Raising composting Earthworms 101

Red Wiggler composting earthworms are the same all over the world. These small red worms are also commonly called manure worms because they invariably are found in aged manure piles. While night crawlers borrow into the ground, and can easily escape, Red Wiggler composting earthworms are surface dwellers and are less apt to leave their bedding unless it becomes uninhabitable (to wet or to dry). I cover this subject at some length in my best seller The Earthworm Farmer's Bible; however, the important thing for beginners to understand is that composting earthworms are easy to raise and can be placed in almost any container including plastic buckets, plastic totes, stack-able bins, old bathtubs and wooden boxes; in fact their bedding can even be placed directly on the ground or over a slab of concrete or asphalt! The worms I sell commercially are raised in 100 foot long windrows placed directly on the ground. The windrows are covered with a tarp to conserve water and to keep the birds and turkeys out, that's it! You can easily establish a similar, but smaller, windrow in a shady area of your backyard at little or no expense. That's the beauty of raising composting earthworms in your backyard, you can turn your kitchen and paper waste into valuable earthworm casting with little effort and at minimal expense! Composting earthworms will eat almost anything that was once alive, kitchen waste, lawn clippings and tree leaves. You name it and the worms will eat it. Exceptions to this general rule include scented woods and their leaves (redwood, cedar and eucalyptus) and extremely fatty foods like butter and animal fat. In this respect, small amounts of fat are not important and do not have to be separated from your kitchen scraps. You can do this! Have questions? Email me at docmerrill@aol.com. Remember, 50 percent of our garbage, over 500 billion metric tons a year, can be eaten by composting earthworms. Do your part, start composting with earthworms today!

The Last Days OF Saint Nicholas

"I'm definitely getting to old for this," Nicholas said to his best friend and lead reindeer Rudolf. "How long have we been playing Santa Claus do you think?" "I don't know that I can rightly recall," replied Rudolf, "but it must be close to 300 years, give or take a decade or two." Nicholas' sainted father, the first Santa Claus, had learned to communicate with reindeer years before Nicholas was born. His father had taught Nicholas the reindeer language shortly before he was killed by an errant meteorite that hit his sleigh while he and his reindeer were making their rounds on that fateful Christmas eve night in the year 1842. Nicholas had inherited his father's job and, with the help of his faithful reindeer, had been navigating through the cold Christmas Eve nights ever since. With the exception of a few times when the weather was so bad that mail could not be delivered to the north pole, Nicholas and his reindeer had never failed to deliver the books, toys and dolls that the good little boys and girls of the world had asked for. Nicholas also made sure that never ran out of lumps of coal for the children who had not been so good. But Nicholas was getting old and Rudolph was also beginning to feel the ravishes of age."You know Rudolph," Nicholas said, " My eye sight isn't what it used to be and I'm having a fair amount of difficulty navigating by the stars anymore." "I'm a little afraid that we might not be able to find our way home this year." "I'm not feeling so great myself," replied Rudolph, "My poor old nose isn't near a bright as it used to be and the arthritis in my right rear hoof won't let me fly nearly as fast as I could when you first recruited me to lead your sleigh." "In truth, I just don't know how much longer I can go on." "I know Vixen and Prancer aren't in all that great shape either." " Vixen was saying just the other day, when the elves were packing the toys in the back of the sleigh, that his arthritis was so bad that he could barely walk." "Our Prancer can't exercise anymore and has gained so much weight during the off season that it will be difficult for him to get in his harness, let alone fly any great distance." "Obviously, it's time to call it quits," Nicholas said, "in fact, it's long past time that we retired." "Rudolph looked sadly into his old friends eyes, placed both a front hoofs on his shoulder and began to cry as he shook his stately antlered head in agreement." It was only a month before Christmas and that left Nicholas very little time. He had to make certain that those presents were delivered on Christmas Eve night, just as they had been for almost three centuries. Nicholas called his friend billionaire Bill Gates and asked for help. "Bill," he said, "we're in big trouble up here at the North Pole." "My reindeer and I are too old and infirm to make the Christmas run this year." "An awful lot of children are going to be very disappointed if we don't deliver their Christmas presents on time. "I've made a tentative deal with UPS." "They have agreed to deliver the presents on Christmas Eve night as has always been the case." "Our friend Scott Davis of UPS has even agreed to dress their drivers up in Santa Clause suits if we are willing to pay a little extra for the deliveries." "Unfortunately, Mrs. Nicholas and I do not have the resources to finance an operation of this size, could you help?" "Of course, I can," Mr. Gates Replied without hesitation. "Look Nicholas, I'm a little tied up right at the moment." "Just have Scott send me the bill, If he wants to he can call me." So it came to be. The Christmas presents were delivered on time and no one was the wiser. Knowing the end was near, Nicholas sold his toy factory at the North Pole, as well as his other possessions including the sleigh, and moved with Mrs. Claus to a secret island in the Caribbean. He and his beloved reindeer spent their last days swimming in the warm ocean water and building sand castles with their new monkey friends on the beautiful black sand beaches of the island's idyllic shore.

Why White Racism, one Hundred and Fifty-one Years After Emancipation?

One of the great mysteries of our time is why a significant number of white Americans, loathe blacks in the year 2014, a century and a half after we fought the great civil war to free them from slavery. Americans lost 620,000 men and boys in this conflict, almost as many died fighting to end slavery as were lost in all of our other wars combined (about 650,000). At this point in time, one could argue that the civil war was a gigantic waste of time, money and, most importantly, American lives. Interestingly, and a key to understanding racial strife in America today, 405,399 Americans lost their lives in the second world war in our fight against the Germans, Italians and Japanese, yet there is no significant hatred of, or bias against, these ethic groups in the United States today. In fact, at present, members of these minority groups are treated as equals, valuable members of society and, most importantly, with respect. Why this discrepancy, do you think? Is it simply the color of the black man's skin that makes us resent him or are there other factors involved. I would argue that the color of one's skin, whether black yellow, brown, red, or even green, is immaterial. No, as my mother used to say, "A person's color is only skin deep, and not of importance." Rather, as we will see shortly, it is the genetic makeup of blacks and, more importantly, their culture that is the primary cause of their plight in America and, I might add, the rest of the civilized world. First, let me reiterate the obvious. Every single city in America governed, in the past or present, by black politicians is an unmitigated disaster, every one, there are no exceptions! Cities like Flint Michigan, Detroit Michigan and Oakland California, once shinning lights of American greatness, are now hell-holes unfit for human existence. Oh, there are still pockets of civil society in places like Oakland and Detroit, but for the most part, incompetent corrupt liberal black leaders have destroyed these once great cities brick by brick and street by street, leaving nothing but ruin, poverty and hopelessness in their wake. Similarly, every single nation on planet earth governed by blacks is a crime ridden impoverished country unfit for human life, as we know it. And, guess what, slavery still exists in many parts of the modern world over 150 years after we abolished it in America and the vast majority of the slave owners today are black, many of whom cannot read or write and could not identify America on a world map if their lives depended on it! Are you beginning to understand that there is a common thread to this narrative? Blacks, wherever they are, with a few notable exceptions that make the rule (Walter E. Williams, Tomas Sowell, Dr. Ben Carson etc.) are incapable of civilized behavior (think Ferguson). Why is this? In truth, I do not know. But, having lived on this planet for the past 79 years, I do know that blacks are different, very different from their white counterparts. To understand these differences, and to grasp the fundamentals of white racism, one must consider the importance of black IQ and black social structure, or the lack of same. With respect to IQ, the behaviorists, based on their studies in pigeons and other birds and reptiles, would have us believe that all humans are born with roughly the same intelligence. This myth has been perpetuated by liberals for the past 60 years and has contributed significantly to the demise of the social structure in the country of our birth. To the contrary, the lifelong work of Herrington and Murray, summarized in their marvelous book, The Bell Curve, shows that 40 to 60 percent of a person's intellect is inherited from their parents. All of the head start programs in the world will not change this basic fact! More importantly, a review of 156 pertinent studies of intellect reveals that the disparity in IQ between blacks and whites is 1.08 standard deviations or 16 IQ points; this disparity in intelligence between blacks and whites is huge! I discuss the importance of IQ at some length in my book America In Decline. But, for now, just realize that in the technological age in which we now live, education is everything and if you do not have the mental capacity to be educated you are likely to fail in your pursuit of the American dream. In this respect, it is commonly said in the black community that "Education is a white man's thing." I believe this is another way of saying that " We, as blacks, cannot compete intellectually in the white man's world." This problem will only get worse for blacks as the numbers of immigrants from Asia and other countries in the far east, who, on average, have IQs three points higher than white Americans, increases. When considering the possibility of genetic differences between the races, I have always been confounded by the reluctance of most whites, and blacks for that matter, to admit the obvious. No one can dispute the fact that blacks are better athletes than their white counterparts. In this respect, there will never be a white Michael Jordan, not in a thousand years there won't! Most whites understand and accept this genetic based fact; however, many, if not most, refuse to consider the possibility that whites and Asians are superior intellectually to blacks. In this respect, there never will be a black Einstein, not in a million years there won't! Those who understand the significance of the tails of the bell curve for intelligence will readily grasp this important point, those who are uniformed, unfortunately, will not. Why belabor this point? Because white racism is, in part, based on the recognition, often subconsciously, that blacks are intellectually inferior to whites and all other races. Unfortunately, nothing can change this fact, but, if we have the "backbone" to accept the obvious intellectual disparity that exists between the races, we, at the least, can stop spending billions each and every year in our futile attempts to change the unchangeable. In his respect, do you really think the average black is better off today than he was 50 or 60 years ago? I think not! It is not only intellect, or a disparity in intelligence, that separates black and white cultures and fuels white racism. Most whites view people who wear saggy pants, which reveal their underwear, while wearing their baseball caps on backwards as somehow inferior and low-class. I know I do! Similarly, most whites were shocked at the ranting and raging of Michael Brown's step father, a two time convicted drug felon, as he attempted to induce a riot after the grand jury refused to indict officer Wilson for killing his step son in Ferguson. Although politically incorrect to object to such behavior, most whites do not condone it and, more importantly, resent it! Along the same lines, many, if not most, whites think there is something dreadfully wrong with a sub-culture in which over 70 percent of all births are illegitimate. Similarly, despite the liberals attempts to explain away black crime with a "They made me do it" mentality, many whites find it unacceptable that over 70 percent of young black men are either in prison or on parole. Not to surprisingly, many Caucasians are appalled at the stupidity of the average black Politian. You may recall the black moron, Congressman Hank Johnson, who warned that the island of Guam might "tip over" if too many military personal were allowed congregate on its edges. Be assured, that the dim-witted statements uttered on a daily basis by the Maxine Waters and Sheila Jackson Lees of this world, to name two of the most notorious ignoramuses in black leadership, do not go unnoticed by white America. Although political correctness forces most of us to suppress our true feelings on such matters, the resentment of blacks and their leadership is still there, have no doubt about it!. Finally, the fact that 32 percent of blacks are on welfare even though they make up only 12 percent of the population is annoying to middle class whites who often work two jobs just to make ends meet. These truths are especially infuriating to whites considering the fact we have spent hundreds of billions of dollars on the programs of Johnson's Great Society and billions more on the numerous affirmative action measures that followed, all of which were designed to achieve racial equality in our nation. No, the utter failure of all efforts to bring blacks into mainstream America has not gone unnoticed by white America. To the contrary, I believe most whites, begrudgingly, have come to the conclusion that, despite our best efforts, blacks will always be blacks and there is nothing much we can do to change the situation. Fortunately, most of us can still live in suburbs that are relatively free of blacks and their antisocial ways, and, in twenty-first century America, that's about all we can hope for. But, don't, for a minute, think that our racism is based on something as frivolous as skin color because in reality our resentment of blacks and their culture is nothing more, or less, than a rejection of their immorality, promiscuity, lawlessness and, yes, their inherent lack of intellect.

