The new deal might just be the old deal

I just watched the four-hour Ken Burns production about The Dust Bowl. In addition to the stories of the families who experienced the dust bowl, which were both agonizing and inspiring, it stimulated a lot of thought about the current state of our nation. There were two avenues of thought that sent me searching on the internet. 1. Although Mother Nature was the instrument of the environmental disaster of the dust bowl, I wondered if there any misdirected behaviors in the United States today such as those that lead to the destruction of the land of the Great Plains. 2. Although it seemed that President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the United States government, under his leadership, had some policies and actions that helped with recovery from both the dust bowl disaster and the great depression, I couldn’t help but wonder “Who paid for that?” Coincidental to my searching for ideas on those matters, I discovered a web site that seems to more closely reflect my libertarian philosophy concerning the FDR New Deal and Obama's New Deal, and a Wikipedia article that has some interesting history on liberalism. Links to those are included below.

To comment on the first idea, I’ll say that I have seen a few things that hint at potential for more disaster Most recently, with the terrible storm that descended upon New York City and surrounding areas, I’ve begun thinking about the density of populations, the concentrations of economic factors in certain areas of the country, and the tendency for disaster struck areas to simply rebuild rather than re-think the environment of where the disaster could strike again. And then, there is that hope that “next year things will be better” as was seen in the dust bowl families that stayed where they were, trying to continue doing what they had done in more properous times. There was even the terrorist attack on the United States, which showed such vulnerability of concentrated financial populations, as well as the resultant increase in fear, hatred and restrictions on personal freedoms. There is the potential for devastating earthquakes in California, another center of financial populations. There was the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, continued risk because of the nation’s dependance upon oil. There is the drought that has affected farm and ranch production. There is the increase in cancer, obesity, diabetes and infectous diseases that seems to have more than a coincidental relationship with food consumption, environment, and lifestyles, and it’s relationship to Americans’ dependence upon corn and processed food, in which the government has been more of a instigator or propagator than a resource for addressing the problems. There is the flawed political system that allows a majority to take away freedoms of minorities and individuals in what I think should rather be the governmental role of maintaining law and order and infrastructure.

Since Obama was first elected as President, and even more so since he was re-elected, I’ve had a very depressing sense of doom, but I’ve not been able to exactly put those feelings into words. I found an article, a commentary by Jim Powell, on the Cato Institute web site that delineated some of my own thoughts, both on the state of affairs in the early 1930s with FDR’s part in them, as well as with Obama’s attempted New Deal.

First of all, when one reads things on the internet, it is helpful to get an idea of where the writer is coming from, because every opinion is undoubtedly influenced by the philosophical background, so this is a kind of disclaimer. The Cato Institute is known to be an American libertarian think tank. Jim Powell is a Senior Fellow at The Cato Institute, an author on the history of liberty, and is a frequent contributor to Forbes Online. Here is the article. If you love Obama, the Democratic Party and what they are trying to do to America, you probably won’t like it. If you are like I am, however, wondering what the future will bring, these ideas may give you some possibilities to consider.

I have come to the conclusion that for anyone to truly have full liberty and freedom, one must live a solitary life, with no partners, neighbors or any kind of society, being a hunter-gatherer and farmer of one’s own food, unable to create any large-scale destruction on the environment. I think this is not only not possible, but it is not natural for humans, wildlife or vegetation. I don't think a solitary life would bring much pursuit of happiness. We must find a way to live together, to respect the earth and each other and to think more carefully about how what we do today will affect the future. I do not yet have any concrete, workable ideas, but I have not stopped thinking about it.

History of Liberalism

FDR's New Deal

Orange and black were never my favorite colors.

I guess this is finally the year I'm done with Halloween. Last year I bought a pumpkin, but never did carve it. I may not buy one at all this year, because it seems like a waste of money at the current supermarket prices. We don't have any pumpkin farms here, that I know of. I do have memories of childhood fun with the door-to-door trick-or-treating, as well as some pretty good adult costume parties. Anyway, there are no kids coming to the door in my neighborhood, I no longer have students to decorate for, and no grandchildren nearby to have fun with. Still, I have been made to smile when I go for a walk through another neighborhood and see children's Halloween artwork in the house windows, inflatable pumpkins in the yards and jack-o-lanterns on the porches.

I just might miss guessing how many seeds will be in a pumpkin, though.

Trick or Treat?

I can cry if I want to

I vowed to myself that I would avoid posting pointed political status updates on Facebook or comment on those that others post. In fact, I've tried to encourage my friends not to do so either, and warned them I would hide any of theirs that are offensive to me. However, this is my blog, so I can say what I want without a generalized offense to friends I care about. Friends who want to know what I am thinking can read my blog.

