The Bohemian Dilettante

NYC Photography For Sale on Redbubble

2012-02-09T15:57:00.000-08:00

Redbubble is a community to purchase artwork of any medium from the artists themselves. It provides a gathering place for fellow artists where they can also list their work. Please check it out if you are in the market for original pieces and if you are an artist, yourself feel free to join and become a part of the community. Here is some of the New York City photography that is for sale. Enjoy!

Coconut Flour, Flax Seed Meal and A Side of Wheat Bran

2011-08-23T16:47:00.000-07:00

A slew of people are asking me how I'm losing weight and getting healthy. What's the "secret"? There is no secret except good old fashioned eating right and exercising. I'm also receiving some personalized coaching and getting my workouts (Turbofire, Slim in 6, Insanity) from here. I recommend it. Plus, I finally realized the need to overhaul the Western diet even more that I've been overindulging in along with many others. I, for the most part, do not count anything. Meaning I'm not meticulous about counting. I don't do "Points". I do try to stay within my calorie, fat and carbohydrate allotments for the day but by no means am I taking out a calculator or a scale every time I ingest something or even worse...a journal.

I can not do the food diary thing. To me it is more depressing, stressful and a bigger pain in the ass that leads to discouragement. It's not an easy transition as it is to change the way and what you eat and to me having to be reminded multiple times daily does not help. That's just me. I'm all for the Individual and individual ways, personalized ways, of achieving and doing things. If it works for you more power to you. Another tip, I don't count calories in vegetables and fruit. In my world these are free ( I wish I could make french fries free). Slightly anyway. I eat most of the fruit or any carbohydrates in the morning hours this way there is more of a chance of burning them off. Eating multiple times a day is also something else that I reformed as opposed to the standard three "squares" a day; 5-6 is more ideal. I also keep my body guessing. In other words I don't let it get used to a routine, one day I take in a little more calories or carbs, the next day drop it down a bit and so on. This way your metabolism, stays reved up, at least this is the deal with my circuitry. I have to stress the use of coconut flour, coconut oil, milk, water, palm sugar and coconut meat they are incredible additions to any diet. I am also a big fan of Greek yogurt (And not because I'm Greek).

Go Greek Baby

I personally like it flavored with some Acai powder ( I jumped on that bandwagon too), that I really like the taste of and some blackberries. The darker the berry right? I don't drink milk, I drink almond milk. It is much cheaper and better for you to make it yourself. The other major change is I've adopted a sort of gluten free diet which goes hand in hand with a low-carb way of life nicely. I've given up potatoes, rice, corn, and some wheat products with the corresponding flours. Instead, I use coconut flour, flax seed meal, almond flour, wheat bran, some grains sparingly such as kamut and amaranth; and I do not miss traditional white flour products as much as I thought. I am not a doctor or nutritionist and would advise anyone that needs nutritional advice and help with weight loss to contact one appropriately. I am just sharing the changes I've made to my diet and some recipes that have helped me transition; and included my pictures of said recipes. Disclaimer-I am not a chef by any stretch of the imagination.

Focaccia-Style Flax Bread

2 cups Flax Seed Meal
1Tbs. Baking Powder
1Tsp. Salt
1Tsp. Splenda or Sweetner
5 Eggs or Egg substitute-I used Egg Beaters (However texture will be different)
1/3 cup Oil
Herbs of choice-I used Oregano and Rosemary
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine ingredients except for herbs. Spread onto rectangular pan greased or using parchment paper. Sprinkle herbs on top. Bake for 20 mins.

Coconut Flour Pound Cake (Orange/Walnut)

5 Eggs or Egg substitute-I used Egg Beaters (Texture and rise of cake will be different)
1 Tsp. Baking Powder
1 Tsp. Vanilla
1 Orange (Juice and zest)
2 Oz Cream Cheese or Cottage Cheese
2 Oz Melted Butter
1/2 cup Splenda
1 Cup Coconut Flour
Walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine wet ingredients. Combine dry ingredients. Incorporate together. Spread into loaf pan that's greased or lined with parchment. Bake for 30-40 mins. Sprinkle with walnuts or orange zest as garnish.

Coconut Flour Waffles

4 Tbs. Butter
6 Eggs or Egg Substitute
Sweetener to taste
Salt to taste
1/2 Tsp. Baking Powder
1/3 cup Coconut Flour
Vanilla

Combine all. Cook in Waffle maker according to instruction.

Coconut Flour and Wheat Bran Pitas

1 Egg or Egg Substitute
1/4 Cup Water
1 Tbs. Oil
1/4 Cup plus 2 Tsp. Wheat Bran
4 Tbs Coconut Flour
1/4 Tsp. Baking Powder
Salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine all ingredients except 2 Tsp. of Wheat Bran. On a rectangular pan spread batter into two 5-6 inch rounds. Sprinkle each with remaining Wheat Bran. Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Granola Bars-Lower Carb/High Fiber

1 Cup Wheat Bran
1/2 Cup Rolled Oats
1/4 Cup Flax Seed Meal
1 1/4 Coconut Flour
3/4 Dried Fruit
1/2 Cup Nuts
1/2 Cup Coconut
1/2 Cup Palm Sugar
1/2 Cup Oil
1/2 Cup Maple Syrup or Sugar Free Maple Syrup
Some extra Splenda to taste if desired
Pinch of Salt
Vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients. Add a little more syrup if consistency is too dry. Spread onto pan greased or lined with parchment paper. Bake for 25-35 mins. Cool for 10-15 mins. Cut, wrap or store in air tight container.

Until next time.....

America, Inc.

2011-04-27T01:13:00.000-07:00

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure Domestic Tranquility, provide for the Common Defense, promote the General Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

A consummate democratic government would not make a profit, not take any losses and cost exactly as much as is necessary to provide the services it is expected to provide. This is hardly quintessential and exemplary for businesses. It is not apropos for an agglomerate of businesses to be concerned regarding a safe workplace, employee morale, providing benefits and appropriate salaries to workers. An innumerable amount of businesses could care less about the environmental impacts they beget and could care less about whether their employees had the right to pursue life, liberty, property and happiness. Unions are thorns to business, but a great benefit to our fellow citizens and apart of America’s moral fiber. A business seeks profit, nothing more, nothing less. Businesses are a dictatorship. Democracy in America is evocative of an Oligarchy as it is, why would we ever envisage it a business? An Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power lies with a small number of people. These people could be distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, corporate, or military control. Aristotle pioneered the use of the term. Corporate oligarchy is a form of power, governmental or operational, where such power effectively rests with a small, elite group of inside individuals, sometimes from a small group of educational institutions, or influential economic entities or devices, such as banks, commercial entities that act in complicity with, or at the whim of the oligarchy, often with little or no regard for constitutionally protected prerogative. This is the antithesis of democracy and not what was intended when this country's founding principles were formalized. Without fail, the notion of running the government like a business always comes back, this time with a vengeance. Whether we are citizens, customers or shareholders depends on our profitability. If we're customers, the objective is to obtain from us as much profit as possible. As shareholders, the objective would be to obtain for us as much return as possible. As citizens, the objective is to woo us for votes, pleasing us collectively as much as possible. The culprits in America transitioned from "welfare queens in designer jeans" to "corporate welfare kings in chauffeured limousines," and with rhetorical genius on behalf of the Republicans, back again; from the people's focus on "the undeserving poor" to the people's outrage in support of "the deserving rich." And especially during a time when unemployment and healthcare cost has skyrocketed, it’s amazing how the Republicans spun the sentiment. It’s nothing short of brilliance on their part and blindness on behalf of the citizens, with some ignorant desperation thrown on top. It's like trying to hit a pinata, blindfolded, to get the prosperity to trickle down except the man who handed you the stick spun you to hit the other people waiting their turn.

The Republicans are preaching "Less government in business and more business in government" (Warren Harding), or "the business of America is business" (Calvin Coolidge) and managed to make school teachers and single mothers needing nutritional assistance the enemy that has caused the country to delve into the economic abyss it has. Businesses exist to turn a profit providing goods and services only as it is profitable to do so, with prices set alienating and depriving a huge number of people, entire classes, from obtaining those goods and services. Governments are too provide public goods and services—that has deemed people's right to possess. I read from a satirist, in not so many words-old, sick, poor and very young people, don’t produce anything of economic value. They consume goods and services. The optimal economic growth policy isn’t to slash Social Security or Medicare benefits,Welfare or Medicaid- it’s to euthanize them and harvest their organs. Of course, The Path to Prosperity, proposed by the Republicans makes a declaration to eliminate Medicare. Just to mention, over 20 million families take care of an elderly parent and I am one of them. Providing for two aging baby boomer, terminally ill parents-watching as they have their benefits cut, go without medication for stretches at a time and all of us going into debt with each passing day. My stepfather has leukemia and his medication was dropped for three months, until I managed to get the Leukemia society to help out until his Medicare reverses the “donut hole” he was put into. Luckily, he remained in remission, but the outcome could have been a lot worse in the amount of time that lapsed with a blood cancer. Some of my mother’s medications have been dropped by Medicare, as she needs dialysis and is awaiting a kidney transplant. She is now being billed an obscene amount of money a week as copay for those treatments. Both of my parents are on Social Security.What is being proposed by the Republicans is going to leave millions of seniors destitute, if not dead. As noted above, businesses are supposed to turn a profit. Businesses provide profitable services and try to maximize revenue. However, Republican Congressman Todd Rokita, told MSNBC: "We have too much revenue as it is. We spend too much." His transition to, “too much revenue” to “too much spending” delineates much. Think Progress noted, the last time Republicans insinuated too much revenue flowing into the government, the problem was solved by creating the deficits of today.“More than any other reason", President Bush justified his 2001 tax cuts by claiming the budget surplus President Clinton created was actually bad. “A surplus in tax revenue, after all, means that taxpayers have been overcharged,” Bush explained. Of course, the Bush tax cuts are one of the largest contributors to today’s budget deficit by depriving the government of revenue in conjunction with increased spending. Let’s give an example of such; in 1961 the percent of profits corporations paid in taxes was 47.7 percent as opposed to 2011 in which that percentage was 11.1. Republicans have exhibited that the goal is to introduce the worst excesses of business—the incentive to poor service, the race to the bottom on wages, benefits, and workplace rights—and leave out the ideologically inconvenient bits like growth and the importance of revenue.

