Are you a meat lover? Then you better read this!

    I'm a meat lover that flirts with being a vegetarian. I just love those juicy nibblets of delectable meat that is liver and fatty meat that you should only eat in small portions, after all "pork fat rules" as the saying goes. I also know that eating a diet of mostly raw fresh foods with lots of color and fiber is best for you and over the years have tried to include more and more vegetables and fiber in my diet.  Now after what I heard on the radio a couple of days ago and after a little more research I might stop eating any kind of meat except for what is considered organic or free range. I just found out that on April 15, 2011 a study came out that tested 136 samples of meat in grocery stores. Of those tested 47% tested positive for staff bacteria. Of that 47% , 52% were the strain that is resistant to antibiotics. Further study shows that since 1982 there have been 30 major outbreaks of e coli. I find it interesting that also in 1985 mad cow disease showed up for the first time.  Seriously! Am I the only one that thinks our meat industry might be going down  the wrong road? There seems to be a direct correlation between the growth of big industrial farms and giant feed lots with the outbreaks of these potentially very harmful bacterias. I ask you, Is our food supply safe? Is the way our food  handled, grown and managed in the best interest of the health of the people? Or is our food supply managed with just consideration for the dollars and cents? Do you know where that tomato, cut of beef or fruit that is in your refrigerator comes from? 

Libraries A Great Institution

           One of the greatest institutions in this country is its library system. I’ve been in libraries all over the country. All have internet, most are free and don’t ask for any kind of ID. If your out on the road and lonely you can spend a day in a warm toasty place with smiling people, clean bathrooms and get lost in books and magazines that take you anywhere you want to go. The library in Boulder has aquariums. Grand County which is where I know reside has very small towns. They are not doing the best. Store fronts are empty a lot of houses and business for sale. The libraries are mostly new and refreshing. In Granby the library has chess boards . All the libraries have comfortable sitting areas and the staffs are very friendly. The library in Kremmling has an after school program and the librarian walks the children the two or three blocks from the school to the library. They all have free programs and free movies. You can check out a guitar or key board and a video or book to go along with it.  Starting in May there is an online program called “prospector”. With it you can request just about any book or video made. There can not be enough good things said about our library system and we should all support it when ever possible. 

Crop report

  If you read my blog on "Monsanto" being the devil, you may recall I mentioned the danger of our present system of big farms and monoculture. I get a produce report emailed to me by one of my food suppliers. the most recent tells me that there will be a shortage of potatoes. It seems the farmers in Idaho didn't plant as many potatoes as the had in the past, then they had a bad year for their crop resulting in less yields of potatoes. The shortage actually started with the larger baking potatoes but now everyone is trying to compensate by buying the smaller potatoes which has created a shortage in them. It will only affect the consumer in the pocketbook but I suspect some of the smaller growers, even with crop insurance and government subsides, will be driven out of business. this would be less likely to happen with a diversified farm.

Given the present state of our governments finacial situation, I think this is a valid question

    If  pro is the opposite of con. Is congress the opposite of progress???????????