null,
What happened? I have enjoyed your creativity with the your ‘null nic’ but what happened to motivate you to celibate it with the enthusiasm you display?
Did the blog somehow change or alter your normal nic.
Just interested as I tuned in last night and picked up on it but didn’t have time, as I don’t now, to go through them all to find and answer.
There are many “null”s. Several people have accidently posted as “null” in the past 24 hours. It’s an error in the registration system, and could happen to you anytime. Logging out/in usually fixes it.
And, by the way, there’s at least one other person out there having fun with it. I can’t take the credit (blame?) for all of them!
George McGovern, a name I had not heard for some time. I watched an interview he was on, looking back he recalled his own Presidential bid. “ I was call the triply A candidate!
Abortion, Acid and Amnesty, Why? Because I believed it was the states right to decide the Abortion question. I was in favor of lowering the crime of possession of cannabis from a Felony to a misdemeanor. And I was in favor of amnesty for all whom either for or against the Vietnam war who had committed a non violent crime“.
And back then I thought he was such a flaming liberal!
Previous Index Next Print Share Add to MyMises Subscribe
Has Capitalism Failed?
Daily Article | Posted on 4/16/2008 by Ron Paul
[This article is excerpted from Part I of Pillars of Prosperity. An MP3 audio file of this article, read by Dr. Floy Lilley, is available for download.]
Congressional Record — US House of Representatives July 9, 2002
It is now commonplace and politically correct to blame what is referred to as the excesses of capitalism for the economic problems we face, and especially for the Wall Street fraud that dominates the business news. Politicians are having a field day with demagoguing the issue while, of course, failing to address the fraud and deceit found in the budgetary shenanigans of the federal government — for which they are directly responsible. Instead, it gives the Keynesian crowd that runs the show a chance to attack free markets and ignore the issue of sound money.
So once again we hear the chant: “Capitalism has failed; we need more government controls over the entire financial market.” No one asks why the billions that have been spent and thousands of pages of regulations that have been written since the last major attack on capitalism in the 1930s didn’t prevent the fraud and deception of Enron, WorldCom, and Global Crossings. That failure surely couldn’t have come from a dearth of regulations.
What is distinctively absent is any mention that all financial bubbles are saturated with excesses in hype, speculation, debt, greed, fraud, gross errors in investment judgment, carelessness on the part of analysts and investors, huge paper profits, conviction that a new era economy has arrived and, above all else, pie-in-the-sky expectations.
When the bubble is inflating, there are no complaints. When it bursts, the blame game begins. This is especially true in the age of victimization, and is done on a grand scale. It quickly becomes a philosophic, partisan, class, generational, and even a racial issue. While avoiding the real cause, all the finger pointing makes it difficult to resolve the crisis and further undermines the principles upon which freedom and prosperity rest.
…
But what is not discussed is the actual cause and perpetration of the excesses now unraveling at a frantic pace. This same response occurred in the 1930s in the United States as our policy makers responded to the very similar excesses that developed and collapsed in 1929. Because of the failure to understand the problem then, the depression was prolonged. These mistakes allowed our current problems to develop to a much greater degree. Consider the failure to come to grips with the cause of the 1980s bubble, as Japan’s economy continues to linger at no-growth and recession level, with their stock market at approximately one-fourth of its peak 13 years ago. If we’re not careful — and so far we’ve not been — we will make the same errors that will prevent the correction needed before economic growth can be resumed.
In the 1930s, it was quite popular to condemn the greed of capitalism, the gold standard, lack of regulation, and a lack government insurance on bank deposits for the disaster. Businessmen became the scapegoat. Changes were made as a result, and the welfare/warfare state was institutionalized. Easy credit became the holy grail of monetary policy, especially under Alan Greenspan, “the ultimate Maestro.” Today, despite the presumed protection from these government programs built into the system, we find ourselves in a bigger mess than ever before. The bubble is bigger, the boom lasted longer, and the gold price has been deliberately undermined as an economic signal. Monetary inflation continues at a rate never seen before in a frantic effort to prop up stock prices and continue the housing bubble, while avoiding the consequences that inevitably come from easy credit. This is all done because we are unwilling to acknowledge that current policy is only setting the stage for a huge drop in the value of the dollar. Everyone fears it, but no one wants to deal with it.
When Political Correctness Becomes Conventional Wisdom
By Doug Patton
April 21, 2008
Climate change scientists have no evidence for their theories that cannot be refuted by experts of equal or greater stature. Bill Gray, for example, is the world’s most famous authority on hurricanes. Working in the atmospheric science department of Colorado State University, he predicts the number of hurricanes each tropical storm season will produce. A towering figure in his field, he has trained dozens of scientists over the years.
“I am of the opinion that this is one of the greatest hoaxes ever perpetrated on the American people,” he says. “I’ve been in meteorology over 50 years. I’ve worked damn hard, and I’ve been around. My feeling is some of us older guys who’ve been around have not been asked about this. It’s sort of a baby boomer, yuppie thing.”
Unfortunately, it appears that the yuppies have won and their political correctness has now become conventional wisdom. Welcome to the 19th Century.
Door King, Sarah Bellum, Claud Balls and Eliza Mae Gompers among others. I find your need to “know” who fictitious nicknames “are” pathetic, your misconceptions concerning “who” is posting humorous, and your moral approbation for those who post under multiple nics anthropologically interesting. It’s only a matter of time until every blog has it’s own full blown set of cultural taboos, along with developing its own religion. After all, there have been threats if not attempts to excommunicate poor old beber/door king several times for violating all of your foolishness.
Just a few things which I thought interesting:
___
“WASHINGTON (AFP) — Outspoken documentary film-maker Michael Moore Monday endorsed Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama, decrying the “downright disgusting” campaign tactics of Hillary Clinton.
Moore, whose latest movie “Captain Mike Across America” tracks John Kerry’s doomed 2004 bid for the presidency, said he had not given a “rat’s ass” who won the nomination this year as long as a Democrat triumphs in November.
But having excoriated Clinton for her 2002 vote in support of the Iraq war, the Oscar-winning writer and director now accused the New York senator of “stoking the fears of white America” against the mixed-race Obama.
Writing on his website on the eve of the Pennsylvania primary, Moore said that in recent weeks, “the actions and words of Hillary Clinton have gone from being merely disappointing to downright disgusting.”
afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gdaadsWzVCDQTpxtdHJqBoBPUXjg
Oh well. Obama’s doomed. Moore hasn’t backed a winner yet.
— And this:
“CHICAGO (CBS) ? A violent and deadly weekend continues in Chicago. At least 12 people have been shot, two of them killed, since Saturday morning. Two others were stabbed in a home invasion. This comes after at least 20 people were shot, four of them killed, from Friday night through early Saturday.”
cbs2chicago.com/local/chicago.weekend.violence.2.704117.html
Gosh - how can that be? I mean, Chicago, aside from the DC ban which is about to be overturned, has the most stringent gun control in the nation? There ARE no guns in Chicago - They’re ILLEGAL, for God’s sake!!!
How’s that working out?
—which of course led to this:
“There is a problem that people just are unwilling to recognize.
Just like attacks last year at the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Neb., or Trolley Square Mall in Salt Lake City or the recent attack at the Tinley Park Mall in Illinois or all the public schools attacks, all these cases [mass public shootings] had one thing in common: They took place in “gun free zones,” where private citizens were not allowed to carry their guns with them.” http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352006,00.html
—
Of course, the Board of Regents predictably has it’s head buried in the sand:
“The Kansas Board of Regents last week endorsed a no-weapons policy on all of its campuses and directed campus leaders to devise a common set of standards for posting no-weapons signs and handling violators.”
www2.ljworld.com/news/2008/apr/22/students_protest_concealed_carry_ban/
Uh, folks, how’s that working out in Chicago? At Northern Illinois? At Virginia Tech? What’s the definition of insanity - doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result? Duh.
Well, that’s about it for today. And remember: Murphy (of Murphy’s Law fame} was an optimist.
“This is all done because we are unwilling to acknowledge that current policy is only setting the stage for a huge drop in the value of the dollar. Everyone fears it, but no one wants to deal with it.”
By “acting” the congress/president are attempting to accomplish:
1. Redirect. Point the public somewhere other than themselves as the root of the problem.
2. Stop panic. Afterall, it is panic/fear which are responsible for much of the turmoil in the financial markets.
Unemployment in 1929 was 25%. The Fed did not pump money into the supply as they are doing today to ward off some of the problems. There are in fact new regulations throughout the industry which where made to avoid repeats.
But all is for naught if everyone keeps crying “the sky is falling” and adding to the fear factor.
” find your need to “know” who fictitious nicknames “are” pathetic, your misconceptions concerning “who” is posting humorous, and your moral approbation for those who post under multiple nics anthropologically interesting.”
I really was never interested, until they started registration. Then, because we have been posting and following the usual nic’s, some people had to, or voluntarily changed nics. So I was just interested in following the old posters. Sort of like being at a Halloween party with known acquaintences attending, vice a public hearing.
But I do agree, the “who” is really not important. It is the content of the post which counts.
I am without value, effect, consequence, or significance. I am about being or amounting to nothing; nil; lacking; nonexistent. Mathematically, I am empty or a big fat zero. I am the answer for minimum signal reception. Alas, I am followed by a void. No effect and certainly not valid.
I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express, but I do have health insurance for my children. Unlike another multi-nic’er……
Genetic modification actually cuts the productivity of crops, an authoritative new study shows, undermining repeated claims that a switch to the controversial technology is needed to solve the growing world food crisis.
The study – carried out over the past three years at the University of Kansas in the US grain belt – has found that GM soya produces about 10 per cent less food than its conventional equivalent, contradicting assertions by advocates of the technology that it increases yields.
Professor Barney Gordon, of the university’s department of agronomy, said he started the research – reported in the journal Better Crops – because many farmers who had changed over to the GM crop had “noticed that yields are not as high as expected even under optimal conditions”. He added: “People were asking the question ‘how come I don’t get as high a yield as I used to?’”
He grew a Monsanto GM soybean and an almost identical conventional variety in the same field. The modified crop produced only 70 bushels of grain per acre, compared with 77 bushels from the non-GM one.”
Well, the Songbird is back - temporarily. I’m still trying to find a job - and my home PC is still as moribund as Rush Limbaugh’s intellect, so…..
I’m here at Kinko’s - ready, willing and semi-able to share my weekend experience with the masses.
Yes, I had to visit the E.R. of a renowned local hospital this weekend - and it wasn’t exactly joyous. For all you fine folk out there who have swallowed, gulped, or inhaled opiate painkillers for acute agony, listen up: The Songbird’s got some news to report.
Opiate painkillers are becoming harder and harder to come by in Wichita - and we can thank two dumb people named “Schneider” for this debacle. Because of their alleged actions (grotesque over-prescribing of opioid painkillers), many doctors are becoming skittish about prescribing these utopian elixirs.
However, the Songbird’s been struggling with lower back pain for several months. The pain severely compromised my beauty sleep, and by this weekend, sleeping beauty turned into a she-beast. So, the Songbird decided to get off her a$$ and do somethin’ about it.
I visited the E.R. of a local hospital, and oh, what fun I had.
The nurses at the Registration Desk were nice - and sympathetic. They did not disbelieve my tale of woe, nor did the nurse who attended me. In fact, the nurse who attended me called me “Sunshine” because of my pleasant disposition. That disposition evaporated when the attending physician strutted on the scene - looking like a sherman tanker’s wet dream - and twice as onerous, too.
Nowadays, something called the “physician’s assistant” is common. They’re called PA’s - but I call ‘em a pain in my a$$. They’re not full-fledged doctors, but they can prescribe drugs. And my heart was really, really set on drugs.
Everyone believed me but the PA. Not only that, she did something really, really icky. She made me lie supine and then proceeded to lift both my legs northward. Now, when one has really, severe lower pack pain - leg lifts aren’t a groovy idea. And when the Songbird’s in extreme pain, “regal stoicism” ain’t her strong suit.
