lately, i have been having aspirations to make my house and home self-sustaining. i have been peeking at aquaponics videos on youtube, and looking up how to start a honeybee hive (partially because of the whole colony collapse problem occurring worldwide, and partially because i enjoy seeing so many pollen-laden bees hovering over my growing allysum and portulaca fields - btw, allysum smells just like sweet honey!). i also idly think about installing solar onto our house (we still don't even have the basic solar water heater right now).

i worry deeply about the future of my family and society in general. hawaii is an isolated place. we need to import most everything we need from outside. even the majority of our electricity is produced via oil shipped in from outside. with fluctuations in oil prices, our energy infrastructure is extremely vulnerable. our food supply is also very vulnerable, as we don't have the agriculture to sustain our population, should something drastic occur, and shipments of food from outside cease.

there is talk of developing areas adjacent to the h-2 freeway. some of that land is prime agricultural land. there is also talk of developing the land along kam highway leading to the north shore, also prime ag land. now, i know that there is always a need for affordable housing here in hawaii, but let's face it, we live on an island, and we have finite resources and finite space. we cannot keep building indefinitely. there must be a limit to development. also, if we build over prime ag land, then we cannot "unbuild," and restore that land to its agricultural function. if we take away prime ag land, then we reduce our capacity to produce food for export, and, more importantly, food that could sustain us in the possible situation of a lack of food imports.

so i worry about that.

i don't like to be political about things, but quite honestly, republicans and the tea party are holding our country back in a time when intelligent and timely action is necessary. they speak of the national deficit, and somehow characterize themselves as "conservatives" (such a misnomer, and an ill-conceived political ideology), when it was their reckless policies that brought our country into the financial crisis it is in today. it truly disgusts me, the kind of blatant flat out lies and rhetoric that the republicans/tea party spew out in order to justify their baseless positions. they truly are the party of "no," as in "no future."

i don't understand the constituency of the republican party. in my mind, they consist primarily of the rich, who are selfish in the sense of attempting to safeguard their own wealth and prevent government oversight over their tax evasion and laissez faire economic policies (i.e. couched as "less central government"). and then, there are the helpless (and, i'm sorry, brainless) sheep (a lot of them poorly educated ["global warming and evolution are myths?!?"]) who are somehow duped into thinking that the republican party somehow stands for them. some of these people are convinced that the republican party is the party of morality; this, even though republicans have hardly advanced the cause of such hot button issues as abortion, and only pay face value to these in order to garner votes from the "christian conservatives." republicans try to say they are the party of the people, of the "small business owner," even though the tax cuts that they are all hot over would only influence the highest income brackets, and would have nothing to do with the so-called "mom and pop shops" that they seem to be speaking to and for. it's all a crock of s**t. honestly, guys.

i heard the end of the president's address this afternoon. and then, i heard the so-called republican rebuttal, delivered by the senator from wyoming (can't recall his name). he mentioned some platitude from the "west," something about how in the west, we all keep our promises. he then went on to say how president obama has failed to keep any of his promises. honestly. president obama has had to deal with a whole lot of crap leftover from the ruinous eight year republican rein, AND he HAS (unlike most politicians) actually delivered on several of his campaign promises, albeit in less than ideal form (largely because of republican bullheadedness and obstructionism)... i won't detail the senator's speech; let's just say that it was layered bullshit. same old same old republican speech strategy: a bunch of high-sounding lies, words taken out of context, no facts (or facts taken out of context and "spun")...

again, i don't want to talk politics, it is very bad to do so... but i can't stand how they are ruining our country, and ruining our world. if things head where they are going, then it will be a hollow victory for the rest of us to say, "i told you so" as the world goes to hell... thom yorke aptly captured the whole republican mentality in his song "idioteque": "take the money and run." yes, republicans, take all the money you can, and run... where? spend it... where? the world you deny and destroy is the same world you live in. you republicans talk about "tomorrow" (i.e., concern over federal spending, leaving a debt for "tomorrow") when it was YOU who created this problem; what about the environmental "tomorrow," the educational "tomorrow," the international peace "tomorrow?" all republicans are really concerned about, in my mind, is tomorrow's paycheck...

whew. sorry, had to get that off my chest. no one reads this stuff anyway... (hopefully?) and i'm not a politico by any means, hate politics...