If anyone ever tells you that this is the worst, most divisive and precarious time in our nation's history, then they don't know their history. American history - and not the sanitized, sterilized and sermonized white-washed versions we were taught in grade school - is rife with uncertainty and divisiveness. (Does "The Civil War" ring a bell?)
While the basic ingredients in our historically-checkered melting pot haven't changed, the brew is admittedly being viscously stirred to a bitter boiling point by:
(a) infotainment that passes as genuine news and infotainers who pass as actual news people who compartmentalize and sensationalize misinformation encapsulated in 15-second sound bites and catchy phrases because the average citizen has the attention and retention span of a gnat and is too busy **see: lazy or illiterate** to read and research for themselves to form their own opinion, but default to rely on the agenda-driven opinions of the aforementioned infotainers; and
(b) the speed of the internet to transmit said misinformation instantaneously.
Once again, I can't help but allude to Rod Serling's metaphoric Twilight Zone episode of self-destruction through mass paranoia, "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street", where an entire neighborhood succumbs to the sum of their fears and prejudices. Mistrusting, suspecting and blaming each other for the sudden plethora of problems that have befallen them, they eventually implode by destroying their neighbor's homes, murdering each other and ultimately obliterating their entire societal structure. Whereupon the camera pans back and we see two aliens observing and monitoring the carnage. One alien reassuring the other: "You see? They just pick the most dangerous enemy they can find [or invent] and destroy themselves. The world is full of Maple Streets. All we have to do is sit back and let them destroy themselves."
Of additional memorable significance was Mr. Serling's closing narrative:
"The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices. To be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill, and suspicion can destroy, and the frightened, thoughtless search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own: for the children, and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is that these things can not be confined to the Twilight Zone. ”
Look around and be very afraid...not of our neighbors...but of ourselves.
September 1, 2009
August 27, 2009
Senator Ted Kennedy: Death Demands Respect
I was never a fan of Ronald Reagan and that's very much an understatement. But when the man was felled by Alzheimer's, my heart went out to him. Yes, even to Nancy. She wasn't just "Reagan's wife who I basically disliked", then she was the wife of a man who was losing touch with everything he had known and loved. Losing touch even with himself, and it was sad.
When he passed I mourned the passing of a former President of our United States out of respect for him and out of compassion for a wife who had lost her life-long companion.
Senator Ted Kennedy was also deserving of the same respect in his passing as does his wife who must also now go on without her life-long companion. He was a driving force in our nation's history and the last in a long line of one of our country's most notable families. Whether one agreed with his principles or politics is irrelevant now.
Death is the great leveler. In death all things are equal. There are no politics. There is no bipartisanism. There is no liberal, no conservative....no nothing. There is only an end to a life that - hopefully in some beneficial way - contributed to the world they left behind.
I grieve over his loss. I grieve for the pain he suffered and endured. I personally grieve over his loss to our nation. And in a strange sense, I grieve for the souls of all those insensitive, vindictive and cold individuals still enjoying the gift of life who cannot even manage a respectful "Rest In Peace" without jaded sarcasm, hateful words, innuendo or seizing the opportunity to trash a human being - a human being who has gave more to his country than many who so ghoulishly criticize him even now - and a man no longer able to defend or contradict his critics. 'Defend and contradict critics', by the way, was not Senator Kennedy's style. He never exchanged in bile bantering. It was beneath him. He had class which is more than can be said of his Death Panel of Critics.
When it is their time to leave this mortal coil, I wonder if people will say of them: "They did something beneficial for the world they left behind". Or will they be remembered as bitter, tasteless, cruel and petty?
Right now I think it will be the later and what's more, I don't think that would bother them much - either their legacy or my opinion of them. I would say I dislike them but, truly, they aren't worth any more words than are contained in this post.
God Rest and Grant Peace To The Soul of Senator Kennedy.
When he passed I mourned the passing of a former President of our United States out of respect for him and out of compassion for a wife who had lost her life-long companion.
