the Corporate Coop of America part II

HAT IS --FASCISM-(according to Wikipedia-Fascists seek to organize a nation according to corporatist perspectives, values, and systems, including the political system and the economy)



The point of my series called the Corporate Coop of America is my attempt to get the attention of the droids that have been created by the Corporatizing of our Society, I get very little readership so.... in any case, we each need to stop sitting on our hands and allowing corporations to take over everything from the food we eat to the government that controls how we are allowed to live our lives. I dont plan to point fingers and walk away my last post on this series will contain MY solutions for these problems. Nothing burns my mind more than that...finger pointers who have no ideas of their own, persons like Sara Palin who stand on a soap box and use phrases like "we can fix this" but offer no agenda on how to fix it. Agendas such as where to begin, where the change will come from, who is going to do it, where will the money come from? These are solid questions that need answers--not hushed away with foo foo phrasing--


So this is part two...


Corporate Bleeding Of The Middle Class


What about the Smith Barney Coup...before they folded that is....


Financial Wizzardery--American workers are sold a bill of goods called a 401-K or an IRA and guess what you are not going to have those thousands they promised you!! We can’t get rich earning less than 30K a yr I dont care how much of it is invested UNLESS you get some super inside info...You can't get rich using these methods, but they sure can! Remember when the Feds tried to convince us that we should invest the SS fund in Wall St? Good thing someone with some clout said NO!! Actually your chances are probably better of winning the Lottery!! {E-Trade Baby, go get a diaper change-Please!!]


We were shown all these amazing pie charts, and how the money taken right out of our paycheck builds and grows year after year and they projected this absolute amazing story...but it never happened!! In fact most Americans lost BIG TIME in the recent crash, and the one in 2000. The only people who make money in the stock market are the ones who have money they can put at RISK, (why do you think the financial wizzards told everyone  DONT panic, let your money ride it will weather the storm...because THEY would go broke if you took your money out)

I dont know about you but I cant afford to lose any money not one cent on speculation. So when we should have been putting money in a totally safe savings account or at the very least a money market, instead it was being invested in HIGH risk Mortgage Loans, that the FUND Managers KNEW would fail, they purchased insurance to cover their asses….that’s how certain they were that the mortgages would fail…wonder why they didnt tell everyone to purchase insurance to cover their losses?


SO we all put our middle class money in, but who is walking around in fine Italian suits and shoes and has a house in the Hamptons, and a yatch at the Marina? Do you have one, I dont have one...so its very easy to see who is making a KILLING off the stock market and who is getting KILLED by the stock market...and its also easy to see where that money is coming from--Yours n Mine!!!


We were seduced into investing as if we all had a $$million$$ in the bank to fall back on. It was a working stiff’s nest egg the risky investments ate up…it was college educations, and hopeful retirement funds that went up in smoke.


Don’t believe me? Why in the world do all the TV MORNING NEWS shows employ a financial analyst to come on periodically and speak to the viewing public? They are talking to you-- John Q. Public...in order to keep us thinking that everyone is investing (its as simple as Homemade Apple Pie) and we should too, its to keep us questioning what we are doing to save for our future, it's to keep us scared of NOT being on that Gravey Train... its as common as eating a cheeseburger, and its about as deadly…


I don’t know about you, but I can’t afford to speculate on my future!! If you have a job you probably have money in the stock market!! They take it right out of your paycheck!! (SO easy for them to Tap Your KEG)  YOU would be better off to forget that…and put that money away yourself. I paid off a $25,000 debt and saved $10,000 in cash by taking charge of my own finances, it took me 2 ½ yrs!! (I didnt invest a dime!!)(did your IRA give you that kind of money in 2.5 yrs?)


Robber Barons

Banks and Credit card companies have robbed us blind for years as our Govt. sat on its hands and did nothing…then the Govt came out with the recent HUGE credit and Bank Reform Bill --What?…its baloney!! It does nothing to stop them from robbing us blind. In fact the house n senate allowed them a 3 months Warning period by not making the bill start ASA it was signed....and during that time the banks increased our rates, increased our payments, and ENDed what few deals going in our favor (when is the last time you got one of those super 0% offers?) before the changes went into effect. The banks can still rob us blind, but now they HAVE TO put it in words we can understand…see they know the majoirty of us dont have a college education with a minor in law in order to read the bunky "fine details" --
thanks for the big credit rescue!!


Bank Fee Scam-yes it is a scam but guess what our leaders look the other way while the Banks of this Country rob us blind.  Lets say you have $400 in the bank, you write a check for the electric bill, which is $120 ....then you go to the grocery store and spend $80, Then 3 days later ....your car breaks down and you have to pull out $410 to pay for it...WHAM you are over drawn. Now the bank does not PAY these checks in the order you wrote them or in the order they come in...THEY will pay the $410 first because that will over draft your account, then they can charge you overdraft fees on the $120 check, and the $80 check too!!! Even tho it was only the last transaction that caused the overdraft--

Credit card companies can raise your rate because you paid your electric bill late OH YEAH..they can--they watch your credit score closer than you do, and by the way-- who gave these 3 credit score companies the rights to either make us or break us? Did you vote on that?  THEY are in control of your financial life yet where did they come?  Who made this decision? Why do we allow this type of Corporate Harrassment, and like sheep we just wiggle our tails and keep moovin...with our baa-baa-backs against the wall?

