A Midwest Journal

Well, looks like some people are getting a big torqued about the consolidation of farming interests into a handful of big multi-national companies:

So I needed to get this data here as well.

Just wanted to let you know that these “big outbreaks” of e coli in our beef (and those California cows the HSUS knew about for months) – all of these came from vertically-integrated mega-companies.

I’ve blogged about this for months and been researching this for a couple years or more now.

These farmers are ticked off and angry about being commodity farmers and subject to a few big corporations taking over most of the farming in the US.

Of course the USDA doesn’t do anything about it – who pays the politicians, anyway? Pays them to get re-elected, anyway…

If you want the HSUS defunded, go after their corporate sponsors, like Oreck and others. If you want to get rid of the Monsanto’s and Tyson’s and IBP’s, etc. Then buy your stuff directly from farmers and know where your grocery store is actually getting it’s food from.

Vote with your pocketbook.

Know your farmer, know who processes and prepares your food.

Live on a 100-mile diet. Only eat food that isn’t brought in from out of country or across the world. Or at least start working in that direction.

Plant a garden. Tomatoes and green beans aren’t that hard to raise. Lots of people raise them on fire escapes and in window boxes – or on the rooftop in pots.

The more control of your life that you keep handing over to others, the less you are going to have for yourself.

I went to an over-priced restaurant in one of our “big” cities in Missouri the other day. Found out that the beef we raise on our little farm has a lot better taste. But they had Alaskan fresh salmon and Australian-raised Wagyu beef  on that menu. How many thousands of miles do you think they ran their big diesel-burning freighters over before they transferred them to diesel-burning trucks to get them here?

But I’ve heard there are people in Missouri who raise Wagyu beef. And how about some famous Missouri catfish – like Mark Twain used to write about? Yes, there’s catfish farms in Missouri as well. And one of the guests near me asked how come we can’t get deer on the menu? Well, there are domesticated deer in Missouri, too – so there’s no reason why not. Now that is real exotic.

We’ve got factory-cities, where people are all time-scheduled out and cooped up in unhealthy factories, warehouses, and cubicles all day. They drive hours each day to get to and from work. They depend on factories thousands of miles away to produce their clothes and food in other factories. So it’s no wonder that they expect factory-type solutions from a central-authority government instead of preserving their own choice and personal quality of life.

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OK, that’s enough rant for today.

I am as happy as I can be to live on a farm which isn’t really dependent on any corporation buying our produce. And I am outside at least twice a day – hours every day in good weather – and eat home-made food that tastes great and I mostly know where it came from. Sure, I eat bananas for breakfast that come from South America, but I just found out that I can get some potted banana trees that will do just nicely if we bring them in for the winter…

It can be done, this 100-mile diet. We just have to figure it out.

More blog posts about the 100 mile diet:

The 100-Mile Diet for Electricity? The Institute for Local Self …

Image: ILSR Well, Not Literally 100 Miles… The Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) has released a second version of its study titled Energy Self-Reliant States. In it they look at various ways that US states could generate clean …

i like to cook: The 100 Mile Diet

The 100 Mile Diet. Did you know that most produce from North America travels, from farm to plate, a minimum of 1500 miles? Or that only 20 of the roughly 30000 plant species grown worldwide provide 90 percent of the world with food? …

100-Mile Diet: Part I

The 100-Mile Diet is touted as a healthier way to choose your food, but is it as healthy for the environment.

In Praise of the 10000 Mile Diet : PERC – The Property and …

The 100-Mile Diet, inspired by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon who participated in a one-year experiment in local eating, led thousands of individuals to change the way they eat. “Eat local” has become a mainstream mantra of those who …

The 100-mile Diet: Nice theory, difficult reality – Vancouver …

The online source for Vancouver news, business, sports, entertainment, classified ads, horoscopes, weather, local news and more.

Cheap Acomplia Online From Reliable Online Pharmacy » Why Eat Local?

