Heroes and their appeal

As I anxiously await my trip to see the midnight premier of Spider-man 3, I can't help but think about the success of not only the recent movies but of the comic and the TV shows it has also spawned.

Being a reader of John Eldredge's books, I see a definite case for the idea of Spider-man and many other pop culture &/or literary heroes serving as role models for us in real life.

A great illustration of how this particular social construct works is laid out in an episode of the short-lived but outstanding series Firefly. The crew of the ship Serenity arrived in a town that one of their members does not want to visit. In his last visit, "Jayne" had tried to steal from the local magistrate, but in a foiled get-away, had to dump his loot. The loot happened to fall in a local neighborhood of downtrodden residents. When they visit this town, they find a statue of the town's "hero", Jayne.

Jayne questioned their reasoning at the end of the episode, to which his captain replied that it was not the person that he is but the person they saw him to be that they needed. And we've seen it many times, people idolized as something that they are not, but as the example the community or culture needs.

I see icons like Spider-man filling this role. I doubt I'm the only one to say this and I know I'm not the first. Spider-man and Batman are the two greatest comic book heroes from the 20th century, both because of their popularity and their background, as they both were regular men that achieved greatness (granted Peter Parker had help from a radioactive/genetically modified spider and Bruce Wayne an inherited fortune). Both from a great loss learned a powerful lesson and took on an awesome responsibility for the greater good of all.

They are the kind of heroes we praise because they are the kind of heroes we want.

-the Progressive Conservative

Technorati tags: cultural heroes, Spiderman

From the AP Wire

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Nebraska hog producer Joy Philippi says livestock farmers "are having jitters" over ethanol, worried there won't be enough corn left for the pigs.
(read the whole thing)

Join the crowd, the beef industry is worried about the certain increase in corn prices that will result from the use of corn as the primary ethanol source. We already have so many staple uses for corn, and the US is the only country that produces corn on an industrial level.

But there is some good news:

A bill expected to win bipartisan approval Wednesday from the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee would require 36 billion gallons of ethanol be used annually by 2022, including 20 billion gallons made from feedstock other than corn - such as switch grasses, wood chips, corn stems and leaves.
(read the whole thing)

We can only hope.

-the Progressive Conservative

Technorati tags: ethanol, alternative fuels

From the AP Wire

Cheney Draws Protests Even at BYU

Can I just state for the record that Cheney was welcomed on Auburn's campus when he visited to speak at a graduation, with the exception of one comment made by the Alumni Association speaker for that commencement. But the comment in question was an attempt to make Cheney look bad by using the Auburn Creed that ultimately only made the speaker look arrogant and surely removed any invitation to represent the Auburn Alumni Association anywhere else for sometime.

-the Progressive Conservative

Technorati tags: Cheney, Vice President, commencement speech

Asian fish found to contain banned chemicals.

With the AP reporting more incidents of melanine in animal feed, this time in chicken feed, it was easy for this to slip through the cracks:

Nearly a half million pounds of imported fish is sitting idle in Alabama warehouses because testing shows it contains chemicals banned in the United States. Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries Ron Sparks said testing done by his department discovered the tainted fish, and he issued a “stop-sale order” on the fish Wednesday.
(read the whole thing)

This is the first incident of tainted fish from Asian being shipped to the US. And with all of the concern over wheat gluten and melanine, the media is missing a greater danger:

Of the 20 samples of catfish from China, 14 tested positive for fluoroquinolones, an antibiotic banned for use in the United States by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The samples represent 214,260 pounds of catfish along with nearly 300,000 additional pounds of fish suspended pending analysis.

Thirteen samples of basa-type fish from Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia were tested and five of those samples were positive for fluoroquinolones. The five positive samples were from Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia.
(read the whole thing)

Like any drug, fluoroquinolones are meant to be taken in a carefully prescribed manner. Unfortunately, some fish farmers in Asia have found it to be a cheap treatment for their crops.

This is why I support the idea of country of origin labeling on all food products. The concern for what goes into the food chain that American farmers have is, unfortunately, not shared by their international colleagues.

-the Progressive Conservative

Technorati tags: food safety, fluoroquinolones, country of origin labeling