassell was an interesting figure, a man with mountain of life experiences that easily translated into captivating stories. As an engineer on UK oil tankers, he had seen the world several times over. One favorite story was the time he had visited New York in the 1950s, when the Verrazano bridge was under construction. Workers on the superstructure were welding at the same time Mr. Kassell's oil tanker was passing underneath, and tensions on board were high as sparks landed on the fume-filled but empty oil storage tanks. The only casualty that day were nerves.

We were lucky to host Grandma and Grandad Kassell in New York last year. They came across on the Queen Mary 2 and stayed in Lower Manhattan right at the World Trade Center site. The empty area that once contained two of the world's largest buildings looked almost identical to the last time Mr. Kassell had seen this part of New York City - in the 1960s, when the World Trade Center site was just a construction area preparing for the towers that would rise here.

It was the last trip abroad for a man whose life was filled with adventure on the high seas. This summer, Grandad Kassell had a heart attack. He survived, and continued through treatment and health problems throughout the fall.

By the time his daughter, my wife's mother, was ready to make her trip across the ocean to be here for our baby's birth, Grandad seemed to be doing better.

She arrived in the states on December 9th. By December 14th, Grandad had taken a turn for the worse and was back in the hospital, and the outlook wasn't good.

We had hoped that we could keep a secret about our decision to give Lucas a middle name. We had decided several months back that it would be a good idea to name our son after his great-grandfather, and right from the first moment we discussed it we both realized that it fit and was the perfect name. And we didn't want anyone to know until Lucas was born.

But some events in life are tough to control, and by December 14th it was clear that if we wanted Great-Grandad Kassell to know, we would have to let the family know and hope he could get the message.

On Saturday the idea of our son's name became a reality when Grandma told Grandad in the hospital that when the baby came, he was going to be named Lucas Anthony Farabaugh.

We found out early the next morning that Grandad Kassell had passed away in the night. It was a tough time for everyone, particularly for my wife, who was going to give birth any day. It was also tough on my mother in law, who had to make the agonozing decision to return to England for a funeral that would happen on Christmas Eve, all the while not knowing when Lucas would indeed arrive.

And then, just one day after we received the news about Grandad Kassell, Joanne started to have contractions.

We entered the hospital early on December 18th, and by noon that day we were proud parents and grandmother. Lucas Anthony Farabaugh, named partly for the great-grandfather who passed just two days before, couldn't have come at a better time. His grandmother would actually be able to see him and be with him before she left to return for the funeral.

Lucas's birth was both a proud moment and a bittersweet occasion. The week began with the passing of one member of the family and ended with us bringing home another new member of the family. Two people who will unfortunately never have the chance to meet in this life, but will be forever connected by one simple name - Anthony.

Lucas Anthony Farabaugh

He's here!

Lucas Anthony Farabaugh arrived at 11:08 AM on Tuesday, December 18, 2007.

Weighed in at 8 pounds, 5 ounces. 20 and 3/4 inches long.

Mother and baby are doing great! So is Dad and Grandma!

I'll update more later with more pics. Stay tuned!

The Namesake

I gotta say. I love Netflix.

We watched a great movie the other night. It's called "The Namesake," and stars Kal Penn, of Harold and Kumar - and most recently "House" - fame. He plays a character named "Gogol."

Gogol is South Asian, and is born in America. Gogol is a name that has special meaning to his father, and I won't divulge too much more of the plot - you should rent it and see it. It's one of the more heartwarming and better movies we've seen this year.

But suffice it to say that growing up with the name "Gogol" wasn't an easy prospect for a young boy, and despite standing up for himself early on, he grows to hate the name and starts going by the name "Nick."

I can relate to "Gogol" and sort of identified with the movie. After all, my name isn't Henry or Jack or Michael. It's Kane. But where Gogol and I differ is that I have never been ashamed of my unusual name. I've embraced it for the most part. It hasn't always been easy.

The taunting started early. One particular name calling incident that sticks out, which must have happened in 1st grade, was "Kane went down the main drain in Spain." Sound innocuous, right? Not when twenty other kids start chanting it because it seems like the thing to do.

Kids can be cruel.

I didn't have many friends when I was much younger, and I guess it's because my name was so easy to tease, and other kids didn't want to hang out with the kid who was always called "Candy Kane." What's the saying, "That which doesn't kill you only makes you stronger"?

The name calling didn't kill me. And as I grew older, I embraced the fact that I had never come across someone with the same first name. Some "Cains" had showed up here and there, but I was the only "Kane" I had ever heard of, and certainly the only "Kane Farabaugh" in the world.

Sure, the bad guy on "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" was called "Kane." And it was the name of Orsen Welles immensely revered film, "Citizen Kane." Didn't bother me. And then, sometime in Junior High School, someone had asked me for the first time, "How did you get your name?"

