Hurricane Sandy hits New York

I'm here in New York, watching stunned as the unpreparedness for the storm has left people wounded, hungry, or dead. In Kinsgsbridge, there is a large armory, which you would expect to be open at a time like this, but no; it houses a few national guardsmen, and to hell with the taxpayer. 10 acres of land put to no use in the middle of a great metropolis.Where was the mayor or Rubin Diaz, the borough president?

Power is out in areas of Kingsbridge, with fallen trees straddling what was once cars, fences and houses. But this is a haven compared to Manhattan and Brooklyn, where whole neighbourhoods are flooded, power is out, Con Ed exploded, buildings caved in, and there is no transportation; not that there is any here in the Bronx, which is connected to three other boroughs by the subway; this has ground to a halt with entire stations under water. Buses do not run. Bridges and tunnels are closed.

It is like the Joker in a Batman movie is having fun with us all, while the politicians, secretly his friends, do nothing; why was not more money spent on flood protection, why are armories sitting closed and idle, why did the backup generator at NYU hospital fail, why, why, why?

Because the public does not watch these people as they steal our money. Bloomberg's administration pilfered $80million in one campaign alone, which was ironically supposed to stop theft. It was theft. That money could have protected NY but it did not.

So I sit here wondering if I will get food to buy, or if ATMs will work, or if I can get to work

with no public transport. There were no pumps at the subway stations, just lots of CCTVs to watch your every move, like the Harvey Dent Act, again, in a Batman movie.  At least I have a pound of hemp, which is high in nutrition, so I'll be eating an old fav, brocoli with hemp sauce, hemp seeds, garlic, peppers and cheddar. Hemp sauce is like soy sauce but does not use soy so is environmentally friendly.

And it makes me wonder if the destruction of the Amazon by soy loving jerks is not a factor it these storms. Katrina, Sandy, you name them, but you can't tame them.\Fast and furious they come, and man is reaping what he sowed.

It is time we changed our politicians and sowed hemp - which they refuse to let us do in the US.

Until we do we'll just have to endure more storms.

So make sure you have batteries, water, and a box of hemp seeds, you may be without power for a long time.

THIS YEAR'S INFLATION

The New York Post yesterday carried the prices of commodities, metals, bonds, etc. and reviewed their performance for 2010. Gold, for instance, closed at $1413.10 an oz.; up 29% for the year. A sign that people are afraid of other investments...not good news unless you are holding gold.

Three commodities that have some bearing on hemp, as they could be replaced by or sourced from hemp, are soybeans, cotton and ethanol. Soy is up to $13.66 a bushel, a 31.4% change from last year; cotton, however, is up much more dramatically - closing at $1.40 a lb., up 85.8%. This is making for runaway inflation and more expensive clothes, not to mention, a lot of water wasted on this thirsty monocrop.

Ethanol is at $2.36 a gallon, just under the price of petrol here in the US - and would be even cheaper if it were made en masse from hemp and other farm wastes.

John Crudele in his article about the US economy notes that consumer spending is up 5.5% -which is being toted as a good sign, but he notes that some of this spending is merely money spent on higher prices at the pump - and, he might have added, on clothing now that cotton spot prices are almost double those of last year.

So again, it is time for America to grow hemp. Ease the demand on water and create a commodity that can be produced on US soil for a change. But I doubt the Post will ever tell us such a truth.

HEMP VS COTTON

A year or so ago I spoke at a natural fibres fair and made note of the facts about cotton. My inconvenient truths were not welcome, either by the cotton and bamboo merchants or by the press. Cotton is the world's largest crop, and is destroying the ecosystem. It is time we stopped it, but try to get the press to say anything! They don't like to. I almost succeeded with Drapers, a London based fashion and textile industry magazine, they listened and asked me to send in a letter, but then never published it. Over 90% of what they report, and advertise, has to do with cotton. So no surprise. Anyway, here is the letter they never published:

