Rick Berman: The face of evil.

See. I knew having Dr. Homeslice back was good news.

He's been posting about a Fox-backed PR campaign from the anti-union rat mind of Rick Berman and his front-group, The Center for Union Facts.

The Doctor's post is here.

Background information on the greasy Rick Berman is here.

His previous campaigns have attacked the disabled, supported drunk driving (No, I'm not kidding. Check it out) and anti-smoking laws. Actually, to be in this company of the enemies of Berman is kind of humbling.

I posted about his devious plans back in November:

Lobbyist for the tobacco industry and opponent of Mothers Against Drunk Driving is now ready to take on teacher unions.

The Las Vegas Sun reports that at the Conservative Leadership Conference last month, Richard Berman announced a plan to roll out a multimarket media campaign attacking teachers unions as impediments to education reform.

Pro-union bloggers: POST AND PASS THE WORD.

Update:

Do you remember the sleazy character that Dan Aykroyd played on the old SNL? The one who sold children's toys like "Bag-O-Glass?"

That's the real life Rick Berman.

In an article in the Village Voice, Berman is quoted as telling pregnant women to eat more mercury laden tuna. Really.

Berman's latest campaign is to convince the public that fears about toxic levels of mercury in tuna are wildly overblown. According to a spokesman at the Center for Consumer Freedom, of which Berman is the executive director (he also heads the PR firm Berman & Co.), overly cautious federal agencies are to blame for understating the amount of mercury-tainted fish a pregnant woman would have to eat before putting her fetus at risk for brain damage. For years, the FDA and the EPA have cautioned children, pregnant women, and those who might become pregnant to avoid eating more than about one serving of white albacore tuna a week and to abstain altogether from four types of large, predatory fish that test high in mercury.

Her posts make me think about things differently. And that's not surprising: Marguerite has a strong background in psychology and comes at this project and blogging in general from a very behavior oriented perspective, as well as vivid systems thinking. Systems thinking can drive a person crazy after awhile but I'm convinced that without it, we become numb with various denial techniques such as frenzied lifestyles and useless anxiety. Marguerite seems to have a helpful approach to systems thinking that asks the right questions and offers some good answers.

The other thing she's doing is inviting certain bloggers to share their BlogAct--what they're doing via their own blogs to encourage consciousness around the environment. In my own case, I've radically changed my relationship to my car. That in turn has changed my relationship to the dominant culture in a lot of ways that I chronicle here in my blog. There are many others on La Marguerite's site and because of this collection she's started, I've been introduced to some really great bloggers and encouraged once more by the vast conversation happening online about the environment.

So head on over to La Marguerite's site and enjoy!

Daily Stats (Fri, Sat, Sun)

Car: 0
Bike: 17.5
Ped: approx 1.5
Bus: 15

Meet one of the goats that is busily clearing out some ivy-infested soon-to-be gardens for kids at our nearby Gatewood Elementary. Well, actually, he's not busy. He's taking a break. This one is much more indicative of the ruminant activity taking place:

As one of the ecstatic kids running around the ivy-removal site told me, "There are 60 of them! 60!" And they're taking that ivy out like nobody's business. Rent-a-Reminant (site under construction) is the business that is taking ivy infested hillsides throughout Seattle by storm. And boy, are those goats well-fed. They look almost uncomfortably beefy, and if you ever wondered if the rumor that goats will eat anything is true, it is. Branches, blackberry thickets, small trees, and yes, ivy, right down to its roots.

The secondary gain here is what the presence of goats on the hillsides has done for the neighborhood. I met new peoplethis morning, and ran into other friends who were out just enjoying watching the goats. It's great to see farm animals in the middle of the city! Keep in mind that these creatures are helping to rid us of a very aggressive and invasive non-native species with lots of downsides, add to that the social benefit and the enjoyment the whole neighborhood is getting from the project, and the idea of ivy eating goats in the city is a no-brainer.

On to ruminations about Blog Action. La Marguerite is dedicating certain posts on her blog to bloggers who are doing something to become more in tune with an environmentally compromised planet (one gets so tired of "global warming," "global climate change," and all the rest--I'm liking environmentally compromised planet right now). I think her idea of calling out Blog Actions is really cool and would recommend taking a moment to go over and check it out.

It also got me to thinking about my own year long action and action itself. Action seems like such a...well, active thing. And I don't quite think of my year long project as an "action." Maybe at first I did, but I don't now. Now it's just part of my life, and that's good. But I got to thinking about my project and realized, you know when you commit to change something in your life--something fundamental or maybe even not so fundamental--many other aspects of you life change as well, not to mention your consciousness about all kinds of things.

