Category Archives: poor

…they’re only raping prostitutes…

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That has to have been the mindset behind allowing these two to wear ankle bracelets after they had already cut them off once before.   All the victims appear to be prostitutes…and that is why the rapists can get away with it for so long, a la green river killer.

“I picked prostitutes as my victims because I hate most prostitutes and I did not want to pay them for sex,” Ridgway said in his confessional statement. “I also picked prostitutes as victims because they were easy to pick up without being noticed. I knew they would not be reported missing right away and might never be reported missing. I picked prostitutes because I thought I could kill as many of them as I wanted without getting caught.”

At least one-third of Ridgway’s female victims were girls and women of color, and the vast majority were under the age of 22. Ridgway, an extreme incarnation of a brutal misogynist, considered killing female prostitutes a “career.” He felt proud of what he did, and thought he was damn good at it.

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It is outrageous that the police still treat these women as sub-human…probably even think they deserve what they get.

As the report explores…would Ridgway (Cano/Gordon/others) been able to get away with this if their victims were of a different class?  Would Ridgway and the rest have raped these women if they saw them as human beings–probably sexually abused as children..?

But it’s not just prostitutes that get raped and beaten…we’ve got a problem in this culture with still seeing women as second class.  We have a culture that embraces rape and violence against women….and the vulnerable….as I said before, we are all vulnerable at some point in our lives…

When do we stop it?  When do we stop applauding the promotion of misogyny and rape?

 

 

 

Homemade Toothpaste

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(A side note~ Thank you to my oil industry friend for understanding.  It’s important to me that we talk about oil and fracking toxicity and the need to reduce our use of it for our health, our children, and the planet.  I know that we have to have it because of some necessity, but with everything, there needs to be restraint in use and balance in nature.  And the U.S. oil companies are notorious for carelessness and stupidity. They are not proactive in knowing what to do if a spill occurs and they don’t take the damage they do seriously.  And we haven’t even begun to really push for sustainable energy, and no, sustainable does not include nuclear.)

Okay…on with this neat toothpaste recipe a poster in our mercury support group posted–

As you all are aware, I think Nature trumps everything man-made, so if I can find the natural remedy, I’ll take it.

I’ve been using plain baking soda to brush because A) it’s cheap, and B) I can afford it on food stamps.  (Now that I’ve mentioned I’ve used something I bought with food stamps, the neocons will do their best to get baking soda banned from food stamp programs.  Just wait for it.   They’re getting candy banned from food stamps because they’re just plain mean.  And while I’m here, you cannot buy alcohol with food stamps. ++ You.can.not.buy.alcohol.with.food.stamps. ++ It’s an electronic card swiped into an electronic system that will NOT allow a sale to go through of alcohol or cigarettes.  <sigh>  )

Sorry for the diversion, folks….just had to get that out of my system.

Okay, back to the toothpaste…she posted two recipes:

HEALTHY MOUTH BLEND (2-3 drops on wet toothbrush)
essential oils of cinnamon, peppermint, spearmint, clove, myrrh and manuka in almond oil
1/2 oz apricot or almond kernel oil
18 drops manuka   
24 drops myrrh
27 drops clove
34 drops cinnamon (20 bark, 14 leaf)
36 drops peppermint
42 drops spearmint
MAKES TOTAL generous 3/4 oz
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I’m not wild about oil, although others swear by it.  They also swear by oil pulling, which is where you put olive oil in your mouth and swish it around like mouthwash.  This is called “pulling” because it is supposed to pull the icky stuff out of your mouth.
I tried it for awhile, and it actually made things worse.  I started having tooth pain.  This was at the start of the GAPS diet, and my teeth were really showing the detox at that time–lots of tooth aches.  Weston Price is spot on about one’s health showing up in the mouth.  He was a dentist that traveled the world, and noticed that the indigenous folks had beautiful teeth.  They did not brush their teeth, and they did not have dental decay!   However, once they adopted a Western diet of grains, they suddenly began to have dental issues.  Fascinating, eh?
Here’s the other recipe:
Herbal Healing Toothpowder Recipe (Dip your web toothbrush in it) It healed my teeth sensitivity
This combination of herbs helps heal mild to moderate cases of gingivitis by tightening gums and fighting bacteria. It’s very astringent.

2 tablespoons powdered myrrh
4 tablespoons powdered white oak bark
4 tablespoons baking soda-arrowroot
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon powdered cloves
¼ teaspoon powdered cinnamon
(my addition: red clay for stains)
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I made a batch up this morning — only mixed together the chemical free baking soda, pink salt, powdered cloves, powdered cinnamon…and it smells w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l.
I’m wary of the clay, because of lead being in clay, but according to Redmond Clay’s analysis, aluminum is actually higher than lead, which appears to be minimal.   So…I might sprinkle a tiny bit on my toothbrush, but not add it to the mix.  That way, if I decide later that I don’t want to use it, I haven’t wasted the whole batch.

 

Senate asks Canadian residents for testimony

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The U.S. Senate has asked residents that were forced out of their homes by tarsands in Alberta, Canada, to testify about their experience.

They say in the report that they don’t want to be used for political gain.  I can’t blame them for that–enough evidence of people being used by politicians for them to be wary.

But it is no secret that petroleum is toxic and tarsands are much, much more toxic. 

