So 1984

So after a quick lunch with a friend today, I simply had to go to CVS to see if I could find my husband's cold medication.

He uses Drixoral and has for years. It keeps him from snoring, which is a good thing because he can snore long and loud and I do not sleep.

Husband snored a lot last night.

Into CVS I go, only to find they don't have the OTC drug either. Apparently this OTC drug has vanished from local shelves. This was the last place I had to look.

Drugs with pseudoephedrine are now a controlled substance. That is a decongestant, which up until 2005 I could buy as as easily as I could wipe my nose.

You can still buy it without a prescription, but you have to show ID and sign for it.

The pharmacist suggested a very expensive alternative to Drixoral. I had to do that produce your driver’s license and sign for it thing in order to obtain this.

While I was performing that activity, which always angers me and makes me feel like a criminal simply because I need a cold capsule, the PA in the store began blaring.

“There are new rules about passports that will take effect soon. You may not leave or enter the country, including from Mexico and Canada, without a valid passport,” it droned.

I felt like I was in some kind of police state.

I couldn't get out of that store fast enough.

Playing God

An article in yesterday's Roanoke Times highlighted a recommendation from a task force about who lives and who dies in the event of a health crisis.

It ran in other papers, too.

This should open up a dialogue about our health care, and about our values as a society. I daresay that will not happen.

We tend to ignore the things that most warrant our attention, I notice.

In any event, should we have an outbreak of pandemic flu, for example, these people for sure will be left for dead:

Those out of luck are the people at high risk of death and a slim chance of long-term survival. But the recommendations get much more specific, and include:

_People older than 85.

_Those with severe trauma, which could include critical injuries from car crashes and shootings.

_Severely burned patients older than 60.

_Those with severe mental impairment, which could include advanced Alzheimer's disease.

_Those with a severe chronic disease, such as advanced heart failure, lung disease or poorly controlled diabetes.

But I wonder why stop there? Any why just with a pandemic - why not with cancer cures, pneumonia shots, insulin - any of the things that the "lesser" folks need to survive?

After all, we already section out health care based on ability to pay. If you've got the money, you get the best care. If you've served in Congress, you get good care, too.

If you're middle class, you get poor to fair care. You might still get a flu shot.

If you're poor, well, you get the idea. Some hospital might take you in, only to dump you on the street the next day.

If it's the young and vibrant, those with skinny bodies, healthy tans and white teeth that we're looking for, then a pandemic is certainly a good way to root out all of us who miss the mark. Just withhold the drugs and take us all out at one time. It would leave the perfect society, wouldn't it?

The government has touted this pandemic thing very hard in recent years (it was never on my radar until this Administration). So much so, I strongly suspect they are hoping for one in order to wipe out all of us slobs who don't fit their idea of a perfect specimen. It would be a great way to cleanse the population.

This is wrong on so many levels I can't even begin to list them. This is amoral and it shows plainly how little regard that we as a society actually have for one another.

If this is what comes from a supposedly Christian nation, then God help us all.

The Roasting Pan

This morning I ventured to the store and decided chicken would be the meat of the day.

After scanning the selections carefully, I came home with an "organic" bird for which I paid a bit more for the assurance that it was sans drugs and steroids.

This afternoon I prepped the chicken for roasting. As I worked, I couldn't help but think that I was repeating the work of every generation of woman who came before me. Preparing the meat, making ready for the meal.

The differences between me and those many-great grandmothers was methodology - I was using an electric oven, and I didn't have to kill the chicken and pluck its feathers. I suspect they had a harder job.

My imagination went wild with me for a time as I envisioned my caveman grandmother, grunting and struggling to hack at the bird with a knife made from bone. I daresay she did not take the time to remove the fat, if there was indeed any fat on a bird back then. Maybe she simply wrung the bird's neck and cooked it with the head on and didn't need a knife.

The feathers would have been kept for use as something else - a pillow, a headdress, a duster, something. They would not have gone to waste, I am sure.

I created more waste simply getting the wrapping off my chicken than my caveman grandmother ever thought about, I think.

Down through the ages, from caveman to Tudor England to the New World, women have roasted chicken. I think too it was not an everyday meal. The birds would have been precious commodities, valued for laying eggs that provide food every day.

I think about when I watch Survivor on CBS and the winning team gets chickens. Invariably instead of keeping the birds around and eating the eggs every day, the chickens last about two days and are eaten. Usually the rooster goes first and then the chickens are a disappointment in the egg-laying department. Every good country girl knows chickens lay eggs better when there's a rooster around.

I think this is a great metaphor for the impatience of U.S. society. We want our chicken now, gosh darn it, and we haven't the patience to wait for the eggs! So what if we starve tomorrow, today we live like kings!

I think that is pretty much the attitude we have toward sustainability issues - use it up now and worry about tomorrow whenever it gets here. It is not very far-sighted and indeed is very short-sited. How much stronger would those survivor contestants be toward the end if they'd been eating eggs every day? I imagine they would be much better off if they had patience.

I am not sure how I went from roasting chickens to saving the planet, but there you go. Everything's connected somehow.

Windstorm

I have never seen such wind. I understand there are downed trees every where, lots of power outages. Worst of all, there are forest fires.

The wind is gusting at 60 mph and is expected to last into early tomorrow morning.

We have fence down, but that is nothing in the big picture. One of our neighbors has lost half of his roof - and his house is brand new!

My brother is without power and has been told he will be for DAYS.




Above: Leaves dance across the grass, moving faster than a cheetah.



Above: This is what my view of oak trees looked like yesterday morning.



Above: This is what it looked like at 3 p.m. Note the new addition of cedar where there used to be only grass...



Above: My little well house that covers my well pump has been blown over.



Above: Smoke rises from a forest fire out my front window. I believe that to be in Craig County.

Too Much Stuff

I want to direct you to The Story of Stuff. This is a 20 minute film about ... all the junk we acquire.

It's about all of the stuff you have around you. It's about my computer and your chair and the books I read. It's about your house and my clothes and the cars we drive.

We have too much stuff, I think. I have spent a bit of time in recent years attempting to rid myself of some of the stuff I have thoughtlessly accumulated. Most of it I was sorry I bought; some of it I don't even know how I obtained. Or why, for that matter.

Stuff collects dirt, wastes money that might be put to better use, wastes time, energy, and resources. Sometimes I look at all the "sitty-around" stuff I have in my house and wonder why I need it. I really *don't* need to collect Department 56 figures and houses. Would my life be incomplete without that collection? Probably not.

I have no idea what resources are wasted in making such things. All of this stuff ... we can live without it. Can't we? If we're not careful one day we might have to.

You can read an article about The Story of Stuff and how it came to be here if you want.

Also, I had a bit of trouble with the video loading; I'm on a DSL connection. In case it takes a long time for you, too.

Tax Cuts

I truly wonder what world the politicians live in.

It isn't one recognizable to any of my friends.

