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       #Post#: 2914--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Resisting Brainwashing Propaganda
       By: AGelbert Date: April 1, 2015, 9:31 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Mon Mar 30, 2015 at 10:29 AM PDT
       Florida fourth grader gives amazing speech to school board,
       audience erupts in a standing ovation
       A young lady who will figure things out soon. She is using
       critical thinking skills. Good for her.
  HTML http://www.runemasterstudios.com/graemlins/images/2thumbs.gif
       
       The younger generation needs this kind of grit to deal with the
       suicidal profit over planet government.
  HTML http://www.pic4ever.com/images/swear1.gif
  HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogBuz4dU5Ew&feature=player_embedded
       Syndey suggested changes and railed against a provision she was
       asked to sign saying that she wasn't allowed to discuss the test
       with her parents:
  HTML http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/03/30/1374359/-Florida-fourth-grader-gives-amazing-speech-to-school-board-audience-erupts-in-a-standing-ovation
       #Post#: 2933--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Resisting Brainwashing Propaganda
       By: AGelbert Date: April 6, 2015, 5:34 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       2015/04/03
       For a Political Revolution
  HTML http://www.pic4ever.com/images/301.gif
       by Senator Bernie Sanders
       Snippet 1
       [quote]Meanwhile, as the rich become much richer, the level of
       income and wealth inequality has reached obscene and
       unimaginable levels. In the United States, we have the most
       unequal level of wealth and income distribution of any major
       country on earth, and worse now then at any other time since the
       1920s. Today, the top one-tenth of 1 percent of our nation owns
       almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent, and one family
       owns more wealth than the bottom 42 percent. In terms of income,
       99 percent of all new income is going to the top 1 percent.
       This is what a rigged economic system looks like. At a time when
       millions of American workers have seen declines in their incomes
       and are working longer hours for lower wages, the wealth of the
       billionaire class is soaring in a way that few can imagine. If
       you can believe it, between 2013 and 2015, the 14 wealthiest
       individuals in the country saw their net worth increase by over
       $157 billion dollars. Children go hungry, veterans sleep out on
       the streets, senior citizens cannot afford their prescription
       drugs -- and 14 individuals saw a $157 billion dollar increase
       in their wealth over a two-year period.[/quote]
       Snippet 2:
       [quote]
       And, by the way, if you think that the Republican Party's
       refusal to acknowledge that climate change is real, is caused by
       human activity and is a severe threat to our planet, is not
       related to how we finance campaigns, you would be sorely
       mistaken. With the Koch brothers (who make much of their money
       in the fossil fuel industry) and big energy companies strongly
       supporting Republican candidates, it should not surprise anyone
       that my Republican colleagues reject the views of the
       overwhelming majorit y of scientists who study climate issues.
       [/quote]
  HTML http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/03/1375356/-For-a-Political-Revolution
       Agelbert NOTE: I agree with much of what Senator Sanders says.
       However, I DO NOT agree that the "economy today is much better
       than it was six years ago  when George W. Bush left office"
  HTML http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TzWpwHzCvCI/T_sBEnhCCpI/AAAAAAAAME8/IsLpuU8HYxc/s1600/nooo-way-smiley.gif<br
       />(unless you are an oligarch
  HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-200714191329.bmp).<br
       />
       This is NOT about Republicans versus Democrats, as Bernie wants
       us to believe.
  HTML http://www.desismileys.com/smileys/desismileys_2932.gif
       That's
       mutt and jeff, bad cop, good cop gaming of the masses in defense
       of the corrupt satus quo.
  HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-200714183312.bmp
       What part of "The U.S.A. is a M.I.C. dictatorship with
       Representative Republic/Democracy lipstick" does Senator Sanders
       NOT understand?
       Some might say he doesn't WANT to understand it because his role
       is that of a TOKEN to make people believe the lipstick is the
       reality. As much as I like Senator Sanders, I think that
       hypothesis has merit.   :(
       #Post#: 3133--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Resisting Brainwashing Propaganda
       By: AGelbert Date: May 15, 2015, 5:43 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       [img width=740
       height=1100]
  HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-150515185332.png[/img]
  HTML http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/workingpapers/wp108.html#wp108chart3
       #Post#: 3169--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Resisting Brainwashing Propaganda
       By: AGelbert Date: May 18, 2015, 7:46 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       [quote]The rich white family has an unrivaled aptitude for
       crime. Members of rich white families run corporations into the
       ground (think Lehman Brothers), defraud stockholders and
       investors, sell toxic mortgages as gold-plated investments to
       pension funds, communities and schools, and then loot the U.S.
       Treasury when the whole thing implodes. They steal hundreds of
       millions of dollars on Wall Street through fraud and theft, pay
       little or no taxes, almost never go to jail, write laws and
       regulations that legalize their crimes and then are asked to
       become trustees at elite universities and sit on corporate
       boards. They set up foundations and are admired as
       philanthropists. And if they get into legal trouble, they have
       high-priced lawyers and connections among the political elites
       to get them out. [/quote]
       The Pathology of the Rich White Family
       Posted on May 17, 2015
       By Chris Hedges
  HTML http://www.pic4ever.com/images/19.gif
       The pathology of the rich white family is the most dangerous
       pathology in America. The rich white family is cursed with too
       much money and privilege. It is devoid of empathy, the result of
       lifetimes of entitlement. It has little sense of loyalty and
       lacks the capacity for self-sacrifice. Its definition of
       friendship is reduced to “What can you do for me?” It is
       possessed by an insatiable lust to increase its fortunes and
       power. It believes that wealth and privilege confer to it a
       superior intelligence and virtue. It is infused with an
       unchecked hedonism and narcissism. And because of all this, it
       interprets reality through a lens of self-adulation and greed
       that renders it delusional. The rich white family is a menace.
