The Bush administration tries to block Mad Cow testing by Meat packers
This is a very interesting battle:
The Bush administration on Friday urged a federal appeals court to stop meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease, but a skeptical judge questioned whether the government has that authority. The government seeks to reverse a lower court ruling that allowed Kansas-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef to conduct more comprehensive testing to satisfy demand from overseas customers in Japan and elsewhere.
But Creekstone attorney Russell Frye contended the Agriculture Department's regulations covering the treatment of domestic animals contain no prohibition against an individual company testing for mad cow disease, since the test is conducted only after a cow is slaughtered. He said the agency has no authority to prevent companies from using the test to reassure customers.
Larger meatpackers have opposed Creekstone's push to allow wider testing out of fear that consumer pressure would force them to begin testing all animals too. Increased testing would raise the price of meat by a few cents per pound....read on
With costs for food rising so much under Bush, I still think people wouldn't mind paying a few cents more to make sure they don't get Mad Cow from the meat they eat. (h/t Chris)
How can this ever be a court case? If a company wants to increase it's quality control to assure customers, what's the big deal, except of course it screws up the big meat companies. I can assure you that where I am now (S.Korea) meat eaters don't want US Beef precisely because of the fear (warranted or not) of Mad Cow in imported meat from the US. Better wake up corporations- customers can still kill you!
Huh? Does that mean if a manufacturer wants to incorporate higher safety standards they will be forbidden too? Will they oppose the "Smart" car on the grounds that it is a highly safe build and fuel efficent?
This is really funny because I wrote a paper on this for a health class in college why do I still remember this?? At the end of the semester the " professor" gave a speech saying that there were students that learned what this class was about ( just a way to give him a job) and those that didn't ( me) I guess bringing up the fact that " the safest food supply in the world isn't" wasn't what he wanted to hear What the then secretary of ag ( johanns) has done is cut back the number of tests on cattle because there is no sign of mad cow in the american herd ( I live in Nebraska and I hear of dower cattle being slaughtered by mom and pop butchers quite a few times Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it's not there and you test even less means you'll not find even less also what about canadian beef it's been found there how many times?? it's allowed into the US. Mad cow has a long life and it doesn't just appear in those that get it looked up some facts about this and it's scary. finally the ag department was trying to say that the test isn't reliable it's the same test they use are you trying to say that the government's own test is a sham??
Right, free market and all that...
I quit buying cheap beef a long time ago, we only have it once in a while now, and I order it online or drive an hour away to get it, (making it almost sinful because it has to travel). I want the highest quality of food going into my kids bodies. I am sick of corporate America deciding they know what's best for my body and my children's bodies.
And as for this company, Creekstone, maybe I'll order a few steaks.
http://www.creekstonefarms.com/
My suspicion about the Mad Cow thing is this:
Mad Cow disease has been present in the US food supply for years and years - and the authorities have found it whenever they bothered to look for it only to have some powerful 'friend' of the beef industry pull the necessary strings to ensure that whatever some civil servant was about to start squawking about health threats and public interest/safety they got leaned on hard to STFU.
That is what I suspect since it seems easy to imagine that there is enough money involved to ensure that just about any gatekeeper/watchdog can be silenced. It is unlikely that specific big beef player will ever face the consequences of protecting their cash flow at the expense of public safety - it takes too long for Mad Cow to show up in people and that allows for a lot of plausible denial as to exactly where a victim was exposed and who was responsible. Even if legal momentum grows for class action lawsuits - look at how long it took for Big Tobacco to suffer any consequence for their actions.
When our allegedly representative government repeatedly reveals that there is a corporatist hand up its ass making its mouth move and say whatever the corporatists want - then it isn't unreasonable to expect that our government defends public safety only when it isn't inconvenient to big industry.
BSE. It's what's for dinner.
This has been an ongoing fight and is but one more proof that GOPers value money more than people.
So with the next U.S. case of mad cow disease, Dumbya's administration will issue expressions of concern and pledges to look into it. E-coli conservatism at work.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, the U.S. denies importation of Canadian beef that is checked for mad cow disease. The Canadians also report when they find diseased cattle, unlike the U.S. hypocritical system of not checking their beef or denying there's any disease... just recalls. Out-frickin-rageous. What can you do but stop eating beef. Hear that, beef ranchers and farmers? A boycot on beef would hurt your business...
