Usually, Stickers are Free

"Unfortunately, “GMO free” and similar claims are not legally or scientifically defensible due to limitations of testing methodology.  In addition, the risk of contamination to seeds, crops, ingredients and products is too high to reliably claim that a product is “GMO free.”"
                                              -- The Non-GMO Project's own website

Fortunately, they'll still accept millions of dollars a year for selling meaningless "GMO Free" stickers to corrupted food distributors. And fortunately for you the consumer, they'll still accept millions of your tax-free donations so they can be comfortable while they bullshit the public.

Why doesn't this generation believe in snake oil?
I suspect it's because nobody wants to look like they're uninformed or out of the loop. Conspiracy theories are becoming the Pokemon of the 21st century, & you've gotta collect 'em all. So naive people (I call them trubeleievers) hear one semi-convincing argument & jump right up to swallow the hook without another thought.

I really don't mean to be harsh to those people. EVERYBODY goes through a naive stage. It's life. NOBODY knows everything, & the best any of us can do is learn as we go.
And I don't mean that conspiracy theories should all be generically dismissed as hoaxes. You'll find plenty of conspiracy chowder slopped all over this very blog.
But in all cases, I insist that research be conducted following the scientific method & rules of logic. Faith is not enough. Claiming something is "good" or "bad" is not enough.

"But they're giant corporations who are willing to destroy the planet with their lies for profit"
If we're going to base our opposition to a movement based on lack of proof & evidence of a profit motive, then look directly at The Non-GMO Project. They ADMIT they can't prove anything, & they only thing they do is profit. (I haven't proven it yet, but I suspect that their true business model is the world's most successful sticker company.)

Of course the immediate response of the truebeliever is "At least they're doing SOMETHING!"
So let's apply that same argument to a witch doctor or priest. The rain dances & prayers are doing SOMETHING. But that's only the cause.....what's the effect? Well, one effect is that they make a lot of money. Another is that you give them your money & faith for dances & prayers. And sure, there's the whole 'raising awareness' aspect, but that only serves to grow their cult. Are the foods now GMO free? The question doesn't even make sense....GMO is not a substance. GMO simply means "genetically modified organism", like a carefully-bred rose, a seedless banana, or the entire Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

FUN FACT: EVERY BANANA YOU & EVERYBODY ELSE HAS EVER EATEN IS A GMO PRODUCT.

I'll be writing soon about the Organic Conspiracy....stay tuned

The Difference Between Liberals & Conservatives

Ever notice:
conservatives watch the news like,
 
"I've been following this story for 7 years & that bill never passed the senate. Regardless, the levees should hold until the market stabilizes", 


& liberals watch the news like,

"THAT'S RACIST! EVERYONE'S A JUDGMENTAL ELITIST BUT ME!"

SCOTUS Upholds Michigan's Ban on Affirmative Action

Congratulations to Michigan & everyone who has been hurt by racist laws. Maybe one day the rest of the states will join, & we'll all be judged by the content of our character, not the color of our skin.

He was Never in the Wheel Well.

Amazed that a 16 year old boy survived temperatures of fifty degrees below zero with virtually no oxygen for five & a half hours? Me, too. In fact, I'd kinda like to see some proof. I expect someone responsible to convince me that this is truth. Show me that this isn't just a story written to persuade people that they'd be better off paying higher airline fees & taxes & giving up a liberty or two....you know, for safety's sake.

While there are plenty of sources claiming this story is true, there are plenty of reasons in your very own brain to withhold your belief. Just ask some questions.

Questions about the flight:  

• Could someone really just hop the fence at an airport & get onto the tarmac?
• Where are the eyewitness reports? (Flight crew, passengers, hundreds of people staring out the giant windows overlooking the tarmac...surely somebody saw something & called attention to it.) 
• Could a person ACTUALLY fit in the cavity, or is that just a theory?
• IF a person COULD actually fit into the wheel well, would the person be safe? Is the area full of noxious fumes, heat, or mechanical elements that could crush a person?
• Why aren't the airline workers who supposedly spotted the boy & alerted authorities being interviewed?

