OUR GARDEN EARTH

Whatever Happened To The Organic Gardener?

2010-04-03T08:16:00.019-05:00

I find it rather ironic that at a time when Green living has finally caught on and is being marketed to death in all forms, a whole crop of backyard organic gardeners are whoring the original tenets of Robert Rodale, the father and founder of organic gardening:

"Do The Least Harm"

But perhaps it is precisely because "Green" or "Organic" or "Natural" is so haphazardly and almost euphemistically slapped on labels and in product advertising faster than bags of Scott's Ween-n-Feed are still hopping off the Big Box store shelves. Everything is Green these days. Organic is fashionable. People's vocabularies are now peppered with words like "sustainable" and "free-range" while they drive their hummers to pick up a bucket of KFC.

Is this oxymoron based on laziness? Irresponsibility? Underlying greed? Or are they merely following the examples set by our so-called leaders and media icons? Do people still not get it? Is the disconnect due to faulty comprehension of organic gardening's paradigm or just selective denial? Or all of the above?

Basically, it seems to have come down to: "What does it matter if I fudge a little? What's a few ounces of Round-Up or a just one feeding of Miracle Gro or a few spritzes of Sevin or Malathion or if my square foot garden is built from old railroad ties as long as I layer on cartloads of compost, mulch my grass clippings, grow heirloom plants from non-GMO seed? I mean..I'm doing something. You can't expect me to make an effort in every area! I'll "go organic" but not if it means I have to sacrifice everything and afterall, toxins and poisons enter my body every day and the earth is being still being polluted without my control so what does it matter if I make a few concessions here and there?"

We can't lament the 'poisons and toxins entering our bodies everyday without our control" or the earth still being polluted as well, if we are part of the problem and one of the contributors.

While Robert Rodale's mantra was to do the least harm, the other and too-often overlooked aspect of his philosophy was that everyone - in their own way - can make a difference no matter how small they may think their efforts. Organic gardening doesn't demand (nor should it expect) perfection. It just requires effort, commitment and dedication to exemplify that tenet of doing the least harm to your self, your children, your pets, your neighbors, your soil and Your Garden: Earth.

Thinking globally and acting locally is more than just another pithy catchphrase and can pertain to running a full-scale farm, maintaining a backyard garden or tending pots on a porch. We can stop making excuses, justifications, qualifying, defending, obfuscating and copping out. We can step up to the compost plate, keep our eye on the organic ball and swing away with sincere effort, credibility, honesty to the best of our ability. Not with perfectionism our goal. Not a home run each time. Just a few ground balls that will move the runner ahead to second base. Think globally and act locally. It all begins at the tip of your bat. If you hit too many sacrifice flies because it'll end the game sooner and you may console (or excuse) yourself that you're only one player and shouldn't be expected to win the game single-handed, then you're not a team player, and you might as well forfeit the game.

We're all on the same team. We're all players. It's the last game of the series and the bottom of the ninth with two out. It's someone's turn at bat. Maybe yours, and you can only do the best you can. Not the most convenient, not what everyone else is doing (how 12-year old), not the quickest, easiest or "if it was good enough for our grandparents, it's good enough for us". So was DDT, segregation and child labor. We might not win the World/Earth series in the end, but our grandchildren's children can take pride in the position we played in the playoffs.

While we do have limitations and individual, personal parameters to work within, we are not without some choice. We can choose to be part of the problem or be part of the solution.

To Each Her/His Own

2010-03-01T18:19:00.009-05:00

The last time I looked I had free will. At least as far as my own conscience, my own priorities, my own thinking and inside my own heart.

I am [nearly] forever being castigated and finger-wagged-at by holier-than-thou-ers for not prioritizing what I should be prioritizing
...according to their judgement anyway.

I (and my husband) make the bulk of our charitable givings for animal welfare. Do I hate poor humans? Am I heartless to the plight of underfed children? Is the health of environment anathema to me? Uh....no...no and...uh, no.

But because I CHOOSE to concentrate whatever monies can be set aside for the care, well being and safety of a variety of animals, I am taken to task for NOT choosing any of the aforementioned three or a myriad of causes others deem the destiny for my pennies.

There's a little thing in life called "perspective". It's how each of us CHOOSE to view things as well as what we CHOOSE to view in the first place and whether we CHOOSE to be proactive and how.

If everyone CHOSE only one thing (and apparently that decision must be determined by either one very omnipotent being or a panel of ominpotents), then anything and everything else would suffer. I often wonder just how much of the all-seeing, all-knowing ones' monies, time and effort go to support that one single cause they seem to believe everyone else on the planet should be supporting in lieu of any other cause. How many starving children in Africa do they receive letters from each month thanking them for their monthly tithings?

Here's the thing: What say each and every one of us CHOOSE a cause to support. That way no other living thing (that includes the environment which in my opinion is a living thing of sorts)....that way no other living thing will be overlooked or short changed or under funded. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm????

Oh, have I mentioned that where my money goes and where my support lies is my CHOICE?

Indoor Vs. Outdoor Cat

2009-12-30T00:58:00.028-05:00

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

2009-12-29T14:27:00.018-05:00

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

2009-11-11T11:22:00.004-05:00

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

2009-11-05T13:41:00.008-05:00

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

2009-10-18T02:23:00.014-05:00

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

2009-10-01T00:30:00.007-05:00

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"?

2009-09-18T17:43:00.012-05:00

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

2009-09-16T23:19:00.004-05:00

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"

2009-09-16T13:06:00.004-05:00

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

2009-09-01T16:37:00.013-05:00

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

2009-08-27T15:19:00.019-05:00

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?

2009-08-21T16:33:00.003-05:00

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.

Got Trolls?

2009-08-17T16:54:00.004-05:00

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

2009-07-24T16:45:00.017-05:00

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?

2009-05-26T08:40:00.003-05:00

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

2009-04-26T12:15:00.014-05:00

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

2009-04-03T17:16:00.043-05:00

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

2009-03-20T10:07:00.006-05:00

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

2009-03-19T17:31:00.006-05:00

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

2009-03-16T15:27:00.005-05:00

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

2009-03-16T09:55:00.005-05:00

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"

2009-03-16T09:24:00.018-05:00

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?

2009-03-04T18:17:00.020-05:00

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

2009-02-18T00:54:00.004-05:00

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

2009-02-01T17:19:00.014-05:00

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"

2009-01-17T13:47:00.015-05:00

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"

2009-01-03T13:57:00.016-05:00

"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.

Time Bush Is Removed From The Endangered Species List

2008-11-21T17:09:00.006-05:00

As posted previously, this pox on our country's administrative history (aka: George W. Bush, Jr.) just won't go away quietly. Hasn't he already "gotten" the loud, clear and distinct message that the majority of voters in this country think he royally effed up these past eight years and the best thing he could do for the entire country (and Bush-supporters, too) is to at this point just keep as low a profile as possible (like he did during the campaign which didn't do squat for McCain anyway), say nothing, do nothing...and get the hell out of that big white building?

Yet, like some vengeful little kid who feels he's been unduly punished or rejected by his classmates because he wanted all the bats, balls and ownership of the field, he's pulling a "I'll show them...heh, heh, heh" . Read about Bush's last hurrah before slinking off into the Texas sunset.

For a listing of this sociopathic, paranoiac's last-ditch efforts to push through enough deleterious legislation - to the human, animal and environmental arena - check out ProPublica. Make sure to click on all the headings in the left-hand side bar for complete descriptions of each "Midnight Regulation" as they're called.

Just when you thought you knew how much disdain this man holds for the welfare of this country, he goes and pulls another pile of Bushshit out of his 10-gallon empty hat.

