The Weekly Watch
To Be(d) or Not to Be(d)
Garden beds, bedfellows, and bedlam are today's topics. We've been planting this week. We use garden beds. There's no right or wrong we just find it makes the garden easier to manage and maintain. As I thought about beds I wandered into thinking about who are the US bedfellows compared to those we call our enemy. To paraphrase Pogo, "We have met the evil empire and it is U.S.". We do spread bedlam far and wide.
Musicians make strange bedfellows. We had a guest that stayed over Friday night. He refuses to see the US as promoting violence and greed. He sticks his head in the sand not even aware of all the wars in which we are currently engaged, nor those we are provoking. Claimed he didn't care about all the wars. He cared about "basic freedoms". Like what I asked. "Freedom of speech, freedom of the press..." So what do you think about what's happening with Assange. "They ought to kill that son of a bitch". But you just said freedom of the press is important. "He's not a journalist. Has he ever leaked anything on Russia?" Yes I replied he has. Have you ever visited wikileaks.org? "No and I never will." This is a well educated person...retired programmer.
And that my friends is at the heart of our dilemma. Citizens who insist on blindness...willful ignorance. Guess who he's going to vote for in the primary? That's right, Biden. So how can we be friends? Well, we've played music together for 30-40 years. Music can bridge wide gulfs. Mutual meditation. None of us agree on everything, but we can all agree on something. There's always the weather if all else fails....
This little exchange explains why I enjoy being in this C99 community. I appreciate this informed insightful group of folks and our largely evidence based rational conversation. We don't always agree with the approach we should take, but the conversation is typically respectful and thought provoking. It is easy to take the mechanics of this site for granted
Smiley7 asked us to help with a project...
Announcing the First Annual c99 Fund Drive which we hope to launch Wednesday, May 1, at 3pm Eastern Standard Time. Our c99 is in need.
The simple theme of this endeavor is "What does c99 mean to you?"
Please private message smiley7, by Midday this coming Tuesday with a paragraph or two sharing your feelings about our special community.
Also, please include artwork, music, poetry, humor or anything you desire and
your responses will become the body of our organic fund raising appeal.The need is critical. The campaign will concentrate on the importance of recurring monthly gifts.
Thank you in advance for lending a writing hand.
We've had a beautiful week and a lovely spring. I hope yours is progressing nicely. The lyre leaf sage, Senecio (ragwort), and daisies now paint the fields with blues, yellows, and whites. Hard to capture the splay of color.
It has been good gardening weather. Got the tomatoes in on a cloudy day. They got a light rain the next. Many people use raised beds. We have three foot wide beds that you can drive the truck or the tractor over without rolling on and compacting the beds.
Here's a consideration of raised vs in-ground beds (6.3 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVmFR4iUVoY
We keep our beds mulched year round. We manure the beds every couple of years and side dress with compost during the growing season. Although we do some companion planting we don't mix our species to the degree Geoff does with his interesting garden beds. (14 min)
Our beds are more monoculture to make harvesting and maintenance easier. However among the tomatoes we plant basil, onions, garlic and other plants which help deter insects. There are many beneficial relationships among plants. Additionally we rotate our crops from bed to bed each year in a five+ year process.
My favorite political piece I saw this week was Mike Gravel on Jimmy's show. Toward the end of the 45 min interview, he is suggesting we move to a more direct democracy because the current government is incapable of acting in the people's interest. Says he has a book coming out this summer with a more specific plan than his proposal in Citizen Power.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG4q_GjsyYw
XR has citizen councils as a major plank...
Their three primary demands are -
- Government must tell the truth by declaring a climate and ecological emergency, working with other institutions to communicate the urgency for change.
- Government must act now to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025.
- Government must create and be led by the decisions of a Citizens’ Assembly on climate and ecological justice.
They are celebrating a successful week rebelling across the world.
https://rebellion.earth/2019/04/25/update-7-to-parliament-and-beyond/
Tulsi's video posted by Battle of Blair Mountain was also interesting. She says something to the effect of what is the good of electing a democrat as president who will govern the same as Trump... promoting war?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl2DrWx1KfE (7 min)
I also liked her piece on Saudi Arabia...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1wYuAUTs3w (1.5 min)
and she is calling out Israel as well...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpMeIyUDSMI (2 min)
Israelis aren't just shooting Palestinian protestors through the fence but even bound children....some ally. https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israeli-soldiers-shot-blindfolded-han...
https://fair.org/home/for-nyt-israel-is-always-nearing-apartheid-but-nev...
