What Do 7 UP, Micro Beads and Lithium All Have in Common?

Click on the picture to see the micro beads.
Picture credit: Wikipedia

 

They are all things we might not want, if given a choice~

 

Reading my email this morning suddenly became very disturbing.

Several different sources reported things being in our everyday products, that truly do not belong there.

First example: Lithium in 7 UP.

Yes that 7 Up, the one I used to drink as a kid because it was always around when my mom worked there.

What was most frightening, was the follow-up in the story.

It seems that when Lithium is present in drinking water, the rates of suicides decline.

Lithium apparently makes people happier, in safe levels that is, let’s not go nuts here.

I had heard the rumors for years about Coke and Cocaine, but had never heard about this until this morning.

Yikes, is there nothing that has not been altered?

Lithium was commonly used in the Rehab Center where I was a Nurse in California in the treatment of several conditions.

But, how safe was it to put in a drink consumed by millions, including children and pregnant women, without their knowledge?

Not really sure, but am glad they have stopped?

Next shall we talk about your toothpaste?

On the News this week was a story about tiny micro balls or beads now in some in toothpastes, being found in the gums of patients by Dental Hygientists and they are not happy about it.

They are causing numerous problems, like gum disease and infections.

These things are not biodegradable and stick around practically forever, it seems.

Not just in our bodies, but in our Environment as well.

Water supplies and aquatic life are the primary concern.

The beads have already been banned in Illinois.

Bans are already in place, or are pending, to keep our water safe from them.

New York will be next.

This is all not good!

If like me, you are a label reader for self-protection, in the case of toothpaste, this won’t work.

These sneaky Companies put the ingredients on the BOX, which of course we all throw away and not on the actual tube.

Not very nice!

Now the whole world knows about all of this and the Companies are bragging that it will be fixed by March of 2016.

Hello?

These little balls or beads are causing trouble and they need to go now Proctor & Gamble, Colgate, et., al…

For many years I used AIM because I liked the gel better than a yucky white paste.

But about 10 years ago I switched to Colgate for some reason, think because I had trouble finding AIM.

Then, about a year ago I saw a story on the News about an ingredient Sorbitol,  that I preferred not to have in my toothpaste and went looking once again for AIM.

I found it and switched back.

Remember, the true ingredients are on the BOX.

Today I will be taking a very close look at it to see if the little plastic balls are in it?

Oh and by the way, these same little balls are probably also in your favorite face wash and who knows what else.

We should all start looking at all of our products a lot closer.

As a consumer, I have a question?

Do we have any say in anything anymore?

These Mega Corporations are doing these things without our knowledge or consent.

Their decisions affect our lives and our Environment.

And the only way that we, the paying consumers, ever find out about these deceitful practices and often harmful additives, are when a whistleblower, or savvy investigative writer does a story which is then passed on to the unknowing, innocent dupes.

That would be you and me.

So, now you know what  7 UP, Micro Beads and Lithium all have in common!

 

Places to learn more:

Lemon, Lime—and Lithium? Turns Out, 7-Up Used to Contain the Potent Drug

Lithium  – Wikipedia

Cocaine  – Wikipedia

INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN AGAINST MICROBEADS IN COSMETICS

This Toothpaste Brand Might Be Doing Horrifying Things to Your Mouth

Microbeads in personal care products are polluting our oceans and lakes

Dental discovery may have you changing your toothpaste

‘Plastic micro beads’ to be removed from soap

Facial Scrub Microbead Ban May Be Issued in New York

The Scary Reason Illinois Just Banned Your Face Wash

 

Advertisement

Has the King Left the Building?

Public Domain Burger King logo

 

I did not want to write about this, ever.

As of right now, I guess I’m still living in denial.

But there it was in my mail this morning, the ugly news that was crystal clear.

Burger King is leaving its home state of over 50 years here in Florida and moving everything to Canada to avoid taxes?

Say it isn’t so, I beg you BK.

Whenever we are out running errands and get hungry, BK is usually my first choice because they have one of my favorite fast food combos, an awesome Veggie Burger accompanied by scrumptious sweet potato fries.

