Et tu Wendy’s?

Black Bean Sliders
Picture by Walkingfox

 

Just as I was beginning a post this morning about a new product that makes my heart sing, bam the door slammed shut on me.

You see in my mail today, was a nifty story about a new Black Bean Burger being introduced at a select number of Wendy’s in Ohio.

But, regretfully when I started reading it, there was also a side story, that pointed to a quite unhappy situation.

It would seem that the about to become newest favorite eatery, Wendy’s, is embroiled in a mess over wages, with ugly insults being hurled, indicating that they may have participated in what amounts to slave labor with their employees.

Now, if the idea of a Black Bean Burger is new to you, please let me share this, my best friend at UCLA was married to the Manager of one of their top Campus eating places and he delighted in letting me know each week when he made them, knowing full well that I hated meat and loved this culinary treat.

I never did learn all of the ingredients of this delicious, decadent burger, but had been a huge fan of Black Beans for many years, so never cared a whole lot about what he put into them.

Moving to Florida basically closed the door on all of my favorite California vegetarian eating places, as I soon learned that they were not high on anyone’s totem pole here.

So, not willing to eat the Morning Star veggie burgers made with soy beans that have been processed with Hexane, a known carcinogen and pretty much a toxin/pesticide, I had given up hope.

That was until a few months ago, when shockingly I found a new Black Bean Burger from a previously unknown Company, at our local Wal-Mart.

Bringing it home was a challenge, as Walkingfox is not huge on doing without meat.

Surprise, he liked them and has become a fan, of sorts.

But being out on a shopping or other trip and hoping to find one was not to be, at least not here.

So, you can imagine my delight this morning seeing/reading this story about Wendy’s.

Joy quickly turned to sorrow, after reading that they are having similar salary and wages problems  with their employees as Waffle House is.

Right now the delectable Black Bean Burgers are only being tested in Ohio, near Wendy’s Corporate offices, but it looks like that may change quickly judging from the public responses to them.

Now if they can only get their employee/wages issues fixed, Wendy’s may yet become a new place to eat on the run.

And, if they don’t, then, as with Waffle House, we will not be dining there any time soon either.

So, dear Wendy’s, please treat your employees right, pay them right and this may after all, be only a rhetorical question, et tu Wendy’s?

 

Places to learn more:

Amid Call for Boycott, Concerns Rise That Eating at Wendy’s Supports Slave Labor

Why Wendy’s Vegan Black Bean Burger Isn’t Masquerading as Meat

Low Wage Workers Fast Food Forward Campaign

Worker wages: Wendy’s vs. Wal-Mart vs. Costco

Wendy’s “The Final Fast Food Hold-out”

Wendy’s salaries

Advertisement

No New Ideas Needed

A McDonald’s in Norway
Picture credit: Ken

 

It all started out innocently enough.

I was going through my email this morning and saw a new petition for McDonald’s.

This particular petition was about something that I personally have been nagging them about for years, or every single time that I went there, which by the way, in the past few years has been less and less.

I do not like meat or hamburgers and have repeatedly suggested to them that they might want to consider making some sort of meatless or veggie burger, as several of their competitors have already done.

Even better, to introduce a few Organic items!

Each and every time I was met with the same blank stare and ” ok, we will suggest it…”

In California, we who don’t like meat are not a minority, we are a strong group with many voices in high places, like the countless celebrities who also choose not to eat animals and love Organic Foods.

This petition was written by a woman in California who was asking a huge company, which at the present time is all over the news for its financial woes, to consider making a meatless burger.

The Company is cutting their Dollar meals, shuffling their vast menu, and has had a somewhat dismal showing for the past two years, many say.

They have had issues with China and meat and a variety of other embarrassing issues.

None has been very good for their image.

So, I was delighted to go and see this new petition and to absolutely sign it and support it.

However, when I got there, it seems that the desired numbers had already been reached.

Well, that’s very good news and there was also a letter from the author with suggestions for other things to do in support of the Petition and all the necessary details were included in it.

