Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Why does Illinois have so much bad luck with their governors?

Ill. budget deadline nears; House hears 'shutdown' details

Posted: Jun 30, 2015 6:07 AM CDTUpdated: Jun 30, 2015 6:09 AM CDT
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (Associated Press) -
The Illinois House plans to hear testimony from state agency officials on preparations for a disruption in state services because of the budget impasse.
House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat, has invited 15 agencies that report to Gov. Bruce Rauner to explain arrangements on Tuesday.
The new fiscal year begins Wednesday but Republican Rauner vetoed a budget sent to him by Democratic lawmakers. Government workers will continue to be paid through mid-month but some services could stop before that.
Rauner is trying reassure workers that they will continue to get paid even if the deadlock continues.
The Senate will conduct a hearing on changes to workers' compensation - a Rauner priority. A spokeswoman says Democrats will also be asked whether they want to override Rauner's budget veto.

Walmart is baking cakes for ISIS - FOX 32 News Chicago

Walmart is baking cakes for ISIS but not for Americans who like the Confederate flag. This company should be investigated for their business practices. 

Cook County Judge quits after only 15 years on the bench - FOX 32 News Chicago

Cook County Judge moving to Tennessee after only 15 years on the bench.

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Socialism is us

RHOADS: SINCLAIR PROPHECY COMES TRUE

By Mark Rhoads - Sinclair 2
In 1951, socialist author Upton Sinclair wrote: "The American People will take Socialism, but they won't take the label. I certainly proved it. Running on the Socialist ticket I got 60,000 votes (for governor), and running on the slogan to 'End Poverty in California' I got 879,000. I think we simply have to recognize the fact that our enemies have succeeded in spreading the Big Lie . There is no use attacking it by a front attack, it is much better to out-flank them."
 But Sinclair was wrong in thinking the word "socialist" itself would never become popular in America.  It is now a very popular word openly embraced by millions of Democratic primary voters.  This week a Bloomberg poll shows that 44 percent of Iowa Democratic caucus voters favor Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders as their first or second choice for President in 2016 to 68 percent for Hillary Clinton.
Too many conservative writers wallowed in a colossal blunder at the end of Ronald Reagan's administration by pretending that conservatives had gained the final victory over collectivist ideas with the fall of the Warsaw Pact in Europe and what what author Francis Fukuyama unfortunately if not foolishly called the "end of history" when the ideas of personal and economic freedom were triumphant all over the world and socialism was discredited.
But no matter how many socialist ideas fail badly over time, they keep coming back like crabgrass because they have emotional appeal and the advocates of socialism are in denial about the associated cost in money and loss of personal freedom that socialist schemes always demand.  Like Obamacare, they become extremely hard to reverse or even amend because once a large group of people depend on such programs they really no longer care about losing their freedom.
Socialism wins because its advocates are able to manufacture a fake moral high ground to stand on and appear to the untrained ear to have more articulate arguments.  Their allies dominate the knowledge sector of the economy such as entertainment, news media, private foundations, and higher education establishments.  They also had that dominance in 1980 when Reagan was elected president but he was able to articulate the case for the failure of socialism in a common-sense and friendly manner. In the 1980s, Conservative activists concentrated on election campaigns because that was one of the few opportunities for victories.  But socialists (who brand themselves as "progressives") wisely continued to concentrate on higher education to indoctrinate new generations in all the many superstitions of left-wing idealism.  Conservatives made a few attempts to infiltrate the Academy but are still hugely outnumbered. Even worse is the fact that far too many politicians who call themselves "conservatives" are really just dull-witted career Republican office holders who are so inarticulate on the ideas of freedom because they have never really educated themselves about the founders and the Constitution in the first place.
None of this means that the final triumph belongs to socialism any more than it belonged to conservatives in 1988.  But it does i think mean that conservatives have to be much more aggressive in demanding that those who use the label conservative really know what they are talking about.  Ask every candidate for office at every level what they think the purpose of government is.  If they say "expanding personal freedom under rule of law" then they are likely genuine conservatives.  But if they turn to mush and say something vague like "helping people" or "restoring greatness to America" they are probably thoughtless buffoons who just want to run for office for its own sake and their personal ambition rather than protecting your freedom under the Constitution.  

