Saturday, March 31, 2007

We Don't Have To Ask What Jane is Doing!

Berkeley Woman’s Iraq Quest Sleeping Bag in Tow, She Hopes to Embed with Army and Blog

Joe Garofoli wrote this for commondreams.org....

and introduced us to Jane Stillwater. Jane is a 64-year-old Berkeley woman who left for Kuwait on Wednesday, hoping to embed with the U.S. military there and in Iraq as a blogger. And if she is refused? She’s got a sleeping bag and plans to sleep on the beach in Kuwait until her return flight in three weeks.Protection? A Berkeley city councilman tried in vain to get her some body armor; she’s accepting online donations through PayPal so she can buy some in Kuwait.

0329 05Credentials? The military said the prolific blogger needs to be sponsored by a media outlet. No problem: The Lone Star Iconoclast, a 900-circulation liberal weekly in President Bush’s vacation getaway of Crawford, Texas, is sponsoring her. Not that it’s paying her. Then again, nearly all of the dozens of online columns Stillwater has produced over the past seven years for various publications have been labors of love.

Money for Arabic translators? Unnecessary. “I’ve been all over the world,” she said, “and you always find people who speak English.”

For More on Jane from CommonDreamsNews.org >>>>> or to catch up with Jane on her blog find her here!

A Step Away From Mad Cow!

I came across breaking news last night about the menu brand cat and dog food recalls and the subsequent fallout which reminded me of Howard Lyman. In 1997 I was gifted with the opportunity to hearHoward Lyman speak at a local subscription organic garden that was just beginning to get off the ground. Howard had come out to speak and perhaps increase interest. I had never heard of him before this event and I likely will now never forget him. During this same time frame Howard and Oprah Winfrey were in an embittered legal battle with the Texas Cattle Ranchers who were attempting to sue the two for slander. Howard was such an engaging, dynamic and informative speaker whose passion and personal experience around this topic exuded him. People literally sat and listened to him in awe. For me this was an event in which I had surmised boredom would prevail within minutes and I could not have been more wrong. Instead, I ended up not wanting to let Howard leave! The reality is here the time is now to start making healthier choices about what we eat, breathe and drink. Organic foods & foods with less additives should be cheaper but they are not. One should not have to have a mind like Einstein or need special abilities to be able to pronounce words with 20-40 syllables just in an effort to understand whether a food label is healthy or not. It should not matter whether it is for a human or your pet. Gandhi said it best when he said:
"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated" ~Gandhi
Howard is a 4th generation Cattle Rancher who became very ill and paralyzed one day with what he was told was an inoperable tumor in on his spine. I'll save Howard's story for Howard to tell and I'd encourage you to read his books Mad Cowboy and No More Bull!
Check out his web site here and/or go and see him speak, I can't imagine that anyone would be disappointed. Ultimately Howard, became a vegan which means he does not partake in any meat, fish or dairy at all. As you might imagine a 4th generation cattle rancher turned vegan is quite a powerful statement. During his talk, Howard claimed that it was not a matter of if...Mad Cow Disease would make it to the US but when. He also made it a point to note that most likely we would see the earliest issues with our domestic pets as the dog and cat food industry is not as regulated as it could be and as a result a lot of the scraps and animals who don't pass inspection end up in Rover's dish. Most of us realize these days that bulk pet food and even some of the more popular brands are not as good for our animals as their manufacturer wants us to believe. Howard explained that most all of the "feedlot" animals that are judged too bad, diseased, sick or whatever for human consumption, go right into the pet food. Who knows what else will be discovered or pop up. Saves money for them and being the industry is not regulated very tightly, they get away with it. Based on this it is truly just a matter of time rather than an impossibility. If you are a smart consumer, you realize that for every single animal we hear about who dies, there are no doubt ten more that no one knows about. Please make sure you are reading your pet food
labels correctly and if you do not know how,
or Google more resources on the web.
Everyday we get one step closer to learning the inevitable lesson that unless we start allowing our Brain's the opportunity to come out from that sock drawer that one might have been so snuggly tucked behind, and engage in even the slightest bit of critical thinking.... we, our fur friends and our entire world may cease to exist. If there is one thing we all share in common, it is that....we are all mortal. So please, educate yourself and do your part to stand up and speak out for safe, healthy and organic food for all living creatures!

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Exactly What I Was Wondering!

Reference The Washington Post Article
Some time ago I recall hearing about a hydroelectric project that was going to be coming to Vashon. I have yet to see any windmills but I keep hoping for them. Nice article from the Post yesterday giving the Pacific Northwest a thumbs up for currently being a leading manufacturer of this trend in the states. Interesting to note is that according to this article, apparently we are second only to Texas. Maybe someone should tell the Skipper so he can circle the wagons...No, not that Skipper... Our very own U.S. of A...Skipper!