As I don’t do Twitter and wanted to go beyond just posting it on my FB page,  I  then, as suggested, called the company directly.

What happened next is the honest truth, you cannot make this stuff up.

I dialed the number, it rang and a pleasant computer asked me to make a choice of directions to be transferred to next.

I listened to all of the different choices and finally selected  ” suggest new ideas.”

This is the response, or answer that the computer gave me, I swear on my beloved Grandmother.

” I’m sorry, but McDonald’s does not accept any new ideas from anyone who does not work for the company.”

End quote!

Umm,  McDonald’s, I think I see the problem and why your sales and profits may be going down the proverbial drain.

You obviously do not listen, nor care what your customers think.

And you don’t want any ” new ideas “  from those who just happen to pay your salaries.

 

Keytruda, this is personal!

Montego Bay, Jamaica.
The perfect combination for skin cancer.
First melanoma came just 2 years later!

Unless you have had a melanoma, this story may have slipped right by you in the paper.

I on the other hand, did see it this morning, while going through the week’s papers to go out for recycling.

This new Cancer drug made by Merck, was just approved by the FDA and may save countless lives, mine included.

If you have seen my Bio picture, you may have noticed that I am fair skinned with blond hair and blue eyes.

A desirable combination some may say, just not in my case.

After my second melanoma was diagnosed many years ago, I was sent to an LA Cancer Specialist who was part of the Kaiser Foundation which I was covered by in California.

His words still ring in my ears to this day,  ” if you had stayed in Indiana with that skin and coloring,  you might have had a chance, but you came here and baked in the California sun and this is what happens. “

What followed were 8 more melanomas and a total of 22 moles removed.

Melanomas run in families and are genetically linked, which puts my children at great risk now.

Lucky me, I have what is called Dysplastic nevus syndrome, which means that every mole on my body,  and there are many, wants  to become a melanoma when it grows up.

I know when they are bad, I have spent a lifetime looking at mine and those of many others.

For the next 15 years, I was the star patient of the Chief of Dermatology in the Panorama City Kaiser Hospital.

He loved my case, it was such a challenge just to see what would happen next.

He was an excellent Doctor, we became good friends and I adored him.

But back to this new drug I have just learned about today, Keytruda.

If it does what it promises, many melanoma patients whose cancer spreads, may just have a fighting chance.

If melanoma is a new word to you, it is a deadly skin cancer and once it has spread to your lymph nodes, you are a goner.

The lymph system immediately sends all those nice little melanoma cells throughout your body.

BAM, game over.

If you or a loved one has melanomas, which by the way has now become the deadliest form of skin cancer, for the love of God, tell them to ask their doctors about this new drug.

I will include many links below about skin cancers, melanomas especially and how to check your moles, this is critical if you are to  survive.

Also included will be the who, what, why and where of this new drug and what it will cost, as well as other helpful information.

I hesitated to write this today because it is so very personal, but what if one of you could be helped or even saved because of something you learned from this story?

That is why it is here.

I also want to address one more issue related to my melanomas and this will be especially personal and may shock you,  or bother you to read.

I apologize in advance for doing it, but as said in the paragraph before, some one might benefit from this information.

Several weeks ago, I made an appointment with a local doctor to go in for a check on my mole situation.

I know when they are bad, I have spent a lifetime looking at mine and those of many others.

And right now, I have a bad one and it needs to come off.

Anyway, I made an appointment and was set to see this doctor three days ago.

As always because procrastination is my middle name, I waited until the day before my appointment to fill out the new patient forms that had been mailed to me.

As I was wandering around in them, I started thinking, what if all of this is going to cost a small fortune?

I no longer had the wonderful “free coverage” of Kaiser Permanente in LA.

I am now responsible for any and all costs incurred in my health care.

Me!

So, I called the number on an ad that had recently come from AARP, with an invitation to enroll in their Supplemental Plan.

I had avoided this for several reasons in the past.

Here is what you do not know about this retired Treatment Nurse.

I despise, in no particular order, doctors, pills and medicine in general, when it comes to me.

I refuse to take pills for just about anything or everything.

