Fischkoepfin

Answering questions with more questions isnt an answer!

I answered your questions, which means that I didn't answer your question with questions but rather thought it only fair to get some of my questions answered. Alternatively, you could of course respond to my answers, which would at least indicate that you read my answers and understood them.

I do understand that the questions I posted might be too difficult...

Duckworth, who copiloted a Black Hawk helicopter that crashed while under a rocket grenade attack almost two years ago, also criticized Bush and others in his administration for accusing anyone who challenges the president's policies of "cutting and running."

"Well, I didn't cut and run, Mr. President. Like so many others, I proudly fought and sacrificed," Duckworth said. "My helicopter was shot down long after you proclaimed 'mission accomplished."'

F#ckin Aye! Let's see Rove try and tarnish her military record.

Anythings possible.

Max Cleland was defeated while running for a second term in 2002 by Representative Saxby Chambliss. Voters were perhaps influenced by Chambliss ads which featured Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, ads that Cleland's supporters claim questioned his patriotism.

I think ads that suggest that Cleland's injury in Vietnam (he lost both his legs and one arm) were a self-inflicted act of cowardice, thus branding him a deserter, are not only questioning his patriotism but also his moral integrity. Why is it that attacking Vietnam-war veterans is considered some liberal thing to do, while the true attacks on veterans who gave their health for the country come from conservatives?

The article Dean posted shows that the same game is going on again. This woman sustained severe injuries in Iraq, but the president is questioning her ability to judge the situation in Iraq and people in this forum are making fun of her injuries by questioning her ability to further serve the country.

Please answer these simple questions:

why do you have the freedom of speech?

Because, as Steven pointed out, a bunch of people in the eighteenth century decided that would be a good thing. Why did they decide so? Because they read a bunch of mostly French books explaining how a good society balanced individual freedoms with communal responsibility, meaning idea of freedom is based on the idea of reciprocity between governing and governed.

However, while this principle was enshrined in the bill of rights (not the declaration of independence or the constitution), it was abridged by the governing authorities as early as 1797. Why? Because the governing authorities viewed popular dissent (particularly by supporters of the opposing party) as a threat to their unabated power. Interestingly, rather than telling people they didn't have the freedom of speech anymore, the Adams administration just called everyone who disagreed a foreign spy, hence the moniker Alien and Sedition Act. Most shocking fact in this context: Th. Jefferson himself was accused of posing a threat to the government and Americans and was sought for trial by some town in Connecticut.

how did this right come about?

See above. The right came about because of the insufficiencies of the constitution. Importantly, it is an outgrowth of the French enlightenment. The revolution itself has nothing to do with it, as it was primarily fought over taxation and imperial expansion (no the British did not want their colonial subjects to move west of the thirteen colonies).

How many died for this right?

Lots of people but not during official battlefield actions. The Freedom of Speech has been abridged way too often and every time people (many of whom are unnamed and still branded traitors) died. What is happening now is just another episode of oppression in the name of patriotism.

were you born in the U.S.

No, but I live here. And I do consider this question an insult because it suggests that only native born Americans have the right to free speech or to speak their mind. But as the Alien and Sedition Act and all the other incursions on free speech demonstrate, this move is typical of a certain brand of people who do not understand the right to free speech as reciprocal.

Do you love America? If yes why?

Yes, I do, but not in the same way you do. America happens to be my work, and I am heavily invested in preserving the spirit of the constitution in everything I do.

For me, American is not some thing that only lives in symbols, such as the flag, the pledge, the larger-than-life images of the founders (all of which are meaningless because they obscure the beauty with a bunch of empty phrases). No, America is the here and now, the blood spillled by those excluded from the political process, and the past which is rich and more than just a list of military victories.

Is president Bush EVIL ?

How do I know, I haven't met him. I also don't consider people to be plain evil. I believe Bush is acting against America because rather than focusing on the communal good and communal responsibility he furthers individual interests, thus abolishing the central tenet of reciprocity so dear to the founders. The word "evil" oversimplifies the complex nature of the problem.

