Made in America...

...sounds good, doesn't it?  Used to be "important."  Now it's almost viewed as "unusual!"

Diane Sawyer recently did a show on that very subject.  See: http://abcnews.go.com/WN/fulipage?id=13061236

 I did not see the show, but was alerted to it by a friend who has also lost his job, and has been unemployed for over 2 years.   If you were to click on some of the furniture shown in the pictures, you would see that these manufacturers say they could increase their payrolls if they did more business.   And the furniture shown was not that expensive, if you want good furniture!  And good furniture lasts!  Think "antique!"  I've still got the bedroom set I bought when I was first married.  It's classy, still in style, and solid as a rock.  That particular company does not make their furniture in the U.S.A. anymore, and the stuff they sell now, feels and looks cheap, but it costs more than what I saw in the Sawyer article!

If we're talking clothing, that's another story.  My husband only wears Levi 501s.  They used to be made in the U.S.A.  The last ones I bought were made in Mexico (remember what Ross Perot said about jobs going south?)  They now cost even more than ever.  So who's reaping the profits of the more expensive jeans made by less costly labor.  As for me, I work hard to find clothes made in America.  Even if they're a bit more expensive, I buy them. 

Maybe that's what kind of "socialism" Obama was blamed for referring to, when he said he wanted to share the wealth!  I'm trying to share my "wealth" and help my fellow Americans by buying American!
So are you going to read the labels, and share the wealth, on Day 115?

CAFO

Say "kaf-o."  It's an acronym.  It stands for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation.  Think of 10,000 cows on a limited amount of land, or 10,000 chickens under roofs, or 10,000 hogs in long barns.   Now think of how much waste must be produced by all these animals housed in a small space.  Now wonder what they do with the waste.  See a problem?  You'd probably smell the problem if you lived downwind of any of these operations.

The Environmental Protection Agency is up in arms about these places.  Can't say as I blame them.  But what is the solution, or solutions?  The farmers can't make nearly as good a living on the land they own, as they can by selling it to a developer, so good farmland is being cut up into small home tracts.  Those people in those tracts want "clean air", and although they may like the pastoral scene of cows grazing next to them, they don't want to smell them.  And those same people want to eat meat, and drink milk.  And now they want it to be organic, the way it "used" to be.

The only solution that I can think of, at this time, is to give small farmers a tax break on their land, promote agricultural areas (?), and promote less fertilizer, better farm practices, and better prices for their products.  The oil companies get what they want, by upping prices at the pump.  We crab about it, but we don't do anything more.  If food prices start to rise, we blame everyone and everybody and ask the government to step in, and make drastic changes.  Put "caps" on prices, if you will. 

Unfortunately we have a cap on milk.   This is do, in part, to government subsidies.  What if we take away those subsidies, and let milk prices rise to the occasion.   Farmers make the same money for their milk at this time, as they did 20 years ago.  How would you like to work for the same pay as you did 20 years ago?  So of course these people have to find work off the farm, and eventually it all becomes too much work, so they give up the farm.  Or they could get so big, the subsidies pay for the farm (like the CAFOs.)

Now there's still the problem of the waste.  This can be handled efficiently, in a small operation.  This waste, after treatment, can be used as fertillizer for the farm, and off-farm areas.  This is done  with human waste, and it too is used for fertillizer.  In Illinois they have a big waste treatment plant on the south side of Chicago, and rumor had it that the waste was shipped to Southern Ilinois, in tank cars, to reclaim the strip mines down there.   I have seen those strip mines before and after, and they are decidedly greener these days.

As for better farming practices, just read "Botany of Desire" by Michael Pollan.   I think I'll leave that as my "class assignment" on Day 114!

Oh puhleez...not again...

Donald Trump was on "The View" and asked about Obama's birth certificate...really...  

Whoopi Goldberg countered with "... I've never hear any white president being asked to show his birth certificate...  When you become the president of the United States of America, you know that he's American..."

So true, so true. 

I thought the Republican slate was a little lagging when  it came to candidates for the next presidential election.  I mean, who can seriously take Newt Gingrich as a candidate?  I thought old Donald might be an interesting diversion, much as Ross Perot was, as Ross is also a very accomplished business man, except I don't believe he ever declared bankruptcy.  But this insidious questioning of Obama's heritage crossed the line. 

So Whoopi, and others, I guess we'll have to keep "correctly informing" all the naysayers until Obama is out of office, so he can keep doing the job he was elected to do today and every day after Day 113!