I mean, I couldn’t do these fricking leg lifts as a 100-pound seventh grader. And I sure as freak can’t do ‘em now. I tried to be calm. I tried to express my discomfort with dignity and restraint. But somehow, I didn’t wholly succeed. Soon, my cries of “Jesus! Mary, mother of God!” gave way to “Sister of Satan! Drippings of the Devil! Stop that!” That was probably a pretty good clue that I wasn’t feeling too well.
At that point, the Songbird lost her patience. I firmly reminded the doctor that the amount of hydrocodone I was asking for wouldn’t hook a two-year-old. To become addicted, one needs massive amounts for a protracted period of time, and twelve pills for a 6-day period wasn’t going to accomplish that larceny. I then told her that she really, really hurt my back and she’d better get me my scrip before I shoved my fist up her butt - and quick.
Funny how a line like that turned Mary Sunshine into Nurse Ratched’s worst nightmare. I got my drugs and high-tailed it out of there - much worse for the wear. In fact, it took two freaking days for my back to feel better. But I’ve got a brand-spanking-new mattress now - and I feel much better. After much blood, sweat and tears.
But let this be a reminder to all health care professionals out there: Don’t force the hapless patient to do leg lifts - it ain’t cool. I always said there would be only two reasons for the Songbird to raise her legs over her head: 1) childbirth or 2) a really good honeymoon with an even gooder man in a really nice locale.
Somehow, this barrel-chested PA - as pouty-breasted as a peasant and about as vituperative as a viper - didn’t fit the bill.
We Republicans had won the presidency by a single vote in the Electoral College and a single vote in the Supreme Court. In the executive branch, winning by a whisker is as good as winning in a landslide, but not so in the Senate. For the first time in a century we had a Senate split down the middle, 50-50, with a Republican vice president available to break a tie in our favor. That whisker-thin margin of victory had real consequences to my way of thinking.
It meant that our small club of five moderate Republican votes would be vital to President-elect Bush if he had any hope of getting his legislative initiatives through.
That was why Vice President-elect Richard Cheney came to our lunch that day: Not to say he needed us, but to tell us that he and George W. Bush were in charge and no one else.
In steady, quiet tones, the Vice President-elect laid out a shockingly divisive political agenda for the new Bush administration, glossing over nearly every pledge the Republican ticket had made to the American voter. President-elect Bush had promised that healing, but now we moderate Republicans were hearing Richard Cheney articulate the real agenda: A clashist approach on every issue, big and small, and any attempt at consensus would be a sign of weakness. We would seek confrontation on every front. He said nothing about education or the environment or health care; it was all about these new issues that were rarely, if ever, touted in the campaign. The new administration would divide Americans into red and blue, and divide nations into those who stand with us or against us. I knew that what the Vice President-elect was saying would rip the closely divided Congress apart. We moderates had often voted with President Clinton on things that powerful Republican constituencies didn’t like: an increase in the minimum wage, a patients’ bill of rights, and campaign finance reform. Mr. Cheney knew this, but he ticked off the issues at the top of his agenda and did it fearlessly. It made no difference to him that we were potential adversaries; he was going down his to-do list and checking off Confrontation Number 1.
Senator Arlen Specter spoke first. As the most junior member, I would have my say last, if at all. I could hardly sit still as I waited to hear my respected friend wade into this outrageous manifesto.
And then, in a moment I can only describe as infuriating, Senator Specter took no leadership role in representing the moderate point of view. He acquiesced, and others followed his example.
As each of my colleagues spoke in turn, I waited for one of them to push back. Surely one of them would have the presence of mind to say, Whoa! Time out! What are you talking about, Mister Vice President? You weren’t elected to scrap international agreements. You never said to the voters: Elect us and we promise to bring back deficit spending and drive the next generation into debt.
But no one resisted. We sat there and listened as Mr. Cheney made divisive pronouncements of policy that would come as a complete surprise to many of the Americans who had voted to elect the Bush/Cheney ticket. I stopped waiting for someone to challenge Mr. Cheney when I saw my Republican friends around the table nodding in agreement as he held forth.
Hey, where is our Earth Day thread? Here’s some stuff from today’s Eagle.
Gadgets that aim to help you go green
A people powered reel lawn mower.
A clothesline.
A rain barrel
Look for earth-friendly workout clothes. If your workout gear has gone to the recycling heap, think renewable resources as you shop for new.
Bamboo, hemp, coconut, organic cotton — it’s all showing up in clothing lines. Bamboo naturally keeps odor from developing, wicks away moisture, is UV-resistant and grows fast, without pesticides or fertilizers. Hemp fibers are dense, offer sun protection and don’t require pesticides. Ground coconut shells, usually discarded, wick moisture and resist odor.
Sorry to hear about your back pain Songbird. The best solution I’ve ever found to relieve back pain was to stop the inflammation is with epidural steroids (injection of steroids around the epidural area of the spine.) This works better than relaxants, pain pills and therapy.
When Doctors ask me about feeling discomfort, I want to tell them, “Let me put a pair of vice grips on your testicles, leave it for three months. Then you can come back and tell me if you are feeling any “discomfort.”
God’s self-appointed gift to the blog, the Mighty JR, suffering in the throws of us vs. them misery, dividing the world into friends and enemies. It is indeed sad to see an adversary collapse so.
Might I suggest professional counseling? Perhaps some anti-depressants? Please get help. Soon.
“The study – carried out over the past three years at the University of Kansas in the US grain belt – has found that GM soya produces about 10 per cent less food than its conventional equivalent, contradicting assertions by advocates of the technology that it increases yields.
Professor Barney Gordon, of the university’s department of agronomy, said he started the research – reported in the journal Better Crops – because many farmers who had changed over to the GM crop had “noticed that yields are not as high as expected even under optimal conditions”. He added: “People were asking the question ‘how come I don’t get as high a yield as I used to?’”
He grew a Monsanto GM soybean and an almost identical conventional variety in the same field. The modified crop produced only 70 bushels of grain per acre, compared with 77 bushels from the non-GM one.” — ks farm girl
As usual Ks farm girl demonstrates her complete non-comprehension of agriculture. GM Soy Beans are “round up” ready. That means that weeds can be controlled easily. While it may be true that the round up ready beans might not produce as much as conventional beans under optimal conditions, just try growing conventional beans without weed control.
Generally, that means several cultivations in conventional beans and pre-planting applications of herbicides. The point of round up ready beans is convenience. A sprayer can travel through the field at a much faster rate than a tractor, and sprays can be applied if the weeds get away. It is interesting that the genetics in beans seem to depress yields. That certainly isn’t the case in corn.
Ks Farm Girl is off base in another aspect; She applies the results to crops other than beans, and she ignores the fact that crops can be genetically altered to increase yields or to increase yields under certain conditions.
The fact that farm gal would extend the results of a study on one crop, soy beans, to all crops exposes her agenda. To quote her: “Genetic modification actually cuts the productivity of crops, an authoritative new study shows, undermining repeated claims that a switch to the controversial technology is needed to solve the growing world food crisis.”
Farmer’s aren’t paying a premium for root worm resistant corn for no reason. They save on pesticides, prevent possible disasters, and put more corn in the bin, something Farm Gal wouldn’t know as the only corn she’s ever planted is garden sweet corn, all the best varieties of which, by the way, are the result of long decades of breeding or genetic modification.
Words of advise from someone with years of experience in management:
1. Do not ever reveal your real name where someone can connect it with Songbird.
2. Songbird is unemployable based upon your post.
a. You have offended any republican leaning management.
b. Your health issues. If you scored equally with another candidate - who doesn’t have your health issue baggage, the other candidate would get approval. In fact, even if someone else was marginally close to whatever qualifications you may have - they’d get the job.
No offense intended. Nothing personal. Hope you get healthy.
This is the key line: “garden sweet corn, all the best varieties of which, by the way, are the result of long decades of breeding or genetic modification.”
The same may be said of nearly all the vegetables we eat. There is nothing in nature remotely like broccoli, or cauliflower (which are both geneticly modified cabbage), or sweet corn, for that matter. The veggies we eat, the food grains we use, are the result of genetic modification, done over the centuries by selective breeding, or more recently by genetic modification.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Hey Capn! Should I start posting excerpts from the numerous Hillary is the devil books? I could fill up some space - and perhaps convince a few remaining Hillary fans to switch over.
Say I limit my postings to half a chapter at a time. You know, sort of like you did?
There’s a study that explains clearly what farm gal was talking about. However, if you want to weed crops sized corn plantings by hand, be my guest. Round-up ready corn out yields conventional corn in field situations because of the ease of weed control.
Funny stuff. I posteond an excerpt and a link in response to heckler’s question yesterday about how we would continue to meet increasing global demand without the yield produced by gm crops. As you can see from the excerpt, gm doesnt always equal greater yields.
But beber always equals scroll over territory.
And just for the record, I dont grow any corn, sweet, field, garden or otherwise. Too many racoons and, as captain noted, too much water.
And, if I remember correctly Chafee’s timely endorsement of Obama, just before the primary in Rhode Island, allowed Hillary to win by almost 20 points!
“IMHO, the small, organic farmers like KSfarmgrrl are the wave of the future.”– Cappy
That might be true, captain America. Get out your hoe, and try to make your living on two acres. We’ve had such societies in the past; try the Ming Dynasty in China, or pre-Columbian middle america. If corn was $1,000 a bushel, you might be able to do it. In the mean time, six billion people have to eat and the majority of them are being fed by big time agriculture, or at least, with the aid of modern fertilizers, chemicals and genetics.
Being a farmer, myself, I can attest to beber’s opinion that the small organic farm is not the ‘wave’ of the future. It might be if every family or even one family out of 10 farmed but that’s not feasible.
GM has some failures as does any enterprise but for the most part, their successes in bringing us nutritious food with a constant level of quality isn’t matched by the hobby farmer.
That said, there is a place for both kinds of farmers.
I suspect neufeld has found his last vote. Maybe parkinson knows something we dont know? Yet? I wonder if it’s swenson? Something to do with the new budget and a trade-off or two?
“The veggies we eat, the food grains we use, are the result of genetic modification, done over the centuries by selective breeding, or more recently by genetic modification.”
GMC, not sure on this, but we enjoy heirloom varieties of garden veggies. Many of these we have had seeds passed down for generations or ordered from one of the seed savers exchange.
I’ve always believed our favorites of these, have not been genetically altered - or changed at least since their initial release in late 1800’s early 1900’s. Natural change, I’m sure, and even though we are careful with our pollinators, some change may have occurred.
But for those concerned - what other options do you have? If you do not grow your own - you have no idea what your family is really consuming.
Take the government label/standard for “organic”
for example. You really do not know.
Favorites ready to go out now are Heirloom Brandywine tomato plants. And when the ground gets a little warmer Golden Bantam yellow and Silver Queen white sweet corn. Silver Queen for instance is a great natural polinator, it is not an SU or SE variety. Tight ears prevent some insects and the long even rows are sugary rich!
American Way, you’re right, you can’t possibly know just what you are consuming but you can look at the increasing lifespans of humans and the overall health factor that lasts (for the most part)longer in life.
Sure, it’s a combination of factors, from food to increased education and medical research but all of them work together to benefit humanity.
The trick is to produce a viable crop with the least amount of expense and chemical intervention. By genetically engineering the plant, we can grow a greater harvest on a smaller area.
Now, if they would just pay the farmers their fare share of the crop.
“Take the government label/standard for “organic”
for example. You really do not know.”
True. The standards have been rat buggered, as CF would say, by big ag. It means little or nothing.
I think the real key to sustainable ag providing you and yours the highest quality food is to eat fresh, eat seasonal, and eat local. Know your farmer if you can, and buy as close to home as possible.
