Kakahead

So there I was, minding my own business, coming up on my 9^th year at my current job, wondering whether I’ll ever get to retire.  Corporate executives are too often consumed with keeping their pockets lined; with little or no regard for the employees who actually make products or provide services.  Consequently, all too many of us in the “99%” have much in the way of warm fuzzies about our employment status.  Folks my age are thinking about Social Security and such; hoping that whatever “retirement” means will bring with it some ability to keep the bills paid and maybe have some fun.  Never thought I’d find myself in this part of the universe so quickly, … I mean, hey, wasn’t it just a few weeks ago that my grandmother gave me that 8 transistor radio for my 8^th birthday??  Oh wait, next month that will be FIFTY YEARS AGO!!!  

Sheesh!!

What the heck??  I don’t feel old.  Of course, not sure what 57 is supposed to feel like.  My brain seems to be pretty sure that I’m very young.  Then, I go past a mirror and make the silly mistake of looking at it.  Then I tell the old fart in the mirror, “OK old man, I would really like to know what you did with my body!!”  Doesn’t take long for me to notice that I have much less hair where it used to be, and hair growing out of places it never was before.   There must be some way to style the ear and nose hair.  If my hair keeps thinning out from the top of my head, I guess I’ll just do like Mickey Rooney once said on a late night talk show some years ago.  I’ll grow my eyebrows out and comb them back!!

So there I was, minding my own business, getting all caught up in the shenanigans of being employed by a manufacturing company.  One of my friends keeps telling me that our work environment is very much like a Dilbert cartoon; and I really can’t disagree.  Too much monkey business going on in upper management, and too often it seems there’s not much thought devoted to the long term welfare of the employees.  It would be all too easy to find fault and latch on to a crummy attitude about all the craziness.  When I was a much younger worker ant, I would take all this absurdity very personally.  Then I’d carry a grudge and be a complete grouch when I got home from work.

One “good” thing about being a bit older is that I’ve been fortunate enough to acquire a nice toolbox full of coping skills.  Of course, I still know how to get a bit sad from time to time.  However, I spend much less time sulking and much more time sharing and letting go.  I silently repeat things like, “be grateful and happy” to myself.  After all, I really am very fortunate.  I’m married to the most beautiful woman in the world, we have a nice home, wonderful friends and family, plenty to eat.  Most of the time, I find myself happy, joyous and free.  Life really is very good.  I consider myself wealthy in many ways that I dare say many rich folks will never understand.

Can you tell I’m working on my gratitude?  After all, sulking is basically a road to nowhere…

Say what??  A little early for voting, isn’t it?  Many of us in the U.S. are already pretty sick up and fed with election crap, and really ready to leave all that junk alone and move on with life.  Whether you are physically (or just spiritually) “Occupying Wall Street” or a Tea Party member, there is sure to be much more activism and mudslinging between now and November.  Either way, political rhetoric has already reared its ugly nostrils and is sniffing in the deliciously annoying media compost bins.  Many of us will march to the polls and cast our votes, and some who complain the loudest will abstain (sigh).

As my good friend (not) Mr. Nixon would have said, “let me say this about that.”  We need to determine what kind of planet we want to live on, and more importantly, what kind of planet we want for our kids.  So, we all need to rock the vote.  Again and again.  Not just with ballots, but with each dollar we spend.  Now, I can’t tell anyone what to do, but here are some examples of how I “vote” and why:

Chemical Fertilizers, Pesticides:  I do not buy them.  Ever.  Why?  Fertilizer is available naturally in most places where plants grow naturally.  Composted leaves, grass clippings, and manure are good examples of soil building materials, and are natural fertilizers.  I do have to consume some energy to retrieve these things.  However, much more energy is consumed mining, processing, packaging, and shipping fertilizers and pesticides.  A lot of petroleum is used to support this industry in the form of fuel for energy, and petrochemicals for processing.  And let’s not forget how they are packaged, either in paper bags (bye bye trees) or plastic bags (petroleum again!). And even more wonderfully, the factories that manufacture these goodies pollute, and when it rains their products also pollute.  And don’t even get me started on “weed and feed.”   Our lawn gets mowed, that’s it.  The neighbors probably cry when my dandelions are in bloom.  We think they are pretty, and the bees love them.  In the garden, we get some pretty awesome veggies that we grow organically.  We do not spray any crops to keep the bugs off, but rather we use crop rotation and companion planting to keep insect damage to a minimum.  I’ve heard some folks say, “without fertilizers and pesticides you would not have all that wonderful produce you see at Meijer.”  Well that is simply a crock of moose juice.  Anybody notice the proliferation of certified organic produce at the supermarket??  Huh??  Guess what?  Those growers are doing pretty well these days.

