Food Part Two

For a long long time I have refused to purchase tomatoes in the grocery store.  For the most part it was because they lacked any taste.  Today their are other reason I will not purchase tomatoes from a store especially if they are from Florida.  But that is a whole different story.

A few years back I added red and yellow delicious apples from the state of Washington.  Again they produce this large very good looking apple that has no taste.  If you do not believe me this fall taste a Wisconsin or Michigan apple and if you are traveling try one from up state New York.

This year I have added two more products.  Those great looking strawberries we find in the store.  Big, Red and very little taste.  And finally the "seedless" watermelon. They have taken the taste out just as they have taken the seeds out.  It is still possible to find a real mellon in this city if you want to drive for it but you no longer can find them in the stores.  

I can not believe that american farmers think that no seeds is more important than taste.  Well for me the taste is much more important.

This is PROGRESS ?

I am not sure if any of you took note of the big big annulment last week made by Monsanto and the Jolly Green Giant.  It must go down in history as one of the big ones of all time.

These two food giants are going to be working together to "develop" better tasting vegetables.   Though they did not say it it sounds to me that they have admitted that all their tinkering with the food for the last 50 or so years has not worked.   

They have been breeding plants so that they could make more money from each crop.  That was the bottom line.  So that they "looked" better,  they transported better, got bigger, had better color and made them more money.  OH did I already say that.  But they forgot about the reason that we eat vegetables.  At least the reason I eat them.  For the taste!!!

In an interview with the CBC (Canadian broadcasting company) a vice president from Monsanto said that it was an experience that his young daughter had that brought tis 0n.  She had gone to their garden and pulled a carrot.  After she ate it she asked her father why a carrot from the garden tasted so much better than a carrot from the store.  You know that nice sweet carrot taste.

I am guessing that their are at least tow generations of Americans that have no idea what a carrot, tomato, radish or any other vegetable really tastes like.  All they are tasting is the butter or cheese or whatever topping that is put on them, or dip that is used to give us some flavor.

Ah american agri- business. They think that if it looks good we will buy it.  That has worked up to now.  What I do believe has done them in is the growth of Farmers Markets and stores like Whole Foods and the Outpost.  Enough people have in the last several years have tasted the vegetables and fruits that have been grown from vintage seeds.  

So why do they want to develop new seeds.  Only one reason.  Monsanto does not own the rights to the old seed.  No big profit their.  So they will spend money to added flavor back into their product.

As long as we are talking about taking away the taste of food look what we have done to beef.  Just so that we could eat a larger quality of beef they breed out the fat (marbling) .  Less calories per serving and far less taste per serving.  The only way to enjoy beef and pork today is to add rubs so that we can have some taste.  

So this is progress????????

I think not

Do they want my business

Here is my problem.  

Does AT&T Really want my Cell Phone business?  I am thinking that not really.  They are not interested in maintaining  the customers they have.  Not even long term customers. 

They (AT&T) are no different than any of the other companies I guess.  They all are going to give you a great deal on a phone if you sign up for two years.  But then it is who are you.

I understand that they may be paying more for the phone than they are selling it for just to get you on board.  That may have been a great idea when the industry was young and people jumped from company to company.  Today I am guessing that more of us are staying with the company that we have had for years.

I know that I have been with them for almost 20 years.  I have no reason to switch (I thought).  They are all the same.

Here is the dilemma.  I can wait 6 months to purchase a new phone, pay $100.00 or more for the phone I want as a new customer or when my contract comes due go to another company and take their offers.  

Maybe the better option is just purchasing the phone and when the contract comes due do nothing.  Just let it run month to month.  Then every time they call and ask me to sign a new contract I can tell them that I will give them the same consideration that they have given me.

SHHHHHHHHH It is a secret

After all this time I have figured it out.  I have a very large dislike for this big entertainer for years.  In fact the way this "man" or should I say "fat old white man" has embarrassed me with his ranting.

