Straight talk about food, 'organic' or not ...

From tristero at digby's:

... so let me cut to the chase. If you want to understand the basics of the issues surrounding organic, start by reading Michael Pollan and Marion Nestle. However, I don't think even that is too necessary if all you're interested in is eating well - meaning lustily, healthfully, and responsibly. It boils down to this:

If you can afford it, and you can find it, prepare and eat unprocessed fresh organic foods.

Otherwise, prepare and eat unprocessed fresh conventional foods.

If you possibly can, don't buy or eat industrial meat.

The End. The rest is detail. Here's a little of that:

Why are organics preferred? Mainly, it's way easier on the environment and far less cruel to animals. Since there are fewer human-made chemicals used in the growing, cleaning, storing, and distribution it's probably healthier (assuming it's fresh and meets the appropriate standards). There are other reasons, but those are the main ones.

Why are conventionally grown foods acceptable? They're much cheaper. If you can't afford organics, there is no reason under the sun to worry that you are somehow harming your family (assuming it's fresh and meets the appropriate standards). Far worse than eating unprocessed conventional is eating processed organic food, which is usually junk food. The less of that stuff, the better (ditto junk food that isn't organic, duh).

Why avoid industrial meat if you possibly can? The more you understand how the animals are treated, how they are killed, and how the meat is made, the more you understand how environmentally destructive industrial meat practices are, the more you realize how thoroughly disgusting it is, by any standards. Get your meat from a high quality butcher and only eat ground meat prepared by people you trust. Since this is more expensive, chances are you'll eat less meat. That is an extra benefit, for many reasons. Pollan, Nestle, and Bittman - none of whom are vegetarians, btw - will be happy to tell you about them.

The USDA Organic label gets to stay, whether the product is organic or not ...

That's how I read this article: Claims dismissed against Aurora Organic Dairy (via)
Apparently neither the judge, the USDA nor the stores that passed on the products care whether the products they were selling (at higher Organic product prices) were actually organic.

The Bush administration did their best to bastardize the organic rules to favor corrupt corporations with sufficient financial clout. The next step is to make the label itself meaningless.

In the end, of course, this process helps no one. The consumer will not get the products they want but, in addition, once the label looses all trust no one will pay premium prices for the products. Not that the corporate Robber Barons care. They will just look around for the next scam to run. How long before they organize their own militias and invade our homes to take whatever they want.

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Today's QUOTES:

In a world in which our own government is using contractors to conduct unwarranted invasions of our privacy, there's something utterly perverse about our own government then inventing FOIA exemptions to protect contractors from "unwarranted invasion" of their privacy. -- Leon Panetta: I’ve Got to Protect the Contractors from Unwarranted Invasion of Privacy by emptywheel, firedoglake.com Talk about an understatement! It's looking more and more like Barack Obama's pledge to usher in a new era of openness in government may well go unfulfilled. -- CIA Stance On Torture Tape Docs Suggests Obama's New Open Government Era Won't Materialize by Zachary Roth, Talking Points Memo

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Surprise ...

The chemical --poison the food supply-- industry is against Michelle Obama's organic garden.

Organic White House Garden Puts Some Conventional Panties in a Twist

The fact that the chemical industry is considered conventional and the use of ages-old gardening techniques is considered radical says way too much about our world.

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Today's QUOTES:

... I wish news reporters knew how to do things like simple math, if they did, they might take less of a cheerleader stance for the Feds. --Ahí Vamos de Nuevo by Michel Marizco, borderreporter.com

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Organically Grown Corrections ...

I linked to a C&L post in Organic vs GM ...

C&L has a correction post up about the subject: Monsanto and HR 875, Take Two

Organic vs GM ...

Too bad it's a contest, or perhaps a war, but the US corporate greed model makes it so. Otherwise we could scientifically determine and use the best of both. But that will never (at least in the foreseeable future) happen in the United States.

Here's an excellent post on the subject: To GM or Not To GM. Be sure to read the quoted material from Jill Richardson towards the end of the post.

The USDA is not our friend ...

The USDA does the minimum they can get away with in regards to public health. Where possible the subvert the law and support the corporate hierarchy.

Organic Bad Actor Decertified - USDA Criticism