I’m all for actions taken to “preserve and protect our environment”, as recommended in “The Way To Happiness“. Hell, I pick up litter constantly here on the ranch, mostly in the form of beer cans left by loggers and teens looking for somewhere on our long county road where they can party in their cars.

However, if we’re all going to die next week from global warming , we might as well have fun at it. Like the Arlo Guthrie song said, “Ain’t got time to wonder why, whoopie! we’re all gonna die!” (Not!) The Competitive Enterprise Institute …

Dr. Laibow’s Health Freedom Blog contains a good summary of the state of the Codex Vitamin and Mineral Guideline plot by the big pharmaceutical companies to rob us of the freedom to choose our own natural health supplements. I don’t take a lot of supplements, but I damn well want to take the ones I believe I need, and I don’t give a damn whether Big Pharma or their lapdog (aka Congress) thinks I should or not. To paraphrase the gun lobby, “They can have my Vitamin B-1 when they pry it from my cold dead hand.”

I have …

I made several new friends at a wedding I attended in Virginia last weekend. Not least among them was David St. Lawrence, a blogger from Floyd, an arts & crafts center in rural Virgina. David’s blog, ripples.typepad.com is enlivened by many photos and much sound advice for those who are recently self-employed (aka “fired” or “layed off”) or about to be. His descriptions of the wedding were spot on. Many friendly people, in high spirits, cooperating and showing off by making the most incredible food and making every welcome.

Instead of the normal bride’s wedding …

L.D. Sledge, a writer and ex-lawyer from Louisiana, sends out a regular rant. via email. I don’t have time to read all of it every time, but he often has something profound to say. His coverage of the

I started this blog 3 years ago in April, and I didn’t even notice the 3rd anniversary slip by on April 15th. I get a lot of positive feedback from visitors (not so much in the form of comments, which I only recently started to allow) but in email form. And I’ve helped some people who contacted me about their abuse at the hands of psychiatrists get in touch with CCHR (Citizens Commission on Human Rights) so they can seek justice, which has been very rewarding. And I’ve steered some people over to Scientology Volunteer …

Here are some sites about Tom Cruise that I’ve been meaning to link to. They give a better understanding of the whole “silent birth” fracas the press kicked up. When my children were born through cesarean section, my wife and I insisted on as little noise and chatter between the medical staff as possible. They can do their work without joking around or needless chatter, and that’s all we requested.

• Tom Cruise & silent birth
• Tom Cruise fan site
• Tom Cruise & Scientology
• Tom Cruise on E! Online
• Tom Cruise at Celebrity Centre Gala event

 …

The timber ranch I live on didn’t start out that way. It started as a sheep ranch because, a hundred and some years ago, the timber standing on it was worthless. Huge cedar trees and Douglas firs were cut down and turned into scrap wood. There was a road built here the ranch a quarter mile long out of cedar planks six inches thick and eighteen inches wide, ten feet long, laid edge to edge to form a solid plank walk over which oxen and horses could drag heavy logs up a steep hill. All the trees were cut down …

Classified as a “noxious weed”, scotch broom is in rampant bloom here in Coastal Oregon. You see the bright yellow blooms everywhere you drive. It lines the roadways, it takes over entire hillsides, and you can see it spreading from one year to the next. Pollen from scotch broom used to give me intense sinus headaches as a child — it no longer does much but make me sneeze once in a while. The yellow pollen it makes in copious quantities covers our vehicles and anything else left outdoors in a thick layer. Even so, it is a beautiful plant …

I love this time of year on the ranch. It seems like you can’t wave a stick wthout waving it at a flower of some kind or other. The cheerful irises are everywhere, and this year we seem to have more than normal of the bright yellow Oregon Grape flowers. They look like English holly but aren’t.

Here’s a testimonial from someone who recently completed the Purification Program provided by the NY Detox Center:

“I came to the project depressed and shattered both physically and mentally due to the horrific events of September 11, 2001…During my time spent in the program, a sense of well being and peace replaced the constant fog that had shrouded my life for the past several years. I gradually began to sleep through the night and let go of the nightmarish images that have haunted me since that tragic day in September. Responding to this new found peace and the

 …