Fast-Food Ice Dirtier Than Toilet Water

Feb. 20, 2006 — Jasmine Roberts never expected her award-winning middle school science project to get so much attention. But the project produced some disturbing results: 70 percent of the time, ice from fast food restaurants was dirtier than toilet water.
The 12-year-old collected ice samples from five restaurants in South Florida — from both self-serve machines inside the restaurant and from drive-thru windows. She then collected toilet water samples from the same restaurants and tested all of them for bacteria at the University of South Florida.
In several cases, the ice tested positive for E. coli bacteria, which comes from human waste and has been linked to several illness outbreaks across the country.
"These [bacteria] don't belong there," said Dr. David Katz, medical contributor to "Good Morning America." "It's not cause for panic, although it is alarming because what she found is nothing new. You're not more likely to get sick now. But she's done us a favor by sounding the alarm."
Both Roberts and Katz said that the ice is likely dirtier because machines aren't cleaned and people use unwashed hands to scoop ice. Toilet water is also surprisingly bacteria-free, because it comes from sanitized city water supplies.

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You might want to order - Water No Ice from now on....;-)

Cartoon Controversy

Have u been following it..I have a lot of thoughts on it..but I also have info to dig up..

just wanted to get this started...will add all the information in a bit..

My basic philosophy (even though I don't believe in religion that much)..

You must learn to respect other religions...

Cheney shooting

Cheney accidentally shoots fellow hunter
'Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good'


Sunday, February 12, 2006

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) -- Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a companion during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, spraying the fellow hunter in the face and chest with shotgun pellets.
Harry Whittington, a millionaire attorney from Austin, was in stable condition in the intensive care unit of a Corpus Christi hospital Sunday, said Yvonne Wheeler, spokeswoman for the Christus Spohn Health System.

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Odd isn't it..

a) The news didn't get out until the next day
b) He didn't have a required stamp on his license..so he was let off with a warning
c) The lawyer had a mild heart attack..

just imagine a few things
a) This was committed by an ordinary individual
b) the victim actually died as a result ..

what would've been the consequences ??
any guesses ?

Democratically elected government...

Do you believe in a democratically elected government ?

Don't we all want to promote Democracy ??

What is happening is Palestine now ?

Hamas was the democratically elected government i.e the poeple elected this government
and all of a sudden all foreign aid to this region is withdrawn.. What gives ??

Do we want a democratically elected government of 'our' choosing..otherwise..we do not agree ?

Would u do what Antonio Davis did ?

NEW YORK Jan 19, 2006 — Knicks forward Antonio Davis was suspended five games by the NBA on Thursday for entering the stands during a game in Chicago to confront a fan he thought was harassing his wife.
While the penalty showed the NBA accepted Davis' argument that he believed his wife was in trouble during Wednesday night's game, it also made clear that entering the stands would not be tolerated, no matter the circumstances.
Especially not after last season's ugly brawl between fans and players at an Indiana-Detroit game.

"At the end of the day, what we had to decide on was the issue of Antonio breaking the barrier from the court into the stands," NBA vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson said during a conference call. "At the end of the day, that was the most important aspect of making that decision."


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What he did was a natural reaction to a perceived threat to his family.. Infact the security at the arena got there long after he did. This was too harsh a punishment. I would do the same at the drop of a hat...It is unfortunate that the NBA decided to implement its rules without understanding why it is there in the first place...

Iran bans Western music

Ruling takes country back to Khomeini days
Monday, December 19, 2005; Posted: 9:18 p.m. EST (02:18 GMT)

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has banned Western music from Iran's radio and TV stations, reviving one of the harshest cultural decrees from the early days of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Songs such as George Michael's "Careless Whisper," Eric Clapton's "Rush" and the Eagles' "Hotel California" have regularly accompanied Iranian broadcasts, as do tunes by saxophonist Kenny G.
But the official IRAN Persian daily reported Monday that Ahmadinejad, as head of Iran's Supreme Cultural Revolutionary Council, ordered the enactment of an October ruling by the council to ban Western music.
"Blocking indecent and Western music from the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting is required," according to a statement on the council's official Web site.

