From this week's Mercury:

Add your own below!

Look, I understand if you stopped reading all the comments we're still getting on our feature article this week ("The Sanest Arguments Against Fluoridation... And Why They're Still Wrong"), because frankly one's interest begins to wane after the 209th comment accusing us of being "bought off" by big money dental fertilizer arsenic companies. (Ummm... if that's the case... WHERE'S MY MERCEDES???)

However! Now that it's reached 330 comments (WOO-HOO!), a new player has entered the game who goes by the name of Pridge Wessea and is really causing certain people coniptions. Take it away, Pridge!

You're absolutely right Homer - I hate how the discourse on public water is so negative and sarcastic when we are talking about POISON. People look at me like I'm crazy, but there's not a single study out there that shows that water is 100% safe. People die from drinking it all the time. It doesn't have a warning label, so how do you know when drinking it you've had too much?

George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both drank water and now they're dead - what further proof does anyone need?

Oh, and there's much more here. ALSO! Paul Constant made note of this comment thread over at SLOG in Seattle where they've had fluoridated water for years. Their comments about our comments are also pretty priceless.

@14: "But it's not just about hippies (and it's definetly not "Birchers"), the people making the most noise about fluoride are the younger set, the kind of people who believe in homeopathy and that vaccines cause autism. They're well organized and media-savvy."

There's no fucking difference between bircher christians and new-age antivaxers, there's a reason why both take to Scientology and Ron Paul.
—Posted by undead ayn rand

Hmmf! They would say that—they've all been paid off by fluoridated chemical fertilizer poison Desani companies, too! (Consider this unfluoridated water... CHUMMED.)

I'm going to set aside an actual discussion of the pros/cons to adding fluoride to our drinking water because that's what the good people at Clean Water Portland have done. Let's instead look at how they're trying to market their cause.

Cute kid. But that's... not how water works. This is going to come as a huge shock to you, but there's tons of stuff in water that isn't water. Including, but not limited to barium, copper, lead, arsenic (!), and fluoride. Yep. There's fluoride in your water.

The government must be using the fluoride-radio receivers they've planted in your bodies to make you create really amusing straw men on billboards.

What a coincidence. That guy just happened to use your pen to write your slogan!

Look, I'm as worried as the next guy about my kid's teeth turning into Nazis, but the word chemicals makes you sound so silly. Water is a chemical. You don't want fluoridation chemicals in your water chemicals.

I disagree with you. "You're welcome."

MORE AFTER THE JUMP!

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Eeeek:

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria with the potential to cause untreatable infections pose "a catastrophic threat" to the population, the chief medical officer for Britain warns in a report calling for urgent action worldwide.

Also: "The problem of microbes becoming increasingly resistant to the most powerful drugs should be ranked alongside terrorism and climate change on the list of critical risks." One root of the problem: doctors over-prescribing, and scared patients over-demanding, antibiotics for every little thing.

Meanwhile, the CDC is warning that a new SARS-like virus has popped up in the Middle East.

Okay, even though this blog post was tagged "PANIC!"—do not PANIC! The authorities have this situation completely under control, and the best thing you can do at this point is to stay inside your homes and await further instructions. For those just joining us, a panda bear with telekinetic powers has been spotted wandering the streets doing horrible things... WITH HIS BRAIN. Watch.

Again, DO NOT PANIC. Stay tuned to Blogtown for the latest on this developing story.

Grist has a long post up about how the ocean off the shore of the Pacific Northwest is becoming deadly:

It is ironic that despite relatively progressive clean energy policies the West Coast is paying an unusually high price for global carbon emissions. Ocean water off the Pacific coast has absorbed so much carbon that it is becoming acidic enough to melt the shells of sea creatures. Our national and global addiction to fossil fuel and unwillingness to seriously reduce carbon emissions is taking its toll, right here, in real time, with profound implications for the Pacific Ocean.

The oceans act like a massive sponge soaking up airborne carbon. As carbon dissolves in the ocean it forms carbonic acid. Once acidity becomes high enough the shells literally dissolve.

Due to a uniquely structured coastline and system of currents, deep, older water surfaces along the Pacific coast. This older water has been soaking up carbon for a relatively long period of time and therefore is unusually acidic.

The first economic casualty of ocean acidification is the multi-million dollar West Coast shellfish industry. Acidity levels are already high enough to hinder oyster larvae in forming shells. Some hatchery businesses have moved to Hawaii. Others are installing expensive monitoring equipment and shutting down operations when acidity is too high.

Go read the whole thing.

Are you from Miami? CONGRATULATIONS! Here is a very... unusual... public service announcement reminding everyone that it's somewhat colder in Portland and northern Florida than it is in Miami. GIRLS WHO WALK AROUND IN MINI-SKIRTS AND NO SLEEVES DOWNTOWN ON A SATURDAY NIGHT: Are you hearing me? Watch this video. IT'S COLD, YOU IDIOTS.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration will remove airport body scanners that privacy advocates likened to strip searches after OSI Systems Inc. (OSIS) couldn’t write software to make passenger images less revealing...

The agency removed 76 of the machines from busier U.S. airports last year. It will now get rid of the remaining 174 Rapiscan machines, with the company absorbing the cost, said Karen Shelton Waters, the agency’s assistant administrator for acquisitions.

The scanner-manufacturing company couldn't meet a congressional requirement to make the images more generic—which would presumably have shown everything except details of your swimsuit area. Working for TSA just isn't what it used to be. (Via Gizmodo.)

As Cara succinctly put it in Saturday's Good Morning, News!, "don't inadvertently cause the death an old person or a kid."

Or, per the New Yorker:

...Even if you think you are invincible, your elderly neighbors and infant children are not. People with weakened immune systems-those undergoing cancer treatments, for example-are not. Your parents and grandparents are not. The flu vaccine is not perfect, but it's what we have. It's available at drug-store chains and malls, big-box superstores and, naturally, at your doctor's office. Get one today.

Plug your zip code into this site, and it'll tell you where to find a vaccine. Call first, 'cause Portland pharmacies and clinics are running low.

Hey! Should've thought of this sooner! Didn't! Sorry! But it's happening anyway: If you're going to Hecklevision tonight and are interested in putting faces to insane internet tirades commenter names, swing by Sam's Billiards from about 5:30-7 pm. We'll be upstairs. If you require a human-shaped reference point, I'll be there around 6—I'm wearing glasses and a stripey shirt (basically I am Waldo) and will be drinking 3 drinks simultaneously because did you guys notice the TBA blog just went live? IT DID!

See some of you tonight! Please no murderers or stalkers!

CAT PICTURE!

Hallett out.

So there's a picture of Lara Flynn Boyle's really gross big toe flying around the internet right now. Here it is.

You know what's fun? Tossing this picture randomly into your iChats. For example:

You should send a picture of Lara Flynn Boyle's toe to a friend! You know why?

The answer after the jump....

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