As many of you know, our lil' darling, LuciaGirl, had surgery to remove a "lump on the brain", as she calls it.  The surgery went very well and now comes the hard part.  She is going to need extensive chemo and radiation treatments.  One thing the doctors warned about was nutrition.  No more junky preservatives, no more dirty water hot dogs, and over-processed, over-salted food.  Well, I guess my kitchen's empty now. 

I will be learning about organic gardening and naturally prepared menus, so I thought I'd share it with you guys.  Nothing beats nature.  If you just take a minute to look around at all the wonder that is going on around you, it's amazing that we've been convinced to live without it or eat any of that horrid, man-made crapola (one of my favorite and probably most overused words).  Just check out these amazing photos of a Cecropia Moth caterpillar morphing to a fabulous moth!

So where do I go for info when I'm clueless about a subject? The web, of course. The first site I found that will really be helpful is HelpfulGardener.com.  The photos were taken by a forum member in his own garden! (See larger images)

The Helpful Gardener offers tips and advice for gardening, ranging from hydrangeas, growing vegetables to bonsai, Japanese garden design and container gardening in apartments. Their focus on organic and earth friendly gardening methods helps gardeners grow beautiful gardens without the use of chemical products.  Gardening with nature rather than against it is their philosophy.

Most of the articles were written by Scott Reil. Scott has over 25 years in the nursery business, was an advanced Master Gardener instructor, and is a frequent speaker at garden clubs and industry gatherings. He is currently an executive manager for an organic nursery supplier on the east coast.

In addition to the articles, a lively garden forum provides a place where gardening enthusiasts and experts gather and discuss their gardens. Although there are several other forums serving gardeners, the Helpful Gardener’s forum distinguishes itself for being free of charge, devoid of pop-up advertising and for the friendliness of its members. This is by design. The forum guidelines discourage negative behavior, resulting in a cheerful forum community united by their common interest in gardening. The positive energy on the forum makes it a favorite of gardeners of all ages.

With thousands of discussions on a myriad of gardening topics, it’s no wonder the Helpful Gardener forum has been called one of the leading resources about gardening on the Internet.

It's the small changes you make that can make a big difference. In the kitchen you can:

• Store your food in glass, stainless steel or lead-free ceramic ware. Plastic containers can leach dioxins and phthalates into the food. CHEFS carries glass storage containers for refrigerator or countertop storage.
  
  
• Compost your kitchen vegetable leftovers (no meats) and use them as fertilizer, too. Recycle glass, cans, and paper whenever possible.  CHEFS 1-Gallon Stainless Steel Compost Container and Pull-Out Trash Can and Recycler, make composting and recycling easy.
  
  
• Portion your own food that you buy in bulk. This saves you cost, and cuts down on packing materials and waste. Check out CHEFS Frisper and Foodsaver to reseal bags and save freshness and money.
  
  
• Go unplugged. Use kitchen tools that don't require electricity, like a mandoline instead of a food processor or a carving knife instead of an electric knife. Visit's CHEFS Kitchen Tools and Cutlery to find mandolins and kitchen knives.
  
  
• Use products made of sustainable products like cork and bamboo, or recycled old wood or scrap wood. Concrete counters are chic and take the polymers out of play; recycled stone chips also are being used for durable counter tops. Check out CHEFS bamboo cooking utensils, cutting boards, and placemats.

Now is the best time to shop at Chefs Catalog for green products and more! From glass storage containers to bamboo kitchen tools; you'll find the best green products at Chefs for all your kitchen needs! Check out the banners and our selection of awesome green products below!

Green Products at Chefs

Dear Mickie,

There was good news and bad news for the polar bear today.

First, the good: after a three-year legal battle waged by NRDC and the Center for Biological Diversity, the Bush Administration announced that it will protect polar bears as a "threatened species" under the Endangered Species Act.

This decision is a huge step forward in our long-term fight to save the bear from extinction -- and I want to thank you and every single supporter who has made it possible for us to wage and win this uphill legal battle.

This is the very first time our government has used the Endangered Species Act to protect a species mainly threatened by the ravages of global warming. That is a landmark accomplishment -- and you made it possible!

The bad news? The Bush Administration's plan for "protection" is so full of loopholes for oil companies and other polluters that it could be the equivalent of sending a leaky lifeboat to rescue drowning polar bears -- unless we move quickly to get it fixed.

Simply put, you and I have finally gotten the Bush Administration to acknowledge the gravity of the polar bear's plight -- and that's crucial -- but it's NOT enough to ensure the polar bear's survival.

