Is the U.S. media going to report this? Is our president going to condemn this?
I'm sending it to all my representatives for comment.
UN and women MPs say Karzai bowed to Islamic fundamentalists before poll
By Jerome Starkey in Kabul
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
Afghanistan's President, Hamid Karzai, has signed a law which "legalises" rape, women's groups and the United Nations warn. Critics claim the president helped rush the bill through parliament in a bid to appease Islamic fundamentalists ahead of elections in August.
In a massive blow for women's rights, the new Shia Family Law negates the need for sexual consent between married couples, tacitly approves child marriage and restricts a woman's right to leave the home, according to UN papers seen by The Independent.
And from the "liberated" country of Iraq.
Iraqi Gays Sentenced to Death for Their Sexuality Face Execution
Executions thought to start this week
LONDON, March 30, 2009 – More than 100 prisoners in Iraq are facing execution – and many of them are believed to have been convicted of the 'crime' of being gay, the UK-based Iraqi-LGBT group reported today.
According to Ali Hili of Iraqi-LGBT, the Iraqi authorities plan to start executing them in batches of 20 starting this week.
The London-based group, which believes that a total of 128 executions are imminent, is calling on the UK Government, international human rights groups and the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva to intervene "with due speed" to prevent "this tragic miscarriage of justice" from going ahead.
"We have information and reports on members of our community whom been arrested and waiting for execution for the crimes of homosexuality," Mr Hili told UK Gay News.
"Iraqi-LGBT has been banned from running activities on Iraqi soil," he revealed.
"Raids by the Iraqi police and Ministry of Interior forces cost our group [to the extent of] diapering and killing of 17 members working for Iraqi-LGBT since 2005.
"The death penalty has been increasing at an alarming rate in Iraq since the new Iraqi regime reintroduced it in August 2004.
"In 2008, at least 285 people were sentenced to death, and at least 34 executed. In 2007 at least 199 people were sentenced to death and 33 were executed, while in 2006 at least 65 people were put to death.
"The actual figures," Mr. Hili suggested, "could be much higher as there are no official statistics for the number of prisoners facing execution."
Thanks Stimpy, for the tip on this stuff. . .
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Stupid, stupid, stupid people!!!!
. . . really pissin this hillbilly off!
NJ girl, 14, arrested after posting nude pics
By BETH DeFALCO, Associated Press Writer –
TRENTON, N.J. – A 14-year-old New Jersey girl has been accused of child pornography after posting nearly 30 explicit nude pictures of herself on MySpace.com — charges that could force her to register as a sex offender if convicted.
Oh my. Lookie here at this little cluster fuck. We've got a very twisted young girl who has not been taught certain social values and skills by her obviously dumb fuck parents and a government official who is trying to either garner national attention or is too stupid to fill that government position. . . afterall, county prosecutors are elected officials so intellect is not something this moron would have much chance of having.
Maybe the parents of this little twisted teenage lolita need to have a long conversation with some DHHR officials. Maybe both the parents and the child need serious counseling that maybe the state could provide. But really, prosecution as a sex offender? Come on, get real. What kind of twisted fuck moron prick prosecutor would even think of doing something like that?
Politics. Once again some dirty little prick is doing whatever it takes to play some sick political game. In this case they are offering up a 14 year old girl as their sacrificial victim. If I were in charge, it would be this punk assed prick prosecutor that would be up on charges. Charges of holding public office and failing to protect the safety and common good of the public coupled with charges of gross negligence and abuse of power in an act meant for personal gain.
Time to hold our elected officials accountable.
NJ girl, 14, arrested after posting nude pics
By BETH DeFALCO, Associated Press Writer –
TRENTON, N.J. – A 14-year-old New Jersey girl has been accused of child pornography after posting nearly 30 explicit nude pictures of herself on MySpace.com — charges that could force her to register as a sex offender if convicted.
Oh my. Lookie here at this little cluster fuck. We've got a very twisted young girl who has not been taught certain social values and skills by her obviously dumb fuck parents and a government official who is trying to either garner national attention or is too stupid to fill that government position. . . afterall, county prosecutors are elected officials so intellect is not something this moron would have much chance of having.
Maybe the parents of this little twisted teenage lolita need to have a long conversation with some DHHR officials. Maybe both the parents and the child need serious counseling that maybe the state could provide. But really, prosecution as a sex offender? Come on, get real. What kind of twisted fuck moron prick prosecutor would even think of doing something like that?
Politics. Once again some dirty little prick is doing whatever it takes to play some sick political game. In this case they are offering up a 14 year old girl as their sacrificial victim. If I were in charge, it would be this punk assed prick prosecutor that would be up on charges. Charges of holding public office and failing to protect the safety and common good of the public coupled with charges of gross negligence and abuse of power in an act meant for personal gain.
Time to hold our elected officials accountable.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
West Virginia Pride - Part 1
Ahhh, the pride of being a West Virginian.
I get really tired of hearing people talk and reading blogs where people bitch, moan and whine like little babies about how others perceive West Virginia. I suspect most of these people are victims in many aspects of their lives and insist that every little thing that happens to them that they perceive as bad is someone else's fault. I grow weary of listening and reading these wimpy little dip shits.
Grow up. When you do, you may find that in order to change your circumstances, you have to change yourself. Aint nothing going to change until you change what's inside, how you act, what you do and how you do it.
Listen, if it's all someone else's fault, how are you going to change anything? You're going to change everyone else? Get real. Blaming the world for your problems makes you powerless. Taking responsibility give you all the power.
So in this series of post, we're going to take a look at some fucked up shit in WV and make a few recommendations for change.
One of the things that really makes us proud is our state legislature. This season of insanity has given us a couple real intellectual nuggets to be proud of.
First we have something called "The Barbie Bill." This bill is to make it illegal to sell Barbie Dolls and "other similar dolls" in WV. Some backwater stooge named Jeff Eldridge has decided that he's going to save the women of WV from themselves and from having bad body image. To do this he has introduced this moronic idea. Of course there is no way such a bill could pass constitutional muster, but such trivialities don't stop WV legislators. Afterall, we'll do anything to protect the body image of women in the state with one of the worse obesity problems in the nation. Fuck all that healthy diet and nutritional education, we'll just keep the Barbies away from them. Will they have Barbie Patrols at the borders searching for doll trafficers importing illegal Barbies?
Nope, never to let something trivial like constitutionality stop them, another legislative giant named Craig Blair has decided that all recipients of public service ought to be drug tested. Afterall, says representative Blair, other people in some jobs have to be tested, so why not welfare recipients. Hey, guess what monkeyboy, those "other" people have safety sensitive jobs and all that I know of have programs whereby if they test positive, they are sent to treatment and treated as people with an illness called "addiction."
Where does WV come up with these people?
Meanwhile, a bottle bill has finally, after five years, made it out of legislative committee. It'll probably never see a vote and if it does, will be defeated, because after all, there are corporate interests who are very active in opposing it.
So how do we change our legislature? Vote and know who you're voting for. Quit electing morons. From the governor to the mayor of the capital city, we've got morons in office. Uncreative, wimpy, unproductive buffoons.
Who's to blame? People from out-of-state who think we're backwoods hicks? Nope, only ourselves.
I get really tired of hearing people talk and reading blogs where people bitch, moan and whine like little babies about how others perceive West Virginia. I suspect most of these people are victims in many aspects of their lives and insist that every little thing that happens to them that they perceive as bad is someone else's fault. I grow weary of listening and reading these wimpy little dip shits.
Grow up. When you do, you may find that in order to change your circumstances, you have to change yourself. Aint nothing going to change until you change what's inside, how you act, what you do and how you do it.
Listen, if it's all someone else's fault, how are you going to change anything? You're going to change everyone else? Get real. Blaming the world for your problems makes you powerless. Taking responsibility give you all the power.
So in this series of post, we're going to take a look at some fucked up shit in WV and make a few recommendations for change.
One of the things that really makes us proud is our state legislature. This season of insanity has given us a couple real intellectual nuggets to be proud of.
First we have something called "The Barbie Bill." This bill is to make it illegal to sell Barbie Dolls and "other similar dolls" in WV. Some backwater stooge named Jeff Eldridge has decided that he's going to save the women of WV from themselves and from having bad body image. To do this he has introduced this moronic idea. Of course there is no way such a bill could pass constitutional muster, but such trivialities don't stop WV legislators. Afterall, we'll do anything to protect the body image of women in the state with one of the worse obesity problems in the nation. Fuck all that healthy diet and nutritional education, we'll just keep the Barbies away from them. Will they have Barbie Patrols at the borders searching for doll trafficers importing illegal Barbies?
