Let's See If BPAs Really Make Girls More Aggressive

by Sandy Sand

Not to be too cynical, but do we really want to drink or eat from plastic containers that contain BPAs?

Whether they be rumor or factual, for years there have been claims that BPAs (bisphenyl A) are leached out from plastics and are of special concern to mothers who are bottle feeding their babies.

Of course, the plastic bottle and container industry is going to say “pish-tosh” to the entire matter. What the hell do they care; they just want to sell merchandise in the cheapest, most convenient containers they can.

The consumer, too, wants the most convenient containers. If they didn't, billions of water bottles wouldn't be sold worldwide each year. One would also think that they'd want safe water bottles. Maybe they don't really care, or perhaps they aren't aware of the possible dangers from BPAs, or convenience outweighs safety.

I should state now that I don't know, and while I'm suspicious of the plastic bottles I do buy them because it's so convenient to throw a capped water bottle in my purse or keep one on my desk where there's less danger of it falling over and ruining my computer keyboard. In my defense -- if you can call it that, most of the water I drink comes from the tap, and that, too, has it's "yuk" factor.

On the flip side are the skeptics such as myself, who don’t believe anything manufacturers say about their products where health or product safety is concerned; that goes for the FDA, too. Both have been caught too many times in bald-faced lies.

That brings me to the latest study published by McClatchy Newspaper Group stating that BPAs are making little girls more aggressive. Maybe yes; maybe no. The final results aren’t in yet.

The nipples on the bottles and pacifiers are never mentioned, but I have to wonder about them, too. They’re made from plastic and make the most immediate and continual contact with babies’ mouths, and whatever is sucked off of them has a direct route into the tots’ bloodstreams.

I’m not sayin’ there’s a danger there’; I’m just sayin’.

Perhaps a far-out experiment is in order.

Let’s take a bunch of those supposed felonious suspects -- the BPAs -- and feed them to Venus flytraps, insectivorous plants that voraciously gobble up their prey when they come too close.

Being named “Venus”, they must all be females, so let’s give the young plants an ample dose of BPAs and see if they become even more aggressive in their insect eating by reaching out and attacking anything that comes flying or crawling near them.

Since plants mature far fast than humans, Venus seems like a likely subject for such an experiment, and maybe we can find out quickly just how harmful BPAs really are.

Sarah Palin Unable to Recite All Her Children's Names

by Steve Young

In what may be the most damaging of the slow but sure dissemination of the CBS News Katie Couric interview with Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee was unable to name all of her kids' names.

Transcript follows:

Katie Couric: And when it comes to establishing your family view, I was curious: What are the names you use when you want to speak to your children?

Sarah Palin: I've spoke with most of them, again with a great appreciation for my children, my family, for the younger people who live with me.

Katie Couric: But, like, what ones specifically? I'm curious.

Sarah Palin: All of 'em, any of 'em that have been in front of me over all these years.

Katie Couric: Can you name a few?

Sarah Palin: I have a vast variety of children and, of course, they all have names. My family isn't a foreigner's family, where, it's kind of suggested and it seems like, 'Wow, how could you keep in touch with what the rest of what children in Washington, D.C. may be named when you live up there in Alaska?' Believe me, my Alaskan family is like a microcosm of most American's families. Did I mention, Katie, that I can see many of my children from my house?

In other VP debate updates, Democratic VP nominee, Joe Biden, offered kinescope evidence of President Franklin Roosevelt calming American's fears at the start of the depression.

Also, before the debate tonight, watch as world champion limbo dancer, Ben Dover, attempts to get under the bar set for Palin.

Award-winning TV writer, Steve Young, is author of "Great Failures of the Extremely Successful" and blogs at the appropriately named steveyoungonpolitics.com