Ethics Professor Says It’s “Quite Reasonable” to Kill Disabled Babies via Obamacare

Daisy Luther

Has anyone else noticed that most professors of ethics aren’t exactly…ummm…ethical? At least the ones who get quoted, anyway.

A professor at the highly esteemed Princeton University doesn’t want his Obamacare premiums to increase because of caring for severely disabled babies. Dr. Pete Singer, who teaches ethics (but perhaps needs a little refresher on what the word “ethics” means) argued during a radio interview on Sunday that America should be more accepting of “intentionally ending the lives of severely disabled infants.”

The King Fire Chronicles: Life on the Edge of a Natural Disaster

Daisy Luther

For eleven days now, forest fires have raged around us. Worsened by the drought on the West Coast, a seemingly unquenchable inferno is eating up the trees, the brush, and anything that gets in its way. It’s like the fire is a living thing, one that wants to get free and consume everything.

I’m rarely forthcoming about even our general location, for the obvious privacy reasons, but I want to share what it’s like for a real family – mine – to live on the brink of disaster for an extended period of time.

For the past week and a half, we’ve wondered on a daily basis if THIS will be the day that our home burns to the ground, consumed by wildfire. We’ve wondered constantly if we will have to evacuate in the midst of cooking dinner, if someone will pound on the door in the middle of the night, or if the fire will jump the creek at the bottom of the next canyon over.

The Grocery Store Rebellion: Here’s What We Ate During Week 3

Daisy Luther

The Grocery Store Rebellion continues…

This week, we didn’t buy much in the way of weekly food. Instead, I invested my money and time in prepping tomatoes for the year ahead.

We learned several things this week, one of which is the vast importance of networking. Very few of us can self-sufficiently provide every bite of food we eat. There are a variety of reasons for this.

Perhaps you don’t have enough (or any) land for growing produce and raising meat. Maybe there are restrictions from your HOA regarding what you are allowed to do in your own yard.  You could be living through a drought or just having a bad gardening year.

But if you know others who have a surplus, this can help you on your way to breaking up with the grocery store.  By getting to know your local growers, sometimes the stiff regulations laid out by the government can be circumvented legally, without risk to either party. By using your skills to turn other people’s goods into delicious edibles, you can still provide valuable commodities, even if your own garden lies wilting behind  fence. (Find local farmers HERE)

The Austerity Diaries: Making Hay While the Sun Shines

Daisy Luther

Over the past couple of weeks, I haven’t been around my computer much.

That’s because we are working hard to live a more agrarian lifestyle. And to do that, you have to “make hay while the sun shines.”

That little proverb was first recorded in 1546, in John Heywood’s “A dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the prouerbes in the Englishe tongue” (This is the updated version)  Heywood wrote:

Whan the sunne shinth make hay. Whiche is to say.
Take time whan time cometh, lest time steale away.

Back when Heywood wrote down that little pearl of wisdom, every Medieval farmer knew that if the hay was ready, it was time to  cut it down, dry it, and gather it in order to feed their livestock throughout the winter. Not to do so was certain death, for without the livestock, they would potentially starve. (source)

Of course, with the advent of “progress” we now live in a society in which nothing is really that urgent to most folks.

On a Budget? Pink Slime is Back to Save You Money!

Daisy Luther

Remember how horrified people were to learn of the ammonia-soaked pink slime in their ground beef and fast-food burgers?

It was so bad that one company, Beef Products Inc., was forced to close several plants and file for bankruptcy after the backlash in 2012. Incidentally, BPI filed a 1.2 billion dollar lawsuit is pending against ABC for breaking the story that more than 70% of grocery store ground beef contained pink slime.

Well, in response to rising meat costs, it’s back. (Did it ever actually leave?) BPI will be manufacturing the slaughterhouse remnant product at a new plant in Kansas, and Cargill Inc. is also producing the slime.

The Grocery Store Rebellion: Here’s What We Ate During Week 2

Daisy Luther

We had some setbacks this week, but we’re hanging in there with our Grocery Store Rebellion.

At the end of Week 2, we ran out of milk. After choking down coffee without fresh cream, I finally broke down and went to our local co-op and purchased milk. Yuck. I really hope that our dairy farmer gets another cow soon, because this pasteurized stuff is for the birds. According to the sign at the co-op, it’s from a dairy that is not a factory farm type of place, so I went with the best option I could find.

In other news, a sudden heat wave one afternoon may have wiped out my fall garden. My transplanted seedlings were looking awesome, but now they are sad, wilted, and limp. I’m hoping to revive them, but it doesn’t look good. I might be back to square one with my garden, so I’m sprouting new seedlings in my utility room.

Aside from these two episodes, all systems are still “go”.  This is the time of year when fresh produce is at its most abundant. I’m spending a lot of hours each day preserving food so that we can maintain this Rebellion throughout the cold months. So when you see what I’m spending, it’s important to remember that this is not all food to be consumed right now.

