A1A South

“America is …, uh, is no longer, uh … what it could be, what it once was. And I say to myself, I don’t want that future for my children.”

I wish he would be more specific here.  Which America does he want?  The one prior to the Civil War wherein he could be property?  The America prior to integration when black-owned businesses flourished?  The America with the Jim Crow laws?  The one prior to 1900 where the average life span was less than what he celebrated at his birthday this week? Maybe he prefers America when it belonged to Great Britain.  That must be it.

America at this point in time has the best living conditions EVER for the majority of its people.

Oh, snap.  He probably prefers America before Al Gore invented the internet.

New research in SCI’s Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture says there is no evidence to support the view that organically grown crops contain more major and trace elements.

New research in the latest issue of the Society of Chemical Industry’s (SCI) Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture shows there is no evidence to support the argument that organic food is better than food grown with the use of pesticides and chemicals

Many people pay more than a third more for organic food in the belief that it has more nutritional content than food grown with pesticides and chemicals.

But the research by Dr Susanne Bügel and colleagues from the Department of Human Nutrition, University of Copenhagen, shows there is no clear evidence to back this up.

In the first study ever to look at retention of minerals and trace elements, animals were fed a diet consisting of crops grown using three different cultivation methods in two seasons.

The study looked at the following crops – carrots, kale, mature peas, apples and potatoes – staple ingredients that can be found in most families’ shopping list.

The first cultivation method consisted of growing the vegetables on soil which had a low input of nutrients using animal manure and no pesticides except for one organically approved product on kale only.

The second method involved applying a low input of nutrients using animal manure, combined with use of pesticides, as much as allowed by regulation.

Finally, the third method comprised a combination of a high input of nutrients through mineral fertilisers and pesticides as legally allowed.

The crops were grown on the same or similar soil on adjacent fields at the same time and so experienced the same weather conditions. All were harvested and treated at the same time. In the case of the organically grown vegetables, all were grown on established organic soil.

After harvest, results showed that there were no differences in the levels of major and trace contents in the fruit and vegetables grown using the three different methods.

Produce from the organically and conventionally grown crops were then fed to animals over a two year period and intake and excretion of various minerals and trace elements were measured. Once again, the results showed there was no difference in retention of the elements regardless of how the crops were grown.

Dr Bügel says: ‘No systematic differences between cultivation systems representing organic and conventional production methods were found across the five crops so the study does not support the belief that organically grown foodstuffs generally contain more major and trace elements than conventionally grown foodstuffs.’

Dr Alan Baylis, honorary secretary of SCI’s Bioresources Group, adds: ‘Modern crop protection chemicals to control weeds, pests and diseases are extensively tested and stringently regulated, and once in the soil, mineral nutrients from natural or artificial fertilisers are chemically identical. Organic crops are often lower yielding and eating them is a lifestyle choice for those who can afford it.’

Source: EurekAlert

This comes as no surprise to those of us that have followed these “organic” movements that have sprung up, been debunked, died down, and sprung up again ad infinitum.  If you want to eat organic because you are fearful of pesticide residue or think that eating organic makes you a better person, knock yourself out.  If you are worried that you are somehow harming your children because you can’t afford the $8 per lb. organic veggies, don’t worry.  Buy the non-organic variety.

Another victim is in Shands Hospital.  Police think it *may* be drug related. 

UPDATE:  Jacksonville.com has more details:

Police are searching for the gunman, who fled the scene on a green Beach Cruiser bicycle. Jefferson described him as a black male wearing blue jeans shorts and a white shirt. He said the gunman rode up to two men sitting by a bike crosswalk and began firing.

Family members of the dead man have identified him as Michael “Yum Yum” Perry Jr., 21. Perry’s mother and more than a dozen other grieving friends and relatives have gathered at the scene.

Doris Woodard, who identified herself as Perry’s cousin, said she was told he was the target of a drug-related hit. She said she was told someone rode up on a bike, shot her cousin once and then fired multiple shots while he was down.

Woodard said the attack was over a dispute about drug turf. The area just west of Interstate 95 is well-known for gunshots and drug deals.

The jobs that used to be available for young black and white men who have opted to drop out of school are no longer there.  If other avenues had been open, would they have taken them?  A former employee of ours was shot to death by the JSO several years ago because he decided that working was for foolish people, and he quit his job in order to hang with his friends and do armed robberies of fast food restaurants for the money to feed his drug habit.  This was at a time when illegal aliens* hadn’t yet taken over the construction and landcaping industries and there were plenty of legitimate jobs available for an industrious worker.   Our young employee had previously done prison time for carjacking, so he was no stranger to violent crime.   Perhaps life would have turned out differently for those young men if they would have had other opportunities.  Perhaps not, as this is the life that they chose.

Would these young men have been targeted for robbery and/or murder if they had been engaged in a legitimate enterprise such as selling cheap imported tennis shoes at the corner of this disputed drug turf?   Definitely!   

*It may sound as though I’m angry at illegal aliens.  If the young white and black men had actually wanted to work at manual labor, industries would not have had to go to illegal labor.  When I was running a construction crew, the average age of the men was 40.  The young high school drop outs and graduates who could not read a tape measure thought that they should be paid $25 per hour for a training wage and got aggravated that they were not paid as much as somebody who had 20 years on the job.