FIRE, FIRE, AND MORE FIRE!

We have had a devastating fire season this year. The West has burned as never before. The fire in Yosemite created so much smoke in Lake Tahoe, that it was literally hard to see the mountains.

We lost 19 firefighters in Colorado. The Yosemite fire burned over 200,000 acres.

Unbelievable loss.

Nightline did a segment on planes that are used for fighting these fires. Did you know that they are so old they were used in the Korean War? Did you know they often crash - two last year, and one that literally lost its wings before crashing this year? The fleet has actually shrunk from 45 to just 11 planes. At one point this summer we had over 250 forest fires burning out of control.

The drought over the last ten years has created millions of acres burned, thousands of homes destroyed, and 200 dead firefighters.

A Forest Service report discussing the replacement of this aging fleet was first discussed in 2002! This is 2013 and absolutely nothing as been done.

Six air tankers were ordered the day the 19 firefighters died. None showed up. Not one. They were literally left on their own. It is unknown if they would have survived with air support, but one thing is for sure - we will never know.

I live at Lake Tahoe. Some argue that we get what we deserve if we live in the forest - after all, it's good for the forest to burn on occasion. I don't disagree. But the clarity of Lake Tahoe is seriously threatened with every fire that has run off. This lake is a national treasure. I hope the next generation and many more after that will have the pleasure of looking at  its clear blue water.

So while we watch our natural resources burn, our politicians in Washington continue to debate yet another war. Estimates range in the trillions to maintain the 1,000 military bases the United States has around the world. Yet we have only 11 Korean War-era bombers equipped to fight fires in the United States.

There is something really wrong with this picture. 

Stop Whining and Get To Work!

My daughter sent me this piece on Generation Y and why they are so unhappy. I thought it quite accurate and found myself taking full responsibility for encouraging our two girls to follow their dreams. (And maybe of convincing them they are special.) Of course, this was before the banking cartel tanked our economy and the Supreme Court decided to declare corporations people, thus allowing the tidal wave of money lobbyists use to buy support for their clients. This was before unions were busted in order to lower the wages for all workers by people like the Koch brothers.

No, in those days we Baby Boomers had great hope for the future. We followed the rules, worked hard, and saved for our children's educations. We believed in our government and our military to do the right thing for everyone involved. (This was before we realized the CIA and all of the other alphabet agencies had actually been tanking whole countries to ensure their corporate handlers had free access to said countries natural resources - but that is another post.)

The part that got my goat, actually, was all of the comments following the article that wanted to blame Boomers for their bleak economic outlook. Many of the comments actually told us to move on - quit working - retire, already! They need our jobs and believe us to be selfish in holding on when it is clear to them we are to blame for all of their troubles.

So here is my response to them -

Boomers are not working to irritate your generation. We are working because we have to work! Many have lost their homes, their savings, and any hope of being able to pass anything on to the next generation.

Boomers are working because they need health care and can not afford to pay out-of-pocket. One major illness and many of us are on the street.

Boomers are working to help their children, grandchildren, and other family members.

Boomers are working so they don't have to move in with their children!

While my generation has to take responsibility for voting in Clinton, who was the first to ship our jobs overseas and to do away with Glass-Steagall, which opened the door to the banking debacle, we truly believed in the load of garbage they sold us. We may have been perplexed how sending our jobs out of the country could actually help us -  but we still believed in our elected officials knowing more than we did about the world.

Same with Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, et al. We bought all of their lies, even though we were uneasy. Two wars later, we are bankrupt, in debt, and starting to smell a rat...

Not so with Obama. We can now see that the NSA spying on everything we do, warmongering in the Middle East, the NDAA, and the Monsanto Protection Act cannot be considered in our best interest. To say I am disappointed in a president, that I voted for twice, is an understatement. But he hasn't done this alone - Congress has passed every single one of those policies.

This last week made one thing clear, however - nothing will change unless we change it. And quite frankly, it's time for the X and Y generation to turn off their cell phones, take a break from Facebook and Twitter and get involved in the process. The future is in your hands. Call your representatives in Washington, email your President, email your Secretary of State. Start petitions and sign ones that come your way that try to reign in the evil doers that are in control. Boomers can't do it without you. And there is one thing Congress understands - voters willing to make a change in the next election cycle.

