![[icon]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/40708902/4713516) |
Ann Marie's Blog
|
| | Tags: | allergies, baby formula, california, eczema, food, immunity, kate, milk is milk, monsanto, nutrition, organic pastures, pasteurization, politics, probiotics, raw milk | | Subject: | Help save raw milk in California! | | Time: | 09:34 am | | Current Mood: | ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/acedia/littlegent/predatory.gif) determined |
|
| As it stands, there will be no more raw milk allowed in California next month. I'm really upset about this because I drink raw milk every day and use it to make Kate's homemade baby formula.
More and more dairies are going by the wayside across the country due to pressure from lobbyists from big money dairy factory farms. We can't let this happen in California, where raw milk has always been legal and available in stores.
I've posted before about Monsanto milk and their slimy "Milk is Milk" campaign. This is real, people. Freedoms are not taken away all at once. They are taken away one at a time.
Here's what happened... a couple of months ago, they slipped a few sentences into an amendment of the California food code. It was signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger -- even though he probably didn't even know what he was signing.
Here's the press release from Organic Pastures Dairy: http://www.organicpastures.com/pdfs/ab1735_press_release.pdf
Sally Fallon says, "The legislation is obviously aimed at getting rid of raw milk in California using standards that are unnecessary or impossible to meet."
If you live in California and you want the right to buy raw milk and dairy products, please read the following and do what you can to help. Even if you don't currently drink raw milk, please do what you can to fight for these organic dairy farms where the cows are allowed to be on pasture and eat grass all year long. If they get away with this, who knows what they will do next?
In fact, it was just announced that the USDA wants to start doing the same thing -- imposing ridiculous unattainable federal regulations on small growers and family farms -- for all leafy greens!!!
http://cornucopia.org/index.php/protect-fresh-leafy-greens-and-family-farms/
Pasteurization kills enzymes, folks. Enzymes are the building blocks for the absorption of nutrients. Without enzymes, we can't absorb vitamins and minerals.
Furthermore, pasteurization kills probiotics, or good bacteria. We need this bacteria in our digestive tracts in order to build immunity. Why do you think so many kids are allergic to EVERYTHING these days? They've been raised on pasteurized foods, most notably pasteurized milk.
The guy that sells us our milk at the Organic Pastures hub store said that his first-born son was sick all the time and had eczema for five years. His eczema cleared up in TWO weeks after they switched to raw milk.
Here is the page on what you can do (I am writing a letter to Nicole Parra and sending photos of our family with Kate drinking raw milk):
http://www.organicpastures.com/ab_1735_letter4.html
Write or fax letters (no emails) to Nicole Parra, Chair of the Agriculture Committee in the Assembly. Make it personal and real by including a picture of you and your family holding raw milk containers. Tell her to introduce new legislation that will let raw milk continue to flow freely in California.
Assemblymember Nicole Parra
Capitol Office
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0030
(916) 319 - 2030
(916) 319 - 2130 Fax
Also write your assembly members or better yet make an appointment and plead your case directly.
Please, please do what you can to help. Write a letter today. Not just for Kate, but for the cows! And for the right to continue to buy healthy food in California.
Please forward this post via email or blog. (If you post on your blog, please send me the link so I can send it to Organic Pastures -- they will post it on their site.) | comments: 8 comments or Leave a comment   |
| I got chewed out by the pediatrician today for telling her that I wanted to postpone Kate's vaccinations. She lectured me for what felt like an hour (but was probably 10-15 minutes). Then she made me sign a document that basically said that I am choosing not to vaccinate and that recognize all the DANGERS of not vaccinating.
Jeez. What's the big deal anyway? She was so worried that Kate would get whooping cough. She acted like I was beating Kate. I was honestly stunned -- because I never said I wasn't going to vaccinate -- I just said that I wanted to wait while we did some more research. Why was I made to feel like a child abuser? I'm a good mother!
Look at this: http://www.vaclib.org/intro/present/index.htm#8
They say on this website (http://www.vaclib.org/intro/present/index3.htm) that for diseases other than smallpox, 90% of the decline of mortality occurred BEFORE THE VACCINE WAS INTRODUCED.
Huh? What?
Just look at the graphs on this page: http://www.vaclib.org/intro/present/index.htm#8
The vaccine for whooping cough was introduced in the 1940s -- look how low the mortality rate was by then.
What's this about?
They say on this website (and others) that it's SANITATION that is responsible for the decline of morality from diseases like whooping cough and measles and diptheria.
"...the largest historical decrease in morbidity and mortality caused by infectious disease was experienced not with the modern antibiotic and vaccine era, but after the introduction of clean water and effective sewer systems."[5] (http://www.whale.to/a/bystrianyk3.html)
So WHY does the medical establishment care so much about whether or not we get our children vaccinated? Why are we being harassed by our doctors?
Because the pharmaceutical companies brainwash the doctors into pushing these drugs. Because the pharmaceutical companies want to make money.
We also highly recommend David D. Kirkpatrick's article entitled "Selling Happiness" in the May 15, 2000 issue of New York Magazine. Mr. Kirkpatrick has certainly done his homework and everyone taking a relatively new prescription drug of any kind would be well served by reading this captivating expose of an industry practice that uses "free gifts, dinners, propaganda and research funds" to "capture the minds of doctors". There can bee little doubt, if any, that an industry that commands an army of 68,000 sales representatives and spends $9 Billion dollars on marketing to its target audience ($12,000 for each doctor in the U.S.), wants (and gets) much more than just name recognition. In fact, many suspect that the degree to which many doctors now fund themselves influenced by this highly questionable practice borders on the unethical. (http://www.vaclib.org/email/marketing.htm)
Here's another article on money/marketing and vaccines: http://vaccineawakening.blogspot.com/2007/11/canadians-follow-gardasil-money-trail.html
Did you know that China had no Autism until 1999 when the DPT vaccine arrived from America? Now they have 1.8 million autistic children.
Isn't that HIGHLY SUSPECT?!
Japan had their first Autistic children appear when vaccines arrived from America after WWII. They quickly learned babies lacking Myelin Sheath, and they realized to wait 2 years. Vaccination very unpopular, so it's all voluntary.
(Both of those quotes are from this site: http://www.trackingvaccinations.com/)
And you must read this: http://www.trackingvaccinations.com/allfiles/about.htm
And here's something about how there are almost no autistic Amish children (most Amish do not vaccinate): http://www.venusproject.com/ethics_in_action/Children_Autism.html
I could keep posting links and quotes for hours. There's so much information out there.
My question is: How can I vaccinate my baby with a good conscience with all of this information out there?
I can't. So I'm not. Until someone shows me data that proves me wrong.