Then last night I had this "vision."  This man is not a bad man.  This fat old white man is really a good guy.  All the bad things he has been saying about this administration and its polices are really not meant to hurt.  They are meant to help.  How you ask?

Well every time Rush and his buddies open their mouths to speak agonist something the registers start to ring on the Democratic side.  Not only that but he gets the blood pressure working on the "true believers".  When that happens more phone calls are made to other true believers and they in turn make more phone calls and give more money.

So let us Listen to Rush with one ear so this WHITE man can help the democratic  raise more money

Card Check

Ok I think it is time to throw the liberals a bone.

Business got their bank bail out.  It got saved on the car companies.

Even the NRA has had two bones.  The D.C. gun bill and the right to cary loaded fire arms in national parks.

Now we are getting  the nomination for the Supreme Court who at best can be called a moderate. She will not be the great "liberal" thinker that the conservatives have on the court.  

We are still going to be at war for a long time.

So give us liberals a small bone and that bone should be card check.

It is time that equality is restored to the workers of the country.  Business has had the ability and the money to stop Unions from organizing for two many years.  

To many CEO's are making the millions by cutting the pay and benefits for the workers.  Cutting back on 401K contributions, freezing pay, running on short staff, reducing R&D and on and on and on.

We have herd this bill is going to hurt and put them out of business.  I say that is what GM, Ford and Chrysler said about what would happen if they were forced to increase the cafe standards to those of the rest of the world.  Well we know how that turned out.

So give us a bone.  We helped elect you.

Retail Space

Sunday I took a drive from Oklahoma Ave to the Mayfair Mall down Highway  100.  

I am very happy that I am not invested in retail space.  

Not long ago I listened to a gentleman who had written a piece for "The Economist ".  It is one of those papers that is not know as a liberal leaning publication.  I would say maybe even with the pre Fox days of the Wall Street Journal.  He was saying that the United States had double the amount of retail space that could be supported for the long term.  At the time I was thinking maybe he was a little out their.  But I am not sure any more.

You can start at the corner of 100 & Oklahoma.  Open space their and as you travel you will see almost every one of the strip malls with open space and two of them that have no tenants at all.

Consider the fact that Southridge has for years been trying to fill that mall.  

Recently a hold was put on the construction of the Pabst Farm Mall.  I do believe that was good news.  At the same time some investors have talked about taking the old Delphi plant in Oak Creek and turning that into retail space.  That is the bad news.

To switch direction here maybe that Delphi plant could be turned into the new Post Office instead of the proposed location on College.  Existing easy road access and I am thinking that it could be done without taring down the old building.  Thus saving construction material.

I do believe that the "NEW AMERICAN DREAM" that is being talked about maybe be a throw back and that as we age we are not going to want to drive 20 miles to get our bread and butter and that small retail space in our own neighborhoods is going to be the prime retail sapce

No to "MEDIUM' speed rail

No to the plan to build a "medium" speed rail from Milwaukee to Madison and then extend to Chicago and Minneapolis.  

Most people who know me are wondering at this point if I have lost my mind.  They know in the past I have supported rail.  I still do but I support "high speed" rail not this stuff where the trains will only go 110 miles an hour.

If we were talking of building a system that the trains would travel 160MPH plus then I would support it.  But a train that only travels 45 mph faster than the highway speed limit is not going to attract the kind of ridership that will be needed to make such a line economically viable. When add in the time of getting to the station waiting for the train then finally getting to your final destination I am not sure you will have saved any time.  

We may reduce our carbon footprint but that is not going to be enough to fill the train.  The service will have to either save us time or a great deal of money.  At 110mph it is not going to save us the time and even if gas goes back to $4.00 it will not save us that much money.

If we are going to put money into a system then let us do it right and not half way.  Some will say that we have to make the compromise and build this system then latter we can come back and up-grade.   I think we all know that would not happen.  If we can not afford to build it right then we should not build it at all.