Questions about the boy:

• How could a 16 year old know that there was a boy-sized compartment in an airline's wheel well? (They say he ran away from a heated family argument...did he then hit Google looking for incredibly bizarre & dangerous hiding places?)
• Why aren't his parents being interviewed/ hounded by the media?
• Why is the boy not facing any charges from law enforcement, the airline, or the airports?
• Why aren't the parents facing any charges?

Questions about the human body: 

• Can a person survive 50 degrees below zero in just a T shirt & jeans? For how long?
• How cold does a person have to be for five and a half hours before frostbite occurs? 
• How cold does a person have to be for five and a half hours before organ failure or loss of extremities?
• How long can a person survive with virtually no oxygen (15%)?

When we think of airports, most Americans think of security...long lines, removing shoes, plastic tubs full of our pocket contents, cameras everywhere, & the examination of every personal nook & cranny via everything from X-rays to mysterious puffs of air. It seems reasonable, then, to ask
Where is the footage:

•  of the boy hopping the fence?
• of him running across the apron?
• of him climbing into the wheel well?
• of him getting out of the wheel well?
•  of the plane taking off/landing with him in it?

Hell...why is there only one picture of the boy or the entire event, & why we can't see his face? Why can't we see any details that might actually identify where the image was shot?

Keep in mind, footage doesn't necessarily prove anything. Last year I saw footage of Sandra Bullock surviving a catastrophe in outer space, but it was all fake. Anything can be faked. But the very absence of footage is more than enough cause for suspicion. And somebody in the media, the airlines, or law enforcement knows this, because they went to the trouble to make the spurious claim that this footage exists.

In fact, just in case you're the curious type & insist on seeing it, Google will lead you to an ABC News page where they have a big headline:

"Stowaway Seen on Video Exiting Plane's Wheel Well After Death-Defying Flight"

But the footage just isn't there. 
Check the link for yourself. And that's the only source claiming the footage even exists.

There are a LOT more questions to ask about this story, but the main question would have to be "Why?" Why would this clearly-fake story be released in all the major media outlets? Whenever something in the news doesn't feel right, ask yourself who stands to benefit. I'll take a stab & say it's a stunt to give the airlines a big boost of federal dollars (plus a few extra bucks from the passengers' wallets) to help everybody feel safe. I mean, isn't everybody already wanting to know if a terrorist could slip a bomb up in there? NOTHING makes money like fear does.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it did happen. But as it stands now, the lack of evidence far outweighs the evidence.

For other "Where is the footage?"-type conspiracy stories, try to find the footage of:

• The suspects placing bombs at the Boston Marathon
• The Pentagon being hit with an airliner on 9/11/01
• Adam Lanza in the halls of Sandy Hook elementary 
• A protest turning violent outside the US consulate in Benghazi on 9/11/12

Another Athlete Arrested, Pt1

This time, it was Deonte Dempsey of GSU football. He had a pound of weed & a gun, & attacked the cops. Coach says he could stay on the team if he doesn't go to prison. And why the hell would he go to prison? He's a college athlete, for fuck's sake.

http://wjcl.com/2014/04/17/gsu-football-player-arrested/

Women, Children, & the Elderly on the Front Lines

I don't know if Richard Mack was the one who came up with the plan to use women as human shields in defending the Bundy ranch against a federal invasion in Nevada, but he's the one who said it to the national media.

In September of 2011, hundreds of protesters from the other side of Mack's political aisle employed the same tactic across the country, using their children & the elderly to absorb the batons & pepper spray of local police in defense of some vague idea they never quite agreed on. They didn't know it at the time, but that vague idea was a promotional stunt intended to coax millions of struggling Americans & illegal immigrants into giving a portion of their paychecks to the SEIU. These people were risking their children so a company they couldn't even identify could make money. 

What makes the original complainers so special that they can't go to the front line themselves? Is everybody a general? Is everybody a golden child? Is everybody the leader of their own "leaderless movement"? Everybody says they're fighting for all of us (whether we asked them to or not, whether we believe as they do or not, whether it affects us or not). But when the fighting starts they run to the safety of the tents & push everybody else up to the front to get beaten, arrested, & killed.
Is this going to be the new normal in 21st century conflict?

Right & wrong are concepts that burn away at the very beginning of any conflict. Strategies can't really be judged as good or evil... there are only degrees of effectiveness. But hiding behind the people you claim to be protecting....that's strictly for cowards. There is no ambiguity about it.