(no subject)

* Melissa Harris-Perry on the Miss Universe pageant and Jenna Talackova: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/melissa-harris-perry/46419672#46983205

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* Re: Pink Slime: Yes, it's gross, but hot dogs are grosser and people eat those. I do think not labeling fast food burgers to reflect the actual content is an issue. People should be allowed to opt out. I opted out of hot dogs once I was old enough to have a say, and as a vegetarian I opt out of all the risks that come with beef from CFD to pink slime. Don't like/approve etc. of the contents? Just don't eat it. Again, I'm all for better labeling, like making McDonald's and Pizza Hut disclose the beef fat in so called "vegetarian" options. I'm also in favour of not feeding cows antibiotics routinely. I'm also in favour of humane free range farming. I'm also in favour of labeling genetically engineered vegetables. I'm not saying folks don't have a right to be disgusted. I am not convinced we should be feeding kids this stuff, but I feel that way about hot dogs and soda pop too. (Soda once in a while for special occasions seems reasonable. Soda every day seems like a terrible thing to feed children where clean water is available. The stuff they feed kids in school lunches is nasty greasy and unhealthy and when I was teaching I always brought my lunch. I'm with Mrs. Obama on the need to make school lunches more healthy just generally. I know, side issue, but school children are a captive audience when it comes to nutrition. As the children don't get a real say, I think it's society's job to do something about it.) I just think this is a vote with your feet situation.

* I am wildly against the Republican plan to remove food inspectors, FDA oversight, and speed up the meat processing lines so as to prevent inspection is a terrible idea. Look at how badly self regulation has worked for the financial regulation. It is my belief that if we remove independent food inspectors, it'll dramatically increase the incidence of food poisoning. Seriously, chickens in particular are already pretty dangerous. Making the risk higher is likely going to kill a lot more folks. E. Coli and salmonella are no joke, and it's the youngest and the oldest who die in the largest numbers.

* Favorite pundit line of the week comes from Richard Kim: "It helps that Romney and Ryan's version of America in the future is like the Hunger Games."

* "A Dialogue With My 86-year-old Grandmother About LGBT Rights & Marriage Equality:" http://lettersfromtitan.tumblr.com/post/20714679713/a-dialogue-with-my-86-year-old-grandmother-about-lgbt

* It turns out the hyacinth is a scentless less attractive variant. Heartbreaking. No hyacinths this year.

* I hate being this level of small muscle clumsy. I keep choking from throat malfunctions, and I spilled stuff on three shirts and a robe in the course of two days because I am having trouble managing eating utensils. Being old sucks.

* Re: Tansy Experiment. It does not help the cats at all, but it does seem to discourage fleas in my bed. They can be tracked in, but once we all settle, no flea activity. Downside: I can feel the lumpier bits through the sheet and liner. If you are doing it at home, I suggest grinding to a finer powder.

* Game of thrones thought: Has no one invented foreplay yet in their world?

* Easter Cake: http://www.cakewrecks.com/home/2012/4/8/sunday-sweets-happy-easter.html

(no subject)

* Melissa Harris-Perry on the Miss Universe pageant and Jenna Talackova: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/melissa-harris-perry/46419672#46983205

( Embed: )

* Re: Pink Slime: Yes, it's gross, but hot dogs are grosser and people eat those. I do think not labeling fast food burgers to reflect the actual content is an issue. People should be allowed to opt out. I opted out of hot dogs once I was old enough to have a say, and as a vegetarian I opt out of all the risks that come with beef from CFD to pink slime. Don't like/approve etc. of the contents? Just don't eat it. Again, I'm all for better labeling, like making McDonald's and Pizza Hut disclose the beef fat in so called "vegetarian" options. I'm also in favour of not feeding cows antibiotics routinely. I'm also in favour of humane free range farming. I'm also in favour of labeling genetically engineered vegetables. I'm not saying folks don't have a right to be disgusted. I am not convinced we should be feeding kids this stuff, but I feel that way about hot dogs and soda pop too. (Soda once in a while for special occasions seems reasonable. Soda every day seems like a terrible thing to feed children where clean water is available. The stuff they feed kids in school lunches is nasty greasy and unhealthy and when I was teaching I always brought my lunch. I'm with Mrs. Obama on the need to make school lunches more healthy just generally. I know, side issue, but school children are a captive audience when it comes to nutrition. As the children don't get a real say, I think it's society's job to do something about it.) I just think this is a vote with your feet situation.