WOW! How did I get my name? It took several years and several sources to get a fair and accurate accounting, but from what I can gather, mostly from my father who sometimes embellishes the truth for storytelling flair, it comes from the oldest person in our family when I was born.

Her name was Hilda Kane.

She was my grandfather's cousin, and had lived through the toughest times encountered by her generation. She worked in the Kaufmann's department store in Pittsburgh most of her life, and had never married after a relationship she had when she was younger left her heartbroken.

At a family get together one day before I was born, she asked my Dad if he had decided on a name. He hadn't, and she asked him if he wouldn't mind naming the child after her. On the surface, this might sound presumptuous, or at best, bold. To actually ask someone to name their child after you does take some courage. But if you knew this sweet and tender woman, arrogance and boldness are words you would not use to describe the quiet and wonderful Hilda. My dad agreed.

When I was born, and I wound up being a boy and not a girl, my Dad correctly decided that naming me "Hilda" would have made my life hell, and so they named me "Kane."

Hilda lived for the first 11 years of my life, and was in her late 80s when she died. I have to admit, I did not know the woman as well as I would have liked, but I am proud that I carry her name with me. A gesture by my father for a woman who did not have the good fortune to have a child to name for herself.

I am Hilda Kane's namesake.

And when I found this out, it made me embrace my name that much more.

These are important things to remember or look back on when you have a baby coming. My wife and I have spent many nights blurting out names for our baby. We've poured through a few baby naming books, and have searched and searched the internet for relevant and meaningful names that also sound good. There's been a few doozies that I must admit I've chuckled at. Heathcliff is one of them.

But because I've had a unique name, I would like to pass that on to my kids. There's something in the uniqueness of a name that makes you work a little harder to set yourself out from the rest.

We think we've got our baby's name picked out.

The real challenge in life is getting people to pronounce "Farabaugh" in the first try... something few people throughout my life have been able to do... without a little help from the namesake.

Dear Twins

I was browsing the wesbite for WTAE-TV, the ABC affiliate in Pittsburgh (www.thepittsburghchannel.com) and on a web feature they produce, this YouTube clip was highlighted.

I watched it, and found that the singer and guitarist is extremely talented. While the subject of the song leaves something to be desired, the tune is catchy, even epic, and I find myself humming it often. The whole band in the second half of the song is great, and I think that if this was recorded in a studio, this would be a hit.

There is also a certain "Muppet" quality to the group, with the drummer even resembling Animal.

Take a look... it's a great song:

The American Veteran: November Edition

Here's the latest edition of the American Veteran. I'm one of three freelance hosts on the program. For some reason they fonted me as an Army Veteran on this episode, though I'm an Air Force Veteran. I did tell them about the error. It was changed on the broadcast, but not on the website for some reason.

"Nobody Wears a Trenchcoat with the Collar Down"

There have been many online conversations about the merits of Katie Couric's experience and background. She's been criticized and panned by most of the critics in TV news, and ratings for the CBS Evening News are the lowest they have ever been since Neilson began keeping track.

I have to admit... I don't mind her performance on the Evening News. But that's what it looks like, a performance, not a delivery, of the news. I long for Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather.

But the following video, posted to Harry Shearer's website mydamnchannel.com, catches Katie, prior to performing a liveshot, making fun of Dan Rather. And you can kind of see why she hasn't really appealed to a wider viewing audience.



Now, on the other hand, it is kind of funny to watch Dan Rather spend a silly amount of time trying to figure out whether or not to wear the coat prior to a live shot in Seattle several years back in his pre-scandal anchoring days.

This is the video that Katie references in the above clip, also posted to Harry Shearer's mydamnchannel.com:



Incidentally, Dan Rather is known to get his wardrobe, which may have also included that trench coat, from the same Saville Row tailor that the venerable Edward R. Murrow used when he was stationed in London for CBS.

Jimmy Carter: Man From Plains

The documentary film about Jimmy Carter by Johnathan Demme, titled "Man From Plains" hits theaters throughout the country this week.

My interview with the former President last year was filmed by the production crew (interesting note: the cameraman was actor Aidan Quinn's brother), but sadly, we didn't make the final cut of theatrical release. Hopefully some of the interview will wind up on the DVD.

Here's the trailer for the film, which I found engaging and interesting, and certainly provides insight into President Carter's efforts in his post-presidential years.

President Jimmy Carter: Don't Forget About Darfur

PRESS RELEASE - New York, October 12, 2007 – In an exclusive interview with Voice of America (VOA), former President Jimmy Carter spoke with New York correspondent Kane Farabaugh about the continuing crisis in Burma, his recent trip to Darfur, and other issues including six-party talks with North Korea.

In the twenty-minute television interview, President Carter also spoke about his new book, Beyond the White House: Waging Peace, Fighting Disease, Building Hope, which profiles the work of the Carter Center over the last 25 years.

