Book Alert. OMG, I can't keep up with all the books I wanna read.

Egads. How will I ever be able to read all the books I'm interested in? I'm reading two excellent books, right now - "The Experience of Alzheimer's Disease", by Steven R. Sabat, wonderfully in depth, thoughtful, informative; and Parker Palmer's "A Hidden Wholeness", that I'm inching my way through.

I stopped by Changing Aging and much to my delight and dismay saw mention of "The Braindead Megaphone" by George Saunders in the same breath as talk of David Sedaris.

Then Stacey left the following comment on this blog in response to my post "No wonder Carl Dennis won a Pulitzer for Poetry":

"billy collins has a new book out called ballistics. it includes a poem called hippos on holiday. needless to say i'm ecstatic.
-stacey"

So now I'm faced with a quandary - (and for those of you who spent time in New York 40 years ago, and listened to the radio, the jingle "Are you in a quandary, about which is the better laundry? Then try Tribune, try Tribune, try Tribune soon" is now running through your head at the sight of the word quandary. A highly effective ad campaign, I'd say.) Do I go to amazon and order both books right now, using my free two-day shipping option? (Free only because I pay somewhere around $70 a year for the service that encourages me to go to amazon and order both books right now routinely.) Or do I wait until I have the time to drive to Border's, or in a more perfect world, walk to Border's as I would have in the past, when time was a more fluid commodity in my life, thereby doing my part to help keep this actual, not virtual, bookstore alive and well? It means paying more and using fuel and waiting longer and, who knows what else.

And then there's the issue of buying more books. It's okay to buy them, right, to support the authors and the industry of actual, rather than virtual books? And the issue of the other books that are in line, stacked up in my bookcase like planes at LaGuardia, awaiting their turn to be read.

Several years ago a friend of mine told me his theory with regard to spending money. It went something along the lines of, it's okay to have one spending vice - say buying books. Just allow yourself that one, give in to it, enjoy it guiltlessly, don't go too crazy, but don't let the buying spill into other areas. But then there's Reverend Billy's The Church of Stop Shopping and people all over the country, like the group in Berkeley, that have vowed not to buy anything new at all, existing to put me to shame.

A mountain out of a molehill, you say? Order the damn books and get on with your day, for chrissakes.

Okay.

More from the Good Reverend Billy

For Buy Nothing Day:
The 10 Commandments Of Buylessness
As Revealed To Reverend Billy

THOU SHALT
Forgive people, yourself and everybody else. We all shop too much.

THOU SHALT
Know your Devil. Shoppers are only dancing in the land of ten thousand ads. Consumerism is the system. Corporations are the agents of the system.

THOU SHALT
Respect the micro-gesture. Magicalize the foreground. Fore-go the plastic bag and grab that bare banana – Amen!

THOU SHALT
Practice asking for Sweat-free, Fairly-traded and Locally Made products. That's the rude that's cool.

THOU SHALT
Buy less and give more. Giving is forceful, the beginning of fantastic new economies.

THOU SHALT
Buy local and think global. Love Your Neighbor (buy at independent shops) and Love The Earth (walk to, bike to, mass transit to – the things you need.)

THOU SHALT
Citizens can buy or not buy, produce or not produce. We can change to a sustainable personal economy. Then corporations and governments will change.

THOU SHALT
Envision the history of a product on a shelf. Workers and the earth made that thing. Resisting Consumerism is an act of imagination.

THOU SHALT
Complexify. Don't be so easy to figure out. Consumers tend to regularize.
Shopping at big boxes and chains makes us all the same. Viva la difference!

THOU SHALT
Respect heroes of the resistance. A small band of neighborhood-defenders who staved off a super mall with years of protests? Beautiful.

It's our turn now. CHANGE-A-LUJAH!

The Reverend Billy and The Church of Stop Shopping

How will you be spending Buy Nothing Day? Perhaps with the Reverend Billy?

Vindicated. Finally. Thanks to Fox.

I can't believe I'm quoting Fox. But I am. And I'm passing on the information because I think it's good, really good. I've been fighting a losing battle with my kids to rid the house of scented stuff for years. Scented candles; horrible smelling laundry detergents (I rue the day the kids started buying their own products to do their laundry.); fabric softeners (Forbidden - why on earth would one need a "fabric softener"? Is it like needing a Salton Bun Warmer or an electric knife? Or maybe it's like the broom that Poe brought home recently, unknowingly, fully equipped with an "air freshener" tucked into it's side.)

Fight no more. I've got science and Fox on my side. Vindicated. Phew. Take a look!

'Fresh Scent' Detergents and Air Fresheners Could be Toxic, Study Says
Thursday , July 24, 2008, Fox News

Your favorite laundry products and air fresheners could be emitting a lot more than just a ‘fresh scent’, according to a University of Washington study.

Researchers analyzed a range of top-selling products from plug-in oils to dryer sheets, fabric softeners and detergents. What they found was that all of them contained dozens of different chemicals. In fact, researchers said all six products tested gave off at least one chemical regulated as toxic or hazardous under federal laws.

