Category Archives: In the News

That Was Fast…

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Immediately following the FCC allowing the merger to NBC Universal and Comcast –creating yet another giant mega-corporation with massive media power– FCC Commissioner Meredith Baker resigns her position on the FCC and takes up her new position as Senior Vice President of Governmental Affairs. Really?! REALLY?! Didn’t people use to at least wait until people forgot there might be some payoffs going on before resigning and taking their cushy payoff-for-your-support job? Yeah, that WAS fast. Absolutely disgusting.

Of course, she is assuring everyone that it’s totally legal, and it is … which is part of the problem. It shouldn’t be.

Tilapia’s No Miracle

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Americans have been going crazy for tilapia for a number of years now. It’s plentiful in both fish markets and the frozen goods aisles of grocery stores, it’s cheap, and health organizations keep telling us to eat more fish. Unfortunately, tilapia isn’t the best choice for either human consumption or environmental safety.

“When people talk about the need to eat more fish, they are using that as a metaphor for fish oil, DHA and EPA,” said Edgar R. Miller III, associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “So what do we do about the fact that tilapia and catfish, which are farm raised, have very low levels of these compounds?”

While a portion of tilapia has 135 milligrams of omega-3 fatty acids, a portion of salmon has over 2,000 milligrams. And farmed tilapia may have even less than wild tilapia because fish acquire omega-3s by eating aquatic plants and other fish. “They are what they eat,” Dr. Bridson said.
–NYT: Another Side of Tilapia, the Perfect Factory Fish

In addition to having very low levels of omega-3 fatty acids, there has also been research showing farm-raised tilapia have very high levels of omega-6 fatty acids, which actually increase the risk of heart disease. Add to this the fact that fish farming is one of the least regulated food production methods in the world, you can also be assured of getting hormones, antibiotics, and other chemicals in every bite.†

Then there’s the environmental impact of farm-raising tilapia (and by extension many aquatic species). Since the field is widely unregulated, damage to natural water sources (lakes and rivers) is rampant. Whatever chemicals fed or introduced to the growing fish stock enters the local water supplies destroying the habitat for local species of flora and fauna. Additionally, tilapia is a known invasive species which easily out-breeds and out-eats any competition, so escapees can quickly overtake a natural water resource and crowd out native species, which I hope we can all agree is a bad thing.

Environmentalists argue that intensive and unregulated tilapia farming is damaging ecosystems in poor countries with practices generally prohibited in the United States — like breeding huge numbers of fish in cages in natural lakes, where fish waste pollutes the water. “We wouldn’t allow tilapia to be farmed in the United States the way they are farmed here, so why are we willing to eat them?” said Dr. Jeffrey McCrary, an American fish biologist who works in Nicaragua. “We are exporting the environmental damage caused by our appetites.”
–NYT: Another Side of Tilapia, the Perfect Factory Fish

Last year, more than 52 million pounds of fresh tilapia were exported to the United States, mostly from Latin America, as well as 422 million more pounds of frozen tilapia, both whole and fillet, nearly all from China, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

Americans consumed 475 million pounds of tilapia last year. More than 52 million pounds were imported from Latin America, 422 million pounds from China and Asia, and the tiny little percentage left over was produced within the borders of the United States. The few fish from the United States are considered the best choice, if one wants to eat tilapia, and those from Latin America are considered a good alternative. What about those coming from China? Best avoided. Looking at the numbers listed in this paragraph, I think it’s easy to see how very difficult it would be to avoid tilapia from China, a problem compounded by the fact labeling of fish origins at stores and markets is not only inconsistent, it is quite often simply nonexistent.

Do I have any advice? Don’t eat tilapia, unless you know it came from the USA. I’ve personally never seen any labeled as having been raised in the USA, so my household just doesn’t eat tilapia. In fact, the problems with farm-raised tilapia aren’t confined to just that one breed of fish but are also problems with all farm-raised fish, so we just don’t eat much fish. We had been eating only fish and shellfish wild caught in the Gulf of Mexico, but well … that huge oil spill has made me wary of even allowing myself to eat too much of that now, so pretty much, unless we are at a party where fish is being served or at a restaurant we know sources their fish from the only fish market in town I’d trust, we don’t eat fish. This is a sad state of affairs, seeing as I happen to love fish and shellfish.