It’s time for an about face of thought pertaining to government run like a business. In lieu of trying to have government utilize the most destructive logics of business; what should be emphasized is as Corey Robin writes in The Nation, "Unveil the ways that the unfettered profit motive hurts us and makes us less free, as individuals and as a society". Or, as President Obama put it himself when the microphone was left on in the notorious “Do you think we’re stupid” video, HERE, pound it home, saying “When Paul Ryan says his priority is to make sure he's just being America's accountant; this is the same guy that voted for two wars that were unpaid for, voted for the Bush tax cuts that were unpaid for, voted for the prescription drug bill that cost as much as my health care bill -- but wasn't paid for...So it's not on the level.” Paul Ryan is praised as the Republicans' best economist, but it’s not economics at the heart. He presents nothing that economists could recognize as being related to the discipline of economics. The Heritage Foundation cranked out a study to support him, but that organization has become famous for the support of far-right schemes. The fact is that Ryan is invoking the theories of Ayn Rand, a novelist, who offered an image of society that is flipping Marxism upside down. Paul Ryan has said, “The reason I got into public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker...it would be Ayn Rand.” He requires his staffers to study Rand's Nietzschian tracts. Ayn Rand praised the people at the top of the economic pyramid – corporate leaders, bankers, the rich-- as the people who "contribute the most to all those below them" and suggest they receive too little in return. Also suggesting people at the bottom contribute nothing and are useless parasites; without those at the top, the poor starve in "hopeless ineptitude". Rand's idea is to direct more rewards to the creative few and to destroy the welfare state, which prevents people at the top from unleashing their creativity. I'm sure I do not have to annotate and rationalize how much further from the truth and reality that is. Ayn Rand’s philosophy is as follows- 1. Metaphysics: Objective Reality, 2. Epistemology: Reason, 3. Ethics: Self-interest, 4. Politics: Capitalism.If you want this translated into simple language, it would read: 1.”Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed” or “Wishing won’t make it so.” 2. “You can’t eat your cake and eat it, too.” 3. “Man is an end in himself.” 4. “Give me liberty or give me death.”, Objectivism holds that: Reality exists as an objective absolute—facts are facts, independent of man’s feelings wishes, hopes or fears. Reason is man’s only means of perceiving reality, his only source of knowledge, his only guide to action, and his basic means of survival. Man—every man—is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life. It is a system where men deal with one another, not as victims and executioners, nor as masters and slaves, but as traders, by free, voluntary exchange to mutual benefit. It is a system where no man may obtain any values from others by resorting to physical force, and no man may initiate the use of physical force against others. The government acts only as a policeman that protects man’s rights; it uses physical force only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use, such as criminals or foreign invaders; in a system full of capitalism, there should be (but, historically, has not yet been) a complete separation of state and economics, in the same way and for the same reasons as the separation of state and church.

When has the GOP embraced separation of church and state as well as based social ideologies on fact instead of fear or feelings? Where has the GOP not initiated physical force against others and nations? Where have Christian Conservatives in particular preached to not sacrifice themselves as Jesus did? Here’s the deal, in a stretch of the imagination, if one would like the government to be run like a business or be practically nonexistent providing nothing but defense (as unconstitutional as that is) and based on Rand’s philosophy then social debates over issues must come to an end. Complete separation of church and state, same sex marriage would no longer be a topic up for debate because government would not be involved, no more abortion debates, no debates over ethical science funding, drugs would be legalized, no more subsidies to farmers’ for genetically engineered crops, no more foreign aid, no more corporate welfare and bailouts- because there are no morals in business and all of the above would be contradictory to Rand’s philosophies. Ryan's plan based on Ayn Rand’s writing is about reordering society not about wiping out the deficit. This philosophy is popular amongst Tea Partiers because they are convinced with conviction that they are being punished and stifled because government helps poor people and provides social services. Ryan is serving up a large dose of Social Darwinism at a time when such selfish and ugly sentiments are very popular. Governor Rick Scott of Florida is a notorious business man having planned and is executing running the state as much like a business as possible. Having below a 50 percent approval rate, being booed at baseball games, and people wanting to recall him, it’s clear electing a business man, not to mention having had a company with the largest Medicare and Medicaid fraud in history, to government, has caused citizens to realize the error of their ways. Scott's proposals would result in job losses for 300 thousand people (check out the pink slip rick website, HERE, along with it's ever amusing photos of the Governor) with major tax cuts to grow the private sector along with attempting to privatize Medicaid which will inadvertently make profits for his company, Solantic, which are urgent care centers that will take most of the Medicaid vouchers. The company was put in his wife’s name in order to avoid a conflict of interest; however some democrats are suing suggesting it still is in fact a conflict. I concur. Scott spent 70 million of his own dollars of his total 200 million net worth for a position that pays 200 grand. He is going to make that money back somewhere plus a profit and it’s through his new legislation. Not to mention his cuts to education, law enforcement and care for the disabled.

Scott’s budget proposal has republicans up in the air and democrats in a dead faint on the ground. Scott turned down the funding that was already approved for the high speed rail project that would have created thousands of jobs, hinting that his goal is not just running the state like a business but special interest, social engineering and conservative social agendas as well. Veering away from just models of economics and Rand's philosophies. Let’s hope Scott does not manage the state like his healthcare company where he had to pay the government 1.7 billion dollars because of fraud by Columbia/HCA. Hopefully, education won’t be privatized — like for-profit colleges and universities, which recently have been exposed for enrolling unqualified students with false promises and bombarding them with debt. Hopefully, government services won’t be turned into fee for services, for example 911 or the fire department, as seen in Tennessee. In rural Tennessee, firefighters let a house burn down because the owner hadn't paid a $75 fee. The county does not have a county-wide firefighting service, but South Fulton offers fire coverage to rural residents for a fee. Gene Cranick of Obion County and his family lost all of their possessions in the Sept. 29 fire, along with three dogs and a cat. Cranick says he told the operator he would pay whatever is necessary to have the fire put out. His offer wasn't accepted, he said Firefighters did eventually show up, but only to fight the fire on the neighboring property, whose owner had paid the fee. Read the full article HERE. Absolutely a deplorable decision made on the fire fighters part. Benjamin Franklin was the first to start fire services and the created the first volunteer fire department. It’s such a cliché, but what are we really teaching the future generations with situations such as this? I'll tell you. I read about Kidzania, a multinational chain of family entertainment centers where kids try out professions that have been downsized, simplified, and made fun, not too long ago. It operates out of eight different countries and is planned to come the the United States by 2013. Kidzania is preparing kids for future jobs in corporations, but even have the corporations themselves be a governmental entity and have the children become perfectly immune to the concept. Children are called KidZanians, the citizens of the nation. They appropriately have a national anthem and a flag. Each park has a congress of 14 children, which meet once a month and take trips to see the sponsors of the park, as well as the various other parks around the world. The adult management uses governmental titles; the senior manager of each franchise is called the “Governor.” Add to that, the language of its ever prospering and growing nation-state and its legislation, including its very own bill of rights. At the center of the concept and the business of KidZania lies the motive of corporate consumerism. The rights to brand and help create activities at each franchise are sold off to real corporations. When learning factory work, it’s in a job bottling Coca-Cola, and when working at a restaurant, that “restaurant” has golden arches. The dentist office is sponsored by Crest. Some sponsors fit awkwardly in the park: selling Chevrolet to children is tough. The answer in these situations is often to put up a few computers in a booth where children can interact with the brand—in the Chevrolet case, by designing a customized Camaro. But KidZania seems to fail to emphasize the idea that education is important for reasons other than as a way to get a better-paying job, as if learning only pays off if it pays in cash. Dr. Susan Linn, director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and a psychologist at Harvard Medical School says, “child-driven, hands-on creative play is the foundation of learning, creativity and constructive problem-solving. When adults drive children’s play, those benefits are removed.” It’s just a scaled down version of our own world, except it’s creating the customer in place of the citizen right from the start.

Surely the government’s business model would not resemble the 595,600 companies that closed and 43,546 that went bankrupt in 2008. Feasibly, the government could be modeled after Merrill Lynch, Bank of America, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, General Motors, Chrysler, Lehman Brothers, WorldCom or the favorite front runner, Enron. Maybe the defense contractor that stock piled costs on weapons programs to the sum of $296 billion dollars? Hypocrisies amongst conservatives and businesses are ever present when the sh*t hits the fan, so to speak. When corporate profits were astronomical, CEO’s and Republicans ranted and raved about the foundation and impact of private enterprise and how regulation is Satan’s spawn. What happened when the bubble burst? It was a new song "Public-private partnerships” (aka bail-outs) are not only inspired, they are imperative. Again, along with ending the conservative social issues, if welfare and services are to be ended for the people that should include corporate welfare. In fact, former Pres. G.W. Bush held an MBA and his commitment to bringing business principles to the running of government was best encapsulated in these words he spoke on Nov. 2, 2000: "They want the federal government controlling Social Security like it's some kind of federal program." Wow. And we certainly see where he got us as well. President Obama, having graduated from Harvard with a law degree and specialized in civil rights and constitutional law, on the other hand is accused relentlessly of being a socialist. Truth be told; banks, corporations and Wall Street have done more to deter people’s distrust in American free enterprise than all of the “liberals” and "community organizers" combined. Except as stated above, in strokes of genius rhetoric, creativity and sentiment that the Republicans have used- managed to turn citizen’s anger towards Main Street, in other words, themselves…against their own interests. Our government and constitution’s objective is not profit: it is service. Our government is just an entity that is not in business to receive revenue for itself but for the common good of its people. Our government is not in business to create its own goals, or to ignore the needs or wishes of the community. Businesses have to be creative and figure ways to strategically come up with ways to increase profit when they're no longer profitable and adhere to a cost-benefit ratio model with self-interest first. Our government is "We the People" and its purpose is to meet public demand through our votes as a business’s purpose, again, is not. In his second inaugural address, the only American ever elected president four times, Franklin D. Roosevelt, spoke these still-timely words: "We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics."We can petition our government and expect some useful reaction; we can petition a private business and expect it to continue to do as it pleases, whether or not it happens to be what you wanted, is not of any concern-it’s not a democracy after all.

Maybe Government he thought “Can’t be run like a business or store. “Maybe Government…perhaps…means a little bit more”

PETA is Black and White in a Rainbow World (Hatchery Law Reform and Continued Awareness for the Ethical Treatment of Animals According to Omnivores)

2011-04-02T13:04:00.000-07:00

“Light is meaningful only in relation to darkness, and truth presupposes error. It is these mingled opposites which make it pungent, intoxicating. We only exist in terms of this conflict, in the zone where black and white clash.”The world is not black and white. Many situations are not black and white. I am not comfortable with the mantra either you are with us or against us, circa President Bush; otherwise known as a very traumatic eight years for me. It is an age old argument whether or not to eat meat in response to the abuse happening inside the factory farms, being we are reasonable and morally conscious; and have options for other food sources through our advancement. One of my favorite quotes on the subject is that of Benjamin Franklin, he states “I had stuck to my resolution of not eating animal food... But I had formerly been a great lover of fish, and, when this came hot out of the frying-pan, it smelt admirably well. I balanced sometime between principle and inclination, till I recollected that, when the fish were opened, I saw smaller fish taken out of their stomachs; then thought I, 'If you eat one another, I don't see why we mayn't eat you.' So I dined upon cod very heartily, and continued to eat with other people, returning only now and then occasionally to a vegetable diet. So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do.” PETA is for the ethical treatment of animals as we’ve apprehended it to be. Though it’s often harsh tactics criminalizes people for not choosing the lifestyle of that of a vegan while correlating them to a terrorist, as you’ll read below. Humans are omnivores by nature. There are a number of popular myths about vegetarianism that have no scientific basis. One of these myths is that man is naturally a vegetarian because our bodies resemble herbivores, not carnivores. In fact we are omnivores. Much of the misinformation on the issue of man being a natural vegetarian arises from confusion between taxonomic (in biology, the procedure of classifying organisms in established categories) and dietary characteristics. All the available evidence indicates that the natural human diet is omnivorous and would include meat. We are not, however, required to consume animal protein. We have a choice. I choose to eat meat; understanding the natural ways of the biological world and the natural order of the food chain. Plus, I like hot dogs. By not choosing to persist as a vegan, it is a futile attempt to become a component of PETA. What this post is about, as an omnivore, is not whether to make a determination to espouse a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle for ethical reasons; this is about the sustained abuse and torture of animals by workers and factories and stricter regulations of existing laws and laws that should be proposed, that condemn and criminalize the factories and corporations that perpetuate the behavior, as well as alternative methods of handling the chicks and ducklings in hatcheries. Throughout our agriculture history the first animals to be factory farmed were chickens. The discovery of vitamins and their role in animal nutrition, in the first two decades of the twentieth won't make much of a difference. The changes proposed include telling employees to be more efficient in sending culled chicks to their death via high-speed vacuum, grinding, or gassing — all legal, industry-approved methods.” It’s also stated that 0.1 percent of the 100,000 chicks hatched every day get caught in the machinery. That's 1,100 chicks, just at this one hatchery, being thrown out likecentury, led to vitamin supplements, which allowed chickens to be raised indoors. The discovery of antibiotics and vaccines facilitated raising livestock in larger numbers by reducing disease. Development of hormones allowed for chickens to be produced with bigger breasts to meet the growing demand. Chemicals developed for use in World War II gave rise to synthetic pesticides and all of the above stated advancements and arguments of contention are controversial in themselves, and rightly so.

