Hello on this sunny and soon to be hot Saturday.  I am in the process of watering all the plants.  In a bit I will be getting a bunch of onions in the dehydrator.  We picked up a large bag a little while ago thinking we had fewer at home than we really did.  So it is time to slice and dry some.  Otherwise, not much going on.  Let's see what is in the air today.

Update on the gardens:  after I watered all the plants I keep on the fence I was just looking out over the developing jungle and was shocked.  I saw some splotches on my dragon's tongue beans and thought "Oh, damn.  What has gotten to my plants?"  Well, it was five nicely developed bean pods!!  Surprise!!  It was only a very few days ago that I found the first tiny green pod.  Suddenly I have  beans!!

Good day to you all on this sunny and predicted to be warm Friday.  I didn't see anything I wanted to comment on yesterday.  The gardens are doing well though I have to change my watering patterns to morning.  Everything is so dry and, with the temperatures going up, morning is the best time.  And the rains that have actually arrived as predicted have been less than needed.  I saw the first dragon's tongue bean pod on my plants--it is very pretty with its pink splotches.  The dragon's egg cucumbers are blooming profusely as are the tomatoes.  Let's see what I find on-line this morning.

Welcome visitor who commented as Anonymous.  Though disappointing, the results in Wisconsin were not unexpected--at least not by me.  I figured it could go either way.  I am glad that, at least at this time, the election has shifted the balance in the Wisconsin senate by one vote toward the Democrats.  The only reason Walker was able to do what he did was because he had majorities in both houses of their legislature. The shift in power away from organized labor also isn't really surprising either.  I found this NYT article noting that union membership (private and public) have fallen to historic lows.  At the height of membership only about one-third of workers in private industry were union members (mid-1950s).  Now only 11%.  Public sector unions have shadowed the growth and decline in members shown by the private industry unions.  During the heyday of unionism the economy was in the first stages of the post WWII boom and, in a rapidly growing economy, companies were far more willing to meet union demands on wages and benefits.  And government was far more supportive of unions and companies far more tolerant.  Both attitudes have shifted since the 1980s.  The traditional unions, centered in manufacturing, were always far more successful in organizing skilled, male labor--a category which has been in decline with the shift away from manufacturing and toward a service economy where the labor force includes large numbers of women and unskilled workers.  I have seen reports that say Scott Walker's tactic in breaking the public unions (and let's be honest--he was breaking them) was to divide and conquer.  It was a perfect strategy for these times.  He was able to tap into the resentment of blue collar workers who had lost jobs or, if they still had jobs, wages and benefits.  He redirected their anger toward public workers who he presented as living high with intact benefits and overgenerous wages.  Take a look at the story about the election results in Southern California which basically stripped public workers in two cities of wages and benefits.  Similar story.  I think you are exactly right about looking to something other unions for the future.  Unfortunately, I think we also have to look to something other than government at the state and federal levels also.  A brief news segment this morning featured a clip of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel saying much the same.  I just don't think the institutions have been created (or re-created) yet.

Howard Gold has posted an interesting article on Market Watch this morning.  The constant mantra in the Repthuglican party has been 'make the Bush tax cuts permanent and release the job creators.'  Basically it is a restatement of the supply-side Reaganomics.  I have read summaries of studies for a very long time now that say the claimed results--more jobs and paradoxically increased tax receipts from significant tax cuts--simply don't measure up.

I have no intention of seeing The Dictator--it is a form of comedy that doesn't appeal to me.  But this post has an interesting clip and transcript from it that reveals a nice touch of political satire.

I found this CNN Money article in a link on Chris Martensen's Blog.  It summarizes a recent CBO report comparing the likely results of two possible courses of action on the economy.  In one case the House and Senate leave the laws presently in force alone--no change in the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, no change in the sequestration spending cuts, etc. In the second case the tax cuts are extended or made permanent, the spending cuts are rescinded, etc.  It seems to me that if the Repthuglicans really thought the deficit was the most important problem and dealing with it was a real priority, leaving things alone would do more to curing the deficit than any tax cuts for the 1%.  Either plan will mean continued recession so there isn't much to choose from there.

