Stevie Joe and Nutrition

Time is catching up with ol' Stevie Joe, and his blood pressure is slowly but surely rising. Not wanting to hooked on a bunch of medications, I've been reading up on healthy diets. This is not new territory for me as I was once quite the nutritional role model. However, once you get started on the Denver omelets down at the Junebug Cafe and Internet Lounge, it's hard to stop.

Anyhoo, I pulled out my favorite 80s era vegetarian cookbook, Laurel's Kitchen. You Birkenstock-wearing free-love folks will know what I'm talking about. I made my favorite dish from that book, the Spanish rice. It was just as I remembered except instead of drinking red wine with it, I sipped some fruit juice (seeing as how red wine gets my migraines going). Now, when I ran out of fruit juice, I slipped into my old bad habits and cracked open a sodi-pop. You know what? That sodi-pop tasted just awful with the Spanish rice and vice versa.

That got me to thinking about processed foods. Maybe processed drinks, like sodi-pop, go better with processed foods, like just about everything at a supermarket today. If you are like me and your blood pressure is creeping up, you are probably scanning nutritional labels looking for salt and sodium. The bad news is just about every processed food is loaded with them (even so-called "heart healthy" frozen dinners).

So, if you want to reduce the sodium in your diet, you're going to have to start cooking stuff from scratch just like Grandma used to. Let me tell you, this takes some work. Shopping and cooking just got a lot more complicated. However, the benefits are great. Once you get the processed food monkey off of your back, you start dumping a lot more than sodium from your diet. Just take a look at some of those labels!

Go to your big chain supermarket and pick up a loaf of "fresh-baked" bread from their "bakery." Read the label. See a bunch of stuff you can't pronounce? That's because the dough is probably made elsewhere and shipped to your local store to be heated up. See? Not so fresh. Gonna need some preservatives in there. Make some bread from scratch (really not so hard), and it's going to taste better and be better for you. That's the way Stevie Joe rolls.

More nutritional tips soon . . .

Stevie Joe Parker Living™

More Stuff to Think On From Stevie Joe

"The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all."

--HL Mencken

Liking the word "scoundrel,"
Stevie Joe Parker

More Words to Think On From Stevie Joe

Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

--Patrick Henry

Sock it to 'em, Pat,
Stevie Joe Parker

Stevie Joe Has Some Words to Think On

"Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty."

--Thomas Jefferson

Right on, Tom!
Stevie Joe Parker

Stevie Joe and the FBI Cover-Up

Looks like another case of the gov'mint using claims of national security to cover up embarrassing scandals. Check it out here.

Shame!
Stevie Joe Parker

Stevie Joe Says "I'm Back"

Well, Mrs. Stevie Joe has discovered the wide, wide world of scrapbooking on the internet. She is a certified scrapbooking nut - the kind of person who actually travels to scrapbooking conventions and "crop fests." Unfortunately, her discovery of online resources to support her addiction meant that ol' Stevie Joe couldn't get anywhere near the computer for the past couple of weeks.

Since her hysteria has died down just a touch, I'm able to get back to the Stevie Joe Parker's Guide to Life. Fortunately, not much has happened in Junebug Holler recently. So, you haven't missed anything.

I will write soon about proper nutrition. Not only is this an important component of any Guide to Life, but it can be a profitable one as well. Those darned diet books sell by the millions, and most of the folks writing them are complete morons. Imagine if a genius like Stevie Joe got into the act!

Meanwhile, I found a funny site for fans of Charles Bukowski. I can't share it with anyone here in Junebug Holler because nobody knows who he is, but I figure the bright folks who read the Guide to Life would appreciate it. Check it out here.

Good grief,
Stevie Joe Parker

Stevie Joe and the Unpatriotic Cowards

I forgot to report on how my Interfaith Fast went on Monday. I'm sure that you will find it no surprise that I was the only Junebug Holler resident fasting. However, while I watched the rest of the gang chow down on omelets and bacon at the Junebug Cafe and Internet Lounge, a discussion of Iraq began. So, in that sense, the fast was successful. Discussion is always a good thing, even when it's with folks like Junior and Dickie Jensen.

