Indoor Vs. Outdoor Cat

Here is an excellent article Indoor Vs. Outdoor Cat Debate. In this day and age of sadists, diseases, felons, animal experimenters and those who use cats as bait in dog fights, it amazes me that this is still being debated at all. But, then I'm also amazed at the naive reasoning on the part of the "outdoor-only" crowd who reason that:

"It's a cat's nature to be outdoors".

How valid is this? One only has to reference bazillion animal welfare organizations and hospitals to dispute that in a millisecond. Also ...could that alleged reasoning substitute for an "excuse" to abdicate their responsibility as an owner? Or possibly a lack of imagination to create an atmosphere in which a cat would actually prefer to stay indoors? Some people can be so creative in one way and yet so incredibly devoid of it when it comes to implementing ways and means of coercing and training - yes I said 'training' - their cats to not only stay indoors but enjoy doing so. I speak not from my hip, but from my own experience. All but one of the cats I've had were formerly outdoor-only cats who I enabled to live a healthier and safer life indoors thereafter with just a little patience (well a lot of patience) and ingenuity on my part. As with anything worthwhile, you have to ask yourself just how much time and effort you're willing to put into something. They were all worth every second of my time and every scintilla of my effort, which in retrospect, involved no real effort at all. Just love.

Whether it's not wanting to clean out that dirty ole litter pan or the total disconnect with 'owners' and their companion animals or the much maligned and continued fallacy that cats are distant, unresponsive and aloof, I'm sure there are a myriad of other reasons that the people who expound what is - in my opinion - a misguided reasoning that cats 'belong' outdoors simply because "the cats really want it". Hello? If your child really, really wants to do something that someone else sees as harmless and judges 'natural', yet in your opinion presents an enormous potential for harm and is in no way 'natural'....then on which side do you err for their welfare? Doesn't all life deserve the same consideration? Or are animals just disposable, and if one gets hit by a car because you think they 'belong' outside, you blithely replace it with another? Are we such a throw-away society that philosophy should extend to living creatures, too? Apparently in some folks' estimation - it does.

This isn't the days of horse and carriages plodding along the streets, but fast-moving and reckless cars. It's also the day of increasingly sadistic youth who gain more pleasure from seeking the pain of an innocent kitten than they do in their next video game. Illness, disease, other animal predators and nefarious human predators who steal kittens and cats for animal laboratories and, more commonly, as bait in dog fighting are all part of this wonderful new millennium of ours.

And yet, there are still those who cling to that notion of "live free". Well, this isn't Africa and Fluffy isn't Elsa and, quite frankly, The Veld is safer than Main Street.

In the final analysis who's getting more pleasure and safety out of Fluffy being outside: You or Fluffy? Is it really and truly in their best interest or are you just trying to convince yourself they're better off outside so you can slough off your guilty conscience when they get hit by a car, stolen, poisoned, murdered or tortured?

Toss around in your head some of those questions and scenarios and information you can easily cull on the web and hopefully rethink your formerly held fallacious philosophy. Spare at least that much time and effort for your cats' welfare.

Just One Dog

One animal out of millions. One life saved.

It only took one person to care enough and urge another to care and another and another until each paid it forward to save one life. How many innocent lives could be spared? How many other abandoned, lonely, hurt and hopeless animals would be able to feel love, safety, kindness ...and hope if each person cared enough to make the first move?

Only one animal saved. Yes. But there are millions more waiting for their one person.

Greece Ignoring Animal Rights Laws: Boycott Greek Tourism & Products

Situations like this complete disregard and outright cruelty to animals occurs all over the world as well as in the United States. All countries bear a certain amount of guilt and the citizens of those countries will pay the ultimate punishment of having damned their own souls to hell.

Greece is the latest to be 'revealed' as the purveyor of this inhumane behavior. Read About Greek Animal Atrocities

When All Else Fails, The Idiots Survive

Squirrels. The nemesis of the civilized (?) world.

Pul-eeze.

Shot gun, em, .22 em, or whatever other caliber you choose to murder them to protect your pathetic little garden. Hello? They're digging around to look for food? What are you doing? Somebody want to blast you in the back when you're scouring the produce aisles in the supermarket?

Am I the only person left in this world to truly - TRULY - believe in the phrase "Live and Let Live"? Oddly, some of the bloodthirstiest are organic gardeners. Yes the very same kinder, gentler, earth-loving, tree-hugging, lovers of nature, friends of all things natural, blah, blah, freaking blah. The ones who allegedly garden with the credo of "leaving as small a footprint on the environment as possible" would just as soon step over and onto any creature - also part of the 'environment' - in order to ensure 100% accountability for their three tomato plants. (The caveat here - as I've repeatedly stated - may be for those who grow food for sustenance, survival or livelihood. )

So if they don't have access to guns, arrows, poison, etc. (ooop, scuse me...they're uh......"organic" so they wouldn't use poison)....how about good old fashioned BB guns? Yeah. Hit one in the back and see how it lays there or runs off (while it can still run) to hide and die a miserable death whilst you and the kiddies roar your sick asses off. Fun family gatherings you folks must have. When do you hold the sacrifices?