  

I want to be president...

...when all is right with the world.  When inflation is close to zero.  When unemployment is at about 1%.  When there are no wars, anywhere in the world.  When hunger is unheard of, unless a person chooses to go on a hunger strike.  When color or religion are not deal-breakers.   And I'm sure I could go on.  So don't nominate me until all this happens, and then I'll be happy to serve, but not as of  Day 112!

Just wear old clothes...

That was the message I got, when I volunteered to do some work at the local fish hatchery.  (Yet another story.)  The problem is, I don't have any really "old" clothes.  Because I don't clothes shop much!  My last two positions either involved wearing a uniform, or wearing the exact same type and color of clothing every day, almost like a uniform, except we were expected to buy our own "uniform."    Therefore all my clothes are basically work clothes.  Not having an overactive social life, I don't feel the need to buy more new clothes for special occasions.  I buy clothes that will last through the next millennia (millenium?)

Case in point.  Over 30 years ago I bought  a London Fog trenchcoat.  You know the kind...double breasted, with a belt.  My husband had a fit because at the time it was over $100.  (It was also made in the U.S.A.  Again, another story.)  That same trenchcoat is still around today, made by London Fog, in the stores at roughly $100.  Maybe I could have waited.  But regardless, why would I buy a new coat, when the new ones look exactly like my old one, which obviously does't get that much wear anyway?

Come to think of it, the "new" jeans that you see are being sold with rips and tears, and frayed areas.  So who's to say I'm not wearing old "new" clothes, or is that new "old" clothes, on Day 111!

Do the math...

Remember algebra? Ever use it? If you answered "not much" and "never" you're probably in the majority of Americans. I don't know any mathmeticians. Do they use algebra, or just other higher forms of math?

Yet it's something we all had to learn in high school, and then even in college, regardless of our majors.  With the advent of calculators, and now computers, will it become dead math, like a dead language? I've looked at algebra problems with some young friends, who had homework in it, and could answer their questions. Something I wasn't able to do when I took algebra myself. It makes more sense now, but...is it useful? I think I'll just stick to the mental gymnastics of doing long addtion in my head, on Day 110!

I'm way behind schedule...

I was planning on doing some "catch-up" with this blog, and get all my posts in before the year was up.  The year was up yesterday!  This proves to me that it's not easy to be creative each and every day.  I give a lot of credit to Andy because even if it's only weekly, it's still difficult to come up with a new tidbit to amuse the public.  Oh sure, there are annoying things going on every week, sometimes every day, but who wants to be in a "downer mode" each and every day?  Once a week is bad enough.  We all need to do more laughing.  That's a post in itself...the miracle of laughter!
I'm going to do those 365 posts.  Some may be quite short, just brain droppings in a way.  But a mission is a mission, and a job is a job, and we all need to work to keep our minds active.   I did the math (that's another post in itself...think algebra) and I've only got 255 to go, after Day 109!

Excercise!

If you look at statistics, we as a country, are too fat!  You see it everywhere.  You hear about it everywhere.  There are even two TV shows, that I'm aware of, currently running that are devoted to fat people.  I give those people on those shows extreme credit for facing their demons, and letting the world see them at their absolute worst!  Half naked, in fact! 

I admit, I have gained a few pounds since losing my job.  I thought I was "eating right" and getting enough excercise.  Then I started putting down what I was eating in a day, and counted the calories.  Whoops!  So I cut down substantially on calories.  After a number of days...nothing.  Then I went on a hike, with the local, unofficial hiking club.  We were learning how to use a compass, and so we were doing a lot of "bushwhacking" which means you go straight through the forest (as this one was), up and down hills, using your compass as a guide.  No fancy, wood-chipped trails winding down the slight slopes.  Just straight up and straight down the hills.  Now that's excercise, especially UP the hills!  I'd bet Andy couldn't do that, but perhaps he's not as stubborn as I am.  Or as nuts!

So the next morning I weight myself, and voila...pounds lost!  I thought I was getting excercise, but shopping at the mall is not excercise.  Not that I do that, which is another post, for sure.  Thinking about excercise does not count either.  You need to get out and do! 

Of course diet counts.   And I'm still counting and sticking to an amount that suits me.  And today's excercise ceame in the form of brushhogging an area in the pasture with a DR mower.  I love the DR, but thats an entry in my other, personal blog.  It is definitely a workout! 