When I ask them, "Will this tax rebate help you?" the answer is a resounding no.

Offering a tax rebate implies that paying taxes are the reason we're in a recession.

It is not the reason.

This article (a version was in The Roanoke Times today; this one is from MSNBC) notes that:

Rising food and fuel prices, falling interest rates and screeching declines in
worldwide stock markets have ... thousands of other retirees paring spending to
levels some haven't seen in decades, forgoing dinners out, cutting back on
groceries and canceling plans to visit grandchildren.

It isn't just retirees who are driving less, eating out less, and staying in more. It's practically everyone who makes less than $100,000 a year. And that is most people I know.

It is the economy, stupid. And the economy is in distress because of the focus on "letting the market rule," i.e., capitalism, and because of deregulation. Because we focus on businesses and money, not people.

It is uncapped rising costs of electricity, gasoline, milk, bread, hamburger, etc. that is the problem, combined with no increase in wages for the majority of people. And those wages that are adjusted are not keeping up with the rate of the rising costs.

It is the lack of unity among the workers and the inability of people to do anything more than think for themselves because they are so scared that they will lose what little bit they have.

When you start messing with the basics, you hurt people. People are hurting.

Our elected rulers are over their heads, every last one of them, from the federal government down. They are so out of touch with the America I live in, anyway, that they may as well live on Mars.

Locally, the General Assembly had a fracas and Salem's lead elected ruler made this comment:

Democrats "are leading us to unionization, strikes of public employees, abolishment of the right-to-work law and, ultimately, the demise of Virginia as one of the best states in the union in which to do business."

Having a great state "in which to do business" is all well and good, but frankly I would rather live in a great state - and a great nation - that is a good place for people to live.

Looking Ahead

So what does 2008 hold?

I want this year to be the year of embraced change - a new president of the country to replace the tired and mean one we have now, a new media that focuses on real issues and not fake celebrity news, universal health care for all so that this broken system can mend and doctors can become healers again, not moneychangers.

A girl can dream.

And I hope that in 2008 I dream a lot. I hope for many good nights of sleep, for songs, for sunshine with rain because we surely need the water, for rainbows and snow and green grass. Not necessarily all in one day, but wouldn't it be a cool day if it did all happen?

I pray that in 2008 that the suicide rate drops, that cars burn less fuel, that the poor raise their head and look up - I am pretty sure the reflection from that vast number of eyes would catch someone's attention. Maybe someone would move a mountain and make things better.

I believe it can be done.

For 2008 I wish good things for everyone, even folks I don't know, and those who have been unkind to me. I wish for open minds, for hugging hearts, and for cherished thoughts. I wish for joy and peace, and a new day each and every day. I want to jump up to the embrace of the light.

Let 2008 be the best New Year ever. Let freedom ring and democracy become true. May each and every soul know love.

May the New Year be blessed.

The Tin Man Syndrome

If you rest you'll rust.

That line came from a Denise Austin work out the other morning as I sweated to her Daily Work Out on Lifetime TV.

It gave me pause. Well, I didn't stop exercising but I did look up. Then I started thinking.

I don't want to rust. But I would like to rest occasionally.

I blame the Protestant Work Ethic. This bugaboo has its proponents because it means people work themselves mercilessly. Even in Social Studies at the secondary level, this work ethic is considered a good thing. It is called the Root of Democracy.

This work ethic has made the U.S. the most materially wealthy nation in the world. We're hardworking, prosperous...

We're tired, is what we are.

The New Yorker in 2005 noted that Americans work more and play less than most other nations. Our leisure time is non-existent. The French people work 28 percent less than we do. "Americans trade their productivity for more money, while Europeans trade it for more leisure," the author of this article writes.

He goes on to say this is a result of unions and collective agreements. Europeans had better bargainers. They may have less stuff, but they get to actually enjoy what they have.

In this article about the work ethic in the U.S., note that the Europeans are getting paid vacation. We can't even get time off to have babies, take care of our elderly relatives, deal with sickness... any of the stuff of life. We have to beg and borrow whatever time off we do receive, and then it's given to us begrudgingly.

And when we do finally take vacation, do we spend that entire two weeks away from the office? Nope. We check e-mail, call in, make business phone calls, turn our travel plans upside down to make some out-of-the-area conference.

The reality is, some of us are working hard for stuff. Bigger houses, or a second home, a nicer car, better sofa - whatever.

But it's also a reality that many of us are doing all of this work simply to keep a modest roof over our heads and to pay the necessary bills. I'm talking about utility bills, like electricity and heating, and food bills. There are an awful lot of people who are working two and three jobs just to keep food on the table.

I think millions of Americans can't afford to rest, not because they think they'll rust, but because they think they'll starve.

This is wrong.

I recently learned from the Commondreams article at that link that in 1948, the United Nations set forth a declaration called the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I keep up with a lot of things, but I was completely unaware that such a document existed.

As that article points out, the United States violates this document. A lot. And we're in the process of dismantling it even more.

Of course, this document apparently has no legal strength. I suppose it's just a wish list.

I was most interested in Articles 23 and 24, which state: (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
Article 24.
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Does working 60 hours a week fall under those rights? I don't think so.

I am not a fan of capitalism. I think it is demeaning system, a way of having slave labor and calling it something else, like factory worker. It creates class distinctions and allows too much privilege for those who by virtue of birth or luck are able to manipulate the system to their benefit. I have long noticed that folks who play by the rules, which seems to be many people, are the ones left without heat because they can no longer pay the bills.

I think there are better ways to do things, ways that are fairer and more humane. Ways in which to get the job done that are fair to everyone concerned. However, until our society en masse decides this, I don't see a change coming.

I am not saying we should not work, or that people should just receive a handout so they can sit around and watch TV. I am saying that I would like to see justice in the workplace, some fairness and equity in the way salaries and vacations are dispensed. I would like to see people love their life, not hate it. Living should be a joy, not a grind, but our work ethic has made life a drudgery.

Rest or rust?

Why should that be our only choice?

A Sad Hour

(If you can, read this whole long entry. Some of it may be enlightening.)

Last night about 7:10 p.m., I received an automated phone call. Virginia 6th District Congressman Bob Goodlatte was holding a "Tele-Town Hall Meeting" - if I wanted to listen or join in, just stay on the line.

I stayed on the line. This seemed like something I shouldn't miss.

This was, I think, the second such session the congressman has held. I received a call on the first one also but I was on my way to an appointment and could not listen. I don't know how the calls went out - was it a list from folks who've written in? Random? Everybody in the phone book?

People are desperate for assistance, particularly with health care. When I joined in, Goodlatte was espousing on energy use, so I missed whatever was being said about that. In the ensuing hour, about 14 people called in. Listening to them broke my heart.

I shall paraphrase some of what was said. (And before I am berated and accused of being a leftist liberal or whatever, I will come clean and say I have voted for this congressman in the past. That was when he said he would only serve two terms. Once he broke his word, he lost my vote forever.)

