I watched Anthony Bourdain's Emmy Award winning No Reservations on the Travel Channel for years, less frequently now because I am writing online most days. He is an insightful raconteur and feisty, fun, global, food culturalist, promoting the human factor, sharing food and hospitality on his travels. You can expect that his move to CNN will be edgier, more dynamic and perceptive. Bourdain has the chops to accomplish great things with the sophisticated team there. Hopefully, they will allow him to deliver, as he brings his legion of fans to their viewership. I may even turn on the TV now and then just to snoop around and see what he's up to. But most likely will stream it if I can.
So when I found out that Bourdain was landing in Brooklyn at the BAM Opera House to speak, I debated whether I should attend the more personal session (pricier) to share photos, drinks and snacks with this exceptional writer and traveler, or just warm a seat as close as I could get to the stage. I did the latter which I'm thrilled that I did, but I rue that I didn't do the former as well. It would have been a gas to take some photos and post them here with a few choice rubies thrown to me during a brief exchange from this Will Rogers of the food universe.
The show was one half hour getting started because the crowd was packed out, the only criticism of the evening which was more the fault of Ticketmaster, the producers and the Opera House venue creators, I think. Who knows, but our expectations were raised as was the suspense to see the man live and in person. At last, the announcer introduced him to warm applause and catcalls by his throng of twenty to thirty somethings.
He jaunted out on stage, dark classes, signature black sweat shirt and jacket and designer Nikes or whatever brand they were. The audience still clapping didn't realize it. At first, I was like, "What? Oh no. It's an impersonator and Bourdain got stuck in air traffic over Mumbai." When I looked again, I nearly fainted, and those around me were like, "Not. Bourdain. That's his buddy." Then the Bourdain twin took off the glasses and jacket and Voila!
Eric Ripert (Bourdain's doppelganger revealed)
Sure enough, it was ERIC RIPERT!!!! Yeah, Eric. Clever! Ripert introduced his close friend with the faintest whisp of a French accent and the man himself appeared, hugged Ripert and went to the podium shaking his head and laughing. And that was the beginning of a fabulous night. My love of Ripert and Le Bernardin has been chronicled on Technorati. I'm planning to go back in September. How can you not respect a chef who is so particular about food safety and quality that HE GEIGER COUNTERED THE FISH HE SERVED after the Japanese nuclear disaster. And if I know Ripert, he is still doing it! Supposedly, Thomas Keller of Per Se flies in fresh fish every day. Does HE geiger counter the fish? I didn't see an article to that effect and I am looking for it.
Ripert is awesome. Bourdain respects and shares Ripert's concerns and appreciates Ripert's phenomenal interest and artistry in developing his culinary lexicon and perfecting all aspects of his restaurant, Le Bernardin. Ripert's food palate is superb and he is a gentleman and a perceptive, temperate soul. Bourdain is sanguine, humorously ironic to the point of sardonic and in your face. The two make a great team of complements. It is obvious how and why they are friends.
Who better than a close buddy to introduce you to the Brooklyn crowd and cheer you on. (Eric Ripert and A. Bourdain)
For Bourdain, center stage is his playground. He started with a humorous and scathing shishkabob against Paula Dean, putting up some slides of her outrageously unhealthful concoctions. One of them was her notorious 1200 + calorie balloon cheeseburger on a doughnut bun. He escalated his skewerings with other fare (I'm surprised he didn't lay bare her deep fried chocolate pudding cupcakes) and concluded with her deep fried stuffing. Bourdain quipped that her recipes in no way reflect wonderful Southern cooking and he's not sure what region they represent but the Dean marketing empire and her destiny to suck up every morsel in sight and spew out culinary pornographic excess, even though it may be at the expense of her fans' waistlines. He also quipped about the products she's endorsing, a mattress and a new diabetes drug. Of course, Bourdain was quick to point out she was mum about her diabetes for 5 years until recently so that she could advertise the new Diabetes drug on her show, proving once again that exemplifying and peddling illness can be profitable.
Bourdain during the question and answer session. Eric Riper (left) sitting and listening.
Bourdain is a talented showman. He covered topics from his show that resonated with his fans like what you have to go through to team up with him traveling the globe (i.e. leeches, food that's inedible, gastric problems, being the guinea pig of the unexpected). Of course he discussed getting high and sneaking in clips of a foreign DEA bust aiding agents in burning up the cocaine, despite freaking out the show advertisers and administrators. He emphasized that he learned when you go to grandmas for Thanksgiving and she serves you gravy and jellied cranberries from the cans along with over salted, unsavory turkey meat, you compliment her and go for second helpings because that's the way. You're a guest and you love her and receive her hospitality. Bourdain has been the recipient of more than one bacterial stomach bug on his travels, but he bucks up and tastes the dishes wherever he goes, from Dubai to the African bush. And it's cool. His riff was a humorous scraping up and drumming down of vegans and vegetarians who, when they visit your house, turn their nose up at your grilled meats and ask for grilled peppers. He discussed getting along with folks despite the fact that you have nothing in common with them culturally, folks with whom you couldn't be more diametrically opposed. In other words as a statistic or part of a generalized group, they are THE ENEMY. He showed clips of himself breaking bread with a strict muslim Wahabist, a red neck, red state Deliverance type and a KGB hit man: each of them "the nicest guys," illustrating that we can "get along" if we put down the rhetoric. It was a refreshing point; there is nothing like exploring cultural differences in foods to tear down walls.