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

The Illusion of Gender, Part One

Young Tre' is quite brilliant in an emotionally intelligent, socially analytical & over all Tre' has certainly demonstrated a level of psychological competence of which I have never even heard of occurring in such in such youth. It is Tre's sparkling charisma however, that aligns Tre' with the likes of MacGyver, Oprah, Bill the Cat and....dare I say Jean Luc Picard.. Yet Tre' really, is unlike any other human, and most certainly any human child than anyone has...ever, ever met b4...And quite likely more unlike any other human we will ever meet again. Tre' is uncommonly shy, usually to a fault as Trey is yet to understand much of what has been happening. This will change as Tre' becomes more & more aware of the astute prowess with regards to Tre's incredible observational and intuitive capabilities. Maybe it has something to do with Tre's penchant for old Doyle mystery's...but whatever it is, I hope Tre is prepared for the journey that weighs heavy on Tre's 17 year old mind. Soon, Tre' will travel beyond the men from Mars....and Tre' will travel over the women on Venus and as Tre's journey's take Tre' through the land of the politically and sexually divided inhabitants that live amongst Tre' and the rest of us....Tre' will hopefully rise up and through the mountains of self actualization...It is our dream for Tre' that Tre will not only come to discover that Tre' is beyond naturally gifted when it comes to just about anything having to do with other humans from conflict resolution, to breast feeding, to having the right touch when it comes to fixing a Teacher or neighbor's car...But Tre' in a moment of pure unadulterated Sybil Dom, will realize that Tre' is in fact a breed of a new species...a breed capable of stepping outside of the gender-box...a breed whose abilities and insights flourish well beyond even that of animal magnetism or such as that of the hormone driven gender conflicts facing humans today. Tre' will more than likely spend some time thinking & believing...that Trey's life is merely a matter of sacrifice....a mission of mercy, at the very most. I worry for Trey but there is still so much yet unknown about Tre's needs, abilities and not to mention overall understanding and of course the exact nature of...well, as Dan Millman or Gary Zukov would put it, we nor Tre' do not yet know what Tre's actual life purpose really is. I think we'd be naive to assume it would be anything less than extraordinary. Perhaps even more than we in our lifetime will ever comprehend. Our role I believe is to offer Tre' any support needed...without getting too involved and to do everything that we can to prevent anyone else from getting in Tre's way so that Tre' may easily master the 3 E's (exploration, experience, and evolution). This way Tre' can do what ever it is that Tre' was meant to do and do so with grace, the confidence to perceive challenges as learning opportunities, and the courage to just be the Tre' that Tre was meant to be. Tre' will undoubtedly face significant challenges and confusion while traveling through experiences that many of us could not even understand let a lone contemplate. Ultimately, what Tre' misses out on due to shyness, Tre will more than make up for in adventure and self discovery. But, do not underestimate the inherent intuitive nature of one like Tre'...not to mention that we are not even sure just what all Tre' is capable of as of yet. The simple truth is that at this point we nor Tre' know much of anything other than that Tre' came to us, announced a life meant to be lived as a tri-sexual and Tre' seems to have the unbelievable, unconscious ability to switch gender based on need much. Almost like that of a chameleon and it seems for Tre', choice or desire have nothing at all to do with it. What Tre' nor we were not however prepared for...was that Tre'....was about to stumble upon a world in which reality truly is not only subjective in the sense of our own perspective but in this particular situation, Tre' discovers what truly, as best as I can tell...appears to be nothing less than an alternative reality that apparently...to my own disbelief is running completely parallel to our own! And, I do mean parallel...parallel in the sense of reaching out and touching someone. One might wonder if perhaps....we here in this reality have forgotten to take our medication, but I assure you...I not only double checked but Tre' offered me a glimpse knowing I could not possibly believe.....
Stay tuned for updates....

Where do my rights end and yours begin?

In a computer generated illustration supplied by the American Institute of Mathematics, the E8 root system related to the Lie group E8, which is 248 dimensions, is seen. A math problem so complicated that its solution would cover the island of Manhattan if written out was cracked by researchers after going unsolved for more than a century. The 18-member team of mathematicians and computer scientists convened by the American Institute of Mathematics in Palo Alto, Calif., took four years to map a 248-dimensional object known as the "Lie group E8." (AP Graphic/John Stembridge, University of Michigan) Absolutely Cool. Read more on this awesome breakthrough

Sunday, March 18, 2007

would there be war if the world were run by women? Pink: Dear Mr. President

Live Cams

Live Cam's From Around the World Links to some live and still video cam's from around the world and a few that I check out now and again... View of Mt. Rainier and Puget Sound: From Vashon Island (Live) Brown's Point, Commencement Bay: Tacoma, WA (Live) Ferries To & From Seattle, WA Detroit, MI Sky Cam (Live) Eaton Rapids, MI (Live) WildWatch Cams: From WA (Eagles, Etc...) Africam.com: Animals in the wild (Live) Earth Cam: Cams from all over the world Alaska Web Cams Seattle Space Needle Cam

Mountain Web Cams Live

Friday, March 16, 2007

Life in Reverse

"I think the life cycle is all backwards. You should start out dead and get it out of the way. Then you wake up in a nursing home, feeling better every day. You get kicked out for being too healthy, go collect your pension, then, when you start work, you get a gold watch on your first day. You work 40 years until you're young enough to enjoy your retirement. You drink alcohol, you party, you're generally promiscuous, go to college and get ready for High School. You go to primary school, you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a baby, then, you spend your last 9 months floating peacefully with luxuries like central heating, spa room service on tap, larger quarters everyday, and finally you finish life off as an orgasm. I rest my case." ~Author Unknown

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