I had every intention of writing about poverty in third world countries for this year’s Blog Action Day’s theme of Poverty and about the pain and devastation those millions of people have to deal with every single day. Since our financial system is now collapsing here in America, I think it would be more appropriate for me to address the coming onslaught of many middle class families falling into real poverty over these next few years. I feel many don’t even realize yet how badly they will be affected.
The way many Americans have been living – paycheck to paycheck with credit cards as a backup in total denial that they are spending way more than they bring in so they can have their toys and keep up with the Jones’. When your entire way of living is cut off at the knees and you have not really saved any money in an emergency fund or put away any bulk food or gathered any extra blankets or winter coats to stay warm because heat is now too expensive for your home and everything else one needs to do to prepare for that “just in case” scenario well, these people are in for a rude awakening.
Every single industry will be affected in some way and will feel the effects- even the ones who say they are “recession proof.” A large economic slowdown the likes of which we have never had to deal with is upon us and will get worse before it gets better. What we are now entering is way more than just a recession. I heard it quoted this week as “We are entering a time that will rival the great depression if not surpass it.” That is one serious statement and it was made by a CEO of a Fortune 100 company.
When you lose your job and have to figure out how you will be able to keep your home with no income and no savings, the fact is many won’t be able to and will become homeless. Financial advisers tell you to save up 6-8 months worth of monthly expenses in a savings account just in case this scenario happens. Shelters in America have already seen a large rise in homelessness and people in shock and dismay that they can’t find another job. Many more job layoffs are predicted to happen in many industries over this next year and what happens then? We have millions more falling into poverty right here in America.
It is good to have a network of people you and your family know well in case you lose your job and your home and become truly homeless. Think about who you know, friend or family member that would let you and your kids stay with them until you can find some kind of work again. Families doing this will become more common over the next few years until our economy stabilizes and we can start to turn ourselves around.
Working together with others in a bad economy can help to save at least one home by moving in together and pooling all of your resources and money so you all have someplace warm to sleep at night and some food to eat. Our world is changing and we all will have to rely on each other to rebuild it. Growing food with others will be necessary as will preserving whatever food you can. It’s amazing how much food can be grown on a very small section of land in your backyard.
Children will be really affected by all of this, hopefully attending public school will help give them some sense of normalcy and a rhythm to their day. They would also qualify for the free lunch programs public schools have to feed the low income children breakfast and lunch which may even be the only food they get to eat on those days.
The sooner we can get jobs going here in the green technology and alternative energy sector to save on cost of fuel and create work for the masses, the better. I just hope our next president realizes this and works to get it going right away.
These will be trying times for everyone but for those of us who are lucky enough to keep a job throughout this upheaval, we need to remember to give back – donate food to the food banks, clothes, blankets, winter jackets to the charities that help the homeless, extra money donated on your utilities bill that goes to their program that helps low income families keep the heat and electric on while they still have a home to live in, invite a family that you know is suffering hardship over for a dinner and give them a care package to take with them, etc.
While we of the middle and upper-middle class are not used to living at the poverty level, millions all over the world still have it much worse than we do. We are not being shot at, raped and terrorized like villagers in Somalia, we have homeless shelters and soup kitchens to help us out even a little bit unlike the starving masses in Haiti who resort to eating dirt cookies and we have food stamps especially for women with infants and young children. There are even some programs like Medicare and others where if you are destitute, you can receive free medical care – especially for your children. So our poverty does not rival extreme poverty in third world countries but the emotional pain and physical toll on the body will still be felt just the same.
I hope we can all learn a big lesson from this – don’t live above your means. You can be happy with less and there is a real art and satisfaction to living simply on the Earth in harmony with nature. I hope you all will get to keep your jobs and homes and will help your local community out in whatever way you can.
I feel all beings need to be treated compassionately and culled humanely if you eat them. If you live in California, please vote YES on Prop. 2 – the humane treatment of factory farm animals. It seems insane that we even have to vote on this. I hope all states adopt legislation regarding eradicating the cruel and inhumane treatment of factory farm animals. Not able to barely move, turn around or spread their wings is cruel and we would never do this to our pets so why do we do this to other animals?
