June 26, 2017

Lead in Baby Food

Years ago, when I had babies, I read an article saying that lead was found in baby food. At the time, I was a stay-at-home mother, and decided that I wouldn’t buy any baby food, instead, I would make it. The way that I accomplished this was to simply put some of the food that I’d made into a food processor and then fed it to my babies. I was already making my own applesauce, etc. before learning about the lead issue, since I didn’t want to feed my babies refined sugar. I still make my own applesauce and have only ever added some cinnamon to the finished product.

The reason I’m sharing all this with you is that once again, scientists have discovered that there is lead in baby food. The amount is around 20%, with baby juice and root vegetables being the main culprit. Researchers say that although there is some lead found in the soil where the vegetables may be grown, they feel that it is the high level of processing that is causing the problem. However, since there is no acceptable level of lead intake, this is cause for concern. I know that the time constraints on a family with a new baby are excessive, but I do encourage you to make your own baby food. I know that most people are aware of the effects that environment has on the growth of a child, so if you can, perhaps you should consider making baby food yourself. It really doesn’t take that much time, and the result is that you would have one less thing to worry about. When it comes to raising children, one less thing to worry about is always welcome.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/06/15/533103892/lead-detected-in-baby-food-samples-pediatricians-say-theres-no-safe-level

Nature

Since it’s summer, I’d like to encourage everyone to step outside and just breathe! Watch the sun rise, or set – or both! Sit on the grass and just be. Let nature heal you. Watch the clouds pass by, feel the breeze on your face. Be quiet and still and just listen. Hear the birds sing and bees buzz. Be at one with nature.

Sunrise

May 19, 2017

Update on Life

It’s getting nice out, I feel like I’ve emerged from a long and snowy winter, and I wanted to give a few updates on the changes that I’ve made to my life. So, I’ve gotten the children’s book that I was writing pretty much done – the writing part anyway. This weekend I want to start in on the illustrations, and have someone other than myself read it so I get some feedback on any changes that need to happen. I’m so glad that I’ve finally finally gotten to this point! Because I’m trying to write fairly consistently, I’m feeling much more creative, and I absolutely love the feeling!

My quest to get rid of junk around the house unfortunately has not yet turned into an actual plan. I got a good start on Spring Cleaning last week, but this week has been pretty much taken up with wood stacking for the winter. We’re almost done with that, well, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, so we’re more than halfway to the end. This weekend I hope to get a workable plan in place for that. And, to try and get the Spring Cleaning done, once and for all. (At least for this Spring!)

My eating plan has been having some pretty good results. I’ve lost fourteen pounds (maybe more, I haven’t yet weighed myself this week). I’m eating all that I want, I’ve just changed what it is that I eat. Oranges, bananas and grapes are some of my latest favorites. I’m looking forward to the strawberries, blueberries, plums and peaches that the summer will bring.

Here are a few of my recent photos of flowers and trees in all their Spring beauty!

March 1, 2017

Signs

This is one of those signs that everyone should think about and reflect on. States are drug testing welfare recipients. While this testing costs a lot of money, few people have been found to have taken drugs. That money could have been used for other social welfare projects. Also, there are a few bills in both state and federal legislatures to stop the free lunch and breakfast programs. Wrap your head around that…a lot of people want children to go hungry.

Standing Rock is just one example of an oil companies’ profits outweighing the right to clean water and air. Money over people. The head of the EPA wants to dismantle it. Does anyone remember why there was a movie about Erin Brockovich?

Refugees are now leaving the U.S. and walking into Canada. I never thought that people would need to leave the U.S. in order to be safe. My question, and it should be your question also, who is next? The LBGTQ+ community? The reporters who report the truth? The Jewish community? Minorities, any minority take your pick. People who blog about these issues? The potential list could go on and on.

Lastly, but not least, health care supposedly is not a right. The U.S. in one of a few countries (and none of them are considered “first world” countries), that do not have universal health care. We also spend more, by far, on the health care that we do have. So, what your rights include is, the right to die from not enough money to pay for health care. Yes, that’s right. Death is your right. That’s what freedom is – apparently.

December 14, 2016

Corporations vs. Citizens

I don’t know if any of you have been following the Dakota Access Pipeline story, but here is the story in a tiny little nutshell. Energy Transfer Partners is building a pipeline that will extend thousands of miles across the U.S. The problem is that these pipelines have a long history of leaking and exploding, and then, of course destroying the environment. (I will be leaving links to news stories that prove this point at the bottom of this post.) In this case, the pipeline is being built extremely close to a river, with the potential (and given the history of these pipelines) the distinct probability of polluting the river and groundwater. As a matter of fact, the pipeline was moved from close proximity to the town of Bismarck to where is being built now, due the environmental fears of the mostly white citizens of Bismarck.

Oil pipeline spills since 2010

What I really want to discuss today is that since the Native Americans have begun peacefully protesting, the reactions by both Energy Transfer Partners and the police have been excessive in their use of force, criminalization of peaceful actions, and cruel in their treatment of arrested protesters. While I often listen to NPR, I have been disappointed by their reporting of this, since they do indeed take money from the oil industry (Constellation Energy Group, Vanguard Group, and CITGO Petroleum Corporation) are just a few of these donators. Therefore, coverage of this story has been spotty at best. But, I’ve also noticed that there has been little in the way of coverage in the largest newspaper in my state. I can only assume that not that many television stations have been covering the story either, however I can’t say that for a fact, since I don’t have cable.