I have not made a Doctor’s appointment since I left LA in 1999.

With my Cancer diagnosis, that is truly stupid.

But we simply did not have the money and I did not want to go hunting for a replacement for the wonderful man who took care of me in California.

I trusted no one!

So, I did nothing!

I hid my head in the sand and pretended that I would be fine.

Anyway, back to the supplemental plan from those nice people at AARP.

It all sounded good, I was ready to jump in and sign up.

I had a new Doctor lined up, an appointment made and a plan chosen to cover what Medicare did not.

Life was good.

So, then I went back to the forms and began to fill them out.

Uh oh!

Got to the page of what they accepted for payment or Insurance.

I had already asked about Medicare and they said that was accepted.

What I did not ask about was a supplemental.

Well you guessed it, there it was on the page of plans they took, they did not accept AARP.

Just to be completely sure, I called their office and asked.

She was adamant.

They did not take AARP as a supplement.

You must remember that for 30 years of my life I had Kaiser, they was never a charge for a single thing.

To say that I had grown complacent, is an understatement.

When I left LA and Kaiser in 1999, I was uncovered for the first time in my adult life.

What happened next was stupid, I admit it.

I called the office back and cancelled my appointment, saying that if they did not take AARP, I would have to cancel, not knowing how much the charges could amount to.

Dermatology care and treatment can be VERY expensive.

My appointment was for the next day, I said and there was no way I could go through that list of supplemental plans they do accept and pick one by then, I had to cancel.

I will not comment on her cold response, but it was not very kind.

Now, I have no Doctor, no appointment and must start all over looking for new ones of each~

I admit I was hot-headed about it, yes.

And procrastinating contributed greatly as well, but one thing sticks in my craw right now.

I have worked all of my life, since I was 9 with a paper route, paying into my SS.

I have never used it before now, so this first attempt being a most negative experience, is not a very good beginning.

Oh well, I will spend next week trying to sort it all out and get back on track.

I sincerely apologize for this ridiculous overindulgence of writing and beg for your forgiveness in having to read it.

BLAH,  BLAH,  BLAH!

Hopefully, I will not need this new drug, Kytruda, and yes this is personal.

 

Places to learn more:

FDA approves Keytruda for advanced melanoma

FDA approves first-of-its-kind melanoma drug

Melanoma

Dysplastic nevus syndrome

Genetic mutation linked to melanoma progression

‘A single mole caused cancer to spread through my body – now I only have months to live’

Merck Wins Approval to Sell the First in a new Type of Cancer Drug 
The costs are here!

FDA OKs Merck drug, 1st in new cancer drug class

UCLA Researcher Provides Insight Into the Impact of Pembrolizumab in Melanoma –

FDA approves new cancer-fighting drug

High melanoma risk found in airline crews exposed to high-altitude radiation

 

Not Working

The Watts Riots in LA in 1965
Picture credit: Wikipedia

I have been watching the News for the past week with a very heavy heart, as each day, as the events unfold in Ferguson, painful, ugly and difficult memories are brought back.

What is happening there,  is in many ways quite similar to what we in LA and the surrounding areas experienced with Rodney King, in the 1990’s.

And both of these are entirely too much like the LA Riots in Watts in the 1960’s.

Then there was the Trayvon Martin murder, here in Orlando and the Trial and the verdict that once again met with violent public reaction and out cries everywhere.

All of these tragic events, these sad places,  have touched my life, none in a good way.

That  week in  August of 1965 during the Watts Riots,  was a time of total violence and great turmoil and no one liked what was happening.

Few were sure, including the law enforcement, as to how to find a solution before the City was left in ashes.

In time, it did stop, but not before the deep scars were in place and bitter memories that would last for many, a lifetime.

Next came Rodney King, only this time it was brought right to my own front yard.

The Trial for those who brutalized King was held in my town of Simi Valley.

It was all such an ugly time for a tiny peaceful place.

It seemed to drag on forever and then the verdict came, that no one was prepared to handle, especially the Police.

I left West LA that day and drove towards home, wondering what may lie ahead.