       The pathologies of the poor, when set against the pathologies of
       rich white people, are like a candle set beside the sun.
       There are no shortages of acolytes and propagandists for rich
       white families. They dominate our airwaves. They blame poverty,
       societal breakdown, urban violence, drug use, domestic abuse and
       crime on the pathology of poor black families—not that they know
       any. They argue that poor black families disintegrate because of
       some inherent defect—here you can read between the lines that
       white people are better than black people—a defect that these
       poor families need to fix.
       Peddle this simplistic and racist garbage and you will be given
       a column at The New York Times. It always pays to suck up to
       rich white families.
  HTML http://www.pic4ever.com/images/d2.gif<br
       />
  HTML http://www.pic4ever.com/images/acigar.gif
       If you are black and
       parrot this line, rich white people are overcome with joy  [img
       width=80
       height=40]
  HTML http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9HT4xZyDmh4/TOHhxzA0wLI/AAAAAAAAEUk/oeHDS2cfxWQ/s200/Smiley_Angel_Wings_Halo.jpg[/img].<br
       /> They go to extreme lengths to give you a platform. You can
       become president or a Supreme Court justice. You can get a
       television talk show or tenure at a university. You can get
       money for your foundation. You can publish self-help books. Your
       films will be funded. You might even be hired to run a company.
       Rich white families, their sycophants opine, have tried to help.
       Rich white families have given poor people numerous resources
       and government programs to lift them out of poverty. They have
       provided generous charity. But blacks, they say, along with
       other poor people of color, are defeated by self-destructive
       attitudes and behavior. Government programs are therefore wasted
       on these irresponsible people. Poor families, the sycophants
       tell us, will not be redeemed until they redeem themselves. We
       want to help, rich white people say, but poor black people need
       to pull up their pants, stay in school, get an education, find a
       job, say no to drugs and respect authority. If they don’t, they
       deserve what they get. And what the average black family ends up
       with in economic terms is a nickel for every dollar held by the
       average white family.
       Starting at age 10 as a scholarship student at an elite New
       England boarding school, I was forced to make a study of the
       pathology of rich white families. It was not an experience I
       would recommend. Years later, by choice, I moved to Boston’s
       Roxbury neighborhood when I was a seminary student. I lived
       across the street from one of the poorest housing projects in
       the city, and I ran a small church in the inner city for nearly
       three years. I already had a deep distaste for rich white
       families, and that increased greatly after I saw what they did
       to the disenfranchised. Rich white people, I concluded after my
       childhood and Roxbury experiences, are sociopaths.
       The misery and collapse of community and family in Roxbury were
       not caused by an inherent pathology within the black family.
       Rich people who treated the poor like human refuse caused the
       problems. Layers of institutionalized racism—the courts, the
       schools, the police, the probation officers, the banks, the easy
       access to drugs, the endemic unemployment and underemployment,
       the collapsing infrastructures and the prison system—effectively
       conspired to make sure the poor remained poor. Drug use, crime
       and disintegrating families are the result of poverty, not race.
       Poor whites replicate this behavior. Take away opportunity,
       infuse lives with despair and hopelessness, and this is what you
       get. But that is something rich white families do not want
       people to know. If it were known, the rich would have to take
       the blame.
  HTML http://www.desismileys.com/smileys/desismileys_0293.gif
       Read the other two pages of this hard hitting, truth filled
       article by Chris Hedges at link below:
  HTML http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_pathology_of_the_rich_white_family_20150517
       [quote]
       Rich white families are also the most efficient killers on the
       planet. This has been true for five centuries, starting with the
       conquest of the Americas and the genocide against Native
       Americans, and continuing through today’s wars in the Middle
       East.[/quote]
       [img width=640
       height=330]
  HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-080814213147.png[/img]
       [quote]"The rich executed a coup d’état that transformed the
       three branches of the U.S. government and nearly all
       institutions, including the mass media, into wholly owned
       subsidiaries of the corporate state. - Chris Hedges[/quote]
       #Post#: 3343--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Resisting Brainwashing Propaganda
       By: AGelbert Date: June 22, 2015, 12:30 am
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       [quote author=Golden Oxen link=topic=5065.msg78765#msg78765
       date=1434949871]
       Opinion: It does not take GMOs to feed the world
       We can feed the world without the kind of farming that depends
       on managing weeds with toxic chemicals, and we don’t need costly
       chemical fertilizers that slowly destroy soil’s ability to grow
       crops while exacerbating climate change.
       By Florence Reed, Food Tank June 21, 2015
       
       [img]
  HTML http://images.csmonitor.com/csm/2015/06/915466_1_0619-corn_standard.jpg?alias=standard_600x400[/img]
       A farmer harvests corn at a
       field on the outskirts of Faisalabad, Pakistan, June 18, 2015.