The Difference Between Nightcrawlers and Red Wiggler Composting Earthworms.

Basically, there are two types of earthworms, those that borrow deeply into the ground and those that live on the surface of the soil. Nightcrawlers live in tunnels deep in the earth, the openings of which are surrounded by their castings and appear as miniature volcanoes. There are many different types of nightcrawlers and they are named after the areas where they are found, E.G. the African Nightcrawler, the Canadian Nightcrawler, the European Nightcrawler and the Arkansas Nightcrawler. These earthworms are relatively large and are primarily used as fish bait. Most importantly, these large worms are relatively inefficient composters. Red Wiggler composting earthworms, on the other hand, are the same the world over. They also are called manure worms because they are invariably found in horse and cow manure piles throughout the earth. These small worms are ideal for composting organic waste and, under ideal conditions, will consume their weight on organic material every single day of their lives. They also are prized by worm farmers because they are very fertile, doubling their numbers in a worm bed every three months. Other than scented woods, like red or cedar, composting earthworms will eat anything that was once alive, including the scrapes from your kitchen table and your newspaper waste. Most importantly, the castings from these marvelous composters are the finest slow release organic fertilizer on the face of the world. Best of all, if you make them yourself, they are dirt cheap! By the way, we all know the garbage is an environmental problem, but did you know just how big a problem? In the USA we produce over 250 billion metric tons of garbage every single year. Fifty percent of this discarded waste is organic material that composting earthworms, if given half a chance, would gladly turn into valuable organic worm castings. What are you doing with your kitchen waste and newspapers?

he US -China carbon emission deal, Obama sells out America yet again!

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It is not my purpose to argue for or against legislation designed to curb climate change (global warming) here; rather, I want to point out the traitorous implications of Obama's latest foreign policy blunder in China. First, let me point out the obvious, China is by far and away the biggest atmospheric polluter in the world, no other country is even close! Thus, if we are to make any meaningful reduction in carbon emissions it must start in China, I think most eighth graders understand this, but apparently the members of the Obama administration do not. In short, the deal agreed to requires the US to reduce carbon emissions by 26 to 28 percent ( they clearly picked this figure out of thin air) of 2005 emission levels by 2025. Amazing as it must sound to the eighth graders in this country, Obama agreed that China could continue to expand their use of fossil fuels, and continue to increase their carbon admissions, for another 16 years! As long as they agree to "aim to" get 20 percent of their energy from zero-carbon emission sources by the "pie in the sky" year 2030. In other words, China agrees to continue to grow their economy for another 16 years while we continue to limit ours. Only someone who is "hell bent" on destroying American greatness who enter into such a one sided agreement! The eight graders, who probably understand that our economy is not in all that great shape, probably are wondering why Obama would agree to a deal that further cripples our economy, by imposing higher carbon emission standards on the industrial sector, while getting no concessions what so ever from the world's number one atmospheric polluter, other than the lame promise to do better at some far-off time in the future. The communists in China were willing sign this agreement because it gave them a little good press for a change and because they had absolutely nothing to lose by doing so, nothing at all! Obama did so because any agreement to limit carbon admissions, regardless of how ineffectual and pointless it is, will sell well with the American drive by media and his liberal know-nothing followers in places like Hollywood, San Francisco and New York, to name only three of the most egregious loony bins in the country. It also gave our American hating black president yet another chance to future hamper our recovery from the longest recession in history. Reverend Wright and Bill Ayers must be very proud of him as would have been the now deceased Saul Alinsky and his communist parents Ann Durham and Onyango Obama.

What did the 2014 midterm elections mean? Not what you may think!

Yes, the liberals took a shellacking in Tuesday's elections, of that there can be no doubt. But, I would argue, little or nothing has changed in American politics. Most importantly, the tens of millions of our citizens, and non citizens, who voted for Obama not once, but twice, are just as liberal today as they were six years ago when he was first elected. There has been no movement to the right, not even a smidgen! For example, many, if not most Americans, believed in socialized medicine before Obama was elected and, guess what, they still do! While it is true that these died in the wool liberals ding-bats were extremely upset at the bungled roll-out of Obamacare and a smaller percentage felt betrayed by the repeated lies Obama told prior to the passage of this destructive piece of legislation, the vast majority of the liberals in our population still believe in socialized medicine. In this respect, the recent election changed nothing, despite the drubbing liberal politicians took at the poles! It is not my purpose to argue the pros and cons of socialized medicine here; I just want to point out that liberals were not rejecting socialized medicine or any other liberal policy, when they throughout their liberal leaders this past Tuesday; rather, they were, for once, recognizing the utter incompetency of their elected liberal leaders and rebuffing them at the poles. Similarly, despite the chatter of liberal talking heads like Debbie "blabber mouth" Wasserman Schultz, most of the "uninformed" voters in this country know that that economy has not come roaring back from the present recession and they rightly blame their liberal leaders for the nation's prolonged economic stagnation. This, however, doesn't mean that they reject the liberal socialist policies (high taxation, high capital gains taxation, Obamacare, lack of school choice, illegal immigration, insecure borders etc.) which are responsible for the economic quagmire we find ourselves in. No, nothing has changed, the masses rejected their liberal leaders in the election but not their socialist policies. The average liberal is just as ignorant and socialistic today as he was prior to Obama's first election to office, maybe more so. So, what is to be learned from the 2014 midterm elections. First, and most importantly, we conservatives gained nothing! The voters were not rejecting liberal policies when they went to the poles, they simply were rejecting their liberal brain dead leaders. In this respect, conservatives gained little except temporary control of the house, which they already had, and the senate. As always is the case, come 2016 all will be forgotten and voters will return the liberals to power unless, of course, Ben Carson can be induced to run for president. If that happens we have a chance to make a meaningful short term improvement in our situation. But any hoped for changes gained by Carson's election would be short termed at best. In a pure democracy socialism always will prevail in the long run, always has and always will!