One More Bush Disaster For The Road

2008-11-09T09:25:00.014-05:00

Some people just don't know when they've overstayed their welcome. Especially when you consider that according to the majority of voting voices November 4th, Mercifully-Soon-To-Be-Former-President Bush wasn't welcome in the first place.

In yet another one of his last-ditch efforts to hurriedly push through even more invasive and damaging legislation towards our natural resources MSTBFP-Bush and The U.S. Fish & Wildlife are seeking to once again overturn a ruling to delist delist the gray wolves of The Rocky Mountains from the endangered species' list.

The fact that mining companies in the area have their own agenda of expansion into those sensitive areas might have something to do with MSTBFP-Bush's urgency. (By the way, anyone who's naive enough to think the U.S. Fish & Wildlife's mission is to protect our natural resources and is uninfluenced by special interest groups and politics, probably also pushed the lever for McCain this November and laments Palin's retreat to the Alaskan tundras. You betcha.)

As if his legacy as this country's worst environmental president wasn't bad enough. His almost pathologically-intentional disdain for our country's natural resources, environment and threatened wildlife populations will forever be written in history books as well as the hearts & minds of concerned Americans. At this point, we can only hope and work with the new Obama administration to not only enact more protective legislation, but to overturn and undo the damage caused by MSTBFP-Bush.

Even the most lame sociologist, therapist or penny-ante,talk-show pseudo-shrink would be fair and accurate interpreting this man's last-minute actions as nothing short of vengeful. Or revengeful. Or borderline sociopathic in my humble, lay opinion. The urgency of these and many other down-to-the-wire measures seem to indicate his intentions to weigh down the new administration with so much legislation that most definitely will need to be overturned, it will bog down in Congress or languish on the new president's desk at the dictates of other pressing priorities, like the economy and Iraq.

Bush will be gone - soon. But the stench left in his wake will fill the air across our land and pervade foreign countries long after his physical presence is finally beyond the confines of the Oval Office. It would almost be worth any ozone layer holes, which may very well have been exacerbated during his eight-year debacle in the White House, if his malodorous legacy could escape through one and into outer space. If nothing keeps the "alien invaders" away, that surely will.

I will never be so glad to see The White House door hit someone in the ass come January 20, 2009. With the possible exception of Nixon.

HAIL TO THE NEW CHIEF!!!

2008-11-04T23:19:00.002-05:00

God Bless America. God Bless President Obama, and God Bless the People of This Country Who Made It Possible!
I have never been so proud and unbelievably filled with joy that this has happened in my lifetime.

Election Hopes

2008-10-28T13:37:00.003-05:00

Normally, whenever I get one of those automated or as they're referred to now, RoboCalls, or even if it's from a live person soliciting whatever, I'll either hang up, say no thank you or tell them to call back later. Much later.

However, this afternoon I received a call from a real live person at my county's Democratic headquarters asking first that I vote on November 4th and secondly (in his words) "We'd like to encourage you to vote for Barrack Obama"

I smiled thinking that this was one of the few types of calls like this that I was more than glad to respond, and I did.

"Thanks for all the work you all are doing and, believe me when I tell you that you don't have to encourage me one bit to vote for Mr. Obama!"

I'm watching MSNBC at the moment and Nancy Pfotenhauer (that's a mouthful), who's Chief of McCain's Campaign is being interviewed. The sounds off if that's any indication of what I think of both her and her candidate.

My hope is that their 'sounds' will be permanently off after November 4th.

At Least McCain & Obama Can Agree On Darfur

2008-10-14T22:37:00.003-05:00

I pray to God that whoever assumes the mantle of Presidency of this country, they keep their word.

Bush Says "Okay" To Rocket Fuel In Drinking Water

2008-10-08T23:16:00.001-05:00

Adding yet another stone to his 'grave' legacy, The-Still-President aided by pressure from the sabre rattlers at the Pentagon, have pressured the already impotent EPA to back off on setting limits for percholate in drinking water, ground water & wells.

From THE WASHINGTON POST STORY here is a quote:
"Some perchlorate occurs naturally, but most perchlorate contamination in U.S. drinking water stems from improper disposal by rocket test sites, military bases and chemical plants. A nationwide cleanup could cost hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars, and several defense contractors have threatened to sue the Defense Department to help pay for it if one is required."

This "rocket-fuel-laced percholate" occurs predominantly in states like California and the Southwest where much early aeronautic experiments were conducted. But it is pervasive throughout the country in varying degrees. It's those 'degrees' which the EPA sought to cap limits for drinking water.

But, despite overwhelming scientific and medical evidence to the contrary The-Still-President in his infinite wisdom (?) agreed with the Pentagon - which would have to compensate the Defense Department's contractors for cleanups as well as take ethical (?) responsibility for the egregious amounts of percholate in our drinking water - and strong armed the EPA into concessions favoring the Administration and the Pentagon.

Yessiree! "Country First" as usual. Which really means: The first one to get screwed is the Country.

So Just Who Won That Veep Debate?

2008-10-06T13:21:00.017-05:00

Well, it depends on whose criteria was followed.

Apparently , Biden's and Palin's criteria were different. Afterall, she stated at the outcome that she was only going to answer the questions SHE wanted to. So right there, her guidelines were drawn a bit crooked.

Biden's criteria was to enunciate and support the Obama ticket and administration. His intelligence, capability and experience was never in question, nor an issue predicated on his success in this debate. So I'd say he not only met the challenge and qualified the criteria, but, overall...won the debate.

However, because the expectation level of Palin's performance was so low to begin with, her criteria to "win" the debate wasn't just to prove how qualified, capable, knowledgeable or smart she was. No.

All she had to do was prove just how stupid she WASN'T. And on that point, you betcha, by golly, at least that lil *wink wink* maverick managed to score at least one Not-So-Stupid goal in the soccer net. Of course, one goal does not a full game make. One puck rattling around in an empty net means there's still a lot of loose pucks in play, on the rink and in the empty locker room of her Tina Fey-doppelganger head. But, at least her Republican handlers could breathe a bit easier for a few moments...until the latest polls came out and it was time to strap on the oxygen tanks once again. Still, ya gotta give the good ole boys (and gals) credit. It was sure some awfully long, torturous 90 minutes, by golly, for those poor ex-Bushies to hold their breath. You betcha.

Stu-pi-di-ty: Constant Repetition Of The Same Thing In The Same Fashion & Expecting Different Results Each Time

2008-10-02T12:35:00.014-05:00

I have had an amazing epiphany these couple of months: I am tired of talking to or communicating with idiots. I have - Tah-Dah! - finally realized the futility of it all. For someone who would rather relish a good conversation, I have resigned myself to (for as long as I can hold out) turning the other "silent cheek", so to speak.

Perhaps some of this was exacerbated by the current political debacle. I say "debacle" because in my heart of hearts I fear the overwhelming stupidity of so many of the American people will out. The lemming sheeple will in lock-step cast their votes for the same-o-same-o and President McLame and Vice President Pinhead will reign this November. Too many people base their opinion and votes on unfounded, unsubstantiated and unopposed sound-bites from a talking head and don't bother using their own.

Perhaps it's the unbelievable watching-paint-dry boredom & futile waste of time engaged in alleged 'open-minded' conversations. Perhaps it's the underlying hostile or outright dumb-as-a-post idiocy of the persons who 'populate' some gatherings I've confronted lately. Oh, I'll still masochistically attempt to volley a few words or raise my hand amongst people who usually prefer to sit on theirs. But I'm earnestly trying to strengthen my focus to cease and desist wasting words on the illiterate or on the opinions on the narrow and closed-minded.