See, the topic turned to torture since President Numbnuts had once again declared that "the US does not torture." I suggested that not a person alive believes it when he says this. As expected, this drew a rise out of Dickie Jensen. Most conservatives usually pause for a moment to play the how-do-you-define-torture game and then jump right in to defending just about any kind of torture you can imagine. Dickie doesn't bother to pause. He goes right to "torture is good."

It's an old argument. A hypothetical situation is used. Would you use torture to get information from somebody that could prevent another 9/11 or, worse, a nuclear attack on the US of A? Even Democratic presidential candidates have a hard time answering this one, but let me show you how it's done.

The hypothetical question assumes that torture equals preventing the attack. Yet, it's plain to see that this isn't true. At best, torturing someone has the possibility of preventing an attack. In order to be successful, the person being tortured has to:

1) actually be the person you think he or she is,
2) have the information necessary to prevent the attack, and
3) speak truthfully.

Number 3 is probably a 50/50 proposition at best. When you look at all three ingredients, the chance of success falls even lower.

So, the question is, "How sure do we need to be that torture will result in the prevention of an attack in order for the torture to be justified?" 50% sure? 10% sure? 1% sure? 0.1% sure? Should we just grab random people and torture them just in case they know something that could help?

My point is that we don't have an either-or choice. The choice is whether to torture someone based on the probability that doing so will prevent an attack. Once you are willing to torture based upon probability, it gets pretty easy to change what is an acceptable level of probability. When that happens, you start torturing all sorts of folks.

Aside from all that, Stevie Joe believes that torture is just plain wrong no matter what the circumstance. We are supposed to be better than that. When we stoop to things like torture and giving up our civil liberties, we are saying that a little bit of safety is more important than any other value that we stand for.

The US of A was founded on the brave idea that values such as freedom and equality were of paramount importance. How brave was it? You only need to look to the quote, "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death."

Today, such bravery seems rare. The slogan of the day appears to be, "Go Ahead and Take My Liberty, Just Don't Kill Me." That's awfully cowardly. Personally, I am willing to forgo a little perceived security in order to keep my liberties. If that means that I am more at risk of dying in a terrorist attack (and I really don't believe that it does), then so be it.

Patriotically yours,
Stevie Joe Parker

Stevie Joe and Mark Twain

Right on, Brother Sam!
Stevie Joe Parker

Stevie Joe's Fast

As chair (and possibly the only member) of the Peace and Social Justice Committee down at the Junebug Holler Community Church of the Righteous Shepherd, I have been investigating various peace and social justice-type activities in which the local parishioners can participate. I'm a little late on this one, but tomorrow, Monday, October 8, is the Interfaith Fast to End the War in Iraq. This is a nationwide event to raise awareness of the spiritual importance of peace in Iraq.

I discussed this during coffee hour after services today and did not get much support from the congregation. See, folks in Junebug Holler like to eat. A lot. The fast only lasts from sunrise to sunset, but that's still a long time for local folks even if it's only for one day. Of course, some tried to cite concern for the health of the Junebug Cafe and Internet Lounge as their reason for not participating. Without all those Denver omelets, Trudy might just go under. Never mind the fact that Trudy herself was in favor of the fast.

Well, eat or don't eat, but try to spend a little time on Monday thinking about a peaceful world. That's gotta be worth something.

Mmmmm, omelets . . .
Stevie Joe Parker

Stevie Joe and Peace Day

Just missed it. Keep it in mind for next year.



Peace,
Stevie Joe Parker

Stevie Joe to Boycott Beijing Olympics

There has been a lot of discussion lately about China's actions both at home and in Sudan. There aren't too may ways to cut it: China has a brutal, repressive government. So, as my own form of protest, I will not seek a spot on the US team at the 2008 Summer Games. I will not participate in any Olympic qualifiers nor will I entertain any offers from the selection committee.

If we want freedom and justice in this world, we sometimes must make personal sacrifices. I am ready to make mine today.

Citius, Altius, Fortius,
Stevie Joe Parker