The former president's recent trip to the Darfur region of Sudan made headlines when Sudanese security officials prevented him from speaking to local villagers. The resulting publicity, he said, brings attention to suffering in the war-torn country.

"It's very important for the world not to forget about Darfur, not to forget about the persecution of a displaced person."

On the issue of Burma, President Carter said he believes that more pressure from the international community is needed for change.

"If the world pressure can be brought on India and China to condemn what's going on in a very forceful but maybe … quiet way, that's the only avenue I see in the near future to bring about a change."

Excerpts from the interview with President Carter were broadcast on VOA television and radio throughout the world, including to Africa, India, China, and Burma. Stories and video segments featuring President Carter's comments about Burma and Darfur are available on the VOA website at www.VOANews.com/english/2007-10-10-voa52.cfm and www.VOANews.com/english/2007-10-10-voa66.cfm.

The Voice of America, which first went on the air in 1942, is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA broadcasts more than 1,000 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 115 million people. Programs are produced in 45 languages.

For more information, call the Office of Public Affairs at (202) 203-4959, or e-mail publicaffairs@voa.gov.

VOANEWS: Sierra Leone Refugees Find International Success in Music

Government corruption and control of the diamond industry fueled the civil war that erupted in Sierra Leone in 1991. By the end of the decade, fighting had spread throughout the African country and included battles in the capital, Freetown. Thousands fled to Guinea and other neighboring nations. But as VOA's Kane Farabaugh reports, the end of the civil war marked the beginning of success for "Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars."

There is a saying among the refugees of Sierra Leone. "Today you settle, tomorrow you pack," something Reuben Koroma knows all too well.

After fleeing rebel forces in Freetown in 1999, he lived in five different refugee camps in Guinea -- a place where adversity became the mother of musical invention. "Instead of thinking all the time of what has happened to us, I think we need to do something else, and we found music as a treatment for ourselves, passionately."

Other musicians found their way to Koroma in the camps. Some had suffered brutal amputations. Others were missing relatives. All had been forced from their homes. Their shared trauma became their inspiration and the foundation for Koroma's new band -- the Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars. "At any time we started to strum the guitar or sing, we could see that 50 people, 100 people would come around us. So we saw that music was a sort of therapy not only for us but for other people in the camp."

On the eve of a tour of several different refugee camps, a documentary film crew joined the All Stars and began to document its quest to record an album. "They said, 'Look guys, we want to make a documentary film about you guys, are you interested?' "

The documentary crew also followed the group on its return to post-war Sierra Leone. As part of a program sponsored by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the All Stars were encouraged to return to Freetown to prove that the security situation was stable.

Not only was it an opportunity for the group to record an album, but also to reconnect with friends and family that the musicians thought were dead. Among the happy reunions documented on camera is one with Ashade Pearce, Koroma's former bandmate. "I received a letter from Reuben, because I was -- I believed that Reuben was dead -- so the first day that I received a letter from Reuben, I said, 'Oh yes, my brother is still alive!'"

Four years after finding each other in the wake of civil war, they are very much alive, and together once again on stage.

But this time, the stage is not a refugee camp in Guinea or a club in Freetown.

They are headliners of the "Celebrate Brooklyn" music fest in New York City, just one stop on a worldwide tour this year. "We used to entertain people in clubs, like 200 or 300 people. Now we entertain thousands, so it's a big challenge for us."

The music tour follows the release of the documentary that chronicled the Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars' rise to stardom, as well as the album recorded in Freetown in 2003 and 2004 called "Living Like a Refugee." The band's music is now played on radio stations around the world.

They also have appeared on television, notably in the United States on the popular talk show program, the Oprah Winfrey Show.

Members of the group hope to use their fame to spread a message. Alhaji Jeffrey Kamara lost his entire family in the war. Now he is Koroma's adopted son, a rap vocalist who calls himself Black Nature. He intends to speak for others orphaned by war. "We are representing refugees around the world, and we are teaching them to forget about the war, but we are telling them that war is not the answer."

Reuben Koroma says that he hopes that the band's success will allow them to fund clinics, hospitals and a music school for children in Sierra Leone. "We are trying to develop Sierra Leone in our own little way."

VOANEWS: Construction at New York's Ground Zero Slowly Increasing

It is some of the most controversial real estate on the planet. The 16 acres of land in New York that is known as "Ground Zero" draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, and interest in what will eventually be built there reaches a peak on the anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks. VOA's Kane Farabaugh reports there appears to be little progress at the site six years after the attacks, but developers continue to be optimistic that the Ground Zero redevelopment plan will be finished by 2012.

At street level, it is hard to see the construction effort at Ground Zero.

But look down at the site from above, and the scale of the work becomes clearer. Each day, hundreds of construction workers are literally laying the foundation of lower Manhattan's future.

