Agribusiness (big corporations running agriculture) spends a ton of money lobbying our corrupt Washington DC law makers. They try to avoid as much regulation/oversight as possible. Clean slaughter houses? No thanks. Humane treatment of animals? What's that? How our food is produced? Who cares? Where does our food come from? Anyone know? It doesn't seem to matter for most people, who pack their cars with brightly packaged, conveniently "cleaned", vitamin-fortified, artificially flavored crap from the SUPER-market.
It doesn't matter that is until people start getting sick or dying from food-poison.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/07/09/salmonella.tomatoes.ap/index.html
It seems so absolutely ridiculous that our government cannot tell us where food is coming from so that we can track down food tainted with salmonella. Perhaps if food production was more transparent and regulated, we wouldn't have salmonella tainted produce going inside our bodies to start with. If we can't even trust our wonderful Washington law makers to do this, how can they POSSIBLY balance a budget? Manage an invasion? Provide health care? Just food for thought.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
San Francisco - Progressive or Just Faking It?
There was an article in the SF Chronicle this past weekend about the mass exodus of middle-low income residents from San Francisco.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/22/MNJJ10NPSK.DTL&hw=expensive+living&sn=006&sc=747
The number of families making $150K or more a year is rising in SF while families making under that continue to decline.
In a city that prides itself on diversity, this trend is anything but. Only about 30% of the SF Police force actually live in the city. Most are living in the east bay and other outlying areas. What would happen if an earthquake disabled the bridges into the city?
One of the best qualities about San Francisco is that it embodies so many varieties of neighborhoods, people and history. If the trend of low-middle class getting squeezed out continues, then only the history will remain.
As a response to the article, a reader by the name of "Ichiro" wrote the following response to the SF Chronicle article:
"This city has changed incredibly in just 15 years. It has lost what little bohemian edge it had, the funkiness really phased out around 1998. The whole "progressive" image is really a joke. Rich consumers simply stand behind a gay's right to marriage and they pander to environmental issues and that makes the city "progressive". Its such a delusion. The city is actually all about just eating and drinking and being entertained night after night after night. San Francisco is a mecca for consumption, that is what is really going on here. Buy stuff, worship Steve Jobs and new gadgets, go eat and drink at the newest hip place, maintain your stallion of friends through e-mails and texts, and go to starbucks. That's the drive of this city, its not progressive, its progressive consumption. Buy a million dollar condo and join in on the fun!! If you and your spouse make less than 350 k a year, I would get the hell out while you can."
Thoughts? Comments?
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
The number of families making $150K or more a year is rising in SF while families making under that continue to decline.
In a city that prides itself on diversity, this trend is anything but. Only about 30% of the SF Police force actually live in the city. Most are living in the east bay and other outlying areas. What would happen if an earthquake disabled the bridges into the city?
One of the best qualities about San Francisco is that it embodies so many varieties of neighborhoods, people and history. If the trend of low-middle class getting squeezed out continues, then only the history will remain.
As a response to the article, a reader by the name of "Ichiro" wrote the following response to the SF Chronicle article:
"This city has changed incredibly in just 15 years. It has lost what little bohemian edge it had, the funkiness really phased out around 1998. The whole "progressive" image is really a joke. Rich consumers simply stand behind a gay's right to marriage and they pander to environmental issues and that makes the city "progressive". Its such a delusion. The city is actually all about just eating and drinking and being entertained night after night after night. San Francisco is a mecca for consumption, that is what is really going on here. Buy stuff, worship Steve Jobs and new gadgets, go eat and drink at the newest hip place, maintain your stallion of friends through e-mails and texts, and go to starbucks. That's the drive of this city, its not progressive, its progressive consumption. Buy a million dollar condo and join in on the fun!! If you and your spouse make less than 350 k a year, I would get the hell out while you can."
Thoughts? Comments?
