Good morning, All. Cool again and cloudy. The weather people say we may get rain. I will wait till this afternoon and decide then if I need to water anything. Nothing much planned that absolutely has to be done today. Some time this morning I will run the tomatoes I stewed up yesterday through the blender to make a smooth sauce and then freeze it. We should get three pint freezer bags out of the batch. I saw a bunch of peppers that I can take and freeze. Things are definitely winding down. Again someone (or Someone) flipped a switch and suddenly we went from high summer to early fall. Most of the news anchors have been groaning over the change. They much preferred the warmer weather.
Hi, Kay. Yeah, I did have a productive day. I usually do even if I often don't get everything I planned on doing done. I read a little article a bit ago (not sure where or who wrote it) where the author noted that jobs may be scarce but there is always work. I was never one of those people who thought that if they retired or for some other reason had to live without a job to go to they would shrivel up and die. I could and always did find some work for my hands and mind. I am amazed sometimes remembering how little money I made in most of the jobs I held and how much less satisfaction I got out of them. Right now I can think with a great deal of satisfaction and pleasure of the plants I raised, the food I have harvested and preserved, and how much I will enjoy the fruits of my labor over the winter. I haven't had a job for about four years now but I have engaged in satisfying work.
I did not watch the Repthuglican 'debate' last night. From what I have heard so far I didn't miss anything. No new ideas and plenty of attacks. I am debating about watching Obama tonight. So far the leaks indicate more of nothing new. These boys (and girls) of which ever party remind me of the heavily armed macho men in science fiction films who keep firing away with guns that have already failed to stop the monster. They have nothing else in their arsenal so they simply keep blazing away hoping to get lucky with their brains clearly in neutral.
Red Tape Chronicles posted this article this morning. I have read and seen stories for the last several years about 'freegans' and others who live by dumpster diving. What amazes me about this kind of story isn't so much the ingenuity of the dumpster diver but the waste of our industrial food system. The industrial system of production is hardwired to over produce. But wasting food--that is simply criminal.
I found this rather superficial story on MSNBC. All the authors have done is put some new numbers on the phenomenon of over priced American medicine. To suggest that we pay more for medical care because we have become used to paying a lot for the services is just a little ridiculous. That is not an explanation. I notice that they don't mention that many (if not most) doctors come out of medical school with a $500k+ debt in addition to their diploma. Nor the fact that medicine is dominated by high tech toys that simply beg to be used, and used, and used whether they are really helpful in any given situation or not. I will let you fill in what ever other contributory factors you would like.
As you all probably have figured out I enjoy reading about the odd techniques people use in their gardens. Here is one interesting way to make a self-watering living wall out of 2 liter soda bottles.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Good morning to you all on this chilly morning. I have a very unhappy kitty because it is much too cool to leave the door open for him to go in and out at will. The temperature is at 50 F right now and until it gets up to 65 F that door stays closed. I got three meals worth of green beans yesterday along with a couple of tomatoes and peppers. All are in the freezer except the tomatoes which will be in sauce later today. I took out the ginger mint. Like the spearmint it was totally root bound. The roots surrounded the entire outer edge like a second basket or pot. I decided against taking cuttings. I saw an orange mint at my favorite farmer's market/garden store late in the season and the smell was wonderful. I will try it next year. I have a few plants that I need to take out--like the early tomatoes they have pretty well run their course. The season is definitely winding down and my gardens are jungles no longer.
I saw yesterday that Romney has released his 59 point plan to 'create jobs.' My first reaction, admittedly superficial, was similar to the one that critics leveled against Woodrow Wilson when he proposed his "14 Points" to end WWI: God only had 10. I will make two points that aren't so superficial. First, most of his focus was on business on the premise, not proven but assumed, that cutting taxes and regulations on business will translate directly in jobs. Second, it was heavy on non-sensical slams on Obama. That pay phone analogy was crap. Especially given that Romney's answers are just as firmly mired in antiquated ideology as he claims Obama's are.