Tonya Sands after being pepper sprayed for swimming across a creek to gain access to Indian Land.

The one news source that has been on the ground since the first days of this story is Democracy Now, and they have been stellar in their reporting. I don’t know if any of you have been looking at some of the videos that have gone viral, but if you have, I hope that you are worried for your own safety as well as the safety of the protesters. If peaceful protesters are being assaulted with various weapons such as pepper spray, tear gas, water cannons, rubber bullets and sonic devices what does this say about our ability as citizens to peacefully protest? Energy Transfer Partners have also used dogs to bite the protesters.

If these actions aren’t worrisome for you as citizens of the U.S., maybe being arrested, stripped and kept nude overnight might be. Or, if not that, perhaps having numbers written on your arm (reminiscent of an infamous Nazi regime), and kept overnight in a dog kennel after being arrested for peaceful protest might be a little disconcerting.

This behavior by police and corporate-backed security is unsettling. In the U.S., we not only have a right to protest, but our constitution requires us to do so. https://www.loc.gov/law/help/peaceful-assembly/us.php

If you want to look into this matter more yourself, I suggest Democracy Now, as their reporting is extremely well-informed. What do you think of these actions by the police and private corporate security forces? Do you think that Native Americans (as well as all Americans) have the right to peacefully protest? Have you seen other videos of peaceful protesters being pepper sprayed directly in the eyes by police officers, and what do you think of that? Let me know in the comments below.

http://www.alternet.org/environment/white-tribes-onslaught-against-native-americans-isnt-history-tale-its-alive-and-well?akid=14682.302291.avRCV9&rd=1&src=newsletter1064310&t=10

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/10/27/1587590/-ND-police-and-National-Guard-currently-using-LRAD-sonic-device-weapon-to-disperse-Water-Protectors

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/11/7/1591511/-Standing-Rock-Update-Rubber-bullets-500-clergy-represent-matriarchal-leaders?detail

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixEKJ0oo-dk

December 7, 2016

What is a “Regulation” and How Does it Affect People?

There has been a lot of talk about getting rid of many regulations that corporations are required to follow in order to keep manufacturing in the U.S. I recently listened to a story on NPR in which a linguist was speaking about the use of the word regulations, and why so many people seem to think that they are bad.

As I didn’t hear the entire conversation, I’ve come up with my own theory of why people seem to think a regulation is a “bad” thing. The word itself sounds a lot like rule, and people don’t really like to follow rules in general. That’s my take on the word. However, a regulation when it comes to corporate practices is more like a protection. And a protection is usually a good thing. It is used to protect citizens from a variety of troublesome corporate actions. The very reason that we have many of the protections that we do is due to the lack of corporate accountability in the past and the cancers, harm and deaths caused by those corporations. Look into the past actions that unregulated and poorly regulated corporations have done that have destroyed citizen lives. This is the link to the Superfund that keeps track and reports on both past actions and current actions of corporations. https://www.epa.gov/superfund

Understanding that most regulations are imposed in order to keep citizens safe and healthy, it is beyond my understanding why a great many people seem to think a regulation is a bad thing. They are law in order to protect citizens from a corporation whose only reason for being is to make as much money regardless of the environmental, economic and human cost. A regulation is a protection from unmitigated greed. Isn’t that a good thing?

November 28, 2016

Thoughts on Captain Fantastic

First of all, I must say that I’m extremely “taken” with Viggo Mortensen – I think he’s not only handsome, but an interesting person (odd, but interesting). I try to watch all the movies that he makes, since not only is he a wonderful actor, but he makes good movies. Even if I find a movie difficult to watch (The Road and Good come to mind), any movie he makes is definitely fodder for thought.

So, with that in mind, I watched his latest movie, Captain Fantastic, the other night. There is much to think about in this movie. A quick over-view of the plot is that a husband (Ben) and wife (Leslie) decide to raise their children “off-the-grid” and away from all the “bad” influences of the modern world in the middle of the wilderness that is the Pacific Northwest.

Who can argue with this assessment of the modern world? I actually agreed with much of what Ben and Leslie believed. Our food is poisoned; social media is invasive; schools teach to the test, and don’t promote much in the way of critical thinking; the pursuit of money and profit at the expense of people is pervasive. These are all valid issues that should be discussed both individually and in larger venues. So, with this in mind, the family grows their own food, hunts their own meat, learns survival skills and are almost completely independent. Everything goes well, until Leslie’s mental illness makes her ability to cope (and live) frighteningly difficult. Ben seeks help for her from her parents, and she is institutionalized. While there, Leslie commits suicide. The children want to attend the funeral that Leslie expressly did not want to have, and the family commences their exotic journey from the wilderness back into “civilized society”.

However, as with most, if not all, reintroduction’s to “civilization”, they encounter stressful and comic situations. In the first restaurant they go to, the younger children are convinced that the other people are ill due to their lack of physical fitness and weight. When subjected to violent video games which their cousins are playing, the children are aghast, even though they all partake in actual hunting of animals for food. Even though their aunt and uncle allow for violent game-play they refuse to let the cousins hear about the suicide of Leslie, finding no irony that their children routinely “kill” people while playing video games, but are too delicate to hear about mental illness. This juxtaposing occurs throughout the movie, giving us fodder for the brain.

If you haven’t watched this movie, I hope that you do so. If you have watched it, let me know what you think of it in the comments below.

transforminglifenow

Changing my life for health and happiness

Environment

Nature

Update on Life