Changing Venues

Yes, I still exist. I will now be blogging anything dealing with right eating, raw foodism, plant-centric diets, etc over at The Sol Power Network. I am basically collapsing all of my blogs into one. So instead of just getting a fraction of me you can get the whole number.

Sun of Man son of god cooking short

Zen Chop

Yes. I've been moving across every square inch of this planet. Yesterday I got to get my focus on by just chopping some wood.

Another reason to drink 100% fruit juice...

From some of my peoples:

One more reason to drink 100% juice , http://news. yahoo. com/s/ap/20090313/ap_on_re_us/windshield_fluid_sickness . Windshield wiper fluid is mistaken for Kool-Aid. Children should not be fed any type of juice that is made with sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and artificial dyes. People have become so used to feeding kids juices with artificial dyes they really have no idea what the hell juice looks like. The Standard American Diet (SAD) makes it so people dont even think anymore and feed children anything.


For more information about Holistic Parenting buy the book, "Holistic Parenting from the Pan-Afrikan Perspective" at www. afrikanparenting. com .

Take the land, take the food

Food, ethnicity and land...forever connected.

Justice and couscous

What people consume in a week worldwide.

Mexico: The Casales family of Cuernavaca

Riding off of my manifestation from yesterday...many of us have no world perspective. Hunger is not just defined by the lack of quantity of food..the lack of quality of food is up in there also. So many of us think that we're not starving ourselves yet we are eating empty calories and our bodies aren't receiving the proper nutrients. This is the root of the health epidemic in places like the United States who though 'enlightened' seem to be hit with an over abundance of health issues.

Photographer Joao Batista has done a fascinating series of photos titled "The People and the Food They Consume in a Week.” He took snaps of families in countries around the world (including the U.S., Egypt, Poland, Chad, Mongolia, Greenland, Bhutan, and France) posing in their homes with the food they consume in a typical week. You can get a peek at it at the Meallennium blog. A Facebook login is needed for the full set.

Check it out.

One Bowl

Raw at the Root (of civilization)

Never thought there would be the day when I would verse on the regular with Gods and Earths about being a raw foodist yet I definitely got my raw food clique that I Build with when at the root (Mecca aka Harlem). I got the normal usual versing with my little brother Khalik Allah about how eating that raw chocolate can get you HYGH! (No lie). Also spoke with him and Original Author Allah about the project that they are working on.

Then I got to meet in the flesh Queen Jael Devine whom you may know as Ravyn from Rawthentic life.
Good to meet and confirm internet celebrities in the flesh. And on another note...we might just be having a Original Indigenous Raw feast up here in CT in the upcoming months so stay tuned!

When they start talking about the FDA

..sit them down to watch these commercials





Big business is not synonymous with someone who will tell you the truth about anything. Remember that and check things for yourself and trust not THEIR studies.

Like that son....

FBI raids Peanut Butter Salmonella plant

Filter your air

I jacked this from Lifehacker

Three Plants that Give You Better Indoor Air

By Kevin Purdy, 8:05 AM on Mon Feb 9 2009, 30,864 views

Kamal Meattle used three just three indoor plant species to increase oxygen, filter air, and boost general health at a a New Delhi business park. You can use them, too, in any indoor environment.

Meattle's presentation at the TED 2009 conference details a large-scale success, using thousands of plants for hundreds of workers. In any living or working space, though, the three plants—Areca palm, Mother-in-law's Tongue, and a "Money Plant"—can be used to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, remove organic compounds, and generally filter and freshen the ambient air. A single person looks to need a minimum of 11 total plants, and certain climates with less sunlight could require a bit of hydroponic growing, but Meattle swears by the health, productivity, and atmosphere benefits. Check out the detailed slides from his TED talk:

How to Grow Your Own Fresh Air - TED 2009 Talk

View more presentations from jaymeattle. (tags: plants greenhouse)

1 year anniversary for self and Catch a Healthy Habit

In 2007 I went to Denver and had a raw food fiesta. I had chocolate pudding made with cacao and avocado. I had spaghetti made out o zucchini and 'meatballs' made out of nut meat. I had 'heard' the term 'raw foodist' thrown around yet I had images of just munching on an apple and stuff. My time in Denver changed that. It took a while yet later that year I fully switched over into a raw foodist life style. In fact it is going on about a year now. Ironically Catch a Healthy Habit, the raw food cafe in West Haven had its 1 year anniversary yesterday.