Close-to-home foods can also be bred for taste, rather than withstanding the abuse of shipping or industrial harvesting. Many of the foods we ate on the 100-Mile Diet were the best we’d ever had. …

Consumable Earth – Kamloops » Kamloops 2nd Annual 100 Mile Diet …

The first of the annual 100 Mile Diet, Health & Wellness Show, held March 26, 2009 attracted participants from many surrounding communities throughout the Thompson Nicola Region including producers, ranchers and farmers displaying …

CHRW News and Spoken Word: CHRW News – Monday March 8th, 2010

Brescia’s challenge asks students to attempt the 100 Mile diet for two weeks. Those attempting the challenge can get started on locally grown fare at the Brescia’s Farmer’s Market, hosted weekly on Tuesdays. …

Plenty: Eating Locally on the 100-Mile Diet – Diet & Weight Loss …

The 100-Mile Diet struck a deeper chord than anyone could have predicted, attracting media and grassroots interest that spanned the globe. The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating tells the full story, from the insights …

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Our latest upcoming release, “Freedom Is — (period.)”

The reason for this post is the merciless sheer breakdown of scammers and victims. It caught me by surprise and I was a bit appalled originally.  Just too accurate.

While 97% of all you see out there in Internet Marketing is scam-laden bunk, so are 97% of their customers.

This planet, and all cultures on it, runs on 9%-97% subconscious/unconscious reaction-only.  And that is what passes for “popular”. Sorry I even had to finally find this out. This doesn’t mean anyone has to get pessimistic about how the place is run, just that any forward progress has it’s work cut out for it.

Because most of what passes for “progress” is just old stuff re-hashed. Like anything, anything out of Washington in general or your local politician’s mouth specifically. Because they were elected based on popularity.

Our last few presidents have proved this over and over and over. They have about 6-7 months of sustained popularity and after that, they are attacked for so much as getting into a secure limo to ride somewhere.

And Congress by polls is the most popular when it does nothing and just sits there – and local Congress people can come home to get re-elected, saying that they used all their power to stop the other side from doing anything and still got most of our tax money to come back to the state and it’s people.

So? What kind of result is that? We pay them to do nothing and make sure nothing gets done?

It just struck me today when I was critiquing a marketing company, going back to what’s hit my lines as some sort of scam. When I looked over their operation, it was all that type of stuff. All scammy, hit them where their emotions sit. Get them to spend money.

These guys were all about money as the key point to their touted “success”. But the actual self-help products they were pushing were disguised. Most of these at their base were actually there to help people improve their lives. But what were they pushing? More and better: wealth, success, personal-esteem, health, money, approval, personal power, better control over your life. Things. Stuff. Junk. Tricks.  Not a mention of peace of mind, personal freedom, unlimited happiness. It was all “how to get more money”, “how to attracts (blank) into y0ur life”, “do nothing and get everything”.

If you’re familiar with the Scam Free book, what do you see? They are pushing feelings and basic desires. They are using the same buttons scammers use. All the good which is found in the materials and services they sell is hidden under a bunch of typically-crass and overworked, hackneyed tripe which came out years ago from Madison Avenue Psychology Studies.

And these guys say they “really get” social media marketing. Yawn. Look over their sales pages. They are simply the same classic “feel good” pages with all the elements any successful sales page has. And success in this instance is “clicks through and buys” or “clicks through and goes on a mailing list so they can buy later.” They measure their success by how many dupes they’ve managed to keep on their mailing lists.

What do I do with most mailing lists? Opt-out. Why? Because they are sending me really stupid offers and so think I am really stupid.

I just don’t need more stupid people on my lines – or condescending ones. Especially those who are only “selling” something. Much less stuff I don’t need.  Because you know you are going to get scammed.