So our fight must -- and will -- go on.

Make no mistake: the Administration's attempt to water down protection for the polar bear is illegal -- and it won’t hold up in court.

That's why NRDC is already preparing to fight the next round of this legal battle and secure the kind of full-fledged protection that polar bears so desperately need and deserve. I'll be in touch very soon with more details.

Time is short. The Arctic sea ice that polar bears depend on for survival is melting at a rate that has shattered the very worst predictions. Polar bears are already suffering starvation, drowning and population declines.

We don't intend to back down or declare victory until the polar bear is no longer facing the unthinkable threat of extinction.

You can help give polar bears a fighting chance by making a donation now that will help NRDC fight the next round of this historic courtroom battle with the Bush Administration.

Thank you for making this important advance possible, and thank you for all you're doing to answer the polar bear's S.O.S.

Sincerely,

Frances Beinecke
President
Natural Resources Defense Council

P.S. If you haven't done so already, please go to the NRDC Action Fund and tell your Senators to pass tough global warming legislation -- for the sake of the polar bear and our entire planet.

While the words might change from country to country and are sometimes taken for granted, human rights represent one of the universally agreed upon ideas — that all people are born with basic rights and freedoms that include life, liberty, and justice.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations.

Bloggers Unite For Human Rights challenges bloggers everywhere to help elevate human rights by drawing attention to the challenges and successes of human rights issues. 

 

I 'll continue along the line of my previous post regarding the neglect and cruel treatment of groups from American institutions.  Yesterday I wrote about the Washington Post investigation that uncovered a pattern of medical neglect endured by foreign detainees held in U.S. custody. 

I am proud to be an American and I'm proud at the effort this country puts forth to help those less fortunate but I have to say I'm somewhat dismayed that at times we look the other way or perhaps don't do enough to oversee that American values and principles (equal rights to all, fair, ethical, just treatment, etc.) are upheld by our own folks. 

The tendency of our large institutions like jail, hospitals, detention centers to mistreat the less fortunate, mentally challenged or criminally charged must be addressed.  As I mentioned in the last post, perhaps the sheer size of these places foster such lapses in morality, perhaps shifts are too long and need to be rotated more often to limit a degrading of ethics from desensitization from these extreme situations and routine staff psychological evaluations to weed out those who lack the empathy & judgement needed to do the job.

I would also like to invite you to sign Amnesty International's pledge help end illegal detentions and torture at Gantanimo Bay.   

Illegal Detentions at Guantanamo Bay

Since first detainees arrived on January 11, 2002, the U.S. detention facility at Guantánamo Bay has become a global symbol of U.S. human rights violations. Infractions have included: illegal detention, denial of fundamental legal rights, and torture. The only proper recourse is to close the detention facility.

Amnesty International calls for detainees held at Guantánamo Bay, other U.S. facilities, and secret CIA sites to be charged and given fair trial before independent and impartial tribunals such as U.S. federal courts. Tearitdown.org is Amnesty International’s global initiative to end illegal US detentions.

Today you can do something about it.  Sign the tearitdown.org pledge

Washington Post investigation uncovers pattern of medical neglect endured by foreign detainees held in U.S. custody -

Here are 2 examples:

 

1. Yusif Osman was a U.S. legal resident from Ghana and had been living in Los Angeles for five years. Osman was facing deportation on smuggling charges, when a companion was found with a fake ID.  While in his cell at the detention center, Osman collapsed suffering from chest pain.  A guard saw him on the ground, but did not go in. Instead, he called a clinic nurse to find out whether Osman had any medical problems.

When the nurse opened his medical file, she found it blank because supposedly the intake nurse had mistakenly clicked it as completed even though there was nothing entered.  When the nurse found it blank, she decided there was no emergency and said Osman needed to fill out a sick call request. The guard went on a lunch break.

The cellmate yelled again. Another guard came by, looked in and called the nurse. This time she wanted Osman brought to the clinic. Forty minutes passed before guards brought a wheelchair to his cell. By then it was too late: Osman was barely alive when paramedics reached him. He soon died.

 

E-Mails Show Attempt To 'Patch Up' a Case Of Medical Negligence:

At the agency in Washington responsible for foreign detainees' medical care, internal documents reveal a tendency to conceal the truth by withholding complete medical records or by offering misleading public explanations.

2. After living in Los Angeles, for about 25 years, Francisco Castaneda, was being deported after serving a four-month sentence for drug possession. Medical staff members suspected that he had penile cancer. A lesion on his penis was bleeding and oozing. The staff sought approval for a biopsy, but the Division of Immigration Health Services, in Washington denied the procedure for 10 months.

