Sunday, May 24, 2009

Food Not Bombs


Thirty years ago today, seven anti-nuclear activists started a group in Cambridge, MA that later became known as Food Not Bombs. The group recovered food that couldn't be sold, from grocery stores and other places and distributed it to people in need. Today there are over 1,000 chapters on every continent except Antarctica. In addition to distributing food to the needy they also prepare vegetarian meals for those in need and at protests. Even though they are feeding people who might be getting their only meal out of dumpsters or might go hungry, groups in New Mexico, Arizona, Florida, and Connecticut have gotten in trouble from local law enforcement for not having the proper permits or licenses. If you want to read more about this group or see if there is one in your city (Houston doesn't have one) here is their website: http://www.foodnotbombs.net/menu.html

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Richard B. Cheney Will You Please Go Now!


In 1972, Dr. Seuss wrote a book that I read to my daughter many times called Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!
A few years later, Art Buchwald substituted "'Richard M. Nixon" for Marvin K. Mooney. Now it's time for another Richard, a real dick, to GO GO GO.


The time has come.
The time is now.
Just go. Go. Go!
I don't care how.
You can go by foot.
You can go by cow.
Richard B. Cheney will you please go now!
You can go on skates.
You can go on skis.
You can go in a hat.
But Please go. Please!
I don't care.
You can go by bike.
You can go on a Zike-Bike if you like.
If you like you can go in an old blue shoe.
Just go, go, GO!
Please do, do, DO!
Richard B. Cheney I don't care how.
Richard B. Cheney will you please GO NOW!
You can go on stilts.
You can go by fish.
You can go in a Crunk-Car if you wish.
If you wish you may go by lion's tail.
Or stamp yourself and go by mail.
Richard B. Cheney don't you know
The time has come to go, go, GO!
Get on your way!
Please Richard B.!
You might like going in a Zumble-Zay.
You can go by balloon . . . Or broomstick.
Or you can go by camel in a bureau drawer.
You can go by bumble-boat. . . or jet.
I don't care how you go. Just get!
Richard B. Cheney!
I don't care how.
Richard B. Cheney will you please GO NOW!
I said GO and GO I meant . . .
The time had come
So . . . Richard WENT.

Apologies to Dr. Seuss and Marvin K. Mooney.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Summer Fruit

With summer almost here I'm more in the mood than ever for fresh fruit. Here is a list of summer fruit with some healing qualities from Eat Drink Better:

Apricots: Great for lung conditions and asthma, used to help treat anemia due to their high copper and cobalt content.

Bananas: Help to lubricate the intestines, treat ulcers, detoxify the body, and manage sugar cravings; are rich in potassium (which helps hypertension).

Cherries: Slightly warming in nature; increase overall body energy, remedy arthritis and rheumatism, and are rich in iron, which improves the blood.

Grapefruits: Treat poor digestion, increase appetite during pregnancy, alleviate intestinal gas and reduce mucus conditions of the lungs.

Papayas: Tone the stomach, act as digestive aid, moisten the lungs and alleviate coughing; contain carpaine, an anti-tumor compound.

Raspberries: Benefit the liver and kidneys, cleanse blood of toxins, regulate menstrual cycles, treat anemia and can promote labor at childbirth.

I also love Mangos which are a good source of vitamins A and C, Potassium and beta carotene. They are also high in fiber and low in calories. I like combining them with fruit that isn't too sweet like strawberries. Strawberries are high in vitamin C and are also an excellent source of vitamin K and manganese, folic acid, potassium, riboflavin, vitamin B5, vitamin B6, copper, magnesium, and omega-3 fatty acids. One of my favorite fruits is the Cherimoya. I first tasted this wonderful fruit in Ecuador when our cab driver bought one off a street vendor and cut it for us in the cab. It was the most wonderful thing I had ever tasted. I've had a few since then but the taste has never been the same and they are pretty hard to find and also very expensive. I guess I need to go back to Ecuador.