Good sunny Wednesday morning to you all.  We should have temps in the mid 70s today and tomorrow before the temperature goes up to the 80s again.  I finally got off my butt yesterday and dried two trays each of lemon balm, stevia, and basil.  I also got all the plants on fence watered yesterday.  I was surprised by how dry some of the plants got.  With the cooler temperatures I thought they would be moist yet.  Several definitely were not.  But I got to them in time.  I have several projects in mind for today: watering everything else, moving the shepherds hook and hummingbird feeder (we would really like to see any bird that might come by and we can't now), transplant the lemon verbena and a small oregano, move the large oregano and replace it with the marigold in the place it will reside, raise the soil levels in several of the pots and fertilize everything.  I often read gardeners' blogs and many recommend diagramming out where everything will go.  That never seems to work for me.  I always have to move something--often several somethings.

Well, all the news pundits are dissecting the recall election results from Wisconsin as though they were ancient augurs and oracles examining the entrails of a sacrificed sheep.  The question they all are asking the 'gods' of the polls is what the results mean for the Presidential race in the fall.  Ezra Klein has some interesting thoughts on that here.  When coupled with this story from southern California it shows a far more significant result: organized labor is continuing its long slide from its height of power in the middle of the last century.  The question I would really like to ask is: where will the power centers be in the future and where will the balance be.  I sincerely hope there will be a power that can balance the corporations and the billionaires.  And I hope it will be on my side of the issues.  Right now not many figures out there are speaking my language for me.

Welcome, Prairie Cat.  Glad you stopped by.  I know where you are coming from.  I remember telling one of the people manning the phones at the Student Loan offices that the loans I amassed were the worst 'investment' I had ever made.  And it is one of which I can't get out from under thanks to the sweetheart gift our legislators provided for the lenders making it non-dischargeable in bankruptcy.  I hope your new job) lead to better opportunities in the future.  I saw a brief mention on the news this morning that the Obama Administration is drawing up some new guidelines for schools in dealing with students and for counseling them on student debt.  They want the schools to be up front on repayment costs, on the proportion of borrowers who are in default and to provide other relevant information.  But I somehow doubt that the information will be presented in a meaningful manner.  They won't ask the potential borrower to think about what would happen if--if the jobs in their field disappeared (that happened to me twice), or if the pay scale isn't what they expected (also happened to me), or if the information they are relying on to make their decisions isn't reliable (also a part of my past experience).  But, to be brutally honest, I don't know that the answers to those questions would have made a difference in my decisions.  After all, the path to my career goals led through that degree and, at the time, I don't think I had the experience or the imagination to think outside the channel I was in.

I found this item from Natural News shortly after I finished my comment to Prairie Cat and I think it is the flip side of the problems we discussed.  Natural News recently got burned (as you can read on their site) by an 'expert' whose doctorate was bogus.  On the one side we have people with legitimate degrees which they (we) got by spending a lot of good money (often thanks to loans) for the privilege of attending classes that we worked hard to succeed in and which aren't now worth nearly what we had thought they would be when we started.  But on the other side we have people who spend neither the money nor the effort to get the credentials they use to get good jobs.  And then we see people who work hard in a profession, get legitimate and demanding credentials (not degrees) from legitimate professional organizations but have difficulty getting a new job in their field because they don't have a totally extraneous bachelor's degrees that some idiot human resources director seems to require.  I grew up at a time when education was respected, valued and encouraged.  There was no such thing as 'over educated.'  For the last ten years of my working-at-a-job life I was 'overeducated, underemployed and over the hill.'  Education has become another industry that is geared to pushing as much 'product' through the pipeline at as big a profit to the institutions engaged in the industry as possible.  I have talked about the fallacy of the industrial model of production before.  The only difference is that widgets don't have to eat, or pay rent, or repay loans.  A widget can sit on the shelf until the market improves.  Can the 50% of 2011 graduates who are either unemployed or underemployed do the same?

To shift gears--sad day in science fiction.  Ray Bradbury has died at age 91.

Good morning, Everyone.  Nice sunny day with temps in the mid 70s predicted.  I really do need to get off my butt and get a couple of chores done in the garden.  Mom had a medical appointment yesterday and we went out to breakfast after since she had some blood tests scheduled for which she had to fast.  Today we have our grocery shopping to do so we will be going by our supermarket and the city farmers' market a bit later.

Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Annie's Granny.  Though I don't often comment, I drop by to read your blog every day.

