Good day to you all.  We have a cool but sunny Friday and the clear weather is supposed to stay till tomorrow night.  I got out early and harvested herbs (stevia, lemon thyme, chocolate mint and sage) all of which is drying now.  I hope to get the lemon verbena and peppermint into permanent pots later today.  I also need to move the sweet basil.  The bee balm and pineapple sage are vigorously crowding it out.  I will put it with the purple basil and lemon basil in front of one of the sets of tomatoes.  Most of the tomatoes are showing flower buds.  Looking forward to our first home grown tomatoes.

Not a surprise.  I not only don't trust our legislative bodies to do "the right thing" (and my definition of that is likely not the same as yours) but that they will do anything.  My dad used to tell ditherers to "shit or get off the pot."  My late ex-husband used to yell "do something even if it is wrong."  I can relate to that feeling of frustration.

And this is why I have not trust in our executive branch either.  This worries me on several levels.  First, the only input is coming from companies and trade groups who are probably writing much of it.  Consumer groups are frozen out.  Second, our legislators are also largely cut out of the process except to rubber stamp.  They don't even get draft copies.  Third, think about the 80+ people sickened by the pomegranate seeds from a foreign source included in a frozen berry mix.  The FDA would be powerless to inspect and ban such imports.  We have already refused to buy foreign sourced seafood because we are concerned about the pollution in some of the areas where they are raised.  But under the TPP the measures mandating country of origin labeling would be cancelled.  Our government is selling us down the river.

The Raw Story featured this warning to medical device makers and hospital system creators that they are vulnerable to cyber attack.  It is only the latest such warning.  Others involved power generating companies, banks, and various governments as well as social networking sites.  With all of the repeated warning I wonder if anyone is really thinking this through.  Our society is totally computerized.  Therefore all aspects of it are vulnerable to hacking from whatever source.  The problem is what to do about that vulnerability and who will bear the cost.

This is another reason why we don't shop at Walmart very often.  But they are simply following what the Darden Restaurants (Olive Garden, et al.) said they were going to do.  They got slammed by public opinion but I expect they simply have quietly gone to part-timers, if not the temps Walmart is bringing in.

I have heard that parts of the Keystone XL pipeline are being dug up and replaced.  Hasn't even gone into full use yet.  We have been repeatedly assured that such pipelines are safe.  Yesterday I saw an article concerning the testimony of a Canadian who was employed by (I forget which) Canadian oil company to oversee construction and compliance with safety and environmental regulations.  He presented documentary evidence for his charges that the Company put fierce pressure on him to pass procedures and construction that did not meet requirements or violated safety.  This story about a spill, that the company is minimizing as mostly water with a very small amount of oil mixed in, is exhibit number one for why I feel no oil company should be trusted to do what is right.