Packaged Meals:  First of all, blech.  Sodium, ingredients I can’t pronounce, sodium, and more sodium.  Most packaged meals are packed full of chemicals, which are made by chemical plants.  Chemical plants consume energy and pollute.  More petroleum.   The chemicals they make pollute our bodies.  We try to eat fresh whenever possible.  Oh, and not to forget the packaging:  plastics and paper.  More dead trees, more dinosaur juice.

Automobiles:  My hot rod is a Toyota Corolla.  I get 35 miles to a gallon, sometimes more.  My lovely wife has a Toyota Matrix, which will also get over 30 mpg.  My next commuter car will be a hybrid which I hope will get at least 50 mpg.  Ultimately I will be working closer to home so I don’t have to burn so much dinosaur juice.  Our planet has a finite supply of oil, and cars are just a small part of the consumption of it.  Call me a “tree hugger,” or whatever other radical environmentalist label you like; but Hummers and Escalades and the like should be illegal (in my professional opinion).  

Electricity:  “Turn the lights off!!  Whaddya think, we own the Edison??  That’s what your Grandma and Grandpa would say ya know.”  My beautiful wife would shout this at the kids to remind them that power costs money.  She used “the Edison” to refer to the power company because when she was a kid growing up near Detroit, that was the name of the outfit that ruled the electrons.  So she echoed her mom and dad when yelling at our kids.  We must have raised them right, they both confess to be habitual light switcher-offers (yes, I know that’s horrible grammar).  Here again, electricity generation relies a lot on fuel, whether it’s coal or natural gas or whatever.  There is more and more alternative energy available these days but the percentage is meager compared to the output of fuel burning plants.  More demand equals greater dependency on petroleum, either directly (burning to generate power) or indirectly (shipping coal).  During the Arab Oil Embargo in the seventies, Mr. Nixon (holy cow, I mentioned him again) urged everyone to conserve.  Businesses were urged to turn off all lighting except that required for security or safety reasons when they closed up shop for the night.  Drive past any shopping mall and see if this is the case these days.  I think just a couple people are leaving the lights on!!

Think Globally, Act (buy) Locally:  “Everything’s made in (expletive deleted) China!!”  That’s the refrain my lovely girlfriend and I chant when we go shopping.  Never thought I’d actually say it, but I do my best to buy goods that were made locally or at least as close to home as possible.  And yes, I do find myself looking for the “Made in USA” label.  Of course, we buy things that are made abroad, but having some awareness is vital.  Keeping the dollars at home help our communities thrive.

Well, I could go on and on, and this could become a very very long Happy Friday.  Suffice it to say that I would see more people join a movement of  ”Let Every Dollar I Spend Send A Message.”  And yes, there is much more that I could do… I sometimes spend my money on crap just like anybody else.  

But I also vote as often as I can. 

Warm weather is finally sneaking its way into beautiful West Michigan.  Before you know it we’ll all be running around naked outside.  Well OK maybe not ALL of us.  Alright, maybe very few of us will actually do that when you get right down to it.  Anyway, we won’t need to wear nearly as much clothing and we’ll certainly want to have a nice cool beverage handy when we’re enjoying the outdoors.

Babies will ask for their “baba”… you know, a bottle… when thirst tells them to get a drink.  They might also refer to water as “wawa.”  Put those together and you’d get  “baba wawa.”  I suppose that could cause someone my age to reminisce about Gilda Radner’s timeless parody of Barbara Walters on Saturday Night Live.  When my sister  was very young, water was “joosh.”  I distinctly remember this, because she also thought my name was “B.O.”  after my mother was teasing me by showing me how to wash my armpits.  “B.O., can I have a glass of joosh??” my sister would ask; so I would always oblige and get her a glass of water.

So I guess bottled water could be called baba wawa in baby talk.  No, not Barbara Walters; bottled water.  Sales of the beverage soar during the warmer months, and tree huggers like me shudder at the sight of it.  I’m sorry but it’s completely wasteful to ship water all over the place.  Of course, there are certainly exceptions, like disaster areas or other rescue situations.

