WHY BACON JOKES AREN'T FUNNY

Pigs are one of the most highly intelligent creatures on the planet, as smart as chimpanzees & dogs, and both very affectionate and social. The problem is, they do not have the big eyes, soft fur and the other features that we humans find attractive, so we tend to scorn them.

We are outraged when we see videos of dogs being stacked on trucks and slaughtered for food in Asian countries, but the terrible way that pigs are raised, shipped, and killed for food right here in the USA is indefensibly cruel. They are reared in cages so small that they cannot move or turn around, their intelligence and sentience ignored. It is inhumane.

This is why bacon jokes are not the least bit funny.

I AM GOING TO SING A SONG BY....

by Mary Elizabeth Leach Raines

© M. E. Raines, 2015

Quickly: name an opera composer who is alive today!

Can’t think of one? Even if you have never listened to opera, chances are you know the names of at least a few of the great opera composers of the past, like Mozart, Wagner, Handel, and Verdi.

Sadly, they wouldn’t have a chance in today’s world.

On a recent broadcast of a television show called Dancing with the Stars, singer Chaka Khan was asked by an interviewer which song she had chosen for her dance. She said that she would be dancing to “Chicago by Frank Sinatra.”

Chicago was not by Frank Sinatra. He was only one of the people who sang and recorded it, and he did so decades after it was written by a composer whose name was Fred Fisher. Ever heard of Fred Fisher? No, of course not! Perhaps Kahn can be excused; as a performer herself, it is only natural that she would want to give credit to another performer.

Our society glamorizes performers and scorns composers so much, however, that in the USA, stating that a song is by a musician rather than by the actual  composer has become a habit in just a few years. It is a cruel one. Even on older TV shows like American Idol, (which should have known better, but probably was largely responsible for popularizing this travesty), singers routinely say that the music they will be singing is “by” an individual who had performed the music at an earlier time.

It is both sad and insulting that composers and lyricists are seldom mentioned and even more rarely given credit for their compositions; the only exceptions occur when the performer is also the composer. It takes incredible talent to compose an enduring piece of music. Mozart and Beethoven would go unrecognized in contemporary society, and Burt Bacharach or the astonishing team of Rodgers and Hammerstein would be complete unknowns.

The  performer is glorified. The person with the huger talent—that individual who composed the piece—is left out of the loop and forced to fade into anonymity. And the real loser? Music. Who will write brilliant music when it’s a sure bet that nobody will ever even know your name, much less give you credit?

THE NEW DARK AGES HAVE BEGUN

Superstition, hysteria and hype are plunging us into a new Dark Age, where misinformation abounds and fear has replaced judgment. Statements posted on YouTubes or random websites are being mistaken for facts. People are not digging for the truth. Anyone who calls himself an expert is given credibility. Gullibility and superstition have replaced true, hard science. People sway towards the loudest, most fear-mongering voice. Those who possess the factual truth are bashed, and shrill screams drown out reason.

1. Einstein, Mark Twain, Barbara Bush, etc., did not say most of the things attributed to them on internet memes.
2. Sorry people, but there is no evidence whatsoever for chemtrails. A YouTube is not evidence. No one has ever brought a single bit of solid evidence before the U.S. Congress. There are hundreds of thousands of airplanes in the air, however, from UPS, FedEx, United Airlines, Southwest, etc., that all leave water vapor trails. These contrails vary in texture and size depending on the altitude, temperature and humidity. The chemicals "discovered" on the ground have always been there. If chemtrails were real, not only would the droplets fall far, far away from the place where they are spotted in the sky; we would have to have a huge complex with enormous plants and storage facilities, employing thousands of workers, along with great fleets of airplanes. Check the flight patterns, which frequently crisscross and parallel one another, and check to see what airlines are flying overhead when you think chemtrails are being spread. You will be surprised. 
3. There are no huge worldwide conspiracies of them against us. A few powerful people may huddle now and again in board rooms, granted, but there is no great big bad they who have combined forces to take over the world. There are no James Bond mastermind villains. People who work forThe government, in the USA, consists of people we have voted into office. “They” are, for the most part, just as confused as we are.
4. Here's one that a lot of people will have to rethink. The church in historical times did not conspire to keep people in the dark deliberately so that they could have power. Trust me, they weren't that organized. Our own government isn't that organized! (See the following.)
5. Detoxing? If it's not from an addictive substance, it's probably worthless. A huge sham market has been created around the theme of detoxing: removing assorted toxins and unwanted byproducts from the body. The actual truth is that without hospitalization and specialized intensive care, there are almost no substances that will remove toxins from your body, despite what the labels say. Sorry. The best way to detox is to eat healthy foods that support your body's own detox system--the liver and kidneys--and to drink reasonable amounts of water. That's it. Nearly everything else purported to detox you, from soaking in Epsom salts to drinking special potions to going on detox diets, is bunk.
6. There is no worldwide or national conspiracy to depopulate the planet. If there was, we would have far fewer than the 7+ billion human beings with whom we currently share space! Reducing human population would actually be easy if “they” wanted this; all “they” would need to do would be to promote birth control and make it readily available. Sadly, this is not happening. Quite the contrary is happening. It’s too bad, because it would be a good idea.
7. There are no secret military bases on the dark side of the moon or on other planets.
8. The 9/11 conspiracy theories are absurd and paranoid. Our own government did NOT do it. Bin Laden and Al Queda were quite capable of hijacking airplanes and causing massive destruction and mayhem in a very cruel way. Because of the conspiracy theories, they have succeeded beyond their dreams in harming us. Who knows? Maybe they were even the ones responsible for starting the conspiracy theories. Internet speculations on YouTube and random websites that buildings couldn't collapse the way they did is not scientific evidence! Plenty of experts find what happened credible. After all, we had never before on planet Earth experienced large aircraft crashing into skyscrapers, nor what the effects would be. Denying the fact that one of the hijacked airliners crashed into the Pentagon is a huge disrespect for the families of the passengers who lost their lives. Once again, there is plenty of credible evidence about what happened on 9/11. Accusing our own government of conspiring to bring down buildings by planting bombs in them is really, really sad, and plays right into the hands of the terrorists. 

