Now for something completely different

Okay, two posts about SERIOUS stuff and I thought 'hmmm...gotta lighten up or folks'll think I'm bitter. So, a quick note about the greatest place to buy chocolate in the known universe. La Maison Du Chocolat. This place is the most yumalicious chocolate you can find! Rich, lux, and decadent (I can't say enough about it!) It's just great. It comes in these cute brown boxes that, whenever I get one, give me the same thrill as opening a box from Tiffany's. If you're in the New York area, stop by their shop for a thick cup of chocolate. If you're not, order some online! You won't regret it!

Toodles

Dang it!

Another year begins and another smoking fight about abortion. Sigh. Skimming through the LA Times and NY Times online got my blood boiling (why do I do this to myself?).

I am so sick of this crap. Every year there is a screaming match about this and every time a surpreme court vacancy crops up, we get rabid, mouth-foaming 'debate' about abortion. Why? There are bigger fish to fry! Really! Look around your neighborhood....I'll wait...In my neighborhood we have poor people, and homeless people, and people who are mentally ill but can't afford medication. There are more liqour stores in my neighborhood than any reasonable person could need. There are run down shops and no parks for children to safely play. What about your neighborhood? I'll bet many of you live in the same place. So, instead of taking all that passion and energy and using it to better each other and our surroundings - to make sure that children have a safe place to be children, a place that teens can go to and learn about things other than thuggery, a place that has jobs and health care, a community that nurtures - we argue about what a woman does with her body when she finds herself pregnant with a child she cannot take care of or isn't equipped to care for.

This isn't some whim, you know. I've never heard a woman flippantly say, "you know, a baby will just crimp my style. They clash with my designer life-style." or "I need to party. No time for babies!" and then toss her glossy hair and skip out the door. A woman who makes this decision, this choice, is stunned, bereft, devastated. And yet, she does it. Do you know why? Because she must. It's too late to avoid pregnancy. So, unable to take care of this child, she must terminate it. Is it easy? No. Is it the optimal situation? No. Would we women prefer it not to happen. Yes. But it does.

I also understand the people who feel passionately that abortion is wrong. They feel it's murder. (I mean, secretly, don't we all feel bad that this happens?). Those many kind souls who abhor the thought of abortion. Who wish it abolished, outlawed, impossible. But, what then? The politicians who support this anti-abortion...er...I mean "pro-life" movement are the same politicians who have cut benefits to single mothers. They've taken billions from states that give assistance to women and families who could not support their children in a healthy manner. Forced women to work at low paying jobs with no benefits and then cut programs that supplemented those paltry incomes. Baby-sitting, food stamps, health-care services. What alternatives are there? If you follow the decree of this 'culture of life' and keep a child you know you cannot care for, what do you do? Work harder? Who will watch your children and how will you pay them? How will you feed them? What if they get sick? Where are these answers? Why isn't this information in the pro-life pamphlets? Are you kindly souls going to feed the children you've encouraged these unprepared mothers to keep? Of course not.

So what now?

Well, abortion rates have been dropping (according to reports), which is a good thing. It means that more women are accessing options available to them. Contraceptive devices, and 'morning after' pills when all else fails. But we can do better. If abortion advocates and abolistionists can agree that abortion is not the best alternative to avoiding pregnancy, we might get past this blood-boiling antagonism and really make a difference. If we maintained proper sex education and guaranteed access to birth control pills (paid for by insurance or government programs), if we made it easy to procure a 'morning after' pill when the occasion warrants it (this isn't abortion...there isn't even a fetus yet!), and encouraged those who felt comfortable with absintence to practice it (but, still give them the education on sex and birth control and the understanding of the consquences of not using those tools). Then we wouldn't need abortions. They would virtually disappear. Abortion would be available if needed but, would rarely BE needed.

Isn't that healthy? Smart? Can we agree with this? Or are we going to fight some more.

Toodles

Got Milk? I don't know?!

So, I'm reading the LA times today (even tho I don't really LIVE in LA and we have perfectly good papers here) and I found this bizarre little article about super-filtered Milk and how the dairy folks want it to be used in cheese. You can ship more for buck--and so on. And I'm fine with this. Hey, if folks want to use it and it tastes fine (there is some arguement about that AND nutritional values), then there's no problem. My problem began when I read that the Cheese Institute (can there REALLY be such a place?) doesn't want to put ultra-filtered milk on packages of cheese USING ultra-filtered milk and are kicking up a storm with the FDA about it. Here's the quote:

"Mindful that consumers might not take to cheese with ultra-filtered milk listed as a major ingredient, the Cheese Institute is fighting the FDA over labeling requirements.

The Cheese Institute is "concerned about proposed language that requires manufacturers that use ultra-filtered milk to declare this ingredient as ultra-filtered milk on the ingredients statement of the finished product, rather than simply listing milk," said Clay Hough, senior vice president and general counsel for the International Dairy Foods Assn., which includes the cheese trade group. Hough said that such a requirement would confuse consumers and reduce the flexibility of manufacturers to use varying quantities of fluid milk and ultra-filtered milk by each batch of cheese produced.

"Complying with this labeling requirement would be very problematic," Hough said."

Now this may be a bug in my bonnet but, if the Cheese Institute wants to USE ultra-filtered milk (and I'm fine with that) then I want to KNOW it's in my cheese! I want to know what's in my food in general!!

And, of course, now I wonder how many other companies have dug their heels in and held their breath until the FDA gave in and let 'em have their way? Come on! The FDA is under-funded and yet, is required to protect the public from harmful drugs, harmful foods, and oversee the companies that make the food and drugs...yikes! That's a lot to do and not enough moola to do it with. I wouldn't be surprised if they've been pushed to give in on other foods before.

Anyways, check out the article at www.latimes.com (I know it isn't linked yet but, I'll do it as soon as I figure out how...oh stop it! I'm a total gimp at this stuff! Cut and paste it for crying out loud!) You can also visit the Food & Drug Admin at www.fda.gov

Toodles