Sweeping Financial Overhaul!

I see some news in the financial/political world. The president signs sweeping financial overhaul into law! Good!, it's high time that there was some actual oversight and regulation to keep some of the infinite greed (what I've come to call it, see below) from destroying the country. From what I've read the only real problem is that the overhaul isn't strong or sweeping enough! The right-wingers have spent the last couple decades systematically dismantling any and all systems of sane regulation they could manage. All in the mad belief that their patron-god "the market" was all powerful, all seeing, infallible, and benevolent. None of which is true. Now systems of sane regulation need to be rebuilt. So that some of these "too big to fail" companies, and others don't manage to pull the whole country into third-world status (although for more and more of us, you know the "middle-class", the people who are working harder and harder for less and less it already feels like we're living third-world lives.). I have heard commentators speaking about what I've come to call the infinite greed. This just plain sad, sick thing where a profitable company makes say 10 million pure profit and yet acts as if it's on the quick path to bankruptcy because it really just plain wanted to make 20 million profit! I don't think the founding fathers would be at all impressed by this mad level of greed that's taken root over the last decades in certain circles. I don't know, it really seems to be like a mental illness. The people with the big-money, and power seem not to have any "meaning" in their lives so they fill the void with a endless desire for money (and more "stuff"). For a good appreciation of the ridiculousness of peoples hunger and attitudes about "stuff" there's no better resource than the great man himself George Carlin! The world is much reduced by his passing, a truly great comedian and very wise commenter on people and society.

Fracking Gasland!

(There's a little sci/fi geeky play on words in the title above)

Just recently saw a very important documentary on HBO called Gasland. I strongly recommend this documentary to anyone at all interested in the environment (and their own drinking water supply), it's very important to Pennsylvanians future as well as Americans in general! It's all about this "Fracking" process that's all the rage in certain circles. It's also highly un-regulated (the previous administration sold us out for big money, I know it's hard to believe but there it is -the ugly truth- That Dick, Dick Cheney and his money-grubbing cronies). They are destroying our clean precious and irreplaceable drinking water all over the country all for big quick profits. More American style laissez-faire capitalism at it's finest! Everything in this society has been reduced to "holy-dollar", it's disgusting! Is there so much as the smallest consideration of anything else anymore?! Oh like, I don't know... living for example...! Remember that old fashioned idea, oh how did it go now? Something about Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness (Wow! There's a concept!) The founding fathers must be spinning in their tombs! Someone needs to just attach turbines to their corpses, we'll have free clean energy till doomsday! (which at the rate we're destroying our environment admittedly, won't be long off at all)

See

• Gasland
• HBO Documentaries, Gasland Synopsis
• A Colossal Fracking Mess
• Some Excellent resources!
• Buried Secrets, Gas Drilling's Environmental Threat
• Josh Fox on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (June 21st 2010 episode)

Rain! Finally!

Finally some rain today here in Harrisburg! Although it hasn't been enough, still anything is better then nothing! Unfortunately not enough rain to encourage the worms out onto the road, I really need worms for my composter. Temperature was pretty nice, only the humidity made it unpleasant. Didn't manage to get very much done outside. Gardening/landscaping is a really good hobby, very satisfying, highly recommended! And hey improving the property value isn't a bad thing. I do however find myself consumed with the desperate desire to have the nicest yard in the neighborhood, this might not be a good thing... I think there's only 1, maybe 2 in the neighborhood that are definite challengers (Damn them! I must crush them! - See them driven before me, and hear the lamentation of their women!).

Had the wind come up, knock over a terracotta pot with a "Mandevilla" (Alice Dupont) in it so off to the (really nice) Highland Gardens garden center (I recommend them in Harrisburg, really great place) to get a replacement (and yes of course a few other things...)! Plus a new bigger bamboo trellis for it to grow on. Ended up with a replacement Bamboo (another Fargesia Robusta) to replace the one I may well have killed by watering (Who would have known!? The tag didn't tell me, nor did I see anything on any site I'd checked... Word of warning, don't water your Fargesia Robusta clumping bamboo more then 1 time every week or 2!).

Tomorrow whole day stuck out in the "coal-region". A work thing. I don't want to even talk about it. Oh well, sounds like it's going to be too hot and humid to do the yard work I'd like to be doing anyway...

East Coast heatwave, and my Groundhog pet.

