RelentlesslyOptimistic

Study shows that organic food really is healthier

Early results from a £12 million (US $24.6 million) four-year study funded by the European Union showed that food grown organically has significantly higher levels of anti-oxidants — 20% - 40% higher in organic grains and vegetables, 50% - 80% higher in organic milk. They also found higher levels of beneficial minerals such as iron and zinc. The study was reported widely in the British media (see the BBC and the Times Online), where they Food Standards Agency (FSA) has insisted for years that organic food is merely a lifestyle choice.

Note that aside from the health effects from eating it, food grown organically prevents a wide range of environmental damage that is caused when food is grown conventionally.

Image from Fnord

Easy Rider

Via It's Nice That

Ebittcho: "Enjoy the perfect match"

 

Via For Your Entertainment

Over 12 days since last homophobic senator turned out to be gay

Via My Confined Space

Ridiculous product of the day

But at least it's organic.

Via For Your Entertainment

Iraq-War Clichés or New Euphemisms for Taking a Crap?

From McSweeney's Internet Tendency
BY KEVIN GRIFFITH

Giving the surge time to work

Pursuing an exit strategy

Setting a timetable for withdrawal

To cut and run

Spreading democracy

Image source Whitehouse.org (posters and other tchotchkes available!)

Bible spoiler

From Bits & Pieces

How to clean your computer screen

Way back in mid-2005 I ran across a kitten computer screen cleaner. But until now I hadn't seen a dog version. There's finally a puppy computer screen cleaner available, and it works on LCD and CRT monitors!

 

Via Nothing To Do With Arbroath

Update: I found InnocentEnglish.com humor site with a working link to the screen cleaner.

Church of WHAT?

From Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Soda, via Tacky Raccoons

Because their lips are moving: September 6, 2006 Bush says "We don't torture"

Secret U.S. Endorsement of Severe Interrogations - New York Times

"...soon after Alberto R. Gonzales’s arrival as attorney general in February 2005, the Justice Department issued another opinion, this one in secret. It was a very different document, according to officials briefed on it, an expansive endorsement of the harshest interrogation techniques ever used by the Central Intelligence Agency."

 

Via Amy Stein. Image source

Blackwater contractor conducts State Department's investigation of Blackwater incident. The conclusion: Blackwater did nothing wrong.

Talking Points Memo on the investigation of the Blackwater incident in Iraq:

"A few days ago the State Department released what it called a "first blush" report on the Blackwater incident in Baghdad, a report which largely exonerated the Blackwater personnel involved.

I noted at the time that "first blush" was something of an understatement since the report was based exclusively on statements the State Department took from Blackwater operatives on the scene. In other words, the Blackwater employees who did the shooting gave State an account that largely exonerated themselves. A truly shocking development.

But it seems that I was behind the curve on the level of caricature and self-parody that is the military contracting biz in Iraq these days.

The report was written out of the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, the folks who hired Blackwater to provide security for US diplomats in Iraq. But it turns out that the State Department employee who interviewed the Blackwater folks and wrote the report, Darren Hanner ... well, he wasn't a State Department employee. He was another contractor from Blackwater.

So yes, you've got that right. We've now reached what can only be called the alpha and the omega of contracting accountability breakdown ridiculousness. We're outsourcing our investigations of Blackwater to Blackwater."

Via For Your Entertainment. Image ABC News