The CDC doesn’t mention the bacteria in reusable bags

CDC is investigating a multistate outbreak of Salmonella infections linked to chicken.

CDC’s food safety steps recommend which of the following to prevent foodborne illness from raw poultry? Find the answer here! http://go.usa.gov/4MQA:
A) Wash hands with warm soapy water for 20 seconds before and after handling raw poultry.
B) Cook raw poultry to 165°F using a food thermometer.
C) Refrigerate food promptly.
D) Separate raw meat, poultry, and seafood from other food in your grocery shopping cart and in your refrigerator.

But they don’t mention the importance of washing the reusable bags—they are loaded with bacteria.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/rosenwald-md/post/your-reusable-shopping-bags-are-full-of-bacteria/2011/12/06/gIQA32nYZO_blog.html

Tutoring program only for children of color

What a dumb thing for a principal to do--he's just told minority children that they are the only kids in the school with academic problems, and the white kids can get a pass! It may not have been his intention to either discriminate against white children with learning problems or black kids with low self-esteem, but I believe he succeeded.  His excuse after the complaints rolled in?

“This is Andre Pearson [voicemail to upset white parent]. It’s focused for and designed for children of color, but certainly, if we have space for other kids who have needs, we can definitely meet those needs,”

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2013/02/13/parents-complain-about-school-ad-for-colored-only-tutoring-program/

So why would a tutoring program only be designed for children of color in the first place?  Could it be that they’ve been subjected to lower/different expectations all along?

President Who?

I'd love to say, "President Walker," or "President Jindal," or "President Rubio," but it will probably be someone not on the radar yet. Let's not chase special interest groups like the Democrats, where blacks vote 90% for a guy because of his skin color and still get stuck with the highest unemployment rate, and liberals get an attack of belated white guilt; let's go after ideas that help the whole country.

Water didn’t hurt Ted Kennedy’s career

Fussy about my orange juice

We drink a lot of orange juice, my husband more than I.  And over the years I’ve learned to avoid certain off brands (cartons designed to look like name brands) because they are either tasteless or bitter.  In the Alchemist Newsletter today I read about a disease that may cause that.

Oranges that are not "in the pink" can be detected using NMR spectroscopy, according to work by scientists at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) based in Fort Pierce, Florida. The researchers have used the amino acid composition of juice from oranges to identify those grown on trees infected with HLB, Huanglongbing, a pathogen that causes citrus greening disease. The study should allow fruit growers and processors to identify problem batches before products based on the citrus fruit, such as fruit juices, are manufactured. Additionally, work that leads to a better understanding of how the pathogen affects the amino acid profile of the fruit might lead to agrochemicals to inhibit infection in the first place.

Liberal Logic and Conservative Compassion

Liberal logic

Best quote of the evening

A real boondoggle for the phone companies.

This probably called a fee, not a tax, but it is, and it is soaring.

"The U.S. government spent about $2.2 billion last year to provide phones to low-income Americans, but a Wall Street Journal review of the program shows that a large number of those who received the phones haven’t proved they are eligible to receive them.

The Lifeline program—begun in 1984 [under Reagan] to ensure that poor people aren’t cut off from jobs, families and emergency services—is funded by charges that appear on the monthly bills of every landline and wireless-phone customer. Payouts under the program have shot up from $819 million in 2008, as more wireless carriers have persuaded regulators to let them offer the service."

http://www.bizpacreview.com/2013/02/12/obama-phone-scam-cost-taxpayers-big-bucks-last-year-19952

BO and FDR, two peas in a porridge

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) compared Obama favorably to Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) after the SOTU speech last night. She might want to reconsider. To get elected, FDR promised he would be a fiscal conservative in 1932 after the liberal Hoover set the stage for really big government intervention in the economy after the crash of 1929 creating many new programs.  But FDR made things worse and kept the country mired in a Great Depression that lasted over 10 years. Our grandparents kept reelecting him—just like today’s know nothings reelected Obama last November despite his failures to turn the economy around.

Eleanor, his wife, was actually unhappy when things started to turn around during WWII because all the men and many of the women were employed in the war effort. (Even her most love-struck biographers acknowledge this.)  She wasn't done planning every detail of citizens' lives yet.  And like Obama, FDR hurt the little guy first with new excise taxes on everything from gum to movie tickets.  In 2009, Obama raised cigarette taxes, even though it was long ago proven that the poor do not respond to punishments in order to improve their health, and in 2013, he’s raising gasoline taxes 18%, which won’t stop the rich from taking trips, but will certainly hurt the middle class and low income driving to work.

