GMpotle

Chipotle has dealt with controversy before, but none like the one they are courting.

The company recently became the first fast-food chain to label the ingredients it uses which contain GMOs.  Of course, the list is buried deep in its website, and not listed at locations, but those looking can see 12 of the 24 ingredients listed on the site are affixed with a red "G" -- indicating the presence of GMOs. The GMO-containing ingredients include all tortillas and rice, as well as all of the varieties of meat (except pork carnitas). The company has previously campaigned for legislation to mandate the labeling of GMOs in all venues, and while they would like to eliminate GMOs, they claim that it's impossible to find reliable sources of corn and soybeans that don't include them.

Only Whole Foods and Ben and Jerry's have announced similar plans to label GMO ingredients in advance of any legal requirement to do so, and while they are may cause debate, being the early adopter may prove better for the companies in the long run as consumers are forced to accept the divisive ingredients.

54°40′ Or Whatever

When a straight line is not so straight...

Define "Insane"

The wheels of justice turn slowly, and often, senselessly.

Nearly eight months after the attack which killed 12 and wounded 58 at a Colorado theater, the defense for James Holmes is still heel-dragging on what plea to enter.  They do not want to use not-guilty by reason of insanity, because it simply does not benefit their client.  You see, if you want to go that route, you have to turn over all documents and information pertaining to your client's past, including those records previously protected by doctor-patient confidentiality.  And in the case of Holmes, it's a particular notebook given to a psychiatrist prior to the attack.  So how to you get around the evidence that would clearly implicate your client and his premeditated actions?  Challenge the constitutionality of the state insanity law!

Trying to make a whole separate issue challenging the law you're looking to take shelter under is a stroke of pure genius scumbaggery.  Only a defense lawyer could complain that a law is not serving enough of their plans and try to have it changed to suit them better.  I assume they'd prefer they could just plead insanity as a defense without having to present or prove anything.  My legal scholar hat got lost many years ago when I opted out of going to law school, but my bullshit detector has been working just fine.  You can't cry self-incrimination if you're claiming insanity, because 1) you have to establish the insanity, and 2) you're not challenging the act - just whether or not they were sane when committing it.

Sorry guys, either he did it and you want to say he was crazy, or he didn't do it.  Pick one, and then promptly lose.  And as usual, a giant big fuck you to any and every media outlet, reporter and source who continues to refer to Holmes as the "alleged" shoooter or "suspect" in the case.  When you are arrested on site with weapons immediately following the attack and you deliberately booby trapped your apartment in case of your arrest, you get no luxury of speculation.  He is the defendant, period.

Certainly Not DRM-Free, Or All That Could Have Been

Like you, I have limited awareness of copyright law - mostly, that it exists and things are copyrighted.  And thanks to the 1976 Copyright Act, there's a shit-ton of stuff not in the public domain.

Prior to going into effect in 1978, the maximum copyright term was 56 years (an initial term of 28 years plus another 28 years if renewed. Under those laws, works published in 1956 would enter the public domain on January 1, 2013.  Now, those items are copyright for 70 years after the date of the author’s death, and corporate “works-for-hire” are copyrighted for 95 years after publication.  Here's a sampling of what you can't have for free:

Literature

Winston Churchill, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, Volume I and Volume II

Philip K. Dick, Minority Report

Ian Fleming, Diamonds Are Forever

Fred Gibson, Old Yeller

Billie Holiday, Lady Sings The Blues

Alan Lerner, My Fair Lady

Eugene O’Neill, Long Day’s Journey Into Night

John Osborne, Look Back In Anger

Dodie Smith, 101 Dalmatians

Film

Around the World In 80 Days

Forbidden Planet

Godzilla, King of the Monsters!

It Conquered the World

The King and I

The Man Who Knew Too Much

Moby Dick

The Searchers

The Ten Commandments

Music

Let the Good Times Roll

Roll Over Beethoven

Who Do You Love?

Long Tall Sally

Fever

I Walk The Line

Que Sera, Sera

Heartbreak Hotel

Don't Be Cruel

Love Me Tender

Take A Shot Of Death

Those ubiquitous 5-hour Energy pods that have spawned countless imitators can give you a boost of energy, but are not strong enough to raise the dead. And with 13 deaths linked to the shot since 2009, maybe they can retain they consumers they loose to their product.

