It was a beautiful week here in East Texas. The sun was out for four days in a row. A record, as we have had weeks and weeks of gray skies and lots of rain. The good news is that we are no longer in a drought. The bad news is that it has been so wet, I was not able to get my garden planted.
If you are a frequent visitor to my blog, you know that I am an environmentalist. I hate what we are doing to our planet and wish the big oil companies and the big agricultural corporations didn’t have so much disregard for what their products do to the air we breathe and the food we eat. I also wish they didn’t have so much power.
Image Courtesy of whoismansanto.com
A new report just out from the World Health Organization (WHO) about Monsanto’s widely used Roundup herbicide is very troubling. According to the report, which was published in the medical journal The Lancet Oncology, glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, “probably” causes cancer. (There is an excellent article in The Salt, the NPR online journal about this.)
Previously, the EPA and FDA didn’t classify Roundup as a carcinogen so use of the weed killer was not banned. Last year there was a report by a senior MIT researcher that connected glyphosate to a number of human diseases. The chemical has an antibiotic effect in humans and causes endocrine disruption, impaired liver detoxification, and lowered nutrient absorption. Roundup is commonly used on crops like wheat and soy, and residues of it are routinely found in food and water.
Despite the fact that the EPA has already acknowledged that long-term exposure to high levels of glyphosate can cause kidney and reproductive damage, Roundup has not been banned. But now, after considering the new report from WHO, the EPA is considering doing so. Of course, Monsanto, the company that created Roundup, will use all of its power and influence in Washington D.C. to pressure the EPA not to enact a ban.
Thanks for thinking of us, Monsanto.
Okay, end of rant. Now for Friday’s Funnies
I stole borrowed that picture from my friend, LD Masterson. She has terrific memes on her blog every Wednesday for her Hump-Day Funnies feature. It is always worth a minute to go visit.
Whether you believe in angels or not, the following comments from kids are sure to make you smile.
“I only know the names of two angels, Hark and Harold.” –Gregory, age 5
“Everybody’s got it all wrong. Angels don’t wear halos anymore. I forget why, but scientists are working on it.” –Olive, age 9
“It’s not easy to become an angel! First, you die. Then you go to Heaven, and then there’s still the flight training to go through. And then you got to agree to wear those angel clothes.” –Matthew, age 9
“All angels are girls because they gotta wear dresses and boys didn’t go for it.”
–Antonio, age 9
“Angels work for God and watch over kids when God has to go do something else.”
–Mitchell, age 7
“Angels don’t eat, but they drink milk from Holy Cows!!!”–Jack, age 6
“Angels talk all the way while they’re flying you up to heaven. The main subject is where you went wrong before you got dead.” –Daniel, age 9
“When an angel gets mad, he takes a deep breath and counts to ten. And when he lets out his breath again, somewhere there’s a tornado.” –Reagan, age 10
“Angels have a lot to do and they keep very busy. If you lose a tooth, an angel comes in through your window and leaves money under your pillow. Then when it gets cold, angels go south for the winter.” –Sara, age 6
“Angels live in cloud houses made by God and his son, who’s a very good carpenter.”
–Jared, age 8
Writing Wisdom
“I don’t think you get to good writing unless you expose yourself and your feelings. Deep songs don’t come from the surface; they come from the deep down. The poetry and the songs that you are suppose to write, I believe are in your heart.” – Judy Collins
And this reminder that it is not right to steal and share creative property:
“Because it’s so easy to copy anything, a lot of people have convinced themselves that they shouldn’t have to pay for it. Well, the reason you get paid is because the people who sit all day long at their desks creating books and songs and software have mortgages. And if you’re only going to sell one copy of everything and then the world is going to make a gazillion pirated copies off of it, it’s going to be really hard to pay your mortgage.” – Pat Schroeder
Wishing everyone a great weekend, and do stop by on Sunday for a book review.