I am off for a couple weeks of fun in the sunny woods. I will be out of the mainstream, and most likely happier and healthier because of it.
Please send up smoke rings if Dobson joins his buddy Falwell. I will then send up a few of my own.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
The kids are already running on alternative energy
So What Really Is In A McDonald's Chicken McNugget?
This is the last part of the article.
No wonder our kids are spending so much time on the couch or in bed trying to get better.
(Excerpt) from a rense.com article
According to the handout, McNuggets also contain several completely synthetic ingredients, quasiedible substances that ultimately come not from a corn or soybean field but form a petroleum refinery or chemical plant. These chemicals are what make modern processed food possible, by keeping the organic materials in them from going bad or looking strange after months in the freezer or on the road. Listed first are the "leavening agents": sodium aluminum phosphate, mono-calcium phosphate, sodium acid pyrophosphate, and calcium lactate. These are antioxidants added to keep the various animal and vegetable fats involved in a nugget from turning rancid. Then there are "anti-foaming agents" like dimethylpolysiloxene, added to the cooking oil to keep the starches from binding to air molecules, so as to produce foam during the fry. The problem is evidently grave enough to warrant adding a toxic chemical to the food: According to the Handbook of Food Additives, dimethylpolysiloxene is a suspected carcinogen and an established mutagen, tumorigen, and reproductive effector; it's also flammable.
But perhaps the most alarming ingredient in a Chicken McNugget is tertiary butylhydroquinone, or TBHQ, an antioxidant derived from petroleum that is either sprayed directly on the nugget or the inside of the box it comes in to "help preserve freshness." According to A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives, TBHQ is a form of butane (i.e. lighter fluid) the FDA allows processors to use sparingly in our food: It can comprise no more than 0.02 percent of the oil in a nugget. Which is probably just as well, considering that ingesting a single gram of TBHQ can cause "nausea, vomiting, ringing in the ears, delirium, a sense of suffocation, and collapse." Ingesting five grams of TBHQ can kill."
Bet you never thought that was in your chicken McNuggets!
This is the last part of the article.
No wonder our kids are spending so much time on the couch or in bed trying to get better.
(Excerpt) from a rense.com article
According to the handout, McNuggets also contain several completely synthetic ingredients, quasiedible substances that ultimately come not from a corn or soybean field but form a petroleum refinery or chemical plant. These chemicals are what make modern processed food possible, by keeping the organic materials in them from going bad or looking strange after months in the freezer or on the road. Listed first are the "leavening agents": sodium aluminum phosphate, mono-calcium phosphate, sodium acid pyrophosphate, and calcium lactate. These are antioxidants added to keep the various animal and vegetable fats involved in a nugget from turning rancid. Then there are "anti-foaming agents" like dimethylpolysiloxene, added to the cooking oil to keep the starches from binding to air molecules, so as to produce foam during the fry. The problem is evidently grave enough to warrant adding a toxic chemical to the food: According to the Handbook of Food Additives, dimethylpolysiloxene is a suspected carcinogen and an established mutagen, tumorigen, and reproductive effector; it's also flammable.
But perhaps the most alarming ingredient in a Chicken McNugget is tertiary butylhydroquinone, or TBHQ, an antioxidant derived from petroleum that is either sprayed directly on the nugget or the inside of the box it comes in to "help preserve freshness." According to A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives, TBHQ is a form of butane (i.e. lighter fluid) the FDA allows processors to use sparingly in our food: It can comprise no more than 0.02 percent of the oil in a nugget. Which is probably just as well, considering that ingesting a single gram of TBHQ can cause "nausea, vomiting, ringing in the ears, delirium, a sense of suffocation, and collapse." Ingesting five grams of TBHQ can kill."
Bet you never thought that was in your chicken McNuggets!
Sicko
A comprehensive report on the health provider situation in America is long overdue. Of course, without the Republican greed machine rolling full steam ahead, it wouldn't be quite as bad as it is.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Friday, May 11, 2007
Iraq for sale?
There is definitely a good reason not to pull our occupying forces out of Iraq, and it has to do with the security of a family that has been mired in the US and world war machine since Prescott was bringing home the bacon.