The Sergeant Tahmooressi Fiasco- Obama at his worst!

It all began when a homeless American war hero become entangled in the rat's maze that is the entry point to Mexico in Tijuana. The genius who designed this border crossing made it impossible to turn back unless you were in the far left lane. If stuck, by accident, in one of the right lanes you were going to Mexico, like it or not! Tahmooressi was snared in this trap and, before he could say Rumpelstiltskin, was in Mexico with three firearms in the bed of his truck, legal in America but very illegal in Mexico. At this point, if the Mexican authorities had had an ounce of common sense they would have sized up the situation for what it was, an innocent mistake by a somewhat mentally deranged America veteran, and put him back in his truck with a fast track ticket back to American soil. Unfortunately, common sense did not prevail and the unfortunate ex-marine spent the next 204 days in Mexican Jails. Having been to Mexico and having read hundreds of accounts of the mistreatment of American's who have become entangled in the Mexican court system, none of this surprised me. What stunned me was the response, or rather the utter lack of such, to the situation by our federal government. Tahmooressi immediately became a "cause célèbre" and the darling of the right wing media, especially Fox News. One would have thought that the Obama administration would have seized the opportunity to, for once, get a little good press and pressured the Mexican authorities to release Tahmooressi immediately on, if nothing else, humanitarian grounds. But, no Obama did nothing! Absolutely nothing! It seems clear that one simple telephone call to Mexico's president Nieto would have brought Tahmooressi home. But, for reasons that only he knows, feckless Obama refused to make the call. Rather than "speak softly and carry a big stick" this "ineffective clown of a president" did nothing. Apparently he has no voice and has never heard of the "power of the stick." Yes, I'll grant you that he's pretty good at fund raising, but that's about all! What, you may be asking, could Obama have done if Mexico's Nieto refused his request to release our marine? Well, three possibilities spring immediately to mind. First, because we know where they are, we could have round up the 52,000 illegal and disease infected children that have crossed our southern border in recent months and send them right back to Mexico from whence they came. Most likely, if we just deported a thousand or so on his doorstep, Nieto would have gotten the message and released Tahmooressi without further a due. Second, Obama could have threaten, once and for all, to close the boarder to illegal's from Mexico. Most likely, just the threat that he would send the National Guard to the border would be sufficient to get Nieto's attention, don't you think? Third, Obama could have threatened to send the thousands of Illegal Mexican felons that are now in American Federal prisons back to Mexico where they belong. Of course, we would have to build that damned fence to prevent them from immediately returning to the states, but we should have done so years ago anyway. Obviously, there are a lot "big sticks" that Obama could have used to obtain the immediate release of Sergeant Tahmooessi from those dreadful Mexican prisons. For reasons that may never be clear, our ineffective spineless, witless wonder of a president refuse to get involved and did little but "twiddle his fingers" while our war hero rotted away in those dreadful Mexican jails. Makes you proud to be an American, doesn't it?

Controlling Ebola

I have stressed before the importance of strict isolation in preventing the spread of Ebola from Africa to the rest of the world's population. In this respect, the failure to prevent those who have been to Ebola infected places like Liberia from entering the United States is simply insane. Likewise, the idea being floated by the White House, to bring Ebola patents from Africa to United States for treatment, is one of the most ridiculous and risky suggestions ever to come out of Obama's clueless administration. Similarly, the idea that we should send troops to fight a virus is equally absurd. The question at this time is simple and straight forward, how do we control this virus before it goes worldwide and kills a third or more of the world's population? To prevent this potential catastrophe from becoming a reality we must develop a vaccine the will prevent human's from developing the disease just as we did when facing the polio epidemic in the last century. The question is why have we not done so? After all, we face a new flu virus every single year and always come up with a "flu shot" which is reasonably effective controlling the spread of the virus. Why, then, haven't be been able to develop a vaccine for Ebola or a cure for the disease? The answer to this question is far simpler than you might think! We have not developed an Ebola vaccine because, to date, too few people are affected by the virus and there is no money in it for the companies who have the resources to develop such a vaccine. Strangely, capitalism doesn't work all that well if there is not the potential of a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, in this case a large pot of gold. The answer is for the government to get involved! Those who know me and those who frequent my blog or read the books I pen, will find this suggestion strange at best and, at worst, evidence that I have gone insane (I think so myself at times). However, I am not suggesting that the government bureaucrats and the researchers they fund will ever find a cure for Ebola or develop a vaccine to curb the spread of the disease, not in a hundred years they won't! But the government has unlimited resources

and they can use some of these monies to fund companies in the private sector who, if given an incentive, can and will, develop a vaccine that can be used to prevent the spread of the Ebola Virus. The next question is how can we make this happen before this localized Ebola problem in Africa becomes a worldwide pandemic? The answer is to offer a one billion dollar reward to the first person, company or organization that comes up with a drug that will kill the virus, without killing the infected person, or develops a vaccine that can be employed to prevent the spread of the virus. I believe such a reward would produce its intended results within two years and maybe sooner if private enterprises with experience in production of vaccines can be induced to get with the program.

Is Ferguson Finally Behind Us?

The autopsy results of the gentle giant Michael Brown are in and, guess what, there are no surprises. This 280 pound black hoodlum, high on marijuana, was shot to death while attaching Daren Wilson with his hands while the officer was sitting in his parole car trying to defend himself. Only a lucky shot to the gentle giants head prevented officer Wilson from being severely injured, or if Brown had been successful in his attempt to wrestle the gun away from Wilson, shot to death! Eye witnesses to the incident had it right from the beginning but, their accounts of crime scene were dismissed, actually ignored, by the drive by media because their reports contradicted the preferred liberal biased scenario that, this was the cold blooded murder of a helpless black teenager by a racist white cop. First, we were told that the innocent black teenager was shot in the back as he tried to flee from the racist white cop who was intent on killing him. The autopsy showed no gun shots entered Browns back and only two were lucky enough to hit him from the front. We were then told that the innocent teenager had his hands up and was trying to surrender when he was shot by officer Wilson for no reasonable reason. The black witnesses who attested to this version of the killing were lying through their teeth but, guess what, they will never be prosecuted for their false testimony. Why, because it would be politically incorrect for the gutless local, state and federal authorities to do so! It was abundantly clear from the beginning that this black hoodlum was not some innocent teenager who was simply walking to his aunt's house after visiting a local store to buy a can of soda pop. Rather, it was clear, from the time that the story first broke on TV, that Brown, who had had run-ins with the authorities before, had just burglarized a local convenience store, stealing a box cigars in the process. In other words, Brown had good reason to fear apprehension by the police! For those of us who followed this bizarre incident from afar, there was another factor in the media reports that did not pass the smell test. Officer Wilson was taken to a local hospital immediately after the incident. In this respect, there was no suggestion that he was unconscious during his hospitalization. Why, pray tell, did the local authorities suppress his account of the killing. Certainly the police knew from the beginning that officer Wilson was acting in self defense when he shot the gentle giant. Along the same lines, why did the news media have so little interest in reporting officer Wilson's side of the story? These questions remain unanswered to this day, months after Wilson's confrontation with the criminal Brown. Yes Mable, robbing a connivance store is a crime! Why is this important? It is my contention that the Ferguson riots would not have occurred if officer Wilson's version of the events leading up to the killing of Brown were immediately made known by the local, state and federal agencies who investigated the crime scene. This is especially likely since there were eye witness to backup the officers version of the events that resulted in the shooting of Brown. Why were the authorities silent of these important issues? Very likely we will never know but, to me, the stench of political correctness permeates the Ferguson debacle, from beginning to end! To answer the question originally asked. The autopsy report of Michael Brown most likely will, at long last, put the Ferguson fiasco to bed. However, the perception of white racism, flamed by political correctness gone a muck, is alive and well and will remain so for the foreseeable future. You can bet your last dollar on that!

Is Term Limits the Answer?

