JRHC Journal – 20130705 Friday 05 July 2013: In the news today (via Google News) the NY Times reported that bomb blasts killed 6 children in Afghanistan yesterday. AFP reported that 12 police were killed in a suicide attack in south Afghanistan today. I linked a VOA report on facebook that said 14 people were killed in Afghanistan on Friday including 12 police. NRP News reported in its 5 pm EDT broadcast that at least 45 people were killed in bombings across Iraq. I notice that U.S. media are not covering developments in Syria now that the U.S. backed rebels have been pushed back. Our daughter had a middle school history teacher from England. I asked him what they taught about the American Revolution in English schools. He responding by saying “They don’t talk about it very much. English history is generally taught in the context of European history.” The English aren’t the only ones to do this. American students are not taught extensively about slavery or many other unsavory or unflatering events in our own checkered history including the genocide of 20 to 40 million Native Americans as the white man conquered North America. This reminds me of the current non-coverage of Syria. It brings to mind the saying that history is written by the victors. It also highlights that history is anything but concrete and objective. History can be rewritten, reinterpreted, suppressed, ignored, and largely forgotten when doing so serves the “national interest” of those who want events portrayed in a particular light. Recall how much influence the Texas state school board has over the selection of textbooks nationally. Conservatives on the state school board in Texas insist that creationism be taught alongside evolution in science classes. They also have “standards” they want upheld in history and literature texts. Certain topics get left out of history textbooks, and certain literary works are banned. Because Texas buys so many textbooks, publishers use Texas “standards” as their bellwether. Textbook used by other states are in effect determined by the Texas state school board. Thankfully there are those who work to keep history alive, as accurate as possible, and relevant. Disputes over the meaning of historical events are ageless. Finally, there is that adage “Those who forget the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it.” There are plenty of young people without work in this country as well as in places like Spain and elsewhere. It seems to me that there are public works projects and as well as private funded projects that could put young folks to work on worthwhile projects. If room, board, and medical attention were provided and if Social Security was included, even if the workers were paid minimum wage, they could save a substantial amount of money towards future education or business startups. $7.25 per hour times 40 hours = $290 per week times 50 weeks = $14,500 a year. Four years of national service should cover 4 years at a public college. Wonder what happened to the Job Corps? If chain gangs (or prison work details) are economically viable, public and private funded work projects should be too. There is also the work / study concept to consider. Community organizers and legislators should look at the CCC and WPA models from the 1930s. I bet the costs would be less than the cost of prison or various forms of public assistance. At 9 pm EDT Friday 05 July 2013 NPR News reported that the President of Venezuela Nicolas Madura has offered political asylum to Edward Snowden on humanitarian grounds. At 10 pm EDT NPR News reported that the President of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega has also offered political asylum to Edward Snowden “if circumstances permitted”. NPR News said that Ortega did not elaborate. This news development is a great way to end the day! Viva Edward Snowden! Saturday 06 July 2013: Advice to aspiring writers is “write about what you know.” I know I like food! We learned in Emily Farmer’s third grade health class in 1955 – 56 what constituted a balanced meal. This was before the “food pyramid”. A balanced meal consisted of a meat portion (later recategorized as a protein portion that could include non-meat items like beans), a starch portion, a vegetable portion, and a diary portion. Vegetables are an essential part of a balanced meal. An earlier generation referred to a balanced diet as “three square meals a day”. Concern over cholesterol and heart disease began to enter the public’s conscience in the late 1950s. My mother earned a home economics degree from the University of Tennessee during WWII. She had a strong background in nutrition in addition to being the daughter of a physician. Mom got on what we called her “cholestrol kick” quite early. She stopped frying chicken in favor of broiling well before the end of the 1950s. Low fat milk wasn’t available in the local Piggly Wiggley grocery store at that time. Mom began the practice of mixing whole milk half and half with non fat powered milk as a healthier option. We children adapted soon enough. Mom’s friend Millie Crossfield had 3 boys who drank powdered milk and liked it! My sisters and I could not understand that. Mother also used stick margarine instead of butter. For one thing it was more economical. As a young widow with three small children it was necessary to stick to a strict budget. My sister says Mom told her she only allowed for 1 pound of ground beef a week. I remember eating fish sticks, frozen broccoli, and frozen orange juice. We never went hungry. The burgeoning space program reputedly brought us Vitamin C enriched, orange flavored Tang along with a large dose of sugar as an economical substitute for orange juice. Looking back, using stick margarine instead of butter may not have been a healthy option after all because partially hydrogenated fats were used to harden the margarine. Nutritional scientists learned that so-called transfats are actually worse on the arteries than the saturated butterfat in whole milk and butter. “Eat your vegetables” was engrained early in my dietary habits. I was around 12 years old when the possibility of a meat free meal occurred to me. It was a summertime offering. We had fresh tomatoes, fresh black eyed peas, spring onions, homemade creamed corn, laced cornbread, and ice tea with lemon and mint. Who needed meat with a feast like this? I was in high school before I ate my first hamburger from McDonald’s in the mid 1960s. Prior to that there were not a lot of fast food outlets. When we made our yearly trip to Savannah, Georgia where my parents were both raised, we did stop at the Krystal and afterwards at Krispy Kreme donuts where Mom picked up several dozen glazed donuts for our large family gathering at the beach. As a ten or 12 year old I could easily eat three Krystal hamburgers which cost 15 cents each, but where I really learned to overeat was at church homecomings. This yearly event was perfect for gorging on barbecue, Brunswick stew, potato