THEPROGRESSIVEPATRIOT.NET

Yet Another Way Capitalism Will Kill

Leslie@theprogressivepatriot.net (Leslie Blanchard) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 21:27:00 GMT

Yet Another Way Capitalism Will Kill Us

I believe most of us agree that capitalism has effectively killed the middle class of America. It's the top 5%'ers and then there's us. I believe we can also agree that capitalism has killed our manufacturing base here in the States, manufacturing is still needed -- it's just outsourced to people who feel lucky to receive a dollar a day as a living wage.

Lately, there has been a lot of attention on obesity and food safety in our country. Even our first lady is making it her mission to try and get us to eat healthier. I'm not so sure that she fully understands the forces she is battling.

I can't remember if it was three or four years past when we had the great pet food recall. I lost my best friend- my wonderful cat Nolan, who had once actually saved my life because some company’s profit margin was more important than safe pet food. Since then we have had massive recalls of everything from peanut butter to lettuce, MRE's for our troops, Pringles to gravy mixes, literally from soups to nuts. Movies like King Corn, Food Inc. and other documentaries that are basically only seen by a small percentage of the public have tried to sound a warning bell. I do believe most of us in America are a little bit more cautious of the food we ingest and where it comes from. But not nearly enough of us are aware of how desperate the situation has become.

So, what has this got to do with capitalism? Well just think about it. Our government a.k.a.”big business” -- which includes food manufacturers, pay plenty of bucks so that their products can go uninspected, straight from their facilities to our grocery store shelves. They become experts at making chemicals taste better than real food; they bought out nearly 100% of family farms which have now become owned by the corporations whose most important operating principle is to make a huge profit. Whereas farmers, for generations have struggled to break even by producing things they know to be nutritious, crops that they are not afraid of putting their family name on. Gone are the days of the family farm. I recently heard a story about a farmer who was struggling but was still fighting to keep his farm. Unfortunately, his farm happened to be in close proximity to a factory farm which was growing genetically modified corn. When they had a great deal of wind the plants and the seeds did what nature intended, they spread, they reseeded and some of the farmer’s corn was tainted by Monsanto's genetically modified seed. Now-sure we can all understand why the farmer was upset, his pure crop of corn was contaminated. But his outrage was actually over the fact that the factory farm was suing him for stealing their seed. Welcome to America folks. The most ridiculous part of this entire tale is that government allowed the suit to take place, so once again the little guy gets raped by the corporations.

That seems bad enough, but now consider the fact that the worst of the worst, the most unhealthy, most artificial, most manufactured food costs much less to produce and Corporate America makes a lot of it. You are I may try and stay away from buying items we know to be bad for us. We may try hard to avoid processed food buy food that we believe to be fresh like vegetables and fruits. But life has become so hectic; we usually grab the quickest thing we can. So this cheap manufactured food has started to shape the food supply chain. That cheap low-quality and dangerous food supply ships straight to lower income neighborhoods to concentrated working-class neighborhoods were the folks can't afford to pay top dollar for something that says it's fresh.

In the course of America's history we've all tried to evolve and broaden our food sources. This wasn’t that harmful when it was in the hands of America’s farmers. Nowadays nutrition isn't even a consideration by 95% of the corporations that "manufacture food". Just that phrase "manufactured food" should scare the hell out of you. If you've never seen Soylent Green, I suggest you do so. The bottom line of all of these companies is to make profit, they do that by processing foods so that they'll have the shelf life of the cockroach's lifespan. This industrialized food manufacturing has gone hand-in-hand with the rise of capitalism. The process of mass production was solely devised to provide cheap food, and soon came to include developing their own retail outlets and taking control of the supply chain. No forethought, no afterthought, and no intent of conscience about what these foods were doing to the people who could not afford to buy anything other than manufactured crap.

Processing foods like grains, vegetables and fruits removes most anything that resembles nutritional value such as micronutrients, Vitamins A and D, complete proteins all of these had to be removed because the food would've rotted if not consumed within a short period of time. That would hurt the bottom line. If you look at the diets of the very lowest social economic classes we have left, slum dwellers, industrial workers -- many of whom are now laid off and unemployed, and yes even indentured servants(that's another story I'll tell you later) historically these folks diets have higher cases of blindness due to the lack of vitamins, weak bones, scurvy, iron deficiency and much worse. Because most of the calories they have consumed in their lifetimes have come from refined grains using alcohol- which is one of the most efficient ways of processing and transporting grains.

I've said for a long time now that the inmates are running the Asylum. A lot of that was proven over the last week or two with all the lies, blatant propaganda, and race baiting that has occurred over the HCR bill. First they want to feed us crap which will make us sick, then they want to ship all the good jobs overseas to people even poorer than our own citizens, and almost as a last insult, they try to fool us into believing that health care reform will mean death panels.

I say to you that they have these death panels sitting up there in their corporate offices making decisions that will cause even more hunger in America, more food insecurity, more food stamps to be used, all the while increasing food production and making sure they get a big paycheck.

