Town won't let unmarried parents live together

Here's another one of these unbelievable stories that make me wonder what country I'm living in. These paternalistic assholes keep trying to control other people's lives to satisfy their own misguided notions of morality. Occupancy permits are not intended to be instruments of moral judgment, but rather to make sure structures are sound and are being used in accordance with their zoning and permitting etc... Hopefully these idiots will get enough bad publicity that they're forced to change this rule.

Google: Irish the Web's loneliest users

This is news? Who thought this was a good idea? A small article about Google Trends, ok (and I think they already did that one), but this?

In related news, St Louis has the highest concentration of nose pickers based on exhaustive research done by this reporter.

Marijuana, Mutual Masturbation

My wife recently watched Rent, and really liked it. So I bought her the soundtrack and the DVD. Well, my son really loves music and loves to dance, so he pays pretty close attention whenever either is on. So that explains why he would be interested in the music. But what I can't figure out is why, out of all the words in all those songs, the three above are the ones he's focused on and likes to repeat over and over again. It's really hard to try to get a three year old to stop saying "mutual masturbation" while in line at the grocery store. Luckily, he doesn't say it all that clearly. I just hope he doesn't say "marijuana" nearly as much today at school as he did yesterday at home.

ABC disguises ads for their shows in their "news" shows

I like ABC. They have a lot of good shows these days. LOST, Desperate Housewives, Boston Legal, I like all of them, so I'm not just some ABC hater (although Invasion does really suck). Anyway, tonight I was flipping around and saw that 20/20 was on and was about to flip over and watch until I saw that the title of the episode was "The secrets of Grey's Anatomy." What the fuck? That's not a show, that's a commercial for another show. Normally, I wouldn't have noticed this, but last week or so, I was watching some ABC 20/20 special about the housing market, and one segment was about bad neighboors. In this segment they featured a story about Jim Belushi, who conincidentally has a show on ABC, and his long time feud with his neighbor (whatshername that played Catwoman, not Halle Berry, the one from Batman, not Michael Keaton Batman, Adam West Batman). Apparently the feud was recently resolved and whatshername even came on his show as an annoying neighbor. People already watch Grey's Anatomy without it being featured on 20/20, and no one is going to watch Belushi's show no matter where they put it. And if they're going to do this bullshit, at least do The Secrets of LOST, because that I'd watch.

"Mega" M&Ms

So the commercial has this giant M&M that is about the size of a bowling ball or something. Now, obviously they aren't really that big, but I did expect them to be fairly large. So when Keri bought me some, I was surprised to see that they're barely bigger then regular M&Ms. If I was eathing them in the dark, I probably wouldn't even notice the difference. Very disappointing.

And when did they start making a hundred different kinds of each candy anyway? Mega M&Ms, Caramel Reese's, Milky Way Midnight, Hershey's Kissables, White Chocolate Kit Kat, Swoops, Bites, Popables, Starburst Jelly Beans, etc. All new candy that is just a variation of existing candy. I don't know what the point is.

Families describe nightmares, sorrow

I have mixed feelings about this. Anything that kills 100 people is extremely serious, but I have a hard time thinking that 10 years in prison is the right thing to do with this guy. Clearly the guy did this out of ignorance - his own life was endangered as well. I don't think he should get off too easily either.

A family member of one of the victims suggested community service working with burn victims would be appropriate. That sounds more fair to everyone. Putting him in jail isn't going to deter others from doing dangerously stupid things, and it certainly won't help anyone. Putting him to work doing something positive may be the best thing.

I would save a harsher punishment for the owners. They had a responsibility to keep the place up to code and ignorance won't go as far in their defense, not in my mind anyway.

Police: Woman Pulls Sword In Spat Over Parking Spot

After seeing story after story about people with swords doing strange things last year, I thought maybe things had returned to normal. Then I saw this story, and when I clicked on it, I saw that it also occured right here in Jacksonville. Great. Maybe today I'll find out that it was the same Wal-Mart I go to.

Anyway, what's with people these days? Not just having swords in the first place, which is odd enough, but carrying them around with them. In her cane? The woman didn't exactly strike me as ninja material, so I'm not sure what she's doing wandering around with a hidden sword.

Gas prices and perception

Just like last year about this time, stories are starting about how rising gas prices will have a big impact on the family vacation. The MSNBC story above tries to show how the price of gas has made it cheaper to fly than to drive in some cases. This is ridiculous. It's just making shit up so they can have a trendy story. Now I can see how these higher prices can have an affect on daily driving, because the added cost piles up over time, but if the increase means you can't take a vacation, then you probably couldn't really afford the vacation in the first place.