The Stones once painted the world black. Today, we are painting it green, which is the 'new black'. Do-gooders are dancing in the aisles, but are they in tune? They destroyed forests in Indonesia to plant palm oil; gave us low carbon bulbs full of mercury; ravaged the Amazon with soya; created chaos in India with jatropha, and; depleted water supplies by growing more cotton. This last issue I addressed on 18 May at the Fashion Made Fair, just after Katherine Hamnett signed cotton T shirts. Cotton, organic or otherwise, is water intensive. I poured out a pitcher of water for effect, and quoted Jeremy Smith of the Ecologist, who calculated that a hemp T shirt uses 2,800 litres of water less than a cotton one. Hemp, however, is eschewed by some. The good news is that hemp has arrived: Minawear is worn on prime time TV, Jilly Cholmondeley sheets are praised by the Independent, House of Hemp can scarce keep up with demand, Braintree occupies the flagship space in Camden Market, and THTC is de rigeur. Hemp attire is not Biblical sackcloth, and neither am I a lone voice crying in the wilderness. Similar observations are made by the aforementioned Smith and Cholmondeley, Louisa Pearson in Scotland on Sunday and Lucy Siegle in the Observer, who tackles Hamnett. We need to tune up to facts, however inconvenient they may be. For those wishing to repent of ignorant mistakes, there are coarse grades of hemp which make a good sackcloth; feel free to paint it black with organic ashes.

THE PLANT WHOSE STALK IS
NOT WORTH A BEAN

In this month's Ecologist, Pat Thomas dares to go where few journalists care to venture. She debunks the soya myth, which is like a central tenet in some kind of religion. Go to any vegan fair these days and you are being sold soya, soya and more soya. And where's the hemp at any of these? Hardly a single achene is to be found. Few seem to know or care about its Omega 3,6 and 9, or its high protein status, or its environmentally friendliness. The bottom line to these gurus is the dollar sign. Their greenness comes from the almighty greenback, the soya leaf their fig leaf; but their nakedness and ignorance cannot be hid from intelligent people.
Thomas is one who is not fooled by these do-gooders in cotton clothing. She points out fact after fact about this monocrop and leaves no doubt as to what is going on - even if the likes of Tamsin Osmond and her followers take over a church (St. Mary's in Primrose Hill) to preach the joy of soy. Like so many cults, it falls apart when facts are produced. Take, for instance, the claims about soya being healthy because people in the Orient eat it and are healthy. In some ways yes, but this is nothing but a generalisation. There are much higher rates of cancer, particularly cancer of the oeshophagus, stomach, liver and pancreas. And now, after decades of overkill, people in the West eat soya and are still unhealthy - even when we do not know it or want it. Soya has become ubiquitous, and iniquitous as well. For instance, it has found its way into infant formula milk, despite the reality that it contains isoflavenes, exposure to which may effect future fertility and reproductive development. A Harvard University study found that men who eat it have significantly lower sperm counts. Consumption of soya has led to more memory loss and cancer in our populations. And the production of soya is one of the major reasons for the loss of the rain forest. 90% of it is genetically modified.
So why are we eating it? Hype, and people want to follow hype, whether it is right wing warmongering or hippy trippy hype. Hype creates a movement, and subconsciously, people want to be part of a movement. Asking them to think makes them feel uncomfortable, and the leaders of the movement take advantage. Anyone with facts they try to exclude, as when Tamsin Omond's group Plane Stupid called the Ecologist to let them know they were not welcome to cover the campout at Heathrow last year. Little wonder that the Ecologist is becoming and entity non grata in some circles - perhaps a sign that they are doing something correct.
If you want a high protein, environmnetally friendly food that does not require processing at all and can be eaten raw, hemp is just the thing. And if you're in the UK, try some of the foods over at Yorkshire Hemp - www.yorkshire-hemp.com and see what your're missing.

WORLD VEGETARIAN DAY

Today we celebrate veggies. Sadly, most vegetarians do not know about hemp and its Omega 3,6, and 9 oils along with its protein. Last month's Ecologist carried a feature on hemp, and along with it, a story about the danger of soya. Lots of vegetarians do not know about that either, just like many do not know how bad cotton is as a water hungry monocrop. Click around on this site and you will!

Then, as Adele Davis exhorted, you can start eating really healthy. In addition to hemp, I might mention a few other tips to the legume lovers - try pumpkin seed oil and rocket. Or carrots sliced and baked with olive oil and rosemary. Or for the real raw experience, cool sliced jicama. Make a mash with 40% celeriac - best to bake these and control the moisture to keep the mash stiff. This happens to have lots of earthy flavour, and is great with fresh thyme leaves. Another herb to consider is marjoram, very overlooked - but great with oregano. I include it in my Italian herb mix, which is: oregano, marjoram, thyme, basil and rosemary. Also overlooked are parsnips - one cannot eat too much though, they are slightly poisonous. Carrot and parsnip soup is great, leave the roots a bit gritty for texture. Gazpacho, with its mix of celery, onion, tomato, cucumber, peppers and olive oil can benefit from two secrets - bake the garlic and use pimenton - which is smoked paprika. Another capsicum delight is chipotle peppers, these too are smoked. And let's not forget borscht - this is underrated, but beets and cabbage make great companions in the cold soup pot.