Next time you tell junior to "Go BB one for Daddy or Mommy", tell the little tyke to stick around and watch when the BB'd squirrel comes crawling across the yard looking for water to drink or a single seed to find. Not actually 'crawling', but actually dragging himself because his hind legs are paralyzed due to the injury in his spine from junior's BB. Watch as he raises his head and flails his tiny paws in death throes because he cannot reach food or escape predators. Watch and hee-haw yourselves silly. Oh, don't forget to get a few yucks as he opens his little mouth gasping for air and dies with his eyes open. They die with their eyes open, you know. All animals do. I've buried enough of them to know.

No Arguing With Hunters

When one enters into a discussion with a hunter on the 'merits and necessity of hunting', one is entering into a losing battle with one of their loaded guns. Not that they are right, but because their stoic feet are so planted in the blood of the dead animals they revel in destroying.

The recent slaughtering of the Yellowstone wolves despite a federal court ruling that their removal from the endangered species act was held Illegal is a perfect example of hunters justifying their 'hobby'. Even The National Park Service weighs in with facts and figures to dispute the hunters', farmers' and ranchers' claims.

Contrary to their statements that the wolf population in Yellowstone has increased, this is false if they'd check their facts. The population, in fact, has decreased since 2007 due to incidences of mange and more seriously, widespread Distemper

The real truth remains - and always will remain true - that hunters will justify any slaughter if it means they can slaughter other animals. In other words, in the case of the wolves of Yellowstone, hunters really consider them "competition". After all, any deer or elk the wolves kill for survival is one less deer or elk a hunter can mount on his wall.

Their alleged 'overpopulation of wolves contributing to the and safety and survival of the deer and elk population' is a bogus justification for wolf slaughter that smells as much as the piles of dung left by the elk and deer herds as they flee from the...uh..."sportsmen/women".

ANDY WILLIAMS "MOONS" OBAMA

He was one of my favorite singers in the 60's. Never missed one of his Christmas specials (even if that did mean having to sit through segments with The Osmond Brothers). There was no denying that the man had a beautiful voice. Unfortunately, now his voice is becoming a little cracked...as well as his thinking.

In London this week Andy Williams joined the cadré of crazies along with Jon "Everybody's-Talkin-At-Me-And-That's-Why-I-Hear-Voices Voight all likening Pres. Obama to the anti-Christ.

Andy prefaced his denouncement of Obama as a card-carrying Marxist with fawning praises of the late Senator Ted Kennedy. In an effort to assuage Obama supporters, he traveled down Moon-River-Memory-Lane by reminiscing about the time he worked for Bobby Kennedy in California when Kennedy campaigned for president in '68. But then segued into: "I think Obama wants to create a socialist country. The people he associates with are very Left-wing. One is registered as a Communist". Zounds!

So, by old Andy's logic if you associated with someone "x" number of years ago, and they had a certain philosophy or penchant, that automatically makes you share the same philosophy or penchant.

Hmmmm? Andy's ex-wife, Claudine Longet, was convicted of negligent homicide for shooting her lover, Olympic skier "Spider" Sabich in 1977. Guess that means Andy's capable of offing any of his senior-citizen amours down there at ole Andy's Moon River Theatre in Branson, Mo. if they decide to lose the walkers and take to the slopes. (Are there slopes in Missouri?)

He also discovered, sponsored and publicized (ad nauseam) the aforementioned Osmond Brothers. Lesseee???? Marie Osmond has a line of dolls she sells on QVC...so...is Andy diddling dollies in his spare time? Pervert!!!

Sorry Andy, no pandering mea culpa about the Kennedy's gets you a free pass by the overwhelming majority of Americans who've had enough of this guilt-by-association meal first served up by McCarthy and then put back on the menu by Chefs O'Reilly, Beck, Hannity, Limbaugh and Rove. Stick a fork in it Andy et. al. It's been done.

The kicker irony here is that Williams is doing a book signing for his new tome "Moon River & Me" and his next scheduled signing is October 24 with Left Bank Books at The Ethical Society.

Sometimes you just can't make these things up. It's too easy. It writes itself. Baahaahaaa!

What Exactly Is A "Bleeding Heart"?

Used to be back when I was do'in mah thang in the 60's (you know, the decade when young people actually gave a damn and did something about it), the term "bleeding heart" usually prefaced "liberal". Nowadays, the suffix isn't always used. Seems "bleeding heart" kinda covers it for most critics.

I am, I suppose, what the Catholic church calls "a fallen-away Catholic". Yeah. I guess. I skipped and rolled for awhile and eventually took the big dive off the deep end decades ago. Then, again, I probably would have fallen away from just about any organized religion eventually if given enough time to realize that while organized religion can bring great solace to some, on the whole, it came to represent to me the height of hypocrisy and the single biggest reason behind history's major conflagrations.

But I digress (for which I will surely burn in hell). Back to "bleeding heart". I can still remember those artists' renderings of Jesus plastering the walls of the Catholic school where I attended after (public) school catechism classes. In most all those works of art Jesus is painted with one hand held upward - as if in a blessing - and the other hand pointing to or resting upon a very visibly depicted heart bleeding from the wounds of a crown of thorns surrounding it. The nuns and the occasionally visiting priests would always remind us that this represented Jesus' heart bleeding for all of us in order to selflessly give of himself to others.