       Reed argues that the world can grow enough food successfully
       without farming methods that use agrochemicals and GMOs.
       
       I grew up in a diversity-loving community. The old adage “it
       takes all kinds” was written into my blood…until I said it to a
       new acquaintance.
       “No,” he replied. “There are some kinds we could really do
       without.”
       And he’s right. We could do without many kinds of people.
       I think the same is true of farming practices—but I have been
       hearing something different. I first came across the
       “It-Takes-All-Kinds-of-Farming” theory at the 2014 Camden
       Conference. The message that came out of one panel was that
       organic farming is fine, but that we need all kinds of
       agriculture if we are going to feed the world.
       To which I say: No. It does not take all kinds.
       We can feed the world without the kind of farming that depends
       on managing weeds with toxic chemicals rather than with mulch
       and weeding. According to a new assessment by the World Health
       Organization, glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto’s
       Roundup herbicide, was found to probably be carcinogenic to
       humans. We don’t need that. We don’t need costly chemical
       fertilizers that slowly destroy soil’s ability to grow crops
       while exacerbating climate change.
       In fact, I would say we do not need any new farming technologies
       until they are rigorously tested and proven harmless. Not when
       we have an arsenal of inexpensive sustainable techniques at our
       fingertips that can improve soil, protect the environment, and
       produce a high yield—without doing any harm.
       Some might say my rose-colored glasses are too thick. That if I
       believe we can feed the 7 billion people on this planet without
       big ag, petrochemicals, and GMOs, that maybe my “kind” is not
       needed.
       But maybe the naysayers haven’t visited places like Harvest for
       the Hungry Garden in Santa Rosa, CA, where over 20,000 pounds of
       organic produce is grown annually on a three-quarter-acre lot.
       :o Maybe they haven’t visited the hundreds of farms in Central
       America whose successes I have had the privilege of sharing.
       Before beginning work withSustainable Harvest International, the
       families working these small farms were some of the poorest on
       our planet. Through working with us, they learn organic
       techniques that allow them to produce plenty of healthy food for
       themselves and others. Each of these farmers is offered the
       opportunity to choose from a large and ever-growing menu of
       techniques that we teach—because though it doesn’t take all
       kinds, it does take many.
       None of the farming practices taught by Sustainable Harvest
       International, however, include agrochemicals or GMOs. We
       believe it takes only those kinds that produce more food without
       contaminating air, water, and soil, endangering the lives of
       humans and other species, increasing greenhouse emissions, or
       destroying soil’s ability to continue producing food in the
       decades to come. For those of you doubting how small farmers
       using organic methods can feed the 7 billion, I invite you to
       come to Central America with me to witness the power of
       small-scale, organic farms.
       I hope that those promoting harmful farm products will join us
       innovating on the many healthy farming practices that already
       exist. Having the courage to change your mind will be rewarded
       when you stand up for people and the planet—not only by saying
       it doesn’t take all kinds, but by contributing to the kind of
       development we truly need.
       This is a guest article by Florence Reed, founder and president
       of Sustainable Harvest International.
  HTML http://www.sustainableharvest.org/home/
  HTML http://www.sustainableharvest.org/home/
       :icon_study:
       [/quote]
       [quote]
       We can feed the world without the kind of farming that depends
       on managing weeds with toxic chemicals, and we don'’t need
       costly chemical fertilizers that slowly destroy soil’s ability
       to grow crops while exacerbating climate change.[/quote]
       [center]
  HTML http://www.desismileys.com/smileys/desismileys_0293.gif
       [img
       width=100
       height=60]
  HTML http://cliparts.co/cliparts/Big/Egq/BigEgqBMT.png[/img][/center]
       #Post#: 3345--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Resisting Brainwashing Propaganda
       By: AGelbert Date: June 22, 2015, 4:41 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       [quote author=Golden Oxen link=topic=559.msg78769#msg78769
       date=1434951563]
       [quote] We can feed the world without the kind of farming
       that depends on managing weeds with toxic chemicals, and we
       don'’t need costly chemical fertilizers that slowly destroy
       soil’s ability to grow crops while exacerbating climate change.
       [/quote]
       Yes Agelbert as this article certainly appears to explain.
       Hate to admit I to was conned by the piggies and their
       chemicals. How the hell can we possibly feed seven billion
       people I mused to myself, without modern technology. What a fool
       to be conned by those bastards, their poisoning  everybody and
       destroying the land as well.
       I bought some corn on the cob for a summertime treat last week,
       it isn't even corn anymore, but dried out white and dull yellow
       kernels.
       When I remember the big robust bright yellow kernels, bursting
       with wholesome nutrition and flavor in my youth I could just
       cry.
       Fresh Native corn it was labeled and that's what it was, this
       stuff today even looks artificial.  :-\
       [/quote]
       I hear ya. I have, as you know  ;D, done a lot of research on
       corn in general (and GMO corn in particular) in my EROEI study
       of ethanol from various plant products. Corn sucks as an ethanol
       source. Sugar cane is 8 times more efficient, but duckweed is
       the best. But that's another subject.
       We have a HUGE problem with our corn that most people are
       unaware of. You have noticed the deterioration in quality and
       taste. In order to get decent sweet corn, you have to look high
       and low. The heirloom varieties that Native American tribes here
       and there grow are your best option for full flavored corn.
