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EDIT: I just read through this and quite a few other recent posts...I'd gotten into the habit of ending many a sentence with a preposition. That used to drive me crazy, but now I'm just casually dispensing these grammatical failures....I also overuse the ellipses and parentheses, and my tense is often mixed--usually by abuse of, um...progressive..present......tense? But I like to believe that it just adds character to my writing. but it's probably just aggravating some of you folks reading this, yes?
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So once again, it's been a while. I've had a lot on my mind lately, but I simply haven't taken the time to share it with you all.
Here are my latest concerns:
(1) Caucus time is growing ever near, and I'm getting very, very nervous...and excited....I know that the next several months will only intensify my anxiety, as America approaches a time of potentially great change.
My problem is that I'm losing faith in the current system of the presidential campaign, particularly regarding the fundraising aspect.
There are a few really good candidates out there....good as in, I really think their platforms--if implemented as promised--would be great for our country's citizens. But I'm really suspicious of WHERE these people are getting their money.....
You can pretty much predict what sort of actions a potential president will take in office when you look at who is funding his/her campaign:
moneymoneymoneyMOh-NAY! <--- click around, see the many sources of candidates' funding!
Y'see....Pharmaceutical companies don't really care about the health and well-being of its customers, they're all for profit. That's why so many dangerous drugs are FDA approved without substantial testing...why they can get away with charging WAY more for products than they need for research, development, and advertising combined....
Oil companies...well, do you really trust them? Do you really trust what a candidate says about renewable energy and environmental conservation when they're getting so much money from oil companies??
I like that Kucinich and Gravel--who both seem to have pretty good ideas/goals--receive VERY little funding from lobbyists and shady corporations. It just SUCKS HUGE BALLS that they're not being taken seriously by the American people as a whole....because the media gives more attention to the front-runners, thus convincing the TV-programmed-public that those candidates must deserve THEIR attention as well. fucking media....you're all a bunch of fucking douche-guzzling fuckwads.
So.....the promise for a better America is up to the "right" president to make the "right" decisions...but it all depends on US to know what the fuck we're really voting for.
***
(2) Well, I've known for a while now that the FDA is really not a trustworthy source of information regarding nutrition facts and food labels....
Take a look at any packaged, preserved, or frozen "convenience food" you have in your kitchen...look at the label under "ingredients." You'll probably see shit you do not recognize or understand AT ALL, as well as nice-yet-vaguely-worded phrases like, "natural flavor." It's tricky for veg*ns in particular to understand what they're getting--a bag of baked BBQ flavored chips with "natural flavor" might simply contain spices and the like, OR it might be made of chicken fat...or pork by-product........the list goes on. Food labels are misleading, which is why it's generally wise to stick with whole, fresh foods--they're typically better for your body AND the earth, and can often cost much less than those "convenience foods" we as Americans love so much.
WELL...
I never even thought to examine my PET FOOD labels that closely. I did check the labels on Zumi's rattie food for any sign of BHT or BHA, as well as any meat by-products, as I would feel wrong paying for it, and wrong for feeding that nutritionally inadequate garbage to my lil' baby. btw, ratties can get a nutritionally complete diet without animal flesh (from what I've read), and certainly they DO NOT need any of that ground up, reconstituted pig snout/cow hoof/miscellaneous meat "garbage" from the factory floor.
Turns out that the Kaytee Forti-Diet blocks and Kaytee Fiesta rat & mouse mix I've been feeding her are pretty much garbage. Not only is corn the primary ingredient--which has been linked with cancer in rats--but these commercial rat foods also contain a POISONOUS preservative known as Ethoxyquin or simply "E." This shit is found in so, SO many commercial pet foods, it's ridiculous.
From now on, I'm buying only properly-formulated and poison-free rat blocks. I plan to supplement this with the usual daily fruits and veggies, as well as homemade blocks/biscuit-thingies that I'll bake myself...from carefully calculated proportions of soy flour, multi-grain hot cereal (from Bob's Red Mill), oats, flaxseed and water.
Call me a crazy, over-concerned pet-owner (though I prefer to say that Zumi is my friend who lives with me, I do not "own" her) who is being guiled by fancy/expensive pet food companies to pay big bucks to preserve the safety and health of my little friend.....I don't care. I'm not taking any chances.
hell, I think my sister was even gullible enough to buy PINE SHAVINGS for her rattie (when she had one a few years back), having been told they were safe by some pet supply store employee. There have probably been lots of rat-friends who went for the cheaper bedding options, simply brushing off the accusations that pine and cedar oils are toxic for ratties...thinking it was all bullshit....
So...once again, we see that we cannot always trust these so-called authorities or "credited sources" like FDA labels. I'm glad I took these matters into my own hands. |
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cymbal_wench's journal
blechh
scared
gaaah!
fliggityFloo,I'm all worked up
