SimplyComplexJen

Environmental hazards that are part of our everyday existence.  It's not everyday that I can tell you about a book the profoundly changed the way I look at what I buy and the environment (self-made) around me AND how you can buy that book for $5 and change.  I'm happy to be able to do that today (and frankly, bought 5 copies when I realized how cheap it was, hoarding for next Christmas season).

The Friday Recommend of the day is:

The Body Toxic: How the Hazardous Chemistry of Everyday Things Threatens Our Health and Well-being

I realize that doesn't sound like a very exciting topic to most, but once you get into it, you'll be enthralled by what you learn.

Did you  know that the FDA does not test or check the submittals by chemical companies?  If the company submits XYZ is safe for your baby to lick, and can provide the reports to back it up, it is taken as truth.  That is, until someone gets sick or proves otherwise.

What do you know about what your family is being exposed to?

If you are worried about the rising rates of cancer, ADD, leukemia, autism, asthma, and other diseases, read this book.  Learn what the plastics we use in our baby bottle, the chemicals in our carpets, and other every day items do to us.

Do you think eating organic is worthless?  Then you should read the chapter on pesticides regulation in the US (or lack of).

Environmental hazards that are part of our everyday existence.  The question is, which ones can you control?

The book is full of documentation for you to follow up on and do your own research.  Baker's book traces the path of atrazine (a common pesticide), phthalates, flame retardants (polybrominated diphenyl ethers), bisphenol-A, Teflon (perfluorinated chemicals) through their impact on humans and the environment, and through any relevant (though mostly absent) government regulation.

This book is also where I found the link to the website where I check the safety of my moisturizers, sunscreens, shampoos, and other personal care items: http://www.ewg.org/.  I certainly look at nail polish differently now.

In short, this book makes me angry and increases my resolve at the same time.  It reinforces the point of view, that as consumers, we really are at the mercy of corporations and it's up to us to make informed decisions the best we can. 

Each time I make a purchase, not only do I ask myself if it will end up in the goodwill donation box in the next 3 years, but also have started asking myself the impact on my house and my family if I buy this.

This bok is one of the reasons I bought a previous Friday review: Organic Housekeeping.  I felt I had to start with small steps with making the environment for my family better.  After all, what is the use of making my house organic dairy/organic produce, if I'm just going to introduce toxic chemicals when I clean up after dinner?  It all matters, and as the book points out, it's cumulative.

It's an eye opener.

It's definitely a "must read"

My Rules of Friday Recommendations.
1. I've read it (probably more than once)
2. I would loan it to you.
3.  I would then buy a copy in case you didn't return it because I loved it so much I want to keep a copy in my house.
4.  Even if you didn't return it, I would be happy to have blessed your home with its pages.
5.  I'm pretty sure you'll get something out of reading it too.
(rules subject to change weekly)

I think Larry and Carol Barkan say it best in this NYTimes letter.

To the Editor:

Bob Herbert’s Jan. 30 column about Howard Zinn, “A Radical Treasure,” is a wonderful tribute to a great man. We never met Mr. Zinn except through his books and films. Yet his death left us with a profound sadness.

There aren’t many people who speak truth to power and do so with as much grace, intelligence and compassion as Mr. Zinn. His “People’s History of the United States” should be read by all Americans. It’s our failure to understand and take responsibility for our arrogance that has led us into so many military mistakes and economic calamities.

Thank you, Bob Herbert, for reminding us of what this world lost when this great man died.

Larry Barkan

Carol Barkan

Tempe, Ariz., Jan. 30, 2010

It saddens me that Zinn was considered a radical, for being what I considered a true patriot.  It is our duties as citizens to question everything, and to trust but verify, and to help those struggling below us.

Howard Zinn was truly a great American.

An article today that caught my eye:

Scientist urge $2-3 billion study of ocean health

I would assume this study is a good thing. After all, oceans cover over 2/3 of the earth. Freshwater supplies are shrinking, and desalination for 3rd world countries remains cost prohibitive. I think I'm safe in assuming the oceans are our largest natural resource.

Then I googled and found: An estimated 80% of all life on earth is found under the ocean surface. Also, it's estimated that less than 10% of that space has been explored by humans. Each year, three times as much rubbish is dumped into the world's oceans as the weight of fish caught.

All of this is great and I think worthy cause! Actually I do! (I know, most of the time I'm making fun of these studies...but this one seems rational and necessary to me) Then I got to thinking about what else are we spending that money on current. Well, for starters... the war.

Do you realize the $2 billion dollars scientist want for this unprecedented study is dwarfed by our war in Iraq? This $2 billion is what we spend EVERY 4 DAYS on "our" war?

