Whole Foods – Fine foods for Fucking Fascists

cripes, the New Militias have their very own grocery. Wheee.

A careful reading of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will not reveal any intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter.

That’s because the Founders never realized that there would be fucking loons running around their country trying to deny those necessities to other people on the grounds of making a fucking profit.

Aren’t they virulently anti-union, too? The WF near me certainly was when my wife worked there.

Die Yuppie Scum!

Friggin’ awesome, he really expects the Teabaggers to line up outside his door for cilantro and Brussels sprouts. Does he not realize that he is alienating his customer base?

So GunsNLiberty stocks up on brie, chardonnay and arugula instead his usual Mountain Dew and Cheetohs, and before you know it…

“We accept you, one of us! Gobble, gobble!”

Eat At (Trader) Joe’s!

Don’t count me in his customer base any longer. Besides the Harris Teeter has more parking.

I can’t wait to see how the extremely progressive employees at the big WF in Houston respond to this. I shall certainly spread the word. I guess if you wanted to throw the DFHs under the bus and broaden your customer base to include angry white men, this would be the way to do it. Except that AWMs probably wouldn’t go near the place and couldn’t afford to even if they would.

What about HEB or Central Market? Thank Dios for Fiesta.

I wat my $28 please, so that I can buy a healthy free range organic musically educated chicken to roast as my last meal.

Friggin’ awesome, he really expects the Teabaggers to line up outside his door for cilantro and Brussels sprouts. Does he not realize that he is alienating his customer base?

YOu mean the folks who struggle to afford WalMart?

yea, I think he knows that.

I knew John Mackey years ago when there was exactly one Whole Foods, on Lamar, wasn’t it? He wasn’t terribly likeable but not the assshole he is today. Now, I didn’t know him well – we were mere acquaintances – but what I do recall was he was pretty liberal. Not the libertarian dickweed he is today.

Note that the OB/GYN bar is wrong (or the dollar amount is wrong). This has nothing to do with anyone’s argument, but I just wanted to point it out.

By the way, many blog posts today have been reminding people that it was conservative wartime fetish hero Winston Churchill who ushered, or perhaps joweled, in Britains National Health Service which would one day so famously assassinate American scientist Stephen Hawking.

at least you can shoot yourself if you get too sick and can’t pay for any treatment with your $28.

Have you even priced a handgun lately? Don’t even think about finding ammunition. That might not even buy the bullet.

I believe I shall saunter into the Pearl WF today and mention to the mgr. who I won’t be shopping there anymore. I’ll encourage my friends to do the same. You’re dead to me, Mackey.

Just who does this stupid twit thinks spends money at his over-priced store? Teabaggers? Fuck you, Whole Foods. Hey, Fresh Market, how you doing?

Also, not only is he telling the hippies to shop elsewhere, but also the geezebags:

Enact Medicare reform. We need to face up to the actuarial fact that Medicare is heading towards bankruptcy and enact reforms that create greater patient empowerment, choice and responsibility.

This is the sort of thing we need to shove in the face of the elderly. Those AHIP shitbags that are defending the status quo, they’re already planning a method for stealing your Medicare. It’s the anti-reform folks that want to take that away.

So, those nice folks who are pissed about paying other people’s mortgages are going to willingly pony up for other people’s health insurance premiums?

Enact Medicare reform. We need to face up to the actuarial fact that Medicare is heading towards bankruptcy and enact reforms that create greater patient empowerment, choice and responsibility.

Yea, and ObamaCare is about raping the old…*snort*

Remove the legal obstacles that slow the creation of high-deductible health insurance plans and health savings accounts (HSAs).

Fuck you, man. I have a high-deductible HSA plan and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.

Fucking rich asshole.

• Remove the legal obstacles that slow the creation of high-deductible health insurance plans and health savings accounts (HSAs).

The Sleeping Giant, Awakened, would like to fill out an application to work at Whole Foods, so long as the deductible exceeds $5000. Anything less would be uncivilized.

Remove the legal obstacles that slow the creation of high-deductible health insurance plans and health savings accounts (HSAs).

Because of legal obstacles, those two things don’t exist now.

Ironically, one of Doughty Pantload’s working titles for “Liberal Facism” used Whole Foods as an exemplar. And it turns out its CEO is a Neo-Randian tool.

Shows the kind of exhaustive fact-checking in which Jonah engages.

He wasn’t terribly likeable but not the assshole he is today. Now, I didn’t know him well – we were mere acquaintances – but what I do recall was he was pretty liberal. Not the libertarian dickweed he is today.

He hadn’t had a taste of plutocracy yet.

I’ve never been happier that New Seasons existed.

Unfortunately it doesn’t look like there are any in mid-state South Carolina.

A shame. I was ready to stop by this weekend specifically so I could tell them I wouldn’t be shopping there.

Woohoo! The Obamacare bill is gonna land me a job!

Your tax-dollars will pay for preferential hiring of homosexual hospital administrators, who distribute $50,000 grants to gender-confused activists for unneeded elective surgery to mutilate their own genitals, (and force Christian doctors to perform it.

Yes, really.

I wish I could give up Whole Foods, but frugal people or those with IQs over 95 don’t shop there. Whole Foods has been fooling the moonbat and limousine-liberal wing of the left for a long time. Mr Mackey has just made it more difficult for progressives to buy overpriced food, but the economy will probably sink him in the end. Saw a report today about falling sales of bottled water. $28 steaks are next, dudes.

“A careful reading of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will not reveal any intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter. That’s because there isn’t any. This “right” has never existed in America”

In light of that, I wonder what Mackey thinks Congress actually does in that big white building in DC? According to this line of “reasoning,” the only laws Congress could make would already have been included in the Constitution.

Hold on.. Please enlighten a poor foreigner here..

I thought whole foods was a place for hippies and NPR listeners?

So spouting rubbish like that doesn’t seem to make business sense…

I thought the whole point of being a randroid was to make a shitload of money? Not shoot yourself in the foot, and your stock price in the head.

Although Canada has a population smaller than California, 830,000 Canadians are currently waiting to be admitted to a hospital or to get treatment, according to a report last month in Investor’s Business Daily. In England, the waiting list is 1.8 million.

IBD, the people who brought you the NHS would have euthanized Stephen Hawking story.

But I’m feeling generous, let’s take the numbers as gospel. Canada’s population is ~33 million. So roughly 2.5% of the population is waiting on a medical procedure. Or roughly one sixth of the proportion of Americans who don’t even get to go on to waiting lists BECAUSE THEY ARE UNINSURED AND CAN’T AFFORD TO SEE A DOCTOR. Yeah, real strong point there, asshole.

I thought Whole Foods was part of the Islamocommiefascist plot to control our precious bodily fluids. Was Jonah wrong?

Yes, New Seasons. (Also, Uwajimaya – love that place even if I do have to go to fucking Beaverton). And Wild Oats was bought out by WF so remember to stay away from those.

Ironically, one of Doughty Pantload’s working titles for “Liberal Facism” used Whole Foods as an exemplar.

See, Doughbob got one thing right — there’s definitely a folkish tendency in the crunchy granola crowd. Sure, there’s a lot of progressives, but there’s also your antivaxer purity-of-essence loonbags who think hormones in cattle feed are a secret plot to turn strapping Aryan men into limp-wristed homoqueers and subjugate the white and delightsome under the yoke of the hated Lemurians.

Or something.

Goldberg pretends that, since organic food is a liberal cultural signifier in the United States today, this proves some sort of underlying point about the left.

The Sleeping Giant, Awakened, would like to fill out an application to work at Whole Foods, so long as the deductible exceeds $5000. Anything less would be uncivilized.

If the manager catches you sleeping in the walk-in box, your golden goose is cooked!

gender-confused activists for unneeded elective surgery to mutilate their own genitals

Paging Dr Glen or Glenda!

I’ve never shopped in a Whole Foods, though I sometimes go to Trader Joe’s or Mrs. Green’s. I usually shop in the local microchains like C-Town or Key Foods. My resolution for the foreseeable future is to include at least one foraged ingredient in a meal each week (I’m talking to YOU, lamb’s-quarters plant in the front yard). I have also resumed my sideline as a scrumper.

I wonder what Mackey thinks Congress actually does in that big white building in DC?

He probably thinks they “legislate from the bench” or something.

Trader Joe’s isn’t particularly friendly to unions, but they seem to treat their employees well and I don’t know the name of their fucking CEO and they are WAY cheaper than Whole Foods without the sanctimonious bullshit — it’s an easy, easy call.

And then there’s Super King down in Glassell Park — Jesus, they practically give produce away and they have a butcher shop that is probably the best in the city.

And then there’s Figueroa Market in Highland Park which also has great organic and regular produce from local farmers that’s probably about 1/3rd as expensive (plus good meat and great homemade guac).

Come to think of it, I’ve been Going Galt from the new Whole Foods in Pasadena since it opened. I hope the NE LA locals will join me.

A careful reading of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will not reveal any intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter. That’s because there isn’t any. This “right” has never existed in America.

Welfare-state legislation from the Progressive Era on is theft.

Finally, revise tax forms to make it easier for individuals to make a voluntary, tax-deductible donation to help the millions of people who have no insurance and aren’t covered by Medicare, Medicaid or the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Twenty-first-century problems are best remedied by nineteenth-century-style charity.

YOU HAVE BAKED A GREASY FRY-PAN!!!!

I thought whole foods was</b. a place for hippies and NPR listeners?

No fixxing needed, I merely emphasize correct verb tense.

HSA’s are a transparently awful plan. It’s pretend insurance for people who like to pretend that they won’t ever get sick. It’s pretend insurance for employers who want to pretend that they are offering insurance. It’s pretend insurance for politicians who want to sound like they are offering a solution.

aw fuck

I thought whole foods was a place for hippies and NPR listeners?

PeeJ: Wild Oats also bought out Nature’s, so I’ve always refused to shop there. WF buying them was just two asshole entities combining to form the crunchy granola Wal-Mart. Or a patchouli-scented Voltron.

Fucking gLibertarians and their “Social Security and Medicare Crisis”. Hey Dipshit asshole fucktard Mackey, here’s one reform that would pay for Social Security, Medicare, and fucking Universal Single Payer, as well as Bush Tax Cuts and a pony in every pot:

Stop spending so much fucking money on the DoD.

Know what else? A careful reading of the Constitution indicates that it is anti-standing army. As in, not only is there no provision for one, but the document is written to make fielding one difficult.

QED, asshole.

“He probably thinks they “legislate from the bench” or something.”

Epic Fail!
Congress legislates from CHAIRS! Dumbass.

Comfy chairs. Also.

Krogers grocery chain is unionized. Which is why they will be the local DEATH PANEL temporary storage destination for the elderly and disabled as they await their end-of-life. That is also where they release the ACORN thugs at night to fly through the air and hide your keys and socks.

Stop spending so much fucking money on the DoD.

I don’t know how you can be so inconsiderate of Bill Kristol’s wife’s needs. How will she ever get laid if we stop blowing foreigners to pieces?

Although Canada has a population smaller than California, 830,000 Canadians are currently waiting to be admitted to a hospital or to get treatment

Nobody waits here? My husband called in May to make an appointment for his annual exam, finally had it last week. Seriously, the only way that number would be of ANY use would be to include how many people are waiting in CA, because you and I know that number is NOT zero, no matter what Mackey wants to play at.

Krogers grocery chain is unionized.

Yeah, but like Safeway up in the Pacific NW the union is almost entirely in the thrall of the corporate overlords. An administrative/managerial union, not a worker’s union.

If the manager catches you sleeping in the walk-in box, your golden goose is cooked!

Fe fi fo fum, I smell the scent of a gluten-free bun.

Um, ’bout that graph

Isn’t 55,000 more than 7,500 or 12,500 or 17,500?

Oh and fuck Whole Foods.

Never been to a Whole Foods store, now I never will. There was a “natural” chain here in Oregon (Natures), that was bought out by Wild Oats that was bought out by Whole Foods. Natures had the reputation of being a very snotty operation. Some of the management of Natures quit because of this perception and started there own operation, New Seasons. New Seasons quickly kicked Natures ass and pretty much forced their acquisition by Wild Oats which has been acquired by Whole Foods. When that that action was challenged on anti-trust grounds, Whole Foods sued (and lost) to obtain New Seasons (?) business and operation records, a move that had the smell of fear. Now New Seasons has twice as many stores in Portland as Whole Foods has in all of Oregon.