All of their numbers are right here.

So, stop whining and get to work!

Chicken Hawks

I wonder how many of the above Senators, all of which have announced their support of an attack on Iran, were ever in the military? It is so easy for these paper tigers to spend our blood, sweat, and tears, not to mention the innocent lives lost in such an act, when it's not their children fighting the battle, not their money paying for it, and not their lives on the line. (Our good Senator Lieberman had an educational deferment from the Vietnam War.)

They can't come together to fix anything, but they can come together to start another war. It's time to vote every single one of them out of office.

Prison Nation

Now, here is something to chew on - the big Wall Street firm Corrections Corporation of America wants to privatize all of the prisons - offering cash-strapped states a one time pay out. The only caveat - prisons must remain 90% full. 

Corporate America became interested in privatizing prisons when the war on drugs was in full swing and we were incarcerating all of those nasty pot smokers. There is big money in the war on drugs - many a career is kept afloat on that boondoggle.

Lets see, bloggers are now abandoning their blogs in droves due to government monitoring - our email is fair game, there are cameras everywhere, but we're still the home of the free, right? I just love feeling safe.

They must be expecting another big jump in numbers, despite a recent dip in prison populations, as the letter to buy the prisons went out to all 48 states. Could that bill that Obama quietly signed over the holidays, giving the federal government the right to incarcerate Americans without a trial, have anything to do with it? No, of course not....not in America, where corporations are considered people.

THRIVE

Over the last couple of years this site has discussed many issues. We've looked at how our police are becoming very militaristic, how evil corporations are using our food to genetically engineer seed that cannot reproduce, how a very small percentage of the population owns more than the vast majority, how the pharmaceutical companies are drugging our babies. But it hasn't been until now that I've watched something that put it all together and into perspective.

Most of us do not want to believe in conspiracy theories. We've been taught to laugh at them, to be very suspect of anything that requires secrecy as we've come to believe that it is impossible to keep everyone quiet. But when a few hold all of the cards that the rest of us use to get our information - it can be done.

While we were in Hawaii we visited an art gallery and proceeded to get into a deep discussion with its owner. He asked us if we had seen the movie Thrive, which we had not. He proceeded to tell us that we must watch it - that it was a movement and that most of his friends had not only watched the movie, but were actively using the website.

Well, I finally watched it today and I can honestly say it is very well done. I can see why most of the reviewers on Amazon gave it 5 stars. Not only does it link all the dots about how we've come to find our world in the place it is in, but gives solutions about how to get out of the seemingly impossible quicksand that we've found ourselves.

Our future depends on us waking up and seeing the world for what it is, but more importantly for what it could be. As Einstein reminds us - "we can't solve problems using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."

This movie at least starts the conversation. You can rent it for $5 for 48 hours directly to your computer, or order the DVD from the Thrive site or Amazon.com. It comes in many languages - this is a world-wide phenomenon.

The Militarization of our Police

I have been very upset with the escalating violence with which our police are using on its citizens. Have any of you noticed that it appears more and more swat teams are being utilized for what used to be routine police business? That there seems to be an inordinate amount of brute force being used against ordinary citizens that are hardly a threat?

The Department of Education has its own swat team! In fact it raided a home in the middle of the night, rousing a man and his three daughters from bed at gun point because his ex-wife defaulted on student loans. The Department of Education said it was because of embezzlement and fraud. Embezzlement and fraud requires a swat team to terrorize a family in the middle of the night? The fact that his ex-wife hadn't lived there for over a year seemed to matter not.

A grandfather being thrown to the ground and knocked out in front of his grandson for allegedly stealing a video game? He denies stealing the game and said he merely stuck it in the band of his pants while grabbing his grandson to get him out of a Black Friday melee. He wasn't even followed to see if he was trying to leave the store with the item. I can't tell you how many times I've stuck something in my purse, or coat pocket while running after a toddler, only to take it out and pay for it at the check stand. Breaking this man's nose?

