Palin? Bad Choice McCain

Do the Republicans think women are stupid? Are they really that sexist to think that when a woman sees another woman's name on a ballot they are going to vote for her? Like we are going to have some epiphany - Ooooh a woman, I should vote for her because I am a woman too. PLEASE!

I will vote for the candidate who is going to protect a woman's right to make her own decisions about her body, because anti-abortion laws are also a loophole that allow insurance companies to deny birth control pills, and other medical procedures essential to women's health (and no, this is not referring to abortion – see my blog below). I will vote for a candidate who believes in science and believes in teaching science. What am I talking about?

Governor Palin openly discusses her beliefs that global warming is not real and is definitely not man-made, and she also believes that Evolution should be banned from schools. Personally, I have had three science teachers that taught Evolution and believed that God had some hand in it. I'll never forget what my AP Biology teacher, Mr. Knowles said, "Who is any man to say they know how God made the Earth, or how infinite one of God's days are," referring to the 7 days in Genesis. If she doesn't listen to scientists, who have had years of schooling and spent decades dedicated to research, is she also going to ignore Generals and Economists like Bush? Ignorance is bliss people.

But I think my biggest problem with her is because I am a mom, and I feel she is being EXTREMELY selfish to leave her infant special-needs son and accept a spot on this ticket. If the child was older, I wouldn't have a problem with it, but this is a baby. Does she honestly think she will be able to spend the time her baby needs with her running for VP and if she should become VP? But alas she is well-off and I'm sure the nannies and nurse maids are awaiting. Why bother raising your kid when you can afford for other people to do it for you, right?

Dreams and Small Wonders

Today is the 45^th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech. Today is also the day that the first black man will accept a nomination from the Democratic Party to run for president. Anyone else feeling proud? I sure am, but I have other things in this presidential race to be proud of.

Obama's pick for VP comes from the home of the Blue hen chicken, the Small Wonder, the first state. Whenever I tell people where I'm from, I always say I'm from Delmarva and I get the weirdest looks (unless I'm back there visiting of course). I'm from the Maryland part of Delmarva near the states' border, but the states on peninsula share each others' joys and sorrows, especially Delaware's. I just visited there almost 2 months ago, and was so happy about how liberal and understanding my home peninsula has become. When people want to argue about school bussing programs, I just think about how successful they have been in reducing racism on Delmarva in the last 30 years. In fact, I distinctly noticed that the sign for the Mason-Dixon Line had been removed near Selbyville when I drove by. And now the first black presidential nominee has picked the long-term Senator from Delaware to be his running mate. How cool is that?

I remember when I was a kid, my mom-mom and pop-pop driving me for hours to some event where we could meet Joe Biden. My mom-mom was so happy to see her Senator in person, and was pretty up-to-date on her politics when it came to her Senator Biden. I only wish she could be here to see him become Vice President. Yes Vice President – face it, Obama's the man! Yes we can!

Quick note - Mo Rocca would like you to know that Biden's middle name is not Bassinette or Raisinette, but Robinette. If you have time, check out his video of the Blue Hen ladies at the DNC convention, and learn a little something about Delaware.

North Cascade Adventures Continued

We ventured off the beaten trail yesterday into a low-summer-flow creekbed for some rockhounding. I still cannot upload the pics I took a couple of weeks ago that are stuck on my phone, but I promise I will get a USB for it soon. In the meantime, enjoy some of these...

Old growth trees, moss, ferns, ignaceous rocks, a running creek and a nurse log made this a peaceful first stop (if only we had remembered the mosquito spray)

Waiting for me to pack the camera and scramble up the rocks...

Hershey the Hiking Companion

Me at our last stop...behind me and to the left was a multi-level little waterfall hidden by thick brush. I tried to get a picture, but this was the best I could do even with a high ISO camera...

More adventures to come. Next weekend the hubby and I are hiking to Vesper Peak for our 7th wedding anniversary. We're hoping to find garnets, but will be happy with the breathtaking views.

Fast, Fun and Green

Looking for a fun green vehicle? Well if you own seven homes like John McCain you may be able to afford the Tesla Roadster. Tesla Motors has a new version of its electric Roadster that can go 0 to 60 in less than 4 seconds, has a top speed of 125mph, and hold its charge for 220 miles. It may not be a cross country road trip car, but if you have over $100,000 to spend on a Sunday drive mobile, then this is much better for the environment than a Lotus or Lamborghini.

Okay Ford, where is my electric Shelby Mustang?

