Saturday, February 20, 2010

Product Recalls on the Rise : Consumers are becoming cranky

Internal F.D.A. reports are part of fierce debate over Avandia

A controversial diabetes drug harms heart (above link)

Drug recalls are becoming so common that there are web sites devoted to them. 

What’s a person supposed to do? Here’s some links:

Peanut product RecallWithdrawal of Certain Cat foods -

U.S. Recall NewsSafe MamaTylenol Recall Expanded -

You get the idea. We don’t know what’s going to be bad for us next. A lot of products aren’t tested long enough to see of they’re safe (think Big Pharma). If a person doesn’t keep up on what’s the latest product recall, they may regret it.

The Top 10 Plants for Removing Indoor Toxins

Top ten plants for removing formaldehyde, benzene, and carbon monoxide from the air: 1. Areca Palm (Chrysalidocarpus lutescens)

Also called the “Butterfly Palm”. An upright houseplant that is somewhat vase shaped. Specimen plants can reach 10 to 12 foot in height. Prefers a humid area to avoid tip damage. Requires pruning. When selecting an Areca palm look for plants with larger caliber trunks at the base of the plant. Plants that have pencil thin stems tend to topple over and are quite difficult to maintain.

Click here to see the remaining nine plants

A recent NASA study has determined the top 10 plants for reducing indoor air pollution

Excerpt:

Common indoor plants may provide a valuable weapon in the fight against rising levels of indoor air pollution. NASA scientists are finding them to be surprisingly useful in absorbing potentially harmful gases and cleaning the air inside homes, indoor public spaces and office buildings.”

Go here for rest of the story.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Politicians are making money on their sleazy lives

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Sleaze and revenge dominate a recent rash of memoirs and campaign accounts.

Sarah Palin’s PAC Spent $63,000 on her own book.

Journalistic standards?

Book review: John Edwards exposed in 'The Politician' by Andrew Young

All photos source

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Tell me what you really see in this photo of the Clintons cuddling(?)

Hillary is a saint, or a politician who sold her soul long ago. Somehow I don’t think someone who dodged imaginary gunfire on one of her world tours is the kind of person who gets canonized.

Friday’s findings: a new name for Iraq War, Big Brother, A Chickenshit Situation, and some Gay Gospel

 

What’s in a name? The war in Iraq will now be called 'Operation New Dawn' to reflect the reduced U.S. role in that mess.

IRS or BIG BROTHER?: Yesterday, software engineer Joseph Stack III flew a small plane into a building housing the Internal Revenue Service offices in Austin, Texas, because he was upset with the IRS, according to officials.

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Chicken Waste: Residents of Briggs Road react to the stench from a lake of chicken excrement.

Folks in French Camp, a small town 80 miles east of San Francisco, say they've complained for years to local air and environmental regulators about the waste lagoon, saying the stench and eye-burning fumes give them headaches and nausea. They say nothing changed.

Photo source (right)

Image: Elton John                 Gay Gospel?

“I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems,” Elton John told Parade magazine recently.

 Photo source (left)

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Reader sends comicical comment on ‘banned’ post

blog cartoon

Ammiano Resubmits Marijuana Legalization Bill - AB 2254

Assemblyman Tom Ammiano has re-submitted his bill to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana in California.

The new bill, AB 2254, is identical to its predecessor AB 390, which was approved by the Public Safety Committee in January. Because it was introduced last year, AB 390 ran out of time to be heard on this year's calendar.

Advocates are hopeful that AB 2254 will move forward this year through the Health Committee, as the legislature has yet to hold hearings on the health aspects of legal marijuana.

Recent years have seen mounting evidence that marijuana is safer than previously
imagined
- for example, that it doesn't cause lung cancer and is a
minor highway safety hazard compared to other, legal drugs.


Meanwhile, the state's budget crisis remains an important argument
for legalization.The Legislative Analyst has estimated that the
Ammiano bill would net the state $1.4 billion."With California's
prisons overflowing and the budget a mess, it makes no sense for
taxpayers to be paying money to arrest, prosecute and imprison pot
offenders, when they could be reaping the revenues of a legally
regulated market,
"
said Cal NORML Director Dale Gieringer.

For Cal NORML's analysis of the benefits of legalization, see


http://www.canorml.org/background/CA_legalization2.html
--
Dale Gieringer - canorml@canorml.org
California NORML, NEW ADDRESS:  2261 Market St. #278A, San Francisco
CA 94114 -(415) 563- 5858 - www.canorml.org

Millie my Pug claims she can predict earthquakes, natural disasters, and sports events…

Millie the Pug Millie has been nearly unbearable since she warned us moments before the last earthquake, and the room-rattler before that one.

She struts around like a furry Nostradamus and is predicting everything now. She says the Los Angeles Lakers are going to beat the Boston Celtics tonight (7:30 Pacific Time on TNT), and that I can take it to the bank. Being a Laker fan I want to believe her, but I’m not laying any money down on it! The last time I went with one of her Sports Predictions I was hung out to dry!

Cleveland tops list of most miserable U.S. cities

image Slew of Midwestern places crack the top 20, but then so does New York

I was born in Cleveland, Ohio but it isn’t something I brag about. The last time I was there in 1973, and we had a winter that left things just like the bridge pictured here.

The Cuyahoga River, which runs through the city, famously caught fire in 1969 thanks to rampant pollution, and it wasn't the first time.

Residents of Cleveland, Ohio, also dubbed "the Mistake by the Lake", endure brutal winters, high crime and a tortured sports history. They are voting with their feet as the net migration out of the metro area was 71,000 over the past five years.” AP photo

Go here for the story.

I kinda like the honest approach myself – but not enough to make a donation

bb-homeless-16

photo source

Hypocritical Obama and Corporate Media Are Agressively Undermining Pot Normalization

This article hits the situation on the head. Despite the fact that a growing majority of Americans favor legalization of marijuana for adults, the White House, the corporate media, and Big Business (think Big Pharma) are doing everything they can to continue demonizing the “killer weed.”

Excerpt:

“While marijuana is more mainstream than ever, legalization still faces backlash from the powers that be.

“There are some ominous harbingers indicating that common-sense drug reform relating to marijuana still has a ways to go. Here are five signs that pot legalization faces government and corporate backlash (which may affect public opinion as well), in no particular order:” Go here to continue reading.

It's Time to Pay Up Donnie!

It's looks like there will be some prime real estate going on the market soon in New York City. Convicted rapist and former president ...