Why is President Bush like HITLER? if yes HOW?

Dude, that is possible the least appealing of your questions because it attests to your indoctrination. The answer is fairly simple. No, Bush is not like Hitler. For one thing, he lacks the intelligence; for another, Hitler was a decorated war veteran who defended his nation in WW I. There are, however, certain parallels concerning their understanding of national security (to secure a nation you need to abridge the rights of its inhabitants) and of their office (the leader of a country should hold as much power as humanly possible; hence democratic process are deemed dangerous and information that needs to be accessible to the general public to ensure democratic dialogue is classified)

But since I have just answered your questions, I'd like to hear your answers to the following:

1a.) What is a liberal? And please don't give me some blanket answer but take the time to provide your own personal explication together with some concrete examples.

1b.) Why are liberals endangering America?

2.) Why was it ok to impeach Clinton over a stained dressed but not ok to even question Bush's decisions in the aftermath of 9/11?

3.) What does the Patriot Act have to do with Patriotism if it defeats the tenets of the founders?

4.) If we assume the War of Independence and the War of 1812 was fought to ensure liberty to Americans, then how can we defend any war that abridges those liberties?

5.) Why do we always need to blame foreigners for everything that is wrong with this country?

6.) Why do we view America as an anti-imperialist nation and a champion of the oppressed around the world? What does the colonial legacy tell us about America's colonialism?

Seems like there's no such thing as 'society' anymore. People seem to no longer have any sense of collective responsibility.

Yeah, today everything that used to be viewed as collective responsibility is consumed by our desire for individual responsibilty. What we forget in that equation is that because individuals are part of a society and function within that society, individual responsibility cannot exist without collective responsibility.

Yet up to the United Nations General Assembly podium strode Iranian “President” Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last week, renouncing American policy and America’s president. A day later, that same forum witnessed Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, similarly attacking President Bush, to the point of calling him “The Devil.” To the dismay of the left, the general public readily recognizes that these attacks from foreign leaders precisely echo the “patriotism” regularly being spewed by liberal Democrats.

Despite the desperate attempts of Democrat leaders to distance themselves from the UN spectacle, the parallels between their words, and more importantly, their motives, as compared to those of the two hostile foreign leaders, have become irrefutable. Their cover has been blown.

If the liberal Democrats can claim, by virtue of their subversive and consistently anti-American rhetoric of the past several years, that such behavior is indeed “patriotic,” then so must it be concluded that Ahmadinejad and Chavez are also great American “patriots.”

Oh so TRUE!

Thanks for reproducing the gunk from the conservative news media.

Sure, it's easy to believe in a "vast left-wing conspiracy," but maybe it is time to stop conflating critics of the Bush-administration and their minions in congress with political leaders opposed to the US.

When Ahmadinejad levels his attacks on the US, he does that with his own population in mind and for retribution purposes (see Bush's speech the same day which was a similarly frontal attack on Iran). Same goes for Chavez, who views himself as another victim of American propaganda and in a way does nothing but rebut the Bush-administration's attack on him. You harvest what you sow is probably the best way to explain that.

In contrast, critics of the Bush-administration in the US are actually concerned about America. When some democrat or left-winger lashes out at Bush, it is not in retribution but because the administration is betraying American values. But why am I even trying to explain this to you; it's not like you would stop taking the words of the right-wing media as the absolute truth.

And when can we expect the FDA to explain how the spinach got contaminated by bacteria living in feedlot cows in the first place? I understand the concern, but this is neither the first case of E.coli in leafy vegetable this summer (the FDA has been investigating another valley in Cali throughout the summer) nor is it in any way normal to find food-borne diseases on plants. How about fixing the cause rather than trying to act after the fact.

Good question. I thought that E. Coli only exists in the fecal matter of animals that are not herbivores. I used to have a composter and I remember I could put cow manure or horse manure, but not dog or human feces in it because of pathogens. So my guess is the E. Coli had to have come from a human source, unless they are still doing that practice of feeding cattle, parts of other cows (which is how mad cow disease is spread).

