PC Virus Alert -- Protect Yourself

From Americablog

If you are a Windows user you should be aware that a BIG virus will hit tomorrow.

Also, please make sure every Windows machine is patched. Follow the instructions of your Operating system here.

Also, there is a free removal tool being provided by Mcaffee and it can be found here.

Make sure you click on the link on the upper right for the STINGER application.

If they are already infected, the WORM prevents the anti-virus software from updating automatically and it prevents people from getting to security websites. What is worse, if they did not update their OS with the Microsoft patch I sent you before they got infected, the WORM makes the system THINK that it already has that update! What this means is that the end-users Windows OS will not update itself to fix the hole that the Worm is using. The end-user will see a dialog box that tells them their system is already up to date and does not need the patch. It is the WORM that is making the system tell the end user that!

At this point, the only way I can determine that a person can be 100% sure to be un-infected is to run the STINGER application I sent you earlier. I ran it on all of my personal systems. If they cannot get to that site, I would be concerned as that may mean they are infected.

These links have been verified.

Hold the Pistachios

Updated below:

Hold the pistachios! Don't eat them--but don't throw them away yet. The FDA is issuing this advisory after a Central Valley plant issued a recall.

A California food processing plant is voluntarily recalling up to 1 million pounds of roasted pistachio products that may have been contaminated with salmonella, the Food and Drug Administration announced Monday.

The nuts came from Setton Farms in Terra Bella, California, about 75 miles south of Fresno. They were largely distributed in 2,000-pound containers to food wholesalers who would then package them for resale or incorporate them as ingredients in other products, such as ice cream and trail mix.

This is a recall based on testing by Kraft foods and not based on an outbreak of infections. Kraft found strains of salmonella during routine testing.

While no one has gotten sick this could have a another massive ripple effect like the peanut debacle--Setton is the second-largest pistachio processor in the nation.
The FDA says this is directly related to a recall issued by Kroger on Friday, when it yanked several cans of private-label pistachios due to salmonella.

The FDA wants consumers not to eat any pistachio products for now. If you have any on hand, don't throw them out--more recalls could come later, and keeping them on hand will make it easier to trace the contamination.

Update: The FDA has a brand new pistachio recall page on its website. Now you can keep track of pistachio recalls along with the peanut butter recalls which continue to come in every day and now add up to nearly 4,000 products.

Thanks to Steve at YDD for mentioning this in the comments. I have been meaning to post this but stuff interfered.

Too Wet to Plow

Updated Below:

Afters days of rain it is way too wet to garden but the grass is ready for its first mowing of the season. On the way to the mailbox just a minute ago I noticed a couple of fire ant hills that have cropped up along the driveway. That, most unfortunately will require fire ant poison. I really hate using any kind of insecticide or poison but fire ants require special attention here in the south. They will take over if not dealt with summarily. The good thing is that the poison is very specific to fire ants and can be applied in very small amounts and only on the hill. It actually affects the queens reproduction and without the queen the rest of the nest is finished.

Potatoes are just about ready to plant but I am going to give them a few more days of light before I do. The ground temperature is still pretty cool and the sets won't do anything as long as it is below about 50 or so. You gain nothing but a good chance of them rotting if you rush it.

Anyhow, I have finished looking at the several thousand job postings for the day and actually found one that got a resume submitted and now it is time to drag out the lawn mower and mow the grass. This will not only be the first mowing of the season, as I mentioned, but the first time I have done it personally in a couple of years. The yard service was the first thing to go in December so now I have yard chores as well. Fortunately, I have all the equipment and plenty of time in which to do it now and the exercise can't hurt. That's rationalized so off to work.

Play nice. Oh! I also got my two tickets for the Master's in the mail today from a friend. So there will be one day of holiday next week to view the last day of practice next Wednesday. That will be fun. Even though golf is one of the "good things" that has temporarily(I hope) been lost a day in Augusta at the Masters is quite a treat.

Update: So much for mowing. I couldn't get my practically brand new Honda mower started. It will start and run for a minute when I spray some starter fluid in the carb but then it dies. I checked the plug and the fuel lines. It ran a couple of months ago just fine and I ran it out of gas. I filled it with fresh gas and pulled on it for a couple of hours this afternoon. Exasperating! I guess I will have to take it in to the mower place and see what is wrong. My 30 year old tiller starts on the 2nd or 3rd pull but it is an old fashioned cast iron Kohler behemoth with nothing fancy. The Honda is a "Quick Start" OHC super mower with all the safety stuff and interlocks. Probably something simple but I can't figure it out. Probably going to cost me.