In 2008 the USDA predicted an increase of families to be suffering from food insecurity to 49 million families 13 million more than 2007. 50% of all US children will be on food stamps sometime in their childhood. An outrageous percentage of these children will be Black, approximately 80 to 90%. This was published in last November's edition of archives of pediatrics and adolescent medicine.

Clearly increased food output does not cure hunger. You may wonder how hunger can be an issue because we're told that America is the fattest country in the world and have a higher rate of obesity especially in childhood than any other place on the planet. So to people that don't really stop and think about it, it must seem that for everyone to be this heavy, this sick, they must eat too much food. And there is a lot of propaganda perpetuated in the media that tries to make us believe that these folks just don't know any better, that they make the choice to eat poorly because they love junk food and sugar. But as we all seem to be merging into one social economic group we are beginning to learn, that in fact, this is not true. People buy what they can afford and what they can afford is manufactured poison. There are quite a few community programs going on to try and reverse this trend. Just one of which is being run by Triscuit, called home farming try and help folks learn to grow some of their own food. If you go to a Lowe's or Home Depot you'll see more kit gardens so that people in urban and suburban areas can produce a part of their own diet. But it's not enough.

My mother outlaw is a very prolific gardener, and seed saver. She sees this as a way to contribute to society and hopefully to teach folks that they don't have to rely on processed crap. They can eat cheaper, be more independent, and actually feel better simply by growing their own greens and tomatoes. She's teaching people the value of buying heirloom seeds that have not been genetically modified, saving and trading these seats with others. I know my readers hear me talk about the fact that the government has been dumbing us down for generations -- genetically modified food is one of the ways they are accomplishing that.

So yeah, there are death panels, they're just not in the new HCR bill they are in the boardrooms, they are out playing golf with their Senators, they are buying up every acre of land that was publicly owned to perpetuate their own fortune at our expense. I've seen firsthand how excited a child gets when they plant a seed and a few weeks later a little green shoot pops up out of the ground, then in another few weeks I've seen them beam with pride when they are able to cook or simply eat what they planted. But government Corporatism doesn’t want that taught in schools.

Within our United States the four deadliest diseases are caused by "the Western diet", high in refined carbohydrates, high fructose corn syrup, added fats and animal byproducts. The diseases are heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer. While they tell you we don't need health care reform they conveniently leave out the high cost of treating illnesses caused by our diets, of treating obesity related illnesses. Those are acceptable costs because corporations are making money, we have too many poor people in the United States to begin with and so what are a few deaths? And that statement might shock quite a few of you but think back over the last 50 years, Democratic President LBJ gave us Medicare, signed the Civil Rights Act into law, waged a war on poverty. I woke up this morning to hear Newt Gingrich call Pres. Johnson a failed president. I have not heard any Republican dispute that, nor have I heard anyone that holds tea parties dispute that. If that doesn't tell you about the character of these people that are trying to subvert healthcare reform, if it doesn't highlight for you their elitist, racist, genocidal agendas I don't know what will.

The free-market system is to blame for the dangerous and harmful destruction to our food supplies. Maximum yield and maximum profit trump everything else- all other considerations are simply tossed away. Capitalism's insanity when it comes to food and overproduction and factory farming and cruelty to animals such as caged chickens and chained veal has had perhaps the most devastating effects on our population. Even more devastating than the industrial military complex. The capitalistic land of plenty has produced plenty of illness, plenty of waste, plenty of poison and plenty of technology to kill us - yet nothing to alleviate poverty and sickness and suffering. President Obama tries to do one small thing, actually only a drop in the spit bucket, and they post signs on Interstate 70 in Missouri urging people to take up arms against our government. Missouri used to be family farmland, so did Iowa and Kansas and many other states. But now the piggies are running scared so they pump up the volume of lies and misinformation, pit us against one another; force us to paint every other person as an "other" all in an attempt to protect the bottom line.

Now if we just back away from the shores of America and see what food is like on a global platform we see how ridiculous the situation has become. Products farmed in every corner of the world markets are harvested shipped and yes processed to serve people in other parts of the world. Apple juice could be made with Washington apples yet we import most of it from Mexico and Canada even China. There's enough food in this world to feed every man woman and child a healthy diet, a non-processed diet. Yet we have millions of people that starve every year. All in the name of capitalism and free markets.

A kilo of coffee in a place like Uganda or Columbia costs about $.10 to grow. The poor farmers in these countries sell it to the food Corporation for around $.14-$.15. But when you pull it off the shelf you're going to pay seven dollars a pound. The Ugandan farmer can't feed his family, the workers at the production warehouse oversees can't afford to feed their families. But the owners of the approximate 2 1/2 million food corporations in the U.S. -- the proprietors of these corporations like Wal-Mart, Kroger’s, Nestlé's, Kellogg's, Monsanto, Archer Daniels Midland these guys can feed the whole entire neighborhood and feed them well!! Caviar, smoked salmon, champagne and fancy glasses that they hold with their blood diamonded hands

So I guess the moral to this is that we need to understand that everything is political! Everything from toilet paper, bananas, to medical records is political. And everything that is political is capitalistic. And everything that is capitalistic is dangerous to our health.