How the New Deal hurt millions of poor people

Obama had a message for the youth vote last night

Badly worded signage

A parking lot sign at Giant Eagle is in desperate need of another clause or some punctuation.

"Expectant mothers and fathers with new born children parking only."

Each time I see it I wonder about that expectant father, or the mother of a new born who is pregnant already, or the adoptive mom with a new born. I'm suggesting,

"Please let customers with young children park here."

A new born is certainly easier to wrangle than a couple of cranky toddlers, and doesn't grandma or nanny need to park close too?

40 years later. . .

My set of Revere Ware is probably about 40 years old, but I only learned to use the steamer basket within the last year. Smack my head! Can't believe how easy this is. I used to boil green beans to mush and they were still tasteless and hard. 7 minutes. That's it. It's never too late to learn those new tricks, ladies.

If he can’t get it in taxes, he’ll start on our savings

Today we're meeting with our financial advisor, Dave. My tax deferred account says I have to spread this out almost another 24 years (only my uncle Leslie Weybright has lived that long in my family). But that assumes Obama doesn't decide that taking our income is not enough, he wants our wealth. Is it fair that I put away 15% of my income every month I was employed, in addition to the state required pension withdrawals, and some other twit was out getting her nails done, night clubbing, or taking fabulous vacations. Shouldn't she, in the president's reasoning, get some of my common sense?

Marco Rubio, a voice of sanity in a tax and spend world

"[Obama’s] solution to virtually every problem we face is for Washington to tax more, borrow more and spend more," Rubio said of the president. "And the idea that more taxes and more government spending is the best way to help hardworking middle class taxpayers - that's an old idea that's failed every time it's been tried. More government isn't going to help you get ahead. It's going to hold you back. More government isn't going to create more opportunities. It's going to limit them."

Yes, it’s the old, failed way—FDR tried for over 10 years and kept us mired in a Depression--and they say conservatives are stuck in the past.

Rand Paul in his response said something like, “What the president fails to grasp. . .” then something about hard work.  Look guys, this president is not dumb and he knows exactly what he is doing and has the steps laid out to destroy initiative, self-reliance, the rewards of hard work, and anything else the founders had in mind.

Where are the Benghazi survivors?

There are still many unanswered questions despite what Obama’s PR machine reports. (Jay Carney says all questions have been settled.)

Are they being protected?  Hidden?  Imprisoned?

Are they dead?  Never existed?

Homicides are at an all time low

Homicides are at an all time low. Even one murder is too many, but when ever we start to make progress, be it racism, disease, accidents, poverty, suicide, homicide (all of which are at all time lows according to government stats), there are groups whose jobs depend on keeping the issue alive and in the public view. It would "disarm" the left if they were to report that we are not a horrible, awful country that needs their fix.

Gitmo closing was so yesterday; today it is drones

The Constitution guarantees due process for American citizens. The drone program used against Americans is illegal. Where are all those pro-bono, hot-shot lawyers who rushed to Gitmo to protect the rights of non-Americans who were captured in combat? (Whom the president has left in limbo, by the way.)

I ticked off 17 problems with his first year, and remember, in those days he was still against gay marriage.

The Obama Doctrine: Kill don’t capture

Today is fat Tuesday and tomorrow is Ash Wednesday

Carnival comes from Latin and means "to stop eating meat." In the 1500s, "carnival" time was the last three days before the Christian season of Lent. Lent is 40 days (Sundays aren't counted) before Easter of repentance and moderation or fasting in the Western church tradition. It was the last chance to eat meat until Easter. Mardi Gras means Fat Tuesday, when the cooks used up all the fat before the Lenten fast. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, when Christians go to church and have the sign of the cross made on their foreheads from last year's palms from Palm Sunday (usually purchased because it is very hard to make your own ashes, at least at our church).

These are the two guys saying NO to North Korea

Woot.  That ought to scare Kim Jong-un.  Nuclear device set off right before the State of the Union speech so he can thumb his nose at the peace prize prez and the Vietnam war protester.