Nope, never to let something trivial like constitutionality stop them, another legislative giant named Craig Blair has decided that all recipients of public service ought to be drug tested. Afterall, says representative Blair, other people in some jobs have to be tested, so why not welfare recipients. Hey, guess what monkeyboy, those "other" people have safety sensitive jobs and all that I know of have programs whereby if they test positive, they are sent to treatment and treated as people with an illness called "addiction."
Where does WV come up with these people?
Meanwhile, a bottle bill has finally, after five years, made it out of legislative committee. It'll probably never see a vote and if it does, will be defeated, because after all, there are corporate interests who are very active in opposing it.
So how do we change our legislature? Vote and know who you're voting for. Quit electing morons. From the governor to the mayor of the capital city, we've got morons in office. Uncreative, wimpy, unproductive buffoons.
Who's to blame? People from out-of-state who think we're backwoods hicks? Nope, only ourselves.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Ban Mountaintop Removal!
Tuesday March 24, 2009
EPA halts hundreds of mountaintop mining permits
by The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The Environmental Protection Agency put hundreds of mountaintop coal-mining permits on hold Tuesday, saying it wants to evaluate the projects' impact on streams and wetlands.
The decision, announced by EPA administrator Lisa Jackson, targets a controversial practice that allows coal mining companies to dump waste from mountaintop mining into streams and wetlands.
It could delay 150-250 permits being sought by companies wanting to begin blasting mountaintops to access coal.
Those permits are issued by the Army Corps of Engineers, an agency that has been criticized by environmental groups and has been sued for failing to thoroughly evaluate the environmental impact of mountaintop removal.
It's about f'in time! Apparently the EPA is going back to doing their job after 8 yrs of corporate pandering. Next step: Shut down those in operation who have already ruined hundreds of miles of Appalachian rivers and creeks.
I'll bet the republicrats at the WV capital, including the dip shit governor and the corporate lackeys at the WV Dept. of Environmental Protection (Permitting) are shitting themselves.
Now, if we could just get a sign that the Obama administration has NOT fallen for the corpo-fascist "clean coal" bullshit.
EPA halts hundreds of mountaintop mining permits
by The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The Environmental Protection Agency put hundreds of mountaintop coal-mining permits on hold Tuesday, saying it wants to evaluate the projects' impact on streams and wetlands.
The decision, announced by EPA administrator Lisa Jackson, targets a controversial practice that allows coal mining companies to dump waste from mountaintop mining into streams and wetlands.
It could delay 150-250 permits being sought by companies wanting to begin blasting mountaintops to access coal.
Those permits are issued by the Army Corps of Engineers, an agency that has been criticized by environmental groups and has been sued for failing to thoroughly evaluate the environmental impact of mountaintop removal.
It's about f'in time! Apparently the EPA is going back to doing their job after 8 yrs of corporate pandering. Next step: Shut down those in operation who have already ruined hundreds of miles of Appalachian rivers and creeks.
I'll bet the republicrats at the WV capital, including the dip shit governor and the corporate lackeys at the WV Dept. of Environmental Protection (Permitting) are shitting themselves.
Now, if we could just get a sign that the Obama administration has NOT fallen for the corpo-fascist "clean coal" bullshit.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Veggie Gardening #3 - What to plant
OK, you've figured out what your space is and evaluated your soil. You've started working toward improving your soil and giving your garden definition. Right? You've been paying attention haven't you?!
Now it's time to decide what you're going to grow.
Let's assume you're not going to be putting 1/2 an acre under the plow and you're just doing a small backyard garden. With that in mind, you need to plant species and varieties that make efficient use of space. . . ex: potatoes require lots of space to get a high yield. Also, potatoes are relatively cheap if you buy 50# bags in the fall. So if your space is limited forget about things like potatoes. I feel the same way about broccoli. Forget about corn also. Two ears per plant just isn't worth using valuable garden space for if you're trying to be productive.
So what's good in a small space? Tomatos are great. Grow them close together and vertically on stakes and you get a high yield veggie that is easily canned or frozen. Six to a dozen plants will keep you in tomatos and sauce all year long. The real champion of product per square foot of space is bush beans. Beans grow profusely. A 20' row of beans will yield lots of fresh eating and some for freezing and canning. Two 20' rows will keep you in beans all year (if you're only feeding a family of three or four). I love fresh beans. Blue Lake bush have always been my preferred bean variety. When it comes to beans, I prefer not to go verticle and pole beans and half runnings tend to yield less than bush.
Another good crop which isn't quite so prolific is peas. You can grow them on a fence along the edges of you garden so they don't take up any space and there is simply nothing more delicious and sweet than a fresh raw pea put of the pod. Again, vertical is always good in a garden.
Cabbages, if planted early enough are good crops. Plant them close to each other, mulch and fertilize well and you'll get a lot of cabbages in a fairly small space. Store them in a cool dry place and they'll last well into the winter. Make saurkraut and they'll last forever. When you harvest the cabbages in early to mid summer, you may be able to use the spave to plants something else like beans.
Like tomatos, I get good yields from egg plants. Some things you'll have to buy plants and others you'll be able to plant seeds. Check things out at your local nursery/garden center.
One last recommendation. . . SQUASH. Summer bush varieties will give you very high yields and not take up too much space.
The best thing to do is to get some seed catalogs and read them. You can order free on-line from many different seed companies. Go google.
Remember, gardening lasts well into fall. You can plant early spring crops in early fall and harvest right up till the first frost and beyond. I've picked brussel sprouts at Christmas. Spinach will grow past the first frost but not in the heat of summer. Peas also do well if you time them right and get a late frost.
The best thing to do is go down to your local nursery on a day when they're not busy (don't go on Sat. afternoon. . . try Wed. morning) and start talking. Good gardeners love to share their experiences and people who work in garden centers love to give advice. Go around to every place in your area and tell them about your garden and what you want to do with it. You'll get more valuable information that way than reading my bullshit on the internet.
Let's review:
1) Plan and define your area
2) Prepare your soil
3) Decide what to plants you want and learn about them
Now it's time to decide what you're going to grow.
Let's assume you're not going to be putting 1/2 an acre under the plow and you're just doing a small backyard garden. With that in mind, you need to plant species and varieties that make efficient use of space. . . ex: potatoes require lots of space to get a high yield. Also, potatoes are relatively cheap if you buy 50# bags in the fall. So if your space is limited forget about things like potatoes. I feel the same way about broccoli. Forget about corn also. Two ears per plant just isn't worth using valuable garden space for if you're trying to be productive.
So what's good in a small space? Tomatos are great. Grow them close together and vertically on stakes and you get a high yield veggie that is easily canned or frozen. Six to a dozen plants will keep you in tomatos and sauce all year long. The real champion of product per square foot of space is bush beans. Beans grow profusely. A 20' row of beans will yield lots of fresh eating and some for freezing and canning. Two 20' rows will keep you in beans all year (if you're only feeding a family of three or four). I love fresh beans. Blue Lake bush have always been my preferred bean variety. When it comes to beans, I prefer not to go verticle and pole beans and half runnings tend to yield less than bush.
Another good crop which isn't quite so prolific is peas. You can grow them on a fence along the edges of you garden so they don't take up any space and there is simply nothing more delicious and sweet than a fresh raw pea put of the pod. Again, vertical is always good in a garden.
Cabbages, if planted early enough are good crops. Plant them close to each other, mulch and fertilize well and you'll get a lot of cabbages in a fairly small space. Store them in a cool dry place and they'll last well into the winter. Make saurkraut and they'll last forever. When you harvest the cabbages in early to mid summer, you may be able to use the spave to plants something else like beans.
Like tomatos, I get good yields from egg plants. Some things you'll have to buy plants and others you'll be able to plant seeds. Check things out at your local nursery/garden center.
One last recommendation. . . SQUASH. Summer bush varieties will give you very high yields and not take up too much space.
The best thing to do is to get some seed catalogs and read them. You can order free on-line from many different seed companies. Go google.