"I was surprised by both the number and the potential toxicity of the chemicals that were found," said Anne Steinemann, a University of Washington professor, in a news release. “Chemicals included acetone, the active ingredient in paint thinner and nail-polish remover; limonene, a molecule with a citrus scent; and acetaldehyde, chloromethane and 1, 4-dioxane.”

In the laboratory, each product was placed in an isolated space at room temperature and the surrounding air was analyzed for chemicals.

Results showed 58 different volatile organic compounds above a concentration of 300 micrograms per cubic meter. For example, a plug-in air freshener contained more than 20 different volatile organic compounds. Of these, seven are regulated as toxic or hazardous under federal laws.

Steinemann had this advice for consumers.

"Be careful if you buy products with fragrance, because you really don't know what's in them," she said. "I'd like to see better labeling. In the meantime, I'd recommend that instead of air fresheners people use ventilation, and with laundry products, choose fragrance-free versions."

The study is published online by the journal Environmental Impact Assessment Review.

A message from The Rev Billy

And I quote:
A headline in the papers said: Americans Stop Shopping. Can you believe this? It goes on to say: Discretionary retail spending is down six quarters in a row, big boxes in receivership, independent shops springing up...

So, the market is no longer a great shadow up in the elevator shaft that crashes down on us every time a rich person needs to leave home. The President told us that shopping was how we fight for our country - that we deserved this nationwide hypnosis - but then Americans Stop Shopping, and oh the freedom from that pain throws us forward into a delicious waltz of little everyday gestures, oh this feels good. Americans Stop Shopping, did anyone see this coming?

Yes, the corporations did. They were afraid we might stop at any moment but then we kept shopping for years and they started buying homes in the Hamptons, oh but feel that? Feel that shopping stop? Could we be fascinated again with the pharmacist couple that survived the chains? Were they Tony and Mary? Are the old first names returning to our shouts? Look at that! It’s a miracle. Our hands are changing - ungrabbing - returning to us from the credit cards and plastic-lid to-go cups...

Americans Stop Shopping and why does it make no sense to sit in traffic now - is it really just the gas? Because - see that? We are leaving our cars and trucks up on the interstate and wandering off across fields, suddenly I meet you after all these years! I remember you and I remember myself - from before all the shopping started. You know what? I’ve got a question for you.

Can you believe this headline? Americans Stop Shopping? We shopped too much because we were afraid of death but now that we stopped - the forests rise through the super mall roof and birds cry “I am here! I am here!” Americans Stop Shopping? Can we believe we are consuming less? - if we believe it then we can do it. Amen?

This has been a message from The Rev Billy Bulletin

Visit us online at http://www.revbilly.com

(c) 2008 All Rights Unreserved and For The People. Feel free to repost, republish and spread the good word with a link back to http://www.revbilly.com.

It's a food. It's a gum. It's anti-aging serum!

Here's what they have to say about it:

Shield your skin from the negative effects of aging and the environment. Anti-Aging Serum, with Gen III technology, visibly reverses the signs of aging at the cellular level.

Anti-Aging Serum contains concentrated levels of Gen III anti-aging complex. Gen III stimulates fibroblasts in the dermis to increase production of collagen and elastin, the elastic structural scaffolding of the skin, creating a more youthful, elastic feel. Gen III also acts to increase cell renewal in the epidermis, plumping the upper layers of the skin, and smoothing out wrinkles. Gen III is proven to rebuild basic collagen and elastin and assist the body in fighting the aging process.

Anti-Aging Serum also fortified with a unique blend of the latest free-radical fighting vitamins and botanicals, included in this blend are Vitamins A, D, B and C, aloe vera, centella asiatic extract, Japanese Green Tea extract, ginkgo biloba extract, and echinacea purpura extract. Biosaccharide gum-1 is also added to provide long lasting moisturization.

Benefits
Contains concentrated levels of Gen III - the latest in anti-aging skin care technology.
Dramatically reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
Gives the skin a more youthful, radiant appearance.
Free-radical fighting blend of vitamins and botanicals.
Works at the molecular level to redefine and revitalize the skin.
Great for tired, puffy eyes and the crow feet area.

Recommended Uses
Day and night, apply small quantity to the face and neck or areas that require special attention. Apply with light tapping motions. ...

Ingredients
Purified Water, Biosaccharide Gum-1, Butylene Glycol, Glycerin, Matricaria (Chamomilla recutita) Extract, Retinyl Palmitate (Vitamin A), Aloe barbadensis, Hydrocotyle (Centella asiatica) Extract, Camellia oleifera Extract, Ginkgo biloba Extract, Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) Extract, Grape (Vitis vinifera) Seed Extract, Lecithin, Gen III, Phenoxyethanol, Beta-sitosterol, Linoleic Acid, Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Allantoin, Chlorphenesin, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Sodium Hydroxide Solution (50%), PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Disodium EDTA, Fragrance, Carbomer, Xanthan Gum, Ergothioneine

It's all in the tapping motion. I'm sure. I'm also sure I must be in the wrong business.