Maybe, if come November 4th a spark of intelligent life is seen flickering on our horizon, and my pathetically indomitable hope for intelligible conversation manages to surface from beneath the sea of stupidity in which so many slog....maybe I might join the fray more vocally once again. Maybe I might consider that watching that paint dry really is more boring and futile. Maybe. But right now, that wet paint has higher prospects of garnering my attention, time and effort.

....And The 2008 Rubber Dodo Award Goes To....

2008-09-26T01:06:00.014-05:00

None other than the Governor of Alaska, Sarah "I-see-Russia-from-my-house" Palin.

The Center for Biological Diversity has awarded its Annual Rubber Dodo (after the extinct bird) to the republican vice presidential-candidate-in-hiding for outright falsifying statistics from the Alaska Bureau of Fish & Wildlife on the shrinking polar bear populations in Alaska. The Bureau has linked their decline to global warming and urged, in its report, to keep the polar bear on the endangered species list. All three issues which Gov. Palin disputes and, apparently, decided the only way to discredit those findings and substantiate her dispute was to falsify the statistics when reporting them to Washington. What? Not enough wolves to murder from the air?

When describing Mrs. Palin's stance on global warming, the executive director of The Center, Kieran Suckling, said:
"Governor Palin has waged a deceptive, dangerous, and costly battle against the polar bear. Her position on global warming is so extreme, she makes Dick Cheney look like an Al Gore devotee.”

She had actually filed a lawsuit with the Bush Administration utilizing falsified statistics as grounds for removing the bears from the endangered species' list. Lies and falsehoods to which she subsequently admitted and a lawsuit she summarily withdrew as well.

The following are some highlights from the article which can be read in full HERE

"Palin repeatedly has asserted that Alaska Department of Fish and Game scientists found fatal flaws in the sea ice models used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to determine the polar bear is threatened. When challenged, Palin refused to release the alleged state review. Independent scientists eventually obtained a summary through the federal Freedom of Information Act, revealing that Palin had lied: The state mammalogists concurred with the Fish and Wildlife Service determination that Arctic sea ice is melting at an extraordinary rate and threatens the polar bear with extinction.

Somehow, I don't think that's the only Dodo Award Sarah will win before this perfect example of The Peter Principle (look it up) is banished back to the frozen Great White North. I'm sure someone could round up another one for her "interview" with CBS News anchor, Katie Couric...

***Shivvvvverrrr*** Makes me cringe every time I watch this. If it wasn't so scary, it'd be hysterical. In truth, it's just plain pathetic and sad. I almost feel sorry for her here. Almost. No. Not really.

Canadian Peat Bogs In Crisis

2008-09-17T13:35:00.017-05:00

Despite the positive outlooks and press from some industry manufacturers of peat moss-based potting mixes and soil amendments, The Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Council has released updated warnings that the peat bogs of Canada are shrinking and not renewing as fast as anticipated.

Although peat bogs are renewable, even the most liberal minded of peat-product manufacturers and consumers will - and should - agree that it's an extremely slow renewal process. A slow rate which is exacerbated by both natural and man-made causes. *see: Global warming. It's because of that caveat, so many horticulturalists (both professional and lay) consider it non-renewable, and that may become a definite classification according to this cautionary press release issued by The Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Council in September, 2008. The innate slow renewal rate, combined with over harvesting and the aforementioned global warming implications, forebode an even more precarious future for the bogs and increased scarcity of peat moss.

Canada is, one of the largest suppliers of peat moss outside of The British Isles and Siberia. While peat is organic in nature, it adds little in the way of nutritional value to the soil. Shredded and half-decomposed leaves add more nutrients, improve soil conditions, retains moisture yet enhances drainage and makes for generally happier, fatter and more productive earthworms. Plus for many people, leaves are free and abundant, which certainly can't be said for peat moss considering the current (and possibly future) conditions for bogs such as the ones in Canada.

I still prefer minimal use of peat moss, however, in small quantities as part of my own potting soil formulation. Despite the consistent rise in peat moss prices, I've found combining it with compost, perlite and kelp meal is still more cost efficient than purchasing pre-mixed potting soil or seed-starting mix. But, like many other gardeners who rely upon peat moss for such applications, and for those people who do not have access to an abundance of leaves and/or compost, alternatives to peat moss must be sought. Right now - at least as far as a potting soil or seed-starting mixes are concerned Coconut-Fiber Coir is a very acceptable alternative. It is still more costly for those gardeners like myself who use either a great deal of potting soil or start a large number of seeds. But as more people purchase it and if peat moss prices predictably continue to rise (especially in light of this latest report out of Canada), the cost difference between alternatives and peat may be a wash.

Defenders Of Wildlife Desperately Need $100,000 To Air TV Ads Of Sarah Palin's Advocacy Of Aerial Wolf Slaughter

2008-09-15T17:20:00.014-05:00

The Defenders of Wildlife, who today came out in support of Obama/Biden, needs $100,000 to air television ads on Sarah Palin's support, advocacy and participation in the inhumane, aerial wolf slaughter. It reveals to me Mrs. Palin's lack of compassion and a very frightening, blood lust nature.

This brutality - which in no way, shape or form could possibly pass as "hunting" - must be seen by more people than those on both sides of the political fence and, maybe more importantly, by those still straddling.

It must be seen by the people who turn their heads and hide their eyes when such subjects are even hinted at. These are the people who must have their nightly t.v. doses of reality programs interrupted with True Reality. Let this interrupt and jar their t.v. viewing with their children in the comfort of their living rooms and then have to explain to their kids why they want this woman to be our next Vice President. Or the next time they rent "Balto", let them envision and explain again to their kids how the animated wolf is any different from the real-life wolf being butchered from the air compliments of Mrs. Palin and the Good Ole Boys she claims to disavow.

In her recent Gibson inerview, when Palin was asked about gun possession, one of the words she used as justification was "ethical". As in: as long as guns are used ethically. How anyone in their right mind, with any semblance of a conscience,(which might be describing Palin) could condone this aerial savagery as "ethical" is beyond the realm of my comprehension.

I also wonder how many who may already be aware of this inhumane practice and for some God-awful reason have no problem with it, are not aware, however, that she rewards these alleged "hunters" if they present the severed forelegs of the poor defenseless creatures, who are run to the ground, harassed by small planes and then repeatedly shot in their backs till they drop from exhaustion.

A minimum of $20 would be very helpful. $40 even better. I made my $40 via their 800# just this afternoon. I wish it could have been more. You'll find their plea and instructions as to how you can help here at DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE AD CONTRIBUTIONS

Underage Children Slaving In Meat Packing Plant

2008-09-09T16:37:00.008-05:00

Apparently, all was not kosher at this large-scale kosher meat packing plant/slaughterhouse. Agriprocessors, a huge kosher meat packing/slaughterhouse in Iowa, has been indicted for employing underage workers in their plant. Children younger than 16 were charged with operating heavy duty machinery, saws, and various other dangerous equipment utilized in the slaughtering process.

The meat packing corporations across the country have finally been the focus of investigations and charges for unsafe, hazardous and public endangerment. Now, add illegal hiring practices of minors. Of course, the inhumane treatment of the animals to be slaughtered always manages to slip lower and lower down the list of priorities for investigators.

This raid on Agriprocessors is one of the largest in the meat industry's history for employing either illegal aliens and/or underage children. Working conditions were not only hazardous, but overall salaries for all employees (including no pay for overtime), was deplorable. Remember, these children were responsible for safe handling and processing of meat to the meat-eating public. Children. It's bad enough most of these slaughterhouses are using downed, ill animals, overworking illegal alien employees and paying by the pound - so the more and faster they kill and process, the more they're paid - but having children working at that breakneck speed doesn't require rocket science to calculate there's more than an even chance tainted meat reaches the supermarket shelves on a regular basis. Most of which goes unreported.