The drink was mentioned in close to 90 FDA filings in the past three years, which included cases of serious or life-threatening injuries. Sure, you do not have an absolute, direct link to the heart attacks, convulsions and, in one case, a spontaneous abortion, but it was involved. Larger-sized Monster energy drink was cited in five deaths, so it's not a stretch to say that overuse of these may be a little dangerous.  But hey, you can die from too much water ingestion, so why not have something with a little more flavor?

That 5-hour energy is considered a "dietary supplement", well, that's were it gets a little concerning. Anything you ingest can be considered a dietary supplement  but I get the impression that substances with not enough merit to be considered "food" get this denotation, and nobody would rightly take a negatively-effective supplement.  There's a denotation for that too...it's call poison.  Articles covering the linked deaths have pointed out this is reminiscent of the Four Loko problems of yesteryear (and reminded us that a little 5-hour Energy in there makes new Four Loko as good as old Four Loko), but it's not really, other than too much of anything can be lethal.

U.S.A. Back On Top!

According to the International Energy Agency, the United States will overtake Saudi Arabia and Russia as the world's top oil producer by 2017!  Now let's go after the steam engine crown!

As U.S. oil import numbers continue to fall (currently at about 20%), they should become a net oil exporter by around 2030, and almost self-sufficient in energy by 2035. Energy economists also see the United States overtaking Russia as the biggest gas producer by 2015 (though we already lead the world significantly in windbags).  The natural gas figure may have more importance because of the cleaner and cheaper alternative it offers to oil.  And as a dwindling and finite resource, producing the most oil will soon be like having the most video cassettes.

The one clear positive (beyond the backslapping for being number one), is that it could mark a shift in U.S. involvement in the Middle East.  Yes, safeguarding trade routes like the Strait of Hormuz would still be important, but a far reduced presence in the province would be generally beneficial.  Unless you're Haliburton, but fuck those thieves.

Weekend Edition

Counting down the top 20 links we didn't cover during the week...

20 • The 'Breaking Bad' Porn Parody Now Has A Trailer - You're nothing in pop culture history until there's a porn version.

19 • Man Mauled To Death By Captive Grizzly In Montana / 2-Year-Old Boy Killed At PA. Zoo Exhibit / Man-Eating Leopard Devours 15 - Another installment of man versus the animal kingdom. And the animals won.

18 • Jermaine Jackson Petitions To Alter Famous Name - I'll save you the click...he wants to change it form Jackson to Jacksun. I hope the judge denies it on the grounds of go fuck yourself (that's a legal term, right?), but if not, exhibit A is that he named one of his sons Jermajesty.

17 • Anthony Bourdain Goes On A Dead-Hooker Twitter Tirade - Don't try and put your product placement in his show without permission.

16 • Rebecca Black Producer's Thanksgiving Video, With Nicole Westbrook - WARNING! This is goddamn awful. And it's going to get 30 million hits.

15 • Craigslist Ad For 'Sick Ass 1971 Honda CB350' - If this didn't belong to La Flama Blanca, then he at least wrote the ad.

14 • No Doubt Pulled Their Offensive New Video - Native Americans don't like the cowboys and Indians motif, but it's really how bland the song is that's offensive.

13 • Man Admits Murder During Heart Attack, Survives - You don't go to heaven if you admit your sins, just jail.

12 • One Colonoscopy May Be Enough For A Lifetime / Detroit Tigers Star Pleads Guilty In New York Anti-Semitic Case - A pair of stories about assholes, and how they should be dealt with.

11 • Superman's Home Planet Krypton 'Found' / USA Luge Team To Dress As X-O Manowar For 2014 Olympics - Crossover by comics into real life can be interesting, but these are a little unnecessary.

10 • McDonald's Flies American Flag Upside Down At Half-Mast In Follansbee, West Virginia - Was it a protest after the election, a call for help, or a flag malfunction? Or, because it's West Virginia just Wednesday?

09 • Voters In Washington And Colorado Legalize Recreational Marijuana - In other news, populations on adjoining states decrease as mass exodus begins to Washington and Colorado.

08 • 37 Bond Girls Then And Now - Spoiler alert! Most of them are better then than now.