From Lexington: a state employee wondered how to keep the cost of health care from eating up her retirement benefits.

Goodlatte's answer? Not my problem, call your state representative.

From Waynesboro: What can be done about the high cost of nursing care? A loved one has been in a nursing home for three years and it's taking all the remaining spouse's resources. How will she live?

Goodlatte's answer? Qualify for Medicare/Medicaid (which as I understand it means you have to use all your assets up first). Find a cheaper place (?!?) and oh yes, this is all the fault of government regulations because the states/feds require that the person in the nursing home have adequate care and don't lie there in their own feces covered in bed sores.

From Fincastle: How about the federal government mandating a Living Wage (as opposed to a minimum wage) so people can actually afford to live?

Goodlatte's answer: Oh, it's a Free Enterprise System (he mentioned "Free Enterprise System" several times) and we don't want to interfere with *that*. It's bad enough we have a minimum wage. It's "damaging to our economy" (i.e., it makes the corporate profits smaller), so of course we don't want to do that. He also, using logic that eluded me, tied this to illegal immigration. I guess he was implying that if we were all working third or fourth jobs as apple pickers things would be so much better.

From Fincastle (same person): How about tax breaks for converting homes to "green" uses.

Goodlatte: He supports tax credits for that.

From Goshen: A 32-year-old man wondered if he would ever see any payout from Social Security.

Goodlatte: Fixing Social Security requires a balanced budget (this from a leader of the party that has us billions and billions in debt?). He acknowledged that Social Security as implemented isn't broken. What *is* broken is the way the federal government has robbed the Social Security system of its funding to pay for other things (you know, unwarranted wars, bridges to nowhere, that type of thing...) . If the government had left Social Security alone, there would be plenty for everyone.

Goodlatte segued here into a one-way conversation about the Child Health Insurance program and how terrible the Democrats are for wanting to essentially raise the poverty line from barely able to eat to possibly making the house payment.

From Troutville: This poor man is a Veteran who has found that increased surcharges on his medicines and the payments he must make to the specialists he needs for heart and lung conditions are too much for him. He cannot afford his medicine anymore. I had no idea that the VA system was so broken, but apparently it's been as mismanaged as the rest of the government in the last seven years.

Goodlatte's answer: Check out the new low prices for drugs at Walmart.

From Natural Bridge: My Social Security benefits are going down and it's all the fault of the illegal immigrants. Can we put up a big electric fence on the border?

Goodlatte: Well, maybe not an electric fence, but we're putting up a fence.

From Staunton: A disabled Veteran three years ago was put in a new category that took him completely out of the VA system. Apparently he had enough private resources to pay for his health care so he could go someplace else, according to the government. I was never clear if his disability was service related but it sounded like it was.

Goodlatte's answer: Some kind of obsequious political posturing that boiled down to "tough", I think.

From Goshen: A former nurse who is now on dialysis wondered if there was any way the government could create a death benefit for the families of folks who donate organs. She's on the waiting list for a kidney and there aren't enough going around. Medicare would save a lot of money if transplant operations could actually take place because dialysis is expensive.

Goodlatte: Hospitals and insurance companies should look into that. And also we don't want people killing themselves to get the money.

From Waynesboro: Can't we do something for drug addicts so that they get the help they need for rehabilitation? It's so expensive now that only the rich can afford to get help.

Goodlatte: Um. No. (He didn't say that but after you lose the political obtuseness, that was the answer.)

From Daleville: What about this housing/mortgage crisis? I sure don't want the government paying for it like Hillary Clinton just suggested.

Goodlatte: People should talk to their bankers and it should be done case by case, and the Free Enterprise System shall reign. And he can just imagine what Hillary Clinton offered up! (I see Bush is offering up something today, but I haven't read it yet...)

From Covington: What can we do about losing jobs in our area? The industries are shutting down and people are unemployed.

Goodlatte: We'd like to help, really we would. It's the Free Enterprise System, though. Our hands are tied.

From Fincastle: In 1942 the Americans destroyed a synthetic fuel plant in Germany. I want to know why, if the Germans were making synthetic fuel in 1942, can't the US make synthetic fuel for vehicles now?

Goodlatte: I've never heard of synthetic fuel. I've heard of synthetic oil additives to make your car run better. (I can answer this myself - I've read that many of the technologies such as this were destroyed because the big corporations didn't want the competition. The US public has been snookered by its government and corporations for nigh on a 100 years now. It is all about the Free Enterprise System - i.e., the money. It ain't about you.)

From Staunton: Who are you endorsing for president?

Goodlatte: Nobody yet.

From Staunton (same person): I'm an assistant pastor and I want to stand in my pulpit and tell people who to vote for. Can I do that?

Goodlatte: I don't give legal advice.

During this hour, Goodlatte also took a survey. The question was what should Congress focus on - making your energy costs less, lowering your taxes, or cutting government spending.

The responses (keyed in on the telephone) were 18 percent wanted lower taxes, 30 percent wanted something done about energy costs, and 52 percent wanted the government to stop spending.

Note, of course, that there wasn't any suggestion as to what the government should stop spending money on, and I believe the government is currently working hard to stop spending money on the people who need it most - that would be the folks above who are desperate for health care, the elderly who need nursing homes, the fellow who is out of a job in Covington. No, it's far better to give the money to Microsoft and Exxon.

What a sad hour it was. My heart broke for all of those poor people with health problems. I wanted to reach out and hug them all.

Goodlatte just sends them to Walmart.

The Forest and Climate Change

From a press release I received yesterday (emphasis mine):

A recent Forest Service determination finds climate change could affect the distribution and diversity of plants and animals in the United States. ...

U.S. Forests can also play a major role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Use of wood products in place of alternative products can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Growing shade trees around buildings can reduce energy use. Large scale cellulosic ethanol production from wood
may become an economically viable option for offsetting fossil fuel emissions. ...

Everyone should be interested in the forest because forest management includes water and water quality. A majority of our water resources come from federal National Forest land. You may be interested in a synopsis of the full report, which you can find here:

http://www.fs.fed.us/research/rpa/2005rpa/Key_Msg_Talk_Pts_RPA_Update_112807.doc

Personally, I found it eyebrow raising to see something coming out of the current administration that actually acknowledges climate change ...

Up until the current president took office, as a rural news writer I had unfettered access to the district rangers. I wrote about a vast range of topics related to forestry, including endangered species such as the James spinymussel and a particular bat that's found only in Craig County, land formations, tree harvesting, Smoky Bear, fire safety, hunter safety, etc.

Within two months of the current president taking office, my access to the forest rangers ended abruptly. I was told I could no longer talk to the rangers; I had to go through the PR office in Roanoke.

The stories about the forest and the U.S. Forest Service and what it was doing locally ceased overnight. In the last seven years, I've written very little about something that takes up about 20 percent of the land mass of my county. The exception has been the federal government's efforts to sell off forest land to pay some of its bills, which made the national news everywhere. (The effort failed.)

