WARNING:

So I bought a lamp today. Nothing too fancy. Well, it kind of feigns fancy, but really cost me 25 bucks at Wal-Mart. Anyway, as I sat in my desk chair putting it together, I casually glanced at the "Made in China" emblem on the bottom. "What else is new?" I thought. Then, as I went to plug it in, I saw another tag that was a bit more... disconcerting? It reads (I kid you not):

"WARNING: This product may contain chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm. Wash hands after use."

(The other side had the same warning in Spanish.)

That's right people. Don't sweat the cigarettes, Chinese lamps are the real killer.

Now, seeing as I have absolutely no understanding of the intricacies of lamp manufacturing, I have really no way of knowing whether this warning is merely a reflection of the increasingly paranoid society we live in where virtually everything causes cancer, or if there is some legitimacy to the claim, in which case I should probably be washing my hands right now.

What I did find interesting, and would like to address, is that the warning only acknowledged that the "State of California" found my lamp to be dangerous. What about the other 49? Are we too wrapped up with whether or not we should teach intelligent design to actually pursue scientific frontiers? Did we do the research and decide that my lamp is in fact not dangerous? My guess is we didn't actually do any research on lamp. Which brings me to my next point.

Why can't we be more like California?

Can anyone think of a time in U.S. history when scientific research had more potential? Be it stem cells or alternate fuel sources, most of the country, no thanks to our current administration, is simply not paying attention.

Seriously, when President Bush threw a hissy fit over stem cell research, California persevered and continued to foster the research.

Currently, there is the seemingly endless debate in congress regarding offshore drilling. Republicans say we need the oil to keep gas prices down until we come up with a permanent energy solution. Democrats say that feeding our "addiction to oil" will only postpone the vital reasearch that needs to happen immediately.

Can you blame the blues?

The way things seem to be going now, anything that might make alternate fuel sources seem less urgent is something that should really be avoided. If all those free market republicans really hold to their beliefs, than they should understand that it just might take five dollar per gallon gasoline to get hydrogen fuel cells out of the lab and onto the street.

That's all for now.