The management of this company is about my age (boomer) and had the reputation for being Hippies. Some of the most materialistic people I have ever known were “Hippies”. There was the great divide at that time between the materialist faction and the more political faction. It appears to still exist.

The obvious solution to the medicare and $24 steak problem is to get the meat from free range wingnuts. This seems like a win / win or am I missing something?

tigrismus, it’s just another of this sick double standard the teabaggers employ. The public option is somehow going to kill seniors by refusing them treatment, even though they’re already refused treatment by private insurers, and even though they can always choose private insurance which _will_ cover them (good luck) or pay for it themselves, just like today.

Nobody would be prevented from receiving treatment under a public option/single payer plan who isn’t prevented today, and everyone who claims as much is either an idiot or a motherfucking lying shit.

Also note, for all you budding libertarians out there –

Health care for the poor and the children of the poor, etc. will be paid for by voluntary charitable donations. Since I’m in “pretend the crazy will work” mode, let’s assume that the money magically appears. Tintin’s already pointed out that it’s unlikely that this $$$ will come from the public in general – so where’s it going to come from?

The fucking jackwads that you libertarians pee your pants over all the time. From mysterious private individuals who have no accountability or transparency. That’s right, the country will be held hostage and in the thrall of some guys who’s only qualification is being rich. For all you know, it could even be algore.

Awesome, nothing could possibly go wrong with that.

I used to sometimes buy stuff there because it’s closest to my place. I won’t make that mistake again. What a fucking asshole.

Not in the Constitution? What part of “promote the general welfare” does this yutz not understand?

Canada’s population is ~33 million. So roughly 2.5% of the population is waiting on a medical procedure.

As may have been noted upthread, it’s a very apples to oranges comparison. At any given time in any healthcare model, people are waiting. When I’ve need treatments or exams, I don’t necessarily get them the same day the doctor makes the determination I need them.

So what constitutes “waiting” for Mr. Glibert McGlibby? One week, two, three? Six months?

Gah-what an idiot.

Yet again John Mackay opens his mouth and his shareholders will suffer. I hope they litigate him on to Skid Row.

Talking of idiots opening their mouths at the wrong time, Americans do not have a monopoly on this. It looks like Daniel Hannan, Conservative MEP, OBN with GB cluster, who appeared on the Glenn Beck Show might end up a castrato.

The obvious solution to the medicare and $24 steak problem is to get the meat from free range wingnuts.

tastes like chicken!

The obvious solution to the medicare and $24 steak problem is to get the meat from free range wingnuts.

tastes like chicken!

So does Tastee Wheat, but I wouldn’t eat a bowl of snot, either.

The obvious solution to the medicare and $24 steak problem is to get the meat from free range wingnuts.

gocart m is zombi-curious?

meat from free range wingnuts

Cheeto-fed wingnuts?! Ewwwww!

Medicare reform? doesn’t that mean Death Panels for Grandma?

(hey isn’t there a band named….?)

The obvious solution to the medicare and $24 steak problem is to get the meat from free range wingnuts. This seems like a win / win or am I missing something?

Would YOU put that in your mouth? Sure, they’ll be as tender as veal kept in a padded crate, but they eat only garbage so the meat will taste like crap, and good God soooo greasy it’ll self-baste.

Local farmers’ markets are more fun to shop in, anyway. I love buying stuff that isn’t homogenized due to industrial harvesting/packaging methods, I especially love eggplants with little “wings” on the side that reveal their floral origins.

Being a nerd, I recommend this movie. I actually dragged a hapless date to see it in the theater.

FYWP!

This movie:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20010511/REVIEWS/105110301/1023

What would be totally awesome is a Constitutional amendment making it legal to hunt for sport any idiot that says “where does it say that in the Constitution?”

We could make Michele Bachmann the spokesperson for the movement.

Your tax-dollars will pay for preferential hiring of homosexual hospital administrators, who distribute $50,000 grants to gender-confused activists for unneeded elective surgery to mutilate their own genitals, (and force Christian doctors to perform it.

I heard this on Stephanie Miller this morning and thought it was a joke.

I think that the OB/GYN bar up there should say $5500 instead of $55,000.

I heard this on Stephanie Miller this morning and thought it was a joke.

It does indeed ring the Poe’s Law bell pretty hard.

Would YOU put that in your mouth? Sure, they’ll be as tender as veal kept in a padded crate, but they eat only garbage so the meat will taste like crap, and good God soooo greasy it’ll self-baste.

My Dad used to refer to soft, fat people like that as “yak basters”. I prefer the terms “pork balloon” and “butter troll”. My friend calls em “bacon repositories” or “bacon vacuums”.

Living in the UK, I have to wait AGES to see my doctor. If I ring for an appointment at 9am, it might get booked for as late as 2pm! FIVE fucking hours to wait!

Course, I am waiting for a yearly dental checkup. It was booked 6 months ago, and I have another 6 months to go..

So I am on a waiting list.

Just goes to show how poor the reedigs of them StatusQuoters is. The $50K grants are to force Christian doctors into receiving genital mutilating surgery. It’s not elective at all!

cyntax said,

As may have been noted upthread, it’s a very apples to oranges comparison. At any given time in any healthcare model, people are waiting. When I’ve need treatments or exams, I don’t necessarily get them the same day the doctor makes the determination I need them

Hell, You don’t even get to see the DOCTOR the same day you call!
Are those people included?

.

You can’t get meat from wingnuts. They are mostly bile and blubber. Even the Navajo would throw away at least half of the kill.

Just render em down for soap. Might give the DFH’s some motivation to wash sometimes.

Your tax-dollars will pay for preferential hiring of homosexual hospital administrators, who distribute $50,000 grants to gender-confused activists for unneeded elective surgery to mutilate their own genitals

Everyone will have to wait for every procedure EXCEPT HOMOS GETTING TEH SEX CHANGE. The only way for Grampa and Grandma to avoid the death panels will be to switch up. They’ll do it with velcro so it’s easier to switch back when they need healthcare again.

Re: ob/gyns on the graphic

From the Medical Economics link:

Family physicians, internists, and pediatricians all paid a median of $12,500 annually for med-mal coverage, based on the survey. Ob/gyns forked over more than four times as much, because of their propensity to be sued.

So the number is probably right, but it’s the little blue bar next to it that needs tweaking.

Just render em down for soap.

I dunno…washing with dirty soap…

I’d rather rend them down for oil for the lamps.

I always like the wingnut solution of “Well, if the rich are in a really really really good mood they might, just might mind you, donate some money so some dirty nasty peasant somewhere does not die or does not get sicker. Eventually when they around to it.”

PENIS.

Are free range wingnutz halal food?

Are free range wingnutz halal food?

They are pigs, so no.

Oh good, Alan mentioned the Portland based chain (New Seasons) that Whole Foods was suing. I couldn´t remember the name of it. That´s one of the 3 reasons I really hate WF.

1. The New Seasons thing; WF claimed that they were forced, FORCED, to try and obtain New Seasons business records to they could show they weren´t a monopoly and their merger with Wild Oats could go through. Forced my ass; just don´t buy Wild Oats in the first place. Meanwhile fighting the suit cost NS a lot of money (and they estimated that the effort required to put the requested records together would have run in the 100s of thousands of dollars), and although supposedly only the legal department of WF would have access to the records, it didn´t sound guaranteed that marketing wouldn´t be able to see them as well and use the information to drive NS out of business. WF tried to use government power to force a competitor to reveal trade secrets and spend a lot of money doing so. Yeah for free markets.

2. The Mackey sock puppet thing. He talked about how food coops are dingy dreary places that should all go out of business. Dude, when people buy spaghetti for $8 a pound at Whole Foods, they´re spending $7 to buy an ideology. Coops provide that ideology as well. If Mackey actually believed in the ideology, he´d welcome coops as another provider of environmentally friendly, healthy food. Whole Foods wouldn´t even exist if coops hadn´t primed the market for sustainable food back in the 60s and 70s

3. Whole Foods is bitching about how their suppliers are jumping ship to sell organic produce at Walmart and how unfair it is that the suppliers aren´t loyal to WF. WF claims they are responsible for the success of their suppliers. Again, many of their suppliers owe more of their initial success to coops and local natural foods stores than they do WF. And if they aren´t loyal, so what? That´s how capitalism works.

if the rich are in a really really really good mood they might, just might mind you, donate some money

Also known as the status quo. Never seems to take care of any problems, do it?

If you live anywhere close to Atlanta, check out the Dekalb Farmers Market. Huge selection of produce including stuff I’ve never seen or even imagined. The workers are from all over the world and it’s a real treat to hear their languages and accents. Amazing place. Highlight of my week to shop there.

Or for an Asian / Korean atmosphere, try the Super H stores.

Nothing’s more pathetic that a dfh that got rich and stopped caring about anything but money.

Not in the Constitution? What part of “promote the general welfare” does this yutz not understand?

That was the first thing I thought of, too.

Ya know what’s not in the Constitution? There’s nothing there saying it’s illegal to kick John Mackey infinitely hard in the junk.

A careful reading of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will not reveal any intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter

Did he miss the bit about “promote the general welfare?”

I would like to boycott Whole Foods, but I don’t know where else I would get my free-range Cheetos.
I tried planting Cheetos seeds in a corner of my mom’s “victory garden,” but that didn’t work out so good.

D’oh. Too slow.

The Brits are a bit pissed at the right wingers here for distoring the NHS:

British health campaigner Kate Spall — who criticizes NHS failings in U.S. television ads produced by Conservatives for Patients’ Rights, a lobby group that opposes Obama’s plans — declared that the group had misled her and was distorting her true views. Spall’s mother died of kidney cancer while waiting for treatment.

“There are failings in the system but I’m not anti-NHS at all,” Spall told the British Broadcasting Corp.

“I help the vulnerable patients in our country that come to me for help, those that have been denied treatment,” she said. “So the irony is, the people that are falling through the net in the U.S. are patients that I would support anyway.”

“Finally, revise tax forms to make it easier for individuals to make a voluntary, tax-deductible donation to help the millions of people who have no insurance and aren’t covered by Medicare, Medicaid or the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.”

or

“Please, Sir, might I have another cup of penicillin?”

Hey, Jay B., shout-out from Garvanza, where my friend & sexual associate [Name redacted to protect the guilty, as gawd protects the innocent.] lives & I often visit.

Trader Joe’s in South Pas, baby!!

heh heh heh… I said penic …

What did you photoshop into his hand?

[Tintin adds: It’s a rotten apple.]

What did you photoshop into his hand?

WF version of a poison apple. Perfect healthcare remedy.

“If you live anywhere close to Atlanta, check out the Dekalb Farmers Market.”

Amen. Pretty much my only regret about moving further out in the ‘burbs is that the Farmers Market is too far away now. When I cook Christmas dinner at my friend’s place in town we do all the shopping there. I could spend days in that place..

I tried planting Cheetos seeds in a corner of my mom’s “victory garden,” but that didn’t work out so good.

You could always plant Bud cans so you can grow an Anheuser bush.

All the Whole Foods near me (there are three, depending on which direction I go) have such lousy parking that I don’t go there anyway.

M. Bouffant, have you lately been down on Lincoln in Venice, where the Whole Foods replaced the Big Lots? That strip mall is a little schizo now, since the Whole Foods is flanked on one side by a Dollar Store, on the other by a laundromat, and there’s a Campos Tacos in the parking lot.

Interesting article about US wait times. No wonder nobody brings up US numbers when discussing how bad countries with public healthcare are!

WF version of a poison apple. Perfect healthcare remedy.

Need to shop in a big old worm.

Why do they never mention why it is that the “rich people will take care of you” plan isn’t working right now? Where are all these amazing philanthropists hiding, anyways?

Need to shop in a big old worm.

It died before the ink dried.

I don’t know what this “organic food is a liberal cultural signifier in the United States” crap is.

Oh, right, liberals are chickenshit assholes who love the status quo & think they’ll live forever if they eat that shit. Well, they’re used to eating shit. Suckers.

Processed food: What doesn’t kill you, blah blah …

CapMidnight: A RECIPE!!!

What, they told me Jacqueline Mackey would be here! Who the hell is this John guy? I’m going back to bed.

Why do they never mention why it is that the “rich people will take care of you” plan isn’t working right now? Where are all these amazing philanthropists hiding, anyways?

