Kakahead

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!!

Listen… do you smell something?  I detect air most foul, with sadness and hardship springing therefrom.  O woe are we who toil all our lives; reaping not much for ourselves but yea our labours doth weave silver and gold fabrics for our masters.  Our reward is to toil yet another day.  And lo, toil we must; lest we be cast off.   And if we no longer fulfill The Purpose, we shall be cast off anyhow.

For we are the worker ants, and they are the Anteaters.

Say what?

OK I’ll quit speaking in code.  Our economy is supposedly in a recovery of sorts, but it’s difficult to convince all the millions of unemployed.   Here in Michigan, we seem to have an extra helping of job loss.  Isn’t that special?   We’re experiencing quite a bit of change; and unfortunately that means that companies are restructuring or even going out of business.  Manufacturing still exists here, and with the advent of alternative energy innovations, new opportunities are on the horizon.  However, they are slow in coming; and in the meantime many are faced with losing their jobs or at the very least working for less money and trimmed down benefits.

Recently, the folks where I work were called into a meeting and given some details of an upcoming reorganization.   Between 65 and 80 people will lose their jobs; and more may follow later.  Other meetings were scheduled but a “verbal threat of violence” was uttered and those meetings were postponed.   Mind you, none of the particulars of the meeting came as any surprise to us.  We all knew business was bad and that changes were likely.  That doesn’t take the sting out of it.  And conversely, tough times are not an excuse for making threats or being abusive.   It doesn’t make such behavior OK, but fear makes icky, and icky makes people react in ways they normally would not.

A bit of a Déjà vu for me; I’ve been laid off before.  It wasn’t the end of the world, but it wasn’t exactly the easiest eight months I had to deal with either.  I had the gamut of emotions:  sadness, depression, apathy, anger.  Fortunately for me I also surrounded myself with positive people; who cheered me on and helped me through it.  And I know it sounds corny, but I learned that I really did have Someone Upstairs looking out for me (when I let Them).  In other words, with a little help from my friends I managed to connect to my God and received an inner peace that told me I would get through it.

Because I’ve “been there, done that,”  I have been trying to be upbeat and think out loud to my friends and coworkers.  I say really silly things like, “my wife is a nurse and works with quadruplegics.  We don’t have such problems… things could be much worse.”  Or else maybe I’ll bring up the fact that “everyone here is talented, we just need to learn how to translate that into a good resume.”  Doesn’t seem to help much.  When I was laid off, I was told that I needed to draw upon my strengths in order to “make myself marketable.”  At first, that seemed a rather disgusting notion.  “After all these years, THIS is how I get treated?”  I thought to myself.  Many of the folks who will lose their jobs have never worked anywhere else.  I can only imagine how they feel.

I can’t seem to find my magic wand; so to my dismay I won’t be able to fix our sick economy.  Nor will I be able to change the age-old system of the haves vs. the have-nots.  Rich people are in control.  The rich stay rich, the poor become more numerous, and we worker ants get to pay for it all.  Although it seems like complete information bombardment, the media are keeping us in the know like never before.  So, with a little luck and some persistence, maybe we can work together and effect some change for the better.

It takes effort and awareness, but I believe we all have a duty to be ever vigilant and speak out where we smell foul air.  I’ve said it before:  the strongest vote we have is how (and where) we spend our money.  Rich people need to be held accountable for the kind of businesses they run.  Face it, if it were not for US spending OUR money, they wouldn’t be rich.  Pretty sad state of affairs when we have more millionaires than ever but food banks can barely keep up with the need.  As Dr. Seuess’s character The Lorax said, “but business is business and business must grow, regardless of crummies in tummies you know.”

A few months ago one of the marketing guys (who is several years younger than me) told me, “you know, anyone who thinks the CEO doesn’t care about our jobs is just wrong.”

It only took me a microsecond to respond:  “It’s kinda like when the mafia does a hit on your brother.  It’s nothing personal, just business.”

Nobody told me there’d be days like these…

I usually like to post something silly here on a Friday night. However, I simply had to speak out about a tragic yet completely avoidable event that hit the news recently. Unless you live in a cave, you’ve heard about the death of Dawn Brancheau, the trainer at Sea World.   When I first learned of her tragic demise, I was both saddened and disgusted.

