Monkeyfister

Meanwhile, they pay out huge bonuses, declare record profits, and shunt off their losses to the Taxpayer.This is a worst-possible mix of fantasy, greed and Bankster hubris, and it needs to stop.

The worst of the casino-junkie grade Hedge Fund Punks need to be thrown against the wall via Regulation. The real criminals (i.e: the AIGFP unit) need to be tried for their destructive mayhem. Real Estate values need to be allowed to settle to their Reality-Based levels. I believe also, that Home Owners need to be allowed a one-time clawback reset of their Mortgages to new, fixed-rate Mortgages reflecting new local values with the money that Obama hopes to get back in with plan. Helping Homeowners to stay in their homes will help stop much of the arterial bleeding. The money spent keeping the Big Shitpile alive could have, by now, literally been used to pay off every single-family Mortgage in the country. As we get back that money, we should use it to put Americans back into Reality-Based, serviceable Mortgages.

Everyone-- from the Banksters down through the Developers and Tradesmen all had a great run while the party was on. It's time for the Banksters to feel the pain that the rest of the partiers are feeling. Until they do, they will do nothing but try to keep up with covering their bad bets, requiring the same, furious ultra-short gain-driven leverage and risk, without lending down to the Businesses and Communities who need loans for basic functions. They are continuing to behave worse than crank-addicts, and they are doing more damage to our country and society than even the Mafia could ever hope to do.

Any Economic/Fiscal Stimulus Plan in the near future needs to involve the following:
1. Break-up the Banks... again.
2. Restore Reality-Based Property Values, and re-work existing Mortgages to Fixed-Rate Mortgages matching new local values to help Homeowners.
3. Another massive round of Job Stimulus based on realistic Energy (particularly sustainable energy), Industry (particularly Green Industry), and Infrastructure Modernization Policies (particularly water infrastructure); an expanded Public Ground Transportation Modernization Policy; and a serious re-thinking of how we grow the food that feeds our country and the world, with a return to many, smaller, organic contributors (as opposed to a few BigAgra Giants throwing away food, soil and watershed health and safety for big profits).

Major projects broken down from Federal to Regional/Local level, will employ many more Americans for a longer term, while bringing the real underpinnings of America into the 21st Century.

We really don't have time to bicker with the Lobbyists, Lieberman, Nelson, Blue Dogs or the GOP wingnuts. The realities of finite finance, energy, resources and food production under the current system are demanding a shift to something different, smaller, and sustainable. It needs to be allowed to happen, and those skimmer and dinosaur industries that have been living on the host of the present system need to adapt or die.


To Top Of Main Page

Labels: Banksters, Economic Hitmen, President Barack Obama

Worth making viral for those on Hispanola with the resources to see it.

via Hesperian

*In the face of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, Hesperian urges everyone to forward and distribute the following health materials in Haitian Creole and English to every relief worker, resident, and traveler already in or leaving for Haiti.

*HEALTH MATERIALS AVAILABLE IN HAITIAN CREOLE:*

Here is a link to the pdf of the Haitian Creole edition of Where There is No Doctor, also available as a printed book through our partners: 4 The World Resource Distributers
Tel: 417-862-4448
Fax: 417-863-9994
orders@4wrd.org

Pdf of the Haitian Creole edition of Where Women Have No Doctor.

Pdf of the Haitian Creole edition of Sanitation and Cleanliness booklet, produced by our partners at SOIL (Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods)

Here’s a link to our CHOLERA PREVENTION FACTSHEET, in English
Hesperian expresses our deepest sympathies to those who have been directly and indirectly affected by this disaster. Natural disasters are made worse by our very human-made systems that impoverish people and deny their right to health. As we encourage you to donate to the relief effort, Hesperian recommends these organizations which have redoubled their work in Haiti to address this most recent catastrophe:

Haiti Action Network's Haiti Emergency Relief Fund

Partners in Health

Grassroots International, Earthquake Relief Fund for Haiti

Ingrid Hawkinson
Book Publicity and Promotions
Hesperian
Ingrid@hesperian.org

I have the English versions of "Where There Is No Doctor" and "WTINDentist." They are a must for everyone-- particularly those who travel, or spend a lot of time in the field, and abroad.


To Top Of Main Page

I've got a feeling that even the most hard-hearted terraist in KOA GITMO would donate a weeks worth of tasty lemon chicken entrees for Haiti Relief. They'd be FRESH, considering how close... The Troops could have swam them to Port-Au-Prince in two days.

To Top Of Main Page

Labels: US Military Humanitarian Efforts

To Top Of Main Page

Labels: US Military Humanitarian Efforts

I'm pretty disappointed by my country right now. I was expecting to wake up, and see the US Navy landing Troops, doctors, machinery and relief.

