The Consumer Product Safety Commission Is Still Wildly Incompetent, But I Call Bulls**t On The Daily Show

So let me catch you up.  The CPSC is the part of the federal government that is responsible for protecting the public from unsafe products (More Info Here - http://www.cpsc.gov/about/about.html).  So when lab testing by The Associated Press found up to 1,000 times the maximum amount of lead allowed for children's products in the paint that was used on drinking glasses with pictures of superheroes and wizard of oz characters on them, you would think that it would be a no-brainer for the CSPC to issue a recall on the glasses right? (AP lab testing - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101211/ap_on_he_me/us_cadmium_lead_glassware)

Never underestimate the power of incompetence.  The following is a quote from CPSC spokesman Scott Wolfson, "After thoughtful analysis by child behavior experts at CPSC, it has been determined that the glasses are not children's products," Wolfson said Friday. He added that "the size, weight, packaging and price of the glasses sampled by CPSC are consistent with glasses more commonly used for consumption of adult beverages."  (Wolfson quote - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101211/ap_on_he_me/us_cadmium_lead_glassware)  Maybe my old ass is out of touch with what the crazy kids are doing nowadays, but none of the bars I go to serve my "adult beverages" in a Wonder Woman glass. Nevermind the fact that somehow it's okay to allow adults to get poisoned by this lead.

These are exactly the points made by The Daily Show on Tuesday the 14th, except that they edited their show in a way that makes Wolfson's quote about the Wizard of Oz/Superhero glasses look like it was about McDonald's Shrek glasses.  The CPSC and McDonalds did recall these glasses ((This is from the CPSC wesbite - http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10257.html).

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I do like The Daily Show, and often times they're great at pointing out this kind of practice in the rest of the media, but I think it is important to point out its hypocrisy in this case: it makes entertainment of pointing out flaws and bias in the media, yet it also uses spin and tricky editing to its advantage - in this case to get a laugh.  Ultimately it is damaging to the show's credibility.  Unfortunately we have just one more example of the irresponsibility and INCOMPETENCE of our information media services.

Awkward Family Photos - Consider It My Holiday Season Gift

Thanks to my friend Chrissy for this one.  Title says it all.  Hilarious pictures of various incompetent families.  You can even buy a photo album style book of these gems.  Wait til you see "Uncle Jack" (I think he's on page 2. Trust me, he's worth the one mouse click it takes to get to the next page).

http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/category/photos/awkward-hall-of-fame/

George W. Bush second to last in past presidents approval poll.

George W. Bush ended up second from the bottom of the list in a new Gallup poll that takes a look at Americans' approval ratings of the last nine presidents to serve (http://www.gallup.com/poll/145064/Kennedy-Highest-Rated-Modern-President-Nixon-Lowest.aspx). 

He was above only Richard Nixon, a guy who's campaign staff members got caught paying burglars to break into the Democratic National Committee's headquarters in order to gather information and install sound recording devices.  Nixon had secret recordings of all his conversations in his office.  Eventually he had to release the tapes, and they showed that Nixon had played a role in the cover-up of the break in (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/watergate/index.html). 

Anyways, the point is that George W. Bush wasn't dead last only because Nixon turned out to be such a scumbag. Incompetence factor - 6.  I decided to go a little easy on the guy because this quote about Kanye West in his recent interview with Matt Lauer gave me so much joy.

I'm new at this blog stuff. Give me a break! (Theme change)

So, like it or not, I'm gonna post about current events on here, but I have good news.  Most of what I post will be way more hilarious than current events. Who doesn't love to vent their frustrations about the morons they have to deal with on a daily basis? Well that's exactly what we're gonna do here. I can't promise to post everything I receive, but there's no shortage of idiocy out there, so I'm sure we're all in for a treat. Moron at the registry? Send it in! Idiot on the phone from your bank? Rip him apart! Send me what you got. I'm betting we get a lot of great stuff. Hope to start getting some soon.

Hi Everyone! Welcome to my blog. More to come

My name is Dan. I love music. I play the guitar and sing. I love to travel, I love animals (especially my cat Sadie), and I'm a big hockey fan (go Bruins!). Probably most importantly, I love to learn everything I can, This is why I decided to leave my glorious home state of Massachusetts to study at the John Molson School of Business at Conordia University in Montreal. Additionally, I pay attention to media to try to keep on top of what is happening in the world. Unfortunately I find that this only makes it more difficult. Turn on cable news nowadays and get ready for some yelling, finger pointing, exaggerating and just straight up BS. In this blog, I hope i can slow down, find some facts (from credible sources), and maybe help myself and others understand what's actually going on in the world we live in. Plus cat pictures and goofy stories for comic relief. Enjoy!