We're talking LOGIC here. Facts. I'll happily do it if someone can show me why I should. If someone can simply show me that the benefits outweigh the risks. I have not yet seen that to be true. | | comments: 6 comments or Leave a comment |
| The NY Times reports:
THE Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture has decided that consumers are too dim to make their own shopping decisions. Agriculture officials in Ohio are contemplating a similar decision.
As of Jan. 1, Pennsylvania is banning labels on milk and dairy products that say it comes from cows that haven’t been treated with artificial bovine growth hormone, which is sometimes known as rBGH or rBST. State officials say the labels are confusing and impossible to verify.
Farmers use artificial bovine growth hormone to increase a cow’s milk production by a gallon or more a day. The federal government maintains that it is perfectly safe, but it remains illegal in many other countries and critics continue to question its safety. Regardless, many American consumers buy rBGH-free milk because they are uncomfortable with the idea of milk that comes from cows that have been shot full of artificial hormones and because it’s cheaper than organic milk, which, of course, doesn’t allow use of the artificial hormones.
But the backlash against rBGH has unsettled its manufacturer, Monsanto, and the dairy farmers who have come to rely on it to raise production. They have spent more than a decade trying to persuade federal and state authorities to ban or restrict non-rBGH labels on the grounds that there is no difference in milk from cows that are treated with the hormone and those that are not.
Leslie Zuck, executive director of Pennsylvania Certified Organic, said she, too, was disappointed with the ruling. But she offers a sensible compromise. Instead of banning the labels, why couldn’t dairy farmers who use the artificial growth hormone use their own labels?
Ms. Zuck suggests this: “We use rBGH and it’s great stuff!”
Read the whole article here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/business/11feed.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=login
Hahaha! I love it! The PA government is banning the "No rBGH" labels because farmers who use rBGH are complaining, saying that it is impossible to verify that the dairy products from dairy farmers not using rBGH absolutely do not have rBGH.
Sheesh! Are you confused? You should be. That is what labeling is designed to do -- hide the truth and confuse you.
I think Leslie Zuck is right -- the complaining farmers who use rBGH *should* have to put the label on their milk.
What's in the milk you are drinking? The cheese you are eating? The butter you put on your toast? You don't want to know. And they're going to make sure you don't find out.
The good thing is -- stuff like this is exactly what is driving consumers away from food processed by factory farms. We are sick and tired of faux food, toxic food, carcinogenic food. We want real food that is healthy and natural. And we are willing to pay more for it. There is a demand -- and it is creating a supply. Which is exactly what is scaring these factory farmers. So they want to deceive their customers -- keep them from finding out the truth. Because if you knew the truth, you wouldn't buy their products.
Think you're safe because you're drinking "organic milk"? I used to think that. I paid almost double for "organic milk" for years. Did you know that Horizon Organics -- one of the brands I used to buy -- is just a big factory farm?
I think it's very clear that it is not safe to drink milk unless you KNOW THE DAIRY.
Here's a dairy score card: http://cornucopia.org/dairysurvey/index.html
Here's the full report on organic milk from the Cornucopia Institute: http://cornucopia.org/dairysurvey/OrganicDairyReport/cornucopia_milkintregrity.pdf | | comments: Leave a comment |
| I'm exhausted! I just had an 11 1/2 hour day. Kate woke up at 5:30. I tried to put her back down but she didn't want to go back to bed so I just stayed up with her.
Which was, of course, very fun. Kate is very very fun. She plays in her exersaucer or with her toys on the floor, and squeals with delight and laughs uproariously while watching her signing DVD. You really can't do much of anything else when you're with her except enjoy her. Which is not such a bad thing. I'm a pretty lucky lady.
That is what Alla always calls Kate: "This Lady". As in, "What are we going to do with this lady?" Say that with a thick Russian accent and you have our Alla. The other expressions she uses are equally adorable: "OK babies!" and "Mamma Mia!" (said with the requisite amount of Russian angst). And she calls a bottle a "sippy cup".
I can't tell you how much we appreciate and love her. It goes very deep.
Anyway, by 5 pm, when I got her down for the night (I know, early -- that's what time she likes to retire), I was wiped. I did the dishes and the laundry and cleaned up the kitchen and put all the groceries away. And sat down to rest and have a glass of wine and some raw goat cheese and whole wheat crackers and get on the internet. Finally. It's been out all day. Something is wrong with our AirPort.
I'm making some rice now in the rice cooker. Picked up some tuna at Whole Foods for dinner. I am going to marinate it in some rice wine vinegar and scallions and soy sauce and grated ginger, roll it in sesame seeds, then sear it in a cast iron skillet. With steamed kale and edamame.
In addition to Whole Foods, Kate ("This Lady") and I went to Rawesome today. Rawesome is a "private buying club" in Venice. It's $25/year to join and they make you sign something that says you basically disagree with the government and it's rules about food (I guess about pasteurizing everything).
Anyway, it's kind of funny. I feel like I keep taking This Lady to all these back alley places to buy food. Organic Pastures Dairy with their truck pulled up into a parking lot, Rawesome with their railroad car next to the organic coffee shop in Venice -- just several blocks from the beach.
Rawesome has all kinds of great stuff -- tons of raw, organic produce (including fresh coconuts and pineapples) as well as organic pastured eggs, raw honey, ceviche, raw milk, cream, butter, yogurt, cheese, and a wide selection of organic pastured beef (bison and cow) and a fantastic array of wild-caught fish. It's very hard to find wild-caught fish even in Whole Foods -- most of it is farm-raised.
Which, incidentally, you do NOT want -- I heard they are now feeding CORN to farm-raised salmon. Yes, CORN! Can you imagine? Of course it is genetically modified industrial grade corn -- ugh! At least Whole Foods tells you it is farm-raised -- unlike most stores, where you typically have no idea where the fish came from.
There was this guy there at Rawesome, shirtless with long hippie hair, delivering food. I forget what he was delivering -- something he raised or grew or made. Anyway, when he was done unloading his merchandise, he took out a coconut, stabbed it with an implement (some kind of large pointy steel thing), and poured the juice over a strainer into a mason jar. Then he stirred in some organic barley grass powder, and sat down to drink it.
He was super tan and in perfect health. He looked like he lived on an island.
This was in the middle of Los Angeles. On a warm Indian summer afternoon.
I love it. I love the diversity. Love that people feel free enough to be who they want to be.
I guess I am a bit of a hippie at heart. I did usher for the Grateful Dead at one point. And I lived in a clothing-optional vegetarian co-op in college.
I'm not a Deadhead anymore, nor am I a vegetarian. Nor am I a hippie. But I still appreciate people who strive to be better, closer to the earth, connected to community.