E. coli lives in the intestines of mammals, but that is not necessarily bad. The problem is that the virulent strain of E. coli present in this and other cases is a mutation related to feeding practices (and as I personally suspect, a result of the practices of giving antibiotics to healthy cows. Most organisms adapt to antibiotics after a while, creating so-called super-bacteria which cannot be defeated by standard means). Grass-fed cows don't have it.

The reason you don't add excrements of carnivores to your compost are twofold: They are high in fat, which is detrimental to the composting process and attacks rats (hence, you also don't put prepared food-leftovers or household fats in it). Second, carnivores carry a number of parasites, particularly tape worms and the like, which are potentially lethal to human bodies

I have been aware of these problems for a while, as I am quite interested in microbiology and epidemology. However, I read this op-ed piece the other week, which sheds some light on the matter:

September 21, 2006

Op-Ed Contributor

Leafy Green Sewage

By NINA PLANCK

FARMERS and food safety officials still have much to figure out about the recent spate of E. coli infections linked to raw spinach. So far, no particular stomachache has been traced to any particular farm irrigated by any particular river.

There is also no evidence so far that Natural Selection Foods, the huge shipper implicated in the outbreak that packages salad greens under more than two dozen brands, including Earthbound Farm, O Organic and the Farmer’s Market, failed to use proper handling methods.

Indeed, this epidemic, which has infected more than 100 people and resulted in at least one death, probably has little do with the folks who grow and package your greens. The detective trail ultimately leads back to a seemingly unrelated food industry — beef and dairy cattle.

First, some basic facts about this usually harmless bacterium: E. coli is abundant in the digestive systems of healthy cattle and humans, and if your potato salad happened to be carrying the average E. coli, the acid in your gut is usually enough to kill it.

But the villain in this outbreak, E. coli O157:H7, is far scarier, at least for humans. Your stomach juices are not strong enough to kill this acid-loving bacterium, which is why it’s more likely than other members of the E. coli family to produce abdominal cramps, diarrhea, fever and, in rare cases, fatal kidney failure.

Where does this particularly virulent strain come from? It’s not found in the intestinal tracts of cattle raised on their natural diet of grass, hay and other fibrous forage. No, O157 thrives in a new — that is, recent in the history of animal diets — biological niche: the unnaturally acidic stomachs of beef and dairy cattle fed on grain, the typical ration on most industrial farms. It’s the infected manure from these grain-fed cattle that contaminates the groundwater and spreads the bacteria to produce, like spinach, growing on neighboring farms.

In 2003, The Journal of Dairy Science noted that up to 80 percent of dairy cattle carry O157. (Fortunately, food safety measures prevent contaminated fecal matter from getting into most of our food most of the time.) Happily, the journal also provided a remedy based on a simple experiment. When cows were switched from a grain diet to hay for only five days, O157 declined 1,000-fold.

This is good news. In a week, we could choke O157 from its favorite home — even if beef cattle were switched to a forage diet just seven days before slaughter, it would greatly reduce cross-contamination by manure of, say, hamburger in meat-packing plants. Such a measure might have prevented the E. coli outbreak that plagued the Jack in the Box fast food chain in 1993.

Unfortunately, it would take more than a week to reduce the contamination of ground water, flood water and rivers — all irrigation sources on spinach farms — by the E-coli-infected manure from cattle farms.

The United States Department of Agriculture does recognize the threat from these huge lagoons of waste, and so pays 75 percent of the cost for a confinement cattle farmer to make manure pits watertight, either by lining them with concrete or building them above ground. But taxpayers are financing a policy that only treats the symptom, not the disease, and at great expense. There remains only one long-term remedy, and it’s still the simplest one: stop feeding grain to cattle.

California’s spinach industry is now the financial victim of an outbreak it probably did not cause, and meanwhile, thousands of acres of other produce are still downstream from these lakes of E. coli-ridden cattle manure. So give the spinach growers a break, and direct your attention to the people in our agricultural community who just might be able to solve this deadly problem: the beef and dairy farmers.