Take a scenario from the MSNBC story above. They calculate the cost of driving from Miami to Philadelphia, a round trip of 2404 miles, for a family of four in an SUV getting 17 mpg. For driving they add up, food, hotel and gas. They estimate a total of $1211. The family could fly for $138/person, according to them, for a savings of $659. They claim the biggest problem is skyrocketing gas prices. But that doesn't really hold up. They use a gas price of $2.91/gallon. On this trip they would use 141 gallons, for a gas cost of $411. But what would the price be if the cost was $2 per gallon? $282, a difference of $129. So according to the MSNBC scenario, they would still save $530 by flying. Of course they fail to mention the other considerations involved in flying like transportation in Philly, additional hotel rooms and food in Philly, since they would most likely stay longer there since they saved 3 to 4 days by flying etc... So the savings is starting to dry up. And gas isn't even the largest part of the purported savings. $129 is one night's stay in a hotel room. A family trip for four from Miami to Philly is a really big trip to begin with. I suggest that if $129 is a deal-breaker for them, they ought to just stay home and go to the beach.

But just forget about flying, just look at gas alone. A 1500 mile round-trip in a car getting 20 mpg will take about 75 gallons of gas. At $2.91/gallon, that's $218.25. At $2.00/gallon, it's $150. So a $68 difference is a make-or-break on a vacation? Maybe for a very low income family who are already planning on eating bologna in the car and staying at Motel 6 every night, but I think most people can absorb a $68 difference.

But, unfortunately, these stories will be lapped up by a lot of people who can't take the time to do a little math. Maybe that's what Richard Cohen was going for with his idiotic Algebra column.

Beatles lose Apple court battle

Am I the only one who had never heard of t The Beatle's Apple Corps? Any agreement they may have had notwithstanding, I just don't see how products made and offered by Apple Computer having an Apple logo on them would in any way hury The Beatles. Like I said, I've never heard of this Apple Corps before. And I don't think anyone is going to confuse the two. And regarless of whether there is an Apple logo on these things, everyone knows who makes them. Since I don't really know the details of any agreement they had, I don't really know who is technically right, but either way, I think Apple Corps is just making a fuss over nothing.

Postal Service seeks price increase, 'forever stamp'

Forever stamp, never stamp, sometimes stamp, who cares? Who the fuck uses stamps anymore? I never mail anything anymore. I suppose there are some things that you have to mail, like Christmas cards and invitations. But for everyday things like bills and stuff, I don't know why anyone would still do them through the mail.

Link via Shakespeare's Sister

Mexico's Fox balks at signing drug law

Could we just stay the fuck out of other countries domestic affairs? And if we are going to stick our nose in, why not address real problems, like Mexico's woefully backwards attitudes about rape? But raping and killing are ok, as long as you aren't carrying a couple of ounces of pot.

Is Lost a Repeat?

Just in case anyone forgot, this site provides a handy little public service.

Manbearpig

I like South Park generally, but I thought the latest episode really missed the mark. If you didn't see it, the main story was about Al Gore coming to South Park to warn against the dangers of the Manbearpig, which was going to destroy the world. Gore is portrayed as a man desperate for attention and recognition, using the Manbearpig danger to make himself feel relevant again. I think if you're going to skewer famous people, there has to be a grain of truth. I really don't see Gore as an attention seeker. He could be much more visible if that's what he really wanted. And even these nuts who deny that global warming is occuring shouldn't have a problem recognizing that Gore is sincerely concerned. Parker and Stone are usually pretty funny, but sometimes I think they try to hard.

Ten things I hate about the internets

First, I should point out that I love the internets. I think it's great that I can watch an Alleve commercial with Tom Skerritt, then when my wife argues that it isn't Tom Skerritt, the information I need to prove that I'm right is right at my fingertips. I love that I can get any sports scores or news or just about anything whenever I want, that I can order pizza without calling and being put on hold and having to wait for them to take my order. The internets are great. However, there are plenty of things on it that annoy the shit out of me, and these are the top ten of them that are bugging me at the moment. Hopefully, sharing this information will help to ease my frustration with these things somewhat, but probably not.

10. Spam - I don't like spam, no one does. However it's not the spam itself that annoys me enough to make the list. It's all the fucking whining about spam, whether it's just people online talking about it, or Congress wasting time on making laws about it, or stupid AOL commercials promising to eliminate it. Far, far more of my time has been wasted hearing people talk about spam than by deleting or ignoring the stuff itself. If anyone has a realistic solution for getting rid of it, I'd love to hear it. But otherwise, just shut up.

