Panhandling at Costco

Its not uncommon these days to see panhandlers at various shopping malls, at street corners and entrances to freeways, anyplace drivers need to slow down or stop. The appearance of ever larger numbers of people begging on our streets is a reminder of the troubled times we live in, and my heart goes out to anyone forced to these measures to survive. Mostly I see single men, young and old, more so than women, and, mostly always, they are Caucasian and Black, at least the ones I have seen here in Bakersfield, and California in general. What I have never seen are Hispanic panhandlers. Why is that? I even googled to see if i could find an answer and found one article basically describing it as being a cultural issue, Hispanics having very conservative values, and would consider it too shameful to beg, but I imagine one will do whatever one has to in order to eat if it comes to that. So it came as shock to see a young Hispanic family standing at one of the entrances/exits of a local Costco Store when I pulled into the lot the other day. The man and woman were probably mid 30's and each held a small child, two little girls maybe 4 and 6 yrs of age, along with a sign asking for money.

I observed them across the lot as I walked from and back to my car, and as customers approached this particular exit, slowing and stopping before pulling into traffic, the young man (husband/father?)would approach the vehicles passenger side window with his cardboard sign (I don’t know what was written on it, no doubt something about needing money?) and look in at the driver. Either he was being (I felt)overly aggressive (desperate times = desperate measures)in his approach or the driver had motioned him over, it was hard to tell from where I stood. I was not unsympathetic to their plight, but something about the choice of location (I have never seen panhandlers at a Costco, like ever) and the presence of the two little girls in their arms seemed contrived, as if they were "props", that bothered me and I was suspect of their real situation. I suppose it really doesn't matter, clearly it was what they felt they needed to do.

I didn’t give the couple any money that morning, the exit they stood at was not the direction I was going in and besides, all I had was some loose change, having used a debit card in the store. And again, somehow I felt this couple had this well thought out, too well thought out perhaps, and the 'guilting' shoppers into handing over money, by having the two small children in tow didn't sit well with me. I sensed a scam more than a need. However, still, as I drove away, I couldn't help but think "There, but for the grace of God, go I."

SIMPSON-BOWLES and The SEQUESTER IN A NUTSHELL

Lately we are hearing these two terms a lot – Simpson-Bowles and Sequestration, often in the same sentence. So what are they, what do they mean and why should we care?

The Sequester - It seems that because of the Governments deal last year to avoid hitting the debt ceiling and the resulting failure of the congressional super committee, mandatory across-the- board cuts called “Sequestration” were set to go into effect at the end of 2012, one half of the "Fiscal Cliff", unless Congress could pass a bill to avoid it. Because we all know they failed to do this, we have now arrived at “The Sequester”...all Congress had been able to agree on was to kick the can down the road another 3 months, into this year, or as I like to call it, take the Scarlett O’hara approach, you know, the empty headed southern belle in Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind ..."fiddle dee dee…I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow.”

Simpson-Bowles: You can easily google this and get tons of info, but in a nutshell Simpson-Bowles are the names of the two Senators who chaired Obama’s 2010 National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, a former Republican Senator and a Clinton Chief of Staff, respectively. The NCFRR was to have come up with policies to improve the fiscal situation in the medium term and to achieve fiscal sustainability over the long run.

I won’t go into details here other than to say critics fear it would make deep cuts to entitlement and safety net programs, including Social Security and Medicare, hurting the most at-risk in our society, as well as education (programs that would hurt the Women, Infants and Children Supplemental Nutrition Program and even support for shelters provided under the Violence Against Women Act). Not to mention its plan to raise the retirement age is worrisome. Economist Paul Krugman feels the decision to raise the Social Security retirement age (because life expectancy has risen) completely ignores the fact that life expectancy has only gone up for the well-off and well-educated, while stagnating or even declining among the people who need the program most. Most worrisome to Republicans are the manditory and deep cuts to the Defense Budget, although it seems we already, by 6 to 1, outspend China, the next largest spender in Defense. You can read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-the-simpson-bowles-debt-plan-2012-10#ixzz2KKJdpeNXl

And so, soon we arrive at the ‘dreaded’ Sequester, ‘automatic’ spending cuts that will kick in to the tune of $1.2 trillion over a 10-year period, all because no one in Govt could agree on any plan put before them. Other than agreeing that a "Worst Plan Ever!” would kick in automatically IF they couldn’t agree on a Plan! Catch 22 anyone?