My hindered access to the Forest Service and the lack of stories coming at the local level was my first hint of how bad things would get at the federal level. I questioned the lack of access, but at the time no one knew about such things as the PATRIOT ACT and spying on citizens and asking folks what books they check out of libraries. No one thought we'd turn into a police state so quickly... and this was before September 11, 2001.

Eventually the local ranger offices closed because the government "consolidated" the Forest Service work force.

There are lessons here in what I've written, and implications for the future. But we have to be paying attention to see. Are we, I wonder?

Veteran's Day

My father is a veteran of the Korean War. He served in the U.S. Army. He used to tell a story about serving meals somewhere far away from home. As he dished out potatoes, he spied his older brother, a higher ranking officer, coming down the chow line. When Jerry reached him, my father put just a dab of 'taters on his plate. When Jerry started to bark out the order for more potatoes, he looked up and found himself bellowing at his brother.

He jumped over the serving line to hug him.

Two of my uncles on my mother's side served in the Air Force. One served in the Gulf War; the other did his duty in Germany. I do not know either of them very well.

My grandfather on my father's side served in World War II. Grandpa died in 1989. He had black lung from working in the West Virginia coal mines in his younger days.

My grandfather had hopes of being a writer but never published. Prior to his death he sent me about 100 pages of writings and asked me not to share them with anyone else until he died. I respected his wishes and eventually made a little book which I gave to my father and other relatives. He told me just before he died that he had more things to send me but I never received them and I don't know what happened to them. He lived in California when he died.

In my grandfather's writings, the only pieces he wrote in third person were those he wrote about the war. I think it was too difficult for him to use first person because he didn't want to acknowledge what he had been through.

He served in France and was part of the push into Germany in 1945.

So in honor of those who fought to defend a better way of life, I present to you a small piece of my grandfather's memories about what it was like to have served in World War II. His name is Joe.

Warning: Some of this is a little gruesome, but then, war is.

The War

On February 7, 1945, a young man of about twenty six was ushered before an army captain in Hatviller, France, a small town west of the German border. He had been in the army approximately six months, going through infantry basic training, and had been sent over seas. As an infantry soldier he had left behind a wife and three small boys. After proper salutes and the briefing, he was sent to the front lines, where he joined two other guys in a muddy foxhole.

Tony Stokes and John Grindle looked him over, and decided they liked what they saw. He was sort of a quiet fellow, about medium height with gray eyes and a shock of brown hair. John was a regular army guy with about eight years and he had been on the line for about three months. Prior to that he had been in the transportation department, but had got butted from a staff sergeant to a private and sent to the front because of a drunken brawl, where he had sent a first sergeant to the hospital with a broken nose. Tony, like Joe, had been in the army about six months and also left a wife and two daughters at home. All three men were from the south, and all had strong feelings about America.

Joe had been a coal miner from West Virginia. Tony had been a warehouse long shore man from Mobile, Alabama. John had been a peanut farmer from Georgia, and all were prejudiced toward yankees and black men. After being together about three days and exchanging information about each other, they were beginning to form a friendship that would last the rest of their lives.

They were in the 100th Die 3971 of Regiment, 3rd battalion. COK third platoon and third squad. When Joe had arrived the third squad had been dug in on a small hill overlooking a valley. The foxhole had been enlarged enough to accommodate a 30 caliber machine gun with a field telephone. The hole had about eight inches of water in it from the melting snow and rain.

John and Tony was sleeping outside in raincoats and shelters houses, only using the hole when the artillery started. Joe took one look at the water, took out his shovel and dug a small ditch at the bottom of the hole and drained the water out. He then, with his bayonet, cut several armloads of pine boughs, laid them in the hole, spread out his shelter house and made a dry bed. In the meantime, John and Tony was watching all of this. Tony said to John, "why in the hell didn't we think of that?"

Joe, in his West Virginia hillbilly way, replied, "You all didn't have sense enough." They didn't know Joe had been wrote up in this camp Joseph T. Robinson team camp news as being the best camouflage fox hole expert in the camp.

On about the third day, about 4 a.m., Joe was standing guard at the machine gun. The phone clicked and Joe lifted the receiver. The low voice of Lt. Nolon came over the wire telling Joe to be on the alert, as there was some kind of commotion down by the river. Joe strained his eyes trying to see through the fog and mist, but could see no movement of any kind. Suddenly a flare shot up from the other end of the line, and a gun opened fire, staffing along the riverfront.

Then all hell broke loose as the whole platoon opened fire, showering the valley with a wall of fire. The command came down to stop firing. When daylight came and the fog lifted, you could see a flock of sheep had drifted down from the hills, and that was what was making the noise. After that the third platoon was called the sheep brigade.

The water the men had been drinking came from a small mountain stream that was flowing approximately 20 foot from their hole. The snow had started to melt, and John had went upstream to relieve himself. Joe and Tony heard a loud yell from John. Grabbing their weapons, they started up to see what the matter was.

John was sitting down throwing up and at his feet laying in the water was a dead German soldier with the top of his head blown off. The small stream of water the men had been drinking from was flowing overtop of his half blown off head. The thought of drinking that water was just too much for John.

The next morning orders came down to get ready to move out, as a push was starting to crack the ziefreig line after loading up the machine gun and a weapons carrier, we had removed the phone and everyone mustered up.

The push started about 8 a.m. Joe and Tony had discarded everything but their shelter houses and raincoats. John had decided he was going to wear his heavy overcoat. As they proceeded up the muddy road, balls of mud would accumulate on John's overcoat, and he would cut off about six inches of the bottom. After a while it was cut off up to his waist, which left him with a good heavy top jacket.

That started a trend, and it wasn't long before the whole platoon was wearing the top half of their army overcoats. They named them after John and called them Johncoats.

Scared Yet?

I'm sure I will be accused of a radical reading, but it seems to me if House Resolution 1955 passes, and I am sure it will, anyone who says (or maybe even thinks) "somebody should to go to Washington and kick Congress's a** for making such stupid decisions" may as well hold out their wrists for the handcuffs.

Joe McCarthy is probably wriggling with joy in his grave.

You might also check out this article:
When Does the Lesser Evil Become Just Evil?

And while you're at it, read this:
A Paper Coup
and this:
Rapture Rescue
and this:
Midnight in America
and this:
Blackwater: Are You Scared Yet?

At this point I am more afraid of my "government" than anything else.