Like Alla. She could be back in Russia, but she chose to come here -- seeking a better life. And of course she is totally into natural health, always lecturing me about opening the windows for fresh air and organic foods and exercise.
And I suppose if you added up all my various things -- kombucha, beet kvass, organic vegetables, raw milk, homemade earth-friendly cleaning products, tooth soap (I haven't even told you about that yet!!!), cloth diapers, Crocs (which, except for the plastic, are basically Birkenstocks), -- you very well could call me a hippie.
Eh. In the words of Albert Brooks, "Call me a hippie, send me to Hell."
On the way home from Rawesome (where I picked up two dozen pastured eggs*, cultured raw butter, raw goat cheese, and some fresh ginger), I drove past Venice High School, also known as Rydell High (it's the set they used for Grease). There were all these kids in the front of the school -- and all these seagulls flying around. It was an amazing sight. That, coupled with the coconut hippie guy -- it just made me grateful to live such a different kind of life. I could be stuck in the suburbs somewhere.
Maybe one day I'll have my cow and some chicken and even a vineyard. For now, this is pretty fun.
* why you need pastured eggs instead of just "free range": http://www.hbmag.com/story_eggs.html | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| Here's a radio broadcast of an interview with Mark McAfee of Organic Pastures and Ron Garthwaite of Claravale Dairy Farm -- the only two dairy farmers in California selling raw milk, talking about the future of raw milk, seeing how a bill was just signed to make it illegal to sell raw milk in California as of January 2008.
Listen here:
http://www.metrofarm.com/assets/podcasts/2007-11-11_564draw.mp3
Show #564: A REAL RAW DEAL? - 11-11-2007 (8.95 MB) Download Listen Now
Guests: Mark McAfee, Founder, Organic Pastures Dairy; California Department of Food and Agriculture declined to appear, saying “We're reluctant to participate in a debate.”
Subject: Along the food chain there are good bacteria and bad bacteria. But California AB 1735 suggests only dead bacteria should be allowed in dairy products. This leads us to ask, “Is raw milk toast?”. Topics include why some people prefer raw foods to sterilized foods; how AB 1735 may eliminate the production of raw dairy products; and what future, if any, will be left for those who wish to consume raw dairy foods.
Here's more info about the anti-raw milk bill that was just passed -- and what you can do to take action to save raw milk in the state of California (yes, it involves writing a letter to the "Governator", Arnold Shwarzenegger -- I'm gonna do it too! And PS it is NOT his fault -- they tried to slip it past him -- he is actually pretty good in terms of issues like this.):
http://www.organicpastures.com/ab1735_landing.html | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Just one more item... an interesting article:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/20/FDG7LL5N221.DTL
Excerpt:
They're just a few of the growing number of farmers and ranchers who are experiencing a surge in demand from consumers anxious to find good meat, humanely raised by people whose ranches they can visit and practices they can see first-hand, unlike mass-market meat.
And it's not just beef. Like Chez Panisse-inspired chefs before them, discerning eaters are scouring the countryside for local sources of pastured pork, lamb and chickens and their eggs.
These meats are almost impossible to find in stores. Until recently, farmers' markets have been a main source for home cooks, but supplies aren't reliable. And a quirk of federal law makes it much easier for ranchers and farmers to sell shares of whole animals directly to consumers.
This is my next plan... I'm going to start bulk-ordering my beef and chicken. I found a few California farmers who will ship cuts of meat for the freezer. Grass fed beef (and chicken and eggs) is a zillion times healthier than the crap you buy at the store these days -- because most cows and chickens in factory farms are fed corn and soy (I even heard they give them stale doughnuts and other garbage). Plus it tastes so much better. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| I'm bone tired. Too tired to even watch House Hunters.
It's been a busy week and I have a bit of a sleep deficit. I've been staying up most nights till midnight or one -- and Kate often rouses between 4-6 am for her first nursing session (we go right back to sleep, but still).
So I think I'm going to get a nice big glass of milk and a book and crawl into bed.
But first, a quick update...
Kate and I went to a Halloween party today at our friend Elena's. A lot of the moms from our mothers group were there. It was really fun. She saw her friends, tasted watermelon (loved it -- was actually trying to chew and swallow it), and played in the grass to the point that she got dirty enough to warrant a bath.
Here are some photos of the party: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27640&id=568126162
I'm also pretty proud of myself because I actually went to Albertson's today and got all the stuff I need to make my own natural, environmentally friendly household cleaners. I've been meaning to do this for years. I bought a few gallons of vinegar, and several boxes of Borax, baking soda, and washing soda.
I remember when Seth and I went to see that Al Gore movie last year, "An Inconvenient Truth", I remember thinking that I wanted to do what I could to help make the world a better place. Now I've joined an organic farm CSA, am buying milk and dairy from an organic non-confinement dairy farm, am buying pastured beef, chicken and eggs, have switched to cloth diapers, and now am switching to all natural cleaning products (dishwashing liquid, dishwashing detergent, laundry detergent, all-purpose and glass cleaner, floor cleaner, bathroom cleaner).
It's funny because when I was at Albertson's today buying all this stuff, I was looking around realizing that the only things I could buy there were non-edible things. Almost everything else was either laden with pesticides or made with refined flour, refined sugar, and toxic oils. I really have never done much shopping at stores like Alberton's. Even when I was in college I shopped at Whole Foods. But lately I feel like the veils have dropped and I really see what food is -- and there is no way in hell I could shop there. There's nothing I can eat!
While I was shopping, I saw this woman who was so fat and unhealthy, she had to drive a cart around the store. She couldn't even walk. It struck me because I don't normally see people like that. You never see them in Whole Foods for example. But when Seth and I were visiting friends in Illinois this summer, we went to the Wal-Mart, and we saw lots and lots of people like that. Driving their carts because they were too fat and crippled to walk. These were young people, too. People my age.
It made me sad. I wish they could see what is in the food they are eating.
Oh PS: I ate half of a cupcake at the party today. It was a fancy gourmet cupcake from my favorite, Bluebird Cafe. I guess I haven't been eating much flour and sugar lately because that half (HALF!) of a cupcake hit me like a ton of bricks. I immediately felt dizzy and nauseous. I came home and drank a glass of kefir and that helped.
I'm laughing at myself. Can't stomach a cupcake, have to wash it down with kefir. Can't shop at Alberton's because there's nothing I can eat there. Making my own cleaning products and using cloth diapers.
Who knew I would turn into a hippie? | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| TeenScreen is an organization that is interviewing kids as young as nine years old in an effort to prevent teen suicide.
