The right to choose your food

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I can’t wrap my brain around this. 

I’m just stunned at the thought that someone could try to label organic food as “junk food”.  As the article points out, this would eliminate the right to choose organic, free range eggs, or gluten-free bread for Celiacs…it’s just mindboggling the ignorance and outright endangerment.  So…I suppose if someone is Celiac and buys food they are not supposed to have in order to have something to eat…if their gut disintegrates from inflammation and they either end up in the hospital for surgically fixing the problem, or dead from a ruptured abdomen.

I really love the fact that the Tea Party members conveniently ignore that people on food stamps and other welfare were once taxpayers that paid into the system.  Same with Social Security and Medicare.

ALEC fighting open records

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This up from PR Watch on ALEC’s latest: asserting that its communications with public legislators is private….

Isn’t it amazing how the folks who insist on the Patriot Act and having the right to examine your private phone conversations, emails, library records, bank records, etc., are the same ones insisting that they have a right to privacy….??  The story states that there are cases where the communications can be private–in some states they don’t have to make their communications public knowledge…but it stops there and doesn’t explore that point further.

So…I went on a quick search and found this resource to each state’s open door laws.  As with any law, though, it’s only as good as the people behind it.  That is, if you have a group of people bent on keeping things secret with financial resources to keep their secrets, while those that try to find information lacking in financial resources…well, the law isn’t worth much…

With politicians like these….

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…who needs Bozo the Clown?

Did Walworth really ask if they were growing cultures that would become human beings?  OMG….these are the people deciding educational standards?  ::holds head from spinning::

Even more alarming (if anything could be more alarming) is this passage from Louisiana Voice:

Where others within the Department of Education (DOE) have alluded privately to data suppression and manipulation of school performance scores that artificially inflated graduation rates, Bassett, a band director who said he was “highly qualified” to teach math, publicly charged White, BESE and DOE of misrepresenting test scores and then covering up the lie by removing the data from the Louisiana Believes website. “This is data suppression,” Bassett said.

He said he was asked by his principal last October to look into his school’s score so that it could be improved in the future. “My subsequent research revealed deceit, distortion, manipulation of scores and data suppression,” he said.

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Further down, it goes into specifics about VAM and how the data was missing or manipulated.  Good God, these people have no conscience nor credibility…

Unfortunately, Louisiana is not alone.

Girl Scouts and Common Core Badge

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Diane Ravitch has a blog up on the Girl Scouts getting on the “Common Core Bandwagon” by issuing badges to girls for the…um…skill of Common Core…

Gah, whatever happened to learning how to build a campfire, going on hikes, helping the elderly, playing an instrument, identifying trees by their leaves,  and so on…?  Remember when it was about learning survival skills for being out in the woods?

I mean, when I was a Girl Scout we learned some actual skills that I use even to this day! (Okay, I’ve forgotten a lot, but not everything)

We camped overnight at the campground in the woods.  We used genuine outhouses with wooden boxes over holes in the ground.  Yours truly got stung on the rear end when a wasp from a nest located in the outhouse resented the invasion into its “territory”…I have never moved so fast in all of my life. :p

I remember singing “Kookaberra” and “Amster___ (shhhh…Scouts don’t cuss)”   haha. Great times.  So, now they want to award badges for unproven educational standards that have absolutely nothing to do with the outdoors?  Pfft.

The Stingray

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I have a gorgeous photo of a group of Golden Stingrays on my calendar this month–somewhat similar to this.

National Geographic has this piece describing them.

A nice video here on them:

Ocean Conservancy has this up on the possible threat to rays.   There are some species that are endangered, according to this.   I guess the question is…does it make sense to keep pushing the envelope until a species is endangered, or is it better to pull back and not push it to the edge?  Why is it so hard for us to keep the balance?

 

Fox guarding hen house attacks hen

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…news at 11:00.  Seriously?? 

Cue the “outrage” that such action occurred….then quietly continue with status quo….

This is more than a military issue.  This is a culture issue.

Yeah, rape is hilarious. It’s just so freaking funny to listen to a woman scream “no, no, no” over and over again.  And hey, it’s great fun to force yourself on someone who is asleep and unable to fight you off.  /snark

Elizabeth Smart and why she didn’t run away--her self esteem was so low she felt like a “chewed up piece of gum”….because the way she was raised, if one lost their virginity, one was worthless.  The ever important hymen must be intact (Gah, can someone say Al-Queda?) in order for her to be worthy….it is so sad that she felt so awful about herself instead of putting the behavior onto her captor.  It should also be noted that when feminists began working to uplift women’s self esteem, the evangelicals put a stop to it (Gloria Steinem, Revolution from Within).

