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Just found out that the case against the uninsured AND unlicensed driver who hit my husband was, “dismissed on payment of court costs.”  Ah, our justice system at work, complete with sleazy traffic lawyers.

I wonder how much the court fees cost.  I’m paying over $800 a year to drive my car around legally, but I might be on to something here — drop the insurance altogether and pay the court cost if I happen to be caught driving without insurance.  And a driver’s license?  Apparently I don’t need that, either!  If you can’t beat ‘em . . . .

Meanwhile, our SUV driving friend, who SHOWED NO REMORSE when he hit a bicyclist, is probably out there driving around, right now.  Watch out, St. Louis!

Think you’re safe where you are?  I recently read that, nationwide, at least 1 in 7 (and possibly as high as 1 in 4) drivers are uninsured.  Now, my thoughts on car insurance (cough-SCAM-cough) would be the subject of a whole other post, but the fact that some of us are buying into it, while a large chunk of people are not?  That’s just wrong.  And I wager that most of the uninsured drivers are some of the least responsible and most dangerous vehicle operators out there.

Now I must go take deep breaths and think happy thoughts to reign in my blood pressure.  Good thing it’s ridiculously low to start, or I might really be in trouble!

I recently read Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto.  Pollan recommends eating “real” food, which he defines in detail (if you want the details, read the book).  It’s a safe bet that eating real food will be better for you and better for the planet.

Enter the health fair I worked last week.  Since I knew I would be working late, I lack a good excuse for being ill-prepared, but I found myself in desperate straights, food-wise, with a bag of Sun Chips in my hand.  There I was, a health educator, working at a health fair, eating chips.  Suffice it to say that I consumed said chips surreptitiously.

To further torture myself, I could not help but look at the nutrition label, which broke Pollan’s, “less than five ingredient,” guideline by, oh, about 30 ingredients.  This included some special ones like Yellow 5 Lake (artificial color) and the ever ubiquitous, “natural flavor” — ingredients that clearly put this “food” outside of the real food realm.

In our country of material abundance and excess, may you find true happiness in what matters most — relationships with others and the world.  May you give generously from the heart and walk lightly on the earth in the New Year.

. . . and biking.  That is to say, I biked all around the town on Friday morning, running errands.  Friday afternoon I hopped on the big blue bus to KC, MO for a girls’ weekend with my mom and sisters!  Taking the bus to KC instead of driving the car was the only particularly green part of the trip, although I did have my reusable silverware ready for the hotel breakfast.  Oh, and we ate at a cool vegetarian restaurant that sources local and organic as much as possible, Eden Alley.

Between the new job and the trip, I’ve been a bit out of the blog loop, which may not really get resolved until Friday.