As sure as the sun rises in the east every morning, every decade or so the clueless will begin yapping for term limits. Now don't get me wrong, term limits, in principle, is a good thing and something worth striving for. But, is it the answer to the maiden's prayers? I thing not, not by a long shot! Californian's passed term limits twenty-four years ago in 1990, primarily to get rid of Willie Brown who had served in the state assembly for some 31 years and controlled the body for the last 15 years of his tenure. Term limits finally ended Brown's corrupt political career in 2004, over ten years ago. As much as I despised this liberal politician's socialist policies, I do not believe that anything has changed for the better in the 10 years since he departed Sacramento. In fact, one could argue that things in the golden state have worsened significantly since he left office. Why is this? Our worsening financial situation in California and the deteriorating moral decay of its citizens, which mimic the situation in the country as a whole, are not so much the doings of corrupt liberal politicians; rather, the mess we find ourselves is a direct result of our one man one vote concept of governance. In this respect, we are paying a heavy price for having let our system of government erode from a republic, , wherein the central government's powers were extremely limited and well defined, to a pure democracy where the majority rules everything and the minority has very limited rights, or no rights at all. The redistribution of wealth, which is the inevitably result of a pure democracy, stifles the work ethic, promotes moral decay and, most importantly, erodes property rights, the backbone of any successful capitalist society. Many conservative pundits believe that we will inevitably become an impoverished third world country like Greece if the liberalization of America is allowed to continue for much longer. Considering the staggering poverty in our major cities; the numbers of those who are unemployed and on welfare; the rate of illegitimacy; and the numbers of our young people who are in prison or on parole, it seems clear that we are already Greece, but just don't know it. Nothing will change unless we alter the way our leaders are elected in the good old, soon to be forgotten, United States of America. This concept of one man one vote is the root of all of the evils in our country. We must make it difficult or impossible for those who contribute little or nothing to society to vote for politicians who will take the hard earned dollars from those who work and redistribute them to those who do not. The changes that must be made are simple and straight forward. First, only those who pay federal income taxes should be allowed to vote in federal elections. Second, only those who pay state income taxes should have the privilege of voting in state elections. Finally, only those that pay local property taxes or can prove they pay rent, out of their own pocket, to someone who owns property (government housing does not count) should be eligible to vote in local elections. These simple changes in the way we elect public officials would change everything in America, for the better. Most importantly, it would end the century long reign of the liberal democratic politicians whose policies are ruining our once great nation. What are the chances that these simple changes in voting requirements will be made by our present bought and paid for politicians? Not a chance in hell! We will need a revolution for that to happen,

And This Week's Ding-bat Of The week Award Goes to CDC Chairman Thomas Frieden.

A The governmental missteps in the management of the Ebola crisis are almost unimaginable ranging from Obama's refusal to ban flights from the regions in West Africa where the disease is endemic to the care (or lack of such) provided to victim Eric Duncan by the naive personnel at the Dallas Presbyterian Hospital. Our government's handling of the Ebola emergency has been appalling from beginning to end, not that there is an end in sight at the moment. The data that one could present to show the incompetence of Frieden and the CDCs management of the Ebola crisis is boundless and would be considered comical if it were not for the seriousness of the situation and the possible drastic consequences of the CDCs dim-witted policies. However, in this essay I will limit my remarks to this ignorant incompetent man's misunderstanding of the significance of a fever when assessing a person with a possible communicable disease like Ebola. First, and most importantly, Mr. Frieden, and his associates at the CDC seem not to understand the importance of the fact the all warm blooded animals have extremely stable temperatures, for humans it is 98.6° F. Note, we humans do not have a temperature range, for example 98.2°F to 99.2°F, which is considered to be normal. Rather, if a human is not dead or suffering from some form of infectious disease or heat stroke, their temperatures are a rock solid 98.6°F, always has been always will be! Even the slightest variation from this norm is a cause for alarm, this is especially true if, as a medical person, the individual you are caring for was unlucky enough to have been exposed to a disease like Ebola. Considering this fact, which is known to every third year medical student in the world, it is inconceivable that Mr. Frieden and his cronies at the CDC would have concocted the ridiculous rule that allowed a nurse who had extensive contact with an Ebola patent fly in an passenger airliner just because her temperature did not exceed the magical figure of 100.3°F. This is so because anyone who has Ebola, can transmit the virus from the moment he or she first shows signs of becoming ill or, as in this case, develops

slightest fever. In this respect, a fever of any degree should have been a sign of alarm, if not panic! The moment this nurse developed the slightest fever she should have been placed in quarantine, of this there can be no question! While it may be true that a person with Ebola may be less contagious if their temperature is 99.2°F rather than 105°F, there is no evidence what so ever to support the CDC's contention that an Ebola patent cannot pass on the infection if their temperature does not reach the arbitrary figure of 100.4°F and, even if this were so, on one can predict, with any certainly, what the temperature of an Ebola patent, showing minimal signs of illness's when they board an airplane, would be at the end of an extended flight in an airliner, filled with unsuspecting passengers who could contract the deadly disease. Obviously, the correct rule should have precluded any person from flying for at least 22

days after their last contact with the person suffering from Ebola, in this case Mr. Duncan. The fact that Mr. Frieden's CDC gave nurse Amber Jay Vinson permission to board that airliner is incomprehensible! Finally, it is important to realize that, to date, there is no evidence that the Ebola virus can be spread through the respiratory system; however, mutations in viruses are the rule rather than the exception and, if a mutation that allows airborne passage of the Ebola virus should occur, a third or more of the world's population could die in the ensuing Ebola pandemic in a matter of weeks. If such a plague should occur, the only thing between us and almost certain death is our incompetent one world president and the bungling, clueless bureaucrats at the CDC. Not a very comforting thought, do you think?

Growing bell (capsicum annuum) and chili peppers as perennials.

Most home gardeners grow bell peppers as an annual starting the plants from seed, or from a nursery seedling, in the spring and pulling them out in the late fall after the first frost. However, bell and chili peppers are actually perennials which can live for many years in temperate climates like we have in the bay area, and most of California for that matter. A mature pepper plant may look a little yellow and ragged during the cold winter months, but as long as the main branches of the plant remain green they will survive the winter and thrive again in the spring. The advantage of over-wintering these plants is that you have a fully mature plant in the early spring of each year that will produce an abundance of fruit far earlier than the nursery plants you plant each spring. If you live in a area that has less ideal growing conditions consider growing a few pepper plants in pots and bringing them indoors during cold winter months. You will be well rewarded for your effort.

Is Barrack Obama a Hoax?

Clint Eastwood recently posted on Face book that Obama was a hoax. Apparently Mr. Eastwood believes our president is a trickster, swindler, deceiver or con man. While it's true that Obama is a liar of the highest order and will say and do anything to promote his policies and those of the liberals who support him, I do not believe he is a hoaxster. To the contrary, it should have been crystal clear from the beginning, to anyone who was willing to take the time to examine, even superficially, the tea leaves, that Obama was an Anti-American, socialist demagogue who was hell-bent on bringing America to its knees for what, he perceived, were her past sins against humanity. The fact that we lost 500,000 souls eliminating slavery from the United States and fought, nearly single handedly, two world wars to preserve freedom throughout the world, is no more than an afterthought to this evil, amoral and Godless creature who has now been our president for six and a half long years. This wicked man's actions have always told everyone who would listen exactly who he was and is. Born in Kenya of card carrying communist parents; registering as a foreign student in college (that's why he refuses to release his college transcripts); spending twenty plus years in the pews of Reverend Wright's church soaking up Anti-American rhetoric; and working as a community organizer (the only real job he ever had before becoming president) tells us everything we needed to know about this anti-American zealot. No, Mr. Eastwood, this man is not a Hoax; rather, he is a deadly cancer that is eating at the very life and soul of American life. He accomplishes his sinister deeds with the assistance and full support of the sheeple who refused to recognize the obvious, not once but twice when they voted for him. That, I expect, would be most of you who are reading this. Shame on you!