TeenScreen is funded by pharmaceutical drug companies: http://www.teenscreentruth.com/teenscreen_money_trail.html
Go to page 18 of this PDF to see all the task force members and all the drug company connections: http://www.acnp.org/Docs/ACNP%20Task%20Force%20Report%20on%20SSRIs%20and%20Suicide%20in%20Youth.pdf
Their tactics are not exactly on the up and up (from http://www.psychsearch.net/teenscreen.html):
TeenScreen lures kids as young as 9 years old into doing the suicide survey by offering them free movie passes, food coupons, "I completed TeenScreen" stress balls, pizza parties and candy bars - if they consent to the procedure.
One tactic TeenScreen officials use is to sell the child on the suicide survey first and after they have the child's agreement, they later contact parents.
TeenScreen Project Coordinator, Kathleen Cigich, was quoted as saying: "We found early on, though, that sending out letters directly to parents is prohibitively time consuming and gets a low response rate. We thought, why not go to students themselves and offer a $5 video store coupon to anyone who brings back a parental consent form within a two-day turnaround period. It works. Our response rate is extremely high."
TeenScreen also utilizes a "passive consent" form which requires no written parental approval. The passive consent form is sent home to parents and if they don't return it TeenScreen considers that the parents approve. TeenScreen officials favor passive consent because they say it boosts their chances of screening kids to 95% as opposed to the written parental consent technique. What if the child forgets to bring the consent form home? What happens if the parent is too busy to refuse in writing? They've consented in the eyes of TeenScreen personnel.
Here's a copy of the "passive consent" letter: http://www.teenscreentruth.com/pdfs/PennHighIndianaPassiveConsent.pdf
Here's testimony from a parent whose child was interviewed without her consent:
If you have friends with kids, please forward this information to them. | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| Tonight Sarah and I went to our first local chapter meeting for the Weston A. Price Foundation (http://www.westonaprice.org/). It was a "fermented foods potluck" in an upstairs room at the Wild Oats in Santa Monica.
We ate homemade pickles and kimchi and drank kombucha and told stories and exchanged recipes and laughed more than I have laughed all month.
These were possibly some of the most joyous people I have ever encountered. They were bubbling with life and laughter.
I think it's all the raw butter and cheese they are eating.
I've been thinking about it and (no offense to you vegetarians out there) but on the whole, vegans are such a serious and self-righteous lot. I think it's because they have to deprive themselves of so many delicious foods. And I think they are cranky because they are hungry.
Not this group. Well-fed, well-researched, and more than anything -- I keep coming back to this word -- joyous. They reminded me of Julia Child -- laughing and telling people to eat more butter. ("If you are worried that there is too much butter in this recipe, don't worry, you can just leave out some of the butter and add more cream." -- JC)
I ask you, how can you be unhappy eating butter?
One of the women at the meeting tonight was probably in her fifties or sixties -- she said she has been eating this way for the past ten years. Said she hasn't seen a doctor in a decade.
What if you found out that butter and bacon and whole milk and cheese and foie gras didn't give you heart disease and make you fat? Wouldn't you be happy?
Well it's true. And I am happy to finally know this. Happy I can now eat what I always knew was good for me. It just needs to be processed correctly (unpasteurized, organic, not genetically modified or corn- or soy-fed).
I have started reading Weston Price's book, "Nutrition and Physical Degradation". He was a dentist, and he traveled around the world in the 1920s and 30s, studying the healthiest people on the planet. People with almost no tooth decay or degenerative disease. The Eskimos, American Indians, Scottish fishermen, Alpine Swiss villagers, African tribes, etc. etc.
What did they all have in common (other than their perfect health)? They were all eating lots of animal fat (60-80% of their diet), lots of organic, mineral-rich, nutrient dense foods, lots of fermented foods, only whole grains and no processed foods (no refined sugar or flours and no modern junk food).
I just read the chapter about the villages in the Swiss Alps. None of the children needed braces -- and only a few out of hundreds of children ever had a cavity. They never got sick. There weren't even any doctors in any of the villages. They had no need for them.
What did they eat? Whole rye bread and raw dairy products -- milk, cheese, butter, and yogurt -- as well as a smattering of vegetables, and once a week, meat.
That's it. That is what they ate. And they were vibrantly healthy. What does that tell you about the nutritive quality of wholesome raw milk and raw dairy products?
Speaking of raw milk, Sarah and I also went this weekend to the Organic Pastures dairy "store" -- a parking lot behind a chain link fence in South Central -- to buy our raw milk at rock bottom prices. We felt like we were going to buy drugs. It's not exactly the black market -- the sale of raw milk products is legal in California. But you definitely get the feeling that you are doing something criminal.
We got the milk half price (it's normally $8/half gallon at Whole Foods -- we got it for $4). We also got raw cheese and butter and kefir. I'm such a believer in the healing and nutritive qualities of raw milk, I would do whatever it takes to get it. Even if it means moving to the country and buying a cow. Would that be so bad? I don't think so.
I will need some chickens, too. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| I am watching a very interesting video on YouTube: "How to Get Fat Without Really Trying".
Stunning information about the agricultural industry, government subsidies for corn and soybeans (to produce corn syrup, soybean oil, high fructose corn syrup, and other anti-nutritive ingredients), ingredients that contribute to obesity and disease. Obesity being an epidemic in this country -- two-thirds of Americans are overweight and nearly one third are obese. Fifteen percent of American children are overweight or obese.
Here's Part 1 (you can watch the rest of it -- parts 2-5 -- on YouTube):
| | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| Picked up a copy of Michael Pollan's book, "The Omnivore's Dilemma" in the airport today. It's SO GOOD. Seriously, everyone in America should read this book.
I've only read the first 50 pages or so, but it's all about how dramatically the agricultural landscape has changed in America in the past several decades. We went from a large number of small family-owned farms growing a wide variety of crops to the current situation of mono-cropping soy and corn.
If you've been to the midwest lately, you've probably noticed that that is pretty much all that's growing there these days -- soy and corn. For corn and soy-based livestock feeds and other lovely things like high fructose corn syrup and soy lecithin (Soy lecithin is the sludge leftover from the processing of soy -- which I noticed is even added to my Alvarado St. sprouted whole grain bread!!! I won't be buying that product anymore.).
Oh, and I should mention... corn is not a natural food of cows. Nor is soy. They are meant to eat GRASS. Cows that eat soy and corn feed (and most all cows in factory farms do) become very sick, require a lot more antibiotics, and, when slaughtered, produce meat that is nutritionally inferior to the meat from cows grazing on pasture. More on pastured animals: http://www.eatwild.com/basics.html
There's a movie that just came out on this topic of the overgrowth of corn in America, "King Corn". http://www.kingcorn.net/ Looks very interesting -- I am going to go see it ASAP.