At some point, there will be a Citizen's Tribunal formed to shine a blinding light on these bastards, and the world will become transformed into the beautiful place it was designed to be.
If someone tells you that they know what GOD wants or what GOD says, you can be damned sure that they are doing the Devil's work, and they have a huge stake in whether you buy into it or not.
At some point, there will be a Citizen's Tribunal formed to shine a blinding light on these bastards, and the world will become transformed into the beautiful place it was designed to be.
If someone tells you that they know what GOD wants or what GOD says, you can be damned sure that they are doing the Devil's work, and they have a huge stake in whether you buy into it or not.
Friday
You might have noticed that I finally figured out how to imbed video into my blogger blog. Of course, I have gone a little overboard with it, but that will settle out as time goes on. I have too many pet interests, and it would be easy to overload the peaked little minds of the right leaning minions who pop in now and then...and I really do want them to be able to keep up.
Cheney returning from Iraq via Dubai? Wonder what up with that...
Remember...the best news always comes out late on Friday. Read lots of blogs tonight and tomorrow.
Cheney returning from Iraq via Dubai? Wonder what up with that...
Remember...the best news always comes out late on Friday. Read lots of blogs tonight and tomorrow.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Bill Richardson
Even though I am in favor of Kucinich, Edwards, and Obama in any particular order, I will vote for the Democratic nominee (whomever it happens to be) primarily because this political advertisement shows a level of creativity that you will never find on the Republican side of the equation... it is based on positivity.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Education is free...just bring a worthy container
The Case for A GM-Free Sustainable World
(Excerpt) (read the entire article here)
9. Genetic engineering creates super-viruses
By far the most insidious dangers of genetic engineering are inherent to the process itself, which greatly enhances the scope and probability of horizontal gene transfer and recombination, the main route to creating viruses and bacteria that cause disease epidemics. This was highlighted, in 2001, by the ‘accidental’ creation of a killer mouse virus in the course of an apparently innocent genetic engineering experiment.
Newer techniques, such as DNA shuffling are allowing geneticists to create in a matter of minutes in the laboratory millions of recombinant viruses that have never existed in billions of years of evolution. Disease-causing viruses and bacteria and their genetic material are the predominant materials and tools for genetic engineering, as much as for the intentional creation of bio-weapons.
10. Transgenic DNA in food taken up by bacteria in human gut
There is already experimental evidence that transgenic DNA from plants has been taken up by bacteria in the soil and in the gut of human volunteers. Antibiotic resistance marker genes can spread from transgenic food to pathogenic bacteria, making infections very difficult to treat.
11. Transgenic DNA and cancer
Transgenic DNA is known to survive digestion in the gut and to jump into the genome of mammalian cells, raising the possibility for triggering cancer.
The possibility cannot be excluded that feeding GM products such as maize to animals also carries risks, not just for the animals but also for human beings consuming the animal products.
12. CaMV 35S promoter increases horizontal gene transfer
Evidence suggests that transgenic constructs with the CaMV 35S promoter might be especially unstable and prone to horizontal gene transfer and recombination, with all the attendant hazards: gene mutations due to random insertion, cancer, reactivation of dormant viruses and generation of new viruses. This promoter is present in most GM crops being grown commercially today.
13. A history of misrepresentation and suppression of scientific evidence
There has been a history of misrepresentation and suppression of scientific evidence, especially on horizontal gene transfer. Key experiments failed to be performed, or were performed badly and then misrepresented. Many experiments were not followed up, including investigations on whether the CaMV 35S promoter is responsible for the ‘growth-factor-like’ effects observed in young rats fed GM potatoes.
In conclusion, GM crops have failed to deliver the promised benefits and are posing escalating problems on the farm. Transgenic contamination is now widely acknowledged to be unavoidable, and hence there can be no co-existence of GM and non-GM agriculture. Most important of all, GM crops have not been proven safe. On the contrary, sufficient evidence has emerged to raise serious safety concerns, that if ignored could result in irreversible damage to health and the environment. GM crops should be firmly rejected now.