No, see, the tax forms are so darn hard now the overpriced accountants the wealthy hire just can’t figure out the charity bits, hence Mackey’s call to revise tax forms. I’m sure there’s a little “shut up, that’s why” in there somewhere, too.

The Brits are actually more than a little pissed. The leaders of the two main UK political parties have come out to support the NHS. The British population love the NHS to the extent that any party which suggests disbanding it would die in the polls. Following WWII we made a decision that we would collectively support our fellow citizens when they were at that weakest via general taxation to create a national healthcare system. I believe it’s called being a good neighbour.

Yeah we moan about it and it does need improving but when a idiot who can’t even name the newspapers she reads calls it ‘evil’ we get a little riled.

I’m not even trying to be funny which is a Sadly No no-no but this is pretty important shit.

Whole Foods should change its name to Wholly Tyrannical Foods. Mostly so that we could all be abbreviating it WTF, since that’s what I keep seeing anyway.

I’m sure he’ll show us he’s no hypocrite by immediately closing the stores he has in Canada, GB and anywhere else that these terrible, socialistic schemes are destroying free enterprise.

No, John Boy? Then please STFU, clown.

They’re losing something well north of $50 million a year in the UK. Heh.

but when a idiot who can’t even name the newspapers she reads calls it ‘evil’ we get a little riled.

As well you should, but it wasn’t that she couldn’t name the newspapers she read, she just didn’t want to admit she didn’t read any.

A careful reading of both the Declaration of Independence…

Being healthy makes me happy. Having a supply of food makes me happy. A roof over my head makes me happy. The pursuit of happiness makes me happy.

Does “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” ring any bells, you bracken-munching cunt?

Xecky Gilchrist

I stand corrected. However, I’m having problems working out if that’s better or worse…..

At least we can all agree on one thing. She’s an idiot who clearly believes helping the less fortunate in society is evil.

One note about the whole “Hey, the FOWNDERS dint call healthcare a right” bit: back in the late 18th century, “health care” was one step up from witch-doctor-care. Must I remind people that one of the founders famously had wooden fucking teeth? Do you think they were that concerned about how to pay for that sort of quackery?

The scientific revolution hadn’t completely gotten around to medicine in 1789. Anatomy had been advanced by that time, but modern biology itself was just in its birth throes (i.e. taxonomy and cell biology), and the medical world would still require the development of germ theory and epidemiology to advance out of the dark ages. (Not to mention genetics and, yes, Satan’s favorite, evilution.)

tigrismus said,
August 14, 2009 at 22:01
CapMidnight: A RECIPE!!!

Holy cow!
My gf works at a food coop–rival to and superior to WF, even before all this–I’m callin her to bring Cheetos-makin stuff. Thanx!

However, I’m having problems working out if that’s better or worse…..

It’s worse. The woman is a total disaster.

At least we can all agree on one thing. She’s an idiot who clearly believes helping the less fortunate in society is evil.

Indeed. All part of her brand of Christianity, dont’chaknow.

I’m wit dood who shops at Trader Joes.

Let me know how they turn out, CM; I bookmarked it but it’s just too hot to try here for the next several days.

As I was smoking outside just now, I remembered an amusing WF story.

Shortly after moving to PDX I had the urge to make bubble and squeak. I recalled Clarissa Dickson Wright’s dictum that if one doesn’t want to use lard for b&s, one should make something else. (Lard is essential for other things as well.) I couldn’t find lard at the neighborhood Fred Meyer (Kroger) nor at Safeway. I headed down to the Pearl to look for it at WF. After perusing the usual locations, I asked the guy behind the butcher counter if they had lard. He gave me a look that said “this guy must be nutz” and said “This is health food store! We don’t have lard!”

I returned a cool gaze, arched one eyebrow archly, and said “You’re telling me that as we stand here with 50 pounds of bacon (their current featured display) between us?”

Someone up the thread said the NHS was founded by Winston Churchill.

Not so.

The NHS was founded by former coal miner and Labour minister of health Aneuin Bevan, who was part of the Labour government elected in 1945, when voters threw Churchill and his Tories out of power.

What this means is that socialist, socialised health care can only be a product of organised militant action on the part of those who want. So far the only militant action I can see from this side of the Atlantic is on the part of the fascists. You lot had better remove your collective digit from your collective orifice, because time is running out.

Xecky Gilchrist

Thanks for sorting that out for me. As Jesus said, ‘fuck the poor, it’s all about the profit margin’.

Speaking of bacon, PeeJ- ever make bacon-infused vodka?

Bacon infused vodka, eh? Not yet.

So, okay, if Whole Foods is a sign of liberal fascism…

And if Whole Foods agrees with Goldberg about health care…

Say, doesn’t that mean Goldberg is a Liberal Fascist? I mean, that’s called logic, right?

All part of her brand of Christianity, dont’chaknow.

Funny thing is, I’m discovering that it’s the people who do the most to advertise their Christianity (keychanins, checks, T-shirts, earrings, anal vibrators, yadda yadda) who are the least likely to act Christlike – you know, kind, gentle, humble et cetera.

Hey g, I am housed in Little Bangla Desh now (N. of Koreatown) & pretty much no longer a West-Sider, & indulging my agoraphobia.

Hope y’all can get along w/ one less homeless weasel weaseling in your neck of the woods.

Screw all the chains. I have three locally-owned markets within walking distance – one of which, the Greene Grape, has won notice city-wide for its quality – and three farmer’s markets every weekend within a ten-minute subway ride.

It’s known as civilization and a lot of people in this country seem to have forgotten about it since they were blinded by useless stores with wide aisles and large parking lots.

Funny thing is, I’m discovering that it’s the people who do the most to advertise their Christianity (keychanins, checks, T-shirts, earrings, anal vibrators, yadda yadda) who are the least likely to act Christlike – you know, kind, gentle, humble et cetera.

Ha! So true. When working for the family business, my girlfriend found that people who mentioned their Christianity during the job interview almost always ended up trying to steal from the company.

You lot had better remove your collective digit from your collective orifice, because time is running out.

You’re right, but with that nym, you really need to be funnier.

I’ve only been to a Trader Joe’s once, but luckily there’s a locally-owned analogue where I live in the Great Flat.

Say, doesn’t that mean Goldberg is a Liberal Fascist? I mean, that’s called logic, right?

Indeed, it is central to his point.

that’s called logic, right?

I belieive the wingers call it socialist logic.

[Tintin adds: It’s a rotten apple.]

Hell, I didn’t even notice. WF is strong with the Dark Side.

Here’s enough to go buy some aspirin, a pint of vodka, bandages and a knife so you can cut your tumor out your own damn self.

My laughing annoyed the surrounding officites, but I *was* warned.

Well done, Tintin.

PeeJ of PENIS – ask for leaf lard, obtained from the fat deposit surrounding the kidneys and inside the loin from the many pigs they butcher and then put the fat in boiling water to wet render the lard. Either scoop off the fat and allow it to cool or just keep boiling the fat in water for a while, then remove from the heat and allow to cool and separate.

Personally, I cook my B&S in bacon fat rendered in the frying pan from what we Brits call streaky bacon but I believe you colonials just call bacon.

Needless to say, this concern for other people’s money never prompted Ms. Thatcher to renounce the socialism involved in having the taxpayers pay her own salary and give her free lodging at 10 Downing Street

Perhaps more pertinently, it never prompted her to renounce the fucking National Health Service.

The locals are showing more and more local and organic foods. We tried WF when we visited SF, cuz it was a couple of blocks from our place, and it really did not make what we needed. While I enjoy cooking and we like fresh produce, we have a teenage son and we need some less DFH foods.

There’s a nice big WF nearby that opened recently, and I’ve been tempted…. I guess we’ll stick with the locals. Sendik’s is a great locallly owned store, especially for produce and meats and fish, and there’s another that has a particularly good selection of dead animals….

it never prompted her to renounce the fucking National Health Service

Which is really what all this is about. The higher ups in the Gooper Party know that once people get a taste for cheap, efficient, government run healthcare, they will never be able to kill it. For the good of Rethuglican Party and the monied interesets they represent, we gotta be indentured to the health insurance industry.

I, for one, would prefer vodka-infused bacon.

But my dietary & consciousness-alteration habits are my own, & not those of ordinary people.

Pere Ubu said,

August 14, 2009 at 22:50 (kill)

Funny thing is, I’m discovering that it’s the people who do the most to advertise their Christianity (keychanins, checks, T-shirts, earrings, anal vibrators, yadda yadda) who are the least likely to act Christlike – you know, kind, gentle, humble et cetera.

At the risk of sounding Rooneyesque, “D’ja ever notice the people that cut you off in traffic always have the Jesus fish on their bumpers…”

I probably could never eat leaf lard knowingly, as the name just reminds me too much of that one scene from The Jungle.

Whole Foods can kiss my organic ass.

Would each of you like to contribute 10 bucks so I can go to the goddamn dentist?

Funny thing is, I’m discovering that it’s the people who do the most to advertise their Christianity (keychanins, checks, T-shirts, earrings, anal vibrators, yadda yadda) who are the least likely to act Christlike – you know, kind, gentle, humble et cetera.

In Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich writes about how, as a waitress, she used to dread what she called the Visible Christians, described above. They were famously terrible tippers, leaving $1 on a $99 check or, worse, Bible literature in lieu of any cash at all.

Thanks for the tip but I have since found a source for pastured leaf lard (rendering required). And beef tallow. And grass fed beef. And pastured lamb. Gawdam I love the Oregon food scene!

Also, the bacon I’ve had in the UK wasn’t smoked (or, perhaps, was much more lightly smoked than what we generally find here). Unsmoked bacon for B&S sounds like a fine idea. Y’know, I’ve got some cabbage in the fridge right now… (non-ominous ellipsis)

PS – the only thing I can’t find around here is a small (say, 2, maybe 3 lbs or so) veal shoulder roast. Anybody have any ideas?

The NHS funds these guys – beat that America

Matthew chapter 6. That is all.

Woohoo! The Obamacare bill is gonna land me a job!

OK, if being gay will get me work, I guess I’m willing to suck a few dicks.

Wait, I now realize I’ve been doing that already.

Gay Zombie will suck your brains out.

Hey, a little OT, but Crooks & Liars has a photo of the guy in Maryland with the “Death to Obama” sign.

It’s a torn-off piece of a cardboard box, scrawled on with a sharpie.

If he prepared this in advance, is this an example of the quality of this guy’s work? It’s barely legible.

Or did he make his sign on impulse, so enflamed with anger by the general atmosphere that he dug some old box out of a dumpster and fashioned this?

I mean, really.

If I knew I’d be on national TV with a death-threat sign, I’d at least make sure the lettering were lined up properly, and it was legible.

Why on earth somebody would craft such an incompetent sign? What did he hope to accomplish here, other than getting his butt in jail?

How will she ever get laid if we stop blowing foreigners to pieces?How will she ever get laid if we stop blowing foreigners to pieces?

Same way every other Republican does. By paying somebody other than her spouse to do it.

A careful reading of the COnstitution and the DEclaration of INdependence indicates that there is no right to air so strangling John Mackey to death should be perfectly legal. I mean, although there is a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in the DEClaration of INDependence it doesn’t say that you have a right to anything, like food, shelter and healthcare, that makes does things possible.

Another funny thing is how when other states fail to provide food for their citizens (like say North Korea) it’s considered a great crime, yet there is no right to food so I guess Kim Jong-Il has been exonerated.

M. Bouffant

Ah, beautiful Garvanza. I live in Eagle Rock (represent yo!), but am currently looking in that very neighborhood (among others) for some little place to call our own.

If you don’t, you and you sexual plaything/partner/significant other simply must go to Figueroa Produce over there on York/Fig next to the 99 cent supermarket — they’re good folks.

No WF here so I can’t boycott them. We don’t have any national chains* in Des Moines, as the two competing locally owned micro-chain stores have more or less driven them all out. We have many fantastic farmer’s markets, but this being Iowa they don’t operate in the winter. I’ll stick with my Dahl’s Grocery.

*Well, there is at least one Aldi’s in the metro area and a Fareway, which I think is regional. And there’s Super Target and Mal-Wart, but I don’t consider them in the same category as a grocery chain. We no longer have Safeway or Supervalu or Albertsons. All gone. And I don’t care.

I would like a Trader’s though.

