If I had to point fingers at a single entity, I'd blame government corn subsidies for just about every declining health statistic in this country over the last quarter-century. HFCS isn't actually any worse for you than table sugar (it's only "high fructose" in relation to normal corn syrup), but it's so damn cheap that it gets put in zillions upon zillions of products that wouldn't otherwise be sweetened with anything.

Oh yeah. The corn subsidies are...well, they aren't fuckers cause they aren't people, but you know what I mean. 20/20 or Dateline did a special report on it about 4 years ago and I remember being apalled.

I need to be a corn farmer.

If I were a policymaker, I'd propose corn subsidies that make biodiesel fifteen thousand times more profitable than HFCS. And then I'd buy everyone a puppy.

Of possible interest to Bufista insomniacs -- blue-blocking glasses may stimulate timely melatonin production.

Rough night, Laura. StE had a freaky scary high fever yesterday afternoon. They did a chest scan because his left lung wasn't working, put in a chest tube and drained a liter of fluid from the membrane around his lungs (not the lung itself), so the lung re-inflated and is working now. They left the tube in and it's still draining, so there won't be another buildup. They had him packed in ice and were spraying him with cold water and had two fans blowing across him and keeping cold compresses on his head. They did a fiberoptic scan of the interior of the lung, removed some mucus plugs and took samples to culture. Meanwhile they're continuing the broad-spectrum ABX until the cultures mature enough so they can tailor the drugs to the strain of bug. His temp was down to just scary high last night, and this morning it's merely high enough for serious concern. All we can do is hope the high temp didn't do permanent damage on top of the trauma. Level of unconsciousness remains the same.

I'm? Maintaining, I guess. My panicking won't help anything, so I'm trying to keep calm and concentrate on letting the pros do their jobs, and hoping for the best. Thanks for asking.

HFCS isn't actually any worse for you than table sugar

Are you sure about that? I heard that they do funny things to metabolism compared to regular sugar - increase cravings more than plain oil beet or cane sugar does. But admittedly not from a reliable source.

ABC did a special "How to Get Fat Without Really Trying" with Peter Jennings that was wonderful and very informative and, of course, Jennings wans't buying any of the BS that the various corn and junk food spokesmen were peddling.

Oh Beverly. This must be so hard for you.

Hugs Beverly tight.

I hope the fever goes down more, and that today is a better day.

Bev, I wish I could do anything at all. Hell, even if I was just nearby for moral support. You and yours are in my thoughts anyway.

I heard that they do funny things to metabolism compared to regular sugar

Fructose as opposed to other simple sugars, yes. But your average table sugar is higher in fructose than HFCS -- it's just easier to over-consume HFCS because it's such a common additive, and you can put it in things and still label them "No sugar added!"