Chinese Chicken Poo

Once again the U.S. government shows that it does not work for the American people. For some time now the food supply in this country has been unsafe. Vegetables, meat, peanut butter, and even dog food have been found to be tainted in just the last year or so. Some of the problem has been caused by known safety violations committed by Chinese food processors.

Now, the U.S. government wants to give China permission to export chickens to the U.S. That's right; chickens? Let's be clear here, avian flu can come from Chinese chickens. Additionally, Chinese slaughterhouses have refused to meet even minimum safety standards required to import meat product to the U.S. So, why would the government allow import of Chinese chickens? Because U.S. companies want to export safe, clean, well-processed beef to China! So, the Chinese get clean, safe food while American consumers have to accept food that may very well be tainted?

The food supply in America is unsafe and it is the government's job to ensure that it is safe for consumers and their families. Do we now have to grow our own food in order to avoid tainted food?

Congress needs to get on top of this and ban imported food from China until the Chinese government agrees to meet our safety standards. Additionally, the USDA and FDA need to start requiring that all food be labeled with it's country of origin and the country where the food was processed. I find it amazing that our government has sunk so low in it's efforts to support foreign governments that we cannot even trust the food we put on our table. This behavior is approaching treason and must stop!

More info here: Why U.S. Doesn't Stop Tainted Food From China

Just Plane Poo

First, read this: Airplane Stuck in City Street.

Now, I'm imagining the customer service call:

Hello, my name is Chuck Yeagermeister.

I understand that you find a plane in your way this day. Before I can help I will need to clarify aspects of the situation. Is the plane of a horizontal or vertical in nature. Did you direct the plane's course yourself or employ a third party for this endeavor? Did the movement of the plane involve the utilization of frequent flyer miles? Please understand that we cannot grant mileage for misdirected travels. Therefore, we regret to inform you that your request for a weekend stay in Las Vegas has been denied. As always, we would thank you for patronizing Bangalore Airways.

Unfortunate, But True

America believes in education: the average professor earns more money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week.

Evan Esar

American Humorist (1899 - 1995)

A Failure to Communicate?

I'm pretty sure that the American people thought they were sending the Republican Party and the Bush administration a message during the last election, but he Republicans just do not seem to have received that message. The Iraq War funding bill that included a measure to start bringing our troops home from this senseless war has been rejected by the President and his veto has been upheld by his Congressional minions.

"Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the Republican minority leader, urged members to sustain the president’s veto by voting against the bill. 'Why is winning in Iraq so important?' Mr. Boehner asked. 'In my view and others, al Qaeda has made Iraq the central front in their war with us.'” [New York Times]

Now wait, did I read that right? Boehner says that al Qaeda made Iraq the central front on their war with us? Is Boehner smoking crack? Al Qaeda did not make Iraq the "central front," we did or should I say Bush administration did! Al Queda didn't have a "central front" until they provided one with their unjustified, ill-conceived, and horribly executed invasion of Iraq. Only after they set up the "central front" for them did al Qaeda take advantage of it and kill off several thousand American soldiers. Somebody want to tell me why it was such a great idea to give a terrorist organization a "central front?" And if it is a good idea to "fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here" then what the heck was wrong with Afghanistan, home of al Qaeda?

The answer is simple; there is no good reason, just as there is no good justification for this war. The problem is that Boehner and the rest of the Republican party are terribly afraid that, if they admit that they are wrong and that this so-called war cannot be won, they will look like fools who have wasted American lives on a war that was based on a lie and never should have been waged. Unfortunately for them, and for our troops, the Republicans do not understand that they look even more foolish for staying the course when the American people have already overwhelmingly told them that this is the wrong course.

My guess is that, in the end, the American political landscape will have to be rendered as devoid of Republicans as the desert of Iraq was of weapons of mass destruction. Maybe then Boner Boehner and the Bush Boys will finally get the message.