Pat Tillman - the word "Hero" - and "One Fuckin' Illegal War"

Pat Tillman - Hero

This weekend is Memorial Day. A day I'm always reminded about the idea of what makes a "hero".

I noticed that after "9-11" the term "Hero" was cheapened to include Victims and Good Samaritans. Heroes are those willing sacrifice their safety, and lives, for strangers. As our Military has always done. Maybe this Pandemic will remind us of this fact?

If ya dont know, you should know, about a real hero - Pat Tillman.

Traditionally, going all the way back to the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, our wars were started by the Rich. The Poor and Disadvantaged were the ones who fought and died in them. After "9-11" Tillman walked away from a $3.6 Million Dollar NFL contract with the Arizona Cardinals to fight for America. Tillman enlisted expecting to fight Al Qaeda and bring Osama bin Laden to justice. Instead, he was sent to Iraq. Tillman loathed the Iraq War. A voracious reader who consumed many of the world’s great religious texts even though he considered himself an atheist, Tillman was a student of history and formed his own opinions.

He, and his brother, become Army Rangers. With several Tours of Duty in Afghanistan and Iraq. One night standing on a rooftop in Iraq, watching bombs drop on civilians, he is quoted as saying "This is one fucking illegal war". Shortly after that, in 2004, he was killed by "Friendly Fire" in Afghanistan. A cover-up ensued including the destruction of evidence, until four weeks after his memorial when the military had to admit the truth to his family and the country. Tillman’s mother blamed Donald Rumsfeld for the cover-up, Bush’s secretary of defense at the time. Tillman did not want a military funeral. He was cremated instead. At his memorial May 3, 2004 (maybe still available on YouTube?) following an official spouting propaganda about "Heaven" and "Service"  His brother Richard got up to speak, saying - “Pat’s a fucking champion and always will be. Just make no mistake, he’d want me to say this: He’s not with God. He’s fucking dead. He’s not religious. So thanks for your thoughts, but he’s fucking dead.”

After President Trump bloviated about the NFL kneeling protest - Tillman's wife, and founder of the Tillman Foundation, Marie Tillman issued a statement about the president’s invocation of her late husband’s name. “Pat’s service, along with that of every man and woman’s service, should never be politicized in a way that divides us,” she wrote. “The very action of self-expression and the freedom to speak from one’s heart — no matter those views — is what Pat and so many other Americans have given their lives for. Even if they didn’t always agree with those views. It is my sincere hope that our leaders both understand and learn from the lessons of Pat’s life and death, and also those of so many other brave Americans.” There is an irony in suggesting Tillman’s legacy is somehow desecrated by protests that take place during the national anthem because those protests are said to insult the military, when it was that same military, the NFL’s longtime ally, that did so much actual damage to Tillman’s legacy after his death. 

The War in Afghanistan is approaching 20 years -  by far the longest war in US history... and it's still going on. Afghanistan was responsible for harboring the terrorist that attacked us.

The war in Iraq is much more confounding. It was in retaliation for being attacked by Saudi Arabians? while Saudi Arabia continues to be favored by every US President. Even as they go about committing war crimes (with our weapons) in Yemen, murdering American Reporters, Supporting Terrorism world-wide with their extreme view of Islam, known as Wahhabism, and more. 

The Iraq War will rightfully go down in history as the single worst "Policy blunder" in U.S. History. Destabilizing the entire region, killing hundreds of thousands of civilians and creating more terrorism worldwide.  - "This is one one fuckin' illegal war" 
~ Just Say Know ~

Partisan Ship of Fools

Partisanship is defined as - one exhibiting blind, prejudiced, and unreasoning allegiance. With synonyms including – Bias, Discrimination and Factionalism.

 

With a reality of – it’s literally destroying America. Yes, “literally”! Because when we are stupid enough to be Divided, to be Conquered - then we are not United enough to take a stand against real, literal, threats to our Country.  Toxic Food, Water and Air. Unnecessary Foreign Conflicts. 