I saw something about this a few days ago but didn't stop to read it. I am not surprised that Del Monte would sue on this matter. I remember the Taco Bell (and other fast food outlets) that were hit with an e. coli outbreak a couple of years ago. Officials pointed at lettuce, then tomatoes, and finally peppers; but, in the end, they couldn't definitively pin point the ultimate cause. By then numerous farmers had taken big hits as they had to plow under fields of ripe vegetables. And think about the sprouts that caused those salmonella deaths in Germany last spring. Officials think the ultimate source were seeds from Egypt contaminated before they were even sprouted. But Spanish veggie growers were devastated when their crops were blamed initially. I don't know where the negotiations for compensation went but the costs were already phenomenal and the issue wasn't over at that time. And this is a complex problem because, even if the contaminated vegetable can be identified, who is ultimately responsible is a big question. I remember an episode of contaminated spinach three or four years ago where the source was actually run-off from a feedlot neighboring the farm that grew the spinach. The growers had no idea of what went on and, therefore, no one else up the supply chain knew either. This is the major problem we have not acknowledged in our food system where items we consume come from farms very far away (perhaps, as in the Del Monte case, in other countries) and pass through numerous corporate hands along the way. And in a world where the bottom line is the only real concern for most companies, how does one handle the monetary loss that is inevitable in a system that may not be able to identify the source of contamination or apportion blame?
And then there is this complication. We just got the new food safety law passed to great fanfare (by the Damnocrats at least). If we want a food safety program it has to be funded but the only kind of safety that seems to get unquestioning monetary support in this society is safety from terrorism, however the hell that is defined. But, as with the health care overhaul, this program is getting starved of the money to do the job defined in the law. This sets up a lovely circular confirmation of the Repthuglican wing nut philosophy. Government can't really do anything adequately. Therefore why waste money on it. And when government can't do the job without money it simply proves that government can't do anything adequately. There is another question we should be asking and we should be asking it not only in the matter of food safety but in the matter of public safety from terrorism: what level of security do we want and can we achieve that level at a price are willing to pay?
Crooks & Liars has this post this morning which I suggest should be sent on to Mitt Romney and President Obama. For use when Rick Perry starts touting his 'Texas Miracle.'
Susie Madrak does a nice job of calling crap crap. Whether it is Repthuglican crap or Damnocrat crap it is still crap.
Wasn't it so nice to see Rick Perry forego the round-table set up by DeMint in South Carolina Monday? He was so concerned about his fellow Texans in jeopardy from those fires that he simply had to go home and comfort them. T'would have been nice if he had shown that concern when he was cutting subsidies to local volunteer fire departments.
I saw yesterday that Romney has released his 59 point plan to 'create jobs.' My first reaction, admittedly superficial, was similar to the one that critics leveled against Woodrow Wilson when he proposed his "14 Points" to end WWI: God only had 10. I will make two points that aren't so superficial. First, most of his focus was on business on the premise, not proven but assumed, that cutting taxes and regulations on business will translate directly in jobs. Second, it was heavy on non-sensical slams on Obama. That pay phone analogy was crap. Especially given that Romney's answers are just as firmly mired in antiquated ideology as he claims Obama's are.
I saw something about this a few days ago but didn't stop to read it. I am not surprised that Del Monte would sue on this matter. I remember the Taco Bell (and other fast food outlets) that were hit with an e. coli outbreak a couple of years ago. Officials pointed at lettuce, then tomatoes, and finally peppers; but, in the end, they couldn't definitively pin point the ultimate cause. By then numerous farmers had taken big hits as they had to plow under fields of ripe vegetables. And think about the sprouts that caused those salmonella deaths in Germany last spring. Officials think the ultimate source were seeds from Egypt contaminated before they were even sprouted. But Spanish veggie growers were devastated when their crops were blamed initially. I don't know where the negotiations for compensation went but the costs were already phenomenal and the issue wasn't over at that time. And this is a complex problem because, even if the contaminated vegetable can be identified, who is ultimately responsible is a big question. I remember an episode of contaminated spinach three or four years ago where the source was actually run-off from a feedlot neighboring the farm that grew the spinach. The growers had no idea of what went on and, therefore, no one else up the supply chain knew either. This is the major problem we have not acknowledged in our food system where items we consume come from farms very far away (perhaps, as in the Del Monte case, in other countries) and pass through numerous corporate hands along the way. And in a world where the bottom line is the only real concern for most companies, how does one handle the monetary loss that is inevitable in a system that may not be able to identify the source of contamination or apportion blame?