Pope Francis Encyclical

ENCYCLICAL LETTER
LAUDATO SI’
OF THE HOLY FATHER
FRANCISON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME


1. “LAUDATO SI’, mi’ Signore” – “Praise be to you, my Lord”. In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. “Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs”.[1]
2. This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22). We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters.
Nothing in this world is indifferent to us
3. More than fifty years ago, with the world teetering on the brink of nuclear crisis, Pope Saint John XXIII wrote an Encyclicalwhich not only rejected war but offered a proposal for peace. He addressed his message Pacem in Terris to the entire “Catholic world” and indeed “to all men and

Friday, June 26, 2015

What's this guy doing to us?

Extreme ways

Question

We have a great neighborhood here. A well educated population with some of the highest disposable income in the city, a stable housing stock and a low crime rate. 

What is being done to market our demographics to retailers far and wide? 

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Something about this deal smells bad.

And I'm not on about the federal tax break. I am writing of the total circumstances. Who was involved, why they were involved and the ultimate tax-payer supported purchaser. This is indeed a smokey situation.

Top aide benefited from tax break Obama has assailed.

WRITTEN BY BETTER GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION POSTED: 06/24/2015, 07:32PM
Senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett. | Sun-Times file photo
Valerie Jarrett, a friend of President Barack Obama who is also one of his top advisers, benefited from an income-tax loophole that the president has said unfairly helps the “wealthy and well-connected” — a tax break that Jarrett herself has tried to close.
The “carried interest” benefit Jarrett received may have saved

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Dr. Ben Carson, a great example of what one can be!

DR. BEN CARSON IN CHICAGO (FULL SPEECH)

By Ulysses Arn - 
This past Sunday, Dr. Ben Carson accepted the invitation of Pastor Corey Brooks to come to Chicago's south side to talk about the issues facing the inner city and the people who live there.
After touring one of the worst neighborhoods in Chicago with Pastor Brooks, former congressman Joe Walsh, and state Sen. Jim Oberweis, Dr. Carson told more than 200 people who came out on a hot Father's day afternoon about his growing up in poverty and being forced by his mother to read and to get a good education and how that opened doors to him that has led him to being a Republican presidential candidate, and at this point the only African-American in either party running to succeed President Obama.
Those in attendance were very welcoming to Dr. Carson's message about the importance of education, and emphasis on reading and the need for reforms such as vouchers and school choice.
Dr. Carson also talked about the need to improve the inner city economy, and the nations as a whole, by lowering corporate taxes and allowing repatriation of overseas profits to spur economic growth. On repatriation Carson included a requirement that companies would have to use 10 percent of the money brought into the county that is currently sitting overseas to create jobs and to hire new works to get more people off of welfare and other public assistance.
Pastor Brooks has invited all Republican and Democrat candidates to come to Chicago's south side and to talk to people about the issues facing Chicago and other major cities across the nation.  Last month Sen. Rand Paul was the first to make an appearance.