Heartbroken

I know this has nothing to do with the environment or politics, but did we just lose the Softball gold to Japan? What the hell? I totally lost my May/Walsh volleyball high yesterday morning upon hearing the news. And yes, I am a sports nut, too.

Okay - here's some political news. According to the Pew Research center 50% of "religious" Americans believe that religion should separate itself from politics compared to 30% just 4 years ago. Things are looking better every day.

My First Green Project

It has been difficult to post lately, as I have been working on a 75^th birthday project for my dad. Since I can't make it across country for the party (sorry), we're being creative with his present. I will keep the contents a secret because he reads this (but he should be packing up and preparing to evacuate for Fay instead of surfing the net). We also took a LONG trip across the state to visit the in-laws in Spokane for a couple of days of sun and swimming. The E WA desert is so blah and makes that drive seem so very long, but we were welcomed home with mountain thunderstorms.

My other project aside from a burned out heating element in my dryer, is replacing my guest bathroom fan before the kids of never-ending-shower-land turn it into a moldy-stink room. I was also trying to come up with a way to lighten up the room. We use CFB's (compact fluorescent bulbs for those non-greenies), and it is inappropriate to put a shower window next to your front door, so the lighting is very dim in there. I really don't want to put a heat lamp/fan in there, so I clicked on an old "wish-list" website for products to put in my future green buildings.

Solatubes have come up with a tube/fan model that fits the specs of that bathroom perfectly! I can't wait for the hubby to come home so I can show him our first green project (although I have a feeling I will be the one on the roof). If this works out well, they have solar powered attic fans that would work well to cool down the room above the garage and the rest of the attic space. Sweet!

Evangelical Sleaze

Not being a religious person, prayer is not a regular part of my day. In fact, most of my religious experiences have occurred outside in nature, but I will say the occasional prayer, in my own way. So if I was religious, and prayed on a regular basis, what would I pray for? Hmmm, maybe world peace, a world effort to save the planet, an end to poverty, famine and drought, a cure for diseases like AIDS and cancer, and so on and so on.

What do our good Evangelical friends at Focus on the Family pray for? Well, they pray for rain, too, but not a cleansing rain to end drought or a hardy rain to grow food. No, screw those who are bad off, those who Jesus would probably make his mission to help. No, why bother praying for good things - they are going to pray for rain on the Democrats and Obama at the convention on the 25th. This is their web video encouraging the "prayer chain."

Do the Republicans know that they LOSE Independent voters like me when they don't condemn these things? There are positions in our state government I would rather see filled by a Republican, but they always want to bring morality into the picture. "Stay out of my private life, and stay on my ballot," that's my motto.

This video is disgusting and "Christians" like this need a reality check.

North Cascades Adventures

There is no better way to appreciate the environment than by getting out there and enjoying it. Despite the shot-happy hunters around here, the hubby and I took advantage of no kids in the house, and drove 17 miles into the mountains on Sunday. Down the road towards Arlington there was a Redneck concert-fest at the river featuring Kelly Pickler, and up the road toward Darrington there was the ultimate hippy-fest (aka Flowmotion), so staying at home was not an option.

Once we got the hell out of Dodge (up Mountain Loop Highway), we pulled off at Forrest Road 49 and hiked it almost 3 miles up. Along the way we only saw one marmot and heard a few birds, but remembering it was bear season, I was regretting not taking a dog or packing a gun. We were looking for a creek to pan for gold, but settled on a spot on the Sauk River just off the trail near Sloan Peak. Once we were at the river bank, we did do some rock scaling to make our way to a tributary creek bed so I could hunt for quartz and rubies.

I found two rocks with garnet stones imbedded, but did much better when we started panning. I found almost fifty very small garnets that were between purple and fire red in color. We only found one small piece of gold in the river, but I found a gold vein in a quartz rock I busted open on our way home in a dry creek off the southwest face of Mount Pugh. On our way back to our car from our spot on the river, we took the North Fork Sauk Falls trails down to the lookout/cliff. I will post pictures of this spectacular waterfall as soon as I can make a Radio Shack trip.

My gut feeling about bears came true when, on our way home, a black bear cub leaped out in front of our car. We slowed down to get a better look, but didn't stop for a picture as Mamma Bear was at the tree line watching our car. I really didn't want to have to explain that kind of a claim to Progressive.

The Environmental gods are looking out for me, as luck has come my way. Western Washington University will be adding Environmental Planning and Policy to their list of Bachelor's Degree's offered out of the University Center at Everett Community College where I go now. I won't have to drive to Bellingham until I'm ready to take my Sustainable Design classes in my last year! You have no idea how happy that makes me, and my hybrid (which is now named Escahpay thanks to Dr. Alix at work).