The NY Times gave a full endorsement of Prop 2 last week. Here is an excerpt that was posted on Vegan.com:
You will never in your life, on any topic, see a newspaper editorial give stronger support to a ballot initiative than this endorsement of Proposition 2 appearing in today’s New York Times. The first and last paragraphs:
The goal of the California Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act — Proposition 2 on the state’s November ballot — sounds extremely modest. It would ban the confinement of animals in a way that keeps them from being able to stand, sit, lie down, turn around and extend their limbs. The fact that such fundamental decencies have to be forced upon factory farming says a lot about its horrors. We urge California voters to pass Proposition 2. We urge every state to enact similar laws…
To a California voter still undecided on Proposition 2, we say simply, imagine being confined in the voting booth for life. Would you vote for the right to be able to sit down and turn around and raise your arms? Link
Attachment Parenting is based in the practice of nurturing parenting methods that create strong emotional bonds, also known as secure attachment, between children and their parent(s). This style of parenting encourages responsiveness to children’s emotional needs, enabling children to develop trust that their needs will be met. As a result, this strong attachment helps children develop the capacity for secure, empathic, peaceful, and enduring relationships that follow them into adulthood.
This month of October is “Attachment Parenting Month” over on the Attachment Parenting International website and at events in many different locations. The theme this year is “Giving Our Children Presence.”
From API:
“More than ever, parents are seeking to offer their children every possible advantage, and research confirms the immense emotional, social and cognitive benefits to children from receiving one-on-one, unstructured time with their parents,” said Barbara Nicholson, author and Co-founder of API. “Today’s busy schedules can be quite an obstacle for families seeking quality time, and Attachment Parenting Month, with its theme of “Giving Our Children Presence,” emphasizes the importance of – and ways to achieve – these moments.”
From Dr. William Sears about Attachment Parenting:
“Attachment Parenting is moving above the radar,” said William Sears, MD, noted parenting author, speaker and founder of AskDrSears.com, who wrote his first book about Attachment Parenting in the 1970s. “In nearly 40 years in pediatric practice and parenting our own 8 children Martha and I are seeing the long term benefits of attachment parented kids. They are caring kids who thrive on the quality of empathy. They are able to get behind the eyes of other people and imagine the effects of their behavior on others. They are high touch children in an otherwise high tech world. There’s no doubt our world needs more AP kids.”
API will promote all AP Month events through its Attachment Parenting Month Central web site, apmonth.attachmentparenting.org, where organizations and families can register their AP Month events, donate money or join API, find nearby AP Month activities, and review what the experts have to say about the importance of presence.
You need to watch this short video about a man who could be our next leader and the crazy raging temper he’s got. Do we need someone irrational (again) leading our country? So many of his peers went on record to attest to his rage and irrational behavior and several are on this video. Scary stuff.
This was a letter I received from Kathy Zoi of We Can Solve It regarding a renewable energy commercial being banned on network tv! Big Oil has got media locked up and we need to change that! Please read her letter below and sign We’s petition to ABC:
Did you notice the ads after last night’s presidential debate?
ABC had Chevron. CBS had Exxon. CNN had the coal lobby. But you know what happened last week? ABC refused to run our Repower America ad — the ad that takes on this same oil and coal lobby.
I sent a letter asking ABC to reconsider their decision and put our ad on the air, but still we haven’t heard back more than a week later. I think they need to hear from all of us. Can you help? Please send a message to ABC and tell them to air the Repower America ad this Friday on 20/20. Just click here:
We’re working to get 100,000 public comments to ABC before 20/20’s next airing.
Our Repower America ad has a clear and simple message — that massive spending by oil and coal companies on advertising is a key reason our nation hasn’t switched to clean and renewable sources for our energy.
Here’s the script of the ad:
The solution to our climate crisis seems simple.
Repower America with wind and solar.
End our dependence on foreign oil. A stronger economy.