       You may be interested to know that the miniature corn used in
       Asian dishes (I love it even though it has been over 20 years
       since I last ate some!) is actually sweet corn picked early.
       They have a saying among corn growers (knee high by the 4th of
       July) for proper corn crop growth. Well, those who want to grow
       their own miniature corn need to know this so they can harvest
       (twice) the tiny sweet corn and then eat them fresh, pickle them
       or freeze them.
       If you like that tiny sweet corn (the common yellow corn we are
       accustomed to BUT you can do this with heirloom colored corn
       too!), bear in mind that the miniature corn imported from
       outside the USA is NOT organic. It might not be GMO, but the
       fields are pesticide laden and chemically fertilized.
  HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-200714183312.bmp
       Corn is a grass. The fact is that every lawn in America COULD be
       used to grow it. But, of course, that's too logical, makes too
       much CFS and then what would the lawn fertilizer, pesticide and
       power lawn mower fossil fue loving dealers do to make money?
  HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-200714191329.bmp
       As a student of our economy, you will probably ask yourself why
       miniature corn is not a big product in the USA. After all, many
       people love it and it is the same sweet corn that gets big and
       is grown all over corn country in the USA.
       The answer is, you guessed it, miniature corn must be hand
       harvested. Our Big Ag GOONS hate to pay humans to do anything
       and prefer trashing the planet with GMO corn, fossil fuel based
       fertilizers and massive gas guzzling planting and harvesting
       machinery.  As your article pointed out, we don't need to do
       that. We NEVER needed to do that.
       Another thing that all of us need to be concerned with, GO, is
       yellow dent corn (field corn). It's a type of corn that is not
       edible. Yet, more of THAT crap is grown than any other kind of
       corn in the USA! But, you guessed it, we AND OUR CHILDREN are
       being fed it in various sneaky ways.
  HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-200714183312.bmp:P<br
       />
       [quote]Yellow dent or field corn is also made into cornmeal,
       corn flakes, hominy, grits, corn starch, corn sugar, corn syrup,
       corn oil, corn-oil meal, gluten feed and meal, whiskey and
       alcohol. You can be fairly certain you are consuming GMO when
       consuming any of the above, unless you seek out organic
       options.[/quote]
       [quote]Nearly ninety percent of the field corn planted in the
       U.S. is genetically modified, in contrast to sweet corn, of
       which about 4 percent was genetically modified in 2011.
       (4) Although Syngenta’s Bt 'Attribute' seed has been on the
       market for over 10 years, it is not widely used, as it is only
       sold to commercial growers who sign a stewardship agreement and
       also plant a minimum of 20 acres. [size=12pt]But in 2012
       [color=red]another company came into the sweet corn market,
       Monsanto. Monsanto introduced its first GM sweet corn seed
       called 'Performance' with three GM traits; Roundup Ready
       herbicide tolerant and two insect resistant traits (corn-borer
       and rootworm).
       (5) It was rumored Monsanto was ready to produce enough seed to
       cover 250,000 acres with its GM sweet corn in 2012 but the
       company has not divulged how much it has sold or how much was
       planted.
  HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-200714191329.bmp
       (6) The 2013 figures are also not available. Wal-Mart has agreed
       to sell Monsanto's corn, but Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and
       General Mills have pledged not to sell or use it. Be sure to ask
       your local farmer what corn he has planted.[/size][/quote]
  HTML http://www.inspirationgreen.com/dent-corn-and-sweet-corn.html
  HTML http://www.inspirationgreen.com/dent-corn-and-sweet-corn.html
       I don't need to ask my local farmer what corn he has planted.
       Despite Vermont's good move to get food products labeled, the
       non-organic farmers here are growing more and more GMO corn.
       Unfortunately, Vermont is now GMO corn country.
  HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-200714183312.bmp
       If you are interested, I will post my miniature corn research. I
       have lots of cool corny  ;D  pictures with it.
  HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-200714191456.bmp
       #Post#: 3351--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Resisting Brainwashing Propaganda
       By: AGelbert Date: June 22, 2015, 10:51 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       [quote author=Golden Oxen link=topic=559.msg78838#msg78838
       date=1435023368]
       [quote]If you are interested, I will post my miniature corn
       research. I have lots of cool corny  ;D  pictures with it.  [img
       width=30]
  HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-141113185701.png[/img]
       [/quote]
       No thanks AG, I wouldn't understand it.
       What I would like to know though is it worthwhile to buy so
       called Organic grown corn at a place like Whole Foods and take
       the big shafting on their high prices, or is it still a cob of
       chemicals and Roundup? I don't trust piggies, even though Whole
       Foods has a good reputation. Their stock has not been doing well
       lately, and they vow to come up with a solution. We both know
       what that means.
       The reason I ask is I was getting the shaft paying big bucks for
       their cage free eggs.  Come to find out the piggies got the law
       written where cage free means a chicken allowed to look out his
       cell block window for a few minutes every day. a few alternate
       net websites Bad Quaker and Jim Corbett that I listen to
       occasionally woke me up to that con job.
