How Toxic Is Roundup?

Few things in life are simple and gardening is no exception. Answers to questions on garden design, plant selection, soils, fertilizers, mulches, compost, cover crops, and rotations can become complex. To help simplify, I promote practices based on ecological rules. None of us would knowingly consume arsenic, simply because we know that poisons are bad for our health. A similar guiding ecological rule exists for gardening. “If a substance is toxic, i.e. not healthy for the soil, do NOT use it on the garden.

Dirty Air Worse Than Cocaine

Air pollution triggers more heart attacks than using cocaine and poses as high a risk of sparking a heart attack as alcohol, coffee and physical exertion, scientists said on Thursday.

Sex, anger, marijuana use and chest or respiratory infections and can also trigger heart attacks to different extents, the researchers said, but air pollution, particularly in heavy traffic, is the major culprit.

DEA legalizes THC for Big Pharma

A Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) proposal to reclassify the main psychoactive chemical in marijuana as a Schedule III substance would allow pharmaceutical companies to market the drug while still penalizing common recreational use, according to marijuana law reform advocates

Making Hash Of TSA

"We have posted signs on our doors basically saying that [employees of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)] aren’t allowed to come into our business," says a woman calling herself KC McLawson who works at "a cafe near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport." She and her boss, the policy’s author, became instant heroes after KC contacted "consumer advocate and journalist" Christopher Elliott and pseudonymously discussed the restaurant’s resolve: "Their kind aren’t welcomed in our establishment."

Hundreds Of Millions Infected With Vaccines

If the allegations of the man who developed the poliomyelitis vaccine programme for a large pharmaceutical company are true, hundreds of millions of people may be doomed. This man was none other than Maurice Hilleman, who developed eight of the fourteen vaccines used in vaccination schedules.

Measles, mumps, rubella, Marek's disease, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, adenoviruses, and the commercial evolution of vaccines against meningococci and pneumococci were the diseases targeted by the pioneering American microbiologist Dr. Maurice Hilleman.

During his research however, in 1991 he became seriously worried about the levels of mercury being used in one of his vaccines. In an internal memo presented to the head of the vaccine division at Merck, where he worked, he called attention to the DPT, a combination for diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough) and tetanus, claiming that the exposure for a six-month-old was 87 times too high.

Moreover, in his interview in the book The Health Century (later a PBS TV series), he made shocking allegations that Merck had produced and distributed deadly viruses in its vaccines and had infected millions of people worldwide, turning them into time bombs.

KRAFT Uses Bovine Growth Hormone

Thank you to the OCA activist who shared a recent e-mail she received from Kraft Foods which admits "We are not rejecting milk from BGH/BST supplemented herds." BGH/BST is the genetically modified Bovine Growth Hormone developed by Monsanto and now marketed by Eli Lilly. It was the first genetically modified organism to become part of the food supply.

It is well-known by federal regulators that GMO bovine growth hormone produces milk that is less nutritious, contaminated with pus, and has elevated levels of IGF-1. Elevated levels of IGF-1 are correlated with increased rates of cancer.

Tillamook rejects Bovine Growth Milk!

29% Americans Say Difficult To Afford Food

The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press released their year-end survey on December 15, 2010. Their pollling revealed that for the public, a tough year ended on a down note.

Consistent with the mood of the nation all year, 2010 is closing on a down note. Fully 72% are dissatisfied with national conditions, 89% rate national economic conditions as only fair or poor, and majorities or pluralities think the country is losing ground on nine of 12 major issues.

Pew's survey results are not surprising, and I would cover them in depth if it weren't for some rather important information that was buried in the next to last paragraph.

The survey finds that a majority of the public (57%) says it is very difficult or difficult to afford things they really want. About the same percentage said this two years ago (55%). And for many Americans, affording basic necessities remains a struggle – 51% say it is difficult to afford health care, 48% say the same about their home heating and electric bills, and 29% say it is difficult to afford food.

It's Boycott Time Land O'Lakes

By now you’ve heard how President Obama and his Monsanto Administration have plowed through approvals of three more genetically engineered products, including GE alfalfa. Well, here’s something else you should know:

To produce its Round-Up Ready Alfalfa seeds, Monsanto partnered with a company called Forage Genetics International, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Land O’Lakes dairy co-op. That’s right, Land O’Lakes stands to make a fortune from polluting our food supply with untested and unlabeled GMOs.

To protest, you could sign one of the many petitions going around that will likely just be ignored. But there’s another way to show your disapproval of genetically engineered Round-Up Ready Alfalfa: Boycott all Land O’Lakes products — its butter, cheese, eggs, speads, margarine, seasonings, creams, cocoa and cappuccino mixes, sour cream and milk. All of them.

Eat This & Look 5 Years Older

In the early 1990's, soy and soy products exploded onto the supermarket scene with promises of bountiful health benefits. This "new miracle food," soy, was supposed to lower cholesterol, take the heat out of hot flashes, protect against breast and prostate cancer and offer a filling alternative to earth-loving vegetarians.

