Supporting the Separation of Church and State

Archive for February, 2008

fruits and veggies

Categorized: Miscellaneous

I received this email and because I’m on lunch I had time to read it and really look it over I took a few minutes to respond. Basically it compares fruits and vegetables with human anatomy and then claims some health connection between the two. Now I’m not sure if this is some crazy creationist email, or some crazy homeopathy email. Could be both I guess. Like I said its lunch time and I’m bored so I figured I would send a reply. At the behest of my wife I am sharing both the email and my reply with all of you. Enjoy.

– Original Email –

A Coincidence????

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye…and science shows that carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.

A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart is red and has four chambers. All of the research shows tomatoes are indeed pure heart and blood food.

Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows that grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.

A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds are on the nut just like the neo-cortex. We now know that walnuts help develop over 3 dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.

Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.

Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don’t have enough sodium in your diet the body pulls it from the bones, making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.

Eggplant, Avocadoes and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female – they look just like these organs. Today’s research shows that when a woman eats 1 avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? …. It takes exactly 9 months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).

Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.

Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries.

Onions look like body cells. Today’s research shows that onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes.

“The news isn’t that fruits and vegetables are good for you, it’s that they are so good for you, they can save your life.” David Bjerklie, TIME Magazine, Oct. 2003.

– My Response – Sent as Reply to All –

Amazing,
Right after work I’m going to the store to stock up on bananas and cucumbers. Seriously, WTH?? Carrots look like eyes? I have a rock that looks like an eye, is that ok to eat? What about tomatoes that are not red? Are they ok to eat? What about the bunches of grapes that don’t look like hearts? Or the ones that fall off in the bag? Are they less healthy for my heart? What If I hold two bunches of grapes up next to each other so look kind of like lungs, will that help me get over a chest cold? Sooo many questions…!

FYI Avocados don’t take exactly 9 months to ripen. This is just made up. Fact “Mexican types ripen in 6 – 8 months from bloom while Guatemalan types usually take 12 – 18 months” Source (http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/avocado.html). You know what else takes 12 – 18 months to “bloom”? Whales. So by this logic Avocados are not meant for human consumption, they are meant for whales to eat so that they will have healthy wombs. (Don’t forget to feed them olives too so their ovaries will be healthy) So please stop making dip out of all the whale food!

Clinton Should Not Drop Out

Ok, I have made no attempts to hide my support for Hillary Clinton over the past year but even I can see that her odds are very long. Now many will start crying for her to step down and support Barack Obama at this point. In fact, there are already cries for this very thing. Now I’m no glutton for punishment but there are some very good reasons why this is a bad idea.

Reason #1 – Anything Can Happen In Politics
Just look at the recent news about the alleged affair and corruption that is threatening McCains bid for the presidency. Had Mitt Romney stayed in, and invested even more of his own money, he would have been in prime position to make a serious challenge for the nomination. As it stands he dropped out and should this kill the McCain campaign (I don’t think it will) Huckabee will look like a genius for staying in.

Now imagine what would happen should Clinton cede the nomination now, only to have something befall the Obama campaign. The Democrats would be left with no one standing. This is simply not a good position. Personally I think Obama has outstanding character so I’m not concerned about any shady dealings, but you never know what may happen.

Reason #2 – Winners Never Quit
Insert any other sports cliche you like but no one worthy of being president, and both Clinton and Obama are both worthy, should ever quit until the game is lost. Could you imagine a champion sports team ceding a game at halftime because the math says they can’t win? Hell no. Clinton is a champion and because of that she is going to fight to the final buzzer. Then should she be beaten she will concede that and throw her support behind Obama. To do anything less would be beneath her.

Reason #3 – Not Everyone has Voted
While the first two reasons are important, this is really the main reason. To cede the nomination at this point would be to take away the voice of every American who has yet to cast a ballot. While you may argue that the math says those ballots do not count, I will simply argue that all votes count no matter the outcome. The right to be able to cast your vote is a foundation of democracy and it would be a shame to take that from anyone. So no matter your opinion on Clinton’s character for this reason, if no other, she needs to stay in the race.

