Getting rid of worthless baggage

I've been thinking a lot lately about the government and the environment. We're pretty much going to hell in a hand basket and it doesn't seem like there is anything we can do to stop it. Freaks me out, seriously. So I was wondering if there was some way we could vote all idiots out of office. I was thinking there should be a plan to vote ALL incumbents out in the next election. The next election roles around in just a year & half. It's for all the senators that didn't have to run with the president. Then once again we can vote all the incumbents out 2 years later. They have completely screwed everything up, from the sequestration to the environment, to healthcare. I've never been so disillusioned in my life. I just keep plodding along and get so blasted frustrated along the way. There has GOT to be something we can do. To me, all those idiots in Congress are there to fill their own needs & wants & pockets and they aren't there to do what is best for me and mine. They are looking to line their pockets from the company that is will to pay the most to get around some regulation. Something needs to be done. But what? and How? Since no one actually reads this blog, I guess this is just a question for myself. I need to come up with a better idea, but SOMETHING has got to change. Or we are doomed. 

Mississippi oil spill

I"m guessing most of you, all two of you, have heard about the barge that hit a railroad bridge in the Mississippi river and started leaking oil all over the place. I just read an article the blew my mind. They have a "plan" to remove the oil from the damaged barge to another one. WHATTTTTTTTT. A PLAN?!! What the hell are they thinking. The "plan" should have already been in place for such a thing! How many barges and ships loaded with hazardous materials travel up & down that river on a daily basis?! It's a major thoroughfare for shipping. And you don't have a hazardous spill protocol in place? What the hell kind of idiot is running that?! This just flat out pissed me off and highlights what the hell is wrong with some of your systems in the US. Meanwhile while we wait for the "plan" to be implemented more oil leaks into the river and destroys more habitat and kills more wildlife. They have already cleaned up 2300 gallons of oil but can't account for another 7000 gallons. SERIOUSLY?!! How do you not account for that? And how do you account for standing by and watching while oil leaks all over the damn place? Which is what the "plan" amounts to.  And on top of the fact that the "plan" hasn't been immediately implemented they don't know how long it will take to implement it. HUH?! good freakin grief! find a damn tanker and get it up there and get the oil off that barge! How in the hell hard is it? I know for a fact that tankers are on the ocean now that aren't even full. Or how about getting some oil tanker from land, or a rail road tanker, get that oil out of the damn water!!! okay, rant over for the moment. I'm so incredibly mad about this. unbelievable.

Eat where you live, live where you eat

A friend posted this on facebook today. Depressing. Western civilization sucks. Our greed and over indulgence is destroying the lives of others, not to mention the earth itself. After this information, I think I'll pass on the quinoa from now on. 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/16/vegans-stomach-unpalatable-truth-quinoa 

This other link is about rice in Haiti. I don't know what to do about this, since we eat a lot of rice. 

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/01/11/Riceland%20 

My thoughts on foods is to end subsidies. I think we should end subsidies on most things, but I'm sure I have no idea the extent of their existence. No one pays the real price for anything anymore. I think if subsidies were gone the prices of everything would sky rocket and we would end up in another great depression. For solutions to this issue, I have no answers. Community gardens & pot gardens & backyard agriculture are a good thing. People need to get involved. Which is just one more reason I love my little plot of dirt in my backyard. While small, I feel like my little garden is contributing to the decrease in all the crap created by super-farms. Ever little bit helps!

Did you know?

Did you know you can opt out of the yellow pages?! I was so excited to learn this. While the yellow pages doesn't use any virgin wood to create their books, it still uses a large amount of water & energy to create them. The statistics say that 70% of the people that receive them don't even use them. That would be me. Here is the website to opt out of the yellow pages.
https://www.yellowpagesoptout.com/

Heads in the Sand?

I read an article earlier about North Carolina legislators that have voted on and passed a bill in the state senate the prohibits state officials from considering rapid sea level rise when creating rules for housing developments and infrastructure within the 20 counties that have coastline. Uh, huh.... really? And what does this prove? Wouldn't they rather be safe than sorry? And these idiots are completely ignoring all the scientists that have stated that the sea leve WILL rise and it will be more than 8 inches by 2100. They have 13 expert scientists looking at the SAME data, coming to the SAME conclusions and the politicians are going to ignore them? Does anyone know how hard it is to get 13 experts to unanimously agree on something like that? Do these politicians think if they ignore it and pass laws against preparation that sea level rise won't happen? Seriously, I'm shaking my head at the ignorance and unwillingness to listen to experts with an open mind. The only thing the scientists didn't agree on was the level of the rise. They felt it would be somewhere between 15 and 55 inches, so they picked 39 inches as the benchmark. Somewhere in the middle is better than the top or the bottom. unbelievable, it's just head shaking unbelievable. I guess when you decide to become a politician you sign over your rights to your damn brain! good grief

