ReThink Meat

Meat fraud is taking place all around us. Most people probably can’t tell the difference between similar looking meats sold in stores, were it not for the labeling.

Fish fraud is apparently common in the USA.

Safeway recalled big and juicy E.coli burgers. “Must be cooked” is right on the box, and they weren’t kidding, were they?

I’m not above eating horse meat. I’ve never done it, however. At least, I don’t think I have. Many French and Italians didn’t have a choice if they bought from a mega-meat distributor who decided for them.

What all this brings to our attention, is how vital it is to cut down on overall meat consumption. You don’t have to eliminate meat from your diet to make a huge difference. Have it at half as many meals as you typically do today if you’ve not made a previous effort to cut back.

“Unless action is taken, increases in pollution and per capita consumption of energy and animal products will exacerbate nutrient losses, pollution levels and land degradation, further threatening the quality of our water, air and soils, affecting climate and biodiversity.”

Over consumption of meat, leading to higher than optimal demand in the food supply chain, leads to suffering in even rich countries:

Suzanne Salami, a single mother of three, subsists on just £30 a week and is angered by the way the horsemeat scandal is hitting the poorest hardest. “When you can’t afford to buy anything to eat, [or] ask where meat comes from and if it’s sustainable, it is not fair,” she said. “I am being made to eat stuff I don’t know about and I am being let down. It’s like we’re being told to eat and shut up.” She was particularly worried about the potential health impacts of traces of equine painkillers found in horsemeat in the food chain by the Food Standards Agency this week.

When I buy meat, I prefer it come from a source I know, such as a farmer near Wood Mountain or Ormiston; if I’m in the city, then a local meat shop like Fellinger’s. I’ll still take chances and buy meat from elsewhere, but I don’t feel comfortable with doing that.

US #election2012

It bothers me how little regard professional media pays to math when “projecting” results. They have computers that can tell us if the race is clinched or not, just as they do for sports playoff spots. It’s a disgrace that it’s easier to know if a sports team has a mathematical chance of attaining a playoff spot, than to know from election results reported on election night actually predict a sure victory in a state or country.

Some notes from the night so far:
Bernie Sanders, Vermont Independent has won, which is great.
Warren may have won also.
Another independent senator has won, and may caucus with the Democrats.
It doesn’t appear Johnson or Stein reached 5% of the popular vote, which I’m not surprised about, just disappointed.
I’m sad that Obama is doing so badly so far in results too.
A CNN ad for “Clean Coal” just pissed me off. They are claiming it’s already benefiting the environment. Well, it’s not in production, and they are flat out lying, and ought to be sued for false advertising. FCC, are you listening?

I’m watching DemocracyNow.org coverage and CNN at the same time, along with Twitter of course.
More to come probably close to being live blogging.

ADDED:
Didn’t live blog, computer wasn’t co-operating, and I was keeping up on Twitter instead.

Chris Hedges Promotes Book at UofR

I attended Hedges lecture at the UofR on Thursday night, and I think most of the crowd was impressed as was I. He did get a standing ovation when done. Then he took questions. Here is some of what went on in Tweet form (reverse chronology):

A south Sudanese woman who studies at #UofR is thanking #Hedges for his coverage. He tells a story of being there, for a bull slaughter, a big honour. The Sudanese he visited with were gossiping negatively about short people. Then they realized #Hedges was short, and they felt so bad. The next day they went and found a Sudanese pigmy and insisted he get a photo with him so #Hedges would feel tall.

Paul, a student, asks about Tom Mulcair and the NDP. Crowd laughs. Also mentioned Lang and O’Leary video which crowd applauded. #Hedges

Goldman Sachs has bailed out every penny on the dollars and done 0% interest loans; it’s not capitalism. #Hedges doesn’t know what it is.

Government under-funds what they want to destroy. #Hedges says humanities in university are withering. Question and think. #uofr

China looking to buy a Canadian oil company. #Hedges notes iPhones are constructed using slave (“prison”) labour (making 22 cents an hour in some jobs).
$2.5B spent on US campaigns of Obama and Romney collectively when it’s done in November.

#Hedges lives in Princeton with his Canadian wife. He doesn’t have a TV. (I spoke with him after to mention The Real News because he’d not listed it when asked for good independent media, and he said he’s doing something with them again soon. He also doesn’t use Twitter (and seems to have a low opinion of social media as a whole, causing distraction and benefiting the surveillance state which takes a dim view of those who don’t toe the corporate line).

#Hedges at #UofR is saying #NDAA must be already used for illegal detention. Otherwise they are planning on using it, probably to arrest and hide away some dual citizens. It’s logical conclusion of recent appeal outcome. @d_seaman

NY judge blocks law permitting indefinite detention. #NDAA #Obama #Occupy #OWS #Hedges rt.com/usa/news/us-co… http://t.co/dPht7WAC—
Metatron Anonymous (@MetatronAnonymo) September 13, 2012

“End of growth” is here and unstoppable. #Hedges US is an advanced surveillance state. Preparing for collapse, tightening control.

