The cheers don't surprise me. Conservatives live for red meat like this.

We should also beat journalists, just like the Egyptian government did only a week ago. That's the kind of government I want.

We should also "be spying on all Arabs, engaging in torture as a televised spectator sport, dropping daisy cutters wantonly throughout the Middle East and sending liberals to Guantanamo."

Simple carbs are bad for you. Everyone knows this? None of the "omg carbs KILL BABIES" people or studies seem to contrast simple carbs vs. complex carbs. Are they stuffing them full of white bread? White rice? There was a study recently that showed just having *some* brown rice with your white rice measurably reduced the risk of diabetes, but I didn't see any of the He-Man Caveman Diet people mention that.

Some studies (though not all, admittedly--there are conflicting reports) indicate that sugars that are unbalanced in favor of more fructose (HFCS) cause problems that eating table sugar doesn't.

For the fatty meats, you also have to be careful about what exactly they're eating. Hamburger is the refined flour of the red meat world and steak is the 100% whole wheat bread. There's a difference in how they're digested, and there's a difference on their effects on the body. I'm too lazy to go find the reference, but there was a study comparing eating small amounts of hamburger vs. steak every day for some period of time, and the hamburger group had higher cholesterol and blood pressure and whatnot (could be misremembering the exact problems).

And for this study, the only thing that's moderately surprising is that the heavy drinkers are healthier than the non-drinkers. But it it utterly unsurprising that the moderate drinkers are healthier than both; this has been common knowledge for a while. Well, I am kinda surprised that 3 drinks a day is moderate drinking. That's a lot more than I drink. I wonder how the data would skew if they broke it down to 1 every few days, 1 every day, 2 every day, 3 every day, etc.

I'd put $5 on the some-complex-carb--eating, some-steak-eating, vegetable-eating, sugar/simple-carb--reducing, HFCS-avoiding, moderately-drinking person being healthier than any of the other permutations. Moderation isn't as sexy as being able to get all religious about being anti/pro-meat or anti/pro-carb or anti/pro-booze, though, I suppose!

What would be the worst-case scenario if the NAFTA superhighway were built and controlled by Spain (or any other nation, for that matter)?

1. People would lose there property through eminent domain. However they wouldn't be screwed, because they would all be compensated for their property, as required by law. This happens every day in the U.S. anyway, for a vast number of public works projects. So there is nothing new here.

2. A major thoroughfare would easily connect Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. This would boost economic activity between these three nations, benefiting them all. I don't see a downside. Well, I suppose Canadian and Mexican tanks could more easily invade the U.S. Umm, yeah.

3. Spain (or whoever) might charge exorbitant tolls for its use. First of all, there are other major highways already in existence that could be used as alternative routes, most notably Interstate 35. So it would have competition from day one if it were built. Secondly, if Spain (or whoever) started being major dicks about tolls or access to it, we could simply nationalize it. And what could Spain do about it? Blow it all up, and declare war on us?

This is a non-issue. Red meat for the tea party crowd, that's all.

I'm almost done watching this, but I wanna know, does he say ANYTHING that isn't old news? We know, eating fatty is bad. Maybe in 1985 this was news, but this is nutrition 101 these days. I learned it in f*cking high school. Yes, public school even. Everybody knows HOW to eat right. You know that feeling you get after eating a bacon cheese burger, fries and a soda? That's your body telling you what you just ate was shit.

Why nobody can listen to their bodies is remarkable. And I've been through phases where I eat bullshit for a period of time. I get a belly, I slow down, I feel like shit. But I never, once, during the whole time I was doing that to myself, think it was ok. And just as quick as it starts I made the decision to get back on track and eat what I should be eating. The sacrifice isn't even much. Throw in some veggies, buy lean ham, if you're gonna eat red meat. Buy turkey and skinless chicken. Bake, don't fry. Real fucking easy.

Thanks for reminding me of that ~
In reply to this comment by steroidg:
In reply to this comment by laura:
I find it ironic that she thinks eating dog meat helps people sweat, since dogs don't even have the ability to sweat, hence the panting...

I think what she meant was that it gives people "heat". In Chinese food, every thing you eat has a purpose to balance the body. By example, eating red meat will give you "heat", whereas eating winter melon or water melon will give you "chill".

Dog meat is considered one of the "hottest" red meat available ("hotter" than lamb). Eating "hot" things are generally considered unhealthy during spring or summer periods unless you are located in a very humid area or if you balance them with "chill" food. However I heard some people eat them as some sort of aphrodisiac to increase their sexual potency.

Hehe I wouldn't be surprised if it's true. I heard horror stories about some nasty malpractice. Stuffs like putting washing powder into batter so they look more puffy when fried. Or use petroleum asphalt to burn away hair off meat.

For a period of time, no one dare to eat lamb skewers in Beijing because it's rumored that rotten or rat meat were being served.

In reply to this comment by burdturgler:
Really? I wonder where cardboard falls on that scale. Warm?

In reply to this comment by steroidg:
In reply to this comment by laura:
I find it ironic that she thinks eating dog meat helps people sweat, since dogs don't even have the ability to sweat, hence the panting...