I woke up to see China unloading plane after plane of SAR teams and aid, instead. Is there a country more geographically distant from Haiti than China?

Worse, General Frasier, Commander of U.S. Southern Command, is still whinging about formulating a plan. Just fucking DO IT, dumbass. People are DYING while you fritter away precious time. It's not like Humanitarian Aid is something new to the US Armed Forces. We've done bigger relief movements, this ain't new.



At work, I offered to re-voice the Humanitarian commercials. No one took umbrage with my new message idea. We were all saddened by America's shitty, slow response so far.

The news is telling me that the airport is now closed because there is no more fuel for departing planes. The Navy has these incredibly tough giant bladders for just this purpose. Where the fuck ARE they???

General Frasier is killing Haitians with his lack of action.



To Top Of Main Page

Labels: America's Navy, Earthquake, Haiti

Here's my quick summary of the history of London. There is this river, the Thames. A guy named William Shakespeare was born there. Plumbing hadn't been invented yet, so everybody threw their poop in the river. The Queen of London was named Victoria, and one day she was hanging out by the river with her boyfriend "The Consort" and she noticed all the toilet paper floating by and asked "What are all the little pieces of paper in the river?" He was kind of embarrassed, so he said, "They are notices that swimming is not allowed." I guess in those days, one of the Palace Rules was that you didn't talk about pooping to the Queen. Then a guy named Sid Vicious was born, and he put a safety pin through his cheek and beat up his girlfriend named Nancy. Which brings us to today.

MF adds: Heavy sigh.

Labels: Oi

I was there when I was a wee lad of 12 years. Papa Doc was still in power. I went with my dad, and some others in our church, to built a well, aqueduct, an outhouse, and a schoolhouse. The people we met, and worked with were so wonderful, gracious, warm, and appreciative, and so full of beautiful, I to this day, think about them all.

Haitians are wonderful people, but they, and the Land, have seen such horrible abuse at the hands of the French, the Duvaliers, Aristide... hell... everyone, that the people barely have a reason to even get out of bed on any given day, anymore. It's sad to see a people so broken, and it's difficult for me to see the devastation there. It makes me wonder if Job is alive and well, and living in Haiti?

The State Department's "Text HAITI to 90999" plan is a really easy way to send $10, which shows up as a charge on your cell phone bill. Easy, gets money to the problem quickly, and those small donations add up quickly.:


via US Department of State

"The U.S. State Department Operations Center set up the following number for Americans seeking information about relatives in Haiti: (888) 407-4747. The department cautioned that because of heavy volume, some callers may hear a recording. The State Department said those interested in helping immediately may text 'HAITI' to '90999' and a donation of $10 will be made automatically to the Red Cross for relief efforts. The donation will be charged to your cellphone bill. The department also suggested contacting agencies such as the Red Cross or Mercy Corps to help with relief efforts."

Personally, I believe that America really needs to wake-up Thursday morning seeing the Navy landing Troops, Doctors, food, water, and shelter, with the USS Comfort at full speed to the scene. If not for the sake of Obama, then for the moral standing of America. How many times will America send the message, "Unless we're coming to bomb the shit out you, your on your own," to the rest of the world before they start taking it seriously?


To Top Of Main Page

Labels: America's Navy, Earthquake, Haiti, Obama

Global Warming Deniers be damned, Australia is STILL in terrible Drought, and Preparing for Drought-Driven wildfires; Most African countries are reporting widespread drought. Great Britain-wide food shortages are hitting stores, due to extreme cold destroying much of the Winter crop harvest, most especially, Ireland's potato harvest. Frozen into mush in the ground, just before harvest. Perfect set-up for Late Blight. Jesus, what a mess.

California's Water Supply/Drought issues are still growing, and at this point have cut ~25% of Ag commerce from California. Previously, here in America, the Spring floods and rains of 2009 set back Farming in the Northeast, Southeast, and Midwest nearly, to more-than a month, and cut the harvest surpluses by more than 1/3 by early accounts (revisions up or down still pending). Included in that number is damage by Late Blight to tomato and potato crops in those wet areas, and across the country. Deep Freeze destroyed a lot of food crops, but staved off a massive Late Blight problem.

Those wet areas really spread the fungus, and this Deep Freeze might be the only salvation from a major catastrophic infestation. Union Springs, the home of Bonnie's Gardens, didn't Deep Freeze. Monsanto's big 2009 roll-out of products failed spectacularly, world-wide. Those seeds that did survive, required so much water that they killed Farmers and families in India and all over Africa by aquifer depletion. Aquifers in India drawn down to extinction in under 5 years. There is serious trouble in GMO BigAgra-land.


Watch The World According to Monsanto in Educational | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

I recommend growing a big garden of your own this year from heirloom seeds from your area.