Now, it wasn't easy at first because I was/am in the process of learning. So in order to make sure I was getting a variety in my meals I had to constantly be on the ball learning new recipes. What eased this whole transition into this lifestyle was Catch a Healthy Habit. It is my version of raw 'fast food'. I can roll through and get some raw goodness to touch the tummy and it will be good. I'm a question asker also so I've learned alot during its one year in existence here near me.

As I prepare to move I think how easy that it has been for me yet I am happy in that I definitely did not waste my time there. I learned while I was around. If you roll through southern C-Truth definitely check it out.

What is Iraqi Order 81

As an add on to yesterdays Build (and if you haven't added on in the comments please do so) what is Iraqi Order 81 and what does it have to do with YOU.

Suicide Seeds...Let's Build.

Peace,
Let's Build on this. I only have linked part I yet please watch all 8 portions and let's build on this via the comment section here. Add on.

The World According to Montsaro

Peace

Random shots

Random shots.

Black women in the U.S. appear to be shrinking -- chicagotribune.com

Native Americans and Diabetes - American Diabetes Association

Unexplained Mysteries :: Males are becoming more female

Be the manifestation of what you talk about

The mental physical connection is talked about all of the time yet often it falls into some campy type of new agey (translation...we took your ancient traditions, claimed them, and now we're going to sell them back to you) dissertation.

Everything is real though.

That is why my greatest proof for a plantcentric diet has been my physical body. For me I didn't read veganism 101. I just removed dairy from my diet and the immediate benefits of that experiment showed me that I wasn't living at the optimum level that my body could pump out. As I rocked different things I was actually in a state of becoming where I realized that there is an opposite to 'being sick' and that is being at an optimum level which is way above average. And for many that can't comprehend because they think that their 'average' is their body's optimum. Constantly physically feeling good, constantly having people take at least 7 years off of my age when they guess it, beign able to compete with the best out there..yes..this Ra food right(eous) food is muy bien.

It's a journey though. It is definitely healing on another level.

Yet understand that it is a journey. For many they are healing wounds and scars they may not have even noticed. You will find yourself in the valley of the shadow of death where 'artificial' is safe and familiar and 'natural' is scarey and 'dangerous'. You will comfront that part of yourself that you many not want to deal with.

That is why I found the blog of the Earth Serenity to be needed. It is about working to balance where you want to go with where you are.

Within/Without

We got superfoods also....

So as an Original raw foodist I have studied (and continue to study many) as I perfect this eating path (especially as it pertains to us topical melanin types). In my journey along this path I have come upon the works of David Wolfe who is basically one of THE raw food 'gurus' out there right now. Having my Supreme Mathematic's filter on always allows me to take the best pat. Being a white raw foodist doesn't absolve you of white privilege. Let me just put that out there. The happy go lucky hippie-esque (damn hippies get a bum rap here all of the time) white liberal stuff doesn't phase me and make me want to run through strawberry fields with ya. Yet if white people choose to use raw foodism as the 'sword above their head' in order to work to manifest civilization so be it.

Yet always remember where this started ie..with Original People. Though I was turned onto David Wolfe first one of the elders in the raw foodist community is an Original Man, Dr. Aris Latham of SunFired Foods. When I get to go to NYC and eat his food it is on! Also, it appears that David Wolfe has some controversy over his first book. It appears that chunks of it were plagiarized from an Original Man from Iran named Arshavir Ter Hovannessian. We know that models of how to eat to live come from Original cultures. So it is no surprise.

This brings me to one of my personal gripes with the raw food 'movement' as it is popularly manifested in a capitalist society. Seeing that I am moving more to the locavore these things have been popping up in my head. Why is it that all of the latest 'superfoods' come from like either the Far East or South America? Under the guise of offering these superfoods to people abroad are white people once again just 'stealing resources'? Why aren't there any Original industries that are benefiting off of this surge in 'superfoods'? Also the 'tone' makes it appear as though that there agree no 'superfoods' anywhere else on the planet. Sounds like someone is writing people out of history again.

In one of my previous blogs I wrote about the lost crops of africa. There is a series of books online where you can find about a whole bunch of vegetation that you ain't ever heard of. Recently I came upon a post by a brother who spoke about the same lack of african superfoods in the current raw food landscape and he referenced those books. Check out his article, those books, and see if you can cop some of those veggies and fruits around your way at an ethnic market.

Green technology exhibit highlights African-American innovators

Original People in the Green Movement? Say it ain't so. Well you can say it yet then go over and check this out.