Senator Ted Kennedy was also deserving of the same respect in his passing as does his wife who must also now go on without her life-long companion. He was a driving force in our nation's history and the last in a long line of one of our country's most notable families. Whether one agreed with his principles or politics is irrelevant now.
Death is the great leveler. In death all things are equal. There are no politics. There is no bipartisanism. There is no liberal, no conservative....no nothing. There is only an end to a life that - hopefully in some beneficial way - contributed to the world they left behind.
I grieve over his loss. I grieve for the pain he suffered and endured. I personally grieve over his loss to our nation. And in a strange sense, I grieve for the souls of all those insensitive, vindictive and cold individuals still enjoying the gift of life who cannot even manage a respectful "Rest In Peace" without jaded sarcasm, hateful words, innuendo or seizing the opportunity to trash a human being - a human being who has gave more to his country than many who so ghoulishly criticize him even now - and a man no longer able to defend or contradict his critics. 'Defend and contradict critics', by the way, was not Senator Kennedy's style. He never exchanged in bile bantering. It was beneath him. He had class which is more than can be said of his Death Panel of Critics.
When it is their time to leave this mortal coil, I wonder if people will say of them: "They did something beneficial for the world they left behind". Or will they be remembered as bitter, tasteless, cruel and petty?
Right now I think it will be the later and what's more, I don't think that would bother them much - either their legacy or my opinion of them. I would say I dislike them but, truly, they aren't worth any more words than are contained in this post.
God Rest and Grant Peace To The Soul of Senator Kennedy.
August 21, 2009
Bush White House Lied? So What Else Is New?
Former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, who served as head of homeland security for the Bush Administration, has written a book, The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege...and How We Can Be Safe Again. In this book he reveals that the Administration's political agenda was actually on higher alert than the nation's security. In essence, the Administration fomented false terror alerts to enhance the Republican balloting for the 2004 election.
Shazaam! No way!
Way.
Not like lying to the American people in order to garner votes and/or support was a novelty. ***Rubbing chin. Insert flashback music here*** Hmmmmm? Robert McNamara's Vietnam mea culpa comes to mind.
I'm sure if I put my mind to it, I could think of bazillion more examples throughout our checkered American history.
But, for now, Ridge's revelation is not only nothing new to those of us who knew this to be the case back when Dubbya's snarky laugh echoed through the White House, but now all I can think of is...................Dubbya's snarky laugh.
Shazaam! No way!
Way.
Not like lying to the American people in order to garner votes and/or support was a novelty. ***Rubbing chin. Insert flashback music here*** Hmmmmm? Robert McNamara's Vietnam mea culpa comes to mind.
I'm sure if I put my mind to it, I could think of bazillion more examples throughout our checkered American history.
But, for now, Ridge's revelation is not only nothing new to those of us who knew this to be the case back when Dubbya's snarky laugh echoed through the White House, but now all I can think of is...................Dubbya's snarky laugh.
August 17, 2009
Got Trolls?
Rid your forums of those bothersome, invasive, pain-in-the-ass trolls! Instead of reminding them to "Bite Me!" Have them bite this!
Use often and liberally. Some trolls require repeated treatments. Go for it!
Use often and liberally. Some trolls require repeated treatments. Go for it!
July 24, 2009
Organic Gardening Magazine & Miracle Gro Redux
Fox, er...."News" recently aired a segment on organic gardening courtesy of Organic Gardening Magazine. A spokeswoman for the magazine loosely rattled off the basics of gardening (allegedly) organically. As with so many truncated blurbs on t.v. "news", there's always the opportunity for dispensing more MISinformation than correct information.
