Category Archives: Big Ag

Reign of Error; Kochs, et al, planning assault on Ed.

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Patrick Walsh has a report up on Reign of Error, by Diane Ravitch.

Oh, and have you heard?  It’s open season on teachers.  The climate that No Child Left a Mind and Race to the Bottom have created—to punish students for not being perfect students and their teachers, who are under tremendous pressures to not have any stupid kids (said facetiously)–has now come to fruition.  I’m sure Bill Gates, Eli Broad, Michelle Rhee, et al, are laughing themselves silly.

Jan Ressenger put up a link to this report from the Guardian on just how far the Kochs and their comrades are willing to go….not only to destroy public education, but continue attacks on working folks and unions…

SPN’s president, Tracie Sharp, told the Guardian that “as a pro-freedom network of thinktanks, we focus on issues like workplace freedom, education reform, and individual choice in healthcare: backbone issues of a free people and a free society.”

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I wonder if she could get the word “free” in there any more…was she wrapped in a flag, too??  Because that would *definitely* mean that this program was patriotic and would strengthen democracy…

...by destroying it…

“it’s for your own good” has to be the biggest lie ever told!

Side note~ someone in the comments section linked to the Yes Men video. Enjoy. (Be sure to click on Part 2–with Surviva-balls.  Hilarious.)

Someone also kindly posted a link to a list of Kraft foods.  Again…where are the antitrust laws?  Why is one food manufacturer able to control so much of the market share?  Not that junk food, which is the majority of crap that Kraft makes, is something healthy..what if folks were able to afford healthy made-from-scratch food…?  We could do some serious damage to Kraft’s bottom line if we refused to buy their junk food and bought only fresh….and we’d be healthier, too.

Center for Media and Democracy has the scoop on SPN.  (As a side note~ I haven’t been getting regular emails of the CMD for a few months now–it’s been spotty at best…interesting.  I’ll have to make a note to keep checking their website for updates.)

True to nature, they hide their lobbying disguised to avoid paying taxes.  Good Grief, these people know how to play the game of getting someone else to pay while they reap the benefits.

The mention of the Goldwater Institute raises huge red flags–Hillary Clinton was a Goldwater Girl.  An excellent blog here on her history…er, her trying to re-write her history…and Bill’s.

The Clintons LOVE poor black people on welfare

• The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) that was dreamt up by past Republican administrations, was actually passed by Congress and signed by Clinton. This act was filled with vindictive measures aimed at the poor. Among other things, it set a five-year lifetime limit for cash assistance and gave the states power to adopt stringent restrictions in several other areas. Another key part of the Act, was the imposition for the first time of lifetime limits on welfare. Once a welfare mother uses up this lifetime limit, set at five years by the federal government, she and her children can never again receive federal cash benefits, no matter how desperate their condition and no matter what happens to the overall economy.
Bill Clinton has certainly laid his Mack game down heavy in the black community. Maybe that’s why the African-American community has been so thoroughly duped by lip service, prominent public appearances and appointments, and an office on Harlem’s 125th (although Clinton certainly hasn’t used it much).

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Ahem.   There are white people on food stamps, as well.  The Clintons, along with the Kochs, et al, don’t like POOR people.  Period.

We can’t talk about Bill Clinton’s love for his “black race” without mentioning Rwanda. You remember what happened in Rwanda? If you don’t, then I suggest you rent the movie “Hotel Rwanda” and be prepared to be thoroughly disgusted. Bill Clinton not only refused to intervene to save over one million people from being hacked to death, but he even declined to convene his Cabinet to discuss the crisis.

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I highly recommend Hotel Rwanda.  Just don’t watch it and Schindler’s List on the same weekend.  I actually had to call my son after watching them both one weekend….I needed to talk to a sane human being…

And let’s not forget this piece on the secretive group Hillary Clinton belongs to.  As I’ve said on many occasions…it never ceases to amaze me how people who call themselves Christian act nothing like Christ.  Who would Jesus bomb, Hillary?

I’ve read this piece before, but this sentence just packed a punch:

It emerged, he [Reverend Don Jones] says, as a third way, a reaction against both separatist fundamentalism and the New Deal’s labor-based liberalism.

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…a reaction against….the New Deal’s labor-based liberalism.  In other words:   unions….working folks….public education…social security…medicaid…..livable wages…(and the environment, too, but that would come later).

…and if you listen carefully to conservative media, you’ll hear subtle and outwardly snide attacks on Roosevelt’s New Deal.  Get it, now?

