Cluestick
FDA - Food Double-standard Administration
What a load of shit. The FDA has decided that it must ban Ephedra because of the number of adverse reactions reported. The real reason, of course, is because the press has reported deaths from the product and because the manufacturers of ephedra-containing products don't have the political connections with the FDA that accompany supposedly perfectly safe products like Aspartame. A product that has even more reports of adverse effects associated with it, but that continues to be the most common artificial sweetener pumped into food products in this country.
The Internet contains a great many accounts of the problems with Aspartame (a good overview can be found here: http://www.mercola.com/article/aspartame/dangers.htm ) and the corruption in our government that has made it possible for this poison to be approved for human consumption and to remain on the market. Instead of applying a standard evenly, the FDA tells us it's protecting us by removing the supposedly overt threat of ephedra. Corrupt assholes.
This is just getting silly...
Now the FBI is warning about those who might be carrying almanacs because terrorists might use them to select targets.
WTF???
Maybe it's just me, but I'm thinking there are a hell of a lot more dangerous ways to select targets. What will be next? Maybe we should be pulling over anyone packing a map and driving a vehicle first. Or what about the risk that terrorists will read their tea leaves to select targets?
This one had to be straight from George's desk. He now officially scares me more than Reagan did.
Reason #2,405,334 that summary executions might not be such a bad idea...
Jessica Simpson
Good lord this woman is a pathetic idiot! This would not be so dangerous if it weren't for the platform that the American public allows the press to provide her with. End result? Fortunately, a few see it negatively. However, she unfortunately continues to sell records. The type of mundane bullshit spewed on her "reality" show should result in the end of her career as the consequence for providing so much as even a HINT that following her example might result in achieving her level of fame and "success".
Drivers wanted...dead or alive
I had the great pleasure (AGAIN) of spending quality time on our city's freeways yesterday...in a downpour...with very wet streets...and extremely poor visibility. Imagine how impressed I was to find out how many people had such excellent driving skills that they could drive like their favorite professional race car driver while holding a cell phone in one hand and their accessory of choice in the other (cigarette, soda, sandwich, child...the list is really endless).
In the interest of public safety, I would like to recommend three pointers that are sure to increase the safety on our roads for the remainder of this holiday season:
1) Hang the hell up and drive! If you don't think you're distracted by your phone conversation and that it's not affecting your driving, guess what...
YOU ARE WRONG!
(trust me...ALL of us paying attention to your driving in the absence of your own attention are completely aware of your phone call's effect on you.)
2) Slower traffic stay the hell to the right! You may not be very interested in getting where you're going in a hurry, or in one piece, but the person behind you probably is. If there's room to the right (and there typically is...just take a look), move over and let others past.
3) Wake the hell up and pay attention! This is always a good standby. Given that you're driving a 2500+ pound vehicle (much more for you wonderful SUV drivers that are blocking the rest of our fields of vision) at freeway speeds, you really should be very focused on that task and NOT on your passenger, children, food, fantasy, people not in the car, etc. If you're not convinced, go buy Physics for Dummies and read about the amount of energy that's involved in hitting something during that split second that you're not paying attention.
To all of you who do follow these three driving commandments, I thank you from the bottom of my addmitedly cold and bitter tiny little heart. While I'm quite the bastard sometimes, I can assure you that I do notice when you do those simple things like use signals and react appropriately to the other objects on the road.
Let's all have a big fat burger...
Okay, maybe I've been a bit too hard on the US cattle industry. Since so many others are comfortable with the reassurances given, maybe I should be too.
But then, the average US citizen isn't a software quality professional - someone who's job is inherently about understanding risk, complexity and variables. My background makes it impossible for me to dismiss this threat. In fact, my background has had me suspecting the safety of the food supply - particularly in terms of Mad Cow for years.
The source of concern:
- The assurances we're given don't stand the test of time because there is so much we don't yet know about Mad Cow. The number of discoveries that continue to be made about this disease make it perfectly clear how much we can be sure about...not much.
- The amount of time it takes for the disease to become apparent is longer than the amount of time it's been clearly identified as a threat. This means it could have been moving between countries before the rather weak measures currently in place to protect American cattle were established.
- The number of variables involved are astounding and include the following major factors:
- number of cattle
- acres of land
- integrity level of related business owners
- no other means of transmission from animal to animal
If the measures to protect American cattle break down in any of these areas, the food supply is at risk. Before you quickly write that risk off, keep in mind that the slaughterhouse involved in this case, can't prove that the meat from this animal did not end up in any food shipments - despite the original assurances that our safety measures has made that impossible.
So what's my point? Open your eyes and exercise a bit of reason. Think about the motivation of those telling you that which does not make sense. Think about what the risk level means to you and make your own assessments accordingly.
Above all, question that which the powers that be in this country put before you in your own feed trough.
Beef...the other carrier
You absolutely HAVE to love the bullshit government line that the food supply is safe. Official government representatives tell us everything is fine and that their Christmas tables will have beef being served while their eyes shift back and forth with every body language cue of lying through their teeth.
I'm glad that we're being assured that the meat from the affected cow wasn't destined for our food supply. They can't tell us where it went, but I feel much safer knowing that they are certain it couldn't have ended up in my local grocery store or my local burger joint. I'm also VERY reassured that my government can assure me that Mad Cow can't be transmitted through milk..especially since they just found out that it could be transmitted through a blood transfusion. I'm also absolutely certain that my trusty protecting government will be able to quickly determine how the affected animal contracted the disease in the first place.
I think we can all feel very safe tonight knowing that George is in charge, that he loves us all very much, and that he will get to the bottom of this obviously terrorist activity. Wait, I know! Mad Cow was widespread in Europe, particularly Great Britain. Maybe they should be our next military target!
Tangerine Alert!!!
Since so many of our fellow citizens are apparently too stupid to remember what the orange level alert from our protective Department of Homeland Security is all about, why don't we start using more creative derivatives of the colors on the chart so that those of us with half of a damned clue or more can at least pretend that we have to have the alert explained to us AGAIN!
This could leave us with much more interesting anti-terrorist alerts like INDIGO, MAUVE, PUCE, CRIMSON and of course TANGERINE! After all, we only hear about the rules and inconveniences of the new alert level for the first few days (or slightly longer in the case of slow news days). At the least, watching the newscasters attempt to refer to the right color name should be a bit more fun.
Self interest is your friend...fuck everyone else!
President Bush II says the world is a much better place without Saddam in power. My question, of course, is who the hell is going to save us from George?
The Democratic candidates for president apparently don't have a whole lot of interest in saving the country which just points out exactly how little difference exits, when viewed in the context of the whole political continuum, between the political interests in this country. Instead of doing the right thing for their party and for this country by uniting behind the front-runners and building the momentum it will take to topple the Bush-Cheney abomination currently in power, they continue to serve their own damned interests in self-promotion.
I'll go on the record right now and say I think a Clark-Dean ticket (yes Howard, you should chill and let Wesley take over for the good of the party) could take out George & Dick. It would even provide us with a more coherent approach to national security than the ADD-like policies embodied by the Bush-Cheney alternative. (Ooh! Who's that we need to hunt down?)