But, if this deal, this merger, does, or has already happened, there goes any hope I might have of finding a Veggie Burger on the run.

We have a few Burger Fi’s starting up here now and they have a nearly Organic Veggie Burger, that is out of this world, but the nearest one is nearly 45 miles away in Winter Park.

Not really convenient when you want a quick Veggie Burger, is it?

So Burger King will now have to be scratched off of my personal quick food out list.

According to the story this morning, this merger announcement has really ……… off their loyal customers, big time.

Burger King was never on the List because they are a favorite place to eat and are a very popular, well-managed and run, not bad fast food place here in Florida.

BK originally started in 1953 in Jacksonville and is now headquartered in the Miami area.

This whole merger story is beginning to smell really stinky.

If this merger is consummated and does go through, these two Corporations will become the third largest food chain in the world.

Yikes, that’s a lot of power.

In the meantime, BK’s 34-year-old CEO Daniel Shwartz, earning a reported $700,000 plus bonuses, says not to worry, that their potential merging with Canada’s Tim Horton’s Donuts, will keep the two companies separate.

Not so fast, is what most of their long and loyal customers think about this.

This may or may not, have been a Corporate containment reaction to the recent ugly public responses, that seems to have caught them off guard with the overwhelming public criticism of their proposed merger.

Some of the hundreds of public comments that have been made, are downright vicious.

Our own Florida Senator Bill Nelson is outright livid about this whole idea, knowing exactly how much Florida has to lose if it happens and said that if it does happen, he wants every single one of their restaurants removed from every Military Base in the United States.

Ouch!

Don’t mess with people and their burgers, even if it’s only a Veggie Burger.

So, Burger King, what’s it going to be, have you really left the building?

 

Places to learn more:

Burger King – Wikipedia

Looks Like The ‘Burger King’s’ Subjects Are Royally Pissed Off

Burger King Heads North Of The Border

Here’s Why Warren Buffett Is Investing $3 Billion in the Burger King-Tim Hortons Deal

Burger King’s Tim Hortons Offer Is Part Of A Huge Cost-Cutting Plan

Is Burger King moving to Canada?

Burger King’s Tax Inversion and Canada’s Favorable Corporate Tax Rates

How companies shrink their taxes by leaving U.S.

Burger King-Tim Hortons Cross-Border Merger Much More Than Tax Inversion

Burger King Is Run by Children

 

Boycott Coke!

Picture  credit: Wikipedia

 

An enraging letter/petition was in my email this morning and it has now become the subject of today’s posting.

Coke has been on  The List  since this Blog’s inception and today the impetus for writing about it was delivered conveniently in my email.

Personally I have not drank any soft drinks for many years now, right after I learned what they did/do to our bodies.

I discovered that drinking Diet Coke every day was the source of my migraine headaches.

I stopped drinking it and the migraines were instantly gone.

This was more than twenty years ago.

But today, Coke has a huge family of other products and some of them have been here in our house, for a very long time.

Simply Orange used to be a favorite and just a week ago, I brought home some coconut water after seeing it on the Dr. Oz Show and hearing how good it was for us.

After looking at the lengthy list of Coke products today, it was sad to realize that by my purchase of them, I too was/am empowering Coke to continue its evil plan.

Did I know that Coke and Monsanto were/are sleeping together?

No?

Until just recently, few of us were aware, that these two Giants have been secretly plotting against the World’s consumers.

Neither of them want you, me, any of us, to know that they are spending millions to keep GMO’s in our lives and our bodies.

The truly terrifying thing is that some of these Coke products claim to be Organic.

If they are, why would they support and defend, against the wishes of the very consumers who buy their products, a Corporation like Monsanto, whose primary source of income is the manufacture of GMO’s?

Together these two Mega forces have and are, defeating any hope of legalized opposition through their combined forces, against any bill demanding the labeling of GMO’s anywhere in America that could stop them.

It all borders on complete insanity.