Remember, gardening lasts well into fall. You can plant early spring crops in early fall and harvest right up till the first frost and beyond. I've picked brussel sprouts at Christmas. Spinach will grow past the first frost but not in the heat of summer. Peas also do well if you time them right and get a late frost.
The best thing to do is go down to your local nursery on a day when they're not busy (don't go on Sat. afternoon. . . try Wed. morning) and start talking. Good gardeners love to share their experiences and people who work in garden centers love to give advice. Go around to every place in your area and tell them about your garden and what you want to do with it. You'll get more valuable information that way than reading my bullshit on the internet.
Let's review:
1) Plan and define your area
2) Prepare your soil
3) Decide what to plants you want and learn about them
NASA. . . wtf happened?
Astronauts fail to budge stuck cargo carrier
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The Discovery astronauts were unable to dislodge a stuck cargo carrier system during their third and final space walk Monday, and carried on with their busy to-do list on the orbiting space station, NASA said.
Richard Arnold and Joseph Acaba, two former science teachers turned astronauts, emerged from the decompression chamber at 1537 GMT, some six minutes earlier than planned.
One of their tasks during a six-and-a-half hour walk in space was to unblock the external cargo carrier after Acaba and fellow astronaut Steven Swanson inadvertently inserted a restraining pin upside down on Saturday.
Visiting space shuttle Discovery astronauts Richard Arnold and Joseph Acaba ended up tying down the stuck cargo platform with tethers and left it for future spacewalkers to deal with.
"I know it didn't turn out the way we wanted it to, but you guys did a great job," astronaut Steven Swanson radioed to Arnold and Acaba from inside Discovery's crew cabin.
WTF?! Science teachers? "inadvertently" inserted a restraining pin upside down. "did a great job?" By fucking up the whole process?
I'm so sick and tired of hearing these NASA rah-rah sound bites every time I listen to a launch or watch NASA TV. These silly fuckers couldn't hold a candle to the great ones who preceeded them. They are so tied to their check lists and so damned incompetent that they end up doing stupid shit like this. During the last shuttle mission some bozo let a multimillion dollar bag full of tools drift away into space. Luckily they had another set otherwise the mission would have been over.
It really gripes my ass that this is the level of excellence within the astronaut corps these days. Moronic fools don't deserve to go into space following in the foot steps of great ones like Shepherd, Glenn and Lovell. Those were men who had immense tasks to perform and did them to perfection with zero mistakes. Had they done it any other way their asses wouldn't have made it back. Astronauts these days are nothing but cookie cutter pretty boys and girls who can smile for the camera. Sadly, to those of us who know something about space flight know that these imbeciles along with NASA administration and their uncreative engineering teams are ruining NASA.
in⋅ad⋅vert⋅ent [in-uhd-vur-tnt]
–adjective
1. unintentional: an inadvertent insult.
2. not attentive; heedless.
3. of, pertaining to, or characterized by lack of attention.
Related forms:
in⋅ad⋅vert⋅ent⋅ly, adverb
Synonyms:
2. inattentive. 3. thoughtless, careless, negligent.
I remember a time when NASA hired fighter pilots with engineering degrees or professionally trained scientists who learned to fly like fighter pilots as astronauts. That was back when astronauts trained and retrained for every aspect of every mission and "inadvertent" mistakes were NOT made. What excuse is there for going up into space and doing something so stupid as inserting a pin "upside down" that fucks up a major part of a mission?
I'd say NASA in general is in a state of inadvertency.
When the shuttle is retired in a couple years, the USA, the country who put men on the moon and brought them back six times, will be dependent upon Russia for all their manned spaced launches until they get their new manned rocket up and running, which is inferior to the Russian's 40 yr old rockets. Geez.
Oops: Colbert wins NASA space station name contest
Buzz UpSendSharePrint
Mon Mar 23, 4:14 pm ET
AP – In this Monday, March 5, 2007 file photo, Stephen Colbert poses in New York. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, …
WASHINGTON – NASA's online contest to name a new room at the international space station went awry. Comedian Stephen Colbert won.
The name "Colbert" beat out NASA's four suggested options in the space agency's effort to have the public help name the addition. The new room will be launched later this year.
If this happens I will personally launch a protest against NASA that will shake their rockets. Name a space station module after some sarcastic, punk ass buffoon comedian?
To all you moronic dip shits who "voted" for this asshole; Fuck you you shallow minded idiots.
What kind of insult would this be to the memory of Gus Grissom, Ed White or Roger Jaffee and all those who gave it all for space flight. What kind of insult would it be to incredibly great astronauts like Neil Armstrong, Gene Cernan or John Young who are still alive today? Few realize or can imagine the almost super human tasks that these men performed.
I get so damned tired of the blatant dumb shit ignorance exhibited constantly in this pitiful downhill moving country of ours. . . what potential we once had.
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The Discovery astronauts were unable to dislodge a stuck cargo carrier system during their third and final space walk Monday, and carried on with their busy to-do list on the orbiting space station, NASA said.
Richard Arnold and Joseph Acaba, two former science teachers turned astronauts, emerged from the decompression chamber at 1537 GMT, some six minutes earlier than planned.
One of their tasks during a six-and-a-half hour walk in space was to unblock the external cargo carrier after Acaba and fellow astronaut Steven Swanson inadvertently inserted a restraining pin upside down on Saturday.
Visiting space shuttle Discovery astronauts Richard Arnold and Joseph Acaba ended up tying down the stuck cargo platform with tethers and left it for future spacewalkers to deal with.
"I know it didn't turn out the way we wanted it to, but you guys did a great job," astronaut Steven Swanson radioed to Arnold and Acaba from inside Discovery's crew cabin.
WTF?! Science teachers? "inadvertently" inserted a restraining pin upside down. "did a great job?" By fucking up the whole process?
I'm so sick and tired of hearing these NASA rah-rah sound bites every time I listen to a launch or watch NASA TV. These silly fuckers couldn't hold a candle to the great ones who preceeded them. They are so tied to their check lists and so damned incompetent that they end up doing stupid shit like this. During the last shuttle mission some bozo let a multimillion dollar bag full of tools drift away into space. Luckily they had another set otherwise the mission would have been over.
It really gripes my ass that this is the level of excellence within the astronaut corps these days. Moronic fools don't deserve to go into space following in the foot steps of great ones like Shepherd, Glenn and Lovell. Those were men who had immense tasks to perform and did them to perfection with zero mistakes. Had they done it any other way their asses wouldn't have made it back. Astronauts these days are nothing but cookie cutter pretty boys and girls who can smile for the camera. Sadly, to those of us who know something about space flight know that these imbeciles along with NASA administration and their uncreative engineering teams are ruining NASA.
in⋅ad⋅vert⋅ent [in-uhd-vur-tnt]
–adjective
1. unintentional: an inadvertent insult.
2. not attentive; heedless.
3. of, pertaining to, or characterized by lack of attention.
Related forms:
in⋅ad⋅vert⋅ent⋅ly, adverb
Synonyms:
2. inattentive. 3. thoughtless, careless, negligent.
I remember a time when NASA hired fighter pilots with engineering degrees or professionally trained scientists who learned to fly like fighter pilots as astronauts. That was back when astronauts trained and retrained for every aspect of every mission and "inadvertent" mistakes were NOT made. What excuse is there for going up into space and doing something so stupid as inserting a pin "upside down" that fucks up a major part of a mission?
I'd say NASA in general is in a state of inadvertency.
When the shuttle is retired in a couple years, the USA, the country who put men on the moon and brought them back six times, will be dependent upon Russia for all their manned spaced launches until they get their new manned rocket up and running, which is inferior to the Russian's 40 yr old rockets. Geez.
Oops: Colbert wins NASA space station name contest
Buzz UpSendSharePrint
Mon Mar 23, 4:14 pm ET
AP – In this Monday, March 5, 2007 file photo, Stephen Colbert poses in New York. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, …
WASHINGTON – NASA's online contest to name a new room at the international space station went awry. Comedian Stephen Colbert won.
The name "Colbert" beat out NASA's four suggested options in the space agency's effort to have the public help name the addition. The new room will be launched later this year.
If this happens I will personally launch a protest against NASA that will shake their rockets. Name a space station module after some sarcastic, punk ass buffoon comedian?
To all you moronic dip shits who "voted" for this asshole; Fuck you you shallow minded idiots.