Winning Wars

Other than our invasion of Granada, we have not won a war in nearly seventy years. Yes, we drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait but did not finish the job and were right back in Iraq 13 years later in a second feeble attempt to clean up the mess left by George Bush 1. I believe there is a very simple explanation for the fact that we have become so inept on the battle field in recent times. As I have said before in this blog, it is impossible to win a war unless you are willing to kill the enemies' civilians, huge numbers of them, as we did in Germany and Japan in the second world war. We are told over and over again, by our present day brain-dead generals, that we cannot prevail against the rag-heads in Iraq and Syria without boots on the ground, hundreds of thousands of them. These meat-heads apparently have forgotten that, after Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan surrendered without us having to put a single boot on the ground. Similarly, after we leveled Dresden from the air, Germany surrendered. I would argue that air power, not boots on the ground, was the deciding factor in World War 11. Yes, boots on the ground were necessary, especially early in the war before Rosie The Riveter got her act together, but the war was ultimately won with air superiority which we used to kill civilians by the hundreds of thousands. By the way, did you know that over 60 million people were killed in the second world war, most of them civilians! In this respect, the photographs of the pin-point air strikes and the beheadings of the three innocent American and British citizens by the Muslim fanatics were very informative. These pictures and videos show that this war is being fought in a desert. Unlike Afghanistan, where the enemy could easily avoid air strikes by hiding in the numerous caves that pox-marked the countries rugged mountainous terrain, there is nowhere for the enemy, and their civilian supporters , to hide in the treeless mountain less deserts of Iraq and Syria. In short, this war could be over in a matter of days, without employing a single pair of boots on the ground, if we were willing to use our air superiority to eradicate the ISIS troupes, and their civilian followers, with bombs dropped from aircraft flying at 40,000 feet. It is unacceptable for us to place our military personal in harm's way simply because the enemies' troops choose to hide in the homes of civilians and in religious places of worship (mosques) when they are not committing their atrocities on the battle field. To date, we have let the enemy decide when, where and how to fight. In essence, we are fighting a war with not one, but with both hands, tied behind our back. Why, because we do not have the stomach for killing the enemies civilians, it's really as simple as that! We need a change in leadership in this country, leaders that value the lives of our military personnel more than the lives of the medieval vermin we are fighting. Along these lines, the idea that there is such a thing as a good Muslim, is a fantasy. Rather, they are lying low in their Mosques patently waiting for the day they can rise up and kill every Christian and Jew on the face of the earth. Unfortunately, I do not believe there is a single politician of either major political party that realizes the seriousness of the threat the Muslim faith is to our country, not a single one!

Time To Plant The Winter Garden

Vegetable gardens don't look all that great this time of year, that's for sure. However, if you live in a temperate climate, like we have in California, it's time to plant a winter garden. No, you will not have those wonderful vine ripened tomatoes by Christmas, but you will have an abundance of fantastic vegetables including carrots, turnips, onions, kale, chard, cabbage and the various types of lettuce to enjoy during the winter months. The point is, that now is the time to plant while the soil is still warm and almost everything you stick in the ground, whether seed or seedling, will get off to a good start. Wait another month or so when the soil cools and you will have lost the opportunity to get your winter garden off to the best beginning possible. I began to prepare for my winter garden a month or so ago by adding composted oak leaves and well aged and horse manure (the secret to any organic garden) to the top of the raised beds in the garden. My raised beds do not have sides but are simply rectangular mounds of organic material that are about a foot or so deep in the middle and a few inches in depth around the bed's perimeter. The beds are placed directly over the native rocky clay soil we have in the hills of the bay area and are basically dirt less. Yes, you heard me right, dirt is the least important component of an organic garden and that is particularly true if you are gardening in a rocky clay or adobe soil. If you are dealing with such a soil, do not attempt to rehabilitate it, plant over it in a bed of organic material. Carrots, as well as onions and other vegetables with small seeds, are difficult to plant. Fortunately, there is a nearly effortless solution to this problem. Simply, place a couple of handfuls of sand in a small container, add a package of seeds to the sand and mix well. Saturate the soil with water before planting the seeds. Using a hoe with a four to six inch wide blade, make a very shallow trench, about one quarter to one half an inch deep, in the area where you wish to plant the seeds. Sprinkle the sand and seed mixture over the surface of the shallow row and cover with soil or, as in my case, the organic material which makes up the garden bed. Use the back of the hoe to compress the material that has been placed over the seeds and water the prospective new row of vegetables. The advantage of this method for sowing vegetable seeds is threefold. First, you never have to deal with individual tiny seeds that are nearly impossible to see let alone arrange correctly in a garden row. In fact, using this methodology a blind man could sow carrots in his garden. Second, and of equal importance, the developing seedlings will be spread, more or less, evenly over a wide row in the garden, rather than in a crowded straight line. This, of course, greatly reduces the time you will spent thinning the rows of vegetables in the garden. Finally, vegetable seeds are expensive, using this method of sowing seeds will save you money because you will not be throwing away nearly as many valuable seeds during the thinning process. Happy fall gardening. For those of you in Minnesota, get ready to enjoy the snow and ice. Look on the bright side, you will soon be past the mosquito season.

And The Dingbat Of The Week Award Goes To-

Florida congresswoman and Chair of the Democrat National Committee Debbie "blabber mouth" Wasserman Schultz! This colossal liberal idiot has stepped into it a time or to in her not so illustrious political career; however, never more so than in the remarks she made at the Milwaukee Athletic Club this past Wednesday. During her remarks on women's issues, this creature from the depths of some nasty Florida swamp with the unkempt hair due, made several incredibly stupefying statements. First, the dingbat of the week said, when referring to the conservative pro-life Christian principles of Governor Scott Walker and the Republican Party, "That they had given women the back of their hand." The liberal miscreant went to say that "What the Republican Tea Party extremists are doing is that they are grabbing us by the hair and pulling us back and it is unacceptable." Well, Debbie "blabber mouth" Wassermann Schultz here are some facts for you to consider. The bible and the Jewish law, given to Moses on Mount Sinai 3300 years ago, all prohibit many of the things you and your liberal colleagues now champion including the taking of innocent life (abortion); same sex marriage ; homosexual behavior, referred to in the bible as an abomination; and excessive taxation (stealing) over 10 percent of a worker's pay. By the way, you simpleton, women, on average, make less than their male counterparts because whey work fewer hours than do males who are in similar positions. In short, Debbi "blabber mouth" Wassermann Schultz is a typical liberal American Jew who, over the past few generations, has lost her way and become an amoral, anti-Christian, anti-Jewish materialistic zealot of the worse kind. As Rabbi Daniel Lapin says in his America's Real War, these amoral liberal extremists, many of whom are Jews who should know better, are destroying the conservative Christian foundations which made America the greatest nation the world has ever known. These same conservative religious principles are largely responsible for the fact that antisemitism is as rare as hen's teeth in America, as has been the case since the nation's founding.

America's Real War by Rabbi Daniel Lapin

Although written in the late 1990s, I only recently stumbled onto this incredible book by the ultra orthodox rabbi, Daniel Lapin. In America In Decline, I argue that America's problems, and our countries recent fall from greatness, are a result of the fact that we have morphed from republic wherein the central government plays a limited well defined role to a pure democracy wherein the federal and state governments control every aspect of our lives. The adverse effects of this transition include the fact that our national debt now exceeds 17.5 trillion; one third of our population are on welfare; 72 of black births are illegitimate; and over 70 percent of young black males are either in prison or on probation. Rabbi Lapin (560 AM radio from San Francisco every Sunday morning from 5 AM to 9 AM) believes that America's decline is a direct result of the fact that, over the past 30 to 40 years, we have become a "Godless amoral nation." If one accepts, as fact, that there is a God, which is a difficult pill for many of us to swallow, it is difficult or impossible refute any of the arguments this brilliant rabbi makes in America's Real War. I originally asked Rabbi Lapin this question. Why are American Jews so politically stupid (liberal). The answer, to be found in America's Real War, is that, American Jews have become progressively more materialistic, secular and, most importantly, "Godless" with the passage of time. I expect that the same can be said of the majority of present-day Americans who believe that gay marriage, late-term abortion and the redistribution of the nation's wealth from the productive members of society to those who refuse to work are "OK" public policies. Rabbi Lapin deals, at great length, with most of our social problems in his book and makes an excellent case for returning to the Judeo-Christian principles on which this country was founded. From a personal standpoint, I have always thought that I was a reasonably "good" person and that, during my tortuous journey through life had just chosen to be more good than evil. After reading Rabbi Lapin's America's Real War, I have been forced to rethink this supposition. It is quite possible that I am who I am today, seventy some years later, because I was lucky enough to be raised by a group of elderly religious men and women in the Eel Rock Seventh Day Adventist Colony in remote Northern California. Maybe I was not born good after all, maybe I was made good by the saintly people who raised me. Thank you rabbi Lapin for that bit of insight. In any case, as usual, I stray from the point. Whether you are religious or not, Rabbi Lapin's America's Real War is a must read for any American who loves their country and, more importantly, wants to prevent us from becoming another third world socialist nation like Greece. It is especially important that young people read this book because, at the very least, it will give them a accurate understanding of the importance of the Judeo-Christian principles on which our country was founded, something that is not taught in public schools today. If your children or grand children are lucky enough to attend a parochial school bring this book to the attention of their history teachers, I know they will thank you for doing so.

The liberal Media Strikes Again.

