I took a day off from work today...It seemed like a good investment in mental health. My wife had already scheduled the day off planning for the scheduled arrival of our latest grandson. In case you are wondering, he's decided the schedule wasn't approved by his royal personage so he's…
Texas' overall uninsured rate of 25.2 percent, and its 20.2 uninsured rate for children, continued to be the highest in the country. Nationally, the number of people without health insurance last year declined from 47 million in 2006, the Census Bureau said. Median household income — meaning half of households…
Up on the mountain behind my house, the wild blueberries are ripe and prolific. It’s public land, part of the Maine state-park system, so the berries are free for the picking. In a half-hour or so, if I’m lucky, I can fill a tin cup with enough berries for breakfast,…
This has to be one of the strangest things about Texas Republicans... When health care in Texas makes headlines, the issues raised by administrators and physicians are hardly rosy. They include overcrowded emergency rooms, mounting hospital budget deficits created by unfunded indigent care, and uninsured rates for adults and children…
I have never felt that the Corporate pushers of GMOs were looking out for anything other than their own profits. That has led me to look on their actions in an unfavorable light. While this has always been a personal "feeling", I find my concerns expressed very well by this…
Spring decides to pay another short visit. We had another "cold" front slide through yesterday. I think it would be more accurate to call it a dry front. Sunday morning we watched the humidity drop from 90% down into the 20% range before wandering back up into the 40% area…
Bill Moyers Journal . Transcripts | PBS
May 2, 2008
BILL MOYERS:Welcome to the Journal.
I once asked a reporter back from Vietnam, "Who's telling the truth over there?" Everyone he said. Everyone sees what's happening through the lens of their own experience." That's how people see Jeremiah Wright. In my conversation with him on this broadcast a week ago and in his dramatic public appearances since, he revealed himself to be far more complex than the sound bites that propelled him onto the public stage. Over 2000 of you have written me about him, and your opinions vary widely. Some sting: "Jeremiah Wright is nothing more than a race-hustling, American hating radical," one viewer wrote. A "nut case," said another. Others were far more were sympathetic to him.
The first wealth is health. - Ralph Waldo Emerson If you are as skeptical as I am about most of modern medicine's miracle drugs, you might not want to read this book review. It will just reinforce what you already assume is the truth... Big Pharma's Golden Eggs - washingtonpost.com…
Another Reason To Be A Localvore... Did Your Shopping List Kill a Songbird? - New York Times Migratory songbirds like bobolinks, barn swallows and Eastern kingbirds are suffering mysterious population declines, and pesticides may well be to blame. A single application of a highly toxic pesticide to a field can…
On the first day of spring I don't know whether to welcome spring or to welcome it back after our preview of summer over the weekend...This morning is starting out at 47° with the prognosticators pushing for the low 70's by afternoon. Now that is what I call spring. "What…
Just wanted to let anyone who may wonder what has happened to me that I seem to have gotten the flue...Been holed up on the couch and the bed for three days now and it looks like I have a few more to go. To kill the time I went…
Yesterday morning at this time the temperature was in the 70's today it's in the 40's. Other than light rain falling I like today's temperature much better. ++++++++++ I see my ex-Gov is still at it. Compassionate Conservative that he is, he has been kicking SCHIP for a decade longer…
I had my first inspection of the ole vocal chords this afternoon. The Doc was happy with the appearance of my vocal chords so I guess I am too. It looks like it's time to pop the cork on that wine bottle I've been saving...Cameron Hughes Lot 21, 2004 Zinfandel.…
Two Pigs - Verlyn Klinkenborg - York Times Over the course of just a few generations (in my case just two) we have gone from a world where everyone knew where their food came from to a world where you really don't even know which continent supplied the ingredients in…
The weather out is delightful, even the humidity has fallen below 90%. Morning temperature is 64°. The skys are clear and the day has yet to break. We should be heading into a beautiful weekend. It could be time for a photo road trip... ++++++++++ Well...It looks like the Industrial…
The morning reading of the thermometer shows that our last few days of precursor fall weather were just a tease as usual. The morning's low is in the mid seventies again and the afternoon highs haven't been pleasant even when the lows were ten degrees less...I guess my best shot…
We are having another of those needed fall mornings here. The temperature as I made the trek to the road with the contribution to the garbage gods this morning was almost pleasant. Sadly, the prognosticators are calling for 90° by the afternoon. But any morning that starts out in the…
Bush the philosopher has one thing right: Human dignity is served when people make choices for themselves rather than being nannied by the government. But only simpletons suppose that this principle is absolute: Where unfettered private initiative produces evidently bad outcomes, most people prefer an alternative. This is why we…
Galveston, Texas as the sun comes up over the Gulf of Mexico on a fall Sunday morning... This week's challenge: 'The Beach'. Please read our Participant Guide before deciding to submit a link. Your link must be to a static page that will always show your challenge image, and not…
This morning was another of those mornings when the weather outside is livable. Too bad it will not last... Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 91. Heat index values as high as 102. East wind between 5 and 10 mph. +++++++++++ Andy Griffin is on roll with another essay…
Our cooler, wetter summer sharply cuts West Nile cases | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle Along with greener lawns and lower water bills, this summer's abundant rainfall is being credited with one more benefit: fewer human cases of West Nile virus."This season has been very different from last year," said Sandy…
Jim Hightower | CORPORATE AMERICA’S “CHEAP” IMPORT ADDICTION Let's be honest. China’s trillion-dollar-a-year export economy is based squarely on the country’s deliberate lack of humane standards. That’s precisely why our CEO’s rushed over there – every corner cut, every penny taken from workers and the environment, every product made on…
We slept in our own beds for the first time since Monday last night. The construction crew worked till almost 10pm making sure the most important part of the newly rebuilt bathroom was complete. Hopefully, today will put an end to the ongoing construction. I am ready to reclaim our…
It’s not straight from the VP’s mouth, but it’s straight from his policy book. Energy companies rule and all you folks living in the neighborhood can “just go f— yourselves” to quote on Administration Official.
I am in the process of working my way through Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle...A Year of Food Life, so be prepared to see more on the state of American food. Every day that goes by I read another article on the epidemic of obesity in this country...And another article…
For the record...This is day 1 of week 2 Post-Radiation. In a bit of serendipitous follow-up to yesterday's post. My email brings me this from Grist...How to prioritize your organic food dollars to get the most from your budget. On prioritizing organic purchases | By Umbra Fisk | Grist |…
The whole time I was doing the seven weeks of radiation the technicians and the nurses warned me that the two to three weeks after the treatment ended would be bad to worse...They spoke truth. The burns on my neck didn't begin to manifest until after the last treatment was…
Fragments From Floyd: June 2002 Archives June 5, 2002 Summer LightningThe animals have been tended, my wife and son have left for work, and I am alone watching the first rays of a humid, empty day through the windows. I am in my slippers, merely waiting, early into my second…
The bridge collapse in Minneapolis hadn't really impinged upon my conscious as I don't spend a lot of time on the TV. I have only seen passing references to the disaster on the net until this morning. I guess it was Eugene Robinson's column in the Washington Post; A Catastrophic…
This story caught my interest the other day. A Factory Farm Near You - New York Times Once upon a time, only a decade or so, it wasn’t hard to know where factory hog farms were because they were nearly all in North Carolina. But since those days, the practice…