Good Thursday, everyone.  I was surprised to see two posts I had started but not posted.  The posts have become so intermittent because I am tired of writing the same (or very similar) posts on the same old issues.  I don't know how often we have watched the news--especially the political and economic news--and wondered at the fact that the same old problem is featured and everybody is saying the same old things.  I wonder, given the results of the last election, if I am the only one who thinks most of the politicians re-elected should have been booted?  Right now the new readers are touting the agreement between two conservative senators that may lead to a 'historic' agreement on gun control.  Historic?? Really??  All it provides for is expanded background checks for gun purchasers.  The measures restricting so-called 'assault' weapons and large capacity magazines aren't going anywhere.  My problem with all sides of this issue is remains the same: nobody really addresses the real problem here.  As the old saying goes: Guns don't kill people; people kill people.  Yeah, they may do it with guns; but, they also use bats and other clubs, knives, cars, and anything else that is handy.  A couple of the bloggers I read regularly noted that there isn't any movement to restrict the sale of x-acto knives or other knives.  Nor is there a demand that we submit to background checks before buying knives.  Or, get some kind of permit to carry one.  With guns we blame the tool for the use to which some asshole puts it.  How about a smarter way to hold the assholes accountable for what they actually do and not everyone for what some asshole might do.  Sorry for the monotonous use the the same noun.  I guess that makes my earlier point.

This is an interesting little story but I don't really know what conclusions to make of it.  Our confusion was simply compounded because the amounts of lead in the rice are different in the BBC broadcast report we just saw.  Since we eat rice maybe six to eight times a month I think we will wait further developments.  At leas the BBC account addressed our question of how some of the lead got into the rice but only for that from China and Taiwan.  I would love to know how the drought several areas have experienced over the last couple years or so would have affected the levels of heavy metals in crops including rice.