I have seen a couple of other stories on the new Bay bridge in San Francisco including one on last nights national news.  This one on MSNBC is a bit more specific and it doesn't present a pretty picture of the mindset of politicians (and perhaps most of the rest of us.)  The thought that comes to my mind is 'Penny wise, pound foolish.'  The politicians decided to manipulate the process to escape the 'Buy American' requirements for the Federal funds and hire a Chinese firm that had presented the lowest bid for the suspension part of the bridge.  As it turns out the Chinese low-balled the bid.  The project is now over budget to the point where the cost is nearly what the American company (one that had fabricated the steel parts of the original bridge eighty years ago) had bid and it is a year over due.  Isn't it wonderful how the politicians gave jobs, work and boat-loads of money to a Chinese firm that could have gone to Americans and saved virtually no money.  Really smart economics there. (Sarcasm alert!!!)

Here is a story that should put a smile on your faces.

Given the fact that 50% of last year's college grads were unemployed given the last reports I heard and a similar or greater percentage of this year's grads may be joining them, I have to shake my head at this article.  I wonder how many of the lucky 50% from last year found jobs that pay enough for them to make full payments on their student loans.  The last statistics I saw on the amount grads owe on student loans the tally was around $25k for a four year degree.  Is it really worth between $8k and $10k per year for a 4 year degree that will likely not pay your enough to live on and pay off the debt?  I rarely see that question asked in any article telling us how necessary it is to have a college degree to get a job. Why, you wonder, do I assume that the graduate will have loan debt?  Because Congress has been very busy cutting the funding for grants and scholarships so unless students have savings or parents who can foot the bill they will have loans.

Another installment in the file of awesome vertical gardens.

Good Monday to you all.  Cool and sunny for the moment--we may get some rain later.  I didn't do anything I had planned to do yesterday.  My get-up-and-go got up and went before I got started.  Oh, well.  I'll see what I get done today.

I have been somewhat disgruntled by the 'manic-depressive' attitude of the press over just about everything.  Last Friday the pundits were in the depths of despair over the jobs report and the 250+ point decline in the Dow.  Me--I was remembering the fantastic job growth during the winter and the utterly dismal job losses at the tail end of Bush II and beginning of Obama and wondered what the fuss was all about.  I am equally disgruntled with the translation of economic data of uncertain duration into the political situation giving rise to heated discussions of how bad or good it is for which candidate.  Ezra Klein makes some similar comments on his Wonkbook this morning.  I will not that it is fascinating how the Repthuglicans focused on 'moral' or 'social' issues when the economy looked like it was recovering and how they have now shifted to economic issues.  They think they smell blood in the water (sharks that they are) but I, for one, remember that it was Bush/Repthuglican policies (with the approval some Damnocrats and their financial industry masters) that got us into this position and the extremely nebulous non-policies Romney has spouted foreshadow more of those same policies.

This article on an Australian report critical of fragility of long food supply lines in times of disaster and crisis reflects some similar articles I have seen on this side of the ocean.  I thought the two points concerning relying on the willingness of the food industry when their profits might be concerned and on the effectiveness and efficiency of their military, both questionable, interesting.  I wonder if they looked at Hurricane Katrina for any information.

Susie Madrak on Crooks & Liars put up this piece on a new book which blames hardline Republicans for the gridlock of the recent past.  Interestingly, the authors are conservatives who have been regulars on the Sunday talk shows but have had only one appearance to discuss their book.  I wonder if the authors have been read out of the conservative ranks.

This idea is being resurrected.  I think it will come.  After all we do have to repair roads and bridges and relying on sales taxes has become problematic with lower consumption.  Shifting from a per gallon tax to a per mile driven tax makes a lot of sense today. Combine driving less with hybrid or electric vehicles and you get lower gasoline taxes which crimps the state budget.  The question is how you make sure the only data collected is how many miles are driven not where they occurred.

I read a snippet of an article this last weekend that some experts predict that this year's presidential election will consume $2billion alone.  That doesn't cover the other elections on tap this year.  I thought at the time that the very notion of that amount of money (one-eightth of the U.S. GDP) was a totally obscene amount.  And I wondered what the donors would expect in the way of pay back.  Ronni Bennett has a post this morning that gives some answers.  As the King in the Wizard of Id comic strip once said 'Remember the Golden Rule: He who has the gold rules.'

