TMI a little place to whine

Apples, grapefruit, bananas, rasins, canned peaches, canned pineapple, mixed fruit cup, strawberries, watermelon, cantalope, cherries, applesauce, orange juice.

Peas, carrots, corn, green beans, tomatoes, celery, peppers, lettuce, onions, potatoes, radishes, cucumbers; and then there's the canned and frozen vegetables

That's what fruits and vegetablesI have in my fridge/panty or freezer now.

How many people in the world have such variety? We do because we pay to ship it from where it's grown. And people are now complaining about how high the cost of it is?

To stop paying higher prices eat LOCALLY GROWN produce. Yeah, that means eat fruits in season instead buying what you want because it's in the supermarket and for sale. But even then look at the variety of food available to most of us.

Maybe the cost of food will finally get people to learn to eat what they have instead of what they "want" when they want it.

We still have it better here than a majority of places in the world.

At last someone thought of a way to MAKE the DNC count Florida's primary votes. A law suit is challanging the DNC with violation of the Civil Rights Act, saying the DNC is violating the right of black voters.

If that's what it takes to get all of Florida's votes counted then I am all for it.

Saturday I made dinner.

A ham bone, 2 bullion cubes, one zuchini sliced, 1/4 quarter of a cabbage, shredded, some wilted carrots, 1/4 of an onion, some nearly wilting celery, 1/2 a bag of frozen snap peas, 1 can of diced tomatoes and lots of water. Salt and pepper to taste and guess what you get? Vegetable soup.

Now that we can't afford to go shopping I'll be making more stuff like this. And it's not just me.

I also went grocery shopping on Saturday night. And what did I see? Not men putting things in the cart on impulse, but men telling their wives "no we don't want that, it's too expensive." Men doing price comparisons. Men looking for chuck steak not T-bone, men actually CARING about how much food costs.

Amazingly I saw women saying to their children "No we have cereal at home we won't get more until you eat what we have."

Recession. Another word for common sense.

The Miami Herald has an article in todays paper saying all charitable donations are way down and people are hurting. A person I know has 5 kids (aged 16 to 2 years) her husband became abusive because he couldn’t tolerate the “strain” of their finances. So he LEFT her and cleaned out what was left in the bank account, so several of the checks bounced, and then had the electric shut off so to get it back on she had to put it in her name and the electric company wants ANOTHER deposit from her. She has now applied for welfare and food stamps. I can’t even begin to tell you what I want to do to that man if I ever see him.

I think there should be a punishment for men who leave their kids and refuse to support them. I think they should be rendered incapable of ever procreating again, so that they can never “try again” with another woman and produce more offspring to leave behind when the relationship doesn’t work out.

Men like that are cowards, unable to act responsibly and always blaming someone else for their shortcomings. They have no shame, and apparently no guilt either.

Tired of bad selections of TV shows? Don't know what to do? Well here's a simple solution, get up, turn the TV off and pick up a book to read.

Tired of being interrupted by your cell phone when you're out, or just want to be left alone.

Simple solution 2, turn the phone off. Not just on silent or vibrate but actually OFF.

Tired of having kids who don't respond to your human voice? Turn their appliances OFF. No phone, no texting, no MP3 player, no iPod. Make them electronically nutered for a few hours a day, or better still a few days a week. Turn it off, yep, cancel it. If there's an option go to a competitor, you know supply them with board games or books or magazines or physical activities that do NOT require a joystick and TV or computer monitor.

We want to save energy, right? So start saving it by turning off the electric gadgets.

Simple.....

OK, you do realize that this isn't money you are owed because you paid taxes. It's money "W" borrowed from the taxes your grandchildren will pay.

But you get the check in the mail.

Moral dilemma.

Should I keep the money and pay down bills, or spend it? OR
Should I return it on moral and ethical principles?

Here are two things to do if you decide in favor morals and ethics.

Take the entire amount of the check and donate it to charity. Feed the poor. Clothe the naked. Make a difference to those from whom all has been taken and nothing is being given. If Exxon and Mobil oil can't support our own hungry and hurting at home, then at least , make an effort on your own to help. Your check won't solve the world's problems, but it may help one person, or one family get through one more day, and give them hope that there is a brighter future.



Or, if you "return" the check, send it to the department of the treasury with a note instructing that is be used to pay down the national debt. It's barely a drop of water, heck barely an atom of water, compared to the flood in the bucket of our national debt. But if you are opposed to being "bought out" by the political feel good tactic, then just do it. Your $300 to $600 donation to pay down the debt can make you feel like it's not your problem, and you can feel satisfied that at least YOU didn't saddle an oppressive debt burden on your grandchildren.

Remember my very first blog posting on peanut butter?

Well, it's here.

Between the cost of gasoline and the cost of food more and more people at work are brown bagging it, and bringing their lunch, and more and more people are bringing peanutbutter sandwiches.

And we're the lucky ones with jobs and cars and homes that have mortgages that haven't been foreclosed.

So tell me, what do you think the impoverished are eating?

Someone sent me an e-mail today about the former Alabama Judge who was fired for posting the 10 commandments in a courthouse.

The entire jist of the e-mail was that America is being ruined because it no longer adheres to Christian teaching and the word of God upon which it was founded.

So I challanged the sender and asked her a few questions about theocracy and democracy and why it was wrong for Muslims to have a country that upholds fundamentalist religious teachings as the civil rule of law but Christians thought it was justified to claim that America was founded on Christian principles which should be adhered to.

I told her that the first amendment of the constitution said that "congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" I'll translate that for normal folks. It means this country was NOT founded on any one official religion and it is not indended to have one.

The answer?

I criticize things because I can't separate my job from the thinking of normal people.

Excuse me?

Normal people?

Do so called normal people realize that Jesus Christ had nothing to do with the 10 commandments? In His sermom he narrowed it down to two. Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.

Who was given the 10 commandments?

Are you ready for this?

(drum roll please) THE JEWS.

Yep, check the Bible....Jews were given the 10 Commandments through Moses, who if I am not mistaken was NOT Jesus, therefore NOT Christian. He was Jewish, and the 10 commandment was the law for the JEWS.

So why in God's good green earth are Christians so intent on ursurping them for their own means?Maybe because it's easier to find ways to break 10 commandments than keep the two that Jesus gave us.