Glass Apple

When They Turn 18

2011-05-30T15:52:00.005-05:00

     Augie, Strawbabies, Rice P P's, Glaskez, E-luh-luh, Tonk Engine, G'Mama, the Big Angels and the Little Angels, J'wans, The Red, Asheetah, Chocolates fundraiser, Dale Earnhardt, Thunderhill Raceway, Pontius Pilate, Thumb tack in chair, bottle bombs and Iggy Smudge.
   My baby turns 18 today. It's hard to believe. Time went way too fast. Yesterday I was walking him into his kindergarten class and a couple of days ago I watched him get his high school diploma. I didn't cry. I started to, but I had a cowbell so I just rang it harder and my sister Michelle turned on her hand held light show and it made us laugh. Whew! It was a close one though. If I would have started crying, I would have never stopped.
     So every time I felt the water works coming on I would yell someones name. GO Todd! Ring the cowbell. GO Megan! Ring the cowbell. YOU ROCK Indy! Ring the cowbell. I've already been deemed a 16 year old trapped in an old body by my son. "Indy your mom is cool," he says his friends say. So the other parents weren't surprised at my sudden outbursts of names and noise. My kid learned long ago, just go with it and it will be fun and not embarrassing.
   All kids have names for their things and their own stories. They are precious and priceless, especially when they're learning to talk. These are a few of my son, Indy's from baby to now.
     Augie is Indy's stuffed lamb that was given to him when he was three months old. He carried him everywhere for years. He gave it that name. We have no idea where he came up with it. There's not a whole lot left of Augie now, but he still exists.
     More of Indy's words and stories:
     Strawbabies - what Indy called strawberries
     Rice P P's - Rice Crispies
   Glaskez - how Indy pronounced the word glasses
   E-luh-luh - the number 11
   Tonk Engine - Thomas the Tank Engine (Indy decided that saying all that just took too much time so he condensed it.).
   G'Mama - what he called my mother
     The Red - what Indy called blood when he would cut himself. "Mom, the red's coming out. Will you fix it?"
     Asheetah - the name of one of Indy's stuffed animals. He named one of our cats that name too. Have no idea where he got it.
     J'wans - the scary wild boar-looking creatures that came in through the electrical sockets. They had red glowing eyes.
     The Big Angels and the Little Angels - When Indy had learned to talk pretty well, around age three, he told me this story: "When it rains hard, the big angels throw down the water," gesturing with his hands throwing something down hard. "When it rains soft the little angels throw down the water," gesturing with his hands throwing something lightly.
     The Chocolates Fundraiser - There once was a third grade fundraiser...Indy didn't do fundraisers well, bless his little heart. So I did the majority of them. This particular one was wrapping paper, chocolates, nuts, confectioner's candies, etc. Indy thought it was all wrapping paper though. I gave Indy the money and order form to turn in to his teacher. In a couple of weeks the orders came in and Indy's teacher handed out the boxes to the kids to take home and distribute. Curious, Indy looked in his box. On top was a box of chocolates. Indy thought it was a reward for selling stuff so he and one of his little friends ate almost the entire box. He brought the big box home and I opened it up. I got out the order form to put the orders together. I grabbed the first box of chocolates and noticed it was almost empty.
"Indy! Come here.What happened to this box of chocolates? Do you know?"
"I ate them."
"You ate them? This was part of someones order."
"I thought it was a reward for selling stuff!"
"You ate the fundraiser."
"I hate fundraisers!" he stormed off to his room
Luckily, I had bought a box of the same chocolates and so there was another box to fill the order.
   Dale Earnhardt - was Indy's favorite NASCAR driver. When Indy was seven, we bought tickets to the then Winston Cup NASCAR race at Texas Motor Speedway. Indy was very excited about getting to see Earnhardt race live. Unfortunately, Earnhardt was killed in a crash a month before our race and Indy never got to see him race. He still got to experience a NASCAR race and take a picture next to his second favorite driver Jeff Gordon's car. Indy became a huge Jeff Gordon fan after that.
   Thunder Hill Raceway - The local stock car race track where Indy and I spent many Saturday nights at the races.
   Pontius Pilate - Of course we know who that is. But during one of our prayers at church, Indy makes fun of the way I say it because he says I say it with a heavy southern accent.
   Thumb Tack In Chair - Ring Ring! "Ms. Guest?"
"Yes."
"This is the assistant principal at the Jr. High. I have Indy in the office. He put a thumb tack in a boy's chair and the boy sat on it."
"What?" What happened? Say that again!"
He repeats what he said.
"Indy? Indy did that? Are you sure it was Indy? He's never been in trouble in his life! Are you sure it was Indy? Indy? Really? For sure? For real? Indy?"
"I'm speechless. This is totally out of character for Indy."
There just has to be something more to this, I thought.
Sure enough, the kid did it on a dare. The trouble instigator, I've now dubbed Thumb Tack Kid and/or Mr. $30, dared Indy to do it for $30. And no. He never gave Indy the $30. Not that he wanted to, but Indy was not allowed to hang out around that kid again.
   Bottle Bombs! - Fast forward three or four years to high school. Indy's dad (we're divorced) has to go out of town to cover Hurricane Ike. It was his weekend to have Indy. He thinks it's ok for Indy to stay by himself the entire weekend at his house while he's gone. After all, his girlfriend is only a few doors down and she will be there if Indy needs anything. I think this is a really bad idea. I don't think he's old enough and I was worried about him eating right. I just didn't like this idea at all. But the two of them were all gung-ho about it so I went along with it, reluctantly.
The weekend went off without a hitch. Then Indy came home from his dad's a few hours early. He walks in the door and before he even had the door closed he said, "I made a bomb and the cops came."
"Funny. Have you had dinner?"
"No, really Mom. I made a bomb and the cops came."
"Uh huh. Have you eaten?"
"Mom! Really. I made a bomb and the cops came."
"What? You did what?"
"I made a bottle bomb."
"What is a bottle bomb?
"It's a plastic soda bottle. You put tin foil in it and toilet bowl cleaner and then it blows up."
"What on earth possessed you to do that? That doesn't sound like you at all, Indy! What the hell!"
"I saw it on the Internet and thought I would try it. It was really loud and the neighbors called the cops."
"O dear God! It's a wonder they didn't arrest you for terrorism!"
I few moments went by and I was thinking, boy will be boys. I'll bet that was pretty cool though, watching the chemical reaction and then the explosion. A science experiment in the back yard.
"I did it twice."
"You made two of them? "
"Yeah."
"What did the cops do?"
"They talked to me and told me it was really dangerous. Someone could have gotten hurt. And don't do it again."
"Yes, Indy, it is dangerous. It's also a 'boys will be boys' thing to me too. So, I'm not going to punish you for this. But what if something would have gone wrong and you got hurt. With no one around you could have laid there for hours. Please don't do that again, especially by yourself.
And that's when guilt overwhelmed the boy.
"I wasn't alone."
"What? Who else was there?"
He mumbled someones name under his breath.
"Who?"
He mumbled an indiscernible name again.
"Who Indy?"
"Thumb Tack Kid," he blurted out.
"O My God! I knew it. I knew this was not something you would do on your own. I don't know what possessed you to hook up with that kid after all this time? But the two times you have gotten in trouble in your life has been with that kid. Making the bomb I could overlook. But hooking up with that kid again...YOU'RE GROUNDED!"
   Iggy Smudge - Michelle has nicknamed Indy, Iggy. At graduation he was wearing his senior shirt that they all signed. Michelle asked him if his name was on there and he replied pointing, "Yeah, it's that smudge right there." Michelle promptly said Iggy Smudge! And thus, Iggy Smudge was born.
   A new era begins now as Indy gets ready to enter college. It is bittersweet. I'm very happy Indy has graduated but there are many things I will miss about the school years. And I will miss some of Indy's friends as well, who are going off to the military.
   A mother's kiss never leaves her son's cheek.
     IGGY SMUDGE FOREVER!