I could not have been prepared for what came next.

As I tried to get off of the Freeway at my Exit, which was for the time of day that it was, unusually backed up onto the Freeway.

When I finally got to the bottom of the ramp, I saw why.

Every single car there was being stopped and examined by a uniformed patrolman, who asked to see ID proving that the person driving did indeed, live in this particular neighborhood.

This was a disturbing, frightening and very unpleasant experience.

My house was about a mile from the freeway and the troubled exit, but only two blocks from the hysterical scene that was happening at the Court House.

It looked like a war zone, or a movie set.

There were huge crowds of onlookers, countless TV crews, Police cars, SWAT crews, my God it was all just terrifying.

But our small town’s terror was about to be unleashed on all of the City, as the turmoil that day in Simi, quickly spread to all of LA and once again, as in the 60’s with Watts, the violence, looting, shootings and arrests, were soon out of control.

When it thankfully began to calm down many days later, we all wondered how and why this could just keep happening.

Why was it always black and white, white police, black victims?

Now once again, in Ferguson, this Country is experiencing another Racially inspired reaction, to what is now being called a racially motivated murder and the results are, as before, violent, dangerous, out of control crowds, venting their frustrations and setting the stage once again, for probably another ugly Trial.

God help us, why can’t we stop this pattern?

Why don’t we learn?

What will it take for this Country to mend our Racial wounds, to stop the Violence and to stop the Hate?

Why are so many, who should know better, doing all of the wrong things?

Governors, Police Chiefs, Judges, Lawyers,  everyone who should and could be using their years of wisdom and experience to calm things, seem to only be pouring fuel onto the already out of control fires.

For the lack of a better explanation, it seems that too often, these people care more about their political careers and futures, than doing what is right, or best, for what is happening right now.

Perhaps it is time for an uninvolved neutral, or third-party, to get involved in these kinds of tragedies because those who should know better and behave better, really could use some better ideas.

The ones they are using now, are just not working.

 

Places to learn more:

Watts Riot

Rodney King trial verdict announced

Shooting of Trayvon Martin

Governor Nixon orders National Guard to Ferguson

 

New Blog~

If you think that Organic and GMO foods are not a high stakes industry, please do take a look at this picture.

Credit: Compiled by Stephanie Ladwig-Cooper

 

If you might have wondered where I have been, this is where:

http://organicopinion.wordpress.com/

It was the result of a bad shopping excursion that was the very last straw.

Hope you enjoy it!

 

Microsoft Massacre

The misery of Windows 8.
Image:  Public Domain

 

No, this Company was not next on  the List,   but it was all over our local News yesterday, so needed to be addressed now.

Let the bloodbath begin at the place that helped launch a brilliant, innovative group of ” kids ” and their start-up Corporation into the upper stratosphere.

Their new company called Microsoft, would soon devour the Planet and become much of the reason that all of us are able to use a personal computer today.

Since Bill Gates left in 2000 and turned Microsoft over to Ballmer, nothing has been the same.

On a very personal note, may I say how much I HATE Windows 8?

It is a disaster for me and I so do miss any and all of it predecessors.

If our laptops had not all been stolen while we were on vacation last Fall, we would never have, or at least not for years, been forced to suffer this OS misery.

CEO Steve Ballmer handed the reigns to Satya Nadella just a few months ago and a positive turnaround for the Company has already begun.

So, now with this newest strategy, is the Company in better shape?

Microsoft has been fairly flat since 2008 and something drastic really did need to be done and fast.

Fancy, expensive phones have nearly been the death knell for PC’s,  which are mothers milk for Microsoft, so they bought Nokia hoping to change their negative slide,  but that did not happen.

Apple and Google made quite sure of that.

They are the reigning champions in that market and like to stay there.

Natya released a Company wide memo recently with his plan laid out.

The gist of it is, that the 18,000 fired, will primarily be from the Nokia brand they recently purchased.

This deep cut amounts to about 40 % of that company.

To be fair, the Company was troubled when they got it and now ridding themselves of it, may according to some Business analysts, make Microsoft leaner and meaner.