So why are we still stuck with dirty and expensive energy?
Because big oil spends hundreds of millions of dollars to block clean energy.
Lobbyists, ads, even scandals.
All to increase their profits, while America suffers.
Breaking big oil’s lock on our government …
Now that’s change.
We’re the American people and we approve this message.
You can view the ad on the ABC petition page, here.
As our country faces deep economic problems, we need to be able to have an honest debate about the root causes of our problems. As Al Gore has said, “We’re borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the future of human civilization. And every bit of that has to change.”
As oil and coal backed groups outspend even major party committees in this political year, it’s outrageous that ABC would deny our ad. Let ABC know what you think. Just click here.
ING Direct put out a “Declaration Of Financial Independence” and I thought it was so smart that I had to reprint it here for you all to see:
OUR DECLARATION OF FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE
We will spend less than we earn. Saving a little out of every dollar we bring home is the foundation of independence. Without it, we can’t build equity in our home, we can’t invest for the future, and we can’t be ready for challenging times. We promise to pay ourselves first, always.
We will use our home as a savings account. Besides shelter and comfort for our family, the role of a house in our financial life is to build equity. We will have a healthy down payment when we buy. We’ll choose the mortgage that lets us pay down the principal fastest. And then we’ll leave that equity safe where it is instead of spending it on things that don’t last.
We will take care of our money. It’s not enough to have money in a bank. We will put it where it will grow. We’ll keep track of it. And we’ll check every account we have every year to protect ourselves against fraud or escheatment.
We will defend our credit worthiness. Good credit is going to be precious in the years to come. We will pay our bills on time. We’ll borrow only when we need to and in amounts we can comfortably pay back. And then we’ll do just that.
We will ignore unsolicited credit card marketing. We decide when we need a credit card, not some marketer. And mostly, we probably don’t need another one at all. We won’t even open those solicitations. We’ll shred them.
We will know the cost of borrowing. The interest lenders charge us is real money, too. When we buy a mortgage or finance a purchase, we’ll figure out what that interest is really going to cost in dollars, add it to the purchase price, and ask ourselves if it’s still worth it.
We will invest for the long term. Futures are built out of patience and prudence, not luck. We will not put off being a saver because we think there’s a lottery win in our future, in Vegas or on Wall Street.
We will take care of the things we have. We work hard for our money, and it’s disrespectful to waste it – or the planet – by treating our possessions as disposable.
We will remember what matters. We are not the things we own. If we have to spend and spend on bigger, more impressive things to keep up with our friends, then they are not our friends at all.
We will be heard. Our representatives in government and the corporations we deal with need to know that we are paying attention. If we’re silent, we’re accepting the status quo, and the business practices that got our country into this situation will continue. We are not going to accept that.
Well this is yet another bit of highly disappointing information I learned today. The Path To Freedom Blog posted today that Monsanto owns about 40% of all the fruit and veggie seeds sold in the U.S. and they are growing. It’s not bad enough that they’ve taken over grain production and made it into frankenfood and are destroying many family farms in the process but now they are invading the fruit and veggie seed market, too.
Here is what the PTF folks have to say about this:
We aren’t talking genetically modified seeds here were are talking about who is supplying the seeds. Even if you purchase non gmo seeds from a seed company who touts a ‘Safe Seed Pledge’ that variety may still be OWNED by Monsanto. Sorry to break the bad news to you, but that’s the facts folks. We, yes even PTF, is supporting the big M by purchasing seeds from our favorite seed companies and you probably are too.
Out of the 2,500 varieties that Monsanto has acquired from the Seminis takeover, here are a few of the published veg varieties that we know that Monsanto owns:
Beans: EZ Gold, Eureka, Goldrush, Kentucky King, Lynx, Bush Blue Lake 94
So what to do? Start saving fazing out listed Monsanto owned varieties, reach where your seeds come from and or save your own.