Answering the question about food quality
During the question and answer session, Bourdain shared some interesting thoughts. Regarding flying (he must be frequent flyer black status) he doesn't mind turbulence; it breaks up the boredom/monotony of a fight during which he doesn't eat and after watching 3 films becomes tiresome. He laughed that he enjoys looking at the panic and terror on the faces of fellow elite passengers who think it's over and their time has come. When asked whether he wants his daughter to eat responsibly (Bourdain shares the Obamas' concerns about American obesity; that's why he hammers Dean) Bourdain replied that food quality, eating organic and fresh is important. He relayed he is not of the type that is pushing sushi on a three-year-old. But he proudly recalled a wonderful story of his thrill when he saw his daughter's interest when the family was dining in Paris and she admired the height of the seafood tower of clams, shrimps, scallops, mussels, etc., with two lobsters perched prettily on top. Remembering her love of the lobster Sebastian in The Little Mermaid, she cried out, "Oh Sebastian," then grabbed the top lobster and picked it clean tearing at its flesh (as only Bourdain can gesture and mimic).
Bourdain's take on American junk food gyrations? Great answer. Make the junk food look like the food court in Thailand or other Asian nations with food stalls run by entrepreneurs where you could sample Dim Sum, or roasted goose or duck, and other treats. These would be more nutritious and fewer calories than the typical garbage slid toward us. What he was discussing is happening outside of Eatley across from Madison Square in NYC. That is a wonderful food court of more upscale fare from various restaurants in the city from seafood to deli. It's a step in the right direction, but Bourdain was discussing more exotic offerings for more reasonable prices; not corporate, not industrial, not big business, but something equivalent in other countries as street food. And he's right. Expanding the palates and intellectual curiosity of Americans just might decrease their waistlines. Quality not quantity might be the right imperative. That and an unadulterated food supply that is not rife with additives, preservatives, GE/GM (genetically modified) produce and products, pink slime hamburgers, E coli-spinach and hamburger, salmonella eggs and antibiotic fed animals... would slim all of us down.
The inimitable Bourdain listening to another question.
Bourdain is about food, quality food. It's who we are and what we are as Americans. And if we are going to help one another, we should be fit and trim, as he quipped with a sober note. You want to live next to a neighbor who will quickly come to your aid rather than one who is unable to get off the couch because he/she are trailing 50-100 pounds of fat baggage front and back and need help from you to get around.
Audra McDonald accepting her award Outstanding Actress in a Musical. Brian D'Arcy James and Brooks Shields (on right)
Presenter John Larroquette being interviewed. He is currently starring in The Best Man by Gore Vidal in the role of political candidate, William Russell
I have enjoyed or enthusiastically enjoyed most of the plays on Broadway, Off Broadway and some Off Off Broadway shows this season. That's why I attended the 57th Annual Drama Desk Awards, held in NYC at Town Hall with Brooke Shields and Brian D'Arcy James hosting the streamed live event. As part of her opening remarks, Shields expressed her enthusiasm that the ceremony wouldn't have any commercials.
Laila Roberts (one of the cast who received a special ensemble award for Sweet and Sad) and playwright Kenneth Lonergan whose hysterical and timely production of Medieval Play is currently at the Signature Theater
Audience members smiled and chortled with her in response. Not only would the show be able to move like clockwork seamlessly, holding the attention of the audience and keeping their suspense up. The length would be reasonable. And because there were no interruptions, liability for mishaps and lurid sponsors to deal with, this represented an intimate gathering of theater lovers, whether past winners, presenters, nominees, theater reviewers or family of nominees. We were there to celebrate the majesty of live performance. There is nothing like it under the sun and there is nothing like it in the English speaking world save in New York City.
The particularly wonderful concept about this ceremony is that it is the only award event that honors all tiers of Broadway theater; not only super commercial theater that is costing egregious amounts of debt to mount and recoup, but also theater off the "Great White Way," held in comparatively tiny venues, even including theater that is non-profit and heavily granted, subsidized and funded with outside gifting.
Christopher Ashley, Director of Leap of Faith which was forced to close
It is because the Drama Desk Awards, formed in 1949 by a group of New York theater
critics, editors, reporters and publishers do include unique Off-Broadway and Off-Off
Broadway theater, that it is a poor theater cousin of the 66th Annual Tony's. Unless a miracle happens and those in the NYC theater, film and TV community and New York Tech community really get behind all venues of NYC theater, the Drama Desks will never garner the glamor and the commercial support that the glitzy
Tonys will bring this Sunday.
The Tonys are spectacle and since the show will last for hours and bore the hell out of the social media set who will be mobile texting, tweeting, uploading, watching films and playing videos during the commercial breaks AND the show, producers are forced to "attempt to compete" with the only other show with the like format watched by millions of average Americans who might tune in, the Oscars. And we know how boring the Oscar show has become. So in this regard, the Drama Desks are one up on the Tonys and Oscars. It is intimate. Waiting outside to get in, you feel at home standing next to Kevin Spacey, Bernadette Peters or Kelli O'Hara, and you don't have to suffer the foolishness of advertisers. And neither do the celebrities in the entertainment communities, most of whom eschew the adulterated products sold by the industrial food complex and Big Pharma whose companies mostly advertise on such shows. (They avoid highly chemicalized foods and products not wanting to sacrifice their bodies, youthfulness and careers since the stuff is poison and unhealthful.)