Sadly for the thousands who will soon be out of work, they may have a hard road ahead, trying to feed their families, or pay their bills, even though they will receive a generous departure package.

It has been said by some, that Natya’s sudden radical purging, was most likely just cleaning up Ballmer’s mess.

Only time will tell.

Meanwhile, 18,000 employees will be getting the axe, in this unparalleled Microsoft massacre.

 

Places to learn more:

Microsoft – Wikipedia

Microsoft Invented A Tablet A Decade Before Apple And Totally Blew It

Firing 18,000 people isn’t proof Microsoft is in trouble

Why Microsoft Is Laying Off 18,000 People—During a Tech Boom

Microsoft imposes new rules on contract workers, requiring 6-month break from access

Microsoft to Fire 18,000 Employees Over the Next 12 Months

Microsoft to Eliminate Up to 18K Jobs Over Next Year

Microsoft to Fire 14 Percent of Its Staff

Microsoft Firings Hit Former Nokia Employees Hardest

 

Facebook Fears

Facebook Headquarters, Menlo Park, California.
Picture credit: Wikipedia

 

Next on the  LIST:    FACEBOOK.

About three years ago, against my better judgement and at the powerful urging of those who shall remain anonymous, I signed up for an account at Facebook.

What soon followed,  I would not have wished on my worst enemy.

I had huge misgivings going in and had avoided it for years, never trusting it, or the people running it.

Once I signed up, it was only a matter of time before my fears became a reality.

My negative thinking gave way to actual complete loss of any control.

In the beginning, the situation was to be a merry go round of rejections and inabilities to sign in, then it got worse.

I was shut out because I did not have a cell phone number to give them.

The sign in required a cell phone number and you were told to then text back the code that they gave you, to sign in.

It was a nightmare, as there were no actual Human beings to speak with to try to fix the problem.

Hello, we live in the Ocala Forest in Florida and gave our cell phone back after two years of paying for a service, with little or no reception.

Verizon was extremely slow in coming our way, so we finally gave our phone back to them.

Then after weeks of this terror, it was finally, somehow,  resolved.

So, I was now ready to go exploring on Facebook, I thought.

Gleefully unaware of my contentious acts, I then went to places where there were People, and Organizations,  I wanted to meet and/or get to know  and sent them a “Friend Request.”

It was quite quickly made very clear to me, that I was not allowed to “Friend” anyone I did not personally know.

Excuse me, but I was under the misguided impression that joining this disaster, was to meet new people and make new “Friends”

Not so, according to the FB Police.

My punishment for this high crime was to be shut out for a month for being “bad!”

Then after everything seemed to settle down and get comfortable, and I promised to NEVER EVER “Friend”  anyone that I did not personally know,  FB changed some of their  “policies.”

Now it seemed that our pictures and personal information would be viewable to anyone, anywhere, who wanted to see them.

So, I took down anything that I did not want strangers in some distant land to see of my children and relatives.

Next, a scary story  one day on our news was about a local woman who had her FB pictures stolen from her FB site by a creep in another country and they were now being used on porn sites.

By this time, there were quite a few people and Organizations on my Friends list who never, or rarely ever, came to my FB page, or spoke to me, or posted on it.

They were just people who had, over a two-year period, sent me a request and I had said yes to them, if they seemed harmless.

Not knowing what might lurk in the hearts, or minds of these unknowns, left me with no choice, but to completely purge my “Friends List”  down to only a few actual relatives and personal friends.

It was ugly.

At this moment my FB Friends List stands at 30.

But I feel quite confident about every single person on it and that none of them is going to sell my name, or use my pictures for porn.

As FB  has grown over the past ten years, from an insignificant local Harvard web site,  to a Mega Global Multi Billion Dollar Corporation,  one thing has become quite apparent, the object of their very existence is of course, profit or income.

How they acquire their income and what happens to you,  your information and your privacy, in the pursuit of it, is not,  it is clear, one of their priorities.

So, be forewarned, protect what you have there, or you may become  the next victim of Global Hackers and unknown others.