It seems to me, with the presidential campaigns and the recent so-called debates, that throwing around statistics has become the mode of attack and defense. Between those on two sides of the fence, or even with those trying to balance in the middle, there is the cry of woe, "why can't I get people to see they are wrong?" or "get your facts straight".

My woe comes because the big guys, the people who think they can or are leading the nation out of these very disturbing times, don't really seem to be in touch with reality.  I came across this video on YouTube that I really wish Obama and his advisors would see and consider, that they could hear the anguish in this cry.  And yes, this speaker pours out some of my own feelings.

Are You Kidding Me?

It is really a challenge to find out what is fact and what is manipulation. I looked at a lot of news sources on the internet, to try to meet the challenge. I found no ultimate solution, but discovered that, depending upon what your own inclinations are, you can find something to support your views. So, I found this blog that expresses my views pretty well, particularly when it comes to the statistics that are being bandied about.

William L. Garvin blogspot

I can't say I like Mitt Romney, but, since he asked, I am not better off than I was four years ago. I am not satisfied with Obama's efforts as President of the United States. I believe he could have done a better job if he had better advisors, but I'm not convinced that re-electing him would open his eyes to that weakness. I see him as a puppet with a big ego.

So this is my cry: America is in pain. We need to get the worst president I've seen in my lifetime out of office. Please let us try something different. It might be better. May God guide and bless us in the choices we make.

What's on TV

I grew up in the 1950s, a time when TV was only black and white and the channel selector was a dial that only went up to 13. There was only one set in the house, a big console with a smallish screen. There was no remote control and no program recording device. The TV was turned off during meal times. Every program was pretty much family friendly. News was not so editorial nor politically slanted. I don’t recall any infomercials.

As a kid I enjoyed programs like The Wonderful World of Disney and the Mickey Mouse Club, along with Saturday morning cartoons featuring Mighty Mouse, Bugs Bunny and others like that. Early mornings during the week had Captain Kangaroo and Ding Dong School. My parents loved watching Lawrence Welk and Mitch Miller, and we kids liked all the music and dance of those programs, too. The Twilight Zone was intriguing, although a little creepy at times.

My own children grew up with hours of Mister Rogers, Sesame Street and Electric Company, supported, not by federal government funding, but by station members who cared about the programming choices. Star Trek, both the original and Next Generation, became must-watch programs on a weekly basis. The best sitcom was the Bill Cosby Show. We loved that TV family for years.  The VCR came into our home, and eventually even satellite TV when we moved to an area where there was no rooftop antenna reception of anything. That brought more movies to watch via The Movie Channel, Showtime and HBO (for a premium).

With my first two grandchildren, I discovered Noggin TV, which eventually became Nick Jr., and that had some great programs for children. This ole grandma fell in love with Backyardigans, I think because of the music and fun with the imaginary play of the characters. Believe it or not, I have a little toy Tyrone sitting on my TV stand. I didn’t much care for Dora the Explorer because she yelled all the time, but I saw the value of the program and the grandkids liked it until they outgrew it.

And now, we have a big flat-screen, high definition, plasma TV, a huge number of TV channels to choose from for which we probably pay too much every month, TV programming fed through our telephone line and movies on DVDs that come in the mail and streamed via the internet. There are a lot more educational programs geared towards adults, with such as Discovery, History, and National Geographic,, and still we have PBS, Nick Jr. and cable channel movies. News broadcasts have expanded from NBC, CBS, and ABC to such as CNN, MSNBC and The Weather Channel. We've never been TV sports fans, but there are a lot of choices for those who are. You can even watch fishing and hunting on TV if you want.

Yet, we use the “universal remote” to flip through the on-screen TV guide and hear ourselves saying “There’s nothing good to watch.” Viewer choices have been overrun with weirdness, stupidity, bad taste, mind-boggling reality shows, vicious competition shows, and news broadcasts with political leanings (yes, even PBS is opinionated in the programming choices). When good movies are shown, it is hard to sit long enough to watch, because each one is constantly interrupted with strings of annoying commercials. In fact, nearly all TV broadcasts bombard the viewer with ads for disease and ailment treating drugs, how to lose weight or exercise conveniently at home, how to fix your computer or find a date, how to get a wide variety of innovative products for only $19.95 (“but wait, you can double your order for the same price if you call now and just pay extra shipping and handling”), how to get compensation for accident or bad medical treatment or avoid debt collectors and IRS penalties by contacting a specialize law office, and for ways to get loans and refinance your home if you have bad credit or how to check your credit score, and how to sell your unwanted gold jewelry and get around in a motorized chair. Gah!  It is exhausting.