The Daily Raw Cafe

Stop by the Daily Raw Cafe. Love when I catch another Original person rawing it up. Plus I get to jack more recipes.

That lemon

Those who recognize the God (recognize!) know that I keep it simple. Scan back on my article on shampoo and brushing those teeth. So in keeping with that ethic I jacked this article (I forgot from where) on lemons, that all purpose fruit. I always got mad lemons up in the piece. And trust...its SO functional. Let the article below speak for itself. And start cleaning out your medicine and cleaning cabinets.



Lemons - The Versatile Fruit



Lemons - a fruit with a wonderful fragrance, great in food and beverages, but also very handy for multiple purposes around the home!

Lemons have been cultivated by humans for over a thousand years. The fruit in mentioned in tenth century Arabic literature, but was probably first grown in Assam, India. Lemons are high in vitamin C, have an anti-bacterial effect and are thought to posess antioxidant and anti-carcinogenic properties. The juice consists of about 5% acid, which also makes them useful for a variety of household purposes.




Selecting and Storing Lemons



The best lemons are those that have smooth, oily skins and are heavy for their size. They should be bright yellow with no green tinges. Lemons will keep for up to a week at room temperature, two to three weeks refrigerated. Lemon zest (peel) can be frozen for months.


Juicing Lemons



To get the most juice from a lemon, it should be allowed to reach room temperature prior to juicing. Using your palm to roll the lemon on a hard surface can also help improve juice yields. If you only need a little juice, some people pierce the end with a fork, squeeze the amount needed, cover the holes with tape and then store in the fridge.


There's so much more to lemons than just using them in cooking and making lemonade! Here's a selection of handy tips. Remember to test in inconspicuous areas first.




Ant Deterrent

Pouring lemon juice around areas that ants frequent is said to repel them.


Air Freshener

An equal amount of lemon juice and water added to an atomizer will create a wonderful synthetic chemical-free green air freshener for your home.


All purpose cleaner

Again, an equal amount of lemon juice and water added to a spray bottle is an effective kitchen and bathroom cleaner and can also be used on walls (spot test first). A small amount of lemon juice can also be added to vinegar based cleaning solutions to help neutralize the smell of the vinegar.


Microwave

Heat a bowl of water and lemon slices in your microwave for 30 seconds to a minute; then wipe out the oven. Stains will be easier to remove and old food odors neutralized.


Refrigerator

Half a lemon stored in your fridge will help control and eliminate unpleasant smells.


Chrome/copper/brass



Rub a lemon juice and baking soda paste onto chrome or copper, rinse and then wipe/buff with a soft cloth or paper towel.


Toilet

Mix 1/2 cup borax and a cup of lemon juice for a powerful toilet cleaner that will leave it smelling extra clean!

Lime Scale

Use a half lemon to clean the lime scale off a sink or taps/faucets; rinse well.


Laundry

For bleaching purposes, add 1/2 cup of lemon juice to the rinse cycle and hang clothes outside to dry. A teaspoon of lemon juice thrown into your wash can also help your clothes to smell fresher.


Dishes

A teaspoon of lemon juice added to your dishwashing detergent can help boost grease cutting power

Drains

Hot lemon juice and baking soda is a good drain cleaner that is safe to use in septic systems. If you have a garbage disposal unit, throw in some lemon peel from time to time while it's working in order to keep it smelling fresh.


Chopping boards



Rub lemon juice into your wooden chopping board, leave overnight and then rinse. Wood chopping boards appear to have anti-bacterial properties anyway, but the lemon will help kill off any remaining nasties and neutralize odors.


Glass and Mirrors

4 tablespoons of lemon juice mixed with half a gallon of water makes an effective window cleaner

Degreaser

Straight lemon juice can be used as a general degreaser

Furniture

2 parts olive oil or cooking oil mixed with 1 part lemon juice makes for an excellent furniture polish!

Hair

To lighten hair, dampen it with lemon juice and sit out in the sun for an hour. This does work, I tried it myself.
Hey, it was the 80's!

I've read that the juice of a lemon mixed with one cup warm water makes for a great hair conditioner. It should be allowed to stay in your hair for a few minutes then washed off. Exercise caution if you have a sensitive scalp.


Cuts, Stings and Itches

A small amount of lemon juice pour onto minor wounds can help stop bleeding and disinfect the injury (it will sting a bit). Lemon juice applied to itches, poison ivy rashes and wasp stings is said to relieve discomfort.


Mouthwash

A 50/50 mixture of lemon juice and water makes for an effective mouthwash.