Those tea party wing nuts who put the sign up on I 70-might just get a revolution, but not the kind they're thinking of. We need to watch out because at the rate the population of the world is growing is not sustainable therefore it is not profitable, and therefore we are all in danger of becoming expendable.

©You say you want a revolution
Well you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be alright
Alright Alright

-30-

Where I'm Coming From

Leslie@theprogressivepatriot.net (Leslie Blanchard) — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 20:58:00 GMT

When I first started this blog I had every intention of making it a hotbed of discourse on politics, the declining status of America, and what I thought would help to get us back to where we all want America to be.

Since that time, I’ve grown older, perhaps wiser, and caboodles more disheartened. I still believe we can change the world, I just no longer have an idea how in the hell to do so.

I’ve become much less of a Democrat and much more of a Socialist. For you Neanderthals that don’t really know what socialism is- suspend your closed, judgmental minds and do some studying. (Quick lesson- a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.) It’s not fascism, it’s not Hitlerism, and whether you want to acknowledge it or not- it’s a fact that we have many socialist concepts in action in America. The police department, social security, public libraries and on and on. If I find the energy and the desire to do so I’ll write a few more entries to explain it more fully - even tho it probably won’t make a difference.

Anybody that knows me, is a regular reader, or follows me on Twitter know that I say certain truths over and over again.

1. America is no longer a Democracy. Democracy means that we hire or vote people into office to carry out our wishes. Hell that hasn’t happened since I was about 3 years old. Corporate interests buy the politicians and the policies. A fact recently approved by the “Supreme” court when they ruled that corporations are people. Call me crazy but I don’t ever remember seeing a candidate named “Monsanto” on any ballot I‘ve cast.

2. Everyone is always hollering (especially the little girls who hold Tea parties) “we don’t want to be like France, it’s a terrible socialist country that goes against everything “we” believe in.” Sorry to shatter your delusion, this makes me wonder if you’re drinking some shrooms in your tea, but I happen to have some French acquaintances that work here in Texas. They frequently comment that they don’t get the American system. “In France, our politicians are scared of us, the citizens. They know if they don’t do what we tell them we want done-they will be out of a job. In our country the government is afraid of the electorate. Here in America-you all seem to be scared of the government. What’s up?” What’s up is that France is more of a true democracy than America is.

3. The top 1% could not be the top 1% if the rest of us weren’t the bottom 99%. A person cannot be grotesquely rich unless there are people living below the poverty level. The rich get rich off of the poor’s labor and they get their bought and paid for politicians to make us laborers pay a higher percentage of taxes for the benefit of making them rich.

What is so damn difficult to understand about the 3 points above? I know our education system sucks. I know that they have been dumbing us down with fluoride, and food additives, junk food television, and ambiguous news media…but damn my cats can figure this chit out.

So basically, I’ve kinda let the blog go. Those of you who follow me on Twitter or Facebook have most likely noticed a difference in my output lately. Without going into detail my health has been on the decline and I’m just unable to work at such a volume as everybody is used to. I do use Hootsuite to schedule the stories I dig up. I still research and dig and try to get items out that need to be known - to you. I’m just not able to be at the computer nearly as long as I used to be…so I’m not able to have as many conversations as I once did. I miss them and I know some of ya’ll do as well.

Most of you know I’m spunky and a fighter. I’m not throwing in the towel. Just finding more tools to aid me in my mission, and trying to set up a schedule that my body will be content with. I appreciate that ya’ll have not given up on me, even though I haven’t commented on what’s going on. So now you know- I’m just rearranging, adapting and still fighting the good fight. I feel blessed to have ya on my side. And I’m confident that in the next few weeks I’ll find a schedule and work pace that doesn’t harsh my mellow.

As always-let’s work together towards Peace.

Wolf Petitions and More

Leslie@theprogressivepatriot.net (Leslie Blanchard) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:05:00 GMT

Wolf Petitions:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/162420023 (deadline soon)

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/save-swedens-wovles-from-death

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/stop-wolf-poaching

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/7/stop-killing-our-wolves-in-alaska-and-the-usa

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/save-gray-wolves

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/wolves-need-you-now-please-save-them

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/weekly-howl-wolves

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/ask-ken-salazar-to-step-down

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/917996645

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/212960066

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/stop-the-second-extincton-of-wolves-in-the-wild

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/165659664

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/418108793

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/624868053

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/376954730

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/10/stop-hunting-of-wolves-in-north-america

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/save-gray-wolves

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/re-instate-british-wolves

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/4/help-save-wolves-worldwide

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/help-swedish-wolves

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/24/save-the-wolves

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/3/save-wolves-the-beautiful-creatures

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/22/save-the-wolves

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/wolves-in-slovakia-need-help

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/4/stop-sarah-palins-cruel-aerial-killing-of-wolves

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/37/stop-killing-endangered-animals-and-all-wolves

