Arms Merchant or Peace Merchant

     I was happy when I heard that President Obama wasn't going to let our involvement in Libya turn into another Iraq. Yesterday I heard a snip of one of his speeches on the radio and was disturbed to hear him say we might supply the rebels with weapons. We don't know who these rebels are or their background. If you look at our history , our government doesn't have a great record of who we support. We trained and armed Osama Bin Laden. we supported the Sha of Iran and the list goes on.
     Why do we have to be the arms merchant and police force of the world?  I say we need a new mission, a new direction. We need to be the merchant of peace. We need to start being the merchant of education, of seeds and trees. In this age and time dictators run their course and eventually a new crowd comes along and throws that dictator out. The only way to break the cycle is for the people to want our way of life. All the bombs in the world didn't bring down Communism. It was the desire of the people to want our way of life. That's what the people of Mexico want that are coming over here illegally. A better way of life. why not instead of building walls and fences we spend that money on education and helping the people build better lives in their own countries. Why don't we build bridges instead of fences? Why don't we export peace instead of weapons?    

"Monsanto" is the devil and corn is the devil's diet

Or at least that’s what these three video’s I just watched would make you believe.
        I just watched: “King Corn”
                                “Food Inc”
                                 “The Future of Food”
       Very eye opening. Working in the food industry, I knew of some of these things but these videos really bring to light and make you think about how our food and farms, like all other areas of our lives are being corporatized and manipulated by big business. "Monsanto" is going after small farmers whose crops have been pollinated with their genetically engineered seeds by the wind for patent infringement. While our government is subsidizing large corporate farms to grow just one crop, mainly corn. Its pushing the small family farm out. While they put corn syrup in EVERYTHING , even batteries giving us cheap unhealthy food that is making us fat and sickly. The facts these videos give about the diabetes rate and the obesity rate and the time table at which it all coincides with the corn syrup entering the food supply is a real eye opener. I know from my own experience of trying to get high fructose corn syrup out of my diet,  it is almost impossible. Next time you go to the grocery store read some labels on the stuff you are buying. Its crazy, even bread and yogurt.
      Then there is the possibility of crop failure, all those millions of acres of corn gone, farmers losing their farms. Can you picture something worse then the “Great Potato Blight” of Ireland, it could happen, I really don’t know the chances, maybe they are small, but its still a chance.
      I suggest supporting your local food co-op, supporting your local farmers market, buying from your local farms when ever possible. Buying grass fed beef, free range chicken, naturally raised and wild meats when ever possible. READ the labels on the products you buy from the store. Look for brands that don’t have corn syrup or sucrose. Support “Farm Aide”
    Watch these videos
      

A Law I Can Get Behind

“In our every deliberation we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.”
        From the Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy
     I love that! What if everyone and all nations lived by that?
I’ve been using “Seventh Generation” products for some time now. I just love that whole philosophy.
     Consider this: If every household in the U.S. replaced just one roll of 112 sheet virgin fiber paper towels with a 100% recycled product we could save:
                                                                                            568,000 trees
                                                                                             205 million gallons of water, a years supply for over 1,600 families of four
                                                                                             1.4 million cubic feet of landfill space, equal to over 2100 full garbage trucks.
        This is not hard to accomplish folks. The recycled is not any more expensive then the virgin fiber. We just need to be mindful of what we are buying and what we can accomplish by what we buy.
                                                                                          

"Tao of willie"

        I just finished a wonderful little book called the “Tao of Willie”, a guide to the happiness in your heart. Now, I don’t want you to think I’m a gushing fan of Willie Nelson. I have listened to his music since the 70"s and have seen him in concert a couple of times, I admire what he his trying to do for the small family farms but I’ve never been a huge fan and the only thing I knew about him was when he got in trouble with the IRS and his pot bust.
        This book is surprisingly filled with a mix of ancient Chinese wisdom, home spun cowboy wisdom, bad jokes and a look into having a wonderful happy life. In many ways it mirrors the way I feel about life and if I ever wrote a book on the same topics, much of it would be the same. 
     It’s a GREAT read!!!!