It's only when enough people become significantly ill and/or die, and a connection can be made between, is the meat packer circumspect. By then, for those poor unfortunates, it's a bit too late. Which also goes to point a guilty finger at the sham that is supposed to be regular quality-controlled inspections by the USDA. Agriprocessors was just one that was caught. This time.

I know it doesn't help the animals or the children, but this is yet another reason I'm glad I'm a vegetarian.

The Depths People Will Go For Vanity Lawns

2008-09-04T09:00:00.008-05:00

I've already shared my disdain for the American obsession with lawn perfection. I have infinite disdain for the use and overuse of chemicals at all cost (literally, morally, ethically and healthfully) to begin with. But when they're used to maintain that synthetic patch of blue green supposedly to impress neighbors, that only impresses me that these lawn-lusters care more about those blades of grass than the health of their family, pets and whether they're polluting their neighbor's ground water, their environment and destroying all beneficial organisms who have the misfortune of dwelling within your property line.

But now the superficiality which drives the misplaced priorities of so many ill-informed or voluntarily-deaf-on-the-subject homeowners has gone even deeper. Like hundreds or even thousands of feet deeper. Tapping into aquifers and underground streams, crashing through increasingly fragile bedrock in droves, to dig deeper wells. No. Not for drinking water. Not for human sustainability. But to water their lawns and keep their petunias and little-green-meatball-shaped landscape plants irrigated.

According to THIS ARTICLE in The Wall Street Journal, affluent McMansioners in the Middle Atlantic states are using their chump change (which can amount to 1/3 of some people's annual salaries) to dig incredibly deep private wells for private use solely to water their manicured acres and circumvent drought restrictions placed upon use of municipal water for such petty purposes. Just because you may have rights to that water under your property, doesn't mean you have the moral or ethical right to squander a precious natural resource (especially in times of drought) to maintain a few little green meatball-foundation plants, a pot of petunias or a lawn, which will just go dormant and bounce back when some rains and cooler weather return.

The fact that the continued practice of tapping into these aquifers may destroy the bedrock and surrounding ground structure; the fact that this could impact water supplies of those less well off and dependent on more shallow wells; the fact that even municipalities ultimately depend on underground water supplies; the fact that imposition of drought restrictions are increasing as more and more parts of this nation become parched; and the fact that using a precious, natural resource necessary for human viability for such (pardon the pun) 'shallow', fatuous purposes is beyond frivolous. It's shameful. In a world where water will also become as scarce and coveted as oil, it's shameful and provides yet another reasons for foreign nations to hate us.

The rich get richer and greener lawns, too. As if the later matters.

GOP VP Nomineee Or "How To Pander To Women"

2008-08-31T17:42:00.025-05:00

When I heard the news the other afternoon announcing who McCain's 'camp' chose for his veep candidate (as I doubt it was McCain himself since he only met the woman once, and I doubt they exchange Christmas cards or anything), I nearly spit out my second cup of coffee. Now you have to understand just how important my second daily intake of caffeine is to me. So losing part of it on the kitchen table had to be elicited by some pretty heavy shit.

Rather than stomp my feet and rant and rave (which I did later), I tried to imagine the conversation that went on in the now smoke-free backrooms of McCain HQ:

"This Obama's got charisma up the wazoo, John. You've got nothing. We need to deal another hand. A whole new hand with a wild card. A gender card! Yeah, that's it, a gender card."

"We've got a pantyhose-load of disillusioned Hillary supporters about to jump the Democratic ship and are swimming toward the Red Boat in protest. So it's obvious they don't give a rat's ass about Republican policy. It's apparent they're willing to whore their Democratic principles in favor of "The Sisterhood". They've made it quite plain to the rest of the voting public that it isn't - and never was - about the issues or platform. To them it's all about shattering that damned glass ceiling of theirs. So.....let's give them a substitute to kick who can kick her spike heels through that glass roof. Just take Hillary's head off the token woman's body and plunk Palin's on there. Shoot. They'll never know the difference! We're golden, old man. After all...they're just women."

In short, the decision to pick this unknown, oil-whore from Alaska to be the person waiting in the wings should this old man kick the bucket while in office - if he's elected that is - is nothing short of pandering to the entire female population of this country and specifically, to the Hillary supporters. Are these women so blinded by the fact that their candidate is out of the Big Picture, they've given the 'talking heads',political hacks and GOP-party poopers all indications that their votes are up for grabs by anyone with a vagina?

That possible scenario would crystallize the condescending disdain many Republican pundits & "good Ole Boys" hold for the female voters specifically. If, in fact, the Hillary Clinton supporters do hitch up their skirts and abandon their mentor's party for Old Man McCain's same-o same-o republican politics of the past 8 lo-o-o-ong years to make kissy face with Palin, then it makes me sick and ashamed of my gender.

WOMEN FOR HILLARY! She lost! Get over it! Get on with the principles and issues she purported to support. Continue what she started, which wasn't a single-minded, feminist (of which I've been one for over 30 years - a feminist, not single minded that is) issue of 'getting a woman in the white house' at all costs. She advocated a woman in the white house (if not her) not just because it would be a female, but because it would be someone capable and the best candidate. Damn. I want to see a women in that Oval Office before I leave this mortal coil. You bet your vote I do. But not on pandering or "quota" terms.

This smoke and make-up mirror switcheroo of McCain is only aiming to get a pair of heels in the Veep's seat. Who's wearing them is irrelevant. if you look at her credentials, that patently obvious. Are disillusioned ,female-Hillary-supporters that desperate for the Republican's crumbs? Wake up, women! Smell the caffe latté being served up to serve up to you with those crumbs. (Make that "serve down to you".) See this condescension for what it is: a slap in the face, an "atta girl", a pinch in the butt and a rub up against you in the subway by these slithery, mealy-mouthed, lying bastards who couldn't give a rat's ass about that Glass Ceiling. Except if they could stand under it and look up your skirt.

Open your eyes! If you believed in the issues - especially those pertaining to women - that Mrs. Clinton put forth, then keep supporting those issues even if you can no longer support the former candidate. Remember, Sarah Palin - if you do your research - holds the diametric opposite of your former candidate's stand on most issues that are a priority to you..as women and as citizens. Ask yourself: Would she want you to vote for McCain simply because he's now got a woman on his ticket? Even though I didn't personally support her, I seriously doubt she would be that bitter - and downright petty or ignorant - to bite her political nose to spite her face, so to speak? Are you all 12 or something? It's your country, God dammit! It's our future. It's not a high school prom queen election.

***September 3rd Addendum to this post: I'd like to kiss the sneakers that he wears, of Jon Stewart for jumping on this with the sarcastic, yet truthful ferocity that he and his writers did last Friday night when this was announced. The piece, as "reported", by one of his on-air "reporters", Samantha Bee, was priceless, accurate to a painful fault and to give it the highest praise I can...I couldn't have written it any better myself. :)

Wally World Satire Or Truth?

2008-08-31T17:34:00.009-05:00

I'm sure there's a lot of formerly unemployed citizens who have only been able to find employment at WalMart and rely on Wally's paycheck(?). I'm even more certain there are a lot of unemployed citizens who are unemployed BECAUSE of Walmart.

See THE BIG BOX MART VIDEO

Feds Overturn Still-President Bush's EPA Emission Control

2008-08-22T00:24:00.009-05:00

On Tuesday, DC Circuit Court overturned restrictive policies of the EPA and the Still-Bush Administration's Clean Air Act which prevented local and state authorities from determining their own individual emission control standards for their specific locales and informing their citizenry of abusers. The American Petroleum Institute and Exxon along w/the EPA were amongst the most outstanding of those who opposed this decision. Whut a serprize!

