Cmdr. Mooney update ~

Damaged Sub Returns to Guam

2.27.05
Dear Dom,

Your words of encouragement have helped me to feel better about Kevin’s situation. I also received a letter from Kevin, copies of which he sent to our family and the friends who have been supporting him with telephone calls and e-mails. This is the last paragraph:

"Please know how much we have appreciated your efforts to comfort and pray for us during this challenging time. While many tough days no doubt lie ahead, I feel as though I am in the twilight of my grief and the dawn of my recovery. Let’s hope so."

Thank you for putting our Ethiopian postal address on the blogsite.
God bless you and thank you again for your kindness.

Love,
Sr Mary James

What follows, are excerpts from an article in Stars and Stripes, Pacific Edition, by Jon R. Anderson, Sunday, February 27, 2005:

"Mooney appeared before 7th Fleet commander Vice Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert at fleet headquarters in Yokosuka on Saturday morning, 2.27.05, in what the Navy dubs "admiral’s mast," a form of nonjudicial punishment that stops short of the criminal proceedings of a court-martial. He was reprimanded for hazarding a naval vessel," Greenert’s spokesman Cmdr. Ike Skelton told Stars and Stripes. Cmdr. Kevin Mooney was stripped of his command and issued a letter of reprimand for failing to implement “several critical navigational and voyage planning procedures,” according to a Navy announcement after the hearing. “By not ensuring these standard procedures were followed, Mooney hazarded his vessel,” reads the announcement.

Skelton was unable to point to any specific evidence or exactly what standard procedures were not being followed that led Greenert to his conclusions. At issue from the beginning has been whether Mooney had access to charts that would have indicated dangerous waters in his area.

Much of the Pacific Ocean’s vast and varied undersea landscape remains poorly charted and Pentagon officials have said that the primary maps given to Mooney indicated no dangerous obstacles where the crash took place on January 8, about 350 miles south of the submarine’s homeport in Guam.

Sources close to the case say Mooney would have preferred the right of being judged by a jury of his peers . . . but unlike most nonjudicial hearings throughout most of the military, sailors in sea going commands are unable to appeal orders "to mast" by demanding a court-martial trial even if they feel the charges and adjudication are unjust.

Rear Admiral P. F. Sullivan, the commander of Pacific submarine forces, made an impassioned plea for Mooney. He praised him for having turned the San Francisco, which had previously been plagued with leadership and maintenance problems, into one of the best vessels in the fleet. It was Mooney with only a few of his crew who saved the ship after the collision, and returned it to Guam. The very heavy casualties sustained, had left most of the crew unable to function.

Comments: Cmdr. Mooney, as of now, is bearing sole responsibility for a Naval tragedy whose parameters of accountability remain still to be accurately determined and assessed. Please click on the word "comments" just below this paragraph, and convey to him how you think and feel about this colossal misfortune. Make sure you read the comments already registered.

Carpe diem, Osama!

Hearken to the Angel, Osama!

On New Year's day, I urged you to stop the Jihad and join the West in a united endeavor to bring vital physical and humane assistance to the victims of southern Asia’s tsunami. Would it not have pleased Allah to see your zealous followers turn away from their war with the West and engage in a worldwide humanitarian action?

But between that time and now, much of equally profound importance continues to transpire. People worldover, and in every nation of Islam, are rising courageously to express themselves. Men and women alike are becoming increasingly demonstrative and vociferous in their demands for freedom and democracy and they seem indifferent to the mortal perils they face in making themselves seen and heard.

Now even more than then is truly an opportune time for you to reverse your course. Think of it, were you actually to prevail over all your adversaries and every infidel, you would preside over a ravaged and devastated world. And most of its survivors, Western and Islamic alike, would not bear you good will. Their thirst for revenge would be unquenchable and the graffiti on your tomb might not be to your liking.

On the other hand, were you to really listen to the Archangel Gabriel and respond to his soft spoken guidance, you might one day come to be revered and appreciated as another Prince of Peace. He spoke clearly to the Virgin Mary and she listened. He did the same as he embraced Muhammad, and he listened. Could he not be trying to tell you to sheathe your sword, discard your rifle and find a bottomless pit in which to dispose of all your explosives? Do you not hear him saying that he wants you to extend your hand and join with all of your adversaries in true amity and good will?

Carpe diem, Osama! Look how quickly Arafat is being replaced by men of reason. Instead of being feared, be revered. Do what God expects of you and the epitaph on your tomb will be an eternally illuminated beacon of peace and good will.

From Sister Mary James

We received this letter from Sister Mary James, today ~

Dear Dom,

This is the first chance I have had to open my e-mail in almost two weeks. My schedule in Ireland was busy and it is now even more busy since my return to Ethiopia. All of our sisters (11) will be here for a community meeting this weekend, and I must do some preparation for it later today. We have an Ethiopian sister studying in Wales. Hopefully she will return with a degree in Community Development in July. Then we will be 12.

