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Sunday, July 22, 2007
It's Not All Our Fault, Mr. Bush
There's way more material in that Bush speech in Cleveland than I will ever get too, in fact, this is probably the last.
Here is what President Bush said about our responsibility to take care of ourselves:
I like the idea of people making decisions that are, ah, that will ah, one enhance their health and two save money.
The Doc told me that we're talking 'bout ... [garbled] ... we'd looking at ... [garbled] ... one of them brain
and heart guys working for him. You're not going to believe the technology in this hospital by the way. I, if, if, if you're
a Cleveland resident you ought to be proud of this hospital - it's unbelievable, uh ... (applause) He said somethin' pretty
wise, though, he said, "you can have all the technology that man can conceivably create but if you continue to smoke
it's, it's, uh, you know, we're going backwards. If you're not exercisin', if you're not taking care of the body yourself,
you know, it's, ah, all the technology isn't going to safe, save your life. Inorderwords, there's a certain responsibility
we have as citizens to, ah, take care of ourselves.
George W. Bush, July 10, 2007, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio
The main problem I have with this statement is that there is something that the government can do that would be very
helpful to, oh, I don't know, maybe society in general, and it is to find a way to deal with this:
As the father of two kids who knows well the lure of smoking, I was really unhappy to see this. A pack of
cigarettes typically looks much more conservative and adult. This design, that I believe is part of a design your own pack
sort of contest (smoking goes social networking/web 2.0, if you can believe that). The problem is that it makes the objects
inside far more interesting to a child. When a child see this around, especially if they are used to seeing and not taking
any particular notice of a normal pack of cigarettes, their instinct is to check it out.
First of all, I think the Camel folks should cut this crap out immediately. They are only going to encourage
others and then everyone is going to be surrounded by cool looking packs of cigarettes. That's not a very good approach to
public health, now, it is? Cigarettes in this instance are being treated as a general commodity but they are not. They are
a narcotic that is regulated and that should extend to their packaging.
Disclamer: This is all in my opinion. I don't usually get on a soapbox about smoking, but I can't
help myself. The photo above is the photo of an actual package of cigarettes. I used a mixed lighting to bring out the image
a bit. I didn't do research to backup assertions of fact -- If you notice any factual errors, send mail to the webmaster
at owczarek.com.
Thomas The Lead Engine
James is a medium sized engine. His six driving wheels are not as big as Gordon's and
not as small as Thomas'. He has a fine scarlet coat and brass dome and likes to think of himself as a Really Splendid Engine.
This is James' Tender. I'm not sure what happened to James. There are a lot of these trains kicking around the house.
As many parents know, when you buy Thomas stuff, you often get, well, Thomas. So we have about six of them lying around. Thankfully,
they aren't tainted with lead paint like James' Tender.
There was a big mess recently when it was discovered that pet food imported to the U. S. from China was tainted with melanine and other crap. So you can imagine my amazement that they could sell millions of these things in the U. S.
with lead paint in them and nobody figured it out until now. That's really bad, because whilst James' Tender is in good shape
above, if the paint flakes off, or even worse, gets airborn somehow (sanding is the worst) it is a serious health hazard.
Unbelievable. Anyway, enjoy this photo of James' Tender in his natural environment, because I'm about to ship him to China
via Iowa, or something like that.
While I am not a public service, I thought you might want to see the recall letter, so I scanned it for y'all. Sorry
it's a bit squinty.
9:30 pm est
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