       It's tough staying ahead of the piggies, they have a million
       bags of tricks. Comments on Blueberries, organic versus
       conventional would be welcomed as well. With three bucks a pint
       difference in price, and they sure look alike, my gold bug
       instincts about people and money tell me to buy the conventional
       and wash them extra thoroughly.
  HTML http://www.doomsteaddiner.net/forum/Smileys/dd1/icon_scratch.gif
       [/quote]
       Yep. Whole Foods is out to get some [s]suckers[/s] customers
       with a new line of "affordable" products with some clever name
       that they CLAIM will be GMO free and organic. I agree that
       anything they say must be taken with a grain of salt.
       You mentioned blueberries. As you have surmised, ANY product you
       buy requires a certain level of trust by you because, apart from
       the obvious appearance of the food, something the retailers have
       become experts in packaging so they look great to us, we humans
       simply do not have the sensory equipment to tell if something is
       GMO or not.
       We also cannot tell what level of pesticide residue is on fruit
       or veggies.
       And we have problems picking out meat too. We see a label that
       says "grass fed" beef certified organic. It's just a label.
       Somebody might have slapped it on there and the meat is from a
       poor cow that was pumped hidden meat "product" prions in the
       feed along with HFCS from GMO corn AND lots of GMO yellow dent
       (inedible!) corn too! There is simply no way to tell by sight.
       :P
       The internet has helped avoid some of the pitfalls somewhat.
       My wife has discovered a place called Vitacost. It's got a lot
       of organic foods including great roasted garlic tomato sauce. I
       mention it because, even though we don't get fruit from there,
       it's a source you may want to check out. They aren't giving the
       stuff away, but the prices are reasonable.
       Back to the blueberries. As to fruit, let us understand and be
       clear that GMO, at least at present, is a non-issue (tomatoes
       technically are fruit and ARE being GMOed so you have to watch
       out for them).
       Somebody out there is monkeying with banana DNA but it's not on
       the market yet.
       The issue with fruit is pesticides and chemical fertilizers.
       Organic is better, not just because the pesticides aren't used,
       but because organic, even though they look exactly the same as
       the non-organic, have a higher nutrition content. Fossil Fuel
       based Chemical fertilizers are great for making BIG fruit with
       LOW nutrient content. So, the YIELD IN WEIGHT helps the farmer
       make more money.
  HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-200714191329.bmp<br
       />But the fruit just ain't the same. Organic fruit, if it's not
       mislabeled, is worth the extra expense.
       The ISSUE with pesticides is real. But as you pointed out, many
       veggies (e.g. celery, broccoli, potatoes, carrots and other
       tubers) and fruit that have been sprayed, particularly fruit
       with thick skin like mangos, avocados and citrus, can be washed.
       BUT, the thin skinned ones like apples, blueberries, gra pes,
       etc. will have residue. Peaches suck up pesticides like there is
       no tomorrow so you DO NOT EVER want to buy them if they aren't
       organic. The skin is alive. It absorbs whatever was sprayed on
       the fruit. The pesticide might not go any farther, but it ain't
       gonna get totally washed off because it ain't totally on the
       surface.
       That said, washing is not optional, regardless of the fruit or
       the vegetable. There are lots of potentially harmful tiny
       critter things (like nematodes and the like) that you get rid of
       by washing.
       But don't fixate on washing. We wash organic fruits and veggies
       too.
       Fixate on the nutrition. Find out what the difference is between
       organically grown blueberries and non-organically grown ones.
       Just Google that and you will then be armed to do the money
       math. Yes, there is always some trick that a retailer is trying
       to play. But in fruit, you generally DO get what you pay for.
       With food like corn, that can be GMO without you knowing it,
       avoid the yellow colored corn. There is ZERO GMO corn DNA in the
       heirloom (Indian) colored corn varieties.   [img width=25
       height=30]
  HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-080515182559.png[/img]
       Here's a snippet from my research:
       Black, red and blue corn is rich in anthocyanins. Anthocyanins
       have the potential to fight cancer, calm inflammation, lower
       cholesterol and blood pressure, protect the aging brain, and
       reduce the risk of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
       
  HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-200714191456.bmp
       We started eating yellow sweet corn because when Washington was
       destroying the crops of the Native Americans to help them starve
       to death, one of his troops discovered a very yellow variety the
       Native Americans were growing and took the seeds back.  The more
       yellow the corn is, the more carotenoids it contains, since
       these compounds provide plants with color. In particular, yellow
       corn is abundant in two carotenoids, zeaxanthin and lutein,
       which keep eyes healthy.   [img width=25
       height=30]
  HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-080515182559.png[/img]
       So yellow sweet corn is NOT a nutritional improvement over
       colored corn even though it DOES taste somewhat sweeter. But the
       bottom line is that you CANNOT get scammed into buying GMO corn
       labeled otherwise when it is colored corn. I recommend it. Is it
       expensive? Yep. But you really do get what you pay for.
  HTML http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/opinion/sunday/breeding-the-nutrition-out-of-our-food.html?pagewanted=all
  HTML http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/opinion/sunday/breeding-the-nutrition-out-of-our-food.html?pagewanted=all
       I know you aren't interested in buying corn seeds but this web
       sight has a lot of pictures of the type of corn you may be
       interested in eating:
       Corn, Mandan Bride Organic Catalog #1355A
       (Zea mays) From the Mandan Indians of Minnesota and North
       Dakota. Extensive color range includes some attractive striped
       kernels. Use as a flour corn or for fall displays. Ears are 6-8"
       long on 6' plants. 85-90 days.