Hands



The smell of fish can linger on your hands, even after scrubbing with soap - rubbing your hands with lemon juice will neutralize the smell and leave your hands smelling wonderful.


Isn't it incredible how we have so many environmentally harsh cleaning chemicals in our homes when nature already offers most of what we need! Have some helpful hints for using lemons in and around the home?

Clean out your own house first

So I'm doing my usual scan of the web and I come across this article:


When will Latinos give up cockfighting in the U.S.?

And again it AMAZES me that 'peta-punk types' feed into something like this and still don't see the inherent racism in it. So let me get this right...you don't want to hurt the cocks yet its okay to pen up the hens in some cages where they can't move, fatten them up with hormones, and eat their asses? WTF?! I'm sorry, I must have missed the animal hierarchy memo. Why don't y'all go and close down every chicken farm then come back to the FEW Latinos having cockfights. Oh yet NO...cause that wouldn't be racist.

I hate that damn term animal abuse. No, I ain't for starving dogs, beating cats, etc..yet since that term exists in a legal sense raising animals to be slaughtered should be 'animal abuse'. Oh wait..you treat it 'good' then you eat it so it's 'okay'. Dumbass.

It's the same thing how like they want to make it 'wrong' for practitioners of Santeria to sacrifice animals and make it 'savage' yet they allow Jewish people to slaughter their goats on their holy days. Also dammit..the farmers are just a slaughtering away.

Or how they criminalize a drug due to its connection with certain ethnic groups.

The Mexican Connection

In the early 1900s, the western states developed significant tensions regarding the influx of Mexican-Americans. The revolution in Mexico in 1910 spilled over the border, with General Pershing's army clashing with bandit Pancho Villa. Later in that decade, bad feelings developed between the small farmer and the large farms that used cheaper Mexican labor. Then, the depression came and increased tensions, as jobs and welfare resources became scarce.

One of the "differences" seized upon during this time was the fact that many Mexicans smoked marijuana and had brought the plant with them, and it was through this that California apparently passed the first state marijuana law, outlawing "preparations of hemp, or loco weed."

However, one of the first state laws outlawing marijuana may have been influenced, not just by Mexicans using the drug, but, oddly enough, because of Mormons using it. Mormons who traveled to Mexico in 1910 came back to Salt Lake City with marijuana. The church's reaction to this may have contributed to the state's marijuana law. (Note: the source for this speculation is from articles by Charles Whitebread, Professor of Law at USC Law School in a paper for the Virginia Law Review, and a speech to the California Judges Association (sourced below). Mormon blogger Ardis Parshall disputes this.)

Other states quickly followed suit with marijuana prohibition laws, including Wyoming (1915), Texas (1919), Iowa (1923), Nevada (1923), Oregon (1923), Washington (1923), Arkansas (1923), and Nebraska (1927). These laws tended to be specifically targeted against the Mexican-American population.

When Montana outlawed marijuana in 1927, the Butte Montana Standard reported a legislator's comment: "When some beet field peon takes a few traces of this stuff... he thinks he has just been elected president of Mexico, so he starts out to execute all his political enemies." In Texas, a senator said on the floor of the Senate: "All Mexicans are crazy, and this stuff [marijuana] is what makes them crazy."

Jazz and Assassins

In the eastern states, the "problem" was attributed to a combination of Latin Americans and black jazz musicians. Marijuana and jazz traveled from New Orleans to Chicago, and then to Harlem, where marijuana became an indispensable part of the music scene, even entering the language of the black hits of the time (Louis Armstrong's "Muggles", Cab Calloway's "That Funny Reefer Man", Fats Waller's "Viper's Drag").

Again, racism was part of the charge against marijuana, as newspapers in 1934 editorialized: "Marihuana influences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men's shadows and look at a white woman twice."

Two other fear-tactic rumors started to spread: one, that Mexicans, Blacks and other foreigners were snaring white children with marijuana; and two, the story of the "assassins." Early stories of Marco Polo had told of "hasheesh-eaters" or hashashin, from which derived the term "assassin." In the original stories, these professional killers were given large doses of hashish and brought to the ruler's garden (to give them a glimpse of the paradise that awaited them upon successful completion of their mission). Then, after the effects of the drug disappeared, the assassin would fulfill his ruler's wishes with cool, calculating loyalty.

By the 1930s, the story had changed. Dr. A. E. Fossier wrote in the 1931 New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal: "Under the influence of hashish those fanatics would madly rush at their enemies, and ruthlessly massacre every one within their grasp." Within a very short time, marijuana started being linked to violent behavior.