I was saddened for obvious reasons, and I said some prayers for her and her loved ones.

I was disgusted because of the commercial circus that I feel was the direct cause of her death.  Sea World gets big bucks from the Shamu name and killer whale shows.  Hello?!?!?  These animals are called  KILLER whales for a reason!!  It’s not because they are bad, but it describes how the Creator made them.  It’s in their nature.  They KILL.  And boy do they have the equipment for it!  Why would anyone in their right mind think it’s even remotely OK to have humans in a tank full of killer whales?

I guess it’s the same line of thought that goes through the trainers of lions, and tigers, and bears (oh my)!   People are willing to pay money to watch other humans risk their lives via close contact with wild animals.  Anyone remember what happened to Siegfried & Roy?  Roy Horn was nearly killed by a tiger in 2003.  Unfortunately, that did not stop others from continuing on with their wild animal acts.

Oh but wait!! They’re not wild, they’ve been bred in captivity!  This is the sickness that afflicts the commercial numbskulls who minimize the danger in favor of scooping up cash.   And why wouldn’t they be OK with that?  They’re getting rich.   After all, the executives at Sea World are not the ones jumping in the water with these killer whales.

Now for the really sick stuff:  not only did the killer whale shows resume, they “honored” the trainer with a video tribute at the beginning.  All this only three days after she was killed.

I hate to admit it, but my grandparents were right; even when I was a kid.  “There’s no such thing as common sense anymore,” we heard over and over again.

Little did I know how wise they were.  Who knows?  Maybe it’s the end of the world as we know it (and yes I do love that song).  Too many humans value money over everything else.

Maybe it’s time for us to inject a little common sense here and there.  You know, do something really weird like boycott Sea World for example.  I suppose I could be banished to a deserted island for suggesting such things.

After all, money makes the (Sea) World go ‘round.

Something is very very wrong here…

Last week the Supreme Court overturned the ban on political spending by corporations.

Is that cool or what??

Having been on the planet for 55 years, nothing much surprises me anymore.  As a boy I was taught that elected officials were supposed to be working for US, not for big money.  Silly me; little did I know…  The longer I get to hang out on Planet Earth, the more labels like politicians, corporate executives, corporate board members, special interest groups, and mobsters seem to mean the same thing.

Being the idealist that I am, I started to feel pretty good about electing a president who advocated change.    Don’t get me wrong; I never assumed that the new guy was going to be able to reverse a few centuries of greed and corruption in four years.  Then again, we have to start SOMEWHERE, don’t we?

Please?

Last thing we need is for corporations to have even more political clout.  God knows we already have way too much corporate everything bombarding us from all sides.   The influence has been woven into the fabric of western culture.  And what is Number One with all too many corporations?  Well money of course.  People are not valued for who they are but for how they perform.  Sure, our immediate peers are not generally in this boat; I’m talking about the executives and the board.  The ones who really run the place.  To illustrate:  remember the “old days” of work when you first hired in, or if you had a matter concerning you or your family?  You would go to the Personnel department.   That term is obsolete, and has been replaced with “human resources.” So what, I’m not a person anymore?  No.  Not according to the company.  I’m an asset with a first and last name.  At least that’s how it feels quite often.  Rare is the company executive or corporate board that actually treats their “human resources” like family.

Another example:  corporate names are being assigned to buildings, places, and events.   Here in Michigan, Tiger Stadium has been replaced by Comerica Park.  We used to go to concerts at Pine Knob; a power company has renamed  the place after themselves:  The DTE Energy Music Theater.  All over the country, the names of stadiums and parks are having their old names dumped in favor of corporate monikers.  Football games are played on artificial fields with huge commercial messages painted on the fake turf.

OK that’s enough…

So maybe if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.  Huh???  No, I don’t really mean that.  I think we all need to buy locally (from Fred the honey guy or Zelda the baking lady) and act globally.  But if the changing of names of sports venues, etc. is going corporate, why not rename our pets or even our kids?

“Honey, I need to go to the store, do we need anything?”

“Yeah babe, Alcoa needs his diaper changed and we’re all out.  Also I bet your daughter wants to go with you.”