You don't have to excercise every day.  But you do have to get out and move.  And it even kills your appetite.  At least it did mine.  Or maybe I was just too sore to lift my hand to my mouth...to eat...on Day 108!

R.I.P. NPR???

Sure hope not! 

There's a bill in congress to abolish funding for NPR.  Guess the Republicans think this is going to make a HUGE dent in the national debt.  Wonder if they'd do the same if  FOX News was funded by the government?

I guess cuts everywhere are needed, but I'm sure there are more "pork barrel" projects that are being overlooked, because someone has their political eye on it, and NPR does none of them any good.  Just reports the truth, as accurately, and unbiased as possible.  A novel idea, to be sure.

So all you who send in pledges better step it up, if you want to hear some of the more interesting programs on the radio today.  It really is a pleasant diversion to that rock and roll from the 60s, 70s, and occasionally 80s, that they play over and over.  Unfortunately it's the same 10 songs over and over and over.  Ever wonder how many songs Jimi Hendrix actually performed, but all we ever hear is "Red House," over and over and over...

I'd better get that pledge check in the mail before the end of Day 107!

Daylight savings time...

...is a week old now, and I think, we're finally getting used to it.  But why do we do it, anyway? 

Everyone prefers that it stay lighter later in the day.  Winters are dreary enough, without going to work in the dark, and returning from work in the dark.  At least with Daylight Saving, you may go to work in the dark, but you'll always come home in the light.

And any more it's only about 4 months long!

I thought one of the reasons was that the school children would not have to wait in the dark for the bus.  Seems to me, I've seen the school buses running in the dark, in the morning, in the winter, anyway! Perhaps we could just start school half an hour later?  Let them have a half hour for lunch.  An hour is too long, and they just start food fights after the first 15 minutes anyway, don't they?

Still adjusting my sleep, my clocks, and my routine on Day 106!

And now Rush Limbaugh chimes in...

Another slow learner...

Yes, of course Rush made some questionable remarks about the Japanese and the way they're handling the disaster.  I'd LOVE to think this would be enough to get him kicked off his network.  Probably no such luck.   How can we teach our kids respect, when we have goofs like this on the airways?    Not that the kids listen to this drivel, but their parents do!  And so they bring this bad behavior to the dinner table conversation.

I'll be listening to NPR, Rush's antithesis, on this Day 105!

Can you take Michelle Bachman seriously?

I only say this because a panellist on Bill Mahr's late night talk show was all atwitter about Michelle Bachman as a potential presidential candidate.   The gal (can't remember her name) was incensed because the only Republican candidates seemed to be white, southern gentlemen, although a few of the candidates mentioned hailed from Minnesota, Indiana, Massachusetts...

When asked who she would endorse, leaving Sarah Palin out of the mix, she mentioned Bachman.

 Bill Mahr then went on to point out how Bachman  had said something about the founding fathers eliminating slavery (huh?) and that Thomas Jefferson was the person who liberated the slaves.  Well maybe he freed his own slaves (don't really know) but I do believe Abraham Lincoln gets the majority of the credit. 

Bachman was never on my radar, nor is politics for much of the year, so I'm just paraphrasing what I heard on Bill's show.  But then yesterday, I DID see a blurb on Bachman that she missed her history lesson yet again, and said that New Hampshire was the place where the "shot heard round the world" was fired.  Indeed it was in Massachusetts, but possibly the folks in New Hampshire heard it too?

Now if I were interested in running for public office, I'd be sure to only talk about things I knew about, and when in politics, I think history should be something you'd know about!  Of course the "shot" may have been a bit harder for me, but not Lincoln!   I may have had an advantage growing up in Illinois, where he is revered, and we even got a day off for his birthday! 

Still trying to make my own history...on Day 104!

And now football...

Yeegads...we all spend hours eating, sleeping, watching, talking sports.  We buy the sportswear, we go to the games, hell...we even pay for the fancy covered domes that the sports are played in.  And what do we get in return?  A strike by the players.  In this latest case, the football players.

They're mad because the owners are making so many millions,  The owners are mad because the players want more millions.  What about the millions who don't ask anything, and still have to pay millions, although it may be somewhat diluted by the individual numbers.  The fans???!!!

How about the owners drop the price of tickets, so that the average Joe, who may or may not be out of a job at this time, can afford at least a bleacher seat?  And lower the cost of "licensed NFL gear" too.  The owners, too, could take a pay cut.   Then they could legitimately say they don't have the money to pay more, and we might believe it!  

