Insert A Trite Metaphor for a Corral #60

Posted on February 27, 2007 in Roundup

Fatty foods industry spokesmen blasted a report by the [[Center for Science in the Public Interest]] which excoriated restaurant chains for serving up “ever-more harmful new creations”. Specifically, Big Fat chains complained about adding food labels to their menus. Ruby Tuesday spokesman Rick Johnson argued that there was not necessarily a connection between food labelling and health. “The rate of obesity has not gone down – but has gone up since food labelling was introduced many years ago,” he said.

Of course, it makes no difference that those people who eat out instead of at home add about 300 calories to their daily diet thanks to the pushing of the carbs by the chains. (Look at this article about how you can pay for your order from McDonald’s by phone now.) Nor do we typically keep items like 2000 calorie appetizers, 2000 calorie main courses, and 1700 calorie desserts — any of which by itself exceeds the recommended daily calorie intake for women — around the house. Arguing that the appetizers are meant for five people doesn’t wash: does the menu say this and do the waiters/waitresses tell you this when you order for less? Big Fat is like Big Tobacco and is using the same tactics to prevent meaningful change in a time when one out of five Americans is obese.

It’s only a matter of time when people begin whining about protecting the rights of overeaters just like they do about smokers. Wait. They already do.

• They Wanted It Ever So Badly, Too: Prosecutors in the Jose Padilla case failed to get an Al-Qaeda manual entered into evidence. U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke warned prosecutors seeking to admit the Manchester Manual that if she were to let them make a case that Padilla was lying about having been tortured, “the defense could come back and say, ‘We have actual evidence he was tortured or mistreated.’ … You are opening the door if you let in this document.” So maybe this isn’t such a good thing for Padilla after all.
• Electronic Bankrupcy: The Dow went gaga today and analysts are blaming it on the computers.
• Violence Porn: That’s what Will Brady is calling a possibly staged incident on Saturday’s WWE Smackdown involving Vince McMahon and a man with a cane. Personally, I think that WWE is already violence pornography and don’t buy the “usually it’s just ‘gruesome entertainment'” dichotomy that Will presents in criticism of the incident. These things happen because the line is already blurred. You can tell me that it’s a fake and everyone knows it, but who believes that the porn they root out on the Internet is real adult sex? The [[storm petrel|storm petrels]] have come home to roost if you ask me. It’s always been disgusting and vile. Why the hell does this go uncensored and natural sex acts get shoved in the closet?
• A Different Kind of Porn: An Arizona teacher took his case to the Supreme Court and saw his 200 year sentence for possession of child pornography upheld. Oops. Don’t worry Morton Berger: They’ll release you to make room for drug addicts. You could be the next Kurt Treptow.
• I Love Me: A report titled “Egos Blossoming Over Time” by San Diego State University professor Jean Twenge found that two thirds of college students had a narcissism score over the 1982 average. Some of the increase in narcissistic attitudes was probably caused by the self-esteem programs that many elementary schools adopted 20 years ago, the study suggests. It notes that nursery schools began to have children sing songs that proclaim: “I am special, I am special. Look at me.” Those youngsters are now adolescents obsessed with websites, such as MySpace and YouTube, that “permit self-promotion far beyond that allowed by traditional media,” the report says. Other trends in American culture, including permissive parenting, increased materialism and the fascination with celebrities and reality TV shows, may also heighten self-regard, said study coauthor W. Keith Campbell, psychology professor at the University of Georgia. “It’s part of a whole cultural system,” he said. Part of me wonders if the scores are more reflective of a knee-jerk response to questioning programmed by the self-esteem programs that may mask self despair. A questionnaire can scrape only so deep. And isn’t seeing a paper published in a scholarly journal something like seeing your video on Youtube, only with a peer review board?
• A Few Tricks: The memoirs of Hollywood madam Jody “Babydol” Gibson alleges that [[Bruce Willis]], Dodger’s manager [[Tommy Lasorda]], Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones, and the late film producer Don Simpson all used a sixteen state escort service called “California Dreaming”. Classic was this passage: A political figure whose name appears is Ben Barnes, a former lieutenant governor of Texas, who drew attention during the 2004 presidential campaign by saying that he helped a young George W. Bush enter the Air National Guard to avoid the Vietnam-era draft. The Times reached Barnes by calling a cellphone number listed beside his name in Gibson’s records. “I have never met or talked to this broad in my entire life,” Barnes said. He said he could not explain why his cellphone number was in her files.
• Choice Article: Russia’s Rich and Shameless.
• Choice Website: OpenCongress
• Someone Else’s List: Zuzu’s at Feministe.
• Could Not Be, Could Not Buzz: It’s called “colony collapse disorder” and it could mean the collapse of the American fruit and vegetable market. Beekeepers are checking their hives to find billions of [[honey bee|honey bees]] missing. Nobody knows why this is happening. Thanks for another one, Big Oil?
• Rent-A-Cop: Bruce Schneier trembles at the possibility of private police forces. Public police forces are charged with protecting the citizens of the cities and towns over which they have jurisdiction. Of course, there are instances of policemen overstepping their bounds, but these are exceptions, and the police officers and departments are ultimately responsible to the public. Private police officers are different. They don’t work for us; they work for corporations. They’re focused on the priorities of their employers or the companies that hire them. They’re less concerned with due process, public safety and civil rights.
• When the Phone Company Could Do Anything: Bill the Lawyer remembers the days of the party line and other phone company oddities of years gone by.
• More Conservapedia: Liz presents some Conservapedia entries for grading.

Until next time, adios amigos!

Image courtesy Conservapedia 2/27/2007

If you find any articles worthy of mention in these roundups, send the URL to gazissax at best dot com. And feel free to comment!