One example was the suggestion for a homemade insect repellent using
But what ground my gears the most was the on-going sucking up and whoring of the magazine's principles for revenue by the blatant product placement of Miracle Gro Organic Choice Potting Soil on a potting table next to the Rodale spokeswoman. I've been around this Scotts' rodeo enough already that this is redundant on my part. Nevertheless, it's a bone I'll continue to pick as long as the born-again, pseudo-organic prophets (*see: "Profits") at Scotts continue to poison OUR bones with their vast inventory of toxic chemicals. I don't care how loudly or how often they tout the altruism of their intentions into the organic market. To me, they'll always and forever walk like a chemical duck and talk like a chemical duck.
There's enough information out there disputing the true organic voracity of Miracle Gro's Organic Choice line. Even if you discount my own.
Apparently, not enough, however, to warrant Organic Gardening Magazine's insistent, persistent, public and/or subliminal endorsements of it.
Then, again....it WAS Fox.
SEE THE VIDEO HERE
One example was the suggestion for a homemade insect repellent using
"Water, LIQUID SOAP and vegetable oil"Liquid soap is ambiguous and - to the unwitting and neophite organic gardener - misleading. How difficult would it have been to add the caveat that it should be pure soap with no added perfumes, dyes, etc.? Or simple measurements of each? I know. I'm picky.
But what ground my gears the most was the on-going sucking up and whoring of the magazine's principles for revenue by the blatant product placement of Miracle Gro Organic Choice Potting Soil on a potting table next to the Rodale spokeswoman. I've been around this Scotts' rodeo enough already that this is redundant on my part. Nevertheless, it's a bone I'll continue to pick as long as the born-again, pseudo-organic prophets (*see: "Profits") at Scotts continue to poison OUR bones with their vast inventory of toxic chemicals. I don't care how loudly or how often they tout the altruism of their intentions into the organic market. To me, they'll always and forever walk like a chemical duck and talk like a chemical duck.
There's enough information out there disputing the true organic voracity of Miracle Gro's Organic Choice line. Even if you discount my own.
Apparently, not enough, however, to warrant Organic Gardening Magazine's insistent, persistent, public and/or subliminal endorsements of it.
Then, again....it WAS Fox.
SEE THE VIDEO HERE
May 26, 2009
Got Weeds?
If you want to try (emphasis on the word try) to control weeds in your garden and want to use a product that is registered as approved-organic by OMRI (Organic Materials Review Institute), you might want to check out a new landscape "fabric" by Easy Gardener called Weed Block Paper Mulch. It's completely biodegradable and made totally from recycled paper. It contains no chemicals and is approved for use in organic production. Plus it breaks down at the end of the season to decomposes naturally in your soil to add additional organic matter.
April 26, 2009
Global Warming's New "Alleged" Cause
First global warming was denied. Then it was reticently accepted by those deniers, yet they still rejected any human complicity.
Now, it seems, there's a fall guy/gal for global warming's cause. One who already has been historically humiliated and remains the only victim of politically-correct prejudice and alleged 'humor': Overweight people.
According to British scientists in The International Journal of Epidemiology "overweight people contribute to global warming more than their slim counterparts".
Their reasoning? "Overweight people can be responsible for the emission of a ton more of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide than thin ones, mainly due to their eating more food and the additional fuel needed to carry them in cars and other vehicles".
Okay...let me see if I understand this? Thinner people don't drive as often or as far as larger people? So....I guess all those "thinner" people I see at the supermarket, in restaurants, stopping at Dunkin Donuts' drive-thru window, or piling into vehicles loaded with with bags of MacDonalds' fries or hefting home some take-out pizzas.....they all drive Priuses and are donating all that food to charities? (Obviously charities populated by fat people, of course.)
Or are these scientists saying that it takes more gas to power a vehicle carrying a 200lb. person shopping for their family's groceries than it does to haul a Hummer-full of thin 18 year-olds just tooling around the neighborhood all evening or an entire summer day, all talking on their cell phones to each other? Ya think?
If an overweight person was placed on top of a glacier, would that person cause an ice flow any faster than a stiletto-heeled, bulimic Ann Coulter tromping over the same area while barfing up her warmed intestinal contents?