Mad Cow may already be in the beef supply. You saw the possibilities a few moniths ago when they recalled beef from Westland\Hallmark for the last THREE YEARS. The trouble is that beef has already been consumed. You can bet that the big beef companies contributed heavily to the Bush campaign for that protection.
BSE is a protein that is not easily disposed of. In Britain when they operate on a patient who they suspect has BSE they have to throw away the surgical instruments used because an autoclave cannot clean off the BSE protein. This is a serious hidden epidemic. These bastards wont stop till we are all dead unless the electorate wakes up.
Creekstone has been asking for permission to do this for several years and the USDA has tried to block them at every turn.
So this is that smaller government that conservatives are always talking about?
BSE and new variant CJD is one hellofa can of worms.
One nasty little thing one meat rendering plant was doing was pooling waste slurry in evaporation pits, and also they reckoned to have pumped it down into the water table.
One of the young nv CJD cases in the late 90s was a 20 something vegetarian girl who hadnt eaten meat since the 80s.
Bush would be mad if other people didn't get mad cow disease like he has, or believes he has, or acts like he has. He's just trying not to be lonely.
Let's just hope that Bush eats his share of the tainted meat.
Bush sucks, of course (feel obliged to state this).
So do almost all repubs and many dems (feel obliged to state this).
_________ sucks also (fill in the blank).
But a TRUE free market works best for buyers and sellers.
Problem in the U.S. is that there are some, but few, free markets. Most markets are controlled by government or corporate mononpoly. Only niche markets are free (because corporations haven't figured how to make money off of them.)
GWB=BSE.
So when meat packers are lax on safety standards, the GOP says "free market forces will take care of it", and when meat packers heighten safety standards, the GOP says "the government needs to intervene to prevent it". Makes total sense. Why don't they just come out and say they enjoy killing people?
it's more the other way round - if the population has been eating diseased meat (which could have easily been tested) for years - should they really know ? you know, they happened to lynch villains down in happy cattle country ...
Blue Taliban Osama Buddha @ 17:
Absolutely. Privatize profits while socializing losses.
Takes me back a couple of years to the time US Cattle lobbies were calling for a PERMANENT ban on Canadian beef due to one positive BCE test in Canada. Meanwhile, there was 2 positive tests in US they couldn't hang on the Canadian cow . All of a sudden ? God damned...nothing to see here. Must be part of the BushCo Dont Look- Dont Find
program. The GOP see a safe and secure food chain as a barrier to unfettered profits. Why are they assholes again ?
With costs for food rising so much under Bush, I still think people wouldn’t mind paying a few cents more to make sure they don’t get Mad Cow from the meat they eat.
Why does the consumer always have to pay the difference? Why can't corporations do the right thing and just have a tiny bit less profit?
On the other hand, how many dead consumers is it worth to not test for mad cow disease?
I think this is being suppressed because if only 1 company does the additional testing, they will monopolize the Japanese beef market, meaning the U.S. has less leverage to "tat" (as in tit-for-tat) with, regarding the U.S./Japan trade balance.
The Japanese have banned American meat imports over the so-called safety issue (which is really their bargaining chip with the U.S. to allow cheap Nissans into America).
I'd wager heavily that this has something to do with the Japanese trade.
Huh. A judge that dares question the authority and business interests of Bushco? OBVIOUSLY an activist judge. Git a rope!
How superbly ironic. It is an upsidedown world when government and Big Ag collude to indulge in restraint of trade tactics. The beef industry is the first one to scream when Japan or Korea use non-tariff trade barriers in the same fashion. This will be one to watch. In the meantime, read the Pew Commission's recent report on industrial farm animal production to be found at http://www.ncifap.org/index.html Big Ag stooped lower than a snake's belly to shut this commission down. Fortunately, they were unsuccessful and the report is damning.
VietVet8666 @ 15:
In this discussion shouldn't one note that there is beef which might be labelled as "feed lot" beef and beef that might be labelled as 'niche market ' beef.