  HTML http://www.seedsavers.org/onlinestore/corn/Corn-Mandan-Bride-OG.html
  HTML http://www.seedsavers.org/onlinestore/corn/Corn-Mandan-Bride-OG.html
       Maybe our Diner in Minnesota can hook you up with some organic
       Indian corn sellers.  8)
       GO, you have a lot of CFS. Most of food purchasing decisions
       involves some footwork, unfortunately. But it has got to be
       done. Use your CFS to get the best buy for your HEALTH, not your
       pocketbook.
       There is an old saying in Spanish that applies quite well to
       food:
       [quote][font=times new roman]Lo Barato Sale Caro = Buying cheap
       things is false economy, cheap things turn out expensive in the
       end[/font][/quote]
       #Post#: 3462--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Resisting Brainwashing Propaganda
       By: AGelbert Date: July 14, 2015, 5:19 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Agelbert NOTE: Articles like this should be shouted from the
       roof tops, all over the USA, and on a daily basis, until the
       Empathy Deficit Disordered Greed Balls running this country into
       the ground extract their heads from their profit over people and
       planet addicted asses.
       [quote] There are 45 million Americans struggling to survive
       just like me.
       Being stuck in poverty isn't about morals or character. It isn't
       about family structure or some "culture" of poverty. And it
       certainly isn't about being lazy or stupid. Most poor people are
       smart, hard-working, decent, kind, compassionate people. They
       are creative and innovative in solving their problems and
       creating beauty and ritual in their lives. They care for their
       children, disabled, and seniors with tenderness and love; they
       play music and write poetry and make art.
       They put up with a lot of bullsh it from the public on a daily
       basis at their crappy low-wage jobs, but keep on smiling and
       telling you to have a great day. They take a lot of Advil and
       supplements in order to make up for the fact that they have
       little to no health care. They die sooner because of their
       struggle; even sooner if they live under Republican
       rule.[/quote]
       [quote]I especially appreciated the Kossacks who shared their
       personal stories of picking up and leaving with the hope of a
       better future. They let me know that the problem isn't in me;
       I'm not defective. It's not that I lack ability or intelligence
       or drive, it's the system here that is broken, shutting me out
       at every turn, keeping me down.[/quote]
       Sun Jul 12, 2015 at 12:09 PM PDT.
       [center]Why I'm Leaving the South[/center]
       by RationalSouthCarolina
       [center][img width=75
       height=50]
  HTML http://www.pic4ever.com/images/reading.gif[/img]<br
       />[/center]
  HTML http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/07/12/1401577/-Why-I-m-Leaving-the-South
       
       #Post#: 3716--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Resisting Brainwashing Propaganda
       By: AGelbert Date: September 4, 2015, 6:08 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       08/26/2015 11:43 AM
       Scotland & Germany Ban GMO Crops
  HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-200714183515.bmp
       SustainableBusiness.com News
       Update August 26:
       Germany will also ban GMO crops. "There's resistance from all
       sides, from the public to the farmers," Christian Fronczak, a
       spokesperson for the Agriculture Ministry, told Bloomberg. 9 of
       Germany's 10 federal states have already declared themselves as
       GMO-Free regions.
       England plans to go ahead and allow planting, despite strong
       citizen opposition.
       ---
       Scotland is on a roll on renewable energy, and now it's moving
       to protect its land and food.
       Growing genetically modified crops will not be permitted in
       Scotland, announced Richard Lochhead, the country's Secretary of
       Rural Affairs.
       This year, the EU passed legislation allowing member countries
       to opt-out of growing GMO crops, opening the door for Scotland
       to say, NO Thanks.
       [center]
       Scotland isn't the first country to ban GMOs: [/center]
       [center][img width=400
       height=400]
  HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-040915185926.jpeg[/img][/center]
       [center]
  HTML http://www.pic4ever.com/images/looksmiley.gif[/center]<br
       />
       Lochhead explains the decision:
       "Scotland is known around the world for our beautiful natural
       environment - and banning growing genetically modified crops
       will protect and further enhance our clean, green status.
       "There is no evidence of significant demand for GM products by
       Scottish consumers and I am concerned that allowing GM crops to
       be grown in Scotland would damage our clean and green brand,
       thereby gambling with the future of our £14 billion food and
       drink sector.
       [quote]
       "Scottish food and drink is valued at home and abroad for its
       natural, high quality which often attracts a premium price, and
       I have heard directly from food and drink producers in other
       countries that are ditching GM because of a consumer backlash.
       "That is why I strongly support the continued application of the
       precautionary principle in relation to GM crops."  [img
       width=100
       height=60]
  HTML http://cliparts.co/cliparts/Big/Egq/BigEgqBMT.png[/img]
       [/quote]
       Unfortunately, the EU law leaves loopholes that Monsanto etc.
       can use in litigation, and if the US-EU trade deal passes
       (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) these "legal
       weaknesses" can be used to challenge national bans.