And this:

Niebuhr and Tillich’s combination of aggressiveness in foreign affairs and limited domestic ambition naturally led Clinton toward the gop. She was a Goldwater Girl who, under the tutelage of her high school history teacher Paul Carlson (whom Jones describes as “to the right of the John Birchers”), attended biweekly anticommunist meetings and later served as president of Wellesley’s Young Republicans chapter.

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…she attended biweekly anticommunist meetings.  Wellesley…if the movie “Mona Lisa Smile” is any indication, is a conservative’s utopia…so Young Republicans chapter there?  Pretty hard to swallow that this was a fluke -a flash in the pan….especially when one turns a critical eye to Hillary’s record.  I mean, if they call themselves Democrats, but act as Republicans…

“Mind conservative but a heart liberal” tells me that she is like so many guys who say they’re “socially liberal, but fiscally conservative”.  What this means is:  I’m selfish and self-absorbed.  And I don’t follow my heart.  I let my purse strings do the thinking for me.   In other words, I choose money over God.  (Jesus said that we could only serve one Master–money or God.  Not both.)

Okay, there is more to write, but I’m really tired from the day and need to call it quits.

 

Haiti in turmoil…still…

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Haitians are protesting...but you wouldn’t know that listening to the nightly nooz…which has a morbid fixation on Obamacare and Obama’s popularity…because, you know, that is waaay more important than what is going on around the world, such as the First Nations protests or Haitian protests…or pretty much any protests around the world.

 

The Native American holiday

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Petula Dvorak has this up on the Native Americans and this holiday we celebrate.

The Native Americans I talked to said they’ve all heard of someone who doesn’t celebrate the holiday the way it’s presented in food magazines and Hallmark television specials. But all the people I talked to said they hold on to the original message that the Wampanoag had that day — a harvest feast to give thanks.

“Thanksgiving is like every day for us. Giving thanks is a big part of the native cultures. So the basic message of the holiday, that’s still part of who we are,” said Ben Norman, 32, a member of the Pamunkey tribe in Virginia.

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And that’s what it means to me, too—being thankful for every day and every meal and all that is provided for us.

The Native Americans recognize that all is connected.  What we do over *here* affects something over *there*.  We cannot take and take and take without there being repercussions.  The traditional Native Americans humbly acknowledge that with taking only what they need.

The Europeans described America as a wilderness.  The Native Americans knew better and carefully managed the great ecosystem–you could drink from any river or stream….the fish were plentiful because they weren’t overfished and they didn’t contain mercury and other toxins…you could breathe…

They were portrayed as heathens that needed “saving” by missionaries.  Instead of trying to understand their spirituality, the Europeans sought to force their religion upon them.  Native Americans don’t have Churches where one goes to pray once a week and then forget everything that is taught…rather, they see spirituality in everything they do—everything is connected to the Creator.

I just wanted to acknowledge their culture and all that was lost.

My other posts on Native Americans here, here and here.

 

 

Money for me, not for thee

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Continuing the saga of the Food Stamp *cough* savings….

Here’s another article on it.

The comments are interesting, and someone links to this page on Stephen Fincher, whose family farm received…wait for it…$8.9 million in farm subsidies…

…they must be the farmers Joe Donnelly consulted with for the farm bill. /snark

Oh, and Jesus gave loaves and fishes to the hungry.   It’s interesting what portions of the Bible the so-called religious choose to quote to justify their meanness and cruelty.

 

 

 

 

 

Scrooge’s children

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…must be republicans…and some democrats.  Joe Donnelly was on the local radio station this morning, talking about the Farm Bill.  I guess the new catch word is “savings” when describing cuts to food stamps.  Yep, he actually was promoting the idea of “savings” when taking food away.  He stated that farmers helped write the bill….that he was big on farmers having a say in the bill.

….and then, after stating there would be savings in the farm bill, (from food stamps), he ends his talk with the radio host with “Have a Happy Thanksgiving”.  I kid you not.  Utter callousness and indifference.

Meanwhile, we spend $$$ on overpriced defense suppliers:

Makes you sick, doesn’t it?  Republicans, who are always whining about the budget, never mention this.  They would much rather take food out of someone’s mouth than hold contractors accountable, and save millions in the process.

Oh, beautiful, for spacious skies…

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I saw recently where James Taylor was supposed to sing the Star Spangled Banner, and started singing “America, the Beautiful”…God Bless him.  I want to put  a vote in for America, the Beautiful for our national anthem.  The Star Spangled Banner sings of war and bombs but America the Beautiful sings of the beauty of our country, the abundance, and the brotherhood (as yet to be realized, but a worthy goal).