American Fascists speaking in the language of violence are legitimizing violence. He’s seen it happen. #Hedges

#Hedges explaining slavery in produce fields and trucks and trailers. Workers’ families threatened if they report conditions.

Headed to be one vast Reservation. #Hedges brings up Bill McKibben of @350 arrested fighting XL pipeline.

Commodified human beings is the last step on the way to destruction of society. #Hedges unfettered corporate capitalism #PineRidge

“Footnotes in Gaza” is worth checking out. #Hedges #SacrificeZones unregulated capitalism

“Power has been utterly wrested” from the public. Either Obama or Romney are the Goldman Sachs vote. #Hedges

#Hedges admires he can get on CBC and his books are reviewed in the mainstream here. Not in US.

“We do everything wrong and then five years later you copy us.” #Hedges on USA and Canada #FCC

Global corporate capitalism is transforming the world into a neo-feudal state. #Hedges

No Go Argo

When I saw the trailer for Argo, I had a flashback to the Tommy Douglas Story. It was obvious from the focus of the plot that the CIA was going to get credit for saving the American hostages in Iran, 1979, instead of Ken Taylor, the Canadian diplomat.

That’s the problem when you let Americans write history with semi-fictional blockbusters.

San Diego’s Big Bay Bust

I’ve witnessed two big American 4th of July fireworks shows, in New York ’02 and San Diego ’10. The San Diego show two years ago lasted at least 20 minutes, and we watched it from a hill near PB. While there we also heard people talk about ice blocking down the hill, one story resulted in someone bailing out and the ice block hitting a car. Charges ensued for that failed sledder.

- It should look like this

Last night’s show in San Diego was a spectacular failure, with a computer program accidentally setting off every firework at once, instead of spaced out among twenty minutes. I’m surprised the amplified explosion didn’t cause any reported damage (other than to egos and expectations).

FIRE ALL THE FIREWORKS!

TAKE ALL THE PICTURES!

What’s better, just another fireworks show, or the #EpicFail show, famous around the world?

Software testing is something moderately important for a big show. What glitches will we see during the Olympic Games this year?

Diminished Honour is spelled Honor

F-35 $10B+ lie. Your polling station has been changed, lies. Your funding is ^NOT granted, lie. Canada is rapidly losing its honour (with a u). When our honour is diminished, we’ll have to spell it the American way, to indicate its smaller role in our national reputation.

Has Canada Lost its Honour?

US Blocking UK Travel to Canada

This is completely outrageous. Better hope no one with your name ends up on the US No Fly list. This move makes the financial blockade against WikiLeaks, look like a simple administrative dispute.

Bank of America Takes Rolling Stone Pounding

Holy crap! Rolling Stone tears limbs from the zombie Bank of America. You probably won’t read a more blistering, or researched condemnation of the 1% “Royalty” that literally has the state paying billions for the crimes of a few men it refuses to send to jail. BoA is one big reason why Occupy Wall Street exists, and must succeed in bringing about charges against the criminals who’ve absolutely imperiled the global economy with their greed and incompetence.

It’s an absolute tragedy that the WikiLeaks files on BoA are presumed stolen and lost by DDB who betrayed the journalistic organization to start his own “Open Leaks” website. We can only hope that the original leakers of the destroyed documents, maintained access or a copy of their leaks, and are willing to try again.

Hell In A Handbasket

American spy charged with spying, by his own government, when he revealed to reporters that the CIA was acting illegally by torturing people. Obama’s War on Whistle-blowers, rages on. Bradley Manning is rolling over in his pending grave for allegedly feeding Collateral Murder and other information to WikiLeaks.

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Our ghoulish Globe and Mail thinks it’s a good thing that seniors will be without pensions, because they’ll have to work for their retirement instead. Kids looking for jobs must love this perspective too. Harper didn’t campaign on OAS cuts, but here they come anyway. Happy strong and stable majority, old dude Conservative voters. Not so smug now, are you?

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Woman asks Obama to “dance a jig” after he offered to look at her husband’s resume! Truth is stranger than fiction. And I get the impression that CTV wants us to watch American football.

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Canadian government website posts same press release for border Security and border Privacy, and few notice the DIFFERENCE. (Here’s the real “privacy” release, elsewhere.) For this huge oversight, a Flack Award was given to a Harper employee.

Curb Your Urge to go Stateside

America is going to start building a fence to keep out “terrorists” from Canada. If you’ve got ripped MP3s on your iPod, good luck staying out of the courts. The Appease American Imperialism Act is almost through the House of Cave-ins.

With aggressive idiots like this working for Homeland Insecurity, why would you want to subject yourself to the abuse and invasions of privacy anyway?