What kind of insult would this be to the memory of Gus Grissom, Ed White or Roger Jaffee and all those who gave it all for space flight. What kind of insult would it be to incredibly great astronauts like Neil Armstrong, Gene Cernan or John Young who are still alive today? Few realize or can imagine the almost super human tasks that these men performed.
I get so damned tired of the blatant dumb shit ignorance exhibited constantly in this pitiful downhill moving country of ours. . . what potential we once had.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Home Again, Expectation and Serenity
Sometimes I really can't wait to get back home. This is where I live and I've always lived in places I liked. I'm lucky. Always have been. Since I first moved out on my own 35 yrs ago I've had options. I know I'm lucky because I've been around a whole lotta people who didn't really have much option in their life. So I've always chose to live where I was comfortable. On the rare occasion where I found myself uncomfortable, I've moved someplace comfortable.
So coming home yesterday was a little disconcerting in that I wasn't excited about getting home. Maybe it's because I'm getting much more comfortable in our home away from home. Maybe it's because I'd left unfullfilled. I'm spoiled in many ways and my expectation sometimes ambush me into thinking that I should get everything I expect to get and I wanted to do a whole lot more of this while I was on vacation:
Unfortunately (by my standards), I didn't do a whole lotta that and did what it took to go from this:
to this:
Why did I expect anything else? I'd committed to doing the remodeling job long before we left. What made me think I was going to be able to spend every day out running around in my boat doing exactly what I wanted to do?
Where do our expectations come from? Mine come from my ego. My ego tells me what I want, how things ought to be, and why all these things should be this way. My ego can drag me around like I'm a sick puppy with a ring through it's nose.
So why do we let our expectations drag us through the mud and sit on our head? My egoic mind can construct all sorts of senarios that I think ought to happen in the future. These are expectation. It might be as simple as what I think someone I am about to approach ought to say to me that or it might be something as complex as how a week long vacation ought to progress or even how an entire career should evolve. Nothing will set me up for disappointment and resentment faster than my expectations. Expectation have been referred to as "premeditated resentments."
Most of us are hampered by one or a combination of a number of psychic conditions: insecurity, fear, inferiority, jealosy, and anger, just to name a few. These character defects cause us to need things to be a certain way. Our ego wants us to look good maybe physically and intellectually. The egoic mind might want us to have the best looking woman or man in the house. It could demand that we be adulated and adored by those around us. It may demand that we drive the coolest car or the best boat. Yes, it makes demands. It tells you how things should be in your world and then drags you around like that whipped pup demanding that you fulfill those expectations. When those demands aren't met, your ego tells you you're a failure.
The demands of my egoic mind are very rarely in synch with reality. The difference between those two things; reality and what my ego tells me things should be is the primary source of my psychic disturbances. For me, it is pretty much the totality of my mental bullshit. It can get in the way of all my relationships and sabotage all my successes. It makes my failures unbearable. It causes me to be malcontent and hateful.
How do I overcome these psychic handicaps? It's simple. All I have to do is accept the moment for exactly what it is. All I have to do is not resist what is.
Some would think that total acceptance of the moment means to sit back and do nothing while the world might be falling apart around you. On the contrary. It means that you see reality for what it is, accept it and then with a clear and calm head you take whatever action is necessary. Once you accept the moment of now, the action you then take will be one of three things. 1) You can totally accept what is and simply live with it. 2) You can accept what is and then remove yourself from the situation if it is unbearable. or 3) you can change the situation. To do anything else is insane. Wars are fought because people seek some other solution. People are beat-up and sometimes killed because of the insanity of doing something other than those three things. All the domestic abuse and violence in the world is from people seeking a different solution.
There is a popular prayer among recovering people that goes like this:
God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I can not change
The courage to change the things I can
and the wisdom to know the difference.
That last part; the wisdom to know the difference is the hard part, but by accepting the now and not fighting what already is, one has a much better chance of being able to clearly define what one can change and what one can't.
Accept where you are. Accept who you are. Accept what is right now this moment. It's exactly the way it's supposed to be. Does it provide you opportunities to change things? Probably. and perhaps the #1 thing you can change today is YOURSELF simply by accepting what is and going forth in a positive constructive manner.
So coming home yesterday was a little disconcerting in that I wasn't excited about getting home. Maybe it's because I'm getting much more comfortable in our home away from home. Maybe it's because I'd left unfullfilled. I'm spoiled in many ways and my expectation sometimes ambush me into thinking that I should get everything I expect to get and I wanted to do a whole lot more of this while I was on vacation:
Unfortunately (by my standards), I didn't do a whole lotta that and did what it took to go from this:
to this:
Why did I expect anything else? I'd committed to doing the remodeling job long before we left. What made me think I was going to be able to spend every day out running around in my boat doing exactly what I wanted to do?
Where do our expectations come from? Mine come from my ego. My ego tells me what I want, how things ought to be, and why all these things should be this way. My ego can drag me around like I'm a sick puppy with a ring through it's nose.
So why do we let our expectations drag us through the mud and sit on our head? My egoic mind can construct all sorts of senarios that I think ought to happen in the future. These are expectation. It might be as simple as what I think someone I am about to approach ought to say to me that or it might be something as complex as how a week long vacation ought to progress or even how an entire career should evolve. Nothing will set me up for disappointment and resentment faster than my expectations. Expectation have been referred to as "premeditated resentments."
Most of us are hampered by one or a combination of a number of psychic conditions: insecurity, fear, inferiority, jealosy, and anger, just to name a few. These character defects cause us to need things to be a certain way. Our ego wants us to look good maybe physically and intellectually. The egoic mind might want us to have the best looking woman or man in the house. It could demand that we be adulated and adored by those around us. It may demand that we drive the coolest car or the best boat. Yes, it makes demands. It tells you how things should be in your world and then drags you around like that whipped pup demanding that you fulfill those expectations. When those demands aren't met, your ego tells you you're a failure.
The demands of my egoic mind are very rarely in synch with reality. The difference between those two things; reality and what my ego tells me things should be is the primary source of my psychic disturbances. For me, it is pretty much the totality of my mental bullshit. It can get in the way of all my relationships and sabotage all my successes. It makes my failures unbearable. It causes me to be malcontent and hateful.
How do I overcome these psychic handicaps? It's simple. All I have to do is accept the moment for exactly what it is. All I have to do is not resist what is.
Some would think that total acceptance of the moment means to sit back and do nothing while the world might be falling apart around you. On the contrary. It means that you see reality for what it is, accept it and then with a clear and calm head you take whatever action is necessary. Once you accept the moment of now, the action you then take will be one of three things. 1) You can totally accept what is and simply live with it. 2) You can accept what is and then remove yourself from the situation if it is unbearable. or 3) you can change the situation. To do anything else is insane. Wars are fought because people seek some other solution. People are beat-up and sometimes killed because of the insanity of doing something other than those three things. All the domestic abuse and violence in the world is from people seeking a different solution.
There is a popular prayer among recovering people that goes like this:
God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I can not change
The courage to change the things I can
and the wisdom to know the difference.
That last part; the wisdom to know the difference is the hard part, but by accepting the now and not fighting what already is, one has a much better chance of being able to clearly define what one can change and what one can't.
Accept where you are. Accept who you are. Accept what is right now this moment. It's exactly the way it's supposed to be. Does it provide you opportunities to change things? Probably. and perhaps the #1 thing you can change today is YOURSELF simply by accepting what is and going forth in a positive constructive manner.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Son of the Working Class
Here are some pictures of a man who is capable of doing whatever he decides he wants to do. He graduated from college with honors and Phi Beta Kappa. He chooses to fight for the rights of the working class in America. For some reason, trying to make life better for others is more important to him than the pursuit of wealth and easy comfort.
He is my son. I can't imagine how I could be more proud of him. He is my hero.
Just thought I'd post some picts of an All-American original.
He is my son. I can't imagine how I could be more proud of him. He is my hero.
Just thought I'd post some picts of an All-American original.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Junk News
Don't stray from Mexico resorts, says US senator
WASHINGTON (AFP) – . . .
"Many places in Mexico are basically self-contained resort areas, where, frankly, you are not going to have a lot of interaction with people from the outside," Senator John Cornyn told Fox News.
Why bother going to Mexico if you're not going to "stray from the resort?!" Most of the fun I have in Mexico is exploring the sights, sounds and smells and hanging around le gente.