All of these issues combined with the already well-known levels of mercury is fish has lead me to believe that fish is quite possibly best avoided altogether. I am rarely one to suggest supplements in place of healthy eating, but in this case, omega-3 supplements or the old standby of cod liver oil may be the healthiest road to take right now†† … though it’s not nearly as tasty or as wonderful as sitting down to a plate with a slab of steaming fish on it, now is it? Wish it wasn’t so, but we’ve successfully managed to screw up the world’s waters and the things that live in it so badly, I’m leery of eating any of it until we somehow find a way to improve the situation.

Lin and I are doing research and considering putting in a small tilapia pond and raising our own. They truly are easy to raise, tolerate crowding very well, and if we get the environmental aspects right, won’t need much in the way of added feed. Wouldn’t it be nice to walk into the back yard and grab a couple fish that contain no mercury or other unneeded additives for dinner? We think so.

Footnotes
  1. † Remember, fish are raised in water, and whatever is in the water does end up in the fish. Think about the countries you might go to and NOT drink the water, and then consider whether or not you would eat fish raised in this water. Many of those countries are large producers of tilapia. [↩]
  2. †† Though do be sure to find out where the supplements/oil is made and whether or not it’s been tested for mercury. If it’s in the fish, it’ll be in the oil as well. [↩]

Must See TV

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Daily Show had an excellent bit about Fox News last night. It’s a must see … a perfect example of Fox News not bothering to do any research –as in actually listening to the song or looking past the first few Google results for the lyrics (which are all woefully inaccurate and incomplete)– or maybe a perfect example of Fox News not having any reading (or hearing) comprehension at all.

I don’t really like rap music (usually gives me a headache), but yet … I like Common. In fact, I like this particular song (Follow Me) so much, I suggest you listen to it too, so you can judge for yourself if he’s talking about “cop killing” as Sean Hannity insists.†

And if you haven’t seen the movie Just Wright starring Common and Queen Latifah, you should. It’s a really sweet and wonderfully made romantic comedy.

Footnotes
  1. † Here’s a clue: he isn’t. It’s actually a positive song, if one listens to it and doesn’t just pull random phrases out of context to read on air. [↩]

In the News

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Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association says:

Islam has no fundamental First Amendment claims, for the simple reason that it was not written to protect the religion of Islam. Islam is entitled only to the religious liberty we extend to it out of courtesy.

From a constitutional point of view, Muslims have no First Amendment right to build mosques in America. They have that privilege at the moment, but it is a privilege that can be revoked…

I counter with the text of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

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The Texas Legislature has been working on the state budget and trying to close that ever-increasing gap between the money we have and the money we need. Seeing as the Republicans have a super-majority, this one of the ways they want to fix the budget:

One Republican amendment, by Rep. Randy Weber, would take about $7 million from family planning services for needy families and redirect the money to programs intended to provide alternatives to abortion. It was approved by a 100-44 vote along party lines.

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Glenn Beck says that Donald Trump has been making him “a little uncomfortable recently” with all Trump’s crazy birther talk and such. Well, isn’t this a perfect example of the pot calling the kettle black?

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If released from the lab–which, I cannot stress enough, it very nearly was–the modified K. planticola would have spread worldwide in a matter of months, killing all plants it touched within a week, and turning all soil-based plant life into sweet, sweet liquor.

I had to do some research to verify this wasn’t an April Fool’s joke or just wild rumor, but no, it’s true … the EPA almost allowed a GM bacteria out into the wild that might very well have eventually killed all plant life in earth. Read the article, and then don’t dwell on it too much, because if you do, it’ll make you want to curl up in a ball in a dark closet and never come out again.

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Unilever has a new marketing plan to get women to switch to their deodorant: convince women their armpits are ugly and only their product can help. Seriously? Yes, apparently they are serious. They asked 500 women, and those woman almost all said they found their armpits unattractive. I’m not terribly suprised by the results of their poll. I believe you can ask 500 random women what they think about any part of their bodies and the majority will say it’s unattractive, because that’s the message women are fed 24/7 on all our various and sundry body parts. Now that will extend to armpits as well. But here’s the really interesting bit:

Some 62% of the women surveyed said they suffer underarm skin problems like breakouts, discoloration or itchiness, according to research at Unilever, known as the maker of Lipton Tea, Vaseline, Sunsilk shampoos, Hellmann’s mayonnaise and other big brands. Nearly half said they have been embarrassed enough by the condition of their underarms that they have changed clothes.