And then watching Anthony Bologna of NYPD pepper spray women who were defenseless and penned in by police tape. Or watching a peaceful group of college protesters get pepper sprayed for having a sit-in. Isn't that what our country is all about? Peaceful protest? Isn't that what separates us from all of those countries that are not free to do so??

Something is going on here. Something is not right.

Then we have the routinely used taser. Pregnant women have been tasered, children as young as six, the elderly, an out of control ten year old! People have been tasered at routine traffic stops, or for noncompliance with an officer. I guess if you have the audacity to ask any questions, you can be tasered. A 61-year old man was tasered and killed in North Carolina for not stopping on his bicycle. He had done nothing illegal. His wife said he probably didn't hear the command as he was hard of hearing.

Then there is the increasingly militaristic look to the police uniform. You routinely see the domestic cop dressed in camouflage, or a battle dress uniform, or full-on armour, toting an assault weapon for summits and protests. They drive tanks and military command centers. Then we have the law that is now before Congress that would allow the government to hold American citizens indefinitely, without a trial, if the government can accuse them of terrorism.

This is starting to feel very fascist.

Occupy With Aloha

Photo courtesy of Yes Lab

For many of us who are becoming uneasy with some of the problems associated with Occupy Wall Street, the rapes, the degradation of community parks, the shootings, the fear that it will become a haven for some of society's most violent, what we are most uneasy about is the possibility that the message will be lost. The message - that 99% of our population has been forgotten, left out of the American Dream, while the other .09% has amassed the majority of the wealth of our great nation. That Wall Street used banks like casinos and we are left with the carnage of their greed, an economy on the brink of destruction. What is left for the rest of us is massive debt and jobs that are no longer in our country, but in foreign nations that do not have laws protecting the rights of their workers, thus enabling them to sell us their cheap products, while we borrow from those same countries to pay our teachers and fireman.

Our politicians very often come out of Washington much more wealthy than they were when they took their vows to honor the will of the American people. They often do this with inside information that the rest of the country does not have access to - just as Nancy Pelosi and her husband did with a credit card company. Soft corruption, honest graft. Insider trading in the stock market. Writing the rules so that they do not apply to themselves! Taking information learned in committee meetings and using it to make stock market trades. The rest of us go to prison for doing many of the things our politicians routinely do to line their pockets.

So when I found this post on Synchrosecrets, I asked Trish and Rob if I could repost it in its entirety. Here is one man's very brave stand for the other 99%.

WE ARE THE MANY, NOT THE FEW

Here’s an interesting twist in the Occupy movement.

Hawaiian recording artist Makana was supposed to play a luau Saturday night – November 12 – at Waikiki Beach for leaders at an annual summit that is putting together plans for a Pacific free-trade pact.  The Obamas and leaders of 21 economies from the Asia Pacific were present. Among the attendees were Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Security was apparently tight.

So there they are, these leaders, doing whatever leaders do at a private shindig on Waikiki Beach, and the young man who is supposed to play for the Hawaiian feast opens his jacket to reveal a t-shirt that reads, Occupy for Aloha. The five-minute song in the video is what he sang repeatedly for forty minutes. Here’s the refrain I love:

“We’ll occupy the streets, we’ll occupy the courts, we’ll occupy the offices of you, till you do the bidding of the many, not the few.”

The Sky is Falling!

Is it just me or does all the posturing and drama in Washington just feel a little like theater? There is all the fear that they make sure everyone is feeling - similar to having to buy the banks out or the world would come tumbling down. And then at the last minute they will make the deal hoping they look like avenging heroes saving the world.  In the end the only one that will feel the pain is the taxpayer.

Two years after the bank bailout and it is business as usual for the banks, Wall Street, and the politicians.

I'll think I'll pass on this particular Chicken Little scenario and pour myself a little glass of wine, put my feet up, and let them battle it out. I've decided that getting all riled up is just bad for my health and does nothing to change anything in the end.

Cheers!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

The Worm Has Turned

Well, it seems as though the youth of America is joining in the fun.  University of Wisconsin students are coming together with the teacher's union being 'busted' by Republican governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin. Democratic leaders have left the state in order to hold off a vote on legislation that would gut the last remaining vestige of American worker-bee power. Our jobs are oversees, our homes are being foreclosed, our savings and our pensions have been gutted, we are in two wars that are wreaking horrifying havoc on the peoples of those nations, not to mention the treasure being spent on the madness, and Wisconsin wants to break the teacher's union.