How will the Tony TV watching audience be drawn in? High profile stars like nominated Ricky Martin, will be performing a number from Evita where he is currently starring as Che, and Raul Esparza, will be performing a song from Leap of Faith, a show he starred in that barely ran and was pecked by critics like chickens on a blood spot. And they will be drawn to see the fashions and hear the personages dewy comments. The presenter's
list is growing and includes Tyler Perry, Nick Jonas, Amanda Seyfried,
Paul Rudd, Ellen Barkin, Angela Lansbury, Bernadette Peters, Candice
Bergen, Christopher Plummer, James Marsden, Mandy Patinkin and Sheryl
Crow. "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, last year's
award winners for their hit musical "The Book of Mormon" will bestow
awards after sharing their spot on humorous perceptions.
The show airs
on CBS, at 8:00 pm, and will be hosted by the versatile and
irrepressible Neil Patrick Harris who will "WOW" us with his performance which will have to top last year's hysterical opening number, "Broadway Isn't Just for Gays Anymore." Last year he was surprising and magnetic and it won't be easy to knock down this comparison uploaded to Youtube.
Were Sunday night's Drama Desk wins a foretaste of who will win the
Tony's? Perhaps with regard to the musical portion, however, the
categories differed because of the Off-Broadway inclusions. For best
play, Pulitzer Prize winning Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris isslated as a favorite amongst the other plays a few notches ranking ( click here to see) above Other Desert Cities. The Drama Desk panel didn't even nominate Clybourne Park or Other Desert Cities. Instead,Tribes,
an Off-Broadway production won the Drama Desk for Outstanding Play. In
fact that was the only Off-Broadway production that won an award. The
brilliant BAM production Richard III(nominated
for Outstanding Revival) and starring nominated Kevin Spacey
(Outstanding Actor in a Play) who showed up for interviews at Town Hall
was cold shouldered. It wasn't even nominated for a Tony, talk about a
snub!
For Outstanding Revival of a Play, the incredible Death of a Salesman won the Drama Desk and Mike Nichols won for Outstanding Direction. Though The Best Man was superb, Death of a Salesman
was better; there was no comparison perhaps because of the play's
intense humanity and its electric currency trending resonant themes for
today. Even a car park attendant on 46th street last Wednesday, May 30th
(I saw the play a second time; first time I saw ot early in the run.)
told me Death was the best play on Broadway. Maybe he had already
placed his bets. My guess is he had heard his customers' commentary.
Odds in favor of a Salesman Tony win are currently at 74%. We'll see how canny the parking lot attendant is.
Will Follies beat out The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess? Follies took the Drama Desk award for Outstanding Musical Revival and most likely will again Tony night. The odds favor Follies by 66 percent. But Porgy and Bess was rewarded when Audra McDonald won for her portrayal as Bess beating out Bernadette Peters Follies
star for the Drama Desk. Peters is not nominated for a Tony. Audra
McDonald will most likely receive the Tony for a phenomenal performance,
and 69 percent of the experts agree on this.
Finally, there are no surprises that Once
won the Drama Desk for Outstanding Musical, since the building momentum
has been moving with intensity for the show. It has already won the
Outer Critic's Circle and the Drama League award. If the producers are
canvassing support in these next few days, it may exceed support for Newsies which is 49 percent the favorite over 41 percent for Once.
The Drama Desk for Outstanding
Actor in a Play went to James Corden for his hysterically funny
performance in One Man, Two Guvnors and not Philip Seymour Hoffman for
Death of a Salesman or Kevin Spacey for Richard III. Corden's acceptance speech was one of the most comedic I've heard in a long while and echoed the brilliance of his exuberant performance in One Man... He commented that he appreciated the efforts of his significant other, his Baby Mama who had recently given birth and was currently (as a result of the strenuous demands of the role) taking care of two babies. In acknowledging the producers and director and others, he noted that he was thanking those who hadn't attended the ceremony. Apparently they were in other parts of the globe. He quipped, ah, "Fuck 'em."
James Corden making acceptance remarks; Outstanding Actor in a Play for One Man, Two Guvnors
As marvelous as Corden was this win was a surprise, an upset. I would have preferred to see Spacey pitted against Hoffman in roles of equal comparison, though Richard III is a history with tragic elements. Certainly, both require a larger than life talent to occupy. Willy Loman and Richard III if acted with elegance and magnificence as both were by Hoffman and Spacey can translate into usable material to endow our own lives with. I walked away from both productions feeling the sadness of mankind's follies and abysses. So to categorize play without differentiating between something as simplistic as comedy/tragedy, which our forebears, the Greeks made sure to differentiate because the purposes of both genres were so different, seems downright ridiculous and demeaning to a celebration of theater. That "convenience" is unworthy of the actors and their performances and it belittles James Corden's different kind of brilliance as well.
Kevin Spacey posing with friends.
The roles, comedy, modern day
tragedy and history/tragedy must not be drawn in the same breath. They cannot be compared
in terms of acting depth and soul requirements. Much of Corden's role depended upon timing, the clever execution of slapstick and the facile breakdown of the fourth wall. Both Richard III and Death, show the onging and historic spiral of a human
being plummeting deep into the abyss. The acting progression/declension is not to be underestimated. It requires breadth to convey the electricity of compelling
humanity. In the case of Richard III, for Spacey to convey Richard III's despicable human traits charmingly is "NO JOKE." How easy it would have been for him to "be" evil instead of "be" Richard; great temperance is required.
