This came in my email today. One of them ends today supposedly but if you see this late double check it. Don't miss the second web site ---one is his "official" and the other is a more personal (if that is the correct way to say it) web site. Both are taking comments on Nais.
SPEAK UP.....now is our chance to be heard!!
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This was in my mail today from Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance.
One is to write a quick, brief email to your Congress person and/or Senator.
The other is to make a quick comment on a USDA proposal that closes for public comment on December 23rd.
These are fast and quick to do...but have big impact. Hopefully you can get to it.
P.S Anne...I found that link for you for the 10/16/08 post.
Appropriations Process Moving Forward with NAIS!
MESSAGE:
My name is _________. I am a constituent [or live in your state, if you aren't in their district]. I am calling about the Agriculture Appropriations bill for 2009. I am opposed to NAIS, and I do not want it to be tied to the School Lunch Program. I ask that you work to keep this provision, which was in the House Subcommittee's version, out of the conference version of the Appropriations bill. Please follow the Senate version, which did not include any such provision. I also urge you to stop all funding for NAIS, particularly any mandatory or coercive programs. Thank you for all of your work.
Sorry but I also posted this at womennotdabbling so if you read there it is a repeat. I don't usually do that but I wanted I liked how pretty the cabbage was so I decided to post here too :-D
On August 24th I started plants of Red Express Cabbage, Calabrese broccoli and some Nero di Toscano and Lacinato Kale. I put them out in the garden when they were still small and had just about 4 leaves each. Though they have not grown immensely in that time I wanted to post pictures of them to show encourage those of you that do not winter garden that it is easier than you think. The cabbage looks beautiful and the broccoli and kales look as if a few leaves have been tortured. We have though had two stir fry meals off the broccoli tops (no flowers bud yet) and many many meals off our kale. In actuality I have other larger Kale plants so don’t think I am a miracle worker getting many meals off these littler guys. My other kales were from this past spring and lasted through the summer and our waist high to me now. A few leaves will get burnt when it drops low at night but they keep growing new leaves each week and most never do discolor. We eat kale at least once a week if not more — yum.
There are a few reasons why people don’t plant winter foods. Sometimes summer burnout occurs (definitely my main problem) but another is lack of cold frames or frost fabrics and then there is also procrastination. We are all, of course, guilty of this last one. I know I do it when I am uncomfortable or unsure about how to do something. But just by looking at my pictures you can see that though we have had many nights that have dropped into the mid 20’s my plants have made it through without dying. No they do not have a cold frame cover on them nor did I drape frost fabric or quilts or any such thing over them. I could have of course…and they would look a tad nicer. But since my days have always come up in temperature I have not felt that I really HAD to mess with any of that yet. January and February are usually the months we really need frames and fabrics.
Now I know that I live in North Georgia, so of course it is a bit warmer. However, just by tweaking your dates you can accomplish the same thing that I have even if you live in colder areas. My point wasn’t really to tell you when to start or any of that but to show you that even if you don’t have a green house or huge cold frame or spun fabrics…..there are varieties of veggies out their that can do their thing really well even when cold. Which brings me to variety choices.
Part of the reason I decided not to cover some of my plants is I wanted to see if I could find varieties that would take my weather without really needing lots of help. One of the reasons I wanted to do this was because when it does warm up I keep forgetting to uncover the darn things–another of my problems with cold frames. I get busy and forget to open them on a sunny day. Another reason was I am essentially a lazy person on the inside so simpler is better as far as I am concerned. I felt if I could find varieties that will tolerate my nights and days then I may not need cold frames or at least won’t need them as long. Of course a green house would be lovely but since many of us do not have one we must experiment experiment experiment. Since each package of seed is a few dollars at most—less if you seed share—then it is an cheap experiment. My many meals have already paid for my experiment and I still have more lunches and dinners out there. All we needed to do was to read the descriptions on our choices to find some that were suited to colder weather. Here is were I will encourage you to join a group like seed savers since you can find seeds grown by people near you or even in colder areas than you. They can usually give you very good information on how each variety stood up to different weather patterns. Cold and dry, wet and warm, icy, snowy etc.
The last problem I find with growing winter veggies this late is finding meals to use them up in. But that is no big deal now is it? So…again…I am going to encourage you to try this “out of season” growing thing. You could start early this spring with your own experiments. Though do remember the smaller the plant the more likely it will need some cover. But don’t be afraid and don’t procrastinate because your not sure if you can do it. It’s really easier than you think and you will do the V8 smack on your forehead when you finally realize you put it off for so long.
And….last note. I am so sorry Dora didn’t make it M.P. Though I didn’t have time to put one together for today, next week I am going to do an article on sheep/goats and dog attacks and how to treat the animal. I hope to even have a very good friends home made salve recipe to add in—one that can be used for many types of wounds and has an excellent proven track record.
Thank you so much to everyone that helped Phelan.
In just a few days the total was raised to help her and her family save their house. Yeah!!
I have to admit....I worried that not many would come through. I think based on what we see in the news, day to day and sometimes (even worse) how we see people that are suppose to be "believers" act---that we can feel as if there is no hope in humanity. Everyone is out for their selves it sometimes seems.
As I walked through those days I prayed and wished that at least half of the amount would come through ---and I hoped it would be within the time frame that it was needed in.
Yet to my surprise (and yes, I did cry) the WHOLE entire amount came through in just 2 days. Wow!! I can't even use enough superlatives to describe the feeling of amazement I have. I am astounded. Really! And for the rest of my life I have a story of how good people can be to tell others.
So....I wanted to thank every single one of you that donated and thank those that missed out because Phelan "pulled the button" and thank those that would have loved to---but have your own financial problems like many across the country do right now. Bless you and no matter who you are...where your from...what you believe...thank you. It is truly amazing what caring people can do for each other when we see someone in need.
to give than receive.
I don't believe you could find any religion or human that doesn't agree with this.