Until then, we'll just have to read about the whiney millionaires and billionaires in the news this Day 103!

Are we all just slow learners?

Today I heard that Gilbert Godfrey (sp?), the voice of AFLAC insurance, put out an offensive tweet that I suppose he thought was clever, about the tragedy in Japan, following the earthquake.  Now granted, many of us want to find some humor in a tragedy, jsut to calm our own nerves, as we worry about the long term consequences.  Howwever, these are usually just among close friends, who even then, might still be offended.  Godfrey, on the other hand, put it out for the world to see.

Then there was another little blurb on AOL's newspage, about some B-llist actress who may have yet some MORE nude pictures floating around the internet. I mean...MORE???  ANY are TOO many.  Did she not see this coming?  Did she think it would boost her popularity?  Rather than make her a laughing stock?  Didn't Paris Hilton's faux pas a couple years ago make any impression? 

OMG, I just read the whole article and it seems that Glenn Beck, 50 Cent, and even Lisa Kudrow made inane comments.  50 Cent was the only one to clarify his comments and add that we should all be sympathetic towards the Japanese. 

I guess these people don't read the paper;  or think that due to their (assumed) popularity, that they're above criticism, and won't be reviled for their absolutely assinine behavior.  I'm happy to wallow in my anonymity on this Day 102!

Basketball...my last word...

Not my last blog, just my last word on the subject.  I do not like basketball.   I don't know if it's because I find the game boring, or the athletes, especially the pros, even more boring.  But this week is all about the Final Four.  The apex of basketballdom.  Nirvana for some!

All this, and when I was in college I saw what some would think was "great basketball."  Why Walt Frazier went to my college and played there while I was there.  Our school even went to the N.I.T. Championships, and WON!!!

I went to New Orleans that week instead of New York, and slept on the beach of Lake Ponchatrain, and saw racism close-up in rural Louisiana.    So I missed the N.I.T.  But then I missed Woodstock, and I missed the Chicago Democratic Convention also.  Those two I regret...the N.I.T.,  not at all!

One of our local college backetball teams did win their Missouri Valley Conference title.  I'm happy for them, but I'm not about to go out and  buy t-shirt memorabilia, or season's passes for next year.   They're now hoping to get an invitation to the NCAA playoffs.  Me, I'd rather think about a return trip to New Orleans, on Day 101!

Sorry...

What an over-worked, over-used word!

Every time you turn around, someone is saying "sorry!"  And I want to say "Sorry for what?"  Because you stepped in front of me going through a door?  So what?  Because you took up more than half of the grocery aisle?  So what?  Because you reached in front of me for something on a shelf?  So what?  Take a moment and add up how many times someone says to you, in the course of a normal day "sorry."  Then try to take stock of whether this was just lips moving, or was there something behind the admonition.

Webster's definition, paraphrased, says that "sorry" means: full of sorrow, pity, or sympathy; also an expression of mild regret; inferior in worth or quality; wretched, miserable.

Except for perhaps the phrase "expression of mild regret", none of those definitions apply to your behavior in the above scenarios, in my mind.  I'd rather hear a simply "pardon me" or "excuse me", but "sorry...?"  It flows off everyone's tongue as though it's a brush-off. 

I do say I'm "sorry" if I cause someone a grave inconvenience (such as actually trampling their feet in a movie theater), after I've said "excuse me" while moving down the row.   But otherwise, I'm usually NOT sorry if I do something that might very temporarily inconvenience you.  Could you imagine saying "sorry" every time you jostled someone on the subway train, or the over-crowded bus?  But I guess that's just me, on Day 100!

3-D..."the latest rage?"

The movie people would like you to believe that 3-D is the newest, latest rage when it comes to  projecting a film on the big screen. TV manufacturers also betting that you'll want the very latest electronic out there, and even though youu may have spent the bank to get that big, flat screen, plasma TV, you'll chuck it for 3-D.  And of course there's been a study saying that 3-D can be hazardous to your eyesight.  So the medical professionals are rubbing their hands!

Ho hum...lest we forget that not everyone is under the age of 50, we DID have 3-D movies in the 50s!  The 1950s!  We had those interesting little cardboard glasses with a green lens and a red lens.  If you looked at the screen without the glasses you could not make out what was going on.  Today's 3-D is not as confusing.  But it's NOT NEW!!!  And it didn't take off then, so why should it now?  Maybe because in the 50s, not every household had a TV, and today many, many households have a separate TV for every adult and child in the house. 