(Excerpt) (read the entire article here)
9. Genetic engineering creates super-viruses
By far the most insidious dangers of genetic engineering are inherent to the process itself, which greatly enhances the scope and probability of horizontal gene transfer and recombination, the main route to creating viruses and bacteria that cause disease epidemics. This was highlighted, in 2001, by the ‘accidental’ creation of a killer mouse virus in the course of an apparently innocent genetic engineering experiment.
Newer techniques, such as DNA shuffling are allowing geneticists to create in a matter of minutes in the laboratory millions of recombinant viruses that have never existed in billions of years of evolution. Disease-causing viruses and bacteria and their genetic material are the predominant materials and tools for genetic engineering, as much as for the intentional creation of bio-weapons.
10. Transgenic DNA in food taken up by bacteria in human gut
There is already experimental evidence that transgenic DNA from plants has been taken up by bacteria in the soil and in the gut of human volunteers. Antibiotic resistance marker genes can spread from transgenic food to pathogenic bacteria, making infections very difficult to treat.
11. Transgenic DNA and cancer
Transgenic DNA is known to survive digestion in the gut and to jump into the genome of mammalian cells, raising the possibility for triggering cancer.
The possibility cannot be excluded that feeding GM products such as maize to animals also carries risks, not just for the animals but also for human beings consuming the animal products.
12. CaMV 35S promoter increases horizontal gene transfer
Evidence suggests that transgenic constructs with the CaMV 35S promoter might be especially unstable and prone to horizontal gene transfer and recombination, with all the attendant hazards: gene mutations due to random insertion, cancer, reactivation of dormant viruses and generation of new viruses. This promoter is present in most GM crops being grown commercially today.
13. A history of misrepresentation and suppression of scientific evidence
There has been a history of misrepresentation and suppression of scientific evidence, especially on horizontal gene transfer. Key experiments failed to be performed, or were performed badly and then misrepresented. Many experiments were not followed up, including investigations on whether the CaMV 35S promoter is responsible for the ‘growth-factor-like’ effects observed in young rats fed GM potatoes.
In conclusion, GM crops have failed to deliver the promised benefits and are posing escalating problems on the farm. Transgenic contamination is now widely acknowledged to be unavoidable, and hence there can be no co-existence of GM and non-GM agriculture. Most important of all, GM crops have not been proven safe. On the contrary, sufficient evidence has emerged to raise serious safety concerns, that if ignored could result in irreversible damage to health and the environment. GM crops should be firmly rejected now.
Millions Against Monsanto
In the name of corporate wealth, the food supply of the world has been taken hostage by the same type of NeoCon that is infesting the Food and Drug Administration and every other Government Agency designed to regulate the safe practices of farming, harvesting, and distribution of food.
As we prepare to cast out the toxic in-breeds running our precious country into oblivion, let us also re-strike a balance in the market place by holding corporations accountable for the damages they are wreaking on the public.
Let's start with Monsanto.
Also...if you have pets, go here.
As we prepare to cast out the toxic in-breeds running our precious country into oblivion, let us also re-strike a balance in the market place by holding corporations accountable for the damages they are wreaking on the public.
Let's start with Monsanto.
Also...if you have pets, go here.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
A must read (in my opinion)
My good friend, Mr. Natural, has posted a thought provoking rant by an angry veteran that every good American should read...and think about. Read it.
Friday, May 04, 2007
Do away with election cheating
4-9-07: Two voting products combine to steal your political privacy
The government and some of its vendors can now access your secret ballot.
It's true: Two voting products are designed to be used together. When combined, these two products do away with the secret ballot. And this is already being used.
Because this secretive process is split between two products, the sales pitch on each product truthfully claims that privacy remains in place. What they DON'T MENTION is that when the products are used together, privacy evaporates.
The two products that combine to strip away your ballot privacy are:
1. Ballot-marked vote tracker systems (VoteHere and, from reports we have received, Populex)
2. Image-retaining vote counters (Diebold, Hart Intercivic)
Once the bar code containing embedded voter information is on the ballot, the image captured by the vote counter creates a computer file with both votes and voter-tied information.
Persons inside government are in the best position to abuse this feature. In fact, government security experts already have ties to the ballot-marked systems.
