First #PapayaDog of 2012 (I'm much more excited than I look!)

First #PapayaDog of 2012 (I'm much more excited than I look!), a photo by thepetecom on Flickr.

Taxpayers Subsidizing Junk Food?

Taxpayers Subsidizing Junk Food?

natalia-saves-the-world:

“From 1995 to 2010, the government handed $16.9 billion in farm subsidies to people involved in making four common junk food ingredients: corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, corn starch, and soy oils. Over the same time period, $262 million went to subsidizing apples. ”

“CALPIRG did some math: “If these agricultural subsidies went directly to consumers to allow them to purchase food, each of America’s 144 million taxpayers would be given $7.36 to spend on junk food and 11 cents with which to buy apples each year,” CALPIRG said in its statement. That’s “enough to buy 19 Twinkies but less than a quarter of one Red Delicious apple.”

Yet another one to file under “No Shit, Sherlock.”

And we subsidize these assholes directly by buying this unhealthy food.

I’m so happy to see a slow but definite emergence of a kind of “common sense.”  We’ve still got a long way to go, but perhaps one day we’ll all be able to understand how any system taken to the extreme (like capitalism) is a bad thing (sure, you and I know how obvious this is, but most folks? CLUELESS).  For years I’ve been hearing about how companies have a right to do what ever they want because they’ve got to earn a living.  

“Hey, the government is giving handouts to farmers? They should take ‘em! I’d take ‘em!”

“Outsourcing jobs and salaries to other countries? Good for them! Companies need to make as much money and save as much money as possible!”

“Companies can give as much as they want to political campaigns?  Why not? They’ve got as much a right to representation as we do!”

I could go on, but I really really don’t want to. :(

life:

Now that’s what I call painting the town red — On Aug. 31, 2011, tens of thousands of revelers took part in the annual Tomatina festival — a gigantic food fight featuring 120 tons of tomatoes and more than 40,000 participants from around the world — in Bunol, Spain. Go inside for a closer look at one of the wackiest, wettest, and messiest parties in the world.

see more — Splatter time: Tomatina 2011

So it’s not just America that knows how to waste food!

Lovely. How many people on planet Earth die every day due to famine?

Meanwhile, Spain blows 120 TONS of tomatoes on a fucking food fight. Meanwhile, and LIFE Magazine (they still have that?) is publicizing it like it’s a pillow fight in Union Square.  Meanwhile, millions of people have a different kind of food fight on their hands. 

If you’re not pissed about this kind of thing, you really need to read more.

Chicken Nuggets Are Made From This Pink Goop

Chicken Nuggets Are Made From This Pink Goop

Chickens are turned into this goop so we can create delicious chicken nuggets and juicy chicken patties. It’s obscenely gross and borderline alien…

and:

…because it’s crawling with bacteria, it will be washed with ammonia, soaked in it, actually. Then, because it tastes gross, it will be reflavored artificially. Then, because it is weirdly pink, it will be dyed with artificial color.

Wow… WTF is wrong with the people serving this “food” to us? This isn’t a case of being an educated consumer—who knows to be THIS INSANELY paranoid about food?

Well, you and me, now… sheesh…

How we may (or may not) be getting poisoned(ish)... you know, in our every day food.

Either ramblings of conspiracy theorists or .. we better watch what we eat. We really, really better watch what we eat.

coalspeaker:

And, as a population, we need to smarten up.. there are dangers in the chemicals we injest.. There are complications with too many articifial sweeteners..

Activity Post website details some of the ways we may be getting posioned.

Yeah, I don’t think it matters whether there is a conspiracy or not—all that matters is that there may as well be.  Just keep your eye on the ingredients labels on the food you eat.  Just do it and see if you don’t start to worry.  Or hit the above link to ActivistPost.com and get really worried.

Oil Surges to $109 But EVERYTHING Costs More

Mostly, these days, people are only worried about how the ever-rising oil prices will change the price of gasoline. This is a logical worry, but prices at the pump are just the first step in this new version of trickle down economics. In this case, the costs trickle down a chain-of-use.

Oil costs $109 per barrel today (http://snipurl.com/21io3 ) and that will make gasoline prices higher and then other things made with oil will cost more (like gasoline and plastics). After that, the things that we need oil-related products to get will cost more. These are things like FOOD.

See, you need gasoline and oil to farm the land. You need more to get the food to market. Every step of the way we rely on oil-products and, therefore, every step of the way will get more expensive.

In fact, food prices in the US have already started to climb. The above screencap comes from a March 9, 2008 article from Boston.com (here: http://snipurl.com/21iom ) that reports:

"After nearly two decades of low food inflation, prices for staples such as bread, milk, eggs, and flour are rising sharply, surging in the past year at double-digit rates, according to the Labor Department. Milk prices, for example, increased 26 percent over the year. Egg prices jumped 40 percent.

"Escalating food costs could present a greater problem than soaring oil prices for the national economy because the average household spends three times as much for food as for gasoline. Food accounts for about 13 percent of household spending compared with about 4 percent for gas."

Of course, our gas is already more expensive. Now our food prices are going up. Those are the two most immediately important things to spend money on. This means we'll spend less on the other things we enjoy in life.

If it gets much worse, we'll only be spending money on food to keep us alive and fuel, which allows us to get to work. Work gives us money to buy food and fuel and...the circle of life continues!

I'm just glad I'm planning on moving to a city with a good public transit system!
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