Happiness that money can’t buy

Gene Logsdon has a post up on the Christmas gifts that go against the notion that you have to buy the “latest” to make someone happy.  I’m all for the practical gift that someone will truly use and appreciate.  I would love to get a jar of homemade orange marmalade or a jar of raw honey for Christmas.

Be sure to read the comments–a former Marine bought a farm after leaving the service and he writes about it in the comments.  A truly inspiring story.  Enjoy.

Probiotics and brain function

The more I learn about the gut and neurological health, the more amazed I am at the intricate workings of our miracle bodies…and how spot on Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride is with the GAPS diet…

I’ve been all over the ‘net this morning, reading blog after blog on probiotics.  One linked to this post on the gut-brain-skin axis.

Some of this is over my head, but it appears that probiotics help reduce inflammation after a heart attack.

Here’s a good paper on the connection between probiotics and the brain.  It is so interesting that fermented food, like sauerkraut, can contain acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter.  Blows me away.

This blog has a recipe for GAPS yogurt.  Since I was very sensitive at first, I gave up on yogurt.  I tried making my own according to another member’s method of putting it in an electric skillet on low heat, but didn’t have satisfactory results.  It could have been that I didn’t use yogurt starter, but rather, used store-bought kefir.  I found out later that this brand, an expensive organic brand, was putting the live cultures back in after processing it.

Yeah, that’s not going to work.

I like her idea of using raw milk.  But since obtaining raw milk is a crime…I’ll have to go through the Mafia to get some.  /super snarky

She talks about using her food dehydrator for growing the culture, but I thought it might be easier to use a yogurt maker.  I looked at several brands, and they had automatic shutoffs at 6-10 hours, which is waaaay too short a time to allow the cultures to develop…but there was this one that follows GAPS, too.  Not having tried it, I’m not able to give any kind of review on its ease of use or reliability.

 

Third Way

You might remember this post with a quote that says the words “third way”.  Not long after I posted it, Ed on the Ed Show (MSNBC) mentioned the Third Way.  I can’t remember exactly what he said, but it was negative and the segment intrigued me.

I’ve just now gotten around to doing a bit of research on Third Way.  Whew…do you smell a rat??  Me, too.

Red flags are going off with Elizabeth Warren being attacked by supposed Democrats for…speaking out against selling us out to the 1% by cutting Social Security and other social programs….calling them “populist”. Um-hmmm…that and the word “entitlement” are key words for the “I’ve-got-mine-screw-you” crowd. 

Now, getting back to the previous post with Hillary Clinton’s religious leader saying those words:  third way…and how they wanted to do away with New Deal programs:

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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Social Security. Public Schools.  Medicaid.  Medicare.  Public employees like fire fighters, police.  Public Libraries.  A decent living wage.

I know that it’s hard to believe they want to destroy it all, but all signs are pointing towards that very end.

Elizabeth Warren stands in the way of that.

Here’s a humorous video up on it:

Please, please run for President, Elizabeth.  Please!!  I’ll go knocking on doors…whatever needs done to help get you votes.  Hillary Clinton is nothing but a Goldwater Girl doing the dirty work of the bankers, warmongers, education profiteers, Big Oil, Monsanto, and no doubt countless other organizations that don’t give a crap about Americans or America, the poor, the elderly, the children, the environment, nor the middle class.

Please run, Elizabeth.

Remedies of nature

First, the legal stuff:  Statements posted on this blog are for information only, and should NOT be taken as medical advice. If you need medical advice, you should seek it from those who are licensed to give medical advice. You are responsible for any decisions you make, or actions you take (or do not take).

(It is sooo stupid that I have to say that when I have had more harm done by licensed medical professionals than by non-professionals. Pshaw.)

Okay—I was doing research on herbs used to rid the body of xenoestrogens, and came across several helpful sites. (xenoestrogens are plastics/chemicals that match the body’s estrogen receptors, taking the place of the real hormones).

One of the sites mentioned the connection between xenoestrogens and breast lumps.  I had tried this product, Estrosense, many years ago, but stopped taking it because of an adverse reaction.  I was unaware of that I was full of mercury at the time, and since turmeric is sulfuric, it made me miserable….being that I was sulfur dominant from the mercury.

I tried it again the last two months, and had a successful go of it this time around.

And guys, if you think this is *just* a woman’s concern…think again.  Signs are out there that these stupid fake hormones are affecting men, as well.  So ixnay on the hormones-only-affect-women-bit.

More here on the connection to breast cancer and xenoestrogens.

Here’s a good blog on what to do to avoid them.  I think it is always better to avoid them in the first place rather than trying to remove them afterwards.

While doing that research, I came across a blood purifer using plants, called Kroeger blood toner.  I researched the ingredients, one by one, and found a fairly helpful site on herbs here.  It just never gets old discovering all the neat stuff that plants can do for us.  Like I’ve said a zillion times before–we’ll discover that all the stuff we called “weeds” were the cure for cancer, diabetes, heart disease, etc….

Milkweed being one of those undervalued plants….as shown by the site.  Now we see the damage that herbicides are doing through the chain of nature…first the milkweed, then the butterflies:

A major cause is farming with Roundup, a herbicide that kills virtually all plants except crops that are genetically modified to survive it. As a result, millions of acres of native plants, especially milkweed, an important source of nectar for many species, and vital for monarch butterfly larvae, have been wiped out.

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Monsanto, milkweed, and the monarch butterfly.  A 59% decline!!

Gah, I remember when we saw milkweed *everywhere* we went.  Now you’re lucky if you see a few plants scattered here and there.  Same with burdock.   Our dog rarely came home without burrs on him (this was back in the day when you let your dogs run loose.)