For example, you can't start taking the bus or riding your bike for most errands or meetings downtown and not have that impact your thinking about lots of things. It's also not possible--at least I don't think it is--to become conscious about one part of your life without other things popping up for attention. Let me diagram this in my own case, my year long project to change my transportation habits and perhaps even ditch my car:

So again, I've discovered and re-discovered this all along the way: it's the small steps that count. The single Blog Action I took on was to chronicle a year of learning about my transportation habits. The hundreds of offshoots from that one commitment--now that's action.

Daily Stats: Mon, Tue

Car: 0
Bike: 4.5
Ped: 4
Bus: 14

Mucho se ha dicho sobre ello, y como todos saben que el cambio comienza con uno mismo, creo que poniendo nuestro granito de arena sumaremos montañas que ayudaran a su vez a preservar nuestro planeta porque solo tenemos uno, sino ¿A dónde nos vamos?

Aquí les dejo un poco de lo que yo hago día a día para contribuir con mi granito de arena para cuidar el medio ambiente.

• Utilizo focos  de luz blanca con ello no solo ahorro energía sino que mi economía me lo agradece y no les miento, cuando recién me case compramos de los focos convencionales el primer recibo de luz nos llego un poco caro, nos decidimos por los focos de luz blanca un poco para ahorrar en nuestros bolsillos, pero nos dimos cuenta del plus , el ahorro de energía
• Un poco más con la onda de la energía, siempre procuramos no tener todas las luces encendidas, ni todos los aparatos encendidos al mismo tiempo, es decir que solo utilizamos la luz del lugar en el que nos encontramos. Y no tenemos computadora y televisión encendidas al mismo tiempo.
• Utilizamos un regulador de energía, con esto no solo protegemos nuestros aparatos eléctricos de variaciones de voltaje, sino que también valga la rebundancia, ahorramos, ya que leímos que aunque tengas apagados tus aparatos cuando no los usas de todos modos consumen energía al seguir conectados, diario al salir de casa apagamos todo, después apagamos el regulador y por último lo desconectamos.
• Una vez al mes limpio los focos con ello gasto menos luz
• Separo la basura la inorgánica de la orgánica. Y aparte separo cartón, botellas de plástico y periódico.
• Reciclo todo lo que puedo, el agua, materias primas, les doy otro uso.
• Utilizamos pilas recargables, una amiga me dio un tip con las pilas que no son recargables me dijo que las envolviera en un papel de aluminio y después las colocara dentro del congelador y se recargaban, les confieso que si lo lleve a cabo y las pilas se recargaron pero solo una vez. Cuando las pilas no son reutilizables las llevamos a un contenedor para este material. Nunca las tiramos a la basura pues con ello contaminamos mucho más
  
• El agua es primordial y en casa la cuidamos mucho, sobre todo porque hemos tenido temporadas con escasez del líquido y no saben de verdad que sin agua no haces nada, aunque es incómodo, siempre colocamos una cubeta debajo de la regadera para no desperdiciar mucha agua a la hora de bañarnos, nos duchamos en diez minutos con agua templada no muy caliente. Esa agua que cae en la cubeta la utilizamos ya sea para el baño o para trapear. Ya saben abrir y cerrar la llave para no malgastar el agua.
• Aunque parezca increíble de creer pero mi esposo y yo nos hemos propuesto no ser demasiados consumistas. Esto es un poco díficil mas con el tiempo que nos tocó vivir. Pero ahí la llevamos, siempre que vamos de compras , compramos lo que en verdad se necesita y dejamos para después lo que no es tan importante obtener.
• No utilizamos servilletas de papel sino de trapo (es una lata  lavarlas pero vale la pena)
• El auto no lo utilizamos mucho, recién lo hemos adquirido y la tentación de agarrarlo hasta para ir a la esquina es mucha pero en esto y otros puntos hemos aprendido a tener autocontrol para frenar un poco nuestros impulsos consumistas y destructivos.
• En casa tenemos muchas plantas y queremos plantar un árbol, pero primero debemos saber en donde se puede reforestar y en donde no.

Estos son solo algunas de las cosas que nosotros dos hacemos para contribuir con el cuidado del medio ambiente , con seguridad tu harás muchas más que no he comentado aquí. Porque no nos compartes a todos tus tips.

De granito en granito de arena haremos mucho mas que con uno solo.

Y aquí les dejo unos artículos que he posteado sobre el tema para complementar mi blog action day:

El consumo de tus aparatos eléctricos 

Dirigido a Calderón 

La extinción se acelera 

If you would like to add me to your blogroll or feed reader, the new site is http://www.elsiemarley.com and the RSS feed is http://www.elsiemarley.com/feed

thanks -meg

Well I have 7 tips here to fuck with the enviroment just a little more.

With all the followers trying to "make a difference" why don't a few of us rebels go out and fuck it up for them?