Planting the seeds of a revolution

The title of this post is also the title of this op ed by Pulitzer Prize Winner Ellen Goodman of the Boston Globe, which begins

YOU HAVE to admit that this gives new meaning to the idea of a "shovel-ready project." There are now 1,100 square feet on the South Lawn of the White House being transformed into a kitchen garden. If Americans follow the first family's lead, the seed pack will become the new stimulus package. At least we'll have something to do with those pitchforks after the AIG bonus babies surrender their money.

As you would expect from someone like Ellen Goodman it is very much worth the few minutes it will take to go over an read. I did a quick post on the new White House garden but Ellen's piece very much puts a different perspective on what this may mean for all of us. As an organic gardener for more than 30 years and a gardener of one sort or another for all of my nearly 60 years...mind you, some of it seen as terrible punishment when I was a wee lad, it really excites me to see home gardening rise into the mainstream as something that is good to do.

The whole article needs reading but I want to share just a few more bits and some of the facts because this is about more than food and gardening. It is about a revolution in the way Americans think about what they put on the table or in 'Shrub speak' what they "put on their family".

But there is something else about the incredible edible project that also makes me do a fist bump. The Obamas aren't just eating the view, they are eating the lawn.

What Michelle and the kids and the crew did the other day was to drive a shovel right into the heart of that American icon: the lawn. They literally took the most pampered lawn in America, dumped it in the wheel barrel, and carted it away. All that was missing was a chorus of "This lawn is your lawn."

Is it possible that along with local, organic food, the First Garden can promote the thoroughly subversive idea that this symbol has seen its day?

This is the sea change. This is a revolutionary idea...what if we abandoned our obsession with our lawns?

Here are some of the facts and figures from the article:

• 40 million acres of lawn, more than for any other agriculture product
  
• 270 billion gallons of water weekly - enough to irrigate twice as many acres of organic vegetables
• $40 billion per year on seed, sod and chemicals. What a waste!
  

As Goodman notes,

We mow the lawn, we fertilize it, we pesticize it, we water it, for the absurd purpose of keeping this useless patch in a deliberate state of arrested development.

Environmentally, sensibly, she is correct. The chemicals that we dose our lawns with cause massive environmental degradation. Most of it winds up running off into our water supplies where it causes untold harm. The herbicides, pesticides and chemical fertilizers poison our children, pets, and wildlife.

I realize that not everyone is lucky enough to have the space to grow a vegetable garden or even a few square feet of bare earth or even a porch to grow a tomato in a pot. You can still participate in the revolution however. Look around and you may find a CSA or a community garden where you can lease a space or you can patronize a local farmer's market where local farmers and gardeners sell their locally grown produce. There are ways.

Besides reading the article and starting your own vegetable garden or patronizing your local growers...if you have a lawn, reconsider it, especially if you are paying someone like ChemLawn to poison you and your environment.

h/t to teacherken at La Vida Locavore for alerting me to the article.

Too Much Salt

• We eat too much salt:

Americans already eat way more than the recommended amount of salt, and now the CDC finds that even lower recommendations apply to 70% of us.

New data show that the average U.S. adult consumes one-and-a-half teaspoons of salt every day. That's a half teaspoon more than the basic daily recommendation of one teaspoon (about 2,300 milligrams of sodium).

But the recommendation is much lower for people with high blood pressure, people over 40, and all African-American adults. These groups should be eating no more than two-thirds of a teaspoon of salt (about 1,500 milligrams of sodium) per day.

More than two out of three Americans -- some 145.5 million of us -- are in those categories, the CDC now calculates.

The thing is that most of the salt in our diets doesn't come from the salt shaker or from added salt to the foods we cook at home. It comes from processed foods. The American Heart Association says up to 75% of our sodium intake comes from processed foods such as tomato sauce, soup, condiments, canned foods, and prepared mixes.

Salt isn't the only high-sodium chemical in our diet -- there's also baking soda, baking powder, and MSG. And on food labels, you'll see it in a myriad of other ingredients such as disodium phosphate, sodium alginate, sodium benzoate, and so on.

