A few days ago, I wrote to Congressman Phil Gingrey with a number of other members of the Organic Consumers Association to voice my concerns over the H1N1 vaccine, and to plead that the state of Georgia does not follow in the footsteps of the state of Massachusetts, which is tossing around the idea of forced vaccinations for people exhibiting flu-like symptoms (which covers a wide range of illnesses, as any doctor can tell you). Failure to get that vaccine would incur fines of $1,000 per day and imprisonment for up to 30 days. The Pandemic Response Bill 2028, which passed the Massachusetts Senate on September 1, allows health authorities to enter private dwellings and detain citizens without a warrant.

The response I received earlier today made me question whether my letter was even read. It was clearly a form letter - which is fine, considering the majority of my letter was just that - stating how Gingrey is a doctor and how the swine flu is of upmost concern for him. No mention of the vaccine.  It was basically a short history of the virus starting in April of 2009, a list of symptoms, and of all things, to “Rest assured I am interested in supporting health care legislation and proposals that would promote the health of all Georgians.”

I feel so comforted. Especially since the e-mail was addressed to “Dear Unknown.”

There are lots of things I can think of that the office staff could have used to address me as in a mass email reply. Dear Constituent. Dear Concerned Citizen. Dear Pain in the Ass. But “Dear Unknown”? That would seem to imply I am so insignificant, I’m hardly even worth replying to.

Many people in this country have felt that our elected officials do not hear us, and do not care about or notice our problems until it comes time to run again for office. This response exemplifies that very concern.  I write in, granted as part of a mass email campaign, my concern for the health, freedom and well-being (and continued mobility) of the people of Georgia, and the response I get is the complete opposite from the very thing I wrote about.

My concern about this vaccine is genuine. The concept of mass vaccinations is frightening on two counts. One: that this is supposed to be the land of the free. For an original patriot state like Massachusetts to be considering forcing people to get a vaccination or pay fines of $1,000 per day and face quarantine on top of it, does not sound free to me.

Second, the speed at which this vaccine was produced has many people alarmed that it has not been adequately tested. The new version contains Squaline, and adjuvant (additive intended to increase the drug’s effect). Technically speaking, squaline is a natural chemical and something your body actually produces in small amounts in response to the ingestion of certain foods, so it would appear to be safe. However, when injected into animals, squalene produced pathogenic (cancerous) cells in lymph nodes, has caused rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and other autoimmune diseases. This additive was included in the Anthrax vaccine administered to our soldiers, and is implicated as the root cause of Gulf War Syndrome (depleted uranium has also been implicated). Further, the FDA has not approved squalene - not that it matters.

Further ingredients in the vaccine include Thermisol — a preservative which is half mercury and linked to autism and neurological disorders. The recent claims of the CDC and the Institute of Medicine that thermisol has no relationship with autism have been soundly rejected by top doctors and scientists ever since last year’s court ruling.

Equally alarming is that the current administration has issued a special ruling exempting the manufacturers of the vaccine from all liability. Federal officials are also immune to litigation, thanks to a document signed by Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius.

History teaches us to be very careful with mass, inadequately tested immunizations. The 1976 Swine Flu vaccination effort is an often used example of the need to proceed with caution, something it appears the WHO, CDC and many governments seem all too willing to forget - except for that little document safeguarding litigation should this vaccine have any devastating side effects.

I have not been able to confirm the alarmist reports that many of the same ingredients are used in the present-day version of the H1N1 vaccine as were used in 1976 - which led to more than 500 cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome and 25 deaths. In contrast to those numbers, only 200 cases of the 1976 swine flu were actually documented in the U.S., and one death was recorded. A memo was leaked to Britain’s DailyMail implicating that this version of the Swine Flu vaccine may also cause GBS, though I have not seen anything with a side-by-side analysis of the ingredients used in these vaccines.

Numerous other potential warnings are being thrown about the Web, including that animal cancer cells are used in the vaccine, and other side effects of squalene may include infertility. While some of these claims may be just that, I think my concerns and those of my fellow Americans are justified. And I think we deserve a better response than “Dear Unknown.”

This has been a long winter. I can’t imagine living in Nova Scotia, Canada – where folks are still expecting several more months of bitter cold temps and snow. It’s a beautiful place, and the flora impressed me mightily – but they truthfully have only about 4 months of warmer weather (certainly not ever hot like here in north Georgia) and then it is cold again. Compared to them, I have it super easy. I mean really.

Still, to my mind it has been a long winter. It blew in cold and fast in October this year, whereas in previous years it would be mid-December and my friends and I would be wondering when we’d be needing to think about running the heat during the day.

Since it came so early, and was so cold so quickly, I didn’t manage to get my Fall tasks done. Trimming back the perennials after the first few freezes, raking leaves, spreading mulch, and getting pansies in the ground have all had to slowly get done on a few warmer days during the winter months, and I am still very far behind before I can start getting things prepared for Spring.

Winter does have its place, and I truly appreciate the chance to work on projects indoors that never have a snowball’s chance of getting done in the summer, when I am busy growing, weeding, picking and preserving all that wonderful food – or simply enjoying the warm weather and sunshine. This winter I have learned how to crochet, and have successfully made a scarf for a friend, and am partway through my first afghan. I’ve also found time to do some of my usual “nesting” as we slowly settle into normalcy around this house. I’ve painted a reminder, Arts and Crafts style, over the doorway in our dining room that reminds us to live in the moment. I’ve already found having this visual reminder to enjoy every moment of our lives very useful, as my husband and I both tend to get caught up in the million things that need doing, and forget to take a moment to appreciate what is beautiful all around us.

I love the warm coziness of my living room, with a nice little fire crackling in our woodstove and the teakettle steaming away on top, and I love curling up in a chair and reading a book. Not that I’ve managed to do that very much this winter, but it has been nice.