Verizon gobbled my prepaid phone service up. We had a great little deal with Alltel, but Verizon bought them out…now we have all sorts of changes, they will now charge us $4 per month if we DON’T use the phone!! Our rate went up and now every other day it’s a letter in the mail about Changes, they do what they want…THEY are stealing our money…and we cant do a damn thing about it, yeah we can get rid of the phone which is probably what will happen when we reach our limit… What about all the research that proved cell phone usage causes cancer? What happened to that? Cell phones emit something called electromagnetic radiation. This is a low, pulsing energy that can actually interfere with our cells, they wont let a plane take off IF ONE CELL PHONE IS ON..so what is it doing to the natural flow of energy around us? Around your baby, your pets, your brain?
Everyone has one glued to their ear…everyday it’s a new phone from Apple, or Verizon…what’s the reasoning behind it? Money that’s all!!




Who Is Really Running Washington?


What about our government? From local to federal-- lobbyists are in control of how the vote goes and Corporations are calling the shots and pulling the strings on the puppets we ELECT to go to Washington…they are controlling our laws, our national budget and our politicians. These lobbyists are representing corporations and organizations founded and run by these corporations.  The decisions, and budgets are geared toward whatever makes more money for the corporations these lobbyists are representing.


The lobbyists who tell our Senators how to vote are in control…the conservative Justices we have rule to keep us in the dark more and more as the Corporate blinders go in, i.e. the recent vote to allow Corporations unlimited access via the way of campaign contributions, that’s just about the most outrageous thing I’ve seen come out of Washington lately. DID the public cry out in outrage..NO they just went back to work their job and get their pay check, you cant take a day off to go protest at the Supreme Court building and if you try you would PROBABLY be fired then arrested!!!


On tv I sometimes see HUGE crowds of people screaming out about an injustice..NOT HERE IN other countries..wonder why that is?---I marched in a Protest against the GOP at the Rep Convention in NYC in 2004---the street was barracaded and police in riot gear and ARMED With M-16's stood all along our Pre-arranged route---SO NO you dont see OUTRAGE IN THIS NATION..its NOT ALLOWED.


JUST look at the way BP has handled the Gulf Oil Spill, and the way our Government is looking to businessmen n women who sit in Board Rooms to solve this problem!! This is not a BUSINESS problem it’s an environmental disaster more than Katrina ever was—the Bush administration botched the Katrina relief and the Obama administration is botching this catastrophe. I voted for change, but so far its business as usual with the current administration.


We need to curtail corporate control, hold them accountable but take Charge of this disaster, I don’t get it…Trust me they never saw this coming, all the structuring of the company was done with only the bottom line in their sights...the almighty American Dollar Bill-and not a care was given to the threat of an environmental disaster, who will handle it, what is the first line of defense, what’s the agenda? So are we to believe if the Center for Disease Control lets loose a super virus, it will be up to them and them alone to curtail and contain it? If the oil leak was a virus (which it is to our OCEANS) we would all be dead! In the end Im sure BP will spend more money on the AD campaign and the TV personalities it hired to MAKE them LOOK GOOD, than they will ever spend on cleaning up gunk from the water and shoreline.


As far as their environmental impact concerns BP execs were all satisfied when they changed their logo to that cute little GREEN FLOWER. "Aw look at us we are environmentally minded"…yeah right!! That’s Corporate crap that I’m sure a very expensive marketing firm was paid BIG BUCKS to come up with…we are so easily bought and sold out, we working stiffs and consumers. I look for BP to get out of paying for this disaster, to take some legal chapter 11 or 13 or some such and then restructure and come back to life under a brand new name and begin making billions again--and people who are so busy on the hamster wheel trying to make ends meet will buy their gas and oil. Don’t forget they tried to file in a Louisiana court right away to put a limit on their liability at first…I guess that court couldn’t be bribed. ME I don’t buy BP I just traveled over 5,000 miles and never once filled up at a BP!! (thats a solution friends)


YOU CAN NOT run a government like a business-a government is not supposed to be about making money, it's supposed to be about making laws and paving the way for ALL to prosper and be happy...(the pursuit of happiness-justice for all etc) yet more and more of the offices elected and appointed are being filled with people coming from the business sector of the population!


Loss of Empathy and Compassion for the Poor & Downtrodden
The Bush Whacking Tax Cut-


Our Federal government is bought and paid for. Most right wing conservatives frown on giving money to welfare mothers to feed and house under privileged children while billions are given to banks and no one is talking about how these fat cat bankers are giving themselves huge bonuses yet they will talk about a poor mother trying to live on $125 a week like she is a dog not worth the trouble…WHAT IS UP WITH THAT KIND OF THINKING??? They dont want a welfare mother to get a small sum, but they want the HUGE TAX CUT BUSH gave all of them to continue. They say it will bring jobs...EXCUSE me, but wasnt that tax cut in Force when the JOBS disappeared???? NOW the Tea Party is yelling "stop Obama's tax HIKE" making it sound like he is raising taxes on everyone, he is only not REinstating the BUSH tax cut that the RICH and Corporate have enjoyed, wage earners making over $130,000 a yr!!


EX: WHAT IF I make 30K a yr and you make 300K a yr, we both pay 10% tax then I go home with $27,000 and you go home with $270,000 looks to me like you are still Living VERY High on the HOG..you can live very well in this country with that kind of income....while me Im barely making it on my $27,000. People who earn more should pay more ---the tax burden can no longer be shifted to the Shrinking jobless Middle Class---and who can make it on minimum wage? Maybe more people could/would come off welfare if the minimum wages were decent.


END A WELFARE STATE-For Rich or Poor?

The rich want to cut the poor off at the knees, and take away their livihood and have them do what?  Get a GOOD JOB--doing what?? You show me those jobs that welfare mother can do and EARN enough to feed her family, pay rent, medical care, etc.  THE nation would be richer if they stop the welfare state to the RICH--tax breaks, capital gains, Im SO out of the rich loop I dont even know about all the loop holes they use to protect themselves yet they want to put a loop around the very neck of welfare recipients.