Kevin Spacey greeting old friends
Kevin Spacey during interview
If the Drama Desks, the Tonys and other theater awards, the Oliver, the Louise Lortell, the Obie are to be meaningful and significant ceremonies in conveying and promoting NYC theater tradition which they cannot help but do, this consideration of doing the expedient and convenient IS A TURN OFF. Fans have been turned off. And we are your greatest lovers and supporters. For the sake of sponsors, promoters and boards of these created award ceremonies that are often politically motivated, GIVE US A BREAK. Designate properly, categorize astutely, recognize when there are errors. Political exigency is worthwhile to a point, except when it kills the very thing you wish to promote.
It is always the problem of award ceremonies. Politics are involved.
Kevin Spacey is not only a known quantity, he is an absolutely brilliant
performer who has worked tirelessly for theater, melding British and
American theater in The Bridge Project, the first of its kind. He has
been generous in helping others get their start in theater. He is my
vote for a Renaissance man of the industry, clever, ingenious, down to
earth, an everyman, yet a star. And that is why he doesn't need accolades; he has received many. What me worry about affirmation, Kevin? No. And I echo the sentiments about Hoffman who is iconic in film and onstage, versatile, amazing, entrancing to watch because he is moment to moment, unique, incomparable. He makes the damn thing look easy, and he too, has won numerous awards and contributed greatly to theater, joining the LAByrinth Theater Company in 1995 where he has directed and promoted NYC theater.
Both Hoffman and Spacey rate as phenomena. And that
might be why Cordon, a new kid on the American Broadway block, and a very funny, known Brit comedic genius (Americans tend to venerate Brits), will
walk away with the Tony. To my mind, he shouldn't.
This article I wrote was first published on Technorati. It has been lengthened and editorialized here.
UPDATE:
There was a Youtube video accompanying this post about Bath Salts and the incident which was taken down by Google because of a report by someone. Since it was offered as an embed on Youtube and referenced from a news station which was listed and many other people are sharing the videos (some to the extent of millions and my use was one more) I can only think that the targeting/punishment is for the content and editorialization here.
BATH SALTS AND THEIR TOXIC, DANGEROUS INGREDIENTS should be BANNED. Lobbyists who are insisting it shouldn't and who might be indirectly supporting the campaigns of politicians or influencing agencies to look the other way about the ingredients of this drug should be held accountable. It is obvious that money is God to them and their excuse is, "Well, I have to pay the mortgage." It's a shame, but selling or marketing harmful, toxic chemicals is terrible. Yes, we all know who does it with impunity; my father was slowly poisoned to death by MEDS that are legal. It is a long and sad story. And so it goes with chemical producers....death and harm along with palliation.
Finally, I was offered payment to sport a link of this article. I thought about it, then visited here and found that the video had been "removed." The link related to a de-toxic clinic. Well, I don't need to receive payment to encourage folks to de-tox. I will pray for them for free, and I do pray for anyone who needs who is reading this post to receive any help they can so they can become free. May they be well and heal. Finally, this post has received many page views. I can only think that its morbidity is the reason why. Nevertheless, I do hope some of those who viewed the page read part of it.
Bath salts. I use them every other day when I want to soak in a hot
tub after tennis. Benign, right? Well, the words "bath salts," have
become a powder keg in the past year for
adults in Poison Control Centers around the nation and on Saturday for the Miami police who attribute a bizarre attack on a homeless man to be caused by the designer drug. If you scrutinize
certain stores in malls, for example tobacco shops or paraphernalia
shops, you'll see kids walking out with packets or jars of "bath salts" with fanciful names like Vanilla Sky, Ivory Wave, White China, Dynamite, Cloud 9. Most likely it was a similar packet with chemicals purportedly delivering a new LSD blow-out that made 31-year old Rudy Eugene go after the 61 year-old man.
"Bath salts' is the teenspeak code name for these white granules which are never added to bath water but like methamphetamine and cocaine are inhaled, snorted, taken orally, smoked, or liquified and injected into veins. Unlike meth and coke, they are a new chemical lab creation: methylenedioxypyrovalerone.
and because some of the chemicals are still legal, the concoction is more surreptiously deadly. Leave it to drug makers to come up with something to float your boat
right into the grave. They've got all populations covered: the young
with drug concoctions that can be formed into "bath salts," MDPV or
other derivatives that illegal street chemists can use to make "designer
drugs." And then they have drugs for the rest of us, hundreds of
prescription medications, many with serious side effects and others that many suspect may be the panacea for newly made up diseases (restless leg syndrome) which exist only to satisfy the pharmaceutical manufacturers' profits.
Bath salts are an attractive nuisance for adolescents
who operate on a different frequency and at a certain age, flirt with
destroying themselves. The white poison is labeled "Not fit for human consumption," a disclaimer,
like "use at your own risk." Why? The chemical manufacturers are following
the FDA guidelines to maintain legality, but the effect is disastrous.
It is reverse psychology marketing to the young. "Not fit for human
consumption? Cool, I'll try it," the teen thinks. The specific names like Dynamite, White China, Cloud 9 further market the designer drug as THE TREND to get "wasted, blitzkrieged, smithereened." How do you sell product
to that age group? You attract and allure with promised deadliness which
appeals to their machismo.
The problem is that once the teens and adults are intrigued and hooked, they may also be dead. The ill effects of this white tripe that
creates havoc with any brain and for the adolescent's still forming brain are hallucinations,
agitation, hypo-mania, extreme psychotic behavior and self-harm. Additionally, there are chest pains, heart attack symptoms, overall feelings of unwellness and a rapidly beating pulse. Though individuals
may only inhale the toxins once or twice, the horror is that the substance induces recurrent episodes. Officials have said, "The substance creates a ticking time bomb." The time bomb is the person.
