A Kosack Consumer Lament -- Big Food buys out regional favorite and reformulates to save a buck

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Saturday August 18, 2012 · 10:19 AM PDT

2012/08/18 · 10:19

Okay I'll be the first to say this issue is not of earth shattering importance, there's far greater issues we are dealing with, I sure hope all the Keystone State voters can vote and all the folks struggling in poverty find a helping hand. But still I find myself thinking that because we've let business get away with the small stuff, they have been emboldened to far worse behavior. In short consumers need to be yelling fowl when corporations pull nasty tricks on us.

Our tale begins with my decades long habit of consuming a container of yogurt at lunch on weekdays. I've long been a finicky demanding yogurt consumer, I'm not a fan of the taste of High Fructose Corn Syrup or the gelatinous masses that pretend to be "Greek", so I like to eat a mix of fat free and full fat products (in moderation, I swear ;-). One of my favorite brands recently has been Liberté Méditerranée.

Follow me for over the jump to read about what goaded me to write my first diary in over 2 years.

Poll

125 votes Show Results

My Favorite Yogurt is

125 votes Vote Now!

My Favorite Yogurt is

Brown Cow Peach

8 votes

Wallaby Dark Chocolate

1 vote

Stonyfield Raspberry

5 votes

Seven Stars Farm Original Maple

3 votes

Chobani

40 votes

That stuff John Stamos hawks

5 votes

I make my own

30 votes

Other -- please tell us below!

33 votes

Gerry Connelly (VA-11) wavering on healthcare, I'm now livid

akeitz

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Saturday March 20, 2010 · 9:31 AM PDT

2010/03/20 · 09:31

My heart stopped, my jaw dropped to the floor when I heard on WTOP an hour ago that Gerry Connelly, Democratic (or so I thought!) congressman for Virginia's 11th District was "undecided" on the healthcare vote. I've been trying ever since to call but of course all you get are busy signals. I need to get a message to Gerry.

Pass the damm bill Gerry or you'll be another one term wonder like Leslie Byrnes!

akeitz

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Wednesday February 10, 2010 · 8:48 AM PST

2010/02/10 · 08:48

As the saying goes, elections have consequences.

As I write this diary, I sit safely in my house in Northern Virginia under a blizzard warning. VDOT has pulled the plows off the roads temporarily in the worst of this. Meanwhile my neighbors in my "red" precinct are complaining on our community e-mail list about not being plowed out from the weekend snow, many making specific whines about being overtaxed, so why can't VDOT plow out my side street.

Poll

99 votes Show Results

What bugs you the most about this blizzard?

99 votes Vote Now!

What bugs you the most about this blizzard?

anti-tax morons who want government plows but not pay for it

51 votes

running out of leave but not able to get to work

0 votes

The land barge stuck on your street because they thought they could drive in this

9 votes

ice dams, fallen trees and power outages

7 votes

that guy who grabbed the last six pack of beer at the Giant

16 votes

running out of munchies

5 votes

no pie

11 votes

If you don't have digital cable you're SOL on the concert!

akeitz

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday January 18, 2009 · 11:22 AM PST

2009/01/18 · 11:22

I'm livid, angry, frustrated. I cannot watch the inauguration concert as it is exclusive to HBO. My cable company Cox will not make HBO available to non-digital subscribers, so unless you have ponied up for expensive digital cable, you CANNOT watch the concert on TV. I actually called and confirmed that getting a song and dance about the issue being out of Cox's hands. Yeah right.

akeitz

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday January 03, 2009 · 1:40 PM PST

2009/01/03 · 13:40

I'm still doing a slow burn as I read the monthly civic assoc newsletter and noticed that the January Monthly meeting's guest will be a guy who owns a firm called Lantern Wealth Management. The quotes from the news show exactly what side of the fence the guy is on and what side of the fence the head of the association is on. Grrrrrrrr.

Poll

35 votes Show Results

The Fair Tax can best be described as

35 votes Vote Now!

The Fair Tax can best be described as

A Libertarian Wet Dream

14 votes

A plot to keep the working man down

3 votes

A plot to ensure the elderly are poor once more

1 vote

A sure fire way to ensure more roads and bridges fall into disrepair

5 votes

The road to the Great Depression II

10 votes

Pie

2 votes

Three Cheers For My Fellow Nats Fans

akeitz

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Sunday March 30, 2008 · 5:22 PM PDT

2008/03/30 · 17:22

I know, I know never blog after finishing off a nice bottle of Chilean Sauvignon Blanc but man, oh man I flipped to catch the Nationals home opener and wow. The boo birds were out and no ESPN didn't even bother to filter out the crowd noise. They must have known ahead of time that it would be boos right? Wow again 'cause you blink and you would have missed it too -- President Bush ran out onto the field, threw out that first pitch and ran like a coward back to the bullpen to a rather loud chorus of those boo-birds.

Of course though the announcers did not note the elephant in the room -- they ignored the booing and began to um actually talk about BASEBALL.
Hahahahahahaha.

Ticking Time Bomb -- Our Crumbling Infrastructure

akeitz

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday August 01, 2007 · 5:25 PM PDT

2007/08/01 · 17:25

By now many of you may have seen the bridge collapse in Minneapolis. I'm heartsick over it and scared about the bridges I drive over daily. No cause can be determined yet of course but this should be a wakeup call to us all -- much of our transportation infrastructure dates back to the 1950s and 1960s, a fair bit from WPA projects from the 1930s -- heck some like the Brooklyn Bridge dates back to the 19th Century.

We are all at risk due to our aging infrastructure. We have not put major dollars into repairing our roads, bridges, tunnels, trains and mass transit since the Interstate Highway System was mostly complete in the 1970s. Just today it came out that the Feds are rejecting the Virginia Metrorail expansion to Dulles Airport as "too expensive".