When you buy close to home, you not only save the fuel costs, but you get varieties that have been grown for taste and nutrition, not shipping. If you can buy direct or from a farmers market, you know what you are getting and dont have to rely on a government label to say it’s ok.
Many farmers sell meat and eggs and whole grains as well as produce. If you want to eat local, you can do it. You might not get fresh red peppers in the dead of winter, but if you eat seasonal, you’ll get the best of the best, and move on to the next.
Or…
You can buy your groceries from big ag. Your choice.
heh. I wish it would give ME the null. There’s a few things I wouldnt mind saying anonymously.
Can you get the null on purpose? I wonder if certain nic switchers would be ok with all of us being null. Since we’re concentrating on content, not identity.
Don’t pass up the many, many farmers markets which are nearly everywhere these days. Towns sponsor them and provide space.
But even here, be selective and careful. You will learn/see the ones who really are marketing produce from elsewhere. Come on! You can’t show me nice neat piles of some veggies - all uniform and TOO EARLY TO HAVE BEEN GROWN NEARBY!! and expect me to believe they are “home grown” locally.
Once you spot these characters: avoid them. They show up every week (usually a Saturday morning). But by all means do buy from the others. The not perfect shaped fruit/veggie can be the best tasting and probably more nutrious! And these folks LIKE to talk! and answer questions on their produce. Remember, they are very proud of what they are offering for sale. Don’t be rude or thumb your nose up at them.
I’d suggest the farmers market over any chain grocery store (unless you know the produce manager).
And they usually offer so much more. The crafters are there and sometime local entertainment. Helps everyone! Over time, you get to know the sellers and they know you as their customer.
It’s nice to pick up specialty produce items during growing season but what about the rest of the year? Do you can your own tomato sauces for winter chili and spaghetti? Did you freeze your own corn? Do you pull a loaf of bread off the grocer’s shelf and put it in your cart? Do you like a little cheese sprinkled on your packaged tortilla chips or do you grind your own corn and make your own chips? Do you slaughter your own beef and chicken? If you do - my hat’s off to you.
If you don’t - thank the farmer that sells to a COOP and the food is shipped to you.
If you even walk into a grocery store, odds are, you’re going to come out with something that was farmed commercially.
I respect gardeners who know what they’re talking about.
I’ve had the same experience as you with the “farmer’s markets.” I bought some tomatoes one time that were picked early and artificially ripened just like the grocery store.
That’s not right.
They had some superficial blemishes on them like real homegrown tomatoes, but that’s where the similarity ended.
“I think the real key to sustainable ag providing you and yours the highest quality food is to eat fresh, eat seasonal, and eat local. Know your farmer if you can, and buy as close to home as possible.”
Amen. Just remember the ability to do so is a luxury of our abundance. Most of the world struggles to get enough to eat, period. And many would not eat at all were it not for “big ag.”
“Do you can your own tomato sauces for winter chili and spaghetti? Did you freeze your own corn? Do you pull a loaf of bread off the grocer’s shelf and put it in your cart? Do you like a little cheese sprinkled on your packaged tortilla chips or do you grind your own corn and make your own chips? Do you slaughter your own beef and chicken?”
Well, no. I don’t. But I swear to god my sister gave me her recipe for frijoles that began, “Plant at least a fifth of an acre of pinto beans…” When I was a kid, my grandmother would go out and collect eggs for breakfast and reach down, grab a chicken at random, spin it aound ’til the head came off and roast it for Sunday dinner. So it can be done.
Brandywine tomatoes are great, but generally not great yielders. I think they are a “beefsteak” variety, which don’t pollinate well in hot summers. If some one has figured out how to grown them out west, please let me know.
Anyway, you might be surprised to know that my attitude toward agriculture is much like I suspect Ks Farm Gals is. Do you realize what an incredible diet we could have, what wonderful wines we could drink, and how much better our lives would be if suburbia was converted to farms. I don’t mean removing the houses, I mean using the endless acres of sheltered, irrigated back and front yards for nut trees, fruit trees, and vinyards?
The plants could be irrigated for the most part from what runs off roofs and streets; houses and buildings provide shelter from the wind. Virtually every fruit and vegetable could be produced in sufficient quantities for the whole population with oodles left over. But in my way of looking at things, the gardens/farms would be cooperative ventures. 100 Mexican gardeners could make Topeka into a paradise of flowers, fruits, and vegetables. And it’d be cheap too.
I’ve had dozens of gardens, and a green house too. I can raise four cucumbers in a four-inch cup. Under plastic, yields are like dozens of times greater than plants grown outdoors.
“Do you can your own tomato sauces for winter chili and spaghetti?”
My wife works wonders with Ball and Mason jars. Cold water bath. Had a bad run-in with the pressure cooker method when much younger. She got scalded and we quit that. But for most veggies (acidity is the key), you can can and enjoy all winter long! We have pickles, tomatoes (both plain and with pepper/onion, salsa, hot and mild peppers - and I when we put red, yellow, and green peppers up (great 50% H20/vinegar recipe) I’m darn near proud enough to show them at the county fair. List goes on. Not for everybody (at least not yet), but it can be done. And my specialty is crock pickles both dill and hot (with a few hot peppers added). Dill, garlic, emmm. Some are still “crunchy” from my 1999 crop!
(county extension office will check samples for botsulism).
“Did you freeze your own corn?”
It’s called “blanching” and isn’t just restricted to corn. Clean the crop, put it in boiling water for just a few minutes - and right into the freezer bags!
“Kansas summer is too hot for lettuce and radishes etc..”
Found that out Capn when I planted my first Kansas garden many years ago (having moved here from zone 4). Secret is: Till in fall, so garden is ready in very early spring. It would be nice to till again in the spring, but usually mine is too wet to do so. We plant our lettuce (dozens of varieties) as early as we can get out. Not big head lettuce. The kinds you just cut off and it keeps growing (black-seeded simpson for example).
Snow peas, peas, and radishes (although I’ve given up the later - lot of work for something I can pick up at the market, like we do carrots now days). Priced snow peas lately? BIG SAVINGS to grow yer own. So it can be done if done early.
But CapnAmerica is right - our lettuce bolts in May. Milky stem and it’s time for the compost pile.
With food prices, this and water might be the next basics for life we need to think about our sources for. Gardening isn’t for everyone - but everyone can do it.
Fry up bacon until crisp.
Sprinkle on top of big bowl of garden salad.
Pour/spoon the bacon grease over the lot.
pour/spoon wine vinegar over same.
Throw in a chopped boiled egg or two,
and enjoy!
A note I sent to target.com:
Just a short note to let you know how even a short trip to Target absolutely RUINS my day. I’m 51 years old… apparently, that means I’m too old to shop at Target. Ask an employee for assistance, and they act as if you’re forcing them to do quadradic equations at gunpoint. You NEVER have ANYTHING I’m shopping for, and again, if I ask for help, your employees act as if you’re waterboarding them. So why do I even bother? Because one of my employers INSISTS on giving me Target gift cards. I have no idea why I’m being punished like that. If we ever catch Osama bin Laden, I say let’s give him a $1000 Target gift card–and he can’t leave until he spends it. Sorry I’m not cool enough to shop at Target.
What’s this? Election fraud? How can that be? Not in a blue state with a blue governor, and a big blue city with blue mayors? Say it ain’t so! I thought only evil republicans STOLE elections?
“Apr 21, 2008, News Report
The Justice Department announced today that it will monitor tomorrow’s presidential primary election in Philadelphia, to ensure compliance with federal voting rights laws. In April 2007, the Justice Department reached a settlement agreement with Philadelphia related to allegations that the city had violated the Voting Rights Act, the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), and the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).”
“quality food is to eat fresh, eat seasonal, and eat local.” GMC
Just a final thought before I sign off before NULL takes over. I’ve hogged the blog I see. Sorry but you hit a subject I’m good at - eating!
Anyway, I had the priviledge in my younger years to travel and live overseas. My comment is that in many countries, the family buys the food for that evenings meal - on a daily basis. They don’t have big fridges with enough food to feed a small army. In Japan, they shopped for their daily meals. So they bought fresh and were not as wasteful as I am here with a fridge stocked full of food going bad and tupperware full of Unidentified Frozen Objects.
Soldier’s Peace: Iraq War Vet Walks 500 Miles Across Native Utah to Call for Troop Withdrawal
Army reservist Sergeant Marshall Thompson spent a year in Iraq working as a military journalist. He reported from across Iraq, interviewing thousands of US soldiers. In October 2006, Sgt. Thompson walked the entire 500-miles across his native state of Utah to protest the war and call for a withdrawal of US troops.
Clinton: US Could “Totally Obliterate” Iran If Iran Attacks Israel
Senator Clinton also ratcheted up her rhetoric toward Iran on Monday. During an interview that will air today on ABC News, Clinton said she would “totally obliterate” Iran if Iran attacked Israel with nuclear weapons.
Obama Accuses Clinton of Employing “Politics of Fear”
The Obama campaign responded to Clinton’s new TV ad by accusing her of employing “the politics of fear.” Within hours, the Obama campaign released its own ad.
Narrator: “Who has what it takes to really bring change, to finally take on the special interests, not take their money? Who made the right judgment about opposing the war and had the courage and character to speak honestly about it? And who, in times of challenge, will unite us, not use fear and calculation to divide us?”
Barack Obama: “We are one people. All of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes. All of us defending the United States of America. I’m Barack Obama, and I approved this message.”
Even if Hillary Clinton wins today in Pennsylvania, she will remain far behind Obama in both the pledged delegate count and the overall popular vote. New campaign records also show Clinton is trailing Obama in the money race. With nine contests still to go, Obama has $42 million in the bank, Clinton has $8 million.
Meanwhile, USA Today reports the Army has accelerated its policy of involuntary extensions of duty to bolster its troop levels, despite Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s order last year to limit it. Since last May, the number of soldiers forced to remain in the Army through stop-loss has increased by 43 percent. The reliance on stop-loss has soared as the military has sent more troops to Iraq and extended tours to fifteen months to support the so-called surge.
Tell me again why we should concern ourselves with Israel?
American arrested as nuclear spy for Israel By Randall Mikkelsen
52 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. authorities arrested an American engineer on Tuesday on suspicion of giving secrets on nuclear weapons, fighter jets and air defense missiles to Israel during the 1980s, the Justice Department said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Ben-Ami Kadish, 84, acknowledged his spying in FBI interviews and said he acted out of a belief that he was helping Israel, court papers said.
He was accused of reporting to an Israeli government handler who also dealt with Jonathan Jay Pollard, an American citizen serving a life term on a 1985 charge of spying for Israel.
Kadish’s arrest is a sign the Pollard scandal, which remains an irritant in the close U.S. alliance with Israel, may have spread wider than was previously acknowledged. Kadish was arrested in New Jersey and was scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday afternoon at U.S. District Court in New York City, authorities said.
“We will be informing the Israelis of this action,” State Department spokesman Tom Casey said. “Twenty-plus years ago during the Pollard case we noted that this was not the kind of behavior we would expect from friends and allies and that would remain the case today.”
Kadish’s lawyer, Bruce Goldstein, did not immediately return a call for comment.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel, asked about the arrest, said: “We know nothing about it. We heard it from the media.”
Pollard pleaded guilty in 1986. Israel granted him citizenship in 1996 and acknowledged in 1998 that the former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst was one of its spies. Israel has unsuccessfully sought Pollard’s release.
Kadish is a Connecticut-born U.S. citizen who worked as a mechanical engineer at the U.S. Army’s Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center at the Picatinny Arsenal in Dover, New Jersey.
His spying lasted roughly from 1979 to 1985, and his contact with the unnamed Israeli handler continued until March of this year, the federal complaint against him said.
The complaint said Kadish did not appear to receive any money in exchange for his suspected spying, just small gifts and restaurant meals.
Kadish, who had a security clearance, took 50 to 100 classified documents from the arsenal’s library, working from a list provided by the handler identified in a federal complaint as “CC-1.” The handler would then photograph the documents in Kadish’s basement and Kadish would return them to the library, the complaint said.
