Ideas from a run down cabin

Friends, Romans and countrymen...

I have over the last few years posted blogs on a variety of topics from environmental to the political. I have engaged in heated discussions and I have made a few friends and a few enemies along the way.  With the political season having drawn to a close I feel it is now a good time for my blogs to also draw to a close.  I am leaving to pursue other avenues and new things.  I have even considered re-entering  the workforce as an employee instead of a private business owner.  To that end I wish to tell you all that I have enjoyed the debate and hope that I have been able to give you a different point of view to consider.

Thank you all for reading my blogs and as they say  "God Bless America!"

Stlouisgreen

With two circuses visiting the St. Louis area in the next few weeks it's time for me to get on my soap box. 

If you go to the circus and take your kids, or if you allow someone else to take your kids to the circus you are teaching your kids that it acceptable to use these animals as we see fit with no regard to what effect we have on them. I encourage you all to think about the message we send when you go to a circus.  Do you really not care about how the animals are treated or the fact that they are not living in their natural habitat?  Are you ok with the fact that these animals will live and die in a cage smaller that a queen size bed and will never know the smells native to their homeland? Do you not care that many of these animals are the last remaining few of a species that once had healthy populations in the wild? 

Do yourself a favor and do these animals a favor.  Save your money and don't go to the Cirquedesoul and the Ringling Brothers Circus when they are in town.  Don't pay to see animal perform.  If you do go walk out when the animals come into the center ring. refuse to be a part of their abuse.

Heres the problem.  Every one is crying for blood.  "Send the corrupt CEO's to jail"  "Raise Corporate taxes",  "Why bail them out? What about the small business?" 

Lets be real for a moment.  The CEO's are not to blame... Taxing them more won't solve any problems... and Small Business should adapt to keep their client base.  That is how a Free market system works.  This is the true model of a capitalist economy there are ups and downs.  People who bank  on the good times do very little to prepare for the bad times and people who prepare for the bad times do even better during the good times.  That is pure and simple Capitalism.  Watching the DOW right now I can see that stocks are down 468 points.  Everyone is screaming "OH NO" but hey thats just how capitalism works.  I don't have any investments (never made enough to be able to invest) so hey who cares. Let it fall.  After all thats Capitalism isn't it?  I am sick and tired of the Haves telling the have nots to quit whining when times are good and stocks are up but when the markets fail and times go south the haves scream louder than the have nots did when times where good.

Did you Know that if we took the fortune 500 companies and placed them under Government Regulation and distributed the profits through out the infrastructure of the nation we would have better roads, better military and better education and health care programs.  Did you know that if the Government had regulated the stock market more closely the fall would not have been so severe or happened at all? Those who want less government in their lives are the same ones who right now are feeling the markets pain.  They are the same people who believe that we can do things better with out regulation and intervention.  Well  the market is now 680 points down today while I write this so I ask  Are we better off with less government?  Are you happy with having to pay back 700 billion dollars that corporations just borrowed.  Talk about paying twice for a product or service.  Your Government was established to protect you the citizen from adversity and takeover from foreign forces.  It was to be the first line of defence for your "liberties" and "Freedoms" protecting your right to live free from oppression and with out fear of reprisal for speaking your mind. 

Yet as the markets fail you become more oppressed less able to move freely through out your country. You are tied more closely to your job than you were a month ago because if you lose your job you lose your ability to pay for those things that are considered essential.  Housing, Health Care, Your kids Private School.  Not to mention that if you lose your job your government loses its ability to provide you services because it can't collect the various taxes that it relies on to provide you with Public Schools for your kid, State run Health Care for those who can't afford regular insurance through ones work, Your roads will decay, your police protection will suffer and your society will degrade even further. This is the Reality of the Capitalist Free Market system. 

So I just want to leave you with this one cold hard truth.  Capitalism is not the protector of your Freedoms and liberties,  It does not grant you any more Freedom than any other Economic system and infact the Free market system of Capitalism  makes people less free.  It enslaves them to others with more money or in a higher position.  The belief that one can become more than what they currently are is not something that is limited to a Capitalist economy but it is used more frequently in a capitalist economy to control and manipulate a person to work as hard and more than they would otherwise in an effort to become the "more" that they are told they can become.  Yet your status is still controlled by another who has more power where is the freedom in that?  So... Do you still want to complain about your stocks or the mortgage crisis? Do you really think that our form of economics is the end all be all?  I should say it is not. 