Back to the topic of milk... I happened upon the Milk is Milk website again. I don't know why... I guess reading Pollan's book and thinking about the politics of food made me curious to check it out again.
Just look at this page:
http://www.milkismilk.com/take_action.html
If that is not upsetting to you, it should be. They're basically providing you with a little kit to take to your local grocery store and petition them to stop putting "misleading" claims on milk products.
They even give you a handy PDF poster to ask your grocer to hang up in the store: http://www.milkismilk.com/upload/PDF/MilkisMilkposter.pdf
Read that poster and tell me if you think it is full of shit or not. Saying that "all milk is the same" and "all milk contains hormones". We know that's not true.
Here's a cancer prevention website that discusses hormones in milk: http://www.preventcancer.com/consumers/general/milk.htm
There are lots of other sites that talk about it. rBGH, Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone, is produced by Monsanto under the brand name Posilac. Google it.
Anyway, isn't it interesting that this Milk is Milk website is asking consumers to campaign FOR hormones and pesticides in cows? Why would they do that?
Well, gee, maybe it's because they are a tool of Monsanto and other corporate interests. It's a project of The Hudson Institute and The Center for Global Food Issues: http://www.cgfi.org/ The guy who runs the CGFI website, Dennis Avery, is the father of Alex Avery, who runs Milk is Milk. Dennis Avery wrote a book called "Saving the Planet with Plastics and Pesticides": http://www.cgfi.org/store/plastics_pesticides.htm
According to GM Watch (http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=15):
"The Hudson Institute is funded by many firms whose products are excluded from organic agriculture: eg, AgrEvo, Dow AgroSciences, Monsanto, Novartis Crop Protection, Zeneca, Du Pont, DowElanco, ConAgra, and Cargill.
Before joining Hudson, Avery served from 1980-88 as the senior agricultural analyst for the U.S. State Department where he was involved in assessing the foreign policy implications of food and farming developments."
Gee. He worked at the US State Department. And the Hudson Institute is funded by Monsanto. Makers of Agent Orange and Round Up.
I know I talked about this Milk is Milk website before on my blog, but I'm just so stunned and amazed by it. I can't believe these people -- Dennis and his son -- actually make a living writing propaganda for these huge toxic chemical companies. Doesn't that make you question the milk you are drinking?
Milk is milk. Yeah, right! | | comments: 7 comments or Leave a comment |
| I just watched yesterday's Oprah show with Michael Moore, talking about his latest movie, "Sicko".
OK now check out the next part -- you have to see this woman lobbyist representing the insurance companies. She comes on about halfway through this next clip:
OK, I know, I know, logic foul, attack on the man (ad hominem argument), but just LOOK at her plastic surgery. She must have a lot of surgeon friends who give her cut rate deals. Because, um, wow. She needs to slow down.
Sorry. I just had to get that out. I know it has nothing to do with this whole issue. (But if that isn't an argument to avoid plastic surgery, I don't know what is. And all that work she had done just makes her look so plastic and unreal -- which makes her very hard to sympathize with or connect with.)
Back to the issue at hand... I have to agree with Oprah and Michael -- is this the best we can do as Americans?
No, clearly it is not. Michael Moore is right that it makes no sense to have a for-profit system for health care. I totally agree with that.
And say what you want about Michael Moore, but the man is good at what he does. He can argue anything. And more than that, he makes people see. Makes them understand. I respect that.
Here's the thing though. We are fed so much garbage. Literally and figuratively. From practically the day we are born. Vaccinations... processed foods filled with pesticides, growth hormones, transfats, and artificial colors and flavorings... hours and hours and hours of TV commercials telling us what's wrong with us and how we are falling apart and what they have that will fix it... unyielding stress in the corporate American workplace where 70-hour work weeks and "face pains" are considered "normal".
And then we are surprised when we develop cancer. Or have a stroke. Or our child has autism.
I do think we need health care that is accessible for everyone. But at the same time, I think we need to take a hard look at the way we live. And we need to be our own health care advocates.
Meaning, don't just listen to your doctor and blindly go along with whatever s/he says. Do your own research. Doctors are VERY beholden to pharmaceutical companies these days. And pharmaceutical companies have no liability. They never took the Hippocratic oath. They are not trying to heal you. They are trying to make money.
Furthermore, don't believe everything you read in the newspaper or what you see on TV. Just because there is a "government study" saying this that or the other, does NOT mean shit.
If you have any questions about how multinational corporations operate and how they work the press like puppets on strings to tell their lies, I ask you to watch two movies: (1) The Corporation (2) Thank You For Smoking.
When I was 24 and developed arthritis in both knees, I felt desperate at first. I was scared. I was only 24. And I didn't have health insurance.
But guess what? I didn't need health insurance. Because health insurance couldn't help me anyway.
I needed to heal my digestive tract of the overgrowth of toxins and yeast, and rebuild it with probiotics (incidentally, this is the same thing many are saying causes autism). Would health insurance pay for that? Would health insurance pay for the chiropractor/naturopath/nutritionist I saw for two years? Would health insurance pay for the various nutrition supplements I took?
Of course not.
I paid for all of those things myself. And it wasn't cheap. But I knew that I had to invest in myself. I was 24 years old, for godssakes. I wasn't going to let myself deteriorate at such a young age. I wasn't going to end up in a wheel chair, like the western medical books led me to believe I would. I was my own health care advocate. I researched and I dug and I fought -- until I found something that worked. My college boyfriend thought I was nuts. My parents told me it wouldn't work.
But it did. And I am healthy now. My knees still have some residual damage (it's hard to squat and kneel) but I have no more pain and my knees are stable and not degenerating.
If I had followed some doctor's advice, some western medical doctor, I suppose he would have prescribed pain killers and other band-aids. But they wouldn't have looked at the root of the problem. And I probably would have just gotten worse and worse until one day shortly thereafter I would have probably been in a wheelchair.
My point is that this is a much bigger issue than the insurance companies. Health care, on a very broad scale, is broken in this country. We eat food devoid of nutrition, drink milk with no enzymes, work in horrifically stressful conditions, take broad spectrum antibiotics and lots of other drugs without blinking an eye, with no concern as to what they are doing to our bodies.
And then we blame the insurance companies.
I'm not saying the insurance companies are not to blame. They are. And I'm going to see Sicko. And I'm sure I'll agree with it.
I just wish people would wake up, do a little looking around on Google, read a few books, stop believing everything their doctor says.
Just because they say arthritis is a degenerative, irreversible disease, doesn't mean it is.
Just because they say pesticides don't hurt you, doesn't mean it's true.
Just because they say a vaccine is safe, doesn't mean it is.