There you have it. My thoughts on why Clinton can not, and should not cede the nomination to Barack Obama. As everyone knows I have long supported her campaign and I still feel she would make the better president. Luckily as a Democrat I do not have to settle for our nominee should it work out to be Obama. Obama is an excellent choice for the next president for the United States and I can fully support his campaign with a clear conscience. I bet Republicans wish they could say the same.

Quick Morning Update

Categorized: Politics

I’m unusually busy this morning but wanted to post some quick updates as a lot is going on around the world. Wish I had time to expand on these two stories, but I’ll update if I get the chance.

First – Fidel Castro has retired. Now he has been in the background of power for the past year, after handing over the reigns to his brother, so this may not make any real difference. According to Bush “The United States will help the people of Cuba realize the blessings of liberty.” Judging from Bush’s prior behavior I expect we will start bombing within the week. Read more at MyDD, Crooks and Liars, and News Hounds.

Secondly – Like America, Pakistan is ready for a change after 8 years of oppression and military rule. Nice to see real Democracy in action, and we didn’t even have to bomb them. I know that will sadden some people.

And lastly – Think Progress wrote yesterday that Bush wants to cut back our funding to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria from $841 million to $500 million. Worse yet he is billing this $341 million cut as in increase in funds because thats how Republican math works.

Thats all I have time for this morning.

Sheeple for Huckabee

Winston Churchill once said “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.” I never really understood that quote until I started getting more involved in politics. It didn’t take long for me to disillusion myself of the notion that the average Americans political views were well researched and rational. The longer this election season stretches on, and the more ignorance I see, the more I am inclined to agree with Churchill.

Well, I was reading through my news feeds earlier and stumbled across this great video at Crooks and Liars that perfectly illustrates this point. Americans, especially fundamentalist Christians, are completely ignorant of even the most basic information about our presidential candidates. Whats worse is they have no interest in fixing the problem. Watch and weep…

YouTube Preview Image

US Officially Recognizes Kosovo

Categorized: Politics

Sunday Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia and sent letters to 192 countries asking them to recognize their declaration. Through Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, the US has officially announced its support of Kosovo. Several EU nations plan on doing the same including Germany, France, Italy, and Britain.

Serbia has a strong ally in Russia and Russia has already appealed to the UN security council to stop the “illegal” declaration of independence by Kosovo. Russian President Vladimir Putin argues that declaring independence without UN approval is a very dangerous precedent to establish and could encourage widespread separatist movements across the EU. Serbia has recalled its ambassador to the United States and has made it clear that it will never accept an independent Kosovo.

Location of Kosovo

Kosovo has been administered since 1999 by the UN and NATO in response to Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic’s killing of more than 10,000 Albanian separatists in Kosovo. While some countries agree with Russia that this move by Kosovo defies law, many believe that Kosovo should be given different consideration due to the history between it and Serbia, the fact that 90% of its population is Albanian, and its purported commitment to a multi ethnic nation under the rule of law.

Kosovo is home to around 100,000 Serbs who have started rioting to express their displeasure with Kosovo’s move toward separatism. Like many others in the EU, they feel that by going around the UN and appealing directly to other countries to recognize their independent status, Kosovo has acted illegally and this makes the declaration impossible to endorse. In a part of the world rife with changing borders, ethnic tension, and tentative political stability, Kosovo’s push for independence leads many to fear that it will be a spreading phenomena with global consequences.


UPDATE

China now joins Russia as a superpower against Kosovo’s independence. Both countries have veto power on the UN Security Council and have vowed to stop Kosovo from being able to join the UN. What does this mean for the US? While Serbia has already stated that they will not use force to keep Kosovo from separating, they will use all diplomatic means available to them, as will their allies in this. At a time when the US is leaning heavily for Russian support in stalling Iran’s nuclear weapons program this could mean a turnabout on that already rocky partnership.