Nina Planck is the author of “Real Food: What to Eat and Why.’’

Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

Source

WooHoo! Guess what's for dinner again!!

Buy local & buy organically grown. Unless you live in the Salinas Valley.

PS: Fischkoepfin, you know what 'liquid fertilizer' is, right? <g>

Of course. But liquid fertilizer is not the problem in this case, but rather a contamination of the water supply by upstream feedlots. Why else would all of Salinas Valley be implicated in this matter?

Bill Clinton is such a pompous a$$hole though; are people still naive enough to fall for his #######?

Oh I SO agree.

Get your eyes checked or get rid of that reinterpreter of statements you've installed on your computer. Twisting people's words is one thing, blatantly changing them shows a lack of ethics and morals evidencing not a true Christian but a true hypocrite.

Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration lifted its 2-week-old consumer warning on most fresh spinach Friday, revising the alert to say it now covers only specific brands packaged on certain dates.

The warning now applies only to spinach recalled earlier this month by Natural Selection Foods of San Juan Bautista and four other companies that it supplied, said Kevin Reilly, deputy director of prevention services for the California health department.

A week ago, the FDA had said it was safe to eat spinach grown anywhere outside of three Salinas Valley counties, and some stores began restocking. But Dr. David Acheson, chief medical officer of the agency's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said Friday that only spinach that already had been recalled shouldn't be eaten. Other spinach "is as safe as it was before this event," Acheson said.

And when can we expect the FDA to explain how the spinach got contaminated by bacteria living in feedlot cows in the first place? I understand the concern, but this is neither the first case of E.coli in leafy vegetable this summer (the FDA has been investigating another valley in Cali throughout the summer) nor is it in any way normal to find food-borne diseases on plants. How about fixing the cause rather than trying to act after the fact.

I think the FDA really needs to re-consider what it allows the food manufacturng industry to put in our foods. I really do. Sure, 30 years ago when they started using HFCS it saved them money, and the entire US population became more addicted to sugars. They likely had no way of knowing that 30 years later more than half the population would be obese because of it, and that more than half of that population would get diabetes because of it. Same with trans-fats. They use those to save themselves money, but if its killing their consumers, in the long run its not saving anything

Sure, we have a choice of what we eat, but for most people, is it an educated choice? Or do they just trust the food manufacturers to not feed us stuff that'll kill us?

Right on.

As to HCFS being cheaper, I don't think that is the case. Let's not forget that the sugar industry is heavily subsidized (for whatever reason, particularly since sugar is really expensive in the US because of monopolies and trusts) and that the production of HCFS is one way to support the corn industry (and GMO-producers) and to incorporate it into the quite lucrative sugar business comes close to a double subsidy. It's a vicious cycle which will only be broken if the FDA actually becomes a consumer-oriented agency.

At that speed, you'd be dead.

180mph != 180kph

Yeah, I know it's over 300 km/h, but if you're in the right part of Germany at the right time of day, you can do that (if your car is that fast). And I have seen people who talk on their cell and do whatever using the "constant left turn signal" (indicating: get out of my way or die) while going easily plus 200 km/h. That's what German's call freedom of speed.

200 km/h, yes. 300...... doubt it. Not many cars would go that fast and even the tiniest pothole

would kill you.

Potholes are non-existent in left lanes on the autobahn, otherwise there's a speed limit.

But to be honest, you're totally right about that....

and while doing 180 mph on the autobahn

At that speed you certainly don't have to shift at all, which makes it easier to be on the cell, use a computer, and drink coffee.

At that speed, you'd be dead.

180mph != 180kph

Yeah, I know it's over 300 km/h, but if you're in the right part of Germany at the right time of day, you can do that (if your car is that fast). And I have seen people who talk on their cell and do whatever using the "constant left turn signal" (indicating: get out of my way or die) while going easily plus 200 km/h. That's what German's call freedom of speed.