There is a difference.
I hope there is a difference
I'm sure glad I stopped eating beef 30 years ago.
My mother died a terrible agonizing death. Her brain looked like swiss cheese or a sponge - what was left of it. The doc said Alzheimer's. I said bullshit, doc. I read a book called Mad Cow U.S.A. by Sheldon Ramton and John Stauber and the disease is identical to Bovine spongiform encphalopathy. My mum loved her cheeseburgers.
If you have to eat beef, eat it from one cow, not hundreds at one time. Better still, eat Argentine beef. Even better-no beef at all.
I thought government intervention of individual enterprise was "wrong".
So are the meat packers as mad as the cows now?
Paul @ 7:
Amen. The 'Market's' free to do whatever corporate contributors to conservatives want it to do.
Isn't this all about more deregulation?
I don't know what they're thinking. Clearly the industry would be hurt by allowing Mad Cow to suddenly surface in the marketplace - here or abroad. The Bush administration's position doesn't make any sense at all.
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Remember what happened to Oprah when she said she would never eat another hamburger?
Paul-UK @ 2:
Yes.
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Hilarious. The Blood bank won't allow me to donate blood anymore because I spent 4 months total in the UK since a given date, and that makes them askeert of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The funniest part about that? I was a vegetarian at the time. I have less chance of getting BSE than someone who spent a week there eating Steak and Kidney pie, beef hotpot and burgers.
Trittydi @ 33:
Their fall back position is "We meet government standards" Always has been.
The Bush administration is taking the side of big business? What a surprise!
WMK @5:
That is essentially what happened in the UK.
JoGoBamma(formerly Jo) @ 27:
Any comments on pork or chicken?
Or even fish.
Once I was in an airport where there was shop selling salmon.
There was one package of salmon was more expensive , so I asked why the difference and the sales lady pointed out that the most expensive salmon was cut from
one salmon.
So what was in the other packages of salmon?
Leftovers??
I agree with many others before, it's not that they dont want to have to test to keep the prices low, it's that they dont want to test so people find out they have been eating tainted beef all along.
Iam pretty sure that seals up the beef ranchers for texas. When one day soon and it will happen the beef import from the USA is stopped by nations that love it (Japan etc) and the ranchers see thier $$$$$ drop, pehaps maybe then they might wake up . Untill then I say let em do it. Let the Bush admin go down in history as the one that allowed rancid meat products to be consumed by his own ppl that elected him,, twice. Just how f..ing dumb are ppl in the states to not keep tabs on what goes on behind closed doors? Even more so what takes place in clear view? Folks dont care it seems, they have xbox, Wii and other various entertainment to worry about. Paris hilton,, britney spears,, etc,, why thats a must ! OH and along with Jenna the lebba marrige to harry this past weekend to.
BEEF its whats for dinner?
The White House luncheon for Senate spouses.
"An exquisite fricassee of Maryland crab," sang the White House menu, as well as artichokes, Portobello mushrooms over grits and a salad of "young lettuces with citrus filets."
right on! @ 9:
We've actually done this. If the issue were more highly publicized, so would others.
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I believe WMK @ 5 sums it up eloquently.
I haven't eaten red meat for 22 years.
It's no big deal. Just substitute with fish and chicken. You going to be looked at strange, be subject to possible ridicule.
South Korea 50,000,000 (I live) + Japan 130,000,000 beef consumers, who currently have bans on imported US beef, "because of mad cow disease" (but, it's really a trade bargaining chip). There's you answer. 180 million consumers, with money. One mad cow brings down the whole shebang.
bitter Edwin Hussein @ 45:
I's not just mad cow. It's factory cattle farming in general and if you look into what goes on in that industry you'll get sick just reading it.
SCHRODINGER'S CAT @ 38:
Yes. The most expensive salmon is cut from the filet. It is the filet. All the others are pieces left after the filet is removed.
Chicken and pork are tainted with hormones and antibiotics. If you eat them, eat range-free, grain fed. Never eat an animal that was supposed to be a grain eater but was fed animal products in their meal.
L.A. Confidential @ 41:
"Citrus filets"-- WTF?
Citrus pieces are segments, but, it IS Bushco, so call 'em what you will...