Current US Secretary of Defense and former CIA head Robert Gates has been on the advisory board of VoteHere. Former US Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci, also a former deputy director of the CIA and a long-time Chairman of the Board at the Carlyle Group is on the advisory board for Populex. Surely, these two men know the implications of tracking votes. The second biggest expenditure for the CIA during the 1980s was influencing foreign elections; as a Director of and Deputy Director of the CIA, surely they are aware of the benefits an unscrupulous individual could gain from producing giant vote databases that tie back to voters.
HERE’S HOW THESE TWO SYSTEMS STEAL YOUR POLITICAL PRIVACY
Step 1: Vote tracking system puts bar code on ballot which embeds a connector to your voter registration syst... More
For a few dollars more
Feds: Millions have eaten chickens fed tainted pet food
POSTED: 4:23 p.m. EDT, May 2, 2007
NEW YORK (CNN) -- People have eaten millions of chickens that were given feed tainted with recalled pet food, federal officials said Tuesday, though they said the threat to human health is minimal.
The announcement came after an investigation of chicken farms in Indiana found that 38 of the facilities had given contaminated feed to poultry raised for human consumption, and that 2.5 million to 3 million people ate them.
The officials added that they expect to discover that chickens on possibly hundreds of farms in other states were also given tainted feed.
In a teleconference with reporters, an official with the Food and Drug Administration said no recall has been issued because "the likelihood of illness after eating chicken fed the contaminated product is very low." (Blog: Melamine 'dilution' means human risk is probably lower )
No human illnesses have been reported related to the feed, officials with the FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.
There is much more here.
I have about as much faith in the FDA as I have in the Bush justice department. This problem has been with us for months now, and just last week they were saying that it was highly unlikely that any human food was contaminated. Perhaps the first few deaths that result from this will be passed off as “resulting from an unknown flu-like disease”, and then we will be justified in calling for the resignation of the Bush appointed Ronald McDonald type in charge of the investigation. How pissed should we be?
POSTED: 4:23 p.m. EDT, May 2, 2007
NEW YORK (CNN) -- People have eaten millions of chickens that were given feed tainted with recalled pet food, federal officials said Tuesday, though they said the threat to human health is minimal.
The announcement came after an investigation of chicken farms in Indiana found that 38 of the facilities had given contaminated feed to poultry raised for human consumption, and that 2.5 million to 3 million people ate them.
The officials added that they expect to discover that chickens on possibly hundreds of farms in other states were also given tainted feed.
In a teleconference with reporters, an official with the Food and Drug Administration said no recall has been issued because "the likelihood of illness after eating chicken fed the contaminated product is very low." (Blog: Melamine 'dilution' means human risk is probably lower )
No human illnesses have been reported related to the feed, officials with the FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.
There is much more here.
I have about as much faith in the FDA as I have in the Bush justice department. This problem has been with us for months now, and just last week they were saying that it was highly unlikely that any human food was contaminated. Perhaps the first few deaths that result from this will be passed off as “resulting from an unknown flu-like disease”, and then we will be justified in calling for the resignation of the Bush appointed Ronald McDonald type in charge of the investigation. How pissed should we be?
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Do NOT back down
1. Subject: Tell Congress to stand firm on Iraq
Hi,
The president just vetoed a plan that would bring our troops home from Iraq this year.
There's a huge amount of pressure right now on Democrats in Congress to compromise and give the president what he wants. We need to make sure Congress stands firm on a deadline to end the war--instead of sending another blank check.
Can you help out by signing the petition at the link below? It'll only take a second.
http://pol.moveon.org/noveto/?rc=cp
Thanks!
I believe this legislation should be resubmitted to Congress for a re-vote, and any negotiating should be done in that arena.
Hi,
The president just vetoed a plan that would bring our troops home from Iraq this year.
There's a huge amount of pressure right now on Democrats in Congress to compromise and give the president what he wants. We need to make sure Congress stands firm on a deadline to end the war--instead of sending another blank check.
Can you help out by signing the petition at the link below? It'll only take a second.
http://pol.moveon.org/noveto/?rc=cp
Thanks!
I believe this legislation should be resubmitted to Congress for a re-vote, and any negotiating should be done in that arena.