Jacked the above from here.

So yeah, even a child can see....





Check every white farmer who raises cows, pigs or chickens first..then go after the Latino cock fighters and the Michael Vicks.

Natural Babies

As we keep it au-natural let me introduce to a realm where wearing your baby and cloth diapers rule supreme. Check out "Where there's a will there's a way" the blogspot of Chi-Chi the Original wombman dropping how to raise your child like nature wanted ya to.

Chee-sus

One of the first things that I got rid of was cheese. That's because I saw the immediate benefits. I had less respitory issues (like colds and the flu) and my asthma basically just evaporated. Now I won't lie..it was addictive. Yet as I grew in terms of my skills at food preparation I realized that all it did was cover bland food.

See, Europe didn't utilize alot of spices in their foods cause they weren't aware of what was around them. That's why they did spice trading with the East on the Silk Road and raided portions of Africa for salt. So the only thing that they really had to 'flavor' the food was cheese (which is countries whose population is lactose intollerant isn't a staple..meaning warmer climates where milk spoils). Think about all of the foods that you eat that have cheese on them..now take that cheese away..ain't that fresh is it. When you really learn how to spice and season food you will see that cheese ain't really needed like that. Also I bet you that all of those stomach aches will be going the way of the dinosaur.

As a historical note the enzymes to transform milk to cheese are found in the stomach/intestines. So it was probably discovered by somebody (some nasty ass) opening up a dead beast's stomach and eating what was left in the stomach.

So with the above being said I leave you with this just in on the pike....

Cheese is nastier than thought.

and

Maggot cheese.

We don't make this stuff up folks. We just report.

Green-opia

You know I love sci-fi, futuristic type of shiz. Check out some beautiful designs for green architecture and a type of 'green utopia' at web urbanist.

T or A?

Mountains or Hills? Tits or Ass? Some got one or the other. Some got both. Some ain't got none. Yet today folks we're going to talk about breasts.

My alike wrote an article in his blog entitled The Earth: Vegetarianism, Breastfeeding, and Original Women's Health

Very informative so peep it.

Also I came across this blog post listed below at another site dedicated to breastfeeding, http://www.mothering.com/jenniferjames/. Beautiful site. Check it out.

Black Mother Breastfeeding, 1937 2008-11-23

This photograph is striking. It shows an African-American mother breastfeeding in 1937 in Greenville, MS. What once was normal in the black community has now shifted to abnormal. We all know breastfeeding rates among black women is the lowest in the country, but it wasn’t always this way. Something happened and I don’t think the shift to bottle-feeding can only be attributed to more mothers working outside of the home, although I’m sure working had a lot to do with it, just not everything. Attitudes changed and now breastfeeding isn’t the first form of infant-feeding with black mothers.

As a black mother I didn’t even consider bottle-feeding, but I’m rare given the numbers. I hope one day I can pinpoint what happened between the early 20th century and today that caused so many black mothers to balk at breastfeeding.

Location: Greenville, MS, US
Date taken: 1937
Photographer: Alfred Eisenstaedt
Time Life Magazine

Microbloggin: Woowee

Woooweeee....breathing in peppermint essential oils opens up those sinuses.

Food Pyramids

There are not just phenotypical differences between people. There are genotypical differences between people. Many authors have pointed out, especially in the black and brown communities, that people grow in tandem with the food in their areas. So it is natural for the flora in people's bodies to be attuned with their native veggies and fruit stuff. Food IS political also. That is why I mentioned about the 7 warriors. What were your natural foods before colonialism and slavery? Adding them back into your diet is as much a revolutionary statement as changing your name and learning your indigenous history.

While scanning through the net I came upon food pyramids that are ethnic-specific. They are acknowledging that the indigenous foods and needs of people are relevant to their nutrition development.

Yet the gem in my travels is that I finally found a damn Raw Food Pyramid. I've had a Vegan one on tap for a minute yet this raw one..bangin'. Good eatin' y'all

Parsnips

Never was really hip to parsnips. Even though I'm up here in the Northeast New England area. Ever since I built with the Earth Faatma on the fact that some fruits and veggies are grafted from the original the same way a certain 'being' is I looked more into foundation fruits and veggies. As I moved into a comfortable locavore status parsnips popped up on the map.

Parsnip is related to the carrot and is more foundational in that the carrot that most people eat nowadays has been grafted from the original (the original wild carrots (which you can still find) are white or purple).

