Good morning, all. It was hot yesterday. Temps reached 96 on the patio. I stayed inside even though I still had one container of plants to get trimmed and tied up. The beans (finally), cucumbers, melons, and squash are growing fantastically. As soon as I get one tendril trained into the trellis two or three more start going where ever they want. I saw the first little recognizable ground cherry this morning. I need to get the camera out and take some new pictures.

Remember how we were told that the bank bailout and the low interbank interest rates were going to increase lending to small business and spur employment? Well this article tells how that strategy actually had the opposite effect. Another reason to find and patronize a very local bank.

Well, maybe I will be able to finish posting today. Our cable/internet service was off line for almost 2 hours.

Here is another entry in the 'Been-There-Done-That' file. Exxon/Mobile not BP and a land based pipeline under the Yellowstone River not a deep ocean rig. And for the same file this article. It must be nice to get paid $84M and actually think you are worth it.

Damn!! Now Google is giving me a hard time!! This is putting me into more than a contrary mood so I will try to quit now before I throw something.

Good morning, again, and I am happy to report that we have sun today. We got, officially, four inches of rain from Friday night through last night. I will let the gardens dry out a bit (like all day today) before doing any more. I looked out at the plants on the fence holders and was astonished at the growth of the lemon balm, oregano, and cat nip. I will harvest some of those for drying this week. Friday I did up a gallon of tea with a goodly amount of spearmint and some of the dried stevia. It tastes and smells so good. Since it rained yesterday I did a couple of hours of embroidery on a small table cloth that has languished for the last three or four months.

The Minnesota shut down continues. Unfortunately, Lois, it isn't simply the governor who is at fault. Their problems mirror the national standoff between a Democratic executive who wanted some tax increases and a Republican block insisting on spending cuts only. What we see here is divided government at its worst. Take a look at this Atlanta Journal Constitution article for details. Re-reading your comment I realize you may have meant 'government' rather than 'governor.' In that case I totally agree with you. I absolutely hate this parade of grown men acting like spoiled brats/school yard bullies. Sanity exited the stage long ago. For a good example of what I mean go to this post by Phoenix Woman at Firedoglake.

I found this interesting article on the history of the Federal Government and American Food. A couple of points I never knew: that part of the Food Stamp legislation allows recipients to use part of the benefit to purchase seed that would allow them to grow part of their own food and that before 1929 the Federal Government provide free seeds to farmers before the growing commercial seed industry successfully lobbied to get that program ended.

Mom forwarded this on to me and I simply had to share it:

When an old man died in the geriatric ward of a nursing home in
Moosomin, Saskatchewan , it was believed that he had nothing left of any value.
Later, when the nurses were going through his meagre possessions, they
found this poem. Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and distributed to every nurse in the hospital. One nurse took her copy toAlberta.
The old man's sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the
Christmas edition of the News Magazine of the St. Louis Association for Mental Health.

A slide presentation has also been made based on his simple, but eloquent,
poem.And this little old man, with nothing left to give to the world, is now
the author of this 'anonymous' poem winging across the Internet.

Crabby Old Man

What do you see nurses? . . .. . What do you see?
What are you thinking . . . . . when you're looking at me?
A crabby old man . .. . .. . not very wise,
Uncertain of habit . . . . . with faraway eyes?

Who dribbles his food . . . . . and makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice . . . . . 'I do wish you'd try!'
Who seems not to notice . .. . .. . the things that you do.
And forever is losing . . . . . A sock or shoe?

Who, resisting or not .. . . . . lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding . . . . . The long day to fill?
Is that what you're thinking? . .. . . . Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse . . . . . &nbs p;you're not looking at me..

I'll tell you who I am. . . .. . . As I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding, . . . . . as I eat at your will.
I'm a small child of Ten . . .. . . with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters . . . . .. who love one another.

A young boy of Sixteen . . . . with wings on his feet.
Dreaming that soon now . . . . . a lover he'll meet.
A groom soon at Twenty . . . . . my heart gives a leap.
Remembering, the vows . . . . that I promised to keep.

At Twenty-Five, now . . .. . . I have young of my own.
Who need me to guide . . . . .. And a secure happy home

A man of Thirty . . . . . My young now grown fast,
Bound to each other . . . .. . With ties that should last.

At Forty, my young sons . . . . . have grown and are gone,
But my woman's beside me . . . .. . to see I don't mourn.
At Fifty, once more, babies play 'round my knee,
Again, we know children . . . .. My loved one and me.

Dark days are upon me . . . . . my wife is now dead. < BR> I look at the future . . . . . shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing . .. . . . young of their own.
And I think of the years . . . . . and the love that I've known.

I'm now an old man . . . . .. and nature is cruel.
'Tis jest to make old age . . . . . look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles . . . . . grace and vigor, depart.
There is now a stone . . . where I once had a heart.

