Now this is strange. Good old sugar is a chemical toxin! I have to say, we do take in more sugar than we really should be. My love is chocolate! To think that it could happen that my chocolate will be regulated like alcohol and tobacco? Not good!
We are all well aware of the negative effects of alcohol and tobacco, but what about sugar? Researchers are now saying that excess sugar can be just as harmful.
In fact, according to Yahoo! News, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, think that sugar is so dangerous, it warrants regulation. The researchers want all sugary foods — or all foods with added sugar — to be taxed, banned from sale in schools, and given buying-age restrictions.
The researchers list several studies and statistics that led them to the controversial conclusion that sucrose (found in high-fructose corn syrup and certain table sugars) has done equal harm to society as alcohol and tobacco.
While sugar’s role in the obesity pandemic and diseases related to obesity is still argued, the UCSF researchers look at it from a natural perspective. They point out that, historically, sugar from fruit was only present a few months per year and honey was not previously a dietary staple. While it didn’t used to make up a large part of human’s diets, the researchers stated, “Nature made sugar hard to get; man made it easy.” In today’s world added sugar is found in many foods and not just dessert.
Just how much added sugar do average Americans consume per day? Imagine drinking your morning cup of joe with 40 teaspoons of extra sugar. That’s right, average Americans consume 40 teaspoons, or 600 calories per day, of added sugar. That’s far above the recommended daily allowance of just under 40 grams (or around 9 teaspoons) of sugar for an active man (allowances for women and children are far less).
Researchers are no longer viewing this daily dose of added sugar as added calories. Instead, they see the sugar as a chemical that, “becomes toxic in excess.” The glucose part of added sugar can be safely metabolized by the body, but the fructose is metabolized mostly by the liver. In excess, fructose can overwork the liver, ultimately causing fatty liver disease and insulin resistance, the causes of obesity and diabetes.
Read MORE.
(plus this: Food Gestapo Seek A Bureau Of Alcohol, Tobacco, Sugar )
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Now for the big news of the day! Our sister a few doors down from us. She got up this morning and noticed her kitchen door was open. Nothing unusual about that, as she rarely locks her doors and is just scatter brained enough to leave a door open. Then she gets a call from the bus barn (up the street from us, the local school district) from a bus driver that she found our sister’s purse on the road between here and the next town. She even brought it to our sister.
Well, after checking her purse, only things missing were cash, the check book, and her target credit card. Her debit card, her other credit cards, etc? All still in the purse. Well she called here and I said, call the sheriff’s department now. So she did and oddly, the dispatcher said that the deputy on duty was not available yet, but she would leave a message for him. That is just plain odd! But the deputy did come by about 30 minutes later or so. He said that over the night, someone was going door to door, just checking. And stopped obviously when they got to our sisters’ place since her door was unlocked, no dog (she has a cat, but cats are not good for watching out or making noise), they (or one person) just opened the door and grabbed her purse since it was right on the table. Whether they catch the person or persons involved will depend on other factors.
But at least our sister is okay and did not lose much. Though she is pissed at target! Long story, but she can not get a person at target itself, but someone in another country! Emails bring nothing yet from target, and their website is of no help. Sister said, I will write them a nasty letter!
And her bank? They said it would cost $29 per check! Yes, to make sure those checks are not cashed or accepted by her bank she has to pay for each check missing! What a freaking load of crap! I told her, and she verified with our bank, that her bank like all banks are supposed to check the signature before accepting the check. So if someone cashes one of her checks? Her bank is on the hook if they accepted it. Only 3 checks stolen, but still.
She said from now on, those doors are always locked and anyone wants in, they will have to knock and be verified.
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(Politico) — President Barack Obama didn’t disavow his big-money fundraising machine, but did voice dismay about the presence of super PACs and negative campaigning in an interview that aired Monday morning.
“One of the worries we have obviously in the next campaign is that there are so many of these so-called super PACs, these independent expenditures that are gonna be out there, there is gonna be just a lot of money floating around and I guarantee a bunch of it’s gonna be negative,” Obama told NBC’s Matt Lauer in an interview taped before the Super Bowl on Sunday.