Don't go to Canada. Go to Costco.

I don't know if this is an urban hoax circulating the internet propagated by a savvy Costco marketer, or by a spurned and angry lover of one Sharon L. Davis. I don't know if Ms. Davis actually exists or if she wrote the following e-mail that was forwarded to me. My guess is that even if Ms. Davis is being punked, the facts listed are probably true or at least, food for thought and further research. I'm just the messenger, the conduit.

WAY TO GO COSTCO

This is worth reading. Be sure to read to the end. You will be amazed. Let's hear it for Costco!! (This is just mind-boggling!) Make sure you read all the way past the list of the drugs. The woman that signed below is a Budget Analyst out of federal Washington , DC offices.

Did you ever wonder how much it costs a drug company for the active
ingredient in prescription medications? Some people think it must cost a lot, since many drugs sell for more than $2.00 per tablet. We did a search of offshore chemical synthesizers that supply the active ingredients found in drugs approved by the FDA. As we have revealed in past issues of Life Extension, a significant percentage of drugs sold in the United States contain active ingredients made in other countries. In our independent investigation of how much profit drug companies really make, we obtained the actual price of active ingredients used in some of the most popular drugs sold in America

The data below speaks for itself.

Celebrex: 100 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $130.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.60
Percent markup: 21,712%

Claritin: 10 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $215.17
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.71
Percent markup: 30,306%

Keflex: 250 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $157.39
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.88
Percent markup: 8,372%

Lipitor: 20 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $272.37
Cost of general active ingredients: $5.80
Percent markup: 4,696%

Norvasc: 10 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $188.29
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.14
Percent markup: 134,493%

Paxil: 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $220.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $7.60
Percent markup: 2,898%

Prevacid: 30 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $44.77
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.01
Percent markup: 34,136%

Prilosec : 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $360.97
Cost of general active ingredients $0.52
Percent markup: 69,417%

Prozac: 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) : $247.47
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.11
Percent markup: 224,973%

Tenormin: 50 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $104.47
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.13
Percent markup: 80,362%

Vasotec: 10 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $102.37
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.20
Percent markup: 5 1,185%

Xanax: 1 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) : $136.79
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.024
Percent markup: 569,958%

Zestril: 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) $89.89
Cost of general active ingredients $3.20
Percent markup: 2,809

Zithromax: 600 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $1,482.19
Cost of general active ingredients: $18.78
Percent markup: 7,892%

Zocor: 40 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $350.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $8.63
Percent markup: 4,059%

Zoloft: 50 mg&nbs p;
Consumer price: $206.87
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.75
Percent markup: 11,821%

Since the cost of prescription drugs is so outrageous, I thought everyone should know about this. Please read the following and pass it on.

It pays to shop around. This helps to solve the mystery as to why they can afford to put a Walgreen's on every corner. On Monday night, Steve Wilson, an investigative reporter for Channel 7 News in Detroit, did a story on generic drug price gouging by pharmacies. He found in his investigation, that some of these generic drugs were marked up as much as 3,000% or more.

Yes, that's not a typo.....three thousand percent! So often, we blame the drug companies for the high cost of drugs, and usually rightfully so. But in this case, the fault clearly lies with the pharmacies themselves. For example, if you had to buy a prescription drug, and bought the name brand, you might pay $100 for 100 pills.

The pharmacist might tell you that if you get the generic equivalent, they would only cost $80, making you think you are 'saving' $20. What the pharmacist is not telling you is that those 100 generic pills may have only cost him $10!

At the end of the report, one of the anchors asked Mr. Wilson whether, or not there were any pharmacies that did not adhere to this practice, and he said that Costco consistently charged little over their cost for the generic drugs.

I went to the Costco site, where you can look up any drug, and get its online price. It says that the in-store prices are consistent with the online prices. I was appalled. Just to give you one example from my own experience, I had to use the drug, Compazine, which helps prevent nausea in chemo patients & bsp; I used the generic equivalent, which cost $54.99 for 60 pills at CVS. I
checked the price at Costco, and I could have bought 100 pills for $19.89.

For 145 of my pain pills, I paid $72.57. I could have got 150 at Costco for $28.08.

I would like to mention, that although Costco is a 'membership' type store, you do NOT have to be a member to buy prescriptions there, as it is a federally regulated substance. You just tell them at the door that you wish to use the pharmacy, and they will let you in. (this is true) I went there this past Thursday and asked them. I am asking each of you to please help me by copying this letter, and passing it into your own e-mail, and send it to everyone you know with an e-mail address.

Sharon L. Davis
Budget Analyst
U.S. Department of Commerce
Room 6839
Office Ph: 202-482-4458
Office Fax: 202-482-5480
E-mail Address: sdavis@doc.gov

I Wanna Walk and Talk

John Francis didn't ride in motorized vehicles for 22 years. He didn't talk for 17 years. He did walk a lot and he earned three degrees along the way. I suspect his class presentations in school were amazing.