Slow Living

Last weekend I headed a state over to see my mom who flew in from California. On my way I had to stop and get some gluten free flour, while on my way I was able to drive through super tiny towns. And I'm talking TINY. Like a 4 way stop with a sign that said the name of the town, tiny. Can't remember if I've mentioned it before, but I grew up on a farm. Looking back I claim I loved it, but I can't really remember if I loved it while I was there or not. I think I did, I remember having all kinds of fun and being outside for hours on end. Or maybe, as one of my sister claims, I look back with rose colored glassed on. Eh. maybe I do. However, back to my point of this rant (devoid of any anger, for once), on my way through these tiny little towns, I seriously longed to live out the middle of nowhere again. I mean I reallllyyyy want to live there. I can't wait until my husband is done with school so we can leave the suburbs! So on my wonderful Monday morning of work I was reading a great article that actually made me chuckle, mainly because I've been saying the same thing and it's what I want to do. The article was touting the benefits of "slow living." Another term would be village living. The world has gotten so big with so many people living in an urban environment that we are no longer living sustainably. We are using way more than we can replenish. This article says that we need to get back to our roots. We need to buy local and grow our own food. Did you know that the average American meal has at least 5 imported ingredients. Not only does the amount of imports contribute to the increase in greenhouse gas emissions, it hurts the American farmer. There are many reasons that my husband and I want to live out in the middle of nowhere on a farm. One is that we will be able to know exactly where our meat comes from, and we will be able to know what was put in it. There will be no growth hormones or antibiotics to affect our health. We will be able to grow our own fruits & veggies that won't have harmful pesticides on them that will cause cancer or other diseases. While tasting lots better, our food will also be lots cheaper than what you find in the store, since it won't have to be shipped from halfway around the world. You have to wonder about our ancestors and their health. Yes, they were more likely to die of things like the flu, small pox or measles, but they also didn't have cancers, asthma, or allergies that affect us like they do today. When you look at their lifestyle and compare it to ours the biggest difference is that they lived close to their food source. They didn't eat fruit and veggies that were out of season, they ate what they grew, when it grew, and canned the surplus. And if they lived in the village, it was food that was grown locally, not from thousands of miles away. Because they lived close to the food source there were less pollution in the air. Because the farmers were small local farmers there wasn't a need to large amounts of pesticides and genetically engineered foods to combat pests & increase yield, like there is today. I guess my point is people should buy locally as much as possible. I don't know if I could ever give up my bananas, so that is one thing I'd willingly go tot eh store for. People living in apartments and cities can buy or grow locally as well. There are container gardens where fruit and veggies can be grown, even on a postage stamp size porch. In some cities they have small plots of land within a city block that can be used to plant fruits & veggies. If growing your own food isn't an option for whatever reason, visit the local farmers market! "Live Slowly!"

Using the sense God gave ya!

Has anyone heard about California and their increased effort to push this bullet train idea through? Oh my goodness! What a bunch of idiots!! Yes, that is my favorite word. It's about as strong as I can get without swearing, which when I read about the stupidity I was to scream and cuss up a blue streak. SO, what's the big deal with the bullet train you ask. Well, lets see. It's going to cost $$68.4 billion to construct. That is in current U.S. dollars, no correction for inflation. but wait, you say how can California do this they are broke? hmm, good question. I think some of you might remember when California couldn't actually pay ANY of their state employees. That was before Arnold was governor, but the fact is, the state is still operating in the red. And for the entire time he was in office he didn't get paid. not one penny! And the state still ends up with a current deficit of $$14 billion. The only other states that even come close to that are Texas & Illinois.  I was wondering how in the heck the general public in that state would stand for the construction of that thing since they are fighting to have teachers for their kids. Well the public voters okay $9.95 billion to spend on the train, and the federal government agreed to spend $3 billion on this thing, and they've also come up with $2.6 billion in bond revenue. So, if you can do basic arithmetic, that leaves the project $$$$$53 BILLION DOLLARS SHORT. And as I said before, that's in today's dollars, with no accounting for inflation. Can you imagine how expensive this thing will be in just 5 years? Seriously people, what's so important about this stupid train?! At that price the damn thing should look and be like something out of a Star Trek movie! Do they even have the infrastructure to run high speed trains, or are they going to need to rebuild everything, creating lots of waste & use of more resources? I tried to look at their website to see if I could get any good information. uh, no. It's all propaganda, cause of course, they want their train. Supposedly these trains are built to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The trains will run on electric power and will be modeled after high speed trains worldwide. Since electricity is provided by more alternative sources, I guess I could get behind that small fact for improving the environment. But,  I hate to tell these people, there are more important things to worry about than building that stupid train. Like funding teachers for schools, welfare systems, decreasing college tuition to name a few. Someone needs to wake up and smell the coffee. Where is the heck is every one's common sense? If you don't have the money to build it, and your budget is billions of dollars in the red already, WHY would you want to do something that would put you even further in the red? I have to live on a budget, why doesn't the government?!