Actual Job Advertisement

I found this on our local job bulletin board. It gave me a good laugh.

***
FEED HORSES AM and PM, and water/clean stalls/paddocks every other day. Interview and then Start Immediately! Have a very, VERY DEPENDABLE VEHICLE, live close by, and be able to feed 2 TIMES per DAY, EVERY DAY, in the morning and again, [about 12 hours later], in the late afternoon/early evening!!! AM feedings are needed to be done sometimes around approximately 6-8 AM, [give or take], and also, again, sometimes at around approximately 5-8 PM. THIS IS A SPLIT SHIFT! Drive there in the AM and then Drive there AGAIN in the PM!!! Averages about 1+ hours of ACTUAL work per day,

[ok, so far sounds fairly kosher, correct? the "hmmm" factor follows]:

but it is hardly worth it when you figure in your TRAVEL TIME and GASOLINE!

***
Ok, so explain to me why I should apply?

Wonderful Website Portraying The Homeless

Please check out this most excellent, authentic and moving website. Invisiblepeople.tv Here you will read about and watch the stories of just a sampling of individuals and families without permanent shelter. There are no news pundits to cut the people off lest they become too emotional or their stories, too difficult to hear. The man behind this project, Mark (haven't been able to find out his last name on the website) was once homeless himself 14 years ago, living on Hollywood Blvd. He's made it his mission to to bring this subject out into the open, uncensored. Even though the project is, in part, financially sponsored by the Ford Motor Company (according to what I heard on one of the media outlets), I'm grateful to this man and grateful this is available for all to view at their leisure. As my teeny tiny little handful of regular readers know, this is an issue that I am very passionate about. Home ownership to me is a fundamental human right. Some day, at some point in the (hopefully) very near future, humanity as a whole and the system itself will embrace this concept. As the website says: "Our hope is you will get mad enough to do something." Coupled with compassion and persistance, we can.

Keith Olbermann: The Sellout

For awhile there, when Bush was in office, Keith asked some very direct questions of that administration's policies. But now that Obama is in office, and things have (supposedly :::ahem:::) switched back to the left, Olbermann's gone soft. Last night he spoke briefly about the "nuts" in Phoenix who showed up to an Obama Health Care Rally carrying guns. Apparently Keith doesn't realize they were exercising their rights. Does he not support the constitution or states rights or the citizens rights to exercise these rights? Apparently Keith failed to read some of their comments, which basically boiled down to this: We are making a statement. If you don't exercise your rights and fight for them, you lose them. And lest you be asleep, we've been losing our rights as provided by our Constitution over the years.

Keith then went on to say these "nuts" believe the gov't had some sort of a hand in or knowledge of the events of 9/11. Apparently Keith's journalism schooling of asking the tough questions, where he was pretty successful at asking during the previous administration, has gone out the window now that we have a Democrat in office. Apparently Keith doesn't understand much about physics. Should he have to? Well, I didn't take any college courses in physics, but I do question things around me and came to the conclusion that official versions of 9/11 are full of lies.

I would ask Keith if buildings on fire collapse in the manner they did that awful day.

I would ask Keith how passports survive such a blazing inferno.

I would ask Keith how many buildings collapsed and as such, how is this number possible with just 2 planes.

I would ask Keith where is the video footage of the plane flying into the Pentagon. The media showed over and over and over again the plane(s) flying into the WTC. What's up with the complete lack of coverage for the Pentagon?

Keith went on to lump them into the right-wing extremist militia movement (who actually have some good points to make if only people would actually remove their attachments to their prospective political labels and listen to them).

The days of authentic journalistic reporting are dead, save for the citizen journalists out there and the few independent (meaning they are not owned by corporate america) news sites. Keith is like every other MSM journalist: an entertainer. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Really. Fucking. Hot.

Sometimes a picture says it all...

This was brought in from outside. Originally the reading was 110. Being inside in our nice a/c place for a few minutes brought the temp down a few degrees. Relief is on the way, though. 80 by the weekend, cooling into the 70's next week.