Go out and enjoy Mamma Nature!

Shooting Hikers Equals New Laws

I wasn't intending to write about local things, unless they are political, of course, but this story really bothers me, and has made national news. A 54 year old woman was shot by a 14 year old hunter on Sauk Mountain on Saturday, the opening of bear season in Washington. It really hits close to home, not only because the mountain is ½ hour away, but because my daughter and her friends just went hiking there last weekend, and I almost went on the same hike with some friends on the day it occurred. It is a very popular wild-flower trail that is infamous for its flower hike. And while there are tragic hunting stories throughout history, this one could have been prevented.

At first the news reported that the teenage hunter was with an adult, but recent developments in the story put him with his 16 year old brother, while grandpa slept in the truck by the trail head. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that 14 year old boys are a little trigger happy, and why this grandfather let his grandsons hunt near a popular hiking trail just perplexes me.

According to the story, the woman, hiking alone (which many locals do) and wearing a blue shirt, bent over to put something in her back pack when the boy mistook her for a bear and shot her in the head. Search and rescue were called in to recover her body which had fallen into steep terrain. According to her husband in Oso (about 10 miles from us), no one has been charged in the shooting.

You might say I'm being a little harsh expecting charges to be filed against the child, but this is point blank neglect and ignorance that lead to manslaughter. That's right, it's manslaughter. I didn't know this before but there are no age limit on teenagers hunting alone(?!) in Washington, and no laws to charge the grandfather with being neglectful. Yes, the boy should be charged, because every intelligent hunter knows that you must confirm your target is an animal BEFORE you fire your rifle, and you just don't shoot into a hiking trail because you see something black. In addition, if a teenager were to hit a person and kill them with their car, they would be charged with manslaughter. Are you telling me a gunshot death is not as serious as a traffic death?!

The Forrest Service and DNR also need to restrict hunting near hiking trails, I will be doing some lobbying myself for law changes. There are plenty of areas for hunting away from the popular trails. In fact, the Skagit Valley Herald interviewed a trail guide who frequently takes bear hunters to the OTHER side of Sauk Mountain, because he knows that many people go hiking in the summer up and down Highway 530 and Mountain Loop Highway. Despite this tragedy, I will continue hiking around here, but probably won't be bringing my black husky/shepard mix named Bear with me anymore.

 

Abortion?! Them is Fightin’ Words!

Okay ladies. Put up your dukes. It's time to do some fightin'. The Republican executive branch, in its last ditch efforts to impose its "morality" on us, have now classified our birth control pills/shots/rings/IUD's and Plan B as a form of abortion. How does that affect you? Well it doesn't - yet.

According to the New York Times, the Department of Health and Human Services (the great people that brought HIPAA into health care) has drafted rules that would ban the federal funding of hospitals, clinics and pharmacies that require their staff to dispense these medications. But what scares me the most is the wording in the drafted rules defining abortion as, "any of the various procedures — including the prescription, dispensing and administration of any drug or the performance of any procedure or any other action — that results in the termination of the life of a human being in utero between conception and natural birth, whether before or after implantation." Yes, Biology majors, Zygotes and Blastocysts are apparently human beings right away.

Now I'm not talking Juno, "my baby has fingernails" abortions. I'm talking about our birth control. You know the stuff you take so you can be a responsible parent or non-parent? I have a neighbor that has 6 children in a tiny 4 bedroom house, in which one of the rooms functions as a "schoolhouse." This is what they want from us – tons of kids, and lots of poor people homeschooling a generation of children ignorant to advanced society.

Now you might ask how a simple drafted rule like this can affect you if you go to a private doctor for your birth control. Well, it's about to get expensive. Most states require insurance companies to cover your birth control. Under these new rules, the Federal policy will supercede state policy, and any state that refuses to go along with the new rules will loose its Medicaid funding. What's worse is that it will make hospitals and clinics, including Planned Parenthood hire nurses and doctors who may also want to impose their "morality" on young, poor women who can't afford to pay cash for birth control.

Youth, inexperience and multiple children will only bring about a higher infant mortalilty rate and more homelessness. And to make it worse, the churches encourage in vitro fertilization, or as I call it, human litters (Jon and Bitch, oops, Kate Plus 8), so there are less couples out there willing to adopt than there used to be. Hey with these new funding rules along with Abstinence Only education, we'll finally be number one in the world again – in teenage pregnancy.

Call/write/email your Representatives, because after all, they control the budget for the Department of Health and Human Services, and can pull the strings out from under them.