***
Here's HR 1955 - Read it carefully.

110th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1955

←→
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
October 24, 2007
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
AN ACT
To prevent homegrown terrorism, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007'.
SEC. 2. PREVENTION OF VIOLENT RADICALIZATION AND HOMEGROWN TERRORISM.
(a) In General- Title VIII of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 361 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new subtitle:
`Subtitle J--Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism
`SEC. 899A. DEFINITIONS.
`For purposes of this subtitle:
`(1) COMMISSION- The term `Commission' means the National Commission on the Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism established under section 899C.
`(2) VIOLENT RADICALIZATION- The term `violent radicalization' means the process of adopting or promoting an extremist belief system for the purpose of facilitating ideologically based violence to advance political, religious, or social change.
`(3) HOMEGROWN TERRORISM- The term `homegrown terrorism' means the use, planned use, or threatened use, of force or violence by a group or individual born, raised, or based and operating primarily within the United States or any possession of the United States to intimidate or coerce the United States government, the civilian population of the United States, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.
`(4) IDEOLOGICALLY BASED VIOLENCE- The term `ideologically based violence' means the use, planned use, or threatened use of force or violence by a group or individual to promote the group or individual's political, religious, or social beliefs.
`SEC. 899B. FINDINGS.
`The Congress finds the following:
`(1) The development and implementation of methods and processes that can be utilized to prevent violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence in the United States is critical to combating domestic terrorism.
`(2) The promotion of violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence exists in the United States and poses a threat to homeland security.
`(3) The Internet has aided in facilitating violent radicalization, ideologically based violence, and the homegrown terrorism process in the United States by providing access to broad and constant streams of terrorist-related propaganda to United States citizens.
`(4) While the United States must continue its vigilant efforts to combat international terrorism, it must also strengthen efforts to combat the threat posed by homegrown terrorists based and operating within the United States.
`(5) Understanding the motivational factors that lead to violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence is a vital step toward eradicating these threats in the United States.
`(6) Preventing the potential rise of self radicalized, unaffiliated terrorists domestically cannot be easily accomplished solely through traditional Federal intelligence or law enforcement efforts, and can benefit from the incorporation of State and local efforts.
`(7) Individuals prone to violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence span all races, ethnicities, and religious beliefs, and individuals should not be targeted based solely on race, ethnicity, or religion.
`(8) Any measure taken to prevent violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence and homegrown terrorism in the United States should not violate the constitutional rights, civil rights, or civil liberties of United States citizens or lawful permanent residents.
`(9) Certain governments, including the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia have significant experience with homegrown terrorism and the United States can benefit from lessons learned by those nations.
`SEC. 899C. NATIONAL COMMISSION ON THE PREVENTION OF VIOLENT RADICALIZATION AND IDEOLOGICALLY BASED VIOLENCE.
`(a) Establishment- There is established within the legislative branch of the Government the National Commission on the Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism.
`(b) Purpose- The purposes of the Commission are the following:
`(1) Examine and report upon the facts and causes of violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence in the United States, including United States connections to non-United States persons and networks, violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence in prison, individual or `lone wolf' violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence, and other faces of the phenomena of violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence that the Commission considers important.
`(2) Build upon and bring together the work of other entities and avoid unnecessary duplication, by reviewing the findings, conclusions, and recommendations of--
`(A) the Center of Excellence established or designated under section 899D, and other academic work, as appropriate;
`(B) Federal, State, local, or tribal studies of, reviews of, and experiences with violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence; and
`(C) foreign government studies of, reviews of, and experiences with violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence.
`(c) Composition of Commission- The Commission shall be composed of 10 members appointed for the life of the Commission, of whom--
`(1) one member shall be appointed by the President from among officers or employees of the executive branch and private citizens of the United States;
`(2) one member shall be appointed by the Secretary;
`(3) one member shall be appointed by the majority leader of the Senate;
`(4) one member shall be appointed by the minority leader of the Senate;
`(5) one member shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives;
`(6) one member shall be appointed by the minority leader of the House of Representatives;
`(7) one member shall be appointed by the Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives;
`(8) one member shall be appointed by the ranking minority member of the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives;
`(9) one member shall be appointed by the Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and
`(10) one member shall be appointed by the ranking minority member of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate.
`(d) Chair and Vice Chair- The Commission shall elect a Chair and a Vice Chair from among its members.
`(e) Qualifications- Individuals shall be selected for appointment to the Commission solely on the basis of their professional qualifications, achievements, public stature, experience, and expertise in relevant fields, including, but not limited to, behavioral science, constitutional law, corrections, counterterrorism, cultural anthropology, education, information technology, intelligence, juvenile justice, local law enforcement, organized crime, Islam and other world religions, sociology, or terrorism.
`(f) Deadline for Appointment- All members of the Commission shall be appointed no later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this subtitle.
`(g) Quorum and Meetings- The Commission shall meet and begin the operations of the Commission not later than 30 days after the date on which all members have been appointed or, if such meeting cannot be mutually agreed upon, on a date designated by the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Each subsequent meeting shall occur upon the call of the Chair or a majority of its members. A majority of the members of the Commission shall constitute a quorum, but a lesser number may hold meetings.
`(h) Authority of Individuals to Act for Commission- Any member of the Commission may, if authorized by the Commission, take any action that the Commission is authorized to take under this Act.
`(i) Powers of Commission- The powers of the Commission shall be as follows:
`(1) IN GENERAL-
`(A) HEARINGS AND EVIDENCE- The Commission or, on the authority of the Commission, any subcommittee or member thereof, may, for the purpose of carrying out this section, hold hearings and sit and act at such times and places, take such testimony, receive such evidence, and administer such oaths as the Commission considers advisable to carry out its duties.
`(B) CONTRACTING- The Commission may, to such extent and in such amounts as are provided in appropriation Acts, enter into contracts to enable the Commission to discharge its duties under this section.
`(2) INFORMATION FROM FEDERAL AGENCIES-
`(A) IN GENERAL- The Commission may request directly from any executive department, bureau, agency, board, commission, office, independent establishment, or instrumentality of the Government, information, suggestions, estimates, and statistics for the purposes of this section. The head of each such department, bureau, agency, board, commission, office, independent establishment, or instrumentality shall, to the extent practicable and authorized by law, furnish such information, suggestions, estimates, and statistics directly to the Commission, upon request made by the Chair of the Commission, by the chair of any subcommittee created by a majority of the Commission, or by any member designated by a majority of the Commission.
`(B) RECEIPT, HANDLING, STORAGE, AND DISSEMINATION- The Committee and its staff shall receive, handle, store, and disseminate information in a manner consistent with the operative statutes, regulations, and Executive orders that govern the handling, storage, and dissemination of such information at the department, bureau, agency, board, commission, office, independent establishment, or instrumentality that responds to the request.
`(j) Assistance From Federal Agencies-
`(1) GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION- The Administrator of General Services shall provide to the Commission on a reimbursable basis administrative support and other services for the performance of the Commission's functions.
`(2) OTHER DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES- In addition to the assistance required under paragraph (1), departments and agencies of the United States may provide to the Commission such services, funds, facilities, and staff as they may determine advisable and as may be authorized by law.
`(k) Postal Services- The Commission may use the United States mails in the same manner and under the same conditions as departments and agencies of the United States.
`(l) Nonapplicability of Federal Advisory Committee Act- The Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to the Commission.
`(m) Public Meetings-
`(1) IN GENERAL- The Commission shall hold public hearings and meetings to the extent appropriate.
`(2) PROTECTION OF INFORMATION- Any public hearings of the Commission shall be conducted in a manner consistent with the protection of information provided to or developed for or by the Commission as required by any applicable statute, regulation, or Executive order including subsection (i)(2)(B).
`(n) Staff of Commission-
`(1) APPOINTMENT AND COMPENSATION- The Chair of the Commission, in consultation with the Vice Chair and in accordance with rules adopted by the Commission, may appoint and fix the compensation of a staff director and such other personnel as may be necessary to enable the Commission to carry out its functions, without regard to the provisions of title 5, United States Code, governing appointments in the competitive service, and without regard to the provisions of chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of such title relating to classification and General Schedule pay rates, except that no rate of pay fixed under this subsection may exceed the maximum rate of pay for GS-15 under the General Schedule.