Anyone who knows me is aware of my dislike of automobiles and driving and my preference for walking. (Forgive me, Julia, for that day in December when I made us walk to buy Jerzy's birthday presents, lugging them back all those miles in the cold. You too Jerzy - sorry about my tirades when anyone wanted to be driven to the shopping center. And while I'm apologizing, I'm sorry for crying in malls. I hope it was okay for you.) There's nothing I'd like better than to walk to everything. Talking is another matter. I barely go 17 minutes without talking, even if just to myself. Fortunately, I was able to keep largely silent during John Francis' talk the other night sponsored by National Geographic. Perhaps I whispered a bit to Chris from time to time. I can't be certain. But I mainly listened.

As trite as it may sound, John Francis is an inspiration. You can watch the video about him if you like.

I bought his book. As soon as I stop yakking to friends and strangers (Who was that chatty woman outside of Starbucks today?) and driving the kids to work and class I'll read it. I hope my cell phone doesn't ring and interrupt me.

I haven't read this yet. But I want to. You?

I read about this on AlterNet. Wanna read it right away. Here's what the publisher says about it. --

Half the world is malnourished, the other half obese-both symptoms of the corporate food monopoly. To show how a few powerful distributors control the health of the entire world, Raj Patel conducts a global investigation, traveling from the "green deserts"of Brazil and protester-packed streets of South Korea to bankrupt Ugandan coffee farms and barren fields of India. What he uncovers is shocking — the real reasons for famine in Asia and Africa, an epidemic of farmer suicides, and the false choices and conveniences in supermarkets. Yet he also finds hope — in international resistance movements working to create a more democratic, sustainable, and joyful food system.

From seed to store to plate, Stuffed and Starved explains the steps to regain control of the global food economy, stop the exploitation of farmers and consumers, and rebalance global sustenance.

About the Author: Raj Patel, former policy analyst for Food First, a leading food think tank, is a visiting scholar at the UC Berkeley Center for African Studies. He has written for the Los Angeles Times and Financial Times, and while he has worked for the World Bank, WTO, and the UN, he has also been tear-gassed on four continents protesting them.

Okay, so it's the job of the publisher to make it seem good in order to get me to buy it. And of course the ideals sound too high and lofty -- "stop the exploitation of farmers and consumers, and rebalance global sustenance" -- Sure it's that simple. Not. But, ya gotta start somewhere.

Next Mother's Day

This article published on Monday, May 12, 2008 by CommonDreams.org

Next Mothers Day Let’s Invite the Whole Family
by Medea Benjamin

Next Mothers Day, I don’t want to be organizing yet another rally of Mothers Against War in Washington DC and lamenting the state of our dysfunctional human family. I want to be celebrating the successes of the first 100 days of a new administration. I want to see us healing the collective traumas of the past eight years and becoming a nation that reflects the values of compassion and kindness that most mothers hold dear.

Next Mothers Day, I want us to be welcoming our soldiers home from Iraq and taking care of them when they get here. I don’t want to hear any more bickering in Congress about whether we should provide decent educational benefits to our vets — especially from those who supported the war! I don’t want to read more horror stories about dilapidated VA hospitals and bureaucratic sinkholes that keep veterans from getting the care they need. I want us to come together — whether we were for or against this war — to nurture our wounded sons and daughters.

Next Mothers Day, I want us to have come to grips with the disaster we have wreaked upon the Iraqi people. I want us to mourn their losses, express contrition and help rebuild the nation we destroyed. I want us to ensure a viable homeland for our Palestinian sisters and brothers. I want us to rebuild a relationship of trust and respect with our Arab neighbors so that we can mutually address the threat of terrorism.

Next Mothers Day, I want us to repair old family feuds. I want us to restore relations with the Cuban cousins we banished some 50 years ago, starting with lifting the embargo. I want us to sing and dance and drink mojitos with our Caribbean kin, relishing in our common zest for life.

We shouldn’t stop with Cuba. I want us to reach out with a mother’s open arms toward other nations we are today bullying, from Venezuela to Iran. I want us to bring out the carrots and put away the sticks, as we have recently done in the case of North Korea. I want us to abandon the “do as I say, not as I do” approach to nuclear deterrence and support global disarmament.

Next Mothers Day, I want us to be immersed in a crash course on overcoming our oil addiction and cleaning up the mess we have made of our Mother Earth. I want us to stop pillaging the family jewels and instead embrace conservation, restoration and a fairer distribution of our planet’s wealth.

Next Mothers Day, I want us to practice unconditional love. I want us to heed the words of Julia Ward Howe’s original Mothers Day proclamation when she said that “We, the women of one country, will be too tender to those of another country to allow our sons to injure theirs.” I want us to form kinship circles that stretch across the globe, to teach our children to feel empathy towards other children, to truly embrace the concept of universal oneness.

Next Mothers Day, when we sit down to a bountiful brunch, I want the other members of our global household to be seated at the table. That will truly be a fitting tribute to the women who brought us into this world.