More about bees
(Except from gnn.tv article)
Another perspective
Sharon Labchuk is a longtime environmental activist and part-time organic beekeeper from Prince Edward Island. She has twice run for a seat in Ottawa’s House of Commons, making strong showings around 5% for Canada’s fledgling Green Party. She is also leader of the provincial wing of her party. In a widely circulated email, she wrote:
I’m on an organic beekeeping list of about 1,000 people, mostly Americans, and no one in the organic beekeeping world, including commercial beekeepers, is reporting colony collapse on this list. The problem with the big commercial guys is that they put pesticides in their hives to fumigate for varroa mites, and they feed antibiotics to the bees. They also haul the hives by truck all over the place to make more money with pollination services, which stresses the colonies. (13)
Her email recommends a visit to the Bush Bees Web site at bushfarms.com. Here, Michael Bush felt compelled to put a message to the beekeeping world right on the top page:
Most of us beekeepers are fighting with the Varroa mites. I’m happy to say my biggest problems are things like trying to get nucs through the winter and coming up with hives that won’t hurt my back from lifting or better ways to feed the bees.
This change from fighting the mites is mostly because I’ve gone to natural sized cells. In case you weren’t aware, and I wasn’t for a long time, the foundation in common usage results in much larger bees than what you would find in a natural hive. I’ve measured sections of natural worker brood comb that are 4.6mm in diameter. …What most people use for worker brood is foundation that is 5.4mm in diameter. If you translate that into three dimensions instead of one, it produces a bee that is about half as large again as is natural. By letting the bees build natural sized cells, I have virtually eliminated my Varroa and Tracheal mite problems. One cause of this is shorter capping times by one day, and shorter post-capping times by one day. This means less Varroa get into the cells, and less Varroa reproduce in the cells. (14)
Who should be surprised that the major media reports forget to tell us that the dying bees are actually hyper-bred varieties that we coax into a larger than normal body size? It sounds just like the beef industry. And, have we here a solution to the vanishing bee problem? Is it one that the CCD Working Group, or indeed, the scientific world at large, will support? Will media coverage affect government action in dealing with this issue?
Found at What Really Happened
Another perspective
Sharon Labchuk is a longtime environmental activist and part-time organic beekeeper from Prince Edward Island. She has twice run for a seat in Ottawa’s House of Commons, making strong showings around 5% for Canada’s fledgling Green Party. She is also leader of the provincial wing of her party. In a widely circulated email, she wrote:
I’m on an organic beekeeping list of about 1,000 people, mostly Americans, and no one in the organic beekeeping world, including commercial beekeepers, is reporting colony collapse on this list. The problem with the big commercial guys is that they put pesticides in their hives to fumigate for varroa mites, and they feed antibiotics to the bees. They also haul the hives by truck all over the place to make more money with pollination services, which stresses the colonies. (13)
Her email recommends a visit to the Bush Bees Web site at bushfarms.com. Here, Michael Bush felt compelled to put a message to the beekeeping world right on the top page:
Most of us beekeepers are fighting with the Varroa mites. I’m happy to say my biggest problems are things like trying to get nucs through the winter and coming up with hives that won’t hurt my back from lifting or better ways to feed the bees.
This change from fighting the mites is mostly because I’ve gone to natural sized cells. In case you weren’t aware, and I wasn’t for a long time, the foundation in common usage results in much larger bees than what you would find in a natural hive. I’ve measured sections of natural worker brood comb that are 4.6mm in diameter. …What most people use for worker brood is foundation that is 5.4mm in diameter. If you translate that into three dimensions instead of one, it produces a bee that is about half as large again as is natural. By letting the bees build natural sized cells, I have virtually eliminated my Varroa and Tracheal mite problems. One cause of this is shorter capping times by one day, and shorter post-capping times by one day. This means less Varroa get into the cells, and less Varroa reproduce in the cells. (14)
Who should be surprised that the major media reports forget to tell us that the dying bees are actually hyper-bred varieties that we coax into a larger than normal body size? It sounds just like the beef industry. And, have we here a solution to the vanishing bee problem? Is it one that the CCD Working Group, or indeed, the scientific world at large, will support? Will media coverage affect government action in dealing with this issue?
Found at What Really Happened
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
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