Is it just me..........

[FrmlyZ]

Howdy Flora:

Long time no see. I have a friend who is working on commercial production of truffel's. He isn't permitted to sell them. He gives me the extras. I have tried cranberries. Too many diseases here. They die within the first year.

I am at home setting-up the wife's new puter. Baked some bread. I looked out the front window near the driveway [let me explain that we have a driveway that is 3/4 mile long that makes a semicircle on the front of the property]. What did I see? Two mules. I ran onto the porch and said: "I am Helen, I am your friend". They understood: With fear in their eyes, and every body movement, they stampeded off of the property. Wonder what that means?

Well we have an ice storm a'brewing and I have to get to the airport on Sunday. Hope all is well with you.

Best Wishes,,,,,

Z

[Morbius]

West Nile thing not going well flora. Four more ranches identified in this morning's paper. Brings the forced kill to 2.4M plus some 90K backyard fowl. I suspect flyers are the big problem. Pigeons love roaming from one ranch's feed spill to the next and carry the virus on they little feet. Good to hear from you.

[the mule]

Gosh, Flora! [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

Long time ago, that was.

Z, the mules ran away because you probably didn't offer to kiss them. [img]graemlins/kiss.gif[/img]

[FrmlyZ]

Kiss a mule!

Helen, Helen, Helen!

Don't you remember our discussion of Glanders (Burkholderia mallei). You must remember.

Best Wishes,,,,,

Z

[Lon Frank]

I have a friend who responded to my first posting, and we have been having an email conversation about such things for a while. His latest email listed some facts about bio/toxic/radiological attacks and how they might be expected to affect a population.

Below is my reply in part. It's mostly just rambling, but I know that we have posters here who have better ideas either in agreement or opposition. I do hope to hear at least some discussion.

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I may be wrong, but I think we are giving them a lot more credit than they deserve. Using nerve gas on the Kurds next door is a lot easier than setting off a large scale attack within US borders. Of course, there's a lot of talk about suitcase bombs, and I know that a little toxin will go a long way if introduced properly, but I still don't sweat their capacity to carry it off. We were lax, and they got incredibly lucky on 9/11. They never had any idea that the Trade Center towers would actually fall. If so, a strike at the nuke electric facility north of NYC would have been vastly more effective, as it might have made the entire northeast coast uninhabitable.

On the other hand, even though I have little trust in Bush/Chaney and their oil company agendas, I do have utmost respect for Colin Powell. If Powell says we better sic 'em, then they prolly need sic-ing.

BUT, somewhere deep inside my black/white subconscious, I really would like to see us just clam up. If France and Russia and Germany like Saddam so much, let them deal with him. Put a ten year moratorium on US immigration and visas other than 30 day tourist type. No more Pakistanis studying nuclear physics at MIT, no more Koreans on scholarships to Stanford, and no more French, Chinese, German or ARABS going to our flight training schools for fighter pilots!

I think we could do just fine without Chinese-made flip-flops, French wine and truffles, or those little egg dolls that seem to be the only thing Russia has to offer.

Close our borders, and close the flow of technology. The Arabs are the richest people on earth because of our technology and our uncontrollable consumption of oil. If we put the money into hydrogen fuel technology that we will drop on Iraq in this war, we could turn off the oil spigot once and for all. Let them keep their oil, their camels, their sand, and their 7th Century society. Germany doesn't like us?- fine, lets close our bases there and bring our boys (and money) home to guard our own borders. Turkey doesn't like us?- fine, let them learn to say "Yessa, massa Saddam".

The school district in Port Arthur is going to have to let about 50 teachers and aides go next year, because they're broke. My wife makes $37K after teaching for almost 20 years, and she will likely loose her job next year, because Orange ISD is likewise on skid row. Yet we sent $7,000,000 to CANADA last year in foreign aid. I think we already have a biological attack being carried out against the US, and it's agents are all in Washington D.C!

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Oh, and please know I'm not picking on Canada. It is just an easy reference. We sent much more aid to others with questionable logic. I think our over-privilaged and ever-greedy congressmen are so far removed from the reality of mainstream American life, they are incapable of making rational an responsible decisions. (Has George Bush EVER had to worry about paying the rent?)

