...some items that are called organic are probably worth the extra cost because they are produced according to strict standards. But the labels on quite a few of them are not worth an extra cent, according to a study of organic food by Consumer Reports...
An uninformed consumer can end up paying 50 to 100 percent more for products that are no healthier and a lot harder on the wallet.
In most states, wild or farmed fish can be labeled organic even though there is no guarantee that it is free from mercury or other industrial chemicals...
WHICH foods are worth the higher price? According to an analysis by the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit organic research organization, the so-called dirty dozen — apples, bell peppers, celery, cherries, imported grapes, nectarines, peaches, pears, potatoes, red raspberries, spinach and strawberries — tend to have a high pesticide residue, even when washed. These are worth buying organic, as is baby food, which tends to be made from condensed fruits and vegetables.
[NYTimes...]
31 July 2006
Middle East Brings Out Wackiness in Many
I saw a funny news clip yesterday. Condi Rice, our greatest Secretary of State ever (cough, cough), gave a press conference in which she said she "decided" not to visit Lebanon after all.
The funny part is that her speech followed a news report in which Lebanon's Prime Minister told her to forget about visiting. Either work for an immediate, unconditional cease-fire, or don't bother coming to Lebanon. That's what he said.
So, after being told not to come, Rice "decided" not to go in a press conference for FAUX News (which, of course, carried it).
I remember the time I "decided" not to go out with Jessica Stergiopolous. I asked her out a few times, sent her roses, and I called her every night for a week, but she finally kicked me in the shin and said not to bother her anymore. After that, I decided not to go out with her. So I know how Condi Rice feels.
And in more wackiness, the Pope is now appealing for an end to violence. The head of the Christian church is appealing to Muslims and Jews to stop fighting. That is so precious. I just know everyone will listen to him. I just know it!
The funny part is that her speech followed a news report in which Lebanon's Prime Minister told her to forget about visiting. Either work for an immediate, unconditional cease-fire, or don't bother coming to Lebanon. That's what he said.
So, after being told not to come, Rice "decided" not to go in a press conference for FAUX News (which, of course, carried it).
I remember the time I "decided" not to go out with Jessica Stergiopolous. I asked her out a few times, sent her roses, and I called her every night for a week, but she finally kicked me in the shin and said not to bother her anymore. After that, I decided not to go out with her. So I know how Condi Rice feels.
And in more wackiness, the Pope is now appealing for an end to violence. The head of the Christian church is appealing to Muslims and Jews to stop fighting. That is so precious. I just know everyone will listen to him. I just know it!
28 July 2006
City Cracking Down on Problem Properties
For the last two weeks, the city has been aggressively enforcing a relatively new ordinance that requires the owners of properties in need of major repair to purchase a building maintenance license, which enables the city to exert control over the properties. Owners who don't, could face civil or criminal prosecution. [WKRC]
There are plenty of blighted buildings in Northside, West End and OTR (and NOT Norwood). People have been saying for years that the city has to crack down on property owners who won't fix up their buildings.
This should increase property values and decrease crime. It's necessary for the urban renewal process and it's important that the city continues to put pressure on blighted property owners. If they won't fix it up, sell it to someone who will.
There are plenty of blighted buildings in Northside, West End and OTR (and NOT Norwood). People have been saying for years that the city has to crack down on property owners who won't fix up their buildings.
This should increase property values and decrease crime. It's necessary for the urban renewal process and it's important that the city continues to put pressure on blighted property owners. If they won't fix it up, sell it to someone who will.
27 July 2006
Bushwhacked, vol. MXMVII
A couple more ways BushCo has screwed America:
Contracts meant for small businesses were given to large corporations instead.
At least $12 billion in contracts the government claimed it gave to small companies last year wound up instead in the coffers of large corporations such as Microsoft and Rolls Royce, greatly inflating the Bush administration’s record of help to small businesses...
When small-business contracts with large companies are excluded, the government missed for a sixth straight year a requirement that 23 percent of its $314 billion in annual contracts go to small businesses...
Beneficiaries included Microsoft, Rolls-Royce, Exxon-Mobil, Wal-Mart, Google and Lockheed Martin.
Bush personally put the kibosh on Justice Dept. investigation into NSA surveillance.
In response to a question from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., Gonzales disclosed that President Bush personally intervened and blocked a Justice Department probe into the administration’s domestic surveillance program...
Bush put the kibosh on the investigation by denying security clearances to lawyers with the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility.
The office is charged with being the agency’s ethical watchdog, and it was in the process of investigating whether Justice Department lawyers who reviewed the controversial surveillance program had acted properly. After hitting a brick wall from the White House, the office shut down its investigation.
Gonzales did not explain why Bush blocked the ethics probe.
Contracts meant for small businesses were given to large corporations instead.
At least $12 billion in contracts the government claimed it gave to small companies last year wound up instead in the coffers of large corporations such as Microsoft and Rolls Royce, greatly inflating the Bush administration’s record of help to small businesses...
When small-business contracts with large companies are excluded, the government missed for a sixth straight year a requirement that 23 percent of its $314 billion in annual contracts go to small businesses...