“OK Almond Joy, give mom a big Hershey’s Kiss and let’s get going.  When we get back, we’ll find the leash and take Chrysler for a walk through the Town and Country.”

“Ha ha Dad, you’re so funny.  We can’t walk through the Town and Country…  Oh wait, maybe if we open both sliding doors… but that’s not a very long walk.”

“I know, just checking to see if you’re paying attention.  But let’s get a move on, the Exxon Comedy Hour is on tonight and I’d like to be back inside by then.  After that we can Google up something else to do on the computer maybe.”

Sad thing about that silliness is the term “Google” is gaining favor in our daily vocabulary already!

I’ll remain the idealistic tree hugger  / farmers market shopper / home veggie grower guy;  in spite of my job in manufacturing.  And yes, I am very grateful to have a job.  I‘m fortunate, I get treated very well by my boss, my boss’s boss, and my boss’s boss’s boss.  I don’t mind being a worker ant.

But the priorities of capitalism really sadden me at times, and I pray often that we humans don’t completely destroy this beautiful planet the Great Spirit gave us.

So here’s another toy… I found a video of an old song I fell in love with the first time I heard it.  It says a few things about where we might end up if we abandon all care and place money first.  Again, I apologize to my friends with dialup internet:  unless you are very patient you may not want to harm yourself by clicking on the video.

My apologies: I usually try to write something funny or uplifting every week and call it “Happy Friday.” However, this past week my funnybone just didn’t have any tickles; so when I sat in the chair Thursday my writing fingers went brain dead.

This past Tuesday was December 8, the date a beloved musician and peace activist by the name of John Lennon was shot dead near his home in New York. When I first heard the news early in the morning of December 9, 1980 I cried. I cried all the way to work. Such terrible sadness.

Then, this past Thursday; Barack Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize. That should be a source of joy for a guy like me…

I’ll come out and say it: I voted for Barack Obama this past November. Along with many others, I had high hopes… and was especially smitten with his stance on world peace; global equality; and environmental stewardship. This guy seemed like an old peacenik tree hugger hippie’s dream come true.

I’m an idealist, a pacifist, an old hippie. What can I say? I have some silly notions that since humans proclaim themselves to be the dominant species on this planet, we have responsibilities. These responsibilities include wacky things like protecting the environment, treating all creatures (including other humans) with love and kindness, and sharing the bountiful resources with which we are blessed. I believe that The Creator loves everyone; and the least we can do is to live by the “golden rule” to the best of our ability.

Boy am I naive. Or am I? Well, lots of other people have similar “silly ideas.”

I’m very happy that Mr. Obama is not much like his predecessor. He and his administration have already repaired a lot of damage done to global relationships. Unfortunately, however, some things just don’t seem to veer too far from the status quo.

Many feathers were ruffled when Mr. Obama was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. I must admit it seemed a bit over the top, but I believe the Norwegians were laying down some expectations. I think they saw great potential in Barack Obama; much like what I perceived during his presidential campaign. Obviously the rest, as they say, is history because he actually won the award.

My sadness springs from what I consider to be some discouraging words in his acceptance speech:

“We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth that we will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes. There will be times when nations – acting individually or in concert – will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified.”

Morally justified? Silly me again… I never quite got the hang of believing that killing and maiming was ever morally justified. Am I naive enough to believe that we can lay down our arms and live happily ever after? No, I quit doing drugs many years ago. However, when I see our president sending troops overseas and putting them in harm’s way, I shake my head and wonder how this can be construed as “defense.”

I’m a Vietnam era veteran. I was never placed anywhere near a combat situation but I have friends who were. Combat should always be the very last resort to any conflict. And in my mind such a last resort should be reserved for a direct threat to our soil. In other words, bring the soldiers home and let’s focus on protecting our own; right here.

Idealist. That’s me. I still am astonished at so-called “religious” people who advocate killing as a way to solve problems. Anyone heard the commandment: “Thou shalt not kill” ?? I don’t recall any “unless” clause written into that one.

Anyway, I’ll continue to advocate for peace in my own meager way. I’m grateful that my wife and I succeeded in raising two wonderful offspring who also have these silly peacenik tree hugger ideals. And we have friends and they have friends… and all we are saying is GIVE PEACE A CHANCE. PLEASE.

Click here for a video – Let's at least just try…