Same welfare mother may collect $125 a week, how does that hurt society? Where does that money go?  IT goes to the LOCAL ECONOMY...You think if she was not getting the money, she would get a job…where? Doing What? Do you think she will get a job at Wal-Mart and still have time to take care of her kids? She will have LESS if she works!! SO raise the minimum wage…Tea Partiers -PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS—Yes she can get a job, can she survive and raise her family on that minimum wage job after TAXES?-- NO!! Will the system help her get a better education, give her child care, cook dinner for her family while she goes to night school, will they guarantee her a job with health care for her whole family? Doubtful, maybe if she lived in France!! The rich need and depend on a u huge uneducated and desperate lower class workforce in order for them to keep most of the profits and spread it among their investors and board members.  (rich employ child care, house keepers, gardeners & landscapers who earn p-nuts...do you have a child care worker, gardener, cook, or housekeeper?)  WHY NOT?
Why do you think Mexican Immigration has NOT been addressed.  The poor Mexicans coming here illegally are being USED and ABUSED by the super rich of this country.  DO you have a Mexican working for you? WHY NOT? Because its the protected rich who are the dominating employers of the illegal Mexican population and the poor.  Yet they dont pay a decent wage to these people!! I would prefer welfare as to work for an employer who thinks they are MORE worthy and More valuable than I am...The elitist attitude runs rampart as the middle and lower classes are left to flounder in a society that believes if you are not flourishing it’s due to your lack of trying…

By allowing the huge earners to NOT pay their fair share of tax it is Welfare for the RICH!  EX: a lawyer who works 60 hr a week earns $130 an hr.
A ditch digger who works 60 hr a week makes minimum wage- and yet the ditch digger is paying MORE Of his share of the tax burden than the Lawyer!!
Why is one man’s time more valuable than another man’s time, is the ditch digger not digging hard enough, he is not sweating enough, what? The difference is Education and that is becoming more available to Special Interest and the Wealthy and less available to the middle class and poor.!! You have a better chance of getting a free education in this country if you come from Ughanda than if you come from Kentucky.

Thank you for reading and stay tuned for the next part in this series
Who is Watching the Hen House...and more.

The Corporate Coop of America Part 1

HAT can we do about the way things are going...I recall those words in a John Lennon song, and The way things are going...they're gonna crucify me. Well sometimes I feel we have all been crucified! In my mind we have all been hog-tied and now we are being spoon fed all the corporate crap we can ingest! What exactly am I talking about...well Ill try to explain my thoughts...

FASCISM-(according to Wikipedia-Fascists seek to organize a nation according to corporatist perspectives, values, and systems, including the political system and the economy)Does that sound familiar? I saw an episode of Law N Order..the character played by ICE-T is one of my favorites in the series...He came to arrest this guy and the guy said,
"You cant do this, its a free country." ICE-T grabbed the guy turned him around put the cuffs on him and replied,
"NO, its a Democracy and you're under arrest." That made me laugh...

BUT is it a democracy any more?
Not according to what the definition of a Fascists Government is, that sounds more like it...
This goes so far back in my life that I dont know if I can find the starting point, but I think it started with a bank...my mistrust of Corporate America and how it has not so quietly taken over our culture, our government, our lives!  we have all become slaves to , corporations & the products they give us we are droids....

From the food we eat to the drugs we take (to fix the problems created by the food we eat), corporations are giving us what they want us to have, (not what is better for human life) whatever they can make the quickest buck on, and they dont want us to question why, what, when, where, or how its manufactured...they just want us to buy it and shut up!

More of the speeches of Executive, and Judicial branches are about economics, government jobs are being filled by people with a background in business and economics-- Obama was recently criticized because he does not have enough business oriented people in his cabinet and on his staff and as his advisers...(corporations wish to remove all stumbling blocks so big business can control everything from the top on down)The recent oil crisis in the Gulf of Mexico...
is a great example of how far our government has become a fascist one!! Why is the government looking to a corporate boardroom to solve this HUGE environmental catastrophe? YES they created it, (my question is WHY was offshore drilling ever an option, its a huge disaster waiting to happen as we saw). It became apparent right away BP Oil & its advisors and engineers didnt have a clue what to do about the undersea rig failure YET they built it. 

A corporation now can control the will of the President? Obama (rightly so) put a hold on off shore drilling (for 6 months) its obvious that BP (and the rest of the Big Oils) has no clue of what they should do in case of a spill a mile down!.

So the industry went to court to have the hold on drilling withdrawn…They say they have to get back to work, back to doing what? Destroying the environment, keeping us dependent on oil? The reports I heard of that platform and the one that exploded after that was a small number of workers on each 10 here 13 there, doesnt sound like many jobs were at stake compared to the HUGE risk to the WORLD's environment. A job drilling on LAND, makes more sense...at least we can control that if it blows.

But this series is not just about BP, its about Coke, Pepsi, McDonalds, Walmart, Smith-Kline, Microsoft, Apple, AT&T, Sprint, IT’S about all of THEM. The corporate jungle that is overtaking us-
it's as out of control as KUDZU.

How Big Business Is Killing Americans
Products being sold for our ingestion are not much better than poison to our systems.  Fast food, high calorie soft drinks, snack foods are full of contaminates and fillers, sweetners, and fatty oils.  Take soft drinks for instance each bottle is full of high fructose corn syrup, now I dont care how many TV commercials the Corn Processors of America can afford to show, they wont convince me its GOOD FOR ME, it is NOT! It’s in nearly everything on the shelf...from Salad Dressing to Candy Bars, why is that? Because it’s CHEAP to process and buy that’s why---in those commercials they say it’s a natural product…so is poison IVY and opium but I’m not going near it!! Its made from corn and corn is subsidized by the Fed Govt! There fore there it is readily available and its cheap!! This high sugar content product is causing diabetes, obesity, and has no NUTRITIONAL VALUE!  The diet substitues?  Are sweetened with a chemical. 