For all my formative and pre-political (and pre-fallen-away) years, I understood and accepted the definition given to me at that time and still accept it today. Despite my physical separation from any organized religion, I still very much believe in a loving God and one who suffers each time the diety's name or basic ideology (and not that of sociologically-agenda-driven biblical theologians) is taken in vain or is used as a weapon instead of a representation of selfless, unconditional love.

So I pose the same question I've asked myself for decades: When did the term "Bleeding Heart" become a negative? A slur? What exactly is a "Bleeding Heart" by modern standards?

I've always found it rather oxymoronic that "bleeding heart" became the chosen derogatory mantra of the more politically & socially conservative folk toward those who weren't. Soon, "bleeding heart" degenerated into an insult, a putdown, a label from which many distanced themselves for fear of being drowned in the waves of pious paranoia that flooded this land. It was a pox, a symbol, a "666" identifying that person as one to avoid, ridicule, slander and, ultimately, of course - fear.

Inasmuch as I've admittedly 'fallen away', I don't think I could ever fall far enough away to forget what I still believe to be the real meaning of "Bleeding Heart". Yet I will continue to be sadly perplexed by - and a bit contemptuous of - those who brandish the cross, beat their bibles, yell from their pulpits, chant from their pews and praise His name while defiling the true meaning of His heart.

Healthy Pet Products' Database

A great database for testing of toxicity in pet products is Healthy Stuff For Pets

Choose from various menu items to find pet products that are of concern to you and find out how they fare.

Also, if you check their main site: Healthy Stuff.org you can also find ratings and stats on toxic levels in thousands of other consumer products.

As Long As You're The One Getting Government Funding, I Guess It Ain't "Socialism"

According to "The Payoff Patriots" apparently some of the President's most vocal and most vile protestors from America's alleged "Heartland", who have adjudged President Obama's Healtcare initiative as a socialist agenda, are not as loathe to draw that same skewed conclusion of the government farm subsidies they willingly accept to the tune of $177 million annually in order to maintain lower costs and stay competitive. Hmmmmmm? Sounds e-tty, pre-tty, preee-tty socialistic to me. (That is... by their own standards and definition of socialism).

Now, **scratching chin** where have I also heard that same proposed government funding or offer of a pubic option to people if they OPT to participate competitively with giant monopolies....like...oh....say.....INSURANCE COMPANIES???

Say. Do ya think any of those subsidized farmers 'opt' out of those handouts (their word for it, not mine) ....er...I mean "subsidies"?

Why does the word: HYPOCRITE seem to come to mind?

So many questions. So few answers. So many people who obviously have more time to write idiotic signs, yell moronic-memorized catch phrases, about ideologies they haven't a clue about or how they don't even realize that they're already card-carrying comrades in this so-called "socialistic plot".

I wonder why Glenn Beck hasn't exposed them? Be vewy afwaid Amerwica!

We Are Our Own Worst Enemies

If anyone ever tells you that this is the worst, most divisive and precarious time in our nation's history, then they don't know their history. American history - and not the sanitized, sterilized and sermonized white-washed versions we were taught in grade school - is rife with uncertainty and divisiveness. (Does "The Civil War" ring a bell?)

While the basic ingredients in our historically-checkered melting pot haven't changed, the brew is admittedly being viscously stirred to a bitter boiling point by:

(a) infotainment that passes as genuine news and infotainers who pass as actual news people who compartmentalize and sensationalize misinformation encapsulated in 15-second sound bites and catchy phrases because the average citizen has the attention and retention span of a gnat and is too busy **see: lazy or illiterate** to read and research for themselves to form their own opinion, but default to rely on the agenda-driven opinions of the aforementioned infotainers; and

(b) the speed of the internet to transmit said misinformation instantaneously.

Once again, I can't help but allude to Rod Serling's metaphoric Twilight Zone episode of self-destruction through mass paranoia, "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street", where an entire neighborhood succumbs to the sum of their fears and prejudices. Mistrusting, suspecting and blaming each other for the sudden plethora of problems that have befallen them, they eventually implode by destroying their neighbor's homes, murdering each other and ultimately obliterating their entire societal structure. Whereupon the camera pans back and we see two aliens observing and monitoring the carnage. One alien reassuring the other: "You see? They just pick the most dangerous enemy they can find [or invent] and destroy themselves. The world is full of Maple Streets. All we have to do is sit back and let them destroy themselves."

Of additional memorable significance was Mr. Serling's closing narrative:
"The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices. To be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill, and suspicion can destroy, and the frightened, thoughtless search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own: for the children, and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is that these things can not be confined to the Twilight Zone. ”

Look around and be very afraid...not of our neighbors...but of ourselves.

Senator Ted Kennedy: Death Demands Respect

I was never a fan of Ronald Reagan and that's very much an understatement. But when the man was felled by Alzheimer's, my heart went out to him. Yes, even to Nancy. She wasn't just "Reagan's wife who I basically disliked", then she was the wife of a man who was losing touch with everything he had known and loved. Losing touch even with himself, and it was sad.

When he passed I mourned the passing of a former President of our United States out of respect for him and out of compassion for a wife who had lost her life-long companion.

Senator Ted Kennedy was also deserving of the same respect in his passing as does his wife who must also now go on without her life-long companion. He was a driving force in our nation's history and the last in a long line of one of our country's most notable families. Whether one agreed with his principles or politics is irrelevant now.