Medea Benjamin (medea@globalexchange.org) is cofounder of CODEPINK and Global Exchange. If you would like to help the Iraqi refugees, see www.codepinkalert.org.

What I learned on Yesterday's Walk.

Wondering what to do with those offensive leaves that fall out of trees, littering your otherwise pristine yard? Bag them up in plastic, leave them on the side of the road for the garbage truck to take them to landfill.

What's wrong with this picture?

Everything.

I'm tired of bottled water. I'm tired of plastic.

Our Bodies, Our Blog has a great post about plastic, er, I don't mean it says anything great about plastic. It's informative, as their posts typically are. It turns out that some of the chemicals used in plastics seem to cause endocrine problems, cancer, etc. and that other countries and now California ban them. Duh. I'm shocked. You? Here's a snippet:

Last week, the National Toxicology Program released a draft report on bisphenol A, or BPA, a chemical used in hard, clear plastic, such as Nalgene and baby bottles, as well as in the lining of baby formula containers and canned foods.

Studies in animals have linked it to hormonal changes, and the report acknowledged "some concern" that BPA may affect neural and behavioral development "in fetuses, infants, and children at current human exposures."

The report "signaled a turning point in the government's position on bisphenol A, or BPA, a chemical so ubiquitous in the United States that it has been detected in the urine of 93 percent of the population over 6 years of age," Lyndsey Layton wrote in the Washington Post, though it only called for more research into the health effects. --- snip ---

For more in-depth reading on the health concerns and scientific debate around BPA, check out "The Plastics Revolution," published in the Washington Post earlier this week.

The author, Ranit Mishori, a family physician and faculty member at the Georgetown University School of Medicine, also looks at the debate over phthalates -- chemical compounds that improve the longevity, durability and flexibility of plastic. In animal studies, these compounds have been linked to cancers and genital abnormalities, especially in males.

Again, the Unites States lags behind other countries, as phthalates are already banned in the manufacture of toys in most European countries. California took action on its own, implementing a ban that goes into effect in 2009 on some phthalates found in toys and teethers. A dozen other states are considering similar bans.

But it's not as easy as banning items that children like to put in their mouths. Phthlates are also found in commonly used personal care products, including shampoos and deodorants and perfumes -- for more info., see (their) previous post on cosmetics and phthalates.

The previous post has an interesting link to an article in the Telegraph.UK by Paul Stokes, Body absorbs 5lb of make-up chemicals a year, which speaks directly to women's make-up. Ugh.

And about that bottled water. I know it's old news too. I mean the article in the NY Times, Must Be Something in The Water, by Julia Moskin was written well over a year ago. Her article is quite informative, although, you don't have to read it to know that millions of plastic bottles are piling up everywhere and that the water industry is huge and getter bigger all the time. Had I read it before, however, I would have known that Dasani water, sold by Coca-Cola and "available", ie, the only choice in numerous markets, is simply purified municipal water with magnesium sulfate, potassium chloride and sodium chloride added. Just what I want in my water. Salt.

Grrrr. It must be something in the water, indeed. And btw, if you wanna see somebody who's really tired of plastic, visit Beth Terry at Fake Plastic Fish. You'll be glad you did.

I can't say it any better than Martha Rosenberg does.

This is all new to me. I'd never heard of Sportsman Against Hunger before. I have heard of Dan Quayle. He's still a great source for the occasional joke. And I do know of Dick Cheny's prowess with guns. I encountered this article by Martha Rosenberg on AlterNet and Under the Holly Tree. Same article at both places. Now it's here.

Martha Rosenberg: Hunter Humanitarian Program Backfires as Venison is Found Unfit

When your organization promotes canned shooting of lions, elephants, zebras, and leopards in Africa, it needs a lot of PR.

That's why Safari Club International (SCI), the trophy-hunting organization supported by former President George H.W. Bush, former Vice President Dan Quayle, and retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, created Sportsmen Against Hunger.

Dumping carcasses makes hunters look like they just like to kill.
But find someone who will actually eat the game -- staff at canned hunting clubs for example or the poor -- and you are suddenly a humanitarian.

Vice President Dick Cheney's hunting parties are known for donating the pen-raised pheasants they shoot during an afternoon to hunting club workers who presumably don't mind the cleaning and pellet removal.

And few think George H.W. Bush, Quayle and Schwarzkopf ate the lions they allegedly killed in a canned hunt in Botswana in 1999 themselves. Especially when donating the meat would increase their Great White Hunter status. (see: We're Helping Local Economies and Preserving Big Game By Killing It.)

In fact, Sportsmen against Hunger worked so well as a concept -- "hunters are doing something they love and helping others at the same time," said spokesmen -- SCI spun off a second do-good group called Sportsmen Against Cancer stumped by Stormin' Norman himself.

"I'm a health nut," Schwarzkopf, a cancer survivor, told the Fort Myers News-Press in 2006. "However, some people can't afford organic foods, and Sportsmen Against Cancer provides meat at no cost."

Hormones are not good for cancer patients, added Angie Hall of the Naples/Fort Myers Safari Club that was coordinating the program and it's "not very likely that wild animals were injected with hormones."