As someone who doesn’t entirely buy into the whole modern vision of female beauty (or chemicals applied to skin on a regular basis) let me tell you exactly what causes those “breakouts, discoloration or itchiness” … scraping sharp blades over sensitive skin followed by the application of a thick coat of pore-clogging chemicals. I realized long ago that it’s impossible for anyone to break through the cultural programming that women must have smoothly shaven legs and armpits every moment of every day, and we all must smell like lavender and daisies non-stop, but I will say it yet again … shave less and use less chemicals on your skin. It’s not necessary to go as au natural as I tend to do, but not shaving multiples of times a week will go a long way to better skin health on your legs and armpits. Also, unless I’m really doing something dirty and sweaty, there’s really no need for deodorant. Modern humans don’t stink as much as advertising would have us believe we do.

Say What?!

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I have to come out of my political ranting silence to publicly point and laugh at this:

“I have two grandchildren — Maggie is 11, Robert is 9. I am convinced that if we do not decisively win the struggle over the nature of America, by the time they’re my age they will be in a secular atheist country, potentially one dominated by radical Islamists and with no understanding of what it once meant to be an American.”
–Newt Gingrich

Methinks Mr. Gingrich does not know the definition of the word atheist. It’s really not possible for an atheist to be a radical Islamist or for a radical Islamist to be an atheist. Not … possible. Not without changing the meaning of the word atheist, anyway. Does he think atheists only disbelieve in his particular flavor of god? That’d be a pretty stupid thing for someone with any education whatsoever to think.

This guy is supposed to be one of the Republican Party’s powerhouse intellectuals, but I gotta say, if he doesn’t know that someone who holds a belief in ANY god isn’t an atheist then he’s less intellectual than most middle school students.

I actually can’t wait for the 2012 Presidential run to start. I am expecting comedy gold the likes of which even god himself has ever seen. It will also be interesting to see if America is stupid enough to elect one of these morons.

Americans Love to Panic

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Some questions running through my head tonight are … do Americans know potassium iodide is not a fix-all for radiation exposure, and do they know it comes with its own problems? Some other questions bumbling around in my brain are … do Americans know anything at all about radiation, and do they have any idea how much radiation they are exposed to on a daily basis? I’m also wondering if they know where Japan is on the globe.

I’m just curious, because I seem to be seeing an awful lot of really senseless panic among Americans. What’s really humorous to me is hearing people who have no problem at all going through the x-ray nudie machines at airports on a regular basis and aren’t at all concerned that we don’t really know exactly how much radiation they may be exposing people to every time they use one are now the very same people who are frantically trying to get their hands on pills to protect their thyroid (which could actually cause them thyroid problems if they take them). I imagine these same people stand with their noses glued to the window on their microwave too, and I’ve got news for you … all microwave ovens leak. If you know me and you have rushed out and bought a Geiger counter, do not inform me, because I guarantee you, I will laugh in your face. Seriously, I will.

I don’t recall reading about Americans panicking about radiation poisoning after we nuked Japan or while we were actively testing nuclear bombs above ground on our own soil. I also don’t recall all of America panicking about radiation poisoning in the aftermath of Three Mile Island or Chernobyl, and one of those happened right here in our own country. Now though, America wants to panic.

People are making money by making you afraid. The only people in America who are going to benefit from the sale of potassium iodide pills and Geiger counters are the people selling them … and the news outlets who are buying your eyeballs for their advertisers with their scary sensationalism.

I have some suggested reading for anyone considering panicking about radiation poisoning in the USA due to events in Japan:

Background Radiation – Banana Equivalent Dose – Inverse Square Law

And this article is very, very informative. Must read for anyone in America considering panicking.

And for the love of all that is holy, if you are terrified of radiation, stop eating bananas right now … and definitely do not put that Brazil nut in your mouth.