The Empire Files partners with Gazan journalists for a documentary on the Great March of Return, Gaza Fights For Freedom (1.7 min trailer)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc1NxW5loTk
So the Saudis are our friends too, but but...
Saudi Arabia Executes 37 in One Day for Terrorism
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/23/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-executi...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/24/uk-condemns-saudi-arabia-o...
Not to mention the horrid Yemen disaster...
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/04/yemen-war-death-toll-reaches-7000...
And how about our new bedfellow in Brazil. At least that coup was subtle.
https://therealnews.com/brazil-under-bolsonaro-social-base-agenda-and-pe...
Yet Maduro is an evil dictator? ...and now Cuba must submit. How can this fly? Trump explained it is because they buy lots of weapons. I tell you it is willful blindness because this is too easy to see. Much more blatant the WMD's lies.
Code Pink and others are occupying the Venezuelan embassy in DC to prevent the US puppet government from taking over. They expect a police confrontation and ejection today.
https://therealnews.com/stories/defense-of-venezuelas-us-embassy-activis... (video or text)
Last week, The Organization of American States allowed the ambassador of Venezuela's self-declared president to participate in his first meeting.
https://therealnews.com/stories/venezuelas-parallel-ambassador-seated-at... (video or text)
Ben Norton sits down with Chris Hedges to discuss the situation in Venezuela
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpEdCjNGh6I (26 min)
US sanctions have killed 1000's in Venezuela...so much for humanitarian concerns.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgi7TDNh5Ps (4 min)
The propaganda is now embedded in video games...
The US military and CIA launder propaganda through popular first-person shooter video games like Call of Duty, simulating invasions and sabotage of Venezuela's socialist government.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72v7PWJUyxY (6 min)
Perhaps the US has never believed and obeyed international law. We certainly don't now. Hell we don't even follow our own constitution. Just consider how we are treating Julian Assange. Lee Camp talks with Joe Lauria https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpExAhnr784 (15 min)
Lee has a righteous rant about Julian with a review of all the wikileaks revelations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8mK1eZhavc (14 min)
So if you stop and think about who our country is in bed with and who it targets you end up with a knot of contradictions. A quick look at the list of countries that support the US puppet in Venezuela I think you get a pretty good look at the global corporate success sheet. I mean you talk about a blatant US coup. Eyes wide shut.
The plan is to create more bedlam. President Trump has ordered his administration to prepare for a new arms control deal with China and Russia. This comes amid President Trump’s rejection of the UN Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), a multilateral treaty on arms control that Obama signed in 2013 but that the US Congress never ratified.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_iF8bsqSuw (5 min)
(30 sec)
Lies lead to war and then lies are needed to cover up the horrors of war. Over the past few years, the International Criminal Court (ICC) had diligently begun to investigate war crimes in Afghanistan conducted by the armed forces of the United States of America, Afghanistan and the Taliban. The ICC’s special prosecutor Fatou Bensouda was convinced that there is adequate evidence for the ICC to move the investigation along (including evidence provided by Wikileaks from various US army secret investigations). But the Trump administration, in the mode of the mafia, put immense pressure on the ICC. First, US National Security Adviser John Bolton threatened to sanction the judges and lawyers at the court and then US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denied Bensouda a visa to come to New York City to deliver her report to the UN Security Council. On 12 April, therefore, a pre-trial bench of the ICC decided to stop the investigation. They said that an investigation into US war crimes in Afghanistan ‘would not serve the interests of justice’
https://therealnews.com/if-war-is-an-industry-how-can-there-be-peace-in-...
Abby Martin sits down with Peter Phillips, former director of Project Censored and professor of Political Sociology at Sonoma State University. His new book “Giants: The Global Power Elite” details the 17 transnational investment firms which control over $50 trillion in wealth—and how they are kept in power by their activists, facilitators and protectors.
It seems Russia is promoted as the evil empire in order to power the aggression of the US. Max Blumenthal describes the escalation of the new cold war
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6m7uvcMrLk (14 min)
Russia scholar Stephen Cohen had a series of interviews with Paul Jay about Russia - US relations. (video or text)
https://therealnews.com/series/reality-asserts-itself-stephen-cohen
https://therealnews.com/stories/u-s-hoped-putin-would-be-a-sober-yeltsin...