       In the US, the DARK Act is moving through Congress - Deny
       Americans the Right to Know Act - and the GMO industry is
       working on Africa.  >:(
       Scotland also banned another industry this year - Fracking.  ;D
       A new policy makes efficiency the "preferred fuel" to reach its
       goal of 100% renewable energy. It leads on tidal energy and
       offshore wind.
       [center]
  HTML http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GL5j1HJXNGE/U5HAcjeP3KI/AAAAAAABEGY/ZBbqo0mVQi0/s1600/06-06-2014c.gif[/center]
       [center][img width=640
       height=420]
  HTML http://www.offshorewind.biz/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Wind-Generates-Third-of-Scotlands-Electricity-Demand-in-June.jpg[/img][/center]
  HTML http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/26403
       #Post#: 4021--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Resisting Brainwashing Propaganda
       By: AGelbert Date: October 19, 2015, 2:40 am
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       [center][img width=100
       height=60]
  HTML http://dl10.glitter-graphics.net/pub/2491/2491210ovie015m90.gif[/img][/center]
       [center]In an earlier era, Vermonters abused opiates[/center]
       Oct. 18, 2015, 9:43 pm by VTD Editor
       [center]
  HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-191015033125.jpeg[/center]
       [center]Quack Doctor, T.W. Wood[/center]
       “The Quack Doctor,” by Vermonter Thomas Waterman Wood, shows a
       man hawking his patent medicine to a crowd. Wood added a visual
       pun, a group of ducks walking and apparently quacking  :D
       beneath the wagon. [/I]
       [I]The doctor’s name, “I.M. Cheatham,”
  HTML http://www.pic4ever.com/images/4fvfcja.gif
       is painted on the
       side of the wagon. Wood took another shot at this sort of
       charlatan by painting the rear wheel to partially obscure the
       final three letters of the name. For this painting, Wood used
       his native Montpelier as the backdrop, including the archway
       that once spanned East State Street. Photo courtesy of the T.W.
       Wood Gallery, Montpelier
       Gov. Peter Shumlin’s State of the State address in 2014 shocked
       many people.
       [quote]“In every corner of our state, heroin and opiate drug
       addiction threatens us,” [/quote]the governor declared. The
       problem was so serious that Shumlin took the extraordinary step
       of dedicating his entire address to a single issue.
       The image of Vermont beset with a drug addiction crisis was
       jarring. It ran counter to the popular perception of the state
       as a secluded community immune to the horrors of modern life.
       The news might have been less stunning if people had known of an
       earlier and equally alarming report prepared by a University of
       Vermont dean about opiate abuse by Vermonters. The dean revealed
       that, based on his survey of doctors and druggists, Vermonters
       consumed an average of one-and-a-half doses per adult per day.
       It’s an astonishing figure made all the more stunning by the
       fact that the dean believed that, because of the
       uncooperativeness of many he surveyed, the true number of doses
       was perhaps five times higher.
       Don’t feel bad if you missed news of this report, however. It’s
       not exactly new. The dean, Dr. Ashbel Parmlee Grinnell, issued
       it in 1900.
       Historian Gary Shattuck will deliver a lecture entitled “Opiate
       Use in Vermont: The Present Reflects the Past” at 7 p.m. on Oct.
       20 at the Waterman Memorial Lounge at UVM. This will be the
       inaugural Sam B. Hand Memorial Lecture, sponsored by the Vermont
       Historical Society and the University of Vermont Center for
       Research on Vermont and Special Collections. The late Professor
       Hand taught and mentored many of the state’s current generation
       of historians.
       The 115-year-old report is getting fresh attention thanks to
       Gary Shattuck, a writer and historian. Shattuck has unearthed
       sobering facts about the state’s history of opiate abuse. His
       research forms the basis of his essay in the new issue of
       Vermont History, the journal of the Vermont Historical Society.
       Shattuck will also deliver a lecture on his research at UVM on
       Oct. 20.
       Like Shumlin’s speech, Shattuck’s findings will surprise many
       people, even some longtime Vermont historians. Shattuck has a
       way of shining a light into the dark corners of the state’s
       past, and finding, well, darkness. A former assistant U.S.
       Attorney for Vermont, he is the author of “Insurrection,
       Corruption & Murder in Early Vermont: Life on the Wild Northern
       Frontier,” a book that detailed the shadowy world of smuggling
       during the early 1800s.
       Shattuck says it is his nature, and his professional training,
       to try to establish facts. “I’m always asking what caused
       something to happen,” he says. “That is where I try to live my
       life, with primary sources, not secondary ones.”
       While researching his smuggling book, Shattuck noted how
       prevalent drinking was during the early 1800s. Drinking became
       such a problem that the state outlawed alcohol production and
       sale in 1852. That left Shattuck wondering: “If prohibition was
       supposed to be so successful, what were people doing to get
       stimulants?”
       The answer, Shattuck found, is that they were imbibing an
       astonishing amount of opiates. Vermonters didn’t get their drugs
       in illicit, back-alley transactions; they got them from their
       doctors, or from their closest general store or druggist.
       Vermonters were using opium long before the spike in demand that
       Shattuck attributes to the state’s prohibition on alcohol. In
       fact, he unearthed references to opium consumption as far back
       as 1786, before Vermont was even a state. That year, Eben Judd,
       a self-proclaimed doctor, described treating others with opium
       and discussing with a doctor in Guildhall how to make opium from
       poppies.