But inside this old carcass . . . . a young guy still dwells,
And now and again . . . . . my battered heart swells.
I remember the joys . . . . . I remember the pain.
And I'm loving and living . . . .. . life over again.

I think of the years, all too few . .. . . . gone too fast.
And accept the stark fact . . .. . that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people .. . ... . . open and see.
Not a crabby old man . .. . Look closer . . . see ME!!

Remember this poem when you next meet an older person who you might
brush aside without looking at the young soul within.

We will all, one day, be there, too!

Good morning to you all on this stormy Friday morning. We have waves of thunderstorms coming straight south off Lake Michigan with a severe weather warning until a little later this morning. Some northern Chicago suburbs had golf ball sized hail as did some areas here in Northwest Indiana. If we got any it didn't hut the garden. I know I pruned the tomatoes severely yesterday but today--today it looks like I didn't cut anything. The gardens do look a bit neater--except for the one I didn't get to yesterday. It is too wet to do anything outside today and the temps are supposed to rise into the 90s with heat indices in the low 100s. Kuma is, of course, totally bummed because I am keeping him in till it dries out.

Well, the Minnesota government has shut down because the negotiations between the Democratic Governor and the Republicans in the legislature broke down. The morning news on tv passed it off with a one liner that focused on the closure of the state parks and the zoo and the fact that no new fishing licenses can be issued which will put a crimp in a lot of holiday plans. Can you get any more trivial?! Nothing about all of the construction that has stopped de?ad in its tracks and the construction workers laid off, nor about all of the state workers who would have issued those fishing licenses also laid off and not getting paid, nor about any of the vendors who supply the state with goods and services who won't get paid. Voters should seriously consider this comment from a Huffington Post story on the matter: "The Democratic governor and state GOP lawmakers had been engaged in contentious talks to close the state's $5 billion budget gap -- much of it left behind by GOP presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty, who declined to seek a third term in the 2010 election." You bet he declined to seek a third term. Having done as much damage as possible in Minnesota he now wants to do the same on the national level as President.

Phil Angelides has this op ed piece in the Washington Post which needs no commentary from me.

Georgia wasn't the only colony peopled by large numbers of debtors, Kay. Many of the indentured servants in other colonies were also debtors. Reports of the ghastly treatment of many of those indentured servants caused a scandal in England during the 1670s and 1680s which basically ended the practice and paved the way for African slavery

I have been reading about attempts to change the way Social Security COLAs are calculated--using a the so-called 'chained CPI.' For an explanation of the probable effect check out this link.

It is bad enough when the food manufacturers reduce the package weight/size while charging the same price. It is totally reprehensible for our legislators to do the same and hide the fact in incomprehensible numbers and calculations.

To continue with the theme of incomprehensible numbers and calculations but with a bit of a segue read Charles Hugh Smith at oftwominds. He also provides a whiff of the global fraud and chicanery that has come to dominate our economy. Also he makes a telling parallel between Greece and the mortgage collapse over here.

A good Thursday to you all. I will be in and out on this today. My jungle needs taming--again. I am amazed at how quickly it goes out of control. We also have other chores to do today. My usual pattern is to do a couple of chores, take a rest at the computer, do a couple of chores and repeat.

Mom and I were just listening to a story on CNN about a new drug treatment for prostate cancer that may be approved for Medicare payment. Why did that attract our attention? Well, several reasons. First, the price tag--a whopping $93,000/4 month (I think) course of treatment. The treatment is touted as extending the lives of prostate cancer patients by four months (this I am sure of). That is almost double the average yearly salary of an American worker. For an extra 4 months of life?? Second, the cynical comments that "of course, it would be approved because no wants to be accused of 'killing Grandpa.' " I have thought for a good while now that the major problem with the skyrocketing medical costs is the fact that the people who pay for the care are not the people who get the care and the providers simply send in the bills without having to seriously justify the charges. Third, it wasn't very long ago that the medical establishment recommended a wait-and-see stance toward prostate cancer because most such cancers are very slow growing and the patient was more likely to die of other old-age related conditions before the cancer would kill him. In other words, don't go to the aggressive treatments right away.

I am sitting down again. I have most of one section of containers pruned and tied up. I have already dried 2 trays of cilantro and 4 of spearmint with 3 more spearmint and 4 of basil drying now. It is getting warm so I am taking this very easy. I wrote a couple of times about the community gardens I have seen and what some of the arrangements with them are. I got to talk to an elderly man who was tending his plot at the one over by the Lutheran Church yesterday. He said that it is open to anyone (not just church members) and cost $10/year. I am thinking about it but I don't think I will go for it. It sounds nice but what I have now is pleasantly exhausting. I don't know that I really want more work. There is a fine line between burdensome toil and enjoyable activity. I think I am just at the enjoyable limit right now. Also, there isn't much more I can grow that we can't buy at the farmers' markets and we do want to keep them in business as much as possible. And there is only so much of that produce we can use and only so many people we can give some of the excess to. Ah well, another daydream hits the hard wall of reality.