Nope…now we need manicured lawns with nary a weed on them.  Got to be perfect.

I used to allow a small (24 x 24) patch of my lawn go to weed…much to the irritation of my neighbors who thought of me as the local hippie of the neighborhood.  It.just.was.not.done.  It was like I was letting the whole neighborhood go to hell.  And the thing was–my little overgrown patch was off the road behind a line of private evergreens.  Only two neighbors could actually see the *jungle* (said with a grin).

Anyway….I’m all for allowing more manicured space go back to its natural habitat.

There’s a certain peace, tranquility, and restfulness when nature is allowed to be…nature.  There’s nothing like bending over to admire a plant when a butterfly comes floating by and lands on a plant near you….as if to say hello…

…and *thanks* for not messing with my nourishment and my home…

 

 

 

 

African Soul Fried Rice

Michael Twitty has done it again with this blog on African Soul Fried Rice.  Sounds delicious.

I like the fermented aspect of the food.  I wondered if he means the bean from the locust tree…so I went looking and found this.

It’s considered medicinal, too….gotta wonder how much wisdom has been lost about our ancient remedies.  Thanks, modern medicine, for a bang up job of ignoring past wisdom. /snarky, for sure.

The locust beans are seen as a nuisance here…as is the dandelion.  We’ll discover, when it’s too late, that the things we thought were nuisances were healing plants to cure cancer, diabetes, etc.

Michael Twitty also has a blog up on some badass rice growers.  Yes, badass rice growers.  I *love* that they are bucking the system, the status quo of  Big Ag and getting the cold shoulder for it.  They are raising rice crops in unconventional ways that thwart the Ag profiteers who want to sell chemicals and bioengineered rice.  Heh.

On top of that, the way that they are raising it lowers the arsenic level in rice–very important to lower our exposure to heavy metals.

From the Washington Post article:

Thomet has unwittingly aligned himself with a small group of experimental U.S. farmers and hobbyists, probably no more than 50, who are breaking with a tradition that dates to colonial America. They’re rejecting paddy rice in favor of an increasingly accepted agricultural system that promises to increase crop yields while decreasing water use, chemical dependency and even the amount of arsenic in our grains.

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See, it bothers the status quo when you don’t play along with the technology-is-king mentality.  Using one’s brain is not allowed. :p

 

Can You Hear Me Now? **edited

A self-fulfilling prophecy by AT&T.

This article must have been written by AT&T….or perhaps it’s *cough* nooz placed by their PR dept.

AT&T has failed to maintain the land lines in a way that we were accustomed to before the push for cell phones.

This article barely touches on the problems rural folks would face if land lines are phased out.  The service where I’m at is spotty at best.  It is in no way as reliable as land lines are.  I’ve wondered how many calls I’ve missed.  What if an employer tried to call for an interview and kept getting “service not available”?

The elephant in the room that the article fails to mention is the devastating effects of Electro-Magnetic Fields (EMF) on people.    As I’ve stated before, mercury poisoned folk are especially sensitive to them.  When I was really sick, I could not talk on a cell phone for any length of time without getting a migraine the next day.  I can now talk on them for longer periods, but knowing how it impacts me, why would I want to risk that exposure?

Mercola has an article on it here.

Links from the references —

Effects of EMF on rat brains

Cell phone effects on the young.

Europeans take stance on EMF technology.

The truth about wireless technologies.

Cell phones affect neuological and behavioral aspects of mice.

**edited to correct glaring spelling error. Stupid dyslexia.

We will not obey TPP

Wisconsin, bless their little hearts, have drafted a resolution that they are a “TPP-free” zone.  The negotiations have been shielded from public scrutiny but the article states that bits have leaked out and…it’s scary as hell–a Monsanto lobbyist is leading the negotiations.

From the article:

Countries, including those in the European Union, could also find it increasingly difficult to ban, or even require the labeling of, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) if biotech companies determine that those countries’ strict policies restrict fair trade and infringe on the companies’ “rights” to profit.

To top it off, corporations would be allowed to resolve trade disputes in special international tribunals, effectively wiping out hundreds of domestic and international food sovereignty laws. Products labeled fair trade, organic, country-of-origin, animal-welfare approved, or GMO-free, could all be challenged as “barriers to trade.”

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It’s an attack on local autonomy….the right to decide what is best for your community.Good Grief, these corporations can.not.get.enough.profits.  Greed, greed, greed.

 

Rick Berman: gun for hire

Deutsch29 has an excellent blog up on the *cough* Center for Union Facts (CUF) running a full page ad in the NY Times. Upon closer examination, our old friend, Rick Berman, gun for hire, is behind CUF, among other organizations.   Note the letter from his son, David.  Pretty sad, eh?

AFT has a short video up on the 5 myths about school performance.

 

Another state joins in GMO food labeling

….but there’s one little issue–getting four other states to also require GMO labeling.  Nice way to get the GMO labeling crowd off your back while appearing to actually do something. 

Tell the USDA No GMO apples

organic consumers has this up on the latest nonsensical bioengineered frankenfood product…

…because it makes soooo much sense to bioengineer an apple not to turn brown…

Anybody else have deja vu about Alar??

From the story:

But in 2005, the last year results were available, the U.S. Department of Agriculture found pesticide residues on 98 percent of the apples it tested. All the residue was at levels within federal guidelines.

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Yum.

The problem with reports like this is that they try to say the Alar scare was over the top and scaring people needlessly….when they should be scaring people because we’re living in a toxic soup.  This has to be part of the reason people are so apathetic towards chemicals being used in their homes, their workplaces, their food, their water, their soil, and their air….

<sigh>