Until, that is, chronic wasting disease (CWD), a terminal neurological illness similar to mad cow, surfaced in U.S. deer and elk five years ago. Suddenly no one wanted to eat the meat they harvested or even clean it. Or let it in the house.

"If the hunter cuts up his/her own deer, he or she should wear surgical gloves and not have any open cuts or sores on their hands," Jon C. McCabe of Watertown, WI warned hunters in the Capital Times.

But that still didn't mean he was out of the woods. "If the hunter has the deer processed, does that processor sterilize its equipment after each deer is cut up so cross contamination does not occur?" asked McCabe.

Colorado hunter Al Samuelson wasn't afraid of contamination from the other guy's deer; he worried about contamination from his own buck when it tested CWD positive -- and the risks from blood on his steering wheel and hunting clothes that his wife washed.

Mounds of headless deer piled up in places such as Wisconsin awaiting elaborate lab tests on their brains and horrifying the public. And suddenly the tons of limp and headless game hunters tried to donate looked less like generosity than, well, dumping.

Less like helping the poor than dosing it. (see: blankets; smallpox)

Some food pantries refused the "donations" outright; others gave recipients an informed consent flier that told them the meat was probably fine but there was a slight chance it was not fine and actually lethal. Bon Appetit.

Nor did anyone want the meat in a landfill "where other animals can eat it and the blood can be filtered through the soil and enter the ground water," as McCabe wrote.

Now comes news there's a second problem with Sportsmen Against Hunger's heartfelt donations: lead poisoning.

Last week, health officials in North Dakota told food pantries to throw out donated meat after 53 out of 95 packages of ground venison revealed lead fragments from bullets when X-rayed.

Health officials in Minnesota and Iowa promptly followed suit. This leaves Sportsmen Against Hunger with 1.2 million perfectly good meals no one wants on their plate. 317,000 pounds of meat "harvested" for no reason. And looking less like humanitarians than criminals trying to find someone to dispose of the evidence.

"This is disheartening, and we certainly don't think this program should come to an end on the unscientific assessment that has occurred here," lamented SCI lawyer Doug Burdin upon hearing the states' decrees.

"Deer venison provided through the generosity of our hunters, is a highly valuable food source for some of Iowa's less fortunate citizens," echoed Ross Harrison, coordinator of Iowa's Help Us Stop Hunger (HUSH) program. "We certainly have an obligation to ensure its safety, but we also don't want to be wasteful of this valuable resource if we don't need to."

Maybe Safari Club International needs to do more PR.

The meat may contain CWD and lead fragments but it still has no injected hormones, after all. And it didn't end up in the school lunch program.

Martha Rosenberg is a Staff Cartoonist for the Evanston Roundtable.

Hysterical. Not.

Hysterically funny? I don't think so. I must have fallen out of the loop, lost touch with the fabulous things Gucci comes up with. What better use for $3990? A new purse! Maybe if I get that $5,000 tax break for health insurance from McCain . . . More on the bag at Luxist. There's a link to Saks in case you're itching to "add to bag" as they say. Beware. No more than three of these every thirty days:

Gucci
Hysteria Python Bag/Medium
Medium top handle bag in black python with double handles, detachable shoulder strap, magnet snap closure. Metal Gucci crest detail. Inside zip, cell phone and PDA pockets. 17"W X 14"H X 3"D. Made in Italy.
DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND, A CUSTOMER MAY ORDER NO MORE THAN THREE UNITS OF THIS ITEM EVERY THIRTY DAYS.

Catherine Price has her hysterical take on it in Salon today: . . .

but I find the Hysteria collection, well, hysterical. Mostly, it's for an etymological reason -- the word "hysterical" comes from the Greek "hysterikos," which means "womb." Or, more specifically, "disorder of the womb," a definition that dates back to the ancient Greek belief that the uterus was a free-floating organ that wandered through the body as it saw fit, bumping into other sensitive body parts (lungs, heart) and causing problems wherever it strayed. ("The Rogue Uterus" -- coming soon to a theater near you!) Physicians thought hysteria had something to do with sexual deprivation (though pretty much any female behavior could be considered "hysteria," especially if male physicians didn't understand it), and in the Victorian era, its treatment involved "pelvic massage" with what we'd now call vibrators -- which makes me wonder if some of those distressed ladies weren't a tad bit more clever than their doctors realized.

I wonder what could I get in trade for my Hysterical bag on Swaptree? (Check out the description on the Very Short List.) Dang, I forgot. They only handle books, CDs, DVDs and Video Games.

I feel a new businees coming on. Swaptree, Gucci style. Who's in?

Contents of My Inbox

Many years ago I wrote a poem about the contents of my Blue Dresser Drawer. It included things like three straight pins; ticket stubs from various concerts, movies, plays, etc (described in detail, including relationship to companion at the event); seven buttons (three white from button down shirt, one faux tortoiseshell, 1 large black, 1 red, 1 small blue); matches (including description, of course); 1 black shoelace; etc. You get the picture.