It said one of the classified documents passed on by Kadish “contained information concerning nuclear weaponry.” Israel is widely believed to have nuclear weapons but has never acknowledged it.
Another document obtained by Kadish related to “a major weapons system … a modified version of an F-15 fighter jet that the United States had sold to another foreign country,” the complaint said. It did not identify the country.
A third document contained information regarding the U.S. Patriot missile air defense system.
The complaint said Kadish maintained contact with CC-1, met him in Israel in 2004, and spoke with him by telephone on March 20 of this year, after his first FBI interview. It said the handler told him to lie to U.S. authorities: “Don’t say anything … What happened 25 years ago? You don’t remember anything,” the handler was quoted as saying.
The complaint said the handler worked for the Israeli government as consul for science affairs at the Israeli Consulate General in New York, from 1980 to November 1985.
During the late 1970s the handler worked for what was known at the time as Israeli Aircraft Industries, an Israeli government contractor, the complaint said. It said the handler left the United States when Pollard was arrested and has not returned.
The history appears to fit with that of Yosef Yagur, who has been publicly linked to the Pollard case. A woman who identified herself as Yagur’s wife, when reached by telephone, said, “We’re not speaking to journalists. Goodbye.”
(Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed, Christine Kearney in New York and Dan
Israel Rejects Offer from Hamas After Carter Visit
The Israeli government said on Monday it sees no change in Hamas’s positions after a visit by former President Jimmy Carter to the region. After a meeting with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, Carter suggested Hamas would be willing to make peace with Israel.
Jimmy Carter: “They said that they would accept a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders if approved by Palestinians and that they would accept the right of Israel to live as a neighbor next door, in peace, provided the agreements negotiated by Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas was submitted to the Palestinians for their overall approval.”
But Israeli government spokesperson David Baker rejected the offer.
David Baker: “Israel is targeted on a daily basis by rocket barrages from Hamas-controlled territory in the Gaza Strip. Hamas is an enemy of Israel. Today, they critically injured a four-year-old Israeli boy. Israel sees no change in Hamas’s extremist position.”
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said on Monday that Hamas accepts the establishment of a Palestinian state on land occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war but would not recognize the Jewish state.
Khaled Meshaal: “We accept a state starting from the borders of June 4 in addition to the other rights we ask for, but without recognizing Israel. We have offered a ten-year truce after Israeli withdrawal to the borders of June 4, 1967 as an alternative to the recognition. This is the clear vision of Hamas.”
CNN Hires Ex-White House Press Secretary Tony Snow
In other media news, CNN has hired former White House spokesperson Tony Snow to serve as a news commentator. Snow worked as President Bush’s chief spokesperson up until September. Prior to his stint as White House press secretary, Snow worked at Fox News. Snow is the second top former Bush administration official to land a prominent television gig. Former White House Senior Adviser Karl Rove has been appearing on Fox News as a commentator since February.
New HUD Nominee Has No Experience in Housing Issues
President Bush’s nominee to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development is coming under criticism, because he has no apparent background in housing issues. Last week, Bush nominated Steve Preston to replace outgoing Secretary Alphonso Jackson. Preston is currently head of the Small Business Administration. He is a former executive with ServiceMaster and was an investment banker with Lehman Brothers. Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd has questioned why Bush would select a nominee with no expertise in housing issues while the country is facing the biggest housing crisis in recent history.
Bush Has Highest Disapproval Rating in History of Gallup Poll
Meanwhile, President Bush has set a new record. He now has the highest disapproval rating of any president in the seventy-year history of the Gallup Poll. In the most recent USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, 69 percent of Americans disapproved of Bush’s job performance. The previous record was held by Harry Truman, who had a 67 percent disapproval rate in 1952. Bush also holds the record for having the highest approval rating of any president in Gallup’s history. In September 2001, in the days after the 9/11 attacks, Bush’s approval spiked to 90 percent.
sol - don’t forget that the outgoing HUD guy left ‘under a cloud.’ Maybe this new guy knows how to judge horse shows. That is all that mattered for Bush to pick a head for FEMA.
A Russian fighter jet has shot down an unmanned Georgian spy plane as it flew over the breakaway region of Abkhazia, Georgia’s air force commander said Monday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with his Georgian counterpart about the alleged incident.
The two countries’ presidents discussed the incident by telephone Monday in what Georgian leader Mikhail Saakashvili termed a “difficult conversation.”
Col. David Nairashvili, Georgia’s air force commander, told The Associated Press that video footage recorded by the plane before it was shot down Sunday shows the attacking jet to be Russian.
Half the time, I can’t get it to even load anymore.
As for my spams above, the WEBlog used to not let you post the same message more than once. My connection is so laggy that I hit post repeatedly in hopes that one will “take.”
Looks like it’s time to actually do some work, EDS.
There once was a poster named null
Whose posts would our naïve legs pull
His wit was quite lacking
Still he had the backing
Of other posters that were quite dull.
From the Eagle website:
The Wichita City Council held off granting licenses to three After Dark Video stores this morning because council member Jeff Longwell suspects at least one of the sexually oriented businesses has building code violations.
Longwell was referring to the store at 7805 W. Kellogg.
“It’s a building that’s in horrible shape,” Longwell told reporters after deferring the vote. “They do absolutely zero maintenance.”
Longwell said the licensing will be delayed until code inspectors give a report on any violations. Code violations are grounds to deny a sexually oriented business a license.
Licenses will also be delayed for two other After Dark Video stores because they were part of the same council agenda item. One store is at 3721 S. Broadway and the other is at 2809 N. Broadway.
The Eagle contacted the West Kellogg store this morning and was directed to an employee at the South Broadway store. The man who answered declined to give his name but said that he had just talked with an inspector and that the business needs only to replace some ceiling tiles and the roof.
My question is this: How did Longwell know about the ceiling tiles???
Michael Moore was already going to support Obama, that was obvious to anyone who watched Sicko, where Moore came down hard on Hillary for selling out to the health industry
222 Comments
Don’t ask for whom the null tolls. It tolls for thee.
null,
What happened? I have enjoyed your creativity with the your ‘null nic’ but what happened to motivate you to celibate it with the enthusiasm you display?
Did the blog somehow change or alter your normal nic.
Just interested as I tuned in last night and picked up on it but didn’t have time, as I don’t now, to go through them all to find and answer.
Ha, that’s ‘celebrate’ NOT ‘celibate’. Typing faster than the brain is working yet this morning, need more coffee.
Boxlock,
There are many “null”s. Several people have accidently posted as “null” in the past 24 hours. It’s an error in the registration system, and could happen to you anytime. Logging out/in usually fixes it.
And, by the way, there’s at least one other person out there having fun with it.
I can’t take the credit (blame?) for all of them!
Psalms 31:24: Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.
George McGovern, a name I had not heard for some time. I watched an interview he was on, looking back he recalled his own Presidential bid. “ I was call the triply A candidate!
Abortion, Acid and Amnesty, Why? Because I believed it was the states right to decide the Abortion question. I was in favor of lowering the crime of possession of cannabis from a Felony to a misdemeanor. And I was in favor of amnesty for all whom either for or against the Vietnam war who had committed a non violent crime“.
And back then I thought he was such a flaming liberal!
Previous Index Next Print Share Add to MyMises Subscribe
Has Capitalism Failed?
Daily Article | Posted on 4/16/2008 by Ron Paul
[This article is excerpted from Part I of Pillars of Prosperity. An MP3 audio file of this article, read by Dr. Floy Lilley, is available for download.]
Congressional Record — US House of Representatives July 9, 2002
It is now commonplace and politically correct to blame what is referred to as the excesses of capitalism for the economic problems we face, and especially for the Wall Street fraud that dominates the business news. Politicians are having a field day with demagoguing the issue while, of course, failing to address the fraud and deceit found in the budgetary shenanigans of the federal government — for which they are directly responsible. Instead, it gives the Keynesian crowd that runs the show a chance to attack free markets and ignore the issue of sound money.
So once again we hear the chant: “Capitalism has failed; we need more government controls over the entire financial market.” No one asks why the billions that have been spent and thousands of pages of regulations that have been written since the last major attack on capitalism in the 1930s didn’t prevent the fraud and deception of Enron, WorldCom, and Global Crossings. That failure surely couldn’t have come from a dearth of regulations.
What is distinctively absent is any mention that all financial bubbles are saturated with excesses in hype, speculation, debt, greed, fraud, gross errors in investment judgment, carelessness on the part of analysts and investors, huge paper profits, conviction that a new era economy has arrived and, above all else, pie-in-the-sky expectations.
When the bubble is inflating, there are no complaints. When it bursts, the blame game begins. This is especially true in the age of victimization, and is done on a grand scale. It quickly becomes a philosophic, partisan, class, generational, and even a racial issue. While avoiding the real cause, all the finger pointing makes it difficult to resolve the crisis and further undermines the principles upon which freedom and prosperity rest.
…
But what is not discussed is the actual cause and perpetration of the excesses now unraveling at a frantic pace. This same response occurred in the 1930s in the United States as our policy makers responded to the very similar excesses that developed and collapsed in 1929. Because of the failure to understand the problem then, the depression was prolonged. These mistakes allowed our current problems to develop to a much greater degree. Consider the failure to come to grips with the cause of the 1980s bubble, as Japan’s economy continues to linger at no-growth and recession level, with their stock market at approximately one-fourth of its peak 13 years ago. If we’re not careful — and so far we’ve not been — we will make the same errors that will prevent the correction needed before economic growth can be resumed.
In the 1930s, it was quite popular to condemn the greed of capitalism, the gold standard, lack of regulation, and a lack government insurance on bank deposits for the disaster. Businessmen became the scapegoat. Changes were made as a result, and the welfare/warfare state was institutionalized. Easy credit became the holy grail of monetary policy, especially under Alan Greenspan, “the ultimate Maestro.” Today, despite the presumed protection from these government programs built into the system, we find ourselves in a bigger mess than ever before. The bubble is bigger, the boom lasted longer, and the gold price has been deliberately undermined as an economic signal. Monetary inflation continues at a rate never seen before in a frantic effort to prop up stock prices and continue the housing bubble, while avoiding the consequences that inevitably come from easy credit. This is all done because we are unwilling to acknowledge that current policy is only setting the stage for a huge drop in the value of the dollar. Everyone fears it, but no one wants to deal with it.
http://mises.org/story/2895
Has anyone heard from cosmos lately?
This maybe this will bring him out.
Link:
http://www.gopusa.com/commentary/dpatton/2008/dp_04211.shtml
When Political Correctness Becomes Conventional Wisdom
By Doug Patton
April 21, 2008
Climate change scientists have no evidence for their theories that cannot be refuted by experts of equal or greater stature. Bill Gray, for example, is the world’s most famous authority on hurricanes. Working in the atmospheric science department of Colorado State University, he predicts the number of hurricanes each tropical storm season will produce. A towering figure in his field, he has trained dozens of scientists over the years.
“I am of the opinion that this is one of the greatest hoaxes ever perpetrated on the American people,” he says. “I’ve been in meteorology over 50 years. I’ve worked damn hard, and I’ve been around. My feeling is some of us older guys who’ve been around have not been asked about this. It’s sort of a baby boomer, yuppie thing.”
Unfortunately, it appears that the yuppies have won and their political correctness has now become conventional wisdom. Welcome to the 19th Century.
How can this be happening?
http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/info-flash08.html?project=COMPARE0804
I think cosmos did not want to sign in for whatever reason. Something to hide? Who knows? It was his choice.
Then who is beber?
Door King, Sarah Bellum, Claud Balls and Eliza Mae Gompers among others. I find your need to “know” who fictitious nicknames “are” pathetic, your misconceptions concerning “who” is posting humorous, and your moral approbation for those who post under multiple nics anthropologically interesting. It’s only a matter of time until every blog has it’s own full blown set of cultural taboos, along with developing its own religion. After all, there have been threats if not attempts to excommunicate poor old beber/door king several times for violating all of your foolishness.
beber,
Huh….? If I understand you correctly…Right On!!