And so I will tell the story of a friend.
My friend Phelan of A Homesteading Neophyte.
Who's family is just one of the many that we now know that have been affected by this terrible economic crisis affecting our country...and the world we are told.
Her family may lose their home----just in time for Christmas.
And though her husband and she have worked hard to make their payments and feed their children, her husband's new job does not pay close to his previous job lost earlier this year. Like many.
So...could I ask you to please read her story here? Read Monday Dec 8th's entry and the 9th's please.
And then...even if only a dollar .....could you please try and help her family make up the $1600 dollars they need? Also...could you send out a prayer or a wish of goodness to her and her husband and children? (There is a paypal button for convenience....she fought it but we -- her friends-- prevailed!)
And for those of you that are somewhat skeptical about things like this let me just say that there is a time to take a leap of faith.
Faith in humanity and our ability to move past the ugly we can sometimes encounter and help someone instead of just giving to an organization or a change jar or passing by altogether. I know many times in my life I have walked past someone struggling with something as simple as a door and not thought twice about helping---only later to kick myself for not doing something. This issue is much more important than the door though so please....don't walk past it.
And since we want everyone to realize we are on the up and up...you will be able to read Phelan's blog and keep up if she is able to stay on line through the library. If not...you can keep up with her through my blog here or my group blog at womennotdabbling.wordpress.com. We will absolutely keep everyone posted about how this turns out.
P.S....my computer is not "interfacing" with blogger correctly. Though I am told others can see this and I can get into this part to write, I can not see the actual blog nor reply to comments. Hopefully I will figure out this issue soon. Thanks for your understanding.
I seem to have trouble yet again with blogger. I can't seem to see my blog.
Hellooooo....is anyone out there?!
Check this out (taken from the Telegraph UK)
The technology can generate electricity in water flowing at a rate of less than one knot - about one mile an hour - meaning it could operate on most waterways and sea beds around the globe.
Existing technologies which use water power, relying on the action of waves, tides or faster currents created by dams, are far more limited in where they can be used, and also cause greater obstructions when they are built in rivers or the sea. Turbines and water mills need an average current of five or six knots to operate efficiently, while most of the earth's currents are slower than three knots.
The new device, which has been inspired by the way fish swim, consists of a system of cylinders positioned horizontal to the water flow and attached to springs.
As water flows past, the cylinder creates vortices, which push and pull the cylinder up and down. The mechanical energy in the vibrations is then converted into electricity.
Cylinders arranged over a cubic metre of the sea or river bed in a flow of three knots can produce 51 watts. This is more efficient than similar-sized turbines or wave generators, and the amount of power produced can increase sharply if the flow is faster or if more cylinders are added.
A "field" of cylinders built on the sea bed over a 1km by 1.5km area, and the height of a two-storey house, with a flow of just three knots, could generate enough power for around 100,000 homes. Just a few of the cylinders, stacked in a short ladder, could power an anchored ship or a lighthouse.
Systems could be sited on river beds or suspended in the ocean. The scientists behind the technology, which has been developed in research funded by the US government, say that generating power in this way would potentially cost only around 3.5p per kilowatt hour, compared to about 4.5p for wind energy and between 10p and 31p for solar power. They say the technology would require up to 50 times less ocean acreage than wave power generation.
The system, conceived by scientists at the University of Michigan, is called Vivace, or "vortex-induced vibrations for aquatic clean energy".
Michael Bernitsas, a professor of naval architecture at the university, said it was based on the changes in water speed that are caused when a current flows past an obstruction. Eddies or vortices, formed in the water flow, can move objects up and down or left and right.
"This is a totally new method of extracting energy from water flow," said Mr Bernitsas. "Fish curve their bodies to glide between the vortices shed by the bodies of the fish in front of them. Their muscle power alone could not propel them through the water at the speed they go, so they ride in each other's wake."
Such vibrations, which were first observed 500 years ago by Leonardo DaVinci in the form of "Aeolian Tones", can cause damage to structures built in water, like docks and oil rigs. But Mr Bernitsas added: "We enhance the vibrations and harness this powerful and destructive force in nature.
"If we could harness 0.1 per cent of the energy in the ocean, we could support the energy needs of 15 billion people. In the English Channel, for example, there is a very strong current, so you produce a lot of power."
Because the parts only oscillate slowly, the technology is likely to be less harmful to aquatic wildlife than dams or water turbines. And as the installations can be positioned far below the surface of the sea, there would be less interference with shipping, recreational boat users, fishing and tourism.
The engineers are now deploying a prototype device in the Detroit River, which has a flow of less than two knots. Their work, funded by the US Department of Energy and the US Office of Naval Research, is published in the current issue of the quarterly Journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering.
Please see our June 5th 2009 post for our latest litter of guinea hogs!
As an update we now have our guinea hog piglets back on the market. As of today I have 2 female and 1 male guinea hog piglets for sale. These are great small farm pigs. Their size and docile nature make them easy to care for yet they still grow into something you can eat. A fine utilizer of kitchen and garden scraps along with leftovers from butchering your chickens or other livestock they make good use of all the "stuff" we usually waste and turn it into a usable by products : food or manure.
We also use these pigs to till our empty garden spots and find them excellent for this purpose -- and better: no gas needed!
You can contact me if you are interested at: alandtc (@) catt.com
Have a great day all!
WOW!!
I am continually amazed at my country!! How proud we should be that we have walked the talk of equality and democracy and not just talked the talk.
We can surely hold up our heads as a beacon of promise and hope to others.
Astounding!
Are you Poor? Black? White? Mexican? Young? New voter this election season?
Registered Democrat? Independent? Maybe even Republican?
Well you could possibly be disenfranchised this year. The warning is out. Forgot voter registration fraud the media keeps speaking about....I am talking about real voter voting fraud. Two entirely different things.