07 • Woman Who Drove On Sidewalk Must Wear 'Idiot' Sign - I like creative punishments, especially when they're also honest.

06 • Ronda Rousey Becomes The First Woman In The UFC - Well, at least, the first one who'll kick your ass or knock you out. They still have those chippies in bikinis between rounds.

05 • So Long, And Thanks For All The WHOSE RESPONSIBLE THIS - Rob Bricken leaves his editor's spot at the great Topless Robot for io9...yes, I am a geek, and you should be too by checking out both sites.

04 • How Apple Avoids Paying Billions in Taxes - They ain't making record breaking profits just from selling a lot of gadgets. Because sometimes it also pays not to think differently.

03 • Scientists Make Light Travel Infinitely Fast - When light speed got a little faster.

02 • New York Man Crushed By Giant Crucifix Has Leg Amputated - Man frequently prays at church for wife. Man believes crucifix cures his wife of cancer. Crucifix decides debt needs to be repaid.

01 • Dead Pig In Romney Shirt Found At Manhattan Beach GOP Headquarters - After all months and months of election coverage in the media, this is the way I want the story it end.

Weather (or Not)

Hot on the heels of devastating tropical storms and hurricanes, The Weather Channel is planning to start naming winter storms in the same manner.  We'll see...

Their hope to market and draw attention to the current nor'easter just squashed by the National Weather Service, the government agency in charge of all naming storms and hurricanes.  Straight from the NWS , flexing their weather muscle:

That's a category 5 smackdown.  Here's the only place it looks like you'll be seeing those names being used for the storms.

Touchin' And Takin' With The TSA

Miss Disqualified

Vancouver native Jenna Talackova is not going to win the Miss Universe Canada pageant on account of her penis.

Talackova, who regards herself as a “woman...with a history,” recognized herself as a female at an early age of four, underwent hormone therapy at 14 and gender reassignment surgery at 19...and was disqualified after judges found out she was not a “naturally born" female.  And they didn't know this until she reached the finals of the competition.  The 23-year-old believes she is “disqualified for being born,” has apparently been vocal about her transsexual past. The organizers counter that she registered for the pageant claiming that she was born female.

Considering that the pageant is owned by Donald Trump, and he's trying to pass that thing off as hair, he shouldn't be quick to judge what parts people have.

The Fleecing Off Figueroa

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum has a bigger problem than not attracting a professional football team to play there.

Employees for the Coliseum Commission vigilantly brave illness to report to work...and then cash in those giant chunks of unused sick leave. And we're not talking a few bucks, but thousands of dollars.  Interim General Manager John Sandbrook used the sick leave allotment from his University of California administrator career to boost his annual pension by $655 a month for life - and he's who they hired to curtail sending abuses at the stadium!  He replaced Patrick Lynch, who left with more than nine years of accrued sick time, adding $1,630 annually to his retirement benefits.  But it doesn't stop there.

Sandbrook, Lynch and other managers are tied to an array of what can best be summarized as  financial irregularities in how the stadium has been run, which according to an LA Times report include "lucrative side dealings, suitcases of cash for a union agent and perks such as luxury cars, massages and golf outings for select staff".  I'm surprised they haven't been on the mayor's boat.  Many of these "managers' perks" were kept in place for months after he took the helm, and why not?  With his padded sick days, raises and stipends, Sandbrook gets close to $390,000 a year, so he's got no concept of managing the city and county's money responsibly.

And don't look to Coliseum Finance Director Ronald Lederkramer to help - he had amassed sick time valued at close to $11,000 (over 20 weeks worth) when he left last year.  And beyond that, he received thousands of dollars in payments from the Coliseum in recent years for medical costs that he said were not covered by insurance.  So outside of actual insurance, having a city job that syphons off taxpayers is the best insurance.  City Controller Wendy Greuel has withheld that sick time check pending an inquiry.  Sandbrook's office listed Lederkramer's status as "retired/pensioned," but  if he quit or was fired it would make him ineligible for a sick-leave check. 

This is just another small piece of a larger picture of financial mismanagement for the city and state.  Its only going to get uglier as more of these come to light.

The S.S. Tony Villar

Our state is in a financial crisis, and the city is is trying not to go broke, so why would Los Angelinos be looking at hundreds of thousand of their tax dollars going to renovating a million dollar yacht?