Sunday Contemplations

What if the reason we're in Iraq isn't solely due to controlling the precious resource that is oil? What if there's more to it than expanding western imperialism? What if one of the main reasons we're in Iraq is to aquire the long-lost and heavily guarded secrets of ancient technology (said to be buried in Iraq), the technology of the gods (space travelers)? The ability to travel through wormholes and blackholes and the like. And what if this jesus being was an alien (meaning time/space traveler) who had that ability and as such, traveled the cosmos in order to remind us of our capacity to love as well as letting us know we ALL possess and have access to the very same energy he carried with/within him (and knew how to manipulate/use)? What if 2012 marks another 26,000 year cycle where something mystical yet completely normal happens, where a wave of energy encircles our planet (acting alone or perhaps with or due to this mysterious planet "x" or nirubu), giving us access to such abilities, plus expanding our consciousness at the same time? What if this wave of energy is what's largely behind the weather changes occuring on our planet (and the other planets of our solar system)? What if the sun and its increase in solar flares are also a result of this energy wave? What if there has been on-going battles between planets for access to such energy? And what if the Universe/All That Is which is what this energy is believed to be does not judge and therefore, such energy, such power, is free for the taking? Rather exciting and terrifying at the same time, no?

What if all of this were true? What if some were true? Would you want access to such technology? To such knowledge? Would you want to know how to access and control the energy?

What if I'm full of it? : )

Imagine the potential results of such an event. We're likely seeing much of the results from the last go-around today. It seems far past time it is used for good this time around, don't you think?

Obama's $80 Billion Dollar Deal

The headlines scream, lefty media outlets drool and Obama brags: "In a deal made with the pharmaceutical companies, I have cut the cost of medicine over the next 10 years by $80 billion dollars." And yet, in the grand scheme of things, what's that really boil down to? According to an excellent commentary by Greg Palast, 2%.

And yet, will this really be reducing the cost of drugs over the next ten years?

"The Big Pharma kingpins did not actually agree to cut their prices. Their promise with Obama is something a little oilier: they apparently promised that, over ten years, they will reduce the amount at which they would otherwise raise drug prices. Got that? In other words, the Obama deal locks in a doubling of drug costs, projected to rise over the period of "savings" from a quarter trillion dollars a year to half a trillion dollars a year. Minus that 2%."

Greg also points out yet another of Obama's failed promises: The promise to make these negotiations with the drug companies viewable for all to see on C-Span.

It's the Bush years all over again, yet with more intelligent sounding promises, speeches and proper enunciation.

Those of us who either didn't vote or voted for Nader are simply sitting back, watching it all enfold whilst saying to the Obama supporters: "Yep. I told ya so."

The Pursuit of Money

I want you to try something. For one day (preferably a quiet day with few or no activities), write down every conscious moment you have about money. Any thought will do whether it's a worry about money, wondering if you have enough, wondering if you will either land a job or keep your current one, wondering what to do next to bring in more money, wondering if where you have it stored is safe. Etc. etc.

You may be surprised, but likely not, to realize how much of your time, energy, focus is geared towards money. Even if you consider yourself to be fairly enlightened, you're likely spending much of your time thinking about money. I've come to the realization that the pursuit of money changes who we are, and not in beneficial ways to our emotional, spiritual, mental and physical selves. It makes us worrisome. It makes us fearful. It makes us competitive and on edge. It makes us controlling, doubtful and distrustful. And those are the rather benign consequences. Taken to the extreme, the pursuit of money can turn us into violent criminals.

Either way, regardless of how much money we have or how little of it (although I would rather have too much than not enough), the pursuit of money is a slow death of important elements of our being. It stops us from fully being who we are, for thoughts of fear (especially those that are ongoing) and all that fear includes, is a barrier to the expression of our inner glory.

I believe this is a topic that is sorely missing in the spiritual community. I have yet to hear of one of our popular new age/spiritual "guru's" discuss money in this way, much less read any of their words that discuss creating a different system.

Imagine not having to pursue money. Imagine having all of our physical needs provided for--by one another--through a new (mostly automated) system where human need takes precedence. Imagine all of that energy that would be freed up to pursue those things to our liking. To spend (and actually enjoy) our time in communion with others and with nature. Imagine not having to worry about having enough money.

While being physical beings in this dimension and having survival needs will always create some level of fear at times due to our innate need and desire for survival, it would greatly enhance our life experience if we were not given the heavy burden of having to create money.

The first step in doing so is to simply imagine what that would be like for you.

Forgot This One...

This morning Obama was heard singing "the economy's on the road to recovery" song. You know how it goes, right? If not, here's a sample of the lyrics (sung to the tune of "On Top Of 'Ole Smokie"):

The numbers are out
it's lookin' quite good.
Economy's cookin'
just as it should.

Sure we have our homeless
and food lines galore.
But those folks don't matter
to us anymore.

So go out and spend
your money on stuff.
Ignore the words of those
who've had quite enough.