Isn't that what it means to live in a democracy anyway? That you have to be informed and educated and then you can make choices for how you want things to be? | | comments: Leave a comment |
| A mercenary is a person who takes part in an armed conflict who is not a national of a Party to the conflict and "is motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a Party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar ranks and functions in the armed forces of that Party".[1][2]
As a result of the assumption that a mercenary is exclusively motivated by money, the term "mercenary" carries negative connotations. There is a blur in the distinction between a "mercenary" and a "foreign volunteer", when the primary motive of a soldier in a foreign army is uncertain. For instance the French Foreign Legion and the Gurkhas are not mercenaries under the laws of war, but some journalists do describe them as mercenaries.[3][4]
-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercenary
Pay anyone enough money and they will espouse your propoganda.
Even if it destroys people.
Dr. Paul Offit (who appeared tonight on ABC World News saying that mercury in vaccinations is safe) is not immune to a Google search:
Dr. Offit lists that he is a consultant to Merck on an attachment to his OGE 450, but does not disclose whether or not he received any remuneration for his services.
Dr. Offit shares the patent on the Rotavirus vaccine in development by Merck and lists a $350,000 grant from Merck for Rotavirus vaccine development. Also, he lists that he is a consultant to Merck.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Offit
A consultant for pharmaceutical company, Merck, makers of vaccines, a company who has a vested interest in keeping the mercury in those vaccines.
How is this responsible journalism? Why did they not mention on ABC World News that this guy is a consultant for Merck?
Don't you love the internet? I sure do!
PS: I was in Target today, buying new bottles because the Avent bottles I have have been shown to leech toxic chemicals (I'll post about that later -- a whole new ball of wax) when some woman came up to me in one of the baby aisles, asked me about Kate. She was pushing her baby in a stroller. Turns out her little boy was the same age as Kate.
She said, "Oh, you use the same bottles we do!"
I said, "Not anymore. These leech toxic chemicals. I'm switching to something safer."
She said, "Oh, yeah, bisphenol A. I know about that."
"And you're not switching?"
"No. I'm not worried about it."
"Well, I'm not worried about it but I still think it's important to help her (nodding at Kate) be as healthy as she can be."
We went on to discuss teething rings and autism and vaccines -- she didn't seem phased by any of it.
In fact, when I said I was especially concerned about baby bottles and bisphenol A, due to the fact that baby bottles are heated up, she said, "Oh. I don't heat up his bottles. He drinks them cold."
"He drinks cold formula?"
"Yeah. He's had it that way since he was born."
"You didn't breastfeed?"
"Nope."
She seemed absolutely unfazed.
I wanted to shake her. Slap some sense into her. Explain to her about enzymes and acidophilus. About the immune system. About the pharmaceutical companies. About breastfeeding. All of it.
At the same time, I just felt sorry for her. Profoundly sorry for her. Only because -- and I might be wrong, he might be fine -- if something happens to her son, she will never forgive herself.
It's one thing to not know. You can never know everything. People make mistakes.
But TO KNOW. To know the poison by name. And to do nothing.
How could you live with yourself?
Then again, and this is probably the sad truth, maybe she doesn't know better. Maybe she's just confused due to all the disinformation. I know I was -- which is why we went ahead with Kate's initial vaccinations. I just wanted it to be easy. I didn't want to spend hours and hours researching on Google. You get tired and you just decide to go with the status quo.
But the status quo is that 1 in 150 kids get autism. That is a very very bad record.
I'd rather spend time googling. Maybe all those hours of googling can help me prevent it in my kid. | | comments: 4 comments or Leave a comment |
| Here it is -- someone just posted this on YouTube:
Unfortunately this clip does not show the part of the show where she said she believes that it was the MMR vaccine that caused it. Nor does it show what she did to reverse her son's autism.
I don't care what anyone says. I believe her.
Even if you don't believe her that it was the vaccines that caused the autism, I think the fact that she CURED HER SON is proof of something.
Proof that autism is REVERSIBLE. If it is also PREVENTABLE, as she says (and others do too), then WHY risk your baby's health?
Here's another clip with Jenny on The View -- this one is really good:
I love her. I agree that she was destined to do what she is doing now -- speaking out about autism -- that it can be reversed through diet.
So awesome that she is speaking out -- and how wonderful that her son's autism was reversed.
I just wish they had let her talk more instead of questioning her so much!
I think one of the important points she makes is that it is not JUST vaccines that she believes causes autism -- it is part of many things that create a toxic overload. I also love her example of having a drink in a bar and how it affects your brain (the gut - brain connection). I think one of the things to remember is that all of this stuff is cumulative.
I know that what she is saying is true. The stuff about yeast in the gut.
When I was 24, I developed arthritis in my knees. It was spreading to my elbows and finger joints. I would wake up in the middle of the night from the pain in my joints. I also had respiratory allergies -- sneezing; itchy, watery eyes; runny nose. I also had sores on the insides of my nose. And a white "thrush" on my tongue.
These symptoms would not go away.
I read everything I could find about alternative health -- and finally came upon a book called The Yeast Connection by Dr. William Crook. He talked about how a toxic overload in the digestive tract (from broad spectrum antibiotics, pesticides, additives and chemicals in the food, etc. etc.) kill off the "friendly" bacteria (like acidophilus). Because it is the "friendly" bacteria's job to kill yeast, what happens is you get an overload of yeast in the system. And an overgrowth of yeast and a lack of good bacteria cause your immune system to go in the toilet. Hence, my auto-immune disorders: arthritis and allergies.
I went on antifungal treatment (garlic, a natural anti-fungal) to kill off the yeast in my system and also stopped eating sugar (sugar feeds the yeast). I also went off wheat because I was allergic to it (allergies beget more allergies). I also took lots of nutritional supplements to help build my immune system. Oh, and I took very high doses of acidophilus -- to repopulate my intestine with good bacteria.
Within a few days, my symptoms lessened about 80%. Within a few months, I was feeling great. It took a few years to fully recover but I no longer have any of those symptoms. I reversed my arthritis and my allergies.
Isn't it INTERESTING that the same thing that healed me of arthritis and allergies (anti-fungal treatment and change of diet, including reducing allergens and toxins and increasing friendly bacteria and immune boosters) healed Jenny McCarthy's son of autism?
Think there might be a connection here?
What she is saying is absolutely true. Of course the medical establishment is not going to get on board with it. The pharmaceutical companies are in bed with the medical establishment -- and they don't want people to know that they can cure themselves with food!
Think about the way we live in this country...