Let me mention rocket again with another cooked item - take plum tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise, sprinkle salt, pepper, olive oil, bake at lowest heat for 2 hours. Garlic slices, salted and crisped, go well with this too. Fennel ought to be on this too - it bakes up nicely and goes well with peppers, onions, mushrooms and tomatoes.

Another item I might mention is hemp leaf - this makes an interesting herb, and I do not mean herb...I use it as a secret ingredient in the 15 herb cajun spice mix in my book.

VEGAN GOODIES

Yesterday the Vegan Fest in London was packed as usual. The talk got under way at 1pm, introduced by Sagar. After some historical remarks about hemp, we then got to the core of the issue, nutrition. Samples of many products were at this point handed out, including the very packs seen to the left - these also came in chocolate and plain. Nutiva had kindly sent these all the way from California, and a Canadian company, Vega, also sent in supplies. No one went hungry, but there were a few unhappy souls who did not quite take kindly to us spilling the beans on soya, which was a feature in the Ecologist. As is often the case, there are people who ask inane questions about the facts, but refuse to read or listen. The Ecologist had also given us a supply of their magazines, which the diehard soya lovers refused to read! Most, however, were happy to have such a good magazine in their hands. A small point made by one of the audience members was that the Good Oil packs had salmon recipes on them, yes, that was just the way Good Oil is, and the owner, Henry Braham, who lives a short walk away from the fest, did not bother to show up - he was off in his 4x4! Not quite the way to go for anyone in the hemp business. We have been trying for years to convince him not to use defoliants on the leaves when he harvests, but he is not one for answering emails or returning calls. Oh well. I can recommend here Hemp Foods for You instead, run by Paul Dean in Glastonbury. He presses his seeds 24 hours before delivery and uses a cold stone. And needless to say, 4x4s are not his means of transport.

But getting back to the controversy, it looks like it upset not just the soya fans at a vegan fest, but the bigwigs in the soya industry are upset too, and are pulling strings behind the scenes to keep other journalists off the story. This is where the Ecologist really shines, it does not have ads for 4x4s and it does not give in to such pressure. Sadly, the press is mostly just a whore for the rich 4x4 driving types, and the little that filters through is but a fraction of the crucial information we need to be getting. The soya issue is one of the most important stories that can be printed, yet it may get lost due to journalistic cowardice. We may see a press blackout on this issue, so it is good to be able to shine some light on this while we can.

Thanks to all the hemp companies that made this happen, those mentioned already and also Sativa Bags, Minawear, Rocky Mountain Grain Products, The Hemp Shop, C-Iced Tea, and Innocent Oils.

IMAGES OF A FEW OF THE PEOPLE WE EXPECT AT

THE VEGAN FEST AT KENSINGTON TOWN HALL ON

SUNDAY 7 SEPTEMBER,

WHERE KENYON GIBSON AND SAGAR SHAH

WILL BE TALKING ABOUT

HEMP, SOYA AND THE ENVIRONMENT.

BOTH ISSUES ARE COVERED IN THE

SEPTEMBER ISSUE OF THE ECOLOGIST.

DRESS CODE IS HEMP OR GO NAKED!

THERE WILL BE A PRIZE GIVEAWAY AS

THE TALK GETS UNDERWAY (1PM)

2B OR NOT 2B

Much speculation exists as to why bees are dying off in Colony Collapse Disorder, and we have covered a good amount of that here. Mobile phone masts and verroa mites are two suspects, but now there is a hypothesis that ethonal, or rather the byproducts of ethanol, are killing the bees. Killer ethanol. However, there may be a bias to this theory, in that there certainly are interests which desire to keep us away from any alternative energy. On the other hand, we need to look at this and give an answer either way.

Eric Pollitt of Global Hemp has been keeping me informed about the ethanol and corn use debate, his part of the world is Illinois and they know a thing or two about corn there, which is a ubiquitous crop, along with soy. The two monopolistic agrobusinesses can be quite selfishly motivated, we need to grow other crops just to keep a balance. And if we are to produce ethanol, having of course answered the question about its effects on the hymonoptera - fancy word for bees and their congeners, we need to look at whether corn is the most appropriate crop to grow for it. At present hemp is still illegal in Illinois, even though it was once prevalent there. The latest on the legal status of hemp is that in Vermont, the state legistaure voted overwhelmingly in favour of cultivation, and the governor sensibly let this pass into law. However, there is the federal government to deal with next, and we can see what happens by looking at the recent case in North Dakota where the top Republican in the state legislature is suing the feds over their right to cultivate what the Fouding Fathers grew.