Having an existential enemy promotes a obscene military budget. And if you have all those weapons...you've got to use...and sell them. We are the wolf not the sheep.
So round we go spreading weapons, death, and disaster...Paving the way for continued climate collapse, ecosystem destruction, expanding inequality, and promoting poverty. As I introduced this piece...We have met the evil empire and it is U.S. Amid such irony...friends with a brutal theocratic monarchy and apartheid self righteous Israel, and an enemy of any country trying to serve the needs of its people rather than supporting our corporations.
So I come back again and again to my theme of finding solace in nature. Watching the garden grow as plants suck up carbon from the air. Filling the beds with future healthy food. At least it is something productive, real, meaningful. When I think of the nature of our country, the acquiescence of its citizenry, the distortion of the media it is easy to lose hope and heart. But when that seed sprouts, the tree you planted leafs out, the neotropical birds visit on their migration some electing to summer with us, the wildflowers explode in a riot of color, these restore hope or at least a joy in living.
According to the movies, it is only natural for....
Have a great Sunday. I hope your gardens are growing and you are enjoying the spring (fall for janis), and that your yard is full of birds and their song. I look forward to your stories, thoughts and comments below.
Comments
Good Sunday morning, Lookout ~~
Nice Watch this week. I’ll be busy watching and reading.
I understand your frustration with your band mate. I have a dear friend - 20+ year friendship - who still thinks the dims will prosecute Herr Drumpf from the Mueller report. I tried to tell her that he found nothing and this is an exercise in futility. She didn’t take it well, so I have to lay low.
Our trees are finally sprouting their leaves. Woke up to some clouds and a fog just rolled in. The desert never ceases to surprise.
Gardening won’t happen until after mother’s day in these parts.
Have a productive Sunday, folks!
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
Good morning RA
In my rant I suggested the blindness is willful. However much of the blame must go to the media distortion machine. The old computer saying applies...garbage in, garbage out.
I don't know much about desert farming, but my gardening hero wrote a book about it. I bet it is available through inter-library loans...
https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/sowing-seeds-in-the-desert/
Has a great day!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Almost done with the forge.
At least as far as the materials gathering part goes. All that's left is Firebrick, propane, and more metal.
(However, I do have a couple GREAT pieces I want to start with, so that'll be fun.)
Had a rough week, because dealing with the VA is like dealing with a hydra. Course, since I'm not allowed to use Herc's solution, I have to figure out which head wants to hurt me the least... Really hope I end up being a character in an inspirational story, not a tragedy.
Whatever it was, knocked me for a good loop last few days. So, apologies for my absence, but I tend to do NOTHING when I get a lovely little flashback. (Apparently, threats against my integrity and honesty and insistence that all I need is drugs and more discipline doesn't help much with my problems. In fact, it tends to yank them right back to the fore... Who woulda thought?)
Far too many tragedies these days. Well, they do seem to sell, so to each their own, I guess. Three more days till I can start throwing people around again to deal with the stress. Hopefully a nearly equal time till I can start hammering metal to metal.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr3-mIF9has]
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Congrats on the forge...
glad to hear you are forging ahead on your project! I think having up and down weeks is part of being human. I understand some people ride a larger swing than others, but it is something we all deal with...good on you for moving forward instead of digging deeper. Hope you'll post some of your metal work as you get things going!
This fellow has some neat pieces... (6 min)
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD_Ty23PgKc]
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Got my hands on an angle grinder...
And I've drawn up some plans to use the thing as a Drill Press as well as a Lathe.
(Essentially, a rotary motor is incredibly useful, provided you're willing to think outside the box of single purpose. A couple custom built mounts, and you're able to do Grinding, sanding, drilling and basic turning. At least that's the theory. Hope it works. Will probably take a lot of trial and error, but I'm thinking a geared stand on my Metal table, combined with a Vice Mounts and two forged attachments. [There's a reason I wanted a Locksmith's hammer.
) Worst case scenario, the motor breaks and I have to replace it, but can do so easily. Saw the appropriate tool at Wally World for 20 bucks. Use it while you CAN, I say...)
Thanks for the inspiration. I am always eager to learn from other's techniques.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
I use my angle grinder regularly
From sharpening my bushog to cutting cattle panels, metal pipe and so on. Handy tool, but I must admit mine is a single use tool. Love the idea of multiple uses though.