So, even if I can find a program that seems appealing and not morally offensive, the last straw now, is the extra blurbs that cable channels are putting on the screen.  First those appeared as a single tiny channel logo in the bottom right corner of the screen. Then it became an animated scroll or video running intermittently across the bottom of the screen in addition to the logo in the corner. Now the logos are getting bigger. They are showing up at the top of the screen along with the inserted scroll or promotional video which is not so intermittent. It’s somewhat like the ads that are shown at the bottom of a YouTube video that blocks full view of the video itself or popups that scroll along over a web page you are trying to read.  At least in the internet browser, you can usually close that annoying overlay. I don't know of any way to do it on a TV program.

Although there are still ads, at least now there is a channel, Antenna TV, that brings back some of the good old programs, like Burns and Allen. I may go back to watching Nick Jr. even though there are no little grandchildren in the house. On further thought, considering what’s on TV, I think I’m much better off enjoying a good book.

Presidential Debates

There is a lot of hype about the first presidential debate of 2012 to be held tommorow, with the media highlighting gaffs of previous debates and predicting how each candidate this year might do. I think previous debate footage is much like a number of the clips shown on America’s Funniest Videos. For some reason people like to see others doing stupid or careless things, laughing when someone trips and falls down, gets bonked in the crotch, or gets the hooey scared out of them by a practical jokester. And for some reason people think it’s funny to see a younster caught in a lie or acting mean to another child. Perhaps showing excerpts from previous debates is intended to be humorous. Personally, I’d rather see cats, dogs, birds and wild animals doing funny things, silly or amazing antics, but without stupidity. I don't care to watch the debates, hoping for someone to screw up.

I also wondered why these were even called debates. Perhaps they are loosely fitted into a debate format, with an issue brought forth in the form of a question and each candidate given a timed turn to express an opinion on the question, but it doesn’t seem like responses in debates of the past presented convincing arguments about an issue, as is expected of high school and college debate teams. It’s mostly “blah, blah, blah, look how wonderful I am and how much I know that the other guy doesn't.” And besides, the questions are often begun with some sort of opinionated preamble. If perceptive, you can usually see what moral or conceptual stand the framer of the question has.

I recently read two commentaries - from the HuffPost line of contributors to The Blog. I couldn’t believe I actually found something I wanted to read from the Huffington Post, it having the reputation of having heavy liberal leanings and my hardly being liberal myself, but, there were points made that were not especially focused on a particular candidate or party philosophy that spoke to me.

The first was in a commentary by George Lakoff - “What to Watch for in the Presidential Debates”. I don’t think media predictions on what to expect from the candidates have taken these ideas into consideration. If I were going to watch the debates, I would try to keep these things in mind.  In his commentary, Mr. Lakoff wrote,

  • All politics is [are] based on moral values, with strict conservatives and progressives having different moral values.

  • There are also morally complex voters -- moderates, independents, swing voters -- who are progressive on some issues and conservative on others.

  • All issues are conceptually "framed" -- that is, they have a mental structure that fits one's moral system.

  • Facts matter, but only when they clearly fit one's morally-based frames. Facts and figures, when used, should create a moral point in a memorable way. And if the facts don't fit your frames, the frames stay (since they are in your brain) and the facts are ignored or ridiculed.

  • Political language is rarely neutral. Because all words are defined in conceptual frames, all political language is defined in terms of morally-based frames.

The other article really spoke to my view on the influence of the US political system and of the media. Again, there is no undue candidate or party bashing in this article, but this a good (in my opinion) eye-opener for citizens who may be inclined to believe everything they hear or read. The state of the political system and influence of the media make me grind my teeth when I think about them.

Why Nobody Should Watch the Presidential Debates

I had already decided not to watch the presidential debates. Reading Emily Dickinson is a lot more pleasant.

Silent sufferers, chronic complainers, friendly conversations

One of the things I like about social media like Facebook, is the interaction with people of all sorts. Personally, I choose who I add as a Facebook friend with discrimination. I do not add everyone I know. My friends are people whose face-to-face company I have enjoyed, or would like to enjoy. It does not mean I like everything my friends like, or agree with every point of view. It is the interaction that is stimulating.

Recently I have seen a number of posts on my “News Feed” reflecting two avenues of sharing. One is detached. The detached one sometimes takes the form of cryptic posts.  That is, something is hinted at but not explained. I don’t especially like the cryptic posts. Perhaps the person is simply trying to invoke questions or evidence of interest in themselves, or perhaps it is that they want to talk about something, but don’t quite know how to start.