And before you read the "what to do section" below please also realize, no matter who you vote for, that some districts have ballots that if you register straight ticket it will not automatically register your Presidential vote --- you must fill in separately for the President even if it is the same straight ticket party you choose for the remainder of the ballot.
So, just in case you are challenged when it comes time to cast your vote here's what to do:
They're stealing your vote, but you can steal it back. Here are some steps you should take to protect your vote. First, avoid the November 4th minefield. Voters, wherever possible, should vote early and in person. Where feasible, avoid mailing in your ballot, many are rejected for flimsy reasons, and first time voters in many states must include a photocopy of ID. However, if you have a mail-in ballot, don't throw it away. Follow directions, use the correct postage (that's an error that cost a hundred thousand votes last time) and, if possible, walk it in to your elections office.
At the polling station, should you find yourself one of the 2.7 million purged, or your ID rejected, then do your best to resist a "provisional" ballot--one third of which are not counted. Return with proper ID, or call 1-800-OUR VOTE for legal assistance. And never just walk away discouraged. That's just what they want you to do.
In the recent media coverage of Acorn we are all hearing, yet again, about voter fraud. However there are a few things we aren't hearing covered adequately and that we need to understand....then check to make sure our vote will count.
The recent media blitz began when we learned that Acorn may have some "bad" registrations. And just so you know...bad registrations do occur however Acorn is not, by law, allowed to purge a registration it thinks may be bad. It can only flag them and point them out. Like Mickey Mouse---it gets flagged. Now...truly in this day and age there could be someone named Mickey Mouse. Which is why Acorn has to flag it and can't purge it. The state government is the one that will do that after it checks out whether it does or does not have a state resident named...you guessed it: Mickey Mouse. By hiring down on it's luck people (drunks, homeless etc) Acorn has helped get some individuals paying jobs. Some of these individuals, however, have shirked their duty and responsibilities and instead of finding unregistered voters have instead filled in random names. Now, let's at least applaud the fact, that like the Salvation Army, Acorn has used people that generally can not get jobs. Unfortunately they are paying a price for it. And instead of going on about this I would like you to read a very good article about voting fraud and disenfranchisement both of which are different than Acorn's voter registration issues.
If you haven't seen Robert F Kennedy Jr. interviewed this week, or read his article yet in Rolling Stones magazine titled "Blocking the Vote" do so now. Please.
Did you read it? Now pass it on to someone else. Voting is important and voting fraud and disenfranchisement outweighs voter registration fraud (or more accurately registration problems) by a long shot.
Then? Find your Secretary of State web site. It will have all the information about voting on it somewhere. Check information as to whether or not your state requires exact id match --- and I do mean exact in some states. Right down to whether you did or did not use your full middle name or just the initial. Or maybe your name is similar to someone who committed a crime and so it is purged for that reason. Or a data entry clerk made a mistake...and your purged.
If your state does require such exactness...and your name doesn't match correctly...or maybe your were illegally purged....you still have time in most places to fix it. (Don't wait, and don't not do it, every vote is important and every vote should count)
I don't know exactly how the web site will be set up but if you live in Georgia, their poll checker site here. When you click on that link go down to the section titled voting procedures. Read the paragraph and you will come across a somewhat hidden blue colored link that says: poll locater. Click on it and you can fill in your information. It is a link to help you find your voting precinct, and if it gives you your polling site then you are still on the rolls as of today. As far as I understand anyway.
In the beginning the founding fathers felt it was wrong to have a standing army keeping the citizens in line as King George did. As we all know or should, from our history books, using an army to keep civil unrest down (or technically: laws from being broken) can lead to abuse of powers.
Later, during various times of our history and especially after the Civil War, there were supposed or "imagined" abuses of power by the army. So...we got the Posse Comitatus Law of 1876. A bit more about the history is here.
So, knowing the history do you think it's a good law or bad? Personally I think it's a great law, reflective of our founding father's thoughts on Democracy, and a law that makes our country stand out above many others that use their military to control their population (also known as Fascism).
Recently though, our rights have been eroded, yet again, by our standing President. Democracy Now!
Now that you know what's recently happened let's go back a little farther to 2001 after the September 11th attacks to where some of this first began in an article on Fox News.
Then on to Hurricane Katrina.
Abuse of power can happen even in the most simple sounding of cases.
This just goes to show why sometimes people are so against things that sound "good". In an unrelated post earlier this year (I feel overwhelmed) an anonymous commenter said not to get worked up because the article I quoted from was an alarmist/extremists position.
I don't know....I may be an alarmist sometimes or quote from alarmist articles, however history shows that positions of power can and will be abused often enough that we don't need to weaken our laws to accommodate them.
As soon as we get a new President...no matter which one it is....I have this Posse Comitatus jewel on my list to write in opposition to. (clarification added 10/20/08---I am going to write in opposition to the changes to Posse Comitatus, not the actual law. I realized when I re read my post that I was ambiguous as to what I was against. Sorry)
With all the economic problems, health care problems, gasoline problems and job problems we face as a nation some things may slip to the back burner...so to speak.
However this has come across from the associated press today and I feel we need to....I don't know. Write our Senators? Wait until we have a new President and write him? Write homeland security?
And before you click on the link below (update 12/17 --informed that link not working so I pasted in the information -- sorry about that) let me ask you one thing to mention if by chance you do write or call your representatives or the President. Please point out that while they have, and still are, spending millions to try and have small farmers (not industrial farms---their excluded) tag every single food producing animal down to fish with their idiotic NAIS (national animal identification system) they are allowing something far more dangerous to go unfunded. Something that is ultimately more dangerous to me than if my neighbor sells his cow to someone a few miles away and (GASP!!) the government doesn't know about it.
WASHINGTON - Intruders could easily break into two U.S. laboratories where researchers handle some of the world's deadliest germs, according to congressional investigators. The Associated Press identified the vulnerable lab locations as Atlanta and San Antonio.