The parsnip is richer in vitamins and minerals than its close relative the carrot. It is particularly rich in potassium with 600 mg per 100 g. The parsnip is also a good source of dietary fiber. 100 g of parsnip contains 55 calories (230 kJ) energy.

In terms of raw preparation they are a root vegetable so those who know the science realize that many root veggies can be turned into a rice like substitute. You can grate it, mix it with some garlic and olive oil and you're good. You can also use apple cider vinegar instead of olive oil. This is just to soften it up a little.

You can also use it as a base in raw soups. Blend it with some water until it 'heats up' and then add some additional ingredients.

It's a versatile root and worthy to be added to the cannon of food stuffs.

Around the way

So yeah, as I complete the transformation into a nomadic locavore it has been an interesting journey (and continues to be). In tune with how I memorize 120 I have been storing facts and information that are appropriate to mentally carry as that I 'came to the wilderness of North America by myself." That's everything from learning about the bioregions, community based economics, sustainable agriculture, to permaculture, to eco-communalism.

One of the greatest things that has sprouted out of the growth has been eating in season and locally. It's on the next level now. So while I have been converting a high percentage of my diet to raw foods I have also been converting a high percentage to locally grown fare.

So to be down first off you should be familar with what's in season in your region. (That's cause knowledge is the foundation.). From there you can go to some farmer's markets or even some places to pick your own.

So while walking in the hood

Got the meet the illustrious PurpleZoe of the Ultraviolet Underground. While I oftentimes mention people who inspired me to pick up a pen in the blogsphere I cannot neglect those whom inspire me to keep writing and to continue to step my game up. She is definitely one of those people.

Got to verse with her at an Oasis in the hood, FruttiKrem and had a beautiful apple, carrot, beet juice. It was relaxing to be in the hood, hearing spanish being spoken, fresh juice and good company while planning the Green worldwide takeover. Stop by her spot on the web and if you in that neck of the hood in CT stop by FruttiKrem.

Sometimes I get that sugar craving..

...then I realize I don't eat that yellow cake.

If you get it from the corner it aint' Chinese Food

Finally, somebody summarized the myths that non-Chinese Americans have about Chinese food. Most of what White Americans consider “Chinese food” is mostly eaten by white people, and would be more accurately described as “American food” (and perhaps even “white people food”).

Now this doesn't has anything to do with raw foodism yet it is so damn funky! Jennifer 8 BRINGS IT! Don't just watch the video and read the article. Read the dialogue in the comment section. I ain't saying nothing more.

White American Culture is General Tso’s Chicken and Chop Suey

Off the coast of Somalia

In 1991, the government of Somalia - in the Horn of Africa - collapsed. Its nine million people have been teetering on starvation ever since - and many of the ugliest forces in the Western world have seen this as a great opportunity to steal the country’s food supply and dump our nuclear waste in their seas.

I haven't been following the pirate issue in the Atlantic off of the coast of Somalia yet when I read this article (where the above was clipped from) I immediately reflected on the words of one of my righteous sisters.."If western countries are labeling a country and its leader as a dictatorship and terrorist than they must be doing SOMETHING right." Little did I know how true her words would ring.

Let there be no mistake...wherever you find poor people you will find the waste of rich people and the theft of the land resources of the poor people. This is environmental racism in the purest form.

What makes me 'sick' at times is the hippie-esque response to many things like this. For instance they will get on a dingy and go against Japanese boats for hunting whales yet ain't none of these 'hippie-esque activist' over in Somalia protecting their waters. Isn't there something just WRONG about you going against a country that you bombed the crap out of? I mean..ain't there something that you do to atone for the posioning that white america is doing to Native reservations, inner cities, and South America? It is impossible to talk about environmentalism without talking about racism. If you don't than you are just living a lie.

I jacked the below from playerhater.com

Two Sides to a Story: Are We Being Lied to About the Pirate Ships

By Johann Hari
Source: London Independent

Who imagined that in 2009, the world’s governments would be declaring a new War on Pirates? As you read this, the British Royal Navy - backed by the ships of more than two dozen nations, from the US to China - is sailing into Somalian waters to take on men we still picture as parrot-on-the-shoulder pantomime villains. They will soon be fighting Somalian ships and even chasing the pirates onto land, into one of the most broken countries on earth. But behind the arrr-me-hearties oddness of this tale, there is an untold scandal. The people our governments are labeling as “one of the great menace of our times” have an extraordinary story to tell — and some justice on their side.