Music was outlawed as un-Islamic by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini soon after the revolution. But as the fervor of the revolution started to fade, light classical music was allowed on radio and television. Some public concerts reappeared in the late 1980s.

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There he goes again. Living in his own shell..in his own world...what about the Internet dude ?
Ever thought of that ?
Banning doesn't mean you get rid of it..In this day and age...people find ways...
Banning only increases desire..
This guy needs to be educated. You can rule with compassion. Obviously he hasn't heard of that..

Judge Rejects Teaching Intelligent Design

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: December 21, 2005

HARRISBURG, Pa., Dec. 20 - A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that it was unconstitutional for a Pennsylvania school district to present intelligent design as an alternative to evolution in high school biology courses because it is a religious viewpoint that advances "a particular version of Christianity."

In the nation's first case to test the legal merits of intelligent design, the judge, John E. Jones III, issued a broad, stinging rebuke to its advocates and provided strong support for scientists who have fought to bar intelligent design from the science curriculum.
Judge Jones also excoriated members of the Dover, Pa., school board, who he said lied to cover up their religious motives, made a decision of "breathtaking inanity" and "dragged" their community into "this legal maelstrom with its resulting utter waste of monetary and personal resources."
Eleven parents in Dover, a growing suburb about 20 miles south of Harrisburg, sued their school board a year ago after it voted to have teachers read students a brief statement introducing intelligent design in ninth-grade biology class.
The statement said that there were "gaps in the theory" of evolution and that intelligent design was another explanation they should examine.
Judge Jones, a Republican appointed by President Bush, concluded that intelligent design was not science, and that in order to claim that it is, its proponents admit they must change the very definition of science to include supernatural explanations.
Judge Jones said that teaching intelligent design as science in public school violated the First Amendment of the Constitution, which prohibits public officials from using their positions to impose or establish a particular religion.
"To be sure, Darwin's theory of evolution is imperfect," Judge Jones wrote. "However, the fact that a scientific theory cannot yet render an explanation on every point should not be used as a pretext to thrust an untestable alternative hypothesis grounded in religion into the science classroom or to misrepresent well-established scientific propositions."

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The first Republican with brains...
Intelligent Design..my ass..c'mon I have nothing against any religion here, but don't try to push it..
Let it be...believe in evolution and u can still be a good Christian...
Pushing religion into the classes to cause confusion in the mind of youth is really going low...
Stop it and move on folks...sometimes I wonder if these guys who come up with these things..
I mean..where have they been living ? What have they been reading ?
Are they brainwashed ? They are nuts for sure..not sure how I would react when I meet someone with these views..

Bush Admits Mistakes but Defends War

He accepts responsibility for acting on flawed intelligence but says the invasion was justified. Aides hope his candor will boost his ratings.By Warren Vieth, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — President Bush said Wednesday that he accepted responsibility for deciding to wage war in Iraq in part on the basis of faulty intelligence, but that he remained convinced history would conclude he had done the right thing.Speaking hours before Iraqis began arriving at the polls to elect a new government, Bush acknowledged miscalculations and mistakes before and after the U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq in March 2003.

It is true that much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong," Bush told a group of political leaders and scholars at the nonpartisan Woodrow Wilson Center. "As president, I'm responsible for the decision to go into Iraq, and I'm also responsible for fixing what went wrong by reforming our intelligence capabilities."After the invasion, U.S. forces never found the weapons of mass destruction that the Bush administration had cited as a primary justification for removing Saddam Hussein from power.Even so, Bush said, "given Saddam's history and the lessons of Sept. 11, my decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the right decision. Saddam was a threat, and the American people and the world is better off because he is no longer in power."Although Bush has previously cited flaws in prewar intelligence and defended his decision to enter Iraq, Wednesday's remarks were his most explicit statement that he bore responsibility for launching a war based in part on what turned out to be false claims.

