RE: POLITICS: why we are what we are here.

[Guest guest]

_____

From: Quick [mailto:jaq@...]

Sent: Wednesday, March 02, 2005 12:38 PM

Subject: POLITICS: why we are what we are here.

>

> From: implode7@...

>Subject: Re: Re: POLITICS - Adjudicating Pollution Disputes

>

>this list is becoming a haven for right wing political

extremists.

Calling and myself " right wing political

extremists "

says much more about your politics than ours. I can't speak for

the

other gentlemen, but if you're going to use spatial metaphors

created

from the French Estates General of 1789, I want to be considered

an

" up-winger " .

>It is enough to make me start to question the correctness behind

its

>nutrtional premises. What is it about NT that seems to inspire

such

>pro corporate nastiness? I dunno. I'm very disillusioned with

this

>list right now.

Well, I'm not seeing much " pro-corporate nastiness. " Certainly

nobody

here is pro-agribiz.

But there is a very good reason why, in general, people on this

list

are more skeptical of government solutions than on other

pro-land/health/lifestyle-progressive lists you may be on: for

many

of us, eating this way is ILLEGAL. In Ohio, it's easier to buy

crack

cocaine than raw milk. In many places, it's difficult/impossible

to

buy direct-from-farmer. On top of that, we pay the government to

propagandize for nutritional concepts we KNOW are misguided, and

to

run a frankly insane system of agricultural subsidies and price

supports.

I am an individualist, and have no use for collectivism of any

stripe

(International socialism, national socialism, the bourgeois

Marxism

of the Democratic Party, theocracy, militarism). Thus I ALSO have

no

use for corporations, which are legal creatures of government.

But if

I support the principle that people have a natural right to

exchange

their goods and labor, then the same right that allows me to buy

raw

milk allows a large business to sell soy formula, and the right

to

withhold labor for a higher price also applies to energy

producers.

I don't have to like that, necessarily, but if I oppose

" privilege "

(literally, private law: one law for me and another for thee), I

have

to accept it.

----------------------------

,

Very good tie-ins. I am a farmer and have tons of corn and

soybeans. But there are probably all kinds of usda and fda laws

that I would be breaking if I sold you 50 pounds in a poly bag

for consumption.

For those here who think business is to blame for waste and harm

to the poor and hungry, consider this. Expiration date laws have

increased food waste many times. You would not believe the amount

of good food that is thrown out every day by grocery stores and

restaurants. Even non-perishable items now fall under these laws

and are thrown out daily by the tonnage. Dumpster diving has

become a boon since these laws took effect (I speak from

experience).

Food and drug laws are becoming as complex as the IRS code. I

would bet you a ten dollar bill that most of us break some of

those laws regularly. I would bet a twenty that it's illegal to

go on a fast-food (or health food) run for your guests; you are

buying the food then taking it back and re-selling it to them

with no licenses or certificates, etc and serving to them in an

unsanitary unapproved (illegal) environment.

Thank god the government is there to control these horrible

businesses who would otherwise be making everyone unhealthy and

poor and hungry - lol.

-Mark