After pressure from the American Civil Liberties Union, a biopsy was finally scheduled but immigration officials suddenly released Castaneda from custody days before the surgery, sparing the agency the cost.

When the DIHS medical director, Timothy T. Shack, was asked to review the case, he concluded: "I looked over about 200 pages of medical records for this case. In my opinion, the care provided to this detainee was, and is, timely and appropriate."

One week later after the review, UCLA doctors gave Castaneda a diagnosis of invasive squamous cell carcinoma. On Valentine's Day, surgeons amputated his penis.  He died a year later, leaving a 14 year old daughter behind.

These types of situations show the problem with large institutions in general.
Yes, these systems can be strained due to budget and staffing problems but I've come to the conclusion that:

1- Humans seem to have a problem with empathy & compassion for people who they perceive as very different then they are.
2- Large institutions foster cliques (aka gangs).  The staff versus the patients or inmates is the biggest clique.
3- The clique with more power (the staff) will grow more indifferent or even more cruel towards the weaker, less powerful group.
4- Mankind has a great capacity to hate. 

Predjudice will find its' way in somehow.  If you're a different race, you'll hate over color. If you're the same race, you'll hate over religion.  If you're the same race and same religion, you'll hate over money & power.  If you're the same race, religion and social status, you'll hate over sex. It goes on & on.

I suspect this happens due to personal insecurities and an attempt to elevate oneself to a higher perceived standing in society (I hesitate to use the word civilization, since there's nothing civilized about it).  

The minute I read the sentence at the beginning of the article that stated the nurse hit the wrong button by mistake and closed his medical file, I knew the institution staff was guilty, they knew they were guilty and they got their story together.  It's possible they erased the record. 

Having used electronic medical records, I know they aren't so flexible.  How do you close an empty record?  Either you didn't type anything into it or you forgot to hit save but the records usually ask you if you want to save before you close or you erased it by accident and you didn't feel like starting all over again. If you can't respect and value life can you please just do a decent job for the principle of the thing?

As I've mentioned already, I work in healthcare and trust me the more I work with people the more I dislike them but believe it or not, it doesn't matter if I like you or not.  I'm not your family, I'm not your friend but I am your nurse, doctor, dentist, whatever.  A professional should be able to separate the emotions and do the job at hand.  A life is a life and should be respected as such but if you can't, don't you have enough self respect to do a good job for the principle of the thing?

Who cares right? It's just some insignificant immigrant.  Well, Albert Einstein was an immigrant, Mother Theresa would have been an immigrant, oh and your great grandpappy and grandmamma probably were immigrants too and I hate to burst your bubble but they weren't that different or worth any more than those poor schmucks you're neglecting and abusing now.

A friend told me this one yesterday. 

ABE LINCOLN:  Intellectual Mind.

BILL CLINTON:  Great Mind.

GEORGE BUSH:  Never Mind.

Show your support by helping them call their loved ones back home.

The troops defending our freedom around the world ache for the sound of a familiar voice. That’s why the USO, through Operation Phone Home®, buys and hands out pre-paid phone cards to our men and women in uniform.

For those at the Front, there’s no better way to celebrate a birthday, anniversary, or any other special occasion than with a phone call to loved ones back in the States.

Your $10 donation provides a GI in Iraq with 30 minutes of prepaid calls to the US. A $20 donation buys 60 prepaid minutes. A $100 donation: 300 minutes. Please give as generously as you can, today! Tomorrow could be too late.

“They got away with murder in there,” "This verdict parallels the outcome of previous police shootings of black men. “Connect the bullets,” he said. “How many times did they shoot Diallo? Forty-one times.
They were acquitted. They got a pension.” (Comments from the crowd after verdict announced.)

Nov. 25, 2006, Sean Bell, a 23-year-old New York City man due to be married later that day, left a Queens strip club, climbed into a car with two friends who had been celebrating with him. The car drove around the corner and for some reason slammed into unmarked police minivan. They backed up, hit a storefront and nearly struck an undercover officer before lunging forward and slamming into the police van again. That's when all heck broke loose. Supposedly someone from the car yelled, "Get my gun." The officers in the van started shooting. Bell was killed by 2 out of 50 bullets fired by the officers.

The detectives were found not guilty on all charges.

It's called being at the wrong place at the wrong time!

This society will continue to suffer until it changes it's reactionary ways.  Being proactive would have prevented this from happening.

