39,000 dead and we've barely scratched the surface.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

No, not Iraqis. Not our troops. Not Afghanis. Not Kurds. Not Palestinians. Not Israelis. Not Koreans. Not humans, actually.

This week's Nation (a highly recommended read, as usual) has several topics of note - the horrifying, sobering interviews with 50 of our soldiers who describe how their brothers and sisters in arms would tee off on innocent Iraqis far more often than we would like to admit, the horror of race discrimination returning with the eradication of Brown v. Board by our 5-4 robed wise guys, and one little story that is probably the stealth story we need to follow up on.

39,000 dead puppies and kittykats in December and January last -THIRTY NINE THOUSAND DEAD in JUST TWO MONTHS. The manufacturer, Menu Foods, did not recognize the scope of the problem until their own test animals died off in droves. The worst part? finding out that tens of millions of chickens and hogs intended for human consumption were also exposed and given high doses of poison. The same two poisons that our own FDA declared as having no lower limit of safety. Translation, no human should ever have any dose of this shit.

Yet, a few days later, they reversed themselves, claiming that no health effects had been yet noted. Reminds me of the EPA after 9/11: "Don't you worry about these 30 yr old buildings collapsing in dust and smoke - there ain't no such thing as asbestos, chrome, silica, formaldehyde, complex hydrocarbons, poisonous wood preservatives, poisonous insulators, poisonous dusts and heavy metals, nope, not one ounce. Trust us. We really mean it this time."

Given the last 7 yrs of this administration, who would they care for most? The health of millions of consumers, folks who normally eat, well, food? or the financial health of the companies profiting from chinese imports, the same companies who got the FDA to ban testing, the same ones who got the FDA to close down 13 regional test facilities, the same ones who got the USDA to threaten litigation against a domestic cow-maker (ok, dairy farmer) who dared test each moo-moo for mad cow disease before sale?

Let's put it more simply. Who would our government rather protect? the individuals in this country, or the corporate profits of their major campaign donors?

Hmmmm. Let me ponder this for a sex. Let's see. Katrina. Iraq. Patriot Act. Social Security. Part D medicare. Immigration. domestic spying. Tax cuts. EPA rules changes. clean water changes. strip mining rulings. hours of service for truckers. Huh. I can't seem to see any pattern there.

One thing is painfully clear: We cannot trust this government on any issue. The same chinese suppliers that sold Menu Foods human quality wheat gluten (and that poisoned our dogs and cats) supplied our meat, poultry and pork industries with feed additives that poisoned those animals, which have now poisoned us.

For our own survival, we have only two choices. Congress, or net roots. Right now, my money is not on congress doing anything right.
Even if our congress critters tried to investigate, we'd have GOP reps screaming, "There is no need for this waste of time! Only industry can police itself!" or some other crap. That leaves DU Kos and several other outlets.

During the animal feed scare, we were blessed by some very smart and experienced veterinary folks here who did more to educate us than MSM ever did. I just hope we can repeat that effort now that we know our own food supplies are also at major risk. I know we have some very smart people here. Consider this a wake up call. We need your help. Again.

The first step is to get local and state official mobilized - we need to demand accurate country of origin labels on all food products. Period. No ifs, no ands, no buts.
The second is to educate the consumer about the dangers of adulterated, fake and poisoned food and health care components, etc.
The last step is to buy carefully. Educate others. Spread the word. Chinese take their food additives as seriously as our current FDA and the rest of the administration. That should scare the pants off of all of us.

[groovedaddy]

1. Good post - you're absolutely right

This "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" shit has got to stop!
I personally think this is related to some sort of secret population control program. There is a belief among many of the "elite" (and others) that the world is hugely over-populated and our only hope is to drastically lower the population to a billion or less.
Look for a lottery soon...5 billion of you gotta go - now, pick a number!

[frogcycle]

2. this excerpt says it all

"...our own FDA declared as having no lower limit of safety. Translation, no human should ever have any dose of this shit.

Yet, a few days later, they reversed themselves, claiming that no health effects had been yet noted."

some 20-something bible thumper called them up and ordered them to get back on the reservation

probably accused them of also believing in global warming... no, scratch that... of believing in the globe - we all know the earth is actually flat

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. well, the earth is flat. Friedman said so

must have been six months ago.