Will The Real Welfare Queen Please Stand Up!

The whole reason we do this thing called government is to provide for the "commons." Alone, we can't provide our own personal defense, police, schools, hospitals, roads, parks and many other necessary services without forming a government and paying taxes. Many Americans are blaming these social services for our current economic crisis, yet we have been providing them since the birth of our nation without incurring excessive debt. So what happened? Corporate welfare is busting the bank and the cost of all our social services combined represent chump change when compared to corporate giveaways!

In the bad old days, corporations paid very high taxes, and frankly, they were paying their own way. Now, with lowered tax rates, loopholes and off shoring, they have become America's new welfare queens and are sucking us dry. There are literally thousands, maybe millions of ways they dupe tax payers. First, they own the media and politicians who constantly search for issues that will distract and divide Americans. Remember Terry Schiavo unplugged, the mosque at ground zero, the Acorn pimp film, and President Obama's birth certificate.  These are certainly things to think about, but they are used to distract and divide while digging deep in the taxpayers' pocket.

Did you ever wonder why we spend so much money on foreign aid while our nation is in crisis?  Foreign aid is never just handed out, there are many stipulations regarding how and where the money is spent. Politicians designate which companies will provide the services and products in the foreign aid packages and there goes our money, right into the pockets of corporations. It used to be, corporations provided jobs and paid taxes in America thus stimulating our economy. Corporations are getting trillions of dollars while providing fewer jobs and fewer tax dollars. While we are distracted and divided, all you can hear is a great big sucking sound.

What about the military industrial complex, with the cost of a cruise missile delivered to target at well over a million dollars a shot.  During the first days of the Libya crisis, 110 cruise missiles were fired.  Did you ever consider the cost of protecting corporate shipping, or the cost of building and maintaining ports for the corporations who use them?  How about tax payers building super domes for billionaire team owners and millionaire players.  Taxpayers building hospitals for corporations who make trillions of dollars off them.  Nuclear energy is the most expensive way of producing electricity known to man, so why the big push for nuclear?  They would like the taxpayer to build, maintain and cleanup while the corporations laugh all the way to the bank.  One could write for weeks, or even years, regarding the ways that corporations take our tax dollars without providing meaningful return on taxpayer investment, but I think you get the point.

The real welfare queens are not single moms living in the projects.  They are giant international corporations lined up at the public trough stealing our tax dollars.  Prior to 1980, America prospered because most corporations provided quality American jobs while paying significant taxes on their profits.  There are some corporations who still provide quality American jobs and pay a lot of taxes.  These companies should be getting our tax dollars not the international corporations who have abandoned our nation.  America's taxpayers deserve a fair return on their tax dollar investments that make corporate profits possible.  The people need to rise up and demand that they be fairly represented by their politicians.  Campaign, lobby and labor law reform are key issues needed to make the changes needed, so get out there and carry a sign, get out there and walk, let's change things. 

A Journey Back In Time

I recently visited my great grandfather's homestead on the Nooksack river with my cousin Ron.  Standing in the woods, where the old Rothenbuhler family cabin once stood, was like going back in time.  I could almost hear their voices, it lent strength to my connections with both the land and my Swiss ancestors who traveled so far to build a new home in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest.

                                         

                                           Cousin Ron zip lining the river.

                                        

                                                           Ron's Cabin

Rothenbuhler Rain Forest

Jacob Rothenbuhler Family Cabin, 1901

Jacob's Cabin Site Today

Fred Rothenbuhler's Cabin, 1918

Fred's Cabin Site Today

Saxon School, 1900-1901

Saxon School Site Today

Tai Chi of The Forest

Morel Mushrooms

Picking morels is a slow motion dance, best described as Tai Chi of the forest.  Heel to toe, shifting the weight, balancing and stepping.  Dancing gracefully under, over and around logs and brush, stooping to pick those delicious mushrooms.  Head down, circling round and round the giant cottonwoods, one must know how to navigate the forest, or suffer the embarrassment of being lost.  

Lucky for me, Daddy taught me how to find my way in the woods a long, long time ago.  If you're new to the forest, I'll share a few tips on finding your way:  

• Know the area, have a look at a map knowing what direction the roads, trails and creeks are running.  
• Have a compass in your pocket and use it, know that if you're hunting east of a road or trail that you need to go west on your return.  Once in the woods, take a reading, turn the compass until the needle is pointed north and read the direction back.  I like a compass with an outer ring that spins so you can mark that direction.  

                                   

• Lacking a compass, you can still navigate quite effectively.  On clear days, you can use the sun, remembering that it rises in the east traveling an arc that sets in the west.  Wherever the sun is when you start, put it on your opposite side to return (remember to allow for its east-west journey).  
• On a cloudy day, one can even use a watch, just make a big right hand or left hand rectangle.  For a 2hr.  journey, you could walk straight for 30 min. turn right, walk 30 min. turn right, walk 30 min. turn right, walk 30 min. and you are back at your starting point.  This is very effective, especially if you take care to walk straight, allow for slower, rougher terrain and differently shaped rectangles.  
• Finally there's looking for landmarks that can be used just like the sun to find your way - valleys, mountains, rivers, giant rocks or trees etc.  It's also a good idea to look behind and pick landmarks that identify your return journey.

Get yourself a mushroom field guide with color plates, identification is easy and safe once learned, best to go with a friend the first time.   Morels in the Pacific Northwest are associated with cottonwoods.  The only similar mushroom that's poisonous is the false morel.  It's generally larger, darker and more like a brain on a stem, see your field guide.

For us older folk, a good walking stick is a must and handy for turning over the occasional clump of leaves.  Some people rake to find the mushrooms, please don't do this.  It's equivalent to cutting down  your apple tree to pick the apples. Most of the plant is growing under the leaves and the mushrooms that poke up through the leaves are the equivalent of fruit.  When you rake, it destroys the plant and mushrooms will not grow well for years.  If possible, try breaking the stem off without disturbing the roots and further disrupting the plant's growth.

There are many good recipes for mushrooms, I like them scrambled with eggs for breakfast or floured and fried with a little salt and pepper.  Just the other day, I sauteed some mushrooms in a sauce of whipping cream, blue cheese and wine, pouring this over a prime rib steak - yum!