Plants at Wal-Mart
 

"zhanataya" wrote in message
...


Did he defend Nixon? It's been so long now I only remember him not
saying anything and going off to jail or some resort for his time.

If you want to get rid of George W. you could always nominate someone
who is as fine a campaigner as Dole was. ;-)

You're right about G. Gordon not saying anything. He was loyal to the end to
his boss and conservative convictions. I was wrong! Yes, Dole would be far
better than what we have.

My ultra-conservative friend where I now live is constantly sending me items
bashing Hillary. When people of his politically active ilk bash Hillary,
there has to be some concern that she is perceived as a threat. President
Clinton - hmmm - has a nice ring. What I remember best is eight straight
years of prosperity with no war and environmental protection. Could that
possibly happen again? :)

John

Plants at Wal-Mart
 

"animaux" wrote in message

Oh Dubya is way too busy scurrying around to fix the economy and he has
announced he was going to begin fund raising for his next campaign trail.
Oh
how I hope we have a better crop of candidates on the left. Oh please,
please,
please.

Your friendly card carrying liberal/moderate,
Victoria

The trouble with the liberal candidates who have announced is that they're
the same old, same old. Money is the root of the problem, and the
conservatives own the money fountains or the money fountains own them. New
faces on the liberal side (and old faces for that matter) don't have the
money wells their Republican counterparts have access to. It always amuses
me when Republicans bash the stars of the movie industry when they have fund
raiser for the Democrats because they care about such things as war,
environment, the Supreme Court, etc. What was Alzheimer Ron's background?
And the latest candidate for California governor: muscle bound Arnold
Schwarzenegger?

The trouble with the liberals/moderates is that they don't have enough money
to buy the votes necessary for election. :(

John

Plants at Wal-Mart
 

"B & J" expounded:

What I remember best is eight straight
years of prosperity with no war and environmental protection. Could that
possibly happen again? :)

Sure. After 8 straight years of Republican economic guidance ;-

--
Ann, Gardening in zone 6a
Just south of Boston, MA
********************************

Plants at Wal-Mart
 

On Thu, 17 Apr 2003 23:02:21 -0500, "B & J"
wrote:

"zhanataya" wrote in message
.. .


Did he defend Nixon? It's been so long now I only remember him not
saying anything and going off to jail or some resort for his time.

If you want to get rid of George W. you could always nominate someone
who is as fine a campaigner as Dole was. ;-)

You're right about G. Gordon not saying anything. He was loyal to the end to
his boss and conservative convictions. I was wrong! Yes, Dole would be far
better than what we have.

My ultra-conservative friend where I now live is constantly sending me items
bashing Hillary. When people of his politically active ilk bash Hillary,
there has to be some concern that she is perceived as a threat.

Have you noticed, it is the male conservatives that froth at the mouth
and get their hackles raised when she is mentioned? Makes me wonder
if it is really her politics they object to. Wonder how many male
liberals would really vote for her. Politically I'd oppose her, but as
a woman I'm in admiration how gracefully she handled the whole world
discussing her husbands sexual activities. I'm not made of such noble
material. Were I in her position Bill's memorial service would have
been held years ago.

President Clinton - hmmm - has a nice ring.

I has a sound alright.;-)

What I remember best is eight straight years of prosperity with no war
and environmental protection. Could that possibly happen again? :)

You mean with a Democratic President and congress? Sure as long as
they stick to the Republican economic principles. BG Of course they
may have a hard time finding someone interested in the position of
special counsel to the president.

zhan

Plants at Wal-Mart
 

On Fri, 18 Apr 2003 08:54:37 -0400, Ann wrote:

"B & J" expounded:

What I remember best is eight straight
years of prosperity with no war and environmental protection. Could that
possibly happen again? :)

Sure. After 8 straight years of Republican economic guidance ;-

LMAO Good one Ann.

Plants at Wal-Mart
 

On Fri, 18 Apr 2003 16:24:15 GMT, zhanataya wrote:

LMAO Good one Ann.


Yup pretty laughable statement.....record deficits were the Reagan
legacy.....the movies sucked too!





"As crude a weapon as a cave man's club the chemical barrage has been hurled at the fabric of life."
Rachel Carson

Plants at Wal-Mart
 

"Ann" wrote in message
...
"B & J" expounded:

What I remember best is eight straight
years of prosperity with no war and environmental protection. Could that
possibly happen again? :)

Sure. After 8 straight years of Republican economic guidance ;-

--
Ann, Gardening in zone 6a

Does that also mean eight years of uncontrolled federal deficits, eight
years of crumbling infrastructure, eight years of huge state funding
problems, eight years of the undoing of the Clinton environmental
initiatives, and another $80 billion war every couple of years during
Dubya's reign? Okay, Ann? ;-)

John

Plants at Wal-Mart
 

"zhanataya" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 18 Apr 2003 08:54:37 -0400, Ann wrote:

"B & J" expounded:

What I remember best is eight straight
years of prosperity with no war and environmental protection. Could that
possibly happen again? :)

Sure. After 8 straight years of Republican economic guidance ;-

LMAO Good one Ann.

