Sugar is worse than cocaine (video)

Amber Larson, Seth Auberon, Wisdom Quarterly; Alex Cohen (SCPR.org); Suzi Yoonessi

What's she doin? I'dunno, but it's Barbie! How could it be bad? Her Corvette, dream house

Is it child abuse to give your kids sugar? Coca Barbie doesn't think so!

Funny or Die had a contest, and "Olive and Mocha's Fast Times at Sugar High" took first place. It was an unlikely friendship between a goody-goody and a bad-seed that resulted in havoc at a birthday party.

I'm not hyper! But get me some more candy!

Sugar was the culprit. Not System of a Down's "Sugar," though maybe that had something to do with it. It was the pure white and artificially-flavored confection and killer of America's kids. How could it be worse than the deadly excitotoxin cocaine? For one thing, it's legal. For another, no one suspects it.

We were all high on SUGAR: "The Kombucha mushroom people...!"

 

Birthday party: Fast Times at Sugar High

They shove it into kids, with each American child snorting, shooting (hospital IV), or swallowing an average of 150 one-pounds sacks of it each year, usually hidden in food, desserts, and soda. It dehydrates, ruins the ability to concentrate, sends blood glucose levels through the roof, kicks the immune system offline for about five hours after each it, and eats away at the body. It may or may not directly cause obesity, but it is the cause of early-onset diabetes, brain problems (mental fog, confusion, spectrum disorders), cancer, tooth rotting, premature aging, and more. Yuck!
 

Funny or Die contest

Drugs! Drugs! Get your drugs here!

(SCPR) The L.A. Film Festival this year joined forces with the comedy video website Funny or Die in a talent search for diverse, unique, and authentic voices in the comedy world.

 

The submissions to the "Make 'em LAFF" competition were whittled down to the top 25, then the top 5, and this weekend, the first place winner was revealed: Suzi Yoonessi (audio).

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An American Junk-Food Tax?

Xochitl; CC Liu, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; A Martinez, Alex Cohen, Take Two (SCPR.org), Nat'l Burger Day, Vow To Revive Navajo Junk-Food Tax (AP/NPR, April 22, 2014)

This mouth-watering burger is a delicious, cruelty-free vegan melt with baked fries (Vegan)

 

Don't tell anyone these are "good" as in healthy.

FLAGSTAFF, Arizona - Facing a high prevalence of diabetes, many American Indian tribes are returning to their roots with community and home gardens, cooking classes that incorporate traditional foods, and running programs to encourage healthy eating lifestyles [returning back to the Earth].

 

The latest effort on the Navajo Nation, the country's largest "reservation" [modern internment camp], is to use the tax system to spur people to ditch junk food.

 

Manzanita/Sobochesh (eattheweeds.com)

A proposed 2 percent sales tax on chips, cookies, and sodas failed Tuesday in a Tribal Council vote.

 

But the measure still has widespread support, and advocates plan to revive it, with the hope of making the tribe one of the first governments to enact a junk-food tax.

 

Elected officials across the U.S. have taken aim at sugary drinks with proposed bans, size limits, tax hikes, and warning labels, though their efforts have not gained widespread traction. In Mexico, lawmakers approved a junk food tax and a tax on soft drinks last year as part of that government's campaign to fight obesity.

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Navajo President Ben Shelly earlier this year vetoed measures to establish a junk-food tax and eliminate the tax on fresh fruit and vegetables. At Tuesday's meeting, tribal lawmakers overturned the veto on the tax cut, but a vote to secure the junk-food tax fell short. Lawmakers voted 13-7 in favor of it, but the tax needed 16 votes to pass. More

Choosing money over morality? (Scar Jo)

Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; BusinessInsider.com

What would Anathapindika do, which would Anathapindika choose? (AP/Business Inisder)

 

Scarlett Johansson sells sexy do-it-yourself fizzy pop for money. But Oxfam does not approve since (SodaStream) the Israeli-company's manufacturing base is in Palestine, the un-autonomous region of Israel, exploiting suffering Palestinians. It and the Gaza Strip are known as "the world's largest open-air prison." So after appearing in accused-pedophile and beloved American movie maker Woody Allen's movies, she's taking a stand: She dumped Oxfam, where she once held the title "Global Ambassador." Now she's just a pregnant shill out to destroy the Avenger's franchise. Shills sell sugary soda streams for profitable income streams. We liked her better naked and less obsessed with selling out to the highest bidder.