The videos that caused me to become cognizant of the hatchery horrors, is of Hy-Line hatchery HERE and Cal-Cruz hatchery HERE. It’s disconcerting, disheartening and daunting the imagery that has been compiled and released, having been amassed by undercover documentarians on how major corporations and companies handle the production of animals in the food industry. Evidence of workers who sex chicks-weeding out the males and females-take the chicks, slam them onto the ground, while some are allowed to get stuck in the machinery and others are hosed out and just left for dead on the ground. A definite biological waste and disposal concern in conjunction with the moral aspects of abuse. The machinery the chicks are getting stuck in is a gigantic meat grinder and a machine that identifies the gender of the birds with the use of lasers. The workers phlegmatically carry the newly hatched chicks in baskets to a conveyor belt and dump the chicks for a leisurely ride to get ground up for meat. 150,000 male chicks per day are sorted out by operators known as "sexers" and ground alive because they cannot produce eggs and will not grow fast enough for meat. I was foolishly oblivious of what was done with the male chicks; naïve to believe that they were given to farms or sold at auctions. According to Change.org, “When they turned over the video footage to Santa Cruz County Animal Services Authority and the District Attorney's Office, the follow-up investigation corroborated their evidence and led to the confiscation of 88 ducklings, over half of which had to be euthanized. A year later, the District Attorney's Office said they were not going to prosecute. California is one of the few states where the law doesn't distinguish between pets and food animals. Although the District Attorney's office says the evidence isn't sufficient, it's hard to believe that they wouldn't be pursuing this case if it had happened to puppies or kittens.” The company, Cal Cruz, has been in the industry for 50 years; the owner an upstanding enough citizen, goes on to make some suggestions. “Unless that involves dismantling the machinery or closing the business, it trash every single day, many of them mutilated and suffering. Brian Collins said (the president of Cal-Cruz),

"If there is some industry standard I'm missing, educate me, or design something better." …That we can, if this is the industry standard. There are other alternatives to what could be done with these newborn animals, regardless if it’s more cost effective to turn them into feed. Hy-Line alleges that its hatchery procedures are supported and approved by the animal veterinary and scientific community, adding “Instantaneous euthanasia by maceration is specifically supported by the American Veterinary Medical Association, Federation of Animal Science Societies, Agriculture Canada, World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), and European Union (EU)”. Not hitting the mark enough, for those who want to enjoy their omelets in good conscience.

It’s unacceptable and quite traumatizing to watch images of pigs being molested and abused, watch the video of Smithfield Food Products Farm’s HERE and an Iowa pig farm HERE. Both companies were appropriately persecuted. Staying on top of the issue, becoming aware, and not being reduced to complacency is part of the solution. There are right and wrong ways of doing things. It does not make you a hypocrite to support animal rights, be against abuse of animals and the ethical treatment of, and yet still consume meat. It’s understood by most, the capabilities and ranges of emotions and physical sensations and mental abilities animals feel and posses. More than 16 billion animals that are killed for food every year in the U.S. have little legal protection from cruelty that would be illegal if it were inflicted on companion dogs or cats. They are neglected, mutilated, genetically manipulated, put on drug regimens that cause chronic pain and crippling, transported through all weather extremes, and killed in gruesome and violent ways. Even so-called "free-range" animals are often mutilated without the benefit of painkillers; kept in filthy, disease-ridden sheds; forced to endure long trips to the slaughterhouse without food or water; and killed in the same ways as animals from factory farms” Says PETA. Milk production is being increased from the utilization of bovine growth hormone, first harnessed by Monsanto, and the result of this on the cows is contemptible, highly abusive and not as widely recognized. Clearly it is a whole other argument on the dangers this has to humans. Though this IGF-1 occurs naturally in mothers' milk to be fed to their infants it produces adverse effects in non-infants, behaving as a cancer accelerator in adults and non-infants; this biologically active hormone is associated with breast cancer (correlation shown in premenopausal women), prostate cancer, lung cancer and colon cancers. The choice could be yours, whether or not to consume rBST enhanced milk. However, since we have no way of knowing which products we buy have used these companies’ methods, the decision on whether to consume the milk is arduous, because there are no regulations and no consumer labels put on the products. A fact worthy of note is the FDA, EPA, and USDA is overseen by former heads of Monsanto. Monsanto is a multinational agriculture biotechnology corporation. The cost already involved and what the cost would be projected to be, to provide more humane ways of managing and operating the food production industries and hatcheries, is extensive. Understandably, there is a careful balance of cost and profit. Such choices to be more humane tend to be pricier for consumers. One study suggested that humane improvements instituted by the United Egg Producers cooperative would raise the price of eggs by 8 to 10 cents per dozen -- and animal rights advocates criticize even those improvements as minimal. Prices for free-range chickens run more than 50 percent higher than standard brands.

The conduct of the workers has to be more efficiently monitored, preferably by an outside party, and not tolerated to any degree, regardless of some arguments that the workers are underpaid. Human Rights Watch has said that slaughterhouse workers have "the most dangerous factory job in America." The industry has refused to do what's necessary to create safe working conditions for its employees, such as slowing down slaughter lines and supplying workers with appropriate safety gear, because these changes could cut into companies' bottom lines. Many workers endure crippling injuries and many have even lost their limbs—or their lives—from working with dangerous meat-processing machines. What it does for the environment is definitely reason enough to have more laws and regulation, in and of itself. Factory farms, and agriculture giants like Monsanto, pollute the air and water for miles in every direction, often spreading contamination and illness to the people who live and work nearby. Chronic sickness, brain damage, poisoned waterways, elevated cancer rates, and even death plague these communities, while the government does nothing to protect citizens or regulate the industry. It's up to Americans to help stop them. Between 2000 and 2005, agribusinesses funneled more than $140 million to politicians, who helped to ensure that laws that might protect consumers, animals, and the environment did not pass. The federal government does little to protect human health, animal welfare, and our environment from the factory-farming industry's negligence and excess, However PETA has to, and rightly so, from their extremist position, that the only true answer is becoming vegan. Analogous of the way conservatives say abstinence is the solution; to underage pregnancy, disease, etc., and the morally righteous way. The answer is not extremist attitudes and ultimatums. I opt not to eat veal and fois gras, I’ve made the choice to never wear fur due to the fact, most of the fur industries have zero regulation, as seen in the videos of fur farms in China, HERE, where the animals are skinned alive, slammed in to the ground, bludgeoned in the head and thrown into a bin…some still breathing. When I see such things it feels as if pieces of my soul die. I am certainly aware of the films that exist of the abuse against cattle and other animals and you can check them out at the PETA websites or through searches. A lot of the pharmaceutical companies are required by law to test on animals. Some testing is unreasonable and not necessary in my opinion. I cannot comprehend why Always and Carefree feminine products need to be tested on animals; or 3M and Hugo boss.

I would be a supportive, active member of PETA to help facilitate an end to torture and abuse of animals, but PETA doesn’t support me. The animal rights group is certainly known for its shocking ads, aggressive tactics and bountiful photos of naked ladies touting vegetarianism, pet adoption and animal birth control. One of the latest posts on its blog still manages to push the envelope, with the aforementioned correlation between a meat eater and a terrorist. Blogger Logan Scherer writes a post about how Ghulam Rasool Khan, who was arrested in India with suspected links to al Qaeda and the Taliban, insists on eating large quantities of meat rather than the vegetarian food served in prison. Behold: a visit from Captain Obvious; As if the world needed another example of the proven link between violence against animals and violence against humans, Ghulam Rasool Khan--a suspected al-Qaida member jailed in India--refuses to eat the vegetarian food served to him, instead demanding "two kg of mutton and one kg of chicken daily." Khan has threatened to go on a hunger strike if he doesn't get his carcasses. But if PETA India's recent request that all jails serve only vegetarian meals is honored, then the bloodthirsty terrorist will be starving himself indefinitely. PETA also posted about how serial killers often torture animals before "graduating" to humans, suggesting that simply eating meat is the same sociopathic behavior as torturing small animals. Ironically, PETA itself was recently classified as a terrorist threat by the USDAR. There was another case in the news of vegan parents allowing their 11 month old child to die of malnutrition. HERE are five known cases of instances of vegan related child deaths. In essence and irony, in the name of not killing any animals, they killed their children. PETA actually suggests higher insurance rates for meat eaters, as if there aren’t enough attacks and singling out of people’s behaviors and on people’s lifestyles. The search for such "humanely raised" food is opening up new ground in what was previously a no-man's land between carnivores and vegetarians. An increasing number of consumers are acting as "ethical omnivores," saying that they'll only eat meat and dairy products that have been raised in a cruelty-free way. Industrial farms have been stung by high-profile campaigns and such books like "Dominion" where a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush details the economics of factory farming – having personally investigated several major animal industries, including those of hunting and whaling. He traces the history of the animal rights movement and its philosophical underpinnings and argues for a balance between the cruel and cavalier treatment of animals and the more radical notions of the animal rights movement. This abuse cannot continue in the farms, slaughterhouses, industries and the horrors at the hatcheries.

Some possible solutions I’ve seen offered up to assist those omnivores in this plight is the (triple R) RRR acronym-Refinement: minimize suffering and distress, Reduction: minimize number of animals used and Replacement: avoid the use of living animals. There are countless other materials and methods to use. Synthetic skin called Corrositex, Computer modeling, Improved Statistical Design and The Murine Local Lymph Node Assay (LLNA); all are available and contribute to decrease the dependence on animal testing. Better standards and regulations are essential and perpetrators not in compliance of the decrees, persecuted. The answer is in awareness and support of bills that protect and regulate and sentence the criminality. It’s understandable that it is a difficult issue to talk and think about, however I hope more people become aware of what goes on so we can offer alternatives, law creation and stricter regulations. I am a firm believer in allowing people to live any lifestyle they choose. That’s the beauty of America…there are all the colors of our, hopefully more aware and compassionate, rainbow.

