Scientists: Watermelon yields Viagra-like effects

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — A slice of cool, fresh watermelon is a juicy way to top off a Fourth of July cookout and one that researchers say has effects similar to Viagra - but don’t necessarily expect it to keep the fireworks all night long.

Watermelons contain an ingredient called citrulline that can trigger production of a compound that helps relax the body’s blood vessels, similar to what happens when a man takes Viagra, said scientists in Texas, one of the nation’s top producers of the seedless variety.

Found in the flesh and rind of watermelons, citrulline reacts with the body’s enzymes when consumed in large quantities and is changed into arginine, an amino acid that benefits the heart and the circulatory and immune systems.

“Arginine boosts nitric oxide, which relaxes blood vessels, the same basic effect that Viagra has, to treat erectile dysfunction and maybe even prevent it,” said Bhimu Patil, a researcher and director of Texas A&M’s Fruit and Vegetable Improvement Center. “Watermelon may not be as organ-specific as Viagra, but it’s a great way to relax blood vessels without any drug side effects.” read more >>>

Gas Prices! Who’s to blame?

In the first place, there are no simple answers to complex probems. Petroleum is scarce, in fact it’s a finite quantity in its supply. That being said, this is not like the energy crisis of the past. This is fundamentally an international political crisis and not an OPEC oil cartel action disrupting supply for economic gains or political posturing. So, we can’t really blame OPEC and the consortium of big-oil companies…but what the hell, why not? There’s plenty of blame to go around and we love to hate big-oil. As average citizens and consumers, we really really hate big-oil’s recent windfall profit fortunes, but when examined closely, using comparative industry-wide profiit margin studies, they aren’t really out of line at all. In fact, they come out on the low side of normal. The rub is that it’s awfully hard for the common man to imagine profits in the billions of dollars when you’re personally just barely  keeping your nose above water and are maybe going down for the third time.  But, the truth of the matter  regardless of how unfair that it might seem, is that simple facts point to the phenomenon that big oil just happens to be in the right place, in the right business,  and at the right time. Pragmatically speaking, you and I would no doubt, do the same in their place; which is to sit back and enjoy the benefits of our unexpected good fortune. That’s what being in business in this country and moreover, a free world, is supposed to be all about, is it not? We should all be so lucky.

We are now competing with a growing voracious world appetite for oil. China and India have become oil hungry and are competing with us on the open market for their fair share of this valuable resource. Curiously, as the authors of the free market strategy, we somehow find ourselves ill-prepared to deal with this competition; it’s a heretofore unknown area of our expertise and experience. Supplying our refineries with crude oil at bargain prices on mostly our terms to fuel our gas guzzler SUV’s and 400hp freeway cruisers, not to mention our electric power plants, the farm machinery that is responsible for our surplus food crops and the diesel-powered trucks to get our goods to the marketplace, is no longer a given. The ‘trickle down’ effect will soon strangle the common man at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder,  who’s  been unfairly robbed of his vision of the American dream and is now just trying to get by the best he can on cheap dollars and inflated prices.

The Middle East is unstable due largely to the Iraq war and the risk is factored into the world oil price. Our dollar is weak thus it takes more dollars to buy an international barrel of oil. In an effort to forestall a serious recession and further crises in derivative instruments, the Federal Reserve is pouring out liquidity that is financing speculation in oil futures contracts.

It is this speculation that is driving the price.

If we face the truth head-on, it can also argued that the real value of oil has always been set at artificially low rates due to the fact that it was relatively easy to find and explot. Rarity and scarcity of a finite resource should’ve market driven the price of oil to gold and diamond levels years ago. But, the world has acted like kids turned loose in a candy store, plundering the goods until they were on the verge of disappearing forever, with no thought or planning of what to do when that happened whatsoever.  Incredibly, that blatant lack of foresight and obvious juvenile behavior would seem to be a mark of doing things ‘The American Way’.

Over the last five years, the U.S. dollar has lost about 32% of its value compared to the euro.  The main driver of prices is the weak U.S. dollar and the linked subprime crisis in America; geopolitical tensions, and increased emphasis on U.S. bioethanol production which diverted production of diesel and led to shortages.

The dollar is weak because of large trade and budget deficits, the closing of which is beyond American political will. As abuse wears out the US dollar’s reserve currency role, sellers demand more dollars as a hedge against its declining exchange value and ultimate loss of reserve currency status.

So, how can the decline of the dollar be halted?

Other countries need to step up domestic consumption instead of exporting their goods to US markets under ridiculously lopsided favorable trade agreements. They have been lured into this addiction like school kids by the local crack cocaine dealer and one day soon the hand that has fed them will suddenly turn on them. It has no choice and they, like us, will have to face the stark reality that they are  undeniably and absolutely hooked on a  field of dreams that will choke the life out of them without regard due to their lack of intuitive foresight and planning for the inevitable.

The eurozone, in particular, has failed lamentably in the past few years to generate enough growth to take pressure off the US, and why should it? There was never a good argument presented for reasons to do business any other way. Domestic consumption also has to pick up in Asia. But the Bush administration also needs to rein in its budget and current trade imbalances and more importantly, admit that the Free Trade agreements we have signed on to these past few years have had a disastrous impact on our domestic economy and workplace. A pig is a pig is a pig.

