The Right Wing's Wildlife is Called Cheeseburger

I have been following the story of the crazed Nevada rancher, who along with a gang of armed militia buddies, pulled off a good-ole-fashioned standoff against the Federal Bureau of Land Management....
Apparently, it all began with this rancher feeling he had a so-called "right" to graze cattle for free on leased federal land. He felt the sage brush out there in Nevada wasn't worth much anyway, so why not squat your cattle there?? Wherein the second predicament appeared, as someone actually thought the land was worth more than cattle manure. The BLM wasn't only annoyed that this rancher wasn't paying his grazing fees, the area was also declared important habitat for the desert tortoise.
Now that's the kind of "important" i.e. endangered species act, that makes conservatives shit kittens. Over and over, I have heard politicians say (I live in red state Alaska after all) how there "should be no EPA, no Endangered species act," blah, blah, blah" it's all "government overreach".
Somehow, in their bizzaro bubble, the global population is not ballooning. Their brilliant plan is to pretend that "it's all the same as it was 200 years ago" and just graze over, plant over, build up and raze over every open space and wilderness area, all while assuming that the earth will magically EXPAND to produce more natural resources later on.
So either they believe that the endangered animals trampled to death, over-fished, or squeezed out of habitat...will return to earth via some magic ark, or the conservatives idea of American wildlife is the hamburger. Let's just replace the bald eagle with the Big Mac and call it a day.

51 and Alaskan

I am totally not making fun of 51 year olds, nor do I have a list of funny Alaskans. What I care to vent about is the temperature 51 (Fahrenheit)--and what it does in Alaska...(!)
Truthfully-- it is a glorious thing, if it's 51 outside in April--it must be sunny and warm. BUT 'Alaska' warm that is. In Hawaii they call 51 "frigid".
Which brings me to the annoying part, because you see--I am currently thinking like the Islanders. 51 is nice enough and all, but with a breeze out--I didn't find it patio pleasant. So from the safety of my vehicle, I watched all those darn acclimated Northerners. (which hasn't happened to me after all these years--instead, I have developed some sort of snow allergy--which is real--you can google it.)
How many people did I see outside today in flippin shorts?? There were all those kids getting off the school bus, and joggers, and at least three ladies walking their dogs. Not to mention all the people in flip-flops. Flip flops and shorts, at the grocery store--and it is 51 out. That's why when it reaches 70 degrees here, people fall over in a tizzy, buy out the ice cream and dive into the river.

Fake Problems Fix the Economy

The United States economy is a drama queen.  Digging up problems where none should exist, and creating craziness for an economic fix.
I'm sure most folks won't agree with me.. so I'll throw out some (exasperating!) examples.
Obviously "lifestyle illness" is a biggie. The pimple popper MD's and sunscreen peddlers have really done a number on making sure folks are lacking in their Vitamin D. Thousands of years of common sense and evolutionary reduced pigmentation, just thrown to the wind. I mean why are white people white? (duh)!! Because we would die in Northern latitudes if we couldn't absorb more sun!!  But wait--that's free! Can't have that in this economy....(and yes Alaskan natives are darker--but they got their D and Omega 3 from salmon, salmon, salmon... which they currently don't get enough of....another rant of mine altogether)..
 Second free thing that was discouraged for 30 years--breast milk. Now we need to spend ooodles of money to "teach" women not to use expensive formula and go back to the free stuff..good grief.
Stress.  We spend tons of time telling ourselves we "have to fight that traffic", have to get to our stressful job, blah, blah. Because it makes us feel needed and important. Better than the neighbors, sometimes richer.. (and the economy loves this one, even poking at the women to "get out there and work your butt off" --Break that glass ceiling--it's good for economic growth, after all!!  Yet, all this rushing around does nothing but create westernized illness due to stress hormones. But could we ever follow the lead of some nations--reduce the work week, take August off, live in a smallish apartment?? I don't think so, we choose heart failure...

Sugar. Now sugar is a wonderful way to get a quick caloric fix, and quite palatable. But oh my goodness--pay attention to how people use it. Drinking sweetened coffees and cokes all day long to stay awake at their "stressful jobs", topped off with a muffin or bagel. Followed by the sugar crashes, and confused folks being like "why am I so tired?"  Too tired to take the flipping stairs or exercise. Then they are up all night with insomnia and run to the doctor for prescription this and prescription that. Do doctors ever give "free tips" anymore (like put down your soda dorko, and take a hike?) No, that would be free. Much better to just prescribe an expensive med. The diabetes industry keeps lots of people employed for crying out loud!!! Good for them~! I mean healthy and fit people would just devastate the health care sector. What would our economy do without Paula Dean? Bless her, what a great American..     

Cruel Eggs

Call me naive, but apparently I am the last to know about the nasty egg industry.
It all started innocently enough--with my impulsive urge to take home a few fluffy baby chicks the other day. As they were being packed into their little chicken box, I nonchalantly asked the feed store lady if they were boys or girls. "All girls", she replied.
Curious, but I didn't give it much further thought.
That is, until I started leafing through my assortment of raising hippie chicken books;- where I read I wouldn't know the genders of my chicks until they reached three or four weeks of age...so what gives?
Enter the Google search -- and a whole new meaning of "sexting chicks".  Apparently any modern chicken farm, (especially the big commercial ones) sexes their chicks. (All without the help of an iphone, ha)--but done by some poor clod that squeezes their "vent" (ahem).
But then comes the cruel part--the cute fuzzy boy chicks are immediately destroyed (and I will spare the gruesome, gruesome details)-- as they are not considered as economically "viable" as the chick chicks! They aren't even raised for meat, because meat birds are top heavy mutants with large chests!....yuck.
So I just swore off eggs. Even organic, cage free eggs--they all "sex chicks". And unfortunately I will be waiting twenty weeks for my little fluff balls to start laying their own....