I also love blackberries but the ones I buy in the store are never as good as the ones my friend used to pick for me on the side of the road when we were travelling in the northwest.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Poor Ringo







Ringo has had a really bad looking sore on one of his feet for a few days now so today I decided to take him over to the vet at PetsMart. He had to be sedated and they cleansed the wound and increased the size of a hole in the wound so it could drain. The vet thinks he may have been bitten by a snake or a spider. Now he has to wear an Elizabethan collar so he can't lick the area. He isn't too happy about that. He also has to be an indoor kitty so he now has a litter box in the spare bedroom. Technically he isn't my cat but after spending several hundred dollars on him I think of him as mine and the dogs love him and want to keep him too.
UPDATE: He managed to get the collar off but seems to be leaving his foot alone. He also used the litter box after realizing I wasn't going to let him go outside. He's purring again too.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Old Dogs


I've always heard that 1 dog year is equal to 7 human years but The American Veterinary Medical Association has a formula that says the 1st year of a dogs life is equal to 15 years of a humans, the 2nd year, 9 years, and every year after that, 5. This formula is for a medium sized dogs. Smaller dogs age more slowly than larger dogs. You can calculate the age of your dog here.
According to this calculator Sparky is 77, Ginger and Gracie are 65, and Rosie is 56. That means that for a few more weeks, I'm the youngest one in my house!

Hate Groups in America

The Southern Poverty Law Center released it's 2009 report on hate groups in America. According to the report, there were 926 active groups last year which is up 4% from last year and up 50% since 2000. In addition to the report there are several interactive maps. You can use one of these maps to see how many hate groups are in each state, the name, and the location in the state. Texas has 66 hate groups, with 7 in Houston.
Here is the link: http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=1027

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Molly The Cow



Molly, the cow that escaped from a NYC slaughterhouse on Wednesday has found a new home at an organic farm on Long Island. Rex Farr who owns The Farrm said "She can eat some good organic hay and hang around with a lot of her friends. She can eat and sleep for the rest of her life. She is not going anywhere. The bottom line is she will have a very good home.”

MustardGate


Do any adults still watch these idiots?

Dan Choi

After appearing on The Rachel Maddow show and admitting that he is gay, Army National Guardsman Lt. Dan Choi received this letter from the Army:
"This is to inform you that sufficient basis exists to initiate action for withdrawal of Federal Recognition in the Army National Guard for moral or professional dereliction. Specifically you admitted publicly that you are a homosexual, which constitutes homosexual conduct. Your actions negatively affected the good order and discipline of the New York Army National Guard."
Lt Dan Choi is a graduate of West Point and is fluent in Arabic. He is one of about 12,500 servicemen ejected since the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy was introduced in 1994. 60 of those ejected are Arab linguists. He was part of Operation Iraq Freedom and had this to say about his service "I loved being in the country. My fluency in Arabic enabled me to build strong relationships with the local people and the local government officials, with whom I worked on establishing security and rebuilding efforts."
Choi founded the group Knights Out, a group representing gay and lesbian West Point alumni. West Point's honor code states "A cadet will not lie" yet Choi felt forced to lie about who he was because of the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy and he felt he had no alternative but to come out even if it did mean he would be kicked out of the military.
Choi will be on the Rachel Maddow show again tonight to discuss his ousting from the military. Her show is on MSNBC at 7 Eastern time and again at 9. It follows another favorite show of mine on MSNBC, Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Banned from the UK

The Home Office put out a list today of 16 of the 22 people banned from entering the UK. Included on this list are Americans Michael Savage, Stephen "Don" Black, Fred Phelps, and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper. Michael Savage is the talk radio host who has called the Quran a "book of hate" and has called autistic children brats who haven't been told to "cut the act out."
Don Black is the founder of a white supremacist web site based in Florida. Don Phelps, along with his daughter Shirley have picketed funerals of AIDS victims and have claimed that US soldier's deaths are God's punishment for tolerance of gays.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the UK is determined "to stop those who want to spread extremism, hatred and violent messages in our communities from coming to our country" and "Coming to this country is a privilege. If you can't live by the rules that we live by, the standards and the values that we live by, we should exclude you from this country and, what's more, now we will make public those people that we have excluded."
I wonder who the un-named 6 are. If I had a country, I would ban just about everyone associated with the last administration starting with bush and dick.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

FluTracker


For anyone interested, here is a link so you can follow the Swine flu (H1N10)
FluTracker

A school in my neighborhood, where 2 little boys I know go, is closed most of next week because of the flu.
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