I'm not against 3-D, but in this economy, and age of disposible high ticket items, do we really need  it?  Why can't we be satisfied with what we have, until it goes belly up?  I am, with my 20 year old TV, and when it finally gives up the ghost, I sincerely doubt I'll buy into 3-D.  Although those flat screen TVs intrigue me, on Day 99!

Andy beat me to it!!!

He talked last night (Sunday, March 5th) about e-books!  The latest "rage" in this ever-changing electronic world.  Unlike Andy, I do own an e-reader.  I cannot say which one as I own stock in one company, but  bought the competitor's model.  No particular reason.

Now, the "why" I bought it was for the ease of reading a book while I'm on the road.  When we take vacations, I usually take long three or four books to read while the other half is driving, or to put myself to sleep at night when we cannot agree on a TV program to watch.  It will be so much easier to take one e-reader rather than an armful of books.  I prefer to travel light, and even paperbacks take up room and  weight.

At home, however, I prefer to have pages to manually turn.   I love all my quirky bookmarks, including the slip from the library that tells me when my books are due back. 

I wonder if the fiuture will all be written in electronic messages, and the book will totally disappear from the horizon.  I cannot think that at the blink of an eye, a best seller, or a monumental book on some sort of philosophy, or scientific work, will be lost forever with a power outtage.   I cannot fathom that books will go away forever.  We will always need the proverbial "hard copy," I would think.

After I finish this, I think I'll curl up with a hard back book I got from the library, on Day 98!

How soon we forget...

It's hard to believe, in 2011, that a local high school student was suspended for his haircut!  It was a military style, with the top slightly longer than the shaved sides.  I believe the school thought it looked too much like a mohawk.  But even if it did look like a mohawk, what's the difference?  Oh yeah, the school thought it was a distracting haircut!

There was a girl, I believe last year, can't remember it exactly, who was expelled because her hair was pink!   Again, so what???!!! It'll grow out, or it can be recolored, but good grief...it's only hair!!!

I guess everyone forgot about when the Beatles came "across the pond" as they say, and their hairstyles became the rage.  And long, I mean really long, hair became the fashion for boys.  Girls wore their long too, but that was the norm.  Personally, I always wore my short because it was naturally curly, and I hated the way it looked long!   And that was in the 60s, the 1960s!  Instead of moving forward, we're retreating!

But I digress...the kid wasn't wearing a t-shirt with profanity on it.  He didn't have a questionable  tattoo.  He had a haircut!  I mean, look at all the people who are shaving their heads these days.  Again, what's the difference????  Who cares???  And, more importantly, isn't this a case of freedom of expression (like freedom of speech) ???

Where's the ACLU when you really need them, on Day 97?

Out-of-date...commie plot???

Relax, I'm talking about "out-of-date" merchandise, generally speaking  food, that you may or may not find on a shelf in any given grocery or convenience store.  I guess the only other non-consumable item that could go out of date would be batteries.

But food in general, is so well packaged, and so well processed, does it really "go out of date"?   There is a store in town that sells "out-of-date", vacuum-packed beef jerky.  OMIGOD...but think about it.  It's vacuum-packed!   And it's jerky!  If there's no air getting to it, and it's not gonna get "freezer burn", what's it gonna do?  Not a darn thing!  Worst case scenario is that some of the nutrition is lost.  But is there any nutrition in jerky?

Ther are so many people who absolutely won't buy anything that might have a close "sell-by" date on it.  A really big example would be milk.  Nowadays milk is ultrapasteurized, so it lasts even longer than it used to when I was a kid, and the cream still separated!  I've seen people who would not buy milk if it was within 4 or 5 days of the expiration date.  Folks with an houseful of kids.  Heck, the milk's probably gone in a day or two, at the most.   And I'll tell you a secret, I've kept milk a week past the expiration date!  And even drank it!  When I was a child, the way to tell if the milk was no good, was to smell it.  Sour milk is stinky.  Another secret... I've kept sour cream even longer...

If you read the fine print on the packages that have "sell-by" dates, you'll read that it says "some nutrition may be lost," or "best if used by..."  Does not say the package will self-destruct and send you to the doctor immediately, for a long hospital stay!

You want a good tip on how to spot really spoiled, packaged food?  Throw away the cans with the bulging tops!  Now those are probably, truly tainted.  That's my motherly advice on Day 96!