`(2) STAFF EXPERTISE- Individuals shall be selected for appointment as staff of the Commission on the basis of their expertise in one or more of the fields referred to in subsection (e).
`(3) PERSONNEL AS FEDERAL EMPLOYEES-
`(A) IN GENERAL- The executive director and any employees of the Commission shall be employees under section 2105 of title 5, United States Code, for purposes of chapters 63, 81, 83, 84, 85, 87, 89, and 90 of that title.
`(B) MEMBERS OF COMMISSION- Subparagraph (A) shall not be construed to apply to members of the Commission.
`(4) DETAILEES- Any Federal Government employee may be detailed to the Commission without reimbursement from the Commission, and during such detail shall retain the rights, status, and privileges of his or her regular employment without interruption.
`(5) CONSULTANT SERVICES- The Commission may procure the services of experts and consultants in accordance with section 3109 of title 5, United States Code, but at rates not to exceed the daily rate paid a person occupying a position at level IV of the Executive Schedule under section 5315 of title 5, United States Code.
`(6) EMPHASIS ON SECURITY CLEARANCES- The Commission shall make it a priority to hire as employees and retain as contractors and detailees individuals otherwise authorized by this section who have active security clearances.
`(o) Commission Personnel Matters-
`(1) COMPENSATION OF MEMBERS- Each member of the Commission who is not an employee of the government shall be compensated at a rate not to exceed the daily equivalent of the annual rate of basic pay in effect for a position at level IV of the Executive Schedule under section 5315 of title 5, United States Code, for each day during which that member is engaged in the actual performance of the duties of the Commission.
`(2) TRAVEL EXPENSES- While away from their homes or regular places of business in the performance of services for the Commission, members of the Commission shall be allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, at rates authorized for employees of agencies under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, United States Code, while away from their homes or regular places of business in the performance of services for the Commission.
`(3) TRAVEL ON ARMED FORCES CONVEYANCES- Members and personnel of the Commission may travel on aircraft, vehicles, or other conveyances of the Armed Forces of the United States when such travel is necessary in the performance of a duty of the Commission, unless the cost of commercial transportation is less expensive.
`(4) TREATMENT OF SERVICE FOR PURPOSES OF RETIREMENT BENEFITS- A member of the Commission who is an annuitant otherwise covered by section 8344 or 8468 of title 5, United States Code, by reason of membership on the Commission shall not be subject to the provisions of such section with respect to membership on the Commission.
`(5) VACANCIES- A vacancy on the Commission shall not affect its powers and shall be filled in the manner in which the original appointment was made. The appointment of the replacement member shall be made not later than 60 days after the date on which the vacancy occurs.
`(p) Security Clearances- The heads of appropriate departments and agencies of the executive branch shall cooperate with the Commission to expeditiously provide Commission members and staff with appropriate security clearances to the extent possible under applicable procedures and requirements.
`(q) Reports-
`(1) FINAL REPORT- Not later than 18 months after the date on which the Commission first meets, the Commission shall submit to the President and Congress a final report of its findings and conclusions, legislative recommendations for immediate and long-term countermeasures to violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence, and measures that can be taken to prevent violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence from developing and spreading within the United States, and any final recommendations for any additional grant programs to support these purposes. The report may also be accompanied by a classified annex.
`(2) INTERIM REPORTS- The Commission shall submit to the President and Congress--
`(A) by not later than 6 months after the date on which the Commission first meets, a first interim report on--
`(i) its findings and conclusions and legislative recommendations for the purposes described in paragraph (1); and
`(ii) its recommendations on the feasibility of a grant program established and administered by the Secretary for the purpose of preventing, disrupting, and mitigating the effects of violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence and, if such a program is feasible, recommendations on how grant funds should be used and administered; and
`(B) by not later than 6 months after the date on which the Commission submits the interim report under subparagraph (A), a second interim report on such matters.
`(3) INDIVIDUAL OR DISSENTING VIEWS- Each member of the Commission may include in each report under this subsection the individual additional or dissenting views of the member.
`(4) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY- The Commission shall release a public version of each report required under this subsection.
`(r) Availability of Funding- Amounts made available to the Commission to carry out this section shall remain available until the earlier of the expenditure of the amounts or the termination of the Commission.
`(s) Termination of Commission- The Commission shall terminate 30 days after the date on which the Commission submits its final report.
`SEC. 899D. CENTER OF EXCELLENCE FOR THE STUDY OF VIOLENT RADICALIZATION AND HOMEGROWN TERRORISM IN THE UNITED STATES.
`(a) Establishment- The Secretary of Homeland Security shall establish or designate a university-based Center of Excellence for the Study of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism in the United States (hereinafter referred to as `Center') following the merit-review processes and procedures and other limitations that have been previously established for selecting and supporting University Programs Centers of Excellence. The Center shall assist Federal, State, local and tribal homeland security officials through training, education, and research in preventing violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism in the United States. In carrying out this section, the Secretary may choose to either create a new Center designed exclusively for the purpose stated herein or identify and expand an existing Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence so that a working group is exclusively designated within the existing Center of Excellence to achieve the purpose set forth in subsection (b).
`(b) Purpose- It shall be the purpose of the Center to study the social, criminal, political, psychological, and economic roots of violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism in the United States and methods that can be utilized by Federal, State, local, and tribal homeland security officials to mitigate violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism.
`(c) Activities- In carrying out this section, the Center shall--
`(1) contribute to the establishment of training, written materials, information, analytical assistance and professional resources to aid in combating violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism;
`(2) utilize theories, methods and data from the social and behavioral sciences to better understand the origins, dynamics, and social and psychological aspects of violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism;
`(3) conduct research on the motivational factors that lead to violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism; and
`(4) coordinate with other academic institutions studying the effects of violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism where appropriate.
`SEC. 899E. PREVENTING VIOLENT RADICALIZATION AND HOMEGROWN TERRORISM THROUGH INTERNATIONAL COOPERATIVE EFFORTS.
`(a) International Effort- The Secretary shall, in cooperation with the Department of State, the Attorney General, and other Federal Government entities, as appropriate, conduct a survey of methodologies implemented by foreign nations to prevent violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism in their respective nations.
`(b) Implementation- To the extent that methodologies are permissible under the Constitution, the Secretary shall use the results of the survey as an aid in developing, in consultation with the Attorney General, a national policy in the United States on addressing radicalization and homegrown terrorism.
`(c) Reports to Congress- The Secretary shall submit a report to Congress that provides--
`(1) a brief description of the foreign partners participating in the survey; and
`(2) a description of lessons learned from the results of the survey and recommendations implemented through this international outreach.
`SEC. 899F. PROTECTING CIVIL RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES WHILE PREVENTING IDEOLOGICALLY BASED VIOLENCE AND HOMEGROWN TERRORISM.
`(a) In General- The Department of Homeland Security's efforts to prevent ideologically based violence and homegrown terrorism as described herein shall not violate the constitutional rights, civil rights, or civil liberties of United States citizens or lawful permanent residents.
`(b) Commitment to Racial Neutrality- The Secretary shall ensure that the activities and operations of the entities created by this subtitle are in compliance with the Department of Homeland Security's commitment to racial neutrality.
`(c) Auditing Mechanism- The Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Officer of the Department of Homeland Security shall develop and implement an auditing mechanism to ensure that compliance with this subtitle does not violate the constitutional rights, civil rights, or civil liberties of any racial, ethnic, or religious group, and shall include the results of audits under such mechanism in its annual report to Congress required under section 705.'.
(b) Clerical Amendment- The table of contents in section 1(b) of such Act is amended by inserting at the end of the items relating to title VIII the following:
`Subtitle J--Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism
`Sec. 899A. Definitions.
`Sec. 899B. Findings.
`Sec. 899C. National Commission on the Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Ideologically Based Violence.
`Sec. 899D. Center of Excellence for the Study of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism in the United States.
`Sec. 899E. Preventing violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism through international cooperative efforts.
`Sec. 899F. Protecting civil rights and civil liberties while preventing ideologically based violence and homegrown terrorism.'.
Passed the House of Representatives October 23, 2007.
Attest:
LORRAINE C. MILLER,
Clerk1st SessionH. R. 1955AN ACTTo prevent homegrown terrorism, and for other purposes.