Death is the great leveler. In death all things are equal. There are no politics. There is no bipartisanism. There is no liberal, no conservative....no nothing. There is only an end to a life that - hopefully in some beneficial way - contributed to the world they left behind.

I grieve over his loss. I grieve for the pain he suffered and endured. I personally grieve over his loss to our nation. And in a strange sense, I grieve for the souls of all those insensitive, vindictive and cold individuals still enjoying the gift of life who cannot even manage a respectful "Rest In Peace" without jaded sarcasm, hateful words, innuendo or seizing the opportunity to trash a human being - a human being who has gave more to his country than many who so ghoulishly criticize him even now - and a man no longer able to defend or contradict his critics. 'Defend and contradict critics', by the way, was not Senator Kennedy's style. He never exchanged in bile bantering. It was beneath him. He had class which is more than can be said of his Death Panel of Critics.

When it is their time to leave this mortal coil, I wonder if people will say of them: "They did something beneficial for the world they left behind". Or will they be remembered as bitter, tasteless, cruel and petty?

Right now I think it will be the later and what's more, I don't think that would bother them much - either their legacy or my opinion of them. I would say I dislike them but, truly, they aren't worth any more words than are contained in this post.

God Rest and Grant Peace To The Soul of Senator Kennedy.

Bush White House Lied? So What Else Is New?

Former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, who served as head of homeland security for the Bush Administration, has written a book, The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege...and How We Can Be Safe Again. In this book he reveals that the Administration's political agenda was actually on higher alert than the nation's security. In essence, the Administration fomented false terror alerts to enhance the Republican balloting for the 2004 election.

Shazaam! No way!

Way.

Not like lying to the American people in order to garner votes and/or support was a novelty. ***Rubbing chin. Insert flashback music here*** Hmmmmm? Robert McNamara's Vietnam mea culpa comes to mind.

I'm sure if I put my mind to it, I could think of bazillion more examples throughout our checkered American history.

But, for now, Ridge's revelation is not only nothing new to those of us who knew this to be the case back when Dubbya's snarky laugh echoed through the White House, but now all I can think of is...................Dubbya's snarky laugh.

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Rid your forums of those bothersome, invasive, pain-in-the-ass trolls! Instead of reminding them to "Bite Me!" Have them bite this!


Use often and liberally. Some trolls require repeated treatments. Go for it!

Organic Gardening Magazine & Miracle Gro Redux

Fox, er...."News" recently aired a segment on organic gardening courtesy of Organic Gardening Magazine. A spokeswoman for the magazine loosely rattled off the basics of gardening (allegedly) organically. As with so many truncated blurbs on t.v. "news", there's always the opportunity for dispensing more MISinformation than correct information.

One example was the suggestion for a homemade insect repellent using

"Water, LIQUID SOAP and vegetable oil"

Liquid soap is ambiguous and - to the unwitting and neophite organic gardener - misleading. How difficult would it have been to add the caveat that it should be pure soap with no added perfumes, dyes, etc.? Or simple measurements of each? I know. I'm picky.

But what ground my gears the most was the on-going sucking up and whoring of the magazine's principles for revenue by the blatant product placement of Miracle Gro Organic Choice Potting Soil on a potting table next to the Rodale spokeswoman. I've been around this Scotts' rodeo enough already that this is redundant on my part. Nevertheless, it's a bone I'll continue to pick as long as the born-again, pseudo-organic prophets (*see: "Profits") at Scotts continue to poison OUR bones with their vast inventory of toxic chemicals. I don't care how loudly or how often they tout the altruism of their intentions into the organic market. To me, they'll always and forever walk like a chemical duck and talk like a chemical duck.

There's enough information out there disputing the true organic voracity of Miracle Gro's Organic Choice line. Even if you discount my own.

Apparently, not enough, however, to warrant Organic Gardening Magazine's insistent, persistent, public and/or subliminal endorsements of it.

Then, again....it WAS Fox.

SEE THE VIDEO HERE

Got Weeds?

If you want to try (emphasis on the word try) to control weeds in your garden and want to use a product that is registered as approved-organic by OMRI (Organic Materials Review Institute), you might want to check out a new landscape "fabric" by Easy Gardener called Weed Block Paper Mulch. It's completely biodegradable and made totally from recycled paper. It contains no chemicals and is approved for use in organic production. Plus it breaks down at the end of the season to decomposes naturally in your soil to add additional organic matter.

Global Warming's New "Alleged" Cause

First global warming was denied. Then it was reticently accepted by those deniers, yet they still rejected any human complicity.

Now, it seems, there's a fall guy/gal for global warming's cause. One who already has been historically humiliated and remains the only victim of politically-correct prejudice and alleged 'humor': Overweight people.

According to British scientists in The International Journal of Epidemiology "overweight people contribute to global warming more than their slim counterparts".

Their reasoning? "Overweight people can be responsible for the emission of a ton more of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide than thin ones, mainly due to their eating more food and the additional fuel needed to carry them in cars and other vehicles".

Okay...let me see if I understand this? Thinner people don't drive as often or as far as larger people? So....I guess all those "thinner" people I see at the supermarket, in restaurants, stopping at Dunkin Donuts' drive-thru window, or piling into vehicles loaded with with bags of MacDonalds' fries or hefting home some take-out pizzas.....they all drive Priuses and are donating all that food to charities? (Obviously charities populated by fat people, of course.)

