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The Plastic Tsunami and Deadly Super Bugs ... to go along with Global Warming and Overpopulation    ... and War, Pestilence, Famine and other old line plagues Don't get all cozy and cuddly just ignoring these lower profile challenges. [Global warming/climate change gets most of the conversation because it's 'controversial,' and hey, we love controversy, particularly of the "Is! Is Not!" variety.] 10 million lives could be lost to superbugs                                   (Or many, many more in a superbug pandemic) * [Not to be all negative, there is some hope on this front.] It's Still Pretty Much ALL NEGATIVE on the Plastics Front. Ugh. Not Controversial... So not talked about as much.  But these are genuine plagues, and like the occupants of the richest castles learned in the Black Death days, there is no hiding from a real plague.  The "Super...

For-Profit Health Insurance Companies They Are a Plague on all our houses (except theirs, of course) For many decades America has handed the vital insurance responsibility of keeping our citizens healthy and well to corporations driven by profit. It's worked great - for making corporate profit.  Not so much for the citizens. Millions have no health insurance. Millions more have inadequate coverage. Our workforce is constrained and debilitated by the for-profit system. There are some responsibilities that are too important to let profit supercede their fulfillment. The way to a fair and universal health plan for America is to DO AWAY WITH FOR-PROFIT HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES. We don't want "socialized medicine" with the government running the health biz. We don't want health care to be "free." We will all pay our fair premiums. We want every penny to be paid by the recipients of the care, just on a progressive ability-to-pay, non-profit insuranc...

Lord, Won't You Buy Me a Gold Plated Bird The real birds are leaving, gone by a third (Lyrics rejected by Janis Joplin) This is an  Are  Birds Going The Way of the White Rhino? story. We live in the mountains of New Mexico, and the birds are plentiful here.  Our hummer feeders are swarmed. Our peanut platform hosts the Jays (Scrub and Stellar's) in great number. Eight seed feeders pump pounds of black oil sunflower and assorted grains into titmouse, towhee, nuthatch (pygmy and standard), wrens of many stripes, sparrows and doves and robins and hawks of many shades... I could go on and do the whole list, but you get the picture, LOTs of birds hereabouts. (The mighty ravens are my favorite, and we have two that come to one particular suet feeder.) Things aren't that good in Europe these days. Farmland Birds in France Are in Steep Decline NY Times 4.11.2018                             ...

Occasionally Internet Pass-Along Wisdom Is Actually WISE A suggested solution to our poisonous polarization I'm with stupid.            So am I. * IT IS POSSIBLE… …To believe in God and science. …To be pro-choice and anti-abortion. …To be a feminist and love and respect men. …to have privilege and be discriminated against. …To be poor and have a rich life. …To be gay and Christian …To believe in gun control and defend your self, family and property with guns. …To be anti-war and pro-military. …To love thy neighbor and despise his behavior. …To agree Black Lives Matter and be pro-police. …To not have an education and be brilliant. …To be a Muslim and suffer at the hands of terrorists. …To distrust government and work to make it better. …To be a non-American fighting for the American dream. …To totally disagree with another and work together toward a common goal. …To be different and be the same. I'll put u...

THE NEXT HUGE AMERICAN ADDICTION PROBLEM JUST GETTING STARTED AND GROWING FAST I'm bad. * Opiod addiction in the U.S. is killing, what? 65,000 a year and growing! Way more are  seriously wounded; next year's fatalities.  And our new cell/text addiction is already challenging DUI for accidents with deaths and maimings.  ... Coming down the pike The NEW ADDICTION - promising to scramble our culture - is being hypodermic-ed into our ears, which is a pretty direct route to the BRAIN.   A U D I O B O O K S Addiction Getting Hooked The addiction process starts with long car trips. The miles just slide by while your mind is on an espionage caper or suiting up for an spacewalk over a giant planet. The autodriver we have all trained in our brains does the driving. Gateway Drug Then you start listening while you do work that doesn’t require much thought. You thrill to a daring romance while you vacuum or weed or make bed...

What Should Democrats Stand For? I hear a lot of "It can't be just anti-Trump. Democrats need a vision for our country." In the midst of World War II, FDR had the time and the sense to make a very important point. Franklin Delano Roosevelt: "In our day certain economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. " A second Bill of Rights   ....under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all regardless of station, or race, or creed. Among these are:   1. The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines throughout the nation.  2. The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation.  3. The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living.  4. The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom, freedom from unfair competition and domination by monop...

I Just Thought of This It could be a Sis/Bro act Similar Smiles---                         Different Views There is no further substance to this post, in case you were wondering.

I Say HECK YES!! Let's finally make it easier for EVERYONE to vote. Here's one of my favorite ex-Presidents making the pitch: * "I AGREE" link You think if we had "VOTING DAY" showcasing elections, the participation wouldn't go up?   Voter suppression, open and secretive, is rampant. Giving people a day off to vote would be a VERY PATRIOTIC THING TO DO. Our vote is our secret weapon for defending democracy. Let's keep it sharp as a razor! olde Scooter

The Persuasion Apocalypse is Just Around the Corner   And bots are the "critical mass generators"  So ban those boogers before they eat our brains. Some people like Rock-aganda. Some don't. * Creds Near-future scenario: Psychological profiling gets incredibly more powerful, thanks to A.I. and machine learning, combing through vast piles of data about each of us. Our tastes, our fears, our heroes, our demons, our fantasies, our positions, our prejudices, our..... everything ; they've got it all, and it goes into the machine learning grinders. (Read up on machine learning - Whoowee baby.) Instantly (computers are fast) you are analyzed and categorized.  Out comes the key to your mind (and maybe your soul). Then with propaganda custom tailored to convince you of whatever THEY want you to think/believe/do, THEY get inside your mind, under your defenses, below your radar and inside your ego. Without even knowing it, you start to think/believe/do what ...

CNN Is an Amazing News Organization (The more DJ Trump Picks On It, The Better They Look) F'er Instance: My ongoing question, "Yeah, Cambridge Analytica, but what about the Russians?" gets reported by who? CNN, that's who. Yep, Trump talks about us a lot. Cambridge Analytica whistleblower: Data could have come from more than 87 million users, be stored in Russia I knew it! Knew it, knew it, knew it!  But have you heard anything about this from Congress? Fox News? ( Sputter, giggle, snort )  See the CNN story HERE. Soooo, if the stolen Facebook Data categorizes you as (say) "Credulous, likes conspiracy theories, and always looking for trouble," you will be hearing from Rooskie trolls, bots and the occasional North Korean now as much as ever. Fun! Way to go, CNN. Right up there with the "failing" New York Times, the "Amazon" Washington Post and the "Very Fake News" MSM.  I'M PRETTY SURE ROBERT MUELL...

The (Almost) Snowless Winter in New Mexico This may sound like I'm whining,       And what right do I have to whine         When the East Coast is snowed senseless? Still, I want you to know we New Mexicans are experiencing what made the Early Pueblans leave their amazing cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde  and their magnificent buildings in Chaco Canyon. Scary. It’s only April and a stretch of the Rio Grande has already dried By Laura Paskus, Apr 05, 2018 08:00 pm Hey Goose, want to play splash? Read all about it and feel better about all your snow. Rain Turtle, why hath thou forsaken us?