9. On the Fence - I read a lot of people arguing about things on the internets, which is sometimes kind of interesting. One thing I’ve noticed quite a bit of lately is people who either don’t or claim not to have a position on whatever is being argued about. That isn’t such a bad thing by itself, but coupled with a smug superiority these people exhibit over people on both sides, it annoys the hell out of me. I don’t mind making an informed decision, or keeping an open mind. But when you care enough to contribute to a discussion, make up your mind already. I especially hate this in political discussions where the sides are pretty clear.

8. Inside Jokes - Any online community of any size seems to develop its own inside jokes. Sometimes, they might even be funny at first. But that is pretty rare in my experience. But even if they do start out funny, there is always some idiot who will carry them on too long to the point of absurdity. It seems like everyone on the internets wants to be funny, but no one wants to take the time to think up anything originally funny. They just go for the cheap familiar laugh. But I guess even professional sitcom writers do that, so it’s hard to be too upset about it.

7. CAPS - I UNDERSTAND THAT IT IS EXCEPTED INTERNET ETIQUETTE NOT TO TYPE IN ALL CAPS. AND THAT’S FINE, I DON’T DO IT. BUT I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT THE BIG FUCKING DEAL IS, EITHER. IT’S NOT SHOUTING, IT’S NOT IMPOLITE, IT’S NOTHING. WHY DOES ANYONE GET UPSET ABOUT THIS?

6. First! - I will never ever understand why anyone gets such a fucking thrill out of being the first post on comment thread or discussion topic. But even if you do, no one else gives a fuck. And even if they did, they would see your post was first, even if you don’t say things like, “Woo hoo, First! Suck it, bitches.” All this says to me is that you happened to open the damn thing at just the right time. Congratulations on your powers of coincidence, I guess. Either that, or it says that you’re so pathetic that you sit around waiting for new things to comment on, just so you can be first. And that just makes you look sad. Oh, and it’s even more annoying when people do this and aren’t even actually first.

5. The Last Word - Another thing in arguments that pisses me off is when someone posts a response to someone else’s post, then explains why because of that post, they won’t be talking to that person anymore, or won’t be discussing the associated issue with them anymore. If you don’t want to participate in a discussion anymore, just…don’t. Announcing it like that just makes it look like you want to get the last word in. And if you want to ignore someone, the best way to do it is to actually ignore them, not announce your intention to ignore them. This is worse when this person then goes on to continue with the discussion they claimed they were leaving, or still talks to the person they were going to ignore.

4. Retirement Announcement - A lot of people who have been in any online community too long seem to get so wrapped up in it that they seem to think it’s a big deal if they plan to leave, recurring some big announcement detailing their reasons for leaving. This is particularly annoying if the person is leaving angry. If you want to leave, just leave. If anyone cares where you went, they’ll email and ask you. And if they don’t even have your email address, then I don’t think you were all that close anyway. This shit always just seems to me to be the person fishing for compliments or wanting people to beg them to stay in some sort of ego trip.

3. Retirement Announcement , Michael Jordan Style- Same as above, except after posting, the person doesn’t leave. Whether because they’ve just changed whatever plans they had that were going to cause the departure, or they just “gave in” to all the people begging them to stay. This is particularly annoying since people who do this tend to do it repeatedly.

2. Ad Hominem - I’m pretty sure that I had never in my entire life heard this phrase actually used anywhere before I got on the internets. And now, of course, I see it everyday. If someone is resorting to attacking you personally instead of disputing your arguments, that pretty much speaks for itself, without you wasting time pointing it out. Doubly annoying if the person using it offers up a definition along with it. Three times as annoying if they give the wrong definition, or confuse someone pointing out a stupid statement with calling the person making it stupid.

1. W00t! - By far the most annoying thing on the internets as far as I can tell is this crap. Whoever thought this was a good idea in the first place is an idiot. And anyone actually talking like this has probably never had an original thought in their lives. If you’ve ever intentionally substituted teh for the, then you should be punched in the face. If you've followed it up with ghey, you need to be beaten. Same goes for teh funnay, or pwned, or n00b. This shit isn't clever. When I see someone talking like this, my opinion of them drops significantly. If any of you are doing this, please get help.

A to Z Chris edition

Accent: Of course, I don't have an accent. Only other people have accents.

