I found another article on Truth or Fiction about it. It says: Summary of the eRumor: There are several versions of this eRumor but all of them say that commonly sold cocoa mulch contains theobromine which can be lethal to cats and dogs. One version tells the story of a pet owner who lost a dog because of cocoa mulch. The Truth: It's fairly well known that some animals should not eat chocolate and according to the experts we checked with that warning applies to cocoa mulch as well, although the number of reported animal deaths is very low. The villain is theobromine, a chemical that is similar to caffeine. It can give a boost to humans but dogs and cats cannot always metabolize it successfully and it can be lethal to them. That is especially true of the shells of the cacao beans, which are ground up and used in cocoa mulch, and contain even higher levels of theobromine than the bean. Most packaging of cocoa mulch makes it clear that it's not for human or animal consumption. It also appears that all cocoa mulch is not the same. One manufacturer we checked with, the maker of Mirana cocoa mulch, said that their mulch is the result of a series of processing steps and that the level of theobromine in their mulch is barely detectable. We did find at least one documented case reported in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA).. The report says that a dog that had ingested cocoa mulch developed convulsions and died 17-hours later. An analysis of the stomach showed ingested cacao bean shells and lethal levels of theobromine. The AVMA has issued a release because of this new eRumor about cocoa mulch. It says that according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), there have not been any reports in 2006 of animals dying from cocoa mulch ingestion. In the years spanning 2004 and 2005 there were 16 cases of cocoa mulch ingestion reported, none of which resulted in death. The ASPCA says that the account of the death of the dog named Calypso that is in the eRumor is "suspect." The symptoms are not completely consistent with death from cocoa bean ingestion. The ASPCA says that although vomiting is a common result, the dog is described as having had a single seizure the next day during a walk and then dying suddenly, which is not what would be expected. Here is a link that might be useful: Truth or Fiction

Pretty sure this one has expired...

Boy is CA in big trouble. I found this today: SACRAMENTO What budget crisis? As California faces what one official this week called a complete meltdown of state government, some lawmakers have their minds on other matters. Such as creating a blueberry commission. Or standing up for pomegranate juice. And, in what passes for health reform in the nation's most populous state, ensuring that the name tags of medical workers are in an 18-point font. Those are among the hundreds of bills being debated in the Legislature as the state faces a $24.3 billion deficit and the prospect of running out of cash by late July. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has urged lawmakers to act swiftly so the state can pass a budget before the fiscal crisis deepens. The lawmakers' attention on less pressing issues some of them much less pressing earned a rebuke from the Republican governor. He even endorsed the idea of converting the Legislature to part-time status to focus lawmakers' attention on only the most important topics. If lawmakers worked part-time, he said, "they would probably concentrate more on the serious work and not some of the bills that come down . . . for creating a blueberry commission and so on. There would not be time for that," he recently told the editorial board of The Sacramento Bee. Among the more eyebrow-raising bills pending in the state Legislature are ones that would: # Ensure that juice sold as "pomegranate" is 100 percent pomegranate. # Teach ninth- and 10th-graders about the value of organ donation. # Ban toy cigarette lighters. # Require day cares to serve only healthy food to children. # Mandate 18-point font on health workers' name tags. Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, a Democrat from San Francisco, is the author of the name-tag bill and another that would establish a commission to promote California's growing blueberry industry. The commission's $1.2 million annual budget would come from a surcharge on blueberries. A spokeswoman for Ma declined to comment on her bills. In a written statement, she said the Legislature is working on measures to improve education, increase access to healthcare and keep jobs in the state. She did not mention blueberries or directly refer to the name-tag requirement. The leader of the state Senate, President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, said he is not "spending a moment on any of those measures" as he concentrates on the budget problems. "I understand the perception. But at the same time, this is a body of 120 members, and the members are entitled to bring forward their ideas," said Steinberg, a Democrat from Sacramento. "I would hate to see the day where any leader or any system said to people, 'You can't introduce the following idea.' This is democracy." Legislative leaders said they are having daily hearings on how to close the budget deficit, even if individual lawmakers are promoting their own bills. They note that nearly all bills with multimillion-dollar price tags are off the table this year as California faces deep spending cuts amid a sharp decline in tax revenue. Schwarzenegger has proposed eliminating healthcare for 1 million low-income children and the program that helps welfare recipients find work. Billions of dollars are expected to be cut from education, and 5,000 state workers face layoffs. Nearly all government employees have been ordered to take furloughs and salary rollbacks that amount to a 15 percent pay reduction. Not all legislative action has been easy to mock, said Shannon Murphy, a spokeswoman for Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles. The Assembly has passed bills to help California collect billions in federal stimulus funding, offer financial help to counties hit by last year's wildfires, and place tighter regulations on mortgage brokers. "This is not business as usual," Murphy said. In a typical year, California lawmakers introduce about 2,800 bills and approve about a third of them, slightly ahead of the national average, said Brenda Erickson of the National Conference of State Legislatures. There also are limits: 50 bills per lawmaker per session in the Senate and 40 in the Assembly. That's far short of the five-bill per lawmaker limit in Colorado, but stricter than most states, Erickson said. The 455 bills the California Assembly approved last year cost the state's general fund $5.9 million, compared with an eight-year annual average of $644 million. In the Senate, which passed 964 of the 1,726 bills introduced, the cost to the general fund was $3.6 million, according to the Senate president pro tem's office. How many bills Schwarzenegger will sign into law is unclear. Last fall, he rejected 35 percent of the bills sent to his desk, explaining that the record-long budget impasse over the summer left him time to evaluate only the highest-profile bills. History could repeat itself this year as lawmakers try to set aside deep ideological differences and find common ground to balance the budget. Time is not on their side. On Wednesday, state Controller John Chiang released a statement saying tax revenue in May was $827 million below projections. The state is "less than 50 days away from a meltdown of state government," he said Schwarzenegger could use his authority to call lawmakers into a special session that would prevent them from taking up any items unrelated to the budget but so far has not done so. While the governor has made clear his frustration with the slow pace of negotiations, he has expressed confidence that will change as the financial deadlines draw near. "I know they will speed up and they will take this seriously," Schwarzenegger said.

I think this has expired....