Yes... I ALWAYS recommend growing as much of your own food as you can. It is good for you-- exercise, care in building soils, and new awareness of your use of various 'cides in your yard and around your food... simply knowing how your food grows, and ends up on your plate is worth growing something.

I buy very little at the Supermarket these days, but I am damn sure noticing price spikes when I visit the store. It's going to be an even tougher time than I can remember for food prices in this coming year. These disasters can't pile up without consequences. Surplus margins are just not there. No "record, bumper crops!" to compensate for the losses from extreme and erratic Global Warming patterns, to GMO seed failures... 2009, and the Southern Hemisphere's harvests are being down-scaled seemingly by the week.

We're at tight margins.

If you have EVER thought about gardening, this is the year to do it. My archives are chock full of advice, and my sidebar is a gateway to gardening wisdom.

Do it this year. All those veggies will turn you round.


via Guardian

Britons have been warned to brace themselves for an increase in food prices as plunging temperatures leave farmers unable to harvest vegetables and hauliers struggle to distribute fresh produce.

Gordon Brown, who will chair a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee early this week to discuss the freeze, was today forced to reassure the country that it would not run out of gas or grit for its roads during the coldest weather in 30 years.

Police confirmed today that the weather-related death toll had risen to 26. A 90-year-old woman froze to death in her garden near Barnsley after falling in the snow. Widow Mary Priestland was discovered when her neighbour called round to make her tea. A 42-year-old Newcastle woman died after being found lying in the snow this morning. She had told her family she was going for a walk at 7pm on Friday.

Concerns have now switched to food supply. Sub-zero temperatures have made it impossible to extract some vegetables from the ground. Producers of brussels sprouts and cabbages are all reporting problems with harvesting. Cauliflowers are said to have turned to "mush" in the sustained frost, with the result that only imported ones are available – at more than £2 each.

"Food is selling fast and there is a problem with replenishing it," said Stephen Alambritis of the Federation of Small Businesses. "One business I spoke to said it was like Christmas Eve, with people rushing to buy up food. This will inevitably have an impact on food prices."

Food prices had already started to edge up after a sustained period of low inflation. Food inflation increased by 3.7% in December, up from 2.8% in November, said the British Retail Consortium.

In Ireland, 6,000 acres of potatoes remains unharvested and there are claims that up to three-quarters of the crop may be ruined. Potato growers in Northern Ireland say they are facing some of the biggest losses in recent history because of frost damage.

Meanwhile, greengrocers in some of the worst-hit areas are reporting shortages, with the price of carrots and parsnips reportedly rising by 30% in some small shops. A spokesman for the National Farmers' Union said: "There are isolated examples of farms struggling to get milk supplies out, but so far the majority of farmers, although finding it difficult, are getting on with the job." Milk suppliers in Somerset said they feared they may have to dump 100,000 litres of organic milk because tankers could not get through.

In a move that underscores the severity of the situation, on Monday the government will permit an emergency relaxation of European laws regulating the driving hours for hauliers involved in the distribution of animal feed. Under the temporary rules, the hauliers will be allowed to drive for 10 hours rather than the EU maximum of nine. There will also be a reduction in their mandatory daily rest requirements, from 11 to nine hours.

Trouble in the fields, Worldwide. Good time to think about converting your back yard, neighbor's or friend's yard into fertile Square Foot Gardening fields.


To Top Of Main Page

Labels: Collapse, Corporatocracy, Gardening, Globalization

Those of us who experienced the Deep Freeze over this past few weeks, especially those in the North East, have less to worry about regarding Late Blight than those in the deep(er) South, where the ground didn't freeze. Thanks to MadSat for sending this article via email.

via UMASS

The 2009 gardening and farming season will be remembered for the widespread outbreak of late blight, Phytophthora infestans, in tomato and potatoes throughout New England. As the season draws to a close, it is time for gardeners to take steps to prevent this disease from surviving the winter, and to prepare for a healthy crop next year.


Will late blight survive the winter?
The fungus Phytophthora infestans needs live tissue to survive. Potato tubers that are infected with late blight and don’t freeze or decay during the winter can carry the pathogen over the winter to next spring. Tubers can survive in several ways:
-Left in the ground at harvest, down several inches in the soil.
-Disposed of in a compost pile that does not fully decompose and does not freeze.
-Disposed of in a large pile of culled potatoes which does not freeze completely.
-Kept in storage until late winter, and then put outside in spring.
-Purchased for home use, and then disposed of (in compost or cull pile, as above)
Potatoes that freeze or fully decompose will not carry the pathogen overwinter. Tomatoes will not carry late blight over the winter, because freezing kills the whole plant. Tomato seed, even from fruit that was infected with late blight, will not carry the pathogen. Thus you can use your own seed or purchase seed to start next year’s crop without fear of late blight. Certain perennial weeds can become infected with late blight, but none of their aboveground tissues live through the winter. Greenhouses where tomatoes were grown could allow survival only if they never freeze and the crop lives all winter. Late blight will not survive on tomato stakes and cages.
In some parts of the world, late blight has two ‘mating types’ (the fungal equivalent of male and female) which can produce long-lasting ‘oospores’ that survive independently. So far, only one mating type has been found in the Northeast so we do not expect oospores to be present.