The serious security problems at the two labs were described by the Government Accountability Office in a report expected to be released publicly as early as Thursday. The GAO, Congress' investigative and auditing arm, did not identify the labs except to say they were classified as Biosafety Level 4 facilities, but the report included enough details for the AP — and others knowledgeable about such labs — to determine their locations. Biosafety Level 4 labs do research on deadly germs and toxins.
In Texas, the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research features an outside window that looks directly into the room where the deadly germs are handled. The lab, which is privately run, also lacks many security cameras, intrusion detection alarms or visible armed guards at its public entrances. Officials there said they will tighten security.
"We already have an initiative under way to look at perimeter security," said Kenneth Trevett, president of the lab in San Antonio. "We're waiting for additional input but we're not waiting long. The GAO would like us to do some fairly significant things. They would like us to do it sooner rather than later."Unguarded loading dock
The other lab described with weak security in the report is operated by Georgia State University in Atlanta. That lab lacked complete security barriers and any integrated security system, including any live monitoring by security cameras. During their review, investigators said they watched an unidentified pedestrian enter the building through an unguarded loading dock.
"Georgia State clearly wants its BSL-4 to be as safe as possible," said DeAnna Hines, assistant vice president for university relations. "We are already taking steps that will enhance the lab's safety and security standards." Hines did not confirm the school's research lab was the one mentioned in the congressional report as lacking proper security.
Investigators said the lab in San Antonio used unarmed guards inside antiquated guardhouses with a gate across the access road. An outside company monitors alarms at the lab and calls police in emergencies, which investigators said could delay a quick response in a crisis. They called the San Antonio lab the most vulnerable of all the labs they studied.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved the labs in San Antonio and Atlanta to handle the deadly organisms despite the security weaknesses. The three other BSL-4 labs in the U.S. feature impressive security, the report said. Those include the CDC's own facility, also in Atlanta; the Army's lab at Fort Detrick, Md.; and the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.Fort Detrick is on a secure military base, but it is known for a recent internal problem. Bruce Ivins, a scientist at the Army's biodefense lab at Fort Detrick, killed himself in July as prosecutors prepared to indict him for murder in the anthrax letter attacks, which killed five people.
Ebola research
The CDC lab is on the agency's high-security campus.
The viruses researched in the highest security labs include ebola, marburg, junin and lassa. All can cause incurable illnesses.
The chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., urged the CDC to quickly identify all security weaknesses at the high-containment research labs and fix any problems. Dingell has been investigating security problems associated with such labs around the country. He said at least six additional high-containment labs are under construction.
The Associated Press reported in October 2007 that U.S. laboratories working with deadly organisms have experienced more than 100 accidents and missing shipments since 2003 — and the number is increasing as more labs do the work.
A CDC spokesman, Von Roebuck, said each of the five labs described in the new report has its own security plan designed to fit the lab's particular security assessments.
This just gets worse and worse.
Now I have to admit that I (not being an economics major) thought that infusing the banks with a bit of cash so they could/would loan again might be a good idea. A good idea as long as the government got the heck out of dodge when they were no longer needed.
However it looks by this recent article in the Washington Post that the government is going to force smaller banks to take these loans irregardless of if they want them or not.
Read it yourself (click on the box/words) -- and good luck to all of us. We may need it more than we think:
Two days sooner than expected and we have guinea hog piglets!
2 girls and 2 boys.
Actually it was 3 girls and 2 boys but it looks as if mom, being a newbie at this, didn't get the first piglet cleaned off and it suffocated. Too bad---but we're still happy with our take.
They are cute as a button and mom and dad are in with them and don't have a problem with us "loving them up".
This is a wonderful breed of pig we have found easy to care for. We will be also selling these babies so contact me if your interested.
One last thing: We would LOVE to trade a proven adult guinea hog boar (or a youngster) with someone -- want to trade? Let's work a deal!
Whether you watched Tuesday's Presidential debate is irrelevant. More than likely you have by now heard that McCain has come up with a new program to help struggling homeowners. This new program, which McCain wants started immediately is to have the Treasury buy back the defaulted loans at loan value.
What this means is that if the home was purchased at 250,000 but is now only worth 200,000 ---we (the taxpayers) get to eat completely that 50,000. Here's a quote from McCain's adviser from an article about this in the Washington Post (article here):
Douglas Holtz-Eakin (McCain's senior policy adviser) said that taxpayers have to cover the loss because the economy has deteriorated so rapidly. "That's the only way to get a rapid and broad-based response."
I say....Bu$$crap!!
Now I am one of the most bleeding heart liberals that I know. However I think the mortgage companies that made these bad loans should eat that 50,000. Not ME. I PAY my mortgage---and have "made do" without a number of things recently that I would have liked to have had if the economy wasn't so bad-- but I have still paid my mortgage. Don't get me wrong I realize that some people have lost their jobs...and I think we should help them but there is a difference between that and buying a home to expensive for what you make. I do know that some people were "preyed" on. However, I also believe that anyone that has ever lived out on their own should have a least a basic idea of how much home they can, and conversely can't, afford.
I think food and medicine are a God given right---especially in as rich of a country as we used to be or even still are comparative to most countries. However, buying someone a house is crap. No one bought my house and I started out with a small one that was in a bad neighborhood for my first. I have saved and worked to build equity to afford what I have now. My home is now worth about 35,000 less than it was---since I would like to sell it will the government come pay me that difference of what I will lose?? You betcha they won't.
Please see Womennotdabbling for more continuous homesteading information. I write on Mondays but each day is filled with useful information from a variety of writers.
As I have mentioned previously changes are occurring here in our family and though I can't yet say if more is to come, I can say with certainty that we will be selling our home to move. That is partly why I have not been posting very much---we still have a bit of work on the house that needed finishing.