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/252884015

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/save-our-alaskan-wolves

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/27/help-protect-swedish-wolfs

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/133558152

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/kjemp-for-de-siste-rovdyrene-help-us-to-save-the-last-top-predators

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/stop-gray-wolf-slaughter

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/23/save-the-wolves

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/the-wolf-petition

OTHER PETITIONS

https://secure.peta.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1894&autologin=true&c=weekly_enews

http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5154/t/9063/tellafriend.jsp?tell_a_friend_KEY=1692

https://secure.defenders.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=1691&autologin=true&JServSessionIdr004=h0s0504vx7.app223a

http://www.environmentnewjersey.org/clean-water/fish-kills?id4=ES

http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=1tFqyyM6BplJSRMurPMbO6G2tFzacl2%2B

https://secure3.convio.net/gpeace/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=624&autologin=true&JServSessionIdr004=zirlhc5406.app332a

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/campaign.faces?siteId=3&campaign=ASPCAHorsePetition&ThirdPartyClicks=EEA_030110_HorsePetition_m
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/397317936

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/3/stop-brutal-horse-fighting-in-china

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/ban-dog-and-cat-meat-in-china

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/14/in-support-ofthe-principles-and-aims-of-wwwcavaliermattersorg

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/482/petition-to-stop-brookhaven-towns-law-banning-feeding-feral-cats

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/leave-african-wilddogs-in-africa

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/ban-hunting-of-grizzly-bears-in-canada

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/get-better-food-and-recreation-in-nursing-homes-and-group-facilities

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/ucla-is-profiting-from-animal-torture

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/help-clean-up-the-sepulveda-wildlife-preserve

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/shelter-will-kill-this-dog-instead-of-returning-to-owners

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/next-time-200-dogs-will-die-drownedun-nuovo-canile-per-monterotondo

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/188/justice-for-the-pit-stop-puppy39s

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/denmark-obey-your-law-on-animals-in-circus

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/4/help-stop-abusive-gooserides-in-belgium

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/205866247

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/save-the-bonobo

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/protect-moray-firth-dolphins

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/painted-dog-exports-to-far-east

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/108252854

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/denmark-obey-your-law-on-animals-in-circus

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/save-the-tawatinaw-river

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/The-Wildlife-Trade-Tiger-Temple-Behind-the-Cloak-of-Buddha

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/medical-tragedy-inexcusable-newborn-dies

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/4/send-emails-to-end-the-seal-hunt---we-dont-stop-fighting-until-the-seal-hunt-end-forever

http://animals.change.org/actions/view/stop_animal_abuse_amend_the_prevention_of_cruelty_to_animals_act_1960

http://www.change.org/kinship_circle/actions/view/the_iditarod_dog_sled_race_hurts_and_kills_dogs

http://animals.change.org/actions/view/take_action_for_the_unwanted_dogs_of_taiwan

http://animals.change.org/actions/view/speak_out_against_the_python_hunt

http://www.change.org/nwf/actions/view/help_protect_the_american_pika_from_global_warming

http://www.change.org/nwf/actions/view/tell_the_senate_protect_polar_bears_from_global_warming

http://animals.change.org/actions/view/faxes_and_letters_needed_in_animal_torture_case

http://animals.change.org/actions/view/sign_your_name_in_support_of_a_universal_declaration_on_animal_welfare

http://www.change.org/kinship_circle/actions/view/end_live_bait_dog_training_in_indiana

http://www.change.org/wilderness/actions/view/stop_expanded_logging_in_alaskas_tongass_national_forest

http://www.change.org/greenpeacefund/actions/view/stop_commercial_whaling_now

http://animals.change.org/actions/view/tell_huffington_post_to_stop_spreading_misinformation_about_pit_bulls

http://animals.change.org/actions/view/help_end_wildlife_trade

http://animals.change.org/actions/view/say_no_to_captive_pandas?

http://homelessness.change.org/actions/view/tell_miami_not_to_punish_people_for_feeding_the_homeless

http://www.change.org/greenpeacefund/actions/view/tell_president_obama_dont_overturn_the_whaling_ban

http://animals.change.org/actions/view/ban_fur_farming_in_finland

http://www.change.org/wilderness/actions/view/tell_congress_to_permanently_protect_the_arctic_national_wildlife_refuge

http://e-activist.com/ea-campaign/clientcampaign.do?ea.client.id=24&ea.campaign.id=5827&ea.param.extras=Source:UAN

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/save-kenyas-lake-turkana

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/4/save-the-tongass-stop-the-s-881-bill

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/ritual-killing

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/stop-the-iditarod

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/natural-horsemanship-horse-abuse

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/action-day-march-15-join-wordwide-protests-against-the-seal-hunt-in-canada

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/ban-joan-rivers

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/save-african-elephants-from-poachers

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/usps-allows-animals-to-be-sent-priority-mail

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/ban-on-interstate-shipping-of-pets

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/encouage-guardanimal-use-no-more-traps