From the second link:

Tailings ponds which now cover an area the sized of Washington DC contain multiple toxic chemicals including arsenic, benzene, lead, mercury, naphthenic acid, and ammonia.  As much as 2.9 million gallons of toxic tailings leak into the environment every day.  A 2014 study showed that extreme concentrations of PAHs present in tailings may be evaporating into the air and then deposited into water.  New federal research by Environment Canada released in February 2014 confirms that leaking tailings ponds are leaching into groundwater and then into the Athabasca River.

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As someone whom has suffered from mercury toxicity, this is particularly alarming to me.  I can be a witness to how devastating this heavy metal is and how difficult it is to get it out of your system and get well again.

Meanwhile, the Enbridge pipeline project is due to get underway in Indiana.  Yet, there are *crickets* from the environmental groups, media, etc.  This is our “XL”…and no one gives a sh*t.

As a side note~ I know there are folks in the oil industry who read my blog–this is not meant to offend, but I can’t be silent on the destruction of the environment for humans, animals, plants, water, and soil.

 

 

 

Update: Shanesha Taylor

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I went back to look for updates on Shanesha Taylor, the mother who left her kids in a car to go to a job interview. She pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Leonard Pitts has a good piece up on her plight–the difficulties the poor face in trying to get out of poverty.  He makes some stinging observations about all the waste in Congress…and yet…they would rather deny people food and aid to get out of poverty…

 

 

 

Koch Brothers and Kansas

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Jan Resseger has another excellent post up on her take of the Americans for Prosperity, aka Koch Brothers, and what’s happened in Kansas.

 

Jeff Glendening, the director of the Kansas chapter of Americans for Prosperity was quoted—framing the legislation as part of a fight between those who stand for children and those who stand for “adult” interests—by the NY Times : “We appreciate the willingness of the Legislature to place the interests of Kansas children over the welfare of the teachers’ union.”  This kind of rhetoric is widely promoted by far-right groups such as StudentsFirst and Stand for Children. These groups try to imply that teachers, who have committed their lives to nurture children, are somehow a class of people working purely out of self interest.

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Incredible.  The teacher’s intentions are an example of a stunning psychological twist of the truth.  They claim to be concerned for the welfare of the children…but with Common Core, shoving special needs and struggling students out the door, and money being siphoned away from public education…we know differently.

As was pointed out yesterday, the teacher’s union is the same as the police and fire fighter unions….yet no one would think of saying that those unions are operating against the welfare of the people.

Related to this, Fred Klonsky has a post up on the pension raids with a statement on  the theft by Karen Lewis.

“This is a sad day for our paraprofessionals, especially our retired ones, who will see their pensions reduced and devalued significantly. They will lose the value of a third of their retirement savings, so instead of the people who crashed the economic system having to pay their fair share, our elected officials brutally attack the people who are most vulnerable—many of whom have become the head of their households, caring for both children and grandchildren,” Lewis said.

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Target the elderly/retired.  They have worked their entire lives putting into the system.  They deserve to have those pensions.  Now that they are retired, they have less money to fight back with–sly ploy by cowards to attack the weaker.

 

 

 

Kansas eliminates due process for Teachers

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What sad times we live in….

As usual, the comments are insightful and compelling.  They bring up the fact that it really isn’t that hard to get rid of “problem” teachers–all the administration has to do is harass them until they’ve had enough and leave.  Done. Problem solved.

I’ve seen this in the state government, as well, so yeah, it’s not really that hard to get rid of someone.  All you need is a bully in the midst while the administration looks the other way (or even worse–participates).

Urged on by conservative special interests such as Americans for Prosperity, Republican leaders pressed hard to eliminate due process rights for teachers.

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The handiwork of the Koch Brothers.  Destroy public education so the Koch brothers don’t have to pay one more penny for unionized workers.  More for me…poverty wages for you…

 

 

 

The Struggles of the Poor

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First, I have to say that I don’t endorse leaving children in vehicles, period.

BUT, if a mother is poor and going to a job interview to get out of poverty, and has no one to turn to…what is she supposed to do?

She’s told to ‘get off her ass and get a job”…but how is she supposed to do that when she has no money to afford day care until she get that job?

Was she supposed to take the children into the interview?  She would have been shot down for the job immediately, especially given all the competition for positions.

“Everything is focused on the mother and understandably so. It seems to be a very compelling human interest story,” County Attorney Bill Montgomery said at a recent news conference. “But I’m equally concerned and compelled about the circumstances those two children were in.”

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Really…?  So, if Shanesha brought the kids to your office, being “concerned and compelled” you would personally watch them while she went to the interview…?  Yeah, I didn’t think so…

With all the obstacles, how exactly are the poor supposed to get out of poverty? Not being arrested is a good start.

Bless Amanda Bishop for looking out for another.

 

 

Growing enough food to feed a family

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Farmer’s Almanac has a helpful video up on garden planning…how much do you need?

It’s not an in-depth video, but a good start especially for beginners.

They also have many more videos here.The first video, on gardening mistakes, mentions companion planning.  We’ve used that with the tomatoes–planting marigolds around them and around the garden to discourage pests.

They briefly discuss composting in the video 7 ways to use leaves in your garden: mix greens with browns to get rich earthy compost.  It doesn’t tell folks, however, that it will take several months for the matter to break down into “black gold”.  How fast it breaks down depends on rainfall and the heat of the pile.  And how often one turns it.  The piles need to be turned regularly to aerate and aid the decomposition.