Keep spreading the word

I've been trying to add this to the sidebar for a couple of days now with no luck. For some reason blogger won't let me do it.

Surviving Bushville Part 2

Another installment in surviving Bushville.
Depending on how soon the economy will collapse and it's just a matter of time. If you don't believe it. Remember the economy goes in cycles as it has for hundreds - make that thousands of years. The problem now is that this chimp in chief has spent more than all of the U.S. presidents combined.
As you can't realistically go out buy a solar array and disconnect from the power grid you can do things to cut your energy, food and other bills to survive the coming hard times. Many of these you may know about already and some not.

1. Heating - clean or replace furnace filters and have it checked for proper operation. Even electric wall units need cleaning. Turn off the power to them and vacuum any dust accumulations. Close off any unused rooms. Set the thermostat to 65 degrees. If you use oil for heating buy it now before prices go up. If you can get an averaged price ( price set based on adding up a yearly total and dividing by 12) go for it. Check with the gas/heating oil companies for these programs. I did hear of one program where you could buy at a fixed rate if you agreed to purchase a large amount on contract but I don't remember where that was. Sorry you'll have to do some research on that one.
2. Water heater - unless you have a newer self cleaning model you'll need to purge several gallons of water from the bottom of the tank. There's a spigot at the bottom of the unit. Hook a garden hose to it and drain about 5 gallons into a sink or drain. Careful this is hot water. This gets rid of any sludge or scale that settles in the bottom of the tank. Set the heating elements to 120 degrees (most new models are already set to this). There's usually two side panels to remove. Oh, but don't forget to turn off the power before doing that. Gentle pull the insulation to the side exposing the thermostats. Set them and reverse the procedure. You may want to buy a timer for the heater if you only use hot water at specific times each day. Check with the hardware store about proper installation.
3. Lighting - When in doubt turn it off. Used to be that florescent lights used more energy at start up than if you left them on for five minutes. No more. The energy surge is minimal now so turn them off. Many compact bulbs CFL's are now on sale and some electric companies offer rebates. A 15 watt CFL bulb puts out as much light as a 60 watt incandescent. Check the package for the right usage.
4.Insulate and calk - If you don't live in an apartment or condo you can insulate your attic. It will cost a bit of money but with rising energy costs it will pay for itself quickly. Check with the local hardware about R values and installation. Fiberglass can get itchy. Calk around windows and doors. A 1/4 inch crack can equal a large amount of heat loss when you calculate the whole area of the crack. Check for air leakage around electric outlets on the outside walls. You can buy cheap gaskets that fit the outlets.
5. Food - Many areas have farmers markets this time of year. You can usually buy fresh locally grown produce, jams, nuts and many other items there. Many times you can make the seller a deal if it's late in the day. They don't want to have to pack up a lot of products to cart it back to the farm. If you've done a garage sale you know what I'm talking about. You'll be supporting local farmers and helping the earth at the same time. I'll get into more about food saving later. I'll entitle that one "How I ate during the Reagan recession with no money."

Looks like the UAW strike is over

There is a tenative agreement with the UAW today. Few details were given but it looks like they got some type of job security offer and a new program for health care called a VEBA. I'm always suspicious when they throw something new at us and I think there may be a few glitches in this system.
VEBA
Any teachers or state workers under this plan out there like to comment about its' pros and cons?

Random thoughts

I haven't posted much lately because I had a bit of an accident at work and didn't fair well with the medication. I'm still trying to get the word out about Shut it Down which is time consuming. I also try to post a comment on blogs that link to that site, a personnal thank you note if you will. I still feel that bloggers and the internet is the greatest power of the 21st century. I believe We can actually make a difference.

Ahmadinajad had his say on 60 minutes and at Columbia. I did like his summary of Bush, but like all politicians he skated around the issues as I had expected he would. One thing to remember. He is not in charge of the military in Iran.

UAW is on strike. My heart goes out to them and their families. Management realizing that sales are down will encourage a strike to lower supplys. I think most Americans have been disappointed in the quality and styling of cars made here. I don't think that's the workers fault it's in the engineering and design departments that need a swift kick.

The housing market continues to implode go over to Monkeyfister's site to catch some good housing articles. Thing that scares me about that is that the Puget Sound region is the last to go into a recession and the last to get out. Remember all of the remaining safety nets have been cut thanks to the chimp in chief.

Numbers

Casualties


I remember the lies we were handed during the Vietnam war of the statistics about the casualties of the war. Each week Friday to be exact we were told that 15 or 20 U.S. soldiers were killed while the enemy lost two to three thousand. After several years of war it dawned on me that if there figures were true then our boys in uniform would have wiped out the entire North Vietnamese army and then some. Having talked to my brother who did a tour over there about this, he explained that it was customary for soldiers to add a few numbers to their figures when giving reports. It now appears that our military is doing just the opposite of the Iraqi casualties. I hear only those people shot in the back are counted in the figures.