From the first moment the news on the Ferguson riots hit every television screen and newspaper front page in America, it should have been clear to anyone with an IQ over 80 that the liberal press was, once again, spinning the news to fit their liberal, blacks can do no wrong, agenda. The black hoodlum who was shot by the police was referred to as a youngster, a child, a nice boy and a model teenager, among other things, by the press and TV commentators. Never once did they mention that the "perp" was a young man who was around six feet tall and weighed over 200 pounds. Nor did they mention that he had just robbed and beat up the owner of a local convenience store, although they knew this from the beginning. A family spokesman ultimately admitted that "he was not a perfect teenager" but certainly was no hoodlum. The drive-by media seems incapable of knowing the difference between a teenager who misses a day of school occasionally and a thug who steals cigars from a local store and batters the store owner in the process. When it became increasingly clear that the Ferguson police had been dealing with a drugged-up black criminal the media switched gears and insisted though the young black man may not have been "as pure as the driven snow" but he did not deserve to be shot six times by a racist white cop! After all "he had his hands up and was trying to surrender when he was shot" the drive-byes tell us. Apparently, there are a dozen or so wittiness's to the event that will testify to the fact that the black robber was shot while charging the police officer, only a lucky shot to the head prevented the officer from being badly beaten or beaten to death! Sooner, rather than later, the truth will come out and the police officer will be exonerated. At this point the liberals in the media will move on to their next fabricated news event, having learned absolutely nothing!

Bread Recipe.

It has been suggested that I should try to “lighten up my blog a little”. Well, this is not quite as easy as it might sound since I am, by nature, not a very light hearted or humorous person, unless I have a few too many under my belt. Anyway, consider this to be a rather lame attempt to lighten up a little. For now let’s deal with a problem that I have been struggling with for most of my adult life, how to make a decent loaf of bread. My mother could do this in her sleep, not that she ever got much sleep. Unfortunately, she took all of her recipes, which were in her head, to the grave with her, so she was of no help to me in this endeavor. To make a long story a little shorter, let me say that I have tried almost everything to make a decent loaf of bread. I even built a humongous outdoor wood fired bread oven at our summer place on the Klamath. This thing took three summers to build and, for all I know, might be the largest free standing bread oven in the world. In any case, it turned out to be a great pizza oven but not a single loaf of edible bread has ever come out of it, no not a single loaf! Everything changed, for once for the better, one morning about three years ago when my wife Tina brought to my attention a bread recipe that was published in our local liberal rag the Contra Costa Times (you’re right, I can’t keep politics out of it no matter how hard I try). In any case, this bread recipe was so simple that I almost dismissed it out of hand; however, a drowning man will grasp at any straw available to him, so I ultimately tried it. The results were nothing short of miraculous. I have dubbed this my “any fool can do it bread recipe”. I assure you this works the first time and every time, just like tax cuts stimulate the economy every time they are tried! This bread will be gobbled up almost as fast as you can make it, so I am giving you a double recipe that will make two medium sized loaves of bread. To make this wonderful bread you will need two cast iron kettles or enamel coated iron kettles with lids in which to bake the bread. Here are the ingredients for the bread. 6 cups of bread or all purpose flour ½ teaspoon of yeast (this is not a typing error, this is all the yeast you need) 3 teaspoons of salt 3 and ¼ cups of water Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and stir in the water. This will produce very, very wet bread dough. Spray the dough with Pam or olive oil, cover with plastic wrap and let it sit for 18 hours. Do not manipulate the dough in any way (you couldn’t anyway because it is so wet) Line two medium sized bowls with parchment paper. Divide the dough and place each half over the parchment paper in the bowls, punching it down as you do so. Spray with Pam or olive oil, cover with a dish towel and let it sit for another 2 to 3 hours. Preheat the oven, kettles and lids to 500 degrees F. After the kettles and lids are at 500 degrees F remove them from the oven and remove the lids. Lift the parchment paper by its corners and place the bread dough and parchment paper in the preheated kettles. The original recipe did not employ parchment paper in the transfer process but the bread dough invariably falls when it is manipulated, if you do not use the paper. Replace the lids and bake at 500 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove the lids and bake for an additional 20 to 30 minutes at 450 degrees F or until each loaf is golden brown. Remove the loaves and let them cool on a rack. That’s all there is to it, as I said any fool, even liberals, can do this! Now to jazz up your bread a little try this. Add ½ cup of coarsely chopped sun dried tomatoes to the dry mix and proceed as you would with the plain recipe. Or to make the best bread you have ever had in your life, add roasted ground wheat to the recipe. Obtain a pound or so of whole wheat. Spread it out on a cookie sheet and roast at 450 degrees F until dark brown. Grind up the roasted wheat in a grain mill until it is the consistence of coffee grounds. Add ½ cup of the roasted ground wheat to the dry ingredients and proceed as before. I usually make my bread with both sun dried tomatoes and roasted wheat. If you add these additional ingredients you will have to add a little more water, just enough so you can mix the dry ingredients together easily. You can add olives, raisins or anything else that meets your fancy to the basic recipe if you feel creative. Everything I have tried seams to work. Please try this simple fool proof bread recipe. I know you will be delighted with the results. By the way this bread makes the best toast ever! One cautionary note, this bread recipe is not for weight watchers.

Why Pure Democracies Always Fail.

In America In Decline I discuss the realities of a pure democracy and why they inevitably fail. My good friend Jim Gribbens recently send me an article in which this subject was discussed in length by Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh in the year 1887. It shows, once again, that there is nothing new under the sun! Worse yet, it proves, without a shadow of the doubt, that mankind seems incapable of learning from the mistakes of the past. This is what professor Tyler said 127 years ago when discussing the fall of Athenian Republic some 2000 years before. "A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse over loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During these 200 years, these nations always progress through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependency back to bondage." Our obituary has already been written in stone: America, Born 1776-Died 2012. For those of you who believe that the report of America's demise is premature consider these facts. 1) Our nation no longer has borders. 2) Our nation's mean IQ has been falling an average of 1.4 points per generation for the past 150 years and now, with the unrestrained invasion of low IQ illegal immigrants from South America, is in free-fall. 3) Over that past 60 years we have gone from the world's only super power to a nation with no power. In this respect, do you believe for a nanosecond that world leaders give a damn how many red-lines our fearless leader Barack Hussein Obama draws in the sand? Of course not! 4) With an overall illegitimacy rate of 40.7%; an abortion rate of over 50 percent in the black community; and with 33% of all black males being either in prison or on parole, we have gone from a country of morality to a nation of immorality in the short period of about 60 years. 5) Finally, with a national debt exceeding $17.5 trillion we are now bankrupt! In fact, we have been insolvent for several decades but just didn't know it. In this respect, not even Albert Einstein could comprehend the magnitude of a $17.5 trillion dollar debt and there certainly is no possibility that we could ever pay it off, none what so ever! Yes, as professor Tyler predicted 127 years ago America is finished as a great nation. The fact that our Republic would morph into a pure democracy and fail in the process was predictable from day one!

16. Mittleider Gardening

As Mentioned above some gardening experts believe that healthier more nutritious plants and vegetables can be produced by the judicious addition of chemical based fertilizers to the garden soil. The Mittleider gardening method, arguably, is the most important of these gardening techniques. The Mittleider method of gardening is similar to hydroponics in that plants are grown in a mixture of chemicals designed to meet the nutritional requirements of plants. In hydroponics the chemicals are provided to the plants in trays of water. Mittleider gardeners feed their garden plants with chemical fertilizers that added to the soil around the plants in their raised bed or dirt gardens on a weekly basis. The rational for growing plants and vegetables in soil enriched by chemically based fertilizers is based on the fact that everything in this world is chemical and plants cannot tell the difference between nitrogen from a dead leaf or pile of manure from that in a fertilizer bag. Mittleider's research revealed that, of the 118 known elements, plants need only 16 for healthy vigorous growth, three of these are oxygen, hydrogen an carbon dioxide which, of course are readily available in the air. The remaining 13 are all soluble minerals that are absorbed through the plants roots. To cover the possibility that his commercial Magic Micro Mix of essential chemical nutrients may be missing one or more important elements, Mittleider recommends that plants be grown in beds of natural soil so that the roots of the plants can extract anything that might be missing from his Magic Micro Mix directly from the soil. The main quarrel I have with the Mittleider method of gardening is that the main component of his magic mix (which includes 10 ounces of Magic Micro Mix and 4 pounds of Epson salt) is 25 pounds of all purpose commercial grade fertilizer. So essentially, I believe, the Mittleider method is nothing more than gardening with a concoction of potentially toxic chemical based fertilizers to which an expensive proprietary mix of trace elements has been added. In this respect, the next time you consider applying an all purpose fertilizer with an NPK value of 15-15-15 to your garden consider this fact. The nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium make up only 45% of the contents in the fertilizer bag. What makes up the other 55% of the bag's content? One study of 29 commercial fertilizes from 22 states revealed the answer, everything but the kitchen sink! Most importantly, these commercial fertilizers contained a significant amount of industrial waste and high levels of toxic metals including lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, nickel, beryllium and dioxin. All of these contaminants are toxic to the human body, even in trace amounts. These toxins have the potential to kill all living things including the beneficial microorganisms in garden soil, as well as your liver and kidneys. In this respect, Mittleider's followers claim the chemical fertilizers they add to their garden soil do not produce a sterile soil free of the beneficial microorganisms that organic gardener's believe are essential for healthy plant growth. Really? To the contrary, I do not believe that you will find an abundance of earthworms in the soil of a Mittleider chemical garden. Other aspects of the Mittleider garden methodology are similar to those of organic gardeners who grow their plants upward rather than outward. For example, tomatoes and other vines are attached to baler twine which is strung from overhead wires suspended from T-Frames. T-frames are expensive to construct, but are a consideration for those who have limited space for a garden. Unfortunately, T-Frames invariably are constructed from wood that has been treated by arsenic based preservatives. I, for one, do not want arsenic treated wood in close proximity to the vegetables that will end up on my kitchen table. For this reason I grow my tomatoes and string beans on eight foot stakes and my peas and cucumbers on 5 foot high wire mesh fences. In summary, I have no doubt that gardeners can grow beautiful plants and vegetables using the chemical based fertilizers recommended by Mr. Mittleider. However, I do question, because their potential toxicity, how suitable vegetables grown from chemical fertilizers and their toxic metal contaminants are for your kitchen table. Finally, I believe it is much cheaper to grow vegetables in one of the dirt-less gardens I describe in this book than it is to grow them in a garden fertilized by all purpose commercial fertilizers and expensive trace element supplements. While it is probably true that the plants can't tell the difference, I'll bet the earthworms will know the difference and most likely your liver and kidneys will too. Don't take the risk, garden the organic way. This is a chapter from my soon to be published book- Gardening The Organic Way.