So Much For Rapture Day

2011-05-23T22:19:00.000-05:00

     Because my birthday was the same day as "Rapture Day," I feel compelled to comment on it. Harold Camping, the preacher who predicted rapture day, is in seclusion. Ya think?! I would imagine some of his benefactors are going to want some of that $7 million back.
     How can a Christian man, who supposedly lives by the gospel, believe he can predict the end of the world? It clearly says in the bible that no one will know when the end comes. So what compels a man to such arrogance? And what compels people to believe him?
     Revelations, interpreted as a prediction of our future, is a relatively new idea, conceptualized by two Catholic writers in the 18th century. Their interpretation was rejected by the Vatican but gained a cult following. This cult views Earth changes as divine and "signs" of the second coming of Christ. I have grown up listening to different religious groups attempting to predict the end of the world on dates that have come and gone with nary a whimper. You would think someone would have gotten a clue, but they still continue to predict the end.
     My long-time neighbor of 47 years died on my birthday/rapture day. Brother Young was a Baptist preacher. He performed marriages for some members of my family and buried all of them, even though no one in my family was Baptist. He was still a friend and knew everyone in my family.
     Back in the 70s he was diagnosed with cancer. I had a dream that he was cured and when I saw him I told him about it. He laughed and said, "God willing." Sure enough, Brother Young's cancer went into remission for the next 35+ years. His cancer returned at the age of 95 and ultimately claimed his life. I guess you could say he was raptured away.
     I wish this futurists "end of the world" cult would focus as much energy on the living, breathing ball we exist on instead of putting all of their energy into waiting for the end. So much more could be accomplished on this planet if people weren't "waiting" for the end. Seriously. How much do you get accomplished when you're waiting on something? So to the "end" cult I say, stop waiting! You're wasting your life away. We all die eventually so make sure you are spiritually prepped and live each day like it was your last.

Bake Sales Are Illegal In Texas?

2011-05-17T13:18:00.001-05:00

     How many of you have baked an item for your son's band fundraiser? Or your church's cake walk? Did you know that it's illegal to do that in Texas? No kidding. http://www.texascottagefoodlaw.com/TexasFoodEstablishmentRules.htm
   Now, obviously this is not a law that is enforced by local law officers, or all of those tents that sell food at the high school football games would have been shut down. And it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't even know about the law in the first place. Most of us have grown up with bake sales and cake walks. Why would anyone think that's illegal?
      I would imagine that somewhere out there in Really Small Town Redneck, Texas there is a Billy Bad Ass who gets a perverse joy out of shutting down bake sales in his community. But I would be willing to bet that the majority of towns and cities in Texas don't even know this law exists. But it does. And at any given time law enforcement could pull the plug on the annual church bake sale and there's nothing you can do about it unless the law is changed.
     So, if you often bake for these sales or purchase items from these sales, I urge you to email your representative in favor of passing HB 1139 The Texas Cottage Food Production Act, aka the "Texas Baker's Bill." and HB 2084 . The supporters of the Texas Baker's Bill also back a bill "with provisions," Cottage Food Production, HB 2084, filed by State Representative Lois Kolkhorst. Those provisions revise food handling safety and income caps.
     To find out who to contact in your area, click on this link: http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/

HB208: Discrimination Against The Kentucky Poor

2011-01-26T16:42:00.000-06:00

There is a rumor going around that Kentucky has now passed a law requiring adult welfare recipients to take a drug test. It really irritated me when I heard about it, but as it turns out, it is only a proposed law, HB208. An article on HB208 and the lawmaker that proposed it, Rep. Lonnie Napier (R-Lancaster), can be found at: http://www.kentucky.com/2011/01/17/1600950/kentucky-lawmaker-wants-random.html

This is not the first time I have written about the topic of welfare. Today’s welfare system is not the same as the welfare program of 40+ years past. And the Food Stamp program of the 1970s is very different from today's. Restrictions are much tighter making it much harder to scam the system. The majority of poor people receiving welfare today are families with both parents, and typically both parents work. Single parents are the second largest group of recipients.

In Kentucky, a qualified family may receive an average of $226.67 per month, $2720 a year, from Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). AFDC is the only government welfare program that gives cash payments. According to national statistics, only four in ten people in poverty receive cash welfare payments. This does not bring families out of poverty. Poor Kentucky families have incomes, on average, of $5,200 below the poverty threshold. Kentucky Welfare Statistics

So, besides the statistics that show how stupid this law is, here's another scenario of the flaw in that law:

Harry can be a worthless drunk who finds ways to get out of working full-time and THAT law won't prevent him from getting welfare.

Jerry, over the weekend, can do a bunch of speed and rip off people, but it will be out of his system by the time he has to take a drug test.

Tommy's a good guy. He and his wife work hard all day at mediocre jobs to support their family, and then Tommy likes to smoke a joint after work because it makes his back feel better. He doesn't drink alcohol or do other drugs, but Tommy is out of a job when he has to drug test. By the way, marijuana has become legal for medicinal purposes on a state level in several states, including Washington, D.C.

Single mother Sue, works all day to support her three kids and when she goes to bed at night she takes something the doctor gave her to sleep. She'll flunk the test, but once she submits her prescription and talks to her employer, she'll probably get to keep her job as long as she doesn't smoke pot too.

And then there's Johnny junkie. This law WILL prevent Johnny from getting any benefits which might force him into rehab. That's good though I guess. But how many heroin junkies do you know? I can promise you that there are far MORE alcoholics and meth heads out there than junkies.

This law is knee-jerk, redneck and flat out ignorant. The majority of families receiving food stamps, for instance, are married working families, with single working parents coming in second. Neither make enough money to support their families. Many of the single parents aren't getting any child support either. You can't get food stamps if you don't work .

Those people probably don't have anything to worry about when it comes to passing a drug test, unless they smoke pot or have severe allergies and take antihistamines. Some antihistamines show false positives. Oh, did I forget to mention the test isn't foolproof. Good luck defending your innocence.

Drug tests are expensive and as a taxpayer I don't want my tax dollars wasted on this type of test that doesn't affect the people I want it to. I want Harry the drunk off the couch and Jerry the meth head who ripped me off in jail.

I think psychological and character testing would be far more effective if you’re looking for a quality employee, than some outdated, ineffective method like drug testing. As far as cleaning up the druggies, if this lawmaker thinks that all the druggies are on welfare, then he is beyond ignorant and should not be re-elected when his time is up.