It's OK to add a pinch of salt when you are cooking to brighten flavor but you can reduce or eliminate a lot of the need for salt as a flavor enhancer by using other things to enhance or otherwise brighten up a dish. A bit of grated lemon or orange peel(zest) and likewise citrus juice from lemons to grapefruit. Vinegar and wine are great as well to add a bit depth to a dish. I use balsamic vinegar(an inexpensive one) quite often instead of salt and it only takes a teaspoon or so. You won't actually taste the vinegar but it will definitely improve flavor in such things as soups and stews. I keep white and red vinegar, rice wine vinegar, balsamic and apple cider vinergar on hand all the time. Don't forget a bit of Tabasco or other good hot sauces either(Cholula with the little wooden cap from Mexico is a good one). A tiny bit added to scrambled eggs or cooked veges in combination with a dash of wine vinegar makes a world of difference and really does eliminate the need for much or any salt. If you make a conscious effort to reduce salt you'll find you become far more sensitive to the amount in your food and therefore need even less to get the job done.

The biggest way, again, to reduce the amount of salt in your diet is to get rid of processed foods wherever possible. Try reading the labels for sodium sometimes and you will be shocked at the salt in most of the boxed and packaged foods.

Remember, for most of us, no more than two-thirds of a teaspoon of salt (about 1,500 milligrams of sodium) per day is the upper limit. A few Fritos or a handful of pretzels and you are toast.

Bush Gardens

NYT:

Like a dozen or so other cities across the nation, Fresno is dealing with an unhappy déjà vu: the arrival of modern-day Hoovervilles, illegal encampments of homeless people that are reminiscent, on a far smaller scale, of Depression-era shanty towns. At his news conference on Tuesday night, President Obama was asked directly about the tent cities and responded by saying that it was “not acceptable for children and families to be without a roof over their heads in a country as wealthy as ours.”While encampments and street living have always been a part of the landscape in big cities like Los Angeles and New York, these new tent cities have taken root — or grown from smaller enclaves of the homeless as more people lose jobs and housing — in such disparate places as Nashville, Olympia, Wash., and St. Petersburg, Fla.

Meanwhile, the unemployment numbers continue to increase:

In another snapshot of the ailing economy, the number of workers collecting state unemployment benefits rose to a record 5.56 million earlier this month, while new claims climbed to 652,000 last week, a separate government report showed.

On another front we have The Governor of California: actually taking a positive step with regards to the growing number of homeless in the state and the proliferation of "Bush Gardens".

“Together with the local government and volunteers, we are taking a first step to ensure the people living in tent city have a safe place to stay, with fresh water, healthy conditions and access to the services they need,” Schwarzenegger said in a statement. “And I am committed to working with Mayor Johnson to find a permanent solution for those living in tent city.”

Governor Schwarzenegger has closed down the growing 'tent city' in Sacramento, and offered up the state fairgrounds in an effort to provide some safe, healthy alternatives for those experiencing homelessness. It is a start.

Bad Faith Squared

Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake has the whole deal but if what she is saying is true then Citigroup and BofA have reached the bottom of the sleaze barrel and have punched through the bottom.

As Yves Smith and other predicted, BofA and Citigroup have already begun gaming Tim Geithner's private-public partnership plan (the Public/Private Investment Partnership, or PPIP). Remember our old pal Stanford Kurland, who milked Countrywide for $200 million, and is now financed by Blackrock to buy up toxic mortgages at thirty cents on the dollar? The New York Post says companies like his are being outbid -- by BofA and Citigroup.

Now remember, TARP money was supposed to "unfreeze" the credit market and be used for lending. And the PPiP plan was supposed to get the toxic assets off the balance sheets of the "too big to fail" banks, at prices of .50 to .60 on the dollar, because the banks didn't want to take the hit of selling them at what they are actually worth. But instead, BofA and Citi took the TARP money and bought more toxic assets:

Healthy is Not Hard

You've probably noticed that more and more products in the grocery are being marketed as "better for you". It has become a major part of marketing food. Every food manufacturer wants to define their product as more “healthy” than the other brand or just as healthy as fresh and naturally produced food. Companies are going crazy trying to label food products with all kinds of numbers or symbols, regardless of the truth, that their products are "better-for-you" choices.