If 10 overweight people protested outside a CO2 emission-fouling factory, would they be polluting and creating more greenhouse gasses any more than the 50 thinner employees inside pulling the levers, flipping the switches and pumping the stuff into the air?
Oh, I could go on. But then I'd be guilty of making as ridiculous comparisons and drawing similarly ludicrous conclusions as this - no doubt - anorexic group of British scientists.
Now, it seems, there's a fall guy/gal for global warming's cause. One who already has been historically humiliated and remains the only victim of politically-correct prejudice and alleged 'humor': Overweight people.
According to British scientists in The International Journal of Epidemiology "overweight people contribute to global warming more than their slim counterparts".
Their reasoning? "Overweight people can be responsible for the emission of a ton more of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide than thin ones, mainly due to their eating more food and the additional fuel needed to carry them in cars and other vehicles".
Okay...let me see if I understand this? Thinner people don't drive as often or as far as larger people? So....I guess all those "thinner" people I see at the supermarket, in restaurants, stopping at Dunkin Donuts' drive-thru window, or piling into vehicles loaded with with bags of MacDonalds' fries or hefting home some take-out pizzas.....they all drive Priuses and are donating all that food to charities? (Obviously charities populated by fat people, of course.)
Or are these scientists saying that it takes more gas to power a vehicle carrying a 200lb. person shopping for their family's groceries than it does to haul a Hummer-full of thin 18 year-olds just tooling around the neighborhood all evening or an entire summer day, all talking on their cell phones to each other? Ya think?
If an overweight person was placed on top of a glacier, would that person cause an ice flow any faster than a stiletto-heeled, bulimic Ann Coulter tromping over the same area while barfing up her warmed intestinal contents?
If 10 overweight people protested outside a CO2 emission-fouling factory, would they be polluting and creating more greenhouse gasses any more than the 50 thinner employees inside pulling the levers, flipping the switches and pumping the stuff into the air?
Oh, I could go on. But then I'd be guilty of making as ridiculous comparisons and drawing similarly ludicrous conclusions as this - no doubt - anorexic group of British scientists.
April 3, 2009
Scotts Miracle Gro Organic Choice Is Still Bogus
Turning the clocks ahead. Forsythias in bloom. Tulips and daffodils. Taxes. All signs of spring. So, too, is the annual question asked by so many organic gardeners: "Is Scott's Miracle Gro Organic Choice really organic?"
Well, Virginia, in a word: NO. Oh, Scotts can write, print and color in crayon the word "Organic" all over any of its products. But all that means is it contains some carbon-based material which was once living matter.
In today's Greenwashed Market (see my post on "Faux-Organic Or The Art of Greenwashing" where the word 'organic' may be placed on a product for the sole purpose of suck(er)ing in a huge, eager market of organ-o-philes and organic-wannabees, that word ("organic") has become more than just a little bastardized. It wouldn't be the first time manufacturers, their advertisers, R&D departments and marketing departments have stooped to conquer cash.
I'll try and make this short and sweet for those synthetic-fertilizing, chemical-pesticide/herbicide-groupies out there who wouldn't part with their bags of Smurf Builder or 2-4D (Agent Orange's evil twin), unless they were pried from their cold, dead, toxic-dusted hands.
Now, to be truly, legitimately, honest-to-goodness, cross-my-heart, certified and approved Organic by the USDA's NOP (National Organic Program) ...then that little green and white or black and white circular seal will be prominently displayed on said product. But, in lieu of that, where just the word "organic" is used indiscriminately, there are numerous ways to dance around and loopholes to jump through in order to use just that word: "organic" and still be able to dupe a trusting (and sometimes, misinformed) public into thinking they're getting the real, USDA-approved 100% deal. For a little ...er...light reading of the ambiguous and legal-speak wording which dictates - right down to the proper sizing, spacing, highlighting of the word "organic" on a label, one might want to peruse this: THE ELECTRONIC CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS or.."Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Organic Regulations and Certification But Were Afraid To Ask & Possibly Afraid To Read".