People have this image of welfare recipients as being a bunch of non-working drug addicts and it's just not true. These are the people that serve you at your favorite restaurant or fast food joint or clean your house. Granted, you have the scammers, but it’s getting harder and harder to scam the system with all of the requirements in place. Do the research. You have to work to get on welfare, and account for everything.

I can think of half a dozen working drunks on welfare right now that a drug test wouldn't affect. I’ve taken my fair share of drug tests, and passed, at jobs where it didn’t get rid of the abusive jerk I had for a boss or the guy with a mouthful of mints wearing a bottle of cologne trying to disguise the smell of alcohol who kept hitting on me.

This law is demeaning and demoralizing to an already demeaning and demoralizing situation for these people. Most of these people would rather not be on any kind of assistance. Yet, there are those who feel compelled to punish them. Personally, I don’t mind my tax dollars helping the people that really need it.

We need to re-think the entire concept of drug testing for employment and welfare. Just think about it.

Bras Cause Cancer

2010-10-23T10:33:00.000-05:00

Bras can cause cancer. Yes, you read that right. Brassieres cause cancer. Read on.

According to an article written by Lynda Arredondo, Nutritional Consultant for Sebring Clinic and the manager and founder of Nature's Nutrition, and published in the Wimberley Valley News and Views, this important tidbit was discovered in the 1980s by a couple of Harvard MD's, but the major medical journals would not publish their findings. After all, the brassiere industry would stand to lose millions in revenue. It's all about money and greed. Their findings were finally published in a small journal in England.

Further evidence of this finding was backed by a study conducted by a couple of anthropologists. They looked at 4,700 women, half with a history of breast cancer. They asked the women about their bra wearing habits. Currently, one in eight women will get breast cancer. That rate drops to one in 168 if a woman never wears a bra. If she takes her bra off as soon as she gets home, one in 152. If she takes it off when she goes to bed, one in seven. If she wears it through the night, three in four. None of these researchers could ever get their findings published until they finally wrote a book in 1991 called "Dressed To Kill."

Designed to replace the corset, the bra was invented in 1911 and 30 to 40 years later breast cancer rose dramatically. It's not the materials bras are made from that cause cancer, it's the restrictive movement which seals off lymphatic drainage and breasts cannot detoxify. One of two metabolic pathways turns estrogen into a harmless molecule, but if it becomes oxidized (and it will oxidize if held in place by a bra) it's turned into a quinone that causes genetic mutations which develop into breast cancer. Breasts are designed to move and larger breasts move more which promotes a natural lymphatic drainage.

I was a bra burner in the 70s but for different reasons. As it turns out, ditching the bra was a better idea than I originally thought. For all of you men out there and society in general, bras are uncomfortable, restrictive and a major health hazard. Men, how would you like to wear something strapped around your chest all day long? The ONLY reason we are FORCED to wear them in public is because society has placed a stigma on women if they don't wear one. They're tagged as being "loose," "wild," "classless," "trashy," "disgusting." What's disgusting is that society has forced a way of life on women that has been PROVEN to be detrimental to our health.

The only time I wear a bra is when I have to go out in public. As soon as I get home, it's the first thing that comes off. I've always done this and will continue to do this and I encourage all of you women out there to do the same. I think it's time for another bra burning only this time for reasons that affect everyone. Women who die from breast cancer lose an average of 22.9 years off of their life.

So ladies, it's OK to take off your bra!! Let the girls run free and breathe!! This deserves national attention so get the word out!

What's Your Definition of Mainstream?

2010-09-23T14:09:00.000-05:00

Recently, a high school friend of mine, who likes to challenge me politically, drew a conclusion that I considered Bill Maher "Mainstream." Maher is libertarian, and a celebrity, and not what I would consider Mainstream. I have watched his shows for years, though. We don't always agree, but I still like him.
I'm independent. And I have little tolerance for the cat fighting between Republicans and Democrats. I think the arrogance of the Republicans and the ignorance of the Democrats is staggering and utterly ridiculous.
To the Rush Limbaugh Republicans, Tea Baggers and the Wandering in the Desert for 40 Years Republicans, I say: Unite! Get your party together. You're fragmented. Figure out what you stand for and unite.
To the Democrats, I say: WAKE UP!
To both parties, who are still talking about Clinton lying about a bad blow job, (not lying about a matter of national security, but a sex-related issue) I say: While Newt was trying to bust Bill, Newt was having an affair. And while Bill was having to deal with his publicized sex life, he still managed to eliminate the deficit and leave office with a surplus. GET OVER IT!
All of you who get your panties in a wad over the mention of Clinton, or sex for that matter, are either lacking it or cheating on your partner. I always had money during the Clinton administration and I still think he is a damn good economist.
With that said, what is Mainstream to me? Mainstream, so far, has not been represented by an individual or party. Mainstream, are people who go to work every day, or own a small business, have little or no savings, have little or no health care, can't take vacation or go very far for very long if they do and have very few tax breaks.
Mainstream runs your local taco shack, your local print shop, your cleaners, works in your grocery stores and your bakeries, waits on you when you go out to eat and cooks your favorite dishes at your favorite restaurant. Mainstream is the guy/girl who fixes your car, who delivers your packages, picks up your garbage, tends your garden, cleans your house and owns the local laundrymat. Mainstream is you favorite bartender at your local bar, and the receptionist at the water company or the clerk at the electric company.
Mainstream is not Corporate America. Corporate America tries to make Mainstream believe they have their best interest at heart. But they have their own agendas and Mainstream is just a pawn.
Mainstream is the un-united core (not corp) of people that keeps America functioning. And, last time I checked, in all actuality and reality, they have no representation.
This main core of America is used. They're used to pass agendas and to gain political power. They are vulnerable which makes them easily manipulated by political promises. And they're at the mercy of a predominantly two party system that can never agree or work together.

Bang Bang Shoot Shoot

2010-09-14T14:52:00.000-05:00

This issue is about to twist my head off. Mostly because of the close-mindedness displayed by the NRA (National Rifle Association).
I am a member of the NRA. I am also a supporter of the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD). The NRA calls the CBD "anti-gun " and "radical," which is ignorant, and it makes me really disgusted.
To simplify this for you, the CBD wants to take the lead out of ammunition. Many animals and birds that are not fatally wounded could go on to survive but instead die from lead poisoning. This includes birds like California condors and bald eagles.
I did a story some 18 years ago on the California condor. I went out to the observation blinds in their habitats. At that time, condors were becoming even more endangered and were dying from drinking anti-freeze in parking lots where people were draining their radiators. At least now, from that environmental effort, we have a choice between using an environmentally safe anti-freeze or the standard anti-freeze.
I'll bet that never occurred to you either, how birds and animals might drink out of a puddle in a parking lot. And how potentially toxic that can be.
Miraculously, the NRA has twisted this effort into the CBD trying to ban guns. OH PLEASE!! Are you that insecure NRA? How do you get wanting to take the lead out of ammo into banning guns? Are you that opposed to change and better ways of doing things? If so, you will surely fade away at some point. Life is about change and innovation.
The CBD lost its effort to get the lead out of ammo. http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2010/lead-09-09-2010.html
and the NRA is celebrating this absurd victory http://graphics.nra.org/freedom_times/FreedomTimes32.htm . Guess the NRA had the more "radical" lobbyists.
Yeah, cool! Even if you're a bad shot, that critter's going to die anyway now from lead poisoning. Congratulations! Good for you!
Exactly what is the NRA advocating here? Killing? Or the right to bear arms?
I won't renew my membership in the NRA. I want nothing to do with a bunch of thick-headed knuckle-draggers who cannot see or think ahead for our future. How stupid. From, please make ammunition out of something else, to, they're trying to take our guns away?
Congratulations NRA! May the death toll rise on your behalf. Shoot 'em up boys and girls!