Six years after the terrorist attacks that changed New York City forever, delays, debate and disaster have all contributed to a perceived lack of progress at the site. The chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, Avi Schick, admits that a lack of communication is partly to blame. "For too long in the past, all the various stakeholders sat in their own rooms in their own offices and planned their own projects."

As New York Governor Elliot Spitzer's representative on the redevelopment, Schick assured the assembled media at an unveiling of further design plans that those problems are in the past.

Schick said at the presentation, "As the governor has said, there will be no more false promises and no more false starts."

Indeed, as he spoke on the 10th floor of World Trade Center Seven -- the only tower actually rebuilt since September 11th, 2001 -- work in the large hole below continued.

With the first steel beams of the "Freedom Tower" now in place, Larry Silverstein, the developer with the rights to rebuild at Ground Zero, promises to break ground on more towers in the next six months. "The buildings will reach street level a year after the start of construction, and at that point, steel will rise, and towers three and four will top out in 2010."

Despite all the optimistic talk, there have been setbacks in recent weeks.

Just across the street from Ground Zero stands the former Deutsche Bank building -- heavily damaged by the September 11th attacks. Now under demolition one floor at a time, in August it became a death trap for two New York City firefighters. Since their deaths, the demolition has come to a standstill.

"We don't have a precise date right now about when that work will commence or when it will end. But I will tell you this, we are gonna proceed safely, we are gonna proceed carefully, we are gonna proceed expeditiously, but we will get that wretched building down and we will get it down soon," said Schick.

All the parties involved have their sights set on a 2012 completion date. Lifelike animations show how New York City would look if the current plans reach completion -- a series of towers that gradually spiral down to the permanent memorial to all those who perished that fateful September morning.

Now called the National September 11th Memorial and Museum, the centerpiece of the plan calls for two square voids surrounded by falling water, aptly titled "Reflecting Absence."

VOANEWS: Utica, New York home to Growing Refugee Population

The loss of manufacturing jobs in the northeastern U.S. state of New York led to an economic decline in the 1970s. But war in Vietnam, and two decades later in the Balkans, as well as continued strife in Burma and Africa have helped change the face of one central New York community. VOA's Kane Farabaugh visited the town of Utica, which has welcomed an influx of refugees from around the world.

Utica's prosperity disappeared two to three decades ago
Prosperity left Utica, New York several decades ago. Once-mighty factories are now in ruin, reminders of a faded glory.

The hum of industry and people reached its peak in 1960, when the population grew to more than 100,000 people.

Peter Vogelaar from the Mowhawk Valley Refugee Resource Center did not live here then. He arrived more than three decades later, when the population stood at little more than 60,000. "It's the rust belt. You know, a lot of light manufacturing. There was a closing of a military base just north of Utica and Rome, that lost around 30,000 jobs. A lot of the jobs were either moving south or overseas."

But as jobs headed one way, refugees began to arrive in the opposite direction. The phenomenon grew in the 1990s, creating a mutually beneficial relationship between a community starving for improvement, and refugees looking for a new start.

"There was a realization that, 'Hey, this is actually a good thing for us,' as a community," Vogelaar said.

Utica is now home to roughly 5,000 refugees who fled the conflict in the Balkans in the mid-1990s. They make up almost 10 percent of Utica's current population, and have transformed derelict neighborhoods into thriving communities.

When the Balkan conflict ended in the late 1990s, the number of new Bosnians arriving in Utica dwindled.

But that did not stop the flow of other refugees.

The Mohawk Valley Refugee Resource Center is the main organization helping refugees resettle here. Center staff members provide a variety of services, including guidance through the difficult experience of living and working in a foreign country.

English lessons at the Refugee Resource Center are as important, and as busy, as ever.

Most of the classes are now made up of African and Burmese students looking to gain the language skills necessary to land a good job.

Mohamud Hussein Mohammed is one such student. He fled famine and fighting in Somalia in 1993, and resettled in the southern state of Texas before moving to Utica last year. He has a family of six, and prefers living in Utica because it is closer to his extended family, and closer to living the American dream.

"It's easier to find a job. For job it's easy, but still I didn't find it easy for buying. If you have money you can buy a house. When you make money, when you work hard and very good, you can make money and buy a house."

Home ownership in Utica is within reach for many refugees. The City of Utica and other landowners are happy to sell abandoned and derelict homes that can be put back on the tax rolls.

Much of the remodeling and home construction in the area can be attributed to the refugee population.

Vogelaar often hears from people his agency has helped through the years. Many are now employed, and have a new a sense of self-pride reflected in the improvements not just to the homes of the area, but the community. "The resilience of the human spirit is amazing, and is demonstrated every single day among the refugees."

For the most part, it has been a happy marriage between Utica and its refugee population. People who suffered through hardship and bloodshed have given new life to a city that suffered cultural and economic decline.