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Lifting the Ban on Stupidity
Bush and his cronies are up to it again, this time they are rallying support along with their fellow big-oil executive friends to lift the ban on off-shore drilling.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/19/washington/19drill.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp
Instead of lifting this ban, they should be working towards lifting the ban on mass stupidity and short-sightedness. Our addiction to "oil" is exactly that, an addiction. Addiction is a self-feeding disease. It's painful, it's tough. If you can only get a little of substance to feed your addiction, you would feel a lot better...until the next wave of craving hits. And with each wave of craving and feeding, the subsequent craving will be that more pronounced and it'll take that much more feeding to satisfy.
Opening up our wilderness (what's left of it) to drilling for more oil is not a solution. It is not a short term solution because "short term solutions" are A) oxymorons B)impossible to achieve given the length of time to find, drill, refine oil. It is said it would take 5-10 yrs before the 1st barrel of oil is produced should the ban be lifted.
It is not a long term solution because it moves us towards further addiction. Bush and his cronies should stop supplying the addicted country with this black drug. We need to get rid of the drug dealers and overcome this addiction.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/19/washington/19drill.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp
Instead of lifting this ban, they should be working towards lifting the ban on mass stupidity and short-sightedness. Our addiction to "oil" is exactly that, an addiction. Addiction is a self-feeding disease. It's painful, it's tough. If you can only get a little of substance to feed your addiction, you would feel a lot better...until the next wave of craving hits. And with each wave of craving and feeding, the subsequent craving will be that more pronounced and it'll take that much more feeding to satisfy.
Opening up our wilderness (what's left of it) to drilling for more oil is not a solution. It is not a short term solution because "short term solutions" are A) oxymorons B)impossible to achieve given the length of time to find, drill, refine oil. It is said it would take 5-10 yrs before the 1st barrel of oil is produced should the ban be lifted.
It is not a long term solution because it moves us towards further addiction. Bush and his cronies should stop supplying the addicted country with this black drug. We need to get rid of the drug dealers and overcome this addiction.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
A guiding light into the rocks
In an ideal world, our political leaders would be model citizens, moral leaders and critical thinkers. They would be the ones leading us towards a better tomorrow.
In the real world, our political leaders are mass-pandering, two-faced, fair-weather individuals. They'll do whatever is needed to get votes.
From CNN: Exhibit A
"Clinton's proposal to suspend the 18.4-cent-per-gallon federal gasoline tax for the summer -- an idea belittled by most economists and rejected by Obama as a political gimmick -- proved to be a winner in West Virginia. Voters supported the gas tax suspension by an almost 2-to-1 margin. Those voters who supported suspending the gas tax broke for Clinton, 74 to 19 percent."
This is complete lunacy. It shows truly how short-sighted these West Virginian voters are and truly how much of a toady Clinton is. A gas tax holiday will move us backwards towards a continued dependency on big oil (See "Kill Big Oil"). It will only strengthen support for people to be short sighted, only focusing on the summer driving season with no regard for the future.
In the real world, our political leaders are mass-pandering, two-faced, fair-weather individuals. They'll do whatever is needed to get votes.
From CNN: Exhibit A
"Clinton's proposal to suspend the 18.4-cent-per-gallon federal gasoline tax for the summer -- an idea belittled by most economists and rejected by Obama as a political gimmick -- proved to be a winner in West Virginia. Voters supported the gas tax suspension by an almost 2-to-1 margin. Those voters who supported suspending the gas tax broke for Clinton, 74 to 19 percent."
This is complete lunacy. It shows truly how short-sighted these West Virginian voters are and truly how much of a toady Clinton is. A gas tax holiday will move us backwards towards a continued dependency on big oil (See "Kill Big Oil"). It will only strengthen support for people to be short sighted, only focusing on the summer driving season with no regard for the future.
God, Gas and Guns
This is quite breathtaking.
From: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080522.wgungas0522/BNStory/Front/home
Gas or gun?
The Canadian Press
May 22, 2008 at 12:49 PM EDT
BUTLER, Missouri — Salesmen at a Missouri car dealership are not just kicking in a free CD player or air conditioner. They are offering a free handgun with every purchase.
