Parent Approved! 100% Kid-Safe Lead Free Paint

I saw the interview of Mike Whitworth the owner of this company on CNBC today; Whittle Shortline Railroad is located in Louisiana, MO; all toys must be sent to outside inspectors to check various safety issues, including toxicity of materials. They have lots of cool toys and you can order through their website. Target.com will have their toys on their website after December 5, 2007, according to this CNBC report. Here is the URL for this cool interview.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=597919724

clipped from www.woodentrain.com For generations, the story of The Little Engine That Could has been told and retold to countless children and now the story comes to life with these solid hardwood toys. Our Little Engine toys are of heirloom quality and will be passed down from generation to generation. These Little Engine toys are compatible with Brio and Thomas track but can also operate without track. A simple adjustment to the Blue Engine's Wheels and the train is ready for the kitchen floor or grandma's coffee table. Purchase the entire set of The Little Engine That Could toys and receive the Book. The Little Engine That Could Toy Set and Book. $39.95

USA Clothing, Toys and Candy

This company, The Vermont Country Store is awesome. I am collecting information for friends and relatives on reliable companies that have USA products and reliable imported products. The toys they sell are tested for safety. This company has very cool, regional candies, soaps, perfumes and other products. I thought I would share with others.

clipped from www.vermontcountrystore.com Lanz Two-Piece Footed Pajamas Keep Boys and Girls Snuggle-Up Warm Right Down to Their Toes In a festive Red Stewart plaid that's perfect for the holidays, these hard-to-find two-piece footed pajamas by Lanz keep kids toasty even when they toss off their blankets in the night or pad around the house without slippers. Machine wash and dry. USA of U.S. and Canadian material. Features: Top is finished with rib knitting at the Henley neck and cuffs Elastic-waist bottoms have slip-resistant vinyl-soled feet Flame-resistant polyester Tailored to meet Lanz's high standards of quality, these PJs will look as good as new when passed down to younger sisters and brothers.

All Yankee Doodle Dandies: Stand Up for Veterans

How long can the American government, especially the legislative and executive branch, ignore the growing problem of homelessness, poverty and mental health issues among our veterans? We all know the struggle that everyone faced when the Vietnam Veterans came home, and even the veterans from the Korean Conflict and WWII had issues that were often unresolved.

It is my hypothesis that the continual violent effects of war upon the generations extremely, negatively impact families and our American dream.

You can't ask people to come back from war and act like everything is normal. It isn't, and it won't ever be normal again.

The United States of America has actively participated in a world war or major military conflict through every generation since WWII. As a country, we have not come to grips with the fact that Americans are suffering because of it.

Firstly, we suffer because of the dead. These people are no longer available to help our country develop. Dead young people mean fewer husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, daughters and sons available to help our American culture develop.

Secondly, when veterans return, they suffer from culture shock. In some ways it may be likened to a similar phenomenon found among released prisoners. The returning veterans have been controlled within a rigid, conservative, militaristic society that is nothing like the culture to which they return. We know this culture shock, by itself, is very disorienting and disruptive to the psyche of these returning Americans.

To their credit, American veterans work very diligently to recover...to CONTROL their personal, mental and physical, environment. This emotional and physical protection often comes at a price for the United States of America, as a whole. It makes our country become more accepting of violence, rigidity and cultural control by "leaders" who prey on the worst fears of these veterans.

What we risk, as a nation, is the polarization of the society. I believe this is caused by the cultural division of the country as some veterans believe they must save the rest of America from itself, and the natural countervailing culture that forms in reaction to their protective, conservative positions. Veterans are frequently at risk of spurning the very American culture they left to defend.

As veterans fall back on their military training to cope in a civilian world, it is often too much of a good thing. This dependence of rigidity of personality often leads veterans to become vulnerable to those elements of our society that will take advantage of their need for structure.

Because they depend on their military training to help them stay sane, veterans frequently become more rigid in their thinking. It is this very protective mechanism, this rigidity in their thinking, that causes them to be caught in the crossfire of nonmilitary society. It is at these times that veterans tend to see the majority of the population, within the culture they were charged to defend, as immoral.

I believe that the overall consequence of this rigidity and vulnerability among our veterans is their tendency to be drawn in by the more extreme, rigid elements within the conservative part of our American society. The effects of their new associations frequently put women and children at risk because of unsuitable rigidity within our fluid American society that may spawn violence.

When America flourishes, our culture is less rigid so we can adapt economically. Americans must be adaptive in other areas of culture, and that means we MUST HELP these veterans be adaptive, not rigid. Their families, communities and country need to encourage them. We can't afford for these veterans to be lost to the adaptability of American culture.

Our government and our institutions owe them a debt. A debt that can never be repaid, so we cannot leave them alone to their own devices. Veterans must be positively engaged and also entrusted with helping build our future with everyone else. Americans must help them move back into our societies and families by helping them avoid calcifying their personalities. We need their creativity from their military experiences, not their artificially protective mechanisms of rigidity.