Good morning on this sunny Saturday.  We had drizzle and spotty rain all day yesterday.  The sun finally popped out about two hours before it was due to set.  Didn't do more that check things yesterday and take note of some trimming that needs doing.  I thin I already reported that the pepper seedling is blooming as is the oldest of my cucumbers.  The corn is growing rapidly and the three plants I needed to move to make room for Mom's shepherd's crook (for the hummingbird feeder Sister gave her at Christmas).  I need to get the new stands of lettuce and spinach started.  The rain and cold delayed those plans a couple of days.  And today is the opening day for our city farm market.  We have adjusted our grocery shopping days to coincide with the days it is open.

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It is now a sunny Sunday.  There wasn't much to comment on yesterday.  We did go to the city farmers' market and absolutely love what the city has done on that downtown park.  They had eight or ten early season vendors most of whom say the will be here all summer.  So we are planning what we would like to buy on a weekly basis.  I don't have much planned for the day in the garden.  Need to mix some soil to raise the levels in some of the pots and plant a new round of spinach and lettuce.  I know I said yesterday I should do it but I got lazy.  I also need to start harvesting some of the stevia and more of lemon balm.  Right now I don't have a lot to do except trim, fertilize and water (when needed.)

Let's see if I find anything to comment on tripping through the internet.

I always enjoy seeing stories like this one.  Sometimes living in a world where we go to a store that sells mass produced goods made by machines makes me a bit uneasy.  There is something very satisfying about making something you need with your own hands.

GMA this morning has a story this morning on a new use for a class of Alzheimer's drug: treating shopaholics.  We had several reactions to the story.  First, oh, hell, another damned pill in a society that has a major pill problem.  Second, in a country obsessed with an economy that runs on consumption they want to curb consumption???  Last, in a country where material possessions are a means of displaying status and achieving emotional satisfaction what will replace shopping for things as a national past time??  Remember when they advocated the use of methadone to treat heroin addiction?  They found the methadone simply replaced the heroin without curing the addiction.

I think this article shows some promise for the future.  Most often our response to nature is to try to dominate it, to force nature to bend to our will or wishful thinking.  Working with nature is somewhat alien to human beings generally and to Americans especially.

I remember the paradox highlighted during the long struggle that culminated in the landmark case against the tobacco companies:  the Federal government subsidized the tobacco industry while at the same time trying to discourage individual smokers.  This article shows that the pattern has continued.  I wonder if high fructose corn syrup would be so competitive with sugar if corn production wasn't so well subsidized?

I figured we have had a dry spring.  This confirms my suspicion.  I learned a new term in my reading yesterday: flash drought.  I found this piece which explains the phrase.  Some areas that had unseasonably high temperatures (90+) and dry conditions may be hurting even if they do get rain later.  The cool and wet conditions some crops need to get going weren't there.

Hypocrisy alert!  Another in the Repthuglican philosophy of "ok if your rights are violated but leave mine alone."

Perhaps if Mitt Romney wants to make Solyndra a campaign issue, the Democrats should make an issue of the Konarka Technologies bankruptcy an issue since Romney funneled government funds to its solar operations.  Another nice bit of hypocrisy!!

Welcome to June, Everyone.  Cold, cloudy, and rainy this morning.  I think we got, maybe, three-quarters of an inch from yesterday through last night.  I am not complaining.  We needed the rain and could use more.  Besides posting the pictures of the garden yesterday I also moved the pyrethrum plants I had sharing the pot with the vine peaches and the marigolds that were in with the Butterbush squash.  But that was all I did.  I was chilled to the bone after I finished.  Let's see what I find on the internet.

For some time I have seen various stories about our developing 'surveillance' nation.  There was one story about a car rental company that used the GPS tracking system to monitor how their customers drove and assessed penalties for those who exceeded the speed limits.  More and more cities are putting in more and more traffic and other surveillance cameras.  Chicago Mayor Emanuel has caught flack twice in the past years for plans to install a lot more cameras.  This Matt Stoller piece carried by Naked Capitalism promises that the ante is going to be seriously upped with the entry of more for-profit companies who see a whole new series of markets for surveillance.  If you aren't scared out of your minds, you should be.

It seems that metal thieves are setting their sights a bit lower now-a-days--at least in Chicago.  They have gone from air conditioning units and manhole covers to mail box covers.