In the case of Miracle Gro Organic Choice perhaps the reason it will never receive that little green and white or black and white circular approval seal is because even though their ingredients are listed as "natural" or of an "organic" nature and they (apparently) follow the loose guidelines of the above link, they do not - repeat - do not state anywhere on their label nor is it stated in the MSDS SHEET that the source of their "natural" or "organic" ingredients: i.e. Sugar Beet Molasses, Pasteurized Chicken Litter, Composted Manure, are grown or attained using true organic practices or that the chicken litter is pasteurized (so they say) using organically-approved methodologies. See? If it said "Organically-grown Sugar Beets; Organically-processed Molasses, Organically-pasteurized Chicken Litter from Organically-raised and fed chickens, then it might be in the running for that little circular seal and not remain a pretender to the organic throne like so many other products who play fast and loose with that word: Organic. (BTW: Their chicken litter comes from Perdue. You can look that up. And some caged bird tells me that Old Frank's heirs don't raise their birds free range). And that my fact-checking friends, is my take on why Scotts Miracle Gro Organic Choice will always be what it is: BOGUS.
Now, true organic certification is only important to you if you're a certified organic grower or want to play your organic part as close to your hemp vest as possible. Otherwise, buy a product that cavalierly tosses that word "organic" around. As long as the other ingredients on the product aren't synthetic or toxic in any way. (Uh, you DO read ingredient labels, don't you?)
However, for those organic gardeners out there who in one green breath decry the use of Miracle Gro on your tomatoes, and yet still have a soft spot in your heart for Scotts (possibly softened by breathing in too much of their Weed N' Feed while walking the aisles of any Big Box store this time of year) then by all means go ahead and buy Scott's CEO Jimmy Hagedorn's product. Go ahead and contribute your hard-earned dollars if you have no personal and ethical principles against a company that is responsible for all those synthetics and chemicals lacing the countryside. In this failing economy, if you feel it your fiscal responsibility to shore up any possibly faltering profits of Jimmy's company, then, show some pity and stock up on some of their alleged Organic line to keep them afloat in their little toxic lake.
Be mindful, too, that it takes a lot of capital for them to support a cadre of litigious-happy lawyers who have nothing better to do than, oh say, sue a small, up and coming, truly organic company in New Jersey a couple of years ago because the company dared to put out a product using the same packaging colors as Miracle Gro (Scott's evil child): Green & Yellow. Who knew those colors were copyrighted and patented? If so, then someone better warn Schultz and Sta-Green and Ortho and several other garden-product companies using the coveted green and yellow banners.
While you're at it, give em an "atta boy" for all the research and development of more organic (or faux organic) products they've promised to do. CERTAINLY, you wouldn't think for a minute that any profits they make from shilling their pseudo-organic line would possibly fall into their R&D coffers toward more and future synthetic and chemical products..........now do you? Tsk...tsk. So skeptical.
Well, someone's got to be. And I guess that leaves me and my skeptical minions who - even if Scotts slathered its products in USDA Organic Seals - we wouldn't buy them on principle alone. Now, some organic gardeners may say: "If even this back-door approach brings in some new kids on the organic block to a greener way or gardening, then it can't be all bad". As someone who would dearly love to see more synthetic-chemical lovers morph green, I must admit I'd be more enthusiastic about this pseudo-organic posturing if it were just anyone but Scotts. As rash as this may read, to me....Scotts selling organics is like Hitler going door to door selling Girl Scout Cookies. Nice gesture. But would you really want to buy from him?
Bottom line, if they garnish it with neon lights, put green and yellow pants on it and taught it to dance....it's still from Scott's. 'Nuff said.
Although I might consider paying the price of admission to see a bag of their crap dance.