(1) Most people get their children vaccinated (which wipes out the good bacteria)
(2) Most people give their kids antibiotics at the first sign of infection (which wipes out the good bacteria)
(3) Many women don't breastfeed, and if they do, it's only for a few months because they have to go back to work (breastfeeding is a natural source of good bacteria -- formula does not have good bacteria)
(4) We eat tons and tons of high fructose corn syrup (TURBO sugar with lots of gross additives and who knows what else. It's in everything from ketchup to Coca Cola. It feeds the yeast -- which is essentially like pouring gasoline on a fire.)
(5) We continue to eat the same foods over and over again (wheat, dairy, soy, peanuts, oranges, etc.) instead of eating a diverse diet (quinoa, millet, various nuts and grains, etc)
(6) We drink pasteurized milk and eat pasteurized cheese (food that is DEVOID of good bacteria -- raw milk and cheese contain good bacteria -- but they are illegal in most states)
(7) We eat foods that are filled with toxins (pesticides, chemical additives, etc. -- the little good bacteria we have in our gut can't fight it all off)
(8) We deal with stress and pollution on a daily basis, which create toxins in our gut (again, our few measly good bacteria are not able to fight the toxins)
(9) Most of us are CONSTIPATED because we don't eat enough fiber (which keeps the toxins in our gut instead of moving them out -- which allows them to be absorbed into our bloodstream -- at which point they go to our brain)
It makes so much sense, doesn't it? There's more to say... but it's time for my dinner.
I'm really excited that people are waking up about toxic chemicals and pesticides and all these other things that are affecting our children in profound ways.
There's more information here:
http://www.generationrescue.org/
Thank god for Jenny McCarthy! She's awesome. | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
|
The use of rBST, or rBGH, was banned in both Europe and Canada. Dairy producers in the United States continue its use, and most likely is in the milk you drink everyday.
Excerpt from the movie, "The Corporation."
If you can't drink raw milk, at the very least make sure your milk is ORGANIC and does not contain rBGH. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| I was googling around, as I am wont to do... researching raw milk...
When I found a very heinous website: http://www.milkismilk.com/
It has all these scary articles about how children drank raw milk and got e coli and such.
For a minute the stories about e coli got me worried. But then I read another article on the site about how you don't need to even buy organic milk -- because hormones in your milk don't really matter. Bovine growth hormones are fine. Just buy regular milk, it says.
Here are some excerpts:
"I don’t like to buy organic food products, and avoid them at all cost. It is a principled decision reached through careful consideration of effects of organic production practices on animal welfare and the environment. I buy regular food, rather than organic, for the benefit of my family."
“Organic is not a term meaning that the content of the food is any different, just the way in which the manufacturer arrived at the end product.”
“No distinctions should be made between organically and non-organically produced products in terms of quality, appearance, or safety.”
OK so who is this douchebag writing this blog, I ask myself. Alex Avery, Director of Research and Education, Center for Global Food Issues at the Hudson Institute.
Hmmmm... what are his credentials, I ask? It doesn't say. On the About Us page, it just gives the address for the Hudson Institute, some place in Virginia.
So I google the Hudson Institute.
And I find this:
http://www.politicalfriendster.com/showPerson.php?id=565&name=Hudson-Institute
And this:
http://www.politicalfriendster.com/showPerson.php?id=4209&name=Center-for-Global-Food-Issues-CFGI
And here is the Milk is Milk political friendster page:
http://www.politicalfriendster.com/showPerson.php?id=4210&name=Milk-is-Milk
And who are they friends with?
Monsanto (http://www.politicalfriendster.com/showPerson.php?id=238&name=Monsanto)
Pfizer (http://www.politicalfriendster.com/showPerson.php?id=116&name=Pfizer)
George Bush (http://www.politicalfriendster.com/showPerson.php?id=1&name=George-W-Bush)
And on and on and on...
HA! Don't you love it!? What a great parody of Friendster. And how very useful!
So anyway, then I googled the douchebag, Alex "Milk is Milk" Avery, straight out. He's on every left wing watch list known to Google.
Here's a quote on one of them:
"The Hudson Institute for whom Avery works has received funding from biotech companies Aventis, Dow, Monsanto, Novartis and Zeneca."
If you aren't convinced yet that you should be drinking raw milk and eating organic food, you may want to think about the fact that companies like MONSANTO are funding companies like the "Hudson Institute" to discredit natural organic food.
MONSANTO - Makers of the deadly toxins including Agent Orange, the bovine growth hormone, saccharin, aspartame, Roundup (alleged to cause cancer) and other pesticides and herbicides.
According to Wikipedia:
Monsanto has been identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as being the "potentially responsible party" for 56 contaminated sites (Superfund Sites) in the United States.[6] Monsanto has been sued, and settled, multiple times for damaging the health of its employees or residents near its Superfund Sites through pollution and poisoning. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto)
AVENTIS - Pharmaceutical company.
DOW CHEMICAL - Second largest chemical manufacturer in the world. Makers of the famous non-biodegradable Styrofoam. Dow Chemical is currently ranked as the tenth worst corporate air polluter in the United States, releasing more than 14 million pounds of toxins per year into American air.
NOVARTIS - Multinational pharmaceutical company.
ZENECA (ASTRAZENECA) - Multinational pharmaceutical company known for sexual harassment and other abuses.
According to Wikipedia:
Confronted by allegations in a May 13, 1996, Business Week cover story,[18][19] of widespread sexual harassment and other abuses at its Astra USA Inc. subsidiary, the company suspended three top executives and launched an internal probe.[20]
OK let's just stop for a minute, take a deep breath, and think for a second...
These multinational corporations -- makers of toxic pesticides, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals -- are funding an "institute" whose sole purpose is to advise people not to eat organic vegetables and drink raw milk?
Do you really want to drink something that is in cahoots with big pesticide, chemical and pharmaceutical companies?
Uh, I don't.
Something is rotten in Denmark.
And it isn't raw milk. | | comments: 4 comments or Leave a comment |
| I started drinking raw milk today.
Ha, you're probably like OH JESUS WHAT IS WITH ALL THIS TALK ABOUT ELECTRIC CARS AND RAW MILK? CAN WE GET OFF OF THIS POLITICAL TRAIN ALREADY?
Sorry. I can't help myself.
My uncle sent me some information about healthy diets for babies and nursing mothers and you know me -- I research things incessantly.
So, after researching raw milk for a few days, I came to the conclusion that pasteurization is not necessary and is actually harmful and unhealthy.
I've been drinking organic pasteurized milk for years now. But after having done the research, it's raw milk from now on.
The thing is, back in the days of the Industrial Revolution, farms were absolutely filthy. Heck, homes were filthy. Women spent 10-12 hours per day, EVERY DAY, cleaning the soot from their homes. Plants did not grow in outdoor gardens due to the pollution. And farms were -- well, unclean. (If you can get your hands on it, watch the PBS show, 1900 House. Brilliant.)
