Ever get the feeling that someone’s spying on your life?
Mmmmmm, food bigger than one’s head…
Pro-US candidate wins in El Salvador; Castro loses an ally.
Rutgers U has actually paid real dollars to fund a study of food consumption on The Simpsons.
The researchers … analysed 63 episodes of the show for health-related messages. Their conclusion? “Fats, sweets and alcohol, particularly beer, doughnuts and salty/fatty snacks accounted for 52 per cent of all foods eaten in this programme,’‘ they say. …Professor Byrd-Bredbenner is worried. She says: “We should be able to weave some good health messages into The Simpsons … Perhaps we could have more pasta and less doughnuts.”
No kidding. File the following under “Hello, Everybody, I’m Dr. Nick!”
Overall, they found that 40 per cent of the health messages ran counter to those promoted by health professionals.Read more!
Today’s reason: bypassing the process.
Social Security and Medicare were mandates of the people. They were prepared by a president. They were passed in the House and Senate, and voted into law. The process was followed to create these institutions, but Bush is determined to kill these and other programs off through financial attrition without public acknowldgement of his goals. In fact, he continues to mislead the public expressing continued support for the programs while enacting budget programs that ensure financial ruin. The Bush administration barely conceals this plan so that only the inquisitive can see their true destination. Anyone who scratches the surface of close supporter and consulting strategist Grover Norquist will be amazed at the harm they intend for the government, and by consent anyone who relies on the government for support.
“Cutting the government in half in one generation is both an ambitious and reasonable goal,” Norquist stated in May 2000. “If we work hard we will accomplish this and more by 2025. Then the conservative movement can set a new goal. I have a recommendation: To cut government in half again by 2050.”
This is part of a continuing theme with Bush from No Child Left Behind underfunding and weaking states through cut funds. Saying one thing to the media, then not delivering the goods on the backside. They seem incapable of presenting their ideas in a straight-forward and honest fashion and letting the public decide how the government should be run.
If the Conservative agenda is to kill or completely change Social Security and Medicare, then present it as such publicly. If the goal of cutting state funds and education funds is to change the flow of monies, then announce that goal in the light of day. Too many supporters of the Neo-Con and Bush agendas will admit that they want to remove these programs and change the way taxes are gathered and used — but they won’t hold their leaders accountable for the honesty of presenting these ideas.
The GOP, starting at Bush and Tom Delay, on through the state leaders of the Texas House and Senate have decided that ramming through their agenda using barely legal methods, avoiding public comment or even public recognition is the way to do business when you’re on top. Today this suits them well, but they are setting a precedent for the liberals to follow when the pendulum swings the other way.