Why worry about the future health of our planet from our largest resource, when we can destroy a country and millions of peoples lives today?

I FINALLY get a "release" from the FDA for containers that have been detained almost 10 weeks. They have been tested for everything but cat urine. Do you want to know what the bottom of the release says?

These products are released. This notice does not constitute assurance that the product released complies with all provisions of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, or other related Acts, and does not preclude action should the product later be found violative.

WTF?!?! Are you serious? Does not constitute assurance?????????????

How can you not be assured???

First customs sampled it and held it for weeks.

Then we had a 3rd party sample the container, neither us or our customer were allowed to open the container. Then we sent the samples to a 3rd party lab, approved by the US government for melamine and melamine derivative testing.

THEN almost a week after they get the negative results, they ask for a document (that ended up being 35 pages) on the procedures used to arrive at the negative results.

If it's an approved lab, don't you think they procedures used for that testing would be pre-approved?

Then a week AFTER they get the procedures we get the verbal ok. Then 24 hours finally the document with the disclaimer.

I swear I will go postal.

But, hey at least the Iraq war is going good.... [end sarcasm]

Ok, ok... I have a friend that I go round and round with. She tells me you can not be against abortion on a personal level, yet on a political level support choice. I still stand by my argument that a person can and I do.

Personally? I have a few issues with abortion, but those are mine to deal with. On the same note, I have never been raped and it resulted in a pregnancy, or been a victim of sexual abuse or many of the other reasons I can see why women choose to have an abortion.

I am against abortion as birth-control. I see abortion as a last resort.

I support access to safe and legal abortion and, equally, that women should be protected from forced abortions.

The end.

Also, along the lines of : if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear the sound, does it make a noise?

Suicide 99.9% of the time is an act of mental illness, not a political statement (one exception is the Buddhist Monk who lit himself on fire in 1963 to protest the Vietnam War).

Earlier this month, a Chicago man, Malachi Ritscher, also tried to make an anti-war statement by burning himself alive on a busy Chicago highway.

No one stopped.

It was not immediately apparent why.

People were more annoyed with the traffic-delay than the reality of the man burning alive by the road.

None of the mainstream media outlets carried the story.

His family has not been on Larry King or Bill O'Reily.

In case you hadn't seen this story, you can check it out:
The Baltimore Sun ran an article.
The Chicago Sun Times called his death as a "waste".
I prefer Yahoo's slightly different take on the incident.

I may not agree with his choice of how he decided to protest the war, but I think that the fact that it went unnoticed in the media is an indication of a bigger problem in our society.

More people vote for American Idol than the American President.

I wonder if there are more subscribers to People Magazine than the NYTimes (or name your fav national newspaper).

More people watched the finale of Dancing with the Stars than voted in the November elections.

Ritscher's suicide is one of only nine reported incidents of self-immolation performed as an act of protest in American history.

He video-taped himself, but since it was not "network worthy", is it really news? I mean, after all, TomKat might be pregnant again, Madonna wants another baby, and Brad and Angelina might also be showing "the bump". Fantasy football stats need to be updated. Dancing with the Stars was still running and Jerry Springer still in the running. Also, let's not also forget, Kid Rock and Pam Anderson are getting divorced.

With all of that going on..... we really don't have time for a story such a Rischer's, do we?

Malachi Ritscher wanted to make a statement. But what good is a statement, if no one stops to listen?

Who needs family planning? Not Bush and certainly not his latest Bush appointee Dr. Eric Keroack to oversee the Title X funding for the US.

Dr. K is the medical director for a group called A Womens Concern in Boston. AWC according to their site.... "supports sexual abstinence until marriage, opposes contraception and does not distribute information promoting birth control at its six centers in eastern Massachusetts."

So, basically, the best person in the country to deal with issues of birth control and family planning according to the President, is a person who only believes married people should have sex and only if they want to have a baby, because they can't use birth control.

Thank you Mr. President. My uterus feels safer already.

Understand that it is not healthy, responsible sexual activity that Keroack is promoting. Sex for sex's sake is unwholesome in their book. I'm certain none of them have EVER participated in pre-martial sex or had affairs. We all know conservative, religious right folk don't do that.

People such as Dr. K see sex as a hedonistic and sinful flight from what they perceive as the real purpose of sex. What is being promoted is the idea that sex ought only to exist for married couples who share in God's plan.

"God's plan"? From what I can tell from this administration (which God himself condoned according to Bush) involves procreating for the sole purpose of increasing the numbers of people just like them: anti-science, anti-evolution, anti-choice, pro-war, pro-death-penalty, pro-grammed, and "Christian".

