Shake It for a Do Over!

Okay, I know you all played with Etch A Sketches when you were kids. I loved Etch A Sketch. Kids today would scoff. They all have I-pads and such. But now the awesomeness of the Ohio Art product has been knocked down by the former one term Governor of the great state of Massachusetts. Well, people are actually buying them this week, but I'd think again about doing that.

As if it isn't bad enough to think of his campaign manager wiping the slate clean after the primary season by just shaking the screen...Hey, let's start fresh! No flip flops allowed! But THIS is just too juicy. We can't make this stuff up.

For 40 years the Etch a Sketch was produced in Bryan Ohio by the Ohio Art Company. But in 2003 production was moved to China – putting 100 employees out of work in this small town of about 8,000 who had for decades billed itself as the home of the Etch a Sketch.

But WAIT, there's MORE!

There is no evidence Romney’s work at Bain Capital impacted the decisions at the Ohio Art Company, but as Bill Sloat reports, Bain Capital, the buy-out firm founded by Mitt Romney, has sent hundreds of other Ohio jobs to China in similar moves.

Now, it's all just appearances...but you gotta admit...it's quite an amusing coinkydink!

Hey Idaho, I'm Done With Your Potatoes

Add another state to the list of those governed by legislators who have no respect for women. The Idaho senate just passed a bill requiring women to have invasive, expensive, medically unnecessary mandatory ultrasounds before they LEGALLY terminating a pregnancy. The house is expected to follow in their footsteps. But wait, there's MORE!
An Idaho state crisis pregnancy center has invited the lawmakers to witness ultrasounds being performed on women, one from each trimester, to let the fetus speak for itself. Of course, it doesn't matter that more than 90% of abortions are in the first trimester, and most of those are in the first 8 weeks. It makes for a much better show when you throw in the more mature fetuses, don't you think?

Which leads to the most obvious question -- when they perform a first trimester ultrasound, how far along will the woman be? A vast number of abortions would be done at a point in which an abdominal ultrasound would not provide the detail or the heart beat sounds required by law. But what are the odds that the House is going to be shown exactly what goes on during a trans-vaginal ultrasound, especially since that won't provide the instantly recognizable features everyone has grown to expect from the proliferation of 20 week anatomy scan ultrasounds all over the internet?

This is twisted on so many levels, I do not have printable words. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Women can be trusted to make their own decisions about their bodies and health, with the help of their doctors, their families, and their own consciences. Legislators, you are not medical doctors so STAY OUT of our medical business! It might also be good to keep in mind, Women Vote.

Thanks, Juanita Jean, for the graphic!

Update!
May good sense prevail. Pass this at your peril, lawmakers. Sounds like the women in Idaho are watching you!

We All Own This

I've felt all along that there were more gray areas in this story than black and white. This soldier was on his 4th deployment in 10 years. And had a TBI in his 3rd. And the clearance for TBIs has been suspect. And he had problems at home. Can anyone else see a recipe for disaster???? Anyone? I came of age in the Viet Nam era. Our troops lived through unspeakable horrors, many detailed in popular award winning films of the era. We will be watching films of history in the making any moment now. Or we should be. I've seen a few, but they aren't mainstream. They should be. This is on all of us. WTF are we doing here?

I feel ill when I read comments that scream for this man to be left to the angry Afghans. People who have no appreciation for his LONG service. For what he has suffered, and lost. For his wife, kids and family. I feel ill for the families in Afghanistan who have lost their loved ones because one soldier was one step over the line into insanity. Their burden is huge. Their country has been at war for way too long. We in the USA have never fought a war with an invading force on our soil. The Revolutionary War doesn't quite fall into that category.

We all go about our merry ways. Two wars over the last 10 years. We should all be feeling this much more personally than we are. Like the families of soldiers are. Like Afghan families are.

Green Road for St. Patrick's Day?

With all the news flying around lately, my head has been spinning and my brain hurts. Too much to comment on, so little time. I don't need to waste my time piling on to Rush, or making fun of the GOP candidates. Others do it so much better than I. So on this snowy Wednesday in mid March, I came across this gem. Wonder if Jon Stewart will catch it. Get ready for some potty talk!

My great State of Washington has the first authentic Green Road. That's right. Well, maybe not quite a road, more like a path...but hey, size doesn't matter....

The Town of Bellingham used 400 toilets to complete a multi-use interurban trail. Yep. Toilets. Crushed up toilets. Freeman Anthony of the Bellingham PWD had the brainstorm when he got a call from the local housing authority, which was upgrading housing and had a load of porcelain gods to dispose of.

It turns out that hard, glass-like porcelain makes a strong aggregate. And soon 5 tons of toilet became four truckloads of concrete.“When it’s mixed in at 20 percent,” Anthony says. “It acts just like regular concrete.”

But according to Anthony, this formula for what he now calls “poticrete” isn’t the most interesting part of this project.

“The toilets were just one small part of the project,” he says. “We didn’t do your standard ho-hum road. We tried to make a better road and more sustainable road.”

The retrofit project is now chock-full of sustainable elements — low-energy LED street lighting, pedestrian and bike-friendly amenities, porous pavement and bioswales that filter stormwater runoff.

I don't know, Mr. Anthony, I think the toilet ARE the most interesting part! Just think what you could do with Fiesta ware!