VOANEWS: Furniture Manufacturer Employs Multi-Cultural Workforce

The Balkan conflict, the strife in Sudan, and ongoing oppression in Burma are just some of the factors that have forced people to flee their homes and resettle in the northeastern state of New York. But language and cultural barriers make finding work a difficult prospect for some. As VOA's Kane Farabaugh reports, one local furniture plant embraces the refugee community, and now employs a workforce dubbed a "mini-United Nations."

When Mehudin Krdzic was a young boy in Bosnia, he says Serbian forces moved his family from their farm into the town center of Srebrenica. He recalls what he saw with horror. "Thousands of people killed. Bodies all over the road on top of each other. Massacre. Bottom line, I saw the massacre."

What Marka Bosso knew about hardship before it came to his village in southern Sudan, he says he learned from watching movies. As conflict erupted around them, Bosso and his family fled to Egypt. "The real life is different from the movies."

Lai Nguyn is the son of an American service member and his war-time liaison with a Vietnamese woman. Nguyn has never met his father, and endured years of ridicule and isolation in Vietnam. "We feel like we're lost. That's how I feel -- I not belong here."

Though terrible, their stories of childhood cut short are not unique on the floor of Stickley Furniture near Syracuse, New York.

Out of a workforce of more than 1,000, several hundred employees are immigrants. They all work for Aminy Audi who owns the company with her husband. Originally from Lebanon, she left just before her country erupted into civil war in the 1970s. She lost her brother in the fighting.

"Part of my human experience is to look at the entire world as one small place where, hopefully, all people can coexist and there is an equal opportunity for all."

This part of New York state, between the cities of Utica and Syracuse, is home to tens of thousands of refugees from all over the world. It is a welcome and attractive area for refugees like Krdzic, who looked for a quiet place to live, far away from the conflicts they have fled. "My cousin lived here since 1996, and he sponsored us. He called us and told us that this is a good place to live, you know the climate is pretty much similar as it is in Bosnia and that's why we chose Syracuse."

Stickley is one of the top employers for refugees seeking work in the area. It is a business that has managed to survive the economic decline created by the loss of the manufacturing industry in the area. Stickley credits part of its survival to its workforce.

Stickley Furniture’s owner, Aminy Audi explains. "We started working with the refugee resettlement program and as a result, we have a lot of people who represent 36 nationalities here who are thrilled to be given an opportunity, to have a door being opened for them. Very hardworking people, very committed people, and many of them have been with us for many years."

There are few political or cultural boundaries on the factory floor. Serbians work side by side with Bosnians, as do Ethiopians and Somalis, Vietnamese and Chinese.

"We have to remember that those people, the refugees, have been through so much in their life. They've left countries, they've been devastated by war... So if we can create an environment that provides another opportunity for them, they pay their own way. They basically work hard, and we pay them for their hard work."

Some of the employees feel the opportunity to work here has done more than just make a difference -- it has empowered them. When Stickley opened a plant in Vietnam several years ago, Nguyn was able to return to his country, this time as an adult, and as an American. "They give me a chance to go to Vietnam, come back to my country. And I'm very proud. I go over there and I am so happy. People respect me."

For Mark Bosso, Syracuse is now home, and Stickley is a job he would like to keep for a lifetime. "It was my first job, and it looks like it's going to be my last job."

Reflections on Korea: Part 1

"Korea is a peninsula divided. Two nations, yet one people separated by history, ideology, and the demilitarized zone. It is within this zone that a fragile armistice endures the test of time and change in a standoff that is neither piece nor war. It is a place where servicemembers and civilians alike have sacrificed their lives to maintain a peace so thousands may live."

I wrote that piece as part of a script for a spot promotion on a documentary I helped produce with the American Forces Korea Network (AFKN) in Seoul. It was my first year on the peninsula and my first introduction into the complex division between the Korean people.

I was part of a team of reporters stationed in Seoul for AFKN, and each day, out of naivite, we would search the Associated Press wires for news that North Korea had advanced or provoked checkpoints at the worlds most heavily guarded border. None of us really knew the enemy or the enemies motives. We just knew that they existed, and that they were a constant threat to peace and stability in the region. That was the party line anyway.

But I wanted to go further and examine who we faced and why. What situations had led up to the current peace stalemate in effect for almost fifty years, and why the most fierce opponent of the United States would not yield in the face of one of the largest famines in the world that was plaguing their country.

I arrived in Seoul in November of 1996. Up until that time, mention of North Korea was limited to brief announcements on the local news about nuclear weapons development or the death of North Koreas dictator, Kim Il Sung.

I entered the country at the onset of renewed hostilities. North Korea sent a spy submarine filled with armed commandos into South Korean waters, and then ashore. The 25 infiltrators sent the peninsula in to a heightened state of security.