And then there is this complication. We just got the new food safety law passed to great fanfare (by the Damnocrats at least). If we want a food safety program it has to be funded but the only kind of safety that seems to get unquestioning monetary support in this society is safety from terrorism, however the hell that is defined. But, as with the health care overhaul, this program is getting starved of the money to do the job defined in the law. This sets up a lovely circular confirmation of the Repthuglican wing nut philosophy. Government can't really do anything adequately. Therefore why waste money on it. And when government can't do the job without money it simply proves that government can't do anything adequately. There is another question we should be asking and we should be asking it not only in the matter of food safety but in the matter of public safety from terrorism: what level of security do we want and can we achieve that level at a price are willing to pay?
Crooks & Liars has this post this morning which I suggest should be sent on to Mitt Romney and President Obama. For use when Rick Perry starts touting his 'Texas Miracle.'
Susie Madrak does a nice job of calling crap crap. Whether it is Repthuglican crap or Damnocrat crap it is still crap.
Wasn't it so nice to see Rick Perry forego the round-table set up by DeMint in South Carolina Monday? He was so concerned about his fellow Texans in jeopardy from those fires that he simply had to go home and comfort them. T'would have been nice if he had shown that concern when he was cutting subsidies to local volunteer fire departments.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Good morning on this really cool but sunny Tuesday. We did not get out of the 60s F yesterday and, thanks to a brisk wind all day, I did nothing much in the gardens. I am waiting for the temperatures outside to rise from the 45 F we got over night. Interesting change--during the summer I rushed to get things done before the temperatures rose to uncomfortable (unhealthy) levels now I wait until it gets warm enough. I will have to water everything today but, with the drop in temperatures, may not have to water tomorrow.
I am desperately trying to ignore all of the political bullshit. I am one of the majority in the latest polls who is very disgusted, disillusioned, disappointed, and pissed off with all sides in this fracking mess we call a political system. And I am not looking to the next election to make things better. I fully expect it to get worse and I am not looking forward to it. Once upon a time we had statesmen--now now political pissants.
If it sounds like I am pessimistic I am. Take a look at this article from Huffington Post and then tell me who has any proposals that will make any dent in the unemployment mess. Why do Repthuglicans think reducing corporate tax rates will encourage companies to hire more workers when they are making very tidy profits with their drastically reduced work forces now and are sitting on mountains of cash? Reducing the taxes corporations pay is simply corporate welfare not a jobs bill. And Obama's notion of paying companies a 'bounty' for hiring new workers? The last time that happened the companies fired with one hand and hired with the other and the government foots a nice part of the bill.
And I would say that the idiocy shown concern dealing with the employment morass is not the only thing to be pessimistic about. I have been asking for the last couple of years (since the end of Bush's first term) what would happen when a significant portion of our people lose their faith and trust in the political institutions. That question might be answered with hard reality sometime in the not distant future. To that you can add another question that has occupied the back burner of my mind for the last few years: how do you deal with a person or group of people who are so self-righteously sure of their position that they are willing to use a 'nuclear option' to 'win'--even though winning means destroying themselves as well. Is there much difference between a 'terrorist' who gains the makings of a dirty bomb and a means to deliver it and our Repthuglicans who seem to believe that defeating Obama is worth destroying the economic and social fabric of the country? If there is a difference there isn't much of a distinction.
Food Freedom posted this article on toxic effects from genetically modified corn and soybeans. I have seen articles for a couple of years now about the unfortunate side effects of Bt cotton in India where farmers fed the stalks after harvest to their livestock and watched the animals die. I am not surprised to see laboratory results confirming the anecdotal reports. And I have wondered where all that Round-up applied to fields of 'Round-up ready' went. I guess this gives us an idea.
