Study: showering boosts concentrations of potentially hazardous trihalomethanes

By DAVID WILLIAMSON
UNC News Services

May 2, 2002

CHAPEL HILL — Trihalomethanes — byproducts of interaction between chlorine used to disinfect water and organic matter found in raw water — increase significantly in the bloodstream after showering, a new study shows. Public health experts suspect the chemicals may boost the risk of cancer and contribute to reproductive problems such as miscarriage.

The study, conducted by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health, involved 50 women living in Georgia and Texas. It showed that showering shifted the distribution of trihalomethanes (THMs) in blood toward that found in the tap water in volunteers’ houses. (more…)

Clear path to aquifer opens for pollution

By Robert Sargent and Ramsey Campbell
 Orlando Sentinel  July 7, 2002

The Battle for Water

By Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke

December 9, 2003

We are taught in school that the Earth has a closed hydrologic system; water is continually being recycled through rain and evaporation and none of it leaves the planet’s atmosphere. Not only is there the same amount of water on the Earth today as there was at the creation of the planet, it’s the same water. The next time you’re walking in the rain, stop and think that some of the water falling on you ran through the blood of dinosaurs or swelled the tears of children who lived thousands of years ago. (more…)

Debating How Much Weed Killer Is Safe in Your Water Glass

The 4th of July

A Special  Holiday Collaboration by Gazette Columnists B. Bea Sharper and Tiger Tom–Their First Collaboration Ever

Facts You May Not Know About Signers of the Declaration of Independence

by B. Bee Sharper

Number of men who signed the Declaration of Independence: 56.

Number of these who were captured by the British as traitors and tortured  before they died: 5.

Number who had their homes pillaged and burned: 12.

Number who died from wounds from the Revolutionary War: 9.

Number who had sons killed or captured while serving in the Revolutionary Army: 4.

Number who were lawyers or jurists: 24.

Number who were farmers and wealthy plantation owners: 9.

Number who were merchants: 11.

Number who had a lot to lose when they stuck their their necks out by signing a treasonous document directed against their own government: 56.

Safe Patriotism, or Stuff They Didn’t Tell You  About The Declaration of Independence in School

by Tiger Tom

Most American-style people, I have noticed, think that the 4th of July was invented so people can shoot off some firecrackers, or watch some “professionals” shoot off some firecrackers for them (which is what I, Tiger Tom, often refer to as “safe fireworksing”). Or they go to some lake or other and get baked . Or they get drunk, or they go to a baseball game,  The real patriots might even get drunk and go to a baseball game. Or they sit at home and watch other people getting drunk at a baseball game on television (which is what I, Tiger Tom, often refer to as “safe baseballing”).

Usually here in Denton, Texas, the local newspaper trots out its good old editorial about how lucky we are to live in the land of the free and prints up some old pictures from its files that show kids playing in lawn sprinklers in the good old summertime and others of  families  participating in safe fireworksing or getting baked.  They always print a heartwarming letter to the editor from the local Budweiser dealer about how patriotic it is to drink beer on the 4th of July.  Beer, according to Budweiser Bill, is a great American tradition and all the guys in wigs who signed the Declaration were big beer drinkers who knew when to say when, which is what he says he wants us to do. (I, Tiger Tom, do not believe this for a minute. He does not tell us that if all the drunks started saying when, the Budweiser company would last about as long as a cherry popsickle in the fiery furnace into which Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego were cast. But that, of course, is another story which I, Tiger Tom, will one day tell  you under the title  “The Alcohol Industry’s Nasty Little Secret”.)

Another thing that I, Tiger Tom, have noticed about Americans is that when they get really steamed up about some great social injustice (like the high price of gasoline–I mean, somereally important issue like that), they get all pissed off and fire off an email letter, or more usually forward an email letter written by some organization, then they sit back and patriotically have a Budweiser and forget about the whole thing. They don’t put themselves at a lot of risk or go to a lot of trouble. And this is what I, Tiger Tom, call “safe patriotism.”

Now, for the guys in wigs who signed the Declaration, safe patriotism did not exist. These were all guys who had a lot to lose. Their money, their families, their asses.. Some of them got their houses burned down and some of them were captured and tortured and killed. Some of them lost sons. One guy, John Hart, lost his wife and 13 children and had to live hiding in forests and caves. He finally died from exhaustion. Another guy named Thomas McKeam had to keep his family in hiding and the British took away all his property. He lived and died in poverty. Thomas Nelson asked George Washington to destroy his home so the British could not use it as their headquarters.  He was forced into bankruptcy. A rich man from Virginia named Thomas Braxton who signed the Declaration had his ships destroyed by the British navy and had to sell his home to pay his debts.  He died in rags.