 Failing Infrastructure that has been coasting and crumbling by with a “D” Grade from the American Society of Civil Engineers! The selling out of our democracy that has turned our Democratic Republic into an Oligarchy. These are literal threats that cost lives, and will be ever worse for our decedents.

Maybe a majority can still agree the George Washington could be a good role model here? (With the one huge caveat, that he was a slaveholder that helped pen the words “All Men Are Created Equal”) Washington single handedly saved the Revolution from implosion. Later, he unprecedentedly stepped down from power. Well, he also warned the American people against the negative impact that opposing political parties could have on the country. During his presidency he witnessed the rise of the Democratic-Republican party in opposition to the Federalists and worried that future political squabbles would undermine the concept of popular sovereignty in the United States.

When George Washington became President in 1789, there were no political parties. Political parties first emerged during Washington’s first term in office with Alexander Hamilton’s Federalist Party in 1791 and in the following year, the formation of the Anti-Federalist Party or Democratic-Republicans under the leadership of Thomas Jefferson.

Washington’s quoted in his Farewell Address, Saturday, September 17, 1796

- "However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion."

So that is some historical perspective. But we all know habits are hard to break. Especially those we might not even know we have. Allow me to introduce some practical considerations and some Science.

noun: confirmation bias

1. the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one's existing beliefs or theories.

Practical – It is my contention that we are stunting our education by dismissing opposing views. You may have to think way back, but try to remember a time when you got new information and changed your mind. You are now a smarter better person for it. Facebook, and other sights, gear their newsfeeds to how you already think. That’s stupid and dangerous. I have more than one fb “friend” who disagrees with me. Actually, since I’m an Independent Moderate, I have people Left and Right who disagree with me. I never unfriend them. My views are thought out well enough to defend, and I’m open minded enough to change my mind. I don’t say be like me, but in this case… YES, we should all do that!

Wake up! Those in power want us divided! –

Maybe just knowing that those who want to turn you into a raving Partisan, don’t care about you at all. They don’t hate their opponents either. They have one master. Greed for Power. Their doctor bills are paid for by the government, they don’t drink poison water, they don’t get screwed over by banks, they are twisted together with the banktsers! Their kids don’t go off to die in foreign conflicts. They gerrymander districts, suppress citizens votes and sell their own votes. And when they leave office they have million dollar lobbying jobs waiting for them.

THEY FEAR ONE - AND ONLY ONE -  THING!

That Americans will Unite, Vote, and Vote for their own Self-Interest. Conquer and Divide is working too well today. And always has. Dived us by race, tell us Unions are bad – Are you a White guy being screwed by power? (Don’t think Students and Sick People should be profited from? Angry that wages stopped following productivity 30 years ago) Don’t rise up, be content that you are better than the Black man. Black people still getting screwed over? (“Privatized Prison Complex” / “Militarized Police”) You’re better off than the China man. We can all be afraid of the Brown people and that endless “war on terror” that WE created and continue to grow with every foreign policy fiasco. That’s a great way to control us… with Fear. (And profit the “Military Industrial Complex”) An endless war that will never end – that should be handled as a Police Action / Special Forces/ Arab League… NOT us.

Attacked by Saudi Arabia on 9-11 but Bush invaded Iraq? Trump made a $110 Billion Dollar Arms Deal with them and they are left out of his “Travel Ban”. Even as they continue to spread and export terrorism with their radical Muslim teaching of Wahhabism.  - Is the Hypocrisy of BOTH Parties not enough to unite us?

 

Maybe we need a “2^nd Bill of Right”? Maybe “Winner Takes All” needs to be changed to the more democratic “Proportional Representative Government”? – Just one of the many ideas we can see working elsewhere in other countries, saving money, saving lives. Like Drug War, Prison, Health and Education Reforms. Ideas other countries got from our early freedoms, but now ignored by us. As we bicker with each other. Our petty disagreements consume and distract us as we get screwed at every turn. 

 They tell us how unregulated industry is good – The “free market” will decide. (as if generations of citizens being killed with toxins can be remedied after the damage is done, if its ever even detected at all?)