Or are these scientists saying that it takes more gas to power a vehicle carrying a 200lb. person shopping for their family's groceries than it does to haul a Hummer-full of thin 18 year-olds just tooling around the neighborhood all evening or an entire summer day, all talking on their cell phones to each other? Ya think?

If an overweight person was placed on top of a glacier, would that person cause an ice flow any faster than a stiletto-heeled, bulimic Ann Coulter tromping over the same area while barfing up her warmed intestinal contents?

If 10 overweight people protested outside a CO2 emission-fouling factory, would they be polluting and creating more greenhouse gasses any more than the 50 thinner employees inside pulling the levers, flipping the switches and pumping the stuff into the air?

Oh, I could go on. But then I'd be guilty of making as ridiculous comparisons and drawing similarly ludicrous conclusions as this - no doubt - anorexic group of British scientists.

Scotts Miracle Gro Organic Choice Is Still Bogus

Turning the clocks ahead. Forsythias in bloom. Tulips and daffodils. Taxes. All signs of spring. So, too, is the annual question asked by so many organic gardeners: "Is Scott's Miracle Gro Organic Choice really organic?"

Well, Virginia, in a word: NO. Oh, Scotts can write, print and color in crayon the word "Organic" all over any of its products. But all that means is it contains some carbon-based material which was once living matter.

In today's Greenwashed Market (see my post on "Faux-Organic Or The Art of Greenwashing" where the word 'organic' may be placed on a product for the sole purpose of suck(er)ing in a huge, eager market of organ-o-philes and organic-wannabees, that word ("organic") has become more than just a little bastardized. It wouldn't be the first time manufacturers, their advertisers, R&D departments and marketing departments have stooped to conquer cash.

I'll try and make this short and sweet for those synthetic-fertilizing, chemical-pesticide/herbicide-groupies out there who wouldn't part with their bags of Smurf Builder or 2-4D (Agent Orange's evil twin), unless they were pried from their cold, dead, toxic-dusted hands.

Now, to be truly, legitimately, honest-to-goodness, cross-my-heart, certified and approved Organic by the USDA's NOP (National Organic Program) ...then that little green and white or black and white circular seal will be prominently displayed on said product. But, in lieu of that, where just the word "organic" is used indiscriminately, there are numerous ways to dance around and loopholes to jump through in order to use just that word: "organic" and still be able to dupe a trusting (and sometimes, misinformed) public into thinking they're getting the real, USDA-approved 100% deal. For a little ...er...light reading of the ambiguous and legal-speak wording which dictates - right down to the proper sizing, spacing, highlighting of the word "organic" on a label, one might want to peruse this: THE ELECTRONIC CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS or.."Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Organic Regulations and Certification But Were Afraid To Ask & Possibly Afraid To Read".

In the case of Miracle Gro Organic Choice perhaps the reason it will never receive that little green and white or black and white circular approval seal is because even though their ingredients are listed as "natural" or of an "organic" nature and they (apparently) follow the loose guidelines of the above link, they do not - repeat - do not state anywhere on their label nor is it stated in the MSDS SHEET that the source of their "natural" or "organic" ingredients: i.e. Sugar Beet Molasses, Pasteurized Chicken Litter, Composted Manure, are grown or attained using true organic practices or that the chicken litter is pasteurized (so they say) using organically-approved methodologies. See? If it said "Organically-grown Sugar Beets; Organically-processed Molasses, Organically-pasteurized Chicken Litter from Organically-raised and fed chickens, then it might be in the running for that little circular seal and not remain a pretender to the organic throne like so many other products who play fast and loose with that word: Organic. (BTW: Their chicken litter comes from Perdue. You can look that up. And some caged bird tells me that Old Frank's heirs don't raise their birds free range). And that my fact-checking friends, is my take on why Scotts Miracle Gro Organic Choice will always be what it is: BOGUS.

Now, true organic certification is only important to you if you're a certified organic grower or want to play your organic part as close to your hemp vest as possible. Otherwise, buy a product that cavalierly tosses that word "organic" around. As long as the other ingredients on the product aren't synthetic or toxic in any way. (Uh, you DO read ingredient labels, don't you?)

However, for those organic gardeners out there who in one green breath decry the use of Miracle Gro on your tomatoes, and yet still have a soft spot in your heart for Scotts (possibly softened by breathing in too much of their Weed N' Feed while walking the aisles of any Big Box store this time of year) then by all means go ahead and buy Scott's CEO Jimmy Hagedorn's product. Go ahead and contribute your hard-earned dollars if you have no personal and ethical principles against a company that is responsible for all those synthetics and chemicals lacing the countryside. In this failing economy, if you feel it your fiscal responsibility to shore up any possibly faltering profits of Jimmy's company, then, show some pity and stock up on some of their alleged Organic line to keep them afloat in their little toxic lake.

Be mindful, too, that it takes a lot of capital for them to support a cadre of litigious-happy lawyers who have nothing better to do than, oh say, sue a small, up and coming, truly organic company in New Jersey a couple of years ago because the company dared to put out a product using the same packaging colors as Miracle Gro (Scott's evil child): Green & Yellow. Who knew those colors were copyrighted and patented? If so, then someone better warn Schultz and Sta-Green and Ortho and several other garden-product companies using the coveted green and yellow banners.