So while Obama was engaging in a verbal wet dream about the unemployment rate dropping by 1/10th of one freakin' percent, just remember this my dear american: These stats don't include the millions who have run out of their benefits and are still unempoyed nor do they include the millions of unemployed who have had to resort to part-time minimum wage employment, nor do they include those who have simply given up.

2.6 million jobs lost in 2008. Between 300,000 and 600,000 lost each month in 2009.

And yet, the economy's on the road to recovery.

The people sigh.

Whatever.

Brrr!

One week ago I sat behind this computer in a/c, wearing a tank and shorts, with temperatures outside hovering near 100, approximately 20 degrees above normal. Today, I sit here in jeans, socks, shirt and hubby's flannel draped over my shoulders. Temps outside are hovering in the low to mid 60's, approximately 20 degree below normal.

Summer has been an interesting one here in the northwest. We experienced what I fall the flip-flop syndrome. May was very warm. June, cool. July, downright hot. August, cool (so far). Extended forecast for the next week shows us remaining cool with below normal temperatures. Two nights ago, Mr. Nina and I felt we could smell fall in the air. There was a certain crispness that accompanies the onset of fall. Our fall mums are already in bloom. Some of the surrounding trees are already showing signs of foilage change.

I'm not complaining though! If given a choice, I would rather be too cold than too hot. You can always add more clothes for warmth when cold, but when it's hot, you can only strip down so far.

"Pay What You Can"

Vermont taxi service tells customers: "Pay what you can."

A sign of things to come? We (certainly I) can only hope. While it may not be altogether practical to implement across the board at the moment, it is certainly a doable business model (and falls along the line of my previous post about establishing a sliding scale fee on all goods and services).

The Need For A Sliding Scale Fee On Goods and Services

Eating healthy food. Access to safe drinking water. Owning a home. Land. Access to health care. Education. And freedom to live as one pleases without hassle (without impeding on others). All are basic human rights. And of course in the monetary system, they're privileges. Money will buy you healthy food, water, a home, land, health care, education and often times, freedom.

I won't tolerate anymore hearing people say "that's just how it is". Most people who say that either don't realize how negatively affected they are by such a system or else they haven't been severely impacted by the system. Or perhaps they simply don't care because they are, currently, safe and financially secure. (I know people like that, many residing in my own family, which makes me shudder sometimes in the wee hours of the morning). Sometimes I feel like tossing a grain of corn their way, pat them on the head and say "go back to sleep sweet little lamb".

"The world isn't fair."

"That's just how things are."

Such statements are nothing more than lazy excuses. Instead of actually doing something, instead of embracing the notion that we're all connected and as such, have SOME amount of accountability to one another, not to mention future generations, such statements have become mainstream. The system smiles when such statements are tossed about.

In my neck of the woods we have a local co-op store. It's a smaller store, home to healthy, organic, local foods. If I could afford to, I would do all of my shopping there. But I can't. When you are living on a very fixed income and have the choice of buying organic chicken for $10/lb or non-organic for $4/lb, you opt for the non-organic kind. A gallon of organic milk can run upwards of $5 while the non-organic milk goes for $2.30. At least I buy hormone-free dairy products and meat and poultry when I can and I am very grateful I can afford to do so. The management and staff wear the "buy organic/buy local" hat proudly. And while they do offer a 5% discount for low income folks, they simply don't go far enough.

I'm under no illusion the monetary system is going away anytime soon, although in spite of that, I will continue to be a staunch, outspoken supporter of a system based on human need and the responsible, fair and just utilization and distribution of resources. Accepting this, we can begin to impart some fairness into the monetary system by encouraging a sliding scale fee on all goods and services. We've insisted upon and supported a system of sliding scale incomes. It's only fair, just and right (remember, those are American values) to create a sliding scale fee system.

No excuses either. It would be a hassle at first. And yes, some would take advantage of such a system. But I believe, perhaps naively, in the goodness and honesty of people. Certainly I believe in the decency of the human heart and soul. And as such, I believe most would do the right thing.

There is nothing...no thing...that can not be created and put into place. Anything is possible. Always has been, always will be. When it comes to how we live/work/eat etc. etc. we've been conditioned there is one way and one way only. Bullshit. Do not ever listen to anyone who preaches such crap. The road to change is often long. Travelers often become battle weary. Persistance and a refusal to budge from ones goal, beliefs, values is necessary.

As in the words of that wonderful saying by George Bernard Shaw: "The reasonable person adapts to his or her environment. The unreasonable person expects his or her environment to adapt to them. Therefore, all change is dependent upon the unreasonable person."

Embrace that inner unreasonable self! The planet and the people need more of you!