But, if we want one bogeyman to blame for the high price of oil, look no further than the Bush/Cheney Iraq war machine which has destabilized the mid-east and in a domino effect, crashed the world’s economy. Follow if you will, the money-trail…it all leads back to this one spectacular event and the ‘criminal’ misdeeds of all concerned. This is horribly simplistic but it’s the best that can be offered under the present circumstances for a ‘feel good’ explanation of our current crisis.

I’m not old and wise enough to know for sure, but through my observations and studies, it has always stood out that this country has been basically reactionary.  Oh, we claim to be the world’s trend setters and we are about the good things, but we have failed miserably to set good examples in any areas that have threatened our ‘good life’.  To quote one of the greatest minstrel prophets of our time, Bob Dylan phrased it like this nearly fifty years ago:

“Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin‘.”

Sleep tight kiddee’s

Frank Snyder, Labor 2008 state director for Pennsylvania, reports on a union rally outside a John McCain campaign stop.

More than 70 union members and activists gathered outside Worth and Co. in Pipersville, Pa., to highlight Sen. John McCain’s anti-worker record as he held a town hall meeting inside the building.

Members from AFSCME, AWIU, CWA, IAFF, IBEW, NATCA, SMWIA, UA, UFCW and USW attended the rally, chanting “John McCain is more of the same” and holding signs that read “Turn Around America” and “John McCain Voted Against Health Care for Children.”   read more

By William Pfaff

It is an axiom of history that no government put in place by foreign troops, or needing to be maintained in place by them against internal opposition, can be considered a legitimate government.

truthdig.com — The Bush government was elected in 2000 on a platform including vigorous opposition to the United States Army’s doing “nation-building.” Swedes, Danes, the European Union, and NGOs did nation-building. The U.S. Army was a fighting army.

This was the principle on which the new U.S. volunteer Army was formed after Vietnam. It is the explanation why, after the fall of Baghdad in 2003, the Army looked on, bemused, while the people of Baghdad hesitantly, and then enthusiastically, tore down the phone and power wires, dug up the copper pipes, and destroyed the power generators of the city infrastructure, looting their own capital city of everything that had value and could be sold. the rest of the story…

10 Things Obama Will NOT Do If The Terra-ists “Test” Him in 2009 as Joe Lieberman Predicts

Joltin’ Joe Lieberman, Republican in Democratic clothing predicted today that terra-ists will “test” the next president in 2009 as they tested W. in 2001 and Clinton in 1993. Watch it here:

This got me to thinking about the TTT, the terra threat test score of Dumbya, the Village Idiot from Texas who became our Commander in Chimp. We all know that McSame promises us four years more, so presumably he will respond to the TTT exactly the same way that our President Select did. However, I am willing to bet hard cold cash that we will not see our newly elected President Barack Obama:

I. Read My Pet Goat or any other children’s book while U.S. military forces await orders from their Commander-in-Chief that can save innocent American lives — the rest of the story

Former Republican congressman and Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr recently talked with Jane Hamsher on Bloggingheads.tv. Jane posed a simple question to the former manager of the Clinton impeachment team, “Bill Clinton or George Bush?” Here’s the response, video and transcript: The Interview

SOMETIMES YOU’RE JUST BETTER OFF NOT KNOWING!

IBEW Endorses Democratic Candidate Barack Obama
Vows an All-Out Push

Washington – The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers joined in organized labor’s endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama for President of the United States.

“Our union deliberately did not endorse a candidate in the primaries because we wanted our members to listen to all the candidates and participate in the process. Now is the time to join with the labor movement to unite behind the candidate who offers the best choice to reverse the disastrous policies of the past eight years,” said IBEW International President Edwin D. Hill. “The issues are clear. We as a people face difficult choices on health care, energy policy and building jobs and opportunity in a world increasingly bound by economic and environmental issues. Barack Obama offers positive leadership to navigate our way into the future instead of continuing the failures of the past.”

The IBEW has been engaged in vigorous training at the local level in order to increase voter registration and participation by members and their families. The union is committed to its largest mobilization effort ever for pro-worker candidates up and down the ballot.

“We want to engage our members and all working people on the need for action on the issues that make a difference in our daily lives,” added Hill. It is time to move beyond name calling and division so that our country can take positive action on the challenges we face.”

Related: Obama vs. McCain: For the Building Trades…The Choice was Clear.
By Mark H. Ayers, BCTD President

The IBEW is an international labor organization that represents approximately 725,000 workers in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Republic of Panama. The IBEW has members in construction, utilities, manufacturing, telecommunications, broadcasting, railroads and government

George Denis Patrick Carlin
^{May 12, 1937 - June 22, 2008}
obituary

Well, it’s the end of an era. George Carlin, arguably one of the two funniest men (Richard Pryor being the other) to ever shit between a pair of boots is dead.  Just for kicks, listen to his take on the 10 Commandments. It’s pure George…