While you're at it, give em an "atta boy" for all the research and development of more organic (or faux organic) products they've promised to do. CERTAINLY, you wouldn't think for a minute that any profits they make from shilling their pseudo-organic line would possibly fall into their R&D coffers toward more and future synthetic and chemical products..........now do you? Tsk...tsk. So skeptical.

Well, someone's got to be. And I guess that leaves me and my skeptical minions who - even if Scotts slathered its products in USDA Organic Seals - we wouldn't buy them on principle alone. Now, some organic gardeners may say: "If even this back-door approach brings in some new kids on the organic block to a greener way or gardening, then it can't be all bad". As someone who would dearly love to see more synthetic-chemical lovers morph green, I must admit I'd be more enthusiastic about this pseudo-organic posturing if it were just anyone but Scotts. As rash as this may read, to me....Scotts selling organics is like Hitler going door to door selling Girl Scout Cookies. Nice gesture. But would you really want to buy from him?

Bottom line, if they garnish it with neon lights, put green and yellow pants on it and taught it to dance....it's still from Scott's. 'Nuff said.

Although I might consider paying the price of admission to see a bag of their crap dance.

The Iditarod: Animal Cruelty Rewarded

Kudos to New Jersey native,Kim Darst, who opted to drop out of this year's inhumane Iditarod Sled-Dog Race to save the life of one of her dogs. READ STORY HERE

The "winners" of what would be considered in most states - animal cruelty - receive a cash prize, an enormous boost to their already over-inflated egos and a stupid belt buckle claiming they ran the race. (Which is patently ridiculous, because it's the dogs who run the race.) As Ms. Darst sought care for her hypothermic dog, she stated no regrets whatsoever for her decision because her dogs come first. She said she couldn't live with herself if she'd allowed her dog to die...and for what? A stupid belt buckle?

Although I commend Ms. Darst for her decision, her initial decision to run the race in the first place casts somewhat of a pall over too much "hurrah-ing". The last bastion of publicly-sanctioned, legal, sponsored and awarded animal cruelty should have been stopped years ago according to uncountable highly credible resources. A quick check on the Internet will reveal all the horror and seedy stories regarding this race, the treatment and the lives of the dogs both before, during and after the race and the pre-ordained death sentence to puppies bred for this purpose but who don't measure up to "mushers'" standards.
THE TRUTH ABOUT THE IDITAROD

Foods With Highest Pesticide Exposure

The Environmental Working Group has put out its latest list of 47 of the most popular fruits and vegetables and their ranking from highest (worst) to lowest pesticide content. You might want to ditch that peach you just bought at the supermarket...unless it's got the USDA/Organic seal slapped on it.
Here's The List.

Food Safety Group Formed By President Obama

Heralding in a new era of food safety, President Obama has formed a
Food Safety Working Group to "upgrade our food safety laws for the 21st century".

The appointments of former NYC health chief, Margaret Hamburg as new FDA commissioner and Joshua Sharfstein, Baltimore’s health commissioner, as deputy were praised by the American Health Association. The [hopeful] approval from Congress of $1 billion in funds to regenerate a formerly impotent FDA and the Agriculture Department’s new rules banning all sick or disabled cattle for consumption, is another example of President Obama’s forward thinking in an effort to undo past wrongs.

“There are certain things only a government can do”, Obama said. “And one of those things is ensuring that the foods we eat, and the medicines we take, are safe and do not cause us harm.”

If some of the more paranoid, aluminum-foil-hat crowd fear this is yet another example of Big Brotherism, then all I can say is: We’ve been too long without this Brother.

"Old" Pressure Treated CCA Lumber Isn't Safe Either

Many people are under the misconception that using "old" (an ambiguous age determination) CCA (Chromium Copper Arsenic) pressure treated lumber in a building project that would (a) come in contact with children and pets; or (b) come in contact with edibles, as in construction of a vegetable-garden bed enclosure; or (c) a compost pile is acceptable because they think the arsenic has either leached out of the lumber after a point or by placing it a pre-determined distance from edibles, the arsenic won't affect growing vegetables.

Wrong.

There are numerous sources of information out there on the Internet for people to research if exposing their families and themselves to inordinate measures of inorganic arsenic is important to them. Inorganic arsenic is synthesized as opposed to naturally-occurring organic arsenic found in water, soils, etc. This information sheet about CCA lumber also includes the EPA's "acceptable" limits of arsenic exposure. ( I usually take those EPA recommendations and halve them.)

Sadly, too many people are either too lazy or find it confusingly mind-boggling to type a few words in a dialog box on a search engine, like Google, and hit "Search". I fully admit I was more than a bit befuddled by this thing with the blinking cursor but I soon realized one didn't have to become a computer nerd to type and hit a key. I digress.

"Old" pressure treated lumber is perhaps as deadly or at least unfriendly as "new" pressure treated lumber. Thankfully, as of a few years ago, there is no longer any "new" pressure treated or CCA lumber being produced because the EPA in it's infinite wisdom(?) finally outlawed it, recognizing its arsenic-leaching potential as hazardous to health. Studies (again, look them up) have found that once the lumber begins to break down, the pressurizing which encapsulated the arsenic becomes compromised, thus releasing all that was soaked into the lumber....into the soil and more easily onto unsuspecting little hands and paws.

