the blessed tomato has always been my favorite food & i kept on eating them all through this terrible smear campaign. i too, have never met a veggie i didn’t like. what i don’t like are salad bars or any kind of a buffet where everyone has their hands on the serving spoons. now, you just know that everyone hasn’t washed their hands before bellying up to the table! also, i think a glass of red wine a day will rid the body of any bacteria.

After reading Mugsy’s comment, I will not book a trip to Hershey Park. Will revisit Gharadelli Sqaure instead and eat their chocolates.

The only food that ever scared me was my Mother’s cooking. She was an awful cook and could turn anything into an inedible mess. She liked to make gravies and left too cool they always cracked! Cracked gravy! In self defense, I learned to cook very young.

I am very careful with the seafood I purchase. I want to know the point of origin, and I must not be the only one, because I notice that Wegmans and Whole Foods have the country of origin on their labels in the fish cases. Seafood from China, that goes for their farm raised as well, is a no-no, as well as some of the Pacific Rim areas. I also want to know that the fish is not mis-labeled, as is common in a lot of the big chain super markets. And, I learned from some chefs years ago never to buy fish on Mondays. Here in Central Ky. our fish comes on Thursdays, and now we have a new seafood shop that has it coming in from its point of origin daily. Last, but not least, I make sure I read up to date information in regards to mercury poisoning, pollution, etc. After watching the movie Fast Food Nation, I’ll think twice before I ever buy any beef other than local. Boy, that was an eye-opener…yuck!

MEAT! I’m scared to death of eating animal meat of all kind, but mostly US Certified BEEF! Scared to death is how all Americans should be, and would be if only they knew the truth. Why is it that the Koreans protesting the import of US Beef are so in tuned with the truth, yet the vast majority of American’s know nothing about just how widespread BSE, TSE, CJD, CWD i.e, Mad Cow Disease really is throughout the US? Could it be censorship on the part of American Media? Where are all the great reporters of the olden days who would go after a story with a vengence, all in the name of accurately informing the public? Please Candace, give a huge high five to the writers of Boston Legal for each and every week ever so subtly writing about mad cow disease, subtle being way better than no writing at all. Boston Legal is absolutely the most witty, intelligent, humorous show on TV filled with political jabs at every turn…Shattner & Spade, ah I’m in love…my all time favorite evening show! Kudos! Research and read, people read! Start by reading ‘Brain Trust’ which you can purchase here - http://www.colmkelleher.com/ - There are a lot of books out there on this subject. Don’t wait until you have a loved one suddenly become sick, as I did, before you begin reading up on their illness. For me my awakening came when my mother fell ill at 69 years of age to ‘dementia’ in 2001. Although Dr.’s diagnose it as Alzheimer’s, which we will never know for certain until autopsy, I have serious doubts. This disease was never in her family, in fact her parents and grandparents lived well into their late 80’s and early 90’s, and my mom was extremely healthy all her life, never was she sick other than maybe a cold every now and than. She never drank, smoked or took drugs, prescribed or otherwise. Yet, within the first year of diagnosis she was bedridden, couldn’t walk, couldn’t speak, did not/does not recognize any of her 9 children…these things do not typically occur at such an early stage. One year prior she was 100%, with all her faculties in tact. Wanting to better understand ‘mad cow’ disease, I joined a group of people who have/had love ones die of CJD, Creutzfeldt-Jakob (the human form of mad cow disease)…the numbers are staggering and there stories heart wrenching! These families are screaming at the top of their lungs wanting so very badly to warn the public, but their voices are being squashed at every turn! Example: Below is an email (real names excluded) I received just the other day…it is a response from one CJD member to another CJD member’s request for those afflicted with CJD in South Carolina to please contact him. She wrote: “Bill died on 1/13/2003 with a diagnosis of sCJD in Summerville, SC. Confirmed by brain autopsy by Dr. Gambetti’s lab in Cleveland. 14-3-3 in spinal fluid confirmed by lab at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. Changes in brain via MRI confirmed by University of California at San Francisco, the clinic with which Dr. Prusiner is afilliated. Pressure to influence Fox’s national news office to not tell Bill’s story and Charlene ……..’s story about the horrors of CJD (scheduled to be shown at the same time) successfully exerted by attorneys for beef industry on Fox’s attorneys.” People, big Agribusiness is just that…BIG! Very influential…we will never hear the truth from them or our government so do the research yourself. One blog that is a good source of information is Terry S. Singletary’s here - http://www.blogger.com/profile/06986622967539963260 - who writes: “My mother was murdered by what I call corporate and political homicide i.e. FOR PROFIT! she died from a rare phenotype of CJD i.e. the Heidenhain Variant of Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease i.e. sporadic, simply meaning from unknown route and source. I have simply been trying to validate her death DOD 12/14/97 with the truth. There is a route, and there is a source. There are many here in the USA. WE must make CJD and all human TSE, of all age groups ‘reportable’ Nationally and Internationally, with a written CJD questionnaire asking real questions pertaining to route and source of this agent. Friendly fire has the potential to play a huge role in the continued transmission of this agent via the medical, dental, and surgical arena. We must not flounder any longer. …TSS” The horrendous abuse being done to animals on factory farms & slaughterhouse’s throughout the US should be enough in and of itself to encourage you to choose not to eat animal products of any kind, but awakening yourself to the ‘disease’ factor, such as mad cow should be all you need know. Sadly, in just now reading this conversation Candace began two days ago, I am two days late and a lot of dollars short as the saying sorta goes, which means most likely this post will never be read by WOW participants. I sincerely hope that is not the case. God bless Tim Russert.