Monday, June 29, 2009

Axles of Evil


Saw the film Food Inc. last night. Go see this movie if you don't see another film all year. It lifts the VEIL to show the EVIL. Find out how our food is produced, engineered, marketed, produced; find out how it's killing us by degree and instantly, on occasion.
Learn about Monsanto, the link between the corporate interests and the Supreme Court. (Iran has Supreme Leader, we have Supreme Court) Look what happens to small farmers who won't play by the rules. Recall that even Oprah, her damn self, got sued by the beef industry and only because she had a million dollars to spend on legal fees could she win the case. Who has, and who doesn't have a million dollars to spend on telling the truth.
Did you know it's now possible to own a seed...all seed of a particular plant. Monsanto owns the soybean. Most of all find out what there are so many recalls of beef. Learn why spinach can be contaminated with e-coli bacteria, and where that bacteria comes from. Oh yeah, you'll really get to go inside a cows stomach.
In a word, CORN. It is the foundation of high fructose corn syrup. Just imagine what percentage of supermarket products contain corn syrup.
Bottom line: there are only a few corporations. They absorb everyone, even the organic businesses.
BUT: all is not lost. As the film says, "you vote 3 times a day." Food is as political as it gets. Make change.
Author Michael Pollan ( "the carrots should be more affordable than the potato chips") deserves the Nobel Prize for this work. He and a host of others who are fighting this battle. Lifting the veil to expose the evil. It's the classic American value conflict yet again: profit over human life.

Food, Inc.
documentary
(USA, 2008, 93 mins)
Wisconsin Premiere
Directed By: Robert Kenner (IMDB)
cinematographer: Richard Pearce
editors: Kim Roberts
music: Mark Adler
executive producer: William Pohlad, Robin Schorr, Jeff Skoll, Diane Weyermann
producer: Robert Kenner, Elise Pearlstein
co-producer: Eric Schlosser, Richard Pearce, Melissa Robledo
cast: Michael Pollan, Eric Schlosser, Gary Hirshberg, Joel Salatin
IMDB Film Info
www.takepart.com/foodinc/
In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner (Two Days in October) lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that's been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, insecticide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of e. coli, the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults. Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield Farms' Gary Hirschberg and Polyface Farms' Joe Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising truths about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation, and where we are going from here.

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