[Lon Frank]

"bio/toxic/radiological attacks"????

Ok, make that "bio/toxic/nuclear attacks".

Although, I suppose you COULD be mugged by an X-ray Technician.

[the mule]

I wonder what this country would do if we shifted from consumption as a mainstay of the economy. I'm all for wearing something other than Chinese-made flip flops, but I can't find shoes made in the U.S. any more. We are not producing goods like we did, and even services are being moved out of this country.

Forcing American companies to operate within our borders would be fascism. Drafting all citizens to do some type of community service would be fascism.

I dunno what to do, Lon. I volunteer in four capacities from school to court, and my husband volunteers in his church and some community activities. Our kids volunteer with their tribe. I guess we could volunteer to guard the borders in shifts ... do you see what I mean? It could be done, but it would take massive personal effort on the part of millions of Americans.

The main question they might ask is, what for?

[Lon Frank]

Of course, you?re right Helen. America could never become isolationist, but it?s interesting to play ?what if? with the idea.

I suppose it would be fascist if we actually had to manufacture the goods we consume. One definition of fascism is ?belligerent nationalism?. I suppose in another context that could also define patriotism. Is fascism worse than rampant global consumerism? Couldn?t we, like the Swiss, say, ?too hell with your foreign wars? and spend all those billions of dollars on internal programs like education or health care?

Right now we have a lifestyle dependent on goods from countries which do not enjoy the same standards of living that we have. Like you said, you almost can?t buy American made shoes anymore. But that leaves us with a situation which none of us really want to think about. A situation which forces us into some form of ?ism?.

-We can attempt to impose our standards on our supplier nations, and thereby try to promote some type of global socialism, or perhaps even Utopianism.

-We can buy US made goods and return to making the things we consume, thereby flirting with fascism (some folks actually made the news last week, attempting to boycott French goods)

-We can ignore the human rights issues of supplier nations, continue to consume a disproportionate amount of earth resources, and assuage our guilt with the ?rightness? of free enterprise and democracy. Conersumerism like there?s no tomorrow; pass the Evian, please.

Of course, it?s not too hard to guess which way we?ll take. But does our consumerism come with a hidden price? As we become ever more dependent upon the production of others, are we really a ?super power?, as the news people like to say, or are we really just super cattle, fattened and pampered by supplier nations which will someday lead us to slaughter? Naturally, it?s foolish to suppose we might perish for want of flip flops, but what concessions do we provide to assure that supply continues? How far do we go insure the never ending supply of Hermes handbags?

I suppose the facilitator for all of this is diplomacy, or failing in that, war.

As I said, just playing ?what if??.

[the mule]

Lon, we should have taxed living shit out of every American company that moved production of our own consumer goods outside the borders. We should have made it cheaper to keep production here. Unfortunately, most of the people with political power have financial reasons to resist doing it.

My husband and I told the kids about how we had very few things made of plastic when we were kids. Our toys were mostly metal or wooden, and darn fewer of them. And we walked naked in the snow ten miles just to attend school, where they beat us with bricks for not knowing the periodic table of elements by the time we were five years old. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I dunno the answer. We'll keep doing what we do until it stops working. The definition of "stops working" may differ depending on one's point of view.

[FrmlyZ]

Helen:

"And we walked naked in the snow ten miles just to attend school,": May I assume this wasn't a bible school [img]biggrin.gif[/img] .

The people have voted on this with their dollars and they don't agree with us. Take shoes alone: I don't have many. I have a pair of shoes made in Ohio, 20 years ago. They cost 150 dollars at the time. The soles have finally worn out [although the tops still look great] and I have found a guy who will relace the soles. I have another pair that was made in Missouri that I bought 15 years ago. They are still going strong. My winter mountaineering boots cost 350 dollars in 1965 [they were made in Austria]. They still aren't broken in. My last pair of asian made Nikes lasted three months. They are now dog toys. If people don't want quality, it will disappear.

Best Wishes,,,,

Z