No, don't worry about us -- it's not the economy. We have however come to the realization that as our children have become older (and less often here) that this home is too big for us. It is a home that would be better suited to someone with a family still young enough to be home to fill it regularly.
We have worked hard on our home and will regret selling it for that reason but the chance to downsize (ie smaller square footage) and start with a clean slate (ie new garden) is not unappealing either. Yes, we will yet again have much work to improve our soil to make it grow and produce well for us but one thing I have gleaned more of than anything else from this property is: Experience
And because this property was large enough to own more than just a few of anyone animal and to raise livestock on a larger scale than ever before, we learned much. We learned volumes about nutrition, minerals, health of livestock as it relates to the quality of the soil, butchering, "the circle of life", and diversity in both plants and livestock for optimum use of resources.
So...to expand on my new found experience here are some of the hardest things I learned:
1) Digging fresh new ground for the first time ---1000's more square feet more than ever before. Whether by hand or tiller it's hard hard work. Especially when the smallest section is still 4 times larger than my previous largest section.
2) How to effectively (the key word here) use cover crops. I am still working on that one.
3) growing year round---that one doesn't take as long to figure out and my climate also helps a lot.
4)How to build a fence that is livestock proof from everything from a cow to a dog to a sheep and on down to a chicken. By this I mean how to build it once---not 4 times coming back to the same fence. Been there done that.
5) How to pack a fence post so it lasts and how to repair a fence and move livestock in the driving rain of a bad thunder and lightening storm.
6) How not to cry each time we kill, skin and butcher an animal.
7) How to eat the sheep we butchered the next day instead of weeks or months afterward. That was a really hard one.
8)To not be so squeamish that I can't finish the "circle of life" by allowing the other animals to eat the leftovers of the carcass. (Most specifically the head---that's just still kind of icky to watch the other animals chew and gnaw on)
9)To have more respect and appreciation for what it takes to make your entire living off of farming. It's not easy---ever.
Homesteading is in my soul. I can't imagine not, in some form or fashion, being somewhat self sufficient-- so my next home will include plans for feeding my family just with a smaller house. It is however full of hard physical and mental work and I realize now that we should never take for granted what it takes out of a farmer and his family. I do also realize though that to get the best food value for our money and not just the cheapest, that paying farmers living wages is something we need to address in this country. We need food that nourishes us---made on a farm where a farmer has pride in what he does. We don't need cheap food that comes from countries or places in the U.S where the only pride is in making a larger profit range.
Just my thoughts. Good week everyone.
Here's a link to an article comparing McCain's and Obama's health care plans. The article speaks mostly about McCain's plan but at the end tells the cost of both plans and who/how many will be affected and/or reap benefits.
Also, want to know how each candidates overall tax plan will affect your yearly bill? Here's a link to a site where you can plus in your basic tax information and get an overall view of what your tax bill will be using both candidates plans. Use your last years tax information and you can comparative look based on a Bush, McCain and Obama plan.
www.electiontaxes.com
Though I only wanted a campaign filled with ideas and solutions that is not to be the case. And though I tried to keep an open mind about each candidate I was leaning (I'll admit) a bit democratically. However Sara Palin was an interesting choice...until she opened her mouth. Now she may be able to debate by not answering the questions but when it comes to answering questions she makes me embarrassed to know that the first women VP or Pres that would stand for America could be that un smart sounding. Sorry....but during nuclear talks with Russia I REALLY doubt Putin will give a ding dang about being winked at.
So....on to the newest politcal cut the repubs are throwing at Obama. What I want to know is why:
conservatives may not want to draw attention to the issue of ties to violent radicals -- since John McCain is longtime pals with convicted Watergate burglar Gordon Liddy, who once plotted a journalist's murder (which was never carried out) and has advocated the shooting of federal law enforcement agents.
If Obama needs to answer questions about Ayers, McCain has the same obligation regarding Liddy. How about they both get started?
for a homesteading only blog please see womennotdabbling.worpress.com
So, as the candidates, Presidential that is, fight over what the heck to do about our energy problem----we need to understand our options so we can make informed voter decisions. No matter what your top issue may be to help you decide who to vote for, energy is going to stay on our plate for a long time whether or not we want to face it right now. Even if you believe this affects the environment, and therefor that makes it important to talk about, is also in my opinion irregardless. (I do believe it has an impact so don't pound me for that statement)
Energy, no matter why we are concerned, definitely has an impact on our economy and since about the 70s.....our national security. The economy is our number one issue so I hear, though I am sure there are some that still have other issues that outrank that one. Probably not many but...
But back to energy, if we don't deal with this now, at some point we will pay the price of waiting. By dealing with it I do not mean mouthing platitudes or throwing us to the wolves of the establishment who do not seem able to help us move beyond were they will make another dollar.
Now I know some of you will be for options I am not for. That's o.k. However lets make our choices for helping our country energy wise based on fact.....not opinions. I do not know the perfect solution for our country. I do know that, I , me, myself, person numero uno would prefer something other than having to bury nuclear waste in someone else's back yard. And for clarification I can say with extreme certainty that the nuclear waste the U.S makes won't be buried in my back yard. That I believe is one reason why many people don't have a problem with nuclear. If I had to bury every bit I consumed on my property not only would I rip my kids for leaving on the lights (o.k I already do that but you get the point) but I would be much more likely to turn off the ac and use less electronic "gadgets". Technically, if I never thought about were the waste would go, I could waste all the energy I want to because it won't be "my problem".
Responding to safety concerns that have long stalled the nuclear industry's growth, McCain boasts that the Navy, in which he served as a fighter pilot, has safely operated nuclear power plants in aircraft carriers and submarines without an accident in 60 years.
here is the article about the sub
Beyond nuclear, I know windmills have really come under fire recently. As a matter of fact some really interesting false facts are coming out and also just some general misinformation (see my link in this sentence).
