ALEC, P&G and Our Rights

Generally speaking, I'm not really big on boycotts. I think that we tend to get all hot & bothered over something that "Corporation A" has done (or not done) and call for a "Boycott until they cave in!" Then something else happens and we're distracted, and suddenly we forget about our boycott of "Corporation A" because we're busy with calling for a boycott of "Corporation B" instead.


 Until now, this has been pretty much what I've observed over the past several years. Well, something different has happened. That something is a confluence of events that is causing increasing levels of concern among people of this country as we see how legislation such as Florida's variation of the "Stand Your Ground" law is allowing what appears to be the racially motivated slaying of a 17-year old boy by a 28-year old man to go unpunished and even uninvestigated. We are seeing how "Voter ID" laws passed in response to over-hyped claims of vote/voter fraud are stripping citizens of their right to vote. We are seeing the efforts to strip citizens of the rights at the state level in a fashion that is truly unprecedented.

For example, bills have been introduced in the following areas:

• Worker and Consumer Rights bills (plus Trade, Pensions, Privatization, Banking, Housing, Property Insurance, Transportation, Telecomm & IT) 
• Tort Reform and Injured Americans bills Privatizing Schools and Higher Education bills 
• Health, Big Pharma, and Social Welfare bills Environment, Energy, and Agriculture bills 
• Democracy, Voting, and Federal Relations bills 
• Tax & Budget bills 
• Guns, Prisons, Crime and Immigration bills 

and many others (thanks to  http://alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed for the information about what sorts of bills are being brought up). These bills will impact us in our daily lives and strip us of protections and rights that we have enjoyed for generations.

"So, what does this have to do with this blog post?" you ask. Well, let me sum up (the explanation is too long). A group called the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC for short) has been sponsoring and even writing "example" bills. I put it as "example" because in several cases the bills have been passed exactly as presented by ALEC. No modifications were made (or even attempted) to make these bills less dangerous to the people or to the existing laws of the states. These bills strip us of protections going far beyond what rights we thought we had. and ALEC has been very quietly behind a great many of them.

Recently, the activities of ALEC have become more publicly acknowledged as several bills were introduced and logged in state legislatures without even the simple stripping of ALEC as the source of the bill from the text of the bill as introduced. The outcry was pretty significant, and several "members" (sponsors, really) of ALEC have withdrawn their support from ALEC and its legislative endeavors.

Not so of Procter & Gamble.

Unlike Coca-Cola, Kraft and Pepsi, P&G has come out in support of ALEC, and has even effectively thumbed their nose at the idea that we can effectively boycott them to "put a whoopin'" on their bottom line. Well, they may be right, or they may be deluded.

If you oppose ALEC, please remember that when you buy and use any of the following products, you are voting with your dollars to be stripped of protections and rights that you thought were constitutionally protected.

Procter & Gamble Brands (from their own website):

• Beauty & Grooming
• Always
• Anna Sui
• Aussie
• Braun
• Camay
• Christina Aguilera Perfumes
• Clairol Professional
• CoverGirl
• Crest
• DDF
• Dolce & Gabbana Cosmetics
• Dolce & Gabbana Fragrances
• Dunhill Fragrances
• Escada Fragrances
• Fekkai
• Fusion
• Ghost
• Gillette
• Gucci Fragrances
• HUGO BOSS Fragrances
• Head & Shoulders
• Herbal Essences
• Ivory
• Lacoste Fragrances
• MACH3
• Naomi Campbell
• Natural Instincts
• Nice 'n Easy
• Nioxin
• Olay
• Old Spice
• Oral-B
• Pantene
• Pert
• Prestobarba/Blue
• Puma
• Rejoice
• SK-II
• Safeguard
• Scope
• Sebastian Professional
• Secret
• Tampax
• Venus
• Vidal Sassoon
• Wella

• Household Care
• Ace
• Align
• Ariel
• Bold
• Bounce
• Bounty
• Cascade
• Charmin
• Comet
• Dash
• Dawn
• Downy
• Dreft Laundry
• Duracell
• Era
• Eukanuba
• Febreze
• Gain
• Iams
• Joy
• Luvs
• Metamucil
• Mr. Clean
• Pampers
• Pepto-Bismol
• Prilosec OTC
• Pringles
• Puffs
• Swiffer
• Tide
• Vicks

Remembrance and Reflections

9-11 has become a significant part of our vocabulary in the last decade. As such, I think it's important to remember why we were attacked, and by whom. We were attacked by a relatively small group of radicals who get their funding primarily from Saudi Arabia. They were angry with us because of a number of things that we do, in point of fact, do... supporting dictators, overthrowing governments, meddling in affairs that are none of our business, and more. Their goal, if I may speak from what I've heard in the last several years, seems to have been to firstly make us stop doing these things, and secondly to bring is down somewhat ( that is, if not topple our government, at least reduce our influence over other countries), and thirdly to eliminate our way of life.