salad, deviled eggs, and cakes of every description. I made myself physically sick at least once. When I was in college we ate lunch and supper at the fraternity house on weekdays. Those were reasonably well balanced meals. Options for weekends were more limited. People most often wanted to go to McDonald’s and get a Big Mac or score some Kentucky Fried Chicken. I always preferred meals that included vegetables. Some of use made it a habit of eating our midday meal at a cafeteria on Sunday. We made sure to get there early in order to “beat the Christians” who were still in church! Vegetable platters were routine for me. Even today I’m perfectly happy with black eyed peas, turnip greens, and sweet potato souffle for dessert. Nutritionists and lifestyle coaches like Dr. Ann Kulze recommend as many as 5 servings of week of Omega 3 rich fish. The bottom line is that world fisheries cannot sustain that level of fish consumption by humans. Other sources of Omega 3 fats have to be sought. Flaxseed is one such alternative. I’ve posted one of my favorite cold weather breakfasts before: Steel cut oats with 2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil, 2 Tbs of wheat germ, and 2 Tbs of milled flaxseed. This whole grain breakfast contains 12 grams of protein, 2 grams of heart healthy soluble fiber, 500 calories, 0 grams of sodium, and half the daily amout of heart healthy extra virgin olive oil recommended by the Mediterranean Diet. Hot weather breakfast is more likely to consist of 1 cup toasted oats, ½ cup seasonal fruit preferably blueberries, with ½ to 1 cup low fat milk or unsweetened soy milk. On alternate days a 2 egg omelet made with Omega 3 enriched cage free eggs, 1 slice of Pepper Jack cheese, and ½ cup of broccoli cooked in extra virgin olive oil and slathered with Siracha brand HOT chili sauce to boost the effectiveness of the anti-cancer compounds in broccoli. Yet another breakfast option is Greek style yogurt which is high in protein. I often get hungry between a light breakfast of cereal and a late lunch. I have made the mistake of getting a saturated animal fat laden egg and sausage biscuit to hold me over. However, the brain becomes rapidly addicted fat. The cravings can start in a few as three days. After a couple of days eating an egg and sausage biscuit for a second breakfast, I found myself craving that fix on Day 3. Instead of establishing a bad habit that could be hard to break I stopped at the supermarket and bought some low fat yogurt and a premium apple. That held me over quite nicely when lunch might be delayed on a workday. Tricks of the trade, you know. We have to game the system one way or another even if it’s only in our minds. I will return to the subject of food and nutrition often because it is such a delight in my life. Thanks for listening! I’m debating whether to make the trip to use the library in Wrens today before it closes at 1 pm EDT. I probably will although I wish it wasn’t 15 miles (~24 km) away. A solar charged electic vehicle would be the environmentally friendly way to communte instead of via an anachronistic, fossil fueled, internal combustion engine vehicle. I can rationalize that I need a couple of items from the grocery to tide me over until Monday. We can rationalize anything if we try hard enough, and I’m as guilty of this as anyone. See you online there! BTW, I’m the world’s lousiest editor. Please excuse my poor grammar, errant spelling, and inevitable typos. Posting this today makes for a shorter entry instead of waiting until Monday when I regale (or is it assault?) you again. Tuesday 09 July 2013: I gave you all and the environment a break by staying at home on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. I refer to a day without using a motorized vehicle with an internal combustion engine as a gasless day. The laptop that my facebook friend Gerard Dailey sent me arrived on Saturday. I am loath to go online without anti-virus protection and spent the next two days trying to download Avira free antivirus software. The download speed was only 2 Kilobytes per second. It takes roughly 10 hours to download this 115,000 Kilobyte file using my 28.8 dial up internet connection. Each time my dial up modem got knocked offline the entire download has to be restarted from the beginning. I gave up after two days. So, I’m stuck at home for days on end wihout an internet connection. This results in a case of cabin fever rivaling the winter I spent in Fairbanks, Alaska in 1980 – 81. My online connection to the outside world is the radio and the occasional phone call to my friend Jan Elmy. I listen to wall to wall NRP and play Spider Solitaire until my brain is numb and my eyes are tired. Isolation is good for reflection. Making time for spiritual asceticism is helpful for sorting out priorities, but humans need stimuli and human contact for mental well being. Writing this journal is a good outlet, but it isn’t interactive. A blogger thrives on feedback. The news I’m getting via NPR is far from comprehensive. On Sunday, 07 July 2013 I learned from NPR that Bolivia has offered Edward Snowden political asylum. Bolivia makes the third Latin American country to do so after Venzuela and Nicaragua. This is an excellent development. On Monday 08 July 2013 I learned from NPR that over 50 pro-Morsi supporters were shot dead outside Republican Guard Headquarters in Cairo, Egypt where Morsi is suspected of being held. There are intimations that the full extent of U.S. backing for this coup d’etat has not been made public. Then at 8 pm EDT CBS radio news reported that Raul Castro says he supports Venezuela and other Latin American countries’ offer to grant political asylum to Edward Snowden. Raul Castrol reminded us that Cuba has been one of the countries most spied upon by United States. It should be noted that not only Cuba, Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua are taking exception to U.S. spying upon them. Argentina and Uruguay have also signed a letter of protest. France which has its own NSA-like intelligence gathering operation on its citizens as well is expressing outrage on United States spying on its allies. So is the European Union. Being offline and reflecting on the establishment media’s limit and biased coverage of events makes one ask what the most effective types of citizen activism are. Voting every two and 4 years certainly does not effect real change under a corrupt, fixed system. Online petitions have limited effect. New media have an impact, but Chris Hedges has concluded that direct action is required to wrestle democracy free from the grasp of the fascist system. I agree with Chris Hedges while also agreeing with Gerard Dailey that each of us can positively affect the lives of our fellow human beings by sharing what we have with the less fortunate. I always love that Stephen Stills line “the self-made man is truly shallow.”
Posted on: Thu, 11 Jul 2013 15:57:55 +0000
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