However, in most civilized areas of the planet, bottled water represents a terrible waste of resources.  Think about it:  water is pumped, filtered and otherwise treated, then put into disposable containers.  Those containers are packed into cases or crates, which are loaded onto trucks and sent to various retail outlets.  Then a consumer drives to the store, buys the finished product, and drinks water which is rarely any better than what they can get at home from the tap.  Finally, the packaging and the water bottle are tossed out, hopefully in an “environmentally friendly” way.  I put that in quotes because disposal of anything always implies that it will be moved to somewhere, either a recycling center or a landfill.  All the steps in the process consume energy and resources which could be much better spent elsewhere.

Rather than use all that oil to pump, package, and transport water; let’s maybe do something silly and save a few drops of the precious petroleum for future use.  And of course I didn’t mention the trees that die to make the paper for the cases in which these bottles of water are often shipped.

Instead, buy a rugged, reusable container and put your water in it.  Personally, I prefer glass, but it does have the drawback of being somewhat fragile.  But even if it does get broken, it’s very readily recyclable.  I get my glass containers by seeking out glass juice bottles in the store.  Only need to buy one!  I’ve also been known to keep a Snapple bottle for a very long time.  There are metal containers that work well also if you prefer.  I stay away from plastic… all these stories about BHA and whatnot.

Call me a radical tree hugger if you wish but I’d like to take this opportunity to ask EVERYONE, all over the planet, to please REFRAIN FROM BUYING BOTTLED WATER!! BABA WAWA NO NO!!

Speaking of Baba Wawa and reminiscing, here’s a clip featuring Gilda Radner and Madeline Kahn, who I truly believe are out there making the angels laugh.

There’s so much sadness in Japan… and nuclear catastrophe to make things even worse.  Here in the US our industry leaders are reassuring us that our nuclear power plants are “completely safe” and “were built to withstand earthquakes.”

A combination of great economic and population growth is what led many nations to lean toward nuclear power as a viable means of supplying an energy thirsty country.   Nuclear power certainly offers the ability to keep up with large demands for electricity.  Scientists and investors have collaborated over the past several decades to bring “safe nuclear energy” to the market place.  However, the world is watching with horror as the Japanese struggle to keep their reactors from completely melting down.

My question is:  how can anyone say nuclear power plants are “completely safe?”  And think about it, are the people of Japan so naïve that they would even consider building plants that would not “withstand earthquakes?”   I’m pretty certain the Japanese are quite aware that they have quakes pretty regularly.

I could mention many reasons why nuclear energy is not safe, not the least of which is the technology’s opportunities for weapons proliferation.  Aside from nuclear weapons; there is a nasty byproduct of nuclear power that is not considered nearly enough.  Nuclear waste stays “hot” for thousands of years; and has to be stored somewhere.

Can anyone really be certain that a nuclear waste dump site will be geologically stable for thousands of years?  Or do we just continue on and let our great-great-grandchildren’s great-great-grandchildren deal with the poisons we are placing in the ground?

There are several “green” energy technologies available to us now; so if we really wanted to, we could greatly reduce our dependence on foreign oil and yes, even walk away from nuclear power in favor of smaller, less toxic options.

The big problem will all of that cockamamie talk is that nuclear power is really BIG business.  And we (meaning we, the taxpayers) are all painfully aware that big business all too often gets what it wants.

I know I say this often, but we can vote to change the world.  Every dollar we spend determines what our world will be like.  Conversely, every dollar we do not spend sends a big message too.  And of course, we mustn’t keep quiet when big business tries to convince us that something is “completely safe” when we know better.  “Green” technologies run on a smaller scale; but may offer the safest alternatives to nuclear power.  Of course, decreasing the demand would be helpful also.  You know, really stupid stuff like turning off the lights in the parking lots of the shopping malls from say 11 PM to 5 AM;  increasing the use (and availability) of transit services rather than having 3,000,000 cars on the road carrying 3,000,000 people to work.

OK… that’s enough of that.  Can you tell I feel strongly about this?

Well sorry folks, but I really don’t want to be anywhere near a nuclear plant if it malfunctions and makes radioactive “poo.”

Here’s how one artist in Japan has used a cartoon to explain the crisis to the youngsters.  (Thanks to my friend Scott for sending me this link today).