Again, ALL our ills can be traced to ONE thing- GREED. I could throw out names of rulings that are killing us or being ignored, thereby killing us. Citizen United Supreme Court Rulings allowing Secret Super PAC Money to influence elections. With No Election Finance Reforms. Wall Street and Environmental Reforms being ignored or repealed.

And one that gets me – MONOPOLIES! Yes, it effects our internet, phones, sports, cable and more, but every concert season I see the “Sherman Antitrust Act” ignored enough to allow the Monopoly of “Ticket Master / Live Nation” to charge me insane fees. $51 internet fee to print my own ticket, convenience fees, venue fees, fees to pick up the tickets myself at Will Call. Is that not something we could all rally together over?

IF you still believe in Science? Science too has fallen victim to partisanship, but there have some fascinating discoveries recently.

 Such as, research showing when a person is exposed to foul smells they tend to lean more “conservative” on the test. Brainwaves of partisans, and more have been studied. Below are a few.

If you find the science a bore, don’t tune out – skip down to read some brilliant, less boring, insight from George Carlin at the bottom - 

In a study published in the Journal of Current Biology, Darren Schreiber, a political neuroscientist at the University of Exeter, with colleagues at the University of California Santa Barbara observed the brain scans of 82 people participating in risky gambling.  Holding out for more money increased the possibility of rewards, but also the possible losses. They observed that when Republicans took the exact same gambling risks, they were activating different parts of the brain than Democrats.  Republicans were using the right amygdala, the center of the brain’s threat response (fight-or-flight system).  This part of the brain is important for processing fear, risk, and reward.  In contrast, Democrats showed greater activation in the left insula, involved in processing emotions and self, and social, awareness. This region of the brain has the capacity to understand what others might think and feel.  Amazingly, the study accurately predicted 82.9% of the participants’ political party choices. This is considerably better than the conventional method of basing predictions on political affiliation of their parents (70%).

Schreiber concluded that not only does having a particular brain influence your political views, but also having a political view influences and changes your brain.  Recent research from the University of Carolina concluded that Democrats and Republicans are not wired the same. Scientists found more neural activity in areas of the brain believed to be associated with broad social connectedness in Democrats (friends the world at large), and more open to creativity and new experiences.  Republicans had more active areas linked with tight social connectedness (family, country), the importance of individuality, autonomy, and the need for order in their lives. This aligns with previous studies that suggest that Democrats tend to think more globally on issues and Republicans see things through a more American filter. These findings also countered previous findings suggesting that Democrats were more empathic. It is just that Republicans are more likely to focus their empathy on family and people they know.

The author of the study, Roger Newman-Norland, believes it is helpful for people with opposing personalities and core beliefs to understand why they don’t think alike. Brain differences can be a result of genetics, experiences, or a combination of both.

Everybody knows that our political views can sometimes get in the way of thinking clearly. But perhaps we don’t realize how bad the problem actually is.
Our political passions can even undermine our very basic reasoning skills. More specifically, the study finds that people who are otherwise very good at math may totally flunk a problem that they would otherwise probably be able to solve, simply because giving the right answer goes against their political beliefs.

The Study by Yale law professor Dan Kahan and his colleagues, has an ingenious design. At the outset, 1,111 study participants were asked about their political views and also asked a series of questions designed to gauge their “numeracy”, that is, their mathematical reasoning ability. Participants were then asked to solve a fairly difficult problem that involved interpreting the results of a (fake) scientific study. But here was the trick: While the fake study data that they were supposed to assess remained the same, sometimes the study was described as measuring the effectiveness of a “new cream for treating skin rashes.” But in other cases, the study was described as involving the effectiveness of “a law banning private citizens from carrying concealed handguns in public.”

The result? Survey respondents performed wildly differently on what was in essence the same basic problem, simply depending upon whether they had been told that it involved guns or whether they had been told that it involved a new skin cream. What’s more, it turns out that highly numerate liberals and conservatives were even more—not less—susceptible to letting politics skew their reasoning than were those with less mathematical ability.

We are “hard wired: to be on a side. But we can still overcome that, and be open to good ideas from all sides.

Maybe the best idea – Unite! Question Authority! Insist on better! The attainable betterment for all! Things way more improbable have been done before. Done by Americans and often started by just one unruly malcontent! 