VOANEWS: Unique US Military Operation Supports Science Efforts in Polar Regions

During the Cold War, Greenland was a strategic location for the United States military to track and detect Soviet aircraft and ballistic missiles. The military established radar and tracking sites throughout Greenland's ice sheet. The only way in and out of the remote facilities was by specially equipped aircraft. Since 1975, that mission has belonged to an Air Force unit based in New York state -- the 109th Airlift Wing. As VOA's Kane Farabaugh reports, a unit that began a now obsolete military mission has found new life in Greenland in the pursuit of science.

The C-130 airplanes offer the only possible way to deliver heavy equipment and supplies to the remote arctic research stations

It is early morning in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. Airmen from the 109th Airlift Wing from New York state are far from home on this cold morning. It is about an hour from take off for a group of students and scientists heading into the Arctic chill of Greenland's vast ice sheet.

For many of these students, it is their first time up on the ice. But for Lieutenant Colonel Bruce Jones? "We are polar aviators," says the mission commander.

It has become a routine mission that is far from ordinary.

"We are the only C-130 in the world that has skis on them, and we're able to drop 30 to 40,000 pounds [18,000 kilograms] of cargo in one trip,” says Jones. “You wouldn't be able to do that with a smaller airplane or any other type of vehicle."

The C-130 is a robust military cargo airplane first used by the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War. It is now used by many different militaries around the world, but only the 109th has the distinction of flying to both polar regions.

"Our primary mission is down in Antarctica during the winter season,” explains the colonel, “and during the off season, we come up here and support VECO."

VECO Polar Resources is contracted by the National Science Foundation to coordinate travel and cargo for the scientists conducting the research.

Greg Huey is one of those scientists.

To study the atmosphere in places like Summit, Greenland's tallest point, Huey depends on equipment brought in and out by the C-130s.

"It's hard work,” he says, “because you might have a six or seven week project, and you come in on the C-130s on a certain day, and you're going to leave on the C-130s, and you have to make sure that all your equipment is there. You have to make sure that everything works."

For the most part, everything does work. The 109th prides itself on its safety record -- it has never lost an aircraft -- and its maintenance record. Ice and snow can easily ground the C-130s. But decades of operating in the difficult conditions have enabled the unit to quickly return the aircraft to service.

While the weather frequently wreaks havoc on tight schedules up on the ice sheet, there is no alternate way to get in and out of the remote camps. The 109th is currently the only organization capable of transporting the large amounts of cargo and people needed to conduct the scientific research.

"If we weren't here they would probably have to either walk, ski, or take a sled dog team into the location,” says Jones, “which would probably hamper the amount of research they would get done."

The 109th Airlift Wing is made up of Air National Guard personnel. Most typically have other full-time jobs, and serve in uniform part-time -- usually about three weeks a year.

The 109th's ongoing support of the National Science Foundation's efforts in Greenland and Antarctica comes at a time of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Despite the current strain that combat operations have placed on members of the National Guard, it has so far not affected peacetime operations of the 109th in the polar regions.

"We are a military organization. We bring the professionalism of a military organization and the skills and we have the assets. But the actual mission we do is in the support of science, for the betterment of mankind as a whole."

In 1999, the 109th made international headlines when Dr. Jerri Nielsen, a physician at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, discovered a cancerous lump in her breast. A ski-equipped C-130 with the 109th attempted a dangerous landing in Antarctica's winter. Despite battling poor visibility and temperatures reaching negative 50 degrees Celsius, the mission was a success. The 109th airlifted Dr. Nielsen to the United States for treatment.

Greenland Global Warming

This is the video story based on the print story posted on July 25th. This version of the story was re-edited to take out the music. I liked this version better.

VOANEWS: Greenland Ice Reveals Evidence of Global Warming

Periods of global warming and cooling have caused the terrain of Greenland to change over time -- part of the natural process of the Earth's evolution. But as VOA's Kane Farabaugh reports, scientists who work in Greenland are concerned that evidence they are finding today in the ice indicates that mankind could be causing a change in Greenland's natural evolution -- for the worse.

Eighty-five percent of Greenland, the world's largest island, is covered in ice. It is also home to ten percent of the world's ice mass.

Jacobshaven GlacierThe Jacobshaven Glacier, at nine kilometers a year, it is currently the world's fastest-moving glacier. Historians and scientists believe this mass of draining ice produced the iceberg that sunk the Titanic ocean liner in 1912. It is also a glacier that could contribute to sinking coastlines of major countries if it were to melt completely.
Greenland is the fastest-warming location on the planet. The average temperature here is four degrees Fahrenheit warmer than it was a decade ago. If continued warming caused most of Greenland's ice to melt, sea levels would rise roughly 20 feet [six meters].
Scientists looking at satellites believe southern Greenland is currently losing 25 cubic miles [104 cubic kilometers] of ice per year.

These statistics have placed Greenland at the center of the global warming debate.
Jorgen Peter SteffensenJorgen Peter Steffensen is a professor at University of Copenhagen. He says, "In all humankind's existence it has been a basic thing of life that climate has changed."