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/set-killer-whales-free

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/312369699

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/feral-cats-of-beverly-hills

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/5/animal-shelter-cruel-and-horrific-killings

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/2000-clubbed-dogs-in-asylum-to-local-feteni

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/997920804

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/hb-543-alert-help-fight-bsl-in-florida

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/stop-craigslist-from-supporting-child-prostitution-and-human-trafficking

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/ChinaAnimalProtectionLaw

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/renounce-slaughtering-lambs-for-easter

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/9/please-make-phone-calls-to-help-end-the-seal-hunt

http://education.change.org/actions/view/save_the_addictive_disorder_studies_educational_program_at_oxnard_college

http://animals.change.org/actions/view/support_hr_4416_the_great_ape_conservation_reauthorization_amendments_act_of_2010

http://animals.change.org/actions/view/help_ensure_that_animal_torture_remains_a_crime_in_brazil

http://www.change.org/chuckanutconservancy/actions/view/real_protection_for_blanchard_mountain

http://animals.change.org/actions/view/renounce_the_slaughtering_of_lambs_for_easter

http://www.change.org/defendersactionfund/actions/view/urge_president_obama_to_end_the_war_on_wolves

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/campaign.faces?siteId=3&campaign=DOWPolarBear&ThirdPartyClicks=ETA_031110_DOWPolarBear_F

http://action.peta.org.uk/ea-campaign/clientcampaign.do?ea.client.id=5&ea.campaign.id=1806

http://www.nrdconline.org/site/R?i=22B3_h6D0e2S_L_1LAUolA

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/18/president-obama-lets-save-the-polar-bears

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/31/help-protect-the-snow-leopards

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/help-the-primates-in-marak-island

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/3/stop-vivisection-now

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/stop-palins-aerial-wolf-killing-program

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/ban-all-facebook-groups-that-are-hateful-to-animals

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/5/maximum-sentence-for-starving-farm-animals

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/help-for-miia

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/190/justice-for-george-the-pit-bull-puppy-killed-as-act-of-revenge

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/337839958

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/dark-secret-of-the-tigers-farm-in-china

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/202030106

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/whale-meat-sold-as-sushi

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/waza-no-more-dolphins-in-captivity

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/254851459

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/stopcrabsales

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/dont-eat-dogs-or-cats

http://animals.change.org/actions/view/stop_the_slaughter_of_elephants_for_ivory_3

http://www.change.org/friendsofanimals/actions/view/boycott_alaska_until_the_state_stops_targeting_wolves

Thank you formaking this world a better place

Bear Roar Where Is the Man I Voted For?

Leslie@theprogressivepatriot.net (Leslie Blanchard) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 19:16:00 GMT

I have been putting off writing this- hoping something would change. Well something changed that has forced me to write it.

I voted for Mr. Obama. Mr. Obama is not the President I voted for.

Gitmo is still open.

He promised a tax credit of $500 for workers-in fact he promised 95% of workers would benefit from this. He compromised bowing to Republican pressure and lowered it to $400. Not a huge deal unless you are one of the people that don't even make enough to pay income tax, or the people that have to go to food banks, or Toys for Tots for help. That $100 means a lot to THEM.

Here's a direct quote of a promise that has been BROKEN. "No political appointees in an Obama-Biden administration will be permitted to work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years. And no political appointee will be able to lobby the executive branch after leaving government service during the remainder of the administration."

So what happened? Well he granted waivers to several former lobbyists, allowing them to serve in his administration.

The Administration has also granted recusals, where former lobbyists simply recuse themselves from discussions concerning whatever interest it is for which they used to lobby. The recusals have not been made public, and we don't know how many have been issued. Or if they are even being enforced.

If you are waiting on him to make good on his promise to make citizenship easier for undocumented immigrants in 2009. That's been put on hold- at least that's what he said in a speech to the leaders Of Canada and Mexico. But to please his right-wing friends he put into the health reform restrictions to specifically bar illegal immigrants from using their own money to purchase health insurance through any new health insurance exchanges. So now we can dictate how people spend their money? If this is so then I want legislation demanding the top 1% of our population spend their money to pay for the other 99% of the populations health care! Fair is fair.

His campaign pledge to end taxes for seniors making less than $50,000 has fallen by the wayside. It wasn't the economic stimulus bill, also known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It wasn't in his first submitted budget proposal. In fact- it's not mentioned anywhere except in campaign speeches.

End DODT- please....he doesn't think it's important. We can send 30,00 additional troops to Afghanistan without doing a damn thing for Gay and Lesbian soldiers who risk their lives for the very people that discriminate them.

And about Afghanistan- I seem to remember a promise that the first week he was in office he would begin "ramping down" the war in Afghanistan. Or was I high on the medicinal marijuana I use. OH WAIT- that's still illegal.

One thing that really jazzed me that he promised was that there would be 5 days of public comment on proposed legislation to help stop bills being rushed thru in the middle of the night without our knowledge. Well that jazz has hit a sour note. In fact it vaporized into nothingness just like the hijacked airplane that supposedly crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11th.