Whatever blows your skirt up
Who is beber?
beber = scroll over territory
Just a few things which I thought interesting:
___
“WASHINGTON (AFP) — Outspoken documentary film-maker Michael Moore Monday endorsed Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama, decrying the “downright disgusting” campaign tactics of Hillary Clinton.
Moore, whose latest movie “Captain Mike Across America” tracks John Kerry’s doomed 2004 bid for the presidency, said he had not given a “rat’s ass” who won the nomination this year as long as a Democrat triumphs in November.
But having excoriated Clinton for her 2002 vote in support of the Iraq war, the Oscar-winning writer and director now accused the New York senator of “stoking the fears of white America” against the mixed-race Obama.
Writing on his website on the eve of the Pennsylvania primary, Moore said that in recent weeks, “the actions and words of Hillary Clinton have gone from being merely disappointing to downright disgusting.”
afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gdaadsWzVCDQTpxtdHJqBoBPUXjg
Oh well. Obama’s doomed. Moore hasn’t backed a winner yet.
— And this:
“CHICAGO (CBS) ? A violent and deadly weekend continues in Chicago. At least 12 people have been shot, two of them killed, since Saturday morning. Two others were stabbed in a home invasion. This comes after at least 20 people were shot, four of them killed, from Friday night through early Saturday.”
cbs2chicago.com/local/chicago.weekend.violence.2.704117.html
Gosh - how can that be? I mean, Chicago, aside from the DC ban which is about to be overturned, has the most stringent gun control in the nation? There ARE no guns in Chicago - They’re ILLEGAL, for God’s sake!!!
How’s that working out?
—which of course led to this:
“There is a problem that people just are unwilling to recognize.
Just like attacks last year at the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Neb., or Trolley Square Mall in Salt Lake City or the recent attack at the Tinley Park Mall in Illinois or all the public schools attacks, all these cases [mass public shootings] had one thing in common: They took place in “gun free zones,” where private citizens were not allowed to carry their guns with them.”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352006,00.html
—
Of course, the Board of Regents predictably has it’s head buried in the sand:
“The Kansas Board of Regents last week endorsed a no-weapons policy on all of its campuses and directed campus leaders to devise a common set of standards for posting no-weapons signs and handling violators.”
www2.ljworld.com/news/2008/apr/22/students_protest_concealed_carry_ban/
Uh, folks, how’s that working out in Chicago? At Northern Illinois? At Virginia Tech? What’s the definition of insanity - doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result? Duh.
Well, that’s about it for today. And remember: Murphy (of Murphy’s Law fame} was an optimist.
“This is all done because we are unwilling to acknowledge that current policy is only setting the stage for a huge drop in the value of the dollar. Everyone fears it, but no one wants to deal with it.”
By “acting” the congress/president are attempting to accomplish:
1. Redirect. Point the public somewhere other than themselves as the root of the problem.
2. Stop panic. Afterall, it is panic/fear which are responsible for much of the turmoil in the financial markets.
Unemployment in 1929 was 25%. The Fed did not pump money into the supply as they are doing today to ward off some of the problems. There are in fact new regulations throughout the industry which where made to avoid repeats.
But all is for naught if everyone keeps crying “the sky is falling” and adding to the fear factor.
” find your need to “know” who fictitious nicknames “are” pathetic, your misconceptions concerning “who” is posting humorous, and your moral approbation for those who post under multiple nics anthropologically interesting.”
I really was never interested, until they started registration. Then, because we have been posting and following the usual nic’s, some people had to, or voluntarily changed nics. So I was just interested in following the old posters. Sort of like being at a Halloween party with known acquaintences attending, vice a public hearing.
But I do agree, the “who” is really not important. It is the content of the post which counts.
I am without value, effect, consequence, or significance. I am about being or amounting to nothing; nil; lacking; nonexistent. Mathematically, I am empty or a big fat zero. I am the answer for minimum signal reception. Alas, I am followed by a void. No effect and certainly not valid.
I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express, but I do have health insurance for my children. Unlike another multi-nic’er……
Nully, nully in free.
Sol and Heckie, this one’s for you.
GM crops less productive
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/e...
excerpt:
Genetic modification actually cuts the productivity of crops, an authoritative new study shows, undermining repeated claims that a switch to the controversial technology is needed to solve the growing world food crisis.
The study – carried out over the past three years at the University of Kansas in the US grain belt – has found that GM soya produces about 10 per cent less food than its conventional equivalent, contradicting assertions by advocates of the technology that it increases yields.
Professor Barney Gordon, of the university’s department of agronomy, said he started the research – reported in the journal Better Crops – because many farmers who had changed over to the GM crop had “noticed that yields are not as high as expected even under optimal conditions”. He added: “People were asking the question ‘how come I don’t get as high a yield as I used to?’”
He grew a Monsanto GM soybean and an almost identical conventional variety in the same field. The modified crop produced only 70 bushels of grain per acre, compared with 77 bushels from the non-GM one.”
Imagine an entire day of all nulls.
Would we be able to find our way home?
Yes it is sad that Michael Moore has lost his way and thinks as Obama does that Republicans can be worked with.
It happens to folks who are comfortable. Those who have made it and forget those left behind.
“the actions and words of Hillary Clinton have gone from being merely disappointing to downright disgusting.”
He is echo’ing the views being expressed by democrats nationwide. Sounds to me like maybe Michael Moore has FOUND his way.
Micheal Moore found the money.
And SOME of my “friends” THINK we should listen to Republicans.
Those folks might want to work with you “American way”.
I still wanna plow you under.
And this is far from over.
In his best “The Rock” Professional wrestler voice,
“Can you smell what the “Barak” is cooking!”
heh heh
Well, the Songbird is back - temporarily. I’m still trying to find a job - and my home PC is still as moribund as Rush Limbaugh’s intellect, so…..
I’m here at Kinko’s - ready, willing and semi-able to share my weekend experience with the masses.
Yes, I had to visit the E.R. of a renowned local hospital this weekend - and it wasn’t exactly joyous. For all you fine folk out there who have swallowed, gulped, or inhaled opiate painkillers for acute agony, listen up: The Songbird’s got some news to report.
Opiate painkillers are becoming harder and harder to come by in Wichita - and we can thank two dumb people named “Schneider” for this debacle. Because of their alleged actions (grotesque over-prescribing of opioid painkillers), many doctors are becoming skittish about prescribing these utopian elixirs.
However, the Songbird’s been struggling with lower back pain for several months. The pain severely compromised my beauty sleep, and by this weekend, sleeping beauty turned into a she-beast. So, the Songbird decided to get off her a$$ and do somethin’ about it.
I visited the E.R. of a local hospital, and oh, what fun I had.
The nurses at the Registration Desk were nice - and sympathetic. They did not disbelieve my tale of woe, nor did the nurse who attended me. In fact, the nurse who attended me called me “Sunshine” because of my pleasant disposition. That disposition evaporated when the attending physician strutted on the scene - looking like a sherman tanker’s wet dream - and twice as onerous, too.
Nowadays, something called the “physician’s assistant” is common. They’re called PA’s - but I call ‘em a pain in my a$$. They’re not full-fledged doctors, but they can prescribe drugs. And my heart was really, really set on drugs.
Everyone believed me but the PA. Not only that, she did something really, really icky. She made me lie supine and then proceeded to lift both my legs northward. Now, when one has really, severe lower pack pain - leg lifts aren’t a groovy idea. And when the Songbird’s in extreme pain, “regal stoicism” ain’t her strong suit.
I mean, I couldn’t do these fricking leg lifts as a 100-pound seventh grader. And I sure as freak can’t do ‘em now. I tried to be calm. I tried to express my discomfort with dignity and restraint. But somehow, I didn’t wholly succeed. Soon, my cries of “Jesus! Mary, mother of God!” gave way to “Sister of Satan! Drippings of the Devil! Stop that!” That was probably a pretty good clue that I wasn’t feeling too well.
At that point, the Songbird lost her patience. I firmly reminded the doctor that the amount of hydrocodone I was asking for wouldn’t hook a two-year-old. To become addicted, one needs massive amounts for a protracted period of time, and twelve pills for a 6-day period wasn’t going to accomplish that larceny. I then told her that she really, really hurt my back and she’d better get me my scrip before I shoved my fist up her butt - and quick.
Funny how a line like that turned Mary Sunshine into Nurse Ratched’s worst nightmare. I got my drugs and high-tailed it out of there - much worse for the wear. In fact, it took two freaking days for my back to feel better. But I’ve got a brand-spanking-new mattress now - and I feel much better. After much blood, sweat and tears.
But let this be a reminder to all health care professionals out there: Don’t force the hapless patient to do leg lifts - it ain’t cool. I always said there would be only two reasons for the Songbird to raise her legs over her head: 1) childbirth or 2) a really good honeymoon with an even gooder man in a really nice locale.
Somehow, this barrel-chested PA - as pouty-breasted as a peasant and about as vituperative as a viper - didn’t fit the bill.
BlueJay,
“It happens to folks who are comfortable. Those who have made it and forget those left behind.”
And you are going to always be “left behind” if you don’t stop feeling sorry for yourself all the time.
Have you no blessing?
“The modified crop produced only 70 bushels of grain per acre, compared with 77 bushels from the non-GM one.”
Yeahbut… The GM seed producers are seeing a 70% increase in profits. That is what matters though.
Hey, if your kid grows an extra hand from his forehead, GM producers won’t even charge you extra
EXCERPT FROM REPUBLICAN LINCOLN CHAFEE’S BOOK
We Republicans had won the presidency by a single vote in the Electoral College and a single vote in the Supreme Court. In the executive branch, winning by a whisker is as good as winning in a landslide, but not so in the Senate. For the first time in a century we had a Senate split down the middle, 50-50, with a Republican vice president available to break a tie in our favor. That whisker-thin margin of victory had real consequences to my way of thinking.
It meant that our small club of five moderate Republican votes would be vital to President-elect Bush if he had any hope of getting his legislative initiatives through.
That was why Vice President-elect Richard Cheney came to our lunch that day: Not to say he needed us, but to tell us that he and George W. Bush were in charge and no one else.
In steady, quiet tones, the Vice President-elect laid out a shockingly divisive political agenda for the new Bush administration, glossing over nearly every pledge the Republican ticket had made to the American voter. President-elect Bush had promised that healing, but now we moderate Republicans were hearing Richard Cheney articulate the real agenda: A clashist approach on every issue, big and small, and any attempt at consensus would be a sign of weakness. We would seek confrontation on every front. He said nothing about education or the environment or health care; it was all about these new issues that were rarely, if ever, touted in the campaign. The new administration would divide Americans into red and blue, and divide nations into those who stand with us or against us. I knew that what the Vice President-elect was saying would rip the closely divided Congress apart. We moderates had often voted with President Clinton on things that powerful Republican constituencies didn’t like: an increase in the minimum wage, a patients’ bill of rights, and campaign finance reform. Mr. Cheney knew this, but he ticked off the issues at the top of his agenda and did it fearlessly. It made no difference to him that we were potential adversaries; he was going down his to-do list and checking off Confrontation Number 1.
Senator Arlen Specter spoke first. As the most junior member, I would have my say last, if at all. I could hardly sit still as I waited to hear my respected friend wade into this outrageous manifesto.
And then, in a moment I can only describe as infuriating, Senator Specter took no leadership role in representing the moderate point of view. He acquiesced, and others followed his example.
As each of my colleagues spoke in turn, I waited for one of them to push back. Surely one of them would have the presence of mind to say, Whoa! Time out! What are you talking about, Mister Vice President? You weren’t elected to scrap international agreements. You never said to the voters: Elect us and we promise to bring back deficit spending and drive the next generation into debt.
