GMO

  I have never really been much of a researcher. Frankly I don't have the time. Working 60 hours a week and playing in a country rock band barely affords me enough time to write. I choose to ask the questions. Questions are easy. Anybody can ask questions. The problem comes with knowing which questions to ask. Asking some questions can get you in trouble. Asking questions to the wrong person can really get you in trouble.

  I've always heard the old saying that "you are what you eat" as well as others such as garbage in garbage out etc. so here I am asking the question. If we eat genetically modified foods and cancer is a genetic mutation of our cells, then is it possible that 2+2 = 4 where GMO's are concerned?

   I don't pretend to know anything about GMO's. The principle seems easy enough. Splice the gene of a common bacteria to a seed and you produce a plant that will not be affected by round up. They say round up is safe. I am not so sure. It kills stuff so how safe can it be.

   This is my problem. The bible says not to kill. It gives no specific as to what not to kill. The human race is consumed by what we can do. In fact we are so consumed by what we can do that we fail  to ask the question... Should we do it? We as a species spend a great deal of time playing god but we are not as smart as we think we are. God actually knew what he was doing right up until he put us in charge. I digress. 

   Everything on earth serves a purpose. I use wild rivers as example. Prior to the industrial revolution most rivers of the world ran wild. Cheap hydro power led to

the construction of dams turning wild rivers into tame reservoirs. Spawning salmon could no longer access spawning grounds. We humans, obsessed with a god complex, built hatcheries, ensuring salmon runs year after year. The problem with this theory is that prior to dams, only the strongest of salmon could navigate the water falls and rapids of a wild river ensuring the strength of following runs. In a modern hatchery all fish reproduce. There is no culling of the herd. The fish runs suffer.

   Another example antibacterial hand soap that kills 99.9% of germs and antibiotics. If you kill 99.9% then the .01% that survive get stronger. Much like the salmon of yesteryear, only the strongest survive. Meanwhile, our immune system grows weaker as it faces less bacteria. 

  It is common knowledge that the world is seeing antibiotic resistant germs at an alarming rate. Super bacteria are also making a name for themselves.  What about weeds?

   In America, farmers are seeing an alarming trend. Monsanto, in an attempt to play God and increase yields, has created round up resistant weeds. Farm yields are shrinking and farmers are wondering what to do about it. Fear not America, Dow chemical is coming to the rescue with their own GMO seeds. Dow has created the 2,4,D resistant seed. They claim that 2,4,D has been used safely for years. It has! It is a trusted herbicide. At least that is what they say! My problem with 2,4,D is this.If you mix 2 herbicides, 2,4,D and 2,4,5T, you get another herbicide. Agent orange!! Vietnam veterans know all too well the health hazards of this widely used Vietnam era poison. Now we are going to be spraying half of it on our food. Maybe we will only be subjected to half of the cancers our veterans have been dealing with.

   Bacteria have adapted. Viruses have adapted. Weeds are adapting. Bees are dying. Cancer is epidemic. Chemical companies spend millions to fight GMO labelling legislation. How long will we allow our food to be poisoned. 

   My wife and I try to eat organic when possible. It is expensive. It's not easy. I don't even know if it is beneficial but I do know it doesn't hurt. I only hope my next dinner does not include agent orange corn

   

  

   

If you like your insurance, Sucks to be you!!!

    Once again our illustrious government has sold us a load of crap. I remember 7 years ago Obama telling us " If we like our insurance we could keep it." He must have been referring to the voting members of congress and not the people he was elected to represent. 

   My insurance wasn't perfect. Like all things it had it's limitations. It was next to impossible to see a doctor outside of network and none of the major cancer centers took Kaiser insurance but it was cost effective and cancer drugs were free. To see a doctor I paid a $25 copay. A prescription was $20 for generic and $40 for name brand. My labs were $10 and my Lupron was $5. Zytiga was free. Provenge was free. Infusions were $25. My monthly share of premiums was $150.00. It was cheap to have cancer at Kaiser.  Enter the affordable care act.

   The company I work for, like most employers across the country, has used the Cadillac tax penalty to strip our benefits. Even though the penalty has been rolled back and may never come to fruition it did what it was intended to do. It stripped benefits away from the working man and gave us the same benefits as those that ride the government dime.

   The cost of my premiums actually dropped by 50%. All I can say about that is " Good ain't cheap and cheap ain't good!" To be fair, I can't complain. I know a lot of people who are worse off than we are but the new insurance plan that began January 1st has created a small financial crisis for us.

  Our new insurance is a high deductible, HSA, 80/20 insurance plan. As of the first of the year we had to come up with a $1500 deductible and after that our share is 20% until we reach our max out of pocket of $3000 per calendar year. We will max out on Thursday when I receive a Zometa infusion. I guess we will put it on a credit card.

  We can afford my healthcare. We make a good living. That's not the point. We work hard for the lifestyle we have grown accustomed to. Why is there always some politician wanting to play Robinhood and give to others what we work for. I know people who live together but the dude has his legal address at his moms house. They receive welfare, food stamps, subsidized housing, subsidized utilities, free insurance, free cell phone, free internet, etc. etc. etc. There is nothing wrong with these people other than chronic laziness. Why are we forced to give what we work for to others. 

  Government safety nets are a good thing. There are people that need them. There also people who take advantage of them. These people are content to sit on their ass and smoke government weed while playing their government Xbox all day expecting the rest of us to subsidize their existence. I use to know a woman who was receiving social security disability. She had hurt her back while working as a C.N.A. Apparently she was disabled for life. I would see her in her front yard digging a 4 foot deep hole and lifting 40lb  boulders while building a koi pond. Meanwhile my grandmother couldn't get a cost of living raise because the price dropped on piece of crap, made in China, flatscreen TVs.

   I guess today my blog is a rant. I'm fed up. I'm tired of being expected to do more for less while other people sit on their lazy ass. I'm tired of corporations taking away. I'm tired of the government taking away. I'm tired. I'm just tired. It is Sunday. Tomorrow I will get up, put on my boots, pack a lunch, and go to work. It's the same thing I have done every day since I was 16 years old. We make a good living. I wonder if our generation will be the last to enjoy the family wage job. I feel sorry for our children. I fear for my grandchildren.