Obama Lifts Stem Cell Restrictions
ABC News - 2 hours, 32 minutes ago
Obama: We're "restoring scientific integrity to government decision making."
Good. It's about time. Basing gov't policy on what you think your imaginary friend the sky fairy will think is simply absurd. Millions of lives have been a best jeopardized by the insanity of the Bush politics of pandering to the religious nut jobs.
Here's the dumbest headline I've seen in a long time:
Obama takes different path than Bush
Reuters -
The President lifts restrictions on human stem cell research weeks after ordering the Guantanamo detention center closed.
Oh, really? Who'd a thought?
Can NASA take a joke? Try space station Colbert
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON – Earth to Space Station Colbert: The cosmic joke may be on NASA. Comedian Stephen Colbert, who couldn't get his mock presidential campaign off the ground, is polling better by aiming higher. He's convinced his many fans to write in his name in NASA's online public vote to name a new room to be added to the international space station.
Here's a clue for ya. . . NASA already is a joke.
Why not "Armstrong," "Grissom," "Shirra" or some other name that reflects the proud history of NASA?
Better yet: why not rebuild the F-1 engine instead of f'ing around with unreliable and dangerous SRBs?
WASHINGTON (AFP) – . . .
"Many places in Mexico are basically self-contained resort areas, where, frankly, you are not going to have a lot of interaction with people from the outside," Senator John Cornyn told Fox News.
Why bother going to Mexico if you're not going to "stray from the resort?!" Most of the fun I have in Mexico is exploring the sights, sounds and smells and hanging around le gente.
Obama Lifts Stem Cell Restrictions
ABC News - 2 hours, 32 minutes ago
Obama: We're "restoring scientific integrity to government decision making."
Good. It's about time. Basing gov't policy on what you think your imaginary friend the sky fairy will think is simply absurd. Millions of lives have been a best jeopardized by the insanity of the Bush politics of pandering to the religious nut jobs.
Here's the dumbest headline I've seen in a long time:
Obama takes different path than Bush
Reuters -
The President lifts restrictions on human stem cell research weeks after ordering the Guantanamo detention center closed.
Oh, really? Who'd a thought?
Can NASA take a joke? Try space station Colbert
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON – Earth to Space Station Colbert: The cosmic joke may be on NASA. Comedian Stephen Colbert, who couldn't get his mock presidential campaign off the ground, is polling better by aiming higher. He's convinced his many fans to write in his name in NASA's online public vote to name a new room to be added to the international space station.
Here's a clue for ya. . . NASA already is a joke.
Why not "Armstrong," "Grissom," "Shirra" or some other name that reflects the proud history of NASA?
Better yet: why not rebuild the F-1 engine instead of f'ing around with unreliable and dangerous SRBs?
Suspicions confirmed:
http://www.physorg.com/news155404273.html
Researchers find brain differences between believers and non-believers
In two studies led by Assistant Psychology Professor Michael Inzlicht, participants performed a Stroop task - a well-known test of cognitive control - while hooked up to electrodes that measured their brain activity.
Compared to non-believers, the religious participants showed significantly less activity in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a portion of the brain that helps modify behavior by signaling when attention and control are needed, usually as a result of some anxiety-producing event like making a mistake. The stronger their religious zeal and the more they believed in God, the less their ACC fired in response to their own errors, and the fewer errors they made.
"You could think of this part of the brain like a cortical alarm bell that rings when an individual has just made a mistake or experiences uncertainty," says lead author Inzlicht, who teaches and conducts research at the University of Toronto Scarborough. "We found that religious people or even people who simply believe in the existence of God show significantly less brain activity in relation to their own errors. They're much less anxious and feel less stressed when they have made an error."
These correlations remained strong even after controlling for personality and cognitive ability, says Inzlicht, who also found that religious participants made fewer errors on the Stroop task than their non-believing counterparts.
Their findings show religious belief has a calming effect on its devotees, which makes them less likely to feel anxious about making errors or facing the unknown. But Inzlicht cautions that anxiety is a "double-edged sword" which is at times necessary and helpful.
"Obviously, anxiety can be negative because if you have too much, you're paralyzed with fear," he says. "However, it also serves a very useful function in that it alerts us when we're making mistakes. If you don't experience anxiety when you make an error, what impetus do you have to change or improve your behaviour so you don't make the same mistakes again and again?"
The study is appearing online now in Psychological Science.
Source: University of Toronto
Researchers find brain differences between believers and non-believers
In two studies led by Assistant Psychology Professor Michael Inzlicht, participants performed a Stroop task - a well-known test of cognitive control - while hooked up to electrodes that measured their brain activity.
Compared to non-believers, the religious participants showed significantly less activity in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a portion of the brain that helps modify behavior by signaling when attention and control are needed, usually as a result of some anxiety-producing event like making a mistake. The stronger their religious zeal and the more they believed in God, the less their ACC fired in response to their own errors, and the fewer errors they made.
"You could think of this part of the brain like a cortical alarm bell that rings when an individual has just made a mistake or experiences uncertainty," says lead author Inzlicht, who teaches and conducts research at the University of Toronto Scarborough. "We found that religious people or even people who simply believe in the existence of God show significantly less brain activity in relation to their own errors. They're much less anxious and feel less stressed when they have made an error."
These correlations remained strong even after controlling for personality and cognitive ability, says Inzlicht, who also found that religious participants made fewer errors on the Stroop task than their non-believing counterparts.
Their findings show religious belief has a calming effect on its devotees, which makes them less likely to feel anxious about making errors or facing the unknown. But Inzlicht cautions that anxiety is a "double-edged sword" which is at times necessary and helpful.
"Obviously, anxiety can be negative because if you have too much, you're paralyzed with fear," he says. "However, it also serves a very useful function in that it alerts us when we're making mistakes. If you don't experience anxiety when you make an error, what impetus do you have to change or improve your behaviour so you don't make the same mistakes again and again?"
The study is appearing online now in Psychological Science.
Source: University of Toronto
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Defining and improving your soil
Yesterday I said that the first step in gardening was to define your available area. Once you've done that, you've got to define your soil. Is it horrible old hardpan full of rocks and debris? The other extreme is a soft organic filled fluffy mixture of sand clay and organic material. Most folks have something in between.
You can get a soil sample, take it to your local county extension agent and have it tested. You will then receive a reply from them recommending how many lbs. per acre of nitrogen, phophorous and potasium you need to add to your soil, but for the person with a small plot, the best thing to do is simply build up your soil to the best of your ability. I'm an organic farmer, so I add all the organic matter I can to my big garden plot. Leaves, grass clipping, kitchen waste, whatever. I just spread it around.
You can compost if you'd like and I could explain how to do that, but there are already lots of resources on the web for composting. Just remember, composting is about piling up organic matter and letting it rot. Some of those web sites will lead you to believe that you've got to be a trained chemist or biologist with mechanical skills to compost. You don't. Simply pile the stuff up and let it rot. Turn it now and then and don't let it dry out or stay too wet. It is best to keep it at least semi covered. But whatever you do remember, this aint rocket science.
Mix as much organic matter as you can into your soil. If it's really really bad like I described above, you may have to just concentrate on small areas where you know a tomato plant is going to go or a row of beans will be. I've seen old city lots that had years of gravel and debris on them turned into nice garden spots over time.
One really good method is to simply build good soil on top of nasty bad substrate. To do this, get some boards or timbers and make borders and then fill the inside with dirt and organic matter. This is called "Raised bed gardening." Back when I was a kid it was just the way some people did it and we didn't have a fancy name for it like "raised bed gardening."
Something else you can do with board and timbers is to build terraces on sloped ground. Come out a few feet from the hillside and lay a row of timbers or boards and back fill with soil. You can develop almost any piece of ground for a garden if you really want to and think creatively.
You've got to remember that this is an ongoing process. You're not going to have your best garden the first year you plant if you do it right. You will be continually improving by building up the soil.
A good source of organic matter, if you can afford it is bags of peat and manure. If you've got access to barns with horses, cattle or poultry, get your own fresh stuff. Just don't dress growing plants with fresh manure. In spring people clean out their old mulch around their flower beds. Jump on that stuff. It's great to add to a garden, expecially old hardwood mulch. I once had a cheap source of hardwood mulch and used it to mulch my vegetable garden and then turn it in the following spring or fall.