Insert Larry Craig joke here.
JoGoBamma(formerly Jo) @ 47:
The only problem is most people can not afford top of the line organic.
fastfeat @ 48:
Citrus Filets are very thinly sliced pieces of fruit. It appeals to the basic snobbery group.
did i not read bse occurs naturally in one out of seven million cows? and yet the U.S. has never found any?
L.A. Confidential @ 50:
So true. But a good cook can stretch a pound of meat into several good meals. And, let me just add that we have been brainwashed into believing that meat must be the entree and we must eat it to get protein. Several combinations of grains can give us all the good protein we need. But, not too much soy. It can kill your gall bladder. It did mine. I lost 80 pounds (and one gall bladder) on a delicious vegetarian diet. No calories counted!
"The only problem is most people can not afford top of the line organic."
When you look at the nutrient content, organic food comes out cheaper. That non-organic produce is missing most of its vital nutrients, see the latest research.
JoGoBamma(formerly Jo) @ 53:
Good points.
Lonny @ 6:
Yup.....and just wait 'til everbody gits a load of how many of them burgers out there kin kill yer dumb ass. Besides with
heart disease I means....
Me?
I live in the People's Republic of Berkeley....heh.....heh....
Yew kain't hardly by a burger that ain't...organic...grass fed....absolutely no damn prions homie!
Hope all the rest of ya who are still depending on the Government to protect yer fat, useless asses are lookin' forward to the 4th of July. Gonna be a big celebration here.
We stopped lettin' corporatist Murikkka poison us a long time ago....and yer laughed at us....how's that shoe feel now bubba?
Fran Taylor @ 54:
Thats very true I understand we've done our homework. It's very difficult to eat correctly in our Red Bull, Caffeine, crack and cocaine driven go go go go go me me me me me hustle hustle hustle hustle money money money money society.
How they eat is a lifestyle choice people have to ultimately make for themselves.
sean gorman @ 52:
You think they're lookin' hard? Not likely homes.
Your addiction to dead things is doing more to change our climate than all the cars on all the roads in America.
It's not about protecting the murkin people. It's all about making the government look so inept that people will gladly allow it to be stripped of any regulating ability. To this end the Bush administration will block any legislation that gives the government increased oversight of the corporate agribusinesses. Then, when people get sick, they will again blame the inept government.
This is the agenda of the corporate lackeys currently infesting our executive and legislative branches of government.
Hence wise the EU and England really dont do meat shares anymore with the USA!
Cant the retards in the whitehouse understand the disease and the wide spread disaster it would cause should this become a eppidemic?
NO!
MO MONEY FOR RANCHERS!!!! I bet soon blue tonge is next for the states for the sheep and goats too.
And the ranchers BITCH about wolfs? ffs it was probably the wolfs that kept thier shit at bay untill 70 or less years ago.
Lets load up a possie and track the ranchers that keep dead beef in the fridge, and use forklifts to load that nearly dead cow into the meat market and think only in $$ Nothing about the humans who comsume it. Think about that,, folks, a near dead cow, downed,, lifted with a fork lift , ozzing green puss from its wounds on its legs and face and that SHIT goes into the food chain, for humans and dogs/cats/pets!
And the USA dares to bash CHINA? monkey see monkey do!
This is why I've been vegan for 6 years & grow most of what I eat.
L.A. Confidential @ 51:
Thanks for the "definition."
With food prices the way they are, I think I'll have me a turnip "filet" for dinner. Now if I can find a sharp enough boxcutter...
before gw was born, barbara bush should have been checked
for mad cow disease.......considering the low IQ of gw.
JoGoBamma(formerly Jo) @ 32:
She found Dr. Phil?
Uhhh-boy. I kinda knew that any thread about disease prevention in the meat industry would bring out the ALF and PETA folks.
'...ozzing [sic] green puss [sic] from its wounds on its legs and face and that SHIT goes into the food chain...' Yup, nothing like a bit of hydrophobic hyperbole to argue a point.