It's really not all that hard if you just stop and think and do a little research plus throw in a bit of common sense. Thankfully (with a h/t Marion Nestle) the Strategic Alliance, a component of the Oakland-based Prevention Institute devoted to “promoting healthy food and activity environments,” has produced a working definition of a healthful food. Its report, Setting the Record Straight: Nutritionists Define Healthful Food, (warning PDF) applies three principles:

HEALTHFUL FOOD PRINCIPLES

Healthful Food is wholesome.

• It includes whole and minimally processed fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, eggs, dairy, meats, fish, and poultry.
• It contains naturally occurring nutrients (e.g., vitamins, minerals, phyto-nutrients).
• It is produced without added hormones or antibiotics.
• It is processed without artificial colors or flavors or unnecessary preservatives.

Healthful Food is produced, processed, and transported in a way that
prevents the exploitation of farmers, workers, and natural resources, and
the cruel treatment of animals. The process of healthful food production:

• Upholds the safety and quality of life of all who work to feed us.
• Treats all animals humanely.
• Protects the finite resources of soil, water, air, and biological diversity.
• Supports local and regional farm and food economies.
• Replaces fossil fuels with renewable energy sources.

Healthful Food should be available, accessible, and affordable to everyone.

• Distributed equitably among all communities.
• Available and emphasized in children’s environments such as childcare, school, and after-school settings.
• Promoted within institutions and workplaces, in cafeterias, vending machines, and at meetings and events.
• Reflective of the natural diversity found in traditions and cultures.

That's pretty succinct and easy to understand. It's actually just common sense and reflects a concern for the world we live in and minimizes the negative impact we have on it. Not so surprisingly you will also find that adhering to these principles will make your food taste better and make you feel better. It will also cause you to actually prepare and cook your food yourself instead of relying on someone else to do it for you. Most of all, in the long run, it will save you money and reduce your impact on the planet.

Agent Orange Was "Safe" Too!

Either stupid or insane! The people living on either side of the Rio Grande have every reason to be upset about this harebrained idea and to demand thorough testing and a serious consideration of alternative methods. EPA assurances aside, herbicides are dangerous and anything that kills a wide variety of plant life is not safe to use anywhere or any time. Has everyone forgotten that the government told us DDT, Agent Orange, Chlordane, Round-Up and all the rest of the now banned pesticides and herbicides were safe? (Round-Up is not yet banned but recent testing has shown that it does have deleterious effects on humans). Yes, there is some small chance imazapyr is safe but without years of testing it's hard to say what kind of impact it could have on people, wildlife and the water supply. Holy Shit! Agent Orange is still having an impact in Vietnam today fer Chrissakes! The comment on imazapyr from the EPA is not reassuring..."Imazapyr technical is relatively nontoxic via the oral route of exposure, and only slightly toxic via the dermal and inhalation routes of exposure," What the hell is "slightly toxic"?

Applying herbicides on a 1.1-mile stretch of the U.S. side of the river was part of a test project, Prichard said, but the CBP decided to postpone the $2.1 million experiment to address community concerns.

Residents of two Hispanic communities near Laredo, Texas -- Barrio de Colores and Barrio El Cuatro -- filed a lawsuit late Tuesday asking a federal court to intervene. Prichard said Wednesday morning he was unaware of the lawsuit.

Among the complaints in the lawsuit, the communities allege the CBP failed to assess the environmental impact adequately, failed to consider reasonable alternatives and failed to notify the public adequately.

Somebody with the sense the Goddess gave a crab apple needs to nip this whole idea in the bud before someone decides that the "risk" is minimal. The Rio Grande waterway is habitat to thousands of species of birds, mammals, reptiles and insects and an important part of the Central American flyway(Hello! its spring migration folks!). Has the effect of Imazapyr been tested for long term on all of the species inhabiting the area? Have long term effects on humans and human reproduction been tested? You bet your sweet ass they haven't and before anyone allows the first whiff of spraying there better be a 100% assurance that there is absolutely no risk to anyone or anything. Of course, like in most other similar situations the government will just railroad everyone and or lie about testing and just do it anyway. The reality is that a small herd of goats could probably clear the whole area in just a few months while fertilizing and providing the occasional tasty BBQ for the locals but that is not insane enough and way too low tech.

More Sacrifice?

I missed part of President Obama's press conference last night because I wasn't paying attention to the time. I did, however, catch the strange question from NBC's Chuck Todd. I've mulled it over I still find it hard to believe he, or anyone in the corporate media are so clueless, that they feel justified in asking such a question.

"Some have compared this financial crisis to a war, and in times of war, past presidents have called for some form of sacrifice. [...]