The problem with these claims?

Most of them are false.

Sadly, most of what you have been led to believe by the media about soy is simply untrue. The sudden upsurge in the recommendation of soy as a health food has been nothing more than a clever marketing gimmick to further reduce the cost and nutritional content of your food.

Another Private Farm Raid

When the 20 agents arrived bearing a search warrant at her Ventura County farmhouse door at 7 a.m. on a Wednesday a couple weeks back, Sharon Palmer didn’t know what to say. This was the third time she was being raided in 18 months, and she had thought she was on her way to resolving the problem over labeling of her goat cheese that prompted the other two raids. (In addition to producing goat’s milk, she raises cattle, pigs, and chickens, and makes the meat available via a CSA.)

But her 12-year-old daughter, Jasmine, wasn’t the least bit tongue-tied. “She started back-talking to them,” recalls Palmer. “She said, ‘If you take my computer again, I can’t do my homework.’ This would be the third computer we will have lost. I still haven’t gotten the computers back that they took in the previous two raids.”

Marijuana Smoker Killed In Own Home

The police had a no-knock warrant (though they forgot to bring it) to search for drugs. Busting down a citizen’s door quickly, loudly, and with overwhelming force is the standard. Sure, the guy they were looking for was a roommate who had already moved out (and they knew it), but it is so vitally important that we find and imprison people smoking weed at home that even a hastily-planned no-knock midnight raid without warrant paperwork is preferable to allowing one more joint to be smoked by a middle aged man in his own home. (Warning: Video is graphic in nature. Story continues after video.)

We Need To Stop Circumcision

The vast majority of the world's men, including most Europeans and Scandinavians, are uncircumcised. And before 1900, circumcision was virtually nonexistent in the United States as well – except for Jewish and Muslim people, who've been performing circumcisions for thousands of years for religious reasons. Believe it or not, circumcision was introduced in English-speaking countries in the late 1800s to control or prevent masturbation, similar to the way that female circumcision – the removal of the clitoris and labia – was promoted and continues to be advocated in some Muslim and African countries to control women's sexuality.

DPT Vaccine Destroyes

Steve Degner says 29-year old Kristen is his "Daddy's Girl," and has been since the day she was born. By two years of age, Kristen was running around like any typical toddler. Her father says her vocabulary was more like that of a 5th grader.

In an interview with FOX 26 News, Steve Degner says Kristen started having seizures after her second DPT vaccine, which is required by the state of Texas.

"It was a bad lot. A week after (the shot), we noticed Kristen, at 18-months or two years old, her eyes started rolling in the back of her head," explains Daddy.....

Does Gates Foundation Buy News?

While much of what the BMGF does and says is wrapped in philanthropic language and problem-solving rhetoric, many of its policies, including its support of mass vaccination and genetically-modified organisms (GMO), present a clear conflict of interest when the foundation's dollars get mixed up in what is ideally supposed to be unbiased journalism. And many are now questioning how severely these payoffs are influencing the media's handling of important and controversial issues.

According to the Seattle Times report, BMGF donates millions every year to media groups like ABC, The Guardian, The New York Times, PBS, and even The Seattle Times. BMGF also spends millions of dollars training journalists in how to properly advocate for foundation interests, and craft media messages in such a way as to further the foundation's agendas. So rather than presenting news, many BMGF-funded journalists now present carefully-crafted BMFG talking points to viewers and readers.

Deconstructing Global Warming Fraud

It never made any sense to me that an element of the earth’s atmosphere, carbon dioxide that measured an infinitesimal 0.0389%, could have an effect on the planet’s climate. Just one of the so-called “greenhouse gases”, water vapor—clouds—is 51 times greater than CO2.

Moreover, not one single computer model can factor in the effect clouds have on the planet’s weather because not one single meteorologist, living or dead, has a clue why they do what they do. They appear and disappear in the very definition of chaos. So it struck me as odd that all the computer models of the advocates of global warming always came to the same conclusion; it’s coming and the earth's temperature will rise dramatically IF…

Normal Weather Pattern Says NOAA

Combing through historical records dating back to the late 1800s, the CSI team identified the separate “fingerprints” of wintertime climate conditions related to El Niño and the NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation). They deduced that NAO conditions alone could explain Europe’s extreme winter and the large-scale cold temperatures in the United States

The CSI Team found abundant historical evidence of heavy mid-Atlantic snowstorms whenever an El Niño and a negative NAO acted in concert, supporting their conclusion that the record-setting snowstorms were the result of natural causes.

But could global warming have elevated the potency of this dynamic duo? The CSI Team didn’t find a connection.

Huge NZ Earthquake

22 Feb 11 - Christchurch has been hit by a 6.3 magnitude quake 5km deep and 10km southeast of the city – closer and shallower than the 7.1 jolt that hit the city on September 4.


Here's how reports describe the scene:

Horror and chaos. Dead bodies lying around. Christchurch Airport closed. Cars completely crushed. Emergency services trying to extract people from rubble. People trapped in buildings. "Very violent" shaking.