Pirates have never been quite who we think they are. In the “golden age of piracy” - from 1650 to 1730 - the idea of the pirate as the senseless, savage thief that lingers today was created by the British government in a great propaganda-heave. Many ordinary people believed it was false: pirates were often rescued from the gallows by supportive crowds. Why? What did they see that we can’t? In his book Villains of All nations, the historian Marcus Rediker pores through the evidence to find out. If you became a merchant or navy sailor then - plucked from the docks of London’s East End, young and hungry - you ended up in a floating wooden Hell. You worked all hours on a cramped, half-starved ship, and if you slacked off for a second, the all-powerful captain would whip you with the Cat O’ Nine Tails. If you slacked consistently, you could be thrown overboard. And at the end of months or years of this, you were often cheated of your wages.

Pirates were the first people to rebel against this world. They mutinied against their tyrannical captains - and created a different way of working on the seas. Once they had a ship, the pirates elected their captains, and made all their decisions collectively. They shared their bounty out in what Rediker calls “one of the most egalitarian plans for the disposition of resources to be found anywhere in the eighteenth century.” They even took in escaped African slaves and lived with them as equals. The pirates showed “quite clearly - and subversively - that ships did not have to be run in the brutal and oppressive ways of the merchant service and the Royal navy.” This is why they were popular, despite being unproductive thieves.

The words of one pirate from that lost age - a young British man called William Scott - should echo into this new age of piracy. Just before he was hanged in Charleston, South Carolina, he said: “What I did was to keep me from perishing. I was forced to go a-pirating to live.” In 1991, the government of Somalia - in the Horn of Africa - collapsed. Its nine million people have been teetering on starvation ever since - and many of the ugliest forces in the Western world have seen this as a great opportunity to steal the country’s food supply and dump our nuclear waste in their seas.

Yes: nuclear waste. As soon as the government was gone, mysterious European ships started appearing off the coast of Somalia, dumping vast barrels into the ocean. The coastal population began to sicken. At first they suffered strange rashes, nausea and malformed babies. Then, after the 2005 tsunami, hundreds of the dumped and leaking barrels washed up on shore. People began to suffer from radiation sickness, and more than 300 died. Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN envoy to Somalia, tells me: “Somebody is dumping nuclear material here. There is also lead, and heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury - you name it.” Much of it can be traced back to European hospitals and factories, who seem to be passing it on to the Italian mafia to “dispose” of cheaply. When I asked Ould-Abdallah what European governments were doing about it, he said with a sigh: “Nothing. There has been no clean-up, no compensation, and no prevention.”

At the same time, other European ships have been looting Somalia’s seas of their greatest resource: seafood. We have destroyed our own fish-stocks by over-exploitation - and now we have moved on to theirs. More than $300m worth of tuna, shrimp, lobster and other sea-life is being stolen every year by vast trawlers illegally sailing into Somalia’s unprotected seas. The local fishermen have suddenly lost their livelihoods, and they are starving. Mohammed Hussein, a fisherman in the town of Marka 100km south of Mogadishu, told Reuters: “If nothing is done, there soon won’t be much fish left in our coastal waters.”

This is the context in which the men we are calling “pirates” have emerged. Everyone agrees they were ordinary Somalian fishermen who at first took speedboats to try to dissuade the dumpers and trawlers, or at least wage a ‘tax’ on them. They call themselves the Volunteer Coastguard of Somalia - and it’s not hard to see why. In a surreal telephone interview, one of the pirate leaders, Sugule Ali, said their motive was “to stop illegal fishing and dumping in our waters… We don’t consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits [to be] those who illegally fish and dump in our seas and dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas.” William Scott would understand those words.

No, this doesn’t make hostage-taking justifiable, and yes, some are clearly just gangsters - especially those who have held up World Food Programme supplies. But the “pirates” have the overwhelming support of the local population for a reason. The independent Somalian news-site WardherNews conducted the best research we have into what ordinary Somalis are thinking - and it found 70 percent “strongly supported the piracy as a form of national defence of the country’s territorial waters.” During the revolutionary war in America, George Washington and America’s founding fathers paid pirates to protect America’s territorial waters, because they had no navy or coastguard of their own. Most Americans supported them. Is this so different?

Did we expect starving Somalians to stand passively on their beaches, paddling in our nuclear waste, and watch us snatch their fish to eat in restaurants in London and Paris and Rome? We didn’t act on those crimes - but when some of the fishermen responded by disrupting the transit-corridor for 20 percent of the world’s oil supply, we begin to shriek about “evil.” If we really want to deal with piracy, we need to stop its root cause - our crimes - before we send in the gun-boats to root out Somalia’s criminals.