Solutions:
 Make your own juices at home! A juicer is not that expensive.  It will pay for itself in no time..
Tea is still a good drink, decaf if you prefer-and water with a little lemon or lime is a perfect drink!  Look for all natural bottled juices with NO sugar or corn syrup added.  Natural sugars are easily processed in the body and if comsumed in wise proportions causes no health risk!

Side Effects Of Corporate Controls:
Pharmaceutical companies are holding our health care system hostage. I have heard that the owners of our horrible meat industry buy stock in the pills that we will be sold to treat our clogged arteries!! I don’t know ANY BODY who is not using some kind of prescription drug, except ME! I challenge you to find someone!! I do take a baby Aspirin trying to counter act the effects of years of eating “the American diet.” I have made a lot of change, hope it’s not too little too late

The drug companies have doctors dishing out billions of dollars in pills…Senior citizens are the largest sector under attack. Pharmaceutical companies partnered with Doctors are a guaranteed ticket to the revolving door…you go to the Dr, he finds something wrong (usually caused by poor eating habits and lack of exercise) he prescribes, you fill your medication and every 3-6 months you have to go back to the Dr, so he can make sure the side effects of most medications is not KILLING you faster than your diet and life style…and he writes another script…now you are hooked in…you are enslaved to this vicious circle of modern American medicine.


Mc-burgers
are made of beef that is full of AMMONIA, and thats to kill the fecal matter and bacteria before the meat is ground up---the chicken too, its not safe...IN fact MEAT is not safe to eat period, its clogging up the arteries of Americans...why? Because since meat processors can destroy the bacteria (with the ammonia) the trimmed fat they used to THROW away can now be ground in with the meat…so YEAH --now the meat has even more artery clogging fat!! SO you got FAT, & AMMONIA, and to boot its served on a white flour bun---it is a ticket to ride the heart disease train.


Thanks to the fast food industry the way meat in the USA is produced has changed dramatically.  In order to have tons of beef, chicken, and whatever ready to sell at the counter beef has to be raised faster, fatter, with no regard to the quality of life for the animal, and then slaughtered quick, in dirty facilities where poundage is money!  In order to give you the FAST food, every process in bringing Meat to the table has been made fast.  So you say, well I buy my meat and cook it at home.  SAME processors are making that meat!  Fast food chain's changed an entire industry into a huge nuturional disaster.  If the end product is BAD for you, then the beginning product was bad in the first place.  Millions of cattle, chickens, turkeys, pigs, and more are slaughtered each day to feed Americans and its providing the worst diet in our histroy


Solution:  For me it was simple-stop eating meat period!
Unless you know a local farmer who is raising quality beef and is slaughtering correctly and running a clean facility...then there is no way for you to get uncontaminated meat.  Some high end grocery stores are beginning to offer organic, range beef, chicken etc.   If you raise your own its the best way to go.  Humans are not meant to be eating meats...we can get all the protien we need from fruits and vegetables.




Got Milk?
Maybe you should throw it out! IM a VEGAN, Dairy products are not good for us either, but the Diary Producers of America say it is--why would they lie to us? Actually drinking milk can make bones weaker!! AHHH yes, but they say it does a body good. Milk is full of fat & cholesterol, fat clogs arteries and is hard to digest!! Arteries feed the tissue and bone of our bodies with nutrients and oxygen. Clogged arteries can’t deliver these life-giving essentials… therefore our bones are not getting the nutrition needed.  Dont we need calcium from the milk and cheese, and yogurt?  Actually NO...those products clog our life giving arterial blood flow.


We can get all the calcium we need from fresh fruits and vegetables, and th emost important factor to building stong bones is EXERCISE!! So if you have osteoporosis, talk to your Dr about an exercise program to help you build bone.


Solutions:
 I gave up Dairy Products cold turkey--its not easy there is bits of dairy in MANY foods-so another Corporate Coup has been unearthed. Nearly every processed boxed product has whey, eggs, milk, butter, or some sort of dairy product in it!
Although I dont particularily like soy products I use almond milk, and butter supstitues with no trans fats or hydrogenated oils-cheese in not part of a healthy diet and neither are other foods that come from dairy products.  Just stop buying and consuming them.  One great side effect is redcued weight and you can actually begin to reverse the effects these fats have taken on your circulatory system.


Why Would the FDA take advantage of us, consumers?
Many of the FDA regulators began their careers in the Meat and Diary Industry..where do think their work experience came from? They have ties from past jobs held in the Meat and Dairy Industry, Associations and Producers…so who’s side do you think they are on?  Yours or theirs, how about their former employers who helped them to land the job and makes sure they are well rewarded for keeping regulations in a place where it is inexpensive and cost effective for the Corporations who process foods and drugs for our consumption and use, they keep the bottom line healthy for the Meat & Dairy Processors, while the health of Americans goes down the drain at a very high cost!


Solutions: As Ive said above, just dont buy these products...your body will thank you!



Now they have found a way for Medicare to pay for these overpriced drugs—wow imagine that, people stopped buying their pills when the recession kicked in so lobbyists were successful at getting Medicare and Medicaid to pay for the drugs they manufacture. How clever is that? A way was made to get those pills paid for by the federal government---they don’t care if these pills are only treating/covering up SYMPTOMS of disease and not curing disease…hey its Modern Medicine!!! Dr’s prescribe, push the pills made by the large pharmacueticals ...ever see all the freebies sitting around in a Dr’s office, the pens, the pads, the calendars, the booklets, where do you think those come from? A visit by the friendly pharmaceutical representative that’s who!!