'That's why I'm a vegan/vegetarian and grow my own food'. Well, not that I personally have that problem, but on behalf of all those who live in cities without access to a sufficient plot of ground to grow enough food for themselves and their families, I think I'd prefer more stringent controls being placed on the health of food production rather than eating tofu (which, by the way, is bad for the environment, and chemically processed in a way that's really so unhealthy for you) and feeling all self-righteous.
And if vegetarianism were the panacaea for all that ails the world, Linda McCartney would still be married to Paul.
It's not a question of whether or not eating meat is right or wrong. It's your choice to eat meat or not. But if my choice is to eat meat, then I have the right to expect my meat to have been raised in proper conditions, killed in a humane way, and properly inspected for disease before ingesting it. That's what this thread is supposed to be about.
It's called animal welfare. Which I support whole-heartedly. Which is a far cry removed from animal rights. Which I most definitely don't.
nonny mouse @ 66:
as I do support fully, but how many times has the most prominet animal protection ppl tried to help and were told to get out? anf fuck PETA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the slaughter animals left and right to rid them of a ´´bad death´´.
You missed my point in its enitre, and thats a bummer for you. What i ment to say was this,, the next time you americans(as iam one but living in eruope) buy a piece of meat,, be it pork,, veal, lamb, chicken, beef or various others,, LOOK as to where it came from and remember the frigging inspectors seal of approval. Now the states are allowed to have cloned animals for the food chain. Whats next? Wait dont answer that,, its revolting to even imagine.
L.A. Confidential @ 50:
L.A.
In the end you just have to become aware of what you are eating. It's not that complicted and you do not have to be a fanatic.
If you go to your local supermarket and ask for free range chickens, they may just stare at you. Do it again a week later and they will take notice. Do it again and soon you will have free range chickens at a price that you can afford .
As for the tainted meat issue , it's has always been around. I know a family that came from Italy after WW II . One of their stories was as follows. They had some cows that couldn't walk a straight line , so they slaughtered the cows and sold the meat to the German soldiers, who were happy to get fresh meat. We do have an immune system.
Homo sapiens are Omnivores.
Friar T and S. Cat -
At the moment, I live in NZ, actually. And I'm kinda lucky, living out in the country on a freeholding where the eggs, chicken, lamb, pork and occasionally beef are raised right here where I can see them. Big wedding party a couple weeks ago, we had two roasted lambs on spits - two days before they were happily munching away on the grass down by the lake. Now that's healthy eating.
But when I buy meat in the market, I do more than check where it comes from, I check where all my produce comes from. If the choice is between plums from Peru or apples from the South Island, I buy Kiwi. Less air miles. Better quality fruit if it doesn't have to come from so far away. And I know the fruit growers in this country are, by and large, fairly consciencious.
As for free-range chickens, I buy barn. Not battery. Barn. Why? There are almost as strict humanitarian controls on barn-raised chicken as free-range, barn climatological conditions can be managed better resulting in a lesser mortality rate than either battery or free-range, and there is less chance (although nearly zero in this country) of contracting airborne diseases such as avian flu. I know that tends to go against the popular wisdom, but I do my research. Food-wise.
So, yes. I pay attention to those little stickers. But if there ARE no little stickers because the government doesn't want to have the meat you're sticking them on in the first place tested, then the consumer is being cheated. That's what we should be up in arms about.
And re: immune systems... seems a recent study has shown that children raised around farm animals have less incident of asthma and eczema, because all that dusty shit (literally) in the air stimulates the immune system. So stop using all that stuff off the tellie to wipe down your kitchen counters and stove tops and wash your dishes in that guarantee it'll kill 99.9% of bacteria. Bacteria can be our friends, folks. Just breath in deeply...
If he wants to test meat packers, he can call Jeff Gannon!
This is a very old issue going way back to the time when Japan closed off imports of US beef because of inadequate testing. Japan shifted their reliance to Australian beef as a source and there were fervent negotiations which finally reached a compromise. Then, some large idiot US packer sent beef with spinal cord remnants (a no-no) and Japan shut down shipments once more.
Creekstone, who already had significant Japanese business (they sell beef from cattle that have been raised and harvested in much cleaner and more "humane" manner than other packers) attempted to circumvent the prohibition, lobbying directly to Japan. Their business was being hurt significantly and of no fault of their own. They were not only willing to meet the negotiated requirements, but offered to do additional testing. In essence they stuck their head up above the mediocrity and didn't realize that it would be chopped off.