Well, as they say, two out of three ain't bad.

The thing is, our political leadership has managed to change our views on a host of questions like privacy, security and the economy to the detriment of the majority of us. We accept invasive searches of our homes and even our selves (witness TSA searches at any airport) with almost no complaint. We have accepted "free speech zones" well out of view of politicians, and being arrested for challenging our "leadership" at a public meeting is commonplace. I can remember this country before 9/11/2001, and cannot believe that any of these and hundreds of other attacks on our constitutionally protected rights would have been tolerated then.

We also have managed to sabotage our standing in the world in the view of our peer nations. Many people from our NATO allies view us as little better than loud-mouthed bullies. Countries that should be our friends see us as dangerously unpredictable, and world leaders see our own leaders as fools and buffoons with no grasp of how our actions impact the world and international economies and trade. We are little better than the village idiot in the view of many, when we used to be perceived as the final arbiter of truth and fairness. Not a good motion for us to continue, and yet we seem to be determined to continue our slide.

The one area that we haven't pulled back in is meddling in the internal affairs of other, weaker countries. In fact, we have started meddling in even more countries and in a more blatant fashion than ever before. From Libya to Syria to Pakistan and beyond, we tamper, corrupt, prop up "friendly" grimes, topple regimes that don't follow our dictates and generally cause havoc and mayhem wherever we tread. In truth, it's no wonder people hate and fear us.

The final thing we've started doing is we've increased our military spending until it has surpassed ludicrous. We spend more than the next 14 highest spending countries combined, and pretty consistently seek increases over even that amount. Even in a time when austerity rules the day in all other areas we manage to find a significant additional amount to add to the Pentagon's budget. Pretty insane amounts of that are lost, wasted or pissed away on weapons systems that are unwanted by the branches of the military they are supposed to be for. In fact, we spend so much on military operations, weapons systems, and R&D that we are risking the economic collapse of the world and every country that uses the dollar as a reserve currency, and our "leadership" is busy trying to rip us off for the money we've put into a couple insurance programs to "reduce the deficit" when what's breaking the bank both figuratively and literally goes unremarked.

No, my friends and other readers, they do NOT "hate us for our freedoms," they hate us because we're dangerous, insane and stupid.

New Blogger for iPhone

Well, Blogger has decided to join the connected world and release an app for iPhone. This post is in part a test of that app, and partly to reaffirm that I am still alive and kicking. Since I haven't posted in the last year, I'm pretty certain that I lost any followers I might have had. No biggie from my end, as this was really always a place for me to air concerns and feelings, but apologies to anyone who wondered if I was still amongst the living or not (I most assuredly am).

Anywhoo, thanks for reading. Maybe I'll be a bit more inclined to post occasionally now that I don't have to be at my PC to do so.

Weird Question

In RHPS, when Brad has sex with Frank-n-furter, is he monsterbaiting?

Just venting about weights

I ran into a problem with my workout routine lately. I've been using weight machines to help tone & increase strength. I've maxed out several machines, including bench press, leg press, seated row and roman chair machines, all of which I found adequate replacements for in free weights, so they aren't a problem. The problem is that I've maxed out the leg extension and leg curl machine, and the YMCA where I work out just doesn't have the leg extension/curl machine, so there aren't any free weight replacement solutions for these exercises available to me.

I decided to try increasing the number of reps from 20 to 30, which seems to have helped some (e.g. - a little muscle tenderness the day after - not a lot, but some), but this has introduced a new issue. My knees are sore.

Keep in mind that several years ago I tore the cartilage and ACL in both of my knees (in separate incidents, even!). The suggested regimen to support the knee after surgery included both of these exercises, so I can't tell if its related or not. All I can tell is that it FELT like I wrenched both my knees. It didn't happen at the same time, though. My left knee was sore for two days after the workout, and today my right knee is sore even though it hasn't been bothering me until today. I suspect that the right knee soreness MAY be from compensating for the left knee soreness, but the whole knee-pain thing SUCKS!

Purple?

Purple?, originally uploaded by wardw1961.

I love my son. I really do. Sometimes I wonder what is going through his mind when he does things. I suppose I can't object (it is HIS head, after all, not mine), but I sometimes do wonder...

Going to camp

Emily @ AAGSC, originally uploaded by wardw1961.

Emily spent this last week at Camp Agnes Arnold Girl Scout camp. Naturally I missed her, but I really think going to camp is good for the child involved (provided the adult does their homework to make sure the nature of the camp is sound and the kids will be properly supervised). When I think of my baby girl going to scout camp, I worry, but then I see a picture like this one of her, and realize she is really pretty able to look after herself.