A beautiful, crisp morning as the sun rises….now moved across the horizon for the winter sleep…

I saw six deer this morning.  Sometimes they will stop and just observe me, but mostly they just run off, with white tails bobbing up…it never ceases to amaze me how they can be standing still in front of a four foot tall fence and leap over it with such athletic grace.    They like apples, by the way.  A momma deer and baby were seen nibbling apples one morning while they hung from the tree.  You’ll see a half-eaten apple on the ground and know that it was lunch for a deer.

I went out the other morning, and the birds were singing as if it were a Spring day.  It caught me off guard….this is Fall, right…? :p

There were cardinals singing, Blue Jays sounding the warning, and another bird I couldn’t identify singing its little heart out.  Funny.

I’ve seen a bird that is mostly grayish black that at first I thought was a junco, but it’s tail looked like a sparrow’s and it was too big to be a junco.

The hummingbirds have long since sought warmer climates.  I miss their antics.  They spend more energy fighting over the food, when there is plenty there, rather than conserving the energy they used fighting so they wouldn’t need so much food….I know there is a lesson for mankind in there, somewhere….

You remember the hornet’s nest I mentioned?  Something happened to it–we had about three days of rain (no chemtrails to interfere), and then we had really windy days….so it may have been the combination that caused the nest to lose its outer wrap (for want of a better word).  It literally had torn off the wrap down to the honeycomb-like inner chambers.  I guess birds could have gotten to it, too, but I’ve never seen that. Not that I’ve seen that many hornets’ nest….in my youth, when I lived around the woods, but not since moving to the city.

Here’s an informative blog on hornet’s nests.  I learned something today–I saw the honeycombs of the torn hornet’s nest but I did not realize they actually made honey! It makes perfect sense, though, because they need something for the pupae. However, I wanted to double check this, and another site said they did not make honey.

Continuing the search, I found this:

I also learned that the Maya believe hornets/wasps learn the hut owner’s scent and leave them alone….but may go after visitors.  Interesting.  Hornets generally do leave people alone….unless they mess with them.  There was one story of my childhood where one of the neighborhood kids thought it would be funny to poke a hornet’s nest.  Um-hmm….you can guess what happened…hornets mad as hell swarmed him.  They had to get a hose to get them off.  Yep, he never did that again…

I found this interesting blog on hornet nest destruction.  Apparently, bears will tackle anything.  This site is pretty interesting with discussions on biodiversity.  Someone posted a video on biodiversity but it advocates eco-tourism, and setting aside small tracts of land for preservation.  I think both of these ideas send the wrong message.  Tourism is tourism and the more people that trample the ground, disturbing the wildlife, the more stress they bring to resources and the life forms there–not to mention more pollution by using motorized vehicles.  I shake my head at folks who drive up in SUV’s to the parks….the irony seems lost on them on the damage their vehicles cause by consuming gas and polluting with exhaust, which are destroying the nature that they seek.

And the setting aside tracts of land is a noble idea–but in my view, it absolves the rest of the occupants of the land their responsibility to take care of the land they’re on.  In other words, it’s like they’re saying “we have this land over here that is being preserved, therefore, you can pollute the hell out of the other land that isn’t in the preserve.”   It’s still missing the HUGE point that we cannot separate the land by lines….as much as we have been brainwashed into thinking that it is possible to do just that.

Water runoff polluted with pesticides, herbicides, genetically modified forms, mercury, etc., will migrate from the unprotected land to the protected land.  Toxic air will flow over the protected land.   There is no way to keep a tract of land pristine while the land surrounding it is poisoned.  Just like we see with the nuclear accident in Japan–what happens in one area affects another that has nothing to do with it.  We have to see that everything we do affects another–to take care.

Another link someone posted is something near and dear to my heart–natural water filtration a la natural swimming pools.  Pretty cool, eh?  Last one in is a rotten egg! 🙂

Also, there is a thread on endangered invertebrates. Interesting read.

Have a great Sunday. 🙂

Bombs, not food, say repubs…

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Susie Madrak has this up on the continued republican war against the poor.    To say it is demoralizing would be an understatement.