Fury is now spreading to Ohio. Tennessee and Indiana has already curbed the power of the unions in their states to be able to bargain for wages and benefits. And we all know how big business worries about our wages and healthcare benefits, when left to their own devices. Most workers have been hired at wage levels a decade old, as we watch the prices of basic goods go through the roof. All the while the banks, bailed out by us, give huge bonuses, refuse to lend to small businesses or provide housing loans, for that matter. Most businesses are laying people off, hiring temp personnel so they don't have to pay benefits, and now they don't want to pay teachers their paltry $35,000 a year to teach - usually with Master Degrees!

I'm not saying all unions are good. There has been plenty of serious issues related to unions. But what are people to do? There really is no other alternative to being treated fairly in the workforce. Unions have set standards for non-union employees as well. Without the unions, workers will have zero bargaining power. And it seems the GOP in this country is determined to see that happen. A concerted effort is underway to cut the budget for all expenditures (especially for the people), yet military spending seems to be high and dry.

I think the American worm is about to turn, just as it has in other nations around the world. Led by youth that cannot see a future for themselves, or their families, they are taking matters into their own hands. If the US thinks major demonstrations cannot happen here, then they need to think again. The parents and grandparents of this youth are also angry. Very angry. Just look back at the 1960's to see what can happen when enough people hit the streets.

There is great power in the young. In America, once they turn off the distractions, they have a vested interest in making sure they have a future. It is time to give power back to the people, all over the world.

Addendum: Here is a great article regarding the incestuous power of a ruling elite in Wisconsin .

Is Egypt a New Paradigm?

Could the Egyptians be setting the example of how to bring power back to the people in a peaceful manner? Is the young of this world finally waking up to their strength?

What I find amazing is how evolved the leaders of this movement seem to be in their vision of the future. Basic human rights for all. Wow, what a concept - and what an example for the rest of the world. It only stands to reason that the oldest known civilizations would be the ones to show the way for the new paradigms of the future. I hope they know how much is resting on the decisions they now make.

The old structures are coming down - it's a new day.

Mitch & Obama

Jayne, of injaynesworld posted this on her blog and it made me laugh, so of course I had to pass it along to you. She suggests we think of Mitch McConnell and President Obama as we watch the video. If you would like some snappy commentary, be sure to visit Jayne.

Stop The Madness!

It is believed that the accident in the Gulf is just a drop in the bucket compared to several other BP off shore drill sites that are primed for an even bigger disaster. I believe it is time to send a clear message to the White House that we no longer will tolerate our oceans being used in a gamble that rakes in billions of dollars for oil companies, but leaves the lives of those living in the water and on the coastlines in dire jeopardy.

The time has come for all of us to stand up and say 'we're mad as hell, and we aren't going to take it anymore'! Big corporations have run this country, through lobbying, for far too long. The result has been disastrous for the common man. Life on this planet cannot continue if we do not do something about it's decimation. We can no longer hide our heads in the sand.

Please join me in signing a petition to ban off-shore drilling. The amount of oil in the Gulf waters is just not worth the risk. It's time to force our government to find alternative technology for clean energy. If enough of us stand up for what we believe in, then the change will come. But it will not come if we don't raise our voices in unison.

If you have a few extra dollars, please donate to Oceana, as they currently have a sponsor that will match donations until August 31st, as they strive to find the real impact of all that oil in the Gulf.

All life will cease to exist without our oceans. They produce half of the oxygen necessary for life. Please help.

A Mighty Force

I have believed for some time that there is an energy at work in our world. Whether or not you believe in the End of Days or 2012, or just that the world is going to hell in a hand basket, there is no doubt there is something going on.

For instance, never before have we had such immediate access to everything that is happening. The Internet, television, 24-news, magazines, etc., all provide instantaneous information. Not all meaningful, and not all of value, true. But we can have instant access to almost anything.

Which brings me to the Mighty Force.

I think there is an energy that is going against all of those that have practiced to deceive. From Wall Street to Main Street, from corporations to politicians, the world is changing for those that have hidden behind a mask of decency and legitimacy only to have their real intentions revealed before the entire world.