Look, while this might be effective, it really only works on about 3 percent of those you sign up. That’s where your money is coming from. And these people are really, actually either consumers or customers. They simply consume everything you sell them, or are creatures of habit (custom) and just keep coming back for more, regardless. (And they probably work in factory, cubicle, or union/government jobs where they have to make very damned few decisions in life – so being able to buy anything on their own is an esteem bump.)

The whole world is extremely long-tail – more than we realize – so it’s split up into billions or more niches which are interactive with each other. So now we can each “sell” to our niche-customers/consumers and make our own pile of money, can’t we?

Barf.

I don’t know about you, but I buy once I’ve checked out the quality for myself and then what my friends, family, and associates  have to say about it. And online, this is the social networks we belong to. So Heflin, among others, say to just limit yourself to those social networks you can really participate in – meaning the ones you like to participate in because they’ll actually give you something you want in return.

And leave the bulk of them behind.

Literally 1 in a million will really be giving out dependably good products and incredible value with every offer. The rest are really just wanting your money on an irregular or regular basis to keep their own coffers and pockets lined.  To the vast bulk of companies out there – you are nothing but a number which can be replaced with another number. This even extends to jobs and employers these days. Been there, done that.

Value and cherish the people you find, or who find you, that you can really, really trust and give you more than you could ever expect to repay. And be that person yourself: give more than others expect and make each product you give far above the value expected or received in return.

There are so very many authors who cover this point that it’s just not funny. But then, I’ve narrowed the authors I study down to those who are consistent bestsellers, most of whom died last century or more.

So I’m picky. For good reason.

Be picky.

And help others get picky.

That’s our real road out of this mess we are surrounded with.

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Internet Marketing Links of possible interest:

Learn How To Excel In Your Business Using Social Media and Web 2.0-Free Seminar

…with top internet marketing experts for the advantage of all. Each marketing expert is sure to give … See all stories on this topic

‘Search Affiliates: Partners or Parasites?’ by Shawn Collins

Shawn Collins’ latest blog post is titled “Search Affiliates: Partners or Parasites?”. [Shawn Collins' Blog] Shawn Collins’ latest blog post: Search Affiliates: Partners or Parasites? Shawn Says, “Search Affiliates: Partners or Parasites? presentation from Affiliate Summit West 2007, which took place January 21-23, 2007 in Las Vegas, NV”. Search…

Internet Marketing Ideas | SnadBox: Search Engine Optimization …

…Internet Marketing Ideas – http://www.internetmarketingideas.info/

Marketing an Online Business In 2010 | Legitimate Home Based Business

…Marketing an online business is a very important thing that you have to do if you are involved in a affiliate marketing business or if you have an internet. Legitimate Home Based Business – http://www.onlinemoneymakin.com/blog/

‘Keyword Research Tools And Best Practices’ by Sean Rasmussen

…Most internet marketers start developing a list of keywords by thinking. They think about their business, think about the products or services they are offering, and then think about how ordinary consumers might search to find these items.” Keyword Research Tools And Best Practices… Sean Rasmussen’s Blog

Thanks for visiting my blog and reading this entry.
If you’ve found it valuable, please consider donating via PayPal to enable my continuing research.

Our latest upcoming release, “Freedom Is — (period.)”

(continued from part 2…)

The Zen of a Medianomic Lifestyle

If you started applying this to your own life, you’d quickly find that this is actually the most economical way to live. And the happiest and most sensible.

The government is actually telling you to be average. If you look over the tax code carefully, you’ll see they are also telling you to start a business and work for yourself – that’s where the real low taxes are. And you’ll see that the bulk of the jobs in the U.S. are created and maintained by small businesses. That’s what makes every recovery in a recession. When you make it harder for the bulk of your small businesses to get started, you are damping everything down.

