All the news unfit to print for Sunday, May 27, 2007
Here we are again. Another Memorial Day. Another Memorial Day during war. Flag draped caskets continue to be shipped back to America containing the bodies of our men and women of the American military..
While cookouts across America heat up and beer bottles get opened, the celebrating begins. America prides itself in nationwide treks. Not even the gas prices can stop us now..
Instead, it seems nothing can stop Americans from thinking of fun on Memorial Day--not even a war.
The fact that a war rages in a distant land doesn't seem to be enough to land itself onto the radar screen of what's important to most Americans. For too many it's a footnote to the day. "Oh did you see the news, Iraq is in chaos." Then it's time to live life.
I can't for the life of my understand the disconnent. It's a cultural thing I keep thinking.
We are, as a county, in the most fascinating point of our history. An American President with more power than any in modern times, while a war is still being fought even though it's original purposes are moot with the lack of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
But stay we do. Fight we are.
The flag is still flying .. and riding on the backs of cars in the form of magnetic stickers. That's the most some do. That's it. American patriotism slapped onto a foreign car. God bless our troops.
I am sure your local neighborhood car dealer is ready for tomorrow's business. Furniture sales across the land.
What are we doing!? It is madness. There is a fight across the seas. A war is still ongoing!
But gather in the SUVs we do. And off and rolling across the decaying highway infrastrcuture of America.
They fight for us to be free. Summer 2007 begins. In earnest. And pride.
Hopefully we're proud of the right things and not of the wrong. There were many deaths in the history of our proud country that led us to live the lives we do now. At least remember those that did that. For the love of God, stop the madness.
US News and World Report this week is taking a look at how to eat safe-- and not get sick like the millions of Americans that do each year from food bourne illnesses. I think everyone has a horror story of eating at a restaurant and not making it home without incident..
The one thing that surprised me was this graph: US NEWS reporting of all the different country sources the United States gets it food from.
The magazine on organic food:
"The good news: Organic produce does carry less pesticide and herbicide residue than conventionally grown crops. And under federal law, organic milk, meat, and produce can't contain added growth hormones, antibiotics, or genetically modified organisms. But organic produce and meat can just as easily be contaminated with bacteria, heavy metals, or other pathogens that pose significant health risks. A recent study found that organic chickens were just as likely as their regular brethren to be contaminated with campylobacter; some organic birds had more bacteria. And the California spinach contaminated by E. coli last year had been grown using organic methods."
All the news unfit to print for Saturday, May 19, 2007
Some random rakings
...While it was difficult to recover from the fact that Donald Trump's the APPRENTICE was canceled by NBC, I think we'll be ok as a nation--even more so now that he claims you can't fire someone that "quits"...
Nonetheless.. with no further ado, the random rakings for this morning. After reading this go outside and enjoy life.
"At a bipartisan gathering in an ornate meeting room just off the Senate floor, McCain complained that Cornyn was raising petty objections to a compromise plan being worked out between Senate Republicans and Democrats and the White House. He used a curse word associated with chickens and accused Cornyn of raising the issue just to torpedo a deal.
Things got really heated when Cornyn accused McCain of being too busy campaigning for president to take part in the negotiations, which have gone on for months behind closed doors. "Wait a second here," Cornyn said to McCain. "I've been sitting in here for all of these negotiations and you just parachute in here on the last day. You're out of line."
McCain, a former Navy pilot, then used language more accustomed to sailors (not to mention the current vice president, who made news a few years back after a verbal encounter with Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont).
"[Expletive] you! I know more about this than anyone else in the room," shouted McCain at Cornyn. McCain helped craft a bill in 2006 that passed the Senate but couldn't be compromised with a House bill that was much tougher on illegal immigrants."
According to reports, the bill contains the following: Immediate work authorization to undocumented workers who arrived in the United States before January 1, 2007. Applicants would also have to pay a $5,000 penalty. Additionally, the number of Border Patrol agents would be doubled, border fencing would be strengthened and employers who hire undocumented workers would face fines.
In this blogger's humble opinion, the immigration issue is tough. On one hand you can argue this basic amnesty for illegal immigrants into America is a reward for people breaking the law.. On the other hand you can argue that it will lead to a bigger tax base for the government, plus making illegal workers automatically legal will make employers have to pay minimum wages, workers comp, and take out all appropriate taxes. Then on the other side of the coin, you can argue that 12 million people is a lot of people to automatically be considered legal.. and even further than that path of high numbers is the fear that it may just very well be more than 12 million illegal immigrants. After all, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 passed and signed by President Reagan provided legal status for 3 million people--this after early estimates only had the number at about 400,000 people. So perhaps the 12million, though a huge number, could still be an understatement..