Partially correct. Most stock autos over mannual because the demand is greater for the auto... what better way to drive, drink coffe, and eat that bagel mcmuffin while reading the news paper and checking stocks on the compy but with an automatic..??

Actually, if you're good at it, you can do all these things with a stick, too. It's not like your right hand is somehow glued to the lever or that you need to shift all the time.

and while doing 180 mph on the autobahn

At that speed you certainly don't have to shift at all, which makes it easier to be on the cell, use a computer, and drink coffee.

A centrist (with some leftist leanings)

Surprise, surprise...

Makes me wonder sometimes whether the major food producers are somehow in cahoots with the private healthcare industry. At the very least they have a mutually beneficial relationship - after all obese people tend to have more health issues than someone of "correct" weight. Add to that the difficulty of avoiding processed foods which are much higher in calories than the natural equivalent.

Even canned beans and pasta sauce contains HFCS, its next to impossible to avoid, unless you want your shopping trip turning into an all-day epic of label reading.

Or spend extra time preparing your food from scratch.

I don't eat HCFS and haven't for about 6 months now. It's getting easier just because after a while you just know which foods to avoid, although it is strange how many people consider it weird to eat selectively unless you're actually sick.

So, "Apfel" would not be a possible name, since it is the name for a thing, but any first names work just fine.

Oh, poo.

So much for "Geruecht" and "Kundschafter".

rules out blute kuh also

And Stinkstiefel (smelly boot) and a number of other nice names...

Does a Camaro have rear-wheel drive? That would explain why it handles not as well in bad weather.

Btw, does you truck have standard shift as well?

yes rear wheel drive on the camaro. truck is an automatic, when i bought it i wanted a stick shift but the dealer didn't have any stick shifts

I feel your pain. Most car dealers don't stock stick shifts (or only a few) because they tend to be cheaper, meaning they make less money on them. Grrrh. Where's free choice when you need it.

Partially correct. Most stock autos over mannual because the demand is greater for the auto... what better way to drive, drink coffe, and eat that bagel mcmuffin while reading the news paper and checking stocks on the compy but with an automatic..??

Actually, if you're good at it, you can do all these things with a stick, too. It's not like your right hand is somehow glued to the lever or that you need to shift all the time.

Does a Camaro have rear-wheel drive? That would explain why it handles not as well in bad weather.

Btw, does you truck have standard shift as well?

yes rear wheel drive on the camaro. truck is an automatic, when i bought it i wanted a stick shift but the dealer didn't have any stick shifts

I feel your pain. Most car dealers don't stock stick shifts (or only a few) because they tend to be cheaper, meaning they make less money on them. Grrrh. Where's free choice when you need it.

It would be a dirty campaign that's for sure... Who's the Rep candidate likely to be - Bill Frist?

I don't know of any real winners for either side. Who would want to be president anyway?

Maybe it's time to abolish the presidency then. I'm sure there are other ways to have a functioning democracy, such as having a rotating office in the senate...

god help us when it's ted kennedy's turn

or sam brownback's, trent lott's, or hillary clinton's... in short, it is scary, but then it's a rotating office, so everyone gets a stab at the office which would make it more balanced. Also, a rotating office would by necessity have a different and less concentrated set of executive powers meaning it wouldn't matter as much if the office holder is not the greatest leader in the world. It's certainly less problematic to keep in check that many American presidents were and are.

It would be a dirty campaign that's for sure... Who's the Rep candidate likely to be - Bill Frist?

I don't know of any real winners for either side. Who would want to be president anyway?

Maybe it's time to abolish the presidency then. I'm sure there are other ways to have a functioning democracy, such as having a rotating office in the senate...

Any thoughts?

With diabesity on the rise, it's clear that adults cannot be trusted to eat responsibly on their own. People don't exist in a vacuum. When people get fat and diabetic, it raises the cost of healthcare for EVERYONE. I don't want to pay extra because Steve the Lardass down the street just LOVES trans fats. #### that. Steve the Lardass can go without.

So...I say ban trans fats. For starters.

