Jill Rants and Raves: lipozene, pitbulls, pot and plaxico

I'm not sure why I decided to watch the television news this evening, that isn't like me. It isn't like me to watch television at all come to think of it, so I don't know why I was slumming, except that I had a huge plate of home made mashed potatoes and lemon ginger fried chicken in front of me and that seems like a TV dinner somehow. By the end of the newscast I was speechless - Amerika spent 16.6 billion dollars on Black Friday and Saturday - and only a few innocents got trampled by marauding 5am shoppers. They re-ran the story of the WalMart employee trampled to death while trying to help a pregnant woman, and no-one stopped. We are formally in a recession, according to the 'experts', but they back-dated this event to December 2007. Like those of us who actually have to live in real places didn't already know this, but perhaps the economists who put together this stunning report haven't quite got the hang of it, between their Manhattan offices and their Stepford lives in the suburbs.

In other news, prosecutors seem certain that the NFL player, NY Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress, who accidentally shot himself in the leg while in a night club, won't skip bail which was set at $100,000. As they point out he could stand to lose some or all of his $35 MILLION contract if he does something that stupid. More stupid, that is, than taking an unregistered loaded handgun into a night club and twisting the night away with it pointing towards his thigh.

And what's with the news that over the last 2 years almost 100 dogs, mostly pitbulls, have been trapped (and killed) after attacking livestock in Mendocino County - dogs which have been used to guard the marijuana crops which are planted all over the county - much of it on public land, in state or national forest. Once the crop is harvested and some of the large scale growers have gone back south to their haciendas in Mexico, the dogs are just let go to roam the land finding food and shelter where they can. Just great, right? When you look at the damage caused by the cultivation of this particular crop to the land and the native flora and fauna and add in the elements of violent protection of this billion dollar enterprise and now the pitbulls - next time you take a toke on this harmless product, think about it. I mean, you support organic small farms right? Care where your beef is raised and how it's slaughtered? Always buy organic produce? So, is your weed being grown by one of the many medical marijuana 20 plant small timers with a groovy indoor organic shed, or in one of your favorite wildlife spots over hundreds of acres, surrounded by the trash produced by major growing and protected by AK 47's and a few ravenous dogs?

Oh, I just realised I probably annoyed half my friends right there. I know I know. End the 'War On Drugs' and the problem ends, right? I don't freakin' think so.

And as I'm on the subject of drugs, why is it even legal for manufacturers of drugs like Lipozene to advertise directly to the 'consumer' on television? What is wrong with this picture? Lipozene is being heavily marketed as a 'no risk' drug which will reduce your fat levels and do away with your 'pure fat' without you having to make any diet, exercise or lifestyle changes. Infomercials give you 10 minutes to call to get your 30 day supply and on the bottom of the screen in the tiniest letters ( I just happened to have my glasses on as I was pulling a tick out of Roo's ear flap) there are all sorts of warnings about women who are pregnant or who might be or who might have any number of other ailments not to take this drug. Is there a lawyer out there who cares about this stuff? It's plain flat out wrong.

I need to not watch the news - it's simple. I'm gonna go back to getting my info from a totally reliable source....talk radio. I'm just kidding.