Why did I say "Christian" in quotes? In case you missed my sarcasm, it's because Bush and I might, just might, disagree on what Christians should stand for. I consider myself a Christian, and it amazes me the damage President Bush has done to the reputation and image of Christians. I want to stand up and scream and let people see that not all Christians are so, well, damn backwards.

As a side note in case you don't want to google: What is Title X? Here is a Link to the Office of Population Affairs. In short it is :

Tonight is PTO (or PTA in some schools) meeting #2. We're going to be making the final decisions on fund raising for the preschool. Yes, the preschool, which is a completely different financial entity than the k-8 attached to it. So, as I'm sitting in this meeting, the following will be running through my mind....

Last night, my doorbell rings, which causes havoc on the whole house. The cat runs, the dog barks and my daughter starts screeming. It's a lil cub scout selling popcorn tins. Calls me Ma'am. Strike one.

Strike two, little kid (8ish?) walking door to door without a parent at almost-dark. While I realize that is how I sold Girl Scout cookies (like 20 years ago! god I'm old) and we live in the 'burbs, I still hate the idea of this.

I tell him that if he buys the trash bags that our school is selling, I'll buy his over priced popcorn tin. The reply was, "but lady, I don't have any money." Pathetic, but adorable.

I bought it anyway.

Why did I want the Mormon Missionaries instead? They're easier to say no to.

About once a week it seems for the last 2 months, I'm getting hit up for something. Wrapping paper, trash bags, cookies, popcorn, and life insurance. But that was a guy who had a 5o'clock shadow at 11 am on a Saturday. I was less indulging to him than the little cub last night.

Private organization like the cub scouts don't bother me to the same degree as school fund-raising. What's the deal with the schools turning this into a requirement? If you don't sell, they not so subtly let you know they noticed.

What is wrong with the funding to our schools that we HAVE to do this so the teachers can have a microwave in their break room or the teachers can have supplemental supplies?

What if we spent 90 minutes tonight talking about which legislators we could lobby for education reform instead of which fund raiser is next?

What if we went door to door with a petition instead of Catalogs of crapola made by child slave labor in a foreign country?

What if we had the whole meeting at TKs Grill instead of the "after meeting"? Ok, I have no idea how that is socially responsible, but A LOT more fun).

You get the idea.

We all knew Big Brother was here, but now it's even easier to access.

Wait until criminals get ahold of this and notice you're on vacation 3 states away.... time to come over and load up their van.

I know there's a joke in here somewhere about psycho-girlfriends, but I'm really too disturbed by this to make a light-hearted joke.

If we all don't start to put an end to what the government (and these cash greedy private firms) are beginning (the extermination of ANY privacy and rights we as American Citizens have) then the Orwell Novel 1984 will more than be fiction.

originally posted on myspace.com on July 31, 2006



This is what happens when we let men run the countries. We have conflicts, wars, police actions, etc. All because of testosterone posturing. Yes, folks, they have to prove to the world who is bigger.

Slap your religion behind your cause, and all of a sudden, your position is supposed to have validity, and the bombing is done because its Gods will. God hates those infidels across the border in case you didn't know.

A few random thoughts about God, war, and religion....

1) When it comes to killing in the name of your God, I especially get my panties in a wad. First of all, how do you KNOW you're right? Did God personally come down and tell you to kill those infidels across the border?

2) When God speaks to you, it's a good idea to listen.

3) When someone tells you God spoke to them though, it's a good idea to double-check. Here are a few examples:
~ David Koresh & the need to stockpile more ammunition than Ft. Bragg
~ that Utah polygamy-guy on the FBIs most wanted
~ and our current President who said God wanted him to win I always thought of God as more of a Libertarian.

I think religion is great and serves a purpose in many peoples lives. It gives purpose, direction, guidance, support, and a center they can come to when life gets crazy.

I also think it can be taken too far (and becomes a negative in life) and when it takes away a persons ability to think independently. Religion should be to enrich your life, not dictate every thought and action.

Killing in the name of religion is one of the most revolting things I can think of. Both sides pray to the same God before they go off to kill each other. In spite of the many differences among Christians, Jews, and Muslims, they share a fundamental belief in God as compassionate and just. Maybe a little less posturing and a little more compassion gets us back to where all religions think we should be.

originally posted on myspace.com on June 9, 2006

Ok, this is two blogs in one, though related.

The first part is disappointment that a story I feel is VERY important to the current war and the future of our military that is not being discussed. Secondly, is it not being discussed because of political power & the American public being spoon fed by those in control?

Or is this story simply not as important as I think it is?