An excellent paper on this is from Dr. Linda Chalker Scott of Washington University, which you can read here.

When dealing with these "old" timbers people are also of the mindset that if they dispose of them (please, please do not burn these carcinogenic creations) that they will wind up in a landfill and spread their poisons there. This is quite true. Therein lies the conundrum of what to do with the stuff. Having been in that same place and faced the same predicament, I found other uses for them which were as out of harm's way as possible and certainly no where near my vegetable garden. One can be creative. After all, that's one of the finer points of being an organic gardener: working out safer methods to otherwise hazardous problems.

"Faux-Organic" Or "The Art Of Greenwashing"

As more and more greedy entrepreneurs slither into the organic market, it was inevitable the word "organic" would come to be synonymous with "100% USDA Organic-Approved". In order to legally attest to that claim, a product must bear the little green and white circular logo symbolizing its certification by OMRI (Organic Materials Review Board) using the standards set by the NOS (National Organic Standards/Substances).Organic Labeling

Consumers are historically duped by misleading claims and customized marketing (*see: enhanced-to-downright-phoney*) to target specific consumer desires. But now, it's entered the organic market. No longer a niche consumer group, the word "organic" or "natural" on a product can mean big bucks for any manufacturer who can spell the words. Nowadays a well-intentioned consumer must not only read a label's nutritional information but must be alert to products claiming to be "100% Organic" or "Natural"...and learn to interpret those claims. Not all that glitters "organic" is organic gold.

An excellent aid for consumers to research food labels and products they currently have at home is Greener Choices Eco Labels

Originally, the USDA National Organic Program required that all substances used in organic production meet National Organic Program standards. The USDA has since narrowed the definition of "substance " to "ingredient used in organic production". Basically, what this means is that: if a substance used in processing should leave or cause to leave organically-unapproved or even questionably toxic residues - and that residue is not actually an initial, intentional ingredient in the final product - that potentially toxic residue does not have to have USDA approval. In other words, it gets a pass. Albeit a pass through the back door of regulations, but a pass nonetheless which is "passed" on to that unsuspecting, unknowing, well-intentioned consumer. It's not all that dissimilar to the obfuscation of "free-range chicken" definitions which allows that as long as a chicken has access to a 4x4 outdoor enclosure for 10 minutes a day, it’s considered “free range”. You could cram 500 chickens into a 4X4 enclosure, open a window and make that claim and still get that "free-range pass".

Is it any wonder, then, why so many small & large family organic, sustainable farms have regretfully abandoned the USDA’s organic certification because of the whoring of true organic criteria and More diluted standards.

"Natural" doesn't mean it's good for you. Many "natural" elements or plant-derived products can be quite toxic. Cyanide is natural, but I wouldn't want it in my morning coffee. This is yet another misuse and abuse by greedy greenwashers of a common term meant to dupe an unsuspecting public.

"Organic" simply means "derived from living matter". Yet it has become a commonly accepted colloquialism to mean: "grown without chemicals or synthetics"..as in 100% Organic Approved. This wolf is very well concealed in greenwashed-sheep's clothing thanks to that common consumer misconception and the deceitful profiteers who promulgate it. Add to that alleged "organic" magazines and venues which promote products like Scotts Miracle Gro Organic Choice as a true organic alternative. Neophite organic gardeners often look to these sources for guidance and that guidance can - at least - be quite questionable. People should never stop asking questions. If they do, that's how lemmings are born and we become a nation of "sheeple" (*sheeple: People who flock and herd together and blindly follow a dominant leader* ). Sure maybe Scotts MG OG may be an improvement over regular ole Miracle Glop (which isn't saying much). However, for as long as I can remember, organic advocates and leaders have held companies such as Scotts and Monsanto in the lowest possible regard and consistently decried their synthetic/chemical agendas. So it would seem that their support and advocacy should be better spent toward other up-and-coming companies with less nefarious pasts and true organic ideals. But...as with so much in this world, it's ultimately all about the money. And big companies like Scotts brings in big advertising bucks. End of story.

So, Who's That Anti-Christ Again?

So, President Obama is being crucified (no pun intended) as the Anti-Christ, Satan, comparable to Hitler and Obama's younger supporters dubbed "similar to the Hitler youth movement" by the pathetic remnants of the right-wing, ultra conservatives, still hanging on by their crooked, hypocritical little thumbs (which they've obviously had up their asses for eight years while Bush et. al ran the economy in the crapper).

You think they'd have thought up better material after those eight l-o-n-g years.

My sincerest hope (beyond the success of President Obama's efforts to undo the harm done by his predecessor and his predecessor's corrupt lackeys) is that the Neo-Con-Right-Wing-CPACers hoist themselves by their own evil-spirited, sore-loosing petards. Besides, isn't a successful emergence from this economic debacle via President Obama's efforts a success for the entire nation? Or is that too much of a "Duh"! for the naysaying, bitching and moaning Republicans to wrap their heads around? And if they're going to poke holes, then what have they got to fill them up? ****sounds of crickets chirping****

Fortunately, however, they're going about shooting themselves in their own feet in the best way possible. They're still retaining Fox News (?) as their media cheerleaders and the cherry on the cake is they've elevated Rush Limbaugh, a drug-addicted, former disc jockey, as the Republican Party's standard bearer. Limbaugh: The modern-day Morton Downey, Jr. and Joe Pyne. Remember them?