I think what she meant was that it gives people "heat". In Chinese food, every thing you eat has a purpose to balance the body. By example, eating red meat will give you "heat", whereas eating winter melon or water melon will give you "chill".

Dog meat is considered one of the "hottest" red meat available ("hotter" than lamb). Eating "hot" things are generally considered unhealthy during spring or summer periods unless you are located in a very humid area or if you balance them with "chill" food. However I heard some people eat them as some sort of aphrodisiac to increase their sexual potency.

Really? I wonder where cardboard falls on that scale. Warm?

In reply to this comment by steroidg:
In reply to this comment by laura:
I find it ironic that she thinks eating dog meat helps people sweat, since dogs don't even have the ability to sweat, hence the panting...

I think what she meant was that it gives people "heat". In Chinese food, every thing you eat has a purpose to balance the body. By example, eating red meat will give you "heat", whereas eating winter melon or water melon will give you "chill".

Dog meat is considered one of the "hottest" red meat available ("hotter" than lamb). Eating "hot" things are generally considered unhealthy during spring or summer periods unless you are located in a very humid area or if you balance them with "chill" food. However I heard some people eat them as some sort of aphrodisiac to increase their sexual potency.

In reply to this comment by laura:
I find it ironic that she thinks eating dog meat helps people sweat, since dogs don't even have the ability to sweat, hence the panting...

I think what she meant was that it gives people "heat". In Chinese food, every thing you eat has a purpose to balance the body. By example, eating red meat will give you "heat", whereas eating winter melon or water melon will give you "chill".

Dog meat is considered one of the "hottest" red meat available ("hotter" than lamb). Eating "hot" things are generally considered unhealthy during spring or summer periods unless you are located in a very humid area or if you balance them with "chill" food. However I heard some people eat them as some sort of aphrodisiac to increase their sexual potency.

Obama will come down in history as a master orator.

No he won't. He's barely average as a speaker. Way too artificial. Way too much dependance on his teleprompter. His register is mechanical. His head swinging is distracting. His tone is flat and dull. Only Obama zombies think his speeches are 'great'. What you mean is that he is 'articulate'. He avoids speech flubs like the plague because he knows that is what the far left hated about W. GWB was a much more natural speaker than Obama, but he got mush mouthed a lot and they liked to say it was because he was stupid. Obama doesn't want to be called stupid, so he PAUSES and then he WAITS ... and then he PAUSES so that he can be ... PRECISE and not make a ... MISTAKE! That's not great speaking. It's robotic.

And even the left wing is harping on this particular flub. PotUS's just don't go after the SC. Not ever - let alone in the SotU address. Obama is catching major flak from this. It may be red meat for the far left fringes, but it was stupid of him to do. The totality of the speech? Pretty much as expected. "Wasn't my fault... MY administration... MY program... MY plan... Me me me me me." Speech was a dud.

Point? Since when has Mr. Doofus ever had a point? He's the guy that the Democrats allow to be their crazy, cat-throwing aunt. Most of the time they keep him locked up in the attic. But every once in a while they unlock his door and take off his muzzle so he can jibber jabber. Then they take his verbal diarrhea and spoon it around HufPo, DU, and other leftist house organs for the fringe kook dogs to lick for a while. That's his only function. He's a guy the leftists use to toss red meat when they think the fringe kooks need something to chew on.

So he pops up and reads a laundry list of the Bush Administration's many failures. Yawn. Old news. What he isn't so keen on doing is making a laundry list of Barak Obama's many failures and how they are as bad or worse than Bush's.

For example - I don't really see a whole lot of people getting on Obama's case for 'taking his sweet time' in dealing with Haiti. During Katrina, people whined about Bush's slow response before the Hurricane had even left New Orleans. But the fact was Federal relief was already moving before the storm even hit, and things only got really bad because of the stupidity and sluggishness of Nagin and Blanco (Democrats). Haiti is a horrible disaster and things down there are deteriorating rapidly. Relief has been slower getting there than it was for Katrina, and yet I don't hear Mr. Doofus blaming Obama for that. Why is is OK to blame Katrina's bad outcome on Bush, but Obama gets a pass for Haiti? One simple answer... Blatant, obvious, naked, politically motived BIAS.

So I'm not impressed when Mr. Doofus rattles off a series of liberal, left-wing bones he has to pick with the Bush administration. He gets no points for that. You know what would be impressive? If he rattled off the huge, massive, impressive list of failures in the Obama administration, and his own Congress. It is at that point he would deserve some props for having a pair, and would show he was a person with principles. This? This just proves he's one more in a long line of liberal, left-wing, Democrat party lapdogs.

Just like I'm not impressed when Micheal Steele rips Democrats. Yawn. Why not rip into your own party Mikey and get after them for being big-spending, government program loving special interest tools? The Democrat party is in the process of practically HANDING you the House and maybe even the Senate this year. Why aren't you prepping your party to do the right thing and cut federal spending by 50%?

^You're probably right about that. I guess I should be thankful that they brought up McCain's birth record, if only to send the brains of the red-meat Republicans into a tailspin.

The Panama Canal Zone, in 1936. Jesus. Was it even finished then?

McCain turning a page now?