Blog Action Day: 7 Tips to Ruin the Environment

• Change your oil and dump it on a family of ducks.
• Litter with items that will not biodegrade fast. Examples are plastics and batteries (break them first so the acid can run free).
• Cut down a lot of trees.
• Pick up your neighbors recyclables and put them in your trash (or burn them. e.g tires, plastic, etc).
•  Smash your lithium ion batteries and let the acid run free! Your laptop doesn't really need a battery.
• Drive around for no reason. Bonus if you remove your exhaust.
• Intentionally let your gas tank overflow. Bonus if you start shooting gas everywhere instead.

There you have it, 7 tips to ruin the environment. Enjoy assholes!

I am talking about this today in hopes it will get others talking and doing things about it.  I have always tried to live this way, and to me it is hard to believe we still have to keep trying to convince others this is the right thing to do.  Growing up poor and in a very rural part of the country, this was the way we lived all the time.  It wasn't because someone told us or it was a popular trend(we didn't even know what that was). Taking care of the earth should be everyones' joy. 
We grew some of our own food, and canned it for the winter and shared what was extra, that included taking care of the land, using everything and not wasting.  We could wild food that was available, berries, mushrooms. We saved rain water, put scraps of food-that didn't go to feed the animals-around the plants, I guess that would be composting today.  
Everything was reused, clothing was worn by several members of the family and then use for quilting or other fabric projects. Old food jars were used as drinking cups, pencil holders, water collectors, etc. These are just a few examples.
I have gotten away from this somewhat, due to our location and access to things. We are coming back to the natural way for our family to live. Our food supply is not very healthy or accessible. We will be starting to grow our own organic produce again, and preserve it. I will continue my work in textiles that includes recycling old fabric items.
I hope the time is coming for more to realize that we need to for our children and grand children.

Natural Garden Ideas
Use old coffee grounds or tea bags for mulch, it is best for acid loving plants.
Add egg shells(calicum)for tomato end rot.
Plant marigolds around vegetables to help repel some insects and small animals (they have a bitter taste).
Since it is fall here, use all those leaves in the compost, instead of the landfill.

I've been thinking about this Blog Action Day for the environment and I am leaning towards writing a post about why and how we should use less paper. For example, I read the LA Times most days but really from day to day the news isn't that new, and some days I just scan the sections before I move to the comic section which I always read. But we have here in Encinitas, five newspapers plus several weeklies that really are just vehicles for ads. I want to think about this more and I do know what a momentous thing this would be so I am going to look at transitional ways to ease into this.I guess I really started thinking about this when I was reviewing "Deep Economy" and wondering about what happens to the recycled plastic bags and how do we form a habit of bringing a reusable bag or two with us when we go shopping. I have a theory about habits and learning. Instead of trying to break old habits, I usually try to establish new ones and let the old ones fall by the wayside with disuse.Anyway, I have to do some research on this idea. And at the same time, I'm wondering about the advisability of this whole idea in the light of how the politicians play.

Yesterday, while reading GRS I came upon this post which fits in with my current ruminations about letting go of the newspapers in our lives. I know it is a hard idea to get your mind around, especially when the banks are all clamoring for us to go "paperless" and the utilities, credit card companies, and anyone else who can have already started using an electronic debting system even though we wrote them a check. It is really difficult to trust these changes. For one, who trusts the companies who are fostering them? And who trusts completely the electronic storage systems that we all have seen break down or delete info or simply mis-file it?I like the fact that several comments about this recommend a paper backup system of essential docs. That means that we can reduce the paper in our cluttered lives without losing complete control of our own information. And it seems to me that those individuals who recommend this system are more likely to listen to the idea of giving up the actual newspaper for its online version. In fact they are probably already doing it.The great unwashed is the target here. We may all be computer connected one way or another but there are no doubt millions of people who aren't and may never be. So how do I address this problem and build trust into the possibility that we could live in a future that has learned how to use its resources responsibly? First some research: You know the Google kind, pages of hits on the subject, newspapers, and some interesting options to the process of reading a newspaper. For one thing if you are really interested in finding out what the world newspapers think about a specific topic then starting online is a much better way to go. Besides, the economics of the situation may take the decision out of our hands. We may not be able to support our habit. I have to use that word habit advisedly. My wife never read the newspaper until we met. Our son, a 22 year old, only uses computers to find out what is going on. So maybe the habit will be a generational thing and just as fewer people read books so will fewer read papers. Of course, this doesn't rule out the possibility that the political arena will always need analysis from the underground.Still, the idea I am trying to espouse is the necessity that we face as we try to harness our remaining resources and learn to live within our means not just as an individuals but as world wide society. Maybe that's what this Blog Action Day will presage?