However, I am tired of it being winter. I miss seeing green outside. Indoor plants do help, and some of them have improved mightily with the attention they receive when they are my only babies to care for. Yet, I am tired of being cooped up, tired of being cold, a little tired of carrying wood indoors to feed the stove, and tending said stove several times a day.

My body is ready for fresh fruits and veggies, for sunshine and that gardening-earned tan, ready to turn soil and grow nice little plants. I’m ready for birdsongs to wake me in the early hours, to not dread getting out of the warm covers, for sunny days. I even am ready to pull a few weeds. How’s that for getting desperate?

Soon. It will all happen soon…

I’m skimming the news this morning, and the first big story on www.time.com is this one: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1839995,00.html  — in short, the media is once again telling the world about how the methane in cow farts (ok, they said flatulence, but “farts” sound far less serious) have 23 times the warming impact of CO2, and cow waste has 296 times the warming effect of CO2. And of course, the article goes on and on about how everyone should convert to vegetarianism.

Unfortunately to my mind, all these articles just add up to nagging. Nagnagnagnagnagnagnag…. This one is more naggy than the others and it does so by talking about how meat clogs arteries and causes an increase in heart disease and stroke. I think most people will put their fingers in their ears and say “lalalalalala” at the top of their lungs.

However much I’d like for there to be more vegetarians and vegans in the world (hey look, more options on a menu!), at the moment we are considered “weird fringe people” - there’s this negative bias. Some of the bias is well-deserved, since many vegans go around saying how awful it is to be eating Bambi or Chicken Little when their lives were torture. Who wants to be lumped in with that crowd?

Another issue is harder: we Americans like to keep up with the Joneses, and since meat is expensive, it shows you have the money to spend. It’s also deeply set in our food culture - what’s a summer barbeque without hamburgers and drumsticks? Or Thanksgiving turkeys, or Christmas ham, or any birthday t-bone? Further, will many Americans feel deprived because their meals no longer contain meat?

I can tell you from experience, it takes a while to adjust to a vegetarian diet. Meat, especially red meat and pork, lends a lot of flavor to something as simple as rice, and finding out what makes rice and veggies palatable without meat takes time. I’ll admit, sometimes when making one of our favorite Italian dishes, I wish I could toss in a little pork for that flavor - though now I bet I would think it too salty. Your taste buds change. In a way I think they improve and can pick out more flavors from veggies than they could before - soups I once considered bland I really enjoy now.

Back to my point, in asking people to go vegetarian, the media is asking for a major lifestyle change, and a mindset change. They are asking our culture to change. That won’t happen overnight, especially since most Americans are pretty selfish (yep, me too, even though I have a good bike now I still don’t want to ride three miles up a mountain and I take the car to work) and we are slow to change.

Until vegetarian options show up on more menus, until there are more recipes for vegans and vegetarians in magazines and rags than there are meat-based recipes, until there are more of us and we aren’t part of the fringe but rather a group of people who care more about our health and the planet’s health, life isn’t going to change.

But of course, if you DO want to try some great vegan recipes, check this girl out! www.veganyumyum.com - without her I would have starved to death while trying to find good vegan meals!

I get an email or a text message from time to time declaring how we should all hurt the oil companies and not buy gas for one day. Hit them where it hurts, show them what would happen if we didn’t buy gas at all. Yeah! Let’s be patriots and stick it to them! Grab your torches and pitchforks!

I can hear the oil tycoons laughing. They have us by the short and curlies, you know. People participate in this, sure. But they either buy more gas the day before the protest, or they fill up in the days after the protest. The oil companies won’t lose any money at all, and we just went out of our way to make an ineffectual demonstration.

A better solution fits right in with frugality AND tree-hugging: Drive less. Carpool. Walk. Ride a bike. Or even a horse. My neighbor has a big dog that could pull a cart – cart-dogs used to be used by people who couldn’t afford a horse. I actually think that would be really cool, we could charge the neighborhood kids for dog-cart rides, and it would wear the dog’s hyper butt out a little in a healthy way. I bet we could even take him to the grocery store.

Back on topic – the only way to hurt the oil companies is: To stop. Buying. Gas. They’re posting record profits as these prices go up, so you know they are being a little greedy. It hurts most Americans, but if we’re frugal, it won’t hurt us so much.

I know I am lucky. I can walk to my grocery store or I can ride my bike almost anywhere in town that I need to go. Most of us in the States really only live a mile or two from a grocery chain of some kind. Having a bicycle with a couple of baskets on the back isn’t a bad idea. You can be frugal in two ways in this manner: who needs a gym membership/spinning class, when you can just ride a cheap old bike to the store? Don’t forget your cloth bags! I found one bag fits neatly in each basket, makes for really easy unloading later!

Getting to work is another story. A large percentage of us have a long way to go to get to the office, and if you’re expected to look pretty and smell nice, riding a bike isn’t exactly the best option. Unless your office is cool and has a shower, which only one of my former employment places did. Answer: carpool. Even if you have to drive half the distance before you can ride with the other folks, that’s half the distance saved.

Carpooling isn’t just for work though. Living where I do in Timbuktu (as a friend of mine puts it) it’s no fun driving a half hour to an hour one way to the next big town or city that has the other items you need from time to time. Finding a few like-minded people and riding together works really well, especially if you all know what each of you is looking for and you all help each other look for those items. You may wind up making a day of it as opposed to a half day, but if the group is good, you may have a few new friends too. There’s something to be said for feeling more connected with people in your community, too.

One of the guys in the group of road cyclists I like to hang out with recently sold his car in favor of a motorcycle. Not really a bad idea. As I understand it, those things get around 40-50 mpg. Works for me.