BP Has Us Over A Barrel, Literally

2010-08-08T17:47:00.000-05:00

First of all, here is a five minute video that I made of the eruptions that are occurring on/or around the :47th minute of every hour at the bottom of the Gulf, near the BP wellhead. They last from five to nine minutes. I recorded a live video feed from one of the BP spill cams and discovered this after reviewing 10 hours of video. There are two eruption locations in this video.

   I have been watching these eruptions for over a month. BP is aware of these eruptions and has been dealing with them for longer than that, according to their own videos from cutting the riser, etc..
   Oil is not spewing out of these holes, nor does it appear to be oil. From the information I've been able to gather, it is a mixture of hydrogen sulfide, VOC's (volatile organic compounds such as propane, benzene, methane) and volcanic magma.
   To simplify that, we now have small volcanoes erupting on the sea floor near the BP wellhead.
   All of this may make a bit more sense if you understand what oil really...isn't.
   First of all, oil does not come from fossils. The deepest that fossils have been discovered is 16,000 feet below sea level. We drill regularly to depths of 30,000 and beyond and find large reservoirs of oil mixed with voc between layers of rock, at an enormous amount of pressure.
   Scientists and geologists now believe oil is created thousands of feet below the surface of the Earth and works it's way up, and not down as suggested by the fossil fuel concept. This makes sense, since water is heavier than oil. Water sinks into the Earth. Also, the fossil fuel concept implied that there was limited supply, therefore making oil more valuable. Money, money, money!
   Scientists really don't know what makes magma, and they really don't know what makes oil. They have a better idea these days. Oil is now considered a micro-biotic substance. And it does not come from decomposed living organisms from the surface of the earth. We would have run out long ago if that were true. So, knowing this should make it easier to understand why we are having sea volcanoes and what we are really tapping into when we drill that deep into the Earth.
   Officials are now claiming that, since they have capped the well, and the top kill worked, 75% of the oil has been cleaned up. Well, if you believe that, you are a fool. Two hundred million gallons of oil just doesn't disappear because you have corked the flow. This is a play by BP to get out of a lot of financial responsibility to clean up and compensate!!
   This company literally has us over a barrel. Apparently the government can't match, or has no access to match, their technology. And apparently the government has no power over this company either. In spite of being told by a government agency, the EPA, to stop using dispersant freely, they ignored the order and did it anyway! They answer to no one! BP was even pretentious enough to say they were going to drill in that reservoir again because it is so abundantly lucrative, as if they were thumbing their noses at us.
Oil and magma mixed with dispersant, which is the red-rust-colored goo you see floating in the water, still continues to wash ashore along the Gulf. This is a different substance than what was cleaned up from the Exxon Valdez incident. The Exxon Valdez actually spilled oil. BP tapped into the mantle of the earth and got not only oil and toxic gasses but volcanic magma too! Maybe if BP wouldn't have mixed dispersant with the magma it wouldn't have turned into a goo and would have dispersed naturally. We'll never know now. This problem is far from over.
   And then there are the eruptions from the sea volcanoes that they're not telling us about. There is no doubt in my mind that BP wants to claim that they've done their part and to get out. And I'm sure they want to shut down those spill cams so people like me can't see this stuff!
   This is the kind of arrogance, greed and apathy that will destroy this planet if we let it. There are quite a few grass roots movements springing up to try and battle BP and their control over the people and waters in the Gulf. Who are these people at BP and why should anyone surrender their lives to them? Why should we allow them to continue to create environmental apocalypses?
   Are you so opposed to change that you won't even consider an alternative fuel for your car or a new way to generate electricity for your house? Or something as simple as abandoning the use of styrofoam cups and plates which are made from oil?
   We didn't get to where we are by shunning change. Change is a part of life. Nothing ever stays the same. We have outgrown micro-biotic fuels. We have got to stop killing ourselves with laziness and complacency and make the change over to a better source of fuel. We need to act now!!
   I have a link to an alternative fuel below in my book store. If you don't like that idea, there are plenty more. Just Google alternative fuels. You can take your pick. Or at least talk about it. Just don't do nothing at all...

Oil Spill Environmental Update

2010-08-05T22:49:00.000-05:00

This report is by the Center for Biological Diversity:

New Gulf Estimate: Oil Spill Worst Ever of its Kind
New government documents offer some scary assessments of the Gulf oil spill. The first was word that federal scientists now estimate that 4.9 million barrels (roughly 206 million gallons) of oil leaked from the well after the April 20 explosion. That makes it the world's biggest accidental oil spill into a marine ecosystem and the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. There was also troubling news -- released in a letter and documents by Massachusetts Rep. Edward Markey -- that the U.S. Coast Guard allowed BP to apply toxic dispersants dozens of times after a joint directive by the Coast Guard and the EPA said the chemicals should only be used in "rare" circumstances.

The Center for Biological Diversity continues its fight in the Gulf, going after the EPA for allowing dispersants to be used without ensuring the chemicals won't hurt endangered species, including sea turtles, and their habitats. One of our attorneys was also in Boise last week for a federal hearing on where hundreds of cases against BP -- including our $19 billion suit to hold BP responsible for Clean Water Act violations -- will be heard. The oil spill may not be gushing as it once was, but the important work of holding BP and the government accountable and helping heal ecosystems harmed by the oil and toxic dispersants is only just beginning.

Read more on the spill's size and the dispersants misuse in The New York Times. Then check out the latest on our Gulf Disaster webpage.

We Will Determine The Severity of Earth's Changes

2010-08-03T18:31:00.000-05:00

Carlos Barrios, who was trained as an Ajq'ij in the Maya tradition, has this to share in regards to 2012:

"Our planet can be renewed or ravaged. Now is the time to awaken and take action... The prophesized changes are going to happen, but our attitude and actions determine how harsh or mild they are.

"This is a crucially important moment for humanity and for earth. Each person is important. If you have incarnated into this era, you have spiritual work to do balancing the planet...The greatest wisdom is in simplicity. Love, respect, tolerance, sharing, gratitude, forgiveness. It's not complex or elaborate. The real knowledge is free. It's encoded in your DNA. All you need is within you. Great teachers have said that from the beginning. Find your heart, and you will find your way."