But no one resisted. We sat there and listened as Mr. Cheney made divisive pronouncements of policy that would come as a complete surprise to many of the Americans who had voted to elect the Bush/Cheney ticket. I stopped waiting for someone to challenge Mr. Cheney when I saw my Republican friends around the table nodding in agreement as he held forth.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89689567
Hey, Boxlock–
Did you see that the gun-grabbing Gov. signed into law a bill stating that no legal guns could be confiscated during a national emergancy?
Yeah.
Kinda makes you and Max’s paranoia look like . . . uh . . . paranoia.
Hey, where is our Earth Day thread? Here’s some stuff from today’s Eagle.
Gadgets that aim to help you go green
A people powered reel lawn mower.
A clothesline.
A rain barrel
Look for earth-friendly workout clothes. If your workout gear has gone to the recycling heap, think renewable resources as you shop for new.
Bamboo, hemp, coconut, organic cotton — it’s all showing up in clothing lines. Bamboo naturally keeps odor from developing, wicks away moisture, is UV-resistant and grows fast, without pesticides or fertilizers. Hemp fibers are dense, offer sun protection and don’t require pesticides. Ground coconut shells, usually discarded, wick moisture and resist odor.
Sounds like Gilligans Island.
Sorry to hear about your back pain Songbird. The best solution I’ve ever found to relieve back pain was to stop the inflammation is with epidural steroids (injection of steroids around the epidural area of the spine.) This works better than relaxants, pain pills and therapy.
When Doctors ask me about feeling discomfort, I want to tell them, “Let me put a pair of vice grips on your testicles, leave it for three months. Then you can come back and tell me if you are feeling any “discomfort.”
Ah, JR.
“I still wanna plow you under.”
God’s self-appointed gift to the blog, the Mighty JR, suffering in the throws of us vs. them misery, dividing the world into friends and enemies. It is indeed sad to see an adversary collapse so.
Might I suggest professional counseling? Perhaps some anti-depressants? Please get help. Soon.
We all might get along better without the “us” versus “them” mentality. I personally belief most of the flaming on this blog is due to same.
“The study – carried out over the past three years at the University of Kansas in the US grain belt – has found that GM soya produces about 10 per cent less food than its conventional equivalent, contradicting assertions by advocates of the technology that it increases yields.
Professor Barney Gordon, of the university’s department of agronomy, said he started the research – reported in the journal Better Crops – because many farmers who had changed over to the GM crop had “noticed that yields are not as high as expected even under optimal conditions”. He added: “People were asking the question ‘how come I don’t get as high a yield as I used to?’”
He grew a Monsanto GM soybean and an almost identical conventional variety in the same field. The modified crop produced only 70 bushels of grain per acre, compared with 77 bushels from the non-GM one.” — ks farm girl
As usual Ks farm girl demonstrates her complete non-comprehension of agriculture. GM Soy Beans are “round up” ready. That means that weeds can be controlled easily. While it may be true that the round up ready beans might not produce as much as conventional beans under optimal conditions, just try growing conventional beans without weed control.
Generally, that means several cultivations in conventional beans and pre-planting applications of herbicides. The point of round up ready beans is convenience. A sprayer can travel through the field at a much faster rate than a tractor, and sprays can be applied if the weeds get away. It is interesting that the genetics in beans seem to depress yields. That certainly isn’t the case in corn.
Ks Farm Girl is off base in another aspect; She applies the results to crops other than beans, and she ignores the fact that crops can be genetically altered to increase yields or to increase yields under certain conditions.
The fact that farm gal would extend the results of a study on one crop, soy beans, to all crops exposes her agenda. To quote her: “Genetic modification actually cuts the productivity of crops, an authoritative new study shows, undermining repeated claims that a switch to the controversial technology is needed to solve the growing world food crisis.”
Farmer’s aren’t paying a premium for root worm resistant corn for no reason. They save on pesticides, prevent possible disasters, and put more corn in the bin, something Farm Gal wouldn’t know as the only corn she’s ever planted is garden sweet corn, all the best varieties of which, by the way, are the result of long decades of breeding or genetic modification.
Songbird,
Words of advise from someone with years of experience in management:
1. Do not ever reveal your real name where someone can connect it with Songbird.
2. Songbird is unemployable based upon your post.
a. You have offended any republican leaning management.
b. Your health issues. If you scored equally with another candidate - who doesn’t have your health issue baggage, the other candidate would get approval. In fact, even if someone else was marginally close to whatever qualifications you may have - they’d get the job.
No offense intended. Nothing personal. Hope you get healthy.
throws . . . it’s “throes,” Counsellor.
What’s with all this “null” posting?
They say it happens when you sit idle for too long, but why wasn’t it happening from day one?
beber -
This is the key line: “garden sweet corn, all the best varieties of which, by the way, are the result of long decades of breeding or genetic modification.”
The same may be said of nearly all the vegetables we eat. There is nothing in nature remotely like broccoli, or cauliflower (which are both geneticly modified cabbage), or sweet corn, for that matter. The veggies we eat, the food grains we use, are the result of genetic modification, done over the centuries by selective breeding, or more recently by genetic modification.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Berber–
I hope KSFrmGrrl hasn’t planted field corn.
It’s a water-intensive crop and that’s what KS doesn’t have.
Why don’t you throttle back on the KSfarmgrrl attacks, big fella.
Makes you look small.
Capn, indeed it is. Thanks. I’m in the ‘throes’ of gratitude.
Hey Capn! Should I start posting excerpts from the numerous Hillary is the devil books? I could fill up some space - and perhaps convince a few remaining Hillary fans to switch over.
Say I limit my postings to half a chapter at a time. You know, sort of like you did?
What do you think?
IMHO, the small, organic farmers like KSfarmgrrl are the wave of the future.
You big operators over-produced so much crop that all the real money went to the processors, packagers and distributors.
It costs more for the cardboard box that packages the corn flakes than it does for the corn that’s in it.
About as nutrious too . . .
When you make sense, Null, I’ll try to respond . . .
And speaking of the breeding of corn, it had all been done by “savages” before the “civilized” Europeans had even arrived in America.
The four major varieties of corn–sweet, dent, flint, and popcorn–had all been developed by Native Indians before Columbus even set sail.
Good morning Capn!
So, . . Lincoln Chafee calls himself a moderate! The senile old liberal endorsed Obama last February!
And he’s written a book? I’ll run out and get that right away!
http://ard.unl.edu/rn/0900/bean.html
There’s a study that explains clearly what farm gal was talking about. However, if you want to weed crops sized corn plantings by hand, be my guest. Round-up ready corn out yields conventional corn in field situations because of the ease of weed control.
.
BlueJay
Posted April 22, 2008 at 10:03 am | Permalink
Micheal Moore found the money.
And SOME of my “friends” THINK we should listen to Republicans.
Those folks might want to work with you “American way”.
I still wanna plow you under.
And this is far from over.
————————————————-
JR, should you ever be unlucky enough to meet AmWAy, and should you decide to attack, you wouldn’t have a chance.
You’d have a new set of shoulder blades on your chest, and your head would be bent backwards stuffed up your a**.
Just my opinion.
Oh, never mind. Your head is already stuck up there.
Funny stuff. I posteond an excerpt and a link in response to heckler’s question yesterday about how we would continue to meet increasing global demand without the yield produced by gm crops. As you can see from the excerpt, gm doesnt always equal greater yields.
But beber always equals scroll over territory.
And just for the record, I dont grow any corn, sweet, field, garden or otherwise. Too many racoons and, as captain noted, too much water.
And, if I remember correctly Chafee’s timely endorsement of Obama, just before the primary in Rhode Island, allowed Hillary to win by almost 20 points!
I also dont grow soybeans because I dont irrigate and they dont do well out here without big irrigation.
“IMHO, the small, organic farmers like KSfarmgrrl are the wave of the future.”– Cappy
That might be true, captain America. Get out your hoe, and try to make your living on two acres. We’ve had such societies in the past; try the Ming Dynasty in China, or pre-Columbian middle america. If corn was $1,000 a bushel, you might be able to do it. In the mean time, six billion people have to eat and the majority of them are being fed by big time agriculture, or at least, with the aid of modern fertilizers, chemicals and genetics.
null frowns upon beber
Oil kicking 120$ a barrel around today; Euro $1.60. We’ll soon be a third world after hyperinflation kicks in.
…third world country.
Being a farmer, myself, I can attest to beber’s opinion that the small organic farm is not the ‘wave’ of the future. It might be if every family or even one family out of 10 farmed but that’s not feasible.
GM has some failures as does any enterprise but for the most part, their successes in bringing us nutritious food with a constant level of quality isn’t matched by the hobby farmer.
That said, there is a place for both kinds of farmers.
Not this Null.
I suspect neufeld has found his last vote. Maybe parkinson knows something we dont know? Yet? I wonder if it’s swenson? Something to do with the new budget and a trade-off or two?
http://www.kansas.com/news/updates/story/380576.html
Cant wait for them to come back to Topeka…
“The veggies we eat, the food grains we use, are the result of genetic modification, done over the centuries by selective breeding, or more recently by genetic modification.”
GMC, not sure on this, but we enjoy heirloom varieties of garden veggies. Many of these we have had seeds passed down for generations or ordered from one of the seed savers exchange.
I’ve always believed our favorites of these, have not been genetically altered - or changed at least since their initial release in late 1800’s early 1900’s. Natural change, I’m sure, and even though we are careful with our pollinators, some change may have occurred.
But for those concerned - what other options do you have? If you do not grow your own - you have no idea what your family is really consuming.
Take the government label/standard for “organic”
for example. You really do not know.
Favorites ready to go out now are Heirloom Brandywine tomato plants. And when the ground gets a little warmer Golden Bantam yellow and Silver Queen white sweet corn. Silver Queen for instance is a great natural polinator, it is not an SU or SE variety. Tight ears prevent some insects and the long even rows are sugary rich!
Hmmm. . .I wonder: Is “null” going to be WEBlog’s version of Anonymous Coward ?
Thanks,
null “easier than loggin in” #49
American Way, you’re right, you can’t possibly know just what you are consuming but you can look at the increasing lifespans of humans and the overall health factor that lasts (for the most part)longer in life.
Sure, it’s a combination of factors, from food to increased education and medical research but all of them work together to benefit humanity.
The trick is to produce a viable crop with the least amount of expense and chemical intervention. By genetically engineering the plant, we can grow a greater harvest on a smaller area.
Now, if they would just pay the farmers their fare share of the crop.
OMG, I LOVE Brandywine tomatoes.
“Take the government label/standard for “organic”
for example. You really do not know.”
True. The standards have been rat buggered, as CF would say, by big ag. It means little or nothing.
I think the real key to sustainable ag providing you and yours the highest quality food is to eat fresh, eat seasonal, and eat local. Know your farmer if you can, and buy as close to home as possible.
When you buy close to home, you not only save the fuel costs, but you get varieties that have been grown for taste and nutrition, not shipping. If you can buy direct or from a farmers market, you know what you are getting and dont have to rely on a government label to say it’s ok.
Many farmers sell meat and eggs and whole grains as well as produce. If you want to eat local, you can do it. You might not get fresh red peppers in the dead of winter, but if you eat seasonal, you’ll get the best of the best, and move on to the next.
Or…
You can buy your groceries from big ag. Your choice.
heh. I wish it would give ME the null. There’s a few things I wouldnt mind saying anonymously.
Can you get the null on purpose? I wonder if certain nic switchers would be ok with all of us being null. Since we’re concentrating on content, not identity.
(big eye roll)
I might at to ksfarmgrrl’s post:
Don’t pass up the many, many farmers markets which are nearly everywhere these days. Towns sponsor them and provide space.
But even here, be selective and careful. You will learn/see the ones who really are marketing produce from elsewhere. Come on! You can’t show me nice neat piles of some veggies - all uniform and TOO EARLY TO HAVE BEEN GROWN NEARBY!! and expect me to believe they are “home grown” locally.