This item from The Agonist expresses something that has been in my mind for a goodly while. Greece is becoming a debtors' prison but without bars. Although, I seem to remember a couple of stories that described the new trend in some states of imprisoning people for debt so I guess we will be joining them soon.

Good morning, everyone. As you can probably tell I was in a very contrary mood yesterday. It has been building for some time and I finally cut loose. I agree with you, Kay. I am very tired of all of the sanctimonious, self-serving idiots out there who insist on 'austerity' for me but not for them and theirs. The only ones sharing the sacrifice of their plans are those in the lowest 80% of the economic food chain.

Well, Well!!! This might put an interesting wrinkle in the debt ceiling 'negotiations.' (In quotation marks because it isn't really a negotiation when one side absolutely refuses to negotiate.) It makes me hope Obama has the backbone to play the card. Bi-partisanship is fine when both sides want to work together and not play 'gotcha.'

I guess we shouldn't be surprised anymore by Repthuglicans railing against 'entitlements' or other government programs while benefiting mightily from them. Can anyone else spell 'hypocrite.'

And then there is this item for the 'Greedy, Irresponsible Company allied with Feckless Government Agency' file. So let me follow the logic of this story: you have a company that has filed suit against the state to set aside a clean up order (for radioactive waste discharged into a creek feeding into a major city's water supply) but which is now allowed by the state agency governing environmental matters to discharge 90k gallons of radioactive sludge and waste into a retaining pond that is leaking??? And I am not at all reassured that other natural barriers would prevent anything from getting away from the pond (and would be even less reassured if I lived out there).

All I can say to this one is--Right on, Bernie.

Good Morning to you all. The thunderstorms did not make an appearance yesterday for which I am grateful. Rain is one thing--serious storms another entirely. And it got hot enough that I had to water some of the smaller containers late in the day. Because of the rain yesterday morning we delayed our errands till this morning.

Well, former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has been found guilty on 17 of the 20 corruption charges with which he was charged. I was really, really, really pissed off with the news coverage. Evidently the local ABC station (the one we normally watch for news) had wall-to-wall coverage from about 1pm when (I think) the verdict was announced till almost through the 5pm news. Frankly, I would have preferred to see Jeopardy.

I am still royally pissed off because they are continuing the coverage this morning bringing in the foreman of the previously jury and everyone else who might have provide some minimal bit of drama. And other news stories have simply added to the irritation. Yesterday several of the talking heads talked about the Greek situation and the dissension in Greece. Their comments seemed to sympathize with with contentions of the bankers that the people of Greece deserve severe austerity because they have overspent for so long, lived beyond their means for so long. The people of Greece don't deserve the pain of austerity because it was their politicians who created the situation just like the politicians at all levels over here have created a parallel situation. Meredith Whitney was just on CNBC talking about the problem of under-funded pension with special reference to New Jersey. She generally talks sense but her focus is on the here-and-now without any reference to the history of the situation--the long line of political decisions to underfund the pensions. Rick Santelli did make a nod to the history of the situation. The problem I have with the whole discussion is the the pain of getting out of the morass will fall most heavily on those who had the least to do with the situation. I wish I didn't absolutely believe that however this resolves itself the people at the top of the economic and political food chains will get off with minimal sacrifice (if any) while the rest of us are screwed.

I just got another shot of irritation when one of the talking heads on CNBC (sorry, I didn't see his name) compared Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid to living on credit cards. Somehow buying something now and paying for it later is comparable to paying for something now and enjoying it later. Now, as someone who has had credit cards (and who will never have one again) and who has also paid the taxes supporting Social Security taxes since age 18 that the situations are entirely different. And the situation for my generation (the so-called baby boomers) is even worse. In the early 1980s the payroll taxes were raised because Alan Greenspan and the supporting cast of politicians raised the alarm over the strain so many retirees would place on the system and argued that we should 'pre-pay' for the benefits we were promised. We have done that for the last nearly 30 years. But now that there is a $2.5 trillion dollars in the alleged trust fund, they want to loot it for whatever program they want and we are greedy geezers for fighting that looting.

Well, talk about looting--this gives us an idea of where whatever passes for Eric Cantor's heart is. If he is wearing a red/white/blue flag pin (which has become almost part of the Republican uniform) maybe he should replace it with a gold dollar sign. That is where his loyalty really lies.

Good morning to you all on this rainy Monday morning. Until half an hour ago I had some hope that the rain would bypass us but then in came in so stealthily I didn't notice at first. Right now it is gentle with a bit of a breeze but the weather people say we have a chance of thunderstorms developing this afternoon. I did get out to check my slug traps--so far clear. I did get everything fertilized yesterday so the rain is a bit welcome since I won't have to water today. I will try to get some new pictures of my jungle later this week.

I wish these boys a lot of good luck. I like the idea a lot. I remember when I bought a number of stock pantry items from the bulk bins. Those have disappeared and it has been about 5 years since the last grocery here eliminated them.