The biggest misunderstanding that Americans seem to have about the Revolutionary War is that it was really a Civil War. People think it was the Americans vs. the British. It wasn’t. It was a bunch of British guys telling their own government to get screwed. The revolt was not against a foreign government; it was against their own government.  They were guys telling their own government they weren’t going to obey its laws. Sort of what the guys at Waco did, when you come to think of it.

I, Tiger Tom, say it is time we do some serious considering about the sacrifices these guys made and the principles they stood for. And I, Tiger Tom, say it’s time we seriously kick some political ass and get rid of the greedy jerks that our one party system has spawned and put us in some representatives who respect the principles expressed in the Declaration of Independence.  We enjoy greater liberty than anyone on earth, but our liberties are shrinking. We need to stick our necks out a little to protect them.

I, Tiger Tom, say that patriotism, real patriotism, like real sex,  is never safe.  And I, Tiger Tom, also say that although Budweiser Bill should be cast into the fiery furnace along with Shadrack et al. and roasted until his liver pops out, I, Tiger Tom,  will defend his right to say any slimy, self-serving thing about Independence Day that he wants to.

Back to Tiger Tom’s Index Page.

Back to Bee B. Sharper’s Index Page

Pure Water Gazette Front Page.

Beware of Mom

by Hardly Waite, Pure Water Gazette Senior Editor

Sept. 3, 2002

By the Gazette’s informal reckoning, American parents spend at least 37.46% of their time cautioning their children to beware of strangers.  Perhaps it’s as high as 41%.

By authentic and reputable non-Gazette statistics, there are fewer than 100 American children abducted and killed by strangers each year. In Great Britain, the average is five kids per year killed by strangers.

Here is the percentage breakdown for under-five-year-old children murdered in the UK during the last quarter of the 20th century:

Of all children under age 5 murdered from 1976-99 —

• 31% were killed by fathers
• 30% were killed by mothers
• 23% were killed by male acquaintances
• 6% were killed by other relatives
• 3% were killed by strangers

Actually,  talking to a dreaded “stranger,” so feared by American parents and consequently by American children, is statistically one of the safest things a kid can do. Far more children are killed by people they know, including relatives, than by strangers.  In fact, in brutal, unvarnished fact, the most dangerous person a child can  associate with is his mom or his dad. Almost 2/3 of the kids murdered are killed by one of their parents. And the number of children killed each year while traveling in an automobile with their mother is astronomical in comparison to the number abducted and killed by strangers. In Great Britain, the Sunday Times says that an average of five children per year are murdered by strangers, compared to 7,525 per year “killed or seriously injured” in road accidents.

With this in mind, it’s obvious that if we were a realistic race rather than a bunch of neurotic nervous nellies, we would tell our kids: “If your mom tries to get you to ride with her in a car, run away from her as fast as you can. If she offers you candy or tries to pull you into her car, run away fast and try to find a stranger to protect you.”

God Must Divest Himself of Earthly Holdings

or Dick Cheney Aux Enfers

By Tiger Tom

Your opinions are of no concern to us. —God.

There is a basic flaw in the way things are set up. I, Tiger Tom, say that it is absolutely unfair and detrimental to heathens and Christians alike for God to accept money from Christians. The practice creates an obvious conflict of interest.

Politicians, in theory, are required when they take office to give up control of certain assets in order to assure impartiality. Former Vice President Dick Cheney, for example, made $39 million from oil holdings the year he was elected. That’s an undisputed fact. He is required to place his holdings in blind trust to assure that he will not be influenced to make self-serving decisions that would add more fat to his already-bulging bank account.

I, Tiger Tom, understand, of course, that Dick Cheney is a poor example to use for the principle in question, since vested or divested, participating or non-participating, profiting or not profiting, he’s going to make decisions that favor oil companies. That’s because helping oil companies is hard-wired into his brain.

What I, Tiger Tom, am concerned about is not the smalltime $39 million-a-year chumps like Cheney. I am talking about God. Now, there’s Someone with a real vested interest in the prosperity of Christians.

