Fernando:
No, we didn't. We Americans did not all put Bush in power. We did not all decide that the current administration was the best one possible, and we did not all think that the war was the best course of action. In fact, if you'll look over this thread, most of the people here are deploring the actions of the Bush administration in response to these revelations of torture.
A lot of people voted for Bush, it's true. But a lot of people didn't. The election was so close that the Supreme Court had to decide the winner - and a lot of people think that the election was rigged. A lot of us are working to get Bush out of office as swiftly as possible.
For the record, I am shocked and horrified that these atrocities are being committed in my name. I don't want to be looked upon with revulsion by the rest of the world. This November I'll be working to get these hubristic, jingoism-spouting monsters out of the seat of power.
(Disclaimer: written after less than four hours of sleep. If there are major typos or factual errors, mea culpa.)
Harry - the "tasting papers" I referred to are strips of tissue paper impregnated with a variety of chemicals. Depending on the abundance of taste buds and your particular genetic makeup, people either experience a delay in tasting the chemicals or taste them differently. Sodium benzoate will taste bitter to nontasters, sweet to supertasters, and salty to regular tasters; thiourea will taste immediately bitter to supertasters and have no taste at first for regular tasters. We used a third chemical in class, but I can't remember what it was.
Side note: while we're on the subject of foul and pestilent greens, has anybody else ever had fiddlehead ferns? My parents love them, but I think they taste like a used dishsponge must.
Interesting to see where this discussion went - my chem class was using the tasting papers mentioned somewhere upthread yesterday. Turns out we have a couple of supertasters in class, and it was fun to see their reactions. (I'm a better-than-most taster, so I wasn't reacting well either.)
Sweet potatoes are best plain. Or baked into a pie; it's much better than pumpkin, which has always tasted soapy to me.
And as far as the natural-foods childhood goes, I had one of those. And still got made fun of. And this was in the supposedly more enlightened early 90s. However, my parents have slackened on my much-younger sister, and now the pantry's full of all manner of processed food. It breaks my heart a little when I can't find the all-natural peanut butter; the regular stuff tastes like dessert to me.
Oh, dear lord. Migraines are the worst. My sympathies.
| Year | Number of comments posted |
|---|---|
| 2004 | 5 |
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