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Thursday's Internet Edition, 2:28 PM, March 11, 2010.
Beware of those trying to 'sell' you something
Rancho Murieta Commentary
By Kathryn Brodrick
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Last week we explored fear that’s being driven by and through religion. This week, I want to look at another avenue through which fear drives us.
I’ve had some moments of real fear in my life. Those two seconds of slow motion just before the other car hit mine. Being told I had breast cancer. Seeing my child in the emergency room with his thumb hanging by a thread.
We’ve all been there; fear is the natural reaction to immediate threat. It raises our adrenaline levels and gives us the extraordinary tools we need to deal with the immediate situation. Once the situation is resolved and the moment has passed, fear is no longer needed because the excess hormone levels recede; our heart slows to a normal rate and the fear leaves.
What’s most certainly not normal is fear of something that hasn’t happened. Our mind projects a situation from which fear might arise, and our bodies respond as if there were real danger present.
That’s the response for which advertisers and others are hoping with their rhetoric of hysteria. Asbestos in the workplace! Increased risk of mesothelioma! Death panels! Falls in the home! Bad drugs! Violent men are waiting to break into your house! You’ll go to hell if you don’t believe the right way! This sort of manipulation isn’t new, but it is escalating—and worse, more people are buying into it!
Here’s one quote that plays - again - on religious beliefs. Pat Robertson said it in an interview with Molly Ivins in 1993. “Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians," Robertson said. "It's no different. It is the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the liberal-based media and the homosexuals who want to destroy the Christians. (This is) wholesale abuse and discrimination and the worst bigotry directed toward any group in America today. (It is) more terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history."
Also promulgating fear, but on the other side of the issue, is an axiom by Sinclair Lewis. "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag carrying a cross," he said.
So how do we know what to believe or which brand of fear against which to be on guard? The truth is—we don’t. It’s all about which way we are facing and how much we trust those who are bringing the news.
We’ve been lied to quite a lot in the last decade - to the extent that we truly don’t know what to believe now! So we turn to voices that we’ve trusted in the past. That’s not always a good policy, but it’s a place to start. In the 21st Century, we have a huge advantage over our forebears—access to worldwide data, wisdom and opinion via the Internet. The most important question to ask when searching on any given issue is this: who stands to benefit from whatever it is being discussed?
Lying, misinformation and manipulation have always been the stock in trade of those trying to sell us something. However, it’s not always our money they’re after. It’s becoming increasingly apparent that political factions—people for whom we voted to represent us—are willing to use these nefarious tools to sway people to their side of an issue. These tactics go way beyond “spinning” and go deep into the realm of outright manipulative lies, and it’s reprehensible.
What all this means is that - rather than retreat in fear - take to your computer. If you don’t have one, go to the library and ask for help. Do the research, plumb the data and test the statements. Dig out the truth and, most important, find out who benefits and how. This exercise is guaranteed to banish fear and shine a spotlight of truth on suspect rhetoric. Once you do it, you’ll never cower in fear again. You’ll know the remedy for “be very afraid,” and you can share it with your friends as well. Of course, they might be skeptical and want to do their own research.
What is spring without wildly blooming wildflowers?
Sloughhouse Commentary
By Mindy Cecchettini
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When you see wildflowers in the spring, do you marvel at their beauty but wonder what varieties you are looking at? I am sure you do; I know I do.
Even being a Master Gardener, I don’t know every horticultural species. The wildflower season is relatively short compared to the season for other flowering plants, so if the season is very productive for wildflowers, it’s time to bring out the camera and charge it up. Because of the amount of seasonal rain to date, I think we will have quite a show.
If you want to learn more about wildflowers, the River Valley Garden Club will have a presentation coming up this month titled Local Wildflowers, given by Chris Wassermann. She will discuss the wildflowers that grow in the natural areas of the River Valley including Deer Creek Hills and surrounding areas.
Chris’s wildflower experience is self-taught and has been a passion of hers since she was a child. It all started with a book of wildflowers given to her by her mother when she was six years of age. She drew sketches of flowers as an adult when her photos did not satisfy her. After moving to Rancho Murieta, she got really serious when the lovely wildflower meadows were threatened with potential development. With her interest peaked, she took some college classes to learn all she could about the many species of wildflowers in our area. After the Sacramento Valley Conservancy purchased Deer Creek Hills, she soon trained to be a docent for the many monthly scheduled hikes of the area.
Chris is also an accomplished artist, sketching and doing watercolor paintings of - what else - wildflowers, of course. She may be able to bring some of her note cards of watercolor wildflower pictures she has done.
Please join us on Tuesday, March 23 for this breathtaking show that nature provides. Social time begins at 6:30 p.m. and the RVGC begins at 7 p.m. The club meets at the Rancho Murieta Association building the fourth Tuesday of each month, with the exception of December, July and August.
If you are interested in joining, contact Dianna at 354-0201. Are you not a member? It is easy to join - just $20 per year for an individual membership and $30 per year for a family membership. If you are not a member, you are welcome to visit our monthly meeting one time. But I know if you visit, you will surely join.
Before I forget, I want to remind you that the UC Davis Arboretum has scheduled April 10 (water conserving plants), April 24 (container gardening plants) and May 15 (end of the season clearance sale plants) for their plant sales of the season. They sell a great array of plants (raised by students and volunteer staff) that are hard to find elsewhere. Check their website at www.arboretum.ucdavis.edu for directions to the campus where the sale takes place.
The month of March is an excellent time to begin fertilizing cool season grasses such as fescue. Starting now, apply every six weeks through June; resume feeding September through early November. Other fertilizing projects include roses. You should be applying rose food every six weeks beginning now through October, and this is the month to start feeding young trees and shrubs with a complete fertilizer that contains nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus.
Some cleanup action this month should include cleaning up beneath flowering shrubs such as camellias, quince and forsythia. Check for snails and slugs in their hiding places, particularly beneath green leaves of low-growing plants. Then treat areas with Sluggo or another non-toxic bait.
Dormant pruning is past, but now you should prune out suckers (the branches that sprout directly from the root stock beneath the soil) from trees and shrubs. A good example would be crape myrtles and citrus. Now would be a good time to determine what is alive or dead. If a shrub branch bends it may still be alive; if it snaps, that portion of the plant may be dead. Either prune out the dead area, or (if the plant is too far gone) dig it out and replace.
It is also a good time to check your drip irrigation system for your trees, shrubs, flowers and vegetable gardens. Open up the end cap of the 1/2 inch line, turn on the water to flush out the line and - at the same time - check each emitter to see if it is clogged or dripping freely.
Mulch can be applied now. Put mulch around all your shrubs and trees out to the drip line. Leave a six-inch area clear adjacent to the trunk to prevent root rot. Mulch, kept at a depth of 2-3 inches, will keep the roots cool through the hot summer and also keep the soil moist, reducing the amount of water needed. But check your soil occasionally to see if it is moist. If it is dry, you could have a clogged emitter.
Please folks, do not purchase or plant your summer vegetable transplants yet. If you feel you need to purchase them now, do not plant in the garden until mid-April. We may get another frost or freeze, and it is not uncommon for this to happen in March or even April. So please beware.
If you have any gardening questions, send me an email at mindyc@wildblue.net or call me at 354-1805.
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