“It’s not gonna be enough to say, ‘the other guy is a bum.’ You’ve got to explain to the people what your plan is to make sure that there are good jobs at good wages and that this economy is growing over the long term. And whoever wins that argument I think is gonna be the next president,” he said.
(sure, the unions gave him $300 million in 2008, and probably will give even more this year! yes, it is bad only if republicans do it!)
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. . . Another illustration of presidential hubris involved the Bush family. The White House put out a picture of a private meeting in the Oval Office on Jan. 27 that included former President George H.W. Bush and his son, Jeb, the former governor of Florida.
The Bushes were in town for the annual black tie dinner the next night at the Alfalfa Club, a gathering of business and political elites. The two featured speakers, both intended to be brief and humorous, were Obama and Jeb Bush. The president spoke to good reviews. He left before Bush spoke.
Obama hates such dinners. Some of his aides, in particular his political adviser David Plouffe, urged him not to spend an evening mingling with the 1 percent. Yet he chose to go, and attendees said it was the first time they could recall a speaker leaving before the other side had its fun. In addition, Obama’s 87-year-old predecessor was present.
Imagine the criticism five years ago if President George W. Bush had walked out on a dinner before Hillary Clinton spoke, with Bill Clinton in the audience.
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(The Hill) — Nearly half of likely voters think the United States should be willing to use military force to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, according to this week’s The Hill Poll.
Forty-nine percent said military force should be used, while 31 percent said it should not and 20 percent were not sure.
Sixty-two percent of likely voters said they were somewhat or very concerned about Iran making a terrorist strike on the United States, while 37 percent said they were not very concerned or not at all concerned about it.
Nearly half — 49 percent — of likely voters also said they opposed cutting military spending to balance the federal budget, while 40 percent said it should be reduced.
But 52 percent said the U.S. military’s presence in Europe and Korea should either be reduced (42 percent) or eliminated (10 percent), while 36 percent said those forces should be retained and 5 percent said they should be increased.
(chances of obama using force? zero)
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Ten Reagan quotes:
10. “Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.”
—Remarks at a business conference, Los Angeles, March 2, 1977
9. “You can tell a lot about a fellow’s character by his way of eating jellybeans.”
—The Observer, March 29, 1981
8. “Thomas Jefferson once said, “We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.’ And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying.”
—Circa 1988
7. “I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I’m in a cabinet meeting.”
—Said often during his presidency, 1981-1989
6. “How do you tell a communist? Well, it’s someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It’s someone who understands Marx and Lenin.”
—Remarks in Arlington, Virginia, September 25, 1987
5. “The government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”
—Remarks to the White House Conference on Small Business, August 15, 1986
4. “I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself.”
—Said often during his presidency, 1981-1989
3. “All great change in America begins at the dinner table.”
—Farewell Address to the Nation, The White House, January 11, 1989
2. “I’ve noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born.”
—The New York Times, September 22, 1980
1. “There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.”
— First Inaugural Address, January 21, 1981
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WHAT THE MEDIA WON’T TELL YOU ABOUT THE UNEMPLOYMENT NUMBERS:
From GWP an attempt to put numbers in perspective:
12.8 million Americans remain unemployed. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported:
Then The American takes a shot with more charts and graphs and continuing dialogue at the link….
Allen West also got into the act from the racial angle:
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Hey, I loved the 1960′s. Graduated from high school, got married. Just a great period in my life. So here is a great site that has the good stuff and the great music from that time.
It will take you back that’s for sure….
Click here for some neat facts and music and “MEMORIES”
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Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
On this morning’s Today Show, the Food Network’s Butter Queen Paula Deen finally came clean about her type-2 diabetes — which she’s known about for at least three years — and her endorsement deal with diabetes drug maker Novo Nordisk (not Novartis, as previously reported).