Beneficiaries included Microsoft, Rolls-Royce, Exxon-Mobil, Wal-Mart, Google and Lockheed Martin.
Bush personally put the kibosh on Justice Dept. investigation into NSA surveillance.
In response to a question from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., Gonzales disclosed that President Bush personally intervened and blocked a Justice Department probe into the administration’s domestic surveillance program...
Bush put the kibosh on the investigation by denying security clearances to lawyers with the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility.
The office is charged with being the agency’s ethical watchdog, and it was in the process of investigating whether Justice Department lawyers who reviewed the controversial surveillance program had acted properly. After hitting a brick wall from the White House, the office shut down its investigation.
Gonzales did not explain why Bush blocked the ethics probe.
26 July 2006
Coca-Cola Dropped from Socially Responsible Investment Fund
July 18 (Reuters) - Coca-Cola Co. has been ejected from the $8 billion TIAA-CREF Social Choice Account, a fund which invests according to social criteria, officials of the pension fund said on Tuesday.
[analysts] saw shortcomings on the part of Coca-Cola in several areas including worker rights at overseas bottling plants, marketing of soda products to children, and environmental issues related to water usage at overseas facilities...
In May, TIAA-CREF formed a new Social and Community Investing Department within its Asset Management area.
[Reuters]
[analysts] saw shortcomings on the part of Coca-Cola in several areas including worker rights at overseas bottling plants, marketing of soda products to children, and environmental issues related to water usage at overseas facilities...
In May, TIAA-CREF formed a new Social and Community Investing Department within its Asset Management area.
[Reuters]
Ken Blackwell Still Tilting at Holy Windmill
It's a god thing (oops, I mean "good" thing) Ken Blackwell is black. Because if he wasn't, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between him and Jesus.
Homosexuality a lifestyle choice, says Blackwell.
Homosexuality a lifestyle choice, says Blackwell.
25 July 2006
Lindner Trumps Truth at Enquirer
When I think of the Enquirer, I'm reminded of a John Cleese line in a Monty Python sketch, which I'll adapt thusly:
"I'd like to be an Enquirer editor, but unfortunately I have a degree."
Like most Enquirer reporters, Kimball Perry has half a brain. But there's really nothing wrong with the story he wrote about Todd Portune's sales tax idea... except the headline: "Portune proposes sales tax boost for jail".
But Portune did NOT propose a sales tax hike. As the story itself states:
"As we debate this issue, you've got to have all of the options available," Portune said Monday, stressing that he wasn't making any financing proposal.
Portune isn't proposing - not yet - that the sales tax be increased a half-cent to pay for the jail.
So the story says one thing and the headline says another. Great job, Enquirer editors.
Compare the Enquirer's headline to the Business Courier's:
Portune suggests new sales tax option.
So is Portune an intelligent, fiscally prudent, civic-minded leader who wants all options on the table, or is he a tax-raising liberal atheist Democrat who hates Jesus?
Why did the Enquirer editors choose an obviously misleading headline? Here is the answer in terms even Enquirer readers can understand:
(1) The Enquirer is Carl Linder's bitch.
(2) Carl Lindner has his own tax plan, which would lower property taxes and raise sales taxes. In other words, he would lower his tax burden and the rest of us would make up the difference.
(3) Phil Heimlich is also Carl Lindner's bitch, and he is promoting the Lindner tax hike.
(4) If the Enquirer makes Portune look like a tax-raising liberal Democrat, it may help the Lindner/Heimlich tax hike.
Once again we are reminded of the Enquirer's alternate moniker, The Lindner Fellator.
"I'd like to be an Enquirer editor, but unfortunately I have a degree."
Like most Enquirer reporters, Kimball Perry has half a brain. But there's really nothing wrong with the story he wrote about Todd Portune's sales tax idea... except the headline: "Portune proposes sales tax boost for jail".
But Portune did NOT propose a sales tax hike. As the story itself states:
"As we debate this issue, you've got to have all of the options available," Portune said Monday, stressing that he wasn't making any financing proposal.
Portune isn't proposing - not yet - that the sales tax be increased a half-cent to pay for the jail.
So the story says one thing and the headline says another. Great job, Enquirer editors.
Compare the Enquirer's headline to the Business Courier's:
Portune suggests new sales tax option.
So is Portune an intelligent, fiscally prudent, civic-minded leader who wants all options on the table, or is he a tax-raising liberal atheist Democrat who hates Jesus?
Why did the Enquirer editors choose an obviously misleading headline? Here is the answer in terms even Enquirer readers can understand:
(1) The Enquirer is Carl Linder's bitch.
(2) Carl Lindner has his own tax plan, which would lower property taxes and raise sales taxes. In other words, he would lower his tax burden and the rest of us would make up the difference.
(3) Phil Heimlich is also Carl Lindner's bitch, and he is promoting the Lindner tax hike.
(4) If the Enquirer makes Portune look like a tax-raising liberal Democrat, it may help the Lindner/Heimlich tax hike.
Once again we are reminded of the Enquirer's alternate moniker, The Lindner Fellator.
24 July 2006
Republican Asshat Compares Environmentalists to Third Reich
Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, the self-described "extreme right-wing radical conservative", recently compared environmentalists to Hitler's Third Reich.
