Art Machine
Just another former infatuation junkie

Every now and then, you wish some people would keep their big mouths shut. Not because what they say is stupid or annoying, but because comprehending their statement would unveil a world of lovecraftian horror whose stygian depths are broken only by the merest hints of the movement of the cthulhoid terrors that inhabit them.

Behold, the non-Euclidean geometry of (D – Nebraska) Sen. Ben Nelson’s mind as he reads what can only be a thank you note to Mutual of Omaha.

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) said Friday that he will oppose legislation that would give people the option of a public health insurance plan….

Nelson’s problem, he told CQ, is that the public plan would be too attractive and would hurt the private insurance plans. “At the end of the day, the public plan wins the game,” Nelson said. Including a public option in a health plan, he said, was a “deal breaker.”

Yes. That’s Democratic Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska stating that he won’t support a public health care option because it would just be too good. Apparently, our government must now be prohibited from actually helping people in need because it’s bad for private industry’s profit margins.

An informed executive?

Really?

Huh. After eight years, that’s just… weird.

Seriously, this post at The Ethicurean reinforces a pattern that I’ve been noticing in Obama now that we’re talking about his preparations to take over the Big Office. It seems that whenever someone brings up an issue that is of vital importance but that isn’t typically thought of, Obama’s already thinking about it.

Obama’s plan calls for profound changes to our food and farm policy. These changes could lead to a healthier, safer food supply, stronger local economies, and the return to common-sense agricultural systems that are good for our children, our bodies, our planet, our national future, and our world.

Of course, there are doubts over Obama’s support of corn ethanol, but that’s why we have open discussion and debate – and a President who appears ready to engage in said open discussion and debate. For my part I still don’t quite get why nobody’s talking about agave ethanol. I mean, if we’re gonna be talking about ethanol, anyway, why not talk about the source for it that thrives in wastelands, requires very little water to grow, and is actually a nitrogen-fixing crop instead of a prima donna crop.

Divine Caroline reports that Pepsi is dipping its toe into the natural products market in the UK. The product is Pepsi RAW, and the ad campaigns – of course – feature naked people. What else would you expect from a product called “raw”?

Best of all: no high fructose corn syrup! HFCS has been plaguing sodas for decades. It’s time American soda makers stop using this cheap, highly available, and terribly unhealthy sugar source.

In America, you can find cane sugar in some of the sodas released by smaller, indie companies like Jones. I’m not a big Pepsi fan, but I’m happy to see them at least dabbling in returning to using cane sugar in their sodas. The more I learn about HFCS, the more I’m convinced that it’s not really something that anybody should ingest. And definitely not in the quantities Pepsi and Coca-Cola say you should.