Monday, June 22, 2015

History and Trends, Global Warming



ABC's '08 prediction for June, 2015:  
"New York City underwater?  Gas over $9 a gallon?  A carton of milk costs almost $13?  Welcome to June 12, 2015.  Or at least that was the wildly-inaccurate version of 2015 predicted by ABC News exactly seven years ago.  Appearing on 'Good Morning America' in 2008, Bob Woodruff hyped Earth 2100, a special that pushed apocalyptic predictions of the then-futuristic 2015." 
And what about TIME magazine predicting global cooling in its June 24, 1974 issue!       
Dr. Fred Singer notes past cycles of warming and cooling
Fred Singer, Ph.D., an atmospheric and space physicist, as well as a distinguished speaker and scientist known and honored throughout the world, appeared in the first panel of ICCC-10 on Friday, June 11.  His topic:  "Saving Humanity from Catastrophic Global Cooling."  Cited was how Major Ice Ages appear in 100,000 year cycles and had very serious consequences, while Little Ice Ages occur every 1,000 to 1,500 years.  Singer believes we are approaching another Little Ice Age.  From a slide in Singer's presentation: 
1.  Major glaciations (Milankowitch) -- 20 during last 3 million years, on 100K-yr. time-scale, astronomical, timing:  eccentricity_100K; obliquity_41K; precession_21K-years.  Quite severe; can wipe out civilization.
2.  "Little" ice ages (Dansgaar-Oeschger-Bond), every ~1000-1500 years, solar-caused (?).  Not as severe, but highly damaging.
Dr. Singer suggested the following remedies to combat a possible approaching Little Ice Age.  From a Slide in Singer's presentation: 
1. To prevent formation of Major Glaciation, locate the 'Trigger' -- persistent snow field that survives the summer at ~65N -- and spread soot to melt it (using solar heat).
2. To cancel the cooling phase of D-O-B cycle (Dansgaard-Oeschger-Bond) use GH effect of Artificial cirrus to warm sfc:  spray water mist into cold tropopause to create ice particles absorb/re-emit IR.  
Proposed by Dr. Fred Singer was the establishment of an international project to run tests relative to what seems to point toward a future global cooling cycle.
Wanting to learn more about past cycles of warming and cooling, Larry Bell's book, "Scared Witless, Prophets and Profits of Climate Doom", included in my ICCC-10 conference handout bag, led me to discover that although temperatures have been generally mild over the past 500 years, significant fluctuations are normal.  As recently as 1,000 years ago (during the "Medieval Warm Period"), Icelandic Vikings were raising cattle, sheep and goats in grasslands on Greenland's southwestern coast.  Around 1200 the temperatures began to drop and Norse settlements were abandoned by about 1350.  By the middle of the 16th century, although there were notable year-to-year fluctuation, temperatures dropped dramatically. Called the Little Ice Age it dominated the weather the next 150 years or more.  Food shortages killed millions in Europe between 1690 and 1700.  It was during the end of the Little Ice Age that Washington's troops in 1777 experienced a brutal winter at Valley Forge.
Observe here Frost Fairs on the Thames in England. One fair of several built on the frozen Thames in London during severe winters lasted from December 1683 until 4th February 1684.  During the same period the dikes froze in Holland, unheard of today, making ice skating possible. 
Now consider the past 20th century. There were two distinct periods of warming.  The first occurred between 1900 and 1945.  The second, following a slight cool-down, began quite abruptly in 1975.  Remember the Time magazine cover? This second period of warming rose at a constant rate until 1998, and then stopped and began falling again after reaching a high or 1.16 degrees F above the average global mean.  Of significance, and at the same time bewildering to global warming alarmists, is that the temperature has remained steady for the past 18 years and 4 months to be exact, while human carbon dioxide emissions over that period represent 25 percent of all emissions since the dawn of the industrial Revolution, which began 150 years ago. 
Dr. Willie Soon presents the Sun-Climate connection
While Dr. Fred Singer believes we are approaching another Little Ice Age because of natural weather cycles that have occurred with regularity in the past, astrophysicist and geoscientist Dr. Willie Soon, Ph.D. in his presentation as a distinguished member of the 1st panel on Thursday morning on June 11, spoke about the sun as the ultimate factor in causing change of terrestrial climate.  For at a small but measurable level, the sun varies, just as most stars do.  Centuries of observation and most recent research strongly suggest that our climate is modulated in important ways by the sun's variability.  Dr. Soon described his "12-day journey of sunspots" -- May 5 - 17, 2015 -- during which only very small sunspots could be found.   
"Unstoppable Solar Cycles (The Real Story of Greenland) was produced by Dr. Willie Soon and Dr. David Legates, a professor of climatology at the University of Delaware College of Earth, Ocean & Environment, who like Dr. Soon was a conference speaker.  View here on youtube. A free handout, "Unstoppable Solar Cycles" was produced by Free to Choose Network, a not-for-profit educational corporation and has a running time of 10:39.  The excellent presentation explains why the current warming and cooling trends are natural -- the result of solar cycles, and therefore unstoppable. Greenland was much warmer at the height of the last natural warming cycle than it is today and elsewhere.  
Coming of a new Little Ice Age?
Could a quiescent sun portend a new little ice age and a chilly era for humanity and agriculture as expressed by Dr. Soon?   A member of Panel 5 on Thursday, June 11th, Paul Driessen thinks so.  Driessen is a senior policy advisor with the Committee For a Constructive Tomorrow and Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, both non-profit policy institutes.  Although Driessen did not address Dr. Soon's Sun/Climate connection in his panel presentation, he did mirror Soon's premise in an article published in “Reality News Media”, May 24th, 2015, Vol. 6, No. 5, "The Iceman Cometh."   In his article Paul Dreissen notes that there are virtually no sunspots darkening the blinding yellow orb.  Not since 1906 has there been a solar cycle with fewer sunspots.  The downward trend in solar sunspot cycles began over 20 years ago when the Earth stopped warming.  Driessen further writes: 
"If it continues for a couple more cycles, Earth could be entering another "grand minimum," an extended period of low solar activity.  That would mean less incoming solar radiation, which could have a marked cooling.  Low solar activity was present during the 70-year "Maunder Minimum" (1645-1715) and the 40-year "Dalton Minimum" (1790-1830), which brought even colder global temperature to what was referred to previously as the "Little Ice Age."
What would be the impact of a couple of degrees colder weather?  Although it would create adverse consequences for habitats, wildlife, agriculture, and humanity, worst of all cold kills.  Although modern homes and buildings with affordable heat make it easy to survive even brutal winters in comfort, carbon taxes, restrictions on coal and natural gas, renewable energy mandates and other ill-conceived programs will cause electricity and home heating prices to soar above what they presently are making them unaffordable. Thousands would die from hypothermia. 
What about the impact of slightly warming weather? According to Dennis Avery "Two thousand years of published human histories say that warm periods were good for people. It was the harsh, unstable Dark Ages and Little Ice Age that brought bigger storms, untimely frost, widespread famine and plagues of disease."
Costs and benefits of intended regulations are being ignored
Might 2016 be the Political Tipping Point?! (Reproduced from a conference slide): 
  • The next President could permanently implement EPA Climate regulations.
  • The next President could attempt to adhere U.S. to new UN Climate Treaty.
  • The GOP needs candidate who will stand up to the global warming establishment.
  • Action Items include:  Defunding EPA, defunding UN IPCC, No UN climate treaty in December.
Common sense dictates that federal agencies must assess both the costs and the benefits of the intended regulations, and recognizing that some costs and benefits are difficult to quantify, propose or adopt a regulation only upon a reasoned determination that the benefits of the intended regulation justify the cost. 
Common sense, however, does not prevail in an atmosphere where the Obama administration has unconditionally accepted the reports of the UN IPCC calling for drastic actions to save the planet, which in so doing would greatly affect the present living standard of the American people and this nation's economy, under the guise to prevent an improbable likelihood that a catastrophe global warming will happen in the future if not attended to now. 