I am desperately trying to ignore all of the political bullshit. I am one of the majority in the latest polls who is very disgusted, disillusioned, disappointed, and pissed off with all sides in this fracking mess we call a political system. And I am not looking to the next election to make things better. I fully expect it to get worse and I am not looking forward to it. Once upon a time we had statesmen--now now political pissants.
If it sounds like I am pessimistic I am. Take a look at this article from Huffington Post and then tell me who has any proposals that will make any dent in the unemployment mess. Why do Repthuglicans think reducing corporate tax rates will encourage companies to hire more workers when they are making very tidy profits with their drastically reduced work forces now and are sitting on mountains of cash? Reducing the taxes corporations pay is simply corporate welfare not a jobs bill. And Obama's notion of paying companies a 'bounty' for hiring new workers? The last time that happened the companies fired with one hand and hired with the other and the government foots a nice part of the bill.
And I would say that the idiocy shown concern dealing with the employment morass is not the only thing to be pessimistic about. I have been asking for the last couple of years (since the end of Bush's first term) what would happen when a significant portion of our people lose their faith and trust in the political institutions. That question might be answered with hard reality sometime in the not distant future. To that you can add another question that has occupied the back burner of my mind for the last few years: how do you deal with a person or group of people who are so self-righteously sure of their position that they are willing to use a 'nuclear option' to 'win'--even though winning means destroying themselves as well. Is there much difference between a 'terrorist' who gains the makings of a dirty bomb and a means to deliver it and our Repthuglicans who seem to believe that defeating Obama is worth destroying the economic and social fabric of the country? If there is a difference there isn't much of a distinction.
Food Freedom posted this article on toxic effects from genetically modified corn and soybeans. I have seen articles for a couple of years now about the unfortunate side effects of Bt cotton in India where farmers fed the stalks after harvest to their livestock and watched the animals die. I am not surprised to see laboratory results confirming the anecdotal reports. And I have wondered where all that Round-up applied to fields of 'Round-up ready' went. I guess this gives us an idea.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Good morning, everyone. Didn't have much to say yesterday. The clouds and rain finally moved out about mid day. Soon enough that I got out and cleaned out two of the tomatoes that were pretty well spent. I also got the German thyme cut back and transplanted into one of the beds. I have noticed a few gardening blogs posting about overwintering plants in containers. Most say that if the plant is hardy in your growing zone it should do fine in the containers. I'll find out. We expect very cool temperatures most of this coming week--today we might not even see the 70s. I don't mind the cooler temps. I rather like most seasons--except winter. I really don't like snow.
Well, if the Postmaster General is right, we might not have a national postal service by winter. If he is depending on Congress to extend the Postal Service a life line--I wouldn't hold my breath. The system has several problems: the shift to e-mail, rising costs for fuel, and a political system which demands it pay its own way as though it were a for-profit corporation but then micro-manages on issues like rate increases and service levels. I notice the article I linked to focuses much blame on labor contracts with no-lay-off clauses. So we have another (quasi-)public union taking the brunt of the blame.
I agree, Kay, and, for me, the concerns are even more immediate than grandkids (I don't have). If those idiots in Washington succeed in changing Social Security and Medicare eligibility rules, like extending the age to 67 or 70, any time in the next couple of years my youngest brother and sister will be forced to work longer and will receive less. They are just that long under 55 which is the usual cut off for such changes. For the younger generation (the nieces, nephews, and grandnieces and grandnephews) I am afraid that they will have to redefine the 'good life.' What I defined as 'good' when I was their age I doubt is really attainable--simply not enough resources to consume on that heroic as scale any more. I would like to see everyone able to find rewarding work that adequately supports a comfortable life, get an adequate education, have needed medical (including dental and vision) care, and have enough leisure to enjoy family and friends. But as long as we rely on crony and predatory capitalism we will never get it.
Well, if the Postmaster General is right, we might not have a national postal service by winter. If he is depending on Congress to extend the Postal Service a life line--I wouldn't hold my breath. The system has several problems: the shift to e-mail, rising costs for fuel, and a political system which demands it pay its own way as though it were a for-profit corporation but then micro-manages on issues like rate increases and service levels. I notice the article I linked to focuses much blame on labor contracts with no-lay-off clauses. So we have another (quasi-)public union taking the brunt of the blame.