Dona Nobis Pacem

The Peace Globe initiative is a blogger movement to promote world peace. Many bloggers are participating in the hopes that things will change.

Poverty. Hunger. Cold. Wars. Global Warming. Health. Wrongful imprisonment. Greed. Corruption. Ignorance.

It's a long list of troubles. The issues circle this ol' globe and not a single area, including my own, is immune.

I believe there can be a better world. A world where resources are shared and not hoarded by the few. A world where the land is respected, not raped. A world where the small and weak are regarded with wonder, not tramped on and forgotten.

There must be another way. The one we're using isn't working very well.

Seemingly one little voice crying out amidst the turmoil won't be heard, but maybe the hundreds, thousands, millions of us who know that the world can be a nicer place if we only decide it will be can raise our voices until the sound smashes the sound barrier.

Maybe then those with the authority will listen. Because that is the power of prayer, and I pray every day for a better and more just world. Please join me.

Amen.

Quarreling with the News

Today in The Roanoke Times (some links are to other news outlets because I have such a difficult time finding things on the Roanoke paper's website):

Item 1.
On page 1.
"Young adults use more medicines"

... "This is good news, that more people in this age range are taking these medicines," said Dr. Daniel W. Jones, president of the American Heart Association.
Still, he said many more people should be on the drugs that lower cholesterol or blood pressure and which have been shown to reduce risks for heart attack and stroke....

How in the world can this be "good news" - that more people are taking drugs? Maybe for him, the prescriber, it's good news, but these drugs are, in my opinion, relatively unproven. They haven't been around 100 years. Who knows what they actually do to people. Not to mention side effects.

No. This is NOT good news. Good news would be "more young adults are eating proper portions of healthy fruits and vegetables and eschewing candy, soda, and other processed foods."

What a nation. We think popping pills solves everything. Egads.

Item 2.
Virginia Section, Page 1.
Living in Limbo

Salem is one of the 10 sites NS picked for its intermodal facility. Two of the sites are in Botetourt County, but no one seems to think they're sites that would be chosen because they are miles from the interstate.

Salem residents are concerned because they don't know where the site is going. The Virginia Rail office was to have made a decision first in February, then in April, but nothing has been forthcoming.

The area of Salem chosen is near where my grandmother lived. I spent many days on East Riverside Drive, which is across the Roanoke river from the proposed site.

The Roanoke River has a tendency to flood in this area; my grandmother was wiped out three times before she moved to Front Street (which is also close to this train facility).

There are old people, and young people, who live near this facility, and it will not be a place that facilitates good health. Smoke and noise, etc., not to mention the stuff that they cart through there, will cause health problems.

Item 3.
Virginia Section, Page 3
Drought in Southeast is expected to cut nation's beef supply.

National Cattlemen's Beef Association spokesman Joe Schule says the sell-off of
breeding stock will ripple through the industry until breeding animals are
replaced.

"You piece all those small producers together, you've got, normally, a very vibrant cattle industry in the southeast region and really a big part of the cattle economy," Schule says. "It's definitely going to continue the stagnation of the cattle herd."
That will hurt consumers, Schule says, because supply is a big factor in the price of beef.

We are in this space, my husband and I. We haven't the feed to get through the winter, and the price of hay has doubled, which we cannot afford. We're trying to hang out as long as we can... though I am not quite sure why.

I don't expect the weather to suddenly become more predictable in future years; I think it will be less so. The small farmer is going to have a devil of a time trying to exist, much less make ends meet.

With the housing boom busted, I don't see so many farms being sold to subdivisions; instead, I see farms being foreclosed on and folks ending up living with their children (because most of the farmers are older people).

Item 4.
Virginia Section page 5

Man recorded life in 5-minute segments

This fellow, now dead, wrote 37.5 million words in a journal. Which is a somewhat like a blog except without hyperlinks.

My initial reaction was that he needed to get a life and look outside of himself. I'm not sure what that says in terms of my own blogging and journal writing. I believe strongly in journaling and writing about your feelings, etc., etc.

Just not to the point of actually not living.

Nickel and Dimed

I was sure my plans for Saturday evening had been busted as soon as I woke from an unexpected nap. I had been reading and I fell asleep with a book in my lap. The clock said 6:15 p.m. and I was to pick up a friend in a half hour.

I wasn't dressed.

Suddenly I realized that I never called the box office at Hollins University to reserve seats for the play we were to see. What if it was sold out?

Panicked, I called to check. An answering machine picked up. I left a breathless message about wanting to reserve two seats for the evening.

Then I hurried to dress.

When I picked up my friend, I confessed I wasn't sure we'd have seats. "That's okay, we'll just go get something to drink (as in a soda, since neither of us drink alcohol)," she said.