Once you spot these characters: avoid them. They show up every week (usually a Saturday morning). But by all means do buy from the others. The not perfect shaped fruit/veggie can be the best tasting and probably more nutrious! And these folks LIKE to talk! and answer questions on their produce. Remember, they are very proud of what they are offering for sale. Don’t be rude or thumb your nose up at them.
I’d suggest the farmers market over any chain grocery store (unless you know the produce manager).
And they usually offer so much more. The crafters are there and sometime local entertainment. Helps everyone! Over time, you get to know the sellers and they know you as their customer.
It’s nice to pick up specialty produce items during growing season but what about the rest of the year? Do you can your own tomato sauces for winter chili and spaghetti? Did you freeze your own corn? Do you pull a loaf of bread off the grocer’s shelf and put it in your cart? Do you like a little cheese sprinkled on your packaged tortilla chips or do you grind your own corn and make your own chips? Do you slaughter your own beef and chicken? If you do - my hat’s off to you.
If you don’t - thank the farmer that sells to a COOP and the food is shipped to you.
If you even walk into a grocery store, odds are, you’re going to come out with something that was farmed commercially.
And we can all be proud of that.
Good points, AmWay.
I respect gardeners who know what they’re talking about.
I’ve had the same experience as you with the “farmer’s markets.” I bought some tomatoes one time that were picked early and artificially ripened just like the grocery store.
That’s not right.
They had some superficial blemishes on them like real homegrown tomatoes, but that’s where the similarity ended.
“I think the real key to sustainable ag providing you and yours the highest quality food is to eat fresh, eat seasonal, and eat local. Know your farmer if you can, and buy as close to home as possible.”
Amen. Just remember the ability to do so is a luxury of our abundance. Most of the world struggles to get enough to eat, period. And many would not eat at all were it not for “big ag.”
Can you get the null on purpose?
Yep, but you’ll excuse me if I don’t post it publicly.
Drop me an email if you really want to step into the void!
I suspect there are at least 3 people here who already know how.
RR makes some good points . . . you can’t really live “back to nature” in modern suburbia.
My backyard is so shady, my tomatoes don’t mature until about Labor Day!
I’ve had some luck gardening in the winter under glass. Kansas summer is too hot for lettuce and radishes etc.
“Most of the world struggles to get enough to eat, period.”
True, but that’s less a result of our superior society and more a result of a lot of land and relatively few people.
Given the way the rich are getting richer under BushCONs and the poor are getting poorer, we could be India in just a few more generations . . .
Gee, just what we all need… a NULL Blog, full of vast nothingness!!
“RockRoad” asks –
“Do you can your own tomato sauces for winter chili and spaghetti? Did you freeze your own corn? Do you pull a loaf of bread off the grocer’s shelf and put it in your cart? Do you like a little cheese sprinkled on your packaged tortilla chips or do you grind your own corn and make your own chips? Do you slaughter your own beef and chicken?”
Well, no. I don’t. But I swear to god my sister gave me her recipe for frijoles that began, “Plant at least a fifth of an acre of pinto beans…” When I was a kid, my grandmother would go out and collect eggs for breakfast and reach down, grab a chicken at random, spin it aound ’til the head came off and roast it for Sunday dinner. So it can be done.
“quality food is to eat fresh, eat seasonal, and eat local.” — GMC-70
Oh, Gawd: what’s seasonal and fresh in January? Beef, I guess. Milk. Wood bark. Leaves. Pine needles.
Brandywine tomatoes are great, but generally not great yielders. I think they are a “beefsteak” variety, which don’t pollinate well in hot summers. If some one has figured out how to grown them out west, please let me know.
Anyway, you might be surprised to know that my attitude toward agriculture is much like I suspect Ks Farm Gals is. Do you realize what an incredible diet we could have, what wonderful wines we could drink, and how much better our lives would be if suburbia was converted to farms. I don’t mean removing the houses, I mean using the endless acres of sheltered, irrigated back and front yards for nut trees, fruit trees, and vinyards?
The plants could be irrigated for the most part from what runs off roofs and streets; houses and buildings provide shelter from the wind. Virtually every fruit and vegetable could be produced in sufficient quantities for the whole population with oodles left over. But in my way of looking at things, the gardens/farms would be cooperative ventures. 100 Mexican gardeners could make Topeka into a paradise of flowers, fruits, and vegetables. And it’d be cheap too.
I’ve had dozens of gardens, and a green house too. I can raise four cucumbers in a four-inch cup. Under plastic, yields are like dozens of times greater than plants grown outdoors.
“Do you can your own tomato sauces for winter chili and spaghetti?”
My wife works wonders with Ball and Mason jars. Cold water bath. Had a bad run-in with the pressure cooker method when much younger. She got scalded and we quit that. But for most veggies (acidity is the key), you can can and enjoy all winter long! We have pickles, tomatoes (both plain and with pepper/onion, salsa, hot and mild peppers - and I when we put red, yellow, and green peppers up (great 50% H20/vinegar recipe) I’m darn near proud enough to show them at the county fair. List goes on. Not for everybody (at least not yet), but it can be done. And my specialty is crock pickles both dill and hot (with a few hot peppers added). Dill, garlic, emmm. Some are still “crunchy” from my 1999 crop!
(county extension office will check samples for botsulism).
“Did you freeze your own corn?”
It’s called “blanching” and isn’t just restricted to corn. Clean the crop, put it in boiling water for just a few minutes - and right into the freezer bags!
“Kansas summer is too hot for lettuce and radishes etc..”
Found that out Capn when I planted my first Kansas garden many years ago (having moved here from zone 4). Secret is: Till in fall, so garden is ready in very early spring. It would be nice to till again in the spring, but usually mine is too wet to do so. We plant our lettuce (dozens of varieties) as early as we can get out. Not big head lettuce. The kinds you just cut off and it keeps growing (black-seeded simpson for example).
Snow peas, peas, and radishes (although I’ve given up the later - lot of work for something I can pick up at the market, like we do carrots now days). Priced snow peas lately? BIG SAVINGS to grow yer own. So it can be done if done early.
But CapnAmerica is right - our lettuce bolts in May. Milky stem and it’s time for the compost pile.
With food prices, this and water might be the next basics for life we need to think about our sources for. Gardening isn’t for everyone - but everyone can do it.
Anyone ever have wilted lettuce salad?
Fry up bacon until crisp.
Sprinkle on top of big bowl of garden salad.
Pour/spoon the bacon grease over the lot.
pour/spoon wine vinegar over same.
Throw in a chopped boiled egg or two,
and enjoy!
Nothing better.
“raise four cucumbers in a four-inch cup”
I “grow” cukes on a trellis: No dirt, fruit hangs down
and gravity grows em straight.
I used to raise chickens, but that’s another story.
A note I sent to target.com:
Just a short note to let you know how even a short trip to Target absolutely RUINS my day. I’m 51 years old… apparently, that means I’m too old to shop at Target. Ask an employee for assistance, and they act as if you’re forcing them to do quadradic equations at gunpoint. You NEVER have ANYTHING I’m shopping for, and again, if I ask for help, your employees act as if you’re waterboarding them. So why do I even bother? Because one of my employers INSISTS on giving me Target gift cards. I have no idea why I’m being punished like that. If we ever catch Osama bin Laden, I say let’s give him a $1000 Target gift card–and he can’t leave until he spends it. Sorry I’m not cool enough to shop at Target.
What’s this? Election fraud? How can that be? Not in a blue state with a blue governor, and a big blue city with blue mayors? Say it ain’t so! I thought only evil republicans STOLE elections?
“Apr 21, 2008, News Report
The Justice Department announced today that it will monitor tomorrow’s presidential primary election in Philadelphia, to ensure compliance with federal voting rights laws. In April 2007, the Justice Department reached a settlement agreement with Philadelphia related to allegations that the city had violated the Voting Rights Act, the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), and the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).”
http://www.govtech.com/gt/articles/295641
Apparently the democrats have disenfranchised minorities in one of their own honey holes?
Philadelphia
“quality food is to eat fresh, eat seasonal, and eat local.” GMC
Just a final thought before I sign off before NULL takes over. I’ve hogged the blog I see. Sorry but you hit a subject I’m good at - eating!
Anyway, I had the priviledge in my younger years to travel and live overseas. My comment is that in many countries, the family buys the food for that evenings meal - on a daily basis. They don’t have big fridges with enough food to feed a small army. In Japan, they shopped for their daily meals. So they bought fresh and were not as wasteful as I am here with a fridge stocked full of food going bad and tupperware full of Unidentified Frozen Objects.
Maybe a lesson in there somewhere for me.
Hmmmm . . . When I woke up this morning I was logged in on my laptop as Null.
On my PC downstairs I was HLP. However, before I can post on my PC I have to log out and log back in.
When I get home tonight I’ll try and post as Null on the laptop to see if it works.
Test — Test –
Soldier’s Peace: Iraq War Vet Walks 500 Miles Across Native Utah to Call for Troop Withdrawal
Army reservist Sergeant Marshall Thompson spent a year in Iraq working as a military journalist. He reported from across Iraq, interviewing thousands of US soldiers. In October 2006, Sgt. Thompson walked the entire 500-miles across his native state of Utah to protest the war and call for a withdrawal of US troops.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/22/a_soldiers_peace_iraq_war_vet
yeah but does that make him unAmerican?
Clinton: US Could “Totally Obliterate” Iran If Iran Attacks Israel
Senator Clinton also ratcheted up her rhetoric toward Iran on Monday. During an interview that will air today on ABC News, Clinton said she would “totally obliterate” Iran if Iran attacked Israel with nuclear weapons.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/22/headlines#2
so could Israel. Do we have another war monger here?
Food rationing: http://www2.nysun.com/article/74994?access=438582
smoke out: http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/apr/20/cus-420-pot-smoke-out-draws-10000/
Obama Accuses Clinton of Employing “Politics of Fear”
The Obama campaign responded to Clinton’s new TV ad by accusing her of employing “the politics of fear.” Within hours, the Obama campaign released its own ad.
Narrator: “Who has what it takes to really bring change, to finally take on the special interests, not take their money? Who made the right judgment about opposing the war and had the courage and character to speak honestly about it? And who, in times of challenge, will unite us, not use fear and calculation to divide us?”
Barack Obama: “We are one people. All of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes. All of us defending the United States of America. I’m Barack Obama, and I approved this message.”
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/22/headlines#2
Warmongering and fear mongering. Sounds like McCain.
Clinton Faces Delegate and Money Shortfall
Even if Hillary Clinton wins today in Pennsylvania, she will remain far behind Obama in both the pledged delegate count and the overall popular vote. New campaign records also show Clinton is trailing Obama in the money race. With nine contests still to go, Obama has $42 million in the bank, Clinton has $8 million.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/22/headlines#2
And how many IOUs/unpaid bills does she have?
Army Expands Involuntary Extensions of Duty
Meanwhile, USA Today reports the Army has accelerated its policy of involuntary extensions of duty to bolster its troop levels, despite Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s order last year to limit it. Since last May, the number of soldiers forced to remain in the Army through stop-loss has increased by 43 percent. The reliance on stop-loss has soared as the military has sent more troops to Iraq and extended tours to fifteen months to support the so-called surge.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/22/headlines#2
Ooooo… the politics of fear. Be very afraid of the politics of fear.
Tell me again why we should concern ourselves with Israel?
American arrested as nuclear spy for Israel By Randall Mikkelsen
52 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. authorities arrested an American engineer on Tuesday on suspicion of giving secrets on nuclear weapons, fighter jets and air defense missiles to Israel during the 1980s, the Justice Department said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Ben-Ami Kadish, 84, acknowledged his spying in FBI interviews and said he acted out of a belief that he was helping Israel, court papers said.
He was accused of reporting to an Israeli government handler who also dealt with Jonathan Jay Pollard, an American citizen serving a life term on a 1985 charge of spying for Israel.