Free samples, come on it’s a product and they are selling their product. For years our doctors have looked the other way while we poisoned our bodies with bad food, and now the doctors are trying to keep a sick population alive with pills, wouldn't it make more sense if Doctors put Americans on a HEALTHY DIET...then they wouldn't be stuck taking pills to stay alive. (but that would put pharmaceutical companies out of business)  Some drugs can cost upwards of $700 a month!! Even weatlhy patients cant take a blow of that kind for long...but if your doctor is telling you this will keep you alive you will pay it!!

Most of these drugs can be manufactured cheaply, the patent on a drug keeps it safe from being duplicated for 20 years and when it’s up generics can be made and generally for a fraction of the cost of the name brand! In fact now deals are being made with the manufactures of Generic drugs and the Pharmaceutical corporations to stop the generics from being made–they PAY THEM MILLIONS to WAIT A COUPLE OF YEARS TO START CHURNING OUT THE CHEAPER GENERIC VERSION!!  So they can suck more money from the sick, ill, and dying, and Medicare, and private insurance.

Another trick of Pharmaceutical companies is to take an old recipe for a drug, change ONE component, maybe add a wee bit of a placebo and then sell it as a new Diabetes medication, or a new BP medication, or a New Pill For Heart Disease…its not new its just re-manufactured!! Yet that now means a new patent is issued and there is 20 yrs of overcharging all over again!


Trying to get the FDA to pull a diabetic drug that has now been linked to heart attacks was like pulling teeth...THEY did not pull it even tho studies show it increases heart disease and studies also show it has very little benefit to lowering blood sugar levels as it claims!! The FDA hearing was held in a hotel, wonder who was paying for those rooms? hmmm


Solutions: I hope if nothing else this post will encourage readers to question why they are eating food that is not fit for dogs? Is it more convenient to die slowly and get sicker and sicker or wouldn't it be better to TAKE control of what YOU put in your mouth and prepare your food at home in your kitchen from fresh ingredient? Take the time to learn about nutrition and dont get your facts from the FDA or the USDA or the national nutrion charts!  Do your own research-
I Suggest watching the following..
Sicko by Micheal Moore
Super Size Me by Morgan Spurlock
The DANGERS ABOUT DAIRY PRODUCTS BY DAVID RIETZ

To emphasize my commitment to putting better foods in the bodies of the ones I love, I took it a step farther...what about my dogs?  Read the label on the foods you are feeding if you see CORN, then stop buying it...since when do canines eat corn? Some dog treats have High Fructrose Corn Syrup on them!! Read the label!!! Why do you think dogs have started to have the same diseases as humans?  Maybe its becuase we are on the same BAD diet!! High sugar, high fat, and poor qualtiy! I pay more but I swear it's going to save me money at the VETS with my dogs!
READ THE LABELS-
Im currently using 4-Health its grain free and my dogs are in great shape and they love it.  ITS Not perfect but its the best Ive found that I can afford...its $18 for a 15 lb bag.

More to come...

Deflections....

hen I first began blogging it was due to a literary agent in NYC telling me to start a blog to push my books, I was on a quest to become a writer. But it didn't take me long to figure out my entire life is a quest and I can't single out one thing that gives me warm n fuzzes, I get that from many points of my life's compass! I gain inspiration from others, other people, other places, other ideas, generations past and present...and sometimes it's the not so good parts of others that pushes me in the direction I need to go in, I'm deflected Toward the Place I need to go.

So it was that I began a blog on Yahoo! at the recommendation of a friend. I had a blog on MySpace which was a nightmare for me! And I went about it all wrong by posting my feelings and my opinions, and my political ideas, my spiritual beliefs, and got very little feedback and most was negative...

SO I moved to Yahoo!...found myself in the middle of this tight little group that was so critical & competitive (always in One Up Mode) AND somehow I found myself constantly seeking their approval and when I didn't get it, I was unhappy in my real life!!! And I didn't realize that little group had a ring leader who wanted to always come out on Top...I had no idea that the group was actually a group of Groupies of this one individual..but that was revealed later---BUT I had no idea of how I stumbled into this group and why they even accepted me in the beginning, LOL It was Dumb luck, or maybe more like Murphy's Law~

Many troubles arose from that involvement and I couldn't figure out exactly what I was doing wrong, I was trying so hard to fit in, (equality) yet somehow I managed to always become entangled in drama--I picked sides (because I don't like fence riders for me its better to know where I stand, but most people keep their truth hidden until Suddenly you are in their face with an opinion they totally disagree on) and I know in this highly volatile world one cant do that, UNLESS you wish to alienate yourself...which is sometimes better! I didn't know that I stumbled into a snake's den, sort of~~There should have been a sign somewhere and there was I didn't read it right!!!!

Then Yahoo announced they were removing the blog--so a large group made a move to Multiply, and again I tried to "fit in" and it just never happened, I felt as if I was outside the circle looking in, and no matter how hard I tired to be accepted, I was not! Or I got that feeling, I had some support, but mostly I drew lots of arrows and spears in my direction...

When the elections of 2008 came along it opened my eyes that the group I had tried so hard to be a part of was full of racists and people who would judge someone based on skin color, economic status, and religion, and not on their merits. That's when it became abundantly clear to me WHY I had never been able to fully incorporate into that little group!!

So I left Multiply and came to Blogger, and made the decision that I would stick to posting my art, photography, travel, and the parts of my life that hopefully were not open for Discussion!! Not that I don't want to debate policy, and belief systems, its that I don't want to draw negative attention and arrows again!! I no longer wish to defend my ideas on how I personally view the world and "if Only"... and try to create understanding and education where there is no room for it!! (giving audience to unforgiving mind) IF someone pushes negative energy toward you, then why would you want to be around that person?