You may remember Inhofe from a couple years ago when he criticized "humanitarian do-gooders" like the Red Cross for focusing on Abu Ghraib and other human rights violations.
Inhofe is chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and has been an unwavering supporter of energy companies and corporations in general. He has called global warming "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people."
And now he accuses environmentalists and scientists of "The big lie," a reference to something Hitler wrote about in Mein Kampf.
Beyond the primary asshatery, there is a secondary level of stupidity here: the "big lie" does not refer to the Third Reich's actions to fool the German people; Hitler used it to refer to the tactics used by the Jews to gain power.
I'll give Inhofe the benefit of the doubt and assume he's comparing his foes to the Third Reich, and not mistakenly revealing his belief that the Jews were perpetrators of "the big lie."
(And no, I'm not so sure)
Here's a brief rundown of Inhofe's anti-environment voting record.
You may remember Inhofe from a couple years ago when he criticized "humanitarian do-gooders" like the Red Cross for focusing on Abu Ghraib and other human rights violations.
Inhofe is chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and has been an unwavering supporter of energy companies and corporations in general. He has called global warming "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people."
And now he accuses environmentalists and scientists of "The big lie," a reference to something Hitler wrote about in Mein Kampf.
Beyond the primary asshatery, there is a secondary level of stupidity here: the "big lie" does not refer to the Third Reich's actions to fool the German people; Hitler used it to refer to the tactics used by the Jews to gain power.
I'll give Inhofe the benefit of the doubt and assume he's comparing his foes to the Third Reich, and not mistakenly revealing his belief that the Jews were perpetrators of "the big lie."
(And no, I'm not so sure)
Here's a brief rundown of Inhofe's anti-environment voting record.
Biodiesel Works in Cincinnati
Not much to add. The headline pretty much says it all:
Fluctuating fuel prices aren't impacting Cincinnati Metro's bottom line, thanks to the agency's investment in biodiesel fuel made from soybean oil.
Metro bought biodiesel fuel last year on contract... meaning that the price is locked in and not influenced by market fluctuations. As a result, Metro is running "a little under budget" for fuel this year...
The biodiesel is produced by Peter Cremer North America L.P., a Sedamsville-based company located at the Ivorydale complex in St. Bernard and Winton Hills, using oil extracted from soybeans grown in Ohio. "So we have Ohio soybeans, made into fuel in Ohio, powering Cincinnati buses," Hilvers said. "It works great for everyone." [CinPo...]
I believe Ted Strickland is promoting biodiesel as a technology that can boost Ohio's economy. Obviously, he just doesn't understand what Republicans have done for Ohio's economy.
Fluctuating fuel prices aren't impacting Cincinnati Metro's bottom line, thanks to the agency's investment in biodiesel fuel made from soybean oil.
Metro bought biodiesel fuel last year on contract... meaning that the price is locked in and not influenced by market fluctuations. As a result, Metro is running "a little under budget" for fuel this year...
The biodiesel is produced by Peter Cremer North America L.P., a Sedamsville-based company located at the Ivorydale complex in St. Bernard and Winton Hills, using oil extracted from soybeans grown in Ohio. "So we have Ohio soybeans, made into fuel in Ohio, powering Cincinnati buses," Hilvers said. "It works great for everyone." [CinPo...]
I believe Ted Strickland is promoting biodiesel as a technology that can boost Ohio's economy. Obviously, he just doesn't understand what Republicans have done for Ohio's economy.
21 July 2006
A Modest Proposal
Invest in schools now or jails later... that's the adage, right?
Looks like it's true:
Crowded Prisons Forcing Transfers.
School Cuts Could Be Even Bigger.
As every good Republican knows, using tax money to solve these problems is ludicrous, outrageous, preposterous and horrifically liberal. Forcing taxpayers to pay for schools and jails is a 100-ft. tsunami of communism. State lottos and slot machines make much more sense. Let the market solve the problem, I say!
But there is another cheap option, and that is to cull the prison population by eating prisoners. They can be served for lunch in the schools, thereby killing two birds with one stone. In fact, now that I think about it, stoning the prisoners to death is a very good idea, and children should participate in it. It will teach them important Biblical principles. Displaying the 10 Commandments in the lunchroom may not be enough. We need to have stoning, too. It's for the children. Won't someone please think of the children?
Looks like it's true:
Crowded Prisons Forcing Transfers.
School Cuts Could Be Even Bigger.
As every good Republican knows, using tax money to solve these problems is ludicrous, outrageous, preposterous and horrifically liberal. Forcing taxpayers to pay for schools and jails is a 100-ft. tsunami of communism. State lottos and slot machines make much more sense. Let the market solve the problem, I say!
But there is another cheap option, and that is to cull the prison population by eating prisoners. They can be served for lunch in the schools, thereby killing two birds with one stone. In fact, now that I think about it, stoning the prisoners to death is a very good idea, and children should participate in it. It will teach them important Biblical principles. Displaying the 10 Commandments in the lunchroom may not be enough. We need to have stoning, too. It's for the children. Won't someone please think of the children?
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