Are We...Well, Are We?

I received a link to this promo of a new HBO program, The Newsroom, from a friend. Take a look and see if it really grabs you by the throat, as it did me. I believe there is much truth to be found here. It almost makes me want to add an HBO subscription to our cable plan...almost.

(Oh, this is HBO, so it does have the obligatory f-bomb sprinkled lightly within)

So, I ask myself, did MY generation—baby boomers—cause the changes? Are we the ones responsible for changing America from that Bright, Shining City on a Hill to a country torn apart by this or that label? Maybe those Gen-X folks caused it, eh? One thing for sure: this clip demonstrates why I decided to turn off conservative radio, for one thing, and try to concentrate on things more positive-leaning.

So, what do you say? Is America the greatest country in the world? Was it? Should it be? Need it be? Do you give a rat's behind if we are, or not?

It's Official: They ALL Knew

The report is out and we who love collegiate sports, football in particular, have had their worst fears confirmed. Joe-Pa knew...they all knew, from the PSU President, to the Vice President, to the Athletic Director, amazingly including a man I held in very high regard until recently, Head Coach Paterno.

The Louis Freeh investigative team released their report today, stating:

"Our most saddening and sobering finding is the total disregard for the safety and welfare of Sandusky's child victims by the most senior leaders at Penn State," Freeh wrote in his summary of his report. "The most powerful men at Penn State failed to take any steps for 14 years to protect the children who Sandusky victimized. Messrs. Spanier, Schultz, Paterno and Curley never demonstrated, through actions or words, any concern for the safety and well-being of Sandusky's victims until after Sandusky's arrest."

It makes me sick. Find a tall, strong oak tree and use a thick rope. Knot it around Sandusky's hangy-down parts and pull him up, very slowly, from the ground. The others can have the benefit of a scaffolding and trap door, except for Paterno, of course; he assumed room temperature knowing he had abandoned the welfare of defenseless kids in favor of saving face and protecting a profitable sports program. Disgusting.

Since 1965, I've been a raving lunatic Michigan Wolverine football fan. I hold Bo Schembechler in the highest regard possible. He ran, to the best of my knowledge, the cleanest, toughest, best football program in the nation for twenty years. Please God, don't let there be an as yet unknown ugly skeleton in his closet. It's just too damn hard to have your heroes disintegrate into useless dust.

I know their cheer, I heard it time and again while tailgating prior to our contests against them in Ann Arbor: WE ARE...PENN STATE!

I doubt it will be shouted with such volume or conviction any time in the coming years. What a damn shame.

Buy American?

My oldest son—who has been wonderfully employed by Toyota for nearly 20 years now—just shared an interesting chart, depicting the American-Made Index put together each year by Cars.com. How things have changed from "those Jap imports" cries of days gone by to companies producing vehicles that employ tens of thousands of American workers across this country. NOTE: Four of the top five vehicles shown below are Honda and Toyota products!

So the next time you see that "Buy American" bumper sticker, realize that buying American can be very difficult to define in our very globally-intertwined world.

See the full article HERE.


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The Cars.com American-Made Index

By Kelsey Mays, Cars.com

What Are the Top American-Made Cars?
Cars.com's American-Made Index rates vehicles built and bought in the U.S. Factors include sales, where the car's parts come from and whether the car is assembled in the U.S. We disqualify models with a domestic parts content rating below 75 percent, models built exclusively outside the U.S. or models soon to be discontinued without a U.S.-built successor.
Rank	Make/Model	U.S. Assembly Location	Last Rank
1.	Toyota Camry	Georgetown, Ky.; Lafayette, Ind.	1
2.	Ford F-150	Dearborn, Mich.; Claycomo, Mo.	—
3.	Honda Accord	Marysville, Ohio	2
4.	Toyota Sienna	Princeton, Ind.	6
5.	Honda Pilot	Lincoln, Ala.	—
6.	Chevrolet Traverse	Lansing, Mich.	8
7.	Toyota Tundra	San Antonio	9
8.	Jeep Liberty	Toledo, Ohio	—
9.	GMC Acadia	Lansing, Mich.	10
10.	Buick Enclave	Lansing, Mich.	—
Excludes hybrid variants. The Camry excludes the related Venza; the Accord excludes the related Crosstour. Sources: Automaker data, Automotive News, dealership data, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Hot Tamale, er...Tomato Update

Good grief, what a summer so far! As I write this, we're at 103° even and looking to hit 105° for today's high temp. We've had heat indices into the 100s since the last weeks in June and it is beginning to wear everyone down. Not to worry though, it should drop into the mid-eighties next week. Yay!!! Obviously, I've been dutifully pumping the water to the garden almost every morning and it's hanging in there so far. We had our first bites on a salad last night:  a freshly picked, sliced cucumber. Mmm, mmm good!