Booze: Beer is good. I'm no connoisseur, but I like to try different things. I do like mixed drinks too, especially if I want to get drunk.

Chore I Hate: Yardwork in general isn't too bad. It's kind of nice to be outside sometimes. But the thing I really hate is weeding and edging beds. You have no idea how easy taking care of my yard would be without the dozens of beds I have. The previous owner was a yard freak, she loved it.

Dog or Cat: I like dogs a little better, but you can't beat a cat if you like to travel like we do. Clean the litterbox, fill up a big bowl of food, and they're good for a week.

Essential Electronics: Copmputer, tv, tivo. If we're counting appliances, the fridge is pretty useful too.

Favorite Cologne: I usually wear this stuff called Friktion by Avon. Michelline likes it and that's the important thing.

Gold or Silver: Either is ok with me. My only jewelry is my wedding ring. It's a really nice braided pattern of white gold.

Hometown: I was born in Macon, MO, but like John, I consider Jacksonville to be my home town. We moved here right before my 6th birthday.

Insomnia: None

Job Title: I'm currently listed as a Testing Specialist, but I'm actually a developer, which will be my official title if our management ever gets moving.

Kids: Two girls - Tori 10 (see Dear Mr. President below) and Libby 7.

Living Arrangements: We have a house on a 1.25 ace lot. It's me, Michelline, the kids, 1 indoor cat and 2 outdoor cats.

Most Admirable Traits: Tolerant, open-minded, easy to get along with. Also, I'm very responsible. Modesty, of couse.

Number of Sexual Partners: 7.

Overnight Hospital Stays: I had my appendix out in 1980. Today it would probably be an outpatient surgery (like my last two), but back then in a Navy hospital, I stayed for a week.

Phobias: No real phobias.

Quote: How about "If it feels good, do it."

Religion: None, although the Flying Spaghetti Monster sounds appealing.

Siblings: 1 younger brother.

Time I Wake Up: 5:30 on weekdays to get the kids up and ready and still have time to drag my ass into the gym. Weekends around 9 or 10 if we're not doing anything.

Unusual Talent or Skill: I used to kick ass at Super Mario Brothers in the arcade.

Vegetable I Love: Spinach. Not slimy out of a can, but raw on sandwiches and in salads, cooked into lasagna and omelets. I had this really neat crisped spinach once at a restaurant. It was leaves, but they were crunchy.

Worst Habit: Probably procrastination. It's better now that I'm an adult, but I still put things off.

X-Rays: Dental, of course, and I also had chest x-rays a couple of years ago that turned out negative, so that was good.

Yummy Foods I Make: Sausage gravy, devilled eggs, baked chicken with cream cheese and sausage, in fact, I make a lot of good stuff.

Zodiac Sign: Capricorn. I'm a horny bastard.

Police Blow Up News Rack Because of 'Mission: Impossible III' Promotion

Can we please return to the time when anything unusual in a public place isn't automatically assumed to be a bomb? Everytime I see a story like this (and there are way too many of them), I feel sorry that we've turned into a country full of pussies, scared of the boogeyman, and monsters under our beds.

Also, I have no desire to see Mission Impossible 3. Not because I've jumped on the Tom Cruise hating bandwagon. Despite him being a loon, he has made some pretty good movies, though none recently that I can think of. Anyway, I don't want to see it because the last one required taking notes to keep up with what was going on. They seemed to be operating under the assumption that the more twists they have, the better. And I imagine they'll want to have even more this time.

A to Z

I saw this over at Shakespeare's Sister, I'm not usually a big fan of these things, but since I can't seem to motivate myself to post anything original these days, I thought I'd do this one just to fill some space.

Accent: I don't know if I have much of an accent, but if I do, I guess it's probably vaguely southern, since I've been down here most of my life.

Booze: I like beer. Cheap, ordinary beer. That's pretty much it.

Chore I Hate: Yardwork, except it feels so good when I'm done that it almost makesit worth it.

Dog or Cat: Dog. I've always liked dogs and been pretty uninterested in cats, though we do have about the best cat ever.

Essential Electronics: Computer, cell phone, TV, does Air Conditioning count as electronics? It's definitely essential.

Favorite Cologne: I used to wear Drakkar when I was a teenager, but don't really wear anything much anymore,and if I do, it's whatever my wife buys me.

Gold or Silver: I like Gold better, and I like two-tone stuff, like my wedding ring.

Hometown: Jacksonville, FL. I wasn't born here, but it's the only place I really remember living, besides a few vague memories of Germany.