Will anyone ever feel the same about Tiger Woods? How about Goldman Sachs and the henchmen of Wall Street? As for politicians, Nevada has it's very own hypocrite in John Ensign. Running on a holier than thou platform of Christian ideals he has been revealed to have been having an affair with his best friend's wife the entire time. Now he's being investigated for trying to pay off the husband with a job that promised his senatorial influence. The latest mask to be ripped was Senator Joe Barton of Texas. His bias for the oil companies came through loud and clear when at the hearings last week he pontificated about how the White House did a "shake down" on BP for requiring a 20 billion dollar account for clean up of the Gulf. Even his own party wants him off the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee. And then there is BP. Avarice was the name of that company's game.

These are just a few examples of what makes up our news these days. I think if your intention is to put on a mask that is meant to hide your true intentions, and those intentions are self motivated in a bad way - you better be careful. There is a Mighty Force that is seeking you out.

DRILL, BABY, DRILL!!

The two biggest proponents of off shore drilling have yet to say anything about the oil leak wreaking unbelievable havoc in the Gulf. SARAH PALIN AND MICHALE STEEL what do you have to say now? Come on, where is the chant you spearheaded during the election?

From Huffington Post:

 "Drill, baby, drill! And drill now!" Steele memorably chanted at the Republican National Convention in 2008. "Do you want to put your country first? Then let's make decisions about our security based on what keeps us safe and not on what's politically correct," he told the crowd.

And during that year's vice presidential debate, Palin told Joe Biden, "You even called drilling -- safe, environmentally-friendly drilling offshore -- as raping the outer continental shelf. There -- with new technology, with tiny footprints even on land, it is safe to drill and we need to do more of that."

What can we do?

After yesterday's post several people asked what can we do to help facilitate change in this country. We have a system that is not working in a way that constructively solves our country's problems. We shouldn't have to go through such ugliness to address detrimental issues. Health care reform was passed without one single Republican vote. Our two party system is simply not working. Its time to do things differently.

The New York Times had an opinion this morning by Thomas L. Friedman that actually made some sense. It is possible, with enough of us demanding these types of changes, to move this mess into a productive governing body once again.

Please let me know what you think about some of these ideas. A Tea Party Without Nuts makes sense to me. Where do I sign up for this third party?

The Republican Party

Sorry, I try to stay away from negative posts, but this was just too important.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I am shocked and appalled at the behavior of the Tea Baggers yesterday in Washington DC. Calling our Congressmen "niggers" and inciting hate and bigotry. This behavior is just unacceptable. Spitting on our legislators? Some signs calling for killing our president and using guns to stop health care reform! Have these people gone completely off their rocker? What kind of people listen to this garbage, let alone condone it? Fox News is inciting hatred and violence in this country and it has got to stop!

I ended another friendship yesterday because a "friend" felt the need to send me a hate-filled email over  this legislation. Mind you, I never send anything to him, yet he feels perfectly justified filling my email box with this vitriol. It proves how ignorant and hateful he really is, and I want absolutely nothing to do with him any longer. Another friend bites the dust. All this over health care reform? Really? We can wage two wars, kill thousands, and the country comes apart over health care reform? 


This kind of energy will have it's consequences. You can be sure of that.

Youth will have their way...eventually

Does anyone doubt that "times - they are  a-changing"? The days of isolating a population, only allowing information that is sanctioned by the state are gone. Facebook, Twitter, blogging, the Internet, cell phones, have changed the world forever. Ideas will be exchanged. There is no stopping it now. With the exception of North Korea, the world is heading into a new era. They will think for themselves, thank you very much. They will have human and civic rights. They will have a say about global warming. Not every soundbite and political hack will be believed. And lets not have any more stealing of elections. At least not without a fight. The youth of the world will demand that changes be made - one way or the other, sooner or later. They're not waiting for the old to give way - they realize the old will not go willingly. Just as we realize that in the United States.

It may take some time - but change is coming.

I, for one, wish them the best in their endeavors. As a child of the Sixties, I recognize their power.