"Why, given this new era of responsibility that you're asking for, why haven't you asked for something specific that the public should be sacrificing to participate in this economic recovery?"

The president answered by pointing all of the myriad ways in which Americans are already sacrificing during this crisis. That should have reset Todd's brain and recalled it to reality but it didn't. In a follow up, Todd asked why Obama has called on "specific" sacrifices from Americans. Once again, the president explained, " American people are making a host of sacrifices in their individual lives."

The problem with Todd's question points out something that the media just doesn't seem to grasp. "Sacrifice" comes in two flavors. The first is "no choice" as in millions of Americans have lost their jobs, homes, savings, and health care. They aren't sacrificing because they want to or because it is the right thing to do. These are the people that President Obama is trying help. These people have already sacrificed quite a bit and it is what is making the economy bad. If the president asks Americans to sacrifice more, it will just make the economy that much worse.

The other kind of "sacrifice" is "voluntary". It's where I have more than I truly need and so I share it with you, even if by doing so I have to eat macaroni one meal a week instead of roast beef. "Sacrifice" is not the millionaire giving his pocket change to a bum on the street...that's some form of charity but painless. Sacrifice entails loss, either involuntary or voluntary. Someone making a seven figure salary that voluntarily gives most of it away to the needy and then lives on the $100,000 left over is sacrificing the "high life" and doing good work but still "sacrifice" is a strong word.

Somehow the media seems to believe the president is going about this all wrong. Obama should ask us to sacrifice more during the crisis. The administration should make conditions even more difficult for Americans. Yes, some of the top 10% should maybe take a little off the top and spread it around or pay a little higher tax rate as Obama has suggested but unless there is another World War where we need to sacrifice for the war effort then Americans are sacrificing plenty, thank you very much.

How can these people be so completely backwards...very strange.

Too Complicated

I would post something about the latest plan to save the world of finance but I don't understand it and so I will pretend to be a Republican and complain about Obama chuckling too much on 60 Minutes.
Then again I could pretend to be the GOP Idiot from Minnesota Michele Bachmann and just threaten armed rebellion, which by the way is kind of dicey for someone in her position. I know she probably hasn't read it but there is the 14th Amendment to the Constitution which, I think, might apply:

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Just Saying...

Anyhow...it is kind of quiet around the blog. It's Spring and the garden is demanding lots of attention and is in direct conflict with my multi-pronged campaign to find gainful employment. I am doing the traditional reactive thing of scanning the thousands of posted jobs on many, many job sites and getting daily emails based on stored search criteria. Most of this are for jobs in my area of expertise. I launch resumes and coverletters to the ones that match my impressive skills and wait, and wait for a response other than "Thanks for the resume...we'll get back to you."
The other prong is proactive and is taking even more time. This is an effort to transition into natural and organic food industry. This means building a network, finding and talking to people in the industry and figuring out how my skills and experience might benefit them. Not easy and I am really starting from scratch. Anyhow, lots of research, lots of letter writing, lots of phone calls looking for contacts and information about the industry.

More than you needed to know, but that is why you are not seeing much activity around here. I am thinking of working nights on the job hunt stuff and days in the garden but I just haven't figured out where I can fit in sleep.

Documenting the Tragedy

Enigma4ever is doing a stellar job of documenting the tragedy that is affecting millions in this country. This is stuff you aren't seeing in the corporate media. Stop by Watergate Summer and her new blog The 2009 Depression and take a look at how your neighbors are being treated by this economy. It is still being called a recession by everyone, but I sure am beginning to feel that depression is more apt.

Greed and Stupid Beget Pain

There is another thing about spending the daylight hours of the the last three days digging in the garden besides fresh air, good exercise and preparing for eating over the coming months and that is, it takes your mind off the fact that the majority of us in the nation are "well and truly fucked".

From Matt Taibbi’s latest article at Rolling Stone:

The mistake most people make in looking at the financial crisis is thinking of it in terms of money, a habit that might lead you to look at the unfolding mess as a huge bonus-killing downer for the Wall Street class. But if you look at it in purely Machiavellian terms, what you see is a colossal power grab that threatens to turn the federal government into a kind of giant Enron — a huge, impenetrable black box filled with self-dealing insiders whose scheme is the securing of individual profits at the expense of an ocean of unwitting involuntary shareholders, previously known as taxpayers. …

…So it’s time to admit it: We’re fools, protagonists in a kind of gruesome comedy about the marriage of greed and stupidity. And the worst part about it is that we’re still in denial — we still think this is some kind of unfortunate accident, not something that was created by the group of psychopaths on Wall Street whom we allowed to gang-rape the American Dream.