Today we are much more educated about bacteria and germs and such -- and we know that you have to sterilize and clean equipment.
This is not to mention all the factory farms that are inherently unclean due to the way they keep the chickens and cows -- in cages packed to the gills, standing in feces and god knows what else. Then of course the animals have to be shot up with all sorts of antibiotics because they get so sick from the conditions.
On organic farms where the chickens and cows are allowed to roam freely on the pasture, this sort of thing does not happen. The animals are clean and healthy and do not transmit disease via their flesh or their milk.
That said, why must we continue to pasteurize milk? Why the ban against raw milk cheeses? They've been selling raw milk cheese in Europe for hundreds of years. Still do. And the people there are perfectly healthy. Why don't we produce it here in America?
I understand why you need to continue to pasteurize if you are buying milk and cheese and eggs from a farm that practices unclean methods (ahem... factory farms). But if you buy milk and cheese from an organic farm that lets their chickens and cows roam free on the pasture -- chickens and cows that are healthy and free of disease -- what is the need for pasteurization?
There is no need -- and it actually harms the milk and strips all the nutrients. (Look up enzymes and acidophilus -- both present in raw milk but killed in pasteurized milk.)
Furthermore, it is so obvious to me that the government used pasteurization to drive out the small farm and bring in big agri-business. I could expound on this further (and relate it to the whole electric cars thing) but it's getting late and I have other things I need to do.
Go ahead, research it for yourself. I think you will find that it is so much healthier and more delicious to drink raw milk.
Don't miss: http://www.realmilk.com/
Also, here are some videos...
The first two videos are from the dairy that I get my milk from! When Kate is old enough, I am going to take her there on a field trip.
PS: California is the ONLY state in the nation where we can legally buy raw milk in stores. I got mine at Whole Foods. | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| I finally watched Who Killed the Electric Car? yesterday. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. In fact, I'd say it was even better than An Inconvenient Truth.
The director, Chris Paine (he is my former boss, incidentally, amazingly enough -- I worked for him back in 1998 when he was running an internet advertising agency in Santa Monica; it was also produced by my other former boss, Richard Titus from Razorfish and Schematic) did such a fantastic job showing what really happened to the electric car. I didn't know any of this stuff and I am quite honestly shocked and amazed.
Here's the shocking truth:
We currently have the technology to make cars that run solely on electricity. That means you plug it in to a regular power outlet and charge it in your garage overnight.
However, no plug-in electric car is being sold in the US.
They were being sold in the US -- the GM EV1 and the Toyota RAV4 EV. Those cars were completely electric and required no gasoline to run. But GM only leased the EV1s and they came back and essentially repossessed all the cars -- even though the people leasing them begged to buy them. Then GM publicly announced that they were going to take the cars and recycle all the parts. Only they didn't. They trucked them to a remote area in the desert and crushed them and put them in a landfill.
I don't know the full story on the Rav4 EVs but there are only a few hundred left on the road today. The rest have been destroyed.
Why?
Because the car companies and the oil companies and the government are making too much money selling gasoline. They didn't want a car that did not need gas.
Meanwhile we are destroying the ozone layer. Electric cars are ZERO emission. And yes, they require electricity -- but surely they could be powered by solar panels and other alternate means. If homes can run on solar, car batteries can too.
They go into all of this in greater detail in the movie. You gotta see it.
The exciting thing is that there are mechanics out there who will convert almost any automobile to a plug-in electric hybrid. For less than $10K.
Meanwhile people are buying the Prius like it's going out of style. To save money on gas and help the environment.
The Prius is fine -- but is it as good as it could be? No.
Nowhere near.
According to Wikipedia, the Prius EV mode (electric vehicle mode) is: "available in Europe and Asian markets only, aftermarket option in the U.S. [It} allows the driver to select electric-only mode in low-power conditions. The vehicle can only be driven a couple of kilometers (depending on conditions) on battery power alone before the gas engine is needed."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Prius)
What does that mean? That means they created an electric car that REQUIRES gasoline to run.
Even though the EV1 and RAV4 EV were far superior and required zero gasoline to run.
It's clear that the oil and automobile industries and the government wanted a car that would keep the environmentalists quiet -- and would still require gas. Even though that is NOT what the American people wanted.
The corporate leaders and the government officials blame us -- say that we are responsible for the way things are because we want to keep driving our SUVs.
I ask you, Do we want our young boys to keep fighting in the middle east just so we can keep spending outrageous amounts of money at the gas station? Of course not. Do we want to destroy the environment? No, we don't. We want cars that run clean and enable us to be free from dependence on foreign oil.
We just didn't know these cars were available.
But they are.
Over 90% of the cars on the road can be converted. Unlike biodiesel which requires you to have a diesel car. And there are still emissions with biodiesel (although it's still a lot better than regular gas -- biodiesel is essentially converted vegetable oil -- the stuff that's left over from making french fries; costs only 50 cents a gallon).
I'm going to start putting money aside to have my car converted. I love my Honda Element. And I want to plug it in! And I bet you if it's electric, it will run a lot longer than 100,000 miles. No more oil changes, no more high price of gas, no more emissions.
I figure if I'm going to drive my car for at least another 4-5 years, the conversion will pay for itself. And I am -- I bought my Honda Element in 2003 and I believe in driving cars until they die (since the majority of the money you spend on a car is when you drive it off the lot). If I don't have to buy gas for it, that's about $1000-$2000 per year I would save on gas. Not to mention oil changes, replacing parts, etc.
It's absolutely shocking to me that all these corporations and government groups colluded to pull the wool over our eyes with cars like the Prius -- keeping us addicted to foreign oil. Shame on them.
Here's a website to read more about plug-in electric cars: http://www.pluginamerica.com/
Oh and definitely read this one -- this is really good: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/93940/prius_is_the_villain_not_a_benefit.html | | comments: Leave a comment |
|
Ann Marie's Blog
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
ammichaels's journal![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/acedia/littlegent/surprised.gif){kind=small}
surprised![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/acedia/littlegent/chipper.gif){kind=small}
chipper![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/acedia/littlegent/energetic.gif){kind=small}
energetic![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/acedia/littlegent/exhausted.gif){kind=small}
exhausted![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/acedia/littlegent/blah.gif){kind=small}
awake![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/acedia/littlegent/jubilant.gif){kind=small}
jubilant![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/acedia/littlegent/curious.gif){kind=small}
curious![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/acedia/littlegent/optimistic.gif){kind=small}
hopeful![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/acedia/littlegent/excited.gif){kind=small}
excited![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/acedia/littlegent/happy.gif){kind=small}
amused