I have reached out on occasion and found that most people are very self centered and only want to talk about them and they don't share-- they make many blog entries,-- you visit and comment and they never reciprocate-why is that? They want an audience, they want to be center stage, and hear the cheers and no jeers, I guess these are the people the universe revolves around--lol

AND in the end that is just it, see the Universe does revolve around Each of US!! WE are the Center of OUR Universe!! Its up to us to try to reach through the atmosphere and be happy with what we bring back from the hunt..if we are not then maybe we have ventured into the wrong camp, and we will be deflected to the right place in the end, only if we hold true to our own belief system!!

So I made a rule of thumb, I encourage the belief systems I agree with I don't bother to debate the ones I don't, and I move on...somewhere out there, there are others LIKE ME!!

Acceptance, tolerance, all ya'll

HI YA'll its as HOT as a firecracker on the 4th of July-- which is right around the corner...I saw an episode of Star Trek Next Gen. in which the aliens they had encountered didn't speak in logical sentences of the past, present, and future tense, instead they used metaphors based on the history of their culture to communicate. Such as we may say "Washington crossing the Delaware" this would conjure up an image of patriotism of the father of our Democracy leading us to victory.
...so in a way, especially here in the south, we use a lot of metaphors to communicate.
He's slicker than goose s**#, = to describe someone who is not to be trusted..
Who ate the red offen your candy? = "what's up with you?
You are fixin to get your tail under my rocker ="You are starting to piss me off"
Where's the fire? = "what's your hurry"
He flew outta here like Moodys Goose= "he was in a hurry"
How are ya'll doing? (even when addressing one person)= making an inquiry as to how are you and all of your immediate and extended family!
Too many Chiefs and not enuff injuns = no ones is in charge cause everyone wants to be in charge.
Yuanto= "you want to do that"
Yungs =hillbilly for "ya'll"

AND Jeff Foxworthy has published a book on this subject..so you get the point!!

I get sort of bent outta shape (angry), and I know its not just me,...but I can be in a room of people from all over the world each with a dialect built upon special blends of language, history, and word origins, and yet it's the southern American that will be made fun of and have their speech corrected!! THIS BURNS MY *** which is a metaphoric way of saying "I do not like it"...lol

NOW I do understand that sometimes southerners can be considered uneducated, dim wits, but I've done my fair share of travel and rubbed elbows with people from around the world, I have found uneducated dim wits from everywhere!! ITS not just geographical....
I did live in (New Yawk City not once-but twice in my life time amounting to 10 yrs total) the proverbial melting pot--

I worked with people from countries that I hardly knew existed and I was introduced to many cultures and tried quite hard to learn from everyone I spent time with. I always tried to understand what was being said to me and what it meant and was always fascinated with each and all-from Russian to Hassidic Jewish, Uzbekistan, to Istanbul, to India, to Guiana to Spain, Colombian to Mexican, Puerto Rican to Turk, to Romanian to Nigerian, from Israeli to Italian, from Kenya to Australian...the list goes on and on---and that's not counting the various Americans from every state in the Union!!
...and yet it would be me when marching into a crowded Emergency Room in the city that never sleeps , would be approached and asked "where are you from?"...now my accent is not too southern, just enough that you know its there, I try not to use too many metaphors but its not easy---they are sort of hot-wired in. Do you find that every happens to you? Phrases such as I'm fixin to, ive been told it sounds ignorant, but here even the most educated person will use that phrase and its never frowned upon. I have been told "I love your country way of talking"...okay that did not exactly flatter me---but I said nothing and just thought "how ignorant that jerk just sounded" to myself....lol

--my sister who has lived in Colorado for close to 30 yrs was recently corrected by someone from California, and told the correct way to pronounce the word "coupon" is COOPON- not Q-pon the way we pronounce it here in the south---
I beg to differ, if you come here you will not hear anyone calling it a coopon, and I guess when in ROME yada yada yada....

NO ONE IS WRONG and WE ALL ARE RIGHT!! Yes its a COOPON and a Q-PON as long as we all understand and get the message-
I can just imagine me telling a Brit, that schedule is not pronounced "Saidule" that a squirrel (sqrl) is not called a squirall and that is not a lory but a truck, and that's not grit its sand and that's not an ice box! LOL it goes on and on..

Just like one fellow I worked with hours and hours he was from Haiti my dear friend Anthony--who spoke English with a beautiful sexy French accent, his skin was the color of ebony, he had the manners of a perfect gentleman...he was one of my very best friends---his voice and tone were so elegant...but come lunchtime--me the southern fried dixxebell would order the vegetarian plate and he would order OX TAILS!!

I would say "Antnee," (southern for Anthony) "you gotta start eating higher on the hog, or in this case the OX....like up around the shoulder or the hip...dang the TAIL, do you know where that is located"? And he would reply "Sondra, (it just sort of slowly ran off his smooth french tongue) "you are always a lady ture and ture, (Hatian for through and through) "now eat your vegetables, and allow me to enjoy my meal" And I did-but I rolled the window down...he tried on many occasions to get me to "just taste it," but he knew I could never do that--BUT I did try some of the steamed cabbage and veggies as long as he promised the meat never touched it!!

So I guess my point is live and let talk!! WE say Ya'll cause our mama's taught us to say it that way...yours probably taught you the way she was taught and so on- So I told my sister next time her California friend corrects her to remind her that she was born and raised in the South and that is the correct way of pronouncing coupon acording to her-
In the south a buggy is a shopping cart in England a Buggy is a pram, and in New England a buggy is a wheeled cart pulled by horses!
Ya'll come back now, ye hear," is not really an invitation for your return, it's just a common courtesy to say that to everyone, and as soon as the door closes... "I thought they'd never leave!"