Julie & Julia

I updated, finally, my movie widget. I guess you can tell we haven't been watching many movies lately. I downgraded my netflix to two-at-a-time from a high of five, during the deep white of winter. But even those two have sat, gathering dust. The fact is we are feeling edgy, not wanting to watch anything that requires too much thought, entails violence, or anger. But the upset with my neighbor, over his squirrel hunting, sent us out yesterday for some light entertainment. Enter Julie and Julia.

It resonated with me on so many levels. For one, I adore Meryl Streep. What a joy to see her beautifully aging face actually move, and have expression. She is so real. The story was full of love, laughter, tenderness, and fun.

We both came away, holding hands, and wishing life were less complicated. We are a nation of people on the edge. It feels like a feather could topple us right now. There is a concerted effort by the folks at Fox News - especially Glenn Beck - to do as much damage as possible, without ever coming up with a solution to anything. Instead of a nation coming together to solve these gigantic problems, we are being torn apart, by "entertainers."

So we need to take our happiness where we can get it, and this movie gives it. Take a moment of your time and go see it. We are writers here in the blog world, and it's all about us. Our hopes and dreams, our connections. It's also about food, love, and sharing.

Does it get any better than that?

Our Vacationing Politicians

http://www.terragalleria.com/index.html

I don't know about you, but I don't think our politicians have earned a vacation. I think they need to stay right where they are and work on fixing our health care system, or the myriad other issues begging their attention. There is plenty to occupy their time, and I for one, will not be voting for one single incumbent unless they quit bickering and get something accomplished. If they think by putting it off, that somehow we will forget just why they were sent to Washington, they have another think coming. I believe a little overtime is in order here.

Do you think they've earned a vacation?

P.S. I just found this petition that you can sign just by clicking:

Hi,

The Senate just announced they'll take a month-long vacation before voting on health care reform. Unbelievable.

Republicans think that by demanding delays, they can kill reform--and too many conservative Democrats are playing into their hands.

But Americans can't afford to wait: while the Senate is on vacation, over 400,000 people could lose their health coverage.

I signed a petition urging Congress to vote on health care before leaving for August vacation. Can you join me at the link below?

http://pol.moveon.org/dontgo/

Thanks!

Blogging and Energy

Lately I have been turning off the news. I've been a news junkie. Over the last many months, since before the election, and subsequent dismantling of our economy, I was glued. And listening to all the angry voices out there, angry for good reason, I might add, I realized I couldn't overcome the the number one Spiritual Law of the Universe. "Like attracts like". Whatever you focus on returns to you. My anger was returning to me, and it wasn't pretty. The news media feeds on that anger because it sells. The only way to break the cycle was to turn off the news programs and quit visiting my many aggregate news sites, newspapers on-line, and magazines. Time to let Obama do what he is going to do, trusting that he has our back. I was like a junkie. I needed to get it under control before I needed anti-depressants, or therapy.

Like most addictions, you need a replacement. In my case it became blogging. I started out by hanging around my daughters blog. But she is in a completely different stage in life, and I kind of felt a little out of place. I will always be interested in children and families, but this blogging forum was more about new mommies who wanted to connect with other new mommies. No, what I needed was something different. So I started going to Blog of Note, and found a couple of sites there. But my biggest breakthrough was following some of the comments on those sites. The beautiful thing about blogging is that it is inclusive. You don't have to be young, old, athletic, beautiful, handsome, smart, rich or poor to be included. You just have to leave a comment. Certain rules do apply, however. Mean comments will be deleted and so will you. The blog will either become private, or all the comments will be approved before they appear on the blog. A nice little built-in hate stopper. But thoughtful comments are appreciated by everyone. 

Which brings me to energy.

I have been noticing a certain energy pattern in blogging. We are drawn to the sites that have something we need. It may be a quality that we have not yet developed, an interest we want to pursue, a need to be cheered, information, a friendly "voice" in the night. But we find them, and they find us. We are never alone, if we don't want to be. And everyone has something to offer. And I think that is the real beauty of it. You may not think what you have to say is of any interest to anyone, but rest assured someone is interested. What you have to offer is valuable. So all you new bloggers out there, keep exploring the blog world, and remember "like attracts like".