How are "bath salts" which have been banned by the DEA
still sold in many states? The issue is complicated because manufacturers have found loopholes to get around the specific ban on certain chemicals. There is a lack of uniformity until the Federal Government permanently bans it
nationwide.
The urgency for this permanent
ban has been growing. There were thousands of calls to poison control
centers in 2011. Numbers of teenagers in extreme states of hypo-mania threatened violence. The drug doesn't
show up on any tests, nevertheless, as drug effects reoccur in
spontaneous hallucinations and paranoia attacks, kids have committed
suicide. Most likely the chemical never really leaves users' bodies or
their brains. It is that lethal. And since it is based on an
individual's response, who knows what others will succumb to suicide or homicide
in the near future? Recurrences can be triggered at any time. The next
event may be that one sending the user to his death or the attack that sends a homeless man to an intensive care unit which is what happened in Miami on Saturday.
ABC NEWS REPORT ON YOUTUBE over 3 million views.
A passerby who noted the incident called the police and when they came police were appalled by what they saw. One naked man was leaning over another naked man lying on the Mac Arthur Causeway. He was cannibalizing him. As Rudy Eugene tore off pieces of flesh from the victim's face, police ordered him to stop. Police reported that Eugene, was growling like an animal as he swallowed pieces of the 61-year
old homeless victim's flesh. He refused and did not back off, but looked at them with bloodied face and mouth, then resumed tearing off and chomping the man's ears, nose and cheeks until
police shot him six times. The initial rounds that hit Eugene had little
effect as he ate and even tried to gouge out the man's eyeballs. The victim, who is clinging to life in intensive care, is barely recognizable as human, according to reports.
The trade lobbyists who advocate the sale of these chemicals are reprehensible. They
justify their "legal" use with arguments that remind me of like a magician's
sleight of hand. The rationale the lobbyists cling to? "Who is the
government to stand in the way of someone's having a euphoric
experience?" In other words, they advocate against governmental
intrusion. Evoking the Declaration of Independence in a twisted blind,
they rationalize that individuals have a right to pursue happiness... a
self-evident truth, an inalienable right.
The fact that the
chemical turns a euphoric state into a HELL SO HORRIBLE that the only
way to end the tormenting duress is suicide belies this inalienable
right, does it not? The fact that high on "bath salts," someone like Rudy Eugene could end up shot to death because the insanity the drug creates turned him into a zombie-cannibal IS NOT a pursuit of happiness. That one short high can become a lifetime of
insanity, a victim of a face eating attack, or an eternity in the afterlife isn't a civil right, it's a
civil catastrophe. The drug manufacturer should be sued for
product liability and the user who perpetrates the violence should be behind bars.
Another lobbyist argument has even included the
comparison of a peanut allergy which can be deadly to a bad "bath salts" reaction. The argument is not only stupid, it's really
stupid. And knowing what is now known about how it can create monstrous, delusional and cannibalistic behavior in individuals, tantamount to a civil menace, the lobbyists' stupidity is galactic.
Advocates of bath salts, the drug makers, use the FDA label, ("Not
fit for human consumption.) to absolve themselves of guilt and their
company of liability. Too bad no one as of yet has brought a drug maker
or a store that sells the chemicals to court. The FDA's label provides
an aura of legality and shifts the blame onto the teens who are "dumb or
wild" to ignore it. The reality is that the government label doesn't
serve as a warning, it serves as an advertisement: 1) for teens
who strain against parental strictures because adolescence is the time
to prove to their peers they have their own autonomy; 2) for adults seeking the greatest thrill to be had in human experience. The warning is
a macho's dream dare, like playing Russian Roulette or playing chicken. But the danger is paramount; from the Eugene incident and reports form poison control centers and emergency rooms indicate that users are slaves to the drug's power over their mind. When the chemical/toxin takes over, all hell breaks loose, not only for the demented crazed violent, self-harming user, but also for individuals caring for the beszerker.
Until the Rudy Eugene incident, the extent to which bath salts could make the user insane and wasted appeared to be its thrill, as users knowingly flirted death. The label demonstrates a
brilliant, cost effective marketing technique, unwittingly instituted by the FDA to promote bath salts' wackedness. The warning label marketing has been working. Kids have been entranced by the warnings and have purchased the drug. After 15 minutes it takes to get dynamited on bath salts, they upload these videos of themselves on Youtube. Unlike
prescription medication advertisements, that list deadly side effects, with "bath salts," the kids only show themselves experiencing euphoria. They never
discuss or record the uncool side effects: pansy hypo-mania, paranoia,
agitation and old person's chest pains.
Rudy Eugene in a police mug shot of a prior arrest.
The blessing is that
there haven't been more suicides or violent attacks like the one in Miami. However, tragedy may be forthcoming
during this next year when the government determines whether the DEA's
ban should be made permanent. Meanwhile, the chemists making this toxin
ignore their accountability in peddling death, harm and mental
derangement. Likewise, the Feds hesitancy to outright ban the substances
used to make up "bath salts," to my mind shows egregious negligence.
It's one thing if it is designated illegal and individuals, especially kids use it, quite
another if it is not banned and homicides, violent attacks and suicides occur. If one child took his life because of this stuff and poison
control centers and the DEA know it, it is unconscionable that the stuff
is not deemed illegal and confiscated from every store where it is
sold. There have been many and now, a zombie cannibalistic attack of a homeless 61-year old trying to make it to the next day? Please!!!