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Okay...firstly, I knew this all along..yeah...and I didn't read these 'intelligence' reports..
Secondly, Bush, isn't the smartest one on the block..this I think is quite apparent..

Some thoughts about the whole Iraq war:

a) Going to war against Iraq and citing it as a war against terror was wrong..dead wrong
b) The reason being the presence of WMD was wrong...dead wrong....
c) Specifying just 6 months prior to the start of the war that Iraq did not have the capability
of being a threat to the US (Collin Powell) and then..magically 6 months later coming up
with an excuse to go to war ...is wrong..dead wrong..
d) There is no doubt that the world is better off without people like Saddam. Thats true.
But there are many such 'bad actors on the world stage'. Why single out only Saddam ?
Was there another reason ?
e) What did the US do when Saddam gassed the Kurds ? This was on Sr. Bush's watch ?
Or did US's close ties with Iraq (against Iran) cloud what should've been the appropriate
response ?
f) If we were really trying to help the Iraqi people, by getting rid of a dictator, on
humanitarian grounds, then what about the Palestinians ? Shouldn't they have come first ?
g) So many American soldiers have sacrificed their lives and so many families have
gone thru' so much pain for a war that started on wrong intel..false pretext..
what do u tell these families ? These are 19 year olds trying to make a life for themselves..
How do u explain your actions to the families that have suffered loses ?
h) All said and done, trying to impose democracy on a nation, is not the job of the US.
Some countries are just meant to be non democratic. Sometimes, it takes a tough leader
to get people with diverse backgrounds together..
i) Not understanding the culture of the land, or rather ignoring it, is bad...really bad..
j) In any case, while I am against the war, I am for the troops..withdrawing them now
would send a bad message to the world and the troops

Sorry..thats just my bit..needed to get it off my chest...your comments..?

Iranian leader: Holocaust a 'myth'

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has described the Holocaust as "a myth" and suggested that Israel be moved to Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska.
The United States, Israel and the European Commission -- along with individual European countries -- have condemned the remark.
Ahmadinejad sparked widespread international condemnation in October when he called for Israel to be "wiped off the map."
Last week, he also expressed doubt about the killing by the Nazis of six million Jews during World War II, but Wednesday was the first occasion when he said in public that the Holocaust was a myth.
"They have invented a myth that Jews were massacred and place this above God, religions and the prophets," Ahmadinejad said in a speech to thousands of people in the Iranian city of Zahedan, according to a report on Wednesday from Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.
"The West has given more significance to the myth of the genocide of the Jews, even more significant than God, religion, and the prophets," he said. "(It) deals very severely with those who deny this myth but does not do anything to those who deny God, religion, and the prophet."
"If you have burned the Jews, why don't you give a piece of Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska to Israel," Ahmadinejad said.
"Our question is, if you have committed this huge crime, why should the innocent nation of Palestine pay for this crime?"

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Does he not believe in facts ? Myth ?? - First he calls for wiping out Isreal from the world map, then calls the holocaust a 'myth' and then ofcourse..is developing nuclear energy for peaceful means..now who would believe even a word of what he is saying..

I do not at all agree with what he espouses. But there is one interesting point that he brings up which made me stand up and listen..
"Why should the innocent nation of Palestine pay for this crime"...

There is no doubt that the Jews have had injustice meted out to them during the holocaust and that the humane world does need to stand up and support a culture and a people who have suffered such a calamity, but, at the same token, why do the Palestinians have to suffer today ?

Aren't they equally entitled to their land, their culture and their way of life. Being a prisoner in your own backyard isn't fun. Don't they have rights too ?

Can any reader explain how Israel came into being right in the middle of Palestine ? Were any alternatives considered ? Why were they rejected, if there were alternatives ? Who made the decision of deciding the homeland ?

