Food safety and capitalism in China

I've got some catching up to do, but I wanted to add this quickie before I forget. All the talk lately about toxic toys that are being recalled, killer pet food and food ingredients imported from China and added to our manufactured food...what are we complaining about? Please bear in mind that our Commander in Chimp is determined to spread capitalism and the American Way around the world. That's exactly what's going on in China. Not some effort by the government of China to terrorize America; it's just free enterprise at work.

I witnessed this phenomenon when visiting China one summer. It was very hot, and people everywhere carried bottled water. Enterprising youngsters would fetch discarded bottles from trash bins, fill them at the nearest roadside ditch, and offer them for sale. Now, what's wrong with that? As a coworker once explained to me (he was a John Bircher), as long as there is someone willing to buy, any sale ought to be allowed. If a product leads to illness, the sick buyer has the right to take the seller to court. Presumably, this applies to the heirs if the buyer happens to die because of an unsafe product.

Where have I been?

Yikes, I was not planning a blog hiatus, I just went looking for some scientific references supporting Creationism, and I fell into a black hole--utter Nothingness. I finally escaped when I realized that a Black Hole of Creationism, like anything else having a Creationist origin, has nothing to do with reality and I should just get back to business.

Just before I disappeared, I was "tagged," so I'll take care of this issue first. Even then (end of June) I thought tagging had run its course, but I've seen a couple other tag posts since. Surely by now the fad has faded, but I'll go ahead anyway.

This tag came as a reward for my last post (way back in mid-June), discussing an awful example of misapplication of the tagger's research results in anti-evolutionist arguments. Thanks to CAD of VWXYNot for the tag.

Okay, so first we list the rules:

• We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
• Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
• People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
• At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
• Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

Here are some things about me:

1. I tend to procrastinate. I suppose I must be an optimist, because I figure I can do it all tomorrow.
2. Snakes live in my attic; I don't mind.
3. I just picked up some reading material: Coyne and Orr, Speciation; Isaak, The Counter-Creationism Handbook; Norell, Unearthing the Dragon, and Currie &al., Feathered Dragons.
4. As a geology major in college, I was a very big frog in a very little pond. Later, as a graduate student, I discovered how very much more there was to learn. Much later, I'm still learning.
5. My neighbor frequently calls with questions about animals, the moon, the weather, and various other subjects. They're mostly easy questions, but he's impressed and thinks I'm a genius. Other people ask me tougher questions and are less impressed.
6. I enjoy bluegrass music. I used to listen to some every day on the radio, but that station decided to replace the music with the same talk shows that I can hear more clearly on another station.
7. I like old monster, horror, and science fiction movies.
8. The key to my filing system is floor space.

I'll put the tag on blogs I have enjoyed and are worth further notice. I don't think I've noticed these bloggers have been tagged before, but in case I missed it, or if you feel this nonsense has got to stop, please don't feel under any obligation to pass it along. But remember, it's bad luck to break the chain.
Laelaps Further Thoughts Clever Beyond Measure Rev. Big Dumb Chimp
Green Gabbro Primordial Blog The force that through... Silly Humans