States were seeking to formulate their own, individual higher criteria for polluting emissions than the limited, watered-down, rolled-back criteria previously mandated by the EPA and Still-President Bush.

Aw, gee, another hole blown in the ozone filled-head of Still-President Bush and his traveling environmental circus known as the alleged Agency for the Protection of our Environment as he continues till the bitter end to nuzzle Big Oil Butt.

Wait! Is that the sound of sad violins weeping in the oval office? Awwwww, gee.

Organic Hocus Pocus

2008-08-12T14:22:00.006-05:00

Faced with alarming outcries and discoveries of tampered, illegally grown or processed and dubious "organic" products, the USDA is instituting the first steps in addressing this situation by disallowing organic approval of a number of consumer goods and additives desirous to sport the USDA/ORGANIC APPROVED seal.

China, perhaps the most recently prominent in the field of oversights and abuse of safety and purity standards in exports, poses a particularly difficult organic nut to crack since they do not allow foreign (aka: American or country of export) regional inspectors into their country to....inspect. The Catch-22 is that in order for the U.S. and other importers to assign (in this instance) organic approval, inspection of facilities, farms, factories, etc. are mandatory. A viscous cycle of uncertainty and irresponsibility.

Hopefully, this action is a step in the right direction for the woefully under-staffed and under-financed USDA. Hopefully, they're making a more concerted effort to enforce organic standards. Hopefully, this will also enable better protection of consumer's health, welfare and safety. Hopefully, the money provided by we consumers to support and fund this administration will be better spent, notwithstanding countries like China's inspection impediments. Hopefully, this indicates that the USDA is finally asking the questions echoed by American citizens especially within these past two years: How organic is organic? Are we safe?

If One Doesn't Work, Try Two, Or Three, Or...

2008-07-06T01:49:00.009-05:00

On my "lawn kick" again. Maybe it's because 'lawn season' is in full swing. Or spiral. Downward spiral if you're a chemi-synthet-o-phile about your pwecious widdle gwass plants. Yeeuch!

I can't seem to get through a garden column, garden blog, garden forum, nursery, garden lecture....wherever gardens and all-things-horticultural are being discussed or written about, without the ubiquitous Lawn Possessed Person rising to complain about their browned out, burned out, depressingly bare-spotted and generally sickly patch of what used to be "green".

"I don't know what's the problem". they'll moan through toxic tears. " I watered every day. I fed it fifteen-gazillion times. I gave it half a bazillion treatments of fungicide/herbicide/pesticide/anycide and everycide. I applied every known Scotts et. al. lawn killer (er...lawn treament) put out by their little lab-coated snuffers of all things living in the grounds around our homes. And then I applied some more."

That's pretty much (with a little poetic license) what I'll hear or read. They water every day, too. Every day. You mean the way I see my neighbor's sprinklers ratchet on for 1/2 hour each and every morning. Rain or shine. Or the way I see oscillating sprinklers going for 30 minutes around noon or mid afternoon? Can anyone say: "Not watering long enough and yet, watering too often? " And is anyone familiar with the term: Evaporation? Gaack.

Adding insult to injury, these same overusers and abusers of synthetic fertilizers and chemicals, don't even know how to spell what they're using. I read this just this evening. A guy grabbed a bag of SevEn (that'd be SevIn folks) instead of Weed-O-No-More or Be Gone or some such other defoliant. These people can't spell what they 're using and can't differentiate one bag of poison from another. Ignorance is bliss? Ignorance is running rampant on what's left of America's lawns. Ignorance is wildly careening down the aisles past the foul, acrid stench of - primarily - Scotts chemical buffet at the nearest Big Box stores. And these people never stop to think their lawns are living things. Or at least they're trying to be. They're living things crying out to "Leave Me The Hell Alone!!! Back off from all that crap your dousing me with and give me a freaking chance to breathe and get some alive, beneficial organisms back in me to at least put me on life support before you come along with another bag of Kill-Em-Off". Geesh.

I don't think I'd want to have dinner at the home of one of these synthetic/chemical mental midgets. Boxes of rat poison could easily be mistaken for Sweet N'Low. Then again...isn't Sweet N'Low rat poison?

Lawns And The Men Who Love Them

2008-06-27T22:05:00.013-05:00

I am more than ever convinced that the quest for the almighty perfect lawn is predominantly a male domain. Oh, I'm sure there are many females as enamored of their nice blue-green, totally-weed-free, chemically-saturated lawns. But after inculcating myself into the chemical-laden vortex of Lawndom at a major [Scotts] lawn [Scotts] chemical [Scotts] forum, I was astounded at the inordinate number of males extolling the virtues of chemically-enhanced lawns and slavishly avowing their whore-ish devotion to their chemical pimps [Scotts]. ("They poison me, man, but I know they really love me"). I'm certain that if physically possible, they would gladly have sexual relations with their sod, which might explain some of those 'gopher holes' one often sees in even in their perfect, synthetically-enhanced lawns. Hmmmm? Could be those stains in the front yard really aren't from the dog?

As high school boys compare genitalia or boorishly boast falsehoods of conquered girls, so too does that verbose, chest thumping accompany many into adulthood where comparisons of lawns and boorish boasting of weedless, bugless, and (thanks to chemicals) - lifeless - lawns still persists. After all, what respectable earthworm could live with all that accumulated salt from four-times-a-year Scotts weed, feed & bleed toxic concoctions?

The fact is that size never really matters since it's not how big your lawn, but what you do with it. That huge, perfect grass carpet, if attained with synthetic fertilizers, chemical herbicides and pesticides, is not as impressive as that slightly-dandelion-dotted, naturally-green hued grass maintained by nothing more than conscientious mowing, irrigation left to Mother Nature, compost additions or twice-yearly applications of corn gluten meal for weed control and a healthy green color. Any person - male or female - who would skew their priorities so drastically by putting the health and safety of their family and pets at risk for the sole sake of their gazillion little grass plants, is in a word: A dope. Well. Two words.

To suggest, however, that these lawn jockeys consider alternative lawn care practices, or God forbid ratchet back their instant gratification-perfectionist expectations, is tantamount to spiting on the American flag. (An analogy to which they allude quite often as in: "It's American to want a perfect lawn!") In this day and age of all manner of horrors, exploitations and terrorism, I can think of a great many other things that a true American might want, And a perfect lawn isn't one of them. Or at least, it shouldn't be.

'Talk to the hand' is an attitude I've encountered before. It's hard to penetrate a wall of thick,synthetic-mindsets. Even amongst organic gardeners, there are stoic differences of opinion and approach. But most are at least willing to listen or read or research. Why, we even occasionally delve into the dens of ChemicalLand and keep our compost-tinged ears open to chemical drivel from Scotts or Monsanto junkies if for no other reason than to remain updated on The Darkside. It helps enable a cogent, viable argument if you know what "the other side" is thinking when some macho lawn dude pontificates his chemical mantra.

Perfection is in the eye of the beholder; as are priorities, and 'means' do not always justify the end. Sadly, even if the ability to comprehend alternatives is there amongst the Scott's groupies, the willingness to even consider such alternatives was long ago eradicated by copious applications of RoundUp**.