Green Energy Imaginary To Some (As I Wish They Were To Me)

2011-03-26T22:26:00.000-07:00

“Either you love her or hate her”( truer words were never spoken) states India Today Editor-in-Chief Aroon Purie, after introducing Sarah Palin as she gave a keynote address to the India Today Conclave on the importance of drilling and oil’s potential. Oil’s potential? Isn’t that an oxymoron like Palin’s intelligence? Sarah Palin, of course, as we cannot consign to oblivion, coined the phrase “Drill Baby Drill” in 2008. She further stated “It’s a false Utopian fairy tale that you don't need to drill for energy needs” continuing “The present green technologies are not mature enough and Alaska's abundant oil and gas reserves would serve as the bridge to the future”. Our green technologies are not nearly advanced and efficient as they could be, that’s true. However, that does not diminish the importance or negate the fact our country has to unite in this green energy endeavor and not resort to the assumption our only salvation is to dig up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. All the while, Aroon Purie was “Poking fun at Palin’s creative vocabulary” and her polarizing effect in the United States; that’s putting it mildly. Creative was a nice way of saying low country beauty pageant twang. Sarah Palin states that “There is no future in green energy and it does not create a boost to an economy.” Did I read that correctly? It’s like the Northern lights are on in Palin’s head, but no one’s home…hence the oxymoron. Palin further stated “green jobs have eliminated more jobs than it has created.” Don’t go there. I think we’ve seen recently how job creation is the last priority amongst the Republicans agendas. Let’s review some statistics on green jobs.

First, what is a green job? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics; Green jobs are either: Jobs in businesses that produce goods or provide services that benefit the environment or conserve natural resources or Jobs in which workers’ duties involve making their establishment’s production processes more environmentally friendly or use fewer natural resources. Examining different sectors of the job market, these are the projected growth statistics: Advanced Biofuels: 29,000 new jobs by 2012; 190,000 jobs by 2022. Energy efficient infrastructure: 280,000 jobs, nearly half of which would be created in the next 12 months. Solar energy: 110,000 new jobs at the end of 2010 in the U.S., plus solar job growth of 100% in Canada. Wind energy: 185,000 new jobs in the next 12 months. Overall 37 million renewable energy jobs by the year 2030, which would be 17% of all U.S. employment! Slap me in the face! With an Alaskan crab. What a fairytale utopia, kind of like Palin seeing herself as Commander-in-Chief. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has allowed funding of $11 billion for a smart grid, $2.3 billion for advanced battery technology, $6.3 billion to states and local governments for greater energy efficiency, and also guarantees $60 billion in loans for renewable energy power generation and electric transmission projects, plus $2.5 billion for energy research. There is a significant difference between spending and investing. Return for one. One aspect of the United States that has been tried and true; we have always built our way up and out of depressions with an unwavering spirit; build baby build. You have to spend money to make money. One out of every ten dollars of the GDP is related to transportation activity. Needless to say, that is the true testament to patriotism, to make American the the best by investing in it, we have not invested in transportation or infrastructure since Eisenhower built the highway systems.

Let’s look at some oil facts: The U.S. consumes a quarter of the world’s oil supply while holding a mere 3% of global oil reserves. We cannot drill our way out of our energy problems, Mrs. Palin, in the same sense the definition of insanity is to do something over and over and expect different results. Currently, the U.S. imports over 60% of its oil. In 1972, the U.S. spent $4 billion on oil imports, an amount that equaled 1.2% of our defense budget. In 2006 it cost $260 billion, 2008-over $600 billion. We are paying foreign governments-including those that want to kill us infidels and kill their own for dancing with small rocks-more than we pay for our own defense. The 30 year old plus debate in whether or not to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) has been an ongoing political controversy. The Refuge and its undiscovered estimates are categorized as PROSPECTIVE resources and therefore, not proved. The Dept. of Energy reports “Consequently, there is considerable uncertainty regarding both the size and quality of the oil resources that exist. Thus, the potential ultimate oil recovery and potential yearly production are highly uncertain”. ANWR oil production is not projected to have a large impact on world oil prices. There’s a surprise."Assuming that world oil markets continue to work as they do today, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) could neutralize any potential price impact of ANWR oil production by reducing its oil exports by an equal amount”. Many scientists have expressed concern about the world's remaining oil reserves; that the end of oil is coming sooner than governments and oil companies are prepared to admit. "Recent activity in the National petroleum reserve in Alaska, including 3-D seismic surveys, federal lease sales administered by the Bureau of Land Management and drilling of more than 30 exploration wells in the area provides geological information that is more indicative of gas than oil," the geological survey said. Much of the debate over whether to drill in the 1002 area of ANWR rests on the amount of economically recoverable oil, as it relates to world oil markets. Taking into account the potential harm oil exploration might have upon the natural wildlife, in particular the calving ground of the caribou. Not to mention the ecological impact. Of course, Palin shoots caribou for political gain and fun; this is a woman who shot wolves and bears from a helicopter and called it hunting, so this would not likely invoke an ounce of compassion or concern from our ice princess.

There is a lot of money at stake, very heavy investments and interests, which is indicative of the ongoing problem and endurance of it. I know I’ve been taught there is nothing that stabilizes and grows a portfolio like blue chips. Long ago, I was part owner of Exxon Mobil stock. I’m not talking Gordon Gekko ownership; I’m talking the size of a couple of atoms that make up a crumb of the pie. The dividends felt like my birthday, but I was cognizant it bequeathed my soul to the devil; money is the root of all evil and needless to say I nullified the arrangement with the man in the red body suit holding a pitchfork. We as a people cannot lose consciousness of the gargantuan disasters which are the denouement of our dependence on the black gold, the Texas Tea, the bubbling crude… HERE is a list of all of the oil disasters, in the event a refresher course is needed. The most recent catastrophe, of course, is the Deep Water Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico. This had a dead zone to begin with. The impact on the earth is massive, extensive and often irrevocable. Most birds affected by an oil spill die unless there is human intervention. Marine mammals exposed to oil spills are affected in similar ways as seabirds. Oil coats the fur of Sea otters and seals, reducing its insulation abilities and leading to body temperature fluctuations and hypothermia. Ingestion of the oil causes dehydration and impaired digestions. Because oil floats on top of water, less sunlight penetrates into the water, limiting the photosynthesis of marine plants and phytoplankton. This, as well as decreasing the fauna populations, affects the food chain in the ecosystem. There are three kinds of oil-consuming bacteria. Sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) and acid-producing bacteria are anaerobic, while general aerobic bacteria (GAB) are aerobic. These bacteria occur naturally and will act to remove oil from an ecosystem, and their biomass will tend to replace other populations in the food chain. Affecting the food chain has impacts on a global level. In these disasters bodies of water, wetlands and entire environments are destroyed. It takes decades, if ever they recover combined with the fact there are always numerous oil spills and accidents happening at the same time. Energy and the economy are directly connected. Climate change affects grocery prices. This, I thought was common knowledge. HERE is a study from Perdue University on the impact of energy, climate and the economy. It can’t be assumed these are problems we are going to have to solve in the future, that they are problems that will not occur until the future. They are happening now. We have to understand and be aware of the problems in order to change them. We don’t need more research, we don’t need debates; we need bipartisan effort, my aforementioned definition of patriotism and more respect for the earth.

When Americans put their thick heads together, we have astounding accomplishments; with the age old adage if we could put a man on the moon we can do anything. I’ve seen the Republicans resort to some straw grasping, idiotic and endangering measures, but by far the worst to me is their stance that climate change is a myth and drilling for oil is our only redemption and option. Besides the fact 51% believe the president was born in Kenya. I undoubtedly question what the limit would have to be, what line has to be crossed before supporters leave the Republican Party. Evidently, Sarah Palin was not enough. It’s not as if I’ve never held more fiscal conservative views, but there came a time when I had to say to myself I cannot be a part of this GOP insane asylum. Sarah Palin is the political equivalent of Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction. One night with her and Palin's broken into our house and is boiling our bunnies. Besides realizing Sarah Palin is not going away anytime soon and she was allowed to go speak to other countries, you realize how prophetic Carter was when he installed the solar panels on the white house and with no surprise and complete predictably Reagan took them down. The panels had been dismantled to fix the roof underneath. Dale A. Petroskey, a White House spokesman, said ''Putting them back up would be very unwise, based on cost.'' …What!?!? At the time, Reagan said, “That’s enough of that!” when he ordered their removal. The act certainly was symbolic. In 1991, Unity College, an environmentally centered college in Maine acquired the panels and later installed them on their cafeteria. The Reagan administration cut funding for renewable energy research and public renewable energy tax credits by 90%. His election campaign was strongly backed by the US oil and energy industry. What would have transpired as far as Americans attitude towards sustainable and green energy if Reagan didn’t remove them? Removing the panels was symbolic of the attitude, that this is America, I will consume as much as I like no matter the consequence because we have endless resources that God will replenish. It’s an attitude that Sarah Palin is perpetuating by stating green energy is a fantasy and it stifles the job market. It is THAT attitude that is unsustainable. Palin and a number of Republicans believe oil drilling and the continuation of our dependence on it, is somehow the light at the end of the tunnel, except it’s more like a black hole and we are at the event horizon.

(Please see my posts; Sarah Palin Gives Me Hypothermia and Climate Initiative Cooperation...or Rather Lack Thereof, for more of my perspective of the Former Governor and how the members of her brood are unconcerned with issues plaguing the planet and the overall health of it, as well as its inhabitants.)

Madhouse Photography

2011-03-23T12:27:00.000-07:00

Coming shortly is a fantastic website of primarily New York City photography, I will post the link when they are finished with construction. Consisting of Cityscapes, Sunsets, Nature and Artistic shots; they are incredibly talented and had the luxury of awesome vantage points normally not available; and taken through a truly creative filter and comprised from a truly creative spirit. If you love city photography, in particular New York City and that urban essence, you will love this. There are also Nature shots and Artistic shots for those not into the concrete jungle scene, but appreciate art and are looking for exceptional prints, most of which can be sized up to 2'x4'. Madhouse Photography will suit the needs of office decor, businesses, house decor, etc. looking for that urban element. I love it, I've mentioned I'm always on the lookout for Art of any medium because individual expression, personal creativity and the realm of artistic impression are vital. If you would like more information email HERE.

Mexican in Shining Armor (The Tire Iron and The Tamale)

2011-03-19T08:52:00.000-07:00

I encountered an article from The New York Times (you can read it here), called The Tire Iron and The Tamale. It is basically recapping experiences a man named Justin Horner had, as far as having multiple blow outs on the road or car trouble of sorts and the only people to come to his rescue were Mexican immigrants. Justin Horner is a graphic designer from Portland, OR. Be forewarned this has absolutely nothing to do with illegal immigrants or immigration policies or opinions on the “Arizona” law, (which I’m completely against) it’s about attitude. There are two reasons why this has semblance and has struck me. One, I can painstakingly relate to this ordeal. With one contemptible exception; I had to pay one hundred dollars to the highway patrol for use of their jack… Two, the only thing Americans need to be threatened by sometimes concerning immigrants is their American spirit and humanity.

In the article, the man watched tow truck after tow truck; car after car ; pass him by without a crumb of help being thrown his way, even though he posted signs in the window of his car and offered money. A family of four Mexican immigrants, transiently in the country for the tedious task of picking cherries and peaches on a farms and then returning home; altruistically stopped and donated their assistance. But not to the extensiveness one would expect. At first the jack was too small and the father took out a saw and cut a log that was on the side of the road, to prop the jack on to. The tire iron broke; the wife devotedly and blissfully walked to a gas station to go by a new one. This irksome and burdensome ordeal had taken hours and after trying to pay the Mexicans for their troubles, they so graciously responded by asking the gentleman down on his luck if he was hungry. “The two of us were filthy and sweaty. His wife produced a large water jug for us to wash our hands in. I tried to put a 20 in the man’s hand, but he wouldn’t take it, so instead I went up to the van and gave it to his wife as quietly as I could.” He said. The daughter benevolently handed him homemade tamale, where the man discovered the father had put the money inside the wrapper of the tamale. “The guy just smiled and, with what looked like great concentration, said in English: “Today you, tomorrow me.” This family was here for such a brief time, probably underpaid, to perform work most Americans would not and all too grateful of this; all the while portraying the morals and character that Americans say they posses and standby but too often falling short.