And seeing the huge calamity and hypocrisy of the Bush initiative "no Child Left Behind" Candidate Obama promised double funding for the 21st Century Learning Centers program, so that it can serve 1 million more children. When the White House released its fiscal year 2010 budget request for the Education Department, it requested exactly the same amount in 2010 for the program as it had spent in 2009 -- a bit over $1.1 billion.

Probably because we had to bail out Obama's largest corporate donor- Goldman Sachs.

He promised to recognize the Armenian genocide.His exact words were "Two years ago, I criticized the Secretary of State for the firing of U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, John Evans, after he properly used the term 'genocide' to describe Turkey's slaughter of thousands of Armenians starting in 1915. … as President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide." Well......... not quite. When he went to Turkey he noticeably left the word "GENOCIDE" out of his talk about historical events. Obama's promise, and his statements while a U.S. senator, indicate that he thought the word itself was important. In 2006, a U.S. ambassador was recalled after he used the word "genocide" in reference to Armenia, which spurred Obama to write a letter to then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saying that he thought the U.S. position on the issue was "untenable." You can read that missive here.

He promised no penalties on hardship withdrawals from 401K's and retirement funds. He just didn't happen. It slipped every-one's mind in the escalating finical crisis we were going through when he took office. Well- the people that could have so desperately used the help- they didn't forget, they just chalked it up to politics as usual.

Then there was that promise about a $3000 tax credit to companies that added jobs. It died in Congress and President Obama didn't even deliver an obituary for it. Congress felt that it wasn't enough of a credit to inspire anyone to add jobs. Obama must have agreed, as he stepped over the dead bill and went on to keep other promises- not sure what promises- probably ones to Big Pharma.

Okay, I overlooked most of the above. But now we come to the issue that has caused me to have to write this Roar. Health-care. Y'all know that health-care is a cause near and dear to me. It's why I am still alive. I thought it was so cool that he promised the health care debate would be argued and debated publicly on C-SPAN. That,s only the tip of the ice burg when it comes to his health care reform policy.

First, and I know I'm not a politician but I am a damned stubborn Texas and here in Texas we know you don't start a robust debate with a compromise. Barrack didn't have the cojones to to go into the fight and say "This is what I want! Make it happen!" He basically entered the arena and said "hey guys, I promised health care reform- pass something even if it's nothing like I promised, I don't care just pass something, and oh yeah could ya do it as a Christmas present to me?"

First of all I NEED to know why the hell (censored) we even need Insurance companies??? Why do we need these middlemen? Think about it- what the hell do they really do? They probably go to Vegas a lot-because their whole industry is based on betting we won't get sick. And when we do- as I did, they said my multiple Sclerosis was a pre-existing condition and dropped me quicker than a warm cow chip. OK so this bill will "supposedly" prevent that from occurring. But they cut the hell out of Medicare so I and many of you are supposed to just bend over and grab our ankles. Sorry Mr. Pres., M.S. won't let me assume that position.

Did anyone aside from me, and all the shareholders notice how high insurance companies stocks closed at Friday? Hmm-inside trading? Did they know that they had a dog in the fight that would better even a Michael Vick trained dog? I asked on Twitter a little while ago- WTF this farce of a bill was acceptable??. Someone replied- it was "the best bill money could buy." Just ask Senator Ben Nelson who sold his vote by making all of us pay for Nebraska's Medicaid Program, and cheating women out of the right to choose.

I feel violated. Mr. Obama campaigned as a left of center democrat. I wanted a very progressive democrat but took the only choice offered me. And sure, it made me proud, validated my beliefs by electing a black man President of the United States. But I was a victim of bait & switch, A lot of us were. He has shown that what he really desire most of all is for people to like him, not rock the boat, don't choose your battles wisely- just don't battle. A line from my favorite move sums it up perfectly. "What we have here.....is Failure to communicate."

Well I can communicate my message #OBAMA FAIL.

Peace ya'll.

Bear Roar for Peace

Leslie@theprogressivepatriot.net (Leslie Blanchard) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:22:00 GMT

BEAR ALERTS

Leslie@theprogressivepatriot.net (Leslie Blanchard) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:26:00 GMT

My life partner calls me "Bear", a nickname she came up with 15 years ago. Her mom, my mother-outlaw also calls me Bear. Oh, BTW I refer to my partner's mother as mother-outlaw, because people won't allow my partner and I to get legally married. The day that happens- I'll call her my mother-in-law. Anyway that has nothing to do with this post, except to let y'all know I'm called Bear.

For a few weeks now I've been wanting to do a semi-regular post just a quick view on something that has caught my attention, or a shout out about something important. I didn't want these little postings to be like my usual ones, I don't intend to research, or link sources, etc. Just a space to get something off my chest. Sort of like on Family Guy when Peter got a segment on the news called "What really grinds my gears". I couldn't think of a "catchy" little term to call these posts until last night. So I'm going to call them Bear Alerts -and they will come in 3 flavors.

