Day: January 24, 2018

Closing Thought–24Jan18

I live on the Gulf Coast and most know that I am a bit of a foodie…..because I lived where I do most people do not understand why I do not eat seafood…..my region is known for its shrimp and oysters and crabs….

I do not eat crab or crawfish of lobster….why?  They need to be boil while still alive…..I have a problem with dropping anything alive into boiling water….and I guess I am not alone……

Lobsters may not actually scream when they’re placed live into pots of boiling water (they don’t have vocal cords), but the jury’s still out on whether they feel pain. Switzerland isn’t taking chances, issuing a government decree that “the practice of plunging live lobsters into boiling water, which is common in restaurants, is no longer permitted,” the AFP reports. The crustaceans will have to be “stunned” first, either via electric shock or the “mechanical destruction” of the lobster’s brain, per Radio Television Suisse. Transporters of live lobsters will also be required to carry them around “in their natural environment,” not on ice or in super-cold water. Reuters notes the new rules, adopted Wednesday, will take effect in March.

Animal rights activists have long argued that lobsters, crabs, and other shellfish are able to feel pain, and there’s been some evidence to back that claim up. In a 2013 study in the Journal of Experimental Biology cited by US News, for example, crabs stayed away from areas of their tanks that delivered electric shocks. The research is still deemed “inconclusive,” though many scientists say it’s “highly likely” the creatures feel pain, even if it’s yet to be conclusively proven. The new Swiss lobster laws are part of an overall overhaul of the country’s animal protection rules. Also included in the revamp are new regulations going after illegal puppy farms, detailing how to humanely euthanize sick or hurt animals, and putting the onus for animal welfare at public events on the event’s organizers.

I still do not like the idea of boiling anything while alive stunned or not.

And NO I do not eat oysters!

Time to say bye bye for now…..chuq

Sen. Cotton Gets A Slap Down

Since he slithered into the US Senate Arkansas’ Tom Cotton has shown me nothing but self-absorption….he has done little to benefit the nation but everything to further his position in the government…..he has become the mouthpiece of the Israeli government making him an agent for a foreign nation.

Plus he has no problem lying to further his rise to the tower of power…..this person will do whatever it takes to protect his position even to the point of throwing the nation under the bus…..

Senator Tom Cotton is often called a foreign policy “hawk,” not least because he is eager to intervene in Iran. Cotton, the Republican from Arkansas who has at times been rumored to be in line for the position of CIA director, recently confirmed his stance on Tehran, telling radio host Hugh Hewitt: “Whether [Donald Trump] renews the sanctions waivers under the nuclear deal or not, the president should certainly impose new sanctions in the other authorities he has as punishment for what the regime has done during these protests over the last couple of weeks.” If that sounds relatively mild, a year ago, he was much more candid: “The policy of the United States should be regime change in Iran…I don’t see how anyone can say America can be safe as long as you have in power a theocratic despotism.”

While Cotton wonders about American safety, it might be more prudent to ask about the potential dangers of his strategy. What imminent threats to the lives or liberties of the American people, if any, are currently posed by Iran? After long and largely fruitless military struggles in the region, what has been gained? What could be gained with this new theater of operations? What might be lost?

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/henry-clays-rebuke-to-tom-cotton/

We have enough self-centered toads in the government….we needs reps that take the Constitution seriously and not as a prop for political purposes…..Uncle Tom Cotton is NOT one of those people.

An Iraqi Marshall Plan?

Does anyone know what the Marshall Plan was for…..what did it do?

The Marshall Plan, also known as the European Recovery Program, channeled over $13 billion to finance the economic recovery of Europe between 1948 and 1951. The Marshall Plan successfully sparked economic recovery, meeting its objective of ‘restoring the confidence of the European people in the economic future of their own countries and of Europe as a whole.’ The plan is named for Secretary of State George C. Marshall, who announced it in a commencement speech at Harvard University on June 5, 1947.

Revisionist historians have challenged the assertion that the plan represented American altruism. They have argued that the export of dollars to Europe kept the United States from backsliding into depression by providing a market for U.S. capital goods. The Marshall Plan, according to revisionists, allowed the United States to remake the European economy in the image of the American economy.

http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/marshall-plan

The plan was America’s gift to the European countries…….best described as Cha-ching!

Iraq told the international community on Thursday it was “owed” a Marshall Plan after defeating the Islamic State group and a jihadist army of soldiers from more than 100 different countries.

“We are calling for a Marshall Plan to help us with the reconstruction,” Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said at a conference in Rome. “The world owes us that”.

The multi-billion dollar Marshall Plan launched by the United States after World War II is widely credited for helping Europe achieve its current prosperity and stability.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/world-owes-iraq-marshall-plan-says-fm-192149785.html

I agree….the world destroyed Iraq then the world needs to pay for the reconstruction.