GEORGE CARLIN – “The American Dream”

“They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying -- lobbying to get what they want. Well, we know what they want -- they want MORE for themselves and less for everybody else. But I'll tell you what they don't want. They DON'T want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don't want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking. They're not interested in that, that doesn't help them. That's against their interests. That's right. They don't want people who are smart enough to sit around the kitchen table and figure out how badly they're getting FUCKED by system that threw them overboard 30 fuckin' years ago. They don't want that.

You know what they want? They want OBEDIENT WORKERS. - People who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork, and just dumb enough to passably accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime, and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it.

And now they're comin' for your SOCIAL SECURITY MONEY. They want your fuckin' retirement money. They want it BACK. So they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street. And you know something? They'll get it. They'll get it ALL from you sooner or later -- 'cuz they OWN this fuckin' place. It's a big CLUB. And YOU AIN'T IN IT! - You and I are NOT IN the big club. By the way, it's the same big club they use to beat you over the head with all day long when they tell you what to believe. All day long, beating you over the in their media telling you what to believe -- what to think -- and what to buy. The table is tilted, folks. The game is rigged. And nobody seems to notice. Nobody seems to care.

Good honest hard-workin people -- white collar, blue collar -- doesn't matter what color shirt you have on. Good honest hard-workin people CONTINUE -- these are people of modest means -- continue to elect these RICH COCKSUCKERS who don't GIVE a fuck about them. They don't give a fuck about you, they don't GIVE A FUCK ABOUT YOU. T HEY DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU -- AT ALL. AT ALL. AT ALL. You know? And nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care ... that's what the owners count on, the fact that Americans will probably remain willfully ignorant of the big red, white and blue dick that's being jammed up their assholes every day. Because the owners of this country know the truth -- it's called the American Dream ... 'cuz you have to be asleep to believe it. –     George Carlin

                                                              

Our National Disgrace that is Elder Care – Even Worse than you’ve Imagined

Yes, worse than you’ve imagined if you’ve ever even thought about it all. 

We all hope to grow old. To be healthy and live a long life is the idea anyway. Yet we rarely think about end of life issues until the subject is thrust upon us by having a love one in need of a nursing home. Nursing always seemed a bit creepy to me when I was a very young child. As an adult I now find them closer to terrifying.

 

This opinion comes from my real world experience with a close friend, that I’ll call “Jay”. Jay is not his real name, and he wouldn’t even care if I did use his real name, but he could be anybody. So I’ll call him Jay. Before I get into this one-person case study it is helpful to know some facts about growing old on planet Earth. Growing old in America is, lamentably, one more thing that our “greatest of all countries” America, deals with so much worse than many other countries do. Our treatment of our loved ones is a byproduct of our industrialized culture. But that doesn’t mean we can’t do it much better. Recent studies of “Blue Zones” (places, lifestyles and environments of the world's longest-lived people) and Centenarian (people who are 100 or more years old) reveal something so very obvious, I’m sort of surprised it required any study at all. The “secrets” to a long healthy life come down to what you eat and do. Eat REAL food! Eat a largely plant-based diet free of preservatives, pesticides or other toxins. Keep active and engaged with others. Cultures who keep their elderly at home where they are part of social celebrations, where they keep active, tend to gardens, where they engage, in person not just on line or by phone, with others, is the other key to a longer healthier life. That and movement. stretching, walking, dancing, yoga, Tai Chi, moving.

