Getting Out Of The Way Of Business

by Dick Mac

One of the fundamental tenets of supply-side economic theory is that the government must be removed from the conduct of business.

All government intervention is detrimental to the development of the markets, and when the markets are left to their own devices, riches grow, manna falls from heaven, the sun shines, the grass grows, the forests become lush, the oceans thrive, the sky is clear and blue, poverty vanishes, everyone profits, the children are safe and happy, the streets flow with milk and honey, and it flows easily because said streets are paved in gold.

For the past thirty years, we have been systematically removing government from hindering business. Anyone who tells you that isn't true is either a liar or completely clueless. All of the Presidents since 1980 have helped de-fund regulatory agencies, including the IRS, and have appointed businessmen to head agencies previously headed by scientists, doctors and analysts.

We now have agencies that cost more than ever, are staffed at lower levels than ever, have had the teeth removed from their regulations, and are pretty much ineffective. This is the "conservative" way: cripple a service, then complain that it is ineffective, therefore it must be eliminated or privatized.

This is Reaganomics at its finest, and it is more alive this day than I think the Hunt family, Koch brothers, Rupert Murdoch, and Ronald Reagan himself ever thought possible.

Today's victory celebration for the supply-siders is taking place at the Cargill Meat Solutions processing plant in Arkansas. The table is set with the finest linens and silver, the creamer and sugar bowl are full, and the tea is steeping as we speak, because it is time for a little tea party!

Some of the ground turkey is bad. Salmonella has tainted it and a recall is taking place. Well . . . not just some ground turkey, but thirty-six million pounds of ground turkey.

Now, I don't know how long it takes to grind thirty-six million pounds of ground turkey, but I suspect it doesn't take place overnight.

At the Cargill website, they state that the facility in Springdale, Arkansas, processes two-hundred-fifty million turkey annually. According to news reports, the contamination fook place between February 20, 2011, and August 2, 2011 (that's about 160 days - give or take).

So, it appears that on a good day, with all the inspectors out of the way, and the staff working extra hours, perhaps a quarter-million pounds of turkey is ground.

It also appears that with all the inspectors out of the way and the staff working as hard as they can, that nobody is really paying attention to cleanliness; you know, like tracking bacteria that might kill somebody.

The reports of salmonella illness related to the ground turkey started March 1, 2011, and continued until the recall began August 1, 2011.

Now, using supply-side philosophy and tea party logic, if there was no government agency overseeing meat manufacturing, and there was no funding for the Centers for Disease Control, then the food industry would have plenty of resources to have discovered this problem and prevent something like this from happening.

If you really believe in Reaganomics, then you believe that Cargill itself would have found the salmonella and recalled the meat much faster than the five months it has taken. If only the evil United States government would get out of their way.

In the supply-side Utopia, there is no Food & Drug Administration, and no funding for the Centers for Disease Control. All industry inspection is handled by the industrialists themselves and all disease control is funded with the vast charitable contributions made by people like Donald Trump.

In reality, supply-side philosophy and the tea party movement benefit a very tiny number of people; likely a percentage so small that it can't be measured easily. Yet, millions and millions of Americans believe Ronald Reagan was a saint, did more for the middle-class than any President before him, and that the tea party movement is the only hope America has for its future.

If you want more poisoned meat, if you want less government oversight, if you want the industrialists to be the only people with a say in the development of American industry, then put on (or keep on) the blinders, vote Republican, and send a few dollars to the long-suffering billionaires who are trying to save the world with a tea party.

Investigation Announcement: Multistate Outbreak of Human Salmonella Heidelberg Infections, from the CDC site

Cargill recalls 36 million pounds of turkey in salmonella outbreak, from Quad City Times

Gargill recalling 36M pounds of ground turkey, from Bloomberg Businessweek

Mammals: Cows (Cattle)

by Dick Mac

Cows (more generally known as cattle) are the most well-known ungulates, they are bovines. They are domesticated and raised as livestock (meat), dairy cows, and draft animals. Their skins are used for leather goods and their shit is used as fertilizer.

In India they are sacred, and in the rest of the world they are a multi-billion dollar industry,

Some people think they are cute, I find them scary-looking.

There are many, many different types of cattle, and Wikipedia has an excellent List of cattle breeds. Yes, some are cuter than others, and some are scarier than others.

My relationship to cattle is pretty much the same as all other non-Indian humans. I think of them as a product. It's rare to see them in a zoo (but not impossible). They are not mysterious or cuddly, they are thought of, sadly, as a product.