Asked if she plans to change the way she cooks or eats in light of her condition, Deen — whose “brunch burger” makes the Simpsons’ “good morning burger” look like a heart-healthy snack — claimed she has “always encouraged moderation.”
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Romney Gives Struggling Black Woman Cash, NBC News Sees Racism
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These 24 stats ought to scare the bejezuz out of you.
I’ll just list the first 10:
#1 Inflation is a silent tax that steals wealth from all of us. We continue to shell out increasing amounts of money for the basic things that we need, and yet our incomes are not keeping pace. Just check out the following example. Gasoline prices have been trending higher for several years in a row as one blogger recently noted….
January 2009 $1.65
January 2010 $2.57
January 2011 $3.04
January 2012 $3.29
#2 If you can believe it, the average American household spent approximately $4,155 on gasoline during 2011.
#3 Electricity bills in the United States have risen faster than the overall rate of inflation for five years in a row.
#4 Health care costs continue to rise at a very alarming pace. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, health care costs accounted for just 9.5% of all personal consumption back in 1980. Today they account for approximately 16.3%.
#5 Getting a college education has also become insanely expensive in America. After adjusting for inflation, U.S. college students are borrowing about twice as much money as they did a decade ago.
#6 To get the same purchasing power that you got out of $20.00 back in 1970 you would have to have more than $116 today.
#7 To get the same purchasing power that you got out of $20.00 back in 1913 you would have to have more than $457 today.
#8 There are fewer payroll jobs in the United States today than there were back in 2000 even though we have added more than 30 million extra people to the population since then.
#9 The U.S. economy is bleeding millions of good jobs. Greedy CEOs (ED. NOTE: I don’t agree with the term “greedy CEO. This should read, “power hungry politicians passed laws forcing CEOs……) are systematically shipping them overseas and our politicians are standing around and doing nothing about it. This has gone on year after year after year. The following is from a recent article by Paul Craig Roberts….
In the first decade of the 21st century, Americans lost 5,500,000 manufacturing jobs. US employment in the manufacture of computer and electronic products fell by 40%; in the production of machinery by 30%, in motor vehicles and and parts by 44%, and in the manufacture of clothing by 66%.
#10 Our economic infrastructure is being torn apart right in front of our eyes. In 2010, an average of 23 manufacturing facilities a day shut down in the United States. Overall, more than 56,000 manufacturing facilities in the United States have shut down since 2001.
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President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign and its key supporters are looking to grow on a national scale a fundraising concept that was successful in its Democratic stronghold of Chicago, sources familiar with the program said on Saturday.
Eager to widen its donor base, the Obama campaign is using its team of top fundraisers and donors to distribute marketing materials to thousands of potential top-dollar donors across the nation. Those among them who donate $5,000 — the maximum legal contribution to a presidential candidate in the 2012 cycle — will gain a stream of perks large and small, sources said.
The benefits could include free entry to campaign fundraisers featuring the president, access to strategy sessions at headquarters, and pizza parties at the homes of supporters to watch upcoming voting contests to pick the Republican candidate challenging Obama for the White House in 2012.
The campaign hopes to draw thousands to this category of donor, which so far includes roughly 80 people in Chicago, the Democratic bastion where Obama has supporters with deep pockets.
Members of the pilot group, called the “Chicago Leadership Circle,” paid $5,000 either in a lump sum or over five months to get “unparalleled networking opportunities” to meet with campaign officials and key political operatives coming to Chicago for events and strategy meetings, according to sources and the program’s marketing materials.
The campaign’s regional fundraising efforts could incorporate parts of the plan or abstain, a source involved with the concept said.
The idea addresses concerns in the Obama campaign that well-off and passionate supporters who had already contributed the maximum $5,000 to the campaign could not attend more fundraising events where supporters donate to hear or briefly meet with the President.
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The debate was something to watch. What gets me though in these debats are why the questioners are all liberal buttholes? Why are the republican candidates pandering to the left? Anyways, one highlight (among several) was watching Newt Gingrich smack down Juan Williams.
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