Fortunately, there were plenty of seats available and my worries were for naught.

We went to see Nickel and Dimed, by Joan Holden.

The play is based on the book Nickel and Dimed, on (Not) Getting by in America, by Barbara Ehrenreich.

I have not read the book.

The play emphasized how difficult it is to get by on minimum wage or near minimum wage. Heck, let's face it, unless you're making at least $40,000 a year, it's hard to get by in this country, and not everybody can make $40,000 a year because we don't pay people what they're worth. There are firefighters and policemen on food stamps, for pities sake.

And the costs are skyrocketing, what with increases in gas, electricity, and food. Basic living items. When did a gallon of milk climb to $4.80? I don't buy it often and that's what the last gallon cost.

The play was about Ehrenreich's undercover work for the book. She went to Florida, where she found a job as a waitress. She could not make ends meet there without taking on a second job as a maid in a hotel, and even then she could barely pay the bills. Not to mention do anything else, because she was worn to a frazzle from working 12 hour days, every day.

Her coworkers had hard lives, too, and they are all portrayed through the play. We see how difficult it is to bring up children or be pregnant without health care because you can't afford it.

In Maine, Ehrenreich worked as a house cleaner for a national franchise firm, and as a dietary aid in a nursing home. She discovered that non-corporations are better to work for than corporations.

In Minnesota, she worked for "Mall Mart." The sleaze factor of this retail corporation simply oozed from the stage.

The actress who portrayed Ehrenreich, Susie Young, did an outstanding job. I was very impressed with her performance.

The play must have made some in the audience quite uncomfortable - it was family weekend at the university and many of the girls at Hollins are, let's face it, from the upper class. Heck, it made me a little uncomfortable and I am nowhere near the upper class.

But I am not in that working class living paycheck to paycheck, and for that I am grateful.

The play offered no alternatives, no solutions. I am not sure what those solutions are. Fair wages, for sure, but that becomes a catch 22. If the price of eating out becomes cost prohibitive, then the waitresses are out of jobs completely, after all. Most of the solutions that I can think of fall under the "socialism" scream, and we know how terrible many people think that is.

I will read this book now. I should have read it sooner.

Get Out the Vote

Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half. - Gore Vidal

The hallowed halls of the Virginia General Assembly never heard such a speech as the one Mary Johnston gave before the learned politicos on January 19, 1912.
An advocate for a woman’s right to vote, Johnston, an area native and by then a much-accomplished and well-respected author, told the legislatures that she paid $1,000 annually in taxes to the state, yet had no voice in how the revenue was spent.

Her family settled western Virginia and had fought in all of the country’s wars up to that time. Yet recent legal immigrants, who knew nothing of democracy, she said, were treated as if they knew better than she what the interests of the state might be.

“We are asking that those who live under the laws of a state … may have something to do with the making of those laws,” Johnston said in another speech, this time before a meeting of governors. “We are asking that we who pay a very considerable portion of the taxes of the State and of the country may have a voice in the apportionment of those taxes. We are asking that we who work may have a say as to the conditions under which we work.”

For six years, Johnston gave up much of her life so that women could obtain the right to vote. She suffered from vicious personal attacks from anti-suffrage groups. She did not give up.

How sad then that today, the local voter registrar expects less than half the entire population of the county to turn out when the polls open on November.

Less than 100 years after Mary Johnston took a stand and fought for the right to vote, have we thrown it away? If just half the population votes, and half of those are female, then only 25 percent of the women in this area will bother to exercise a right for which some women were imprisoned.

Not long ago, I heard someone on a late night radio talk advocate a change in the voting laws so that only landowners could vote.

I have heard other people advocate taking the vote from women and from minorities. No doubt about it, at this very moment, there are folks working to undermine a linchpin of democracy that 50 percent of you, male and female, black or white, apparently take for granted.

If you don’t vote, they could very well be successful, because you can be sure they will vote for candidates who think similarly.

Voting is your right. It is also your duty as a citizen to take this single action every year to ensure that the county or the country is overseen by the best person.

So make plans now to go vote. Tell your boss you may be a little late the morning of November 6.

It’s that important.

Rain!

We received a half-inch of rain yesterday. It seemed to all fall in a few minutes. A downpour.

Much of it ran off because the ground is simply too parched to take it all in. We need a good soaker.

This was not enough rain to enable me to stop taking 3 minute showers. We need inches before that can happen. But I am sure the grass and trees enjoyed it.

Dealing with Drought

For us, this year has been far worse than any other for the lack of rain.

In previous drought years, it seemed we'd get just enough of a passing shower to make the fields grow.

This year, we have not made enough hay and our cattle's future is quite uncertain. We're looking for hay to buy, but if it can't be found, they'll have to go to market.

I am worrying about our well. I have placed an oven timer in the bathroom to ensure 3 minute showers.

I am sorry to say that, growing up on a well and always living on a well, water has been a commodity I've taken for granted. I have taken my share of 15 minute showers. It is hard to beat a long hot shower when your muscles are sore and you're aching from a day of hard gardening or whatever.

I also keep pails in the bathroom to catch the cold water from the spigot. It takes a long time for the hot water to find its way to the tub. I use the cold water on my flowers.

In the Times today, the story was the drought isn't as bad as it was in 2002. We beg to differ.

We think it is worse.

Peace Globes

Mimi over at Mimi Writes has declared November 7 as another "peace globe" event.

Instructions about how to get your globe can be found here.

Go get one and decorate it and show everyone how much you want peace. It will never happen but it is a pleasant idea.

I have participated in this event several times, and it is fun to see how other people decorate their globe. Plus it's nice to feel like you're part of something for a while.

November 7, by the way, is the day after election day in the United States. Everyone please vote on November 6, even if you think it is a waste of time. While I suspect most elections these days are fixed, the effort shows you care. And if enough people actually do vote, it might skew the messed up machines enough to make somebody notice.

About Your Electric Rates

Power firm agrees to record pollution cleanup

American Electric Power to invest $4.6 billion to clear Northeast air

One of the nation’s largest power generators on Tuesday said it had agreed
to end a years-long federal lawsuit by investing $4.6 billion to reduce
pollution that has eaten away at Northeast mountain ranges and national
landmarks. ...

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A reminder for those of us on Appalachian Power, a subsidiary of AEP: they are seeking another rate increase. Care to guess why? See above for at least one reason....

Not that I am unhappy that American Electric has been forced to admit its acid rain is endangering the environment; that's a good thing. But I would like to see the fines paid and the problem fixed at the expense of the CEO's and shareholder's profits, not at the expense of what little money I have in my wallet. They are making a profit; that's the money they should delve into first. When the profits are gone, then they can come knock at my door.

You can submit your comments about the rate increases to the SCC at:
http://www.scc.virginia.gov/caseinfo.htm

The deadline for one of the three rate increase proposals is October 31, so don't delay too long.