I agree, Kay, and, for me, the concerns are even more immediate than grandkids (I don't have). If those idiots in Washington succeed in changing Social Security and Medicare eligibility rules, like extending the age to 67 or 70, any time in the next couple of years my youngest brother and sister will be forced to work longer and will receive less. They are just that long under 55 which is the usual cut off for such changes. For the younger generation (the nieces, nephews, and grandnieces and grandnephews) I am afraid that they will have to redefine the 'good life.' What I defined as 'good' when I was their age I doubt is really attainable--simply not enough resources to consume on that heroic as scale any more. I would like to see everyone able to find rewarding work that adequately supports a comfortable life, get an adequate education, have needed medical (including dental and vision) care, and have enough leisure to enjoy family and friends. But as long as we rely on crony and predatory capitalism we will never get it.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Good morning to you all on this Memorial Day weekend Saturday. The weather people extended the 90 degree weather through today with probably showers and thunderstorms for the afternoon. I watered everything and checked all the plants but will postpone the more extensive work till tomorrow. So lets see what irritates or intrigues me today.
Oh my, how things have changed. Raucous and abusive town hall meetings were find when it tea party/Repthuglicans challenging Damnocrats over the Obama health care reform legislation. Now the shoe is on the other foot and they are Repthuglicans are finding the fit a bit tight. I see two problems here. First is the current climate in media and politics which fosters abusive confrontation over intelligent conversation and denigration of those holding opposing opinions. Second, this is one lazy crop of politicians who really don't want to engage in a conversation where they have to lucidly and coherently explain their positions. Instead they want to spew out the tired old verbal sewage as though it was God's word received from on high. No thought required; not even complete, dramatically correct sentences.
I hear you, Kay. I wouldn't mind joining you and I am not too worried about bears. Unless their habitat is so degraded that they aren't finding enough food--which might be the case. I have often fantasized about finding a nice cabin in the woods and retiring there with a large stock of seeds and some hand tools. Given the insanity in our allegedly civilized world, it isn't such an 'out in left field' fantasy.
You have been reading my mind, Lois. See above.
Here is an article you might like. I don't always agree with Natural News but a lot of what appears there is right on the money. Daniel Boorstin wrote a little book several years ago that I have but have never been able to get very far into. I keep my copy of The Image because the few first pages introduce a concept that is very relevant for our culture over the last 30 or more years: the manufacture of 'faux news' and misleading images. In other words--counterfeiting.
Don't you just love how the news media has to mine even bad news for something positive. This morning the anchors cited the very nasty jobs report--no net jobs created last month and significant downward revisions for June and July--ending with the good news that, since January, the economy had created 200k new manufacturing jobs and another couple hundred thousand health care jobs. That sounds great except for one thing--we need just about that number of jobs each month to just keep up with the new people first entering the job market. Reminds me of another book that has a good bit of relevance now-a-days: Barbara Ehrenreich's Bright Sided. She was talking about the prevalence in this culture of insisting on maintaining a nauseating apply attitude no matter how unpleasant our situation might be. Oh, Irene just washed away your home with a lifetime's accumulation of goods--be happy; it was just things and you're alive. Smile. Frankly, I get very tired of all that insistence on looking at the so-called bright side. Sometimes we really do need to acknowledge the bad before we move on.
Oh my, how things have changed. Raucous and abusive town hall meetings were find when it tea party/Repthuglicans challenging Damnocrats over the Obama health care reform legislation. Now the shoe is on the other foot and they are Repthuglicans are finding the fit a bit tight. I see two problems here. First is the current climate in media and politics which fosters abusive confrontation over intelligent conversation and denigration of those holding opposing opinions. Second, this is one lazy crop of politicians who really don't want to engage in a conversation where they have to lucidly and coherently explain their positions. Instead they want to spew out the tired old verbal sewage as though it was God's word received from on high. No thought required; not even complete, dramatically correct sentences.