Well after days of a just awful heatwave here on the east coast the National Weather Service is saying some small relief is expected. I will take any! This is driving me crazy, stuck inside. And we need rain! I need to go out in the rain and gather worms for my new compost bin! I have so much yard and outside house work that needs doing! A few plants need put in the ground, and there's weeding/mulching also. Well there's pretty much never an end to working with the plants (and I don't even have all that many of them). Have some old paint need to finish scrapping off the garage as new paint prep work needs finished. Going to visit a absolutely wonderful sounding nursery and probably (almost without doubt) end up buying more plants that'll then also need going in the ground! Wish I would have heard of this place a few years ago, but never did till the recent write-up about it's going out of business sale in the Harrisburg newspaper....

Haven't seen my Groundhog, I'm starting to worry about the little monster.... I don't want it eating my plants but it's certainly welcome to eat the clover (and weeds, yes please!)! I did decide to try a different approach and give the critter something else to eat (other then my plants!), I left a apple out for it. Something ate it! Didn't see what... Half of it was carried off. I don't think any of my other yard critters are big enough to have carried half a apple away so I'm thinking it was the Groundhog. Maybe this will be my gardening salvation I'll bribe the little mafia critter off!

The American economy, Afghan war, and military spending.

The economy is bad, very bad. There's huge unemployment and the right-wingers are doing business (always business with them, always the Holy $, though they claim to be god-fearin born-again Christians, they always really seem to be true worshipers of Mammon god-money first and foremost) as usual and stomping on the little people. Blocking unemployment extension to desperate people. It never ceases to amaze me that the people who love to call themselves “fiscal conservatives” and are happy to cut social programs never bring up (or will in a million years entertain) the idea of military cuts. In all honesty I know the real reason for this, the military industrial complex is a very major right-wing constituency (I've seen it referred to as Right-wing welfare). These same people who will do the hand-wringing while claiming that they have to be fiscally responsible about things like unemployment extension (their excuse for blocking it). Will not in a million years entertain the idea that America can no longer support being (unpaid, and often unwanted) policeman to the world.

I am surprised and amazed that any politicians are actually talking about this issue, but I see that some are! Rep Barney Frank (D), and Rep. Ron Paul (R) actually are! I wish them the very best of luck in tackling this very important spending and political issue. 

As far as the Afghan war goes, Fareed Zakaria  on his show this past Sunday (I happened to see it, and thought it very smart and courageous of him to say these things) had some very sensible questions/comments about this. Just why are we fighting a major war to try and "eliminate" so very few people. Supposedly some 50-100 Al Qaeda are all that's left in Afghanistan. According to the CIA... Assuming they're correct... Ok but seriously we've been there for 10 years! Many American and ally soldiers dead or injured. Tremendous expense that we can-not afford. I'm not saying we should simply abandon the Afghan people. No we basically did that before after the Russians withdrew and that led to the madness of the Taliban "government". We made a horrendous mistake then. But there has to be a sane, sensible way to do what we need to do. Keep the country from becoming a Al Qaeda "safe haven" (and yes keep it from falling to the resurgent Taliban lunatics). A way that doesn't have us continuing a endless military engagement that we can not afford on any level.

In the beginning...

I started writing this on July 4th. A fairly important holiday for the US citizens, characterized by fireworks and food (American holidays are pretty much always about food... Unhealthy food, in huge amounts. But I'll get to that another day!) A not un-auspicious date to comment on the state of politics and the country as a whole.

Before I start let me state for the record, I am not registered to either political party (god forbid we should have a viable 3rd, or even 4th party). I am registered to vote as Independent. That being said I definitely lean in my political philosophy toward Liberal sanity (don't even get me started on these new "Conservative Democrats", Faustian sell-souls, and nothing but). My feelings toward our wonderful 2 parties (The Democrats party of no ideas, and the Republicans the party of bad ideas), was summed up perfectly by Lewis Black who said "A Republican stands up in congress and says 'I GOT A REALLY BAD IDEA!!!' and a Democrat stands up after him and says 'AND I CAN MAKE IT SHITTIER!!!'"

Now onto the state of the country! Lets see, the economy is in shambles, and we're in how many countries fighting... I think I've lost track! There's a seemingly endless ongoing issue with oil gushing (that word doesn't really do it justice) into the ocean (anyone think they're ever going to do anything about this!?).

Ok enough for now! This is starting to depress me! And I need to check on my plants, I have a groundhog, he's eating my plants and I have no solution (yet). The thing is he's (or her, no idea) so damn cute, you just don't want to hurt the little s.o.b.