What They're Not Telling Us

2010-07-10T02:28:00.000-05:00

   I fear many living things will die from this oil geyser. Cleanup workers and shrimpers are getting sick. And I think it's just the beginning of things to come for people along the Gulf regions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1mI-DJII1U&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-8mszixOcw&feature=related
   Was this a tragic accident? Yes. Was it preventable? Yes. Was it planned? Some say it was for BIG money. Some say it was for population control. Others say that's absurd. No one would ever do that for money, let alone our own government.
   Was it the biggest man-created ecological disaster ever in our lifetime? Absolutely! Is this only going to affect the people who live on the Gulf Coast? No, it's going to affect the entire country. Is this well stoppable? Undetermined. They've never drilled this deep before in the ocean. There was/is no plan if anything went/goes wrong.
   Should we bore into the mantle of the Earth without knowing what we're doing?
   When Russia drilled this deep on land and experienced blowouts, the only way they could stop them was by nuking them, which caused the sand to cauterize and stopped the flow of oil. The Gulf Geyser can't be nuked. Or they shouldn't even try to nuke it because this well is located in the side of a mountain. Nuking it could cause the entire side of the mountain to blow apart. Fissures have already opened from the pressure along the granite strata that was bored into. An attempt to cauterize the sand could cause these fissures to open wider and flow for 30 years, according to some experts.
   Not only are birds and fish dying, people are getting sick in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. People are anxiously moving out of Florida. It's raining oil in North Carolina. The AIR is toxic from Louisiana to Florida. Toxic gases are coming out of this well because they have tapped into the MANTLE of the Earth. And nothing is being done to prevent them from getting into the air. When the Exxon Valdez accident occurred in 1989, jet engines were used to filter the toxic gases out of the air. Nothing is being done to filter out anything at this well.
   If you have a little time, here is an audio interview with Lindsey Williams, former Alaska pipeline chaplain and advisor, on the Jeff Rense Program. Everything I have heard Williams say in the past has come true.
http://rense.gsradio.net:8080/rense/special/rense_L_Williams_070110.mp3

New World Order and the Hopi's

2010-07-07T12:38:00.000-05:00

   Adrian Salbuchi. Never heard of him? He's an analyst from Argentina. And I think everyone should check out his videos about what's really going on in the world. These three video clips, made in 2009, are about how the world is moving out of Globalization into the New World Order. And let me just say, there is nothing good about the NWO. There are three parts (three links) to this report.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ktQSLgu4n4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r6sy8q79uA&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXzvS2G8Tuw&NR=1

   I also believe that the prophecies of the Hopi Indians are coming true. Here is a link that is a starting point to learn a little about the Hopi Indians. http://www.crystalinks.com/hopi2.html
   I would reject any modern interpretation of these prophecies.
   The following is a short story and a list of the Hopi's nine signs that the Day of Purification is coming. Pay particular attention to number seven (#7). I think all would be wise to heed the message.
    The following extraordinary Hopi prophecy was first published in a mimeographed manuscript that circulated among several Methodist and Presbyterian churches in 1959. Some of the prophecies were published in 1963 by Frank Waters in The Book of the Hopi. The account begins by describing how, while driving along a desert highway one hot day in the summer of 1958, a minister named David Young stopped to offer a ride to an Indian elder, who accepted with a nod. After riding in silence for several minutes, the Indian said:

"I am White Feather, a Hopi of the ancient Bear Clan. In my long life I have traveled through this land, seeking out my brothers, and learning from them many things full of wisdom. I have followed the sacred paths of my people, who inhabit the forests and many lakes in the east, the land of ice and long nights in the north, and the places of holy altars of stone built many years ago by my brothers' fathers in the south. From all these I have heard the stories of the past, and the prophecies of the future. Today, many of the prophecies have turned to stories, and few are left -- the past grows longer, and the future grows shorter.
    And now White Feather is dying. His sons have all joined his ancestors, and soon he too shall be with them. But there is no one left, no one to recite and pass on the ancient wisdom. My people have tired of the old ways -- the great ceremonies that tell of our origins, of our emergence into the Fourth World, are almost all abandoned, forgotten, yet even this has been foretold. The time grows short.
My people await Pahana, the lost White Brother, [from the stars] as do all our brothers in the land. He will not be like the white men we know now, who are cruel and greedy. we were told of their coming long ago. But still we await Pahana.
    He will bring with him the symbols, and the missing piece of that sacred tablet now kept by the elders, given to him when he left, that shall identify him as our True White Brother.
    "The Fourth World shall end soon, and the Fifth World will begin. This the elders everywhere know. The Signs over many years have been fulfilled, and so few are left."

"This is the First Sign:

"This is the Second Sign:

"This is the Third Sign:

"This is the Fourth Sign:

"This is the Fifth Sign:

"This is the Sixth sign:

"This is the Seventh Sign:

"This is the Eight Sign:

"And this is the Ninth and Last Sign:

    "These are the Signs that great destruction is coming. The world shall rock to and fro. The white man will battle against other people in other lands -- with those who possessed the first light of wisdom. There will be many columns of smoke and fire such as White Feather has seen the white man make in the deserts not far from here. Only those which come will cause disease and a great dying.
    Many of my people, understanding the prophecies, shall be safe. Those who stay and live in the places of my people also shall be safe. Then there will be much to rebuild. And soon -- very soon afterward -- Pahana will return. He shall bring with him the dawn of the Fifth World. He shall plant the seeds of his wisdom in their hearts. Even now the seeds are being planted. These shall smooth the way to the Emergence into the Fifth World.
    But White Feather shall not see it. I am old and dying. You -- perhaps will see it. In time, in time..."
    The old Indian fell silent. They had arrived at his destination, and Reverend David Young stopped to let him out of the car. They never met again. Reverend Young died in 1976, so he did not live to see the further fulfillment of this remarkable prophecy.

    Near Oraibi, Arizona, there is a petroglyph known as Prophecy Rock which symbolizes many Hopi prophecies. Its interpretation is:
    The large human figure on the left is the Great Spirit. The bow in his left hand represents his instructions to the Hopi to lay down their weapons. The vertical line to the right of the Great Spirit is a time scale in thousands of years. The point at which the great Spirit touches the line is the time of his return.
    The "life path" established by the Great Spirit divides into the lower, narrow path of continuous Life in harmony with nature and the wide upper road of white man's scientific achievements. The bar between the paths, above the cross, is the coming of white men; the Cross is that of Christianity. The circle below the cross represents the continuous Path of Life.
    The four small human figures on the upper road represent, on one level, the past three worlds and the present; on another level, the figures indicate that some of the Hopi will travel the white man's path, having been seduced by its glamour.
    The two circles on the lower Path of Life are the "great shaking of the earth" (World Wars One and Two).   The swastika in the sun and the Celtic cross represent the two helpers of Pahana, the True White Brother.
The short line that returns to the straight Path of Life is the last chance for people to turn back to nature before the upper road disintegrates and dissipates. The small circle above the Path of Life, after the last chance, is the Great Purification, after which corn will grow in abundance again when the Great Spirit returns. And the Path of Life continues forever...
    The Hopi shield in the lower right corner symbolizes the Earth and the Four-Corners area where the Hopi have been reserved. The arms of the cross also represent the four directions in which they migrated according to the instructions of the Great Spirit.
    The dots ("P") represent the four colors of Hopi corn, and the four racial colors of humanity.