So Americans blow it on both counts. Our diet is all wrong. Our Factory Farmed meats are full antibiotics and hormones. Our vegetables are toxic and drenched in ever increasing amounts of pesticides, especially those that are genetically modified. All these toxins run off the farms and from the animal urine into our water supply. A water supply also contaminated by plastics, pharmaceuticals and undisclosed fracking chemicals. So we even messed up our water! Why?  The answer is as simple as it is sad – GREED! Greed drives the process, and greed is how they managed to take over our entire political process, our elected leaders, the EPA, the FDA and the entire News Media. Spoiler Alert – Greed is also why our Elder Care Facilities are a nightmare. Would you be surprised to learn that those charged to watch over Grandma, with all the life and death responsibilities that involves, are not paid a living wage? Welcome to the “New Normal”. Wages used to follow productivity right up until around President Ronald Reagan. The same guy who let so many mental institutions close down, putting the burden on, too often, privatized prisons and law enforcement, where it remains today and is . But that subject of needed reforms deserves it’s own entire blog. The top CEO used to make about 20 times their workers wage. Today the CEO’s make almost 350 times their workers wage. And it’s not just Caretakers. Ambulance Drivers, School Buss Drivers, Security Personal… Life and death positions making minimum wage! Minimum wages that once were still a living wage, but that was decades ago. Not today.

Those are all numbers and facts. Important stuff to know but to really get to how bad it is, nothing beats experience. So, these last few years of helping Jay have been very enlightening. He’s an old friend with no family and I don’t mind helping when I can. And he has been a very interesting friend. He shares my dark humor, love of animals and travel. He was a know TV actor and hero to the disabled community. Even if many today don’t know it. He helped write the “American with Disabilities Act”. He met with Governors and Presidents. He protested inaccessible buildings and sidewalks by parking on them! He was arrested numerous times for refusing to pay his parking fines. Let that sink in… while today Bankers and Wall Street CEO’s don’t even get arrested for crashing the worlds economy, laundering drug money for terrorist, fraudulently foreclosing on peoples homes, Jay was going to jail for parking tickets!

The first phone call I got was from a nursing home in Westchester, CA. One or more of the staff was waking patients up by punching them then robbing them. Jay had snuck to a phone (his was stolen) and called 911 and the LA Times. But there seems to be some very odd loopholes in regards to nursing homes. The staff can just say they are senile and if they have no advocate or loved one, they are screwed. So I drive to Westchester and ask to see Jay. I am being told that he cant have visitors just has he wheeled up to me and said in an urgent hushed voice “Let’s get out of here!” He had two black eyes. We made it out the door and just as I got him into the car an employee tried to stop us by physically grabbing the car door. My friend has two black eyes, I’m suppressing my urge to reciprocate and now this fool is grabbing my car. I stop, jump out and let him know by words and body language that he is not dealing with an elderly patient. He’s about to get his ass kicked. Like all bullies, he’s a coward, so he runs back into the facility threatening to call the police. As if a patient there of their own free will can be arrested for leaving?

That was the just the start of a long line of nightmare facilities. I started to see a common theme. My friend was too articulate. The more vegetative patients were the preferred ones. Jay complained when his entire load of laundry never came back, leaving him with only a pair of sweatpants and a tee shirt for days. He complained when his checkbook was stolen and his account was drained. He complained when his devices were broken or stolen, when his bathroom was completely inaccessible. He spoke out against injustice, just as he had always done, just as anyone would. He was “evicted” from the last four homes. Tuluca Lake, Los Angeles, Marina Del Rey, Santa Monica, different cities, same story. But they cant just evict for no reason, so they do things like wheeling him to the curb, putting him in a cab and calling the police when he returns. The police tell him it’s a civil matter and he can’t enter private property. As I write this he is on a five day “Code 5250”. His latest facility wants him out say they say he has gone crazy. Surprisingly, he has not. I got a nurse on the phone and he told me that Jay was a great patient, but the supervisors want him gone. When he got to Silverlake Medical Center Psych Ward, the staff told him that they see this all the time! Even the wording on the paperwork looks copy and pasted. So in two days from now, I’ll try to help him find a new home. With most every new place I see good staff and caring people. But they aren’t the entire system. I see patients sitting in corners like vegetables, I hear others moaning incoherently, I saw my first elderly woman with tattoos, so that generation is now in the system already.