If you’re a dinosaur like me, you may remember:  “Call out the instigators, because there’s something in the air…”  way back in 1969 sung by a one-hit-wonder group by the name of Thunderclap Newman.  That one hit has been on the radio and in TV commercials for quite awhile so even if your not a dinosaur you have probably heard it.

Something in the air alright.  The world is changing in a pretty big way these days.   Folks are getting tired of being stomped on all over the globe and are busy trying to effect change.  Nothing new really… this type of thing has thousands of years of history behind it.  However, the internet has made instant worldwide communication possible; so things are in flux perhaps now more than ever.

My professional opinion (worth at least 2.4 potato peels) is that this will all result in good things.  Of course we have some of the more “stable” governments here and abroad trying to shape the outcome; but ultimately the only ones who have any business in such matters are the Egyptians, the Libyans, the Yemeni folk, and so on.

Every time I hear the phrase “American interests” I feel a bit of indigestion coming on, to put it mildly.  We still don’t seem to learn from the past; or even wish to embrace what grandma used to always say:  “keep your nose out of other people’s business.”  Well of course that’s not going to happen when there are big dollars at stake.

More indigestion….

Our addiction to petroleum seems unquenchable.  Although we have large reserves here in our own country we allow business folk to chase after oil and other resources outside our borders.  Too often the countries providing us with resources that keep our economy one of the richest in the world are blighted by millions who can’t afford to feed themselves.  And too often we working folk here in the US (along with our other brethren in other well off lands) are caught between a rock and a hard place trying to make ends meet.  We chase an ever elusive “American Dream,” yet the story never changes:  the rich get richer, the poor become more numerous, and we, the working class, pay for all of it.

We’re told our governments are deeply in debt and there are not enough jobs; yet we continue to wage war and waste lives and resources to accomplish dubious goals.  Too many of our representatives in Congress are mostly interested in keeping wealthy pockets lined.  Defense and oil are big business, and by golly we don’t want to mess with big business.  We continue to leave all the lights on in shopping mall parking lots at 2:30 a.m.  We continue to run away screaming from planet saving energy policies in favor of bigger, “better” toys.

Now we have forces emerging that are beyond our control and we really should be grateful for that.  These people only want what we’ve had for many years:  enough to eat, a safe place to sleep, and the freedom to be who they want to be.  Their struggles will change the dynamics of the globe; and again, my professional opinion (OK maybe only worth a few radish roots) is that the end result will be good.

Sure, that may take a few hundred years…

That guy in the Whitehouse often uttered, “yes we can” during his campaign.  I still admire him and believe he’s doing the best he can under the circumstances.  However, we citizens of the free world (not just here in the US) are not trying nearly hard enough.  All of us can vote; not just at the ballot box but with each dollar we spend (or don’t spend).   Every time we purchase something, we are making a statement about what we want the world to be.  If we do our best to purchase items produced locally, our communities will benefit.  If we absolutely must have the latest and greatest electronic toy on the market; someone in Asia will benefit.  Then it has to be shipped here, which means more oil is used than for locally made stuff.  Oh wait… we don’t make much stuff here anymore!! Well OK, not nearly as much as we once did.

Rather than growth oriented economies, dearly loved by the rich; we need sustainable economies where everyone has enough.  If everyone on the planet had enough, wars would become obsolete.

Silly me… there I go dreaming again.  Just like these guys did way back in 1969…

I’m such a cheapskate.  I have no big screen TV, no Iphone, no cable TV.

Say What??

Yep.  As I told you, I’m a cheapskate.  Well sometimes.  I don’t get flustered at all while spending $100 a ticket on some rock band we really want to see.  Of course, we don’t to that very much these days; what with the crappy economy and all.

However, my beautiful girlfriend and I are in complete agreement about cable.  We both feel that the money shelled out for cable really isn’t worth the value.  Nope, I have a prehistoric thingy on the roof called an antenna that employs a rotor to move it around for the best signal.  Then we have a preamplifier that boosts the received signals down to our digital converter.  The cool thing about digital TV is that each station now has at least 2 channels; so we went from 6 channels to 20.    Works very well, really.

Oh, and it’s FREE.