       Vermonters had a long tradition of self-medicating. Part of the
       reason was because many people distrusted elites of any sort, a
       feeling that grew out of the anti-Masonry movement, which
       started in the late 1820s.
       [center]
  HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-191015033201.jpeg[/center]
       [center][i]An advertisement for Greene’s Syrup of Tar, which had
       heroin as an ingredient, was manufactured by a company in
       Montpelier. [/I][/center]
       
       Another effect of that distrust was that Vermonters resisted
       creating a system for granting medical licenses. Requiring that
       doctors first graduate from a medical college in order to
       practice smacked of elitism to some, so for decades Vermont’s
       Legislature only sporadically monitored who could practice
       medicine. When it did require that doctors obtain licenses, the
       requirements were minimal. Making matters worse, the state also
       had several “diploma mills,” in Rutland, Bennington, Newbury and
       Newfane, churning out untrained men passing themselves off as
       doctors.
       Even many trained doctors were ignorant of the dangers posed by
       opiates. Doctors relied so heavily on opium-based medicines to
       treat a range of maladies that nationally an estimated 16
       percent became addicts themselves. The pharmaceutical industry
       and pharmacists were also unregulated and had a perverse
       financial incentive to push drugs that guaranteed return
       customers, who were literally addicted to the products.
       The state Legislature could have remedied these problems with
       some careful regulation. But when doctors like Grinnell pointed
       out the seriousness of the opiate problem, the Legislature
       turned a deaf ear. Lawmakers were myopically focused on alcohol
       prohibition as the way to treat society’s addiction problems,
       and didn’t take the opiate crisis seriously, Shattuck says.
       Doctors relied on opium and opium-based drugs because of their
       obvious effectiveness. Unlike most of the other treatments at
       their disposal, a dose of opium would quickly quiet a suffering
       or agitated patient. As a result, no one questioned the drug’s
       inclusion in countless patent medicines.
       Vermonters didn’t have to rely on doctors to provide them with
       opiates. They could simply buy them at their local general store
       or druggist. Untrained clerks sold opium to the public in
       various products, such as Allen’s Lung Balsam, Dr. Bull’s Cough
       Syrup, Godfrey’s Cordial, Perry Davis’ Pain Killer, Lee’s
       Bilious Pills, Bateman’s Pectoral Drops, Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing
       Syrup or Dr. Moore’s Essence of Life. No prescription needed.
       The Vermont Pharmaceutical Association tried to institute a
       mandatory prescription system, but doctors resisted. When
       doctors did write prescriptions, some used a code only
       decipherable by a favored druggist, who would kick back money to
       the doctor.
       Vermonters also made the drugs. The state was home to one of the
       nation’s largest patent medicine manufacturers, Wells,
       Richardson & Co. of Burlington, which employed 200 people.
       Shattuck found numerous medicines containing opium listed in 23
       pages of the company’s 1878 catalog.
       Though some Vermonters tried their hand at growing poppies, most
       of the opium in the state originated in Asia Minor and the
       subcontinent.
       “The problem was that drugs were so readily available and some
       doctors didn’t really understand the addiction that they were
       responsible for,” says Shattuck.
       But some doctors saw the dangers of the powerful and highly
       addictive drug. In 1890, Elliot Wardsworth Shipman of Vergennes
       wrote that he had witnessed “five victims of this habit” enter
       his local drugstore and “purchase what opium and morphine they
       desired, within less than two hours time and no questions were
       asked.”
       Shipman related horrible examples of malpractice, including a
       doctor who, when he grew tired of a young woman’s physical
       complaints, told her to buy a hypodermic needle and dose herself
       with morphine when she felt the need.
       Indeed, the development of the hypodermic in mid-1800s
       exacerbated Vermonters’ habit of self-medicating with opiates,
       as it gave addicts a more efficient way to take the drugs.
       By the late 1800s, some in the state pharmaceutical industry
       were becoming concerned by the prevalence of opium addiction. At
       the annual meeting of the Vermont State Pharmaceutical
       Association in 1898, Dr. J.C.F. With said that all druggists
       were familiar with opium and morphine users who “under one
       pretext or another” ask for their drug of choice. “I have seen a
       man get from a druggist an eight-ounce bottle of laudanum (opium
       mixed in alcohol), tear the wrapper off and deliberately drink
       half the contents,” he said.
       With said he feared the man was attempting suicide, but then the
       man just wandered off as if this were a regular habit.
       Some Vermonters began offering treatments for people addicted to
       opiates, alcohol and tobacco. In 1892, the Keeley Institute in
       Montpelier started offering three-week sessions for alcoholics.
       Four-week sessions were prescribed for morphine addicts.
       By the early 1900s, as other states passed laws restricting
       opiate use, Vermont gained a reputation regionally for its lax
       or nonexistent laws. Addicts from neighboring states began
       visiting the state to buy their drugs. The Vermont Legislature
       finally acted to tighten state law in 1915, when it passed “An
       Act to Regulate the Sale of Opium, Morphine and other Narcotic
       Drugs.”
       A century later, the state is still wrestling with how best to
       protect its citizens from the dangers of addictive drugs.
  HTML http://vtdigger.org/2015/10/18/in-an-earlier-era-vermonters-abused-opiates/
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