* I am wildly against the Republican plan to remove food inspectors, FDA oversight, and speed up the meat processing lines so as to prevent inspection is a terrible idea. Look at how badly self regulation has worked for the financial regulation. It is my belief that if we remove independent food inspectors, it'll dramatically increase the incidence of food poisoning. Seriously, chickens in particular are already pretty dangerous. Making the risk higher is likely going to kill a lot more folks. E. Coli and salmonella are no joke, and it's the youngest and the oldest who die in the largest numbers.

* Favorite pundit line of the week comes from Richard Kim: "It helps that Romney and Ryan's version of America in the future is like the Hunger Games."

* "A Dialogue With My 86-year-old Grandmother About LGBT Rights & Marriage Equality:" http://lettersfromtitan.tumblr.com/post/20714679713/a-dialogue-with-my-86-year-old-grandmother-about-lgbt

* It turns out the hyacinth is a scentless less attractive variant. Heartbreaking. No hyacinths this year.

* I hate being this level of small muscle clumsy. I keep choking from throat malfunctions, and I spilled stuff on three shirts and a robe in the course of two days because I am having trouble managing eating utensils. Being old sucks.

* Re: Tansy Experiment. It does not help the cats at all, but it does seem to discourage fleas in my bed. They can be tracked in, but once we all settle, no flea activity. Downside: I can feel the lumpier bits through the sheet and liner. If you are doing it at home, I suggest grinding to a finer powder.

* Game of thrones thought: Has no one invented foreplay yet in their world?

* Easter Cake: http://www.cakewrecks.com/home/2012/4/8/sunday-sweets-happy-easter.html

(no subject)

* 24 hours before the UN ordered cease fire in Syria, government forces were still gunning down unarmed refugees fleeing across the Turkish border and fired across the border into a refugee camp within Turkey. Assad is demanding that the protesters put in writing that they will no longer resist whatever he does and for the international community to sign saying they will provide no help to the civilians he is slaughtering before he will stop slaughtering them. Raise your hand if you think he will stop slaughtering people even if the whole world surrenders unconditionally. No one? The Russians are now pretending to e surprised that Kofi Annan's peace plan looks to be failing. Sigh. I am saying pretending as it was obvious to everyone that it wasn't going to work from the moment they appointed Mr. Annan to negotiate it and Russia is providing Assad money and weapons in order to worsen the genocide.

* %5 of the Haitian population have died so far in Haiti's first cholera outbreak. The cause is very likely UN pace keepers who accidentally brought the pathogen with them. (The Nepalese cholera strain matched a point of origin at a UN camp with Nepalese soldiers and crappy sanitation. IE: dumping waste in open pits next to houses where people lived). The rainy season is about to start. I suspect you can do the math. It's a horrible way to die.

Partners in Health: (They have Haitians in charge on the ground in Haiti and are providing health care including cholera vaccine): http://www.pih.org/?source=GoogleGrants&subsource=Site_Site%20-%20Not%20Donate_Partners%20in%20Health%20Haiti_7884932236&gclid=COm-_cfEp68CFSoGRQodkGEhZg
Red Cross: http://www.redcross.org/
Doctors without Borders: https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/donate/overview.cfm?&gclid=CO_F6dbDp68CFUUZQgodxxXRZA

Between the cholera and peacekeepers videotaping themselves raping women, approximately 3/4 of Haitians want the peacekeepers out. I can't blame them. (The Peacekeepers have been their 8 years and the fair elections they were there to ensure happened in 2006. They are not there to help in anyway with the onging epidemic they caused through carelessness).