The 73 foot long Angelena II is in drydock, and has not been on the water since September, but once it gets nearly $750,000 in upgrades, it will be back taking the city manager and his "guests" and "public relations tours".  Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Tony Villar says, “It’s not a yacht. It’s a boat,” but regardless of what you call it, it's going to be a taxpayer's nightmare.

Last year $147,000 was spent for two captains primarily assigned to the Angelina, $106,000 for a pair of deck hands, and more than $32,000 for fuel and maintenance. And to make matters worse, the engines have been removed because they no longer meet California emissions standards. They need to be replaced by low-emission hybrid motors, so $489,000 in federal taxpayer stimulus money that was supposed to go create jobs, plus another $200,000 coming from the Port of Los Angeles is going towards that upgrade.

“It’s not a perk to get them out on the water,” Villar said, trying to claim it is all business. But of the more than 4,000 took the cruise last year, very few and anything to do with the business of the port. Members of the Morongo Indian Tribe, screenwriters from Universal Studios, a YWCA cruise, people from the exclusive Jonathan Club, UCLA students and dozens of the mayor’s interns were in the ship's logs.

Last week, the final go ahead from the Coast Guard for the new engines came thought, so when the Angelena II hits the high seas in about 90 days, expect another chapter to this story...and not necessarily a happy ending.

The Two Faces Of Public Service

No one visually embodies the type of person who has no business telling you or anybody else how you can have sex or use your body than  LA City Councilman Paul Koretz. That's him on the right.

Koretz feels the best approach to eliminate AIDS from the adult industry - which is unquestionably more important than eliminating AIDS from the community, is to mandate condoms in adult films.  Getting on board with the proposal put forth by Michael Weinstein and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, who collected more than 70,000 signatures calling for a condom-in-porn measure on the city ballot, he underestimated one small obstacle - Carmen Trutanich.

The City Attorney filed a complaint in Superior Court, saying that "Los Angeles voters have no power to adopt the proposed measure," because only the state -- not the city -- has the ability to make such rules.  While it's not clear where Trutanich stands on the issue itself, I like the fact that he's looking at the situation with a clear and level head, which just happens to prevent human slugs like Paul Koretz from putting rubbers on people who fuck consensually for money on camera.

Like a good bureaucrat, Trutanich raises the question that a voter-approved condom requirement could attract a lawsuit, forcing “the needless and wasteful expenditure of public resources made in connection with a measure which the voters have no power to adopt.”  He pointed out for Koretz and others who want their agenda to supersede what's legal, that his complaint, which helps freeze the action, seeks "judicial clarification to see if the city of Los Angeles is pre-empted from regulating condoms in adult film shoots or whether those powers are relegated to other state agencies." 

The response?  Trutanich's action to block the ballot measure is "anti-democratic", according to Koretz. "Usually, we have the people have their say first," he added.  No, you disgusting troll, the people get to have their say in the appropriate forum and under the of framework of the law.  That's why as far as you'll get in government is councilman.  And aside from keeping porn raw, I'm happy to see my local tax dollars not being wasted on bad legislation and the challenges that will surround it.  Koretz should worry about the bigger picture and bigger problem of AIDS, and not other people's literal fucking business.

Medical Inefficacy

Hospital officials at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center are insisting that Norman Smith stop using marijuana for at least six months, undergo random drug testing, and participate in weekly substance-abuse counseling before they will consider putting him back on a liver donor list...surely there's no good reason for him to be smoking weed.

Smith was diagnosed with inoperable liver cancer in 2009, and his oncologist approved medicinal marijuana to cope with the effects of chemotherapy. Though he became eligible for a liver transplant last year, he was removed from the list in February after a positive drug test. Nevermind that it's legal under California law and HIS DOCTOR FROM THEIR HOSPITAL PRESCRIBED IT.

Thankfully, Americans for Safe Access (a medical marijuana advocacy group) is bringing this hypocrisy to light. "Denying necessary transplants to medical marijuana patients is the worst kind of discrimination...Cedars-Sinai would not be breaking any laws, federal or otherwise, by granting Norman Smith a liver transplant, and it’s certainly the ethical thing to do."