Insomnia: I sometimes don't get enough sleep, but it's usually because I stay up too late watching TV, not because I can't sleep. I used to have trouble sleeping occasionally when I was younger, but nothingtoo bad.

Job Title: Developer.

Kids: Four. My wife had three when we got married (who are all teenagers now), and our son is 3.

Living Arrangements: House, with my wife and two of the kids, a dog and a cat.

Most Admirable Traits: Incredibly intelligent, Irresistable to women, easy to get along with, super nice guy, ridiculously handsome, and of course modest.

Number of Sexual Partners: 3.

Overnight Hospital Stays: The only one I remember was after a horrible car accident we were in in 1998. But I wasn't badly hurt, and I don't think I would have even been kept overnight if it hadn't been so late when I got there. They were basically just checking me out, since I hit my head. But when I was a baby, I had pneumonia and had to stay in the hospital for a while.

Phobias: DEATH.

Quote: “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” I'm not really much for quotes, so I just picked the first quote of the day from the Google homepage.

Religion: N/A.

Siblings: Older brother, he should do this too.

Time I Wake Up: Around 7:30 on weekdays, maybe 9:30 - 10:00 on weekends, depending on what's going on and when my son gets up.

Unusual Talent or Skill: Allmy talents are pretty usual.

Vegetable I Love: I hate vegetables, but I hate green beans the least, so I guess that would be it.

Worst Habit: Hmm, I would say watching Invasion, but I was ableto kick that one a couple of weeks ago, finally. Maybe getting a little too outwardly emotional when watching sports.

X-Rays: Let's see, I've had dental ones a few times, I had a dislocated thumb when I was a kid, so I imagine they xrayed that, though I don't specifically remember it. I've had a couple of chest x-rays, and that's all I can remember.

Yummy Foods I Make: I make pretty good spaghetti, but that's about all I can cook besides Hamburger Helper and anything that goes in the microwave.

Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius.

Ok, now for the tagging. I tag everyone. So, if you're reading this, you're tagged. And if you're not reading this, you're still tagged, but you won't know it, so I guess it doesn't matter. But why aren't you reading?

Dear Mr. President

My daughter gets Time for Kids at school. I think it's great - she's always talking about stuff she read there and it seems to keep her up on current events pretty well. I guess it replaced the Weekly Readers from when I was in elementary school.

They had a form letter called Dear Mr. President where the student was to fill out an introduction, answer three simple questions and provide an ending. Here's what she wrote (in italics):

Dear President George W. Bush,
Introduction: Introduce yourself and tell why you are writing this letter.
Hello, my name is Tori Howard. I am writing about you and your big problem. You are spying on people in the United States.

Paragraph: Describe one problem in the United States. Then give your viewpoint on the problem. Give facts and details to support your opinion.
One problem in the United States is you spying on people, and without court permission too. Why, George Bush, Why?

Paragraph:Suggest one way that you think the President can solve this problem.
You can try to get court permission or you can stop spying on people, because you're invading people's privacy.

Paragraph: Tell the President what you think he should do to help improve the lives of U.S. children.
You need to stop spying. Because you might make children think it's ok to spy on people and that's not good. If you're the President, set a good example.

Ending: Restate the main points of your letter. Then thank the President for his time.
So I just ask for you to stop spying on us. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, Tori Howard

A story about the wiretapping thing was on NPR in the car quite a while ago and we were talking about it. I was happy to see that she remembered and must have taken something substantial away from the conversation. When we talk about politics, I try to tell her and her sister why I don't like Bush and explain in terms of the values I'm teaching them, rather than just saying Bush sucks and leaving it at that.

Bush picks Fox's Snow as press secretary

I'm tired of hearing about Bush's staff. I'm even more tired of hearing people talk about him shaking things up in response to his low poll numbers and analyzing what each move will mean. It's all ridiculous. Not that I think there aren't a few people in Bush's staff who are stupid and/or incompetent, but the people he has aren't the problem, it's the decisions he makes. And since he's The Decider(!), unless he's going to do us all a favor and replace himself, I'm sick of hearing about it. Especially when I know anyone I don't like who leaves is just going to be replaced by someone as bad or worse. Picking the right people to surround himself with seems to be one of the things Bush is the worst at. And that's saying a lot. And anyway, these big shakeups aren't very big. They replace the guy no one's ever heard of, and the guy who everyone hates simply because he's regurgitating the official administration position.