Wow, that's a shockingly interesting pov....

I don't think it's shocking at all. 2/3 of Americans are overweight or obese. I think the evidence is clear enough that many people are simply incapable of feeding themselves properly. I'm tired of paying for them. I say ban trans fats.

People have the right to be as fat as they want...and it's not the gov'ts job to start mandating responsible eating.

I get the whole 'making healthier options available'...I really do...but to say it's clear adults cannot be trusted to eat responsibly...well imo, that's a slippery slope that I'd rather the gov't have no say in. So what's your solution then? How do we get rid of the obesity problem? Put a moritorium on ho hos?

If I wanna eat a transfatty bag of fries, it's not your concern, nor Uncle Sam's.

You could use this argument about the 'money for health care' for any other bad habit......people cannot be trusted to get to bed on time, not smoke, not drink....should Uncle Sam get his teat out so anyone doing anything unhealthy should go suckle at it, since you're saying grown adults cannot be trusted with making choices for themselves?

I agree with you to a certain point because certainly adults should be able to make their own choices. However, the problem is a lack of education about food, and that is made more difficult by the fact that big food is resisting any attempts to make Americans more educated about what they eat. Just look at thhe current food labeling law or the law that mandates that organic farmers cannot indicate on their dairy packaging that their products are free of hormones and antibiotics because this would somehow imply that non-organic milk contained these things (which it does). The reason for all this is supposedly that it would lead to unfair competition.

Another example is the whole Spinach-scare which is representative of a whole series of food-borne diseases. Interestingly, the bacteria causing the problems only exist in cows feeding on grains, and only get into the food chain because of insufficient regulations at agri-factories. All other food-borne illnesses have similar causes, but the authorities pretend its normal to have these illnesses (they don't occur as frequently in countries with stricter food laws).

So, Americans should be left up to their own choices but first they need to know that they have a choice.

so's my camaro

I'm so pleased that you know how to drive a real car. I'll sleep better tonight.

doubtful. i've also got a 4 wheel drive truck

Strewth.

Oh, my god, you made my day. I didn't think anyone actually used this (except on the Flying Circus).

so's my camaro

I'm so pleased that you know how to drive a real car. I'll sleep better tonight.

doubtful. i've also got a 4 wheel drive truck

Strewth. I thought you lived in KC, what the hell do you need 4 wheel drive for?

have you ever tried to drive a camaro on snow or ice?

my job requires me to be at work come rain flood whatever.

Does a Camaro have rear-wheel drive? That would explain why it handles not as well in bad weather.

Btw, does you truck have standard shift as well?

Hummm....thanks for the answers. Interesting way to keeping track but it seems like you can't have as many unique names in this way. And it has got to be interesting with cultural names from foreign countries.

Cultural names from foreign countries are not an issue at all. There are many Germans who have English, French, Turkish, Ghanaan, Indian, and so on names. And as someone said, you can always try to contest a name-rejection, and in many cases it is successful, as long as you can prove that it's a name.

That said, I think it is great that Germany at least supplmements the income of every mother and child.

Yeah, I agree. However, the income supplements are for the child, so that fathers or guardians can be recipients as well.

I'm a squatter. I think it is gross to sit on a public toilet--even WITH toilet paper. I am even one of those that will wait until I get home to do #2 because I don't want to sit. I have learned to squat and have very good aim. My husband is a sitter when he is tired and stands when he is in a hurry.

Not me...I inspect a public toilet seat before sitting on it but only because I don't want my ### to get wet. If the seat's wet I just wipe it off and sit down. I don't put reams of toilet paper on the seat before I do so either. I've never been sick because of it.

Not judging, just sharing.

I can't do it. I picture all these asses on the seat and I can't bring myself to sit. It is hard to squat in an airplane-with all the turbulance

I used to squat until I though about it and realized that it was as unhygenic because of the back-splattering. Since then, I wipe off the toilet seat, ideally with disinfectant if provided. If I carried a purse, I'd probably even bring my own disinfectant.