A Bear grumble- these will be just little insights into a trending topic i.e. how I feel about Tiger Woods.

Then we'll have a Bear Growl- something has upset me, or something is important for you to know and mainstream media isn't covering it, etc.

Then there will be the occasional Bear Roar. When you see that you may want to be sure your kids aren't around cause the fur gonna be flying and I'll be putting a lot of coins into the swear jar.

I've wanted to write on the whole heath care subject-from a personal viewpoint. But I was worried it would look like a "poor me, pity me, my life is so hard" type of article. Most of my readers and friends from Twitter, Facebook, Friend Feed, Blog Catalog and elsewhere know that I don't look at my life that way. I don't dwell on my health and rarely mention it. And most of you know I have 3 pretty serious medical issues. Those being:

1. Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis

2. Extremely advanced C.O.P.D.

3. Rheumatoid Arthritis

So here comes the Bear Growl for Thursday Dec. 10th.

When did it become so much damn trouble to take a pill daily? There are all these commercials that imply people are too stupid to take a daily medication and should switch medications to weekly, even monthly ones. Even more worrisome and preposterous is the fact that folks are doing it!

I'm sorry, but if your biggest problem in life is having to take a pill every day then you're among the luckiest S.O.B.'s on the planet. And you're putting out to much carbon dioxide when you whine about it. I mean come on! I take a minimum of 23 pills a day, that's right, a minimum. I also use inhalers several times a day, and have to take my pulse ox every few hours, my blood pressure a few times a day and I used to give myself an injection every day. All of these medications do nothing but treat the SYMPTOMS of my illness's. There are no cures. There are no medicines for that- and that's OK, it's just my life and I don't give it a hell of a lot of thought.

When I was first diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis we tried one of the few medications that hopefully would stop it from getting worse (the daily injection). But I was already secondary progressive when diagnosed and the shots did nothing, so I quit them. I'm now in the Primary Progressive Course of the illness and all we can do is try and control symptoms. Of the 23 pills not one of them is for pain- they are to lessen the symptoms; spasticity, fatigue, depression, tremors, esophageal spasms, memory loss, speech problems, cognitive problems, falling down, drop foot, massive muscle cramps, peeing thru a tube, trouble swallowing and much more. It takes me several tries to swallow all the damn pills because I have difficulty swallowing due to M.S. but I don't bitch about it. Hell if I only had to take ONE pill a day it'd be cooler than Christmas!

I do have pain pills, mild ones, by choice. I don't take them on a daily basis even though I am in pain every second of the day. Pot would help- but we know that's not legal either. Government is against love and herbal medications. I take Valium and Darvocet only occasional when I can't handle the pain. So if you are going to sit there and tell me that taking 1 pill a day is too inconvenient, if that is your biggest problem in life... shut the F up!!

I am so sick of every other ad on T.V. being from a pharmaceutical company. I think they should be outlawed. They invent a drug-then think of some new "disease" to market it. 15 years ago we never heard of "general anxiety disorder" or "restless leg syndrome". Hell I have restless leg syndrome because there are times when I can't make my legs stop shaking. My arms and hands are like that too- maybe next year we'll have medicine for restless arm syndrome!

DISCLAIMER: I know people have anxiety disorders, panic attacks and are valid consumers for these drugs. I do not mean to offend anyone that truly needs those medications. But we all know there are many more people taking them than need them. Prescription drug abuse is at an all time high.

The worst part of these commercials is that it takes them 3 times as long to list the "possible side effects" than it does to tell you what the medicine is for. Why can't they get it right- make a medicine that will fix a problem without creating other problems? Hell no- there's no profit margin in that! Then they tell you that you need to go to your Doctor and tell them you want that medicine, and it seems now days a lot of Docs do just give the patient what they ask for.

How about finding a cure for Cancer, for Multiple Sclerosis, for ALS, for Crohn's disease which killed my father-outlaw, or for diabetes which ravaged my Saint of a sister in law for 70 years? How about you stop thinking about the bottom line, and remember back to when you first decided to be a Chemist or a Doctor, or whatever you are, and inspect the reason you picked your career. If you did it for money all along-then get the hell out of the way of people who picked their careers to help people.

These T.V. commercials, and magazine advertisements are ridiculous. I conducted a little experiment last weekend. I watched 4 hours of television and counted the drug ads- 14! There oughta be a law against that crap. Every one of them were ordering you to march into your Doctor's office and tell them that you want to take this pill. Now I'm a very lucky person- I have a wonderful team of Doctors that listen to me. They understand that I know M.S., R.A., and C.O.P.D. on a level they never will (hopefully). If I am taking a medicine that isn't working we sit down together and decide what to do. We always ALWAYS try to not add any more medication. I am my own best health advocate-and YOU are your best health-care advocate. Don't be afraid to question the doctor, especially when it comes to medications. If they want to take you off a daily treatment and put you on a once a month treatment- think about that! What did they have to do to engineer the new drug? How did they shrink 30 days of medicine into 1 dose? Do you really want that in your system?