According to Zane Horowitz, MD,
an emergency room physician and medical director of the Oregon Poison
Center, "Drug makers will keep creating new combinations" of designer
drugs "at home and in illicit labs. "It’s almost impossible to keep up.
And the motivation for buying them is always the same: drugs like these
are new and below the radar, unlike named illegal drugs."
If "bath salts" are permanently banned, other drugs will be created to create a loophole to slip through the ban, but that is no
reason not to ban these chemicals now or put them on a licensed sign up
watch list. Their horrific effects are known; why wait?The time
will be redeemed as chemists scratch their heads to innovate new death thrill designer chemicals. The ban will create some lag
time to detonate the profits of the drug makers, and stave off the
creation of ticking time bomb users like Rudy Eugene and teen suicides. The sooner the better.
Genetic modification has been going on in laboratories for many years. The blind understanding for consumers, scientists and business was that through it, the food supply would be enhanced, the people would be eating quality items and the farmers and agra business would be making their production more efficient and effective increasing profits. Happily like little beavers running to build a dam to shore up a home for themselves, agra business scientists modified and engineered animals, wheat, corn, everything ranging from farmed fish to insects. The result? Efficiency and effectiveness in yielding disease resistant crops and producing more efficient larger animal and fish yields.. Their goals were realized and they were encouraged to continue as profits were raked in. But irrationally and unwittingly, they were on a one way course to hell, because there was another result they were not considering. The hidden, dire impact of their "enhanced" produce, animals, fish and insects. This impact is now being felt and will continue to be felt in the future. Only until the last 10 years have alarms been sounded with great frequency about the increased toxicity of our foods, the unhealthiness of our bodies and the pollution and poisoning of our air, water and soil.
Along with the enslaved animals, the enslaved consumer is the guinea pig, the lab rat, the chimp to be experimented upon. The foods created with genetically modified or engineered items create an impact all their own that is incalculable because all of agriculture for mankind that existed for thousands of years has undergone a paradigm shift in the last 50 years. The effect is exponential. After GM/GE plants are turned wild onto the environment, as they "mate" with other plant species, the former species grows extinct. Often with hybrids, they do not produce offspring. Mules, the result of mating a male horse and female donkey do not sire. So often hybrid plants cannot generate seeds.
Is this a good thing? Do we know? The result of having just hybrid seeds could be disastrous for those who would like to avoid agra business and its pernicious effects which helped to create the industrialized pink slime and Frankensteer (mad cow disease, antibiotic filled animals, salmonella, E-coli meat, fatty feed lot-fat animals that are not healthy for human consumption) and drought resistant, convenient to grow dwarf wheat (may be responsible for gluten and wheat allergies and dangerous wheat belly) How would individuals be able to go into farming for themselves if all the seeds are hybridized and will not produce offspring? This is leading to a world wide monopoly of seeds production. Is Monsanto intending to be "Earth Mother?" And there are reports of this monopolization being planned to hold countries at ransom to obtain seeds that are not hybrids. Apparently, Monsanto has ancient seeds in a storage facility. If this is not true, it certainly should write up press releases that counter such speculative reports that fuel the fires against the corporation. But we have yet to see any such press releases negating these claims. Considering that world food production to some extent is already being held at ransom and some continents are suffering starvation (Africa) because of diminished food supply, the scenario could be dire if one or two entities hold most of the ungenetically modified seeds and only dole out hybridized seeds.
The interesting point is that Monsanto is leading the charge on two fronts. One, is to eradicate seeds that are generational and have existed since the dawn of time by attempting to get farmers to use only THEIR seeds. (Lobbyists are working tirelessly, their noses up the rear ends of politicians, their debit cards at the ready to give whatever amount the politicos want to be reelected.) The second charge by Monsanto appears to be to make sure no one in this country knows what it is doing, least of all how it creates its seeds, how it alters them, how it modifies them and what food modifications go into what modified food products. In other words, where Monsanto is concerned, there is no Sunshine Law. It controls the light to grow understanding. Remember what Rockefellar said (Unseen Hand, by Ralph Epperson, p. 75). Competition is a sin. Well, Monsanto appears to want to make sure she alone is Mother Earth and the hell with us understanding how our food ingredients have been enhanced, tweaked, irradiated, genetically recreated, DNA modified, etc.
How is Monsanto hell bent on keeping us in the dark? There is no GM, GE (genetically engineered) labeling. Do you remember the last time you identified that the bread you were eating was made with GM/GE wheat? You can't because there is no label stating it. And of course, you think I'm one of those "conspiracy theorists." Well, I wish I could say it were that easy. Until I read William Davis, MD, Wheat Belly, I did not understand, truly about the wheat. I was fat my entire life with a few exceptions you can read about in prior posts on this blog. It was mainly due to all of the flour and wheat products I consumed. For my body, they are anathema. Death! When I curtailed then stopped eating any flour or wheat products, I became healthier, lost a tremendous amount of weight and have no necessity for Advil when I play tennis. My aches have stopped. I know first hand what processed, GM/GE wheat can do to me. Maybe I'm the Maverick and wacked out exception? I can't speak for you, only for me.
But the obesity that has burgeoned since the 1980s when the processing and agra business grew into monopolies with a vengeance has an interesting confluence, does it not? The trigger has been pulled and events are unraveling so quickly that scientists are hard pressed to understand or even fathom the results of food processing, GM/GE and obesity rates, including childhood obesity.. Blnded by money, agra business, politicians, scientists did not count the long term effects upon consumers, the environment and their very own survival in an infantile, basely ignorant "live for today" approach toward food producing and processing.