Slow forward to today and I'm struck by the contents of my e-mail Inbox.


RE: [heathenhomeschoolers] Flying Spaghetti Monster in the Sky‏

Amazon.com Save 22% at Amazon.com on "The Joy of Retirement: Finding Happiness, Freedom, and the Life You've Always Wanted" by David C. Borchard‏

Raw Story Update - April 22‏ 4:17 PM 17 KB

Are you ready to join a Major League political operation that will change America?‏

Very Short List VSL // STOP! Don't chuck that awful DVD you bought‏

NPR Shop NPR Green Gifts for Earth Day‏

rentalcars.com Rental Cars from $69/week + Special Offer from Alamo‏

SmartBargains.com Mother's Day is coming! Save on great gifts, ship for free‏

Victoria's Secret Make a Splash with the 2008 Swim Collection‏

Progressive Democrats of America [PDA] Reminder:TONIGHT, TUES 4/22 HEALTH CARE FOR ALL/SIINGLE PAYER ISSUE ORGANIZING TEAM CALL‏

[Fwd: FW: Advocacy Alert: Tell Your Representatives to Vote for H.R. 5613

PFAW Activist Network Tell Senate: Correct the Court, Support Fair Pay‏

Friendly Reminder: RSVP for Networking Dinner--Friday April 25

AlterNet Headlines Evangelical Pop Culture | 8 Reasons Environmentalism Is Unavoidable | Is Privacy Obsolete?‏

Doctor Dictionary lionize: Dictionary.com Word of the Day‏

WhiteBison.org Daily Meditation Elder's Meditation of the day April 22

Barnes & Noble 25% Off Coupon Inside‏

The Writer's Almanac The Writer's Almanac for April 22

Salon Newsletter Today in Salon: The epic battle for Pennsylvania‏

Media Matters for America Media Matters Daily Summary‏

Common Dreams News & Views | 04.21.08‏ Yesterday

Kathleen Vermazen/Women's Media Center Women Don't Ask? No, Employers Don't Pay by Ellen Bravo‏ Yesterday

And that ain't the half of it. Yours?

Corn.

gawilli (Back in the Day) commented on my April 6 post about the growing demise of songbirds:

"Thanks for this post, and the links. The article also says that natural habitats are being ploughed under for corn to be used in production of ethanol/bio-fuel. The balance of nature is very delicate. What a mess we are making of things."

I try not to think about corn. I mean, I like it, on the cob, popped and with butter, straight out of the can. And of course I like to make cast glass corn, to add to my collection of glass strawberries, pears, pretzels, waffles, and anything else I can get to sit still long enough. But I don't like corn to be in the stomachs of cows where it doesn't belong, nor do I like it, subsidized or not, causing the ruination of family farms and the stripping of the farmland as it proliferates across America, with its chemical fertilizers and pesticides that find their way into the Gulf of Mexico in an ever-growing algae bloom. And now we have Ethanol. It's pros and cons abound.

Paul Krugman wrote in the April 7, 2008 NY Times Op Ed piece "Grains Gone Wild",

Where the effects of bad policy are clearest, however, is in the rise of demon ethanol and other biofuels.

The subsidized conversion of crops into fuel was supposed to promote energy independence and help limit global warming. But this promise was, as Time magazine bluntly put it, a “scam.” This is especially true of corn ethanol: even on optimistic estimates, producing a gallon of ethanol from corn uses most of the energy the gallon contains. But it turns out that even seemingly “good” biofuel policies, like Brazil’s use of ethanol from sugar cane, accelerate the pace of climate change by promoting deforestation.

And meanwhile, land used to grow biofuel feedstock is land not available to grow food, so subsidies to biofuels are a major factor in the food crisis. You might put it this way: people are starving in Africa so that American politicians can court votes in farm states.

In the Business Week, March 19, 2007 article, by Moira Herbst, "Ethanol's Growing List of Enemies"

As demand for the alternative fuel drives corn prices up, an unlikely assortment of groups are uniting with the hopes of cutting government support - The ethanol movement is sprouting a vocal crop of critics. While politicians including President George W. Bush and farmers across the Midwest hope that the U.S. can win its energy independence by turning corn into fuel, Hitch and an unlikely assortment of allies are raising their voices in opposition. The effort is uniting ranchers and environmentalists, hog farmers and hippies, solar-power idealists and free-market pragmatists (see BW Online, 02/2/07, " Ethanol: Too Much Hype—and Corn").

They have different reasons for opposing ethanol. But their common contentions are that the focus on corn-based ethanol has been too hasty, and the government's active involvement—through subsidies for ethanol refiners and high tariffs to keep out alternatives like ethanol made from sugar—is likely to lead to chaos in other sectors of the economy.

"The government thinks it can pick a winner, but they should allow consumers to pick their own," says Demian Moore, senior analyst for the nonprofit Taxpayers for Common Sense. "Corn ethanol has failed to prove itself as a reliable alternative that can exist without huge subsidies.". . . snip . . .