A pretty good summary of where we are I would say.

While some might be able to quibble over a few details, Taibbi gets to the heart of the situation we find ourselves in fairly well. The crude and painful reality is that the financial "wizards" have managed, over the last decade or so, to rape and pillage the entire economy. Our national wealth has been hijacked into a vast scheme of money chasing even more money and less and less of our energy and productivity has been used to create tangible things like a sustainable and healthy food system or valuable and useful consumer products or smart and much needed infrastructure. We are no closer to being energy self sufficient, no closer to having a national health care system and more and more people are going hungry. The great majority of the vast resources of the country, and the world's for that matter, have been ruthlessly plowed into meaningless and fundamentally worthless financial investment instruments. In other words, we have spent the last decade or more building a huge pile of fictional shit and what's worse is that we can't even use it for fertilizer for Goddess' sake.

What’s really sad is that it appears a huge number of apparently intelligent people still don’t see the big picture. Even sadder, it seems, is that this large number includes the Obama Administration, which appears to be in tweak rather than overhaul mode. My fear is that the people closest to the game and complicit in its creation are the ones in the positions to do something material to get some badly needed corrections in place. One might despair!

It's Spring Sir!

The immortal words of Max Klinger always come to mind on the first day of Spring. It is such a lovely day I have decided that in honor of the Vernal Equinox ( with happened at 0744 this morning BTW) it is a great day to go get another load of horse manure. You never have enough horse manure! It is still cool so I won't get too work up and then I can come back and continue preparing for all the planting that will happen over the next couple of weeks. Darn seed potatoes still haven't come and it is past time for them to be in the ground. Maybe today.

More on the White House Garden

I know this is only interesting to us gardeners but this is interesting:

On Friday, Michelle Obama will begin digging up a patch of White House lawn to plant a vegetable garden, the first since Eleanor Roosevelt’s victory garden in World War II. There will be no beets (the president doesn’t like them) but arugula will make the cut.

The First Lady said that while the organic garden will provide food for the first family’s meals and formal dinners, its most important role will be to educate children about healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables.

The Obamas evidently like Mexican cooking and the garden will have cilantro, tomatilloes and hot peppers. I sure hope they have better luck with cilantro than I have. Every time I try and grow it, it bolts before I have had a chance to really harvest any. They also have lettuces planned that will include red romaine, green oak leaf, butterhead, red leaf and galactic. There will be spinach, chard, collards and black kale. For desserts, there will be a patch of berries. And herbs will include some more unusual varieties, like anise hyssop and Thai basil. Something really cool is that a White House carpenter who is a beekeeper will tend two hives for honey.

I have spent a large part of the day in the garden today and yesterday. It does take work but the rewards are great. All the peas planted last week are up and we strung the support for them today. Pak Choi and other Chinese cabbage is going well as is the roquette, chard and lettuce. Spinach hasn't broken through yet but the first of the French breakfast radishes are peaking out. Onions got mulched well yesterday as did the garlic and everybody got a drink of fish emulsion. Cauliflower, cabbage an brocolli plants are all starting to settle in and show some growth. Didn't lose a one to the shock of transplanting. Leeks are still basically invisible but I think I see some growth. I also managed to put in a new 4x6 asparagus bed yesterday. I won't get any this year and not a lot next but by year after we should be rolling in the stuff.

Normal May Be a Ways Off

In the cover story for the next issue of the Washington Monthly, James Galbraith, a University of Texas economist and senior scholar with the Levy Economics Institute, has a sobering analysis of the economic situation we now find ourselves in, just how serious the economic crisis is, and why the current plan may be well short of an effective solution.

In short, if we are in a true collapse of finance, our models will not serve. It is then appropriate to reach back, past the postwar years, to the experience of the Great Depression. And this can only be done by qualitative and historical analysis. Our modern numerical models just don't capture the key feature of that crisis -- which is, precisely, the collapse of the financial system.

If the banking system is crippled, then to be effective the public sector must do much, much more. How much more? By how much can spending be raised in a real depression? And does this remedy work?

