The City Mouse in the Country

 So I got banned from Facebook for 24 hours. I violated community standards because of a post that was somehow taken out of context.   I don't know or really care about the technical stuff, but basically a "bot" that scans the world wide web looking for content that does not meet "community standards" tagged me.  I would be lying if I didn't say I was little bit upset about it; after all there is a lot worse things that are floating around on Facebook than "They are already here, kill them on sight." A friend of ours had posted a picture of the spotted lanterfly , which is an invasive species. The department of agriculture here in Pennsylvania has requested that you kill them on sight.   He didn't think they were in this part of the state yet and this was his first siting of one..   The problem that I have is that lots of news stories and articles have already been written about this problem.  Slate magazine even published a bit of a humorous

I'm not a vegan.  I'm not even a vegetarian.   I am, for lack of a better word, "Plant based food curious." Like most people today, I got worried about my health.   A lifetime of bacon and cheesy poofs along with the traditional American hobbies of laying around on the couch pushed me close to the diabetic  range.  Heart disease runs in my family and after seeing what my wife has gone through with her diabetes and losing my mother to a heart attack...I started to seriously think about what I could do to improve my health.  Living through a pandemic didn't help either. The more I learned about diets and where food comes from, the more I realized that I could do lots of little things to help the planet too .  I'm proud to say that generally speaking I go at least two days out of week eating a vegan or vegetarian diet.    My interest in this type of food was sparked by my interest in cheese making , a hobby I picked up during the epidemic.  I read about how s

Generally speaking I don’t like to talk politics on this blog, but it is one of my favorite topics to explore.   It’s just so rich in history. Not everyone is going to agree with me, and frankly I am an anomaly in the country, so a brief explanation before I get to the gist of today’s topic. People living in the country or rural areas generally tend to lean right politically.   Those that know me however know that I am a dyed in the wool Democrat and that I lean liberal.  I consider myself to be a Social Democrat; which differs from Democratic Socialism in a lot of ways despite the names being so similar.  The best way to think about Social Democracy is “ Capitalism with a heart. ”  We are still Capitalists; we just believe that Health care is a right that every citizen has and therefore the current health care system needs reformed.     Or that no one should be homeless.  Examples of Social Democratic programs that have been adopted by the United States over time are the