When my car broke down on a highway in the south, in the winter and late at night; it was a tire blow out by an exit ramp and right in front of a toll booth; I did not have road service of any kind and I realized the monumental mistake of that. Myself and the person I was with asked the toll booth attendant if she had a jack, or if anyone inside the building had one; there was about seven cars in the parking lot. A security guard came out and said she did not have one either but would call over to the construction crew vigorously working on the opposite side of the highway and see if they had one. In the meantime, I was pitifully asking a couple of people who were stopping to pay a toll if they could offer any assistance. The toll booth attendant “allowed” this a couple of times but then proceeded to say we couldn’t do that anymore, even though no one complained, I suppose it was parallel to panhandling. The attendant had been weary to some degree from the start as if this was a set up and a ploy for a much bigger crime in the process. I made a sign just as the man did in the article, offering money as well and only one group of young kids traveling in a band stopped to help but their equipment was too small for our car. When desperately checked back with the security guard after an hour or so, she said the equipment the construction crew would have would be too big. What am I trapped in the Goldilocks and the Three Bears? I certainly wasn’t running into the surrounding forests; mind you there was nothing for miles and miles that we could see. I didn’t realize how desolate these areas were. I was also under the impression that southern hospitality wasn’t a myth. I certainly vocalized that. The toll booth attendant said to call the highway patrol and after calling, it was out of sheer principle that I wanted to avoid having to pay that much for use of a jack. We decided to drive the car as far as we could take it, in hopes there would be a gas station, going about 10mph with the hazard lights on, I watched state trooper after trooper zoom by with absolutely no regard to one of the only cars on the highway with hazard lights on crawling at a snail’s pace. When I came to the realization of no rescue and no gas stations were present, we pulled the car over, right by wafting wildfire smoke nonetheless, and called the highway patrol.

In the article the man thought to himself “This family, undoubtedly poorer than just about everyone else on that stretch of highway, working on a seasonal basis where time is money, took a couple of hours out of their day to help a strange guy on the side of the road while people in tow trucks were just passing him by. I sat in my car eating the best tamale I’ve ever had, and I just started to cry.” It also made me think of my experience and past experiences. I remember once in my early twenties when I was in college and budgeting wasn’t a priority, I was outside of a 7-11 counting change so I could purchase milk. While other patrons were looking at me like I should be mortified and ashamed of my affliction and situation, a Hispanic woman came over and handed me whatever was in her pockets. Thinking of this and the situation with my car trouble; I thought to myself after paying enough for a month’s worth of electricity for use of the highways patrolman’s jack, being jerked around by the only people around for miles at the toll booth and silently being accused of a possible crime suspected I’d commit, being passed by half a dozen state troopers and suffering minor smoke inhalation, in retrospect, I would have given anything for a Mexican immigrant in shining armor.

Incoming...Man Down

2011-03-09T00:51:00.000-08:00

First, I want to affirm that I have not read the book Man Down: Proof Beyond a Reasonable Doubt That Women are Better Cops, Gamblers, Spies, World Leaders, Beer Tasters, Hedge Fund Managers and Just About Everything Else By Dan Abrams. I just want to address the overall premise of it. Secondly, I want to reiterate that I would be established at the forefront of any feminist movement, but not to suggest I support radicalism in any sense. I read a quote all too relevant to this. “The anti-male philosophy of radical feminism has filtered into the culture at large is incontestable; indeed, this attitude has become so pervasive that we hardly notice it any longer". Whether I align with Charlotte Hay’s ideologies is a separate issue. I have to agree with that statement. I think that women can execute professionally and succeed as well as a man and should be compensated the same amount in their paycheck. I’m all for women deciding to have families on their own (as opposed to Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin), all for women having complete control over their bodies, to make their own decisions regarding them under privacy protection and I recognize the ongoing battle of sexism in this country. Many woman exhibit traits that some men do not and vice versa, as far as assigned social gender identity roles and that’s the point...individuality, personal characteristics and balance. I’m not a fan of this mantra that women are better than men or the other way around. I’m not a cheerleader for stereotypes articulating males are good in math and females are good with reading comprehension or any other somewhat demeaning "statistics" that are put forth. I’m shocked that is asserted. In fact, the most detrimental and worst thing you could be, is in the box society puts you in. To be packed snuggly in your assigned gender role with corresponding pink or blue foam packing peanuts…which is analogous to other “boxes” potentially set up for us to be packed in, either pertaining to class, creativity, intelligence, sexuality, religion, nationality, race etc. There are women who can build a mean house and a man who picks out killer throw pillows. When you watch talk shows or sitcoms they always portray the husband as a bumbling idiot and the wife as a savior. This is no better than and comparable to (minus the violence) showing the wife always in the kitchen with an apron and the husband raising his fist insinuating he’s going to launch her out of the stratosphere. They always show men trying to watch a game and the wife rolling her eyes. On the talk shows if the man said he thinks he’s better at something the crowd will boo, reverse it and the crowd goes wild. It is damaging enough that double standards run rampant, let us not contribute to it.

There exists examples, justifications, and accounts why sundry statistics are just that. Some women might excel at managing a budget possibly because she’s a single mother solely responsible for children and the finances or she has a degree in accounting, who knows!?! This is not always the case and completely irrelevant. Maybe men might get hit by lightening at a greater rate because their wives sent them out there to fix something or get something or maybe he jumped in the way of danger to protect his wife. It doesn’t matter. Dan Abrams says men are just being “dim bulbs” and their bravado got them in trouble which may be true, however, it’s not lost on me that bravado could save my ass. It’s more likely, a woman will sacrifice herself for her children; a man will sacrifice himself for his whole family or possibly someone else’s. There is an agglomeration of women that are shameful mothers and fathers who are raising children on their own that put others to shame. Some young women now, need to concentrate on being better versions of themselves, the younger generations who don’t seem to take an interest in all that women had fought for a substantial amount of time to be able to assume form of a CEO or to attain to become president. Not just learning how to submerse your head in bleach, the art of tanning, the skill of finding a good plastic surgeon and fight over a romantic interest. A good number of young men should learn how to treat women with respect and not keep them on a score card deducting points for a girl being a “GRENADE”. It’s been said women have more of a pain threshold over men. Whatever the case may be, I’ve seen some individuals cry over a baby gash on their leg and others walk around with bullet holes, regardless of gender. The United States ranks lower as far as the amount of women in government and it’s been alleged that having more women in government causes it to be less corrupt. .whether that is the case or not, there should be a balance, a yin and yang in all scenarios.

I’m sure you’ve read that the yin yang symbolizes contradicting forces that are interdependent upon one another in the natural world. They only exist in relation to each other, meaning without each other they don’t exist at all. There are varying degrees of this, many shades, but the principle in nature is always trying to achieve a state of equilibrium, homeostasis is critical to life. It’s a paradox in a sense that it seems in order to give women equal footing they have to push ahead to rise above by pushing men to the side and eventually down. In the same sense that an opponent tries to take out another opponent out of the competition when what should really happen is for the competitors be based on their performance equally and whoever wins…is the winner. We don’t need to keep breeding prejudices, it’s a slippery slope. For sometime men had been accused and convicted of sexual assault and related crimes just based on the woman’s testimony. Men have a presumption of being guilty more so than a woman. Women have a 50% more likely chance of beating a murder conviction. Men are 5x more likely to face the death penalty. There were policies that a man could not sit next to an unaccompanied child on a plane, out of perception that men were prone to be potential child abusers. This presumption that men are more inclined to be dangerous has lead to a disproportionate number of women in fields of nursing ,child care, end of life care, nursing homes, elementary education, and secretarial positions. An unfortunate comparison to the years men were disproportionate in everything else. You don’t have to give credit to an individual or gender or race by putting another down. Didn’t we learn that in elementary school not to bully someone or sabotage someone to make ourselves feel or look better? Women have needed to fight the good fight over the years, as well as minorities and this certainly does nothing to help the fight for people of vastly different lifestyles and sexualities. Misogyny has been all too apparent, let’s not increase the misandry and add that to the ever growing pile of phobias that perpetuate the ever increasing divide amongst us.The overall goal is to work AWAY from discrimination. I’m sure we’ve all felt depending on the situation which friend would best be suited to our time in need when we’ve needed one. It’s the same principle that it depends on individual qualities. I prefer individuals that are not male or female, black or white, gay or straight for the job or predicament, but the better qualified, the best suited and better at not being a jackass.

“As far as I'm concerned, being any gender is a drag.”- Patti Smith

The (Not So) Lonely Whale...

2011-03-06T22:55:00.000-08:00

Have you read the story of the “supposed” lonely whale? It was originally printed by the New York Times in 2004. In summary, it’s about a baleen whale (its call identified in 2000) that has been tracked by the NOAA since 1992 after its calls were picked up in 1989. Apparently, since his calls are registered at a higher level frequency, 52 Hz (the lowest note on a tuba) and much higher than other whales, they say he has not been able to find a mate.You can listen to his call here, click on the 241k file. Every year only the mating calls of this mighty stag are recorded at that frequency. It’s also been suggested that whales call out in song for kinship. Furthermore, he does not follow the proverbial migration route of other baleen whales, so he is the only pea in his pod... Why is this? Some scientist believe the whale “might possibly be a hybrid of two whales, but do not speculate upon which species of whale could have got together to produce an animal with calls at a frequency so monumentally dissimilar to other baleen whales” or deformed in some manner or possible the last of an unknown species. “to be classed as a new animal, even if the whale popped out of the water on camera during a live broadcast and posed for photos, unless there was a body, that evidence, would for some scientists, still carry only the same weight as one of their kid’s crayon pictures” said Oll Lewis. The Woods Hole scientists are unable to explain the dramatic difference, but say the chance of it being a new species is unlikely, that the vocal range of the known species might be wider than previously suggested. The Woods Hole scientists were able to track the migratory pattern of the whale over several years, but this was only after the sounds had been declassified and released to them. It’s not probable we would ever know what the whale looks like or even if it is even still alive. The latest article written was 2011. However, baleen whales were presumed to live 50–60 years, but new studies using the changes in amino acids behind eye lenses proved another baleen whale, the bowhead, to be 211 years old. Baleen whales are known to be solitary or travel in small pods. Some believe that the male baleen whales try to show off in the presence of females to increase their mating success in conjunction with song. The purpose of the song is not yet clear, although it appears to have a role in mating. There are many theories.