Meditation and Prayer Is All That's Left

2010-06-12T23:47:00.000-05:00

The oil-soaked birds struggle in vain, as they die a slow death in horrible pain. For us, their lives they have helplessly given, so that cars fueled by gas can be so arrogantly driven.

I'm not trying to bum people out, although I don't know how you can keep from being bummed after seeing pictures like this. I just don't want you to forget. The leak is not fixed. It's still dumping a million gallons of oil into the Gulf every day, non-stop.
I have talked to a few people in the oil business and they don't much care about the birds and marine life. They do care, however, about the people out of work from the exploratory wells Obama shut down. Out of all of the hundreds of wells in the Gulf, we're talking about 33 wells. That's all, just 33 exploratory wells. Well, I say, waa waa! You had better start looking for work in another field, or get a job on a rig that's already up and running. I know that sounds flippant, but that's the kind of language BP chief executive Tony Hayward understands.
I have a bunch of why's. Why, as a civilized populous, do we allow a company to drill thousands of feet below the ocean floor with no back-up plan to fix a problem? Should we allow people to continue to do this? What can we do to stop it? Why aren't our representatives representing our best interests?
Let's be realistic. This company and all of it's contractors have destroyed a good portion of the Gulf Coast for at least a generation. Depending on the weather patterns, it could end up destroying the entire Gulf and beyond. Because it's not over! It still gushes on.
I cry every time I see an oil-coated bird. Why aren't there people staged in areas where oil landfall is imminent, shooing away the birds? That would probably save some of them. Birds won't land where there is a ruckus.
If the idea of converting automobiles to ethanol is not realistic, because it would cost a few hundred dollars to convert your vehicle, then let's convert everything else, as a friend of mine suggested, and just have personal automobiles run on gasoline.
I'm headed to the beach tomorrow. Port Aransas TX. I won't see any evidence of oil there. And so I will thank God and the driving Source Energy of this planet. I will ask Him/Source to forgive those who have sullied the waters. And ask that He/Source heal the ocean, birds and sea life. And open the eyes of those ignorant and greedy so that they may stop this hole from hell from vomiting gas and sludge into the ocean, onto the shores and marshes of our coast.
CONSIDER ALL FORMS OF ALTERNATIVE ENERGY!!
http://www.permaculture.com/book_menu/195/231/323

Cleaning the Birds and Wildlife Doesn't Work

2010-06-08T00:52:00.000-05:00

Ok class. Let's review.
To confirm my last blog, according to the Associated Press, BP was in charge of putting together a clean up/recovery plan for the Exxon Valdez in the event of a spill. There's not much relevance to that at this point other than they didn't learn much from their mistakes.
More importantly, let's take a look at the environmental impacts from the Exxon Valdez and what we've learned, and what we might expect from the Gulf geyser.
The Exxon Valdez spill dumped 11 million gallons (270,000 barrels) of crude into Prince William Sound in 1989. The Gulf Geyser is dumping between 500,000 and 1 million gallons per day. The estimate was closer to the 1 million mark before the cap was installed.
The Exxon Valdez initially killed 250,000 seabirds, 2,800 sea otters, 300 harbor seals, 150 bald eagles, 22 killer whales, and billions of salmon and herring eggs. Despite cleanup efforts, oil was still present in a large area of the Sound by 2001.

Ten years after the spill, only two species (the bald eagle and the sea otter) of the original list of twenty-eight directly affected fish and wildlife species, had been declared fully recovered.
According to Science Daily, the impact of the Exxon Valdez lasted much longer than expected. Scientists in Alaska have discovered that lingering oil from the spill is still being ingested by wildlife, more than 20 years after the disaster.
According to a published report by a number of scientists and agencies, oiled mussel beds, and other tidal shoreline habitats, will take an estimated 30 years to recover. Varieties of marine species now suffer higher mortality rates from ingesting invertebrates contaminated by the hidden oil and also contacted oil directly while digging up prey, still, today!
Probably the most disheartening piece of information I have come across was a piece recently released by Newser. The middle-term survival rate of oil-soaked birds is under 1 percent, according to a German biologist. She emphasized that cleaned and released birds often die a more painful death within days. She said it was better to kill them.
Other experts seem to back her claim. "Their instinct to clean is greater than their instinct to hunt," said one expert Silvia Gaus, "and as long as their feathers are dirty with oil, they won't eat."
A British study says the lifespan of a cleaned bird is seven days. The World Wildlife Federation added, "Birds, those that have been covered in oil and can still be caught, can no longer be helped," and the organization is "very reluctant to recommend cleaning."
This makes me cry.

My solution, let's convert our cars to Ethanol, made from sugar beets. The cost is only a couple hundred dollars. In fact, Conoco uses 10% Ethanol in their gas products here, in the United States, as do other companies. Let's end this dependency on oil to run our cars!
Read David Blume's book, Alcohol Can Be Gas, http://www.permaculture.com/book_menu/195/231/323
You can even purchase it at the bottom of my posts, on this page in my aStore, if you like.
Ethanol can be made like moonshine. It's legal, and you can even get a government credit for it. Do we REALLY want to continue doing this to our ecosystem? Please stop killing these innocent creatures!

BP In Charge Of Exxon Valdez Cleanup Too?

2010-06-05T09:26:00.000-05:00

It has come to my attention that BP was put in charge of clean up for the Exxon Valdez in the event of an accident. And even after that, they did not have a plan in place for the Deepwater Horizon rig.
As soon as I research this, I'll be back with the information.

Question Authority

2010-06-02T00:29:00.000-05:00

Well, I've always believed that if you're going to complain about the way something is, or is done, then you should offer up another solution, preferably a better one. I heard a few interesting, and amusing, remedies to the oil gusher in the Gulf. While some of them may not be viable, they are entertaining.
I, personally, would like to stuff the hole with Dick Cheney, since he deregulated offshore drilling. Now, I know that's not a viable option or solution. But I got nuthin'! And that sounds really good to me.
I have one friend that wants to plug the hole with Gemini men, she says, because their egos are so big that it wouldn't take very many of them to stop the leak.
I have another friend that says freeze their bank accounts and then let's see how fast they stop this leak. I really like that idea (unless it's the money that's being used to employ out of work fisherman who are cleaning up) and I think it's a viable option. What happened today on the stock market is a variation of that option in fact. BP stock fell losing almost 15% of its value which caused the Dow Jones to fall 113 points.
I've talked to a couple of friends who have worked on offshore rigs and I've read quite a few reports today. Most experts believe that this latest idea to cut the riser and cap the leak is not going to work for various reasons from too much pressure, to lack of o-rings, to the size of the cap. They all agree that it will make the leak worse, at the very least temporarily. Why are they trying this particular plan? Remind me again?
Folks, it's starting to appear like these guys are under so much pressure to stop this leak that they're just pulling ideas out of their ass without considering the vast economical and environmental impact it's going to have on the Gulf states, which I guarantee will translate across the country eventually.
I understand that Obama is "looking" at other solutions presented by other countries and experts. I don't think BP knows what to do and maybe it's time to CALL IN THE HELP!!
When they cut the crimp off of that pipe, it's going to cause the crude to come out at a faster rate. If they are unable to cap it, or if the cap blows off, then we're going to be dealing with double the amount of crude leaking into the Gulf until late August. And I don't have to remind anyone along the Gulf Coast that it's an El Nino hurricane season.
What has me so damn mad, other than obvious reasons, is that I feel so ineffective and helpless to do anything to stop or fix this. It makes me question the people who've run this country and their motives and agendas. And then I have to wonder, did the government have my best interest in mind when they deregulated offshore drilling?
We used to be able to hit the streets with protest signs and rally against this kind of lacking representation. But we lost some rights in the name of a handful of people securing their oil interests in the last administration.
Now, if you protest anything, you're subject to arrest and criminal charges as a non-patriot, or a terrorist, or a person of interest to be watched and listed. And the American people allowed this to happen because they quiver at the mere mention of "terrorists." If you "choose" to be stupid and complacent sheeple, then this is what you get. Don't let other people do your thinking for you. Question Authority.
I say, don't cut the pipe! The chances are slim that it will work. Let's solicit other ideas. And let's not make it any worse.