The TV became a much smaller priority way back in 1992 or so when our daughter decided to slack off on homework.  She started flunking math, and it was all our fault.  We knew she was able to do the work, but TV was a pretty important diversion after school.  We tried rationing TV by saying really wise things like, “no TV till your homework’s done!!”  So both of our wonderful offspring would whoosh through whatever homework they had so they could catch their favorite shows.  Of course, the result was substandard schoolwork.  Better, but still pretty lousy.  Mind you, this was before digital TV and without a cable subscription.

No amount of rationing was working with the homework situation  So, we kicked it up a notch and ended up doing THE UNTHINKABLE!!No TV from Monday through Thursday; unless there is some special event or a program that constitutes required viewing for school.  Video games are considered TV time.  Friday night and Saturdays are free time, Sunday TV depends on the amount of homework. We laid down the law:

Needless to say, when we first uttered these bone-chilling rules the kids were mortified.  “Will you tape our shows???” they pouted.  “OK,” I conceded, “but only if you promise to bring the grades up.”  So they did.  And after about a month, they quit caring about what was on TV.  And even more ridiculous, they started reading for fun. Holy cow!!  Now, don’t get me wrong, I like veging (how does one spell “veging” anyway?) in front of the tube and I do have favorite shows.  But Mom and I both have addictive natures, and we are very much aware that if we actually paid for TV we would feel the need to watch more.

As I’ve listened to more and more folks talk about shows I never watch, and handheld devices I’ll probably never own, I have noticed what appears to be a growing subscription addiction in our culture.  More and more people are paying for more and more electronically delivered entertainment stuff.  It’s getting to the point where there’s really no need to go outside anymore with all the junk you can watch on TV or all the interactive gaming you can do in high-speed internet.  I saw a report awhile back (on TV of course) that more and more Americans are suffering from vitamin D deficiency.  So they’re rattling off all the ways you can get more vitamin D in your diet.  Well guess what folks, back in the “old days,” meaning before the internet and cable TV, vitamin D was called “the sunshine vitamin.”  In other words, your body actually makes vitamin D when you’re outside in the day time.   Is that a weird idea or what??  Going outside I mean…

Guess I really am a dinosaur.  I still love the Beatles and The Three Stooges.  We heat with firewood.  We grow organic vegetables.  We do stuff with people that does not involve television.  And so far, I have not become so enmeshed in the habit of watching the tube that I have to worry about video-addictive behavior problems.  Perhaps recovery groups will spring from this trend… you know, places that are actually outside your home where people can discuss their multimedia dependencies with others, and maybe even have some real-time interaction with live bodies.  And if I ever become one of those who is addicted to TV, etc., I hope I have the courage to change the things I can.  I’ll go to my first meeting, clutch my cup of coffee, and say the magically freeing words:

“Hi, my name is Ken, and I’m a vidiot.”

Of course, if we NEVER watch TV, we’d miss things like this…

Today marks the 50^th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration.  Is that possible???  What seems impossible is that I remember it!!  I was all of 6 years old, but I remember it.  I even remember hearing those immortal words being proclaimed live on TV in glorious black and white:  “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

I also remember the slogan, “I Like Ike,” which of course referred to President Kennedy’s predecessor, President Eisenhower.  Fifty years ago, Ike; a key World War II general turned politician, warned us to be wary of the growing importance of a “military industrial complex.”  Having experienced the horrors of war first hand, he urged us all to work for peace rather than solve our problems violently.  Here’s an excerpt I particularly like:

“Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative. Together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose.”

Read for yourself:  I found Eisenhower’s farewell address here:  http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/ike.htm

Unfortunately, his words were cast on many a deaf ear.  There’s money to be had in the armaments business; and those who gain their wealth by selling them have a lot more influence on society than we care to admit.  War is big business; and those who benefit are not the ones putting their life on the line in the battlefields.

We groan collectively that our economies are in the toilet; while billions are being wasted on military campaigns in foreign lands; all with dubious outcomes.  Every time a terrorist is slain, many more are willing die for vengeance.  Violence escalates continuously with no end in sight.  Those who are not killed suffer worse fates:  physical and / or psychological wounds.  War is simply not healthy for any living thing.

It would be interesting to just try something strange:  first bring all our troops home, out of harm’s way.   Next, use the cash that would have been spent overseas waging war to do really silly things like upgrading our rail system and working together to make the US energy independent.  Put our unemployed to work in a sustainable economy; one that is not subject to wild fluctuations that clean out pensions and cause housing bubbles.   Then let’s wrap it all up by using our technology to keep watch; and work with our fellow Earthlings to promote peace and banish poverty.  Couple all this with a sound effort toward environmental stewardship and off we go!