Kadish’s arrest is a sign the Pollard scandal, which remains an irritant in the close U.S. alliance with Israel, may have spread wider than was previously acknowledged. Kadish was arrested in New Jersey and was scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday afternoon at U.S. District Court in New York City, authorities said.
“We will be informing the Israelis of this action,” State Department spokesman Tom Casey said. “Twenty-plus years ago during the Pollard case we noted that this was not the kind of behavior we would expect from friends and allies and that would remain the case today.”
Kadish’s lawyer, Bruce Goldstein, did not immediately return a call for comment.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel, asked about the arrest, said: “We know nothing about it. We heard it from the media.”
Pollard pleaded guilty in 1986. Israel granted him citizenship in 1996 and acknowledged in 1998 that the former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst was one of its spies. Israel has unsuccessfully sought Pollard’s release.
Kadish is a Connecticut-born U.S. citizen who worked as a mechanical engineer at the U.S. Army’s Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center at the Picatinny Arsenal in Dover, New Jersey.
His spying lasted roughly from 1979 to 1985, and his contact with the unnamed Israeli handler continued until March of this year, the federal complaint against him said.
The complaint said Kadish did not appear to receive any money in exchange for his suspected spying, just small gifts and restaurant meals.
Kadish, who had a security clearance, took 50 to 100 classified documents from the arsenal’s library, working from a list provided by the handler identified in a federal complaint as “CC-1.” The handler would then photograph the documents in Kadish’s basement and Kadish would return them to the library, the complaint said.
It said one of the classified documents passed on by Kadish “contained information concerning nuclear weaponry.” Israel is widely believed to have nuclear weapons but has never acknowledged it.
Another document obtained by Kadish related to “a major weapons system … a modified version of an F-15 fighter jet that the United States had sold to another foreign country,” the complaint said. It did not identify the country.
A third document contained information regarding the U.S. Patriot missile air defense system.
The complaint said Kadish maintained contact with CC-1, met him in Israel in 2004, and spoke with him by telephone on March 20 of this year, after his first FBI interview. It said the handler told him to lie to U.S. authorities: “Don’t say anything … What happened 25 years ago? You don’t remember anything,” the handler was quoted as saying.
The complaint said the handler worked for the Israeli government as consul for science affairs at the Israeli Consulate General in New York, from 1980 to November 1985.
During the late 1970s the handler worked for what was known at the time as Israeli Aircraft Industries, an Israeli government contractor, the complaint said. It said the handler left the United States when Pollard was arrested and has not returned.
The history appears to fit with that of Yosef Yagur, who has been publicly linked to the Pollard case. A woman who identified herself as Yagur’s wife, when reached by telephone, said, “We’re not speaking to journalists. Goodbye.”
(Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed, Christine Kearney in New York and Dan
Israel Rejects Offer from Hamas After Carter Visit
The Israeli government said on Monday it sees no change in Hamas’s positions after a visit by former President Jimmy Carter to the region. After a meeting with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, Carter suggested Hamas would be willing to make peace with Israel.
Jimmy Carter: “They said that they would accept a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders if approved by Palestinians and that they would accept the right of Israel to live as a neighbor next door, in peace, provided the agreements negotiated by Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas was submitted to the Palestinians for their overall approval.”
But Israeli government spokesperson David Baker rejected the offer.
David Baker: “Israel is targeted on a daily basis by rocket barrages from Hamas-controlled territory in the Gaza Strip. Hamas is an enemy of Israel. Today, they critically injured a four-year-old Israeli boy. Israel sees no change in Hamas’s extremist position.”
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said on Monday that Hamas accepts the establishment of a Palestinian state on land occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war but would not recognize the Jewish state.
Khaled Meshaal: “We accept a state starting from the borders of June 4 in addition to the other rights we ask for, but without recognizing Israel. We have offered a ten-year truce after Israeli withdrawal to the borders of June 4, 1967 as an alternative to the recognition. This is the clear vision of Hamas.”
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/22/headlines#2
CNN Hires Ex-White House Press Secretary Tony Snow
In other media news, CNN has hired former White House spokesperson Tony Snow to serve as a news commentator. Snow worked as President Bush’s chief spokesperson up until September. Prior to his stint as White House press secretary, Snow worked at Fox News. Snow is the second top former Bush administration official to land a prominent television gig. Former White House Senior Adviser Karl Rove has been appearing on Fox News as a commentator since February.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/22/headlines#2
New HUD Nominee Has No Experience in Housing Issues
President Bush’s nominee to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development is coming under criticism, because he has no apparent background in housing issues. Last week, Bush nominated Steve Preston to replace outgoing Secretary Alphonso Jackson. Preston is currently head of the Small Business Administration. He is a former executive with ServiceMaster and was an investment banker with Lehman Brothers. Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd has questioned why Bush would select a nominee with no expertise in housing issues while the country is facing the biggest housing crisis in recent history.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/22/headlines#2
Bush Has Highest Disapproval Rating in History of Gallup Poll
Meanwhile, President Bush has set a new record. He now has the highest disapproval rating of any president in the seventy-year history of the Gallup Poll. In the most recent USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, 69 percent of Americans disapproved of Bush’s job performance. The previous record was held by Harry Truman, who had a 67 percent disapproval rate in 1952. Bush also holds the record for having the highest approval rating of any president in Gallup’s history. In September 2001, in the days after the 9/11 attacks, Bush’s approval spiked to 90 percent.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/22/headlines#2
sol - don’t forget that the outgoing HUD guy left ‘under a cloud.’ Maybe this new guy knows how to judge horse shows. That is all that mattered for Bush to pick a head for FEMA.
I read it was a question posed in Europe.
They cannot figure out why the U.S. is even bothering to hold a Presidential election.
On one side, we have a bitch who is a lawyer, married to a lawyer, or a lawyer who is married to a bitch who is a lawyer.
On the other side, we have a true war hero married to a woman with a “huge bosoms” who owns a beer distributorship.
Is there a contest here? Dumb Americans!
Boiling things down to their essentials
Just in from Denmark
“We in Denmark cannot figure out why you are even bothering to hold
an ‘Election’.
On one side, you have a ‘Beotch’ who is a Lawyer, married to a Lawyer, and a Lawyer who is married to a ‘Beotch’ who is a Lawyer.
On the other side, you have a true war hero, married to a beautiful woman with a huge chest, who owns a Beer distributorship.
Is there a Contest here?”
null,
We’ve got to quit that, JR will think were the same.
I know. But our posts were uncanny?
There is your proof. Null = BoxLock = American Way = Max. Nuff said.
No….null said! But I said it first, or whatever.
Now Boxlock is trying to back track. Boxlock might be CF2K too.
Just funnin ya brother.
On the other side, you have a true war hero, married to a beautiful woman with a huge chest . . .
1. “huge chest”? Try “flat chest.”
2. “beautiful”? Try “skanky.”
If one is going for looks, Michelle Obama . . . oh, Mama!
CF2K……gawd, the heart arrhythmias.
‘funnin’, I know…but it still makes me gasp!
On the other side, you have a true war hero, married to a beautiful woman with a huge chest . . .
1. “huge chest”? Try “flat chest.”
2. “beautiful”? Try “skanky.”
If one is going for looks, Michelle Obama . . . oh, Mama!
On the other side, you have a true war hero, married to a beautiful woman with a huge chest . . .
1. “huge chest”? Try “flat chest.”
2. “beautiful”? Try “skanky.”
If one is going for looks, Michelle Obama . . . oh, Mama!
On the other side, you have a true war hero, married to a beautiful woman with a huge chest . . .
1. “huge chest”? Try “flat chest.”
2. “beautiful”? Try “skanky.”
If one is going for looks, Michelle Obama . . . oh, Mama!
On the other side, you have a true war hero, married to a beautiful woman with a huge chest . . .
1. “huge chest”? Try “flat chest.”
2. “beautiful”? Try “skanky.”
If one is going for looks, Michelle Obama . . . oh, Mama!
On the other side, you have a true war hero, married to a beautiful woman with a huge chest . . .
1. “huge chest”? Try “flat chest.”
2. “beautiful”? Try “skanky.”
If one is going for looks, Michelle Obama . . . oh, Mama!
On the other side, you have a true war hero, married to a beautiful woman with a huge chest . . .
1. “huge chest”? Try “flat chest.”
2. “beautiful”? Try “skanky.”
If one is going for looks, Michelle Obama . . . oh, Mama!
On the other side, you have a true war hero, married to a beautiful woman with a huge chest . . .
1. “huge chest”? Try “flat chest.”
2. “beautiful”? Try “skanky.”
If one is going for looks, Michelle Obama . . . oh, Mama!
On the other side, you have a true war hero, married to a beautiful woman with a huge chest . . .
1. “huge chest”? Try “flat chest.”
2. “beautiful”? Try “skanky.”
If one is going for looks, Michelle Obama . . . oh, Mama!
Way cool on the CU Annual smoke-out — and in a city that is Smoke Free from tobacco too!! LOL
Georgia accuses Russia of downing spy plane
A Russian fighter jet has shot down an unmanned Georgian spy plane as it flew over the breakaway region of Abkhazia, Georgia’s air force commander said Monday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with his Georgian counterpart about the alleged incident.
The two countries’ presidents discussed the incident by telephone Monday in what Georgian leader Mikhail Saakashvili termed a “difficult conversation.”
Col. David Nairashvili, Georgia’s air force commander, told The Associated Press that video footage recorded by the plane before it was shot down Sunday shows the attacking jet to be Russian.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/04/21/georgia.russia.ap/index.html
Mig 29 - the crowd pleaser.
Damn Capn, once was enough
Citizen (lawyer) cites officer for up to $540 for illegal parking.
Listen to the Chief. Officers above the law?
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/04/22/cop.gets.ticket.kgw
Israel should reject any offers to negotiate with Hamas. It is not the elected party in Palestine.
It would be like the American Nazi Party wanting to negotiate with France.
It ain’t gonna happen.
Hamas is not a government entity.
Having a nic of Null,
is really a bunch of Bull
and is actually quite Dull.
Anyone else a poet?
(CapnAmerican was purty good with O-Mamma!)
Your problem, null
is not that you’re dull
But from what I can cull
It’s of what you are full
DUDE !!!! Enough !!!
Something is going haywire with this blog.
Why am I not surprised?
Half the time, I can’t get it to even load anymore.
As for my spams above, the WEBlog used to not let you post the same message more than once. My connection is so laggy that I hit post repeatedly in hopes that one will “take.”
Looks like it’s time to actually do some work, EDS.
Null and Void, hey where’s Void?
Dont ask Phantom!! You might not want to know!!
There once was a poster named null
Whose posts would our naïve legs pull
His wit was quite lacking
Still he had the backing
Of other posters that were quite dull.
Stayed in Edward Lear’s home last time I was in London.
From the Eagle website:
The Wichita City Council held off granting licenses to three After Dark Video stores this morning because council member Jeff Longwell suspects at least one of the sexually oriented businesses has building code violations.
Longwell was referring to the store at 7805 W. Kellogg.
“It’s a building that’s in horrible shape,” Longwell told reporters after deferring the vote. “They do absolutely zero maintenance.”
Longwell said the licensing will be delayed until code inspectors give a report on any violations. Code violations are grounds to deny a sexually oriented business a license.
Licenses will also be delayed for two other After Dark Video stores because they were part of the same council agenda item. One store is at 3721 S. Broadway and the other is at 2809 N. Broadway.
The Eagle contacted the West Kellogg store this morning and was directed to an employee at the South Broadway store. The man who answered declined to give his name but said that he had just talked with an inspector and that the business needs only to replace some ceiling tiles and the roof.
My question is this: How did Longwell know about the ceiling tiles???
Or the roof???
How did he know about the roof?
Michael Moore was already going to support Obama, that was obvious to anyone who watched Sicko, where Moore came down hard on Hillary for selling out to the health industry