I hear you, Kay. I wouldn't mind joining you and I am not too worried about bears. Unless their habitat is so degraded that they aren't finding enough food--which might be the case. I have often fantasized about finding a nice cabin in the woods and retiring there with a large stock of seeds and some hand tools. Given the insanity in our allegedly civilized world, it isn't such an 'out in left field' fantasy.
You have been reading my mind, Lois. See above.
Here is an article you might like. I don't always agree with Natural News but a lot of what appears there is right on the money. Daniel Boorstin wrote a little book several years ago that I have but have never been able to get very far into. I keep my copy of The Image because the few first pages introduce a concept that is very relevant for our culture over the last 30 or more years: the manufacture of 'faux news' and misleading images. In other words--counterfeiting.
Don't you just love how the news media has to mine even bad news for something positive. This morning the anchors cited the very nasty jobs report--no net jobs created last month and significant downward revisions for June and July--ending with the good news that, since January, the economy had created 200k new manufacturing jobs and another couple hundred thousand health care jobs. That sounds great except for one thing--we need just about that number of jobs each month to just keep up with the new people first entering the job market. Reminds me of another book that has a good bit of relevance now-a-days: Barbara Ehrenreich's Bright Sided. She was talking about the prevalence in this culture of insisting on maintaining a nauseating apply attitude no matter how unpleasant our situation might be. Oh, Irene just washed away your home with a lifetime's accumulation of goods--be happy; it was just things and you're alive. Smile. Frankly, I get very tired of all that insistence on looking at the so-called bright side. Sometimes we really do need to acknowledge the bad before we move on.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Good Friday morning to you all. We expect highs in the 90s again with heat index readings in the low 100s. We have already closed up and turned on the air. I will go out in a bit and water everything but all serious work in the gardens will wait until tomorrow and later. I checked everything. The roses are happy in the large containers; they are blooming well. The verbena and rosemary are putting out new growth, as I noted yesterday.
Have you seen the latest news reports on those whole body scanners? They, according to a German study, cannot tell the difference between body sweat or the pleats in pants and explosives. After the billions of dollars spent in the panic over security we find we have a very unreliable system that fails to live up to the promise. And what about the almost hysterical ramp up to the 10th anniversary of 9/11? This is the 'home of the brave?'
Get ready for FAA rumble--round 2!! How anyone can call this governing I have no idea.
It seems that the big banks have more problems than just the 50 state attorneys general and the renegade AGs who aren't willing to go along with white washing the criminal fraud the banks and mortgage services engaged (and are engaging?) in. Now the Federal Housing Finance Agency is getting into the act suing to recover some of the billions Fanny and Freddy lost because of the debacle. The recent trend has been to privatize profits while transferring the losses to the public (read: taxpayers). Maybe we will see a bit of a reversal of that.
I am watching the CNN report this morning and they just reported the August jobs report: no non-farm jobs created. HuffingtonPost has this story just released. What I found really depressing--the economic pundits predict that we won't see any improvement in the employment numbers until.....2017.
I always like to read about techniques other people use in their gardens (container or otherwise). Often they can meet one of my needs or increase my efficiency. If they don't apply now they might in the futures. SurvivalMom has an interesting post this morning describing techniques she used while living in Kenya and Botswana where they had to deal with water scarcity/unreliability and heat. I really liked the suggestion for 'thread watering' and have filed the info away for any time we might have water restrictions here. We came close a couple of times. Her description of the container gardens in Botswana is very intriguing.
I was just read this to Mom. She said the Obama is cornered. Yeah, but---the man simply won't fight for anything. And I wish someone would stand up to the Repthuglicans and their business masters and demand that they tell us how in the hell economic growth will do us any good if we can't breath the air, drink the water or eat the food grown in contaminated soil and watered with poisoned water. I remember reading, a good many years ago, a story about the mountain peak in New Mexico named for Kit Carson. The reporter asked a local native American if they resented having a nearby peak named for a white man who had so actively slaughtered Indians. He said hell, no. Carson was always up front and they knew he was no friend. Naming that peak for him was at least more honest than naming it for some other white man who pretended to be a friend while stabbing them in the back. Right now that is how I feel about Obama and the Repthuglicans. The Repthuglicans are no friends to ordinary Americans but at least they are marginally honest. Obama says he understands but he is singing out of the Repthuglican hymnal.