We need less government like we need a hole in the head.  The government needs to control those things that we rely on most.  It needs to be stronger and needs to be run by the people not to corporations, it needs to be run for the people not the lobbiests, and it needs to provide basic neccessities to every person.  Health Care, Education and strong industry for people to earn a living.  That is the true basis for a Communist Economy and one that we need now more than ever.

The father of American Economic policy must be so proud in the current administration.

While the nation is in shock over the failure of banks, insurance companies and businesses nation wide our Top leaders are trying to push through legislation that deeply affects each and every citizen in this country, However it does not help the citizens it only helps the companies.  This is, as Milton Friedman called it, "Shock Doctrine" and it is based on  the idea that if you push legislation through when there is a major event that leaves people confussed or worried you stand a better chance of getting the legislation through than if you try to push the same legislation through when people are thinking clearly and have no major worries.

This 700 billion dollar bailout is a bad Idea.  Period end of story.  No room for debate. just plain bad...bad bad bad. Phooy phooy phooy. Bad. 

"What we've got here is failure to communicate,  some men you just can't reach"---

Dr. Eric--- North Carolina interm Superintendent--- previously forced to resign under pressure.

Dr. Donnie Evans--- Former Superintendent in Providence RI.   Suspended or forces to resign under pressure.

Dr. Kelvin Adams-- chief of staff of new orleans Recovery school district. The worst school district in the country.

Ladies and Gentlemen,  is the School board daft?  Have the citizens of St. Louis not made it clear that they want a good leader who can be trusted and counted on?  I really wonder if they want a better system for the kids in the district.  Dr. Kelvin Adams is the only one out of the three that may have the credentials to fix the problem only because he has'nt been forced to resign from a previous post due to inpropriety.  Hey  I have a question?   Has Anyone contacted JOE CLARK?  sure he'd be in his 80's if he's not dead but he gets it.  He knows that the kids come before politics, budgets, and pride.  Just a thought.

Yep, Another great Idea from the Pacific Rim.

I have to say this is one of the greatest Ideas I have seen in a while.  What is so good is that it encourages both the use of public transportation and alternative forms of transportation like bicycle riding. I guess that neccessity is the father of invention.

There are those who drink bottled water that will find this to be liberal drivel for those people might I suggest that you stop reading right now.

Those who are still reading I want to bring to light an issue of responsibility that we all must accept as our own.

In my research into the environmental impacts of bottled water I began to delve into the various brands and the conditions that these waters are bottled under.  One in particular struck a chord with me.  Fiji Brand water.

Fiji Brand water is a product of (you guessed it) Fiji.  It is bottled and shipped over seas to various markets around the world.  The United States being one of the biggest consumers of the water.

Now as we are all aware bottled water poses a huge environmental hazzard in the fact that millions of barrels of oil go into the production of the plastic used in the manufacture of these bottles.  Recycling of these bottles accounts for about 10 percent of the total amount produced. The others go to landfill creating a waste of valuable petroleum. However the issue with Fiji Bottled water is much worse.

Fiji Water is an independent bottling company that bottles and sells Fijian water to the world while at the same time depleting the water supply on the island itself. Other issues that surround this endevour are more important and dire in that the water used is among the small quantity of water that is truely fit for human consumption.  Statistics from a 2000 WHO report show that  "the coverage of the population in Fiji with access to an improved water supply was 43% for rural areas and 51% for urban areas." This one fact in and of itself is of concern in that in most cases 57% of the Fijian population has no access to treated Clean water.  Many towns are faced with having water brought in by barge in times of drought or are faced with drinking contaminated water stored in resevours above the villages that have been created by dams. While the availability of clean water is absent for most of the citizens of Fiji we here in the states are buying and drinking Designer water bottled in Fiji. Does this make sense to you?  I should hope not.

If you Drink "Fiji Water" stop  if you don't  but know someone who does tell them to stop and tell them why.  Don't support Fiji Water Company until all of fiji has access to clean drinkable and healthy water. In this the year of Democratic opportunity its important to remember that you vote every day in the dollar that you spend.  Every dollar you spend on products that hurt people or the environment is a vote to continue the way business is transacted that is harmful. Send your message by not buying harmful products.

If you want to know more click here--  http://www.wpro.who.int/NR/rdonlyres/536514FD-CE9C-419
8-B483-81B719BB5398/0/EHIAFinal.pdf