TERRORISTS LURK AT EVERY CORNER.

It is true that no one is safe from terrorists here at home. You send your child to school and expect that she or he is safe. I have a cousin who claims he has no fear because he carries a gun on his hip where ever he goes. But, does he guard his grandchildren at their school? Could he prevent a mass killing? Could he defend himself against an assault rifle while he is drinking his coffee in a restaurant?

And what fear does, and what the media and now a presidential candidate does, is stir the pot of fear and hatred. It is preposterous to easily assume we are the victims of Muslim American Radicals.

Statistics prove otherwise. The people we should be afraid of is White Male Extremest Christians. They are most violent and so righteous when they kill.
Remember Christian mass murderers like Robert Lewis Dear? The Planned Parenthood Shooter. And, Dylann Roof, the Charleston Church shooter? And Seung-Hui Cho, who took out 32 Virginia Polytechnic students in seconds, and wounded 17 others. You've read he newspapers. You know the horror.

The statistics show that white Christian men are responsible for 64% of mass shootings. Blacks are responsible for 16%, and Asian Americans-9%. Latinos, Native Americans and "others" make up the rest.
I would challenge anyone who has submitted to the gun buying hysteria to show that we are safer with the proliferation of guns in our country than we were before the NRA began selling fear,  and gun ownership climbed into the gazillions. (I've forgotten the numbers of guns sloshing around the country right now. It is an outrageous number.)
The deaths keep coming. At bus stops, or coffee shops, at any event, even church. Even shootings by young male students at schools. And accidental shootings by children on shooting ranges.

   WE HAVE A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO BAN CERTAIN WEAPONS - AND WE SHOULD DO IT.

 

In California, some signs of sanity:

Governor Brown Takes Guns Out of Schools.  Though it is old news, it is worth repeating.

 

SACRAMENTO – "Today, (October 10, 2015) Governor Brown signed into law Senate Bill 707, prohibiting gun owners issued a license by their local police chief or sheriff from carrying handguns for self-defense on California school grounds. It also subjects those with a carry permit, issued only after passing a strict, fingerprint-based background check and agency-approved training course, harsh new criminal liability for merely possessing a single round of ammunition on the grounds of any school or college campus, even if they don’t also possess a firearm."

 

Good for us and California Students.

WE DON'T REALIZE HOW SAFE WE ARE.

Last night, a friend came over and together we watched the video, "It's A Wonderful Life." Her parting comment to me was, every time I complain, I have to remember how good we have it."  I would say AMEN to that.
Then, in my email this morning came a video honoring a particular CNN Hero, Anurada (Can't remember her last name.) But, my friend Wendy's words to me:  "We don't realize how safe we are."  I hope we can step into a new year and do one thing to assist the safety of daughters everywhere. Please watch this video from CNN.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=136222669915551&set=vb.100005834562339&type=2&theater

Let's Make the New Year Better.

GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS.

I’ve been kind of ho-hum about genetically modified foods, except, I believe we have the right to know what we are eating and whether it is genetically modified or not. The right to know is important. We’ve had genetically modified products for ages. Just hand pollinating or cross pollinating is genetically modifying a plant. Or, grafting a scion from a different fruit tree onto another, is an example. But, adding chemicals to seed is an whole other step. My feeling is that the company who modifies it should know the end result if the seedlings spread to the wild or cause unwanted changes.
One negative about genetically modified seed comes from a farmer who bought seed at his supplier and the supplier said he had some of this “new” seed from Monsanto that someone had ordered, then failed to pick up. The farmer bought it, planted it and was crucified when the company found out he had it. He was put through a horrible rigamarole because he hadn’t permission to use it from the company, nor paid the full price. They harassed him through two growing seasons for fear of patent infringement. The hapless farmer was pretty unhappy with the way he was treated by this mega corporation.
But, now comes information from a study that is disturbing. However, I don’t know the size of the study and who conducted it. I read about it on MoveOn.org.

