Comments pbearden47 has made

So cool

So cool to hear the Danster's music.  I have to go to one of his gigs some day.

Aunt Phyllis

I need help

http://www.ajc.com/search/content/metro/stories/2007/08/2 ...

I live in Georgia which has had 4 weeks with temperatures hovering around and above 100 F.  Today we're breaking the record for 100 degree days in a summer season, and this is what our state officials spend time doing and concluding.

I need someone like dear old Dave to send me a letter to the editor, short and sweet, with a few salient bullet points.  Then send me something to send to my incredibly stupid state government.

We can't even walk outside, and they still think it's all hysterical hooha.

Aunt Phyllis

Facism in NYC

I lived in NJ when Rudy was mayor, and my NY friends talked about the introduction to facism they endured.  Yeah, Times Square was cleaned up, but the huge downside was the abuse of civil liberties and the attacks on defenseless minorities.  The headlines were hard to believe, but now those headlines seem tame.  

Aunt Phyllis

This covers a lot

I was listening to talking heads arguing about the recent project of presenting healthy foods to children in McDonald's wrapping or generic wrapping.  Children thought the same food in McDonald's wrapping tasted better.

From birth marketing works on us to recognize "brands" and this is OK because we have lots of information we can read and we can make choices.  I've heard this argument for marketing for years because it's all about making money, and individual parents can surely protect their kids.

Down on the ground it works differently.  Individuals can work against the monolith of big business and marketing, but it doesn't mean our kids will be protected.  Advertising is everywhere, in every form, in every venue.  And good parents do encourage their children to explore the world and think for themselves.  Unfortunately one adult trying to set an example is overwhelmed by the messages aimed at children from TV, radio and all multi-media outlets.

This fact is especially poignant when we get to people living on the edge of poverty.  They go to the grocery store with $50 for a week of groceries for 2 adults and 2 pre-school kids.  The kids want the brands, the cartoon characters, the Spiderman Mom!  They don't look a the price, the nutritional value, the envirnomental impact of heavily packaged and processed food.  The parent looks at price and chooses the lowest cost option which is never organic or fresh or locally grown or anywhere near environmentally friendly.

So what to do in a free-market, choice-laden country?  I have no idea.  I'm looked on as somewhat eccentric because I do want to recycle, use public transit, actually turn off electric appliances when not in use.  Some individuals are convinced through reading and personal contact to start making babysteps along the environmental path, but most people are either living self-centered, oblivious or desperate lives and don't spend 1 second a year thinking about the environment or the future.  Everyday they choose something not in their self-interest.

I find it baffling.    

Aunt Phyllis

objectively

I think you're cute as two speckled pups, but I do come from the South.  

Aunt Phyllis

Dave is funny

People, it's good to relax and let the feelings out.  I read Dave's post and laughed my butt off.  Others seem to have taken his humor personally.  Didn't your mom and your kindergarten teacher tell you that the world does not revolve around you.

I'm old enough to have been a semi-hippie, to have read Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring," to see the damage to the environment just by looking out of my office window in Atlanta.  I've seen decades of back and forth on valuing the environment.

I've always been pro-environment and have been labeled a "tree-hugger", a "fruit & granola" dirty hippie, and I owned these titles with pride.  But I've never been earnest enough to lecture or critize anyone else.  That might be a fault, but I like to think reasonable, intelligent people will come to their own conclusions and will resist lecturing or critizing by well-meaning people.  For example, have you ever seen anyone convince a smoker to stop by lecturing him or her.  Me neither.

So I do think it's beneficial that there are people out there who are more passionate about their causes than I am.  But I think Dave's point is that at some point, it's not conducive to the main goal.  Every small step helps, and perfectionism is so not ever going to work in any endeavor when humans are  involved.  

Criticism and critical thinking is important, but when we lose sight of the incremental progress we make, because it's not "quite right," we will lose the progress totally.

In the meantime, when you get too serious and everything isn't quite good enough, remember Dave's post and laugh.

Aunt Phyllis

New to me

I had never read about Amory Lovins so this was a wonderful revelatory article for me.  It's great to hear a consistent positive voice, and a person who looks for solutions.  If 10% of his ideas work, we'll be on the road to sustainability.  

There may be political forces that are resistant, but I do think industrial/corporate America is starting to move toward the idea that energy efficiency is better for the bottom line.

Aunt Phyllis

Dave's point

As a former journalist, I think Dave is making the point that you write to be heard.  I still think in terms of columns and subjects and want intelligent feedback.  Maybe it's the age old, "I think, therefore I am."  It's frustrating to have stuff in your head that doesn't get out to other people - and that would be people who actual care.

I wouldn't say The Daily Howler is lefty blogging anyway.  It's an angry former journalist who's is very tired of poor reporting, writing, analysis and thinking.  Bob Somersby will call attention to all BS, and he isn't afraid to cite good writing.  And by that I mean Dave - I'm just saying - I'm very objective.

Aunt Phyllis

The South Ain't so Bad

I feel much better about living in Georgia now.

Can I comment that I'm tired of people asking me if I "believe" in evolution or global warming,etc.?  Science is not faith-based.  It's evidence compiled and tested over time.  It's theories tried.  Statistics analyzed.  

If we want our children to stay ignorant, let's encourage our school boards to cave in to people who think you should present scientific theories and proofs next to faith in old religious hokum.  I say this as a Christian who believes God just shakes his (or her) head at people like this.

Aunt Phyllis

This is Why I Like Grist

I may be a geek, but I enjoy intelligent people discussing interesting ideas.  It's very rare nowadays.

Aunt Phyllis

SF & Grist

I think in San Francisco you might expect young, urban & hot.  The environmental tent is large and covers a wide range of people, including a bunch of old farts from the 60s who read Rachel Carson's Silent Spring.  Heck Teddy Roosevelt cared about saving the wild spaces in his time.

The pictures are great & I think Dave is incredibly good looking.  And I'm really objective.  More power to Grist.

Aunt Phyllis

Words

I'd say that epiphany is my favorite word, and morass my least favorite.  I had to think about that for a long time.

Aunt Phyllis

Dave's Way Too Famous Now

I don't really surf that much or read alot of blogs.  After linking to Neal Boortz and the Bush Blog, I'm blown away.  

So their strategy is to take an off-the-cuff blog comment and spin it into a full-blown story demanding we arrest people who deny Global Warming.  That's twisted in so many ways.

Maybe Dave could have phrased his sentiment better, but I totally understand his frustration.  And now he's the new target of this hate-filled crowd.  

I may never read another blog.

Aunt Phyllis