Dr. Kate Stafford, a researcher at the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle, says that the lonely whale keeps saying “Hey, I'm out here” but "nobody is phoning home." Only one set of calls are heard at a time, revealing that the sounds are made by an individual. Do they know for sure that he’s not a “baby daddy”? Maybe he said wham, bam, thank you ma’am and he retreated to his life on the lam. This is where the animal world is not comparable to us. In the animal kingdom, animals are more apt to stick with what works as far as natural selection, it’s too dangerous for them to hedge their bets the way people can…nature is just too risky. There have been studies done that prove (as much as possible) that animals in the wild do not suffer depression of that of humans, exhibit suicidal behavior, die from loneliness, have eating disorders and other psychopathic behaviors unless a cognitive disability, emotional impairment or distress is present. The exception of course is with confinement, human involvement, farms and laboratories. It can be difficult to attribute human afflictions to non- human animals. “Behavioral Disorders are difficult to study in animals because it is difficult to know what animals are thinking and because animals used to determine psychopathologies are done so with experimental preparations developed to study a condition, lacking the ability to use language to study behavioral disorders like depression and stress questions the validity of those studies conducted”. I’m surprised that this amount of time has gone by without being able to find the whale, however I understand the difficulty in locating him and the manpower it would take. It’s difficult for me to imagine that two whales of different species would mate, but not two of the same species because one has a different tone “voice”. If the whale was depressed , lonely and seeking a mate without any success, assuming he had the emotions to the magnitude a human would, would he also exhibit the same behavior a human would in that plight, meaning, would he still try? “Low mood increases an organism's ability to cope with the adaptive challenges characteristic of unpropitious situations in which effort to pursue a major goal will likely result in danger, loss, bodily damage, or wasted effort." Why bother if it’s not going to be possible? Maybe he’s the Sir Francis Drake, Cpt. James Cook, or the Magellan of whales exploring the deep blue. This could be the George Clooney of whales.

I’m a fan of paradoxes and it was said in one article, adapted in my words, that the whale too considerable to amour or befriend other sea souls that it crosses, making him feel so paradoxically slight in the expansiveness of the ocean. I just have a feeling; inkling that that is just is not the case. I don’t imagine the whale moping around the ocean for years debating whether or not to come up for air. “That he would do anything for just one hug”... Maybe it’s not a whale at all, maybe it’s an alien, maybe it’s the military…maybe it’s a lonely person pulling a prank on the marine scholars.What’s more interesting to me is not the articles but how the articles are written and the people that respond so empathetically to it. The original story was extracted from a December issue of Deep Sea Research, but it has been spun into a tale, in which the moral is very pronounced. Someone who themselves is a sentimentalist, a hopeless romantic, or lonely at times or even feeling out casted to an ambit, can appreciate why every article and blog I peruse about the 52 Hz whale insists that this whale is sad, depressed, lonely, looking for love, looking for friends, looking to belong.; it’s possible people are projecting onto the whale, or conceptualizing the whale to posses human cognition and emotions. Relating him to a time in life when they’ve felt this way or someone they’ve known to feel that way or just knowing that people in general perpetually feel that way. There is an abundance of people that live life in solidarity and are perfectly stable and content, taking each day as it is, just happy to have a heartbeat. This whale is probably content just being alive and not having a harpoon up its ass. That’s the lesson in this. Who knows what little whale adventures he has every day. The substantial and essential difference regarding people is, even thought we may differ to breadths and scopes where we are ousted for not meeting certain societal guidelines and standards, our communication being atrocious from time to time or chronically, we have evolved to be so many versions of each other, manifested into many incarnations of what it is to be human. That's the beautiful quality about us, no matter our differences. We have so many divergent ways of expression and communication, individual styles of leading our lives, methods of attaining our fundamental needs, many ways we interpret and many ways of relating, many ways of learning and many ways of believing, many ways of thinking and many ways of speaking. At times contrasting, but still alike and kindred enough that we manage to find someone to accept us, understand us, relate to us, listen to us, talk to us, take care of us, be with us, love us…and hear our call.

“I saw it all, I knew it all-the million years of waiting alone, for someone to come back who never came back. The million years of isolation at the bottom of the sea, the insanity of time there, while the skies cleared of reptile-birds, the swamps fried on the continental lands, the sloths and sabre-tooths had their day and sank in tar pits, and men ran like white ants upon the hills.”-Ray Bradbury 1951 The Foghorn

Joss & Main Art

2011-03-04T20:47:00.000-08:00

A home without art, is like a furnace without fire...like a heart without passion. A fridge with no food? We need to look at things in our home that make us feel tranquil, make us feel at home, inspire us everyday, and if you are not one to paint yourself, then I like to find places where I can find some beautiful things. If you are in the market for any wall art, contemporary furniture, or eco-friendly rugs check it. They're always changing items, they're exclusive, and sales are available daily. http://www.jossandmain.com/store/myinvite/aSx

Climate Initiative Cooperation...Or Rather, Lack Thereof

2011-03-04T13:30:00.000-08:00

I recently staggered across a map of the Regional Climate Initiatives in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, whilst looking for clip art and developed some impressions about it. I was slightly taken back by it at first glance to be candid, right now-” 23 U.S. states have actively participated in the design and/or implementation of three regional cap-and trade programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions”. Of course it should read 50 states, why wouldn’t all of our states be involved? It became no surprise to me; I surely wasn’t flabbergasted in the least, that the states that are not participating, concurring, partaking...are in the southeast region primarily, some Midwest, some Mid-Atlantic and Texas. (Butter my biscuit! It’s like two goats in a pepper patch, better not count my chickens ‘cause it’s gonna’ be a snowballs chance in hell that they will!...I just jest with them. I love the South.) The “Solid South’s” representatives can always be depended on in matters such as this! It really is just like trying to shove an elephant. On the map are- “The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord (Midwestern Accord), and the Western Climate Initiative (WCI). Five Canadian provinces are also active participants and five Mexican states”. Our collective and collaborative objective should be to maneuver ourselves to subsist in manners that protect the Earth in all its grandeur and beauty and all its flora and fauna.

Presumably, we’ve all seen these statements from the EPA, “Glaciers around the world are shrinking, and the amount of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean has decreased since the 1970s. Average sea level worldwide is projected to rise up to two feet by the end of this century. This rise would eliminate approximately 10,000 square miles of land in the United States. Hurricanes in the Atlantic are likely to become more intense as ocean temperatures rise. As temperatures rise, some migratory birds are spending the winter an average of 35 miles further north than they did 40 years ago.” No matter what the debate is over, causes and consequences, please don’t argue over its obviously apparent existence. Science doesn’t care whether someone believes in it or not. I’ve lived along coastlines my whole life, I’ve been in hurricane prone areas, which would not be a good time to have the sea level rise 6ft or have a category 8 hurricane. Waterworld was an epic FAIL, we don’t need that! I don’t want to have to live in the limestone caves of Missouri or experience not getting a ticket to the ark project being built in china. (Those are movies in case you don’t recognize that). How does seeing the polar bear clinging to the one little piece of glacier, starving, not affect somone?

I watched CSPAN not too long ago during a bill debate ( I suggest watching while playing a drinking game, take a shot every time you hear the words, yield, gentleman, gentle lady and good friend, then cancel all plans) that would put tighter regulations on the cement companies. Republicans said, regulating the companies will cause them to move to china, and china has little to no regulation (look at the street food) and is responsible for the massive amounts of mercury already that’s contaminating the country particularly the west and the south, and it will become worse. Democrats say that the regulations will not be to the extent that the companies will find it necessary to relocate, and that’s not reason enough for all of the companies that would remain, to not abide by these regulations, considering mercury is a neurotoxin and is causing damage and killing American children, using the equation, 1 American child=10,000 children from the Congo. (OK, not the last part) Good enough reason, though. I wouldn’t crack open an antiquated thermometer and drink it.

It’s along similar, analogous lines, the states that don’t want the regulation, are from an aforementioned particular region. I deride at the fact the posture of the regions are way too easy to stereotype. The sentiment is not representative of all the citizens in those areas, just the citizens that elect these cretins to represent them. One of the most important reasons against and answer to why those states lack of participation and nihilism (what they do believe it is, is Liberal agenda mumbo-jumbo, hocus-pocus, God's wrath and/or science fiction) is the fact that most of those states are knee-deep in natural gas extraction. It’s a very formidable, unstable, potentially fatal process, it’s not called fracturing for nothing or “fracking” (different spelling, but it is not a term of endearment if you’ve ever watched Battlestar Galactica). Watch the documentary Gasland by Josh Fox. He talks to citizens that live at or around these sites and they suffer from a variety of chronic health problems, amongst other damaging happenings, one being a lack of adequate drinking water (for instance, it’s combustible) to which the companies response, reimbursement, and punitive reaction was to provide the victims with a shiny, new portable water tank. I just jest for the most part with the south, however, it is a serious matter. I would rather NOT be able to set the water that comes out of my sink on FIRE, aflame...no matter how fun it is for the kids!

War on Women Part 3

2011-03-03T13:37:00.000-08:00

It's Time for Women to Take Another Stand for Our Rights.

As I’ve written about this before, this is another example of advancing onslaught on women’s rights and privacy rights, between a woman and her doctor. This is, again, a paradox on behalf of the GOPs part, and nothing short of hypocrisy, being that one of the platforms they stand so tall on is less regulation and less intrusive government. What’s more intrusive then getting involved in women’s sex lives and reproductive matters. In light of the defunding of Planned Parenthood debate (See my post War on Women Part 2), to the redefining of the word “rape” to “forcible rape” (As if the GOP needs to make sure the woman absolutely didn’t consent…come on), I didn’t think the Republican legislators could possible make their plight any more heinous. A Georgia legislator, Rep. Bobby Franklin, introduced a bill that would manage miscarriages as potential crimes, impel jail sentences and possible even a death penalty sentence. There would be police intervention as if it were a crime scene to see if there was any wrongdoing or mal intent on the woman’s part. This is analogous to the bill in North Dakota that alluded to legalizing the murder of abortion providers, deeming it justifiable homicide or the bill sponsored by Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA) that would essentially allow hospitals to let women die, rather than provide a termination of a pregnancy. How this is justifiable to their religious values that surges them to this behavior is baffling, nothing short of hypocrisy and criminality from my determination. It’s the Christian Reconstructionists that are behind all of this. Read ‘What Every American Should Know about Who’s Really Running America; and What You Can Do about It’ by Melissa Rossi and Bill Moyers' 1992 documentary God in Politics: on Earth as It Is in Heaven or as I’ve said, Betty Friedan's 1963 book ‘The Feminine Mystique’.

With this bill there aren’t any guidelines as to how such a determination is to be made, are they going to require women who have had miscarriages to produce evidence that it was an act of nature and not their fault and have it become a criminal investigation? This is so offensive, invasive, and degrading to women. This exremism is manifesting into new evils, very contrary to what they preach their motivation is, crossing boundaries I never imagined and fathomed possible in this country. Not only does Rep. Bobby Franklin share the “small government, less intrusive government” ideals that most of the GOP does, he also opposes public schools and thinks the state has no authority to issue driver's licenses. He also believes government has a “biblically-defined” role. This has absolutely crossed the line for me, the Republicans, since they took control of the house have done nothing but try to take rights away from women and annihilate unions, where are the health care reform options and the job creation, which was of highest priority, they promised? Women have to support women and support women’s rights to privacy. We cannot allow this to happen.

$15 Promotional Giveaway

2011-03-02T12:08:00.000-08:00

One passion of mine in lieu of drawing and painting is interior decorating, especiallly being what's most affordable and what allows you to DIY. Some methods I'm head over heals for is wall decals. What's great about that particular method is the creative freedom and the INDIVIDUALITY it can provide. They can be applied on almost anything imaginable, for instance along with ambient lights they can be placed around and above LCD TV Stands , bookcases, and fireplaces since that is usually a focal point, please let your mind run free with inspiration and creativity. One of the websites I shop in is csn stores, great stuff. I'm giving away a $15 promotional code for you to use as you like in any of their stores. You won't be dissapointed. All you have to do to win is leave a comment and choose a number between 1-100, closest to the number picked by the random number generator without going over wins! Please give me a way to contact you if you are otherwise not registered. I will choose a winner of the giveaway a week from today at midnight, and announce the winner Thursday, March 10th!