Don't forget your eye and ear protection!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Good morning lo...
Thank you for all the news. Bedecked and bemused. Organized bedlam. XR.
https://news.yahoo.com/extinction-rebellion-hippies-fighting-climate-092...
David Attenborough supports Fridays for Future.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/26/david-attenborough-b...
Thanks for all you do. Have a good one...
Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation
Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook
Have you seen Attenborough's netflix series?
Well he was the narrator not the producer...
https://www.netflix.com/title/80049832
A buddy recommended it to me.
We thought it might be fun to work through over the next week or two.
Have a great Sunday!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
This one about climate change
I think it’s part of the series you mention.
Just saw a snippet of it at the zendo talk. Apparently he has inspired a bunch more people to join XR in the streets. Disrupting traffic and shoppers to save the planet. Heh. No matter how the media spins it, it doesn’t really work.
I particularly like the images depicting the extraction process as connected to consumption. A picture is worth way more than a thousand. I hv tried to say this so many way but the images really bring it home.
[video:https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00049b1]
Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation
Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook
XR seems more effective than sunrise so far
I should not have been surprised, but last night at a picking on the mountain I asked if anyone had heard of London being shut down by climate activist. No one had heard a thing. Makes me think their first demand "tell the truth" is a reasonable request.
Here in the US, the GND needs some work...wish it was a focus, but we really have to deal with Russian interference...right? I think using citizen groups is a sound strategy too. We are in a corner and out of time. I don't see how we can make the rapid adaptation. But we can lighten our own footprint.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Greetings all ...
Here's some stuff from Southern AZ.
A view of the border "crisis" from the border country: Lukeville, southwest of Tucson, now a hot spot for families crossing border
We got water problems down here. Colorado River water is over-subscribed and yet people keep moving to Phoenix. It's one of the fastest-growing cities in the country. Makes no sense. Down here, projects like the Rosemont mine and the Vigneto abomination in Benson keep getting approved. Sad. Ex-federal official: 'I got rolled' by Trump administration to ease way for Vigneto housing development
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCqmTBhgAus width:400 height:240]
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
Thanks for the stories
Seems like immigration would decline if we would quit spreading mayhem in Central America. And maybe if pot was legalized in the US and Mexico the power of the narco gangs might diminish as well.
Water is going to become more problematic...for us all.
Appreciate the links and song.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
That clip
is from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs which I highly recommend to all who haven't seen it. My favorite version of Cool Water is by the cornball cowboy quartet Riders in the Sky.
Nobody smokes Mexican anymore. Federal level legalization of pot would help, but the real problem is US demand for hard drugs. Over 95% of cocaine consumed in the US comes up overland through Honduras and Guatemala. These countries form a geographical bottleneck in that trade which is why the gangs need to control them.
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
Riders in the sky
Have long been favorites...even acquaintances. So clever...and great musicians.
I think ranger Doug is director of the country music hall of fame. He's a scholar for sure.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Good afternoon, Lookout.
Lots of folks and friends around our community-which has a university- seemingly never bother to invest in finding out about what's going on in politics beyond what they see on TV or hear on radio.
It is a red area as you know, but one would think that the university would impact the locals thinking overtime; but progressives have difficulty winning county commission seats.
My landlord, an old friend, and my main fishing buddy spout the latest right-wing Fox garbage and mostly it's been futile to sway their opinions, having gently tried for years.
Anyways, thank you for posting the news about the c99 fund drive; Hoping everyone can drop in on Wednesday at some time.
Cheers as always for your hard work and good reads and vids.
Hey buddy...
Glad to help promote our community ....thanks for your efforts!
You know the teacher mantra? Educate, educate, educate. It has been my life's ambition.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Good morning Lookout
Sometimes, finding what we agree on helps summon up the compassion needed for the misguided souls in our sphere of influence.
Gina Lollobrigida. Now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time. I remember a movie my mother took me to that confused the hell out of me. Which coincidentally also ties into your theme of strange bedfellows. Lol.
[video:https://youtu.be/aKqOMSDNviA]
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
It takes practice to look for good
One of my main rules as a teacher is catch 'em being good. I whistle a lot. That helped not finding them being "bad".
Kindness isn't practiced enough.
Good to "see" you, Anja
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Lovely OT and comments as usual . . .
I have bookmarked four links that I am going to watch now.