Or, is absolutely brilliant marketing, by two of the most powerful Corporations in the world, who are simply sharing a brain.

Below is a link to a Boycott Coke petition, please do read it and if you agree, please do sign it and share it?

We are only the poor innocent dupes who are funding, by our consistent purchasing, the evil that these two Corporations will continue to inflict upon us, until we stop them, by refusing to buy ANYTHING that either of them makes.

In searching for reference points for this story, it was learned that Pepsi may also be included in this conspiracy.

I will leave them for another day, but it is something to consider in the meantime.

Think of a world without toxins, poisons and chemicals in all of our food.

A wonderful world without unidentified Genetically Modified Organisms.

Think of your children and what this means to their future health and well-being.

Boycott Coke!

 

Places to learn more:

The Boycott Campaign is here:

Coke_betrays_democracy_join_the_Coke_Boycott/

Coca-Cola  – Wikipedia

The Coca-Cola Monsanto connection

The Dark Side of Coca-Cola’s Healthy Brands

Food industry front groups exposed in new report: Monsanto, Coke, Pepsi and more

 

The Koch Brothers

Picture/Graphic credit:
Koch Brothers Exposed FB Page

 

I must beg forgiveness for the lapse that kept these two off of  The List.

They will be added later today, as they are once again, in the spotlight that seems to follow their every move.

But I digress, let us begin at the beginning, with these two siblings from a family that came to define the word, dysfunctional family!

It began with the father, Fred, one of the founding members of the John Birch Society, who had four sons, who then made an art out of trying to steal from each other.

Charles and David, the two middle sons of this Dutch Duo, are the ones who remain active in the family business and are two of the most feared and despised of all the world’s Oil Icons.

The Brothers rule over the Koch Industries, which was last said to be in 2012, worth more than $115 Billion and the family owns about 84% of this!

I suppose calling these people ruthless, cunning, devious and driven is probably a compliment.

Their Company, Koch Industries, is called a Conglomerate and they aren’t kidding.

These Brothers, this family, own a little bit of this and a little bit of that and a whole lot of everything and anything to do with the Oil Industry at large.

If it is about Oil, they are in it, own it and control it, period!

The very long list of what they own or control, is so long, in fact, that you will need a snack mid way through, to have the strength to finish.

You could spend days reading about all of this, the name Koch  gives a new meaning to total, absolute control in an Industry and Oil is just the tip of this powerful Duo’s Iceberg.

But, for now, let us discuss just the top, most egregious offenses that they are making.

An odd thought just ran through my mind, as I was writing that sentence.

When they say ” you’re not in Kansas anymore Dorothy, ” they probably mean that if your were, it is already owned by the Koch family!

A wee little point needs to be made first, to demonstrate the Koch tenacity and power, between 1999 and 2003, their Corporation was fined more than $400 million in fines, penalties and judgements.

Understand?

The frequently illegal, questionable, or bordering on criminal practices of this group, sadly brings to mind the often unscrupulous behaviour of some in our very own Government.

Anything and everything is on the table for a price and the desired result that it will bring.

Bear in mind that Papa Koch long ago was driven out of America and forced to do business in Russia.

He found both the Country and the Communists that he had to do business with there, intolerable, claiming the USSR to be,
” a land of hunger, misery, and terror. ” –  Wikipedia.

He returned to America and perhaps with a bit of revenge on his mind, never looked back, gobbling up one Company after another on his way to the very top of the Oil Refining business in America.

Not satisfied in being the ruler of that world, the family got into, of course, politics, the media and all that their endless funds could buy for them.

” Between 2006 and 2011 they spent more than $50 million to Lobby in Washington. ”  –  Wikipedia.

And you guessed it, they of course have a PAC,  ” the company funds the political action committee  KochPAC   –  Wikipedia.

There is so much everywhere, about this family, these two brothers, that you could simply spend a lifetime working on it, but for this Blog Posting and on this day, let it just be said, that these two Koch Brothers are the most fearsome, terrifying Brothers that this country is likely to ever see.