Thank you so much for your message about Kevin. I will not have a chance to send him your blogsite until next week, but I will surely do so. I will also send it to others in the family, especially Kevin's father, who is really hurting. As sad as it is for Kevin, I know it is part of God's mysterious plan.

God bless you for your care and concern - I will write again soon.
With love and prayers,
Sister Mary James

Dear Sister,

We are continuing to pray that God, in His infinite wisdom and goodness, will help Cmdr Kevin Mooney to emerge swiftly, and with renewed confidence, from this tragic misfortune. Kevin has a lot of life to live and he is fortunate to have so many truly caring friends and such a devoted family.

You too, and the sprinkling of dedicated sisters who unceasingly work with you, are constantly in our prayers. Why did God make so few earthly angels and so many inactive and do-nothing multitudes?

I trust that some of our readers who Tarry here awhile, will find it possible to convey more than just supportive wishes and words to you Good Shepherd Sisters whose address is P.O. Box 6558, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

With great affection,
Dom

Relativity (?)

A Family Photograph, circa 1916

While sorting through old family photos and paraphernalia, I found this remarkable photograph. To me, it projects a transcendent dynamic.

At the center of this group of some of my relatives, your gaze will be drawn to a mustachioed, authoritative looking gentleman in a white shirt. He is Giovanni Porto, my maternal grandfather.

In all the time he lived in this country, he never had an identifiable job, career or profession. Yet he commuted regularly, and very often, between here and Sicily. His missions were darkly secretive. No one in the family knew why he made them, nor did anyone in the family have an inkling as to his financial status. But what we all knew for certain, was that he had uncountable numbers of diamonds of all sizes and shapes strewn through his belongings. We came to suspect that he must have had very strong connections to the Mafia and that perhaps one of his services to that organization was to carry information and money, back and forth from Sicily. In retrospect, I believe that his position at the geometric center of the group in the photo was clearly one of dubious honor and misplaced reverence.

On the left hand side of this same photograph, standing by himself, is another authoritative, mustachioed gentleman. He is Antonino Panseca, my maternal great-grandfather. He and his wife Concetta brought my mother, my Aunt Concetta, my Uncle Angelo and my Uncle Antonino to this country on October 22, 1898. He was 63 and my mother was 3 when they arrived at Ellis Island.

I was always, and I still am very proud of my great-grandfather. He was a carabiniere in Sicily. Mounted on his jackass, named Rosinante (my great-grandfather was an avid reader of Don Quixote) and with a Napoleon vintage carbine slung on his shoulder, he climbed up and down many mountains and foothills in Sicily, flushing out from their peccant lairs, brigands, thieves and murderers. He was awarded many medals and citations and it always delighted me to see and hold each one of them. A few years after this picture was taken, he drifted slowly into senility. I, still a boy, used to travel alone by “trolley car” to visit him in the hospital and bring him food prepared by my mother. During my visits there, I loved to make sketches of him. I revered my great-grandfather.

Photographs are often very eloquent, aren’t they?

NY Times (??)

When the Readers Speak Out, Can Anyone Hear Them?

New York Times, Sunday 2/20/2005

Daniel Okrent; The Public Editor addresses the above question:

* He says, The Times needs to find an alternative ending for this depressing tune. Certainly the numbers are impossible. The letters department receives 1,000 messages every day, and publishes 15. Beyond that, many of the paper's readers find certain practices and policies regarding letters either dumbfounding or objectionable. Chief among these is the paper’s general hesitance to publish letters that make accusations against The Times, criticize writers or editors, or otherwise call into question the newspaper’s fairness, news judgment or professional practices.

Maureen Dowd; Attacks Harvard Board and President in her OpEd.

** She says, “Whatever point he was trying to make, he ended up making this one: It’s not female aptitude that’s the problem, it’s male attitude. He confuses the roles society assigns to women with what women might really want. The “different socialization” Dr. Summers talks about may be getting worse, thanks to goofballs like him. How did he get to be head of Harvard anyway?

Calls for a letter to the editor, right?

*** Fine! But if you are ingenuous enough to believe that if you say, 1) her critique in this paragraph is undecipherable, intellectual drivel, 2) that the gratuitously offensive, ad hominem attacks she makes on Dr. Summers (and the Harvard Board that appointed him) would be more appropriate on a supermarket tabloid, then don't expect your letter to get more than one millimeter past that sucking black hole on the editor's desk.

Site Meter!

Site Meter monitors this Blog

Site Meter is a sophisticated high-tech program that keeps close track of each visit to this blogsite. It stores interesting and very useful statistics on a day, week, month and yearly basis. If you have a moment to spare, take a peek at the diversity of activity that is currently being sorted out and recorded.