As I was telling the State Trooper just the other day, a careful reading of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution has no prohibition on blowing thru a red light at 60 mph.
We had a constructive dialog on politics later that evening, after I politely heeded his request to kindly stop bleeding onto his uniform.

PeeJ:

smoked and unsmoked bacon are about equally popular in the UK. But for a proper full English Breakfast, the usual thing is thick cut unsmoked back bacon, grilled with the fat on.

If you go to a Caf and get a bacon butty, then it is more likely to be smoked bacon, and fried rather than grilled.

MMMM bacon.

…collectively support our fellow citizens…

What a wonderful way to put it.

Completely UnAmerican, of course, and we will be bombing your country shortly, but still.

g, check out the comments in the story about this on the NBC site. Sample:

Did the sign say he would kill obama? NO! It said death to obama so where is the line drawn between a viable threat or just free speech. This is a perfect example of losing our freedom here in America.

OMFG. I’m trapped in a nation of assholes.

Did the sign say he would kill obama? NO! It said death to obama so where is the line drawn between a viable threat or just free speech. This is a perfect example of losing our freedom here in America.

And let’s go to the tape of what this douchnozzle had to say when, OH, SAY, Randi Rhodes was forced off the air for suggesting someone might take a shot at Duh Shrub:

*crickets* …

*crickets* …

*crickets* …

*crickets* …

*crickets* …

*crickets* …

YOU HAVE UNPAINTED SOME CREEPY PLIERS!!!

YOU HAVE UNPAINTED SOME CREEPY PLIERS!!!

Care to unpack that for us, son?

full English Breakfast, the usual thing is thick cut unsmoked back bacon, grilled with the fat on.

Oooooh yeah. That brings back memories.

If you go to a Caf and get a bacon butty….

Every trip I ever made to merry olde England, save one, was business. (Correction: the one where the Ho came over for a few days in London? I was already there on a business trip.) I never got much chance to enjoy the real treats like the one you mention.

Which is really what all this is about. The higher ups in the Gooper Party know that once people get a taste for cheap, efficient, government run healthcare, they will never be able to kill it.

Exactly so. Like Medicare and Social Security, Liberal programs are extremely popular once enacted.

It’s a shame that the Right makes the threshold to actually achieving these things so difficult. That, IMHZO, is why America is falling behind the rest of the world in so many Quality of Life factors; it’s easier to do elsewhere.

And I plumb forgot, but there’s a great local store called Outpost; Total mental lapse, because I worked on their first big expansion, when they went from a local, corner, hippie focused health food store to a real grocery.

Also, Trader Joe’s, but they’re far away from me and up by the rich folks.

get a bacon butty

Is that what TEH KIDZ are calling it these days?

Most Brits seem to prefer unsmoked bacon and don’t like too much fat on their bacon so mostly it is heavily-trimmed unsmoked back bacon which you find in the supermarkets down south. One of my local butchers (with real butchers in the UK, local in starting to have the same meaning as local in Western US – within fifty or so miles) cures and smokes his own bacon so I always get smoked streaky from him and that is what I use for B&S. I do hope that Clarissa makes clear that you should use any leftover vegetables from the Sunday Roast such as brussels sprout (only thing they are good for though some claim it is a waste of good bacon fat), carrots, roast parsnips and peas as well as cabbage. It is also good with leftover roast potatoes.

A while ago, a friend of a friend who is Anglo-Indian prepared B&S (with bacon fat – she is an Atheist) with the spices used in the potato filling for a masala dosa and that was really good. From memory, the spices were brown mustard seeds, fresh red chili, turmeric, curry leaves and split yellow peas which were fried with onion in the bacon fat for a few minutes until brown before adding the potato and vegetables. Sadly she didn’t get round to making a sanbhar.

Confused Englishman is Confused.

I thought the Constitution was all about placing limits on the State, and as such, if the founders wanted to limit access to healthcare it would’ve be written in it explicitly? i.e Congress shall make no law respecting… blah blah etc.

Also, why do wingnuts get the freedom of speech thing wrong all the time? A private citizen can restrict freedom of speech can’t they? If they couldn’t you would be allowed to sue them everytime they say ‘Shut up, that’s why’ wouldn’t you?

if the founders wanted to limit access to healthcare it would’ve be written in it explicitly?

Health care of a technologically-backward nation circa 1785, of course. “The government shall make no law restricting interstate use of leeches…”

Speaking of anglo-indian treats.. There is a chippy near me that does fish massala. Haddock marinated in a mixture of spices (Not sure what but heavy on the tumeric) and then battered and fried as per normal.

You can also get chips with raw onion and yogurt sauce on.

Hey! ZRM – is your blog now invite only? And I am not invited just because of one little turd in the punch bowl? Okay, seventeen turds in the punch bowl, but the spirit’s the same…

if the founders wanted to limit access to healthcare it would’ve be written in it explicitly?

Hush, you!

Everyone knows “original intent” is only good for proving the Founders were actually all good Christian right-wing Libertarians who intended the Bible to be the only book ever published and everyone to own a gun.

Wait – this guy in Maryland who made a threat against the President is a different guy than the one last night in the VeeDub who made a threat against the President, right?

Nope. Nothing wrong in this country, nosirree.

That, IMHZO, is why America is falling behind the rest of the world in so many Quality of Life factors; it’s easier to do elsewhere.

It’s a tad depressing. The girl and I were having the if-we-had-kids-what-would-the-country-be-like conversation, and we were both thinking America could be a pretty 2nd rate country by the time our kids were old [not that you really base having kids or not on those sorts of conversations].

Although Canada has a population smaller than California, 830,000 Canadians are currently waiting to be admitted to a hospital or to get treatment

….

Canada’s population is ~33 million. So roughly 2.5% of the population is waiting on a medical procedure.

Depends on how you define waiting.

Calgary, 2006

My GF started getting niggling back pains in July. By September they were bad enough she went to see her doctor who referred her to a specialist. By this time she was suffering sciatic nerve issues. The specialist ordered an MRI which was done at a private clinic a week later. The scan showed a herniated disc and a real possibility of permanent paralysis, so back surgery was ordered. It was now early October. By the end of October she was operated on by one of Calgary’s top neuroligists.

It would have been sooner, but her employer (the post office) and the Workers’ Compensation Board were bickering over responsibility. All she had to pay for all this were her regular health premiums and some prescription drug costs.

Oh. And she’s fine now. Some nerve loss in her foot but she walks 15kms. a day on her mail route.

… by one of Calgary’s top neuroligists.

Uh oh. If our discussion of American and Canadian beer was any indication this could get…

contentious…

BTW, I have read great things about the meat from Mangalitza pigs (a hairy Austro-Hungarian breed that came from the now extinct Lincoln Curly Coat breed of domestic pigs) that are now raised in Auburn, WA. So if you see any bacon from this breed give it a try. Otherwise, of the British breeds look for Gloucestershire Old Spots and Tamworths and try and get the meat from older pigs as the fat is nicely marbled. If you know anyone who grows apples commercially, suggest they get some Old Spots to clear up windfalls and reduce disease. Tamworths love forests for foraging. I seem to recall you have a few trees in Oregon.

Hey! ZRM – is your blog now invite only? And I am not invited just because of one little turd in the punch bowl? Okay, seventeen turds in the punch bowl, but the spirit’s the same…

Huh. Somehow a persimmon got changed.

I’ve set it now to allow all visitors except for engineers, which should clear things up.

It’s a tad depressing. The girl and I were having the if-we-had-kids-what-would-the-country-be-like conversation, and we were both thinking America could be a pretty 2nd rate country by the time our kids were old [not that you really base having kids or not on those sorts of conversations].</I.

Of course, eventually all countries willbe overcome by the zombocalypse, so maybe that's not so comforting.

PeeJ – City Market on NW 21st might have the veal. Laurelhurst Market, the new butcher shop/steakhouse might as well.

I love New Seasons here, but caught an awful glare from the butcher when I asked for veal…

Also, too, my last WF excursion was to buy duck fat for a batch of confit. They happily sold me three two-pound containers. Healthy food store my ass!

W(T)F?

(Apologies if someone’s already done it)

I’m now even more glad that the rumors of either a Whole Foods *or* a Trader Joes coming here to Corvallis ended up being Trader Joes… Yay us.

Sadly, the fact that the CEO of Whole Foods is an asshole can’t have any impact on whether I purchase ‘gluten free sawdust bread’ from them.. because I in fact need to purchase gluten free products, and they’re the only game in town.

It isn’t just the gluten free flours and breads; you can in fact get a lot of that stuff through the mail, though who wants to do their grocery shopping by the post office? It’s also the fact that gluten is added to a bewildering variety of things, anything from vitamins to toothpaste to canned goods to sauces, and no, they are absolutely NOT required by law to tell you if it’s in their ingredients. Whole Foods stocks both a wide variety of gluten free flours, mixes, cookies and crackers and such *and*, perhaps more importantly, doesn’t add gluten to everything under the sun, and makes sure you know if they have. It’s literally a lifesaver (not for me, but for some people).

The major local grocery store chain here in Madison is called Copp’s; they don’t have jack in gluten free food. Ditto for the local co-op grocery store. Trader Joes? Uggh. A tiny hole in the wall with no fresh meat or veggies to speak of and fruit swarming with gnats.

So yeah, Whole Foods. Some of us have to take what we can get.

(As an aside, gluten free bread products don’t have to be ‘sawdust’, though they do often have a different texture that’s a bit of an acquired taste. Don’t be so hard on the few companies who actually make stuff for the people who can’t have gluten)

Hey! ZRM – is your blog now invite only? And I am not invited just because of one little turd in the punch bowl? Okay, seventeen turds in the punch bowl, but the spirit’s the same…

FYWP, even if it’s blogspot, because I already responded fucking once, and this zombie doesn’t have enough gray matter left to drink all afternoon AND remember things for ten minutes….

anyhow, some persimmon got changed and we are back to normal, more or less; I’ve set for allowing all visitors except frickin engineers, so things should be cool….

It’s a tad depressing. The girl and I were having the if-we-had-kids-what-would-the-country-be-like conversation, and we were both thinking America could be a pretty 2nd rate country by the time our kids were old [not that you really base having kids or not on those sorts of conversations].

I had a much better, more constructive comment to this before. But WP eated it, so this is WP fault: Go for it. The zombocalypse can’t be that far off, it really doesn’t matter.

Basically, though, what’s wrong with America no longer being Number One? Especially when the rest of the world is moving along so well.

if the founders wanted to limit access to healthcare it would’ve be written in it explicitly?

It is interesting to note that the Constitution per se does not guarantee any rights. The Bill of Rights, which is to say amendments to the Constituion, was much argued over. The Federalists assumed rights were self-evident and listing them was not necessary. I think it was the delegate from Georgia who said that that enumerating rights would lead some damn fool to claim that unlisted rights did not exist.

Squirrel demonstrates wingnut scene stealing technique.

Jesus, even your gluten laws are fucked up. We even have a little logo for “contains gluten” over here.

So I’m right? Seriously I don’t know/understand, but I’m getting a little freaked out that I get the gist of it better than people who actually live there ?

To Candy, it seems that all the best places in Des Moines have all gone away, at least according to Bill Bryson in ‘The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid’. It used to have a grocery store with a free comic book area for the kids and also somekind of conveyor belt leading outside that carried your groceries out. A small area on top of a mall where Moms would take their daughters for tea and cake, and the daughters would get a free suprise wrapped present picked out of a lucky dip. Also a diner with ATOMIC TOILETS, which sounded like the the best thing ever, with people coming from miles around to witness them in action. I’ll have to dig the book out and find out what it was called.

Joe Max, has Outpost moved into the Madtown market yet? Aww, dammit, I see the Intertrons tell me that Waukesha is as far as they’ve gotten.

I would contact Copps to tell them what you need. A little customer prodding can go a long way, and since they are indeed somewhat local, you might have some luck.

Yes, that was veiled PENIS reference.

a diner with ATOMIC TOILETS

“Is it ATOMIC?”

“Yes! Very ATOMIC!”

Euripides, I should probably actually read that Bill Bryson book sometime . . .

A lot of the old-timey things have gone, it’s true, like the Younker’s Tearoom, but the city is really improving in most ways. We’ve had about a decade of downtown revitalization, and are getting a world-class sculpture park. Now that we’re Teh Ghey Marriage mecca here in the midwest, and we atheists got our signs back on the buses, hings are lookin’ up.

tbati – negatory on City Markup. It’s in my neighborhood so I go there frequently but no veal roasts. They do have foie there, hot damn!