Gardening this year . . . some successes and some failures (to replant), but mostly it looks good. My husband created a 1375 gallon rain capture system (that only took less than three inches of rain to fill) and now is doubling the capacity. Eventually I will post a blog about it.
Thank you for educating me!!!
Marilyn
"Make dirt, not war." eyo
I appreciate your insights too
our 2000 gallon rain capture cisterns are so effective. Currently we gravity feed to the garden but we're studying up on how to add a booster pump. A deer fence and new well house a currently occupying our time.. Though there are always task awaiting , it keeps life interesting and time occupied in a fulfilling way.
Wishing you and your garden the best!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Garden season
I got an earlier start on our vegetable garden this year; we pulled out all the dead stuff from last year, then I spent a couple afternoons pulling out crab grass. We expanded it to 10'x20'; spent several more hours cutting and pulling out sod. We dumped horse manure on it, and today that got tilled in. Now we just have to assemble and patch the fence and it's ready to plant. We tore out the old dog kennel, which had 6' high panels; that should keep all manner of critters out of it--cats, raccoons, skunks, opossums, rabbits, deer, coyotes...!!
Hubby wants to try growing okra this year, and I want to do strawberries. I will have to make sure I get the right variety for our hardiness zone; we'll see how that goes. The hard work is done now at least.
Have some more music!
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne0fKb_HxGI&list=PLVyehhUaGFdWkvijH81Ynn...
This shit is bananas.
Well, happy gardening!
and the squirrel nut zippers are great. Those fence panels make great garden trellis for climbing crops....so double purpose those pieces if you have any extras. We are replacing our 30 year old fence this year and have already repurposed some of the old fencing into cages and trellis. In fact more to come as we move through the season.
Wishing you the best!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Excellent idea!
I probably never would've thought of that; thanks!
This shit is bananas.
My dad grew okra in Lake Mills, IA
just south of Albert Lea. We thought it was funny because it grows upside down. Mom put it in vegetable soup. Well, it is about the only thing that grows well here in TX.
Crabgrass is called St. Augustine in Texas. Last month helped a neighbor lay St. Augustine sod in their yard. LOL
Marilyn
"Make dirt, not war." eyo
Thanks lookout, for your weekly watch
of all things growing, and others hopefully evolving.
I’m putting my garden to bed for several months, while yours is now awakening. There is something very satisfying knowing that at all times there is something flourishing somewhere, and we get to share it across the miles.
ps. I love each and every member of the cabbage family. When I chew on a raw cauliflower floret or a raw slice of broccoli stem, I am in heaven. I haven’t really delved into why that is such a culinary delight (almost obsession) for me, but have always just passed it off as a feature of my Russian and Polish genes, or because my body has a need for it. Do you, off-hand, have any knowledge of outstanding cabbage family attributes? I will also now look into it further.
Some music from the opposite side …
[video:https://youtu.be/JOZ6K4yLrzM]
This year I have planted
A variety of hot weather loving collards that are suppose to be sweet and tender as cabbage. They look good so far!
Marilyn
"Make dirt, not war." eyo
Marilyn,
believe it or not, I had collard greens in my dinner tonight. I recently bought some seeds to plant in the Spring. It's my most recent cabbage discovery, and there is definitely something sweet about them. Enjoy!
they are high in sulfur
Which is why they smell strong when cooking. I would say eat all of those you want it's good for you. Enjoy your fall. Do you get any color from the trees?
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
@Lookout
Sulphur!
Thanks for the catalyst to reading a little about Sulphur from a homeopathic perspective, interesting.
There are no Autumn colours in the native forest here in Auckland. I do see deciduous trees like maples with colour at this time, mostly in parks and suburban areas, although not many.
Best places to visit for autumn colors in New Zealand
Good morning Lookout and thanks tons for the weekly watch.
I've sort of resigned myself to being late for the party, Sundays are usually truly bedlam for me, though I can think of nothing causal in that day of the week. We're getting rady to vamoose for nearly 3 weeks and are hoping the garden, such as it is, and fruit trees can get by. I haven't thought of allium plants as companion planting, but that sounds like a good idea. My two large beds are greens, so I was thinking of inter-planting carrots to better use the space, so maybe onions and carrots in some crazy pattern. Not 'til we return, however. It should be a gimmee, as I regrow green onions and leeks anyway.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Happy travels
I loved your desert bloom shots from your last foray.
Any way have a good trip.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”