I recently visited my friend who is also from SC and has a very southern accent and has deep southern family roots. She and I became quite the spectacle in the stores of Mesa, Arizona...talk about one fish outta water but wait it was TWO, whats the odds of that??? LMBO--

Strange Bedfellows

My room at home

hy does a rainy day get me down? That old song Rainy Days and Mondays Always Get ME Down..comes to mind...every time I come to Greenville to dog sit it rains..not just one day but every day---since I arrived here on Friday morning I saw the sun for about 1 hr before darkness fell that night and then the clouds brought forth rain --and today its a steady downpour, cold and dreary--seemed to set the stage for last nights nightmare!! YES I have nightmares.

For many years after the passing of my forever friend Sundance (he was my horse) he came to me in dreams...dreams of me trying to find him as he disappeared over a hill beyond my reach, dreams of seeing him laying dead in a puddle of blood (he did not die in a puddle of blood I had him humanely put to sleep to stop his suffering) dreams of me riding him and the scent of his horsey coat drifting up to me exactly as it did when I rode him for real--I waked from these dreams sometimes screaming, always crying, always upset. Since 1996 these dreams plagued my sleep until last year....for 13 years I almost didnt want to go to sleep and when I did the last thing I would utter is..
"Please no dreams tonight."

I moved 800 miles away in 2001 and still the dreams followed me where ever I went...didnt matter-although I didnt have them every single night..I had them more nights than not.
In 2006 I moved back to SC from NY. I was once again stood by the grave of my forever friend. I tended where it had sunk, hauled loads of sand to level the ground and put up a sadly bent marker made of some old aluminum..formed in a cross...I hung windchimes and his halter--hoping by doing this I was setting his soul free to roam the vast universe alone until the day I join him and once again share the world with him as one- me astride him taking us both where we want to go.

Then one morning I awoke with a dream fresh in my mind...we had been together again--he had trotted away and I had gone up a grassy ridge to see him all the while calling his name. When I got to the ridge below I saw a sink hole and his dead lifeless body lay crumpled at the bottom. I was so crushed inside I awoke and the pain was so real---I had to experience it all over again the feeling of loss, grief, guilt, aloneness, it hit me hard.

I keep a large picture of Sundance in my room, its the only picture hanging on my wall--I took him to be the guardian of my soul--having lost my faith so long ago I felt disconnected, so Sunny was my way to reconnect. He may have been watching over me, maybe not I dont know these things I can only imagine--but I know I was in misery.

Not just the ghosts of many things passed long ago, but fresh ghosts of the 911 tragedy and the role I had in that-witnessing it for one, and volunteering with other EMT's for another...trying to come to grips with horror is not easy task--can it even be done? So far I would say NO..

So on that morning I awoke with fresh wounds to the loss of my friend and I yelled out "GO AWAY-YOU ARE DEAD, I PUT YOU IN THE GROUND I SAID WORDS OVER YOU, IM STILL ALIVE, I CANT TAKE THESE DREAMS ANY MORE! I pounded my fist on my pillow and I cried and let all the pain come out---my face wet with tears and my heart aching, but eventually I was able to get out of bed and go about a normal day...then that night

The dream returned with fury--my legs and body frozen in pain and agony as he trotted away and I couldnt get close to him I screamed "SUNNY" but he kept going , when he got to the rise he stopped and looked back for a long time I got closer but then he trotted over the hill...when I finally made it up the rise and looked down he was GONE--no body this time just an empty valley with grasses swaying. I wept and I screamed SUNNY where are you dont gooooooo...but he did, I had sent him away in the awake world and he left me. I woke myself screaming SUNNY quite loudly---I sobbed for hours upon awaking...for I had driven the love of my life away unable to keep reliving the pain of losing him.

I have not dreamed of Sunny since that dream--I still have nightmares like the one last night...I was in a bus a small van type bus with a group of senior citizens my Mother was with us..we were going to a place to eat it was like a seniors commune. As we parked two fighter jets swooped down and one shot a rocket at us, it came right through the van traveled right through leaving an entry and exit hole--but no one was harmed. IT swooshed right past my face...it was about 2 feet long and looked exactly like a small rocket...it was painted that drab army green....The entry hole had an image of clear plastic covering it and the image was the face of the man who had been behind the controls of the plane that shot the rocket at us. He was an Asian man and he wore an old German WWII type metal helmet on his head.

Everyone was debarking the van to go inside to eat a meal, but I wanted to take a photograph of this clear plastic bust of the Asian man..I tried and tried but the camera would not work!! Meanwhile I got left behind...when I finally gave up and went inside there were hundreds of people there I couldnt find my party or my mom. I looked in every room, I ended up at this gate and I climbed over it and there was a young woman-- a cook---she told me I couldnt come there I had to leave I climbed up on a trellis type structure...and there were spiders webs up there...I dont like spiders and I told her "I cant go that way there are spiders there." SO she opened the gate and I grabbed my pocketbook (the very one I am carrying in real life) My camera (the very one I use now) and a packet of cigarettes and a lighter!! I used to smoke but quit long ago,....but in my dreams IM STILL A SMOKER. I even said in my dream "YOU dont smoke"..but then my subconscious said "I'm dreaming and I do smoke when Im dreaming." SO strange---I headed back up to the main dining areas it was separated into different rooms...but I couldnt find anyone I knew and when I looked outside the van was gone---I woke UP!! It took me about 3 or 4 minutes to be able to move...I was paralyzed--and afraid, lost.