The other form of sharing is very much connected, providing either very strong opinions or long descriptive commentaries. I rather like the long ones where a friend is explaining some event or situation that has occurred. I don’t relish the opinionated ones, but I can understand how strong feelings prompt one to speak out with passion.

Of the two, I think the second one is more beneficial. People are not like soap bubbles, floating around unconnected through the air to quickly pop out of existence. We are more like trees, with many branches and leaves and seeds and fruit. We are like streams that flow into a river to make it bigger and stronger, to carry onward the water and nutrients.

I believe in the old adage that a burden shared is a burden lightened.  So . . . silent sufferers, share your burden. Chronic complainers, think about editing. In either case, I hope my friends and family will share those things we would talk about if we could sit at the kitchen table together over a pot of tea. And, if social media is not for you, remember that the US postal service still delivers letters.

My Aerogarden DIY

My husband got an Aerogarden several years ago. It is recommended that you put in new light bulbs every 6 months, to keep the lights bright, as they tend to fade in intensity. This was fine for a couple of times, but then the replacement bulbs were difficult to find, and then impossible to find any in Alaska. Neither did I especially want to buy or use the seed kits that were available. They were pricey and did not really include what we wanted to grow. Those also became hard to find. I've heard lately that Aerogarden customer service is next to worthless, so I thought I'd share my own solution that allows me to grow some herbs of my choice with a small initial investment and very little ongoing cost.

1.  I bought a couple of gooseneck table lamps at Home Depot for about $15.00 each. I bought some 100W CFL daylight bulbs to put in the lamps.

2.  The light fixture that comes with the Aerogarden can be easily removed by sliding it up the neck, as you would when raising the light level, until it comes completely out. I unplugged the cord that goes from the Aerogarden unit to the lamp. I don't know what I did with the lamp - probably in the crawlspace somewhere - but I didn't have it handy for a photo.

3. I wrapped the cord around the neck to keep it out of the way.

4.  The two gooseneck lamps are plugged into a timer that will regulate when the lights come on and go off. The power cord that runs the pump will be plugged into the wall outlet, so that it is always on to run the proper pumping of water and nutrients.

5. To provide the medium for planting the seeds I use sponges. The first couple of times I did this project, I used rockwool, but I found that rockwool tends to break down or dissolve over time and possibly can get into the pump itself. The sponges I use are dense, but light weight and flexible. They are inside the Dobie scrubber product, covered by a nylon mesh. I cut the mesh open at one end and take out the sponge. The mesh works well at the kitchen sink without the sponge, so don't throw it away. I cut the sponges into strips about 1 and 1/4 inch wide. You can get three out of one sponge. AND, you can reuse them the next time you plant your Aerogarden by washing them thoroughly and pulling any little roots and stems out of them.

6.  I roll each cut piece of sponge and push it into the little plastic frames for the growing medium that come with the Aerogarden. I think those frames also come with the purchase of seed kits.

7.  I have grown basil, flat leaf parsley and thyme. I've found that a packet of seeds will last a long time (2 or 3 years) so it's not especially necessary to buy a new packet of seeds each time you want to replant. Once the plants have a good start, you can also take them out of the Aerogarden and plant them into potting soil, as long as you have some good light for growing them in pots.  I have tried, but not had any luck with cilantro or rosemary in the Aerogarden.

8.  Put the pods with the sponges into the Aerogarden slots. Poke the seeds into a fold of the sponge with a toothpick and then run a little water over the pods to make sure the sponges are completely moistened. I plant at least a couple of seeds (more for the thyme, since they are really tiny), and as the plants begin to grow, I remove the weakest ones.

9.  Of course, you need water and nutrients. Aerogarden nutrient tablets are hard to get, too. I use filtered spring water, because my home well water has a lot of lime in it. I add 1 ounce of Grow Juice to 1 gallon of water. You can get the liquid nutrient at any store that has hydroponic gardening supplies. Do not use distilled water. Although you can mix up an extra gallon to top off the water when it gets low in the Aerogarden tank, it is probably good to totally replace the water/nutrient mixture in the tank from time to time. I do so after I've used 2 gallons.

10. Here is my modified Aerogarden planted for a bit of winter-grown fresh herbs on September 23, 2012. Water tank is filled, domes are in place until the plants start growing, and lights are plugged into a timer. I plugged in the Aerogarden base unit into a wall outlet and chose the setting for Herbs/Basil. The photo at the beginning of this page is from last January when the new plants were starting to grow.

Update, September 29, 2012. In less than a week the thyme and basil have sprouted.