Through the end of the month, car buyers at Max Motors in Butler will have a choice — $250 toward either a gun purchase or gasoline.
General manager Walter Moore says that so far, most buyers have chosen the gun, adding that he suggests they opt for a semiautomatic model “because it holds more rounds.”
In the fine print, the ad on the website explains, “Check written toward purchase price” and also mentions, “Approved Background Check REQUIRED!!”
Mr. Moore says he suspects his “Free Handgun” ad will draw protests in some places. But not in Butler, about 100 kilometres south of Kansas City.
Mr. Moore says, “Down here, we all believe in God, guts and guns.”
------------------------------------------------------
Saw this news clip and reminded me of the Neil Young song, "Rockin' in the Free World".
...We got a thousand points of light
For the homeless man
We got a kinder, gentler,
Machine gun hand
We got department stores
and toilet paper
Got styrofoam boxes
for the ozone layer
Got a man of the people,
says keep hope alive
Got fuel to burn,
got roads to drive.
From: http://www.theglobeandmail
Gas or gun?
The Canadian Press
May 22, 2008 at 12:49 PM EDT
BUTLER, Missouri — Salesmen at a Missouri car dealership are not just kicking in a free CD player or air conditioner. They are offering a free handgun with every purchase.
Through the end of the month, car buyers at Max Motors in Butler will have a choice — $250 toward either a gun purchase or gasoline.
General manager Walter Moore says that so far, most buyers have chosen the gun, adding that he suggests they opt for a semiautomatic model “because it holds more rounds.”
In the fine print, the ad on the website explains, “Check written toward purchase price” and also mentions, “Approved Background Check REQUIRED!!”
Mr. Moore says he suspects his “Free Handgun” ad will draw protests in some places. But not in Butler, about 100 kilometres south of Kansas City.
Mr. Moore says, “Down here, we all believe in God, guts and guns.”
--------------------------
Saw this news clip and reminded me of the Neil Young song, "Rockin' in the Free World".
...We got a thousand points of light
For the homeless man
We got a kinder, gentler,
Machine gun hand
We got department stores
and toilet paper
Got styrofoam boxes
for the ozone layer
Got a man of the people,
says keep hope alive
Got fuel to burn,
got roads to drive.
Trashy Bay to Breakers
If I could, I would participate in the Bay to Breakers next year, I would go as a garbage truck. It would follow behind all the racers, all the way at the end of the crowd and collect all the debris that the supposed earth loving Norther Californians leave behind.
Anyone who has been to this event will tell you it's a lot of fun, the costumes are fantastic, it's very "San Francisco"...blah blah blah. I've yet to hear anyone mention the excess littering and wastefulness that it also represents.
For all the fun it is as a race, Bay to Breakers for the most part is an excuse for people to get drunk, wear little clothing and do stupid things. I followed the crowd down the panhandle for a few blocks and it felt like I was following behind a giant machine spewing all sorts of packaging debris, cans, bottles, food wrapping, chip bags..... all the great things that fill up our landfills and give the packaged food companies billions of $$.
I'd have to recruit a team of friends to help collect all the garbage as we follow the crowd. My guess is that we'd collect a few truck loads of waste.
Anyone who has been to this event will tell you it's a lot of fun, the costumes are fantastic, it's very "San Francisco"...blah blah blah. I've yet to hear anyone mention the excess littering and wastefulness that it also represents.
For all the fun it is as a race, Bay to Breakers for the most part is an excuse for people to get drunk, wear little clothing and do stupid things. I followed the crowd down the panhandle for a few blocks and it felt like I was following behind a giant machine spewing all sorts of packaging debris, cans, bottles, food wrapping, chip bags..... all the great things that fill up our landfills and give the packaged food companies billions of $$.
I'd have to recruit a team of friends to help collect all the garbage as we follow the crowd. My guess is that we'd collect a few truck loads of waste.
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