Veterans need excellent health care. Veterans need non-denominational support from clergy, psychologists, social workers, and psychiatrists. Veterans need homes to call their own. Veterans need opportunities to support themselves and their families. When veterans have all these basic amenities, our culture will flourish from the addition of productive, relaxed, healthy citizens who will treat their families and the culture at large with fairness and respectfulness....BECAUSE WE ALL HAVE TREATED THEM IN THE SAME WAY. Respect is not something you say, it is something your do...it is an action.


Thanks to my grandfather, Lester Cassius Mast, who served honorably in France during World War I. He was very lucky to be welcomed home after WWI, and he became part of a productive family where he was a valuable leader. My grandfather is my archetype for my ideal American veteran. He believed in education, equality for all, hard work and humility. I do so miss him.

Thanks to my uncle, the uncle I never knew. My father's smart and handsome oldest brother, Alonzo Pearce Jr, a US Marine, died on the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941..."a day that will live in infamy".

Thanks to my handsome, strong, smart and loving uncles, my mother's brothers. Wayne Mast and Gary Mast, served in the Korean Conflict. Uncle Wayne died a few years ago, but my Uncle Gary is alive and well, leading his family in the way our grandfather, his father, taught him.

Thanks to veterans, one and all. We love you for your effort and devotion to the country we also love, the United States of America.

Chavez and Bush: Was the $55.00/Barrel Deal Real?

On Clipmarks, my clippers and I discuss many issues. Over the past few days, we have debated the soundness of Bush's rebuff of the offer by Chavez, of Venezuela, to make a contract with a guaranteed price of $55.00 per barrel of oil. While some Clippers don't believe that Chavez could or would honor that contract, other Clippers believe he would and the Americans should have taken the deal.

It is my contention that all this high drama between Chavez and Bush is not where the real choices in government are taking place. So here is part of my response to those Clippers, my good acquaintances, who think the American government made a mistake by not negotiating with Chavez to develop a set barrel price for oil.

Yes, I know what the point is, many people believe that Bush should not have turned down Chavez's offer of lifetime treaty guarantee of $55.00 per barrel, especially when $65.00 barrel oil was the standard price when he made the offer. We can't cry over spilt milk. It seems to me that it was easy for Chavez to make this offer. Because Venezuela nationalized the oil companies, they owned infrastructure that they didn't have to pay for....instant profit.

From his actions and speeches, it seems that Chavez wants to crack the whip on the Americans, but he would REALLY like to crack the whip on the Saudis. They control OPEC, and it seems to me, that he wants to be independent of them or in charge.

As for the Chinese in South America, that may happen, but many of Venezuela's neighboring countries have suffered extensively from many decades of guerrilla incursions by the leftist terrorist group, The Shining Path. Because of China's support for this group, these SA countries have said publicly that they are not comfortable with this latest attention from China.

These leaders put on quite a passion play, very choreographed. Chavez and Bush, the soap opera, is just the shell game for the real behind the scenes action of large corporations' push for the North American Union. They point to Chavez and insist that he is a rogue element, so we must band together for mutual protection. The main show seems to be led by George Schultz.

Like the hero in the song "Poor Man's Heaven", I hope people, especially young people, get really angry about what the Exploitation Culture has done to keep them from the fulfillment of their modern version of the heroes dream, ...a little piece of land, a house with a feather bed for each of us....

I don't know how many people are angry that we, as Americans, didn't stay the path towards energy efficiency started in the 1970's.I hope a critical mass of Americans will get there, but not beg for handouts. We can take advantage of the current energy crisis by implementing a national energy plan with highly focused individual tax breaks here and there to build the alternative energy infrastructure for moving homes and small businesses off the grid.

It is my contention that there will be a negligible effect on current energy producers. It won't even make a jot of difference in the short term price of oil. Relieving the burden on the nation's electrical grid should, over time, keep things from getting worse, and the individual consumer will receive a direct benefit. It would also protect the entire country from the possibility of bringing our infrastructure to its knees in one fell swoop.

Plus, what the media in our country don't tell you is that there is a massive, unknown quantity of oil, in the United States, that was abandoned by the large oil companies. Currently, the small producers are working feverishly to pick up the slack.

The corporations cover all their bases, so, it seems logical that they also will continue to scare Americans by telling that we need new reservoirs of petroleum (and strip mining for coal in the Rockies). They will continue to press for drilling rights in Arctic region of Alaska. The Congress and President may grant permission, even though we know it is not safe to drill there.

I don't know if it really matters what the Americans or Canadians do now, because the Russians already laid claim to the entire Arctic region and will try to drill in the Arctic ocean as soon as possible. The takeover of international waters could be the first major conflict on our Northern Borders.

As always, another major issue is the lack of refining capacity. Alcohol distilleries, for ethanol, are being built all over the United States, but not new oil refineries.