Does anyone else have a problem with the blurb below?

On October 24, 2009, the Monroe Lego Club joined millions of people around the world to bring attention to climate change. The Lego Club created an animated, stop-action-video to help world leaders understand that we need to return to 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere.Let’s let the Lego people, with our help, share the story of how important it is to achieve 350 ppm of carbon dioxide on Earth and reduce the impacts of climate change. From Media-Citizen Global

If this doesn’t prove that climate change is nothing more than a marketing tool, I don’t know what does. It’s mighty nice of the LEGO Group to sponsor events that could put them out of business. Think about it for just one second. What are LEGOS made from? Plastic, and it is one of the most dangerous substances on the planet, polluting our water and air, and spewing boatloads of nasty carbon into the air.

National Geographic reports:

The team’s new study is the first to show that degrading plastics are leaching potentially toxic chemicals such as bisphenol A into the seas, possibly threatening ocean animals, and us.

A study from USC found that plastic children’s toys are among the favorites of marine life. It’s also one of the most dangerous.

So why are proponents of climate change willing to overlook the obvious? Further, why are they teaching children that some pollution is better than others? The LEGO Group is not part of the solution. They are the problem.

I suppose you really can fool some of the people all of the time. But they don’t fool me for a second. They might be singing Kumbaya on the magic green bus, but they’re really controlling the message. And that’s my problem with the whole “green” ideology. As long as you’re nice to them, then it’s okay to stink the place up. But if they don’t like a particular corporation or individual, they single them out and pummel them like bullies in a school yard.

On second thought, maybe LEGOS are the perfect symbol of global warming. Like LEGO blocks, global warming can be whatever you want it to be.

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My friend told me this story about  a guy his friend worked with.

The guy was in LA on business. He met a girl in the hotel’s bar, and after a couple of drinks, the pair went upstairs. After that, the guy remembers nothing. He woke up in the bathtub in his hotel room, naked, covered to his waist in ice with an IV in his arm. In bold letters on the mirror, someone wrote: DON’T MOVE! You have just had surgery. One of your kidneys has been removed. We have called 911 for you. The guy passed out, and when he woke up he was in the ICU, and missing a kidney. The detectives told him that a ring of organ thieves is targeting business men. Good story, huh? But it’s not true. It’s an urban legend.

Here’s another urban legend: the Government is giving away land. Everyone knows someone who heard it from someone that there is free land out West, down South, up North, and even in the Canadian wilderness. Sorry folks, it’s just not true. There is no such thing as free government land, from any government on the planet. Such stories are just urban legends. Everyone knows someone who heard it from someone whose cousin worked with a guy whose brother’s friend got free land in Texas (or wherever). The problem is, no one seems to know the exact person who claimed the free government land. That’s how urban legends work: they seem legitimate because the person telling the story seems to personally involved. But if you pay attention, it becomes apparent that they are just repeating  the story.

Every now and then, we get a letter from someone looking for information on free or nearly free land. The latest came from someone claiming there is free land in Canada. Of course, it didn’t contain any contact information for the Canadian officials in charge of passing out the free land, not even the name of anyone who got a parcel of free land, just a few lines insisting that there is free land. So, at the risk of being abundantly redundant: there is no such thing as free land. The Homestead Act of 1862 that allowed settlers to claim 40 acres to farm, was abolished in 1976. Canada had a similar law that was enacted in 1872 and subsequently abolished in 1918. While the governments of the U.S. and Canada do sell land parcels on occasion, they sell them at market value. While buying land from the government can be inexpensive, it certainly isn’t free.

If you’re still looking for free land, don’t despair. I know a guy whose brother works with my cousin’s first step-sister who is friends with a gal at NASA who told her that she could by land for next to nothing on Mars and the Moon. Just a few dollars for thousands of acres!

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My son and his new family are staying with us for a month or two so they can save towards a down payment on a house in town. I know, I know, these sorts of arrangements can strain relationships, especially when you consider my daughter-in-law has never lived in a rural area before. The learning curve is pretty steep for her, and although she seems overwhelmed, she’s catching on.

I was wondering if I should warn her about the gravel road through the swamp that leads into town. It’s only a mile from our place to town, but during certain times of year, it can be one wild mile. The road runs right through the swamp. There’s no shoulder, just swamp to either side. It’s hard walking, especially in the morning when the milk haulers and loggers are making their rounds. Even when the big rigs slow to a crawl, they kick up copious amounts of gravel dust, leaving pedestrians covered in road residue. Then there’s the school bus. For some reason, the driver doesn’t even attempt to slow down. I guess he’s in a hurry to unload all those kids that are hanging out of the windows as he barrels on by. Even worse than the school bus, the teenagers who drive to school, at the last second, and are practically airborne as they try to beat the bell.

Now, if the human traffic isn’t enough to contend with, there’s the animal traffic to make things really interesting. There’s one little land bridge that deer, bear, fox, wolves, coyotes, and martins use to cross the road. It rises ever so slightly out of the swamp on the east side of the road, and quickly disappears into the tag elders on the other side. Everyone agrees that the wildlife has the right of way. It’s been that way as long as anyone can remember. That’s why I forgot to warn Lacy. I did point out the human traffic pattern to her, but left out about the animal traffic. She found that part out for herself.

She was pushing my ten-month-old grandson down the gravel road in a stroller, not an easy task on lose rock that passes for road around here. When she got to the rickety old sign that proclaims in washed out letters “Subject to Flood,” she saw that someone else was also out for a walk–a black bear. She had never seen a live bear outside of a zoo. At first she was intrigued; then she was terrified, pushing the stroller at breakneck speed, abandoning it at the edge of the driveway as she grabbed baby and ran for the house.

It took a minute to calm her down. We all reassured her that the bear probably wouldn’t bother with her. And even though this time of year they’re moving around pretty good,  the bear traffic will slow down shortly, and stop altogether through the winter months. She looked a little calmer, but not convinced.

I suppose someone ought to mention about the coyotes that will move into the area soon. They sit on the ridge to the north of the swamp and howl when the 9:00 pm whistle blows in town. I have a feeling she isn’t going to find the eerie yelping as soothing as we do.

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Too funny not to share!

No way. You sniff 'em.

Thanks to Amicus Down Under for the pic and the laugh.

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