Is the 'humane' world listening ? Are u going to stand up and be counted ?
To have to live a restricted life in your own backyard, isn't life at all.

Just like how the Isrealis expect a free life, wouldn't it also be fair to expect the same for the Palestinians ?

Mayor Outlaws death ?

Die at your own risk, mayor proposes
Proposal: Residents should mind 'health in order not to die'.

In order to protest a federal law that has barred a new or expanded cemetery in Biritiba Mirim, a town of 28,000 people 45 miles east of Sao Paulo, the mayor in an attempt to publicize the
plight of the city has come up with a novel proposal...

Mayor Roberto Pereira da Silva's proposal to the Town Council asks residents to "take good care of your health in order not to die" and warns that "infractors will be held responsible for their acts."

A 2003 decree by Brazil's National Environment Council bars new or expanded cemeteries in so-called permanent preservation areas or in areas with high water tables. Environmental protection measures rule out cremation.

The fight is still on..

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Interesting marketing strategy to highlight the problem.

Good morning, Bengaluru

The Karnataka government has decided to implement a suggestion from Jnanpith awardee U R Ananthamurthy that the IT City, along the lines of Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, revert to its precolonial Kannada name, 'Bengaluru'. Chief minister N Dharam Singh told reporters in Gulbarga on Sunday

The name-change demand was placed by Ananthamurthy during an interaction between the CM and litterateurs on December 5 to chalk out plans for the celebration of Suvarna Karnataka

The 'u' vowel distinguishes our language, just like the 'o' in Kolkata is distinct to Bengali. By adding the 'u,' even words like chair-u and table-u become Kannada," Ananthamurthy said. Singh maintained that he was convinced about the genuineness of the demand. "The name change will give it the feel of Kannada.

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I love the name Bangalore..and will refer to it as such for the rest of my life. I however, have no problems if the Government thinks that a name change is required, not that I see anything beneficial coming out of it...what is in a name anyway..

Here's what I found odd though...this guy Ananthamurthy, who is apparently a Kannada literate, might have sounded more convincing if he handn't used "chair-u" and "table-u"
to bolster his argument..

He is a moron..sorry moron-u in his case ;-)

Supreme Court rejects Williams' plea

Today, Dec 12, 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to stay the execution Monday of convicted killer Stanley Tookie Williams. Earlier, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger denied him clemency on Monday and a federal appeals court panel rejected a request to stay his execution.
Williams, who co-founded the Crips street gang in Los Angeles, is scheduled to die on Dec 13, 2005 at 12:01 a.m., a Tuesday (3:01 a.m. ET) at San Quentin State Prison, near San Francisco.

Williams, and his supporters, claim that he co-founded the Crips street gang in Los Angeles.
Williams was convicted of killing four people in two 1979 robberies in Los Angeles.

While in prison, Williams became an anti-gang crusader, but he has consistently refused to take part in a debriefing with authorities to provide them potentially valuable information about the Crips gangs, said lead prosecutor John Monaghan.
While maintaining his innocence in the four murders, Williams has denounced gang violence and written children's books with an anti-gang message, donating the proceeds to anti-gang community groups. He said he was trying to prevent young people from making the choices he did.
Celebrities, teachers and anti-death penalty advocates have spoken on Williams' behalf, but Schwarzenegger questioned the sincerity of Williams' conversion to nonviolence.
"Stanley Williams insists he is innocent, and that he will not and should not apologize or otherwise atone for the murders of the four victims in this case," the governor wrote.
"Without an apology and atonement for these senseless and brutal killings, there can be no redemption."
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My view is that once a you take a life, you do not have claim over your own. Once you have
been convicted, then based on the brutality of the crime, the proper punishment needs to
be meted out. The more serious the crime, the more serious the punishment.

In this case, irrespective of the changed nature of the person, a crime is a crime for which you must pay
Your thoughts ?