For you city folks, restaurants are a really good source of compost material. Talk to the folks at the restaurants you frequent and see if they'll let you have their organic trash. Also, coffee shops sometimes put out their coffee ground for customers to have for compost. Maybe you can get a local landscaper to drop off a load or two of clippings. They're always looking for a place to get rid of yard waste without having to haul it to the dump.
No matter where you get your organic matter that you turn into your soil, the important thing is to do it. Get as much as you can and work it into the soil as deep as you can. Now relax, don't make a labor from hell out of this. Just do the best you can and then leave it. When you plant individual plants and rows of seeds you can add a little extra to the holes or as side dressing. Like I said, this is a process that you'll work for years maybe and as time goes on it'll get better and better. Don't try to turn your soil into rich dark humus in the first year.
So, let's review:
1. Survey your space. Decide exactly how much room you've got for a garden.
2. Collect, spread and work organic material into your soil.
Good start. Above all else, enjoy yourself. Know that six months from now you are going to be reaping a harvest that will give you great satisfaction and three years from now you will be amazed at the deep brown color of the soil and how rich and musty it smells compared to when you started.
You can get a soil sample, take it to your local county extension agent and have it tested. You will then receive a reply from them recommending how many lbs. per acre of nitrogen, phophorous and potasium you need to add to your soil, but for the person with a small plot, the best thing to do is simply build up your soil to the best of your ability. I'm an organic farmer, so I add all the organic matter I can to my big garden plot. Leaves, grass clipping, kitchen waste, whatever. I just spread it around.
You can compost if you'd like and I could explain how to do that, but there are already lots of resources on the web for composting. Just remember, composting is about piling up organic matter and letting it rot. Some of those web sites will lead you to believe that you've got to be a trained chemist or biologist with mechanical skills to compost. You don't. Simply pile the stuff up and let it rot. Turn it now and then and don't let it dry out or stay too wet. It is best to keep it at least semi covered. But whatever you do remember, this aint rocket science.
Mix as much organic matter as you can into your soil. If it's really really bad like I described above, you may have to just concentrate on small areas where you know a tomato plant is going to go or a row of beans will be. I've seen old city lots that had years of gravel and debris on them turned into nice garden spots over time.
One really good method is to simply build good soil on top of nasty bad substrate. To do this, get some boards or timbers and make borders and then fill the inside with dirt and organic matter. This is called "Raised bed gardening." Back when I was a kid it was just the way some people did it and we didn't have a fancy name for it like "raised bed gardening."
Something else you can do with board and timbers is to build terraces on sloped ground. Come out a few feet from the hillside and lay a row of timbers or boards and back fill with soil. You can develop almost any piece of ground for a garden if you really want to and think creatively.
You've got to remember that this is an ongoing process. You're not going to have your best garden the first year you plant if you do it right. You will be continually improving by building up the soil.
A good source of organic matter, if you can afford it is bags of peat and manure. If you've got access to barns with horses, cattle or poultry, get your own fresh stuff. Just don't dress growing plants with fresh manure. In spring people clean out their old mulch around their flower beds. Jump on that stuff. It's great to add to a garden, expecially old hardwood mulch. I once had a cheap source of hardwood mulch and used it to mulch my vegetable garden and then turn it in the following spring or fall.
For you city folks, restaurants are a really good source of compost material. Talk to the folks at the restaurants you frequent and see if they'll let you have their organic trash. Also, coffee shops sometimes put out their coffee ground for customers to have for compost. Maybe you can get a local landscaper to drop off a load or two of clippings. They're always looking for a place to get rid of yard waste without having to haul it to the dump.
No matter where you get your organic matter that you turn into your soil, the important thing is to do it. Get as much as you can and work it into the soil as deep as you can. Now relax, don't make a labor from hell out of this. Just do the best you can and then leave it. When you plant individual plants and rows of seeds you can add a little extra to the holes or as side dressing. Like I said, this is a process that you'll work for years maybe and as time goes on it'll get better and better. Don't try to turn your soil into rich dark humus in the first year.
So, let's review:
1. Survey your space. Decide exactly how much room you've got for a garden.
2. Collect, spread and work organic material into your soil.
Good start. Above all else, enjoy yourself. Know that six months from now you are going to be reaping a harvest that will give you great satisfaction and three years from now you will be amazed at the deep brown color of the soil and how rich and musty it smells compared to when you started.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
A Victory Garden
Check out Pheobe Fay over at http://phoebefay.blogspot.com/ . She always posts good stuff in a humorous fashion.
This post is a direct rip off of her latest post. Thanks Ms. Fay, if I were capable of original thinking I wouldn't have to do this. . .
When I was growing up, people were still talking about "Victory" gardens.
From Wiki (this reference seems accurate enough):
Victory gardens, also called war gardens or food gardens for defense, were vegetable, fruit and herb gardens planted at private residences in United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Germany[1] during World War I and World War II to reduce the pressure on the public food supply brought on by the war effort. In addition to indirectly aiding the war effort these gardens were also considered a civil "morale booster" — in that gardeners could feel empowered by their contribution of labor and rewarded by the produce grown. Making victory gardens became a part of daily life on the home front.
The old guy that lived next door to us and taught me a lot of what I know deep down inside about gardening always called his little plot behind his garage his "Victory garden." I'd sit for hours and watch him weed and plant. He always had a little row of parsley that I was allowed to help myself to. I'd munch parsley while, without realizing it, learn most of what I needed to know about gardening. I remember one time I decided I was going to plant a garden. It was before I started school so I must have been 4 or 5. I got a shovel and a hoe out of the garage and proceeded to dig a big long trench across the back yard where I was going to "plant lima beans." Now, who knows how "big" or "long" that trench was, but I remember my father coming home from work that evening and being very miffed that there was a big long trench across the backyard, but then being amused when he found out that I had dug it for my lima beans.
Anyway, from my earliest memories I wanted to be a farmer . . . something about getting my hands in the dirt. I always had some sort of garden and kept pet chickens when I was growing up. . . I grew up in a small country town, but people didn't normally keep chickens in our neighborhood.
So gardening is sorta in my blood. With that in mind, I'm going to do a series of posts on gardening and home food production. I might rip a lot of it off and repost and some will be my own thoughts. But ya know, in times like these, aw hell, in any times, knowing how to grow and preserve your own food is something good to know.
Let me leave you with this thought:
Food can be grown anywhere. If there is a space for dirt to set, food can be grown there. . . you can grow in pots on a balcony or in old hard pan soil on a vacant lot. . . on a little strip of ground next to a building or in the middle of the woods. Food can be grown anywhere.
To get started, take an inventory of the space you have available for growing. What are it's dimensions? Is there a water source available. How much sunlight does it get during the day. . . this is very important. Go to the spot in the middle of the morning, mid day and the middle of the afternoon and check where the sun is shining. . . remember, as the year progresses, the sun will rise higher and higher in the sky (toward the very top above your head) from wherever it is today until on June 21, it will start back down. It's very important to know how much sun you're going to have to work with. Also, where is your water source? Is getting water to the spot going to be difficult. It's ok if it will be, but these are things you've got to know beforehand.
This post is a direct rip off of her latest post. Thanks Ms. Fay, if I were capable of original thinking I wouldn't have to do this. . .
When I was growing up, people were still talking about "Victory" gardens.
From Wiki (this reference seems accurate enough):
Victory gardens, also called war gardens or food gardens for defense, were vegetable, fruit and herb gardens planted at private residences in United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Germany[1] during World War I and World War II to reduce the pressure on the public food supply brought on by the war effort. In addition to indirectly aiding the war effort these gardens were also considered a civil "morale booster" — in that gardeners could feel empowered by their contribution of labor and rewarded by the produce grown. Making victory gardens became a part of daily life on the home front.
The old guy that lived next door to us and taught me a lot of what I know deep down inside about gardening always called his little plot behind his garage his "Victory garden." I'd sit for hours and watch him weed and plant. He always had a little row of parsley that I was allowed to help myself to. I'd munch parsley while, without realizing it, learn most of what I needed to know about gardening. I remember one time I decided I was going to plant a garden. It was before I started school so I must have been 4 or 5. I got a shovel and a hoe out of the garage and proceeded to dig a big long trench across the back yard where I was going to "plant lima beans." Now, who knows how "big" or "long" that trench was, but I remember my father coming home from work that evening and being very miffed that there was a big long trench across the backyard, but then being amused when he found out that I had dug it for my lima beans.