The 60 minute Documentary film, explains it all in detail:    Koch Brothers Exposed

 

Places to learn more:

Koch Industries

Koch Brothers-Style Free Society

Koch brothers get rolling on their first tar-sands project

Buying Up Newspapers: It’s the Media, Stupid!

11 Things The Koch Brothers Don’t Want You To Know, From Robert Greenwald’s Newly Updated Documentary

Koch Brothers Wealth Surges Past $100 Billion as They Try to Buy the Senate With Expensive Lies

 

Microsoft Massacre

The misery of Windows 8.
Image:  Public Domain

 

No, this Company was not next on  the List,   but it was all over our local News yesterday, so needed to be addressed now.

Let the bloodbath begin at the place that helped launch a brilliant, innovative group of ” kids ” and their start-up Corporation into the upper stratosphere.

Their new company called Microsoft, would soon devour the Planet and become much of the reason that all of us are able to use a personal computer today.

Since Bill Gates left in 2000 and turned Microsoft over to Ballmer, nothing has been the same.

On a very personal note, may I say how much I HATE Windows 8?

It is a disaster for me and I so do miss any and all of it predecessors.

If our laptops had not all been stolen while we were on vacation last Fall, we would never have, or at least not for years, been forced to suffer this OS misery.

CEO Steve Ballmer handed the reigns to Satya Nadella just a few months ago and a positive turnaround for the Company has already begun.

So, now with this newest strategy, is the Company in better shape?

Microsoft has been fairly flat since 2008 and something drastic really did need to be done and fast.

Fancy, expensive phones have nearly been the death knell for PC’s,  which are mothers milk for Microsoft, so they bought Nokia hoping to change their negative slide,  but that did not happen.

Apple and Google made quite sure of that.

They are the reigning champions in that market and like to stay there.

Natya released a Company wide memo recently with his plan laid out.

The gist of it is, that the 18,000 fired, will primarily be from the Nokia brand they recently purchased.

This deep cut amounts to about 40 % of that company.

To be fair, the Company was troubled when they got it and now ridding themselves of it, may according to some Business analysts, make Microsoft leaner and meaner.

Sadly for the thousands who will soon be out of work, they may have a hard road ahead, trying to feed their families, or pay their bills, even though they will receive a generous departure package.

It has been said by some, that Natya’s sudden radical purging, was most likely just cleaning up Ballmer’s mess.

Only time will tell.

Meanwhile, 18,000 employees will be getting the axe, in this unparalleled Microsoft massacre.

 

Places to learn more:

Microsoft – Wikipedia

Microsoft Invented A Tablet A Decade Before Apple And Totally Blew It

Firing 18,000 people isn’t proof Microsoft is in trouble

Why Microsoft Is Laying Off 18,000 People—During a Tech Boom

Microsoft imposes new rules on contract workers, requiring 6-month break from access

Microsoft to Fire 18,000 Employees Over the Next 12 Months

Microsoft to Eliminate Up to 18K Jobs Over Next Year

Microsoft to Fire 14 Percent of Its Staff

Microsoft Firings Hit Former Nokia Employees Hardest

 

Naughty Nestlé

Nestlé’s Corporate Headquarters in Switzerland
Picture credit: Wikipedia

 

Ooh! La, La!  They’re not just about delectable chocolate anymore.

Since 1866, Nestlé has brought the world visions of sweet treats that they simply could not resist, but not anymore.

Now with roughly a mind-boggling 8,000 products and over $10 Billion in profits in 2013, they have become one of the biggest and yes, most often criticized food Corporations in the entire World.

“Nestlé has 447 factories, operates in 194 countries, and employs around 333,000 people” –  Wikipedia.

But expansion did not come without great controversy for the Chocolate Giant and the list of subjects of abuse that have been made against this mega corporation is long and wide and includes:
chocolate price-fixing, child labor laws in Africa’s Ivory Coast, bottled water, infant formula, food contamination, ravaging rainforests, unions, human rights, corporate spying, to name only a meager few.

