Deep Communist Thought
According to the wingnuts who drop by from time to time, wanting to eat beef that has been checked to ensure that it does not contain bovine spongiform encephalopathy prions makes me a communist.
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No, that makes you a nanny-stater authoritarian. Taking money from wealthy agri-business to pay for beef inspections is what makes you a socialist.
Silly of me to worry when the free market does such a great job taking care of every little thing.
it’s crazy to me that it’s called a free market when people have to or more specifically are allowed to die because of someones sloppy work
but trying to prevent that through government oversight because people will die due to the greedy nature of humans is…gasp…communist
i’m hoping that things will get really bad and we can become hunter/gatherers, foragining for food and living off the land.
where’s your FDA now, bitch.
“i’m hoping that things will get really bad and we can become hunter/gatherers, foragining for food and living off the land.”
Be careful. Elk and deer, particularly in western states, have been found to suffer from what’s essentially the same disease. Hunters in several states are warned not to eat what they shoot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_wasting_disease
Dontcha just love the wingnuts. The friggin FDA was destroyed under Bush, which is why we have peanut butter not fit to eat. We have vaccines not checked, we have a food supply placed in jeopardy, womens makeup is filled with lead and other cancer causing chemicals, and the nut jobs actually think it “communist” to have an agency to actually checks what we put into our bodies? I am beginning to believe these people are aliens, like tiny grays! And to Ohhai, you cant live off the land anymore, try to get a fishing license in Delaware. Go ahead try it. You now to file a personal history of yourself, give up your social security number and complete some type of homeland security form.
Agri business now wants all home food stands, and those Amish markets etc, shut down! They say the FDA can’t check their products, does anyone see the hypocrisy of these morons. The agri business cartel wants to make sure we cant sell our overabundance of vegetables we might grow in our backyards….gotta buy from them at exhorbitant prices….or you break their law.
Joe McCarthy lives amongst the grays! I bet they couldnt tell the difference betweena corporatist, a communist, a socialist or any of the other ism’s. All they do is red bait when they loose a common sense argument.
Not fair, Jason!
People have to know what the words mean before you can use it against them…for example, certain words that describe economic and political systems. Many believe they’re interchangeable. LOL!
Any time you talk about the FDA it helps to put an historical perspective on it.
Over half of the casualties suffered in the spanish-american war were caused by tainted meat packed by the armour meat company of chicago, this coupled with the novel The Jungle, written by Upton Sinclair in 1904, which detailed the deplorable conditions in the meat processing plants forced people to demand that the government step in. The FDA was created and wingnuts have been trying to dismantle it ever since, it stifles profits which in their world is far more important than human life.
As an aside Upton Sinclair was a socialist, his novel was actually intended to highlight all the evils of capitilism. In his words, Iaimed for peoples minds and hit their stomachs instead. It happens to be a very good read and is still around.
I also highly recommend reading The Jungle.
I agree, testing should be done, and it should be paid for by the beef industry.
How, as a Libertarian, can I justify my opinion?
It falls under public safety. Libertarians believe one of the roles of government is to protect the public. Considering the meat industry has a hard time doing that by itself, it overrules free market philosophy, IMO.
During the last mad cow scare here (and while our beef was still embargoed by Asian countries) there was a small beef producing outfit someplace in the midwest whose biggest client was one of those countries. Anyway, they made a deal with that country’s inspectors to test all of their beef, the country accepted and told them they could export again and the beef industry came down like a ton of bricks on this firm. With help from the government, who all wanted them to back off of the promise to test all of their beef…..
ps.
I recommend reading The Jungle too!
cassandra
The company was Creekstone, and you’re right: it was a combination of corporate meat-packing interests and the Dept of Agriculture that prevented this
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18924801/
The example cuts both ways: it’s an example of a private company trying to do it right because that will make it a larger profit, against corporate conglomerates who have the power of government to prevent that.
Sinclair, interestingly enough, was dumped by the national Democratic Party when he won the gubernatorial nomination in California in 1936. He was, by then, an advocate of the Social Credit system…..
the fact that Sinclair won the nomination was pretty amazing in that he had written over 90 books all critical of capitilism. When maldistrabution of wealth causes the system to fail people will consider socialism as an alternative. Something you will no doubt start to notice in our present day situation.
A waste of time, since we all know that Jason already has bovine spongiform encephalopathy. 🙂
Mr Shields wrote:
I’m certain that Mr Shields recognizes that if this testing is done and paid for by the beef industry, the costs will simply be passed down to the consumers of the beef.
Go figure. The cost of feeding those cattle is done and paid for by the cattle industry and those costs are simply passed down the consumers of beef.
Ah conservitive logic never disappoints, Remember if you are paid a decent wage we all pay for it in the long run thru higher prices. Arkansas economics at it`s finest.
No the FDA should be doing the testing, not the Beef Industry. Should the chicken farmer test his chickens….and we would believe them!
My friend Vic Sadot a local folk singer wrote a hysterical tune called: Mad Cowboy Disease.
In the tune, the Bush regime they were fed contaminated cow at the Inaugaration Ball and the rest is history.
How, as a Libertarian, can I justify my opinion?
It falls under public safety. Libertarians believe one of the roles of government is to protect the public. Considering the meat industry has a hard time doing that by itself, it overrules free market philosophy, IMO.
Wow… is there like a Board Of Libertarians that gets to override the voters and decide when it’s OK to spend taxpayer money?
I’m certain that Mr Shields recognizes that if this testing is done and paid for by the beef industry, the costs will simply be passed down to the consumers of the beef.
Ok, $.05 extra cents per pack of hamburger to guarantee against dying is ok with me. Would you rather have a pocket full of nickels with your Mad Cow Disease?
No the FDA should be doing the testing, not the Beef Industry.
I never said the Beef Industry should self test, I said they should be charged for the testing.
Wow… is there like a Board Of Libertarians that gets to override the voters and decide when it’s OK to spend taxpayer money?
WTF? No, but there is a board of Republicans and Democrats, we call them Congress. They haven’t followed the voters’ input for years, and are suffering from low approval ratings because of it.
Dana, if you ever find cheap beef unapproved by the FDA, feel free to eat lots of it.