There is a lot to be genuinely concerned with on this increasingly poisoned, polluted planet. Focus your attention on the genuine problems, research carefully, and do your best to find solutions. Meanwhile, you may want to stop believing everyone who puts on a suit, uses a white board, and has made a YouTube video. Look at the hard science in all of these cases.

WALL STREET RANT

Buying and selling stocks has always seemed so ludicrous to me. It is frightening that our economy is based on a complicated but essentially silly game, one of gambling with no regard for the businesses that thrive or lose as a result. It is also frightening that people have made stern rules about how to play the game, and take it so seriously. I want to shake them and shout, “Wake up!!!!” 

Now, I’m not a rugged sort. I absolutely love the benefits of modern society—creature comfort, availability of good food, my grand piano, books, movies, cars, computers—but it hurts to see how greatly we have become dissociated from planet Earth and all her blessings. I do not believe that Wall Street is one of those blessings. Part of me yearns deeply for another way of living.

© M. E. Raines, 2015

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Please do not copy or record in any format; linking, however, is just fine!

THE MOST DIRE THREAT ON OUR PLANET--BUT WAIT! WHAT ARE THE KARDASHIANS WEARING?!

Honeybees are dying. So are other pollinators. Butterflies and songbird populations are rapidly diminishing.

What is the cause? Numbers of credible scientific studies from across the globe point to pesticides, particularly the types of pesticides classified as neonicotinoids.

As a concerned beekeeper, realizing that nobody else was doing so, I did a survey of all the greenhouses, big-box stores and hardware stores in my area in Arizona. After a lot of legwork, emails, and phone calls, I discovered to my dismay that EVERY SINGLE ONE within a radius of many miles was selling bedding plants, shrubs, and trees that had been treated with neonicotinoids, the bee-killing, butterfly-killing, and pollinator-killing pesticides. Every petunia and geranium, and just about all other non-edible plants for sale in my area--and I'll bet in yours too!--have been treated with bee-killing pesticides, even in the better nurseries that grow native plants! It is rampant this year in the USA.

The growers whom I contacted shrugged and said, "Well, it's legal." Despite our pleas to the EPA, neonicotinoids ARE legal (they have only recently decided to ban some new versions of these toxins, but not the ones that are in our back yards.) Most neonicotinoids are illegal in the European Union, who acknowledge that they are killing bees, but most are legal here in the USA, even though we are losing 30% of our bees and incredible numbers of our pollinators every single year!

We need local grass-root activitists. We need people to band together and SHOUT about this! Lowe's, after being petitioned about this, pledged to "phase out" bee-killing pesticides on the plants they sell; they are going to do this over a course of four years. Although many applaud their decision, I don't think a four-year time period, while they rake in profits and kill more bees, butterflies, and songbirds, is anything to congratulate them on. Farmers are, naturally, responsible for using these pesticides, but now, in the USA, we can also find them on nearly every flower, shrub or tree we purchase to plant in our yards.

Neonicotinoids do not wash off. They remain on the plant for six months to six years. That's right. If you buy a tree treated with this stuff--and most trees are--the toxins eventually go into the soil, both to contaminate nearby plants, and to be sucked back up by the host plant to move into the nectar and pollen the bees require for survival.