With all of the 'remembrances' of 9/11 coming up here is a look back over the '9/11 decade' that is informative and disturbing. For those who have the stomach for it, here is a link to Frank Rich's New York Magazine piece. It is brutal and uncompromising--and right on the money.
This is an interesting little article given the increasing appearance of antibiotic resistant (often to multiple antibiotics) bacteria. The genes for resistance have existed in bacteria for at least 30k years.
Have you seen the latest news reports on those whole body scanners? They, according to a German study, cannot tell the difference between body sweat or the pleats in pants and explosives. After the billions of dollars spent in the panic over security we find we have a very unreliable system that fails to live up to the promise. And what about the almost hysterical ramp up to the 10th anniversary of 9/11? This is the 'home of the brave?'
Get ready for FAA rumble--round 2!! How anyone can call this governing I have no idea.
It seems that the big banks have more problems than just the 50 state attorneys general and the renegade AGs who aren't willing to go along with white washing the criminal fraud the banks and mortgage services engaged (and are engaging?) in. Now the Federal Housing Finance Agency is getting into the act suing to recover some of the billions Fanny and Freddy lost because of the debacle. The recent trend has been to privatize profits while transferring the losses to the public (read: taxpayers). Maybe we will see a bit of a reversal of that.
I am watching the CNN report this morning and they just reported the August jobs report: no non-farm jobs created. HuffingtonPost has this story just released. What I found really depressing--the economic pundits predict that we won't see any improvement in the employment numbers until.....2017.
I always like to read about techniques other people use in their gardens (container or otherwise). Often they can meet one of my needs or increase my efficiency. If they don't apply now they might in the futures. SurvivalMom has an interesting post this morning describing techniques she used while living in Kenya and Botswana where they had to deal with water scarcity/unreliability and heat. I really liked the suggestion for 'thread watering' and have filed the info away for any time we might have water restrictions here. We came close a couple of times. Her description of the container gardens in Botswana is very intriguing.
I was just read this to Mom. She said the Obama is cornered. Yeah, but---the man simply won't fight for anything. And I wish someone would stand up to the Repthuglicans and their business masters and demand that they tell us how in the hell economic growth will do us any good if we can't breath the air, drink the water or eat the food grown in contaminated soil and watered with poisoned water. I remember reading, a good many years ago, a story about the mountain peak in New Mexico named for Kit Carson. The reporter asked a local native American if they resented having a nearby peak named for a white man who had so actively slaughtered Indians. He said hell, no. Carson was always up front and they knew he was no friend. Naming that peak for him was at least more honest than naming it for some other white man who pretended to be a friend while stabbing them in the back. Right now that is how I feel about Obama and the Repthuglicans. The Repthuglicans are no friends to ordinary Americans but at least they are marginally honest. Obama says he understands but he is singing out of the Repthuglican hymnal.
With all of the 'remembrances' of 9/11 coming up here is a look back over the '9/11 decade' that is informative and disturbing. For those who have the stomach for it, here is a link to Frank Rich's New York Magazine piece. It is brutal and uncompromising--and right on the money.
This is an interesting little article given the increasing appearance of antibiotic resistant (often to multiple antibiotics) bacteria. The genes for resistance have existed in bacteria for at least 30k years.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Good morning, again, everyone. We expect highs in the 90s with heat index about 100--so we are inside today. I just finished watering everything and dead heading the marigolds. Everything else can wait until Saturday when the temps cool down again. The green beans I harvested yesterday were very good at supper. I had planned to do up the tomato sauce but I think it can wait, also.
Glad you are back and able to comment, Lois. After reading your comment I noticed that blogger had changed things and I am trying the new format out. I rather like what I see so far.
The news this morning noted another aftershock in Virginia--one of more than 20 since the 5.8 quake. My goodness, ya think God might be sending Eric Cantor a message? After all, why should Crazy Shelley be the only one to interpret the will of God? My interpretation makes as much sense as hers.
