Okay, the weirdness of food safety activism is coming back to me. As in, realizing the kind of dreadful food that is being irradiated and then actually calling on people to avoid it because it’s being treated with radiation. Um, people, you shouldn’t be eating this dreck in the first place.
It reminds me of when we learned many years ago that the Hormel Corporation was thinking about irradiating SPAM. So what? was my first thought. How much worse can a little radiation make its dreadful contents? But a campaign is a campaign and, more importantly, more carcinogens in SPAM are still more carcinogens in SPAM. We won’t bother with the nutritional arguments here.
Well, it’s déjà vu all over again here. Because my new irradiation research has revealed that one of the biggest supporters of meat irradiation in the U.S. is Schwan’s, the home-delivery company whose yellow trucks should be familiar to anyone who’s spent time in the suburbs.
Let’s be clear: Schwan’s food equals dreck. Period. End of story. 
So, in that case, it’s not surprising that Schwan’s would see a need for a little radiation-cover-up. Imagine, for example, where their beef comes from? Hint: The largest and most industrial (read: cheap and filthy) sources. And then imagine the factories where tens of thousands of pounds of this fecal matter-riddled beef gets processed into the pre-formed patties and other products that should very loosely be considered “meat” in the first place.
It’s a recipe for disaster (pun intended).
But for corporations like Schwan’s, the solution to their dirty food problems isn’t to clean it up. Hardly. Instead, they reach for one toxic-quick-fix after another that only makes the underlying problem (dirty food) worse.
They try more antibiotics. They try chemical rinses. And now, they’re trying irradiation. Worse, they’re employing all these gimmicks on the same hamburger patties. Hmm, I wonder what irradiated antibiotics and chemical rinses taste like? More importantly, I wonder what they do to your health? No one knows, because the Food & Drug Administration has never bothered to ask or study or, apparently, care.
But let’s get back to the “radiation-cover-up” theme. It’s the marketing Achilles heel of the technology. Corporations employing irradiation are doing so because they know they’ve got a filthy product. In the case of meat, the filth is fecal matter. But they are counting on their consumers to be so uninterested in the contents of what they eat that they won’t care that irradiated fecal matter is still…well…fecal matter. Yum.
While avoiding Schwan’s foods should be one of the easiest things to do, avoiding the precedent of Schwan’s use of irradiation is a different matter. By contracting with irradiation corporations, Schwan’s is keeping the technology alive, endorsing the further industrialization of the food supply, and stymieing critical efforts to move the food supply in a safer and saner direction.
Stay tuned.
Good. He’s back. With ISSUES.
Yeah, irradiation also helps give the shit a longer shelf life, I think). They ‘cook’ milk, half &half, heavy cream, etc in iodine so mega-dairies can sell their products cross-country. An example of what ‘health yuppies’ should watch for is Organic Cow milk. All natural & organic, right. But look at the expiration date. Regular pasteurized milk should have no more than 13 days of shelf-life. If you’re buying all natural & organic milk with, say, five weeks of shelf life–THINK: Cooked In Iodine. Worse, the iodine-cooking makes the milk so completely bacteria free that, when you open it and put the rest back in the fridge, it’s going to turn bad faster than regular milk, cause you’ve let in all kinds of bacteria to run amuck. So, drink Organic Cow FAST. And learn about how they’re doing this with bread and everything else we eat.
Thank you, Michael. No, I don’t owe you a beer. Can’t afford this 10 dollar boutique beer you drink at Three Penny rubbing elbows with Anthony Pollina. Get him to buy your a beer. He wants to get re-elected next year, right?
Wow, it took you long enough to find me (again).
Welcome back. Time to kick some corporate ass again. Here in Jersey we have the gas industry fracking the natural beauty of the Delaware Water Gap. Was wishing for a few Wally strategies to shake things up.
So, about food irradiation. Are you talking the usual suspects or did they morph the technology to using gamma rays in place of cobalt and the other bad boys? I can run with information and/or action campaigns so keep the facts coming. Will check in here from time to time or send updates directly.
By the way, E coli was once considered an important bacteria in the guts of both humans and animals. Ironically when threatened with extinction from antibiotic was taught survival tactics by another virulent bacteria called Shigella. As we create stronger drug resistant bacteria plus filthy food production practices we push closer to the edge of our own extinction.
Hope to continue to hear from you.
