Some Political links concerning my candidacy for Arkansas House District 33.

VOTE FOR ME!

http://www.newmenu.org/conradharvin

http://arkgreens.kk5.org/

http://growvotes.org/user/conrad-harvin

New Menu gives green party candidates free web pages for campaigns.

Whereas I have been having login issues with this blogger account I will be starting a new blog soon.

I am first and formost a citizen of the planet Earth. Next I guess would be the USA and thirdly would be the state of Arkansas.

Someone was asking if I thought Arkansas would be a good place to live. Now what is or isn't good depends a lot on the individual. However, I am including my opinion --- which is generalized by this map.

South East of the line is probably great if you are an employer looking for low skilled workforce that you can pay a low wage.

The economy in SE Arkansas is much worse than the rest of the state. Now there are places Northwest of the line that are depressed and places Southeast of the line that are prosperous, so this is not a hard and fast line.

There are also places to the Southeast that are beautiful. However a lot of it is just mile upon mile of coastal plain planted in rice and soybeans. Atleast unlike the great plains (which do have their own beauty if you don't mind the monotony) there are some lakes and forrests. The western 1/2 of South Arkansas is Timberland so some of it is quite beautiful if a bit flat.

Northwest of that line the weather is less hot and less humid. The Northwest is also quite scenic. South of the Arkansas river and northwest of the line you have the Ouchita Mountians which are the only range in the nation which run East to West which means that you have different climates on the north face of the mountians than the south face.... and thus different ecologies. If you live on the north side of a mountian you can also expect more snow and cooler temps. Thus you could live 5 miles from your best friend and have totally different climate. The highest mountians in Arkansas are all in the Ouchitas.

The more famous Ozark Mountians are actually an eroded plateau, and are the oldest mountians in the USA. They are also beautiful, but in a different way than the Ouchitas.

Anyway... that is my two-bits about which regions of Arkansas I prefer.

If I ever run for state-wide office this may haunt me as far as the Delta vote is concerned, but maybe not.

Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart has yet again given me another reason not to shop there. They have withdrawn any support for organizations which help gay people.

I mostly don't shop there much because I don't like the hassle of dealing with their over full parking lots and having to walk through a zillion things I don't want to get to the one thing I do want, but I have been shopping there less and less over the years because of their policies. I had just begun making an adventure there about every 6 weeks for a few things. I guess I will quit yet again.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,127389.shtml

Eating the yard!

I have long known that some "weeds" are edible.

Two that I have used regularly over the years are Dandelions and wild onions.

Dandelions can be used in many ways! The young leaves are good as salad greens or as cooked greens like spinach. The petals of the flowers make a pretty salad garnish and can be used to make wine (which I have never done). The roots of young dandelions can be roasted, ground and used to stretch coffee or as a coffee substitute.

Wild onions can be used as you would green onions or chives. You don't want to use the older ones, but when new ones sprout, instead of spraying them, pull them and dice the green leaves and use as you would chives. Old green onions are though.

Part of what got me going on weeds is that I have been seeing all these ads on TV with people bitching about dandelions in their yards. I have always left them alone, I think they are pretty & I can eat them. Dandelions were introduced into the USA as a food crop. I don't really know why so many people use herbicides in their yards. Many of the weeds they are killing can be eaten, and if you forage your yard, you will keep the weeds controlled and reduce your produce budget in one feel swoop!

Yesterday, after I saw one too many "I hate dandelions" commercial, I decided to do some web searching on edible weeds. I was surprised at how many there are. There was one that grows all over my back yard that is very healthy and having tested it yesterday, I found it tasty with a good texture. Lambsquarters grows all over my back yard.. It is higher in vitamins A, B & C than Spinach, Dandelion Greens, Turnip Greens, Kale or many of the other salad & pot greens.

<----- Lambsquarters!

YUMMY & NUTRICIOUS

Wild Violets also have edible leaves and flowers and are tasty... DO NOT EAT THE ROOTS, They are POISON! The leaves of wild violets are good in salad too.... This is another one I hadn't tries until Yesterday.

Not only is eating your weeds better for the environment, it is less expensive than chemicals, and it saves on the grocery bill. If we better educated the poor about foraging, I think there would be fewer hungry people. Foraging should be taught in the schools! Maybe our churches could also offer classes in foraging!

Here is one of many good edible weed sites:

http://www.landscape-america.com/problems/weeds/edible.html

Happy Eating... Conrad

In Memory of Jean Harvin
October 10, 1927 to March 24, 2007

My mom died at about 11:00 pm

Please pray for her easy ascension into heaven and for our comfort in the loss.

Mom was a great advocate for human rights, peace and equality.