It’s outrageous that Jay is experiencing this, but it would be just as bad if it were a WW II Vet, a stranger, your Grandmother! Every time I shudder thinking that this could be my home. The last place I live before I die. I tell my kid, who is way too young to grasp it, that I don’t need much maybe a small cabin with a view, a back room near a weeping willow tree, anything but not a place like this. I’m planting the seed now. I’m educating him on alternatives and how other cultures make it work. I hope to be an example by taking care of my parents if they get to that stage. But when it’s an inescapable matter of simply not having the money or needing medical care; it limits the options. That is where our entire nation, culture and government need to step up. If we take some time now with these uncomfortable choices it will be better in the long run. Living wills, End of Life Options, choices written down now not later under stress. Congress if full of millionaires, they’re millionaires by the time they do their deals and retire anyway. They are notorious for only addressing issues that effects their corporate donors or effects them personally. Pushing for reform should be done but don’t expect that to help you or your loved ones any time soon enough. This has to start with “Grass Roots” organizing…. And let the elderly smoke grass too!

Bottled Water Scam that is Killing You

Did you know that you are Paying to be Poisoned, at least six different ways, when you purchase and drink Bottled Water?

Boycotting Bottled Water as a simple, yet effective, way to help yourself and your planet.

My absurd amount of experiences and professions include my times as a Nutritionist and “National Academy of Sports Medicine” Certified Personal Trainer. And by far my favorite drink is Ice Water. My studies in subjects as disparate as Geo Politics, Evolution and Health have revealed sort of a “no brainer” Water is a big deal! A necessity of staying alive, the source of all life and what future wars will be fought over.

One of the most serious and insidious ways that you and your entire planet are being poisoned is the SCAM of Bottled Water!

Some of the facts about the Bottled Water industry and what you can very easily do to protect yourself and others from the toxic dangers:

I.      First, the problem and the perpetrators:

A.   PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and Nestlé Waters have a defacto monopoly over your bottled waters and monopolies are never good for consumers. –

B.    The pollution from Bottled Water crosses more lines than your average toxic concerns.

1.     They pollute while extracting the water.

2.     They pollute while transporting the water to the factory.

3.     They pollute while manufacturing the bottles from petrol chemical.

4.     They pollute while transporting the bottles to the reseller, often requiring, trucks, planes and trucks again in worldwide distribution.

5.     The chemicals pollute you when you drink the water.

6.     The discarded bottle pollutes the oceans and if you eat fish, you get polluted again.

C.    Theresa Howard 2007 article in USA Today titled “Bottled water awash in a sea of controversy” states: “Some of the same health-conscious consumers who helped make bottled water a $15 billion business now are among those worried about its environmental impact -- its 38 million plastic bottles a year made with 1.5 million barrels of oil. Questions also have been raised about the need for a relatively costly convenience product that in many cases is purified municipal tap water.”

D.   The sales of water rights often circumvent the will, or even knowledge, of local residents.

E.    Water extraction can cause damage to underground cave system.

The effects:

II.  Your bottle has toxic effects to you and the environment.

A.   Chemicals leech into the water you consume from you bottle.  Erythropel, Maric, Nicell, Leask, & Yargeau’s 2014 Abstract in Applied Microbiology & Biotechnology “Leaching of the plasticizer di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) from plastic containers and the question of human exposure” - “Plasticized PVC is used in hospital equipment, food wrapping, and numerous other commercial and industrial products. Unfortunately, plasticizers can migrate within the material and leach out of it over time, ending up in the environment and, frequently, the human body. Other sources of the chemicals are flushed pharmaceuticals but also found in pesticides, flame retardants, industrial solvents and personal care products, according to a January U.S. Geological Survey report that first linked the pollutant to the problem.”

 

 

B.    Chemicals have been found to actually turn fish transgender, creating real concerns for pregnant woman William C. Flook’s 2007 article in the Washington Examiner “County pressures Virginia regarding pollutants tied to transgender fish” - “The intersex phenomenon, in which male bass are found with eggs in their testes, raised enough red flags to prompt a congressional hearing. The problem has been tied to endocrine disrupters, or EDCs, chemicals that tamper with the fish’s hormonal balance. Environmental scientists are not clear on the full ramifications and worry the pollutants could be harmful to human health. They are also uncertain how to curb the pollution.”