In cities and towns across the globe this past weekend, there were many events to highlight food education. (Jamie Oliver's global Food Revolution Day). Their themes related to what our industrialized food supply system produces from seed to table creating the foods we eat. In some instances the events showed that there are fewer whole ingredients coming from natural food sources. Often chemicalized, processed ingredients used to "create" a food..are .ingredients that have never been outside of a lab; indeed the food CREATED has been primarily sourced not from the soil but from a lab. Are we being gradually poisoned by the industrial food complex to serve the medical industrial complex? Not that there is a grand design, but it would seem that would be one of the unfortunate Change outcomes of the monopolistic business models used by corporations and
lobbyists in their frantic search for profits at the expense of people.
As agra business monopolies have burgeoned buying up smaller farms, there has been a waning of the free market competition which is so vital to creating choice for consumers. Corporations have grown mammoth; their power has gown exponentially; they dictate what the consumer must eat. Change is needed. Food education is the beginning.
The food education emphasized this weekend is continually being promoted by groups that support the return of the American food supply to farming collaboratives and collectives, local farmers, organic non profits like Stone Barnes Center for food and agricultur, whole foods producers and suppliers, local sourcing, food greening movements (less long distance transport from areas like Mexico which reduces reliance on oil and reduces cost). The ultimate aim is to make food producers, suppliers and agra business more responsive to consumers' health needs. And if they persist in ignoring consumers' demands toward health, greening, labeling of irradiated foods and genetically modified foods, there is a growing movement to boycott foods, franchises and food store chains which stock products that manifest extreme processing and chemicalizing. As more consumers support green and whole food PACs and businesses which ARE responsive, the hope is that large food chains and their suppliers will take note and correct. Some may even reverse the current trends of agra business and its inherent horrors which have produced E-coli outbreaks, mad cow disease, weird food toxins, antibiotics in our water supply, Salmonella outbreaks and unhealthy food products thought to exacerbate chronic conditions like heart disease and diabetes (Studies relate these to chemicalized/processed foods high in salt, sugar and hydrogenated fats).
Chef and food icon Jamie Oliver who has "been on top of these issues" for a number of years is to be credited for his exploits in attempting to get Americans to eat more healthily. His Food Revolution TV
show was canceled in 2011 for lack of commercial support but he took the fight to the streets and internet and created a foundation.
You remember Oliver! On one of his first shows in 2010, he went to the fattest state in the nation, West Virginia, the fattest town, Huntington
and he attempted to inspire the residents there to change their eating
habits. He despaired, because when he went to the school and led the
cafeteria staff in selecting and preparing other food items for the
children (delicious gourmet veggie/pasta preparations; eggs for breakfast instead of pizza) there was resistance from the staff and a revolt by the students who wanted their pizza, pink slime hamburgers (That's what they were eating though it was not known at the time as it now is,) fries and processed foods.
Though his show faltered (Gee, I wonder why there were few
corporations who wanted to jump on board with advertising.), Oliver's
mission blossomed. He brought attention to the problems with America's
food supply: highlighting the lobbying efforts of its industrial farms
and food producers whose practices with genetically modified produce and
unsanitary conditions often fly under the radar. Calling attention to inhumane animal
practices of industrialized farms which often produce contaminated product, films like Fast Food Nation, Oliver and others have garnered support of local growers, farmers that treat their animals humanely and food sourcing. Most importantly, he and others continue to educate how the unhealthiness of the food industry's chemically
processed and preserved foods foster disease and exacerbate obesity.
Oliver also alerted us to Pink Slime. To think that the company, Beef Products, Inc.
allowed him to go into one of its facilities, not understanding how he
would be using the video shot there, is amazing. (It has laid off another round of employees since the campaign against pink slime began.) Pink slime went viral with a petition by Bettina Siegel
and the supporters piled on eventually prompting congressional action
for schools to opt out of purchasing and using pink slime for their
hamburgers. Jamie Oliver's website continues to fight against pink slime and remove it from the nation's schools, and perhaps the food supply completely (many fast food restaurants have claimed to stop using the product).
Oliver's and his food teams' campaign promoting global Food Revolution Day inspired the global community to join in the celebration of healthy eating. Food Revolution Day also
reinforced the ongoing fight to stand against the egregious
industrialization, processing, genetic modification and irradiation of
the global food supply. There were over 750 events scheduled in
over 490 cities across 44 countries, and the events varied from
dinner parties, cooking classes, farmer's market tours, community
potlucks, and street fairs. Events took place in major cities like New York
City and smaller municipalities like Patchogue, New York out on Long
Island. They even encompassed smaller neighborhoods or block parties
centered around educating children about healthy eating and nutritious
food choices.
Many of these events were spearheaded by members or supporters of the
organic and vegan food movements, the whole foods movement, the animal
rights movement which endorses the humane treatment of animals on
industrial farms and in the killing field of slaughterhouses, the
movement to support local farm sourcing and small local farms, the
movement to label and/or eliminate GM foods (genetically modified) or
products that contain GM ingredients, and the movement to ban irradiated
foods, to name a few. Tor them the Food Revolution encompasses not only one day, it is a movement that spans the rest of their lives.
Oliver's website encourages the involvement of young people. For Food Revolution Day the food team stated that "celebration events give youth the opportunity to join forces with
their local communities and other young people across the globe, to
stand up and demand better food education." Oliver and the team want the youth to get on the health train. After all, it is their generation that will inherit all of what their
parents and the culture have left, with a global epidemic of diet
related diseases, which, according to Oliver has already led to "43 million children under the
age of 5 being overweight and which kills an estimated 2.8 million
people a year."