To avoid shaming their major trading (and defense) partner, Japan politely told Creekstone that they would be honoring US wishes and would not allow any shipments. I suspected all along that, if they could have done so, Japan would have allowed Creekstone to ship.
The cost of the extra testing is miniscule and the type of testing is very effective. Still the current maladministration trotted out some hack "scientist" from the bowels of the USDA to claim otherwise.
I am pleased that this is finally seeing the light of day in court. I think Creekstone will win. Meanwhile, of course, the Bush maladministration continues to reliably get a paycheck, while businesses hurt by their malfeasance have to lean on savings and other assets to keep running until they get a fair hearing.
Just another example of how this maladministration hates the american people.
Perhaps there should be more talk about vegetarian lifestyles. No self-respecting environmentalist eats meat. meat production (from factory farming) is one of the single largest contributors to global warming there is. Mad Cow disease is simply the cow's revenge for us forcing it to eat its own.
Now this is something you don't see everyday.
Look, the government is supposed to uphold standards and keep us safe (Protect the environment, etc). That's its job. In most cases the corporations won't as, of course, it goes against what a corporation does: Making every last cent it can.
But when a corporation steps up and says that they want to raise the standards and the government steps in and says no... that's just disgusting.
Interesting that different STATES can enforce tougher rules than the federal government does to allow their agricultural products (citrus and nursery stock, for example) to be exported to foreign countries and even within the US to allow their own growth of their own ag industries.
I wonder if ShrubCo will want to roll back these regs as well?
Funny, wasn't this the government supposedly FOR states' rights? (Oh, I forgot, THEY'RE FUCKING LIARS!)
as expected!
nonny mouse @ 66:
You sure do assume a lot. I don't eat tofu or any soy at all. I mentioned nothing about ALF or PETA, as I do not support or condone either organization. I didn't even mention animals at all! And your not having enough room to grow food is your own fault. Move. You'd be amazed at how much you can grow in pots. Give that a try. Don't be another "the government should take care of us" whiner. Our government is corrupt, period. Always has been & it will only get worse. Most of them don't give a fuck about you or your family. On the contrary, some actually look for ways to fuck you in the ass even harder than they already are. If you're looking for them to fix shit anytime soon, no matter who the POTUS is, ....well....good luck with that!
We don't need to eat meat to be well-fed and healthy.
that's it. he's nuts. bonkers. clearly insane.
prions (the infectious agent of mad cow) are so hard to sterilize it's incredibly difficult to sterilize instruments with an autoclave let alone say, a contaminated room, and bush wants to ignore this?
oh, fie and a pox on peta forever.
Typical GOP-Bush idiocy. Screw the shit out of the American people, charging them 50-200% more for food and other necessities. Then let your corporate cronies sell them poisoned/deseased food too, by implementing the always brilliant republican anti-regulation bullshit, selling it as "good for consumers" because it will save them money (a couple of freakin' pennies, how typically repuke)!
Good god how I hate these loathesome corporate mother fuckers. How much longer will the people's White House by soiled by this filthy, stinking, pig bastard!
sassafra @ 78:
I hope Bush and Cheney eat lots of beef
B-sting - I'm not sure I was addressing you directly, so don't get your tofu in a squeeze. However, the idea that someone living in a place where they don't have a garden being their own fault, solution; move. Yeesh.
I'm living on a freeholding at the moment, waaaaay out in the countryside. We've got egg-laying free range chickens (far too free range, damn birds keep laying all their eggs in the neighbour's place), sheep (had two of them BBQ'd on a spit a couple weeks ago for a wedding party, yummy!), two happy little pigs due for slaughter in about four months and there's still plenty of the former happy little pig in the freezer, and one beef cow at the bottom of the pasture. It's winter here, so the garden is winding down. When I lived in the States, I was lucky to have a tiny garden. When I lived in the UK, I was lucky to have a much bigger garden. Now I'm in NZ and I can't even see the end of the 'garden'. I've lived off the land and eaten out of my own gardens for over 30 years now.