If the government is going to play a role in energy markets, there are other players who would like more attention. Supporters of solar and wind energy make the case that if the government is going to hand out subsidies and mandate use, in the name of energy independence, they should get the same kind of treatment as ethanol.

"Why are we supporting ethanol with a mandate, but not wind and solar?" says Randy Swisher, executive director of the American Wind Energy Assn. "There's a lack of consistency in policy."

Then one can consult Michaels Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma (sometimes known as Judy's bible) by way of a fabulous (duh) article in the March 15, 2006 New Yorker, Paradise Sold: What are you buying when you buy organic? by Steven Shapin - -

"Pollan's first meal is fast food, and he follows a burger back to vast monocultural industrial blocs of Iowan corn, planted by G.P.S.-guided tractors and dosed with tons of synthetic fertilizer, whose massive runoff into the Mississippi River--as much as 1.5 million tons of nitrogen a year--winds up feeding algal blooms and depleting the oxygen needed by other forms of life in the Gulf of Mexico. Pollan then follows the corn to enormous feedlots in Kansas, where a heifer that he bought in South Dakota is speed-fattened--fourteen pounds of corn for each pound of edible beef--for which its naturally grass-processing rumen was not designed, requiring it to be dosed with antibiotics, which breed resistant strains of bacteria. Pollan would have liked to follow his heifer through the industrial slaughterhouse, but the giant beef-packing company was too canny to let him in, and so we are spared the stomach-churning details, which, in any case, were minutely related a few years ago in Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation." Pollan also follows the American mountains of industrial corn into factories, where the wonders of food technology transform it into the now ubiquitous high-fructose corn syrup, which sweetens the soda that, consumed in super-sized quantities across the nation, contributes to the current epidemic of type 2 diabetes. All very bad things."

So here is the only good news in this as I see it - if corn is used for Ethanol then there will be less to put in the stomachs of cows.

Phew. Corn. It is yummy. If only it were just corn.

Chris Jordan Photographs. Unbelievable.

"Cans Seurat", 2007
60" x 92"

Depicts 106,000 aluminum cans, the number used in the US every thirty seconds
by Chris Jordan

I have a thing for cans. And I like to walk. I've always been an urban walker, although I'm learning to enjoy hiking, the kind where you drive in a car to some hour-away beautiful location, hike on a blazed trail and drive home. I used to walk for hours in New York. Now I walk in Northern Virginia because that's where I live. How odd that I raised my children here. Imagine, my own children are from Virginia. I just mentioned this fact to Jerzy who said, "Did you have to rub that in. I wanna be from New York."

I walk my errands. I'm not much for idle walking. Unlike in the city, on the side of the road are cans, flattened cans, all kinds of cans. Do you ever look at them? The diversity is amazing. They're beautiful. Sometimes I can't resist picking them up and taking them home. I collect them. There. I've said it.

What Chris Jordan does with cans is astounding. Same for photos of cell phones, valve caps, paper bags, prison uniforms, Barbies, plastic bags.

Running the Numbers An American Self-Portrait
As Chris Jordan describes this incredible body of work:

"This series looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on. My hope is that images representing these quantities might have a different effect than the raw numbers alone, such as we find daily in articles and books. Statistics can feel abstract and anesthetizing, making it difficult to connect with and make meaning of 3.6 million SUV sales in one year, for example, or 2.3 million Americans in prison, or 410,000 paper cups used every fifteen minutes. This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed prints assembled from thousands of smaller photographs. The underlying desire is to emphasize the role of the individual in a society that is increasingly enormous, incomprehensible, and overwhelming.

My only caveat about this series is that the prints must be seen in person to be experienced the way they are intended. As with any large artwork, their scale carries a vital part of their substance which is lost in these little web images. Hopefully the JPEGs displayed here might be enough to arouse your curiosity to attend an exhibition, or to arrange one if you are in a position to do so. The series is a work in progress, and new images will be posted as they are completed, so please stay tuned."

~chris jordan, Seattle, 2007

Go to the site and see depictions of 32,000 Barbies, equal to the number of elective breast augmentation surgeries performed monthly in the US in 2006; 60,000 plastic bags, the number used in the US every five seconds; an 8.5 feet wide by 10.5 feet tall Ben Franklin made of 125,000 one-hundred dollar bills ($12.5 million), the amount our government spends every hour on the war in Iraq. And others - hand guns, cigarettes, SUV sales.

Art that speaks. Loudly.

By the way, wanna see a close up:

Maxed Out or It's time for Norman Cousins and The Marx Brothers

A couple of weeks ago I visited a blog I like, Simply Left Behind , found out about the movie Maxed Out. Watched it. I think you should too.

Alternatively, maybe it's time to read more Norman Cousins (Remember his formula for health - laughter?) and watch more Marx Brothers.

Got enough Stuff?

Imagine having so much stuff that you've got to rent someplace to store the excess. Egads.


My friend Kara recently sent me a link to Beth Terry's blog Fake Plastic Fish. Beth is committed to living without excess plastic. Amazing.