In Kangerlussuak, the hub of scientific activity in Greenland, Steffensen is preparing for a summer on Greenland's ice sheet. He studies cross sections of the packed ice -- called ice cores -- that he gathers from drilling deep inside the ice sheet. "So whatever falls as snow on the ice cap never goes away. It just piles up. And therefore, the ice cap, the massive ice you have covering Greenland, is a beautiful layer cake of snowfall upon snowfall nicely piled up over the eons."

Summit is the tallest point in Greenland. It sits on top of 3,300 meters of ice. It is 400 kilometers from land. It is one of several locations where ice core samples are gathered.
In this barren, frozen expanse, scientists like Roger Bales take advantage of the pristine conditions to gather data that will help other scientists, like Steffensen, understand the evidence in the ice core samples. "This is a very clean station. As you know, there's pollution in cities but there's also global pollution, so we come here to one of the cleanest places in the Northern Hemisphere to really understand what's happening globally."

What is happening globally over the years is that the temperature is rising. Summit ice core samples give scientists an idea of how fast the ice melted during certain periods, and how much carbon and gas was in the atmosphere when the snow fell.

It might be hard to fathom that the planet is getting warmer -- while standing in sub-zero temperatures in one of the coldest places on Earth.

But almost every scientist who works here has come to the same conclusion, either by evidence gathered in the ice, or by data collected by experts on the atmosphere. One of them, Greg Huey, comments, "Global warming is a fact in the scientific community."
What is not conclusive is whether or not mankind is responsible.

"I don't think that the concept of global warming -- it's not controversial in the scientific community. It's here -- people might argue about how fast it is or what steps to take, but no one argues that greenhouse gas emissions and the planet is warming, and unless we want to live in a very different climate for our children and grandchildren we're going to have to do something about the carbon in the atmosphere," says Huey.

Steffensen adds, "To filter out whether this present warming is a natural variation or is man made -- that is impossible. But if there is a very strong correlation between our emissions and the heating we see today, so do we dare not to?"

Much of the research being conducted in Greenland today helps provide sound, scientific evidence to lawmakers and leaders around the world.

"We want people to know that the atmosphere is changing. We are, we have these global atmospheric measurements and the evidence is solid for that. It provides I think a sound basis for decision makers on which to base mitigation measures," Bales adds.

But what scientists like Steffensen fear most is the unknown. "Instead of a gradual warming, we could have something terrible happen. And the worst thing we would like now, with six billion people in the world, is unpredictability. That would be the worst. That is what I fear -- is the unpredictability, and it could be triggered by our actions."

Greenland & Antarctica C-130 Skis Air Force 109th Airlift Wing National ...

The American Veteran: July Edition

This edition of the American Veteran features an interview by Jim Benson with Dr. Michael J. Kussman. I always welcome feedback, and so does the VA, so let us know what you think.

GREG CRABERS TEN STEPS TO BEING A BETTER BROADCASTER

Editors Note: This is sarcastic. Tongue in cheek. You know the drill. From a friend I worked with in the military broadcasting world, now an anchor and reporter in the Northwest. I always liked his sense of humor:

A JOURNALIST'S 10 STEPS TO PROPER BROADCASTING
Taken from Volume II of Greg Craber's School of Broadcasting

1. IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOU'RE DOING, YOU'RE THE BEST THERE IS AT IT.

2. NEVER DO ANYTHING FOR ANYONE, UNLESS YOU DIRECTLY BENEFIT MONITARILY OR OTHERWISE.

3. YOU ARE IN CHARGE OF EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS AROUND YOU.

4. MAKE SURE EVERYONE KNOWS ABOUT EVERYTHING YOU'VE DONE THAT IS
REALLY GOOD.

5. AFTER YOU'VE DONE SOMETHING FOR SOMEONE, THEY OWE YOU!

6. WHEN LOOKING FOR A PARKING SPOT, YOU ARE BOTH A "DV" AND A "VIP".

7. EVERYONE (excluding relatives) OF THE OPPOSITE SEX WOULD "LIKE TO KNOW YOU BETTER".

8. MAKE SURE YOUR PRESENCE IS ANNOUNCED ANY TIME YOU ENTER A ROOM
WITH MORE THAN 7 PEOPLE PRESENT.

9. WHEN ANSWERING A TELEPHONE, USE THE PHRASE "(YOUR COMPANY) THIS IS (YOUR NAME)! HOW CAN WE HELP EACH OTHER?" (WHEN BROADCASTING IN THE MILITARY, LEAVE OUT RANK! YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT NOW.)

10. NEVER SCHEDULE WORK DURING OFF-DUTY HOURS OR LUNCH, UNLESS LARGE FAVORS ARE GUARANTEED!

FOLLOWING THESE SIMPLE GUIDELINES WILL TEACH YOU THAT YOU ARE BETTER
THAN THE AVERAGE PERSON, AND THOSE AROUND YOU WILL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO FALL IN LINE, AND RESPECT YOU.