Norah O'Donnell at CBS has stated "Another deadline in Washington, another proposal for a short-term fix without any specifics about how to do it and thousands of people facing job losses."

Personally I like to think these guys are just playing politics as usual, after all, despite all the shrieks of “the sky is falling!” that we’ve heard relentlessly for the 8 or 10 years, we still find ourselves slogging along. This is just how ‘the game’ is played, right? They WILL find a way to DELAY the Sequester, right?

“It doesn't hurt to be optimistic. You can always cry later.” ~Lucimar Santos de Lima

DRONES! ???

Everywhere, on the tv and online news, we are hearing about a leaked memo (to begin with), followed by todays briefing by the President (to minimize the damage I suspect) that brought to center stage, closer scrutiny of our Gov’t’s Drone Program. In one news story I learned the govts Drone Program has grown by 400% in the past 4 years. I find the issue deeply troubling, how quickly we have evolved from a basic awareness of the program and its ‘effective’ use in limited, ‘justifiable’ situations (by some accounts) to (as Joe Scarborough has commented re the laws allowing discriminant killing by drones, as ‘having just raced thru how many stop lites??”) being a legal tool in our ansenal to kill anyone, anywhere in the world, our own citizens included, merely ‘suspected’ of terrorism. Bypassing 'due process' in even the most limited sense in the word.

Call me crazy, but this news is stunning and shocking to me. Are there no limits to the massive powers of our federal Govt and the military? Does keeping our nation forever in a ‘state of war’ legally allow all and any actions, no matter how unconsciounable? Clearly we aren’t seeing a Govt and a Congress interested in any transparency, despite that being a major promise of current President elect Obama as he campaigned the FIRST time. The information we all should be privy to (albeit with some limitations befitting national security) we ONLY learn about through ‘leaks’ and from whistle blowers who are swiftly dealt with, again, with new laws the Administration and Congress has strengthened since the Bush years.

I was actually stunned to hear Polls show only 11% of Americans DISagree with the drone program! I don’t know when that poll was taken, or if now, with the recent information we are hearing, more will rethink their stance. I hope they will. Its not that I don’t understand how many might feel American lives are saved by using unmanned killing machines, how we can dispose of ‘terrorists’ that plot against us, while not risking the lives of our loved ones. How very convenient, how very ‘modern’. But let us not forget, what acts we allow our Govt to carry out, they carry out in the names of ALL Americans, we are ALL culpable and responsible and how can we not at some point, expect there to be consequences. And more wars! Forever wars! When we do not have to see, feel or even ‘imagine’ the pain of the innocent victims (the ‘collateral damage’ that is inevitable in war) or our own soldiers, all those who suffer, it all becomes a game, something not quite ‘real’, much like the popular war video games that proliferate.

I suspect most in this country are happy we no longer employ a ‘Draft’ system in our military, that we have an all volunteer army, along with mercenaries and all manner of robotic and unmanned killing machines, but I believe they fail to understand the most important aspect of the ‘Draft’, how with conscription we are less likely to rush to war, less likely to send our young men and women into situations they may never return from. How effective this one tool used to be in keeping the peace, making the decision to go to war a last resort!

I would expect it would benefit everyone, as we seem unstoppable in embracing this new frontier, this new modern warfare, to educate themselves on what the consequences could be. Just google DRONES and you will be deluged with information. To think for one minute we can’t expect that other countries, friendly or foe, won’t employ similar meaures against others and against us is pure folly. Where will it all end?