I’ll check out Laurelhurst. A small veal roast, done in the pressure cooker a la Jacques Pepin is one of my absolute favoritest “fast foods”.

Also – any PDXers headed to the Mt. Hood/KMHD Jazz Fest tonight?

Incidentally, the Empire seems to be Engineer-free, regardless of the protestations of N__B up above. No comments. Yes, I’m a whore, I established that up above.

OT but did anyone else see Lawerence O’Donnell verbally bitchslap that Texas wingnut Congressman? He looked like he was going to cry on the air.

Also, I’m very disappointed that that cynical opportunist Whole Fuck wingnut up above has no toilet nearby.

OT but did anyone else see Lawerence O’Donnell verbally bitchslap that Texas wingnut Congressman? He looked like he was going to cry on the air.

Interest, newsletter, you know….

a diner with ATOMIC TOILETS

A long-gone place in NYC, Exterminator Chili, had four things on the menu: Residential Chili, Commercial Chili, Industrial Chili, and (for the vegetarians) Agricultural Chili. Industrial was a thing of beauty that left you badly needing an atomic toilet.

Incidentally, the Empire seems to be Engineer-free, regardless of the protestations of N__B up above. No comments. Yes, I’m a whore, I established that up above.

I’ll leave some comments on the dresser after you’re done frenching my CAD files.

I was wondering how long it would take for the word “arugula” to enter the health care discussion.

A long-gone place in NYC, Exterminator Chili,

I used to go that that joint! They had, as I recall, tequila you could get with your chili. Ah, the days before I became a suburban oaf.

Re Nimrod: Yeah, I know. It seems a bit odd to me that you don’t have to list the origin of common food ingredients, especially allergenic foods. One I’ve run into trouble with lately is ‘modified food starch’. Which is.. not terribly helpful, since it can be made from just about anything.

They had, as I recall, tequila you could get with your chili.

They may have…my rounds in those days were such that I was usually toasted before I walked in.

A lot of the old-timey things have gone, it’s true, like the Younker’s Tearoom,

First N__B gives me some NYC nostalgia, then Candy, you give me some Iowa nostagia. Younkers was the place my mom would go to for the expensive clothes like evening gowns.

Do I qualify for Medicare if I’m ODing on nostagia?

They had, as I recall, tequila you could get with your chili.

If you’re doin it right, you put the tequila IN the chili.

And N__B can french his own damn CAD files.

OT but did anyone else see Lawerence O’Donnell verbally bitchslap that Texas wingnut Congressman? He looked like he was going to cry on the air.

No. Though I liked his interview with the clueless teabagger from Lebanon, PA. Saw that one at CrooksandLiars.com, I think. For a really good time, watch Colbert’s sympathy for Glenn Beck’s loss of corporate sponsors.

Edit: Yes, it was at C&L

They may have…my rounds in those days were such that I was usually toasted before I walked in.

I recall a place on 2nd ave that would give us a 6 oz glass, half filled, when you ordered a shot of tequila.

Good times – I think. Don’t quite remember….

And N__B can french his own damn CAD files.

Too late. Your blog’s punch bowl has been turded.

Don’t quite remember….

That’s what you get for drinking on the east side.

Don’t quite remember….

That’s what you get for drinking on the east side.

That’s pretty much describes my college career. different East Side, but still….

That’s what you get for drinking on the east side.

Another mid-80s East Side memory of mine is when a friend & I were walking to an unlicensed after-hours place east of Ave B. We were walking thru a deserted Tompkins Square Park at about 3:30 AM when a cop car – you know they used to cruise thru the park on the paths – waved us down. Why? I guessed since we looked like yuppies, the cop warned us we were in a very dangerous place. Maybe he thought we were lost or something. We thanked him, walked on to the place, and drank until 5 AM.

PeeJ of PENIS said,

August 14, 2009 at 23:17 (kill)

Matthew chapter 6. That is all.

I started to go there, then erased it for the Rooneyshot.

I have met folks that don’t recognize that when Junior says “Verily, they shall have their reward”, He is snarking. Jesus does some great snark, but it’s lost on Evangelicals.

I guessed since we looked like yuppies, the cop warned us we were in a very dangerous place.

Heh. Circa 1990, I walked home from the Village to the UWS after 4 AM closing. Got to Times Sq about 5 (I was wandering a bit) in time for the Saturday-night cop sweep. Sped up, kept my head down, and nodded vigorously when a cop told me to get back to my hotel.

(I was wandering a bit)

So much said, in so few words.

Jay B., M. Bouffant, other El Lay-ites:

We’re big fans of Jon’s, a smalllish chain owned (I think) by Armenians. Great and cheap produce every day, and a swell “International” section of var. and sund. pickled things, spices, pita, etc. And the meat section has been lately spruced up, too. Oh, and: fucking Smirnoff red “handle” for $19. Fuck YOU, Ralphs.

On a health related issue, could ‘Dr Oz’ just go fuck himself please? The other day he was asking me if I knew how Gwyneth Paltrow had lost so much weight.

If you want me to buy your magic beans or whatever, please lie/bullshit me with a little more respect for my intelligence please.

And check this out for Life Expectancy. Expect and see US at no. 35? Look again. Like around 50.

http://tinyurl.com/yrq7l8

The other day he was asking me if I knew how Gwyneth Paltrow had lost so much weight.

Repeated colonics until she shat out her lungs, no?

We’re big fans of Jon’s, a smalllish chain owned (I think) by Armenians.

Oh yeah, I found the one in Hollywood when I first moved here, and was working a job in that neighborhood. Great place. My co-worker says the one in Van Nuys is good, too.

Where I live now, it’s hard to get over that way as part of my usual routine. It’s either Venice or Palisades shopping for me. Or farmers’ markets.

Heh. Circa 1990, I walked home from the Village to the UWS after 4 AM closing.

Thatsa longa walka…I did one of those around ’95 when I was getting involved with a new woman and we walked back to her place on E. 75th from the E. Village. Watched the sun rise and all that jazz.

Oh, and it was worth it, too.

John Sears,

Gluten-free can be really hard, so often you have to roll your own. Bette Hagman did a few cookbooks as the Gluten-Free Gourmet, with actual recipes that actually tasted good. Rice flour has gotten a bit easier to find but you’ll still need specialty shops for stuff like Xanthan gum.

If there’s a chinese grocery store near you, tapioca flour and potato starch can be had at rock bottom prices. Here’s a recipe for a flour replacement- 6 parts rice flour, 2 parts tapioca flour, 1 part corn starch. Add to this Xanthan gum as protein requires (for cake – 1 tsp for 4 cups of flour, 2 tsp gives you all-purpose, 4 teaspoons is bread flour).

Amazon link for the Gluten-Free Gourmet:
http://www.amazon.com/Bette-Hagman/e/B001KHLIJY

More Christianist ugliness.
They’re suing on the basis of religious freedom to keep their kids OUT of the anti-bullying workshops.

I’m sure Jesus would approve.

Raw linky: http://blogs.babble.com/strollerderby/2009/08/14/parents-sue-to-keep-kids-from-having-to-be-nice-to-gays/

Who was it who said that if Jesus returned today he’d never stop vomiting?

Who was it who said that if Jesus returned today he’d never stop vomiting?

Boy, that sounds like a zombie saying.

They’re suing on the basis of religious freedom to keep their kids OUT of the anti-bullying workshops.

You see, the Xtians are against frivolous lawsuits unless they want to sue, then it’s OK.

On the subject of Xtian honesty, does anybody here recall the Burroughs rant – maybe on one of the Giorno Poetry Systems records – about why you can NEVER trust a Xtian in business?

If you do short stories and want to exercise your mad ZOMBIES + BACON skillz, check this out.

Andrew McCarthy, today:

“Given the immense popularity of Jonah Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism, one of the most important political books of the last quarter-century”

noted without further comment.

kingubu unleashes the WRATH OF THE ZOMBEE!!

More or less. And such as.

Also

PENIS.

Here’s the thing about the NHS. If a poor man gets a treatable cancer in the UK, he doesn’t die unless the doctor fucks up (and that’s what most newspaper stories are about: doctor fuckups and how mean NICE is because it won’t spend half the NHS budget on that experimental pill that has a 1/2% chance of curing Grandma). And if you are a rich man and want your hip replacing, you don’t have to wait. You’re permitted to pay for it just like in America and get it done whenever they can schedule you in.

“Given the immense popularity of Jonah Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism, one of the most important political books of the last quarter-century”

Papa Chester is proud of you!

Dragon King: Actually, I’m starting to get into ‘rolling my own’, and Whole Foods is an immense help for that. Just from memory I know their gluten free section of the flour isle has fava bean flour, garbanzo bean flour, rice I’m sure, and some of teh gums, xanthum perhaps. For now I’m mostly using premixed kits for things like cookies, bread, etc. It’s not so bad, when you can go to a store and actually pick out the stuff. It also makes you feel like less of a leper, heh.

WF also carries premade wheat free crackers, cookies, pasta, etc. There’s a corn pasta my local WF carries that is better than any wheat pasta I’ve gotten in a store anyway, I’d eat it regardless of wheat issues. Yum.

Mainly I think I wanted to get across the point that Whole Foods does a lot of stuff right too, regardless of their asshat CEO, and it’s not just a place for people with too much money to blow on silly yuppie stuff.

I’ve only shopped at Whole Foods a few times. Both times I ended up scratching my head wondering how I ran up a $150 food bill.

I can get better food at my local farmer’s market for a lot less money.

They’re suing on the basis of religious freedom to keep their kids OUT of the anti-bullying workshops.

Mary Fucking Christ. Are they quoting the verses where God commands the Israelites to commit genocide? Or do they interpret “bless those who persecute you” and “turn the other cheek” as pro-bully?

Time to come out with new Organic Whole Foods Cheetos made from Brie.

You Can’t Put Lipstick on a Repig: That gorgeous old Younkers building has been empty for a couple of years now. Riding by on the bus, all you see are the empty windows where the fabulous displays used to be. Depressing. I remember going in that store when I first moved up from Ottumwa, and feeling like I was in the most glamorous place in the big city.

Naive? Why yes. Yes, I was.

Wow, so we got all this week’s threads yesterday, I guess.

I kin haz nu thred plz?

JS,

Yeah. I’m spoilt living in a place where gluten-free ain’t much of a problem. That plus I’m not the celiac so I can mainline white flour if I wanted.

Incidentally, if you don’t mind, what’s the brand name of your corn pasta?

That gorgeous old Younkers building has been empty for a couple of years now.

Candy-

there needs to be the right developer looking at that. I’ve done several projects that have been recipients of Title 42 tax credits, augmented by Historic Preservation tax credits, that make renovation of those buildings viable. we did one in Manitowoc that was a make or break; if it didn’t work, it was going to be torn down.

It’s tougher than it used to be, because the 3rd party market for tax credits has gotten tight, but it can still work.

Another example of Gubmint providing something the free market can’t. SOSHULIZM FAIL.

Shorter MackeyCare: ” Why don’t we just round up the sick into wilderness reserves, and allow the healthy to hunt them for sport. Nothing in the Constitution says we can’t do that. Wheeee!!”

N.B. I got an email back from the folks I wrote to this morning with the anti-“Obamacare” (god KNOWS why that word’s supposed to be scary) sidebar ad.

He (I assume) calls me either naive or stupid, accuse me of repeating DNC/George Soros talking points (as if I couldn’t make up my own mind), and says he can’t address the majority of my points ’cause he’s on vacation (! :)) and writing on a Blackberry.

Schmuck. I figure I’m going to have some fun with this clown.

YOU HAVE UNWRAPPED A PEEPING CHINAMAN!!!

We already have gourmet Cheetos, and you don’t need to go to Libertarian Snob Foods to get it.

Mr. Wonderful:

Yes, Jons — which MUST be Armenian for “Vons”, as they have the same basic font for their sign, even though they are half the price and better the selection.

I like them. There’s one in Glendale, near me. But SuperKing is the freakin’ bomb with basically the same exotica, better prices and a great deli/butcher/fish guy, along with a surreal amount of produce.

Still, if I lived closer to a Jons, I’d be there all the time. And thanks neighbor, for the heads up regardless!