We need fewer tax breaks for Grover Norquist and his crowd and of course less money spent on crazy wars without end. We need to come home and rebuild our crumbling country. I swear to god I do not want to see any more bodies sacrificed to the altar of low taxes because we're too cheap to keep our bridges safe.

Poll

61 votes Show Results

Our biggest transportation priority should be:

61 votes Vote Now!

Our biggest transportation priority should be:

Get the engineers to check out the bridges and tunnels

14 votes

Pave over paradise and put up a parking lot

2 votes

More mass transit to ween urban America off cars

26 votes

Save Amtrak and build high speed rail

14 votes

Hey pal I don't care, I can walk to anywhere I need to go.

5 votes

It's the workers fault for not going on vacation????

akeitz

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday July 03, 2007 · 5:44 PM PDT

2007/07/03 · 17:44

I watched NBC Nightly news an hour and half ago and after thinking about it, silently stewing about the story I feel compelled GASP to write a diary about it. In short apparently it's our own damn fault that we are workaholics and don't take time off. WTF?

The story title is " Americans leave vacation days unused" on the front page of this link:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...

Watch it and seethe like I did.

Poll

62 votes Show Results

How much leave do you get?

62 votes Vote Now!

How much leave do you get?

Five weeks or more -- I'm European Baby!

7 votes

I get a generous pool of Paid Time Off

10 votes

I get a miserly pool of Paid Time Off

9 votes

I get generous leave but I'm afraid to take it

8 votes

I get my one or two weeks and that's it

12 votes

Leave? What's that?

16 votes

Can This City Be Saved? Tysons Corner, VA

akeitz

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday December 04, 2006 · 6:52 PM PST

2006/12/04 · 18:52

If you've read Joel Garreau's book Edge City, you'll be familar with Tysons Corner, VA -- a place that is the polar opposite of good city planning. It sort of mushroomed in the span of about 20 years from the late 60s to the late 80s. It's the 12th largest business district in the US as a matter of fact.

Flash foward to the 21st century and the realization that Tysons Corner needs to become a "real city" in order to continue to thrive and function. Thus planning for an extention of DC's metrorail from Falls Church to Dulles Airport (via Tysons Corner).

I've just gotten back from a meeeting of the Tysons Tunnel folks. An interesting crowd there. Lotsa business suits and chamber of commerce folks.

Poll

65 votes Show Results

What Should be Done with Tysons Corner?

65 votes Vote Now!

What Should be Done with Tysons Corner?

Tunnels, Pedestrian Plazas and Street Level Shops

35 votes

Butt Ugly 65 Foot Concrete Support Beams and Gridlock

5 votes

Pave The Whole Thing Over Man!

25 votes

A Thanksgiving Pie Scandal

akeitz

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday November 23, 2006 · 11:55 AM PST

2006/11/23 · 11:55

Say it ain't so Joe! Front page above the fold with a huge color photo in today's edition of The Washington Post. That cutesy country store on Route 7 in western Loudon county that makes those wonderful "homemade taste" pies? Not quite what it seems....

A Closely Held Recipe for Success

At Loudoun's Hill High Country Store, Cherished Pies May Taste Familiar

Poll

97 votes Show Results

My Favorite Pie IS

97 votes Vote Now!

My Favorite Pie IS

Pumpkin

18 votes

Apple

12 votes

French Silk

5 votes

Cherry

10 votes

Strawberry Rubarb

10 votes

Blueberry

7 votes

Pecan

13 votes

Coconut Custard

4 votes

Armando

5 votes

Other

13 votes

Trees are Dangerous

akeitz

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday July 14, 2006 · 7:47 PM PDT

2006/07/14 · 19:47

I was dumbstruck reading this article in the paper today.

Family's New Fairfax Home Stuck in a Regulatory Forest
Trees Could Harm Blind Children, Parents Contend

Yes you read that right -- trees are harmful to Blind Children! Read More

I hate my job! Help me plot my career escape!

akeitz

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday July 09, 2006 · 10:13 AM PDT

2006/07/09 · 10:13

As some of you may recall, I spent a miserable winter unemployed after 16 wonderful productive years at the National Academy of Sciences. Emotionally devastated by the unexpected lay off and ill preparted to undertake a job hunt having not had to really job hunt in earnest ever in my life, I was a text book case of "What Not To Do When You Are Looking For A Job".

I took the very first job that was offered me -- hey it paid $5,000 more than I had been making. As it turns out, the job is at a DOD base in Northern Virginia doing purely accounting office grunt work. I hate the work, the office environment is toxic and I feel like I'm working in a prison.

Not wanting to repeat mistakes made, I need to get myself on the road to a better career path, one that plays to my talents: database design, history/politics, statistics, excellent people and public speaking skills, and a quirky creativity that infuses everything I do. So here I stand with hat in hand in need of the wisdom of the Kossack crowd. I need your help to guide me back onto a better career path. Read More

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A Kosack Consumer Lament -- Big Food buys out regional favorite and reformulates to save a buck

Gerry Connelly (VA-11) wavering on healthcare, I'm now livid

I'm overtaxed! Now plow my street ASAP.

If you don't have digital cable you're SOL on the concert!

Help! Fairtax advocate to speak at civic assoc meeting

Three Cheers For My Fellow Nats Fans

Ticking Time Bomb -- Our Crumbling Infrastructure

It's the workers fault for not going on vacation????

Can This City Be Saved? Tysons Corner, VA

A Thanksgiving Pie Scandal

Trees are Dangerous

I hate my job! Help me plot my career escape!