Light posting

I tend to get busy in the summer as you can see by my light posting. Apologize for not posting as much. There is a lot to talk about right now and I am out of time again. Hopefully, in the next few days I will post on Louise Smith's Inability To Think, Albero Finally Gets Sued For Being Albero, and Bush Sort-Of-Pardons Libby (at least keeps his little buddy out of jail - I imagine it went something like this:

L - "You know George, 30 months is enough time to write a very interesting book about my time in the White House."

G - "Uhhhhhm, well, we can't let that happen. I will pardon the jail time, but so people don't get suspicious we'll keep the fine in place, have one of our corporate guys pay it, and keep the probation."

L - "I thought so."

Sam Perlozzo Fired

The Orioles' manager was fired this afternoon, as they all have been since we haven't had a winning season since 1997. We have had and do have some very talented players interspersed through the years, just not a congruent bunch. We have good starting pitchers and no closers, or we have great closers and starters that can't get past the 5th inning. We have had two good hiters in the lineup and the rest of them might as well have been me (imagine that!) . . . the list goes on and on; the problem with the Orioles is ownership. Angelos is a dud. He always has been. He thinks adding Sammy Sosa to the line up makes for a winning team. Only after we bought Sosa we had no money left for any other players. Give me a break.

It's been hard to be an Orioles fan ever since Cal moved to third base. I love 'em and am a die-hard fan, but it's hard.

Angelos has to go. He sucks.

Vegetables

It's that time of year when we have vegetables a plenty hear on the shore. A lot of people are moving towards organic/naturally grown produce - and for good reason. I don't want to ingest pesticides and herbicides. If you were born and bred on the shore like I was, you probably grew your vegetables naturally anyway, just because we farmed the way our ancestors did. Now, huge mega-farms growing useless fruits and veggies (you know, that beautiful red, round tomato you find at the grocery store and then you eat it and, well, you don't taste anything) selling wonderful-looking veggies cheap, we have to make tough decisions.

Certain terms may be misleading and, coming from a long family of farmers and doing some research, I thought I would give some pointers to the come-heres on the art of buying veggies. It's Farmer's Market time, and we all need to support those men and women busting their butts to feed others the best food they can grow.

ORGANIC means grown without the use of pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizer. They do use natural pest control items, their hands and hoes are the herbicides, and they use all natural fertilizer (their own compost, chicken crap, etc.). The veggies are full of flavor and appear as they should - a blemish here, an odd colored tomato there, an odd shaped eggplant. Organic farmers use the nutrients already in the ground to feed their plants, and therefore they have healthy, sustainable soil as well that is better for the environment and they take care of to ensure years of healthy farming.

LOCALLY GROWN is pretty straight forward, but always ask if you are at a roadside stand or farmer's market. Just ask if they grew the produce the vegetables themselves. If you see a tomato in May or a vadalia onion anywhere, chances are they shipped the product here. Some markets are producer-only, others you just rent a table and you could have avacados shipped from California and sell them there. (Note: local farmers with a complex greenhouse system could have a tomato in May, but it is doubtful.)

In the end the best choice is LOCALLY GROWN ORGANIC. The best of both worlds, and an easy decision to make. Now it gets tricky. Everyone is getting into organic produce now, and people go out of their way to purchase organic. The truth is buying locally grown produce from a farmer that used a little pesticide is much better than buying produce from California that was grown organically. First of all, just think of the fuel used to truck the product from California to here. Then think of the packaging used to make sure the product got here 3 days later safely (often plastic wrapped in a styrofoam tray). Lastly, most vegetables continue to ripen after they are harvested. So that product had to be picked before it got ripe to ensure it was on the grocery floor at the optimum time. The last three days the fruit ripened with out any nutrients and it gets soggy and loses flavor. Also, at farmer's markets you will find that the fruit ripened on the vine and was picked ready to eat, often that morning or the evening before. You talk about fresh!

If you have any questions or concerns, head to your local farmer's market and ask any of the farmers working the stands about their vegetables. It's hard work, and if they are there, they are passionate about their food. And they love to talk about their farms and their vegetables.

The Daily Times joins the blogging world

Oh boy. The Daily Times has joined our local blogging community. It will be interesting to see how objective they can be online and how free they can be with the local political scene. I am not familiar with Joe who is the Administrator for the political blog. Time will tell.

I posted a link to the right. Check it out.

Parody, For Fun

Today, I was walking down the plaza and I saw a piece of trash in the flowers. YOU WON'T SEE THIS IN THE DAILY TIMES. There were workers, but they didn't pick up the trash. WHAT DO WE PAY OUR TAXES FOR? I also saw a blimp out by the airport yesterday. You read it here first. The only news you need to read. The Daily Times may not even report this news!

P.S. - I am not texting Rush his entire show today, so he will flop. I am the greatest "news" "reporter" ever.

Signatures

Congratulations to us for exercising our rights and getting enough signatures to make the council members do their job. It's a shame that we had to do all that just to get people we voted for to perform. And shame on Gary, Shanie and Louise for trying push an agenda the people are against. I have come to expect Gary to agree with the mayor and Shanie to do, well, nothing. But my disappointment in Louise after her agressive and clear campaign to be elected is really overwhelming. I have never been witness to a local politician being so sneaky and untrustworthy. It's one thing to say something like I reviewed my postion and based on ______ I would like to explain my new position. But to simply be puppet and not perform the duties she elected to do, is just wrong. I would be embarrassed and resign if I was you Louise. What a crock.

GWB Wakes Up

Wow. GWB stated that "The United States will not avert our eyes to a crisis that challenges the conscience of the world." Uhhhm, sir, the genocide in Darfur started in February of 2003. Over four years ago. 200,000 dead and 2.5 million refugees. Thanks for noticing, Mr. President.