The Austerity Diaries: The “Whole Buffalo” Theory of Food Economics

Daisy Luther

In Native American lore, it is often said that hunters made use of the entire animal that they had killed in order to respect the sacrifice that sustained them. They considered the buffalo to be sacred, and felt it was an offense to be wasteful. They ate anything edible; used the hides for shelters, shoes, and clothing; they strung bows with the sinews, they used the stomachs as water canteens, and they used the horns for weapons and tools.

The other day when I was preserving some peaches, my daughter pointed out that I was letting some parts go to waste. She said, “Mom, you need to use the whole buffalo!”

Cost of Medical Bills for Baby Hit by SWAT Grenade? Over $800,000. County’s Refusal to Pay? Priceless

Daisy Luther

Remember back in May when a gang of uniformed thugs from the  Habersham County SWAT team threw a flash-bang grenade right on top of a sleeping baby?

Well, stellar group that they are, they’ve refused to pay the over $800,000 in medical bills for the child that they permanently disfigured and nearly killed. That’s right. They aren’t paying the bills and are leaving the family to try and cover the costs for the toddler’s care.

Lessons from Ferguson: Prepping for Civil Unrest and Martial Law

Daisy Luther

Any prepared and informed person knows that the threat isn’t always the event itself, which could be anything from a natural disaster to a rioting spree after a sporting event to an economic collapse. It’s the chaos during the aftermath of the event.

If you ever had any doubts about that statement, you need look no further than Ferguson, Missouri.

Today, Governor Jay Nixon called in the National Guard.

Martial law has officially arrived in Ferguson.

Of course, this only makes it official. The past week has shown a militarized police force driving around in tanks, wearing body armor, and brutally responding to citizens. Martial law was already there and the Constitution was already suspended.  Nixon just made it official.

This is just the icing on the chaos cupcake, however.

Forbes Calls Consumer Reports Anti-Science in a Pro-GMO Rant That…Lacks Science

Daisy Luther

Forbes Magazine is known for its lists of the wealthiest people and companies.  Frequently they use their influence to slyly support their big dollar buddies in the biotech industry.

Forbes successfully plumbed a new depth with an attack on Consumer Reports magazine last week.

Consumer Reports did an article ranking different milk substitutes for its readers.  In that report, they (gasp) referred to the inclusion of GMOs as a “con” in their review on soy milk.

The Grocery Store Rebellion: Here’s What We Ate During Week 1

Daisy Luther

My family and I decided to embark on a revolution. We have banished the grocery store from our lives for the next 3 months. Our Grocery Store Rebellion began on August 1, and this is an update on our first week.

The week began with two major upheavals. Our SUV went into the shop, and the cow in which we have milk shares died.

Luckily, we had some extra milk on hand, frozen, while our dairy farmer works on getting a new cow. We have about a 2 week supply of milk left, so we’re either going to have to wait, find a new source, spend a whopping $18 per gallon at the local co-op, or go without.

Dept of Ag Shuts Down Cell of Potential “Agri-Terrorists”: Seed Libraries Outlawed in Pennsylvania

Daisy Luther

It looks like Michigan is not the only state with a Department of Agriculture that is adamant about the best interests of their citizens. Residents in Pennsylvania can now breathe a little bit easier since an illegal enterprise has been shut down.

The Joseph T. Simpson Public Library in Mechanicsburg was participating in an activity that put the entire ecosystem of the state at risk.

In an astonishing act of hubris, they were running a seed library, right there amongst the books, in the very facility where small children go to have stories read to them.

I’m not making this up. A SEED LIBRARY.

The Big Blackout: Why I’m Going Low-Tech to Prep for an EMP

Daisy Luther

This might be stating the obvious, but in the event of an EMP, things will not be the same, no matter how great your generator is.

Aaron Dykes of Truthstream Media wrote an excellent article about the extreme likelihood of a catastrophic event that could take out our power grid:

Billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Singer is warning investors – and more broadly, lawmakers and leaders – about the potential destructive power of an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, which could be triggered by solar events or artificially, via blasts in the atmosphere.

According to Singer, research shows that no other incident, including a nuclear bomb, has the potential for such wide-scale devastation, coupled with the relative likelihood of occurring. While a nuke would primarily impact on the location of a such (such a city), an EMP could occur globally or across large-scale regions, wreaking havoc on the entire electric grid and devices…

The Austerity Diaries: How Long Can You Go Without Spending Money?

Daisy Luther

Most people spend money every single day.

I’m not talking about your day-to-day necessities like house payments and fuel for the vehicle. I’m talking about those little impulse buys that most of us make without thinking twice about them.

We spend more money on silly things than we realize.  If you spend money on the following, you could go a lot longer than you think without spending.

