sparrow chat

I shamelessly stole this joke from a Republican blog, because I thought it was funny. And there’s not much that’s funny about most Republican blogs these days:

President Obama got off the helicopter in front of the White House, carrying a baby piglet under each arm.

The squared away Marine guard snaps to attention, salutes and says: “Nice pigs, sir.”

The President replies: “These are not pigs… these are authentic Arkansas Razorback Hogs. I got one for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and I got one for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.”

The squared away Marine again snaps to attention, salutes and says, “Excellent trade, sir.”

Filed under: Pig in a joke

Posted under Sparrow Chat

As Popey Benedict’s visit to the UK draws to a close, and Christine O’Donnell, the political spawn of Sarah Palin, upsets Republican hopes for the November elections, now seems a good time to revisit Billy Connolly’s views on such matters.

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That just about sums it up, Bill.

Filed under: Plain speaking

Posted under Sparrow Chat

They’re out to change its name. Those poor old members of the Corn Refiners Association, who’ve been finding it hard to make their dollar billions of late, are “requesting” the Food & Drug Administration change the name of High Fructose Corn Syrup, that nasty insidious sweetener that’s been pervading processed foods in the US since the 1970s.

They say it’s had ‘bad press’, is exactly like natural sugar, and a real boon to all us consumers, who should be turning to face the Archer Daniel Midland factories twice a day and prostrating ourselves in supplication for the miracle of HFCS – or, “corn sugar”, as they now wish to call it.

You’ll note that, in the first paragraph, I used the word ‘requesting’ in inverted commas. It was because anyone who’s done an iota of research into the FDA will know the organization has little to do with government these days and is controlled and regulated by big business – and they don’t come much bigger than the CRA. So, we can be sure they’ll get their way. In the not so distant future, the term ‘High Fructose Corn Syrup” will be disappearing from food labels, and the more benign-sounding, “corn sugar” will take its place.

There will, no doubt, be an advertising campaign alongside this innocent little name change, designed to persuade us all the ‘new’ product is bursting with healthy ingredients, and to not eat it will cause all manner of ills to befall.

Beware! It’s still the same old stuff.

Argument for and against HFCS has raged since ADM and its competitors began production three decades ago. It’s hard to separate the relevant independent research studies from those financed by the industry (which are, of course, worthless).

However, HFCS has been linked to liver disease, as a recent study by Duke University Medical Center suggests:

“We found that increased consumption of high fructose corn syrup was associated with scarring in the liver, or fibrosis, among patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD),” said Manal Abdelmalek, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology/Hepatology at Duke University Medical Center……… Research Abdelmalek published in the Journal of Hepatology in 2008 showed that, within a small subset of patients, high fructose corn syrup was associated with NAFLD. Her latest research, published online in Hepatology, goes one step further and links high fructose corn syrup to the progression of liver injury.

“Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is present in 30 percent of adults in the United States,” Abdelmalek said. “Although only a minority of patients progress to cirrhosis, such patients are at increased risk for liver failure, liver cancer, and the need for liver transplant,” she explained.

“Unfortunately, there is no therapy for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease,” she said. “My hope is to see if we can find a factor, such as increased consumption of high fructose corn syrup, which, if modified, can decrease the risk of liver disease.”^[1]

Of course, the CRA was quick to issue a statement condemning this research. A link to that statement is available at the end of the article in Science Daily (see link below).

The members of the CRA would have us believe they’ve been the victims of a smear campaign. The trouble they go to producing this product, the benevolent manner in which they make it available to all, is being undermined by nasty, underhand, scientists and journalists determined to see them in the poorhouse.

One aspect of HFCS production is consistently overlooked in the argument. Even if it were the best thing since sliced bread (and that’s not saying much these days), and an elixir of life for us all, the pollution and contamination from industrial plants manufacturing this muck is a disgrace to American society and an appalling degradation of life to residents living in the shadow of stinking factories and evilly-belching chimneys.

And that is something another, so-called, government department – the Environmental Protection Agency – never does anything about.

I wonder why?

^{[1] “High Fructose Corn Syrup Linked to Liver Scarring, Research Suggests” Science Daily, March 23rd 2010}

Filed under: Horribly Fattening Contaminating Stuff

Posted under Sparrow Chat

It’s a sad day for the men (and women) of Delaware as anti-masturbation queen, Christine O’Donnell wins the GOP primary in that State.

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There’ll be no more ‘honking for Christine’ in Delaware, lads, she expressly forbids it – outside of marriage, that is.

As Rachel Maddow’s video shows, O’Donnell founded S.A.L.T in 1996, which she interprets as the “Savior’s Alliance for Lifting the Truth”, a somewhat vague organization with little available information on the internet.

Basically, the main thrust of the group (no pun intended) was preventing people from masturbating before marriage. This act was considered a heinous sin, according to vague Old Testament writings concerning the ‘spilling of seed on the ground’, which for all we know, may have been lifted from a local ‘Good Farming’ manual of the era.

Nevertheless, the Republicans of Delaware decided masturbation was not to be encouraged, and O’Donnell should be their nomination. In line with other nut-job political wannabees like Palin and Beck, she’s also against abortion, healthcare for the poor and non-Christian, and in favor of shooting anyone who disagrees with her warped Roman Catholic viewpoint.

There’s a stark contrast between Christine O’Donnell and Carl Paladino, another Republican wanker to recently upset the GOP establishment apple cart. Possibly a literal wanker, in Carl’s case, given the plethora of pornographic internet video it’s alleged he’s been circulating among his many dubious email friends.^[1]

Here are just two of a number of pornographic or racist images, of videos WNYMedia.net states have been sent by Paladino:

And:

It would seem that while Paladino and O’Donnell are ‘Tea Party-ers’ and have similar political objectives, their modus operandi is somewhat different. They should get together and discuss the way forward.

