8:30 p.m.

• I wonder if the McCain spokespeople pictured doing this six months ago?

Gus the bull came into the world Tuesday afternoon at the Westmoreland Fair with an audience full of elephants.

 

Members of Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain's Straight Talk Express Tour, including top adviser Carly Fiorina, just happened to be walking by the Takitch family's cows Tuesday when Tom Takitch kindly excused himself.

 

Jo, a 4-year-old Holstein cared for by his 10-year-old son Tommy, was about to give birth.

 

"They were talking," Stephanie Takitch, 11, said of McCain's people. "We noticed her water broke, and she's starting to have a calf, and my dad had to tell them, 'I've got to deliver a calf. They were like, 'Say what?' "

 

"They were kind of freaked out," said sister Jessica, 15. "... It was so funny because all you could see is the politicians' jaws drop..."

God I love my county.

• Wow. And I thought veggies were green enough.

Health regulators have approved the use of ionizing radiation for fresh spinach and lettuce, saying the technique already approved for other foods can help control harmful bacteria and other pathogens.

 

The Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday the radiation treatment also would make the leafy greens last longer and give them greater "shelf-life" for retailers and consumers.

 

The approval comes two years after E. coli outbreaks linked to spinach and lettuce sold in grocery stores and served at various restaurants. Outbreaks of the dangerous bacteria sickened dozens of consumers and led some to be hospitalized...

Oh well, I guess it's better than eating food that a Mexican shit on out in the field.