Well, Virginia, in a word: NO. Oh, Scotts can write, print and color in crayon the word "Organic" all over any of its products. But all that means is it contains some carbon-based material which was once living matter.
In today's Greenwashed Market (see my post on "Faux-Organic Or The Art of Greenwashing" where the word 'organic' may be placed on a product for the sole purpose of suck(er)ing in a huge, eager market of organ-o-philes and organic-wannabees, that word ("organic") has become more than just a little bastardized. It wouldn't be the first time manufacturers, their advertisers, R&D departments and marketing departments have stooped to conquer cash.
I'll try and make this short and sweet for those synthetic-fertilizing, chemical-pesticide/herbicide-groupies out there who wouldn't part with their bags of Smurf Builder or 2-4D (Agent Orange's evil twin), unless they were pried from their cold, dead, toxic-dusted hands.
Now, to be truly, legitimately, honest-to-goodness, cross-my-heart, certified and approved Organic by the USDA's NOP (National Organic Program) ...then that little green and white or black and white circular seal will be prominently displayed on said product. But, in lieu of that, where just the word "organic" is used indiscriminately, there are numerous ways to dance around and loopholes to jump through in order to use just that word: "organic" and still be able to dupe a trusting (and sometimes, misinformed) public into thinking they're getting the real, USDA-approved 100% deal. For a little ...er...light reading of the ambiguous and legal-speak wording which dictates - right down to the proper sizing, spacing, highlighting of the word "organic" on a label, one might want to peruse this: THE ELECTRONIC CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS or.."Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Organic Regulations and Certification But Were Afraid To Ask & Possibly Afraid To Read".
In the case of Miracle Gro Organic Choice perhaps the reason it will never receive that little green and white or black and white circular approval seal is because even though their ingredients are listed as "natural" or of an "organic" nature and they (apparently) follow the loose guidelines of the above link, they do not - repeat - do not state anywhere on their label nor is it stated in the MSDS SHEET that the source of their "natural" or "organic" ingredients: i.e. Sugar Beet Molasses, Pasteurized Chicken Litter, Composted Manure, are grown or attained using true organic practices or that the chicken litter is pasteurized (so they say) using organically-approved methodologies. See? If it said "Organically-grown Sugar Beets; Organically-processed Molasses, Organically-pasteurized Chicken Litter from Organically-raised and fed chickens, then it might be in the running for that little circular seal and not remain a pretender to the organic throne like so many other products who play fast and loose with that word: Organic. (BTW: Their chicken litter comes from Perdue. You can look that up. And some caged bird tells me that Old Frank's heirs don't raise their birds free range). And that my fact-checking friends, is my take on why Scotts Miracle Gro Organic Choice will always be what it is: BOGUS.
Now, true organic certification is only important to you if you're a certified organic grower or want to play your organic part as close to your hemp vest as possible. Otherwise, buy a product that cavalierly tosses that word "organic" around. As long as the other ingredients on the product aren't synthetic or toxic in any way. (Uh, you DO read ingredient labels, don't you?)
However, for those organic gardeners out there who in one green breath decry the use of Miracle Gro on your tomatoes, and yet still have a soft spot in your heart for Scotts (possibly softened by breathing in too much of their Weed N' Feed while walking the aisles of any Big Box store this time of year) then by all means go ahead and buy Scott's CEO Jimmy Hagedorn's product. Go ahead and contribute your hard-earned dollars if you have no personal and ethical principles against a company that is responsible for all those synthetics and chemicals lacing the countryside. In this failing economy, if you feel it your fiscal responsibility to shore up any possibly faltering profits of Jimmy's company, then, show some pity and stock up on some of their alleged Organic line to keep them afloat in their little toxic lake.
Be mindful, too, that it takes a lot of capital for them to support a cadre of litigious-happy lawyers who have nothing better to do than, oh say, sue a small, up and coming, truly organic company in New Jersey a couple of years ago because the company dared to put out a product using the same packaging colors as Miracle Gro (Scott's evil child): Green & Yellow. Who knew those colors were copyrighted and patented? If so, then someone better warn Schultz and Sta-Green and Ortho and several other garden-product companies using the coveted green and yellow banners.
