the frig blig

This morning’s News Tribune reports supreme Clarence Thomas, in the forward to his new autobiography, as saying he wrote it to “leave behind an accurate record of my own life as I remember it”.

Regardless of Thomas’s recollections of his life, it’s his votes on the supreme court which will forever be a part of this country’s history.

I’m fascinated observing how the American propaganda machine is dealing with the leader of Iran, Ahmadinejad’s visit to Columbia university. They are working overtime to portray Ahmadinejad as a criminal or even worse. Why are they so hot and bothered that Ahmadinejad speaks to university students?

I believe it’s because they realize it will be much more difficult to declare war on Iran should the American people see that country’s leader as a reasonable person. If Ahmadinejad is vilified then invading Iran is justified. Allowing Ahmadinejad free speech in this country opens up the ‘dangerous’ possibility that U.S. citizens might see him as he is. Much easier to paint him black at a distance.

Which makes me wonder again (see May 6 entry) which members (if any) of the current crop of presidential candidates is refusing to join in the ‘crucify Ahmadinejad’ mob?

I got my brand-new vanity license plates in the mail and excitedly opened the envelope to admire them. While I’m proud to display my new moniker, when I swapped my old car tags out it became disappointingly obvious that the quality of the plates has dropped dramatically. The letters and numbers which were embossed on the old tags are printed flat on the new ones. The font is thinner and the color has changed from dark blue to black. And finally, the background image of Mt. Rainier is lower resolution.

Very sad; they look like cheap imitation tags which could have been generated from a computer.

Having heard of increasing mercury levels in fish, in search of more information this evening I looked up the FDA advisory on the topic posted on their website here. The first paragraph is as follows:

Fish and shellfish are an important part of a healthy diet. Fish and shellfish contain high-quality protein and other essential nutrients, are low in saturated fat, and contain omega-3 fatty acids. A well-balanced diet that includes a variety of fish and shellfish can contribute to heart health and children’s proper growth and development. So, women and young children in particular should include fish or shellfish in their diets due to the many nutritional benefits.

This set off an immediate clue alert in my head. Apparently the primary function of the FDA is not protecting citizens from dangerous food and drugs, but rather advocating consumption of food and drugs.

This would make perfect sense if the agency were run by the food and drug industries…which I’m thinking just might be the case. Just for giggles, let’s run a simple background check on the head of the FDA, listed on their website as Commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach…

Well how about that! von Eschenback is a former chair of the department of urology at the University of Texas; founding director of the Prostate Cancer Research Program in 1996; director of the Genitourinary Cancer Center; and was director of the National Cancer Institute prior to became acting Commissioner of the FDA on September 26, 2005, after the resignation of his predecessor Lester Crawford…(thanks Wikipedia).

Hey I wonder why Lester resigned? Let’s check…ah, here we go: Dr. Crawford resigned from the FDA in September, 2005 - just two months after his approval by the Senate. On October 17, 2006, he pleaded guilty “to conflict of interest and false reporting of information about stocks he owned in food, beverage and medical device companies he was in charge of regulating.”

Dude, can I call them or what? My crap detector seems in working order.

Oh yes, getting back to my original question about mercury in fish…the advisory’s recommendations (besides ‘eat lots of fish’) can be summed up as “small fish good; big fish bad”. Blog out.

Q: What does this man have in common with Crazy Horse?

A: Both were spiritual leaders of their tribe, both were warriors, and both faced better-armed white men who wanted their natural resources.

Hundreds are saying goodbye to the Bridge Motel tonite via this Art Happening:

Throb, baffled and curious brain! throw out questions and answers! …

Tonight I read ‘Crossing Brooklyn Ferry’ (Whitman), culled from a reference in a review of Elizabeth Bishop by my friend T. A mighty fine poem, indeed!

http://www.web-books.com/classics/Poetry/anthology/Whitman/Crossing.htm

Last night was 1st Friday in Fremont, so S and I went to Gasworks Gallery to see C’s latest lamps, check out the other artists, and schmooze it up with the happenin’ art scene.

I downloaded the source for grdesktop, modified it, and successfully rebuilt it. grdesktop is a gnome front-end for rdesktop, used to establish remote connections to Windows servers. My mod enables cut-and-paste by default. It feels great to fix this package myself using free source code and tools! If you’re interested here’s the modified source (including the binary).