LOST: The Final Interpretation

2010-05-27T01:38:00.000-05:00

Ok Losties. I've heard a dozen interpretations of what Lost was all about. But it wasn't until today that I heard an interpretation that I think really fits, answers all the questions, and the ones it doesn't answer are irrelevant.
First of all, they're all dead. Whether they died in the initial crash, or later on, they're all dead.
Second, the writers lied. The island was purgatory. If you go back to10th century interpretations of purgatory, it fits.
The show was, in a way, a love story. It was mainly about Jack and his friends. There were other groups of people, but they, too, were there serving their penance, including those in the Dharma Initiative.
Each person was flawed. Each person had to finish learning, face their fears and some had to sacrifice their lives for others. Some were looking for their soul mates, some were looking for acceptance, some were looking for forgiveness. All were looking for mercy and love. All of them had to work out their karma before they could move on. And none of them were ready to accept death. If you drank the special water or wine, and agreed to be a "protector," you gained this knowledge.
The island was real, and existed, but only in a spiritual sense. This is why strange things occurred and didn't make sense, and things moved. Even if they managed to leave the island, they really didn't. They had to come back. It was all part of the spiritual experience of purgatory and finishing their penance. Nobody leaves purgatory to go back to earth, to their earthly vessels.
Stay with me here. I'll get to the flash sideways in a minute.
The names and numbers on the cave wall matched up with the numbers on the wheel that showed their lives. I interpret this as the Book of Life. There were people (souls) on the island (in purgatory) before the "candidates" and there were souls there after them.
Their experiences there did matter. The experiences all of these souls had together, with each other, were the most important experiences of their lives, their spiritual lives, which is what we actually are when you remove the body we temporarily occupy. No one was good or bad, they just were. When people died at the hands of other people on the island, those people were able to ascend. They had completed their penance.
When Mother killed all those people, they were able to ascend. When MIB killed Mother, she thanked him because she could not kill herself. She, too, was serving penance, faced her death, and so she was released to ascend. Because Jacob agreed to be the "protector" which really, more accurately, his job was the house warming committee that helped souls transcend to the other side, he knew the "truth" that the MIB didn't. He knew MIB's struggle to leave the island (purgatory) was futile. But Jacob, still working through his own karma and penance, threw his brother into the light, knowing that this was a fate worse than death. Indeed, Jacob spent lifetimes trying to keep the Smoke Monster in check. When the MIB entered the cave, the light dimmed and MIB's soul was merged with that energy and became immortal. MIB wasn't ready to accept his death, that's why he tried so hard to leave, even as an immortal. The Smoke Monster killed a lot of people, but he, in fact, helped them to move on to the other side. Their penance was completed. The MIB/Smoke Monster lived many lifetimes, too, serving his penance.
When Desmond uncorked the light in the center of the island, the light went out, causing the MIB/Smoke Monster to become mortal again, thus enabling Kate to kill him. Jacob knew all of this. When Jack put the cork back in, the light came back. Everyone who appeared to leave the island then, such as the jet that flew over, had completed their penance.
The flash sideways was the Garden on Earth. The gathering place where they would be raptured away together. Remember, 10th Century interpretation here, not modern day re-interpreted Christianity. Desmond obviously knew and was helping these people realize that they were dead and it was time to gather and go to the light, as they previously agreed to ascend together during their purgatory experience and penance. All those in the church had found love and acceptance, in the end, though not all were paired up. Those that weren't there, ascended in another group. Richard with his wife. Ben just wasn't ready yet.
With this interpretation, I totally understand why the writers never want to write about Lost again. It's completed. Every question that is relevant has been answered. And there's really nothing left to say. In fact, if ABC/Disney wants to do a spinoff, I don't know where they could go with it unless they take us through Hurley and Ben's penance before everyone ascended. The Dharma Initiative is irrelevant. It was just another group's penance.
I know all of you Losties will argue with me, but this is what works for me, and makes the most sense. So this is my story and I'm sticking to it...until I hear a better one.

Gulf Oil and North Korea

2010-05-26T01:29:00.000-05:00

It's been a while, but I'm back! I didn't realize I haven't made an entry in 15 months. I won't let that happen again!
A lot has happened since then. We have a new president, Barack Obama. But the country seems to be just as divided as ever. I still know people out of work, but the economy seems to be hanging on, treading water so to speak.
There are two issues right now that I find very disturbing. The Gulf oil disaster and North Korea.
My heart just bleeds for the birds, animals and marine life that are caught up in the crude. I would love to be able to go there and help clean them up.
Here is the blog-site for the Defenders of Wildlife organization. http://www.defendersblog.org/
They have updated info on the Gulf oil gusher. The Defenders website also has a factsheet on the effects of offshore drilling on wildlife.
Another blog that has up-to-date info is The Wilderness Society. http://wilderness.org/blog
I've had a couple of people tell me that this blowout was Obama's fault. Really people? Really? How do you figure? Do you think pointing the finger right now is going to stop that gusher? Not unless you plan on pointing that finger in the hole, along with a bunch of golf balls.
And you finger pointers want to point some fingers? Here's one for you. Dick Cheney was the one who had interests in Halliburton and deregulated offshore drilling. And now there is some question about Halliburton's cementing process in the installation of the blowout preventer and their roll in all this.
I agree with Obama on this one, just "Plug the damn hole!"
As far as North Korea goes, we need to keep a close eye on them. They're volatile. In 1957, my dad said that North Korea was unstable and dangerous and he believed they would start another world war. I hope he's wrong, but things are getting a little scary over there.
We need to keep a positive outlook on these issues and not have a doomsday attitude toward them. It will be the collective vibrations, whether good or bad, that will determine the ultimate outcome of both issues.