It is not pretty and discusses how a lot of the plans and assumptions are based on economic models that don't really address the complexity of the situation as it now stands. The key assumption, that of a self-stabilizing economy, is at the root of why this recession is no like the other post war recessions. Bascially, Galbraith believes that the "return to normal" is off in the distance, and the steps taken by the White House, so far, are going to come up short...way short.

If Galbraith is right, and his arguments make sense, it means that tens of millions more Americans will be out of work over the next five years, regardless of the current stimulus. It means that the big banks really are failed and worthless and that they will never resume normal lending in spite of how much money the Treasury pumps into them. It means seriously bad times.

Galbraith just doesn't talk gloom and doom and does offer some recomnendations for a more comprehensive approach... This is definitely worth a few minutes of your time.

What's Obama doing with a Hoe?

From ABC News: There will be a White House vegetable garden. The article doesn't say anything about it being organic but if the First family family will eat the produce then you know it will be. It will be interesting to see if the family actually spends any time in the garden doing the chores like weeding and picking off the occasional pest. A lot of people, like Alice Waters, have been pushing for this and it seems it will come to pass.

Good job!

Chicken Crimes or Not?

I'll be in court this morning. One of the locals got charged with violating local zoning ordinances due to his pet chickens. Andrew Wordes has a dozen or chickens in the back yard and someone complained that he was violating the rules against livestock. One part of the city zoning says chickens are livestock and another part excludes them. There is a very active backyard chicken group in the area and they are meeting at the courthouse this morning to support Andrew and yours truly will be there. Interestingly, so will CNN and all the local TV stations. For some reason this little spat has garnered quite a bit of publicity and even hit the national news. I may even be on CNN this morning!
I don't have chickens(yet) but I resent the city telling me I can't keep a few around if I want to. All the other cities around allow a up to 25 or 30 "pet chickens" except Roswell. I can understand some limits and restrictions but I have over an acre of room and no immediate neighbors and a dozen or so chickens wouldn't bother anyone. Besides, depending on how the economy goes producing your own eggs may be a matter of survival and not just a hobby.
So anyhow, this morning is set aside for the right to keep chickens. If you happen to be watching the local Atlanta news or even CNN today you may see me and the other chicken supporters. We are all wearing something yellow so we will be easy to spot.
I'll be back later.

Morning Break

I have to run out and find some more peat pots...my tomatoes and peppers need some more room but if you have a few minutes you can use them wisely by reading Joe Bageant's latest essay, Skinny Dipping in Reality. It will be worth the time.

I especially liked the part beginning with this paragraph:

Enter Buddhism. It is damned near impossible for any literate person to launch off on a teleological trajectory without being sucked into the gravitational force of Buddhism. Especially if the launch is powered by LSD, which is the difference between a journey on foot and a ride in a rocket sled. By the way, there is no Buddhist commandment that says, "Do not take drugs," though most Buddhists do not. Nor is there one that says, "Do not drink," though it's not the most recommendable thing to do. Buddhist leader Trungpa Rinpoche, founder of Boulder's Naropa Institute, got drunk often, got laid too, and was very controversial for it. Our American Calvinism makes us equate morality and rightness with prohibition, especially of pleasure. The Christian church has always been about controlling its followers. Buddhism is not so much about prohibition, except for harming life. It's not even about religion, but more about the ultimate order of the world and liberation.

Everybody Is Irish Today

Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh or Happy St. Patrick's Day. I actually celebrated my Irish heritage on Sunday with the corned beef and cabbage and soda bread. Even though it is not really Irish it seems to have developed into an "Irish" thing here in the U.S. Most likely it got associated with the Irish back in the days when the Irish immigrated due to the potato famine(An Gorta Mór) in Ireland and settled in close proximity with the Jews in places such as New York and Boston. The typical Irish were too poor in Ireland to eat beef and when they did "ha'e meat" it was probably a pork joint. Cabbage and potatoes were a part of the regular fare though, at least until the Great Famine. If you have an opportunity to spend anytime in Ireland, especially out in the country, you will still see evidence of the disaster of the potato blight. Estimates are that a million Irish died from starvation and another million emigrated, mostly to the U.S. Most historians consider the famine(between 1845 and 1852) as a dividing line in Irish history. It surely changed Ireland forever and had a huge impact on America.

So today is a great day to celebrate the contributions made by our Irish ancestors to what American is today and even if you have no Irish blood.. today it is ok to pretend that you do.