Old Friends

   The nice thing about old friends is that they ARE friends. I had a chance to reconnect this weekend with a couple of friends I hadn't seen in almost 40 years. Four hours of conversation, stories and memories and I realized why we were friends in the first place.

   We all sat at the same table not because we were the same but because we enjoyed the things that were unique in each of us. Our table at the lounge was a place where we shared our lives, our backgrounds, our views and our jokes. I don't have to miss those days, feeling or memories. I have friends. Friends who have gotten old but friends still. How lucky am I!

Priceless?

The cost of Pell Grant cuts                             $   5.7 billion
Proposed cuts to EPA                                    $   3.0 billion

Subsidies to Big Oil                                       $   4.6 billion
Subsidies to Big Agri                                     $ 20.0 billion

Our representatives in Washington (mostly Republicans but also some Democrats) are trying to cut the budget and our deficit. This by itself would be a noble endeavor but on the back of the poor, the hungry and OUR environment is nothing but reprehensible.

I would ask any of my Republican friends to explain to me why Big Oil needs subsidies when they are making record profits across the board and many of them are paying little to no taxes. In addition, in 2009 the industry spent over $159 million dollars lobbying Washington and probably even more in 2010.

Agricultural subsidies are even larger and less needed. Originally intended to help small farmers, stabilize  large fluctuations in food prices and help in case of disasters. Most of the subsidies now go to large, extremely profitable argi-businesses and not small farmers. Food prices are relatively stable and except for rising prices in food grains caused mostly by ethanol subsidies (there's that word again).

Completely eliminating oil subsidies and a major reduction in agricultural subsidies could pay for Pell Grants, EPA funding, Banking and Financial oversight and much more. While we are at it, lets cut our war spending by 1/3, use the money to rebuild our infrastructure and put everyone back to work.

Priceless

Fallout from Fukushima

Last weekend, two family members of mine posted on Facebook a link about the "The Cesium Deception". 

This post is a classic example of why people need to be aware of what they are reading, think about what they have just read, think about why it is being written and NOT just react to what is being read. Let me point out a few things that should have set off alarms to anyone who read this.

1:"The cesium deception: Why the mainstream media is mostly reporting iodine levels, not radioactive cesium" You can practically eliminate any credibility when someone starts to blame mainstream media for not getting out the information. A quick Google search had a NY Times article on the top of the list. Fact checking? Nope!

2. "So while the mainstream media reports that "radiation levels are falling rapidly" from the 7.5 million times reading taken a few days ago, what they're not telling you is that the cesium-137 radioactivity will take 30 years" just to fall by 50 percent. The first part of this sentence talks about total radiation as measured by Geiger counters etc while the second part talks about the half-life of the isotopes. Two different things! The two types of danger presented by radiation are from immediate and massive exposure that results in burning and killing of cell tissues. The 2nd type of danger comes from ingestion of these isotopes. Cesium and iodine can be absorbed into the bodies metabolic systems and the longer they stay there the more chance there is for genetic damage. This is where half-life becomes important. Since the iodine-131 isotope has a half-life of 8 days, if you can prevent the body from absorbing it you can minimize any potential hazard. Quickly supplying Iodide pills to the population prevents this problem. Cesium is a little harder to handle because of its half-life but it is not impossible. Keeping your calcium intake at the correct level over a long enough time prevents cesium uptake. These isotopes first have to get into the food chain before there is need for the supplements.

3. "The FDA likes Radiation" The FDA is attacked on 2 fronts in this article. First, a claim is made that the FDA "only" tests about 2% of the food imported into this country. I would be willing to bet that our home grown food is tested at the same rate (I need to check this). This is called sampling and if something is wrong with one item in a batch, the whole batch is tossed. 100% checking is impossible and no one would be able to afford the food. The writer next conflates the FDA's approval of irradiation of food to kill bacteria as the same thing as allowing radioactive food. I am not a fan of, nor do I knowingly eat irradiated food but irradiated food is NOT radioactive. Are you radioactive after getting an x-ray? Same thing!

4. "Where does the radiation go in your body?"  This is where you can run into trouble. If these isotopes get into the food chain, they will be absorbed into the bodies metabolic pathways and can be incorporated into bones and organs. If this happens long term, cancers can develop through DNA mutations. But if the food being imported is inspected properly (and it should be as long as Congress doesn't cut more FDA funds), then our food supply will remain safe. If you feel this is not going to be the case, I'm sure we won't all starve to death without our supply of Japanese food.

5. "And remember what governments always say about radiation and chemicals: If it's invisible, it MUST be safe!" This is an amazing statement. What government said this and when? No where in his article did the writer give ONE example of them saying this. Fearmongering and lieing at its best.

Lastly, one need look only at the ads being displayed on this articles web page to begin to doubt the veracity or even basis in reality. At the top right of the page is an ad that say "How to cure almost any cancer at home for $5.15 a day". Really? This writer is a fear monger and a charlatan. Believe nothing this person says!