While you're at it, give em an "atta boy" for all the research and development of more organic (or faux organic) products they've promised to do. CERTAINLY, you wouldn't think for a minute that any profits they make from shilling their pseudo-organic line would possibly fall into their R&D coffers toward more and future synthetic and chemical products..........now do you? Tsk...tsk. So skeptical.
Well, someone's got to be. And I guess that leaves me and my skeptical minions who - even if Scotts slathered its products in USDA Organic Seals - we wouldn't buy them on principle alone. Now, some organic gardeners may say: "If even this back-door approach brings in some new kids on the organic block to a greener way or gardening, then it can't be all bad". As someone who would dearly love to see more synthetic-chemical lovers morph green, I must admit I'd be more enthusiastic about this pseudo-organic posturing if it were just anyone but Scotts. As rash as this may read, to me....Scotts selling organics is like Hitler going door to door selling Girl Scout Cookies. Nice gesture. But would you really want to buy from him?
Bottom line, if they garnish it with neon lights, put green and yellow pants on it and taught it to dance....it's still from Scott's. 'Nuff said.
Although I might consider paying the price of admission to see a bag of their crap dance.
March 20, 2009
The Iditarod: Animal Cruelty Rewarded
Kudos to New Jersey native,Kim Darst, who opted to drop out of this year's inhumane Iditarod Sled-Dog Race to save the life of one of her dogs. READ STORY HERE
The "winners" of what would be considered in most states - animal cruelty - receive a cash prize, an enormous boost to their already over-inflated egos and a stupid belt buckle claiming they ran the race. (Which is patently ridiculous, because it's the dogs who run the race.) As Ms. Darst sought care for her hypothermic dog, she stated no regrets whatsoever for her decision because her dogs come first. She said she couldn't live with herself if she'd allowed her dog to die...and for what? A stupid belt buckle?
Although I commend Ms. Darst for her decision, her initial decision to run the race in the first place casts somewhat of a pall over too much "hurrah-ing". The last bastion of publicly-sanctioned, legal, sponsored and awarded animal cruelty should have been stopped years ago according to uncountable highly credible resources. A quick check on the Internet will reveal all the horror and seedy stories regarding this race, the treatment and the lives of the dogs both before, during and after the race and the pre-ordained death sentence to puppies bred for this purpose but who don't measure up to "mushers'" standards.
THE TRUTH ABOUT THE IDITAROD
The "winners" of what would be considered in most states - animal cruelty - receive a cash prize, an enormous boost to their already over-inflated egos and a stupid belt buckle claiming they ran the race. (Which is patently ridiculous, because it's the dogs who run the race.) As Ms. Darst sought care for her hypothermic dog, she stated no regrets whatsoever for her decision because her dogs come first. She said she couldn't live with herself if she'd allowed her dog to die...and for what? A stupid belt buckle?
Although I commend Ms. Darst for her decision, her initial decision to run the race in the first place casts somewhat of a pall over too much "hurrah-ing". The last bastion of publicly-sanctioned, legal, sponsored and awarded animal cruelty should have been stopped years ago according to uncountable highly credible resources. A quick check on the Internet will reveal all the horror and seedy stories regarding this race, the treatment and the lives of the dogs both before, during and after the race and the pre-ordained death sentence to puppies bred for this purpose but who don't measure up to "mushers'" standards.
THE TRUTH ABOUT THE IDITAROD
March 19, 2009
Foods With Highest Pesticide Exposure
The Environmental Working Group has put out its latest list of 47 of the most popular fruits and vegetables and their ranking from highest (worst) to lowest pesticide content. You might want to ditch that peach you just bought at the supermarket...unless it's got the USDA/Organic seal slapped on it.
Here's The List.
Here's The List.
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