    C.    Since even recycled bottles make their way to the ocean, we are in serous threat of flat out killing our oceans. Kitt Doucette’s 2009 article in Rolling Stone “An Ocean of Plastic”- “The first thing you need to know about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is that its name, is disgustingly inappropriate. In reality, the "patch" is a swirling vortex of plastic soup, an immense, fetid swamp of debris where tiny bits of decaying plastic outweigh surface zooplankton, one of the most prolific and abundant organisms on the planet, by a ratio of six-to-one. Nobody knows its exact size or if it has any boundaries at all: Its location and shape vary depending on factors such as water temperature, season and major weather events like El Niño. Scientists estimate it is twice the size of Texas, maybe even larger and contains some 10 million tons of waste.”

Simple and effective solutions:

        

II. There are some very specific and easy ways to save yourself and your planet.  

 

A.   Stop buying Bottled water! Ed Begley’s 2010 article in the Saturday Evening Post “10 Easy Ways to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint” states - "Industry estimates say 80 percent of bottled-water containers still wind up in landfills. Invest in a water filtering system that attaches to your kitchen sink."

B.    Consider boycotting all of the products manufactured by PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and Nestlé and let them know about it.

C.    If you work or volunteer with a group, encourage them to use alternatives to bottled water for their events such as 5 Gallon containers and, or filters.

D.   Contact your local and national representatives - tell them “you know and you care”!

E.    If you find yourself in a community where a corporation is trying to take your water rights, go to the town halls, speak up and make your opposition known.

F.    Take time to consider the problems. As Christiana Z. Peppard 2013 article in Mind Body Green so eloquently states “7 Reasons To Never Drink Bottled Water” -  "How we drink our water shows us what kind of society we are. I want my body and my society to reflect sustainable values, so I only drink disposable, plastic bottled water if there is absolutely no alternative. If I were in a truly extreme situation—say, a cholera epidemic, an area without reliable water supply, or a desert, for example—then I would drink bottled water. Happily, most of us are not in those situations. And wonderful alternatives are easily available.   When you ditch disposable bottled water, you save money, live healthier, and join a movement for global sustainability. Plus, it’s easy. And you’ll save money."

G.   Spread the word and encourage others.

 CONCLUSION: In conclusion, know that Plastic isn’t evil. It’s how we use it. 

And we use 50 billion bottles of water each year using 17 million barrels of oil to produce and 80% end up in landfills. But it’s not just bottles. 500 Million Plastic Straws are used daily just in America. A completely unnecessary item that dulls the taste of your drink. We all know it is the class policy to refrain from vulgarities. Often when a person cusses, it is because they are too inarticulate to express themselves. And if one goes around cussing all the time, it takes away the impact for the occasional times when a good curse word is justified, like in the expression of art, or when you drop something heavy on your toe or like today with this subject. So fair warning, later I’m going to drop the F-Bomb. I have laid out the reasons and the ease of immediately ceasing to buy and drink bottled water. Maybe you’re still not convinced? Maybe you are fatalistic and just don’t care if you are poisoned? Maybe you think Jesus will return before we completely kill the oceans followed by the entire planet? Maybe you don’t have kids, or you hate them? It cant be laziness because it’s too easy to use a refillable bottle. But let’s say none of these facts persuaded you. How about it’s time to cop an attitude? How about this? Fuck Them! If they want to steal our water, pollute their way around the world, kill the entire ocean, kill the entire planet, poison you and everyone you care about? At the very least, say I’m not gonna PAY them to do it. Fuck them. We are onto you and count me as one less sucker in your unethical, destructive, greedy corporate scheme! – 

Thank You and Go Green!

The 5 Greatest Albums from the 1990's That You Have Never Heard Of:

I would love to be a "One Hit Wonder" someday. I don't find that as a put down at all. It must be really hard to to have the timing, talent and luck to make a single hit. But this list is specifically about albums where most, if not EVERY Song is really, really good! I bet even Music Nerds would be hard pressed to list bands that have pulled that off. Zeppelin, The Beatles... a few others? Then there are bands people just personally love. This is not a list of my personal favorite performers. This is a short list of what I objectively discovered to be way under rated, unknown or otherwise well worth checking out.   -  Truly there are only two kinds of music - Good and Bad. Maybe you're disappointed in most music coming out today or are just curious? If you never heard these songs, then they are new to you. Enjoy!