After all, maybe Christine could – take Carl in hand?

^{[1] “NY Gubernatorial Candidate Carl Paladino’s Racist and Sexist Email History” WNYMedia.net, April 12th 2010}

Filed under: Strange bedfellows

Posted under Sparrow Chat

In to a recent opinion poll of Roman Catholics in Britain, 60% say their faith is not “generally valued” in British society.^[1]

I would like to know why they think it should be?

According to a Daily Telegraph article from 2007, the Catholics had recently overtaken Anglicans as the dominant religion in the UK, with 861,000 attending Mass in that year and a mere 852,000 Anglicans bothering to leave their beds on a Sunday morning and tramp down to the local C of E bash.^[2]

It was hardly a great victory for Rome, given the figure is barely more than 1% of the UK population, and made up mostly of immigrants from Eastern Europe and Africa.

So, I ask again: why should Catholics expect their faith to be valued by British society?

Apparently, there’s quite a few who don’t even value it themselves.

Popey Benedict is due to arrive in the UK anytime now for one of his “papal visits”. There seems to be a problem selling seats.

According to the BBC:

Thousands of tickets remain unsold for events during the visit of the Pope, who arrives in Scotland on Thursday.

The largest organised event is an open-air Mass at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow on the opening day of Pope Benedict XVI’s trip to the UK.

The capacity has been reduced to 80,000 after a slow take-up of tickets.

Dioceses in England and Wales have also reported thousands of unfilled places for a London vigil and the service to beatify Cardinal Newman in Birmingham.

Jack Valero, who is co-ordinating the beatification of 19th Century English cardinal John Henry Newman in Cofton Park on Sunday, said: “It is still not as many as expected, although it’s pretty full.”

He said he expected 50,000 people to attend the 60,000-capacity event which requires a “pilgrim pack” costing up to £25 for entry.

The London vigil takes place in Hyde Park on Saturday.

BBC religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott says the relatively slow uptake of passes for the big events appears to indicate less enthusiasm among Catholics to see Pope Benedict than they showed for his charismatic predecessor John Paul II 28 years ago.”^[3]

A twenty-five British pounds “Pilgrim Pack”? Which American marketing company did they hire to come up with that one, I wonder?

Incidentally, 50,000 people at twenty-five British pounds a head rakes in a cool one and a quarter million British pounds (US$1,875,000). No wonder Popey decided it was worth the trip.

The BBC fails to publicly acknowledge the controversy surrounding the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman (lower image). Newman was a homosexual who lived for years with his ‘companion’, Father Ambrose St. John (upper image). So close were the couple that Newman expressly willed that he be buried in the same grave as St. John so they could be together for eternity.

His wishes were adhered to, and the pair rested in peace for one hundred and eighteen years, until some interfering Catholic person decided it would be a jolly good idea to turn Newman into a saint. So they dug him up and moved what remained of him – which wasn’t much as the coffin was wood and the grave was damp, but the worms were fat and happy – to the UK’s Birmingham Oratory. That was in 2008, and he’s still there, waiting for Popey for come and throw holy water over him, or whatever is deemed necessary for the process of beatification.

Many were very upset at the gay saint-to-be’s disturbance. They thought a man’s last wish should be respected, even if he was only worm-fodder.

The opinion poll, commissioned by the BBC, also asked Catholics how they felt about the celibacy of the priesthood. 49% said the rule should be relaxed, while only 35% felt it should remain.

Nothing’s going to change under Popey Benedict, however. The BBC again:

Dr William Oddie, former editor of the Catholic Herald, said he was not surprised by the survey, but felt that celibacy should remain “the norm” amongst Catholic priests.

“I do think that our clergy have this particular quality because of their celibacy,” he said.”

Yes, Dr Oddie, it’s a quality that causes them to sexually abuse lots and lots of little boys and girls all around the world.^[4]

None of which begins to explain why UK Catholics think their faith should be “generally valued” by British society. Are there any British Catholics out there who might care to elucidate?

^{[1] “Catholicism ‘not valued’ – poll ahead of Pope visit” BBC, September 12th 2010}

^{[2] “Britain has become a ‘Catholic country’” Telegraph, December 23rd 2007}

^{[3] “Thousands of tickets for Pope Benedict UK visit unsold” BBC, September 13th 2010}

^{[4] “Belgium priest abuse linked to suicides” Sydney Morning Herald, September 11th 2010}

Filed under: Religious insecurity

Posted under Sparrow Chat

I lost track of the times I’ve posted articles on the theme of gun ownership in America, and the immature and irresponsible laxity of those responsible for gun regulations. Anyone who cares to type the phrase ‘guns save lives’ – the motto of the infamous National Rifle Association – into Sparrow Chat’s search box will find a host of them.

Most relate to horrific acts of violence leading to death and mutilation, but none, perhaps, so bizarre as the latest shootings reported from a trailer park in Kentucky.

47-year old Stanley Neace shot and killed five members of his family and neighbors, then waited an hour until the police arrived (one has to wonder what kept them!) before turning the gun on himself.

From the BBC:

He chased his wife into a neighbouring trailer where he shot her, her daughter and three witnesses, reports say.

State troopers found Mr Neace dead at the porch of his trailer, slumped over his own gun.

Mr Neace flew into a rage when his wife Sandra, 54, brought him some eggs for breakfast, a relative of the neighbours he killed said.

Mrs Neace’s daughter Sandra Strong, 28, was also killed.^[1]

Apparently, Neace exacted his terrible revenge for no other reason than his breakfast eggs were cold.

^{[1] “Six dead after US breakfast killing spree in Kentucky” BBC, September 12th 2010}

Filed under: Wasted lives

Posted under Sparrow Chat