Of course I’m not suggesting we throw away our military altogether (yet).  Unfortunately the harsh realities of the world dictate that we need to protect our own.  However, being the “bully with the biggest stick” will ALWAYS result in someone looking to smack us in the kneecaps, so to speak.  History tells us that superpowers do not live on indefinitely.  Why wait for the inevitable decline (which many say is already happening).

We can lead the world to peace by example if that’s what we choose.

Imagine…

New Year’s Eve already!!  Our daughter’s birthday already!!  She’s going to be… 33!?!?!?  HOLY CARP, time flies!

Or as frogs say, “time’s fun when you’re having flies.”  Or at least that’s what a boss of mine told me years ago.

Lots of folks will make New Year’s resolutions.  Mine has been the same for many years now:  try to do better.

Sure, I could watch TV less and get off my butt and do more; and we probably watch less TV than some folks.  But I do reserve the right to be human and give myself permission to enjoy some “down time.”  With work being crazy and our world in turmoil, it’s only natural to want to seek escape.  Even prehistoric antenna TV offers that.

That’s right folks, no cable TV at our house.  My wife and I are on the same page with that one:

a)  it’s too much money and

17)  if we paid for TV we’d we should watch even more TV than we do already.

Don’t need that.

I’m too fat, but only because I eat too much.  Pretty simple, right?  And now, thanks to the joys of capitalism, our insurance provider at work says “lose weight or pay more.”  They will even foot the bill for a weight loss program; provided we actually go.  A good thing I suppose; but my gut tells me they are not really hurting for money.

Ah well.  Try to do better. Eat less, exercise more… we know the formula.  Not rocket science.  It’s not easy, but a bit more effort in that direction will go a long way toward my goal of watching our grandson graduate from college.

Now THAT’S important!

My job is becoming more challenging.   More and more people are retiring or getting laid off; and those of us still holding down the fort are working harder than ever for the same (or less) pay.  It’s all too obvious what the upper echelon in our corporation values; and it’s not people.  Corporate greed, of course, is not a new story at all; and it’s certainly not isolated to the US.  So you know what I’m going to do?  I’ll show them!! I’ll just go in there and try to do better. And by that I mean I’ll do my job to the best of my ability and try to be happy while doing it.  I catch myself bemoaning the greed that is slowly destroying our planet and its life forms.  I try to do my part… recycling, organic gardening, and so on.  But instead of increasing the negative energy that already exists among my peers; it would better serve them (and me) to make gratitude my attitude.  As a good friend often says, “much of the world would love to have the problems I have.”   I am really profoundly blessed.

Along with an attitude of gratitude, however, comes the importance of drawing boundaries between work and my personal life.  I am getting much better at setting limits.  I come in to work on time, do the best job possible; and I go home on time.  I warned my current bosses that “I work to live, I don’t live to work.”  So far so good.

Inevitably, the New Year gives me pause to reflect, as I’m sure is the case with most people.  Reflecting is good; but it slams home the realization of how much farther I have to go.

So I’ll just try to do better. Doesn’t mean I have to be all stern and somber about it though. My mother-in-law’s words are kept close to my heart on that topic.  When I was finally ready to face my addiction to alcohol she noted:  “you know Kenny, I’m not sure I like you being sober.  You’re too serious now!!”  She was right.  She’s been gone now for 14 years; but her spirit still helps me to this day.

My New Year’s resolution?  Try to do better, and be HAPPY about it!!

And now for something completely different… Just one of my favorite cartoons from days of yore. Please, all of you, have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Now enjoy the cartoon…

Dunno about youse, but I’m really sick up and fed with all the negative political ads.  It makes me to throw up on the ground.  If they’re not on TV or the radio they’re in the press, and even on the answering machine when I get home from work.

Sheesh.

A person really has to pay attention to figure out how to vote these days.  All these lies and fear tactics are being splattered about like a giant tractor pulling an enormous manure spreader.