In the current climate of debate in America about immigration, many factors emerge: Americans like the prices of fruit and vegetables where they are.. Those fruits and vegetables, though, are picked many times illegal immigrants who are being paid only a few dollars a day.. Many instances have occurred in this country--in modern times during our modern days--in which illegal immigrants were forced to almost work in slave conditions. There are more than a few stories of immigrants being forced to work in factories, whether they are clothing, meat packing industries, or anything else, in which they were seriously injured. Without the benefits of legal status, there was also no workers compensation being paid for the workers..
And again, though, another side of the coin still exists. Americans are constantly losing their jobs at companies that choose to move their businesses out of the country. The manufacturing base of America is at least in jeopardy if not in crisis.. Food handling dangers exist in a world of work where immigrants trying to make quick money to live are not always educated on hand washing or safety.
Now the debate will ensue. The trouble with good intentions so many times, though, is that "reform" can lead to disaster. Disaster in this could would be horrible; we are dealing with the lives of both legal and undocumented people--human lives. Human lives that will be effected by whatever our government decides to do on this vital issue.
The White House is brushing up on how to act when royalty arrives. Even though we won the Revolutionary War way back when, there's still Jamestown: And it's the 400th this year, as you may already know. So if you thought the country felt just a little bit extra special this week, it is because the Queen of England has arrived in America to see the little town that was.
She's going to the White House tonight for a big state dinner. If anyone remembers the NAKED GUN, you will recall the scene with Leslie Neilson sailing down a table on top of the Queen lookalike actress.. we can only hope that President Bush will not find himself in the same embarassing predicament this evening..
.. Not trying to be an alarmist here (or goofy) but I've been watching for bees. I haven't seen many yet. They're still dying.. the loss of millions of hives is still leaving scientists scratching their heads. Why?
To the gates of hell and back again: The Republicans convene
If you were able to sit through the entire Republican primary debate the other night, perhaps you deserve a medal.. The only thing missing from the silly demeanor of John McCain and quirky behaivor of the rest was a laugh track. One NATIONAL REVIEW observer compared McCain's acting to Jack Nicholson from Kubrick's version of THE SHINING..
His forceful line of following Osama Bin Laden to "gates of hell" somehow lost all credibility when moments later, as though he forgot cameras actually were filming him, he smiled and winked proud. The gates of hell are still waiting..
"All the candidates save one, the obscure but intellectually serious Ron Paul, seemed to be trying to show they will not break with the Bush administration on the war, but that, at the same time, they each know a heck of a lot more than President Bush. There were criticisms of the administration's handling of Iraq, with the first and strongest coming from Mr. McCain. Mike Huckabee had the most spirited explanation. The administration listened to "civilians in silk ties" rather than generals "with mud and blood on their boots." On Iran, the candidates seemed in general to be indignant to the point of bellicosity.
If we view the proceedings in vulgar and reductive Who Won, Who Lost terms, and let's, Mitt Romney won, Rudy Giuliani lost, and John McCain is still in. The moderator, Chris Matthews, seemed to think he was on "Hardball" and had to keep the pups, punks and rubes -- that would be the candidates -- in line. He cut them off -- "Congressman, that's time!" -- and occasionally hectored. One of the stars was the buzzing clock. It interrupted all thought.
Mr. McCain seemed alert, and full of effort. Somehow he seemed both high-energy and creaky. He uncompromisingly supported fighting it out in Iraq. He also had the best line of the night. When Mitt Romney was tagged for saying catching Osama is not of pre-eminent importance -- "It's more than Osama bin Laden" -- Mr. McCain quickly pounced. "I'll follow him to the gates of hell." Go, baby. But there was something "Poignant Echoes of the Past" about his performance. He didn't make it new, but I think he made it more moving.
I can't agree. I didn't take this line seriously at all. I think McCain lost credibility during this exact moment.. As far as Guiliani, he spoke like more of a Mayor running for reelection than a contender going for the highest office in the land..
Noonan continues:
"Sam Brownback seems a very nice and sleepy fellow who means it on the social issues. Jim Gilmore, Duncan Hunter and Tommy Thompson all got sort of jumbled together, and seemed to merge into one, "The Guy You Don't Know and Don't Think You Have To." The disappointment was Tom Tancredo, who can be colorful and passionate on the stump, and not only on immigration, and who was expected by some to be the wildcard, the Mike Gravel of the GOP debate. He seemed hemmed in by the format, and looked as if he knew it, getting, halfway in, the disheartened look of a talk-show guest who just realized he left it in the green room."
Overall her assessment is pretty accurate.. A few moments of oddity: Romney asked what he didn't like about America and he was speechless, Tommy Thompson blaming a hearing aid issue for not hearing a question.. and once again, that "gates of hell" line..
All the news unfit to print for Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Tainted poultry..
AND it may have already been eaten by you and me!
The Food and Drug Administration said that as many as 3 million chickens that may have been given contaminated feed containing melamine have already been eaten by consumers..
Bush, as predicted, vetoes Iraq funding bill.. the timeline attached, the statement about opposition to the war, all now vetoed by a defiant President Bush tonight..
Random rakings