The story of the 2009 war on piracy was best summarised by another pirate, who lived and died in the fourth century BC. He was captured and brought to Alexander the Great, who demanded to know “what he meant by keeping possession of the sea.” The pirate smiled, and responded: “What you mean by seizing the whole earth; but because I do it with a petty ship, I am called a robber, while you, who do it with a great fleet, are called emperor.” Once again, our great imperial fleets sail in today - but who is the robber?

Johann Hari is a writer for the Independent newspaper. To read more of his articles, click here. or here.

POSTSCRIPT: Some commenters seem bemused by the fact that both toxic dumping and the theft of fish are happening in the same place - wouldn’t this make the fish contaminated? In fact, Somalia’s coastline is vast, stretching to 3300km. Imagine how easy it would be - without any coastguard or army - to steal fish from Florida and dump nuclear waste on California, and you get the idea. These events are happening in different places - but with the same horrible effect: death for the locals, and stirred-up piracy. There’s no contradiction.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/you-are-being-lied-to-abo_b_155147.htm

Chana Masala

Shhhh....it's okay to sweat the God. I knew I already had the bomb Chana Masala recipe when I was just rocking the vegan science yet now....feast your eyes on the RAW Chana Masala masterpiece. I jacked the recipe from here and added some C'BS flair to it (sorry..you can't get that). I'm still tweaking it a bit yet once it has passed my Desi friend's validation it's official.

Saving babies

At one point the Earths of New Heaven had a program where they went to hospitals to hold crack babies. See, crack babies crave stimulation and touch. It was a beautiful thing. It touches me close because I have a god-daughter who is the result of that dark era of the 80's.

Infant mortality is a worldwide issues. You can see this just by glancing at this 2007 world report.

Infant Mortality and Life Expectancy for Selected Countries, 2007

Country Infant mortal- ity1 Life expec- tancy2 Albania 20.0 77.6 Angola 184.4 37.6 Australia 4.6 80.6 Austria 4.5 79.2 Bangladesh 59.1 62.8 Brazil 27.6 72.2 Canada 4.6 80.3 Chile 8.4 77.0 China 22.1 72.9 Costa Rica 9.5 77.2 Cyprus 6.9 78.0 Czech Republic 3.9 76.4 Denmark 4.5 78.0 Ecuador 22.1 76.6 Egypt 30.1 71.6 Finland 3.5 78.7 France 4.2 79.9 Germany 4.1 79.0 Greece 5.3 79.4 Guatemala 29.8 69.7 Hungary 8.2 72.9 India 34.6 68.6 Iran 38.1 70.6 Ireland 5.2 77.9 Israel 6.8 79.6 Italy 5.7 79.9

Country Infant mortal- ity1 Life expec- tancy2 Japan 3.2 81.4 Kenya 57.4 55.3 Korea, South 6.1 77.2 Mexico 19.6 75.6 Mozambique 109.9 40.9 New Zealand 5.7 79.0 Nigeria 95.5 47.4 Norway 3.6 79.7 Pakistan 68.5 63.8 Panama 16.0 75.2 Peru 30.0 70.1 Poland 7.1 75.2 Portugal 4.9 77.9 Russia 11.1 65.9 Slovakia 7.1 75.0 South Africa 59.4 42.5 Spain 4.3 79.8 Sri Lanka 19.5 74.8 Sweden 2.8 80.6 Switzerland 4.3 80.6 Syria 27.7 70.6 United Kingdom 5.0 78.7 United States 6.4 78.0 Venezuela 20.9 74.8 Zimbabwe 51.1 39.5

1. Infant deaths per 1,000 live births.

2. Life expectancy at birth, in years, both sexes.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, International Database.

Yet is what is often ignored is that the United States has the second worse newborn death rate in the modern world. What this means is that while there are other countries that have poor resources the United States is mired in the inequity of the distribution of its resources.

Let me explain that again..some countries may be poor financially yet the United States is poor morally.

With all of that being said I love to see green tech and DIY tech being explored. When green tech is married with improving the lives of people then I really get excited. Tech isn't just for 'toys' and weapons.

Incubator Made from Recycled Car Parts Could Prevent Millions of Newborn Deaths

Raw Food Diet..the sign of the times.

Some of my Urban Go Green Peeps. Fuzen Squared

Achieving Livable Communities and Environmental Justice