Roads completely torn up. Sewage coming up and flooding. Elderly are all crying. People can't get out of their houses. Cars halfway sunken into the road. A bus sunken halfway into the road

It smells horrible. Roads packed with cars. Not enough police or ambulances. Houses all collapsing. A total war zone. Many large aftershocks. The spire on the Christchurch Cathedral has collapsed.

Food Inc

Cap And Trade Bedtime Story

Healing Honey For Wounds And Infections

You’ve heard that a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, but with a spoonful of honey you can forget the medicine all together. After decades of turning up their noses at this ancient cure, doctors are now starting to turn sweet on honey.

Honey is not only a tasty sweetener, but a natural antibiotic and wound healer. Four thousand years ago the Egyptians used honey to treat infected wounds.

Aristotle (384-322 BC) claimed that honey was “good as a salve for sore eyes and wounds.”

Greek physician, Dioscorides (40-90 AD), considered it “good for all rotten and hollow ulcers.” In India honey is said to be a panacea for eye diseases.

Five Crazy New GMO Foods

Who would have known 20 years ago that so many of the foods that we eat would be produced in a lab rather than nature?

Scientifically designed seeds are becoming a larger than ever portion of our diet and for the most part, it’s difficult for the consumer to even realize it because of a lack of labeling.

When All Drugs Were Legal

Libertarians propose an immediate end to the drug war. This would be a dramatic course change for the United States but, as we’ll see, it’s really not so radical – it would just return us to the successful libertarian drug policy America had for most of its history.

For most of U.S. history, all drugs were legal. How legal?

As libertarian writer Harry Browne put it, "Few people are aware that before World War I, a 9-year-old girl could walk into a drug store and buy heroin."

In fact, before Bayer sold aspirin, it sold Heroin™ as a "sedative for coughs." (As a German company, Bayer was forced to give up the trademark after World War I under the Treaty of Versailles.)

Healing & Preventing Heart Disease With Nutrition

Doctors tell us that cardiovascular disease cannot be cured, but instead can only be managed, primarily with drugs such as statins.

Likewise they would also have us believe that the best way to prevent cardiovascular problems is through the use of statins and daily aspirin, along with avoiding being overweight.

In a sense, the doctors are right - cardiovascular disease cannot be cured by mainstream medicine.

However, cardiovascular disease can be cured and prevented by whole food nutrition, and what doctors know about the links between diet, weight and heart disease is mostly wrong.

Collapsing Empire

As of September 23, 2010, the United States ranked forty-ninth for both male and female life expectancy combined.

Just to underscore the rapidity of the decline, as recently as 1999, the U.S. was ranked by the World Health Organization as 24th in life expectancy. It's now 49th.

There are other similarly potent indicators. In 2009, the National Center for Health Statistics ranked the U.S. in 30th place in global infant mortality rates.

Out of 20 "rich countries" measured by UNICEF, the U.S. ranks 19th in "child well-being."

Out of 33 nations measured by the OECD, the U.S. ranks 27th for student math literacy and 22nd for student science literacy.

In 2009, the World Economic Forum ranked 133 nations in terms of "soundness" of their banks, and the U.S. was ranked in 108th place, just behind Tanzania and just ahead of Venezuela.

Doomsday Seed Vault

So when Bill Gates decides through the Gates Foundation to invest some $30 million of their hard earned money in a project, it is worth looking at.

No project is more interesting at the moment than a curious project in one of the world’s most remote spots, Svalbard. Bill Gates is investing millions in a seed bank on the Barents Sea near the Arctic Ocean, some 1,100 kilometers from the North Pole.

When Gates, Rockefeller and Agribusiness get together on a project, it is prudent to take notice. If past deeds are any indicator, those who have taken it upon themselves to locate and store seeds in this secure facility are not benevolent servants of humanity, nor the preservers of life.

This is organic seed, not their GMO terminator seed. Read more and share your comments.

Don't Fear The TSA

The Opt Out Alliance is a project sponsored by Liberty Guard, a non-partisan, non-profit organization with one specific mission: Protect and Defend Individual Liberty.

Liberty Guard is working to create a nation wide team of activists who are committed to defending liberty from alllevels of government. Despite growing concerns about unconstitutional tactics and the ballooning federal debt, the TSA is set to receive billions of dollars over the next year to buy hundreds of additional body scanners for airports, expand programs like VIPR highway checkpoints, and increase TSA presence in rail and bus terminals nationwide.

To request a FREE Traveler's Rights card, click here.

I don't fly, what about you?

False Spring?

Just when I thought that Spring really would arrive on schedule, I was reminded of the weather forecaster who predicted that the Pacific Northwest would experience below normal temperatures in late February. Almost like a second winter.

I wanted him to be wrong.

It appears he was able to make his unfortunately accurate prediction a couple of months ago. Our temperatures at night are in the low teens once again, here in South Central Washington and we're ending up the month with snow flurries.

Hope it's better where you are?