FOOD FOR THOUGHT

This week I came across a few quotes I found thought provoking and thought I'd pass them along.

""Beware of the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor,
for patriotism is indeed a double edged sword. It emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. When
the drums of war have reached a fervor pitch, and the blood boils with hate and the mind is closed, the leader
will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by
patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader, and do it gladly so."

How do I know?

I know, for this is what I have done.

And I am,

Caesar"


 "There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit (debt) expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as the result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit (debt) expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved. "– Ludwig von Mises

"
The desire of gold is not for gold. It is for the means of freedom and benefit." –Ralph Waldo Emerson

Kinsey Barnard 

THIS IS WHAT'S UP WITH INDIANA

Last Monday I wrote an article, "WHAT'S UP WITH INDIANA?" . What prompted me was an article I read stating that the government (read you and me) have paid for $14 billion in bogus unemployment benefits. The article also revealed that Indiana was the worst offender having paind out more in bogus payments than righteous.

I have also had my own experience with Indiana in that the kitchen cabinets Home Depot pushed on me come from a company called Innermost located in Indiana. Innermost is owned by a company called Elkay Manufacturing in Oak Brook, IL.

My experience thus far with Innermost has been a nightmare. Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. 70% of the cabinets had to be replaced due to manufacturing flaws. Cabinets have been shipped upside down. The crown molding had to be replaced. The 1/4 round base board molding had to be replaced. A few booboos are to be expected but this company it has serious manufacturing problems, quality control issues and heaven only knows what else.

This morning I came across an article about GARY INDIANA and the decline in to which this city has fallen. You really need to click on the link, scroll through the photos and watch the video near the bottom to experience the level of blight. I'm not sure where the Innermost factory is located but if Gary is any indication of what's going on with Indiana it's really ugly.

If this country is out of the recession, as we are incessantly told, I wonder how the folks in Gary feel about that? My personal opinion is that we never got out of the recession. We've just been limping along waiting for the other shoe to drop which may be any time now. Once it does I'm betting things will get worse than they were in 2008.

©Kinsey Barnard

AND ANOTHER THING!

After my morning rant yesterday regarding the made in China uniforms I decided Koty and I needed to get out in the woods for a dose of vitamin N. That would be a dose of Nature.

Following the monsoon, which was a corker (see WHITETAIL ON THE FLY), the temperature has risen dramatically and is now regularly in the eighties and nineties. So, if Koty and I are to get our time in the woods in we have to go early before it gets too hot.

Thanks to the torrential rains the wildflowers in the forest are as prolific as I have ever seen. My personal favorite is the wood lily. Generally, they are out in June but came late this year in abundance. There are photos of them below.

Whilst walking along I couldn't seem to stop myself from thinking about that stupidity of that MADE IN CHINA UNIFORMS SHOULD BE BURNED debacle. And, before I knew it something else occurred to me. This is another classic example of how the middle class in America gets the hindmost. The original uniforms were designed and made by Ralph Lauren. All American right? Well, accept for the part about the uniforms being made in China. I don't know how much the contract was for but Lauren should have donated them for all the free publicity he'll get. The publicity alone will generate hundreds of millions in revenue for the Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. I seriously doubt that he did. So, Lauren who is reportedly worth $7.5 billion gets the uniform contract and China gets the jobs. If you check out Lauren's Wikipedia it's pretty clear he even does more retail international markets. I do not begrudge Lauren his billions and, as far as I'm concerned, it is his right to do business wherever and however he chooses. But, for the Olympic Committee to choose him to make the Olympic uniforms was just wrong. Whilst the US struggles to provide more jobs the Olympic Committee gives the contract to a company where most of the employees, manufacturing and retail, are not on American soil? Seems like the new American way is the guys at the top take care of each other, Lauren is a big Obama supporter, and us little guys get what the bird left on the limb.

 Now for the best part of the post. The part that contains massive doses of vitamin N the wildflower photos.