I’m A HUMAN BEING. The Supreme Court said so. And here you are, Mr. Colby, ATTACKING ME. I have Civil Rights. And FEELINGS. I have struggled to get these rights. My ancestors were RAILROAD MEN. Oh God, how they suffered back then. I put a little bit of stuff in food to preserve its self-life and here you’re saying you don’t want me in your store–in your neighborhood. That’s discrimination. What next? Are you going to organize a lynch mob? I thought, after the Supreme Court ruling said: “Free at last, free at last, Great God Almighty Free At Last!” that there would be and end to this hate and fear, and I, as a Free Person, could sit at any American’s dinner table. Apparently there are those of you who still have bigotry in your hearts. But I shall not be moved. I will come to your store, break my bread with your neighbors, your children. Til this INTOLERANCE is finally cast aside, along with those foods whose shelf-lives have not marched into the 21st Century. I SHALL OVERCOME!
Sorry,
your activism seems contrived.
That’s what you did when you were young and had fire in your belly.
You can never go back.
All these years and you still can’t come up with new ideas?
Okay, maybe it’s harsh but come on, the true and tried doesn’t work anymore. Things are different now.
Retail shops have no future
The Post Office has no future
What is America’s future?
Dude,
do you have time and the means to be an activist?
.
It’s great to hear from you, Delia. And thanks for having patience while I work through the technical challenges of the new site.
As for “wonder,” all I can say is: There’s plenty of fire in the belly — along with more than a few microbrews. Nothing about this project is about repetition. Because there’s nothing about successful activism that is repetitive. As Wally liked to say, “the answer is: the answer changes.”
Just give me some time, folks. I know it’s the new world of hyper-fast-social media, but therein lies one of the major obstacles facing today’s activists. Speed and quantity cannot and will not replace quality.
In the time I’ve spent reacquainting myself with the food and ag activists scene, I’ve been sadly amazed by how little has changed. I went, for example, to a “rally” on Vermont’s Statehouse lawn a couple of weekends ago to participate in a protest against GMOs. Frankly, it felt more like a funeral than a rally, featuring the same people — only fewer — and the same stale strategies: begging the legislature to label GMOs. Ugh.
There is clearly a need for Food & Water, if for nothing else other than to push the envelope, provide some bold strategic initiatives and to shine a spotlight on both the corporate crimes and the activist malpractice that allows them to continue.
Stay tuned.
(Here’s one of those “big announcements” Colby keeps promising.)
This just in…HARRY MORGAN ANNOUNCES FOR 2012
Brother I’m here today to put my mouth on it. That’s right. I’m going to run for your President next year. Just like that.
Now a lot of you media spooks probably want to ask where a regular working slob like me gets off thinking he’s good enough to run this bloody fucked up country. Well first let me ask you a few questions. Did you ever run a boat in the Gulf with some rich goof tourists on board who think they know how to fish and then have to listen to them whine about the oil slicks and then tell you their life stories about how they made all this money on Wall Street and can’t really enjoy it? And after they’ve made the fishing tragic they get drunk and sick and one of the rich slits who’s married to this big shot banker tries to come on to you? When all you want to do is watch how it gets all shimmery green when the sun goes down into the horizon? And the after you get them back to Key West they try to stiff you on their tab? So you have to knock a couple of them on the sides of their heads and maybe even get out the Thompson gun just so they’ll know you won’t stand for any more of it?
Yeah I’ve taken about all I’m going to take. I’ve seen just about everything. And as far as running for office I’ve done plenty of running in my day. How do you think that little Cuban kid got over here in ’99? Brother it wasn’t on no raft. And I never even got any money out of that one. Not a dime. Some shithead lawyer named Beelips took over and fucked everything up all to hell. But I was the guy who got the job done. And let me tell you something else brother. Being chased by the Coast Guard gives you a good healthy taste of how things really are. A way all you media spooks hope it will never be but is. And I know a whole lot of regular folks know what I’m talking about.
And I’m no Tea Party asshole or a Democrat or Republican either. And I’m no Ralph Nader. Wouldn’t it be pretty to think so. Well don’t even think it. I’m just me. Harry. The government spooks took my boat and my wife became a rummy and my two daughters are turning tricks in Miami. I get a big laugh out of Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann who go with all this good Christian American talk when they’re probably bigger and dirtier whores than my two daughters or any big shot Wall Street banker’s slit. Bigger and dirtier even than the one armed woman who used to do it for the price of bait way back when I worked the quai at Smyrna. I’d bet money on it. And as far as the men running go? Well I wouldn’t want them on my boat if I still had it. And if I did still have it and found them on board they’d have to swim for it.