* It's looking like MI6 may have partnered with the CIA in "rendition" which is a euphemism for kidnapping and torturing people abroad. It will be an interesting lawsuit.

* Two white men went on a shooting spree in Oklahoma on Good Friday. They murdered three people and wounded two more. The victims are all black. One of them posted virulently racist things on facebook, but there are also signs of a personal motive.

* Doing the numbers on Food Desserts: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/melissa-harris-perry/46419672#46987679

( Embed: )

* The related discussion: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/melissa-harris-perry/46419672#46987679

( Embed: )

* On a personal note, in high school I actually had a lover who had rickets. Weirdly, he wasn't one of my tough boys from crappy neighborhoods, but a rich kid who just happened to have extremely shitty parents. The list of all the ways they were shitty was quite long and not limited to crap nutrition when he was young. On top of giving him rickets, they routinely mocked him because of the shape his body grew into because of vitamin deficiency. Seriously, who the fuck does that?

* RIP newsman Mike Wallace at 93.

(no subject)

* 24 hours before the UN ordered cease fire in Syria, government forces were still gunning down unarmed refugees fleeing across the Turkish border and fired across the border into a refugee camp within Turkey. Assad is demanding that the protesters put in writing that they will no longer resist whatever he does and for the international community to sign saying they will provide no help to the civilians he is slaughtering before he will stop slaughtering them. Raise your hand if you think he will stop slaughtering people even if the whole world surrenders unconditionally. No one? The Russians are now pretending to e surprised that Kofi Annan's peace plan looks to be failing. Sigh. I am saying pretending as it was obvious to everyone that it wasn't going to work from the moment they appointed Mr. Annan to negotiate it and Russia is providing Assad money and weapons in order to worsen the genocide.

* %5 of the Haitian population have died so far in Haiti's first cholera outbreak. The cause is very likely UN pace keepers who accidentally brought the pathogen with them. (The Nepalese cholera strain matched a point of origin at a UN camp with Nepalese soldiers and crappy sanitation. IE: dumping waste in open pits next to houses where people lived). The rainy season is about to start. I suspect you can do the math. It's a horrible way to die.

Partners in Health: (They have Haitians in charge on the ground in Haiti and are providing health care including cholera vaccine): http://www.pih.org/?source=GoogleGrants&subsource=Site_Site%20-%20Not%20Donate_Partners%20in%20Health%20Haiti_7884932236&gclid=COm-_cfEp68CFSoGRQodkGEhZg
Red Cross: http://www.redcross.org/
Doctors without Borders: https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/donate/overview.cfm?&gclid=CO_F6dbDp68CFUUZQgodxxXRZA

Between the cholera and peacekeepers videotaping themselves raping women, approximately 3/4 of Haitians want the peacekeepers out. I can't blame them. (The Peacekeepers have been their 8 years and the fair elections they were there to ensure happened in 2006. They are not there to help in anyway with the onging epidemic they caused through carelessness).

* It's looking like MI6 may have partnered with the CIA in "rendition" which is a euphemism for kidnapping and torturing people abroad. It will be an interesting lawsuit.

* Two white men went on a shooting spree in Oklahoma on Good Friday. They murdered three people and wounded two more. The victims are all black. One of them posted virulently racist things on facebook, but there are also signs of a personal motive.

* Doing the numbers on Food Desserts: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/melissa-harris-perry/46419672#46987679

( Embed: )

* The related discussion: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/melissa-harris-perry/46419672#46987679

( Embed: )

* On a personal note, in high school I actually had a lover who had rickets. Weirdly, he wasn't one of my tough boys from crappy neighborhoods, but a rich kid who just happened to have extremely shitty parents. The list of all the ways they were shitty was quite long and not limited to crap nutrition when he was young. On top of giving him rickets, they routinely mocked him because of the shape his body grew into because of vitamin deficiency. Seriously, who the fuck does that?

* RIP newsman Mike Wallace at 93.