The story I'm referring to is that the Pentagon has decided to take the Geneva Detainee rules from the military field manuals, because in a post-9/11 world, things must be done differently (so they say). Here is a partial quote and a link to the article:

Click Here to read whole story

I heard this on a short blurb on a local station, but have no seen it discussed AT ALL on CNN, or FOX, or on talk radio (that I have listened to). Shouldn't this be debated more fiercely than the gay marriage amendment? I mean, we established that convention after ww2 and the atrocities that were experienced then. (here is a little background on the Geneva Convention if interested : Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. It's interesting)

This story has much bigger ramifications than the current war. How can the US decide it no longer has to play by international rules? We then become the outlaws and see ourselves above the law.

Interestingly, the government is able to convince Americans that this is in our best interest. How do they do that? Through use of political power and the media.

There are two main sources of political power (in my opinion). 1: mass opinion. 2: money.

Money can buy soldiers. Opinion can buy unity. Opinion, not money, should be the first and main tool at all times!

Today the media is controlled by the tempters, who gain money by means of what the mass likes to hear most. There is no simpler a goal, then the control of the media. One message can be copied and sent to millions of men, while millions of soldiers would be needed to oppress millions of men. Using the military to control the people is what the stupid leader does, as it is both costly and inefficient. Mobilization of opinion is hard to start, and hard to stop; it picks up momentum. An idea can become a religion, and religion people will die for and blindly defend.

The media of today is reminiscent to me of "newspeak" and "doublespeak" from Orwell's book 1984. In todays media those methods are being used with Americans. Here are a few examples:

1) When they kill, they're terrorists. When we kill, we're striking against terror.
2) When terrorists attack, they're terrorizing. When we attack, we're retaliating.
3) When people decry civilian deaths caused by the U.S. government, they're aiding propaganda efforts. But, when civilian deaths are caused by bombers who hate America, the perpetrators are evil and those deaths are tragedies.

Fifty-two years ago, Orwell wrote an essay titled "Politics and the English Language." Today, his words remain as relevant as ever: "In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible."

originally posted on myspace.com on May 17, 2006

The slippery slope is an argument for the likelihood of one event given another. Invoking the "slippery slope" means arguing that one action will initiate a chain of events that will lead to a (generally undesirable) event later.


There are a lot of slippery slope arguments that I always find interesting, because it forces me sometimes to draw a line in the sand and say "I believe this" but "I do not believe in this". For example, a common one is about gay marriage.... if we allow gay marriage then next we'll have to allow polygamous marriage (which I don't believe).

A slippery slope argument that is on my mind today is that a small decrease in liberty will grow larger over time. Once we allow small liberties to be taken away, then it'll be easier in the future for more to be taken away. This is one slippery slope argument I can support.

Daily in the news we hear about our phone records being gathered, easedropping without warrants, and even our library records. After the Patriot Act was passed, a book club I belong to will not keep your previous orders (supposedly) on record more than 90 days. Simply because if compelled, they would have to release those records. If they don't have them, there is nothing to give to the government.

This is not the first time in our history where liberties that have taken decades to build up have been taken away from citizens. Hindsight makes the shameful internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II and the FBI's ruthless prosecution of civil rights leaders in the 1960s and 1970s universally condemned. We must be mindful of those lessons today.

George Orwell was right after all. In 1984 (one of my favorite books), Orwell wrote his book as a cautionary tale to underscore the insidious danger of slowly eroded individual liberties. His Thought Police may not yet be on the march, but it's not hyperbole to point out the eerie parallels with today's America. In America today, Big Brother is watching.


Ben Franklin said, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." I'll admit, after 9-11, I was more ok with the Patriot Act than I am now. I had reservations, but believed in the "greater good." I was alone in Minneapolis in my apartment, pregnant, and wondering why can't the government protect us. How far my opinion has changed since then and I question more. The so-called "Patriot Act" scares me, as does the wiretapping and eavesdropping stories we're hearing about lately. I fear that like the Galactic Senate in Star Wars (Revenge of the Sith), we're letting liberty die... to thunderous applause.

I am reminded of a news story within the last year of a pizza parlor in Israel. They were having a grand reopening on the 1 year anniversary of a bombing that killed about a dozen patrons, including school age children. Some of the patrons that were injured and witnesses the day of the bombing were present at the reopening event. In the interviews with each of them the overwhelming theme was that they were there to show the terrorists that the survivors were not scared and the terrorists did not win.

Mark Twain said once, "that courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear". If we are to be courageous and stand up to threats again us and our country, then we can not allow our fears erode our freedom. THAT is how we fight terrorism.

(oh, and obviously spell check was not used, but hopefully you get the point....)