Yo Dick, Yo Weed Be Safe

Governor Jerry Brown signed a flurry of bills as he headed towards an October 9th deadline, keeping your junk and your stash cool..and I'm not saying which is your junk and which is your stash.

Brown has hundreds more on his desk, but signed 44 measures and vetoed four bills Sunday, and among the laws he signed was creating new penalties for the sale of synthetic cannabis products. The strange but interesting part is that, while the products have effects similar to marijuana, the penalties for them now outweigh those for selling small amounts of weed. Anyone selling the synthetic could be fined $1,000 and face up to six months in jail, while sales of less than 28 ounces of marijuana carry no jail time and a maximum fine of $100.

The other major bill passed keeps local ordinances from prohibiting circumcision. It was drafted in response to a proposed San Francisco ballot measure that would have prohibited any foreskin cutting that was "not deemed medically necessary" in that city. While the proposed ordinance was struck from the ballot in June and a similar measure proposed in Santa Monica was later pulled back (pun?), this effectively keeps others from forcing parents to dress their boys in turtlenecks. And whether you personally would choose that for yourself or your child, parental rights and liberties are more important than your creepy fascination with other people's kid's dicks.

Apple PD

When I was a young nerd, me and the boys would play us some AD&D, but would mix in a little Cyberpunk when we needed to trade swords for automatic sidearms. And we had no idea how prophetic it would be...

Among the street samurai and fixers were mega-corporations and their private armies to do their bidding. Apparently, we've caught up with the future, because Apple has their security force dictating orders to the local police.

Much like the last iPhone release, Apple's idiot staff can't seem to keep their secret toys from getting lost. Hoping to find their prototype, two Apple "security officials" searched Sergio Calderón's home. The problem is, it was SFPD who initiated the visit, and misled Calderón into thinking all six badge-wearing visitors were city police. "When they came to my house, they said they were SFPD," he said. "I thought they were SFPD. That's why I let them in."

Initially, statements by the SFPD indicated that no records existed of police involvement in the search, but they changed their tune and admitted that plainclothes officers accompanied two Apple security officials. They stood outside while the Apple employees scoured Calderón's home, car, and computer files for the lost iPhone 5, which was not found and Calderón denies that he ever possessed it.

Of course, Apple has no comment, but here in California, impersonating a police officer can get you up to a year of jail time. I'm hoping both Apple and the SFPD take the appropriate heat over this, because the unchecked control that corporations have over the authorities this represents is frightening.

Fret The Hardwood

Your Gibson guitar may be a collector's item soon.

Federal agents raided the guitar manufacturer's factories and offices in Memphis and Nashville, seizing several pallets of wood, electronic files and guitars. The Fish and Wildlife Service believe there may be illegally harvested Madagascar ebony and other woods from protected forests being used, and nobody wants to support the lumber equivalent of blood diamonds! Here's your blockquote:

“The Federal Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. has suggested that the use of wood from India that is not finished by Indian workers is illegal, not because of U.S. law, but because it is the Justice Department’s interpretation of a law in India. (If the same wood from the same tree was finished by Indian workers, the material would be legal.) This action was taken without the support and consent of the government in India.”

Back in 2009, Gibson was raided, resulting in several seized guitars and pallets of wood, and the pedestrian named United States of America v. Ebony Wood in Various Forms, which questioned if the company had been buying illegally harvested hardwoods from protected forests - and if they did so knowingly. In this new raid, the government is trying to determine whether some wood sourced from India met every regulatory stipulation.

But rare materials are not only a problem for new instruments. Recent revisions to 1900's Lacey Act that require anyone crossing the U.S. border to declare all manner of flora or fauna entering the country. If your vintage guitar was made with a now-restricted wood, and you better have correct and complete documentation proving the age of the instrument or an overzealous customs agent could start you down the road of fines and prosecution.

I've dealt with the Fish and Wildlife Service for work issues before - a client was sending some feather pom-poms to attach to a shoe, and because they put our company on the handbill, we had to register for an importer's license, even though we were just the third party recipient.  God forbid they send 1 pound of ostrich feather from China to our country without holding the goods in quarantine for an extra 10 days! I think their self-aggrandizing hunt of Gibson is another study in bureaucracy .

Of Carmageddon

This weekend, the San Diego Freeway (405) will be closing a 10 mile stretch for nearly 53 hours, potentially creating the worst gridlock the history of fucked L.A driving.