I kin haz nu thred plz?

You don’t see nu thred here.

zombie, I wish someone would do something with it. It’s a fabulous old building, complete with much ornamentation. Breaks my heart to see any old building sitting disused. I’m an old house and building fanatic.

On the topic of health care reform, I am having an argument on FB on a politician’s page with a commenter who said, first, that insurance and government should get out of healthcare. When another astute commenter asked how she’d pay for insurance, she said, “get a job.” Astute commenter said, “That would have to be some job, to pay for surgery or hospitalization without insurance.” Stupid commenter then says, “Well, if u have a job u usually have insurance.” Astute commenter says something like didn’t you say you insurance and government were causing the problems? Ow. Head asplodey.

These people are so incredibly stupid. That Lawrence O’Donnell clip is fantastic, by the way. I hope they keep on exposing the stupid.

I can’t type. Or proofread.

We already have gourmet Cheetos

Jeezul! I thought for a second that said “government Cheetos”.

• Finally, revise tax forms to make it easier for individuals to make a voluntary, tax-deductible donation to help the millions of people who have no insurance and aren’t covered by Medicare, Medicaid or the State Children’s Health Insurance Program

then add a box to check if you don’t want your donation to go towards end of life counselling. Another box for abortion. Gender reassignment surgery. Another box specifying that you want whoever receives your donation to first show their long-form birth certificate. And a box that says “No brown people”.

i was listening to a story about walmart and their worker relations. it seems that their insurance plan for their 9 full-time employees (those who get locked in at night) is about $3,000. deductible. then i got home and read the article by mister whole foods and saw that his plan is the same as walmart. well, no more free-range cookies for me!

Candy, have you been to Gateway Market? It’s quite similar to your Trader Joe’s or what have you.

And I’d love to see Younkers turned into lofts (so I could live there). But there are simply too many lofts already sitting vacant for that to be likely.

Jeezul! I thought for a second that said “government Cheetos”.

When you are in front of your DEATH PANEL, you will be assigned your government CHEETOS.

YOU HAVE STRAIGHTENED A SWEEPING APPLIANCE!

it seems that their insurance plan for their 9 full-time employees (those who get locked in at night) is about $3,000. deductible.

Yeeeesh. When I worked for the bastards, I got shafted with a plan with a $500 deductible, the cheapest one they offered – for a short time they actually had an HMO plan that covered everything with real low co-pays… but they dropped it for being too expensive. For them, not for us.

I’m glad I got out when I did.

Oh, yes, I love Gateway. My only complaint is that it’s just so small and always jam-packed that sometimes it’s kind of inconvenient to go there. They have excellent wine deals, though. I live in the Drake area, so Gateway is pretty close.

Yeah, the loft vacancy thing is a big problem with the economy the way it is. I’d like to see some more affordable housing downtown, by which I mean housing I could afford.

Clean-up crew to the public image aisle. Again, clean-up crew to the public image aisle, please.

To our customers,

As you are aware, John Mackey wrote an Op/Ed piece that was published in the Wall Street Journal earlier this week on health care reform, one of the biggest and most emotional issues facing our country. John’s intent was to express his personal opinions — not those of Whole Food Market team members or our company as a whole. Still, it’s very clear that John’s piece offended some of our customers, other members of the communities we serve and some of our team members as well.

We offer you our sincere apology.

We’d like to clarify a few things that have been misinterpreted:

John’s Op/Ed piece was written in favor of health care reform.

There’s more. And don’t forget to try the high deductible, which is offered up yet again. It’s to die for.

‘We are sorry that any of our CEO’s words might in any way have inconvenienced our company.’

Every minute counts.

Tremble, liberal fascist communist anti-TP members of Congress, for your foibles have summoned Mighty Isis.

You have been condemned to one-hundred years of solitude!

this is the second disturbing thing I’ve read this week about Whole Foods.

check out Vitaminwater’s Empty Calories Are at the Heart of What’s Wrong with the Beverage Industry by Andrea Whitfill, AlterNet.

it talks about how Whole Foods, along with Coca Cola and PepsiCo, are in the business of marketing bad water as “healthy” to an unsuspecting public. Vitamin Water and competing products have as much sugar in them as soda

do not trust Whole Foods!

Put together government cheese and government corn and get government cheetos… it’s so crazy it just might work! A subsidy in every bag! And a schedule and worksheet for reporting it as income to the IRS.

tigrismus, we already have that. That’s why there is corn (frequently represented by high fructose corn syrup) in ealmost everything you buy at the supermarket. Have you seen King Corn?

The Cheetos program will be Chuckles Grassley’s next program, wait and see.

Hey everybody,

(OT of course!) Did you guys notice this? Even the supply-siders are saying “don’t blame Obama, Bush sucked.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-08-12/the-gops-misplaced-rage/full/

In January, the Congressional Budget Office projected a deficit this year of $1.2 trillion before Obama took office, with no estimate for actions he might take. To a large extent, the CBO’s estimate simply represented the $482 billion deficit projected by the Bush administration in last summer’s budget review, plus the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, which George W. Bush rammed through Congress in September over strenuous conservative objections. Thus the vast bulk of this year’s currently estimated $1.8 trillion deficit was determined by Bush’s policies, not Obama’s.

You could get away with skipping the full read, I guess.

Oh, and the comments on that pieces are troll-rific if you’re missing Troofie now that’s flounced.

#

Myles na Gopaleen said,

August 14, 2009 at 22:40

Someone up the thread said the NHS was founded by Winston Churchill.

Not so.

The NHS was founded by former coal miner and Labour minister of health Aneuin Bevan, who was part of the Labour government elected in 1945, when voters threw Churchill and his Tories out of power.

What this means is that socialist, socialised health care can only be a product of organised militant action on the part of those who want. So far the only militant action I can see from this side of the Atlantic is on the part of the fascists. You lot had better remove your collective digit from your collective orifice, because time is running out.

I heard you. I don’t agree with militant action, I think we can still do this with words, it’s just getting a hold of the microphone that seems to allude us. One thing is every one is talking about this now, even the deluded right wing, so it’s a start and I’m very happy the rest of the world has picked up on our ignorance to laugh and point at us, yet again.

U Typin’: FAIL. Sheesh. piece, he’s, etc., also.

It’s hard to imagine missing troofie.

Hey Colleen,

I think the laughing and pointing actually helps our cause, FWIW. This sort of relates to the previous thread about harnessing our USA#1-complex.

We’d like to clarify a few things that have been misinterpreted:

John’s Op/Ed piece was written in favor of health care reform.

Uh, yeah.

And be sure to duck when you go outside lest the airborne swine discomfit you.

THEY’VE AMAZED A SEEPING ‘GINA!

Sorry I didn’t make that clear, I’m all for laughing and pointing at the fools in this country who end up on our tv. bush was a major disastor and had the world glued to our politics and policies. We need them to pay attention. I’m a little drunk so bear with me. Thanks.

By the way, many blog posts today have been reminding people that it was conservative wartime fetish hero Winston Churchill who ushered, or perhaps joweled, in Britains National Health Service which would one day so famously assassinate American scientist Stephen Hawking.

So they’re going to make a poster of Churchill as the Penguin, a la Obama as the Joker?

Israel has nationalized health care. They seem to be able to fetishize everything else surrounding Israel except for that.

Don’t get me started on what T.R. or Eisenhower would’ve thought of these fucks.

Fuck Sarah Palin sideways with a rusty chainsaw.

I’m a little drunk so bear with me. Thanks.

I’m right behind you, Colleen.

Is there any way I can reverse that whole admitting Alaska into the Union thing?

This is rather late in the discussion and may be irrelevant to most of the comments above, except when I read the one of the first saying that employers should pay less and employees more for health care.

Now on the whole I think that employees already pay for most of the cost, since employers shift the cost onto wages – that is, the wages they pay are reduced by the amount the employer pays for health care (except where they can’t do this for various reasons)..

A recent srudy here in Australia estimated that the cost of our public health insurance system would require people to pay about 14% of their wages in taxes/contributions. Now this isn’t a % of payroll because we finance our health care system out of total government revenue – mainly income taxes, but also a uniform national sales tax.

However we spend in total only a bit more than half of what the US spends overall (public and private) on health care, so I think this means that for the US to provide universal health care at the same average cost as you now do, you would need to take at least 25% of payroll just to pay for what you currently provide. Now that’s a lot of money!.

This is a long-winded way of saying that in addition to extending coverage you really need to think about ways of reducing the average cost of health insurance.

Good luck and bon courage!

The Organic Consumers Association has been after Whole Foods for eons. The CEO finally admitted the store “sells mostly junk.”

When Whole Foods bought out Capers (in Vancouver) they replaced all the organic ingredients in the Deli foods with non-organic GMO ingredients and increased the prices.

I HATE Whole Foods.

Off topic, but ZRM did it firstust: there needs to be the right developer looking at that. I’ve done several projects that have been recipients of Title 42 tax credits, augmented by Historic Preservation tax credits, that make renovation of those buildings viable. we did one in Manitowoc that was a make or break; if it didn’t work, it was going to be torn down.

The thing that is so often ignored by developers and local gov’t agencies is that those old buildings are a lot tougher than what gets built today and so (a) have longer lives and (b) can be modified a lot easier. Everything isn’t stressed to its limit so you have flexibility…sort of a metaphor for any number of differences between past policies and more recent ones.

Reading the WF health plan (100% coverage of deductible (only $2,500) plus contributions) sounds great. Unfortch, I’ve got an HSA at my place of work (thank Allah I’m employed) that has an $8,000.00 deduct and only a 25% employer add-on. Awesome !!!!!!! I’ve been paying my own way for a while, and it sucks. We recently paid $1,798 for a stitch in my son’s lip (I thought he would have looked cool with a scar) that came from our HSA (really my own savings).

So, when this a-hole CEO wants top make “high-deductible” plans easier, I want to punch him in his waddle.

dbati
(tbati’s brother from the flyover states who wouldn’t know where to get duck fat, but could get you lard, oh, could I get you lard….)

Disinterested, I’m thinking we could lower the cost of our prescription drugs for starters. We’ve just heard and taken it for granted that our high cost was because of all the high technology the drug companies were putting into these amazing life saving drugs.

The problem with capitalism is that eventually you run out of Invisible Hands.

The problem with colonialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s land to steal.

The problem with fascism is that eventually you run out of armbands.

So true. When working for the family business, my girlfriend found that people who mentioned their Christianity during the job interview almost always ended up trying to steal from the company.

“If you are doing business with a religious son-of-a-bitch, GET IT IN WRITING. His word isn’t worth shit – not with the Good Lord telling him how to fuck you on the deal.”

– William S. Burroughs, “Words Of Advice For Young People”

Colleen – youre right , pharmaceuticals in the US cost a lot more than in Australia, because Australia contains the cost through government price control

Also your doctors get paid a lot more in relative terms, you use high technology in places where they are probaly not needed, and there is a very large cost in health care administration.

an $8,000.00 deduct and only a 25% employer add-on

HOLY FUCKING JESUS ON MELBA TOAST, that makes the Mall-Wart plan look like the National Health.

My condolences.

Pere Ubu,

I know, and my boss is a “small business conservative” (meaning he listens to Rush and bought is brother’s company), so I can’t even discuss this issue with him.

With all that said, my boss still maintains “healthcare” for all 15 employees and actually has a “profit sharing” plan that kinda works…so I’m lucky. Vishnu-forbid I lose this job, or we’ll use up the 12K i’ve got stashed in my HSA for nothing good (Like food and shit).

I think I’m still ahead of the curve, so-to-speak.

(Like food and shit)

You have to BUY your shit?

Huh. Usually it comes free with the food, about eight hours later.

Disinterested, thank you for your concern, but we do have our own number crunchers working on this one.

Beer consumption in Australia is 109.9 liters per capita, while in the US it is 81.6. Driving with a 0.08% Blood Alcohol Level (BAC) is illegal in the US, while it is 0.05% in Australia.

Since beer consumption is 25.8% than in the US, while drunk driving laws are 62.5% stricter, you would have to lower the permissible BAC by 240% to match US drinking rates.

I have not considered variance by state or province, or any other form of alcohol. Still, you may want to take me seriously, since I have absolutely no stake in this matter.

HOLY FUCKING JESUS ON MELBA TOAST

Could I get that, maybe, on an onion roll instead?