I don't know about anyone else but I am getting mightily sick of the psychotic dance in Washington. The President's people talk to the Speaker of the House's people about scheduling a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night and the Speaker raises no objections--until the letter requesting the session arrives. Then--OH, MY GOD we can't do that--we have the Repthuglican debate at the same time. And then Boehner proposes Thursday night--opening night of football. Let me see if this makes any sense. We have a 'debate' among candidates to be the candidate for an election that is still 15 months away. The first primaries are still 5 months away. And of course we can't miss opening night of football--how utterly unAmerican!! I haven't heard anything in the various leaks of aspects of what Obama will propose that is in any way new and I don't expect the package to pass given the climate in Washington today. Nor do I see that anything the politicians can do will really help the jobs situation even if it did pass. But, once upon a time, we would have given the PRESIDENT a respectful hearing.
I have seen this a couple of times over the last couple of days. Frankly, I think a situation where a CEO of a company is paid more than the company pays in Federal taxes is disgraceful. I wonder how much some of those companies got in tax breaks. I won't say anything about the obscenity of paying a CEO 325 times what you pay your average worker.
This is hardly surprising unless you are a Repthuglican who thinks the market fairly prices in CEO pay (you have to pay for talent!!) but somehow the public employees have blackmailed the political powers into overpaying them for the little talent they have. Right after Walker's union busting bill was rammed through public employees started bailing rather than take the financial hit. Now more are doing so. Maybe they thought public employees would suck it up for the good of all (but themselves) or that they couldn't do basic math.
Thanks to Chris In Paris at AmericaBlog for this bit of S&P obscenity. It rather scotches the argument some had put forward that S&P downgraded the U.S. credit to bolster their own reputation for failing to properly rate the sub-prime mortgage instruments that helped sink the economy three years ago. If they cared so much for their reputation why give a AAA rating to another bunch of bundled sub-prime mortgages?
Glad you are back and able to comment, Lois. After reading your comment I noticed that blogger had changed things and I am trying the new format out. I rather like what I see so far.
The news this morning noted another aftershock in Virginia--one of more than 20 since the 5.8 quake. My goodness, ya think God might be sending Eric Cantor a message? After all, why should Crazy Shelley be the only one to interpret the will of God? My interpretation makes as much sense as hers.
I don't know about anyone else but I am getting mightily sick of the psychotic dance in Washington. The President's people talk to the Speaker of the House's people about scheduling a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night and the Speaker raises no objections--until the letter requesting the session arrives. Then--OH, MY GOD we can't do that--we have the Repthuglican debate at the same time. And then Boehner proposes Thursday night--opening night of football. Let me see if this makes any sense. We have a 'debate' among candidates to be the candidate for an election that is still 15 months away. The first primaries are still 5 months away. And of course we can't miss opening night of football--how utterly unAmerican!! I haven't heard anything in the various leaks of aspects of what Obama will propose that is in any way new and I don't expect the package to pass given the climate in Washington today. Nor do I see that anything the politicians can do will really help the jobs situation even if it did pass. But, once upon a time, we would have given the PRESIDENT a respectful hearing.
I have seen this a couple of times over the last couple of days. Frankly, I think a situation where a CEO of a company is paid more than the company pays in Federal taxes is disgraceful. I wonder how much some of those companies got in tax breaks. I won't say anything about the obscenity of paying a CEO 325 times what you pay your average worker.
This is hardly surprising unless you are a Repthuglican who thinks the market fairly prices in CEO pay (you have to pay for talent!!) but somehow the public employees have blackmailed the political powers into overpaying them for the little talent they have. Right after Walker's union busting bill was rammed through public employees started bailing rather than take the financial hit. Now more are doing so. Maybe they thought public employees would suck it up for the good of all (but themselves) or that they couldn't do basic math.
Thanks to Chris In Paris at AmericaBlog for this bit of S&P obscenity. It rather scotches the argument some had put forward that S&P downgraded the U.S. credit to bolster their own reputation for failing to properly rate the sub-prime mortgage instruments that helped sink the economy three years ago. If they cared so much for their reputation why give a AAA rating to another bunch of bundled sub-prime mortgages?
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