Rats fed a lifetime diet of Monsanto’s genetically engineered corn or exposed to the company’s popular Roundup herbicide, in amounts considered “safe” in drinking water and GM crops in the U.S., developed tumors and suffered severe kidney and liver damage, according to a study released this week.

We may not develop the same problems as rats, but even rats are part of the environmental balance we need. What else will it affect?  Birds? Or raptors that eat rats and gophers?

And this from the editors of On Earth Magazine, a publication that deals with environmental issues:

Carbon-fueled climate change is responsible for many terrifying things, but some normal-seeming rice plants in one recent study is a warning. Scientists from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture grew a feral, weedy from of rice alongside a cultivated form in controlled environments that reflected carbon dioxide levels of a century ago. As C0-2 levels went up, the weedy rice was better able to synchronize its flowering period to that of the cultivate rice, leading to cross pollination and resulting in a zombie-like hybrid with alarming characteristics. From the feral parent, came a diminished nutritional content and a weaker hull. But, the cultivated parent gave it a genetic resistance to weed killers. The weedy rice that always pops up in fields has been traditionally controlled by herbicides.

Now, add in climate change with genetically modified seeds with resistant chemicals in them?  Could be a horror movie.
We don’t have corporate soil and private soil. It’s everyone’s soil. So, when we put something in the soil, it should first be proved harmless. Back off, Monsanto. Prove your safety. But, that isn’t likely to happen now, is it?
Isn’t it wonderful to know that corporations and conglomerates always have our best interests at heart?

NOT RECOMMENDED

I got these pictures from an email. Now, tell me, would you drive your family over this OMIGOD bridge?

I think Jim and I should haul one of these behind the motor home in case we have a fight. I can send him to the "doghouse" for the night.

I'm glad Jim is a do-it-yourself kind of guy. Hey, when you are in a fix, just fix it yourself.

Do you think the Highway Patrol would stop this load as unsafe? How did that guy get on top of that load of papers anyway?

When I look at these, I wonder what happens if the cow decides to move. It doesn't look like it's tied down, nor comfortable.
 
 If the sheep bolts....? There are two of them. That guy has to be strong.

This is what used to happen here before we had OSHA. (Occupational safety laws.)

Gotta get that refrigerator home somehow.

Can't we get one more person on?  Of course, I'm poking fun, but, its truly innovative how these people from poorer countries manage to make the most of their resources. Not safe, nor recommended, but admirable even so. Especially the loads the Chinese manage on bikes. Incredible.

Load hauling at its most economical.

PUBLIC SERVICE MESSAGE ABOUT FIRE ALARMS

I have a friend, Richard Patton, who is a veritable crusader against the current fire alarms installed in most homes. He crusades against them because they are ineffective. He worked in the industry for years and knows of what he speaks. To condense the danger I'm repeating information from this website: www.hbsslaw.com/smokedetectors . Another is www.smokealarmdisclosure.org
Early warning is the key to surviving smoldering fires, the deadliest kind of home fire. Ionization technology to sense the presence of smoke is slow to warn, if it warns at all, especially smoldering fires which typically happen while occupants are sleeping. Most smoke detectors work on the principle of ionization. Smoke particles enter the chamber and the alarm triggers. Burning toast for instance, generates a lot of small particles and sounds the alarm. But smoke particles from a burning couch, for instance, are large and fewer in number and don't set off your alarm. Having a detector that doesn't work efficiently lulls you into a false sense of safety. And, in fact, many lives are lost each year because the industry continue to sell devices that don't do the job they were intended to do.
I'm an activist and that is a part of my personality, so message delivered.
On the personal front, Jim and I enjoyed a bike ride and picking fresh organic oranges. I also completed an interview with Bob Gambol who backpacked to 128 countries and one Sultanate in six years, in his fifties. He visited communist countries and places where tourists didn't and couldn't go. He avoided the usual European destinations. An amazing feat.