The highway is scheduled to be closed while Kiewit International will be demolishing part of the Mulholland Bridge, part of a $1.2 billion widening project to add lanes to heavily travelled freeway portion in the Sepulveda Pass. Kiewit happens to be the same company who built the span some 50 years ago. Replacement of two of the three bridges in the area (at Sunset Blvd & Skirball Center Dr) has been underway for many months, and the simplest plan was to demolish and rebuild the bridges one side at a time. But the Mulholland Bridge, which is significantly larger, had it's replacement built alongside the original, and not the old one will be demolished.

Beginning Friday night, the northbound freeway will be closed between the Ventura (101) and Santa Monica (10) freeways. The southbound freeway will be closed from the 101 Freeway to Skirball Center Drive. Roughly half a million vehicles travel that route through the Sepulveda Pass on an average weekend day. The freeway and all ramps are expected to be reopened to traffic by 6 a.m. Monday. Let's stress expected.

Kiewit will be fined $6,000 for every 10 minutes each side of the highway is not open after 6 a.m. That figure was derived by Caltrans as representative of the cost to the public for each minute of delay - that's up to $72,000 an hour if the freeway does not reopen on time. Herr Docktor was quick to point out what a pittance that is compared to what they're earning for the project, but if they don't want their crews to be brutally murdered by the roadside by drivers, they should think twice before missing that deadline.

Texecution!

Don't mess with Texas. And certainly don't molest and murder a teenager there.

Humberto Leal, a Mexican national, was executed today for the "rape-slaying" (AP's term, which is awesome) of 16-year-old Adria Sauceda. Her nude body was found hours after she left a San Antonio street party with Leal in 1994, and she had been bludgeoned with a chunk of asphalt.

Before his lethal injection, Leal repeatedly said he was sorry and accepted responsibility. "I have hurt a lot of people... I take full blame for everything. I am sorry for what I did," but then he ruined it as the drugs began taking effect by shouting, "Viva Mexico!"

His attorneys made citizenship a key element of their defense effort to win a stay of execution, saying the police never told him following his arrest that he could seek legal assistance from the Mexican government under an international treaty. Yeah, Mexico has such a good handle on their cartel war that they are going to worry about the criminal acts of one of it's citizens abroad.

The U.S. Supreme Court turned down a last minute appeal supported by both Mexico and the White House, which would create time for Congress to consider a law requiring court review in cases where condemned foreign nationals did not receive help from their consulates. I don't know why they would claim that this case would affect Americans detained in other countries, since foreigners are subject to sovereign laws. But the Supreme Court did not believe executing Leal would cause grave international consequences, and did not believe "that it is ever appropriate to stay a lower court judgment in light of unenacted legislation."

What a shame he didn't get to have the consulate loophole to keep him alive, which is why I like tho quotes from opposite camps. Leal's uncle criticized the U.S. justice system after the execution and said, "There is a God who makes us all pay", which did not have the same ironic impact for him. The other comes from Sauceda's mother, who correctly noted, "A technicality doesn't give anyone a right to come to this country and rape, torture and murder anyone."

Jihad On Deadlifts

A female Muslim weightlifter in Atlanta can now compete wearing a hijab and body-covering unitard, further ruining the chance that women lifters will be though of as sexy.

Kulsoom Abdullah began lifting last year at her gym, and her repressed anger at the male dominated Islamic ways helped her discover she was surprisingly good at the sport. She qualified for the American Open Weightlifting Championships last December, but USA Weightlifting, the event's sponsoring body, told her that she would not be able to compete in her modified uniform that covers everything but her hands, feet, and face.

Officials cited they had to blindly follow the guidelines of the International Weightlifting Federation, which mandated that elbows and knees be uncovered so judges could tell that athletes had fully locked them out when they lifted. Both the U.S. Olympic Committee and Abdullah petitioned the group, and at a meeting in Malaysia, home of ultra-conservative Muslims, the IWF determined a tight-fitting unitard would be acceptable.

Abdullah has a PhD in electrical computer engineering from Georgia Tech, and still does research at the university, but enjoyed lifting because it "gave me confidence". Yes, and those dorks in the lab will never try and but a move on you again at the annual White Coat Mixer.