Thursday, November 8, 2007

A Little Effort Please!?!

I just finished my bowl of genetically engineered pasta with what I’m sure was genetically engineered tomato sauce. Although I added the garlic and herbs myself and it tasted fantastic. I just can’t get that off my mind!

Tomorrow I will take the aluminum soda cans that my roommate and I have been sorting from the trash. About 6 weeks worth and believe me, that is a lot of cans! Collecting cans was the second step to what I’m sure will be an interesting transformation into what I have always jokingly called a tree hugger.

I used to not think about the environment very much. I was more worried about other, “more important” issues in my life. Then someone sent that damn video from PETA to me through myspace and I was introduced to animal cruelty in it’s worst form. I had a real fur coat hanging in my closet that I couldn’t bring myself to wear after going to their website to check out exactly what is going on. I was horrified. I still eat meat but it was the beginning of my interest in animals and the environment.

Now we have serious problems with what is going on around us and people just sit with blinders on as if all is well with their world.

A prime example:

Have you noticed that there aren’t as many bees as there used to be? Colony Collapse Disorder has invaded our honey bee population. If science doesn’t solve the problem, it will effect our food supply. Honey bees pollinate a lot of the crops that we eat on a daily basis. Nuts, fruits and some vegetables depend on bees to bear their fruit. No bees, well…. no pollination….. no food. We could do it by hand but the cost would be unbelievable. There was a special on PBS about this not too long ago and Congress heard testimony earlier this year on the problem. Even the company Burt’s Bees is concerned.

**This article in Wikipedia about Colony Collapse Disorder even suggests that Genetically Engineered crops may be a contributor to the problem. Everything is always tied together in nature!

Doing small things can really make a world of difference!

Cut plastic rings from bottled pop 6 packs. Birds get tangled in them while they feast on the landfill trash.
Recycle, recycle, recycle! It is SO important! Find out what kind of recycling program your city has. Indianapolis’ drop off location are here.
Don’t litter. That includes throwing cigarette butts out of car windows!
Don’t purchase your new pet, adopt one. I found my best friend here.

Those are just a very small number of things that you can do to help the world around you that really do not take any extra time or effort. Good luck!

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Genetically Engineered?

From Merriam-Webster Online
genetic engineering
Main Entry: genetic engineering
Function: noun
Date: 1951
: the group of applied techniques of genetics and biotechnology used to cut up and join together genetic material and especially DNA from one or more species of organism and to
introduce the result into an organism in order to change one or more of its characteristics


Did you know that the majority of the food that you purchase at the grocery stores and in restaurants contain Genetically Engineered ingredients?
Greenpeace has an interesting report on what foods actually contain GE ingredients and who makes them. I swear it’s enough to make me plant a garden this spring and refresh my memory on canning.
I am that annoying person in the store that stands there and actually reads the labels to find out what exactly I am putting into my body. But, the FDA ruled that GE foods are only required to be labeled on a voluntary basis. Non-GE foods that would like to post that fact on their labels are having a hard time getting approval to be able to do so. I would guess it is because people would question what GE actually is and why they are doing it.
No wonder Americans are in the condition that we are now. I can’t even eat a hamburger from a fast food restaurant without thinking about the movie Fast Food Nation and wonder exactly what is in the burger that I’m eating and if it will make me sick.
I saw a report on television once about dieting. The Adkins diet was really popular at the time as well as the Cave Man diet. Something they said made perfect sense to me. The human body hasn’t evolved as fast as our food technology and is not set up to digest the popular processed foods that are on the market today.
I will temporarily continue to eat it. It appears that I don’t have much of a choice at this point but to keep up on the list and buy organic whenever possible. This spring I’ll plant a garden and rekindle my hatred for canning and seed collection.
Thank goodness I actually like venison because God only knows what they are putting into our meats.
Ignorance is bliss. Happy eating!

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Thinking About the Election

I was sitting on the couch earlier in the evening watching the election results come in. I have to admit it, I was so happy to see Bart Peterson being booted out of office that I actually shed a small tear. I almost felt like I won the lottery jackpot.
My thoughts wandered back to the last Mayor's Election 4 years ago. In that election, it was Greg Jordan trying to de-throne the mighty Peterson Machine. The contract talks between IPD and Bart Peterson's people weren't going well and I was a very, very pissed off cop's wife.
Along with a small group of other cop's wives, we attempted to get the word out about how corrupt the Peterson Machine was. The more I dug into what was going on the more I couldn't believe what I was uncovering and the madder I got. The madder we got as we started sharing information the louder we got. Trying our best to get the word out but it all fell on deaf ears. People only care about the things that effect them and the illusion before was that everything was fine when in reality it was far from it even then.
Bart Peterson lost any small slice of credibility with me when he stood at the Franklin Township Community Meeting and made the statement that they were laying cops off in New York when asked about the pay raises that his executive staff received. He lied, plain and simple. I called New York and asked them. That was over four years ago and the lies just kept coming.
I can't go into a lot of what we learned that year about Pea Shake Houses, good buddy deals, constitutional rights violations and how many laws were broken and covered up. I can say that what we have experienced in 2007 didn't surprise me. It's a snowball rolling down a hill that eventually becomes so large it can destroy a castle...... and it finally did.
The past is the past and you can't change it. You can learn from it and go on. The lesson here is keep an eye on the 25th floor and the City County Council. It doesn't matter if you are a Republican or a Democrat. If you are shady and in for it only for yourself you have no business in public service.
This mistake will be made- I guarantee it. Since the election is over and the changing of the guard is eminent, people will forget. Forget to read all of the information that is being posted. Forget about the City County Council Meetings. Forget about watching and listening to what is going on in city politics. Forget to nurture the newbies (and most of them are!) that we as a city have placed our wallets, our livelihoods and standard of living into their hands. We will let them run amuck until they steal the cookie out of the jar. Then smack them on the hand and tell them how bad they are.
In reality we need to guide them. Tell them what WE want done. We put them there and we can remove them. That is obvious from what happened this election.
Yeah, I had enough and I don’t want a repeat.
Now I'm pondering a few things:
Since Bart Peterson lost the election, what is going to happen with him being President of the League of Cities? Will they boot him right away? How bad to you really think that losing the election hurt his creditability??
Will the Marion County GOP try to jump on the Ballard bandwagon now? Even though they pretty much threw him to the wolves during the campaign? I wanted to throw something at my television watching Tom John gloat like they had anything to do with Ballard winning the election. What a bunch of asses. Had they of supported him from the beginning I'm betting the margin of victory would have been larger. But, they did the same thing to Greg Jordan so I wasn't too surprised.