EU bans claim that water can prevent dehydration

[trofanji]

I came to the conclusion that politics has nothing to do with common sense

 

[For The Kids]

Note to any Americans reading - when the Telegraph "reports" that the EU has done something unbelievably stupid, its probably not true. Incidentally, the same applies to stories in the Daily Mail about the politically correct "war on Christmas" - which should start to appear any day now.

I dunno so much about that..the Telegraph is more credible than most things they do here..and personally i think m ost things the EU do are pretty stupid..i just wish we could leave it - but ofc our dear leaders dont think we should have a referendum even so..

 

[For The Kids]

...and we wonder why Europe is going broke.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/8897662/EU-bans-claim-that-water-can-prevent-dehydration.html

Europe is going broke because we have to keep giving billions to other European countries that keep going bust..at a time when we are in a recession and are own people are suffering badly.

 

[Nova]

Europe is going broke because we have to keep giving billions to other European countries that keep going bust..at a time when we are in a recession and are own people are suffering badly.

Exactly. I don't think a study of the benefit of bottled v. tap water is the problem.

But we do the same thing over here in the States: we pick out one program that can be made to look ridiculous and then pretend it is the cause of our economic problems rather than 30 years of de-regulation and reckless borrowing (by the government, private industry and individuals).

 

[Reality Orlando]

It's all in how you look at things. My family history spans just about very continent...South America, Ireland, Germany, (Roma) Hungary, Swedan, Africa so I certainly don't fit your rather biased description above. My great-grandmother was born in a caravan in the mountains near Austria. Her family can be traced back to the Hazara tribe in Afghanistan. Other ancestors left the hunger and poverty of Ireland to land in the coal mines in PA where they were worked near to death for pennies while others fled Germany and Hungary in the wake of Hitler and his armies. At no time did anyone in our family depend on the government for advice or welfare (assistance). They worked their way up and out of bad situations into better ones and each generation has done better than the last simply because that's what our parents expected of us and we loved and respected them enough to do as they wished. The problem in government today is much bigger than just banking although I will agree that the housing bubble should never have happened. I still blame those who pushed for folks to be approved for loans when they didn't qualifty...that IMO opened the door to disaster. We experienced similar mortgage nightmares in the 80's with "balloon mortgages" so it's not like anyone with an iota of sense didn't know what was coming. Yes, history does repeat itself and it's a pity that not everyone learns from past mistakes. I see the degradation of our society as a break down of the family and family values. Government is intruding into every facet of our lives and the cost to both our wallets and our freedom is unsustainable in a freedom loving society. We'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

 

[Nova]

At no time did anyone in our family depend on the government for advice or welfare (assistance).

How could anyone possibly know this? (Hint: s/he couldn't. The statement is dubious family mythology at best.)

And if your relatives lived and died in coal mines for pennies, that was a good thing? IMO, you ought to be supporting government safety regulations and minimum wages, not complaining about them.

 

[reportertype]

My own family has a bit of mythology re: we didn't rely on the government! But of course, that meant that relatives were picking cotton 50 plus hours per week at age 11.

Not exactly good times.

I remember growing up there two things that were absolutes from parents, teachers, all authority figures in my life: 1 - go to college so you can get a good job. 2 - own your own home no matter what cause it's the "American Dream."

Both are rubbish statements obviously.

 

[Nova]

My own family has a bit of mythology re: we didn't rely on the government! But of course, that meant that relatives were picking cotton 50 plus hours per week at age 11.

Not exactly good times.

I remember growing up there two things that were absolutes from parents, teachers, all authority figures in my life: 1 - go to college so you can get a good job. 2 - own your own home no matter what cause it's the "American Dream."

Both are rubbish statements obviously.

Coincidentally, Bill Moyers has an article in this week's NATION that discusses what government used to do in this country. Moyers writes that while he grew up below the poverty line (his father never made $100/week until he joined a union late in life), he enjoyed the same schools, libraries, roads, utilities, and universities as the richest kid in town.

The point here is that despite our family mythologies about financial independence (my family is no different), the fact is that EVERYONE in the country benefited from government investment in the economy and infrastructure of the nation from the 1930s through the 1970s. It was that government intervention that shortened the Great Depression, helped win a World War, dropped poverty to historic lows, freed senior citizens from total dependence on their children, and helped to rebuild the rest of the world after we bombed it to rubble. (Just to be clear, that last remark is just a fact, not a critique of our war policies.) Beginning in the 1970s, governmental intervention gave us cleaner water and clearer skies (I live in Southern California), and banned pesticides and other materials that are deadly to humans and animals.

The mantra of the past 30 years that all government is bad and all regulations are prohibitive and unfair is indeed a (well documented) "vast, right-wing conspiracy". It has bankrupted the country, impoverished what used to be the middle class, and, worst of all, has destroyed American democracy in favor of a kleptocracy favoring only the obscenely wealthy few.

 

[Donjeta]

The US and Europe are both in bad shape financially, but that doesn't seem to stop the wheels of absurd new legislation.

"Hey, America! The GOP is, yet again, looking out for you. This week, Congress took a break from voting to make sure none of your tax dollars will go to all those abortion clinics NPR wants to open in our national parks, to pass a federal law that only the nation that invented Febreze would tolerate.

They have affirmed that pizza is a vegetable"

Friday 18 November 2011

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentis...8/pizza-vegetable-congress-says-so?CMP=twt_gu

At least the EU is working with facts when they make new law.