Don't even get me started on medical insurance. Let's just say I lost mine the day I was diagnosed with M.S., they said it was a pre-existing condition. When I decide to write about that it will be a Bear ROAR.

Basically what I wanted to say is, if you can't manage swallowing one pill a day, if you can't remember you have to do that- then I don't want to drive in traffic next to you. I don't want you to be the checkout clerk at my grocery store, or a teller at my bank. If swallowing one little pill is too much for you and you can't "deal" with it- GET A LIFE!

Learn what real problems are. Go to my Twitter page @1txsage1957, then visit my lists page http://twitter.com/1txsage1957/lists there are 4 lists of Good Causes-with more added daily, charities, NPO's, individual people, and all they do is try to help other people. Check it out! Maybe you will see how lucky you are that the biggest problem you face is swallowing one pill a day.

And that's it for the 1st Bear Growl, there will be another one when something ticks me off, or jazzes me up, excites me. Thanks for reading everybody!

Peace

The Power Came Back On and My Brain Shutdown

Leslie@theprogressivepatriot.net (Leslie Blanchard) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:09:00 GMT

Our power went out about 90 minutes ago, I was distressed. But as I got used to the notion that I was going to have to wait an hour or more, I pulled out my little handy-dandy tape recorder and started working on a new piece for my blog.

The following is what occurred.

"The story of social struggle throughout history is that defeats take place, but people persist. If there's fundamental grievance that remains, people may remain quiet for a while, but people ultimately will rise up against it and things will change." Howard Zinn

I have the utmost respect for Mr. Zinn. However, I don't see that occurring in the world of 2009 going forward. The corporatists, The New World Order, The powers that be, the whatever you want to call them, I think have successfully lobotomized us as a culture. They've molded us to be consumer monsters, no- consumer zombies. Empty, pathetic little people who only feel self worth through that which we possess. Even after we have possession of a new item, we are constantly in search of the next, newest, best one of those items and our self worth wanes until we "achieve" the next level. We only preserve our dignity, only feel worthy when we have latest and greatest toys.

This propaganda is broadcast to us from the time we were in the crib until we're in the grave. We see most of it on film, television and movies. But it's creeping into the Internet which was perhaps the last best hope for humanity. Yes, there are people like me who are still able to use the net to get real news out there, and are still able to write pieces like this. But as I am writing this we are fighting for Internet freedom. There is a movement afoot to control, shutdown, electronically supervise the Internet. It's already happening, we all know this- but we just don't have 100% proof of what they are doing with the data they mine from our communications over the Internet.

From the time we are in the womb our mothers and fathers are conditioned to think that they have to do everything they can before we even pop out to ensure that we can get into the "best" pre-k program, the best pre-school. We must fit in to some stereotypical little mold that the powers that be have cast. With proper names, proper values, proper clothes, proper friends, in order to be let into a god-damned kindergarten. And be certain that if we do not start out on that foot, in that acceptable kindergarten education there is an underlying thought rippling around us, in the cosmos, that we are a lost cause, that we are never going to amount to anything. I mean if we can't get into a "good' pre-k, then grammar school and high school are basically useless- because we don't have the correct pedigree so college is almost impossible to get into. They have made it unachievable to afford, unless you are brilliant, have the "right" connections, or are some kind of freaking wonder-kin. I know within my own family a couple of kids that are extremely, extremely smart but are not able to attend college because there is no financial help for them. It's become next to impossible these days for kids to work and put themselves through college- if it can be done it takes years and by the time they receive their degree they are already behind the eight ball, already behind the rest of the gang out there hunting for jobs.

Jobs which are being shipped overseas right and left, jobs which are being outsourced, jobs which are being made obsolete. We no longer have a manufacturing base left in this country. The idea that we had hoped would occur when we elected Mr. Obama last year, that he would create a whole new manufacturing platform for green jobs, green technology, and that there would be retraining for workers who were losing their traditional manufacturing jobs so that they could become part of the green revolution- That's not happening. No advancements have been made.

The unemployment rate goes up each and every month, each and every week. There are no jobs being created to fill the vacuum and the American workers live's just keep sucking.

Yet we are all still brainwashed into believing that Capitalism is the same thing as Democracy. It Is Not! Capitalism is the most undemocratic principle on the face of this earth. Capitalism is in and by itself cannibalism. The only way that Bill Gates, or Warren Buffet, T. Boone Pickens, or Michael Dell are able to have the extreme wealth that they have is because 95% of the world has little or no wealth. 6 billion people live below the poverty level.

And By Golly- Gee, Yippy the POWER IS BACK ON!!! Hot-damn! I'm doin' so good with my little thoughts being recorded and then the electricity comes on! The paranoid part of me says that those who were listening decided they needed to switch the power on in order to get me to shut up.

And don't ya know- they were right? I'm so hooked by the need of my gadgets and my toys and my computer, and my television. That I'm going to quit working on this now, this piece that I have started and go reprogram everything because I feel empty- knowing that they are working and I'm not using them. Sayonara!!!!