To his credit, RNC's Chairman, Michael Steele (aka: the Republican's token Obama-wannabe) initially decried Limbaugh's pontifications and history of slurs and dismissed Limbaugh's 'alleged' elevated Republican Party status identifying him [Rush] as a mere "entertainer". But he soon recanted after Russssssssshhh ripped Steele a new one on his radio show the following day. No doubt accompanied by self-flagellation and much genuflecting at the chubby knees of Mr. Limbaugh, the now-humbled and reamed out Mr. Steele's fell on the Republican Party public relations' sword, begging forgiveness of The Big Cigar-Mouthed Lout for (as he said): 'misspeaking'.

Performing the ever-popular political cop-out ploy-tap dance, Mr. Fetchett...er....Steele mewled: "I mis-spoke. That wasn't what I really meant to say". Which is ass-covering-p.r. code for: "I guess I didn't realize the nationwide clout this asshole has. So I'd better lean over (as Rush has suggested to so many Democrats) and pucker". Hypocrite? Yes. Pathetic? Oh, yeah. I wonder what Mr. Hughley thinks of this man he claimed to have great respect for after that initial interview? Hey, D.L., I believe the term you might be looking for is: Uncle Tom.

See the initial Michael Steele/D.L. Hughley interview and Steele's mea culpa: HERE

The elevation and status afforded this "entertainer"(that's debatable) hack as a spokesperson for a large, influential cadre of our citizenry is about as ludicrous as Joe The Plumber running for V.P on a Sarah Palin ticket in 2012.

Oh My God! The Horror!

Recall Of Pet Foods Containing Tainted Peanut Ingredients

Just in case you thought the latest recall of peanut products was solely restricted to human consumption foods, think again. Pet foods, of all kinds, can contain some peanut ingredients. This was news to me and maybe to many others.

So here's the latest list of all pet food that's been recalled (or if not, as a responsible pet person, you should remove it from your animal's menu). The list is compiled by the FDA and comes here through the courtesy of The Humane Society's web page:

Peanut Ingredient Pet Food Recall

A Fish For Life

When George Costanza's fellow marine biologists aren't removing Titleist golf balls from whale's blowholes, they've been preoccupied with discovering a species of hydrozoan or jellyfish-like aquatic organism they're dubbing "The Immortals"

Not to be confused with a 1950's doo-wop group or CGI-generated Xerxes horde battling the 300 Spartans, these "Immortals" are so named because they can live forever by virtue of the fact that they can reinvent themselves in younger and younger form only to die if they are eaten. Not unlike Joan Rivers.

This regeneration and ability to revert to its juvenile form occurs only after each completion of successful mating. Not unlike Hugh Hefner.

Scientists and doctors seeking anti-aging protocols, quite understandably, recognize The Immortals as a key to further their research into either slowing the aging process or preventing some of its more debilitating effects.

In those scientific circles, The Immortals are known as Turritopsis nutricula. I prefer "Benjamin Button-Fish".

"Eyes On The Prize"

Martin Luther King, Jr. advised to, "Keep your eyes on the prize" because...he had a dream. A dream where..."One day we will live in a nation where [people] will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character".

Dr. King presciently knew he'd not live to behold the fruition of that dream. But we are blessed to be alive to see the beginnings of that Dream becoming a reality.

In three days (from this writing) that prize will be awarded to a grateful, patient nation when Barack Obama is sworn in as our Nation's 44th president. May that dream become a reality for all Americans. May we prove worthy to uphold that dream. May we prove the content of our character.

As I sit and watch the television coverage of President-Elect Obama's whistle-stop train deliverance to Washington D.C., I am beyond inspired. I am more than grateful to be a witness. I am excitedly hopeful that we, as a united country, have finally managed to slither out of the slime that has clogged and cloaked our hearts and minds for too long. The slime that has held us back from beholding and practicing the true meaning of The American Dream: To work together for a common cause. Not "in spite of our differences", but because of them.

In nations around the world where differences are the roots, reasons and perpetuation of wars and genocides...where differences are abhorred, denied and stifled... America should stand apart and above. We should. But, too often and for too long, we have not. We have defiled the original tenets upon which our country was founded. We have disgraced and denied the sacrifices made by millions of our citizenry to vouchsafe the very definition of The United States of America: A Celebration of Differences.

Let the pundits and talking heads talk - to themselves. Let Left and Right forget any direction but Straight Ahead. The time for empty words and rhetoric is over. It's been done. To death. Literally. We are not a piece of paper. We are not a party politic. We are, as our name implies..."United". Never before were the words "United we stand, divided we fall" more true than now. We sink alone and apart or we swim...together.

My prayers are that from this day forward - although not overnight and not easily - but as united, real Americans, we begin anew and continue to honor those differences and prove to the the rest of the world that "Yes".....we can!

"Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot" Or "Bye, Bye Bushie"

"Sniff"

I guess there are some things I'll miss about him.


BEST OF THE BUSH-ISMS

You can't write that stuff. Which means, right off the bat, his long-awaited departure will already improve the economy of some unemployed comedy writers. After eight years of their jobs being done for them, they'll finally be able to get back to writing their own material.