Press the “End” key on your keyboard and you will be taken to the last page of the Blog. At the bottom of that page you will see an icon that looks exactly like the illustration at the top of this Posting. Left click on that icon and a window will appear that displays figures and statistics relating to this blog's day to day activity.

Click on any item that appears on the periphery of the display and view the astonishing data being collected and stored.

To return to the Blog: Go to the upper left hand corner of your screen and click on the Arrow pointing leftward.

Sports?

Who among us is not an avid sports fan?

I don't know about you,
But as for me, I have always liked my sports, illustrated.

However (with respect to the young woman above) what I don't want to hear is that Jose Canseco, that ubiquitous syringe wielder, has been visiting her and injecting her with steroids!

Whose fault?

Cmdr Kevin Mooney

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Cmdr Kevin Mooney, the Captain of a U.S. submarine that hit an undersea mountain last month in the western Pacific, killing one sailor and injuring 23 others, will be relieved of his command, Pentagon officials said Friday, 2.11.05.

Navy Cmdr Kevin Mooney will not be charged with any crime and will not be court-martialed. He received a nonjudicial punishment, most likely in the form of a letter of reprimand from his commander, this week, officials said. Such punishment typically ends an officer’s career. Mooney was reassigned pending an investigation after the severely damaged USS San Francisco returned to its home port in Guam. Details of the investigation were not available.

Machinist’s Mate 2nd Class Joseph Allen Ashley, 24 of Akron, Ohio, died of injuries suffered in the accident, which occurred when the attack submarine was en route to Brisbane, Australia.

The nuclear-powered submarine’s bow was severely damaged when the submarine struck an undersea mountain 350 miles south of Guam on January 8 while traveling at a high speed. In late January, a Navy official said it appeared the mountain was not on the navigation charts the crew was using. Although the outer hull was ripped open, the inner hull was not compromised, and water did not get into the working and living quarters. The USS San Francisco carried a crew of 137.

As we reported in our posting, “Out of Ethiopia” Cmdr Kevin Mooney is the Nephew of Sister Mary James, a Good Shepherd Nun whom I have known and worked with, decades ago. This tragic accident has torn at the hearts of her family and her friends. Kevin, immaculate in character and peerless in his zeal to be professionally accomplished has been dealt a crushing and ironic blow. Had it been Jesus in command of that submarine, the Navy, hostage to its own circumscribed rules, would have been compelled to make that same decision. We now hope and pray that fate will deal more kindly with Kevin as he moves on in life. Our prayers also go to the Ashley family and all of the injured crew.

Land ho!

Departing for Bermuda, June 1981

Norm Lind, left ~ Jim Covington, foreground ~ Tom Gabriele ~ Bruce Kenney
I'm taking the photograph

I just received this e-mail from Norm Lind. Without his skill at keeping our sails and rigging sharply tuned, as we plowed for more than twenty hours thru a hurricane force tropical depression, we might not have survived. And it was he, standing on the spreaders, high in the rigging, who spotted that tiny island first. Who can forget his ~ Land ho!

Hi Dom,

I saw Tom back in December and he gave me your e-mail and blogsite addresses. Since the day you taught me that Escargots and Jack Daniels are very special gifts from the gods, I have always enjoyed your insights and your tireless pursuit of knowledge and experience. In retrospect, I believe that the small restaurant we dined at in Marion, Massachusetts, prior to our embarkation, was the only place that ever prepared Escargots to absolute perfection. But thankfully, Jack Daniels continues to be available everywhere, even here in Maine.

I should add courage to your attributes. Letting it all hang out on a blog takes that or maybe just a thick skin. But I won’t test that armor of yours and I genuinely agree with your favorite book list and music, et al. Samuel Eliot Morison is a truly great naval historian. Melville's Moby Dick blew me away when I read it the second time three years ago. Imagine stumbling across this particularly pregnant passage, early in the story: Grand Contested Election for the Presidency of the United States; Whaling voyage by one Ishmael, Bloody Battle in Afghanistan.

Sharing that ocean racing experience to Bermuda with you, Tom, Jim and Bruce was one of the greatest adventures of my life. I learned and enjoyed much from it and I am forever indebted to you for allowing me to be one of your crew. I even learned that Rodrigo de Triana was the first one to sight land for another of those “infamous” Italians, Christopher Columbus.

Your own Rodrigo, Norm Lind

These four men were drawn from a pool of about two dozen zealous young bucks. That they chose to follow a doddering old senescent like me to Bermuda, on a boat that I put together in my driveway, brings to mind some echoes of the Pied Piper of Hamlin.

Let's Hibernate

Our residence in Somers

As of today, 50 days of winter are already gone and only 40 days remain until the Vernal Equinox, that glorious day on Earth when the Sun rises to its zenith of zeniths, and shines directly over the Equator. So isn’t it nice to know we are now on the Spring side of winter.

