Thursday, September 17, 2009
Appetizers
Just after pushing back from the table, I went online to look for something to write about. With the taste of a honey-dijon chicken salad sandwich still on my tongue I went to today's New York Times website to discover a piece about factory farming and runoff.
It seems that there is a community in northern Wisconsin, not far from where I went fishing with my father in my youth, where the townspeople are turning on the faucet, filling a glass, and sipping a poop cocktail.
The story went on to reveal that a child of this community had such horrible ear infections he nearly needed surgery, and doctors determined that he had acquired this condition by bathing in polluted tap water. The story also stated that this is a national problem, happening throughout rural America. Chicken farms, hog farms, and dairy farms are producing mountains of animal waste, not just from the back end, but also entrails from slaughter for pulled pork sandwiches, burgers and buckets of chicken.
It gets worse. Ranchers eager to sell the fecal by-products for fertilizer have changed the animals' feed to increase the liquidity of the cow-pie to make it into something more like cow-shake so that it can be sprayed onto fields more evenly for fertilizer. The farmers are so enthusiastically fertilizing their crops - they're overdoing it and creating more runoff.
According to the E.P.A., agricultural runoff is the single largest source of water pollution in the U.S., and it is estimated that 19.5 million American residents are made ill by waterborne parasites, viruses, or bacteria. The Clean Water Act was passed largely to guard lakes and streams from chemical dumping and ignored agricultural pollution. The E.P.A. set out to right this wrong and set rules to make large farms (minimum of 700 head of cattle) abide by tougher standards than small family farms. These rules are not enforced because the owners of the large farms are not filing their paperwork, and simply ignoring the regulations.
In its efforts to weaken all ideas from the bleeding heart liberal set, the previous administration passed legislation allowing farmers to self-police, making it even easier for the worst polluters to continue on with business as usual. I believe the legislation might be titled the "fox-in-the-hen-house act." It seems that the former Governor of Texas likes it when his contributors are allowed to do whatever they want in the name of less regulation and more profit. Regulations cost businesses money. If businesses have to abide by regulations their C.E.O.s won't be able to buy country clubs and hire laid-off formerly middle-class people to wash the dishes and polish the shoes of the rich. Job growth will slow, forcing the C.E.O.s to polish their own Bentleys. Horrors.
The E.P.A. needs help. I know this first hand. On a recent trip to our nation's capital I visited the E.P.A. Headquarters. It is an agency in decay. I present photographic evidence here. This is an actual photo my wife took. It is not retouched in any way. Seriously.
(Click on image to enlarge)
Under the supervision of the former Governor of Texas, the E.P.A. was not even able to pick up its own garbage. The E.P.A. needs our help, people, and they need it NOW!!!
Writing this built up one hell of a thirst. I'm going to have a beer. You expect me to pour a glass of water?
It seems that there is a community in northern Wisconsin, not far from where I went fishing with my father in my youth, where the townspeople are turning on the faucet, filling a glass, and sipping a poop cocktail.
The story went on to reveal that a child of this community had such horrible ear infections he nearly needed surgery, and doctors determined that he had acquired this condition by bathing in polluted tap water. The story also stated that this is a national problem, happening throughout rural America. Chicken farms, hog farms, and dairy farms are producing mountains of animal waste, not just from the back end, but also entrails from slaughter for pulled pork sandwiches, burgers and buckets of chicken.
It gets worse. Ranchers eager to sell the fecal by-products for fertilizer have changed the animals' feed to increase the liquidity of the cow-pie to make it into something more like cow-shake so that it can be sprayed onto fields more evenly for fertilizer. The farmers are so enthusiastically fertilizing their crops - they're overdoing it and creating more runoff.
According to the E.P.A., agricultural runoff is the single largest source of water pollution in the U.S., and it is estimated that 19.5 million American residents are made ill by waterborne parasites, viruses, or bacteria. The Clean Water Act was passed largely to guard lakes and streams from chemical dumping and ignored agricultural pollution. The E.P.A. set out to right this wrong and set rules to make large farms (minimum of 700 head of cattle) abide by tougher standards than small family farms. These rules are not enforced because the owners of the large farms are not filing their paperwork, and simply ignoring the regulations.
In its efforts to weaken all ideas from the bleeding heart liberal set, the previous administration passed legislation allowing farmers to self-police, making it even easier for the worst polluters to continue on with business as usual. I believe the legislation might be titled the "fox-in-the-hen-house act." It seems that the former Governor of Texas likes it when his contributors are allowed to do whatever they want in the name of less regulation and more profit. Regulations cost businesses money. If businesses have to abide by regulations their C.E.O.s won't be able to buy country clubs and hire laid-off formerly middle-class people to wash the dishes and polish the shoes of the rich. Job growth will slow, forcing the C.E.O.s to polish their own Bentleys. Horrors.
The E.P.A. needs help. I know this first hand. On a recent trip to our nation's capital I visited the E.P.A. Headquarters. It is an agency in decay. I present photographic evidence here. This is an actual photo my wife took. It is not retouched in any way. Seriously.
(Click on image to enlarge)
Under the supervision of the former Governor of Texas, the E.P.A. was not even able to pick up its own garbage. The E.P.A. needs our help, people, and they need it NOW!!!
Writing this built up one hell of a thirst. I'm going to have a beer. You expect me to pour a glass of water?