In fact, they abuse so many people, in so many ways and places, it is remarkable that they are still in business.

But that remark aside, they are not only alive and well, they are hugely prosperous and the seething critics chomping at their behinds, apparently have had little, to no effect, on their bottom line!

Sorry that did not quite work, did it?

Rather that go on ad nauseam, about what I have found out about this Company, I believe that it would be better if you went to the links below and read for yourself.

May I just say that in all of the years that I have been writing, I have never found so many reference points for a written work, as I did for this one, not ever!

These abuses are absolutely sickening and yet, Nestlé somehow, remains the most powerful, biggest and most wealthy, Food Mega Corporation in the world today.

Please my dear followers, do read some of the links below and learn all about the World’s favorite Chocolate Company.

Perhaps it may just be time for another Nation-Wide Boycott of Nestlé in this Country?

 

Places to learn more:  (there were so many more, it was staggering)

Nestlé – Wikipedia

SourceWatch – Nestlé

The unrepentant chocolatier

Nestle Chairman says water is not a human right. Tell him he is wrong

Nestlé: Corporate Rap Sheet

Community says “no to Nestlé

Nestlé’s approach to sustainable agriculture 

Nestle Audit Finds Child Labor Violations in Cocoa Supply

Nestle: Stop heartless animal experiments for health claims

The brands of Nestlé

Nestlé’s Horrific Corporate Record

Undercover Video Catches Brutal Alleged Cow Abuse at DiGiorno Supplier

 

Facebook Fears

Facebook Headquarters, Menlo Park, California.
Picture credit: Wikipedia

 

Next on the  LIST:    FACEBOOK.

About three years ago, against my better judgement and at the powerful urging of those who shall remain anonymous, I signed up for an account at Facebook.

What soon followed,  I would not have wished on my worst enemy.

I had huge misgivings going in and had avoided it for years, never trusting it, or the people running it.

Once I signed up, it was only a matter of time before my fears became a reality.

My negative thinking gave way to actual complete loss of any control.

In the beginning, the situation was to be a merry go round of rejections and inabilities to sign in, then it got worse.

I was shut out because I did not have a cell phone number to give them.

The sign in required a cell phone number and you were told to then text back the code that they gave you, to sign in.

It was a nightmare, as there were no actual Human beings to speak with to try to fix the problem.

Hello, we live in the Ocala Forest in Florida and gave our cell phone back after two years of paying for a service, with little or no reception.

Verizon was extremely slow in coming our way, so we finally gave our phone back to them.

Then after weeks of this terror, it was finally, somehow,  resolved.

So, I was now ready to go exploring on Facebook, I thought.

Gleefully unaware of my contentious acts, I then went to places where there were People, and Organizations,  I wanted to meet and/or get to know  and sent them a “Friend Request.”

It was quite quickly made very clear to me, that I was not allowed to “Friend” anyone I did not personally know.

Excuse me, but I was under the misguided impression that joining this disaster, was to meet new people and make new “Friends”

Not so, according to the FB Police.

My punishment for this high crime was to be shut out for a month for being “bad!”

Then after everything seemed to settle down and get comfortable, and I promised to NEVER EVER “Friend”  anyone that I did not personally know,  FB changed some of their  “policies.”

Now it seemed that our pictures and personal information would be viewable to anyone, anywhere, who wanted to see them.

So, I took down anything that I did not want strangers in some distant land to see of my children and relatives.

Next, a scary story  one day on our news was about a local woman who had her FB pictures stolen from her FB site by a creep in another country and they were now being used on porn sites.

By this time, there were quite a few people and Organizations on my Friends list who never, or rarely ever, came to my FB page, or spoke to me, or posted on it.

They were just people who had, over a two-year period, sent me a request and I had said yes to them, if they seemed harmless.

Not knowing what might lurk in the hearts, or minds of these unknowns, left me with no choice, but to completely purge my “Friends List”  down to only a few actual relatives and personal friends.

It was ugly.

At this moment my FB Friends List stands at 30.

But I feel quite confident about every single person on it and that none of them is going to sell my name, or use my pictures for porn.