But maybe the rising numbers of unemployed might decide it behooves them to
get their posteriors to the polls and vote their pocket books instead of the
buzz items (gun control, abortion, school prayer, etc.). I have a couple of
yuppie relatives, Clinton haters, who aren't nearly the ardent Bush
supporters they were before they lost their jobs. I have a difficult time
biting my tongue without a " tol' ya so" when they whine, but I do! VBG

As a former public employee, the Democrats were always better for school
funding than Republicans. The Republican governor in MN has now put a two
year freeze on all teacher raises. I'm sure his testing program for all
students while increasing class sizes and cutting school counselors and
librarians will improve MN schools.

John

Plants at Wal-Mart
 

"zhanataya" wrote in message
What I remember best is eight straight years of prosperity with no war
and environmental protection. Could that possibly happen again? :)

You mean with a Democratic President and congress? Sure as long as
they stick to the Republican economic principles. BG Of course they
may have a hard time finding someone interested in the position of
special counsel to the president.

zhan

What I find frightening at the moment is a Republican President? congress,
and senate. The only redeeming factor is that Republican numbers are razor
thin, and there are enough moderate Republicans in swing states who realize
how precarious their jobs are. George W. without checks is one scary dude.

John

Plants at Wal-Mart
 

The only Republican economic principles of which I'm aware involve upping
military spending by huge percentages while simultaneously lowering taxes.
If they can manufacture a supposed threat to the US during their terms, they
are quick to seize upon it as an excuse to increase military spending by
that much more. When the resultant ballooning deficits hit home, the next
Republican mantra is "cut discretionary spending". Which means, welfare,
medicaid, the National Instititutes of Health and Science, the Center for
Disease Control, the Environmental Protection Agency, PBS, the National
Endowment for the Arts, and of course the agencies that inspect meat and
agricultural goods. And if it can be done in the dead of night, they also
cut Medicare payments and look for ways to make social security less
solvent.
The last time the General Accounting Office did an audit of the
military, they discovered that 40% of the military budget could not be
accounted for - no receipts, no nothin'. That's in the neighborhood of $150
billion dollars a year unaccounted for. Trimming THAT cash cow would go a
long way toward restoring solvency to our Federal Government, but it ain't
never gonna happen during a Republican administration, with all that that
party "owes" to the military industrial establishment which pays huge sums
every four years to buy the candidates that protect it.
Yeah, Republican economic principles - that IS a laugh..........
"Ann" wrote in message
...
"B & J" expounded:

What I remember best is eight straight
years of prosperity with no war and environmental protection. Could that
possibly happen again? :)

Sure. After 8 straight years of Republican economic guidance ;-

--
Ann, Gardening in zone 6a
Just south of Boston, MA
********************************

Plants at Wal-Mart
 

On Sat, 19 Apr 2003 00:30:46 -0700, "gregpresley"
wrote:

The only Republican economic principles of which I'm aware involve upping
military spending by huge percentages while simultaneously lowering taxes.
If they can manufacture a supposed threat to the US during their terms, they
are quick to seize upon it as an excuse to increase military spending by
that much more. When the resultant ballooning deficits hit home, the next
Republican mantra is "cut discretionary spending". Which means, welfare,
medicaid, the National Instititutes of Health and Science, the Center for
Disease Control, the Environmental Protection Agency, PBS, the National
Endowment for the Arts, and of course the agencies that inspect meat and
agricultural goods. And if it can be done in the dead of night, they also
cut Medicare payments and look for ways to make social security less
solvent.
The last time the General Accounting Office did an audit of the
military, they discovered that 40% of the military budget could not be
accounted for - no receipts, no nothin'. That's in the neighborhood of $150
billion dollars a year unaccounted for. Trimming THAT cash cow would go a
long way toward restoring solvency to our Federal Government, but it ain't
never gonna happen during a Republican administration, with all that that
party "owes" to the military industrial establishment which pays huge sums
every four years to buy the candidates that protect it.
Yeah, Republican economic principles - that IS a laugh..........

Greg I got it figured out. You write plant descriptions for gardening
catalogs, don't you? ;-)

zhan

Plants at Wal-Mart
 

On Fri, 18 Apr 2003 22:56:22 -0500, "B & J"
wrote:

George W. without checks is one scary dude.

John

Actually I admire the man very much. But your sentence sums up very
well why I love discussing politics. I have a deep faith in our
constitution and the way our government is set up with its built in
checks and balances. No one party or person can do us fatal harm
before they're booted out. I think it is very healthy for our country
to have a two party system that is fundamentally opposed to the other
party.

Also since the Clinton presidency I give thanks in my nightly prayers
for term limits. ;-)

zhan

Plants at Wal-Mart
 

I'd gone so many years without setting foot in a walmart, but then I could
not resist a couple years ago checking out the plants when plants crowded
an area of the parking lot & they were just like Paghat Bait visible from
the highway. Since then, once in a very great while, I check out WalMart's
plant department, because I'll go almost ANYwhere where I can see plants.
I don't believe I've ever bought anything from them but an occasional
herb. I can remember that first visit a couple years back I was deeply in
need of a "plant-buying fix" & looked & looked & looked SO hard for
something to take home. There was nothing actually wrong with their
plants, but there was nothing special.