Michigan Dept of Agri Forces Farmer to Dump 248 Gallons of Organic Milk and Break 1200 Free Range Eggs

Daisy Luther

While Americans in the nearby city of Detroit face life in third world conditions, unable to even afford running water, the state of Michigan decided to direct its resources towards cracking down on a small food co-op in Standish for having the utter audacity to provide milk, butter, cream and eggs to people who bought shares in the organic dairy.

The Michigan Department of Agriculture must be so proud of their deeds, after they forced Joe and Brenda Golimbieski, the owners of  Hill High Dairy and Jenny Samuelson, the owner of My Family Co-op, to dump out 248 gallons of milk, to break 100 dozen eggs, and to destroy an undisclosed amount of fresh cream, butter and cheese.

The USDA Is Pushing Food Stamps Like a Drug Dealer at a Grade School

Daisy Luther

One in 7 Americans receives food stamps and the government wants the number to be even higher.

Yes, I said higher.

The USDA is soliciting people to receive food stamps in the manner of a drug dealer on a grade school playground. ”Psst – hey you! I’ve got something for you…it’s free…come on, try it. You’ll like it!”

Even though we are drowning in debt and going under after a last gasp of air, the government of the United States is encouraging more people to go on the dole, even if doing so had never crossed their minds.

Last year the USDA targeted Spanish speaking citizens (and non-citizens) with a radio “novela” – which was basically a soap opera outlining how the lives of the characters improved as soon as they went on SNAP.

What To Eat When You Are Broke

Daisy Luther

The lower your income is, the more difficult it is to be particular about what you feed your family.

This probably isn’t an earth-shattering revelation to anyone, but if you feel like experimenting, try to buy a week’s worth of healthy food for a family on a budget of, say, $50-75. Food manufacturers that target lower income shoppers with more affordable products tend to include more GMOs and toxic ingredients in their offerings.

It just isn’t possible to stick to my usual food restrictions. Generally speaking I avoid:

• Non-organic dairy because of the hormones and antibiotics as well as the GMO feed given to the animals
• Non-organic meat because of the hormones and antibiotics as well as the GMO feed given to the animals
• Anything containing corn, soy, or canola in any form because it is almost certain to be GMO
• Anything with chemical additives like artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives
• Anything that is likely to have been doused in pesticides
• Anything containing neurotoxins like MSG, fluoride, or aspartame (along with other artificial sweeteners)

It is a matter, then, of weighing the pros and cons, and figuring out what things, for you, are the most important, while also deciding which standards can be sacrificed. These decisions will be different for everyone, based on their persturonal health concerns, their genetic propensity for certain diseases, and the members of the family for whom they are buying the food.

Futurama Pimps Out Young Audience to Monsanto

Daisy Luther

If you wanted to reach an audience of smart, hip young people, how would you do it? If you wanted to convince the young, energetic idealists that something was a good idea, how would you target them?

One way to reach such a group would be through a fast-paced funny bit of “light entertainment” geared towards a slightly geeky, intelligent, and witty teen and young adult audience. A simple animated television program.

Take the show Futurama, for example.

Aired at different points on Fox, the Cartoon Network, and Comedy Central, this show is from the creators of the iconic pop culture hit, The Simpsons.

Often messages that are destined to change our perceptions are subliminal. Not so with the recent episode, Leela and the Genestalk. (Aired on Aug 7, 2013) Subtlety is NOT really what they’re going for here.

Synopsis:

After a rare condition causes Leela to grow tentacles, she stumbles upon a secret genetic engineering facility.

The 5 Things I Learned When I Fell Down a Ravine

Daisy Luther

You can learn a lot falling down the side of a mountain, stunt-woman style, but honestly, I don’t recommend it. I’d suggest that you read books and articles instead, as it is far less painful and traumatic.

Last week, my daughter and I went hiking with my good friend, Tess Pennington of Ready Nutrition, and her family. It was a nice sunny afternoon and we were going to hike a short way down off the main trail to the river to go tubing with the kids. As someone who writes about preparedness it is a little embarrassing to admit this, but because this was intended to be just a step up from a leisurely stroll, we weren’t as prepared as we should have been for a major traumatic accident.

Our first aid supplies were uselessly sitting a mile away in the van when our walk turned into an unfortunate scene from an action-adventure movie...

Feds Visit Family Who Googled "Backpacks" and "Pressure Cookers"…But The NSA Isn’t Watching You

Daisy Luther

Be careful what you Google . . . you never know when it might get you a visit from the federal anti-terrorism task force, despite the government’s claims that information about average Americans is not being analyzed.

What shows up in your search history? I just checked mine.

In the past week I have looked up…

• Pressure canning recipes
• Guard llamas
• Where to buy organic fertilizer
• Wildfires on the West Coast
• A new crochet stitch
• A newly discovered antibiotic that is effective against anthrax
• Healing time for concussions
• The favorite color of Louie from One Direction

If you put all these things together, does it put together a picture of a terrorist, bent on destruction, or just a newbie homesteader who is also interested in current events and has a tween daughter?