Consider that the Almighty is currently taking in big piles of cash—often in the form of a tithe, 10% of the earnings–from U. S. Christians. This means that when they profit, He profits.

I, Tiger Tom, say that this sets up a very dangerous situation, both for God and His followers. Not only does God have a vested interest in the financial well-being of Christians, it also puts us in front of one of those brain-splitting contradictions that the Holy Scriptures are famous for. Just consider this. Clearly, Jesus taught, once and again and several times after,  that the poor shall inherit the Kingdom of God and that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I am sure that there are those who will argue that camels were smaller in those days and that needles had bigger eyes and that if you grease the camel well with olive oil, etc., but Jesus was really crystal clear on the subject of the great advantage, nay, the absolute necessity of poverty if one’s aim is the salvation of one’s immortal soul. And when a certain specific rich guy came and asked Him directly how to gain salvation,  Jesus clearly told him to divest himself of his belongings and give the proceeds to the poor. He did not say anything about putting his stuff in a blind trust. He said get rid of it.

Dick Cheney: Cheerful Payer of Tithes and Taxes

Now I, Tiger Tom, do not know personally if Dick Cheney tithes, as it is called, by giving to God or at least to what are assumed to be God’s representative organizations, a tenth part of his net earnings. But let’s say that as a Christian man of high moral character, he does. And I, Tiger Tom, do not personally know if Dick Cheney as a tither is a netist or a grossist. Some years ago when I was a mere cub in Sunday School there was much heated debate about whether God intended people to give a tenth part of their gross or their net income, to wit, to give based on what you took in before or after taxes. The netists prevailed. It was decided that He meant pay a tenth of the net–what you have after taxes. Well, in Dick Cheney’s case, assuming that he is a netist,  since he owed $13 million of his $39 million in income tax (demonstrating clearly the need for a tax break for the rich) and was left with a paltry $26 million or so, he probably owed God no more than $2.6 million for the entire fiscal year 2000.

Now I, Tiger Tom, to give everyone and Everyone the benefit of the doubt, ask you to put yourself in God’s shoes. There are countless heathens who need to hear the Word. Up or down, right or left—everywhere you look, from God’s viewpoint there are sinners who need to hear the Word. Now, let’s say that God feels compelled to launch an ambitious missions campaign to spread his holdings in Africa, the very heart of heathen darkness, which He calculates will save 1.13 million souls if only the money can be raised to implement the campaign. So God is faced with a choice. He can spend his time tweaking the market a bit to  funnel, say, $10 million more Dick Cheney’s way, or He can spend a lot of time helping a teenage single mom in Houston get on her feet and get a job. The chick in Houston, let’s say, with a minimum wage job, is only going to owe God about $1,000 for the whole year. Let’s face it. Greed will likely kick in and she’ll decide to selfishly keep the whole ten grand for herself. But Dick Cheney, after taxes, is going to have to cough up at least two thirds of a million (a lot more if he can get another tax cut through). $667,000, God figures, will translate to at least 32,746 saved African souls, while the Houston girl’s thousand will barely buy a spare tire for one of  the salvation buses.

I, Tiger Tom, say that God did not get to be God by being impractical or dense. He did not fall off of a turnip truck.  He’s likely to think: “That girl should not have gotten herself knocked up. A little more time on the bottom will teach her a lesson. But Dick—that boy has always been a good and faithful servant. Look at the infidels he’s bombed! And he supports capital punishment! An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, as I once so eloquently put it.”

Well, the obvious conclusion to draw from all this is that God has a vested interested in helping Christians. It’s as if they’re buying Him off with tithes the way the corporations buy the Tweedledums and Tweedledees who work in Washington.  He helps them, they help Him. The more they get, the more He gets.

But if you think this is a sweet deal for Christians, it is because you do not know all the facts. I, Tiger Tom, must tell you here about a vision that hath come unto me. It was as if an Angel of the Lord opened mine eyes.

Tiger Tom’s Vision

God is sitting at the toll booth to the Kingdom. (I know, it’s St. Peter who is supposed to be there, but it was his day off and God was sitting in.)  So  there’s God, thumbing through the brand new list of the recently defunct, when up steps none other than Dick Cheney.

God:  Hola, Dick. I see here that that last hunk of cow finally clogged up the old ticker for good.