But a living by Medianomics actually puts you into a sort of “Zone.” While you don’t have to be a big fan of Alan Watts, he did cover very simple explanations of Zen – which are applicable in any Medianomics lifestyle. Your best interests are served by simply enjoying the life you currently live. While you understand and empathize with the extremes, you actually live in the middle. And you live to experience your own life, not based on what “celebrities”, or politicians,  or Wall Street CEO’s do with their lives  – or any other extreme minority group. Your decisions are your own. People who stick with their traditional lifestyles live very mundane, but happy lives.

Like the credit card binge we all are now suffering through as well as the sub-prime mortgage mess our politicians got us into. We erred by moving from traditionally successful finances of savings and layaways. So the credit card industry now looks to be a blip on the radar. Politicians meanwhile tried to get more votes by pressuring finance companies to make risky loans to people who had never done anything before besides pay rent. Because home ownership was equated with a “right”. But it’s always been a privilege you earn. Always will be. And these guys crashed the economy (don’t worry, some group or another does this every 6-8 years like clockwork.)

If you stick to what works, what’s common sense, then you live a simple and happy life. You aren’t striving to keep up with all these fads going. You don’t dress like celebrities or cult guru’s. And you read the stories of stars and starlets who ruin their lives or kill themselves off over drugs or fast cars or psychotic lovers. Most of us don’t.  And that’s living in the Zen of the Medianomic middle.

Just be normal and enjoy it.

Medianomic Predictions

So, now you can predict what is going to happen:

• Every time one political party gets in power, they lose it rapidly. Always have a president of one party and a Congress of the other. Do nothing while they’re there.
• Extremists who threaten the middle (Islamic and other terrorists) will get wiped out. Not popular, as they don’t allow the average lifestyle to continue.
• If you are in a Long Tail group (Gays, Vegans, Environmental and animal “rights” activists) – make it easy to be compromised with in order to get what you want. Don’t run a campaign that everyone should live like you do. Just say you want to be left alone to live your own life. Those that do, can.  But don’t try to get the government to support your cause. Like organic farming, it usually gives you a result you don’t want – and no one else does, either.
• People who want to get elected (a form of celebrity) will stay in office only as long as they are “normal” to their constituents – and really accomplish nothing. You get a lifetime pension and benefits automatically, so why work at standing out from the crowd and risk being defeated in a primary?

And some advice about what you should be doing with your life:

• Use your common sense to pick your own careful path – and you can be in the “zone” all the time.
• Forget about listening to the mass media guru’s or news announcers who are constantly telling you the sky is falling. Realize that the sun will come up tomorrow, and the day after, and even the day after that.  Those extremists live by selling advertising to pitch products to the average Joe and Joleen – so they want to hook you into watching their shows in between commercials. Talk and listen to your neighbor on your block – you know them, the ones who have a house almost like yours…
• Vote for people who think and act like you do – and then hold their feet to the fire. If we had average Joes rotating through our elected positions (and maybe all government positions), we’d start having more common sense actions showing up – and maybe some real service, as well.
• Pick the social network of your choice – one which you can be average in.  Somewhere that you can lurk and watch the postings and not feel pressured to stand out, but can “like” all the stuff you actually do – pretty anonymously.
• Start ignoring the people who stand out from the crowd and try to lead it.

Because the trick to being happy in this seemingly chaotic world we live in is to luxuriate in the average, common-place stuff that surrounds you.  Realize that the average people actually rule this planet, not the titular leaders who change every few years. People vote with their pocket books and wallets and remote controls. Understand that the real power in this country is in your own neighborhood.

The next time some community-organizing activist comes around who says that you should go out and stand up for what is right and make a difference – that your purpose for living is to get your face on the evening news for the cause they are pushing… just quietly smile and nod and show them the door. But when that sales man comes in and says that if you buy “X” detergent because everyone else does – usher him in and get him some coffee and cakes. He’s telling you how great you are for just being yourself.

Thanks for visiting my blog and reading this entry.
If you’ve found it valuable, please consider donating via PayPal to enable my continuing research.

Our latest upcoming release, “Freedom Is — (period.)”