Big Bail Out, Big Government

2008-09-28T21:30:00.000-05:00

Okay, this is the last I'm going to say about the most recent bail out proposal.
NO!
If my business failed, I would have to file bankruptcy. The government wouldn't bail me out! We should not bail out these financial institutions. If their businesses failed, they should have to do what the rest of us have to do. If there's been criminal activity, then the criminals should be prosecuted.
Did the World Bank, or Bush and his big money oil buddies, care if gas prices made food prices go up so high that people had to make choices of whether to put food on the table and gas in the car to go to work OR pay their bills? I doubt it. Well, the the World Bank manipulating the dollar and oil prices are why we're in this mess. There's your trickle down effect.
In a recent interview I saw with Bush, he had no idea what the price of gas was and asked a reporter to tell him, he said, "Is it around $3? I have no idea." The reporter corrected him and said it was over $4 a gallon in some areas.
Bush says he's confident this bailout will fix the economy. What planet is he on? It's not going to fix the price of gas which affects the price of food - which is affecting the economy in an adverse way! HELLO! This man is so far removed from mainstream America that it's embarrassing!
I mean, this bailout, isn't this the very Big Government that Bush is against AND warns against? So let me get this straight. It's okay for large financial corporations to be greedy, mismanage, over-extend and possibly cheat the books because Big Government will bail them out.
And this is okay? We're just supposed to sit back and take it? If you were concerned about electing a Democrat because of Big Government? That's out the window. Big Government is here NOW and it appears that parties have little to do with it.
Take the money out of elections and maybe a really good candidate will have a snowball's chance. Eliminate the two party system because it divides the country and maybe this country will experience more unity. The Democrats will always be better than the Republicans and the Republicans will always be better than the Democrats. They will always waste each others time (as well as ours and our tax dollars) with Nixon politics, and their personal agendas take the place of public agendas.
Will we ever have a government that represents the best interests of the majority of the PEOPLE it governs?
Election reform.

The Bush Traveling Medicine Show

2008-09-22T09:06:00.000-05:00

I didn't take out a risky mortgage and I don't want to pay for additional legislation!!!!!!!!
It is going to cost YOU and ME thousands of dollars to pay for these government bailouts.
I would love to live in a bigger house. I'm crammed into a very small place with barely enough room for a small Christmas tree. But I didn't go buy a house that I couldn't afford. I had some common sense.
And now, I'm going to be forced to pay for these greedy mortgage companies and their out-of-control spend spend spend-nuts who over extend themselves??!!
I DON'T THINK SO! Why should I be punished because I did the right thing?
We are paying for enough b.s. through the price of gas. And now the government wants to pass additional legislation (which translates into you and me paying even more!) to support these companies. Oh My God! Just when I was about to think this administration couldn't screw us any worse, they pull this out of their hat!
NO NO NO! It's not fair to make me pay for this kind of stupidity! I don't want to pay for this bottle of crap being sold to me by the doctors of the greatest traveling medicine show this country has ever seen, the Bush administration and this ridiculous Congress! People WAKE UP! Don't allow this to happen! Enough is enough! You're being dumbed-down so that stupid legislation like this can just slither by.
We've bailed them out, which will cost each one of us an additional $3000 per year, and that's enough. No more. No Additional Legislation!!!
Write your state representatives! https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml
DON'T BUY THE ELIXIR!
I actually read a comment at www.congress.org by a republican who believes the democrats' hatred for Bush will prevent this new legislation from passing. I am not a democrat or a republican. I HATE the two party system. I think it divides the country. This has nothing to do with how I feel about Bush and everything to with what his administration and this Congress is doing, in my opinion. It has everything to do with stupidity, bad management and panic.
The economy was already in the toilet for us clear-thinking common folk. The mortgage crisis just compounded it.
Realistically, the government had to bail out those companies to keep the stock market from completely crashing, based on the way the government wants you to think the country works. We could have been knocking on depression's door, they claimed.
I think that if you took a risk on a mortgage beyond your means, I shouldn't be the one accountable for it. Being unaccountable is just NOT an option anymore!
NO MORE ADDITIONAL LEGISLATION!
Write your state representative! I've made it easy for you! https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml

Hurricane Hysteria Update

2008-09-13T23:15:00.000-05:00

It's about 11:15 in the evening. There's a mild cold front pushing through, the same one that steered Ike north. There was a quick downpour at my house that lasted about 3 minutes. While we need three days of that, 3 minutes is better than nothing.

Hurricane Hysteria

2008-09-13T09:58:00.000-05:00

I would like to take this opportunity to address, what I call, hurricane hysteria. I live in south central Texas near San Marcos and Austin. For two days I have watched pure insanity.
I went to the local Dollar General to buy some batteries for my son's keyboard. There were no batteries in the store. There were no batteries in any store. Or bread. Bottled water. Non-perishables. I discovered that people bought every battery within a 45 mile radius.
I watched people pull in all they're lawn furniture (sorry Bill) and my new neighbors from Houston remove everything in their yard, period! I was sure they were going to begin boarding up windows any minute.
There were lines at the gas stations and grocery stores. People were stocking up and hunkering down. The hurricane was coming! The hurricane was coming!
Ya'll..........do you just not know where you live? Are you watching the Weather Channel, relating to the area and forgetting that you're not there anymore? OR WHAT?
We are 200 miles INLAND!! And on the west side of the hurricane. (The west side of the hurricane does not pack as big of an impact as the east side typically). Houston and Galveston are sending evacuees HERE to be safe.
It's going to be windy today. It's windy here a lot. My tin man used to blow over all the time from the wind. If we're lucky, and I do mean lucky because the river is dry, we will get a good rain. So far, no rain at all. Not a drop. Maybe daytime heating will spawn a shower with one of the hurricane bands. We can only pray.
So, ya'll need to get a grip! All of that hurricane hysteria energy has pushed away much needed rain. If you want to panic about a high wind situation, save it for when we are in an El Nino year and we have the 65 mph winds that tear up everything in your yard and trees. Those winds almost took off my roof. We have inclement weather in this area caused primarily from fronts coming through that can spawn tornadoes, electrical outages and floods. All those people that stocked up for Ike should be well prepared now for the cold fronts that will be coming down the road.
And by the way, I heard on the radio that the enormous surge at the gas pumps have now caused gas prices to go up. I have not heard yet about the damage the oil rigs in the gulf have sustained, if any.
People need to start thinking and using common sense and not panic mode. Break away from the mob mentality. I don't care what the local media says. In cases like this, they don't know. It's just conjecture. They're flying by the seat of their pants. I know this first hand.
I'm going to go water my garden now and mow my lawn.
My heart goes out to those people in Galveston and Houston who have lost property and lives.

Is There Any Oil Leaving Iraq?

2008-09-08T00:59:00.000-05:00

Is there oil leaving Iraq? O yes. You never hear about it though. Gee, I wonder why that is? The people Lindsey Williams reveals, that control the price of oil, is surprising. The people benefiting, from the oil leaving Iraq, shouldn't surprise you.

This Is A War For Oil

2008-09-07T23:11:00.000-05:00

Lindsey Williams is a Baptist minister who went to Alaska in 1971 as a missionary. In 1974, construction began on the TransAlaska pipleline and he volunteered to be the Chaplain on the pipeline for the Alyeska Pipeline Company. He became an advisor to improve the relationship between management and labor. He dormed with, ate with, sat next to, according to Williams, "some of the most powerful, controlling, manipulative men on the face of the Earth."
The info he learned is revealed in his book, The Energy Non-Crisis. There is a series of videos by the same title on YouTube that I recommend you watch. It's and eye opener.
Mr. Williams firmly believes that whoever controls energy, controls the economy.