MARMALADE

We have bumper crops this year of oranges, lemons and pomelo’s (akin to HUGE grapefruits). In the past few years we’ve eaten our fill over the few months they hang on the tree, and given the rest away. This final (and our last) season here in California, I decided its time to make use of as much of the bounty as I can, preserve as much as I can, to take back with us to Washington to enjoy the next few citrus-free winters. I looked for various recipes for marmalade, as its always been a favorite of mine, and looks so pretty in jars (LOL) as well as candied citrus rind which is great as treats or to toss into muffin or sweet bread recipes. Especially yummy with one end dipped in dark chocolate!

I started out this week making up a batch of lemon marmalade and we both absolutely love it! A very pretty yellow in the jar, and a yummy chewy, sweet lemon flavor. Like sunshine in a jar! Perfect. The following day I found a recipe by Ina Garten (one of my favorite chefs, I love to watch her show) for orange marmalade where the recipe calls to let sit your mixture overnight (the chopped orange rind, water and sugar) before bringing to a boil and simmering a few hours the next morning. We love the results, no bitterness at all! Very fresh orange flavor, and a deeper orange, almost ‘carmelly’ in color.

Yesterday after reviewing several recipes for grapefruit marmalade I finally decided on one that did not include adding extra store bought pectin (I prefer not to add extra pectin, didn't need it in the previous jams and they set up nicely). I varied the recipe slightly, preferring to ‘juice’ the fruit first, using my citrus juicer, rather than separate and peel each ‘section’ of the grapefruit, keeping the ‘fruit’ and the juices that dripped out (messy and time consuming!). Pomelos have very thick pith, about ½ inch thick, pith being that part that separates the fruit from the rind, and it is very bitter, but the pith of citrus fruits contains most the pectin, so necessary to use to ‘set’ the jam. It also contains some of the most beneficial nutrients, antioxidants that fight cancer. So I wanted to include as much 'pith' in the process as I could, without added bitterness. I carefully cut away the thick pith from the rind, chopped it, and wrapped it all up in a cheesecloth bundle that I then dropped into the simmering juice/fruit/sugar mixture. This would release the pectin into the jam as it boiled.

After simmering the jam for several hours, until it finally started to thicken and ‘set’, I removed and cooled the cheesecloth ‘bundle’, then squeezed as much of the contents into the jam as I could, again because this would aid the ‘setting’ (gelling) of the jam. After ladeling into jars, a quick 10 minute hot water bath to ensure preservation, I had 7 12-oz jars and a little left over to use now. The pomelo marmalade is yummy! It has a ‘sweet yet slightly bitter’ taste, it was impossible to avoid ANY bitterness, but you known, personally I (and Rod as well) really like the flavor, it tastes like I’d expect a grapefruit jam to taste. It isn't so cloyingly sweet, being offset with the slight bitter undertone.

As i contemplate my lemon tree, the branches so heavy with fruit they touch the ground (!) I know I’ll be making many more jars of lemon marmalade and candied lemon peel in the next few weeks. The candied peel, if stored in glass jars, will last years if needed. At that I can’t possibly use all the lemons on that tree (which, btw, we cut in HALF last year and it's STILL incredibly prolific, it would supply a village for weeks!). However I was thrilled to discover I'll be able to barter some of it away! When I stopped in to purchase my free range, organic brown eggs (from the lovely, little old gal who has a small farm not far from us) we agreed to swap lemons for eggs going forward, at least until I run out of lemons. A win/win for us both! She’s also going to toss in a jar or two of her homemade pomegranate jelly. Lucky me! With all the fruit that will STILL leaves me, I plan to experiment with herb-infused marmalades next week as well ... all organic herbs from my own garden...perhaps some Rosemary/Lemon Marmalade or Orange/Thyme or how about Lavender/Orange? ... endless (almost, ha!) possibilities!

"You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need." ~Vernon Howard