**RoundUp: A non-selective herbicide apparently capable of wiping out brain cells and common sense as well as weeds and several other once functioning, living organisms.**

USDA Ceases Researching & Reporting On Pesticides & Herbicides

2008-06-20T02:12:00.008-05:00

Been a long time since I made an entry here, so much to say and always too little time. So I thought I kick this blog back into gear with a quote from the former Republican poster boy, Charleton "You'll have to pry this gun out of my cold, dead hands" Heston. as he pounded the beach near Lady Liberty's crowned head jutting out from the sand dune: "They've finally gone and done it!" Read all about it:HERE

Our beloved administration in its continuing environmentally-sound wisdom (Huh?) has gone and eviscerated the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), which is responsible for researching, reporting and compiling annual data on various pesticides and herbicides used in farm production. The absence of that data leaves the barn door wide open for MegaMonsanto to have (no pun) a field day w/any new toxic introductions which will wind up in our systems, our air, our earth, our water and eventually, trickle down those products for use in chemically-inclined backyard gardens.

Many groups like Greenpeace, National Research Defense Council (NRDC), the Organic Center and the WWF as well as big-buck corps like Del Monte Foods, the American Soybean Association and - yes - even Syngenta Crop Protection have signed letters to the administration pleading with them to reconsider. The irony in corps like Syngenta signing the letter is this: With no one watching the hen house of pesticides & herbicide possible toxicity, that leaves them [Syngenta, et al] open to criticism and claims by anti-chem venues which Syngenta, et al can't refute by citing stats from the NASS. Get it?

Oddly, one name was glaringly missing from the signatories on that letter: Monsanto, and it typifies to me their: I-don't-give-a-$hit attitude. "Stats? Reports? Research? Claims? Complaints? Feh. Who cares? We'll do whatever the hell we want, spray whatever the hell we want and kill whatever and whoever we want. So there!"

Anyway, Monsanto aside (which isn't easy to do or say), the fact that there will be no official research gathering and reporting on any new pesticide or herbicide out of the chemical labs and onto our crops is to say the least, rather frightening. It's the cherry on the chemical and environmental cake that has been baked, served and shoved down our throats for the last 8 years.

I can't wait to throw up in November.

I'll Have A Side Order Of Earwigs With That, Please?

2007-09-26T15:39:00.001-05:00

Bugs in your broccoli or worms in your watercress may not be what you'd expect on your dinner plate in a chic eatery. But organically-grown produce presents a good news/bad news scenario appearing on plates in haute cuisine restaurants or treehugger bistros which pride their green selves in serving up all-organic foods. Some patrons may still prefer a pre-spritz of malathion on their greens if it means keeping their meal free of departed beetle carcasses .

Most customers, however, who are equally willing to jump on the green-wagon, are willing to over look - and eat around - any of nature's remains knowing the former creepy crawlies succumbed to either boiling cooking water, freezer temperatures or prolonged whirlpool baths of clean water ather than trace their deaths to the uses of any chemical pesticides or herbicides.

It still takes some getting used to digging into your mesculin salad and coming eye to eyes with a bug who equally enjoyed your salad in the field a few days before but never quite left his comfy home under that ruffled arugula leaf.

Ornamental Grass For Termite Control

2007-09-03T00:19:00.001-05:00

Nothing pleases a gardener more than combining Beauty with Function. Now, research has proven what our ancestors have known for centuries about the insecticidal attributes of an ornamental grass.

Vetiver Grass has been used for centuries inside the home to repel clothes moths, cockroaches and ants as well as outdoors for tick, weevil, nematode and mole cricket prevention.

Dr. Gregg Henderson of Louisiana Agriculture Center has recently released studies which prove the grass is also a deterrent against the formidable nemesis of many southern states: the Formosan subterranean termite.

Because these termites are destructible foes in many states, those landscapes may begin to include more of these ornamental grasses, not just for their form and beauty, but for their functional abilities as well.

The Earth's Liver

2007-08-07T17:02:00.000-05:00

If you consider the Earth as a living thing, then having "organs" with which to survive and cleanse its body of toxins isn't all that far fetched a reality. This article from The San Francisco Chronicle makes an interesting analogy between a human and an earthly cleansing organ.

The growing repository of Earth's human, horticultural and industrial waste lies in the digestive gut of the burgeoning compost industry. Recycling and processing of various and sundry wastes into viable properties. Much the same as the liver does for humans.

While this increased endeavor toward sustainability is laudable, the "liver" or composting facilities are also filtering all manner of toxins, pharmaceuticals and possible carcinogenic herbicides and pesticides. Is the Earth heading for cirrhosis or can we call an "intervention" on what we're putting into Earth's body and act preventatively? Is there any way to assist the Earth in its cleansing our castoffs?

Caught With Their Pesticides Down!

2007-08-02T15:06:00.000-05:00

The EPA in a rare instance of actually doing its job by enforcing hazardous violations, has fined Perfect Expressions, a garden store in Ely, Nevada, $14,000 for selling banned insecticides. The products, Green Light's Dursban Granules and Ortho's Dursban and Dursban Lawn Insect Spray were ordered off the market and out of production by the EPA several years ago due to the reported connection between harmful exposure of Dursban's active ingredient, chlorpyrifos, to children.

Apparently, "Perfect Expressions" weren't so "perfect" after all.

Organic Battle Lines Being Drawn

2007-08-02T14:38:00.000-05:00

"NIMBY" may very well be the new slogan for organic lawn care advocates. Those homeowners who chemically treat their lawns may hear "Not In My Back Yard" mantras echoing over neighbors' fences... of those who've chosen a more earth-friendly, environmentally safer organic alternative to lawn care. This story in the Wall Street Journal includes a video clip of one woman who went over to the Dark Side (her neighbor's compost pile) and found there's life after pesticides and herbicides.

Lots of life.

"Food" For Thought

2007-03-19T22:46:00.000-05:00

The latest spate of pet food recalls from Menu Foods (see above) is major, of course. But by comparison to the overall horror caused by pet food companies on a routine, daily basis...it pales in comparison.

Purina, Eukanuba and Iams are all under the Proctor & Gamble umbrella which is in major part supplied and funded by Menu Foods Income Fund. (The subject of the recent recall.) Nestle makes Friskies, Whiskas and some others and also receives supplies from Menu. Believe me that the least of the problems w/any of these foods is this latest recall.

Some people reading this may not want to view any of the following video clips from these links, but even if you see a few seconds of either of them, I can assure you that you may never plunk down another red cent for any of the aforementioned foods.
Animals Suffer For Menu Foods
Iams Cruelty

Pet food companies that purport to be in business for the "sake and health" of companion animals are no different from many other businesses: they are in it for the money and don't give a rat's ass --- or a dog or cat's life --- how they make their almighty freaking buck.

I've tossed my Purina One and am currently using the remainder of a bag of Flint River I've had and will be purchasing more from my vet.

Sorry if what's contained in those links is disturbing to some. Sometimes visions such as these are necessary to open people's eyes to the sad, horrible truth.

Bear in mind that the issues with these pet food companies are not about the ingredients in the foods. Many - hopefully most pet people know by now the disgusting and potentially unhealthy ingredients that go into some pet foods and how imperative is it to read labels and know what each ingredient really means. This story has to do with how the companies that proffer such concern for animals by their touted "need to feed and care for our animals with good foods"...it has to deal with how these companies treat the animals which they keep at their testing facilities where they feed them their foods. And it's not just a matter of this dog or this cat in that cage or in those restraints doesn't "like" a new ingredient. It's how they keep them, how they force feed them and they experiment on them to see how their food is digested or not.

An informed public is an empowered public. Be informed. Don't turn a blind eye. Otherwise, you'll never see "It" coming.

Recall Of Major Store-Brand Canned Dog & Cat Food

2007-03-17T12:22:00.000-05:00

Menu Foods, a major manufacturer of wet dog and cat foods who distributes under varied name brands and for a variety of pet food outlets and supermarkets is under serious scrutiny by the FDA and others for releasing tainted foods that are being linked to the deaths of (so far) 10 dogs and serious kidney and liver failures of other dogs and cats.
Read The Article Here & Brand Names as well as the The FDA's Release.