Chocolate Moments and Hours of Energy Ads

2011-03-01T23:48:00.000-08:00

All of the ads for chocolate portraying women having an affair with it have to stop, not that truffles are not one of my most favorite possessions. Awhile ago, Mars was going to come out with a chocolate bar called ‘Fling’ or chocolate “fingers” to be exact (more ladylike) in a pink shiny package, wherein, the ad suggested, this type of cheating you don’t need to feel guilty for and print ads that were composed of saying-pleasure yourself. (Shakes head) Other ads show women having a “moment”, telling them they deserve it, emulating a lustful atmosphere between the woman and her chocolate, in a bathtub, on rose petals, on a train…Should I remind you women are the primary target and consumers when it comes to the billion dollar industry of weight loss? We must also not forget the incessant suggestions that women crave chocolate during certain times designated by nature. (Shakes head) The cocoa butter melts just below body temperature, which gives it the addictive melt in the mouth sensation, combined with the euphoria of sugar, phenylethylamine as a mood enhancer and an energy boost from caffeine…equates to perfection. Obviously, the physiological effects of chocolate and stigmas attached to women are a perfect storm for advertisers. Some little Facts-During WWll manufacturers insisted female air raid wardens buy a box of chocolates because it would provide “extra nutrition”. In the sixties the "me" moments arose, due to cultural changes and women's place in the workforce. In Japan, women actually give chocolates to men on Valentine’s Day...Most of the men I know have more of a reaction to the chocolate in those ads then women. As Bill Mahr said, “Do they make a Viagra for women? Yes, apparently Dove does.”

I have not tried the certain energy drink that we see so frequently advertised, but I have some opinions on this. I had a bad experience with a caffeine pill a long time ago and one time I’ve actually ended up in the hospital after my 9^th cup of coffee. I know, first hand, there are situations that require an artificial boost of alertness and energy...People driving long distances, doctors and nurses, etc. So I’m not going to saying anything negative about the product, but the commercials are a different issue. You have to love the energy commercial where the man is lethargically slumbering in his kitchen thinking to himself, “Only 20 minutes! No time for coffee”…weren’t automatic timers put on the coffee makers a long time ago? It works in seconds and last for hours...weren't we told to just say no to things of the such? I've had two sips of certain coffee that worked so fast and was so strong, I was practically hallucinating. There is also the other version where the woman is saying even when she leaves work, her job is never done, she walks into the house, the kids are running amok, she has her hands full of grocery bags…and where is her husband? Sitting on the couch reading the paper…she doesn’t need the energy drink, she needs to tell her husband to get off the couch…

Patriotism is Not About Bumper Stickers

2011-02-28T03:02:00.000-08:00

Patriotism-is defined as love and devotion to one’s country not frenzied outbursts of emotion. Is there love and devotion to one’s own people? This is the question. To me this is another, almost, paradox. Everybody supports our troops or they should, unconditionally, you don’t have to agree with what they are doing but you have to support them in what they are doing, since they’re not even permitted to question what they are doing. These are our fellow Americans fighting and dying for us. Now if you do oppose what an administration is using them for, a lot of people can call you unpatriotic, the administration itself will. On the contrary, I might be more patriotic because I don’t want to see these soldiers die in vain, they are not an expendable to me. Don’t make the mistake and criticize the distribution of wealth or corporations, now you are an unpatriotic anti-capitalist. Want affordable healthcare and regulation? You are now an unpatriotic, anti-capitalist socialist. It is the most prodigious affair when there is a national disaster or attack (foreign or domestic) or a tragedy of some kind, to see the outpouring of love and support, the slew of emotions and actions that transpires, after such event, from Americans…it is unmatched. We are an intensely compassionate country. However when it comes to caring about each other on a daily basis, when it comes to fundamental needs, there is a lapse and usually attached to some kind of ridicule, hostility or judgment. I’ll start with poverty; Americans incessantly campaign to help other impoverished nations. There are multitudes of American’s, children, adult and elderly…even veterans, that go without fundamental needs…shelter, food, water…healthcare. Roughly 13 to 17% of Americans living below the federal poverty line at any given point in time, and roughly 40% falling below the poverty line at some point within a 10-year time span. Overall, 5.6 percent of veterans lived in poverty in 1999.The youngest veterans, those who served in August 1990 or later, were among the most likely to be poor, with a poverty rate of 6.2 percent.

47 million Americans still have no health insurance and the proportion of children with no health insurance has risen, with the poorest children the most likely to be uninsured. What do we here from the patriotic uncompassionate? Get a job. If a person accepts assistance in anyway, there is a great out lash against it. President Reagan was an individual who greatly looked down on disadvantaged people and the same sentiment exists now tenfold, that the person is lazy or not trying hard enough. However, Reagan’s own family benefited from FDR’s New Deal, leaving to question where his family would have been without it. Was it ever considered that the playing field has become increasingly uneven? How about raising the minimum wage? Quality education is not available to a great number of children. The costs of healthcare are just too great for even members of the upper classes. How about all Americans having the same rights? Just to clarify I’m not talking about abuse of resources. If we are so patriotic, it begs to differ that this does not help our country as a whole on a global competitive level or even exhibit the morals and values that are perpetually preached. This hostility is also directly related to what is happening to unions in this country (See Class Warfare, Fazed and Not Amused). It’s an attack on the classes.

If we are so patriotic, how can we stand by and see people die from lack of healthcare or going bankrupt as a result, losing their house or business or job, therefore ending up in a situation that we so “despise” needing assistance for food and shelter, if the Americans aren’t dead. A colossal amount of American’s identifies with this being a Christian country. Would Jesus approve? Over 2 billion dollars were given for Faith Based Initiatives under Pres. George W. Bush. The separation of church and state was noted as one of major issues with the Faith-Based Initiatives laws. Critics have claimed that millions in government grants have gone to ministries operated by political supporters of the Bush administration. But to what extent can they help? In fact they cannot provide any assistance, if say, a chemotherapeutic agent that a patient has to take if they have cancer and cannot afford, is almost nine thousand dollars a month. They won’t provide assistance if the medication is over a certain amount. Not to mention there is no regulation with the foods that churches provide to people. People who rely on nutritional assistance provided from a faith based venue, are given foods that are in unmarked packaging, beyond the expiration date, and are composed of highly refined carbohydrates. There in resulting in problems that lead to other problems. “Supporters had hoped the Faith-Based Initiative would be about solving problems of poverty and an over-burdened welfare system, while opponents feared rampant proselytizing with government funds. Instead, these initiatives by and large did not offer substantial new fiscal support to those in need. In the place of this hope and fear, and despite the good intentions of many, these initiatives became powerful political symbols in the fight to reshape church/state relationships and distribution of political power”-Rebecca Sager. I love my county, I love my Americans… It’s not about flying a flag, wearing a pin or decorating bumpers...

Take Your Medicine...Actually, Don't

2011-02-27T13:17:00.000-08:00

I’ve just finished reading Ancient Healing for Modern Women: Traditional Chinese Medicine for All Phases of a Woman's Life by Dr. Xiaolan Zhao. A surgeon from Canada and trained in TCM, she writes and explains in a way anybody can understand and gives you a deeper understanding of a centuries old tradition. She underwent psychotherapy to be able to understand her patients on an emotional level, which is not custom in China...Can you even get your doctor now to spend more than 5 minutes with you? Let alone do something of that extent. She explains why she decided to incorporate TCM into her western medical training, stories from her personal experiences (especially during the Cultural Revolution in China) as well as other women suffering with no apparent end in sight until they decided to open their minds and hearts to a different realm of healing. She expressed the beauty of all the phases of a women’s life. She includes methods of performing trigger point therapy on yourself at home and recipes and advice that you can utilize immediately with whatever might be in your fridge and pantry. Having worked in medicine and having to rely on and ultimately become disappointed in Western medicine through my ordeals, I’ve discovered even more why I decided to explore other avenues. Of course I believe it to be beneficial to everyone, but I’ve decided to concentrate on women’s needs in particular. Why treat an ailment with pharmaceuticals and procedures that can cause other ailments? Such as taking an aspirin as prophylaxis against myocardial infarction and a good chance of inevitably causing or irritating ulcers. I believe in a healthy combination of Eastern and Western medical practices and treatments. Americans are facing multiple epidemics and it's hard for me to continue to take advice and be treated with-what and who-I believe are the causes of those epidemics, from genetically engineered food, animals given hormones and antibiotics, HFCS, pharmaceutical companys and major food corporations. I recommend this book in particular, because of Dr. Zhao’s approach and style. Give it a go.

Almond Milk, Sugar Cookie Tea and Snap Peas

2011-02-25T22:52:00.000-08:00

In light of my recent education from a friend regarding Monsanto and bovine growth hormone ( I suggest you do some personal research on them), I’ve made the personal choice to only, for now, eat organic as much as I can, as well as eliminate milk completely. Until, we have the right and privilege in this country of adequate food labeling or until we demand that food be labeled genetically engineered and advised whether the animals were given hormones, I have to do the best I can as far as decisions. Roughly Monsanto was responsible for Agent Orange and round up pesticide and now partakes in genetically engineering corn, soy, sugar beets, bovine growth hormones, cornering markets, aspartame, pharmaceuticals and causing Indian farmers to commit mass suicides and some other humanitarian endeavors. Enough testing has not been done to appease me that these products do no harm. Especially the bovine growth hormone, which is said to increase and cause cancer. Of note, former employees of Monsanto are heads of the FDA, USDA, and EPA…which means we are screwed in the A. Make what you will of that. So…I originally decided to switch to soy milk, but quickly decided against that due to the fact 95% of soy is Monsanto’s and I’ve heard it can throw off estrogen levels. I went with the almond milk, plain flavor, but the vanilla is out of this world, Blue Diamond- http://www.bluediamond.com/ -to be exact. It is delicious, I drink it straight from the carton, put it in cereal, make “milk” shakes with it…with only 60 calories and the abundance of protein, you can’t go wrong…except trying to use it in coffee in place of creamer, BIG MISTAKE. Here is a link for you to look up local harvests in your area. http://www.localharvest.org/search.jsp

I know it's not the holidays. I just want to give a shout out to Celestial Seasonings Sugar Cookie Herbal Tea, delicioso! I am an herbal tea fanatic; I already fully stock my house with the fruit flavor herbal teas. So, this was a treat indeed. Yes, it tastes just like a sugar cookie. It has the usual milk thistle, orange blossom, vanilla components except the added natural sugar cookie flavoring…whatever that is. I think I almost taste butter. It’s a possibility that you can find it, it may only come out during the holidays, I was fortunate enough to be given some. I am trying to conserve it, because it is that good, otherwise I will be up a creek without a cookie and have to wait until Christmas.

