Wow...who let the crazy out?

I came across this video hop, skipping and jumping about the blogosphere. I think Little Green Footballs, which I had heard of but not really read before, was where I first saw it.

The woman in red is obsessed with the idea that Obama is not an American citizen, which is a little crazy. Though I think the wacky, conspiracy-intoned rant she spews is completely off the wall, it's not what I found to be the most interesting part of the video.

Watch it first.

Now, consider the fact that this obviously angry woman was able to completely disrupt this meeting, taking it off-track to question Obama's citizenship, and feed into the crowd's emotions. That, in and of itself, happens now and then in public forums, so it's a little crazy, but is part of the nature of the beast.

What I find most amazing is the complete lack of control that the leaders show in handling the situation, and the power of a lone voice, crazy though it may be, in pressuring an entire room to listen to it.

This woman was able to completely derail things and get the whole crowd, leaders included, to stop everything in order to say the pledge of allegiance.

Wow.

I watched in shock as I saw all of the people at the front of the room give up any sense of control, turning to face the flag, hand over heart, reciting the pledge.

Were they too afraid to ignore the crackpot? Were they afraid they might seem unpatriotic if they refused to be pressured into dropping everything and bending to this person's wishes?

What were the people in the crowd thinking? Did any of them stay in their seats, preferring to not be used by someone with an agenda, to make a point?

Fascinating...in a creepy way.

I can imagine this woman marching through France in 1789, pelting the aristocracy with tomatoes and epithets on their way to the guillotine.

Cloned Meat?...ewwwww

OK. My first response to cloning animals for food purposes is a simple: Why?

Is there some sort of cow shortage? Are they suddenly in danger of becoming extinct? Does Farmer Ted have simply too much time on his hands?

"Cloning lets farmers and ranchers make copies of exceptional animals......." Washington (AP)

"Exceptional" sounds a little frightening. Do they have super-powers? Can they calculate the rotation of the earth? It seems, to my non-farming mind, less like farming and more like a Nazi version of the barnyard. Do we really need a "super-race" of cattle? Before you know it, they'll be eating us instead of the other way around! Keep in mind, they have four stomachs and love to graze! Run for the hills before they seek a millenia's worth of revenge!


"The government declared today that food from cloned animals is safe to eat. The Food and Drug Administration concluded that cloned livestock is "virtually indistinguishable" from conventional livestock. Officials said they don't think special labels are needed to let consumers know if they are eating cloned meat." Washington (AP)

I love how they use the phrase"virtually indistinguishable." If it's not indistinguishable, what is it that's different? I personally think it's a government conspiracy to insert protein markers into the American population that can later be used to cause spontaneous combustion within those who will protest the future coups by the USDA.

That's probably what happened to that Russian politician/agent. It wasn't radiation poisoning...it was cloned steak tartar.