• Scarlett Jojansson finally addresses the Woody Allen and SodaStream controversies

Early idea for Scar Jo's Avenger's costume

Why I love Cocaine

Anonymous, Ashley Wells, Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; Dennis Romero, laweekly.com

Sia (and/or her tiny alter ego) is the Girl You Lost to Cocaine

 

Hi, my name is Minsky. And I'm a coke fiend...

Hi, Minsky!

 

...Not the toxic corn-byproduct and fizzy flavorant-laced poison. I mean the Columbian plant extract. Can'ts get me enough of that powdered goodness. It is the s!

Nina Sia-khali Moradi it too hot.

It all started in the Lab, you see? These dealers in fancy coats were just giving it away. Know what I'm talking about? They would force it on me and the other mice. We were going A-1 loco in those cages. Now I know why.

 

But back then, I was chasing the dragon with the devil in me and I didn't need to eat, sleep, or worry about acting like vermin in the nesting area. It was great. I'd still be on the stuff, but then things got tight. My heart was racing, supplies were low, and I looked like some kind of snake, my hair falling out in patches, and breath like the devil. Can you feel me on that one?

The best way to rob a bank is to own one, and the best way to deal drugs is work for the pharmaceutical industry selling addictive toxins as "medicine." How to Make Money

 

It got so bad I was stealing pellets to survive, peeing in the water dish, fighting over nothing, and keeping everyone up with my rodent drama. It was a mess. Think I'm going to go kill myself, or become a born again Christian mouse, or take out a loan, and get a job in the military or at WalMart and really make something of myself. And now it all comes out in the news:

Love at first Snort?

Dennis Romero (laweekly.com, 8-27-13, "Cocaine Takes Over Your Brain After First Snort?")

Life in the mirror (Irina Slutsky/flickr)

 

If you ever wondered why Lindsay Lohan repeatedly returned to her nightlife haunts despite warnings from judges and others to tone it down, this might explain it. Allegedly.

 

Socially-conscious SoCal

New research from UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco for the first time documents immediate physiological effects from a first dose of cocaine use, at least on mice. 

Not only that, but researchers found that the little rodents in question seem to want to go back to the place from where they got their Bolivian marching powder. Strong stuff, that.

 

The study was published this week in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

 

L.A. (The Informer)

The academics measured the rodents' brains via "2-photon laser scanning microscopy" and found immediate growth of "dendritic spines" of the frontal lobes.

 

The researchers claim that's the first time this has been documented for initial doses of cocaine and that it shows how the drug affects immediate physiological changes that can predict addiction. More

British mom and lingerie model is ditching her life of posing for one of modesty and obedience as a Muslim wife (Thanks Allah and Islam).

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Egyptian monasticism at Wadi Natrun

OHIO - Dr. Darlene L. Brooks Hedstrom of Wittenberg University will present a lecture on the monastic residence at Wadi Natrun. The Desert Fathers of Egypt were the first Christian monks to establish a community on the fringes of the desert. Wadi Natrun, ancient Scetis, was home to thousands of monks from 500-1100 CE. Archaeological work in the region at the Monastery of John the Little demonstrates monastic life in multi-roomed homes with spectacular wall paintings and complex kitchen facilities. Dr. Brooks Hedstrom will present Egyptian monasticism under the Islamic caliphate in the tenth century CE. The lecture is free and open to the public.

• [Editor's note: All such monasticism is a direct result of Buddhist influence, where monasticism was a novel concept to Jewish and Christian conceptions of spirituality imported from the East and its most successful shramanic tradition.]