As FB  has grown over the past ten years, from an insignificant local Harvard web site,  to a Mega Global Multi Billion Dollar Corporation,  one thing has become quite apparent, the object of their very existence is of course, profit or income.

How they acquire their income and what happens to you,  your information and your privacy, in the pursuit of it, is not,  it is clear, one of their priorities.

So, be forewarned, protect what you have there, or you may become  the next victim of Global Hackers and unknown others.

Facebook Fear could become a reality, if you do not.

 

Places to learn more:

Facebook

Facebook NewsFeed Manipulation Prompts FTC Complaint, Investigation Possible

With friends like these …

Housewife’s anger after picture is stolen from Facebook and posted on porn site

Seven Annoying Attacks That Facebook

 

Always low prices, but at what cost?

A now typical Walmart Store
Picture credit: Walmart Corporation

 

For the number one retailer in America and largest Corporation in the  world,   Walmart,  is not really very popular.

Sam Walton  who founded the Company in 1962, had a great theory, buy cheap and sell a lot.

Or to quote Wikipedia:

Walmart founder Sam Walton once said, “I pay low wages. I can take advantage of that. We’re going to be successful, but the basis is a very low-wage, low-benefit model of employment.”

So, then to recap,  this Billionaire’s business plan was to pay his employees as little as possible, with the fewest benefits.

Mr. Walton and his Company, Walmart were very,  very successful at doing this until his death in 1992,  at the age of 74.

When he died, Sam Walton  was worth approximately $23 Billion.

We all know why we go to this store, don’t we, to save money, especially those with fixed or low incomes.

But often as I am driving home after shopping,  I almost feel dirty, for going there.

I have just supported his tyrannical place with my purchase, therefore giving it my approval.

There are so many reasons that we, you and me and millions of us who shop at Walmart, don’t like this Store, or  the Company, or the way that they do business.

The True Cost of Those Low Prices

So here are just a few of the reasons that I have come up with, I know that you will all add your own below:

Unlivable Low Wages for their employees.

Corporation wide failure to promote females.

Deplorable treatment and working Environment for Employees, which in turn causes a high turn over.

Until only recently, a  complete refusal to participate in any form of  charitable donations.

Buying and selling  nearly exclusively with China,  to the detriment of millions of American businesses and workers.

Deliberately putting any and all of their competition out of business, by underpricing them.

Countless Environmental damages adding up to millions at their facilities.

The slave labor, or sweat shops where they buy goods from in other countries.

Annoyingly  Empty shelves, while stock sits on the floor in carts.

Never can find an employee to ask a question.

Opposition to Unions are an ongoing source of conflicts across the world.

Health Care for employees is poor, to non-existent.

Employees being forced to Work off the Clock has been widely charged.

Vengeful firings,  or wrongful terminations, of any who may oppose any company policies.

Hiring and hiding undocumented workers, repeatedly.

More reasons we don’t like Walmart

Walmart’s  history of rejecting any and all merchandise that may offend their  “Bible Belt key customer base,” while treating their employees like virtual slaves, this  is not very Christian!

When a Walmart comes to a town,   crime goes up.
(At our Central Florida Walmarts,  there have been many robberies, even murders)

Many Walmart Employees are paid so little, that they actually can be on welfare at the same time.

Walmart’s trade deficit with China has cost over 200,000 American jobs.

Continuously demands the lowest price from their suppliers,  even at the risk of forcing them out of business.

Kraft Foods had to shut down 39 plants and fire over 13,000 employees for this very reason.

 

Have more to add to this list, go for it.

 

Places to learn more:

Criticism of Walmart

Walmart’s Labor Practices Backfire

Research: Crime Stats, Staffing Problems Plague Walmart

Walmart abuses aren’t just a problem for workers. They’re a problem for the rule of law.

Walmart’s Human Trafficking Problem

Walmart Linked To Higher Crime Rates: Study

Does Walmart Have Restocking Problems? 

Walmart’s Problem: More Stores, Fewer Employees