Anyway, from my earliest memories I wanted to be a farmer . . . something about getting my hands in the dirt. I always had some sort of garden and kept pet chickens when I was growing up. . . I grew up in a small country town, but people didn't normally keep chickens in our neighborhood.
So gardening is sorta in my blood. With that in mind, I'm going to do a series of posts on gardening and home food production. I might rip a lot of it off and repost and some will be my own thoughts. But ya know, in times like these, aw hell, in any times, knowing how to grow and preserve your own food is something good to know.
Let me leave you with this thought:
Food can be grown anywhere. If there is a space for dirt to set, food can be grown there. . . you can grow in pots on a balcony or in old hard pan soil on a vacant lot. . . on a little strip of ground next to a building or in the middle of the woods. Food can be grown anywhere.
To get started, take an inventory of the space you have available for growing. What are it's dimensions? Is there a water source available. How much sunlight does it get during the day. . . this is very important. Go to the spot in the middle of the morning, mid day and the middle of the afternoon and check where the sun is shining. . . remember, as the year progresses, the sun will rise higher and higher in the sky (toward the very top above your head) from wherever it is today until on June 21, it will start back down. It's very important to know how much sun you're going to have to work with. Also, where is your water source? Is getting water to the spot going to be difficult. It's ok if it will be, but these are things you've got to know beforehand.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Just when you thought it was safe to be a hillbilly again. . .
March 3, 2009
Student filmmaker spends year documenting the outlandish life of Boone's 'Dancing Outlaw'
By Bill Lynch
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Budding filmmaker Paige Hess-Hill says the most important thing she learned last year following Jesco White and his family around "was to dodge an unwanted kiss."
. . .
Hess-Hill says she wasn't a fan or in awe of White's odd celebrity, but was able to help smooth things over between the out-of-state crew and the ever-suspicious, occasionally dangerous White family.
"My accent was close enough," she said. "It really helped."
The year spent watching the Whites wasn't always easy. Hess-Hill says she saw the best and worst from people. She knew what she was in for. The Whites have a long and bizarre history, including shooting up bars, brawls in the street and at least one incidence of burning down a funeral home. What she didn't expect was how other people behaved around them. In a bar, she watched a drowsy and drunken White stumble through a crowd, clearly unable to function, and fall on his face.
"I watched a woman kneel and take a picture of him from the floor."
Everybody seems to want something from Jesco White and his family, but Hess-Hill defends the documentary as not trying to unnecessarily exploit anyone. She says they were looking for legitimate answers.
"Everybody wants to know why?" She said. "Why are the Whites the way they are?"
. . .
I hear a lot from WV bloggers wondering why oh why people from outside WV think we're a bunch of ignorant hillbillies and continue to perpetrate all these unfair stereotypes.
Well lemme tell ya why. . . Jesco White and other WV morons. See, twenty years ago this guy revceived a bit of fame and fortune by simply being one of the most ignorant drunk assed buffoons to ever come out of WV. He was featured on the "Rosanne" (another white trash moron) Show as their drunken WV relative. Everything about this guy is a stereotype of WV ignorance. My question is: Why oh why do WVians have to parade this critter out as a representation of our Appalachian culture? Is he representative of Appalachian culture? Yes, in a way. I could probably turn over a few rocks and find bozos like Jesco from Florida to Maine. Ignorant white trash is not confined to West Virginia, but when you dress it up in a mountain accent a quart of rock gut wiskey and a bag of meth, you've got Snuffy Smith, Lil Abner and Pa Kettle all rolled up into one and downgraded for shock value. That's not Appalachian culture; it's just white trash squalor.
When are the stereotypes about WV going to change? When WVians quit exploiting absurdities like Jesco White into franchises for short term gain whenever some uninspired grad student needs a class project. We are our own worse enemies.
One thing I've learned in life is that as long as I'm blaming my problems on other people, there is absolutely nothing I can do to fix them. I can't change other people. When I look within myself, take responsibility for my own actions and examine what part I have played in the uncomfortable life situations I find myself in, I can address them and change those situations. WV needs to grow up and begin fixing itself from within and quit blaming the rest of the world for it's third world status. Only then will we become what many of us know we are capable of, but as long as morons like this "film make" are exploiting other morons like Jesco White, guess what the perceptions of the outside world will be. . .
Student filmmaker spends year documenting the outlandish life of Boone's 'Dancing Outlaw'
By Bill Lynch
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Budding filmmaker Paige Hess-Hill says the most important thing she learned last year following Jesco White and his family around "was to dodge an unwanted kiss."
. . .
Hess-Hill says she wasn't a fan or in awe of White's odd celebrity, but was able to help smooth things over between the out-of-state crew and the ever-suspicious, occasionally dangerous White family.
"My accent was close enough," she said. "It really helped."
The year spent watching the Whites wasn't always easy. Hess-Hill says she saw the best and worst from people. She knew what she was in for. The Whites have a long and bizarre history, including shooting up bars, brawls in the street and at least one incidence of burning down a funeral home. What she didn't expect was how other people behaved around them. In a bar, she watched a drowsy and drunken White stumble through a crowd, clearly unable to function, and fall on his face.
"I watched a woman kneel and take a picture of him from the floor."
Everybody seems to want something from Jesco White and his family, but Hess-Hill defends the documentary as not trying to unnecessarily exploit anyone. She says they were looking for legitimate answers.
"Everybody wants to know why?" She said. "Why are the Whites the way they are?"
. . .
I hear a lot from WV bloggers wondering why oh why people from outside WV think we're a bunch of ignorant hillbillies and continue to perpetrate all these unfair stereotypes.
Well lemme tell ya why. . . Jesco White and other WV morons. See, twenty years ago this guy revceived a bit of fame and fortune by simply being one of the most ignorant drunk assed buffoons to ever come out of WV. He was featured on the "Rosanne" (another white trash moron) Show as their drunken WV relative. Everything about this guy is a stereotype of WV ignorance. My question is: Why oh why do WVians have to parade this critter out as a representation of our Appalachian culture? Is he representative of Appalachian culture? Yes, in a way. I could probably turn over a few rocks and find bozos like Jesco from Florida to Maine. Ignorant white trash is not confined to West Virginia, but when you dress it up in a mountain accent a quart of rock gut wiskey and a bag of meth, you've got Snuffy Smith, Lil Abner and Pa Kettle all rolled up into one and downgraded for shock value. That's not Appalachian culture; it's just white trash squalor.
When are the stereotypes about WV going to change? When WVians quit exploiting absurdities like Jesco White into franchises for short term gain whenever some uninspired grad student needs a class project. We are our own worse enemies.
One thing I've learned in life is that as long as I'm blaming my problems on other people, there is absolutely nothing I can do to fix them. I can't change other people. When I look within myself, take responsibility for my own actions and examine what part I have played in the uncomfortable life situations I find myself in, I can address them and change those situations. WV needs to grow up and begin fixing itself from within and quit blaming the rest of the world for it's third world status. Only then will we become what many of us know we are capable of, but as long as morons like this "film make" are exploiting other morons like Jesco White, guess what the perceptions of the outside world will be. . .
Monday, March 2, 2009
Constitutional rights, the 2nd Amendment and right wing whack jobs
I get a lot of trash mail, most of which I've solicited myself just so I can see what the lunatic fringe on the right is worrying their simple little pea brains over. This one came from "Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms." It's amusing.
Obama Lies To Gun Owners As Holder Reveals Gun Attack Plan
As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama deliberately and repeatedly lied to America's 90 million gun owners across the country when he insisted that he would not try to take away anyone's firearms, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.
CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, reacting to yesterday's remarks by Obama's Attorney General Eric Holder that the president will seek to reinstate the ban on semi-automatic firearms, said Obama "knew he was lying to the nation because his own website touted his plan to revive the gun ban and make it permanent."
Select Here to Reject Gun Bans and Fax to all 100 Senators and all 435 House Representatives
"We warned America that Obama's 'support' for the Second Amendment was empty rhetoric," he stated, "and now Holder's disclosure has confirmed it. Obama was lying, and now gun rights may be dying."
Several times on the campaign trail, Obama told voters "I'm not going to take your guns away." He said it at rallies in Duryea, Pennsylvania and in Boise, Idaho. He also told a news conference that "Lawful gun owners have nothing to fearÂ…I think people can take me at my word."