I wonder under Obama’s new healthcare if we have 40 million more people insured then where are we going to get the doctors to treat all of these people?

Could I get that, maybe, on an onion roll instead?

I dunno. I hear the Lunch Lady isn’t very happy about menu substitutions.

Could I just slip you an extra side order of cheese fries instead?

Feh! Trayf!

Goddamn it, Whole Foods is the only place within driving distance of my subterranean lair where I can get organic food.

Feh! Trayf!

Yeah, well, actually all it is is government cheese on top of Oily Taters, so yeah, you’re probably right to give it a miss.

Dragon King: Sorry, I kind of forgot all about this thread.

The brand name is Mrs. Leeper’s. It’s organic corn pasta, so obviously wheat and gluten free. There are two great things about it, to my mind. One is that, being free of wheat gluten, it doesn’t leave behind nearly as much of a gooey mess in your pot/on your strainer. Two is that, for whatever reason due to its makeup, it doesn’t go bad like wheat pasta does. It doesn’t get sticky and gluey and tired, it doesn’t dry out as fast, you can cook a bunch, slap it in the fridge in a ziploc bag and use it in small bits and pieces for days, or keep it for leftovers and use it later. If you toss it back in boiling water with some fresh pasta you’re making later at, say, a minute to go, it ends up the same consistency.

(That solves a major problem with me and pasta, since I always either cook too little and have to boil new pasta while people are waiting, or too much and have to toss it, since you really can’t save wheat pasta leftovers.)

For the record, I’m sort of Schroedinger’s Celiac at the moment. Tests are ambiguous and I’m on a trial gluten free diet to see if it helps… which ironically makes it harder. Eating gluten, at least short term, doesn’t make me sick(er), so I have to very, very strenuously avoid eating it to rule out Celiac, for two months or more, and this is the real pain, if I accidentally eat gluten, I may or may not ever find out. In another month or so I have to go and have biopsies done. So a place like Whole Foods that won’t hide gluten as an additive in everything under the sun is pretty damn essential to my life just at the moment.

Ah, I know what comes next: the Walton family announces that they’ve converted to Islam and call on Congress to replace the Constitution with Shania Law.

Tremble, liberal fascist communist anti-TP members of Congress, for your foibles have summoned Mighty Isis.

You know, J___, you really should be castigated for not posting a linky for nostalgic horndogs.

Goddammit, I always knew WF was a shit chain, but this just crosses the line. I don’t know what I’ll do, since the local WF is one of the very few shops within driving distance that carries gluten-free food (having celiac disease, ingesting gluten will make me seriously ill), but damn it all, it’s boycott time.

unneeded elective surgery to mutilate their own genitals, (and force Christian doctors to perform it.
Can I just mention the FORESKIN HOLOCAUST here?

The little detail of the christianity of hte hapless doctors is the cherry on the cake here. Or the egg in the beer. Depending on your choice of metaphor.

I wonder under Obama’s new healthcare if we have 40 million more people insured then where are we going to get the doctors to treat all of these people?

48M people voted for McCain, no?

DO THE MATH.

Smut, still north of 54°40′? If so, beware of WOLVERINES!!11!!!

And badgers, and any of the other crazed mustelids alien to your antipodean homeland.

– William S. Burroughs, “Words Of Advice For Young People”

Fuck. I thought that was gone down the memory hole for good, but now I see it has been redone. I had a version of that on a Ryko sampler disc back in the mid eighties that differs a bit from what I see coming up on teh google. Damn, I wish I could find that again.

The dream is over. Wake up & get out.

Someone up the thread said the NHS was founded by Winston Churchill.

Not so.

The NHS was founded by former coal miner and Labour minister of health Aneuin Bevan, who was part of the Labour government elected in 1945, when voters threw Churchill and his Tories out of power.

I don’t mean to suggest that Churchill was the major pusher behind the founding of the NHS.

But his role in assisting its formation and in sustaining it in its early years are real, and are in fact a credit to the degree of sanity that even conservative movements retained at the time.

It’s not about giving undue credit to Churchill or taking it away from Bevin and Labor and socialist leaders — it’s about setting a different context.

Yes, the hero of the U.S. right in the post-9/11 days, Winston Churchill, helped found and sustain Britain’s National Health Service. Perhaps more importantly, during its early years, Churchill publicly and repeatedly claimed a large Conservative role in having help set it up.

Again, this isn’t about how the shares of credit for founding the NHS should be allotted, but how U.S. rightist fetishizers of Churchill for his war roles can simultaneously deal with Churchill’s pride in setting up the NHS death panel squads which murdered American scientist Stephen Hawking by giving him ALS in order to save money.

Awesome comment from the thread at Big Orange Satan:

His libertarian ass pooped his capitalist pants and now he wants to backpedal and pretend it never happened.
by Urizen

I wonder under Obama’s new healthcare if we have 40 million more people insured then where are we going to get the doctors to treat all of these people?

Trolls blame Obama for high unemploment. Trolls try to stop Obama from reform that would create new jobs. Good paying jobs at that. Again, why do they hate America so?

Can any of us honestly say we don’t believe that, were it not for prohibitively confusing tax dealys, Beck & Limpballs etc would not be at their local soup kitchens right now volunteering while writing cheques to various real charities (ie: not Hannity’s “freedom concerts”) as fast as they could? I believe it! That’s the real reason Beck cries constantly when not bouncing off walls and chittering about UN troops hiding in his garden gnomes. That’s the real reason Limpballs pops oxycontin like it was pez, which he also pops like it was pez, fondles children in the Dominican Republic and vomits over America’s airwaves, polluting the very atmosphere itself. Because it’s the only way they can deal w/ being unable to give as much as their poor, tortured, souls yearn to.

Seriously people…it’s just a freakin’ grocery store.

Unfortunately it doesn’t look like there are any in mid-state South Carolina.

You could drive to Greenville. There’s at least one up there.

Glad to hear from NE Los Angeleans. Grew up (well, didn’t grow up per se but spent ages 6-14 near Ave. 66 and Meridian. Beautiful part of the city.
Loved reading the comments on Whole Foods: “You just got a new costumer!” (From the way this dickweed is writing, Whole Food’s CEO willl be needing a purple gown and an ermine robe.

Repurposed, forty years later:

“Don’t take the brown rice!”

We don’t have no stinking WF here in the gall bladder of the Bible belt but when I drive to Jax for ethnic groceries there’s a billboard on I-95 that says;

WHO IS JOHN GALT?

WTF is that all about. There’s no fine print, no number to call, nothing. Is this a nationwide phenom? Is it the Randroid’s publisher? A placeholder until they get a customer for the sign? Out of the hundreds of thousands that drive by that sign how many give a hoot about old John Galt?

I thought that was gone down the memory hole for good, but now I see it has been redone.

Ditto on the love for that quote, but I seem to remember a KEEP YOUR HANDS ON YOUR WALLET somewhere in there.

>>>Churchill publicly and repeatedly claimed a large Conservative role in having help set it up.

Thanks for the response; the link you give is a bit of the history I hadn’t heard before, and very interesting.

But my response is that just because Winnie said it, doesn’t make it true. I’d say it’s more a case of electioneering flim-flam, or of ‘coming upon the Whigs while they were bathing and walking away with their clothes’.

During the 1945 election campaign Churchill after all, famously accused Labour of needing ‘some kind of Gestapo’ to introduce its brand of pale pink democratic Socialism (a claim which some see as helping to swing the election for Attlee’s people). That sounds more like he was the original wingnut, rather than some far-sighted socializer of medicine.

And why not get rid of public housing assistance and go back to poor houses supported by charity? Food stamps? Phaugh! It would be much better to set the inmates of the poor houses to carving begging bowls for those who don’t meet whatever arbitrary standards the charity establishes!

You have pulled the mask off the old Lone Ranger!

It would be much better to set the inmates of the poor houses to carving begging bowls for those who don’t meet whatever arbitrary standards the charity establishes!

Let’s have ’em carve those begging bowls out of the empty skulls of the people who are so willing to let people go without food, shelter and health care.

And why not get rid of public housing assistance and go back to poor work houses supported by charity forced labor?

Fiqqst.

Obligatory Godwinning: Arbeit macht frei

Also.

Seriously people…it’s just a freakin’ grocery store.

And the customers here are performing their Free Market dictates by discussing the company’s policies and deciding whether to take their business elsewhere….

why do you hate Capitalism? Why do you hate America?

N__B and Candy, that building looks like an ideal candidate for the Title 42 program. I don’t know how Iowa treats the program, which is disbursed through block grants, but it offers tax credits for keeping the rents to a moderate leve, and renting to tenants who fall within the income levels. It’s not subsidized rents, it’s more of a rent control system.

Plus, you can add in the Historic Tax Credits. problem here is, the market for purchasing tax credits has gone to hell too.

And for all his other issues, N__B is right about these old buildings. You have to work within the existing constraints, so some developers shy away. But in all the talk about sustainable building, the simplest most obvious strategy is rarely presented; the most sustainable building strategy, by far, is to stop tearing buildings down and reuse them.

At first I thought Mr. Guns&Liberty might be a somewhat clever troll, but as the saying goes, Sadly, No!

This part is really pathetic.

WHO IS JOHN GALT?

WTF is that all about. There’s no fine print, no number to call, nothing. Is this a nationwide phenom? Is it the Randroid’s publisher? A placeholder until they get a customer for the sign? Out of the hundreds of thousands that drive by that sign how many give a hoot about old John Galt?

Here you go.

Where’s the Birth Certificate?

N__B is right about these old buildings. You have to work within the existing constraints, so some developers shy away. But in all the talk about sustainable building, the simplest most obvious strategy is rarely presented; the most sustainable building strategy, by far, is to stop tearing buildings down and reuse them.

(Note the careful cropping of zombie detritus.)

Nearly all construction lenders, most developers and a surprising number of people in the AEC community have bought into various myths about old buildings: that they can’t meet current earthquake or energy codes, that they can’t easily be modified, that their unique features (e.g., ornamental terra cotta facades) can’t be economically saved, that saving them is somehow more expensive then tearing them down and building entirely new buildings.

Drives me up the wall.

WHO IS JOHN GALT?

Is the billboard big enough to add “a fictional character in a book with fictional economics”? If so a nightly spraypaint mission may be in order.

I’m tempted to make little stickers with that on it for clarification purposes for folks with WIJG on their bumpers.

Is the billboard big enough to add other graffitti?

“For a good time, Who is John Galt? 900-ayn-rand.”

This part is really pathetic.

The only way that could possibly be sadder is if he followed it with a gallery of his RealDoll “companions” in bikinis armed with those guns.

And you know he’d do it.

Thanks J–, I suspected it was one of my wacky neighbors and sure enough. Seems like a lot to pay to advertise a really bad book. Maybe a sign down the road that says “Who Is Tyrone Slothrop” is in order.

Hmmm… not enough space on the billboard for a proper response, so I guess it will have to be a simple “A Somali pirate?”

Perhaps someone could put up another billboard with “Ayn Rand – for when a simple justification for selfishness just won’t do”.

John Galt: Took Longer to Say Goodbye Than Frodo.

For extra chock-full-o-nuttiness check out this lovely place. Pix of the John Galt billboard and lots of birf certificate ones too. Good to see lots of wingnut money going to this cause. Home of the black rifle indeed, some of the commenters there have, like, really cool nyms.

Tort Reform? Didn’t George II already fuck that up enough?
I am a victim of Tort Reform.
I have a 10% permanent nerve damage, limited mobility rating for my neck. In reality of course, it’s much worse. I only could get $4,000. from my employer. That was before lawyers fees! I had to go to the Company Doctor who said there was nothing wrong with me even though I could not turn my head, lift my arms or even bend down to bathroom sink level to brush my fuckin teeth.
I’d love to give these rich mother fuckers some reform they’ve never dreamt of!

beware of WOLVERINES!!11!!!
And badgers, and any of the other crazed mustelids alien to your antipodean homeland.

In Vancouver for another 2 days. No WOLVERINES!!, but I’ve had some narrow escapes from banana slugs and a raccoon.

In Vancouver for another 2 days.

Don’t you mean Caprica City?

Maybe a sign down the road that says “Who Is Tyrone Slothrop” is in order.

I’m still trying to figure that one out – and I read the damn thing.

Maybe a sign down the road that says “Who Is Tyrone Slothrop” is in order.

