What Caught My Eye This Week - Magazine Edition

Newsweek

Rudy Giuliani - In the latest Newweek Poll, Rudy Giuliani would be elected President over Hilary Clinton (47% to 46%), Barack Obama (48% to 43%), John Edwards (47% to 45%) and John McCain (59% to 34%). However, when asked how much voters knew about where Giuliani stood on social issues, the vast majority of respondents, had no idea. Here's a sampling:

Do you know if Guiliani is pro-choice:
Pro-choice: 34%; Pro-life: 12%; Don't know: 54% (he's pro-choice)

Does Guiliani support an amendment to ban same-sex marriage?
Supports: 8%; Opposes: 16%; Don't know: 76% (he opposes a ban on same-sex marriage)

Is Guiliani in favor of restrictions on gun ownership?
Favors: 17%; Opposes: 10%; Don't know: 73% (he favors gun control)

This guy is a Republican, right?

Organic labels - Here's a summary of the various 'organic' categories that appear on food packaging.

Organic: This is the gold standard of labels. Organic crops are free of genetic engineering, conventional pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. Organic livestock are fed 100% organic feed, raised without antibiotics or growth hormones, and have access to the outdoors.

Bird friendly: Appearing mostly on coffee packaging, this certifies that coffee is grown under a canopy of trees that provide shade for the coffee and a habitat for migratory birds.

Marine Stewardship Council: Seafood bearing this label means that the fish was caught without endangering the species or harming the local ecosystem

Cage-free and Free Range: These are among the least reliable labels because they are poorly defined and unverified by third parties.

Grass-fed: This is also somewhat misleading. All cows are fed grass for the first few months of their lives before being switched to grain, which can cause health problems in cattle and lead to the use of antibiotics. Ideally, you want to look for 99% grass-fed beef.

Antibiotic-free: This label implies that cows or chickens were never given antibiotics, though you are better off looking for labels that read 'raised without antibiotics.' Otherwise, the beef or chicken may have at one point been given antibiotics.

Natural: This means the animals have never been injected with hormones or antibiotics.

The Week

Cost of Living: Oslo ranks as the world's most expensive city, according to the latest Economist Intelligence cost of living survey, followed by Paris, Copenhagen and London. Tokyo ranks fifth after being #1 in 2005. The most expensive U.S. cities are New York (28th), Chicago (36th) and Los Angeles (41st).

Popularity: Israel is the least popular country in the world based on a recent poll conducted by the BBC. Respondents were asked to rank 12 countries--Britain, Canada, China, France, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, North Korea, Russia, the U.S. and Venezuela. Canada topped the list with a positive rating of 54%. The bottom 3 were the U.S. (30%), Iran (18%) and Israel (17%). Dude, we lost out to North Korea and Venezuela. Where was this survey conducted, Cuba?

Serbia - Opponents of the late Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic dug up his corpse and drove a stake through his heart to minimize the odds of him returning from the dead. Is it just me, or is this a tad bit creepy?

Entertainment Weekly

Television - CBS, known for its crime-show lineup, racked up a pretty large body count during the February sweeps:
The Unit - 63 bodies
Criminal Minds - 32
Cold Case - 17
CSI - 16
CSI: NY - 15
CSI: Miami - 14
NCIS: 12
Numb3rs: 11
Ghost Whisperer: 3
Close to Home: 3
Shark: 3
Without a Trace: 2

Total homicide count on CBS in February: 191
Total homicide count in Los Angeles and New York so far this year: 112

I'm sorry, but there is no way you can consider Ghost Whisperer a crime show. The only crime on that show is the gratitious boob shots of Jennifer Love Hewitt.