Dinesh D'Souza's movie America Is a must see!

I haven't been to a movie in five years first, because I refuse to support Hollywood liberals and second because I have no interest in vast majority of the meaningless films they produce. On the advice of several friends I made an exception earlier this week and went to see D'Souza's magnificent production America. We went to a 2 PM matinee on Wednesday and the place was packed! Interesting, considering the local Contra Costa Times have not written a word about the film other than to note the time and place of its showing. First, let me say that I learned a lot from the movie. For Example, I did not know that a significant number of slave owners in several pre-civil war states were indeed black. Somehow I was never taught that is school. More importantly, Mr. D'Souza points out in great detail how important America and its capitalist way of life has been to the world at large over the last 100 years or so. In this respect, we are the only people in history who, after conquering a nation, rebuilds it and then gives it back to those who originally tried to destroy us. In this respect, although D'Souza did not mention it, one of reasons we are now bankrupt is a result from our never ending humanitarian efforts to "make everything right in the world." In any case, president Obama and many of his liberal followers refuse to acknowledge the past and present greatness of America as do most of those who teach our children in K through 12, and later in college. I realize that I am "preaching to the choir" to many who will read this. After all, most of you already know that America, with all its flaws, is still the greatest nation on the face of the earth. Rather, my purpose is to point out that this brilliant film provides an important opportunity for true conservatives, and all who love the American way of life, to counteract the liberal propaganda that is being feed on a daily basis to the young people of our country by our educational institutions, the liberal biased media and the morons on television stations like NSNBC. I implore you, it's summer time and the children and young people are on vacation, take your grandchildren to a move. Not just another "shoot-um- up movie," but to Dinesh D'Souza's America. I believe anyone over the age of 10 will enjoy this movie; of more importance, they will come away with a better understanding of capitalism and have a greater appreciation of the American way of life, at least as it was before the days of the socialist American hater Barack Obama.

Publication of America In Decline

Hi everyone, my latest book, America In Decline, has just been released as an ebook Book on Barnes and Noble and Amazon for $0.99! You also can read it for free on Google Books. One hundred and twenty pages and 15 months of writing. I think you will have a different perspective on the problems we are facing in the United States today after reading America In Decline. I know you will be surprised at how simple the solutions are for righting our floundering ship of state

Open Letter To Rabbi Daniel Lapin

7/1/2014 Rabbi Daniel Lapin PO Box 58 Mercer Island, WA. 98040 Dear Rabbi Lapin: Find enclosed a copy of my latest book America In Decline. As the title indicates, I believe our country is in serious trouble. Unfortunately, unlike Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, I do not believe the situation can be turned around at the ballot box. I hope you will have the time to read the book. I believe you will find it informative and rife with suggestions on how, short of revolution, we can turn our floundering ship of state around. I Love your radio show and listen to it on 560 AM most Sunday mornings. I hope you will address this question sometime on your show. I believe that Jews are the smartest people to ever walk the face of the earth. Always were and always will be. That having been said, why is the average Jew so stupid (liberal) when it comes to politics? For the life of me I cannot explain this dichotomy. Sincerely yours, Daniel C. Merrill MD docmerrill@aol.com

Open Letter

The Use Of Coffee Grounds In The Garden

Coffee grounds are a near ideal soil amendment. Although the NPK value of the grounds is relatively low (2.3-0.06-0.6), each cubic yard of coffee grounds contains 10.31 pounds of nitrogen which the soil microorganisms slowly release over time; as such, coffee grounds are an ideal slow release organic fertilizer. Coffee grounds also are rich in magnesium and copper essential trace elements that are necessary for vigorous plant growth. The carbon nitrogen ratio for coffee grounds is 20 to 1 which makes them an ideal food for composting earthworms and, with a pH of 6.2, a perfect organic fertilizer for acid loving plants like tomatoes and blue berries. Furthermore, each cubic yard of coffee grounds adds 442 pounds of organic material to a garden, thus, the grounds are a valuable source of humus. This is an especially important consideration for gardeners who do not have a ready supply of animal manure, earthworm castings or other type of organic material with which to enrich their garden soil. Most gardeners are well aware of the value of coffee grounds, especially if they garden the organic way; however, many of you may be questioning the practicality of incorporating large volumes of coffee grounds in your garden considering the high cost of Starbucks and Pete's coffee at the grocery store, which now sells for around $9.99 for a 12 ounce bag. You also may be questioning the relevance of this essay considering that most of us use instant forms of coffee at home and only resort to coffee made from expensive ground coffee beans on special occasions. However, at this point in time Americans are literally nuts about their coffee and are more than willing to pay big bucks for the pricy beverage when they go shopping or while commuting to work. As a result, there is a coffee shop in every food store and on nearly every street corner in the country. The entrepreneurs that manage these coffee shops invariably sell fresh brewed coffee and generate hundreds of pounds of coffee ground waste each and every day of the year. Guess what, disposing of this waste is a big problem for these people and they are more than happy to give it away. So, the next time you go to Safeway, stop by the coffee vendor and ask him if he has any used coffee grounds that he wants to get rid of, I know from personal experience that they invariably will. Most likely you will come home with a plastic sack containing 20 to 30 pounds of spent coffee grounds. All you have to do is carry it home and dump it in the garden. Happy gardening!

The United States Invaded By The Children Of South America

Forty two thousand children from South America have entered the United States so far this year and it is estimated that over 90,000 will have entered our country illegally by year's end. Somehow these children, who are mostly from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, make their way across Mexico and simply walk across our porous southern border. Once here they sit down; wait to be arrested by border patrol agents; and then request asylum based on humanitarian grounds. Ultimately, the vast majority of these requests will be granted and the illegal's will become wards of the state. This, of course, would not be possible if the Obama administration made even the slightest effort to protect our southern border from the invasion of illegal's from South America. I make no distinction between illegal's that cross our borders for economic reasons and those who come here to escape the atrocities of their homeland. In either case they should not be here! Of course, we all have empathy for those who were unlucky enough to have been born in places like Honduras just as we do for those who were born in hell-holes like Haiti, Sierra Leone, Niger or Liberia. However, we are a relatively small bankrupt nation and there is little or nothing we can do to eliminate worldwide hunger or the enslavement and ill-treatment of the peoples of the world by their corrupt and incompetent leaders, most of whom, by the way, are of color. The point I would like to make is this. As I describe in my latest book America in Decline, many, if not most, of the problems that America faces today (poverty, illegitimacy, crime Etc.) are a direct result of the low IQs of our citizens. In this respect, the mean IQ of Americans has been falling an average of 1.5 IQ points a generation since the Elizabethan era. This problem is worsening by the day because birthrate of intelligent white women is now only 1.7 (a birthrate of 2.3 is required to maintain the status quo) while the birth rate of low IQ blacks and women of Mexican descent is three to four times higher. Can you see where we are headed if these disparities in birthrates between white and collared America are allowed to continue? In any case, what we do not need in twenty-first century America is tens of thousands of low IQ children crossing our borders each year from south America, or anywhere else for that matter! The mean IQs of children from South America are 14 points lower than whose of the average white American teenager. Educating and providing shelter, nourishment and healthcare for these intellectually challenged children will be a tremendous burden on the already beleaguered American tax payer. Allowing them to stream across our borders on a daily basis is unforgivable and Obama should be impeached for it. Better yet, he should be tried for treason and when found guilty executed! Many, if not most, of those who read this blog will question the validity of the statistics on racial IQ that are used to support my contention that we should, once and for all, put a stop to illegal immigration whether the illegal's be adult or children. If so, I recommend you read The Bell Curve by Herrnstein and Murray. I believe this to be the most important book written in the last 150 years, maybe the most significant ever!