Jesse Jackson is the biggest domestic terrorist in the USA today. He should butt out of this horrible event and go home. Maybe tend to his ex-con son.

Rev. Jesse Jackson calls South Carolina shootings 'domestic terrorism'

WRITTEN BY TINA SFONDELES POSTED: 06/20/2015, 02:17PM
The Rev. Jesse Jackson speaking at Rainbow PUSH Saturday.

Many came for comfort, others for ways to comprehend how a young white man could kill nine African-Americans out of hatred.
Hundreds sat in the pews of the South Side’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition Saturday at a gathering filled with sadness for the men and women slain in a hate crime in South Carolina.
Theodore Dailey III, a Rainbow PUSH volunteer, said he felt a need to be with others to talk about the massacre in Charleston.

“It’s good to come out and converse and just to have a discussion with individuals regarding what transpired,” said Dailey, 59, of Hyde Park. “And hopefully what can happen in the future

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Payroll after payroll, pension after pension, he still manages to have a foreclosure suit filed against him. That's a failure of character yet, he is now calling the shots at the CTA.

Chicago's new transit chief is a train wreck waiting to happen. 

WRITTEN BY CHRIS FUSCO, PATRICK REHKAMP AND ROBERT HERGUTH POSTED: 06/20/2015, 07:00AM
Dorval Carter Jr. looks on as Mayor Rahm Emanuel introduces him as the CTA's new president last month. Brian Jackson / SunTimes file photo

When Dorval R. Carter Jr. returned to the CTA last month as the transit agency’s president, he had to temporarily give up a sweet pension deal that had paid him three-quarters of a million dollars in just five and a half years.
Taking advantage of a little-known early-retirement incentive offered by the CTA, Carter left his second stint with the agency in 2009 and started collecting a $137,229-a-year pension the same month he turned 52, records obtained by

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Obama schedule shows what he is into.