Dick Cheney:  Well, you did give us dominion over the cattle of the field.  One would assume it was OK to eat them.

God:   I gave you dominion over your children, too, but I didn’t expect you to eat them.

Dick Cheney:  Whatever. Look, Man, I’m not feeling very well. Dying takes a lot out of you. Why don’t you just hand me my wings or do whatever it is you do so I can go on in and start my eternal reward with a good long nap.

God: I’m afraid you’ve got the wrong idea here. You’re carrying way too much baggage to come in here….

Dick Cheney: Hey, cut the comedy. I’m tired.

God: It’s no joke, man. You were way too rich to qualify.

Dick Cheney: Rich?  What’s wrong with rich?  And it was YOU Who made me rich!

God: That’s just a technicality. A rule is a rule. You know the one about the rich guy and the camel. And it clearly says in Luke 4:22: “Woe unto you that are rich!”

While they are talking, a pale, thin girl approaches the Gate, and God glances her way and waves her through.

Girl: Wait, isn’t this Heaven?

God: It certainly ain’t Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Girl:  Look, I’m not going in. I don’t even believe in all this crap.

God: Your opinions are of no concern to us. Jesus said clearly, “Blessed be ye poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God.” I thought it was a little strong when He said it, but said is said, and I have to stick by it. The place is yours. Mi casa es tu casa.

Girl: Whatever

God: (He looks at his list and reads).  “Died of pneumonia while living under a bridge. Not eligible for food stamps because of welfare reform.” That’s you, isn’t it?

The Girl nods and He waves her through.

Dick Cheney: This really sucks! I say let’s take a vote. I’ll break the tie. And I want to appeal to the Supreme Court.

God: I am not only Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last. I am also the Supreme Court.

Dick Cheney: Let me get this straight. You make people rich, then you condemn them for being rich, and you make other people poor and reward them eternally for being poor.

God: Something like that.  That’s what all the stuff about Alpha and Omega and the first being last and the last being first is all about, I think. I never understood it too well myself.

Dick Cheney: This place is more corrupt than the U. S. Senate.

God: Whatever. As I told the lassie from Houston, your opinions don’t matter around here. Adiós, Dick.

With these words, God slaps a button on the arm of His chair and the floor falls from under Dick Cheney’s feet. The hapless former Vice President tumbles screaming into the mouth of the fiery pit. When Dick Cheney is gone and all is quiet, God looks into the pit and, as an afterthought, shouts:

God: And thanks, Dick, for all those powerful tithes!

Gazette Columnist Tiger Tom tells it like it should be.  See more of his work at the  Best & Worst of Tiger Tom Page

 Drink More Coke

By Jim Hightower

August 21, 2001

In Mark Pendergast’s engaging book, For God, Country, and Coca Cola, he notes that this global purveyor of caffeinated sugar water once tried to pitch its drink to Cubans with a skywriting ad. But a wind gust distorted the Spanish word Tome to Teme, so instead of saying “Drink Coca Cola,” Cubans were implored to “Fear Coca Cola.”

All of the world’s people, including you and me, might want to reflect on this revealing slip of a verb, for Coke is a corporation on a mission. According to an excellent article by Sonia Shah in Progressive magazine, its mission is to replace drinking water with Coke as the world’s primary beverage.

This is no idle threat. The company asserts that “right now, in the United States, people consume more soft drinks than any other liquid – including ordinary tap water.” The company has big plans. A Coke executive has declared that soon, “we will see the same wave catching on in market after market, until, eventually, the number one beverage on Earth will be soft-drinks – our soft drinks.”

In her article, Shah reports that, rather than simply pushing this ambition in terms of its own corporate profits, Coca Cola wants to be credited with a humanitarian motive: “We’re redefining how consumers get hydrated,” the corporation brags in its annual report. Rationalizing this push into Third World poverty regions, Coke’s former CEO noted that “fluid replenishment is a key to health,” then he asserted: “Coca-Cola does a great service because it encourages people to take in more and more liquids.” Yeah, Bucko, and more and more of a liquid that causes rotting teeth, obesity, diabetes, and other health problems.

This is Jim Hightower saying… Coke wants to do more hydrating of U.S. consumers, too. Shah informs us that current CEO Doug Daft (yes, that’s his real name) envisions a Coke-on-tap system that will provide an endless stream of Coka Cola through the cold-water tap on your kitchen sink

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