Sun Dried Tomatoes

At this time of year gardeners are anxiously awaiting for their first tomatoes to ripen. In a few short weeks many of them will be complaining that they have too many tomatoes and will be attempting to find ways to get rid of them, usually by giving them to their neighbors. I do not believe that you can ever have to many home grown tomatoes. This is especially true if you grow them organically without pesticides and poisonous chemical fertilizers. I make tomato sauce out of some of my wonderful home grown organic tomatoes and freeze it for use in the winter months. I expect that many of you do too. However, most of my excess tomatoes are sun dried and used to season the dishes I prepare throughout the year when fresh tomatoes are not available (store bought tomatoes are tasteless and don't count). This is a relatively simple and inexpensive way to utilize the excess bounty from your garden. By the way, have you noticed the price they charge for sun-dried tomatoes in the local food store? Outrageous! To sundry tomatoes you will need a drying rack. You also can use a dehydrator but dehydrators are expensive, costly to run and dehydrated tomatoes are not as tasty as are their sun-dried counterparts. I make my racks from 1 X 4 inch fir boards nailed together and covered with window screen on one side. The window screen is stapled to the 1 X 4 inch frames. The finished racks are 8 feet long and 3 feet wide. You will need two such racks for your drying assembly. Place one rack, screen side down on two saw horses, or something similar that will keep them off the ground, and position the second rack, screen side up, over it. The space between the two screens is 1.5 inches, just right for drying tomato halves! To prepare the tomatoes for drying cut them in half, through the middle, not the bottom where they were attached to the vines. Now make five or six right angle cuts across the exposed flesh of the tomato halves with a sharp knife so that they will, with a little pressure, lay flat on the drying rack, skin side down. Finally, salt and pepper the crosshatched tomato halves, cover them with the second rack to keep the flies off, and let them dry on the racks until they are nearly crisp and dark reddish black in color. This, usually takes about 5-7 days. If your nights are misty, cover the screens with a tarp at night to keep them from becoming moist during the evening hours. Sun dried tomatoes made in this way will last indefinitely if stored in a plastic bag or container. Sun dried tomato halves may be used whole or sliced into small pieces to season almost any dish imaginable; however, I usually run the dried tomato halves through a blender to form a dried tomato seasoning powder which I sprinkle generously on the dishes and salads I prepare in the kitchen. You may not like my politics, but you are going to love my sun dried tomato powder, I guarantee it!

Growing the perfect ear of corn.

Corn. Corn is a member of the grass family and is monoecious having both male and female reproductive organs on each plant. However, unlike many monoecious plants the sex organs of the corn plant are widely separated from each other. The male flowers are located in the top of the corn stalk in the plants tassel while the female flowers are the silk of the corns ears. Each strand of silk is attached to a single kernel of corn. For pollination to occur the pollen grains produced by the tassels must contact the silk of an immature ear of corn. If each strand of silk is not pollinated the kernel it is attached to will not develop and the ear of corn will be deformed. To assist the pollination of an ear of corn select a few tassels that are golden brown. Cut off the tassel and shake it vigorously in a paper bag. Pick it up the pollen that has collected in the bag with a medium sized paintbrush. Select a tassel that is drooping and ready to be pollinated. Hold the brush an inch or so above the drooping tassel and tap it to allow the pollen to fall onto the tassel. For best results, repeat this process daily for one week.

The Roots Of White Racism

This is my 100th blog. Over the past three years I have covered a number of controversial topics, but none as contentious as this one! The question I will address in this essay is why, 151 years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, is white on black racism so rampant in land of the free and the home of the brave. I believe the answer to this all important question is simple and straightforward but, because of the continual barrage of social liberal propaganda, extremely difficult for most guilt ridden white Americans to accept. This, of course, is especially true for wealthy Americas who have been thought to believe that they do not deserve to benefit from the fruits of their labor because they somehow stole it from the countries' unproductive underclass. I have long believed that white racism in America had little to do with skin color and everything to do with the far more important genetic and cultural differences that exist between the black and white races. The recent outburst of the Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has served to focus our attention, once again, on the deeply held, but most often carefully concealed, white abhorrence of blacks and their culture. Basically, Mr. Sterling, a typical affluent white liberal who has given millions to various black causes and received numerous awards for his philanthropy from black and white functionaries alike, admitted that he hated blacks and detested being in their presence unless, of course, they were sexy black women. The real question is not, as the drive-by media would have you believe, if and how Mr. Sterling should be punished for his racist comments. Rather, the sixty-four thousand dollar question is how did such a successful American capitalist develop such a hatred for blacks. Several factors contributed to Mr. Sterling's low opinion of blacks. In the first place, most whites in America inherently know, although in many cases only subconsciously, that blacks are inferior intellectually. In this respect, whites who have never read The Bell Curve and know nothing about the numerous studies of racial differences in IQ, discern from their life experiences that the average black is ill-equipped intellectually to compete in today's technologically driven world. Why has the white population come to this conclusion despite everything to contrary that they have been taught in school, read in the newspapers and watched on TV? In this respect, the behaviorists have maintained for the past 60 years that the genetic differences in inherited IQ between the races are infinitesimally small and that the measured racial differences in intellect are the result of environmental factors such as economic status and white privilege. In other words, despite all the evidence to the contrary, the behaviorists would have us believe that environmental factors, and not inherited intelligence, determines whether we become brain surgeons or end up living a life of poverty and crime. However, the average guy on the street knows from experience that the trillions a dollars spent on social programs to level the educational playing field for blacks have been a futile waste of time and money. These wasteful social boondoggles include school busing, affirmative action, head start and a host of other programs designed to bring blacks up to speed intellectually. In this respect, despite the best efforts of the social engineers to hide the failures of Lyndon Baines Johnson's great society, the dismal failure of the social programs designed to level the playing field for blacks has not gone unnoticed by the Caucasians who have been forced to pay the price, not only in money but in lost opportunity, for affirmative action and the other failed social programs promoted by the liberal do-gooders over the past six decades. Older Americans, like Mr. Sterling, know the truth, after all they lived through it! Unfortunately, most younger Americans don't have a clue. But, given time, I believe that even these young sculls full of mush, will stumble to the truth. God help us if they don't! But the white disdain for blacks is not solely based on their perception that blacks are intellectually inferior to whites, far from it! The average white person may not be able to tell you the exact percentage of young black males who are either in prison or on parole (72 percent), but they inherently know that criminality is rife in the black community. In this respect, even though the liberal drive-by media refuses to identify the race of those responsible for the carnage caused by those participating in the knockout games, most whites know that black hoodlums are primarily responsible these vicious senseless attaches on the innocent, usually elderly, whites. Similarly, although most whites may not know that 72 percent of all black births are illegitimate, they do know that marriage and legitimacy are uncommon, at best, in today's black culture. Finally, it does not go unnoticed among white America that cities like Flint and Detroit Michigan, Oakland California and Washington DC, to name only four of worst offenders, have all been run by corrupt liberal black politicians (remember Marion Berry) for the past 50 to 60 years. In this respect, when I visited my aunt in Oakland as a child it was a vibrant beautiful city perhaps, because of its idyllic climate, one of the nicest places to live in California; now after a half century of black control Oakland is a crime-ridden impoverished wasteland. Situations like this do not go unnoticed by the white population, despite the attempts of the social engineers and liberal politicians to sweep them under the rug. The point of this treatise is that the deeply engrained white racism in this country is not based on anything as superficial as skin color. Rather, it is founded on a century or more of accumulated personal experiences which has led whites, like Mr. Sterling, to the undeniable conclusion that blacks, as a race, are intellectually inferior, not only to whites, but to all other races. More importantly perhaps, no matter how hard they try, whites, including Mr. Sterling, find it impossible to escape the inevitable conclusion that members of the black community are prone to criminality and other forms of antisocial behavior. This, despite the fact that, in cities like Oakland California, there literally is a black church on every street corner. Occasionally, someone like Mr. Sterling, will blurt out the truth and be punished severely for it. That's just the way it is in twenty-first century America where the concept of free speech is little more than a faint memory of the far distant past.