"Right now," said Gottlieb, "I wouldn't take Obama's word if he said it rains a lot in Seattle. Apparently, law-abiding gun owners have nothing to fear unless they own sport-utility rifles, semiautomatic shotguns, handguns and any other firearm that Obama and his anti-gun attorney general don't like.
"Thanks to Eric Holder, who has been far more honest than his boss about his anti-gun philosophy, it is now clear that the new president doesn't support the Second Amendment at all," he observed. "American gun owners should remind Democrats in Congress that the Second Amendment means what it says, especially when the president doesn't."
Select Here to Reject Gun Bans and Fax to all 100 Senators and all 435 House Representatives
In order to stop Obama and his fellow Democrat gun-grabbers—we need to let the Congress know with thousands of faxes telling them to leave guns alone.
Americans like you who understand what our Founding Fathers envisioned for our nation…and who are willing to fight to defend our Constitution and for what it stands.
So please, help the Citizens Committee and me defeat those who wish to gut and trash the United States Constitution.
Help me flood the U.S. Senate and the House with the sea of FAXES big enough to drown each and every Senator and Representative willing to vote away the Second Amendment.
I'm a gun owner. I grew up with guns. I've owned them all my life. As a farmer who lives 2 miles off the hard road I probably have more reason to keep and bear arms than 99.9% of those who claim to be NRA members and other factions of the lunatic right. Do I worry about someone or some gov't entity trying to take away my guns? Fuck no.
Lemme define reality for anyone who is addled enough in the brain to think their right to keep and bear arms is threatened.
In the span of my life, which covers nearly 1/4 of the history of this country . . ok, less than 1/4 but more than 1/5, there has never been a single law or policy enacted that threatened my right to keep and bear firearms. That's right, not one.
My daddy taught me how to shoot with a semi-automatic pistol, a revolver and a couple other firearms that I still have in my possession today. I taught my son how to shoot with those very same guns. No one has ever attempted suggested or in any way threatened to take those firearms from my possession. Not once. So what's up with these frantic bozos screaming about the 2nd Amendment as if there's a posey being formed as we speak whose purpose it is to go door to door and take away everyone's guns.
Now, I realize that the O Man is not the most gun savy president we've ever had. He grew up in urban environments and there's probably a good possibility that he's one of those people who have never even shot a firearm. Such weapons being almost second nature to me, it's hard for me to imagine someone being so unfamiliar with firearms, but people like that exist all around us. Many of them are the left wing granola chewing morons who believe that the removal of all guns from every citizen's possession would eliminate crime and make this a better country. Butya see, Barry O is smart. He's not a reactionary bozo who passionately attacks every issue. I'll bet he has a better grasp of the role that firearms have played in the history of this country and a better grasp of the culture and significance of gun ownership in this country than most of the right wing NRA buffoons.
So really, whether you're the NRA, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms or whatever you call yourself, just chill out. Your guns are safe. But I do have one question for you constitutional reactionaries who are so concerned with constitutional rights: where were you the past eight years when the president of the United States and his treasonous administration was treating our constitution like a piece of scrap paper?
Chew on this little piece of news you dumb fucking fascist morons:
Obama releases secret Bush anti-terror memos
By DEVLIN BARRETT and MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writers – 11 mins ago
WASHINGTON – The Obama administration threw open the curtain on years of Bush-era secrets Monday, revealing anti-terror memos that claimed exceptional search-and-seizure powers and divulging that the CIA destroyed nearly 100 videotapes of interrogations and other treatment of terror suspects.
The Justice Department released nine legal opinions showing that, following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Bush administration determined that certain constitutional rights would not apply during the coming fight. Within two weeks, government lawyers were already discussing ways to wiretap U.S. conversations without warrants.
Obama Lies To Gun Owners As Holder Reveals Gun Attack Plan
As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama deliberately and repeatedly lied to America's 90 million gun owners across the country when he insisted that he would not try to take away anyone's firearms, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.
CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, reacting to yesterday's remarks by Obama's Attorney General Eric Holder that the president will seek to reinstate the ban on semi-automatic firearms, said Obama "knew he was lying to the nation because his own website touted his plan to revive the gun ban and make it permanent."
Select Here to Reject Gun Bans and Fax to all 100 Senators and all 435 House Representatives
"We warned America that Obama's 'support' for the Second Amendment was empty rhetoric," he stated, "and now Holder's disclosure has confirmed it. Obama was lying, and now gun rights may be dying."
Several times on the campaign trail, Obama told voters "I'm not going to take your guns away." He said it at rallies in Duryea, Pennsylvania and in Boise, Idaho. He also told a news conference that "Lawful gun owners have nothing to fearÂ…I think people can take me at my word."
"Right now," said Gottlieb, "I wouldn't take Obama's word if he said it rains a lot in Seattle. Apparently, law-abiding gun owners have nothing to fear unless they own sport-utility rifles, semiautomatic shotguns, handguns and any other firearm that Obama and his anti-gun attorney general don't like.
"Thanks to Eric Holder, who has been far more honest than his boss about his anti-gun philosophy, it is now clear that the new president doesn't support the Second Amendment at all," he observed. "American gun owners should remind Democrats in Congress that the Second Amendment means what it says, especially when the president doesn't."
Select Here to Reject Gun Bans and Fax to all 100 Senators and all 435 House Representatives
In order to stop Obama and his fellow Democrat gun-grabbers—we need to let the Congress know with thousands of faxes telling them to leave guns alone.
Americans like you who understand what our Founding Fathers envisioned for our nation…and who are willing to fight to defend our Constitution and for what it stands.
So please, help the Citizens Committee and me defeat those who wish to gut and trash the United States Constitution.
Help me flood the U.S. Senate and the House with the sea of FAXES big enough to drown each and every Senator and Representative willing to vote away the Second Amendment.
I'm a gun owner. I grew up with guns. I've owned them all my life. As a farmer who lives 2 miles off the hard road I probably have more reason to keep and bear arms than 99.9% of those who claim to be NRA members and other factions of the lunatic right. Do I worry about someone or some gov't entity trying to take away my guns? Fuck no.
Lemme define reality for anyone who is addled enough in the brain to think their right to keep and bear arms is threatened.
In the span of my life, which covers nearly 1/4 of the history of this country . . ok, less than 1/4 but more than 1/5, there has never been a single law or policy enacted that threatened my right to keep and bear firearms. That's right, not one.
My daddy taught me how to shoot with a semi-automatic pistol, a revolver and a couple other firearms that I still have in my possession today. I taught my son how to shoot with those very same guns. No one has ever attempted suggested or in any way threatened to take those firearms from my possession. Not once. So what's up with these frantic bozos screaming about the 2nd Amendment as if there's a posey being formed as we speak whose purpose it is to go door to door and take away everyone's guns.
Now, I realize that the O Man is not the most gun savy president we've ever had. He grew up in urban environments and there's probably a good possibility that he's one of those people who have never even shot a firearm. Such weapons being almost second nature to me, it's hard for me to imagine someone being so unfamiliar with firearms, but people like that exist all around us. Many of them are the left wing granola chewing morons who believe that the removal of all guns from every citizen's possession would eliminate crime and make this a better country. Butya see, Barry O is smart. He's not a reactionary bozo who passionately attacks every issue. I'll bet he has a better grasp of the role that firearms have played in the history of this country and a better grasp of the culture and significance of gun ownership in this country than most of the right wing NRA buffoons.
So really, whether you're the NRA, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms or whatever you call yourself, just chill out. Your guns are safe. But I do have one question for you constitutional reactionaries who are so concerned with constitutional rights: where were you the past eight years when the president of the United States and his treasonous administration was treating our constitution like a piece of scrap paper?
Chew on this little piece of news you dumb fucking fascist morons:
Obama releases secret Bush anti-terror memos
By DEVLIN BARRETT and MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writers – 11 mins ago
WASHINGTON – The Obama administration threw open the curtain on years of Bush-era secrets Monday, revealing anti-terror memos that claimed exceptional search-and-seizure powers and divulging that the CIA destroyed nearly 100 videotapes of interrogations and other treatment of terror suspects.
The Justice Department released nine legal opinions showing that, following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Bush administration determined that certain constitutional rights would not apply during the coming fight. Within two weeks, government lawyers were already discussing ways to wiretap U.S. conversations without warrants.
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