MY brain was numb for quite a long time after I got up..it took 2 cups of strong coffee to get it awake, if its even awake not sure. I felt exhausted and I still do...I do know that when I come to my sisters house I always have vivid dreams and there is something about this house that is not right!! I feel very depressed when Im here and on rainy days which seems to be always--it has rained every time Ive come here for the last 5 or 6 times---the energy here is very low and bad. I never feel quite myself when Im here. I try to be ME, but something gets in the way of that. Ive come here and my head has ached so bad I couldnt get out of bed!! Ive come here and I hear voices but no one is here but me. I told my sister and she agrees the energy of this house is not good...she has redone most all of the rooms but it has not made it better in fact I'd say its worse.

IS the problem with this house or is a combo of me in this house? I cant wait until tomorrow afternoon when I can go home!!

Thoughts of our Lunar Sister

Last night's moon

ell its been a while since Ive taken the time to post something in Writtins! Mostly due to a time factor. Time is one of the subjects I enjoy writing about, that and space and the marriage between them. I love the Universe--the mystery-- the mystic of it--the not knowing and the constant desire to know more about it!! I do know we humans are very connected to our Universe...we have lost much of our instincts that kept us more in tune with the Cosmic forces we are each very much a part of.

Each time there is a cosmic event I read up on it and try to see it for myself if my sky is allowing--most of the time it doesnt!! But you know in reality that keeps me fresh and keeps me hoping that more of the mystery of the Universe will be unveiled to me when the time is right!! Not just me but to mankind as a whole. Our Universe is so huge there would never be enough time in Human Years to transverse it and discover all the beauty it holds and the many secrets hidden away---In the timeline of this Universe we are but a speck, a bit of dust--not the biggest part of the big picture...The Universe is the Big Picture!!

All our Earthly struggles seem so small and insignificant when compared to how the moon holds back the tide and brightens our dark skies at least one a month. Primal societies believed a womans cycle was controlled by the moon as it seemed to be in step with our Lunar sister sitting up there. I have no doubt it is so.

Not long ago we had a Blue Moon. I featured it in my other blog---it was a very cold night but I ventured out to get a snapshot of our baby sister the Moon! Once in a Blue Moon--is an old phrase that we Americans have used for many years I dont know how long its been in use but I know that a blue moon is not really blue but the rare event of having two full moons in one monthly cycle...



We never get to see the dark side of our moon...makes me wonder what goes on there...does it have any strange things happening that we are not privy too? It is also referred to the Far Side of the moon. In 1959 a Soviet Luna 3 module photographed the far side and its heavily pot marked with craters!! IT does however receive as much or more light than the near side we see-- The moon gets Earthshine!!
One of those photos of the Far Side can be seen here on Wikipedia

I was not a happy camper when NASA flew a rocket and crashed it into the surface of the Moon. I thought that was the most irresponsible thing Ive ever heard of!! I sent an email telling them so...never got a response but Im sure it went into a file with numerous others for I cant be the only soul living here who thinks we should not be shooting rockets at our MOON!! What a foolish thing to do and waste of money too!!

I wondered in that email who gave ownership of the Moon to NASA? They never asked me if they could do that did they ask you...nope it seems our government can make some fool hearted decisions that we have no influence or say so over.
As a member of this Universe I want to discover what is out there not by destroying it or trying to manipulate it, or by drilling holes in it, but simply by seeing it with my minds eye. I have no desire to stand on the moon, or fly around it, its enough for me to get the chance to see it hanging above and feel a connection to it.

Can Time Stand Still?

ELL...I keep turning time over in my mind, and here in the think tank blog is a good spot to put these thoughts out there...so I can remember I had them! My fascination with time-space- goes way back to Jr high school when I had a really fantastic science teacher who was always throwing interesting ideas out there for us to think about...he didnt throw time out but what he did do was remind all of us that we had a brain so we should use it, not just to go about our daily life but to explore the unknown, no matter how critical others may be of these ideas!

You know how Earthlings are always searching outer space for aliens....well guess what-- we live in outer space and we are aliens! LOL that always surprises me when I remind myself we are just as much a part of this Universe as our mighty Sun is!

Time=movement in space! That is a proven fact. NOW this is all just my thoughts and I have not googled up this whole idea and dont really plan to...I want to allow my mind to come up with ideas that are spawned purely of thoughts Ive had and assembled into theories of my very own. So this idea came to me...

My Mom is a bible scholar and I learn things by having discussions with her. She believes firmly in creation, and I still dont know what I believe! I am always evolving in my ideas about that...but here is what we discussed. Im certain the writers of the Bible were real, they wrote their ideas and experiences and passed them on. It is at the very least an Ancient writing we all have access to...just as the Koran, the Torah, etc.
Mom told me of the old ones in the Bible and how they lived for centuries some as much as 900 yrs. So I said "well I guess they were closer to the source therefore they were not diluted and had more of the good stuff running in their gene pool." Much like a river its the sweetest right where the first bubble comes from deep inside the Earth, it has not been poluted and it has not been diluted...its almost perfect!

She agreed with me. Then I said, "maybe back then the Earth revolved slower..therefore time passed slower, and people aged slower and lived longer!" We sort of looked at each other, then she reminded me that "in the Bible it states that it took God 7 days to create the heavens and the Earth. Yet to God a day is 1000 yrs." So I said "well maybe in the life of early man it took 1,000 yrs for the Earth to make one full turn, or a day to pass." Who knows this could be possible...we have no way of knowing just what speed the Earth moved at 2000 yrs ago.

The Sun does not move so to me that means it hangs in timeless space--space that is not moving---so time is not moving, so it is timeless! So-- if the Earth should stop revolving---and stop orbiting....there would be a dark side of the Earth...everyone would have to move to the sunny side of the Earth and we may actually stop aging...time would stand still.
Its just something to ponder!!