If Bush really wanted to do something to change his poll numbers (and I know that he doesn't, I'm not stupid), he would tell us something (anything, there are many choices) he has done wrong, then tell us how he's going to fix it, then do it. Actually, at this point, I'd be happy (to the max!) if he just stopped talking like he's in the third grade.

Bush, senators seek common ground on immigration

I'm so fucking tired of hearing about immigration. It's amazing to me that with everything going on in the world, this is the thing that people want to focus their attention on. I'm sure that there are a lot of problems related to illegal immigration, but I don't think many people are very interested in really solving them, seems they'd rather just bitch about them. You can't put up a fence and expect that to keep people out when what's on the other side is a better life for them and their children. And there are just too many to realistically send them all back. The only way to fix the problem, is to make sure that there isn't a better life waiting for them here, and that isn't going to happen until people stop hiring them, which means people will need to be willing to pay more for things in order to allow for replacing them with American workers. And that just isn't going to happen.

At lunch today, I overheard a guy at the next table saying something to the effect that they should all be forced to walk back over the border as soon as they are found to be here illegally. So either he thinks that they simply cross the border and set up camp right there, or he's proposing some kind of death march back to Mexico. Either way, it didn't make much sense to me. And this is in Jacksonville, FL, where I've lived for almost 30 years and never once noticed a local problem that could be blamed on illegal immigration.

It's sad that a handful of racist nutjobs have more influence over policy in this country than the millions of Americans who oppose just about everything else our idiot President does. But I guess if someone can get Sean Hannity to pull his head out of George Bush's ass for even one issue, it does cause people to notice.

Cell Phone rudeness

I realize that cell phones are still relatively new and as a society we're still trying to figure out just what constitutes good cell phone etiquette. Can I suggest that we draw the line right now at talking on your cell phone while sitting on the commode squeezing one out? Can we all agree with that? Well, everyone except the guy in the stall next to me at the gym this morning who carried his cell phone with him into the shitter, answered it, and then had a sensitive conversation with his girlfriend amidst the sounds of farting and grunting.

Dear Internet

I have heard of Firefox. I tried it. I didn't like it. Please shut up now. Thank you.

Director pleads guilty in wiretapping case

This is weird. Why didn't he just say that wiretapping isn't illegal? Since it obviously isn't, even when the law clearly says otherwise. Maybe he thought Roven was talking to Al Qaeda. You can never be too careful these days. I think the prosecutors have a September 10th mentality. Spying on each other is the (new) American way.

Catholic group urges Da Vinci disclaimer

This is a good idea. I mean, how are we supposed to know if a movie is fiction without a disclaimer. I fully support this, and I assume we'll be getting disclaimers on all Sony moview from now on, like Spider-Man 3, for example. When Spider-Man first came out, I was all set to travel to New York to see if I could meet the superhero, when someone told me he wasn't real. I wouldn't want anyone else to make the same mistake.

Why are these religous extremists so fond of disclaimers, whether on movies or textbooks? Do people actually even read them or give a shit about them? I always thought people were smart enough to decide for themselves what to believe, even if a movie tells them something different, but maybe I give them too much credit.

Was there a disclaimer on Passion of the Christ? Just curious.

National Uniformity for Food Act

The link leads to a good Molly Ivins column that just appeared in our paper today.

This is how I discovered the National Uniformity for Food Act. This sounds like a good thing on the surface, right? We should have minimum food safety labeling standards at the federal level. Oh, but wait, this bill actually does the opposite - with a few exceptions, it establishes maximum food safety labeling requirements. From the house bill (there are four versions, but they're all substantially the same) emphasis mine-

`(1) IN GENERAL- Except as provided in subsections (c) and (d), no State or political subdivision of a State may, directly or indirectly, establish or continue in effect under any authority any notification requirement for a food that provides for a warning concerning the safety of the food, or any component or package of the food, unless such a notification requirement has been prescribed under the authority of this Act and the State or political subdivision notification requirement is identical to the notification requirement prescribed under the authority of this Act.

So who supports this bill? Well, all the food manufacturers, of course. As I was doing a google search to find out more about this bill, the little results summaries were very interesting. The positive references were all from food corporations, and the negative references were all from consumer groups, scientists and other concerned citizens.

And of course, this issue may just be a drop in the bucket, in the grand scheme of things, but it certainly illustrates the further corporatization of our federal government. Bad laws are passed, that actually harm the people, to help the bottom line for large campaign contributors . The one good thing about this bill is that the senate hasn't passed it yet, so we can still voice our disapproval, but I wouldn't be too optimistic.