I’m still trying to figure that one out – and I read the damn thing.

– Not sure why Firefox keeps losing my defaults –

WHO IS JOHN YOSSARIAN?

In every B-52 I ever flew, if you looked around long enough you could find where someone had penciled the graffiti “Yossarian was right!”

I wouldn’t be surprised to find out the person who came up with “where’s the birth certificate” billboard campaign owns an outdoor advertising agency.

If someone is actually making money selling waterboarding and Ann Coulter t-shirts, I think it’s time to start marketing my “I do whtever the voices in Sarah Palin’s head tell me to do” t-shirts.

I’ve had some narrow escapes from banana slugs and a raccoon.

Raccoon???? They have become my sworn enemies. I’m hoping Rugged in Montana can help me out on his next Gay-Pr0n-Tourism trip to West Hollywood, and swing by Topanga with his traps.

I’ve had some narrow escapes from banana slugs and a raccoon.

You’re supposed to kiss the banana slugs, not flee them.

So has Whole Foods gone out of business yet?

In every B-52 I ever flew, if you looked around long enough you could find where someone had penciled the graffiti “Yossarian was right!”

That is profoundly awesome.

#

J— said,

August 15, 2009 at 16:23

Where’s the Birth Certificate?

Waco, Texas no less. I hope they make sure to put these up at all the Wingnut meccas:

Philadelphia, Mississipi
Oklahoma city
The book depository, Dallas
Memphis Tennessee
The Ambassador Hotel, LA
Ken Ham’s Creation Museum

I wonder if Lonely Planet has a “Wingnut’s guide to America” edition?

Ditto on the love for that quote, but I seem to remember a KEEP YOUR HANDS ON YOUR WALLET somewhere in there.

Ah, there seems to be a version to music that is edited from the original on “Smack My Crack”. Said original had some great bits that I noticed weren’t on the later version.

I wonder if Lonely Planet has a “Wingnut’s guide to America” edition?

Lonely Basement, more like!

You’re supposed to kiss the banana slugs
Is that what the young people are calling it?

Was this article written by a 10 year old, or an adult willfully ignorant of what Mackey was talking about?

First, it’s not the end of the world to expect an individual to foot some of their health care costs. If everybody had a deductible, they wouldn’t be rushing to the emergency room to have a splinter removed. And health care costs would go down.

Second, he’s not advocating having insurers cover less – he’s advocating giving an individual the right to take certain coverages away in search of a lower premium (ie. a single man not having to pay for maternity, a non-drinker not having to pay for rehab).

And there aren’t 50 million uninsured. That’s a BS, invented number – it’s not even close to that if you include illegal aliens.

It looks like Josh has been kissing Sonoran Desert toads.

Josh… is that you John Mackey?

And if you have health insurance, you wouldn’t be looking for service at an emergency room. You’d have a doctor. It’s the uninsured who go to ERs.

By the way treatment at ERs isn’t free. A hospitals can’t avoid treating someone because of costs or past debts, but patients are responsible for their costs under civil law.

I think WF should lower their prices.

WHO IS JOHN GALT?

As you can see by my non-blue name, I’m generally averse to doing the Blog-Hooch Tango – besides which I almost never blog – but what the hell: if I answer this once & for all, can these people finally STFU?

Yyyyyyyyyyyyyno.
Sigh.

Just for the record…the “Obabmacare” title was created by an editor at the Journal. The original, unedited version is simply titled “Health Care Reform.” Mackey does not mention Obama once in the entire piece.

(Lard is essential for other things as well.)
Ah, kidney fat.
Thorvald Eirik the Red’s son was sitting by the rudder, and the skraeling shot an arrow into his guts. He drew out the arrow. “There is fat round my belly!” he said. “We have won a fine and fruitful country, but will hardly be allowed to enjoy it.” Thorvald died of this wound a little later.

In one version of the saga, it was a uniped what did the deed.

One of my favorite Norse comebacks was Grettir’s brother Atli’s quip after Þorbjörn gut-stabbed him:
“Broad spears are the fashion these days.”

Quoted nearly verbatim in Aguirre the Wrath of God, but that’s Herzog for you.

BBBB wins 6 feet of English soil, or if he is tall, an extra foot besides.

I think that the OB/GYN bar up there should say $5500 instead of $55,000.

Not a chance. OB/GYN malpractice exposure is genuinely in need of reform. Entire swathes of the country (like, say, Eastern Oregon) has essentially no OB/GYN coverage.

It’s not an excuse to harp on overall malpractice reform, nor is malpractice reform remotely related to health care reform or anything like that, but ironically the rightest thing Bush ever said was his line about how OB/GYNS need to be free to practice their love of women.

BBBB wins 6 feet of English soil, or if he is tall, an extra foot besides.

Not as tall as Hardrada- note that I am not the TBBB.

John Sears:

I also am in Madison. I’d check the Willy Street Co-Op if you haven’t already, they have a pretty good line-up of unglutened products (I think) and also take suggestions. If the 10% non-owner surcharge curls your nose, well, how is that worse than the 10% discount most big-chain stores give the members who sign away all their marketing information? At least the Co-Op’s up front about it.

I’d been avoiding becoming a member of the Willy Street Co-Op for ages, but I signed up last week.

The TJs here is pretty small, s’true. I tend to raid their frozen section for deals and buy cheap cooking wine there.

Hm, three of us in Madison and counting… though I’m not a REAL SadlyNaught. I just lurk and enjoy the shadenfreude.

You might be interested to know that Mackey recently opened a Whole Foods in my neighborhood and is systematically (and illegally) not accepting food stamps. Wouldn’t do, of course, to have that sort of people around his yuppie customers. Boycott, boycott, boycott.

First, it’s not the end of the world to expect an individual to foot some of their health care costs. If everybody had a deductible, they wouldn’t be rushing to the emergency room to have a splinter removed. And health care costs would go down.

I went to the ER earlier this year to have a toenail removed. We have insurance, easy procedure, paid a 50 buck copay. So they do this already.

Second, he’s not advocating having insurers cover less – he’s advocating giving an individual the right to take certain coverages away in search of a lower premium (ie. a single man not having to pay for maternity, a non-drinker not having to pay for rehab).

This is also done already, at least the maternity thing. I paid for insurance for my employees, and could see quite clearly that women of ‘a certain age’ had a significantly higher premium. They didn’t call it maternity surcharge, which I suspect is illegal, but it certainly quacked like a duck.

And frankly, some insurance plans don’t cover abuse treatment; but opting out of an available one is sheer lunacy. what, no non-drinkers ever started drinking? Stupid idea.

Cover everyone. Include dental, vision, and reproductive. Botox and boner pills should be out of pocket.

though I’m not a REAL SadlyNaught. I just lurk and enjoy the shadenfreude.

I believe that qualifies. No need to be a zombietroll, like some.

Bonus hilarity:

MR. TEXASSOLDIER, wer comrades buddy, i’m in elpaso. okay, i’ve got a lot of guys round up here and we’re going to do OPEN CARRY in every wholefoods in the land. MR. Macky can stand proud with us and he will no longer have to fear this take over. i didn’t read his article somewhre but i know he’s got to be our kjind of guy. We’re here for you bro, mr mackey sir!!!!
OPEN CARRY FOR ALL WHOLEFOODS.
ur pal
billyboy call me ruger 408

purvis ames: If your local WF is illegally refusing to accept food stamps, don’t just boycott – report them.

Entire swathes of the country (like, say, Eastern Oregon) has essentially no OB/GYN coverage.

And yet Western Oregon manages to have tons of OB/GYN coverage, despite operating under the same malpractice laws and insurance policies as the eastern half of the state. Think it might have something to do with how much money they make rather than malpractice insurance? I’m guessing that rich Portlanders are a more preferred patient base than rural Harney County residents.

I will gladly bet a pound of tofu that the Whole Fascist CEO pays less taxes than one of his store’s managers.

YOU ALL NEED TO LEARN TO LIVE OFF OF SALT TACK AND SEA BISCUITS ANYWAY……DAMNED GAY HIPPIES!!!

the problem with all this Rand stuff, (and I used to be one, or at least, very interested in it) is that it only works in a perfect world where all people are logical and are satisfied with fairness rather than secretly wanting more than they should. It basically does not work with real humans who will lie, cheat, steal, and desire, and then as soon as they fail, just leave. It also assumes people are not driven by money, but they are driven by EARNING money, by passion for perfection. A character in a Rand novel works and receives money for that work, and get as much as they can. But they value their integrity and their business more highly than their pay. People (in general) dont give a fuck about their work. Burger teen doesnt care. Telephone Secretarty doesnt care. They’re just there for a paycheck. Some people wont quit if they’re treated like shit (as a Rand character would) and some won’t redistribute their pay to be fair or practices to be best for their own long term interest (as a Rand character would).

Of course, the Randian would answer, thats their problem and they will lose and eventually “evolve” or whatever out. But they wont. Its human nature. It exists everywhere; Randians dont. If we were all Randians, maybe the world would be better, I dont know. But we are not, so the whole “humans are logical beings and I must live by logic and espouse that everything will eventually settle into the most logical economy” is based on a false premise. That humans are logical.

Eventually I figured this out. While Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged were great books, and I learned a lot about myself and people from reading it, its proposals are ideas, and I see them as a tribute to ideals rather than a tribute to a humanity.

“Pinefresh said,
Just for the record…the “Obabmacare” title was created by an editor at the Journal. The original, unedited version is simply titled “Health Care Reform.” Mackey does not mention Obama once in the entire piece.”

Pinefresh is a WF troll. I got that same response from WF when I wrote them an email about the op-ed. They are trying to pretend Mackay is a health reform advocate, just offering helpful suggestions, not spewing discredited Republican talking points in an attempt to kill real reform.

This notion of the government forcing unwilling “Christian doctors” to perform gender reassignment surgery — yeah, like I would want someone crafting my new genitalia while muttering curses and curling his lip and declaring that the delicate surgery s/he was performing was an abomination. That is totally the doctor I would want to draft, you betcha.

Whole Foods… Now serving road kill
http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/1152/12506292302106786175978.jpg

Forgive me for being “not up to date” or “in” on the conversation, I just happen to be an American living abroad in Japan for 17yrs…

WTF does “Xecky Gilchrist said,

August 14, 2009 at 21:27

I heard this on Stephanie Miller this morning and thought it was a joke.

It does indeed ring the Poe’s Law bell pretty hard.”

Poe’s Law? As in Edgar Allen? I know Edgar. He is a friend of mine in literature. I wanna know his law, because I sure like what his brain … so far revealed… unhappy life, short, drinker, marriage, family hated, … just my kinda whacky eccentric guy. (I sing karaoke -damn good- in front of crowds. I ain’t scared+STYLE, Baby! Queen: Dont Stop Me Now.) Xecky Gilchrest, get back and enlighten me on Poe’s law, that or I wikipedia and cut you off at the nuts (whoops, KNEES, yeah, KNEES!) whoops, first. Get back to me, I gotta know Poe’s first law. And I presume there may be second, third… enlighten me. I am willing, waiting, wanna… (My Fair Lady) do it. I emplore you.

Come on BABY! I said it first, I say it again.

I think Poe’s law is something like no matter how wacky a parody of religious belief you write, there exists some person who actually believes what you wrote, so that without cues it is impossible to tell whether any given text on religious belief is a parody or not.

Darwinism should be adopted as America’s universal health care program. We have too many consumers in this country that don’t do anything for anyone else who include the conservative salesmen and lazy liberals. If we are going to help each other pay for health care, it has to be based on a condition your health risk. If your genetics suck then you get a bone, but everyone who feeds themself with shit and is not active does not deserve tax payer money.

Tintin, after Hurricane Isabel shuffled through Newport News (among other places), I could only get out of our tree-filled neighborhood on my bike, and I headed for Harris Teeter. They managed to reopen in the ghostly half-light of generator power, selling only canned goods and maybe bananas. They also gave everybody who came in a jug of spring water and five gallons of ice.

This proved so popular that they had to move this part of the operation to a nearby stadium, where they hydrated and chilled any and everybody who came by. I told them afterwards that I was their customer for life, but it turned out that we moved two or three years later, making a liar of me. I still can’t forget their incredible generosity. For that matter, I still remember their in-store sushi bar. Yum.

I really appreciate this post. I have been looking everywhere for this! Thank goodness I found it on Bing. You have made my day! Thx again.