Go to Menu Foods' website for a complete listing of those canned foods affected. Thankfully, many stores weren't holding their breath waiting for complete notification from Menu and have already removed all Menu products from their shelves.

Lead-Loaded Childrens' Vinyl Lunchboxes

2007-03-01T00:29:00.000-05:00

It's not what's in your child's lunch that's could be a health hazard this time. It's what your child's lunch is in.

California-based Center for Environmental Health (CEH) recently released to The Associated Press over 1,500 documented reports, interoffice memos and emails and other data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) which reveals the skewed criteria and fudged numbers charting the lead levels in children's vinyl lunchboxes.

After filing over a year ago through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the CEH disclosed the manipulated results of these studies which showed that more than 20% of the lunchboxes tested had over 600PPM of lead. California's federal safe lead level. Other levels detected were as high as 9,600PPM, more than 16 times the federal standard.

The AP story quotes a CPSC spokeswoman:
"When it comes to a lunchbox, it's carried. The food that you put in the lunch box may have an outer wrapping, a baggie, so there isn't direct exposure. The direct exposure would be if kids were putting their lunchboxes in their mouth, which isn't a common way for children to interact with their lunchbox." Indicating the test swipes of the boxes were only performed on the outside of the boxes. Dismissing any parent's or teacher's observations of children rummaging around with their little hands inside lunchboxes for that juicy red apple, pear or any other raw, uncovered food item that junior promptly puts in his mouth. Apple or pear... hands and all.

A typical test is done with a "swipe". Initial swipes revealed the highest lead levels. But numerous swipes - in the same spot - lessened the lead numbers. Because the CPSC did not do a cumulative account and rather an average, their average lower lead level conclusions (which allowed for those numerous same-spot swipes) recorded lead levels as within standards.

The fuzzy logic of the director of chemistry for CPSC: "The more you wipe, the less lead you actually find. With fewer wipes we got a higher detection of lead presence. We thought more wipes was closer to reflecting how you would interact with your lunchbox. It was more realistic."

Yet another example of bureaucratic agencies working under the guise of protecting the public and really protecting the vinyl industry and manufacturers of these products. All of which were outsourced to Chinese manufacturers for American distribution. The CEH has a complete data sheet detailing the most circumspect lunchboxes as well as reprints of interoffice memoranda.

"Organics": WalMart Style

2007-02-18T01:42:00.001-05:00

WalMart’s deleterious effect on the American economy is way more than luring customers away from Mom & Pop’s General Store on Main Street. It’s also cruelly ironic to use “classism” in support of WalMart . (As in: "The anti-WalMart proponents are elitist; knocking the lower-classes who can't afford to buy anywhere else." That paranoid logic is an insult and slap in the face to the now nearly defunct Made In The U.S.A-label and the hundreds of thousands of near-pension-eligible-ex employees who are out of work from companies for whom they’ve loyally toiled behind desks or worked on oft times non-unionized production lines (see: textiles) for 30 years. Companies who've had to close their doors permanently or outsource the majority of jobs overseas because of enormous, unparalleled pressure from the world's largest retailer to tow the WalMart line or suffer the consequences. Jobless, no prospects, with no health care, perhaps no pension and too young for social security, many of these disillusioned folk can now ironically only afford to shop at the very store which put them out of a job in the first place. Perhaps that’s part of WalMart’s plan, too?

I think this article gives a pretty complete description of WalMart’s m.o. and can serve as a background primer for "Organics: Walmart Style" based on their past history.

For the economic-terminology-challenged (myself included), it's helpful to know terms such as “Monopoly” (which is the only one I knew wasn’t just a board game), “Oligopoly” and “Monopsony".

-Monopoly: A market where a seller controls and dictates price and availability.
-Oligopoly: A market of few sellers for a product or service. i.e. multinational corporations that dominate specific products or services.
The main difference between monopolies and oligopolies is monopolies attract a bit too much government attention and regulation for the multinational’s taste.
Then there’s...
-Monopsony: A market similar to a monopoly except that a single, large buyer (i.e. Walmart, which controls the largest proportion of the world retail market) drives prices down by driving manufacturers to slavishly slash their operating costs to the severe detriment of a manufacturer’s profits leading them to either declare bankruptcy or outsource the bulk of their manufacturing to Third World Countries. WalMart has honed monopsony to a fine art.

”Organics” is the hottest potential market. It’s only natural that the world’s largest retailer would salivate at the chance to jump on the bandwagon. But, Walmart doesn’t just want to ride the wagon, chances are it’ll grab the reins, hurling organics down a muddy, dead-end road by undermining quality and purity for profit. Novel? No. But for organic advocates (we are aren’t we?) and organic growers, the potential for dilution of that "organic label" both for U.S. and foreign producers is infinite.

From Eco-Labels.org:
"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. This means that a substance - used in processing that may leave residues but that is not actually an ingredient in the final product - does not have to have USDA approval. " In other words, as long as it’s not used as an intentional ingredient, the residue (pesticide, herbicide, etc.) gets a pass. As long as the alleged chicken has access to a 4x4 outdoor enclosure for 10 minutes a day, it’s considered “free range”. 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.

In light of all of all the aforementioned, here's why WalMart's organi-bubble should be burst.

Once WalMart commences outsourcing (and it will), it’s noteworthy that even the USDA will admit that because of precious few organic certifiers in the field and vast distances between supplier, certifier and retailer, an enormous potential for oversight exists. Especially if the retailer at the reins has golden saddlebags loaded with lobbying loot and foreign certifiers are easily influenced to look the other way.

Even if doubts about WalMart’s foray into organics doesn’t mean diddly to the general population, then the next time you’re checking out at WalMart, take a gander at the person standing next to you in line and wonder if the pair of cheap pajamas, very possibly the only ones you could afford, wasn’t made from the crap Pakistani material that replaced the material that guy or gal or their relative once produced on a loom, 10hour- days , six days a week in a North Carolina, non-unionized mill that now stands quiet, gathering dust. Tough decision, to buy or not to buy? But, sometimes there’s no option. If that’s all you can afford, what are you going to do? Then try to imagine the depression, anger and humiliation that other person must feel if they’ve got the same pair of pajamas in their cart, too. Sad. Very sad.

Sam Walton must be spinning in his grave. He who proudly lauded “Buy American!” on banners upon the grand opening back in Bentonville, Arkansas away back when.

Cultivating Patience

2007-02-13T15:53:00.000-05:00

"Patience" is a virtue. It is also a mainstay for a gardener when it comes to seed starting indoors.

There we sit, seed starting mixture at the ready, seeding containers, cells, plug trays, yogurt cups...whatever...all cleaned and prepped. Tiny tools, spray bottle, fish emulsion ready to dilute when little cotyledons have given way to the first set of true seedling leaves. Heating mats or warmed rooms are arranged and set up. Expensive gro lights or considerably less costly shop lights (one warm and one cool to cover the full spectrum of light) are plugged in. Seeds chosen and journals to record (you do have a journal, don't you?) are at hand. All that's needed now is: Patience. Patience to sow that first little seed.

I've been down that eager road years before and learned the hard way that sowing seed indoors too early can lead to disaster or just a big pain in the neck trying to manage 2-3 foot-tall tomato plants or spindly foot-tall pepper plants or leggy, tangled summer heat-loving herbs like oregano and basil.