I'm loving the garden progress, in spite of this weather. Looks good, doesn't it?

That cucumber plant in the foreground is reaching for the sky! About 5 feet tall, with the help of a tomato cage.

I picked this nice cuke right after the photo was taken. That is a 1" wide slat just below it, so it was time. Cool it down, slice, add a little salt and enjoy! His baby brother is coming along nicely right beside him, too.

Wanna buy a tomato? All our plants are coming along just fine, even those volunteers! Can't wait for a jumbo slice on a burger or tossed salad.

Sorry for the lack of focus, but you get the idea.
It's too dang hot to go back out for another shot! 

The Kentucky Wonder (of course) pole beans are really taking off. I'm working to get them to hook onto that trellis in back, then up, up and away!

Finally, this gorgeous sweet pepper is about three inches, top to bottom; it won't be long before we can pick and enjoy.

So, all in all, especially considering the scorching weather of the past two weeks, I'm pretty pleased with our garden progress. We'll have lots of delicious, healthy eating over the weeks to come.

One bonus of all this hot, humid weather:  the local garden center suggests watering the lawn, but say do not mow the grass! Mowing would only add to the stress the lawn is experiencing. Sweet!

Hot, Hot, Hot

We've had scorching hot weather this week, and quite often so far this summer. When it gets close to or above 90°, it can be downright dangerous out there, and we've had temps over ninety degrees during five of the past seven days here.

For instance, yesterday's high of 93° was just unbearable. Consider the fate of this ice cream vendor...

                                                                                                   from The Big Picture by Barry Ritholtz

Let's be careful out there people!!!

Enough Already

I can no longer tolerate the nasty tone, the accusations, the negative barbs, and the criticism of all things political—on one side or the other—heard on talk radio. For years, I've tuned in to Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, Savage, et al, but I simply can't stomach any of it any longer.

Now, anyone who knows a bit about me knows I'm a libertarian-leaning dude, which puts me a long, long way from being a fan of the current occupant of the Oval Office. But really, how different will the next four years turn out with someone else at the helm? Simply stated, the next President, no matter who will be as much on the take from big money as anyone else has been in recent memory.

C'mon, we all know that money runs the show. The candidates need multi-millions to run a winning campaign and there are those groups out there that will gladly ante up...with great expectations for a nice return of investment.

So, where does that leave little ol' you 'n' me? What difference do our likes, dislikes, and favorite causes make in the direction these candidates take? Until someone, maybe, someday, somehow has the guts to change the way of American politics, we will not see change for the better. Those that must make the changes are those most benefiting from the way things currently flow; who wants to rock that boat?

Therefore, I'm switching off talk radio in favor of podcasting, by and large. There are podcasts available, free, for just about any subject you could name. Astronomy, tech news and advice, cooking, survival prep, business, education, science...name your interest. For me, time is much better spent on things that I truly enjoy and may benefit from hearing.

I'm looking forward to a refreshing, positive change—a change in how I productively spend some of my spare time, not in how things work in politics or the negativity of talk radio.

2012 Garden Update

Here we are in mid-June and the garden is coming along, slowly, but surely. My experiment with heirloom seeds, purchased two years ago, failed miserably for year three unfortunately. I tried to keep the leftover seeds dry, cool and in darkness, but I experienced very little germination from them this year. The first two years produced well for us, anyway.

We bought new seeds and planted cilantro, green pole beans, marigolds (they're a great deterrent for some insect pests) and some green onions. This was in addition to the peppers—regular green and Cubanelle hot ones—cukes, peas and two varieties of tomatoes in the ground.

Check out that monster raspberry patch beyond the veggie garden.
Someone had better do a much more thorough pruning job on them this Fall.

The good news is that we had fourteen "volunteer" tomato plants appear! Since we save all kitchen veggie scraps to add to our compost pile, obviously some tomato seeds survived from last year's crop. We'll see how well they do, in addition to the 8 plants we purchased, but so far they're doing pretty well, as evidenced by this little guy, below:

If most of the tomato plants survive and produce well, I may have to open
a little produce stand down on the street corner.

This little volunteer didn't like the way I dug it up and transplanted it to an open area in the garden. Oh well, you can't win them all. 

We have nice blossoms on our two green pepper plants.

I know my little sister in southern Texas is chuckling at these immature plantings. She's already harvested and canned green beans this year! What a difference 1,200 or so miles can make in one's growing season.