I certainly plan to vote; but I refuse to be subjected to all this silly mud slinging.  So this Happy Friday is going to have more than one video I think.  First, from a man I’ve admired for many years.  He met a tragic end in 1980 at the hands of a lunatic; but many of his words still hit the airwaves in his songs.  I mean, hey, “Just Gimme Some Truth” awreddy…

Funny how history seems to repeat itself… all the ills of the world seem to shift rather than get solved. The world is “A Ball Of Confusion” I tell ya…

Of course, we could do something REALLY weird and WORK TOGETHER for the common good…

Well, in spite of all the political piggies and their negative ads, I will vote this Tuesday and I truly hope everyone does. And now for something completely different…

I was in the U-Scan (self checkout) at our local grocer yesterday, and a young lady in the other aisle said, “tomorrow’s Earth Day, Mom.”  Being the smarty pants that I am, I blurted out, “EVERY day is Earth Day.”

What can I say?  I just can’t help it.

Can it really be the April 22 was the 40^th Earth Day already?  Holy Carp I’m getting up there.  I was 16 in 1970.  Sheesh, seems like last week.  I wondered what ever became of the Earth Day flag.  I found a picture of it on line, but I can’t post it because it has a copyright warning and I’m too lazy to ask permission.   However, you can click on this link and go look for yourself:

http://www.inhabitat.com/wp-content/uploads/earthdayflag2.jpg

I’d love to say I’m all warm and fuzzy about the progress we’ve made, but there’s so much more to do.  I want to scream every time I see someone with bottled water.  Of course, I’m not interested in banning bottled water completely.  There are times when it’s the easiest way to get safe drinking water like during a disaster, etc.  But most of the time, bottled water is a big fat waste.   Many times the source is municipally treated water.  In other words, it’s tap water in a plastic bottle (made from petroleum), which gets shipped many miles from to a place that already has municipally treated water.

Then you have that silly crop way too many people are raising at home:  the lawn.  Chemicals, water, exotic seed, and machines to make it grow and cut it down are consuming ridiculous amounts of energy and causing unnecessary pollution.  You may ask, “so, Mr. Tree Hugger Hippie Freak, are you for banning lawns too?”  Well let’s put it this way, I’m married and my beautiful girlfriend likes to have a lawn.  So yes, I’m for banning lawns but I’m too chicken not to grow one at our house.  Fortunately, though, we’ve made a truce and we don’t use any chemicals at all, but we do mow it.  Still, it makes absolutely no sense to me that we humans spend so much effort raising a crop we don’t eat.

As far as crops we DO eat, the chemical companies and large agribusiness firms are still pretty much keeping a strangle hold in the food business.   However, farmer’s markets are thriving more and more each year, and the customers are favoring organically grown veggies and fruits.  At our  house, we’ve been growing produce organically for almost 37 years (which coincidentally is how long we’ve been married).   I can’t help but think the chemical firms and the large corporate farms are suppressing news reports about organically grown food.  Once in awhile though, you actually hear the “scientific discovery” that organically grown food is healthier and much more Earth friendly.

We are getting a little better with more efficient cars.  However, we are also still affluent enough that several of us humans choose monster trucks and fancy cars that are not meant for fuel efficiency.  Compared to Europe, our mass transit system barely exists.  We could conserve a lot of fuel by switching from trucks to trains.   Here in the U.S. we’ve converted way too many railways into bike paths.  And no, I’m not trying to ban bike paths, but trains are a very efficient means of transport.   We’re still way too dependent on fossil fuels, but we’re making progress there (albeit painfully slowly).

And what about turning of the stinkin’ lights when they’re not in use??  Not just at home… Mom and Dad always yelled at us to turn lights off so most of us are pretty much conditioned to do that.  Ever go past a shopping mall after 9 p.m. (or later)?  The lights are all going full blast.  Holy Carbon Footprint, Batman!!

Sheesh.

I could go on and on, but here’s one more completely wasteful human activity:  WAR. What a huge waste of energy, natural resources, and of course human lives.   Of course, let’s not forget the pollution that is caused from explosions and other chemical assaults on ourselves and our poor planet.  You may ask, “so, Mr. Tree Hugger Hippie Freak, are you for banning wars too?”   A MILLION TIMES: YES!!  War, pure and simple, is a form of hell on Earth and must be banned forever.

OK so I’m a dreamer.  It’s a dirty job but somebody’s gotta do it (yell about banning war I mean).  And I’m sure I’m not alone on that one.

Well folks, Happy Earth Day, Every Day, Every Year. Please do something nice for your Mother (Nature) very soon.

Some of you kids may remember this song.  The video is a bit fuzzy, but it appears to be made by Spirit, the band who recorded it way back when.

Peace!!