That being said, I'm not so arrogant as to blame anyone with little money living in the inner city and struggling just to pay the bills who can't just pick up and move out into the countryside. Where are they going to work? Where are they going to live? If they can barely afford a crappy apartment in downtown Chicago, where are they going to get the money to buy a farmhouse in Pennsylvania? And if everyone left the cities for the country, the country would get a whole lot less attractive to live in pretty damned quick. Your 'solution' is crap. And cold-hearted. And stupid.
Put proper health labels of food. So that people who eat (which is most of us) can make informed decisions about what we put in our bodies, meat, tofu or carrots. It's the sensible, sane and humane thing to do, whether you live on a colonial farmhouse with 25 acres, or a four-floor cold-water walk-up in the Bronx.
As for the rest of your profanity ridden pseudo-libertarian rant - bored now.
I was speaking to you, specifically. Strawman much? Nice rant though, I agreed with most of what you said.
Have a nice night.
nonny mouse @ 82:
Kia-Ora, Slad you are you enjoying your time out there, I was out there last month, lovely place.
nonny mouse @ 69:
Actually there may be more to what you are saying about the immune system needing a work out than you think. There is some thought that the increase in allergies such as to related to nuts (which can be fatal) is due to the sterile nature of the enviroment. The upshot is that the bodies immune system starts acting like a bored teenager and goes looking for trouble.
It's really telling that despite every logical reason for Government mandated testing for this Mad Cow disease the Bush crime family is not only opposed to such testing but also against cow killers engaging in such testing on their own absent any Government edict.
After all, some renegade company independently testing cows runs the very real risk of a possible positive test scaring the golden diaper wearing bejesus out of dead animal eaters worldwide. That could really royally eff things up for all the folks in the cow killing/dead cow selling Biz who happen to be too cheap to give a flying #$%& about smokin' their customers.
Apparently being a vegetarian isn't just moral...It's also prudent!
Joe Lieberman is a rank amateur when it comes to smear attacks on Obama. Sean Hannity has refined his Obama smear campaign to a sweet science. Sean demonstrates relentless dogged determination to raise enough questions about Obama's character to put serious doubts in the mind of his massive radio & TV audience. He broadcasts daily to millions nationwide. Hannity is 100% certain that he can persuade millions of blue collar whites throughout the South and Midwest to choose a white American war hero over a Negro with a dubious background and disturbing personal associations.
Oh, this ought to play well in South Korea, where they're already protesting in the streets by the thousands over resumption of imports of US beef. You'd think we'd hear more about that here, as it's our beef being protested against.
I really don't believe that BSE is as prevalent in the US as alarmists want to claim. Although even one preventable case of human transmission is too many, it seems to me that the reason for this opposition to testing is NOT a belief that if they start testing they will find it everywhere.
No, I think the real reason is partway down the story, at the end of what's quoted above:
Larger meatpackers have opposed Creekstone’s push to allow wider testing out of fear that consumer pressure would force them to begin testing all animals too.
Essentially, it would be highly inconvenient for other companies to begin an equivalent testing program, as market forces would demand that they do in order to keep up with Creekstone. Therefore, rather than bend to the vagaries of the open market, they appeal to the government for protection from this inconvenience.
And now we can all see the lie in the conservative lip service toward worship of the free market.
I'm glad that there's finally a story about this. This dispute has been going on for several years now. Maybe something will happen now that it's getting some press.
"The general public can be lead to believe that good is bad, bad is good, success is failure and failure is success. How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don't think"- Adolf Hitler
The media will ignore the story. What we need is a one week strike on the beef industry. Things would change instantly.
The have been putting shit in the hamburgers for years, so what's a little prion?
More proof that we do not live in a free-market . Of course the meatpackers want to test for mad-cow disease, unlike popular belief, its not really in the best interest of any company to deliver harmful products because then they lose the business.(people won't buy the products and high potential for lawsuits).
anneyhussein @ 14:
A good job for bush when he leaves office. = BEEFEATER.
I have a crazy suggestion....perhaps people should stop eating beef, or at least make an effort to buy it from small scale, reputable sources which will also help the economy far more than continuing to buy from factory farms. Just a thought.
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