I am lactose-intolerant. I suffer when I enjoy cheese or ice cream. I haven't had a glass of milk since 1973, because it just makes me sick. Not sick in the figurative ("that makes me sick") sense, but physically sick with stomach cramps, a runny nose, etc. I accept the lesser discomfort I experience from cheese, because I just love cheese - especially stinky cheese.

I am an omnivore, and I am neither allergic nor physically intolerant to the meat of cattle the way I am to their milk. I love a steak, I love a burger, I love a good beef stew. Not intending to totally gross-out my vegan and vegetarian friends, I admit that I quite like liver, sweetbreads, and other forms of offal.

I am vegan during my Lenten fast. That is, for all of Lent I eat no animal products. None. No butter or cheese, certainly no meat or fish. It's a challenge, but it's a challenge I embrace and rather enjoy. In fact, for some weeks after Easter, I find myself continuing to avoid animal products. Eventually, though, I am back in the throes of animal-consumption and forget all about the healthy alternative of a vegan lifestyle.

As a meat-eater, and like most meat-eaters, I am loathe to consider the process used to deliver that yummy burger to my plate.

Like all products, however, cattle are processed. We often see movies of dairy farms: shiny, clean barns with rows and rows of cows attached to tubes that extract their milk. These are basically corporate propaganda films; they do not show the bruising and abuse of the cows' teats, or the remarkable amount of antibiotics pumped into the animals. What is shown is a rather sterile, almost lovely, image of modern efficiency.

It's rare that we see movies of slaughterhouses. Just the thought is unpleasant, and even the most gullible person can't be convinced to see the process as modern, clean, efficient, and downright attractive.

So, I have decided to provide you with the opportunity to see how that burger gets to my plate.

Enjoy!

"Let Vegetarianism Grow On You"

Though not I am not a vegetarian, I was one many years ago. My refusal to eat meat was a rebellion and a political statement so shallow that there was no reason for it to last. That is not to say that others choose vegetarianism for shallow reasons; I am certain there are people deeply committed to values of vegetarianism beyond the political and post-pubescent rebellion I experienced.

In the early seventies, the vegetarians I met were usually hippies and leftists. Most were not very attractive. I fancied myself a hippie (but I was a punk at heart), and I am still a leftist. I am no longer a vegetarian.

Please indulge my vanity: Does eating meat make me more or less attractive than when I didn't eat meat?

Vegetarians are often skinnier than meat-eaters. In the United States, attractiveness is often equated with skinniness. It is rare that you see a voluptuous person presented as attractive. Models, actors, athletes, and others presented in the beauty market are usually trim and fit. No extra flab. The only largesse about them is usually augmented breasts or steroid-enhanced pecs. We get the occasional Anna Nicole Smith (who was pretty hot, irrespective of the train wreck she lived in). It's unusual to be presented with a woman who is rounded, curved and very female-shaped; we generally get Kate Moss (whose body sometimes seems to be that of a teenage boy, uless she removes her top and shows her breasts).

I have heard actress-models in New York discussing their diets. They often avoid meat. Salads are their choice. They are always skinny and sometimes attractive. Are they vegetarians? Do they choose salads because of the reasons that non-actress-models choose to avoid meat? Or, do they want to chew, not eschew, animals. I doubt their reasons are political or health-based. They are more likely just mentally ill, have negative body images, and eat poorly because of it.

I was a vegetarian more in the PETA-sense of it, not the actress-model sense of it. I didn't want to eat animals. I was using drugs recreationally at the time, so the drugs were keeping me skinny. It wasn't a desire to remain skinny that made me a vegetarian.

PETA is an interesting organization. Of course I want to support them because I think abuse of animals is downright reprehensible. But, I think they go too far. I don't think we should club baby seals or hunt endangered species; but, I think it's OK to raise calves for veal, and minks for clothing, and sheep for wool. Leather is an excellent material for human clothing: it's protective qualities are indisputable. I don't think we should be testing eye-liner on bunnies, but I think it's OK to breed them for testing medicine. It's all about the reasons you are using the animals, not what you are doing to them.

PETA has created some fun public relations stunts. The latest is "Let Vegetarianism Grow On You," a photo shoot of Filipino actress-model Alicia Mayer (a/k/a Alicia Bonifacio) dressed in lettuce.

Voila!

Popular Filipino actress-model Alicia Mayer poses for a campaign advertisement for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) clad only in fresh lettuce to promote vegetarianism Wednesday Feb. 28, 2007, in Manila, Philippines. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Thank you PETA!

See more pix of Alicia Mayer (a/k/a Alicia Bonifacio) here.

See more PETA here.