Home Depot was found to be selling milkweed that had been treated with these poisons. Monarch caterpillars placed on this milkweed died. The store has apparently generously (and I'm being sarcastic) agreed to stop doing this BY THE END OF THIS YEAR'S GROWING SEASON! Meanwhile, everyone who buys milkweed at Home Depot, thinking they are helping the monarchs, are only helping them die. While Home Depot, after being petitioned, reluctantly agreed to label the plants they sell that are treated with bee-killing toxins, that is not going to take place until, again, the end of this year's planting season. They get a huge thumbs down for dragging their feet.

Of those who supply big-box stores (but not in my area, sadly), there is only one large grower, Bonnie Plants, who has completely stopped using neonicotinoids.

As a beekeeper, I have been studying the hard science. There are plenty of credible, well researched studies available. There are a few contradictory studies, and guess what? Although they are published under different names, nearly all of them appear to be spin put out by--guess who?--the manufacturers of these poisons!

By the way, neonicotinoids are also in many of the lawn and garden-care products bought by consumers. They are listed under a variety of names. And who reads labels on such products? The solution is not to buy ANYTHING with pesticide in it.

The skeptic in me thinks that as long as the Kardashians continue to be in the headlines, the media won't pay attention to what I consider the most dire issue on the planet. If we lose our pollinators, who are responsible for 90% of wildlife plants and most of our fruit and vegetables, Earth will become awfully bleak, if not uninhabitable. The optimist in me believes, however, in the power of the internet and communication.

Call your congresspeople! Call the EPA! Yes, a commission was created to study the bee crisis, but they do not plan to draw any conclusions for several more years. Meanwhile, the bees continue to die. Most importantly, talk to your local nurseries! Don't buy bedding plants unless you are positive they have not been treated (and, I discovered sadly in my research, the store folk & nursery employees will and do lie about this).

Also, please boycott Bayer aspirin, as Bayer manufactures these pesticides.

Image and article copyrighted, M. E. Raines
Please do not copy without permission from the author. Feel free, however, to link to this article

TOXIC REPORT: The Udall-Vitter Bill

A new Senate bill (the Udall-Vitter bill) is the first in 39 years to control and regulate toxic substances in the chemical industry.

Question: Who is writing this bill?Answer: The chemical industry!

Says California Senator Barbara Boxer, "Call me old-fashioned, but a bill to protect the public from harmful chemicals should not be written by chemical industry lobbyists. The voices of our families must not be drowned out by the very industry whose documented harmful impacts must be addressed, or the whole exercise is a sham."

Thank you, Senator Boxer, for being a voice against this blatant corruption that will have horrible consequences for our health and our planet. Is anyone listening? Does anyone care any longer?

THE CRUELEST SOUNDS

One of the cruelest sounds on Earth is the low, penetrating rumble of a bulldozer raping and bespoiling a piece of our once-beautiful planet, permanently destroying yet another ecosystem, yet another piece where nature will no longer be allowed to thrive.

There is a failure to acknowledge the life, from insects to plants, that has developed on the land we break up and claim for ourselves. Worse, the vibrations of the bulldozers are only the precursors of more destruction to come, for instead of being allowed to bloom with all of its life force and diversity, the land being torn apart is usually doomed to be suffocated in concrete and weed killers.

How does a child feel when it is forced to watch its parents be tortured, their bodies ripped apart? This is how I feel when I hear the mean, relentless noise of a bulldozer hurting yet another patch of our once-sacred earth. Such a sadness it brings...

THE HYPOCRISY OF MOURNING SAUDI KING ABDULLAH

We are appalled to see how the world is fawning over the Saudi royal family and lowering flags out of false respect for the death of the incredibly cruel King Abdullah.

This Saudi leader that the world now pretends to mourn was a repressive tyrant whose regime has, among countless terrible acts:
executed people whose crime was that they were accused of being witches,
dragged people through the streets and beheaded them,
flogged women for the outrageous crime of driving a car,
and, most recently, sentenced liberal blogger Raif Badawi, who only wanted more freedom, to 1,000 lashes for blasphemy.
Nearly all of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudis!

We try to teach our children how to stand up to bullies, but how can we do this when our own government--liberal and conservative alike--acts with such utter hypocrisy?
We are not endorsing more hatred in the world. We are, however, unhappy that the our own country, with all it stands for, bows before such tyrants. Why?

Oil!

There is, to us, an obvious solution. That solution is to turn to solar and wind (and use the tools available to us to design these resources so they don't kill such great numbers of birds while we're at it.)

We need our politicians to make solar affordable for everyone, not just the rich, so that we can all put solar panels on top of our homes and businesses. We need electric cars that can be plugged into outlets where the energy comes from solar and wind power. This would also put a stop to the devastation caused by oil spills and fracking.

Then we need, gently, to teach our crueler neighbors on Planet Earth about kindness and freedom, rather than fawning over them. It's time to stop the kindergarteners from running the school.