©Kinsey Barnard

MADE IN CHINA U.S OLYMPIC UNIFORMS SHOULD BE BURNED

I couldn't help but comment on this headline I saw this morning. The actual headline read  "Lawmakers Want Made in China Uniforms Burned".

Unlike most people my initial outrage wasn't about the uniforms, although I do think someone should be taken to task for such an incredible faux pas. What really got me worked up was the fact that a US Senator, Harry Reid, said the uniforms should be burned, as though there was something evil about the uniforms themselves because they were made in China.

The arrogant ambition of legislators to try and grab headlines in an election year is a travesty. The stupidity of our leaders seems to know no bounds. If I were China I would be incredibly insulted by such rhetoric. As a country we have sold our souls for junk and trinkets. But you can hardly blame China for feeding our mindless gluttony. Instead we insult the ones who hold a sledge hammer of debt over our heads?

Reid, like most politicians today, is just a self promoting tool. Anyone with a bit of sense would have chastised the real culprits, the Olympic Committee. What were they thinking? Well, clearly, just about the bottomline. How stupid are they? The Olympics is all about symbolism and national pride. Surely, "the greatest nation on earth" can afford to make their own Olympic uniforms? Or maybe we can't?

Right now the Chinese economy is slowing down due to the global economic situation. The Chinese are not stupid. They are inscrutable. They can ill afford to do to us what I'm sure they would really like to do. But, one day that will no longer be the case and all these stupid insults will come home to roost. And who do you think will suffer? Not Harry Reid. He'll be either still on the hill or retired on a pension any of us would give our right ventricle to have. No, we will not only be paying for Harry's lavish lifestyle but also for whatever eventual payback China has in mind for us. The Chinese are not only inscrutable, they are also a very patient people with memories like elephants.

The arrogance, stupidity and incompetence of the people in Washington really frightens me sometimes.

©Kinsey Barnard

WHAT'S UP WITH INDIANA?

This morning I came across an article titled GOVERNMENT OVERPAID $14 BILLION IN UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS A few paragraphs into the article I read that the state of Indiana was the worst offender actually making more wrong payments than right.  It got me to wondering what's up with Indiana?

Back in March I lost my head and decided to renovate the kitchen this summer. I started the process the first week of April and I'm still nowhere near finished. The cabinets arrived later than promised so the installation did not begin until June 6th. Upon inspection it turned out the majority of the cabinets were defective. Unfortunately, the installer did not inspect the new cabinets before yanking out the old, as he was supposed to do, so I have been without water in my kitchen for over a month, with all my kitchen paraphernalia strewn across the house collecting dust.

When the original cabinets arrived each proudly displayed a sticker saying it had been inspected by "Linda". I don't know what was up with Linda but if she actually inspected those cabinets she must have been having a very bad day.

From the outset we knew that at least one cabinet needed to be replaced because it was the wrong configuration and someone caught that mistake just  after the cabinets had left the factory. When the cabinet arrived it was upside down in the box. The box had arrows and labels on its exterior indicating which way was up but somebody missed that completely.

In truth, trouble had shown up earlier when a separate package of four crown molding sticks had shown up with two sticks needing to be replaced. I thought nothing of it at the time. As it turned out it was a harbinger of things to come.

After reading the above article a light bulb went off. The cabinets were manufactured by InnerMost an Indiana company. I've always thought of mid-westerners as a hard working and trustworthy lot. Many of them migrated west to my native state of California back in the forties and fifties. We quite liked having them. But, after my experience with the cabinets and reading the above article I have to wonder what's up with Indiana?

This cabinet experience was what motivated me to write WHERE IS JOHN GALT? It seems as though we all want to buy American products but my experience certainly hasn't filled me with confidence.

The replacement cabinets are due to arrive this week. I've got my fingers crossed all will be well with them.

©Kinsey Barnard

THE CONSPIRATOR

It's been well over a month since I gave Dish the boot and went with Netflix. I'm still enjoying Netflix as much as when I first signed up. It is, IMO, a terrific value.