Facebook Fear could become a reality, if you do not.

 

Places to learn more:

Facebook

Facebook NewsFeed Manipulation Prompts FTC Complaint, Investigation Possible

With friends like these …

Housewife’s anger after picture is stolen from Facebook and posted on porn site

Seven Annoying Attacks That Facebook

 

I am an ALLY, are you?

I AM AN ALLY
Picture credit:  I AM AN ALLY FACEBOOK PAGE

 

I  was just about to write about two Endangered Birds this morning,  when this came in my email.

The Birds can wait until tomorrow,  this is much more important to me and millions of others around the world.

First let me say, that I have felt this way since the 60′s, when I lived in L.A. , long before it was fashionable to do so.

It was the time of flower children, free love, inspirational speeches and thinking, yes some of it was quite radical as well, and also sadly, way too many really bad drugs.

It was more importantly, a time of a different kind of attitude toward others.

Did the Viet Nam War/Conflict have anything to do with this, probably.

We were all so very young and so very scared.

We had a common bond,  a mantra,  ” trust no one over 30.”

We were afraid of the violence that surrounded us daily and sought what we thought was a better way to be live, to be.

It was a time of gathering of minds, souls and bodies in support of one critical idea, Peace.

We desperately searched for this state of being that was seemingly just out of  our of reach.

Quite understandably, so many from a wide variety of ethnic and racial backgrounds, came to L.A.  back then in support of what was happening and it was easy to ignore stereotypes, racism and ugliness toward any who were ” different.”

It was the time of,  Hair, the musical that defined an entire generation, and was dedicated to the idea of loving everyone, we were all the same, no color,  or sexual or racial lines, we were united in our determination to stop the prejudice, the violence, the hate and most importantly the killing.

So, today when this came, it simply had to be addressed immediately.

It is who I and millions of others, who were reared up in L.A. in the 60′s,  are/were.

I am now and  will forever be,  AN ALLY.

Won’t you be as well?

And for those who keep asking, I am not a Gator Woman, it is a pseudonym used at WordPress for my Gravatar.

My name is Donna, am so happy to see you here~

 

 

How and Why

The age of innocence, about 4 years old.
Taken in Brownsburg, Indiana.

 

The subject of this Blog is the culmination of a lifetime of tenacious opposition to the mainstream thinking that has now become a world  gone mad and run amuck with chemicals and toxins.

In the late sixties and early seventies, my life and my needs were fairly simple,  as I was just trying to live in peace and maintain a natural, healthy state of mind and body.

This was not all that difficult to do in Southern California, then.

At that time, everybody wanted to protect and save everything, beginning with ourselves and spreading out to include Mother Earth, the Environment and all that lived on the planet.

White bread and all that came with it, were promptly banned and replaced with mostly wholesome, nutritious foods.

It was a time of sunflower seeds, flower children and of course, peace and love.

The opposition to and hatred of the Viet Nam  ……… what ever word is correct according to current Historians, was a subject few could remain neutral about in those days.

It was a time that gave birth to the unforgettable musical play, ” Hair “,  which I saw and loved at the Aquarius Theater  in LA in 1969.

But sadly the bloom fell quickly from the rose, as time passed and innocence eventually gave way to arrogance,  greed and corruption.

So, now today, our world is being controlled by mega corporations who,  like the big car companies, consider all of us to be their personal guinea pigs or worse,  just  ” acceptable losses “  when it comes to the products that they sell to an unknowing, or unsuspecting consumer.

But, all is not lost, for I do believe that with the advent of a very strong social media presence,  the innocent consumers are no longer the dupes that big business still thinks that we are.

We are connected, we are wired and we are willing to speak out, talk back and bring down those who would harm us and our loved ones with their lethal, dangerous products.

Ah, KARMA is alive and well~

Which brings us finally  to the  title, ” How and Why.”

This Blog will consider and address anything and everything that could cause us harm, period!

So, dear  readers, hang on, as I do not intend to take any prisoners here and Monsanto is number one on my list.