WEEKEND GUIDANCE AND PRESS SCHEDULE FOR
SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015 AND SUNDAY, JUNE 21, 2015

On Saturday, the President will travel to Palm Springs, California. The departure from the San Francisco International Airport and the arrival at the Palm Springs International Airport are open to pre-credentialed media. The President will remain overnight in Palm Springs.

On Sunday, the President will depart Palm Springs en route Washington, DC. The departure from the Palm Springs International Airport is open to pre-credentialed media, and the arrival on the South Lawn is open press.

Saturday’s Out-of-Town Travel Pool
Wires: AP, Reuters, Bloomberg
Wire Photos: AP, Reuters, AFP
TV Corr & Crew: CBS
Print: AFP

Sunday’s Out-of-Town Travel Pool
Wires: AP, Reuters, Bloomberg
Wire Photos: AP, Reuters, AFP
TV Corr & Crew: CNN
Print: AFP

Sunday’s In-Town Travel Pool
Wires: AP, Reuters, Bloomberg
Wire Photos: AP, Reuters, AFP
TV Corr & Crew: CNN


Saturday, June 20, 2015

PDT

9:40AM          THE PRESIDENT departs San Francisco, California en route Palm Springs, California
San Francisco International Airport
Open to Pre-Credentialed Media

11:00AM        THE PRESIDENT arrives in Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs International Airport
Open to Pre-Credentialed Media

Sunday, June 21, 2015

PDT

1:20PM           THE PRESIDENT departs Palm Springs, California en route Washington, DC
Palm Springs International Airport
Open to Pre-Credentialed Media

EDT

7:00PM           In-Town Pool Call Time

8:40PM           THE PRESIDENT arrives Joint Base Andrews
Out-of-Town Travel Pool Coverage

8:55PM           THE PRESIDENT arrives the White House
South Lawn
Open Press (Final Gather 8:40PM – North Doors of the Palm Room)

Schedule for the Week of June 22, 2015

On Monday, the President will host an Iftar dinner celebrating Ramadan at the White House.

On Tuesday, the President will attend meetings at the White House.

On Wednesday, the President will host a reception at the White House in recognition of LGBT Pride Month.

On Thursday and Friday, the President will attend meetings at the White House.


Friday, June 19, 2015

White Sox Suck


7 loses in a row? Are they kidding us?

Fire the manager,
Trade the players.
Call it a season, 
Give everyone their money back, 

This is a dismal team, 

Food additive of the week, Trans fat


Trans fat

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

What kind of wimps are running Italy?

Italy, a world power with a very capable navy and air force, is being invaded by hordes of refugees from Algeria and Libya.


All along the N. African coast there are thousands of small boats tied up waiting for their next human cargo. I think the Italian military should take the initiative and sink these boats while they are in port. End of the problem. 


I shudder at the thought but if this was happening here what would our response be?
  • 54 minutes ago
  •  
  • From the sectionEurope
EU interior ministers are to discuss how to respond to the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean, with Italy threatening a strong response if no deal is reached.
A key issue at the talks in Luxembourg is a plan to distribute asylum seekers more evenly across all 28 EU states.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said without agreement Italy would adopt a "Plan B" that would "hurt" Europe.

This says it all


Sunday, June 14, 2015

The mark of a loser


"You know, I went to Notre Dame."

Any person that manages to slip this into a conversation is 100% full of shit about everything. You will find that they are shallow in character, substance, fortitude and spirituality. Their achievements are the result not of their own efforts but that of their family. 

Saturday, June 13, 2015

Media Coverup?

I take it that the public is enraged with Dennis Hastert and what he did. Why is it that the below story concerning movers and shakers has dropped from the media?

Jeffrey Epstein is a 61 year old New Yorker who has been accused in several court filings of keeping underage sex slaves and making them available to a number of movers and shakers. The question is whether the allegations are true or false. If the allegations are true, how high does it go and what will prosecutors in the US, Great Britain and Israel do about it?

Below is the story from a British newspaper. Strangely, the story has been carried in the US press only to disappear a few hours later. 

