NOW I’M REALLY DEPRESSED
Feeling blue? Perhaps a few rounds of St. John’s wort will put a hop back in your step, or maybe not.
That’s because there may not be any St. John’s wort in your St. John’s wort, which sounds like something that W.C. Fields might say but unfortunately, this pronouncement came right out of the mouth of New York’s attorney general.
The NY AG’s office did extensive DNA testing of store-brand supplements found on the shelves of Target, Walgreens, Wal-Mart and GNC and found that 79 percent of the samples tested didn’t have any of the ingredients listed on the label or, at best, also contained ingredients that weren’t listed. This latter finding creates potential problems for folks with food allergies, as non-listed ingredients found in the supplements included wheat, pine, citrus, asparagus, primrose, houseplant, wild carrot, rice and beans, among others. The AG noted that in some instances these nonreported ingredients were the only plant material found in the supplement.
As a result of its findings, the AG’s office told the four major chains to stop selling their store brand supplements including the popular echinacea (colds), ginseng (energy) and St. John’s wort (depression).
People have been concerned with the lack of regulation and oversight of the supplement business for quite some time. While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration enforces laws that require companies to verify the safety of their products through proper labeling, supplements aren’t subject to such FDA rules.
Looks like its about time for somebody to start protecting us from what has clearly become just another greedy industry.
BACKYARD GUN RANGES, WHAT A GREAT IDEA
So what do Florida and Colorado have in common? Both states seem hellbent on putting their citizens at risk for purely political reasons.
In Colorado, oil and gas extraction has caused our elected officials to suppress their better judgment and remove their backbones by insisting that local governments have no say in regulating oil and gas drilling or the industrial production platforms being stuck in our neighborhoods. The state insists only it has the power to regulate this dirty industry, allowing it to do whatever it wants, wherever it wants, regardless of the damage to human health, property values and quality of life.
Florida’s state elected officials may be even more stupid and self-serving. And you thought that was impossible.
In Florida, it’s the gun lobby that owns the legislature. As a result, it’s now legal to set up a gun range in your backyard even if it’s in the middle of a neighborhood with kids playing in the yard next door. Not kidding.
That oft-drunken, redneck A-hole who lives behind you can now dump a mound of dirt in his backyard, stick a target on it and fire away. And the cops can’t do anything about it until the shooter does something that can be proven to be irresponsible. Apparently putting in a backyard shooting range in a subdivison doesn’t qualify as “irresponsible,” so it’s likely that a bullet will have to fly through your kitchen window or your kid before anyone will shut it down.
The Florida Legislature is so afraid that local communities might try to put their own restrictions on the gun industry that it has now passed a law making it illegal for a local politician to try and pass any gun restriction. The penalty for a local city council member trying to get kids out of the crosshairs while playing in their own backyards: a $5,000 fine and removal from office.
It’s what Hickenlooper wishes he could do to local elected officials instead of suing their cities over fracking bans and stricter regulations on the oil industry.
DUH
It’s second and goal from the one-yard line with 45 seconds left in the biggest game on the planet. Your team has the best short-yardage running back in NFL history and the best running quarterback playing today. So what are you going to do, Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll? Wrong answer.
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