Fall garden cleanup
In mid-summer, when our major concern was preventing spread of late blight on wind-borne spores, we recommended that gardeners put infected vines in the trash or pile them under a tarp to kill them. Many gardeners responded and diligently bagged up their infected crop. In the fall our goal is different. Now, we want to encourage decomposition of the crop residue. This is mainly to reduce other diseases such as early blight and Septoria leaf spot that may overwinter in the residue in or on the soil. Incorporate vines and leaves into the soil by digging or rototilling. The soil environment speeds decay. Composting also works, but try to build a pile with a mix of green and dry inputs so it will heat up (decomposition releases heat!), and turn it at least once to mix and aerate the pile and keep it heating till fully decomposed. If you harvest potatoes, try to do a thorough job – recognizing that it’s nearly impossible to get every last one.

Harvest and storage
Healthy tomato fruit from infected plants may be used right away or stored till use. Tomato flavor is best preserved above 50 degrees F, though this may also allow late blight and other disease symptoms to develop after harvest. Late blight produces large, greenish brown greasy-appearing spots that cover part or all of the fruit. These are firm, not soft. Under the skin, tissue is discolored. For all fruit, wash before using to remove dirt, microbes, or any fungicide residue that might be present. On potato tubers, late blight causes a shallow, granular reddish-brown dry rot that invades the flesh in an irregular fashion. These infections may open the way to bacterial soft rot, which breaks down the whole tuber into a gooey, smelly mess. Other tuber diseases that may be confused with late blight include pink eye and Fusarium dry rot. Black scurf (caused by Rhizoctonia solani) causes small, hard, black, raised structures on the surface – ‘the dirt that won’t wash off’. Not every tuber problem is caused by late blight!
Dig potatoes at least two weeks after vines die down or are killed by mowing. This allows skins to harden. Dig when soil conditions are relatively dry, and avoid bruises and cuts as much as possible, as they allow entry of pathogens and increase moisture loss. A curing period when tubers are held in darkness at 50--60 degrees F and RH 95%, with good air circulation for 10-20 days will cause wounds to heal and will help prolong good quality in storage. Potatoes with late blight, soft rot, or Pythium leak may break down under these curing conditions and these should be graded out. Then, cool tubers to a storage temperature of around 40-45 degrees F (and 95 % RH if possible). Avoid exposure to light, which causes greening and makes tubers unsafe to eat. During fall and winter, dispose of any diseased potatoes tubers by feeding to livestock, placing in an active, heating compost pile, spreading sparingly on the soil surface where they will freeze, burying deeply in the soil (too deep to sprout in spring), or placing in the trash.

More at the link.

Good news! I tend to write about growing in my Hardiness Zone. We don't "normally" get such an extended freeze these days. The hard freeze across the Nation will prove to be very beneficial come the Spring. Still-- avoid the garden starters from the BIG BOX DIY stores... Particularly Bonnie's.


To Top Of Main Page

Labels: Garden Problems 101, Gardening

"Valleys Of Neptune," due out March 9th. Click the "Listen Now" button at the link, below for some teaser cuts.


via NPR

January 11, 2010 - Jimi Hendrix only released four official studio albums during his lifetime. Monday, Sony Music and the Hendrix estate announced a new album, to be released March 9. It's called Valleys of Neptune.

Most of the songs on the new release were recorded in London in a series of 1969 sessions. Eddie Kramer, a longtime Hendrix engineer, was there.

"This was the year that Jimi was trying everything to find the right direction," he says. Kramer says the guitarist was experimenting, and came to Olympic Studios to try out some new material.

"Jimi was jamming with different musicians," Kramer says. "I think he had the concept of a new album that would follow from Electric Ladyland."

The tapes have languished in a London vault for the past 40 years. Kramer says he knew they were there and went to look for them with Janie Hendrix, Jimi's half-sister and the head of the Seattle-based company that controls the musician's estate. The new album is slated to be the first in a series of Hendrix music and DVD documentaries the company plans to release.

Kramer says he spent a year remastering the old analog tapes, using state-of-the-art digital technology to clean up the sound. But not too clean: Kramer says he was trying to bring out the essence of Jimi Hendrix.

I can't wait.


To Top Of Main Page

Labels: Hot-Ass Music

I mailed them Friday afternoon, but they probably hit the road this morning.

Expect them in the next few days.

Ellen, please check your email. I lost your address... sorry.



To Top Of Main Page

Labels: Seed Trading