The biggest is the bird kill issue. Well for one...windmills are much different than they were even 4 years ago. However, and this is not because I read it somewhere, why don't we whine about cars killing all the birds? My husband accidentally hit a bluebird. He didn't know he hadn't missed it until he got to work and found it still stuck to his grill. I have also barely missed many owls and hawks during my driving. As far as I understand the bird kill problem is much much less likely with these newer turbine designs and here is one link to check out about this possible myth. I say possible because I do not know for sure. You can also find others but please find some that are up to date...not years and years old and do pay attention to the actual turbine design in the pictures.
Another myth I personally heard with my own ears is a gentlemen that called into my local talk radio station one afternoon. He said "environmentalist" were trying to pull the wool over everyone's eyes (wool is sustainable now that I think about it) because he had heard and READ on line that the windmill actually needed regular power from a power plant to turn it. 90% of the power a windmill made actually came from the power plant itself. The show's host tried to get the exact web site but the guy couldn't tell him the name. The host did say he had heard others speak of that on a few occasions. He, like me, doesn't believe that....I mean....we've had windmills making power, pumping water and running businesses long before power plants have been here to "help them".
I looked on line but couldn't find this wonderful font of misinformation myself but maybe one of you can.
Another thing my husband and I recently were asked by a well meaning friend is "Why would T. Boone Pickens bother to back windmills? How would windmills help us save gas?"
Well, most people don't know that most of the power plants in Texas, and I am sure some other states, are actually powered by natural gas. The one we lived about 4 miles from was. If we could substitute wind power to power homes and businesses we can free up that natural gas to power cars. Natural gas is much much cleaner than petroleum AND the engine it powers will last longer because the gas doesn't "gunk up" the engine as readily. A win win situation. That's not even taking into account putting up solar panels on many homes in sunnier areas like Texas.
Speaking of that let me also point out that Obama has said he would invest 150 million for sustainable energy. That my dear friends is government money building clean energy, independent of foreign oil and the sometimes wildly fluctuating oil market (more on that below), and job creation all with one bang. There will be businesses to churn out those windmills or solar panels. People will be needed to install and maintain them. Taxes will be paid and local economies will have job growth. Oh yes tax payers will pay for it, at least initially don't you doubt for a minute, but McCain will only give you a tax credit for sustainable. For the average homeowner that will be the sum total of about a $300 dollar tax credit. Now don't confuse a credit with a refund. This is not a refund. They are not the same. And a tax credit does NOT help us. At least not very much. I itemize....I can assure you an average $300 tax credit doesn't do much for me. That was what we would have received this past year if we put up a solar water panel based on the current tax credits offered (they expire at the end of this year). Most people will not be able to afford sustainable (wind or solar) right in their own yard until the government gets behind it to help the cost come down. That my friends means spending tax payer dollars. Bummer...but there you have it. And any person that bitches about it should remember all the "bail outs" we have had for big businesses and some of those being considered even now. I'd rather spend my tax payer money creating jobs, energy independence and gross national production than bailing out some non progressive thinking car manufacturer.
And lest we forget, speaking of tax payer money, every time a nuclear power plant goes up tax payers paid for it. Build one in Florida....we all pay. Plus New Mexico gets to eventually bury the waste in various spots including some new ones recently slated to open. If it melts down the nuclear company isn't even libal AT ALL to repay for any damages. So sayeth the government. If they were not subsidized, were required to carry insurance and possibly pay for any damages they wouldn't be financial viable. Solar, wind, even clean coal would all beat nuclear out for price. However even with clean coal...same thing....we all pay. Except in this case someone's mountain gets blown apart and someone down wind might get asthma.
That old saying "not in my back yard" is a cop out. We are all responsible for using energy and we SHOULD NOT force others to pay for our consumption.
One thing I did not realize about off shore drilling I would like to mention is something I watched recently (last night???) on CNN. Commentator John Roberts asked some Republican spokesperson for McCain something about drilling. As we all know John McCain had been against it but now was for it. That's o.k---people do need to be somewhat flexible and open to other ideas than their own. I'm not for it but I can respect that polls show 70% of Americans are. (Actually when you look more people are for reigning in speculators than for drilling supposedly)
However the question Roberts presented was this "Even if we open up off shore drilling how will that help America? The companies that drill are international and will be required to put the oil they pump out on the open market for bidding....what happens if India or China out bid us?" Now....she (the strategist) never did answer this question however it's an excellent question and something I did not know we had to do. We would have to BID for oil drilled off our shores. So how the heck does that help us???? The U.S does get money in the beginning when bidding for who will be the extractor occurs. That though does not create jobs for us nor does it make us energy independent.
As I said in the beginning I do not know the best way or have any super great idea. However, I would put solar and wind on my property and try and make all my own energy if possible. Unfortunately I don't make enough money...though I don't mind saving for it and spending it in the long run.
Some articles suggest that spending that money and only seeing your payback in 10 to 20 years is laughable and ridiculous. What I think is laughable and ridiculous is not doing it and paying an electric company for the rest of my life. No noticeable improvement there that I can see. In the end, especially if energy prices continue to go up which historically they do, I still end up spending the money I would have on solar/wind AND worse.....maybe more. If I were 24 it would definitely be more. If I were 70 obviously I might not see a pay back on sustainable. However as the bible quote say "to those given much, much is expected". The bible, and morality in general, doesn't say to first consider what you will get back before you doing something that's good for everyone.
(Please see womennotdabbling for exclusively homesteading/farming posts)
Here is an issue that needs to be addressed in the future by us. The article printed below is taken from another site as is the cartoon. Follow the cartoon link to read another more in depth "take" on the issue of who owns you.
The conquerors cartoon taken from naturalnews.com
Who owns your DNA?
Genetic research that can save lives is often stymied by biotech companies' greedy patent claims.