1) Was this a known "bad guy" hangout? If so, why weren't steps taken to shut it down, arrest the criminals, stop criminal activity (prostitution, drugs, guns etc.) Why are the criminals allowed to have such a sense of freedom that they would be so brazen as to shout "Where's my gun?" in front of the police?

2) This wasn't racial. It was situational.  If you hadn't noticed, 2 out of the 3 officers were African American.  If this was a known mafia hangout and 3 Italians came out and slammed into the van, they would have been shot as well.  Black, white, green or blue. It doesn't matter what color you are.  If the situation is stereotypical, you're at risk for being judged that way.  It won't matter if you're guilty of anything. 

If you hang out at the wrong place with the wrong people you just might get killed.  You can scream, "It's the principal of the thing" all you want but that doesn't bring Sean or any other innocent victim back.  Everyone has someone who loves them and will be heartbroken when tragedy strikes.

3) Why did it take 50 bullets?  I don't think it's because they were looking to massacre these guys.  I think it took 50 shots because they have lousy aim when they're stressed.  They felt endangered and they weren't going to stop shooting till everything and everyone stopped moving.

The NYPD needs to be trained to handle the beast called New York.  The better the training, the less likely to "freak out" and start shooting. 

I love my city and I would love to be proud of my police officers but many are overweight, under educated, unenlightened, non-city residents. 

Send them through physical and psychological boot camp.  Make it a job with pride and honor, like the military.  You'll find the community more likely to stand by the force. 

Everyone involved is guilty of BAD JUDGEMENT.  Remember, you are only one decision away from ruining your life, so think, think, think.

Please help us raise funding for the NRDC.
Don't forget, you can
mail in your coins also.

THE 2008 CHUMP CHANGE CHALLENGE:
National Resources Defense Council

This planet and all it's future inhabitants are in big trouble.  The destruction and devestation is world wide and accelerating at an alarming rate.  Our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren are in danger of losing their viability if we don't act now.

The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) works to solve the most pressing environmental issues we face today: curbing global warming, getting toxic chemicals out of the environment, moving America beyond oil, reviving our oceans, saving wildlife and wild places, and helping China go green.

Global warming is already causing damage in many parts of the world. In 2002, Colorado, Arizona and Oregon endured their worst wildfire seasons ever. The same year, drought created severe dust storms in Montana, Colorado and Kansas, and floods caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage in Texas, Montana and North Dakota. Since the early 1950s, snow accumulation has declined 60 percent! 

The impacts of global warming are not limited to the United States. In 2003, extreme heat waves caused more than 20,000 deaths in Europe and more than 1,500 deaths in India. And in what scientists regard as an alarming sign of events to come, the area of the Arctic's perennial polar ice cap is declining at the rate of 9 percent per decade.

Wild places across the globe are being threatened by a surge of reckless industrialization. The destruction of these wildlands means the loss of vast troves of biological diversity, critical regulators of global climate, and irreplaceable sanctuaries for recreation and contemplation.

Ninety percent of the large fish like tuna and swordfish are already gone. Every year, high-tech fishing trawlers scrape bare an expanse of ocean floor 75 times larger than all the forests clearcut on land. All six species of sea turtle in U.S. waters are threatened with extinction, and marine mammals are increasingly assaulted by lethal noise from high-intensity military sonar and industrial activity.

Toxic chemicals in our environment, such as mercury, lead, and certain manmade chemicals, have been linked to cancer, birth defects and brain impairments. Reducing or eliminating the load of these dangerous chemicals in the products we buy, the air we breathe, the food we eat and the water we drink can help reduce the toll of human disease and suffering.

Worth Magazine says about The National Resource Defense Council - ". . . Even by environmentalist standards, this is a relentless group of lawyers and scientists."

Join the ranks of eco-conscious celebs like Natalie Portman.
Here she is wearing a pair of Charmone Wedges on the red carpet!

Charmoné creates luxury women's shoes using only sustainable and cruelty free materials. 

An environmentally friendly shoe line, Charmoné features an entire roster of animal-free styles nor do they employ sweatshops to make their shoes - which is good for the environment and your conscience.

Every shoe is made with recycled materials, water-based glue and nickel-free hardware.

Check out Women's Lavendar  50% OFF

These have a very retro mod feel with the chunky heels, cutout green and white uppers, and luv, luv, luv the floral print lining. Perfect to add some warm weather spice to your wardrobe.
Everyone says the same thing.  The pictures don't do them justice, they look even better in person.

Review: Where have these shoes been all my life!