Shall we play the six degrees to Clinton game?  He pushed for “workfare” , which required welfare recipients to work for free–truly a corporation’s dream of forcing people to work and not pay any wages or benefits!  Slave labor rocks!!  /snark

When I asked for assistance after first moving to FW, I was required to do community service for two and a half days.  The money I requested?  $25.  Yes, you read that right— $25,   It was a humiliating experience when having to ask in the first place and then being put down by the social worker for having moved to FW without a job.  I was, um, hoping to get a job….

The Brits who are conservative are also playing the “we want to help you help yourself” game–

links here and here.

From the last link:

There is no reason to think, however, that the criticisms levelled at workfare won’t also apply to the new scheme. Is, for example, a person spending 30 hours a week picking up litter more or less likely to find a paying job? Research which looked at similar schemes in the US, Canada and Australia found that:

“There is little evidence that workfare increases the likelihood of finding work. It can even reduce employment chances by limiting the time available for job search and by failing to provide the skills and experience valued by employers. Subsidised (‘transitional’) job schemes that pay a wage can be more effective in raising employment levels than ‘work for benefit’ programmes. Workfare is least effective in getting people into jobs in weak labour markets where unemployment is high.”

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Truly disgusting how punitive these people are towards the poor.   Why not just have a public hanging and be done with it, already?

Lastly, here is the video someone suggested on crooks and liars:

Students against Reform

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Teacher under Construction has this up on a documentary by a student asking the same questions that conscientious parents, teachers, and the public who care about education are asking.

“Why do people tell me to think outside the box when they barely ever let me out of it….??”

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….out of the mouths of babes…

Take Action for Food and Family Farms

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National Sustainable Agricultural Association has this action alert up on the latest fight for your food, family farms, and organic farms.    Again, we have corporate interests battling against….well, stuff that benefits the average person…..like clean air, water, and chemical free food.

Not to mention the diseases sure to come with the filthy practices of the factory farms.   (A side note~ chicken manure IS worth some money, if left to season.  It’s one of the best fertilizers out there.  And natural to boot.)

From the link:

Carole Morison: Perdue showed up on the farm when the Food, Inc. film crew was here. When the company finally figured out who was visiting, we received a letter threatening contract termination for “violating bio-security.” Their threat stemmed from me not having people sign a log book that the company had placed on our farm to monitor our visitors.

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Oh.My.God. Can you say Big Brother?  I knew that you could.  Violating bio-security?  Seriously?  bwahahahahaha, that’s rich!  How do they figure “security” is involved?  “Security” is the new “cloak” word—something to hide behind when you want to coerce people to do something against their better instincts….

And this is yet another example of the Too Big Too Fail as a way to monopolize a market–the detrimental aspects are seen with bullying these farmers to give into their demands “or else”, to unhealthy practices that most folks would find appalling if they knew, to the environmental impact of upsetting the ecology by having so many chickens crammed into such a small space.

And speaking of monopolizing the market, my blog here on Senators who voted against GMO labeling, links to gut inflammation, etc.

Strokes and youth

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This is sobering news.  Note that the article doesn’t go into diet, but if GMO’s were introduced in the 90s, and strokes started increasing at that time….is anyone going to look into the connection?

Also, colorectal cancer has increased in youth at the rate of 13%  from 1992-2005.  The article goes for the easy blame of fast food….without exploring the GMO connection or toxic environment.   I’m not saying that fast food isn’t a factor, because it is not healthy, but they need to go more deeply.

Also, neither of these articles explore economic factors where the families buy processed food because it’s cheaper, and the family’s health suffers because of it.

Breast cancer rates among the young, and especially young black women, are rising, too–tripling from 1976 to 2009.  Red flags all over the place, folks.

For me personally, one of my lumps has shrunk, the other has stayed the same, a little over a year after discovery.  Interestingly, I had read somewhere that women with fibrocystic breast disease respond well to iodine.  If you recall, last year, about this time,  I had three breast lumps and they were increasing in size.  After increasing my iodine, one disappeared and the other stayed the same size.

Within the mercury poisoning group, there is great debate about low thyroid and iodine.  Some folks are adamantly against iodine, saying if one has Hashimoto’s (which I suspect I have because it is autoimmune and goes with Celiac), that iodine will make it worse.  That hasn’t been my experience.  With the shrinking breast lumps, I would say that my intuition has been right in increasing the iodine.

Mercury interferes with iodine absorption.  the Barium sprayed from chem trails interferes with iodine absorption.    These are most likely factors in the increases in cancer, since the thyroid is a master gland controlling nearly every important body function, from the pituitary to the adrenals, to the gut, to brain function.  This is serious stuff, and messing with the environment is coming around to bite us in the arse.