It's such a down-market company overall with such a trailer-trash image, I
was surprised that their prices on one to five gallon plants were the same
or higher as in quality nurseries. Unforunately the plants all had the
mass-produced exactly-identical "producty" look with nothing I would
regard specimen-worthy, merely filler things if anyone needed
filler-things for maximum price. Some little bedding plants & herbs on the
other hand tend to be cheap, but substantial plants had the maximum price
for the minimum character.

Of course, there are some very basic plants that are hard to beat. Even
so, seems to me that if you wanted "the usual" look-alike producty plants,
might as well go to Lowes or Home Depot, where the stock is identical but
the prices are vastly cheaper.

I couldn't quite see what niche WalMart was filling, common stuff without
individual plant-personality, but not cheap like at Lowes or Home Depot, &
for the price one could do vastly better finding quality & individuality
at any number of first-rate independent nurseries (which often do have the
producty plants, but add so much more beyond the ordinary).

Two other chains are the K Mart (mediocre plants, & not bargains, & no one
taking care of them so they are always just dying on the tarmack), and
Fred Meyer. Fred Meyer is a mixed bag. Plants are inexpensive, mostly of
the production-line look-alike quality, but every now & then they have
extremely interesting things not seen everywhere else. Two years running
they carried Terra Nova "product" which is not the same-old-same-old, but
this season so far they haven't had any of that, though they do have
already this year a lot of very tiny starts of species hellebores which
compared to other chain nursery departments is a completely off-the-wall
(& more interesting) type of stock. They also carry a line of ultra-dwarf
oddities from a greenhouse grower whose name I forget, but a small grower.
It appears to me that Fred Meyer is willing to contract with smallish
growers with interesting specialities, so that SOME surprises end up mixed
into the workmanlike products, yet with none of it expensive.

On a good day something rewarding in a minor vein might be found at any of
the above, but why even support them when independent nurseries exist
galore doing so much better a job on all fronts.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

Plants at Wal-Mart
 

paghat wrote:

I couldn't quite see what niche WalMart was filling,

Same as they do for everything else. It's one-stop-shopping for people
who wouldn't know quality if it bit them in the... leg. That's not to
say that *I* don't ever go to Wal-Mart. Sometimes I just need some cheap
junk.

I do want to mention that when I lived in Wisconsin, the Wal-Marts there
had the atmosphere of Target, but in blue. Out here in Oregon, they have
the atmosphere of Goodwill without the used products. (I haven't been to
Woodburn in a while. They're doing a big remodeling, and during the
remodeling, you could barely tell when you moved from what was left of
the old store's selling floor into what used to be their warehouse
space.

Want a cheap hose? Some plastic edging? Some bedding plants? If you're
in the area, fine. But there's nothing in any Wal-Mart garden center
that's worth going out of the way for.

Two other chains are the K Mart (mediocre plants, & not bargains, & no
one
taking care of them so they are always just dying on the tarmack),

It's really no wonder why K-Mart is going out of business. They have
good stores and bad stores, but even their best stores have got to have
the worst help I've ever seen. I can never figure out just why the
check-out line moves so slow! But that seems to be a universal trait of
K-Mart. Third in line at a K-Mart cash register is like being sixth or
seventh in line at Target.

Their garden center is usually just like Wal-Mart. If you're there, and
you need some cheap crap, take a look. I will mention that they usually
have the best price on wasp spray just when I need it, and I did find a
taller shepard's hook there than any of the other stores in the area
last year.


Fred Meyer. Fred Meyer is a mixed bag. Plants are inexpensive, mostly
of
the production-line look-alike quality, but every now & then they have
extremely interesting things not seen everywhere else.

I regularly stop at four different Fred Meyer's. One is near my work.
One is halfway between work and home, one is about six miles in one
direction from me, and I pass it fairly often, and the other one is
about 2 miles away in town. The garden centers in each of the stores is
almost entirely different. Two of them have more bird and animal feeders
than would seem to be deployed in the whole metro area, while at the
other two you have to search to find a bird feeder. One has a super
collection of wind chimes. Another has more tractors than Home Depot.
Two of them have big yards with pallet after pallet of bark mulch,
dozens of different soil mixes, multiple colors of gravel and stone
chips, and even enough paver stones to cover their whole parking lot if
they wanted. Three of them have sheds set-up to look at, and one has
some sheds that are almost so big you'd think they'd need a zoning
variance before you could put them in your yard! There is no question
that when it comes to the lawn, garden and nursery department, Freddy's
are all different.

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.

Plants at Wal-Mart
 

"zhanataya" wrote in message

Also since the Clinton presidency I give thanks in my nightly prayers
for term limits. ;-)

zhan

Coming from a true conservative, that says a lot about Clinton's popularity.
He could have beaten George W. in spite of the Republican hounding. I give
thanks in my nightly prayers that the next election is only a little over a
year away and hope that history repeats itself in another one term Bush.
Dubya's term limit is going to be the economy, which he ignored while in his
"attack Iraq" mode. His tax proposals certainly will do nothing for John Doe
or John S. for that matter. :-(

John