Lawsuit hinges on whether phrase ‘That’s so gay’ is an anti-gay putdown
By LISA LEFFAssociated Press Writer
Thursday, March 01, 2007
SANTA ROSA — When a few classmates razzed Rebekah Rice about her Mormon upbringing with questions such as, “Do you have 10 moms?” she shot back: “That’s so gay.

”Those three words landed the high school freshman in the principal’s office and resulted in a lawsuit that raises this question: When do playground insults used every day all over America cross the line into hate speech that must be stamped out?

The rest can be found here:
http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2007/03/01/news/national/doc45e6d9c253e90317562001.txt

Now, I am gay & I don't really have an issue with anyone saying "thats so gay". However, I do have an issue with how "thats so gay" is used. I think that most gay people would be sensative to never say "Do you have 10 moms?", so that could be an inappropriate use of the phrase. Furthermore, I think that the statement "do you have 10 moms is quite inappropriate as well.

The religious slur should have also landed the other students a repremand as well, The article doesn't mention anything about that however.

Just a tidbit that arrived in my email concerning bishops written by Billy Reeder:

bishops and paranoid schizophrenics By: Billy ReederYes I really did title it that...I heard on public radio last week about journalists in Hong Kong self censuring themselves because they feared the response of the Chinese government. Reminds me of the thought process going through my mind right now.To write or not to write? To write what I really think? Or is that really something I really want to get myself into? We professed that this is the place to write exactly what you think as long as it wasn't illegal, so does that include me? I suppose it must...so here goes.It started last Wednesday at youth when I was leading a discussion about how we insulate ourselves against getting involved with the problems of others. The question on the table was if a homeless person asked you for help what would you do? Which then moved into the rebuttal of how can we know if we can trust the person? Which lead to my response of we have to get to know them...personally. Which then again led to them conceding to take said homeless person to the local shelter. Which led me to respond that 'you' still aren't really helping that person. 'You' are just pawning them off one someone else to help them. They disagreed arguing that the other person was more equipped to help. I countered, that reason only works if you follow up and check on the condition of the person after dropping them off. They refused to concede to my position.And then we get a phone call this afternoon at church with a voice on the other end that just didn't seem 'quite right'. Long story short, the voice was attached to a 20 something man who was brought to our youth fundraiser spaghetti dinner. On the phone, he said he wanted to tell someone his story. So when he got there, I was giving him a tour of the church and while in the sanctuary we sat down and I asked him to tell me his story. Turns out, four years ago he was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic and during that time "in the desert" he heard lots of voices, both good and bad. He had been out of the hospital for a week and a half. And that he was 'fine' now. Let me assure you...he was not. Apparently in that time he'd done very little other than watch religious television programing. He had printouts of a log cabin house plan that he informed me he was about to build as his church and that was going to go next to his apartment complex that he was building. He did ask for help in buying a expository Bible that he saw on TV so that he could preach. We called the 800 number and the place wanted 80 something dollars for it.I sat and talked with this guy for over an hour before the couple that brought him was ready to go home and took him back to his house. But in that time one side of my head was saying, "Man I really wish there was something I could do to help this guy." And the other side of my head was saying in a deadpan voice, "There is absolutely nothing I can do for this guy...and I really wish he would just go away." And then the other side was like, "What was that you were saying about us willingly let people fall between the cracks and people not getting involved with the lives of others?" Dammit...I hate it when I catch myself in the paradox of my own argument.But then there's this other thing that's looming in the back of my mind the whole time. Earlier in the afternoon our pastor handed me a three page copy of 'requests' by the bishop's office for when he visits a church . First of all, I have no idea if this is a standard form letter shared by all episcopal offices or just a local letter. For the most part it was practical bishopy stuff about who sits where and walks behind whom and how he is to be introduced blah blah blah kind of stuff. But then there was this back page about other special requests like someone to be assigned as a personal host/concierge and other stuff that seemed to serve no purpose other than to remind everyone who was among them.And then on top of it all, I remember that also within the span of a week a friend of mine had refused to help me with something I was working on for Sanctus because, "Emergent worship wasn't Biblical."I think of Asbury, riding around a frontier that at times would have just assumed to kill him. Eating leftovers and sleeping on dirt floors of old cabins. Never stopping, never stopping, never stopping. And here I am. Pissed off at my church and myself with this unshaven schizophrenic man sitting in front of me going on about how much he loves Jesus and wants to do serious ministry in Dover and all I can think in response is, "Well, I'm glad to find out that somebody does." The last time I checked, approximately 80% of the churches in my conference had zero professions of faith in the previous year. That number would probably be closer to 90-95% if we didn't count the confirmands raised in the church. Something is terribly wrong.This church thing is just about to do me in.In the mean time...live well...laugh often...love always.Delibrio Animosus,Billy