Life Sex & Death (LSD) - "The Silent Majority" 
1992 Rhino/Warner Bros

Like a Hard Rock Acid Trip, drenched in Whiskey!  A traditional looking Rock Band except for front man / lead singer Stanley. Word was he was going for a gimmick, but then maybe started living it instead?  He looked (and smelled) like a homeless person. Thick "Coke Bottle Glasses", torn dirty clothing. He looked and sounded like a Mad Man... one that could sing his ass off. The live shows were insane! Shredding guitar, Stanley trying to down an entire bottle of Jack in one chug. (You likely guessed correctly, it came right back up). Fortunately for us, it all translated well to the CD.

The London Quireboys - (now The Quireboys) 
"A Bit of What You Fancy" 1990 EMI

Sounding like an early Rod Stewart with "The Faces" and rocking like... forget about it, just flat out rocking! Even the ballad is great. Throw a "Sex Party" and play this album!

Warren Haynes - "Tales of Ordinary Madness" 1993, Megaforce Records

Haynes is best known for his work as longtime guitarist with The Allman Brothers Band and as founding member of the jam band Gov't Mule - This Blues Rock Album, does both, Blues and Rocks!

 Pat Benatar - "True Love" 1991 Chrysalis 

While Benatar is well known, this album with combinations of covers and original tracks of Blues and Jump Blues is not. If you hear it, or caught the concert promoting it, you would think she was always a Blues Power Rocker. It seems to be so natural and she rips it up! Includes a great version of "Please Come Home for Christmas"

Hempilation: Freedom Is NORML 1995  Capricorn Records

The first of two CD compilation albums to benefit the organization NORML ( National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws). The original and cover songs that appear on the album all have marijuana as the subject matter. Featuring the Black Crowes, Cypress Hill, Blues Traveler, and others. I especially like the track by Gov't. Mule "Don't Step on the Grass Sam" - it's like a freakin' anthem of all that is wrong with Cannabis Prohibition!  - Hempilation Vol. 2 "Free the Weed" 1998 - is almost as good. The track "Play the Greed" by Dar Williams is brilliant!

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Temple of the Dog - "Temple of the Dog": 1991 A&M

 Temple of the Dog was started by Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell, who had been a roommate of Andrew Wood, the lead singer of Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone. Wood died on March 19, 1990. I think this was named due to Woods interest in Dog Shows? (he sung about them on Mother Love Bone albums) The album was recorded in only 15 days, produced by the band themselves. Eddie Vedder provided vocals too. Although earning praise from critics at the time of its release, the album was not widely recognized until 1992, when Vedder, Ament, Gossard, and McCready had their breakthrough with Pearl Jam. They never toured, but I did catch an amazing set at Lollapaloolza at the end of Sound Garden's set. Worth a mention here because I think it is still relatively unknown? And again, many great tracks. "Pushin' Forward Back", "Say Hello 2 Heaven", "Hunger Strike"and more!  They are actually reforming and plan a tour THIS YEAR!

Joan Osbourne - "Relish"  1995  

Blue Gorilla Records/ Mercury

Far from "unknown", this her first studio album was nominated for Album of the Year at the 38th Grammys. I am only listing this because I suspect it was her single "What if God Was One of Us" that got all the attention. But it's not even the 4th best track. This album is really good and deserves a listen in full!

The Godz (self titled 1st album) "The Godz" 1978 RCA

From 1978, so far off from the category of '90's Albums" but this album was still being rocked in the 1990's and today, from those that know. (fun ass "Biker Rock" at it's best! - get the import w/ bonus tracks) If you lived anyplace near Columbus, Ohio, you know and likely saw this band. They never really went away. Line ups have changed back and forth and they even just released a new album in 2016.  "Gotta Keep a Running" at 7 1/2 minutes could easily be called a Rock Anthem. But it's not the only long rocking song on the album. (When looking for them, dont be confused by the band of the same name out of NYC)

~ "Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything." ~ PLATO