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April 30, 2008
April 28, 2008
It's Only Wafer Thin
While men and women are paying hundreds to thousands of dollars on weight loss programs and corrective surgeries, we have an inmate who filed a lawsuit because the prison he is in didn't feed him well enough for him to maintain his 413 pound figure.
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Broderick Lloyd Laswell says he isn't happy that he's down to 308 pounds after eight months in the Benton County jail. He has filed a federal lawsuit complaining the jail doesn't provide inmates with enough food. According to the suit, Laswell weighed 413 pounds when he was jailed in September. Police say he and a co-defendant fatally beat and stabbed a man, then set his home on fire. "On several occasions I have started to do some exercising and my vision went blurry and I felt like I was going to pass out," Laswell wrote in his complaint. "About an hour after each meal my stomach starts to hurt and growl. I feel hungry again." |
We had better straighten this mess out pronto.
April 21, 2008
Food Rationing?
A frightening event is taking place, something I've never experienced in my life. Food rationing.
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Major retailers in New York, in areas of New England, and on the West Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice, and cooking oil as demand outstrips supply. There are also anecdotal reports that some consumers are hoarding grain stocks. |
In the New York Sun article, some are speculating that businesses are flocking to retail stores since commercial prices have doubled.
It is a troubling scenario, because you don't really know how to react. Are people just overreacting and causing a panic? But what if I do nothing and there is a genuine shortage?
The article quotes an anonymous writer in the investment site Seeking Alpha:
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he recently bought 10 50-pound bags of rice at Costco. “I am concerned that when the news of rice shortage spreads, there will be panic buying and the shelves will be empty in no time. I do not intend to cause a panic, and I am not speculating on rice to make profit. I am just hoarding some for my own consumption,” he wrote. |
That is very disturbing.
April 18, 2008
Slacker
Yes, I know I've been slacking. Just a bit busy at work but I'll be back posting this weekend. I have a few things on the burner I'd like to get up here.
April 10, 2008
The Fog
A thick fog set in New York this morning, and when I got off the bus going to work, visibility was about 50 yards. Passing The Sphere in Battery Park I took this video.
April 04, 2008
Food Stamps in the Headlines
Drudge ran two different headlines about food stamps in the last few weeks. One on March 24 read "OHIO: Nearly one in 10 now receives food stamps; highest number in state's history..." and another on March 31, "NUMBERS OF AMERICANS ON FOOD STAMPS HITS RECORD...".
On April 1, British paper The Independent declared "USA 2008: The Great Depression". The opening line stated, "Food stamps are the symbol of poverty in the US. In the era of the credit crunch, a record 28 million Americans are now relying on them to survive".
So that's it then? Food stamps on the rise, we're all going to be living in cardboard boxes and the sky is falling. Maybe.
Richard Rector of the New York Sun examines the numbers behind the increase in food stamp use and puts the situation into context. The impression most media want to impose is that if a record number of Americans are using food stamps then by default that same number must be in poverty. However, as Mr. Rector points out, this is not true.
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The recent Food Stamp stories also feed off the idea that most of the 36 million Americans who the government defines as "poor" face ongoing, serious material deprivation. The facts show otherwise. According to the government's own data, nearly two-thirds of "poor" households have satellite or cable television. Nine out of 10 have microwave ovens and 80% have air conditioning. Nearly three-quarters own a car and almost a third own two or more cars. For decades government data have shown that more than 40% of the poor own their own homes, typically a three bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths. On average, poor children have the same high levels of protein, vitamin, and mineral consumption as upper middle class kids. Only 1.5% of the poor report they "often" did not have enough food to eat during the last four months, although another 6% state this "sometimes" happened. |
He lists three reasons for the food stamp activity which are all logical; the increase in in American population, the food stamp operation being cyclical allowing spikes in economic slowdown, and aggressive campaigns with relaxed standards.
Does it come as a surprise that people (and many who may not need the help) would take advantage of government handouts, especially when it is made easier for them to get it?
No Global Warming Since 1998
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The World Meteorological Organization's secretary-general, Michel Jarraud, told the BBC it was likely that La Nina would continue into the summer. This would mean global temperatures have not risen since 1998, prompting some to question climate change theory. |
Though "experts" are still calling for a warming trend over the next five years. Of course in five years there may be a whole new theory.
Via Drudge
April 01, 2008
Cheetos Part 2
Cheetos continues to encourage the destruction of personal property. This time at your office instead of the laundromat.
The "me first" society marches on.