I recently watched a Robert Redford movie called The Conspirator. I don't always agree with Redford's politics but I have always admired him as an actor and film maker. The Conspirator is about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the subsequent trial of Mary Surratt who ran the boarding house where John Wilkes Booth and his conspirators hung out.

When the government rounds up the conspirators Mary is caught up in the net and thrown into prison with the rest. Surratt is defended by a reluctant young lawyer who by the end of the movie believes that Mary is a victim herself. Her only crime being she owned the boarding house and spawned one of the actual conspirators. It was Mary's own son who brought the conspiracy into her home.

Instead of being tried by a jury of her peers Mary was tried by military tribunal. Her treatment was appalling and the bias toward convicting her pervasive. The secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, is hell bent on hanging Mary. He really could care less about her guilt or innocence. He simply wants her hung and will use his considerable power to have his wishes carried out.

Over the course of the trial Surratt wins over her reluctant young lawyer and in the end a deal is struck so that Surratt may escape the hangman's noose. For no apparent reason, other than an over the top ego, Stanton talks president Johnson into reneging on the deal at the eleventh hour. Mary swings with the rest.

This isn't the best Redford film I've ever watched, by far.  I do trust that Redford tried to make the movie as accurate as possible. And, it left me thinking our government has been rife with corruption and power hungry, soulless politicians since its inception. That their have been those in power playing fast and loose with our liberties all along. The older I get and the more I learn I realize what I was taught in school was carefully crafted propaganda. It makes me wonder if the America I grew up loving ever existed at all except in our minds.


©Kinsey Barnard

DEER ON THE FLY PHOTOS

Yesterday I saw this whitetail deer pop out of the grass and take off. Besides the deer there is something else of note in the photos. The grass,  it is so high and lush green it's almost unreal. They say the monsoon will be over starting tomorrow. It's has been a monsoon of epic proportions here in Montana. I've had over thirty inches here on my mountain.

©Kinsey Barnard

GARDENBURGER UNMASKED

I have written previously in this space how much I enjoy Gardenburgers. It has, for sometime, been one of my favorite breakfasts with fried eggs. I slip the eggs on top of the burger and pretend it’s a type of eggs Benedict.

I was introduced to Gardenburgers by my favorite store, Costco. For a couple of months now the Kalispell Costco has not carried them, much to my dismay. I kept waiting, hoping they would come back as items often do.

Finally, in desperation, I took action. Every time I was asked at check out “Did you find everything?” I answered with a resounding “no” and gave my pitch for the return of Gardenburgers. I dropped a note in the suggestion box. I posted on Costco’s Facebook page. I got nowhere.

Last week I was in Costco and they had a demo stand offering a taste of Morningstar Veggie Burgers, the item that had replaced Gardenburgers. I tried them but did not care for them. My frustration grew.

Next I went on the internet and Googled Gardenburgers. I filled out a customer service form asking how I could get Gardenburgers back in my Costco. The reply I got in return was rather baffling. They suggested I try Morningstar. Dim wit that I am, I wrote back asking “Why are you pushing another product? Aren’t you profit motivated?”

I couldn’t get it out of my mind, Gardenburger suggesting I buy Morningstar. Why would they do that I asked myself? The answer came to me. They might do it if the same company owned them. Sure enough, a little further Googling revealed both companies are owned by Kellogg. I didn’t mind so much Morningstar but that Kellogg owns Gardenburger felt like a betrayal.

A little more research found this article by the Organic Consumers Association  (I wish people would date their articles). If you’re interested Google “Kellogg’s and GMO’s to read more about their attitude on the subject.

I’m not an organic foods fanatic but I do include them in my diet whenever possible. I do have trust issues with big business ethics. I think corporations can and will rationalize just about anything to make a buck. I don’t know why Kellogg is pushing Morningstar over Gardenburger but I seriously doubt it has anything to do with my best interests.

All I can say is “Costco, don’t bother getting Gardenburgers back in your freezer. I won’t be buying them or Morningstar’s from here on out.”


©Kinsey Barnard