Taking Back Our Food Supply
Before agriculture became an industry, every gardener, farmer was responsible for the availability of seed for next years crop. With this recent merger and marketing tactics that has allow a certain “M”-onopoly to take over over the majority of the seed population. Seed-saving is one among many tactics of reclaiming our power (and freedom) to grow our own food, and an indispensable step towards fully sustainable and secure future.
I kept having insights and dreams about saving seeds before this growing season started. I was shown a local seed bank happening in my area and really, I’m not that skilled at seed saving and all it entails even though we have owned the book, “Seed To Seed” for many years just for this reason that one day we would have to rely on ourselves for ensuring our food production. Needless to say, we’ve slacked in that department over the past few years what with moving to the ‘burbs, major home renovations and having a kid and all. I’ve even discussed this a few times this past spring with different people in my area (including my friend Julie, a master gardener) to find out if there was a seed bank already happening where I live – there isn’t. Clearly why I’ve been shown this over and over again before we started growing anything this season was for a reason and we have been diligently saving heirloom organic seeds this summer the way my husband learned from his homesteading mom and step-dad.
This is bad news, people. Being more self-sufficient even with your own garden is becoming increasingly more important everyday. I recommend that you read up a bit on this topic if you don’t already know about what’s going on. It’s a big deal and I’m not kidding. Those who control the seeds of life control everything and they definitely do not have our best interests at heart.
Btw, which political party do you think they are affilitated with? Just saying.
Well this really will show you the level of racism and discrimination still alive and well in the USA. When you see it written out like this, it really makes you wonder why anyone would back a not too bright and low integrity person to be elected as the next leader of the free world. I want an Ivy league intelligent person (and being the editor of the Harvard law review doesn’t hurt, either) to be my next president not someone who graduated at the bottom of his class, thanks. (And just to clarify – I mean ivy league intelligent as in really earned it, took out student loans to pay for it not get in on daddy’s connections and money and still be dumb like Bush did).
From Letters to the Editors @ Fort Worth Star-Telegram 9.17.08
What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review?
What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?
What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said ‘I do’ to? What
if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer
measured up to his standards?
What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to pain
killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?
What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard? What if Obama were a member of
the ‘Keating 5′? What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?
If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election
numbers would be as close as they are?
This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive
qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when
there is a color difference.
On this United Nations’ International Day of Peace, may all of your lives be happy and blessed with peace. I really and truly hope that our next president really be committed to serving the betterment of the people and truly believes in peace and peaceful actions first and foremost. Our world really can’t take much more. May they embrace the idea of serving the greatest good for all.
The Child Nutrition Act includes legislation for the National School Lunch Program, which provides federal assistance for school lunches. This act is being reauthorized in 2009, and theUSDA would like your input on what needs to change. Submit your recommendations for improving vegetarian options by fax at 703-305-2879, or online. They are accepting comments until October 15, 2008.
Well you don’t have to twist my arm to get me to give my two cents to the USDA on what needs to change for the school lunch program! I am really hoping that many people will take action and give their comments to the USDA to help all of our children receive better nutrition and more whole, unprocessed foods in every school across America.
If we can get foods with high fructose corn syrup and other additives and preservatives removed from the menu as well as adding more vegetarian food options and non-dairy fortified drink options, our children could only benefit. They would be eating more fiber, vitamins, minerals have stable blood sugar for many hours of the day and will be eating more plant based foods and less processed foods which can only help them. It will also assist in lowering the childhood obesity rate that is skyrocketing here in our country and cutting down on consuming so much pasteurized dairy will reduce congestion issues (sinus, ear infections, sore throats) and constipation, too.
Last year, the PCRM published a “School Lunch Report Card” based on their criteria for healthy, whole foods and non-dairy options in some of the larger school district cafeterias. There is a lot of good information on this report, they did a really thorough job and it’s worth it to check it out.
Another great website on this school lunch issue to check out is also researched by the PCRM and is called Healthy School Lunches.org.
Well you don’t have to twist my arm to get me to give my two cents to the USDA on what needs to change for the school lunch program! I am really hoping that many people will take action and give their comments to the USDA to help all of our children receive better nutrition and more whole, unprocessed foods in every school across America.