It’s real simple. Even you media spooks can get it. There’s a few people in this country who have everything. More than they need. And there’s a whole lot of people in this country who have not got shit. A whole lot and getting to be plenty more all the time. I’m going to fix that. It’ll be as sweet and true as socking the hook to a big black marlin. All you have to do is sock it good. Hit it maybe half a dozen times. Just like that. No matter how big the fish or the problem a man just has to have the cojones to take it on. Even a man alone can do it. Like trying to pass cars going uphill. It can be done.
So I want all you big two hearted conchs and slits out there to vote for Harry next year. And I want you immigrants for me too. I’ve taken enough of you over during the hurricane seasons. And all you gays too. I know all about you. Me and Albert used to give out special fairy rates for the boat when all the fruits came down to the Keys to do their men without women thing. They loved us.
We’re going to fix this country or else pretty soon we’ll all have to go live in another country. And you don’t have to be a very bright boy to figure on how the Chinks are going to react to a bunch of Americans trying to come in on the tide and sneak ashore. Brother that would be some bloody mess. I don’t even want to think about it. So remember. Vote for Harry. Just put down that bottle and get to the polls. The booze will still be there when you get back. Unless you live with some rummy slit lawyer who works for a bank. But I’m going to fix all that. I’m going to crack it all wide open. And brother don’t think you won’t hear it crack.
No. No questions. I’ve said my piece and I’m not saying it all over again. Talk it all away. If you want more information go talk to my campaign manager. He owns Freddy’s Bar. But don’t give him no spooky lip. I’ve seen what happens to people who give him an attitude. He has this little baseball bat. He’s some Freddy that’s for sure. Sometimes he’ll bat a spook three or four times in the head cause there are some spooks who have actually come back for more cause they’ve grown to like it. See what I mean about this country?
Okay now. I’m going to go take a walk downtown under the arch lights before all the crazies with the shakes come out and start shooting up the streets. You just tell it like I told it. If you don’t tell it right you better find yourself a good hole to crawl into because you’ll have bought yourself some big trouble brother. And sister too for all of you who are slits. Bet money on it.
And for all of you politically correct spooks who have fucked up the English language so much that nobody knows what anybody is talking about I just have one thing to say. Take it easy. Tell them Harry said so. And don’t try to talk tough to me. It’s too early yet.
Peter Buknatski
Montpelier, Vt.
And I hope, Michael, you appreciate me ‘classing’ up this blog with some litrachoor. Now get up some political stuff. And make it sexy.
Hey Ernie — You were great in Midnight in Paris.
Woody Allen is a bit of a spook himself. He needs to lay off the young slits cause if he ever goes lion hunting in Africa, one of those teenage slits might just accidentally-on-purpose blow the back of his head off.
So, what is this blog, Colby? A clean well lighted place? Here I wrote all this shit decades ago, and even that fairy J Edgar was after me, and now I’ve got to wait around for you so-called ‘modern’ radicals to get juiced up enough to ‘once in a while’ write something political. Maybe you need to go to Pamploma, get gored by a bull, and watch while some slit doctor tries to fix your leg by almost cutting off your dick. Happened to me. Made me the greatest American writer ever. Not like these goofs who write today about the family problems they have cause daddy got fired for being politically incorrect, mommy’s in love with her (female) therapist, junior’s gay, and the daughter (the only one with any balls) is off on a cross-country robbery and murder spree with some very old biker Nam vet cause she’s got a granddaddy complex. I’m telling you true–I’m down here reading this shit and it’s enough to make me want to take a shotgun to myself again. And who the fuck is this Buknatski asshole who keeps goofing around with my prose? Back in my day, Polacks knew their place. Anyway, get off your sorry ass and WRITE. It’s your DUTY to write. I think I said that somewhere. Or else it was some spook English professor who said I said it.
Hard to tell nowadays with everybody politically correcting everything. Slave Jim–HUCKLEBERRY FINN. Jesus Christ! Next, they’ll make a movie turning my Nick Adams into some stressed-out progressive party director of some Peace, Justice, & GMO-Free non-profit group who’s secret lover is Pastor Melissa Scott who drowns on a fishing trip, forcing Nick to turn faggot, give up fishing and move to Vermont to write PR shit for Peter Welch (who turns out to be a closet fag too). Some story. See, I can use punctuation, but since the whole country’s gone illiterate, why bother?