Hopefully the states will win, and the feds will buzz off.

PLANE STUPID TALK AT ST. MARY THE VIRGIN

Image left is Tobias Kendall of Oxford, aka Ken Tobias, who got kicked out of Plane Stupid last month when Tamsin Omond of Cambridge outed him dramatically. Allegedly, he was working for C2i, a spook firm that must have some pretty low recruiting standards. Are they the ones behind Rachel North and David Shayler, both of whom claim they are not working for MI5? Maybe a double bluff on their part, but as to Kendall, er, um Tobias, his bluff got called. What made Omond see through it so easily? Was it the Armani jeans, or was it the fact that Omond is from Trinity College, a known recruitment ground for spooks and would know one when she saw one? Many of the Trinity crowd were sex addicts who betrayed their country to the Russians in the '30, '40s, '50s, '60s and whenever else they could get away with it; much of which was noted in the famous and suppressed book, Spycatcher.
The present day Trinity College alumnus was on hand last night at an event at St. Mary the Virgin in Primrose Hill, where the merchants of soya were on hand to sell their product. Somehow the vicar there must have forgotten that 2,000 years ago someone drove the merchants out of the church, but then again, there are a lot of vicars who have forgotten that the same person also said: "better a millstone tied around the neck of a person than they should hurt the little ones". Maybe the vicar was off at a sex shop, where the Tamsin Omond crowd can be found when not preaching to us or getting into trouble with the police or hasssling members of the general public at the Natural History Museum.
So, with the vicar away, the mice could play with people's minds and promote soya, a plant which is now one of the biggest problems facing the world today. Try telling this to Nigel Winter of the Vegan Society or the folks at Slow Foods London, and you just get a cold stare. Tamsin Omond then comes over to show her ignorance, and there is little one informed person can do against them, even if in the House of God, which they seem to have taken over.
And with the power and money behind Tamsin, one is not surprised. Her grandfather is none other than Sir Thomas Lees, who owns a good deal of land in the proserous South England county of Dorest, once a hemp growing and processing capital of the realm. Her father is a rich banker. She herself hangs out with l'ecume de l'ecume, having matriculated at some very expensive spots for rich kids, the kind who have money for both sex shops and the church.
But apparently, not much brains, or they would have known about hemp, and not used the House of God for a promo on soya, adding to the misery of poor farmers in Brazil, who are seeing more and more land cleared for this monocrop.
The irony is that the very people behind this misery are acting like eco-warrriors, running around in trendy spots talking about saving the planet, along with the dodgy people who forced palm oil plantations on the Indonesians and jatropha on the Indians (see previous post on this).
They are now threatening to force us to use more oil, which is set to rise to $200 a barrel (not so long ago it was $30). What they do is bash all biofuels, either directly, or by getting into the game and giving biofuels a bad name with their stupid ideas. Without biofuels, we are dependent on one fuel, and guess what, the price of that one fuel goes up.
Thus it is intelligent analysis to suspect that the rich kid bondage toy church attending crowd from Trinity College may just be the progeny of the pampered traitors at MI5, and that the game is to infiltrate environmental groups and stifle debate about biofuels. One easy way to do this is to write about it, then dissuade the public from taking action. Perhaps an example of this can be found in yesterday's Guardian, where the double barrelled Duncan Graham-Rowe mentions Henry Ford and his production of ethanol, but then talks only about rapeseed and maize (corn). Further, he warns against using up agricultural land for biofuels, but not a word about waste cellulose, such as stems, unwanted bark and other parts of the plant not used for food or fibre. This is crucial to the debate, and what is devious on the part of so many of the glorified debaters given space in the church and the media, is that they leave out the CRUCIAL part of the debate, entering at large celverly on some PART of the debate so as to push their agenda, which, dangerously, leads us back to petrol dependency, cotton usage, and soya consumption. By keeping us on petrol, major players in the options market can make a killing - literally - and they can well afford to pay people like Tasmin Omond to carry out this subterfuge.
But then again, this analyis may be rebutted by those who think that Tamsin Omond and crew are just 'plane stupid'.
And maybe they are. Whichever the case, treachery or stupidity, we cannnot afford to let this self congratulatory and trendy crowd ruin our lives with their mistakes. They are very self-centred gatekeepers with huge influence in the press, it is like they have hijacked a plane and we need the rational to storm the cockpit and get it back on the correct course.
Let's roll.