Some shiverers among you may feel chilled to your marrow as you stare at the awesome size of these icicles covering this window of our house. However, when you run your bare fingers over their surfaces you can feel tiny droplets of water running down each of them. These stalactites are actually thawing!

Look at this from another perspective: at approximately noon today, someone in Comandatuba, in the Bahia of Brazil (Latitude 15.25 deg S) was hurriedly smearing himself with sun screen lotion while he sat on the ocean beach. The Sun was about to cross exactly 90 degrees above him. But we, here in Heritage (Latitude 41.3 deg N) gazing at that same Sun with a sextant, see it just above the horizon at only 34.3 degrees. Lucky we! No danger of sunburn. No need for sun screen, today!

<> And if our sweltering Brazilian friend needs to really chill his Tequila, I’ll be happy to FedEx him one of my icicles.

Out of Ethiopia

The Good Shepherd Pendant

This is a letter I just received from Sister Mary James, a Good Shepherd Nun who has been on a mission to Ethiopia for several years (For backgound: Go to Archives, click on December and scroll down to 12/6/04) During my days with the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, I came to know Sister James very well. One of God's very special creatures, she was born to a life of humanitarian service. I have never felt closer to God than when than when I worked with this saintly person.

February 6, 2005
Dear Dr. Gabriele,

More than a month after you wrote it, I finally had a chance to read your letter to Osama bin Laden. It is a masterpiece. I can only hope and pray that he will see it - somehow - and that either his heart or his brain will be touched by it, and he may reverse his present course of action!

It has been pretty hectic here since my return to Ethiopia and now I will leave tomorrow for a meeting in Ireland. I will return in two weeks. It will also be a busy time, but I expect there will be a bit of Irish fun thrown in.

I know your navigating days are over, but I am sure you still have a great love for the sea. No doubt you heard the news reports about the Navy's USS San Francisco, a nuclear submarine which struck an ocean mountain causing the death of one sailor, injury to many others and severe damage to the submarine. My nephew Kevin Mooney, was the commander and bears responsibility for the accident. The Navy has an ongoing investigation, so Kevin cannot talk about it. But we are praying that he will be cleared of all charges. All of his adult life, he has wanted to have this job and worked so hard to achieve it. It is just one year since he took command of the submarine. Well, God's will be done.

My love to Lenore, Beryl and Tony
All of you have a special place in my prayers.

With love,
Sister Mary James

Beryl and Dr. Anthony Correoso, a Psychiatrist, worked with us at Madonna Heights in Huntington, New York. Beryl was our esteemed Director of Social Service. They now reside here in Heritage Hills.

Dear Sister James

We read your letter with great interest and concern.

May your respite in Ireland refresh you. From what I know about Ireland, fun has never been in short supply on the Emerald Isle. And knowing you as I do, I'm sure you will bring some of it back to Addis Ababa, where it is so desperately needed. If Eoghan Ryan, my telecom friend in Cork, can do so, I am sure he will find a way to brighten your holiday.

That naval accident was a truly tragic affair. But there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that your nephew will be fully exonerated of direct responsibility. And what has thus far emerged from the investigation leans entirely in that direction. Not to be overlooked is the remarkable seamanship Cmdr Mooney displayed in keeping his severely crippled vessel from foundering to the bottom and bringing it home without further loss or injury to his heroic crew.

Our prayers are with him and you

Love from all of us here to you, wherever and with whomever you are,

Dom Gabriele

Caffe Celestiale

We are so pleased with this Coffeemaker
I have decided to re-run this Posting

All these years, we've been wondering when Coffee Machine manufacturers would get around to designing a single or double cup regular Coffee Maker - and one not committed to making boring, characterless, drip coffee.

By happenstance, I came across some advertising which featured the above machine. As I checked further on the subject, I discovered that the Senseo is currently the highest rated machine of its kind on the market. I ordered it forthwith. From the moment it arrived, we've been using it regularly to our very greatest satisfaction.

The pods used by this machine come in all categories; mild, medium, dark roast and even decaffeinated. Operating the machine is simplicity itself and you may take the promotional blurb above as unredacted gospel truth. The coffee steams out "frothy" - very much like the so-called "crema" made by pressure boiled espresso machines. The full flavor of the coffee is extracted.

To no longer be tethered to a large coffee machine that makes 4-8 cups at a time and needs to have a warming plate under the pitcher in order to keep the coffee just brewed, drinkably warm, is to be truly liberated. Thank you Senseo!

If your curiosity has been piqued, click on the hyperlink below and you will be transported to Coffee Heaven. When you get there, you will have the option to select a retailer - I checked in with Wal Mart. These units sell for about $58. When you get yours, we will raise our coffee cups and join you in savoring Cafe Celestiale!

http://www.senseo.com/