The rethuglicans support the troops... yea right

A bill before the congress was to permit our troops to have as much time off as they had in combat. The vote 56 to 44 failed because the rethuglicans filibustered it. I just love how main puke media fails to give the rest of the story. Why do the rethuglicans hate the troops? I'll let you decide.

Is nothing safe?

China is at it again.

Bad medicine
Shrub must just love these guys. The'll do anything for a buck and they don't care who they kill in the process. Unless of course somebody gets caught.

New blog

Not really a new blog, but new to me. I was delighted to be added to the blogroll of Left of Centrist and I'll do the same as soon as I can remember how to do it. Man I'm getting rusty.

More lies

The white house is reporting that the "mission" in Iraq is not open ended and that troops will be gradually sent home.
A large load of bull
If that were true why has the U.S. built one of the worlds largest embassys and planning to build military bases along the Iran border? Sure sounds like their planning to stay to me.

A stay for U.S. truckers

The U.S. senate has blocked funding for a year long test that would have permitted trucks from Mexico to travel America's highways.

Brief victory for U.S. truckers

We'll see what the next move is by the republicans to get this through.

Get the word out

A few fellow bloggers and myself have started a grass roots movement to try and change the course of this country. We've written to our elected officials to try bring about change and have been ignored. If you would take some time out of your busy lives to spread the word of a nationwide work stoppage on Oct. 17,2007 (that was the day the solidarity movement in Poland was outlawed) we believe that those elected officials would start listening. It's worked for the Teamsters and the Longshoreman in the past and I know that if we can get their support on this then things will change. For more info go to our new web site: Shut it down

What would Friday be without...

It's beginning to look like more beaver shots than posts of late. Sorry but the work schedule has been hectic and we've been trying to get all of the outside work on our place done before the rainny season starts again ( like when does it ever stop around here in the Northwest ).

Last word on Larry Craig

As Craig would like a Mulligan for his actions in an airport restroom, he might want to rethink the possible outcome. I understand some of the charges were dropped because he pleaded guilty. If that plea were changed and he be retried then the original charges could be reinstated. Minnesota has some interesting laws against peeping toms with a fine of up to $5000 and two years in jail. Oops!

Unusual

Two republican congressmen have passed away. One on Tuesday and another one today.
Jennifer Dunn
And
Paul Gillmor

A possible solution

graphic by Monkeyfister

It seems that our pleas for an end to the Iraq war, universal health care, and trying to stop the permitting of Mexican truckers free reign of our nations highways has fallen on deaf ears. So what can we do? We can organize and start a nationwide work stoppage. It seems to work in other countries of the "free" world. It would require first the support of the Longshoremen's union and the Teamsters union and any other unions that would want to give support. Any others would be more than welcome to join the protest. No riots in the street. No civil disobedience. Just don't go to work. Call in sick if you must, but just don't be there.
Another suggestion was to turn on all of your lights on a given day as a protest. I don't like that one. I would suggest turning off all your lights thereby lowering your electric bill and depriving the government of the taxes that go with it. This would be quite fitting as the corpratocracy that has taken charge of this country see only dollar signs so let's hit em where it hurts... the wallet. Combine this with a don't buy anything day and I think we can actually get some attention.
What do you think? If you like it and think it's a good idea leave a comment and pass this post on. Maybe just maybe it might make it to the A list bloggers and the mainstream media and catch on. Also the need to pick a date. Any suggestions?

Labor Day

As I was too busy yesterday trying to catch up on some work around my place to post. I stopped by one of my favorite blogs to read a fine article about Labor Day. Pop over and check it out Monkeyfister

They should put this woman in charge at disasters

The feds want to require federal ID CARDS
for disaster sites. As this is part of what I do for a living let me give you a little insight into the situation. After 911 our wonderful government promised to provide funding for training to the many workers like myself who actually deal with dangerous situations on a daily basis. Did we see that money? Not for nearly 5 years after the event. Is there a training program in place yet? Sort of. There is one 16 hour course in dealing with disaster site preparedness. The problem. Almost all of these workers belong to unions and as we all know Shrub hates unions. Hence no money and no training program. The other issue in all of this is who is in charge when a disaster happens? The WTC was not only a disaster area but a crime scene as well. Needless to say there was much infighting as to who was in charge. Who would you pick? The city police? Fire department? FBI? Mayor? Or god forbid homeland security??? The other issue in all of this is the problem of communications. Each agency has its' own type of communications and own terminology and nothing has changed to this day.
Now if somebody had some smarts rather than political butt kissing there wouldn't be a need for id cards. You'd simply sign up at a support zone and tell the person in charge your qualifications, sign in, pick up any safety gear and instructions and be directed to where you are needed. If somebody is dumb enough to go into a disaster zone without training they can be picked out quite easily. And I've even seen people with training freeze up and have to be sent home.