On the verge of defeat, maybe he is having second thoughts about the bullshit smears and hate he has been promoting. He was a good man once.


Great Baltimore Sun piece by Frank Schaeffer
October 10, 2008

"McCain's attacks fuel dangerous hatred

John McCain: If your campaign does not stop equating Sen. Barack Obama with terrorism, questioning his patriotism and portraying Mr. Obama as "not one of us," I accuse you of deliberately feeding the most unhinged elements of our society the red meat of hate, and therefore of potentially instigating violence."

more here in a wonderful letter to McCain:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.mccain10oct10,0,7557571.story

>> ^MarineGunrock:
Code Pink = bitch

No, it was just "Fuckin do it again"
"ho obviously from the video"
No, NOTHING is obvious from the video, other than confrontation. We can draw NO conclusions from this video as to what happened prior to the incident.

OK, it's become apparent that I shouldn't engage with you in any sort of discussion.

From your idiotic "bitch" comment, to your pseudo-macho screenname, you're obviously all for power-hungry cops beating the shit out of anyone who doesn't agree with your red-meat vision of this country.

And sorry dude, I have a full offline editing suite I'm sitting in right now. I cut and edit video for a living for the editors guild, and do this alllllll day long for 12 years. I know how to look at frames, I know how to study the shit out of them.

What is in this video is not open for debate. It is a little girl, four feet away from this cop, screaming "Don't fuckin' do it again", then suddenly and violently getting clothes-lined by him.

End of fucking story.

>> ^MINK:
first of all jonny, i have caught and eaten my own mackerel and trout, and it was fucking fantastic.

Wasn't it though? I just had some fresh caught trout a few weeks ago while camping in the sierras. Crazy good.

I wouldn't do it now, because the idea of the poor thing flapping around suffocating to death in a bucket kinda makes me sad, and it's unnecessary. In fact, fishing as a child might have subconsciously freaked me out enough to make me vegetarian later.

Why would that make you sad? I don't mean that to be flippant, but the depth of the conversation I'm heading towards with this might be very difficult through a forum like this.


Fact is, there's only a few kinds of meat

What? There's like a half dozen varieties of birds alone that are readily available. And if you live in the right place, you can get access to things like venison, rabbit, and other game (without hunting it yourself). And that's not even counting the immense variety of seafood to be had.

And another one for jonny... my choice has no impact? Er.... my choice reduces meat sales. I don't know how to put that more simply to you.

But your individual choice reduces sales by such an insignificant amount that it has virtually zero effect on supply or demand, and thus the farming and business practices don't change.

I have a friend who has also cut out red meat after seeing me eat no meat every day without dying. UK meat sales are down. More and more Lithuanians are going veg, especially the pretty girls.

Ok, even with reduced sales in the UK, have the common practices of ranchers and farmers there changed? If anything, I would expect large scale reduced sales of meat to cause the cattle industry to do exactly the opposite of what we would want. They would look for ever greater cost saving measures to boost their margins and offset the revenue reduction. That's just what businesses do.

My example has an impact. Small maybe, but hey, i am really not into the idea of paying thousands to a corrupt lobbyist so that they can go to a corrupt parliament and try to stop the meat industry mafia. Not gonna work. Simply don't buy, and they will produce something else.

Not all lobbyists are slime crawling blood suckers. Some of them actually do some good (think Sierra Club, World Wildlife Fund, etc.). Importantly, what they can accomplish through lobbying (not just congress or parliament, but the population in general) is on a much larger scale, and has the possibility of changing cultural attitudes, industry regulations, etc.

Maybe a chain of vegan restaurants.

Now that's the kind of thing I'm talking about. Basically if you want to change an industry, you have to make it more profitable for those who adopt the changes, keeping in mind the sunk costs in the industry, which are enormous in the cattle industry.

Gradually, we are all going to go veg, and get back to the "natural" system of only eating meat occasionally, and paying much much more to have it produced properly. Meat is not healthy if you eat it at every meal in the place of a variety of vegetables.

I doubt health awareness will be a strong enough force it on its own - the U.S. is the perfect example of that not happening.

Climate change and population pressure is going to force us to cut it out anyway, not to mention the amount of oil it takes to produce one cow.

That may be - I really couldn't say. Humans are amazingly ingenious at coming up with ways to have their cow and eat it too.

>> ^MG:
Bacon, sausage, sirloin, chicken, hambuger...
Mmm mmm mmm. All so tasty. Ain't no way in hell I'm giving it up.

You just keep thinking that.

I was a vegetarian for six years, until I went off to college and the cook at my sorority was loathe to make vegetarian dishes for the two of us. So I switched to a "no red meat"-itarian. But even then, I only have chicken or turkey maybe three or four times a month.

I know that probably sounds silly - chicken is one of the (if not the most) mistreated animals farmed for food. I do it because I don't like the taste of red meat. The smell of bacon, sausage, pork chops... it makes me nauseous.

I do it for the taste more than anything else. And because veggies are only slowly getting into the GM market. I'm an organic kind of gal, so honestly I'm more worried about being able to buy my chicken without added hormones than the way they're treated. But hey, it achieves the same effect, right?