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By Arthur Allen
For years, the parents of children suffering from an implacable genetic disorder called Canavan disease dutifully packed off their blood and tissue samples to Dr. Reuben Matalon, a researcher at Miami Children's Hospital. These shipments were an altruistic, volunteer effort by a devastated group of people -- their own children were dead or dying, but they hoped to prevent the births of more children with the disastrous, inevitably fatal brain disease.
In 1993, their donations paid off when Matalon, parsing the families' DNA, was able to identify a series of gene mutations on chromosome 17 that appeared to indirectly cause the disease, which has mainly affected Ashkenazi Jews. His work raised hopes that Canavan would go the way of Tay-Sachs, a related illness that has nearly disappeared in the Jewish population since couples began routine screening for Tay-Sachs in the early 1970s.
But the Tay-Sachs screening program, apparently, belonged to a kinder, gentler era in medicine. In November 1998, Miami Children's Hospital announced plans to strictly license its patent on the Canavan gene. Not only did Miami Children's demand that clinicians pay a $25 royalty (eventually lowered to $12.50) each time they performed the test; it also put a cap on the number of tests any academic lab could do.
The hospital's stringent licensing agreement is part of an alarming trend in biomedical research. Some biotech companies, universities and even hospitals are seeking to recoup their costs quickly by patenting discoveries that many believe shouldn't be patented at all. The patent license disputes threaten to close off research and clinical applications of some of the biomedical discoveries that Americans have paid billions to enable.
Some of the leading genetics labs in the country would not accept Miami Children's licensing terms and as a result had to stop testing for Canavan disease. "It's a wretched contract and we refused to sign it," says Debra Leonard, director of the molecular pathology laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania hospitals in Philadelphia. Shocked patient groups and scientists could only watch in dismay as bickering lawyers put a squeeze on information they'd worked long and hard to generate.
"We gave our DNA and that of our children to help develop testing and prenatal diagnosis. We sent our blood and skin samples to a doctor at Miami Children's Hospital," says Dr. Judith Tsipis, a Brandeis University biologist whose son, Andreas, died of Canavan disease in 1998 at age 22. "Is it right that they use our genes -- given to help others -- in a way that restricts access and increases cost to testing?
"It's shocking," she says.
"My understanding from the hospital was we needed to file the patent just so I could work with the gene myself," says Matalon, who has since moved to the University of Texas hospital system, where he continues to work on Canavan disease. "I had nothing to do with their licensing decision and I got no penny from any patent."
Canavan disease is one of a growing number of conditions in which patent fights have intruded into genetic medicine. Ninety percent of the 150 U.S. clinical genetics labs in a recent survey reported having withheld tests because of onerous patent claims. Genes for early-onset Alzheimer's and breast cancer are among the most common DNA sequences saddled with restrictive licenses.
Doctors whose clinical practice involves devising means to detect disease-causing genetic mutations are being told they can only perform such tests under licensing agreements that are often so strict the doctors' institutions refuse to sign them.
"This is my medical practice. I can't do what I was trained to do, and I spent a long time training to do it," says Leonard, who is also president of the Association for Molecular Pathology.
The problem will only grow with the approval of thousands of additional gene applications currently pending before the U.S Patent and Trade Office. "This is just the tip of the iceberg," says Leonard. The conflicts over genetic testing -- the first clinical application of the Human Genome Project -- are probably just an opening skirmish in a multisided war for control of the information, drugs and therapies that may arise from the genome discoveries.
Thanks to robots, supercomputers and brainy scientists, the government-led genome project is expected this year or next to finish its sequencing of the estimated 100,000 genes in human DNA. But the mapping of the human chromosomes is really just the start of a new kind of biological understanding. Although scientists now know the DNA sequences of many human genes, they don't understand how most of them work.
While the rest of us await the integration of these molecules into an intelligible language of life, scientists, businessmen and the government squabble over what value to assign the millions of information snippets.
James Watson, who won the Nobel Prize in 1953 for discovering DNA's double-helix structure, resigned as the first director of the NIH genome institute in 1992 in a dispute over whether to patent DNA sequences that a scientist named Craig Venter had discovered. Venter also quit the NIH and formed a gene sequencing partnership with William Haseltine, a Harvard AIDS scientist. Haseltine and Venter now lead competing biotech firms that are racing a government-led consortium to decode vast quantities of human DNA.
Haseltine, Venter and other scientific entrepreneurs have submitted patent applications on millions of bits of DNA, many of whose function isn't clearly understood. The patent office recently raised the bar of knowledge it requires before issuing patents on genes, but Francis Collins, Watson's successor, worries that premature claim-staking on the genome could end up snarling research in legal battles for years.
Using the sophisticated databanks, most of them designed and run by the government, genome-analyzing companies have described possible functions for about half the gene sequences discovered so far. John Doll, who heads the U.S. Patent and Trade Office's biotechnology division, says his office will grant patents for genes when applicants can describe a plausible function for them based on computer searches.
A prime example was the patent awarded last month to Human Genome Sciences for a gene that codes for a protein involved in introducing the HIV virus into cells. When Haseltine filed for the patent in 1995, he didn't know the function of the gene, but was savvy enough to guess it might be a cell membrane receptor. In the meantime, AIDS researchers doing painstaking science uncovered the actual role of the gene. The awarding of the patent -- worth millions if the gene is used to create AIDS drugs or vaccines -- infuriated these scientists as well as patient groups that supported their research.
"Doesn't it bother you," Collins asked Doll during a conference in Washington on Thursday, "that your standard would allow patent protection for roughly 40 percent of human genes, and yet if you ask any working scientist what percent of human genes they know the function of, you'd get, maybe 2 percent?"
"Everybody's filing for these patents," said Doll. "Not just the Incytes of the world; zillions of universities are taking the same approach."
"I don't doubt it for a second but it doesn't make me feel any different," an exasperated Collins responded. "When there's a gold rush, a lot of people go to California."