And the lovely gun manufacturers’ target, “The Ex”. …they included a woman, dripped in blood, because they didn’t want to be sexist…?!  I’m surprised they didn’t also say that they wanted to include a black man because they didn’t want to appear racist….and he just *happened* to look like President Obama…just like the “devil” on the Mark Burnett / Roma Downey “Bible” series…these things just happen, dontcha know?

See my blog here on the Steubenville case and rape culture around the world.

 

Syria

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A really good piece here  on Syria and the general Middle East.  I like how it addresses the entire problem, not just the problem du jour.  Just in the last few days, have I heard of the Hezbollah connection to Assad’s side.  This is major news.  And helps one to understand why Israel suddenly starts launching an attack.  They can say what they want, but it would appear that Israel is in it for the entire conflict, not a specific target, as they claim.

On CSPAN this morning, a writer for daily beast/Newsweek (sorry, forgot the name) was addressing Syria and Benghazi.  A caller calls in with a foreign accent and speaks of how many in Syria have been against Assad, but are now so afraid.  He asserts (and I agree) that most Muslim people do not condone what Al Queda has done–they are aghast at the violence and will not participate in it.  But they are cornered–they are in fear for themselves and their families and they have to be able to get food and water and shelter.  The CSPAN host asks where he is from?  Answer:  Syria.  Do you still have family there?  Answer:  Yes.  How are they doing?  Answer:  They are afraid and want Assad out.  I believe he said they wanted democracy, too.

Another caller had said that we are broke.  We can’t afford to get into another war.  We need a war tax if we’re going to go in.

I have to admit I’ve been torn about Syria.  I feel strongly against letting some creep murder people.  At the same time, like the guy said, we’re broke.  We cannot afford to go in again to a country and wage war.  Only if they tax the rich can we afford to go in….because the middle class and the working poor can’t do it–they can barely put food on the table for their own families.

 

Kelp and arsenic

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A member posted they did not take kelp supplements because of the high arsenic content.  I was aware of the possible contamination with heavy metals, but it’s always good to check and re-check supplements to see the latest.

I have been taking Solgar brand kelp, because Solgar is a good brand…but that doesn’t mean I should slack off….so…

I went on a search this morning trying to find out the exact content of arsenic in kelp.  I found a disturbing study out of UC Berkeley…that tested several brands of kelp and found arsenic in all of them but one.  The aggravating part of the story is that they did not name the brands!  WTH? (One also needs to keep in mind that universities are not islands in the $$ funding arena, so their “studies” may be heavily influenced by donations from corporations.  Supplements have been the target of Big Pharma for years…they would love nothing better than to destroy the supplement industry because it cuts into their $$ billion dollar profits. Greed. Greed. Greed.) (also–many pharmaceuticals are derived from plant properties. Another site here.)

Doing a search, I came up empty on Solgar when looking for specific data stating arsenic content.

I found these links:  Vegan health on supplementing with iodine.  I notice they recommend potassium iodide by Nature’s Plus because it isn’t made from kelp, thus avoiding arsenic contamination.  I am always skeptical about sites that recommend a specific brand.  I saw this on three different sites that had the same format–a red flag is raised.  Not that I think Nature’s Plus is a bad brand, only that the authors of these sites perhaps are receiving some sort of compensation for the recommendation, which would influence their judgment and perhaps they would not state adverse problems with the product.

This article recommends Lugol’s for replacing iodine.  Lugol’s is a popular supplement on the mercury support group.

This page states that Solgar, among others, is a good brand that is not loaded with toxic heavy metals.  The connection of fluoride displacing iodine in the thyroid….and yet they continue putting fluoride in public drinking water.  Also note his assertion that kelp is superior due to the minute minerals it adds plus the bioavailability (it isn’t going to do you much good if your body doesn’t recognize it and absorb it).   He recommends against Lugol’s because of… possible toxicity in the liver…this is especially worrisome for heavy metal poisoned folks like moi--the liver and kidneys take direct hits from the stupid mercury poison and therefore have a tough time processing toxins like they would normally–care needs to be taken.

I like that he also considers kelp a balancing food between yin and yang (not that I understand yin and yang to a deep degree–just know that it’s an Asian approach to medicine of balance).