Revealed: Bill Clinton, Mick Jagger and Donald Trump were in black book of Prince Andrew’s sex abuser friend Jeffrey Epstein 

  • Court document reveals pages and pages of telephone numbers, home addresses and emails held by Epstein - including The Queen's residences
  • Address book includes string of other politicians - among them Kennedys, former Israeli PM Ehud Olmert and ex-new York mayor Michael Bloomberg
  • Epstein's former employee Alfredo Rodriguez discovered book - and

Friday, June 12, 2015

Food additive of the week, Sodium Benzoate


Sodium benzoate has the chemical formula NaC7H5O2; it is a widely used food preservative, with E number E211. It is the sodium salt of benzoic acid and exists in this form when dissolved in water. It can be produced by reacting sodium hydroxidewith benzoic acid. Benzoic acid occurs naturally at low levels in cranberriesprunesgreengage plumscinnamon, ripe cloves, and apples.

Uses[edit]

Preservative[edit]

Sodium benzoate is a preservative. As a food additive, sodium benzoate has the E number E211. It is bacteriostatic andfungistatic under acidic conditions. It is most widely used in acidic foods such as salad dressings (vinegar), carbonated drinks (carbonic acid), jams and fruit juices (citric acid), pickles (vinegar), and condiments. It is also used as a preservative in medicines and cosmetics.[3][4] Concentration as a preservative is limited by the FDA in the U.S. to 0.1% by weight.[5] Sodium benzoate is also allowed as an animal food additive at up to 0.1%, according to AFCO's official publication.[6]

Pharmaceutical applications[edit]

Sodium benzoate is used as a treatment for urea cycle disorders due to its ability to bind amino acids.[7][8] This leads to excretion of these amino acids and a decrease in ammonia levels. Recent research shows that sodium benzoate may be beneficial as an add-on therapy (1 gram/day) in schizophrenia.[9][citation needed] Total Positive and Negative Syndrome Scalescores dropped by 21% compared to placebo.
Sodium benzoate is used to treat hyperammonemia.[10]
Sodium benzoate has been shown to halt the progression of Parkinson's in mice.[10]

Other uses[edit]

Sodium benzoate is also used in fireworks as a fuel in whistle mix, a powder that emits a whistling noise when compressed into a tube and ignited.

Mechanism of food preservation[edit]

The mechanism starts with the absorption of benzoic acid into the cell. If the intracellular pH falls to 5 or lower, the anaerobic fermentation of glucose through phosphofructokinase decreases sharply[11] which inhibits the growth and survival of microorganisms that cause food spoilage.

Production[edit]

Sodium benzoate is produced by the neutralization of benzoic acid with sodium hydroxide.[12] Sodium benzoate can also be prepared by adding benzoic acid to a hot concentrated solution of sodium carbonate until effervescence ceases. The solution is then evaporated, cooled and allowed to crystallize or evaporate to dryness, and then granulated.

Health and safety[edit]

In the United States, sodium benzoate is designated as generally recognized as safe (GRAS) by the Food and Drug Administration.[13] The International Programme on Chemical Safety found no adverse effects in humans at doses of 647–825 mg/kg of body weight per day.[14][15]
Cats have a significantly lower tolerance against benzoic acid and its salts than rats and mice.[16]

Association with benzene in soft drinks[edit]

Main article: Benzene in soft drinks
In combination with ascorbic acid (vitamin C, E300), sodium benzoate and potassium benzoate may form benzene, a known carcinogen. When tested by the FDA, most beverages that contained both ascorbic acid and benzoate had benzene levels that were below those considered dangerous for consumption by the World Health Organization (5 ppb).[17] Most of the beverages that tested higher have been reformulated and subsequently tested below the safety limit.[17] Heat, light and shelf life can increase the rate at which benzene is formed.

Hyperactivity[edit]

Research published in 2007 for the UK's Food Standards Agency (FSA) suggests that certain artificial colors, when paired with sodium benzoate, may be linked to hyperactive behavior. The results were inconsistent regarding sodium benzoate, so the FSA recommended further study.[18][19][20] The Food Standards Agency concluded that the observed increases in hyperactive behavior, if real, were more likely to be linked to the artificial colors than to sodium benzoate.[20] The report's author, Jim Stevenson from Southampton University, said: "The results suggest that consumption of certain mixtures of artificial food colours and sodium benzoate preservative are associated with increases in hyperactive behaviour in children. . . . Many other influences are at work but this at least is one a child can avoid."[20]
In response to consumer insistence on a more natural product, the Coca Cola Company is in the process of phasing sodium benzoate out of Diet Coke. The company has stated it plans to remove sodium benzoate from its other products — including SpriteFanta, and Oasis — as soon as a satisfactory alternative is discovered.[21]