Sounds like a great idea? It is. We are what we eat and over the
years the nation has learned that it is not necessarily what we don't
put in our mouths that will harm us, (i.e. not eating a lot) it is what
we do put in our mouths that will kill us and/or make us sick. Coupled
with the ongoing anti-obesity campaign, The Weight of the Nation,
the main thrust is on healthy eating which promotes a healthy life.
However, Oliver's Food Revolution attacks the problem where it should be
attacked, the American food supply system.
And since our supply is being exported to other nations, this has
become a global fight or revolution because the corporations are global; they are promulgating their processes and product with ferocity. Capture a
country's appetite, you capture their citizens' wallets.
Oliver and other food movements are aptly encouraging us to raise our voices and fight back
against the lobbyists who have enthralled our congressmen and leaders.
He and others are motivating us to sign petitions to curtail industrial farms' egregious practices He and others are encouraging the labeling of GM products and irradiated foods, and
stopping the inhumane animal treatment on farms and in the killing fields. In addition he and others continue to motivate us to avoid toxic, chemically processed food products.
From Jamie Oliver's webiste against pink slime.
Will such campaigns work? As more people become educated and informed, the global food revolution will bend the corporations' profits; global consumer efforts impact global corporations. Corporations are in business to supply the consumers, but if the consumers' needs are not being supplied, corporate profits will decrease. Corporations will have to get on the health train with R and D, innovation, and creative business models that encourage perhaps a short term cut in profits, but a long term investment in healthy foods and products which will pay off huge in the long run.
It is possible. Other global corporations have done it. Starbucks is a sterling example. It is ultra responsive to consumers. And they still offer health plans to part time workers. But such corporate effort takes leadership, brilliance, and compromise. The industrial food complex needs NEW BLOOD, YOUNG BLOOD. It needs an infusion of creativity and THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX.
But for now, as such education is promoted with global Food Revolution Day and awareness
grows. corporations have to bend. The alternative food movement and its tributaries now have the capability to reach billions in the
twinkling of an eye. Oliver knows this; it is the trend. And he is taking advantage of social media making sure he will be like a spreading
virus: on Youtube, on his blog and website, on Facebook and Twitter and other places where this information will be legion. If old media jettisoned his show, new media is embracing him with an even greater ferocity.
Welcome Jamie Oliver to the new American food supply system. I for one am so happy you have arrived! And enjoy Food Revolution Day every day.
Raise your voice.
If you are interested in adding your voice to the fight, congress is
working on a farm bill. Right now the House Agricultural Committee is
accepting public comments on this critical piece of legislation.
Congress is considering cutting funding to vital programs such as
nutrition, conservation and support for organic and sustainable
agriculture. To speak out against such cuts (which in effect would throw
support to industrialized farms) and to call for a better Farm Bill, click the following link and read more and act.
I saw beloved Hugh Jackman on Broadway. My seats were from hunger, in the balcony. People were paying over $350.00 for the back of the orchestra section and premium seats went for higher. Shark frenzy. And he knew it and if he could have changed the situation, he would have but he couldn't, so he gave the show his absolute all. Hugh Jackman, as my Aussie cousins from Melbourne, Australia will tell you IS THE REAL DEAL. He is so loved there and so generous, down to earth and giving. He has a foundation for the aboriginals and artistic friends connected with the foundation joined him on stage for an absolutely elevating and spiritually moving song and instrumental. So from Hugh to you, wishing all a Happy Mother's Day from the set of Les Mes.
Normally, I don't get involved with giveaways. But this is the 40th anniversary since my mother's death. She died on April 28th, 1972 in a fatal car accident. She and my aunt were killed instantly, we were told.
They were in the back seat of a volkswagon van, you know, the cool kind that hippies painted up with all sorts of neat day-glow graffiti and wacky designs. Only this was no day-glow volkswagon van. It was a death-trap for my mom and aunt. And years later, after it was discontinued because others lost their lives, we found out why. Those vans had a high center of gravity. They tipped over and rolled easily.
That is what happened when my uncle, who was driving, had to break because someone cut him off (two-lane highway and the guy was passing the van). Well, when my uncle breaked, the van swerved and tipped and rolled, throwing my mom and aunt out of the van. Those were the days before mandatory seat-belts.
Years later looking back, I miss and love her and my aunt. But if any good can come out of a tragedy, and I believe it can, my brother married my best friend who was at the funeral. He didn't even look at her before. And the product of their marriage is the blessing of my two nephews who are now grown men and my grandniece who is eleven, going on sixteen, very brilliant and absolutely beautiful. But then, I'm a proud aunt and grandaunt.
Tragedy birthed blessings. But I must tell you that I have tremendous faith and belief in God, as did my mom and my aunt who were solid Christians. It was my faith that sustained me through the period of her loss. When my mom's teaching career ended with her death, mine began. I taught HS English, mentored college student teachers, went on to get my Master's Degree and my Ph.D. and discovered my writing talents during the dissertation process.
Through loss comes rebirth, reinvention and reconciliation. I didn't mention that my Dad and I didn't really get along: old world Italian gentleman, new world American daughter with radical views. All that changed when my mom died; we became very close. God will take a curse and make it into a blessing if you watch and pray. I pray he does that for you if you are reading this and have suffered loss that was not understandable at the time. That is my special prayer and Giveaway for you every day including Mother's Day. ;-) And of course, there is a REAL GIVEAWAY HERE!!! Enjoy and good luck!