A bag of snap pea crisps have also found their way into my home. My overall opinion of them is a good one. However, I’m disappointed having expected a dehydrated vegetable, instead its involved with rice somehow and cooked into a “puff”. I don’t want to speculate…So coincidently not that different from a cheese puff, in a sense it’s a carbohydrate ground up into a snack. These are a little healthier, not overly salty and have this nutty aftertaste that’s really good, if you like nuts. (That’s what she said)…and I do. http://www.snacksalad.com/products.html

War on Women Part 2

2011-02-25T21:51:00.001-08:00

This is continuing with the overwhelming reality of this War on Women that is taking place in the country at this time. Some members of the GOP are pushing for Planned Parenthood (Planned Parenthood Federation of America) to not receive any federal funding under the notion that those finances will be “secretly” funding abortion, except that it won’t because it is ILLEGAL for federal money to do so. What they are deciding not to fund is all of the wonderful services that they provide to women especially from low to no incomes. PPFA provides reproductive health and maternal and child health services. From birth control, education, disease screening, cancer screening to counseling, they provide what women have fought and DIED for decades ago. They were soldiers for a cause. Some facts- Planned Parenthood is the nation's leading sexual and reproductive health care advocate and provider. In 2008, they reported that contraception constituted 35% of total services, STI/STD testing and treatment constituted 34%, cancer testing and screening constituted 17%; and other women's health procedures, including pregnancy, prenatal, midlife, and infertility were 10%. Only 2% to 3% of visits involve abortions.

As racist as I believe this country is and admits, it’s even more sexist. Black men could vote before women and a black man held the position of President of the United States before a woman. If a female senator had done a photo "spread" in a magazine modeling to earn money for law school as Scott Brown had done, I hardly think she would have won the seat let alone not recieved any ridicule. It took an abnormal amount of time for equal pay for women to be instituted, but hardly completely equal to this day. Fact- in 2005 women in Minnesota state government made 97 cents to the dollar, ranking Minnesota as one of the most equal for female state workers in the country. Harassment suits are now taken seriously, sexual or others, as well as wrongful termination if women went on maternity leave. There is still a battle for woman in the military. There are two paradoxes here, one being the GOP incessantly stresses the right to privacy…clearly what a woman does with her body under the supervision of her doctor is a private and LEGAL matter. Two, the GOP and the Tea Party stands on the platform of deregulation, while lusting to regulate the relationship between a woman and her doctor. No surprise, look how they ache to be involved with same sex relationships…(pun intended, research the higher percentage of Republican sex scandals, homosexual or otherwise) maybe we all need a refresher course on modern feminism and a copy of Betty Friedan's 1963 book The Feminine Mystique…Bra burning anyone?

Class and Union Warfare-Fazed and Not Amused

2011-02-25T21:27:00.001-08:00

The class warfare paradox, the top upper echelon…tippy-tippy top 1% of America procures 95% of allll its dollars and cents…BLING…MONEY. However, and this is the part that keeps me up at night, the people who work on the bottom rung of the ladder…if they are lucky to have a rung and just not sweep up the manure that falls from the upper rungs…BLAZINGLY defend policies that are not in their best interest economically, usher them into debt and could care less if they have enough to retire (if they don’t go bankrupt from their healthcare first). I don’t get it; I have to laugh at it that’s how absurd it is! In the state of Wisconsin the Union obliteration is being sponsored by, none other, than huge private corporations to take away worker’s rights to bargain, that have been an installation in this country since the 19^th century and become a part of its fabric and moral fiber. So I thought.

Gov. Walker, like most of the GOP are fueled and funded by billionaire’s and corporations, to be fair almost everyone is, except this is so far from being in the interest of the people. The Tea Party and Republicans are trying to pay for the current deficit, which they caused (See My “Recap of The Worst Moments of The Decade”), stemming from Reagan’s Trickle-Down-Voodoo-That-He-Did-Economics, tax cuts for the wealthy and increased domestic and foreign spending (spending!!), by cutting the working and middle class. Inevitably, asking the lower classes to sacrifice, while trying to give cuts to the Big Fish…Which does not stimulate the economy it just stimulates them (See Republican sex scandals and yearning to be involved with same sex relationships).… Unions have already said they would sacrifice, hence bargaining and will pay more into whatever they need to, their healthcare and pensions. This is not good enough for a Party that wants to see the annihilation of the working man, someone who makes 35K a year and will have a pension less than that. Wake up people and stop voting against your interest. I know its hard for you to pay enormous taxes on your imaginary company when you fantasize about becoming a millionaire in a country that is not really set up for you to become any longer.

Drawings of Mine

2011-02-24T22:52:00.000-08:00

War on Women Part 1

2011-02-24T22:33:00.000-08:00

On February 18, 2011, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to bar Planned Parenthood health centers from all federal funding for birth control, cancer screenings, HIV testing, and other lifesaving care.
It is the most dangerous legislative assault in our history, and it cannot go unanswered. We — Planned Parenthood and the three million women, men, and teens who are at risk of losing access to basic care — need you to stand united with us now.

Sign our open letter to every single representative in the House who voted for this cruel, unconscionable, unthinkable law, and to every senator who still has a chance to stop it. https://secure.ppaction.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=pp_ppol_ws_I_Stand_with_PP&s_src=standwithppfeb2011_taf

Sarah Palin Gives Me Hypothermia

2011-02-24T22:20:00.000-08:00

There is no one that causes me to have a reaction that I do, than that of Sarah Palin. I disagree with Sarah Palin 98.999% of the time. This was provoked in 2008 when she was unleashed, and my reading one of her books. Someone had posted a picture of the former governor of Alaska, it had a caption that read “Does this make you feel cold and lonely”… that and emphatically irritated and filled with an inferno like rage. People questioned whether President Obama was an American, what qualifications he had... I don’t necessarily believe holding a degree is a measure of one’s intelligence, but if you want to compare Palin’s and Pres. Obama’s…OK, done! What’s good for the goose should be good for the gander if you want to talk turkey in politics.

In her book she states “It was the mid 1960’s before divorce and single mother hood really began to take off in the U.S. And it was another 20yrs before the country really began to feel the effects of the decline of the family in rising crime rates, drug abuse, and long-term welfare dependency”…Granted there was an undisputed rise in some but disputed causes. The crime rates have gone done since the 1990's. The drug abuse rise is connected to the crime wave that both occured in the 1980's and there are actually more white people on welfare than any other race. I do not think it is fair to put that responsibility on people getting divorced, and solely on the decline of the nuclear family. Again, with this 1950’s ideal of womanhood and family, a woman couldn’t be the CEO of a company, women stayed with husbands that beat them; people didn’t have the socially acceptable option of being with a partner that was different than the norm. Women chose education and postponed marriage, but a good percentage still married and had children. She also states “I thought of this as I, along with so many Americans watched the horrific images of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina”. First to assume, that Americans thought the same, that watching the aftermath of a national disaster, automatically triggered notions in our heads of how the supposed breakdown of the American nuclear family has lead to all that is wrong with the country. That’s like watching the freeway collapse in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and thinking about free trade.

Mrs. Palin criticized Murphy Brown for a “lifestyle” choice, by having a baby unwed and quoted Dan Qualye...Dan Qualye as in “What a waste it is to lose one's mind or not to have a mind is being very wasteful”, or as in "The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation's history.… No, not our nation's, but in WWII. I mean, we all lived in this century. I didn't live in this century, but in this century's history"…Okay, Mr. Qualye. She also stated “When it comes to raising good citizens, all “lifestyle choices” are not equal”, number one, there is a difference between someone choosing to lead a non-traditional lifestyle such as a successful, independent woman choosing to have a child on her own, or man, or two loving people of the same sex wanting to have a family and providing a secure, and loving home, or an older couple wanting to take in foster kids…people who make conscious choices; as opposed to a parent who has had a spouse or partner pass away, or the spouse or partner leaves or the parent chooses not to be a part of the child’s life… I feel for Americans, These Americans so callously spoken of, American’s whose “lifestyle” choices are of different sexual orientation or whatever other circumstance under the rainbow, those Americans who are teachers, doctors, cops, and soldiers. There are many, not ideal, situations but that is not to assume it would result in not raising a good citizen. There are many a child that come from a wealthy, two parent home, that turns out to be all of the things this country looks down on, like for instance a teenage daughter getting pregnant out of wedlock. Those that live in glass houses… And many from a non-traditional situations that turn out to be pretty incredible people.

The part that will no longer enable me to continue reading out of fear that I will be stricken with a stroke; more so than her warped, antiquated view on feminism, sexuality, privacy, the need for the government to favor and dictate it’s laws through one religion over another or any religion for that matter and the killing of animals for political gain, is… “Although New Orleans was impacted the most, Americans along the Gulf Coast were all victimized by Hurricane Katrina. And yet those in New Orleans seemed to be the most vulnerable. They all had the same federal government and the same president. What was the difference? The difference was strong, intact families.” What was the difference?

Sea level, first off. Highly advanced, updated levees in great condition by the Army Corp. of Engineers, NOT. I wasn’t questioning why these people were poor. Why were these people stuck on their roof, or a highway with no assistance, and by that I mean dropping provisions and rescue missions with helicopters that would normally be provided to ANY OTHER COUNTRY that we go to “nurture”. I find it outrageous that she chose this example to bring light how, yes, we need for fathers and mothers to take responsibility... there is an overwhelming, chronic abuse of government resources that are set in place for emergencies, not lifestyles. Are you also trying to suggest that Americans don’t have enough survival skills when the Gulf of Mexico ends up in our living room? I can’t imagine having been in that situation with a hurricane, on my roof, for days, without a bottle of water being dropped, and having someone insinuate that I was overreacting. Had it been the middle class, who had been the predominate makeup of the population in that particular area, would Palin be so apt to use that example? Did Mrs. Palin say anything of the such, when Nashville was flooded. This country needs leaders of all parties, to differ in ideas yes, that’s the foundation of our greatness to come up with the best solution and to find common ground, but always preach unity. Politics is the art of compromise. We are a whole made up of the sum of its parts.

I was left feeling “cold and lonely inside” as usual, and emphatically irritated and filled with an inferno like rage. I’m concerned, because I believe Palin WILL stand by her promises, WHEN she runs for a higher office. I hope that I, Democrats and anybody else that tries to incessantly demonize Palin will remember that doing so will ironically propel her into more popularity. A cruel, cruel paradox. So we must not become overzealous to do so. This is America, the land of the ugly dog contest, and I don’t want to suffer from hypothermia in 2012.

Recap of My Worst Moments of The Past Decade

2011-02-24T20:41:00.000-08:00

September 11, 2001

This is a little late in the year, but a friend had asked me to recap what my worst moments were in the last decade. I do believe this was a corporate interview question, so I decided to leave out the banking crisis. My worst moments of the last decade by far were 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the Gulf oil spill; having these happen when they did at the age I was, has made such an impact on me, both devastating and disappointing. Of course it didn’t just stop there, oh no, the Bush presidency. W. gave $1.35 trillion dollars in tax cuts to the wealthiest of the land, while being involved with two wars, along with increased national defense, domestic and foreign spending. Our deficit rose; which in conjunction with the housing, mortgage, and oil crisis; led to the largest post WWII recession in history. Which led to billions of dollars in economic stimulus in the name of rebate checks, that did not stimulate the economy, and job growth remained stagnate. Besides the above stated, my other worst moments of the decade had to be the racism and violent political rhetoric attached to one of the most historic presidencies in history when it went into effect. Another would be the UNLEASHING of a former vice presidential candidate monstrosity that kills caribou for political gain.

A positive aspect more recently has been the attention to wildlife and the environment that is all too well overdue and deserved. Alternative energy, science research and healthcare breakthroughs are allowed to be perused again. The negative impacts on the country have allowed Americans to have a different perspective and approach to life, to discover the simplicities of life that have been lost for at least 50 years, all the while advancing to our most technical age yet. People are tweeting, texting, constantly in front of their touch screens all while learning the frugal ways of just eating potatoes and pasta for dinner to budget more efficiently and making homemade crafts of burlap and twine. Leading to a “green revolution” while continuing a technological evolution… for eternity hopefully.