Timing is everything. In life and plant life as well. In the life of a soon-to-be-germinated seed, it's crucial to know when it should be sown. As a rule, I don't plan on planting out anything that may be harmed by late frosts, until a week after my last frost-free date. Since that date seems to be getting more and more ambiguous these days thanks to rising and erratic temperatures and the globe's warming climate overall, those FROST FREE DATES must be individually tweaked. Meaning a gardener's eye must be even keener to their previous year's planting-out dates. Most plants placed in its final garden home - even on the late side - will catch up to those planted too early and will stand a better chance of surviving aberrant frost damage, insect and drought conditions as the season progresses. A smaller, stockier plant will overcome even a touchy hardening-off process and better withstand transplant shock. So, I'd rather err on the side of caution and start my seeds later than earlier.

My usual rule of thumb is to consider when I want to ultimately plant out a particular seedling, then count back a week for hardening off and four to six weeks (sometimes eight if the seed needs a longer germinating time) before actually sowing the seed. In a season when my energies and enthusiasm is high, I'll start more seeds and use my 172-plug trays. They take up less space on my heat mats and in their little domed homes. The downside is they'll all need transplanting up to larger cell packs eventually. When I'm thinking a little more rationally and give in to the logic that I can't handle as many seedlings as I used to, I'll start my seeds directly in six or nine-cell packs, under the same conditions as I do for the plug trays. The benefit here is that once these seedlings germinate and begin growing on, they can skip the transplanting process and go directly to hardening off and planting out. The downside is less seeds started. There's a bargain in everything isn't there?

My best advice for first time seed starters when sowing indoors is to count to ten...then count again before dropping that first seed into warm, waiting soil and in eager anticipation of that hint of green to push through the surface into the light. Patience is a virtue to be cultivated as much as you'll need to cultivate those little plants once they've made their debut to the outside world.

Pesticides & Porn

2007-02-11T12:24:00.000-05:00

What do the two have in common you may ask aside from the obvious analogy?

Well, just as those....eh.."magazines", pesticides sold on Canada's Prince Edward Island are now relegated to behind-the-counter-status.

Now, anyone wanting to purchase a potentially toxic pesticide/herbicide must specifically request it and a duly-apppointed, informed store rep must give the consumer proper instructions as to its usage and (hopefully) its potential hazards.

No one's preventing the sale of these items. Just making sure that a consumer really knows what they're getting; whether its appropriate for a specific targeted pest; and how to use it. IMO, these products are dangerous enough, but left in the hands of the ill-informed who might skip over the "use as directed" part of the label, makes these products downright lethal. Kudos to P.E.I.!

Wolf Slaughter

2007-02-08T23:40:00.002-05:00

The proposed slaughtering of all but 100 of the wolf population in Idaho and parts of Wyoming is being considered by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife and the head braintrust leading the government of the State of Idaho, Gov. C.L."Butch" Otter. The Secretary (Kempthorne) has vowed to buy the first ticket (for the mere price of $9.95) to anihilate the first innocent animal.

The very same animals who went through a reintroduction process because of previous near eradication. It seems to be the a pattern in this country: Wipe out (or nearly) a species of animal, mineral or vegetable; moan, groan and boohoo about its decimation and loss to humanity/future generations; then self-righteously reintroduce it; only to commence eradication again. People playing God or just cow-towing to the deep pockets of lobbyists for associations with a stake in this and future slaughters.

Just remember the next time one of you laudable citizens of Idaho or Wyoming who approves this slaughter, when you take your grandkid to the zoo, be sure to remind them it was you who were responsible for putting that last wolf behind those bars because no more now roamed free in the wild. I'm sure your grandkids will be proud of you. Hey, you could always present them with that wolf-skin rug or fluffy tail you no doubt managed to salvage for a trophy.

The pattern will repeat again and again. Minds and values that support legislations and practices such as these will never be changed. And by the time they are, they've long been dwelling in their special rooms in Hell.

It is doubtful that anyone will read this on my lowly blog. But if you read it in time, please sign this petition from The Defenders of Wildlife to be sent to Secretary Kempthorne this petition to save the wolves. If the slaughter has commenced and no number of voices raised in protest has had a positive effect, it is still worth reading of the fate of these helpless, beautiful creatures.

Pressure Treated Lumber "Cover Up" Nixed By FDA

2007-01-10T01:12:00.000-05:00

Despite several missteps, the FDA did one of it's all-too-infrequent pirouettes in the right direction yesterday by denying The Forestry Product's Research Coucil's plea to keep the product ACC (acid copper chromate) from public sale. ACC has been touted as a "protective liquid covering" to be applied to the now (since 2004) banned use of CCA of chromium copper arsenic-treated lumber. Better known as pressure treated lumber. The supposition was that the ACC treatment would "contain" the toxicity presoaked into the pressure treated lumber. The industry had viewed the ACC as a cheaper substitute than what is currently being used. Perhaps. "But at what cost?", asked Jim Jones, head of EPA's pesticide office. The Agency decided the price was too high and the EPA REJECTED ACC

Through urging and protests from environmental groups, ACC was ultimately determined by the agency urging to be loaded with huge health risks, including skin irritation to homeowners, children and contractors working with the preservative. Not the least of which was cancer due to the particularly high concentration of a toxic form of chromate, hexavalent chromium, also known as chromium 6, is a known human carcinogen. The dangers and risks increased especially to workers directly applying the ACC to existing CCA structures and those workers who process the ACC lumber.

So don't let any Big Box or hardware dude or landscape/contractor try and sell you on this stuff. If they try to unload it on you to lighten their inventory or tell you "it's safe", you now know to tell them they are most definitely wrong and defying the ban...and you can back it up with a copy of the story in The Washington Post.

Seismic Snakes On A Plane

2007-01-08T10:55:00.000-05:00

Scientists in the southern province of Guanxi in China have observed much more useful talents of snakes other than writhing and coiling out of wicker baskets to Kenny Loggins' tunes or slithering around the ankles of Samuel L. Jackson and his fellow passengers on that rather 'rattling' plane ride. (Sam must have fallen behind in some alimony paments.) See: Shake, Rattle and Roll

Apparently the little rattlers can sense a quake is coming from as far away as 75 miles and within at least a five-day notice.
Much like many animals who can detect changes in the earth's terra firma and its atmosphere and exhbit erratic behavior, these reptiles seem to have one definite object in mind when they know a seismic event is approaching: Get the hell out of there as quickly as possible! Leaving nests even in the dead of winter and - if it's a big one on the "Richter Scales of the Snakes", they'll crash into things, other snakes...whatever....just to get as far away from the epicenter as possible.

While snakes apparently have it all over people (and Samuel L. Jackson) in the earthquake prediction department, they do share that similar human trait in the midst of a potential disaster: "Every piece of tail for themself! Outta my way!"

Adieu To Another Toxic Pesticide

2007-01-08T03:09:00.000-05:00

As of September, 2006, the FDA (in its infinitely circumspect wisdom) has ordered the phasing out of existing inventories of Azinphos-methyl (AZM) by September 30, 2012. Over this time period and at two-year intervals, specific crops will be ordered AZM-free. After all....you don't think the producers of this poison would have totally agreed to this if they had to take a loss by yanking it off the market completely and immediately? AZM Phaseout

The oganophosphate pesticide has been deemed (by the FDA braintrusts) to pose health risks to farm workers, pesticide applicators, and aquatic ecosystems. Something which organic and anti-chemical protagonists have been urging and proclaiming for years. Sadly, the full ban won't take effect for another five years, but...it's something, and this way the poor chemical companies can still turn a profit from their remaining inventories and have that much more time to think of an safer alternative, which they've probably known of for years anyway. Do you think they really care if during the remaining five-year phaseout those people exposed to the pesticide develop symptoms of toxicity? Like getting wounded on the day of armistice and all's fair in love, war and toxic chemicals. Or so they'd have you believe.