Other scientists are less restrained in their attacks on the biotech industry. "The idea of patenting DNA sequences is abhorrent to me, but in particular, the way it's being done now is intellectually dishonest," says Robert Nussbaum, a molecular biologist at NIH.
Nussbaum, who works on Parkinson's disease, said the kind of gene patent applications that Doll's office has decided to approve are likely to be shaky in their claims. Even if correct, he said, such claims are based on searches of public databases and "are being done on the backs and shoulders of research funded by the public and charitable foundations. It doesn't seem right that these sequences should be taken and locked up for the purpose of profit making."
Doll points out that hard work has never been a requirement to win a patent from the U.S. Patent Office, which generally tries to be as friendly to patent applicants as possible. "We don't care how you find out something new, only that you're the first to find it," he says. And some biotech officials say that scientists are simply bitter at the fact that technology is transforming the manner in which biological information is gathered.
Officials at Incyte, a Palo Alto, Calif., company that sells its genome information to more than two dozen pharmaceutical and biotech companies, like to point to a discovery made last year by CV Therapeutics, a small California biotech company. Using Incyte's databases and a few simple experiments, scientists from CV Therapeutics were able to identify a set of genes involved in Tangier disease, a heart ailment discovered among people living on Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay. CV's discovery took two months, but it was listed by the American Heart Association as one of the top 10 discoveries of 1999.
"Medical research is increasingly a matter of using technologies to gather a bunch of pieces of information," says Lee Bendekgey, general counsel for Incyte. "It's really accelerating things and that's what matters. And when people make discoveries like that, they deserve both public accolades and rewards."
In the 1980s, in a more primitive era of genetics discoveries, it took Francis Collins several years to isolate and clone the cystic fibrosis gene. At the time it was one of the more remarkable chapters in genetics research. The University of Michigan, where Collins made the discovery, holds the patent on the gene. As it happens, Michigan doesn't charge researchers a dime to use it.
Of course, patent holders want people to use their inventions -- if no one uses them, they don't get paid. And intellectual property lawyers say that when the patents on the human genome get sorted out, relevant ones will be bundled into packages that can be licensed to researchers and doctors in useable form -- for a price.
When the Human Genome Project began, ethicists were primarily worried about whether knowledge from the genome would be used for genetic discrimination, or to create genetically enhanced children or eliminate the genetically unfit. But such concerns may be beside the point if the technology is too expensive for anyone but the rich.
Those who care for the genetically vulnerable appear most aware of this paradox. Judith Tsipis' son Andreas never learned to walk, talk or feed himself. But he could think -- and he had a good sense of humor, she says. Asked the difficult question of whether Andreas' birth should never have taken place, Tsipis shrugs off facile answers.
"Andreas was my child and I loved him dearly. He was loved and cared for superbly well but he still had a difficult life, especially toward the end. Would I have wanted him to be born? I can't answer that. But I'm working very hard for screening so that families have all the options, and one option is an abortion. The key thing you need is information, education, and the availability of testing."
"If patents hinder research," she adds, "it will make it harder for people to develop cures for these diseases."
salon.com | March 7, 2000
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About the writerAs many of you know I have not been keeping up with my blog. We as a family have turned down another path that life has offered us and with that change....things just got crazy. We expect some small...and some big....changes within the next year or two and all of the effort we put into our goals takes away time from this blog.
As the blog seemed to fall to the way side these last few months with all we are doing and expecting to do ---I had to come to the decision of whether or not to keep my blog here. As some of you are aware, I have recently been doing a Monday slot on a group blog: womennotdabbling.wordpress.com so it is not like I had to give up something I enjoyed completely.
I have to admit---I immensely enjoy the shared blog for the simple reason that it is much more convenient for readers. You, the reader, know everyday there WILL be a new post. Not like on an individual blog where chores and life interject and then posting gets put off, yet the readers show up each day hoping for a new post.
So..here is what I decided. I will keep this blog and post about once a week however at the end of each blog I will put a link for womennotdabbling so that you can always troll over there for a quick fix of homesteading information.
Also, unfortunately we are selling all our sheep. That is part of the change in our life reflective of the different path I spoke of. So...I will not have anymore sheep posting here as my sheep will be gone in the next few weeks. If some of you would like to read more sheep posts though please see Keepingthefarm.blogspot.com. Nancy is a very good writer and her posts on sheep farming will keep you well informed and give you a good laugh along with an occasional cry.
Lastly...don't forget to pay attention to the presidential candidates. We have some serious problems in this country right now and it requires not only our attention, but our vote. Don't believe those stupid 30 second commercials that try and make you turn on one candidate or the other. There are all kinds of internet sites that compare policy platforms on the internet that are easy to read and understand. Please read those instead.
Studies show that Americans want candidates to run a "nice" race and talk issues not just complain about each other. However, studies also show (and they prove) that when a candidate is losing that if he/she runs a "dirty" campaign---he/she will pull ahead in the polls and more often than not win. Awful isn't it? We say one thing...but do another. Too bad.
Have a great day all.
As many of you know I have not been fulfilling my role as a good blogger and posting very frequently of late. And though I don't intend to give up this wonderful forum here, oddly enough I have been invited to post on a group blog. I was deeply flattered to be asked and I am looking forward to it because of the fact that it is a down to earth knitty gritty blog entitled "Woman Not Dabbling in Normal". Another reason I believe I will enjoy joining this group is because during the hectic season of the summer and early fall I have others filling in part of the week so that every day is not up to me to come up with something to write about. Because of course I, like all people in the world, get busy, get bored, and sometimes have average plain jane days that really don't make great blogging :-D Sometimes (GASP!) I go a whole week were my life looks nothing like a homesteader and everything like the "average American home" life. I know...it is hard to believe!!
So from now on at least on Mondays (my appointed day) I will be blogging regularly again. In the mean time I will get more post on here as I can----however do check us out at:
Women Not Dabbling In Normal
(womennotdabbling.wordpress.com)
See you there!