A NOTE FROM THE TEACHER:
I'VE GIVEN THESE STEPS TO YOU BECAUSE LATELY I'VE NOTICED THAT MANY
NEW BROADCASTERS DON'T REALIZE HOW MUCH BETTER THEY ARE THAN NORMAL
PEOPLE, AND THEREFORE, THEY DON'T ACT SUPERIOR. THIS NEEDS TO STOP. THANKS FOR YOUR TIME. I WANT YOU TO THINK OF THESE ITEMS AS MORE THAN JUST GUIDELINES, THEY'RE ACTUALLY FACTS AND A WAY OF BETTER LIVING AS A BROADCASTER. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONSULT ME FOR MORE TEACHINGS AT ANY TIME.

GREG CRABER, PhD
GREG CRABER'S SCHOOL OF BROADCASTING.

The American Veteran: May Edition

May Edition of the American Veteran. I really enjoy being a part of this program, and I'm proud to make a contribution in the veteran community. I always welcome feedback... let me know what you think.

VOANEWS: Virgin Group Founder Commits Billions of Dollars to Help Environment

Richard Branson Interview

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Richard Branson sits on the top-ten list of the United Kingdom's richest citizens, with an estimated wealth of roughly eight billion dollars. As the company he founded -- Virgin Group -- tries to expand its airline operations into the United States, Branson is committing billions of dollars of the company's future profits to developing renewable energy. VOA's Kane Farabaugh recently spoke to the British entrepreneur at the United Nations in New York about his commitments to helping the environment, and about his plans for the final frontier in tourism -- space.

He set a record for crossing both the Atlantic Ocean and the English Channel.

An attempt to travel non-stop around the world in a hot air balloon fell short of his dreams in 1999, but his Virgin Global Flyer aircraft, piloted by Steve Fossett, succeeded in 2005.

Richard Branson said before the success, “It is perhaps the last great aviation record left here on Earth."

But when Richard Branson is not flying above the clouds, he is right down to earth in the effort to go green. "There is a danger that mankind could actually be destroyed if we carry on putting too much methane and carbon into the Earth's atmosphere."

At former President Bill Clinton's Global Initiative conference in New York in September, Branson emphasized the need to develop renewable energy. "We have to wean ourselves off our dependence on coal and fossil fuels."

Branson committed the profits over the next 10 years from Virgin Atlantic Airline and other transportation companies in the Virgin Group to the effort. That is an estimated cost of three billion dollars.

And in February, Branson announced the Virgin Earth Challenge, a $25 million prize for the person who develops a working solution to remove greenhouse gases from the Earth's atmosphere. "To devise a way of removing greenhouse gases, at least the equivalent of one billion tons of carbon per year -- hopefully much more, and you will have the satisfaction of saving thousands of species and possibly even mankind itself."

Since the announcement, Branson has received a flood of entries for the competition that is open to the world. "We've had 15,000 people who have sent in their application forms. It only launched a month ago so it's early days to see if anybody's come up with any great ideas, but at least we're getting people thinking. And you know, it would be wonderful if someone had a breakthrough."

Aside from his efforts to promote a cleaner environment, Branson continues to be a man on the move, expanding his business empire.

Almost 35 years after he started his fledgling record company in London, the Virgin name is on everything from music to mobile phones, comics to drinks, trains to planes, and now, the first spacecraft built for tourists.

Called Virgin Galactic, it is scheduled to blast off in 2009. Branson adds, "Myself and my family are fortunate enough, because we own a space company, to be able to take the first flight up there. So 24 months from now my parents and my children and myself shall be popping into space.”

Branson says he is not concerned. “I'm not nervous. I mean, these spaceships will be well tested before we go up. But it's a responsibility. It's a responsibility to take my children up and my parents, and it's going to be a responsibility taking hopefully thousands of people up in the years to come."

Branson is sometimes called the "Rebel Billionaire", a title he has earned partly for the risks he has taken in many of his business ventures.

While the world waits for Virgin Galactic to launch from the Mojave desert in California, Branson is also trying to position Virgin into the U.S. domestic air travel market. Virgin America, based in San Francisco, is trying to win approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). The DOT initially opposed the start-up because of regulations preventing foreign citizens from controlling a U.S.-based airline.

In Britain in 2003, Branson also led an unsuccessful effort to keep the supersonic passenger jet Concorde flying. The owner, British Airways, refused to sell the aircraft and forced the fleet into retirement. That put an end to supersonic passenger travel.
But when Richard Branson looks back on a life less ordinary than most, it is not his airlines, his record stores, his space franchise, or his travel speed records he wants people to remember most. He hopes the world will remember the Virgin Earth Challenge. "If somebody could answer this prize, I would be very happy to be known for coming up with a prize that saved the world."