Rat poison.
Mar. 25th, 2007 10:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nolawitch58That's what the labs found in the pet food that was recalled. (Don't worry, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lab_rattus, you're safe reading about it.) Many things about this fiasco piss me off. First, I thought Canada was at least as good at regulating their food supply, including pet food, as the USA. Apparently not if their equivalent of the FDA doesn't bother with pet food.
Second, Menu Foods, the company responsible, knew about the problem for a month before they acted. Third, I find it troubling that so much manufacturing for so many different brands is concentrated in one company. You'd think big companies that tout the quality of their products would own their own facility in order to maintain that boast of quality. I've known for years that store brands are manufactured by the same companies that produce name brands and that you're mostly paying for advertising when you buy Friskies instead of Winn-Dixie. I don't know how I've kept the naïvete that premium brands, such as Science Diet and Iams, weren't any different. My bad.
Third, our government in the form of many administrations really hates its people. Why are there no protective tariffs on good imported from countries without equivalent economic structures? Most people's eyes glaze over and they hardly understand a word, but even if you simplify it for the simpletons, they still don't seem to get it. If if costs a manufacturer $1.00 to have something made in a progressive country with a high standard of living, even if it costs 50¢ to ship that same thing but they can be made for 25¢, the company is up 25¢ on each object. Then the person making $1.00 loses his/her job. The more you shop at Wal*Mart, the more you shop yourself into a more impoverished Wal*Mart lifestyle. All those so-called Fair Trade agreements can't be considered fair unless the playing field is level. If that were the case, there wouldn't be a glut of shipping containers sitting in West Coast ports because we can't fill them up and send them back to China. Most of that trade is one way to our detriment. China has us by our economic short hairs, people.
In other, more personal news: I have two drunken sailors in my house sleeping off their hangovers. One of them is, of course, my dear husbandhmc_lavadogs and the other is our coven's new friend, Nathan. Since this is his last weekend here, we took him to the AFL Voodoo game last night (they lost). Then we had the obligatory stagger down Bourbon Street. Keep in mind that I'm not drinking during any of this because I'm the Designated Driver. All the while, they're pouring beer down their throats and getting sillier and sillier. We ended up at the Dungeon again. Past 1:00 I told the boys I was turning into a pumpkin and we had to leave.
True. I was allowed an extra hour of sleep yesterday morning by the furry predators we keep in the house. Then I went to hubby's mother's house to paint the living room with one of her friends. Up and down the ladder with my knees and up and down the wall with the roller. From 9:00 to 3:00 we worked with a lunch break. Mmmm, homemade spaghetti and meatballs. Latex paint dries rapidly so we got the furniture moved back and the pictures rehung and then I had to leave to prepare for the evening's festivities. Thank the deities for ibuprofin. My legs were killing me when I was meowed awake this morning.
As soon as I post this, I've got to update my writing project. I got quite a bit done in longhand yesterday and it must be transcribed. The guys don't know it yet because they're still asleep, but when they wake up, we're going out for breakfast/brunch/lunch because I'm not cooking until my legs stop feeling like jelly.
lab_rattus, you're safe reading about it.) Many things about this fiasco piss me off. First, I thought Canada was at least as good at regulating their food supply, including pet food, as the USA. Apparently not if their equivalent of the FDA doesn't bother with pet food.Second, Menu Foods, the company responsible, knew about the problem for a month before they acted. Third, I find it troubling that so much manufacturing for so many different brands is concentrated in one company. You'd think big companies that tout the quality of their products would own their own facility in order to maintain that boast of quality. I've known for years that store brands are manufactured by the same companies that produce name brands and that you're mostly paying for advertising when you buy Friskies instead of Winn-Dixie. I don't know how I've kept the naïvete that premium brands, such as Science Diet and Iams, weren't any different. My bad.
Third, our government in the form of many administrations really hates its people. Why are there no protective tariffs on good imported from countries without equivalent economic structures? Most people's eyes glaze over and they hardly understand a word, but even if you simplify it for the simpletons, they still don't seem to get it. If if costs a manufacturer $1.00 to have something made in a progressive country with a high standard of living, even if it costs 50¢ to ship that same thing but they can be made for 25¢, the company is up 25¢ on each object. Then the person making $1.00 loses his/her job. The more you shop at Wal*Mart, the more you shop yourself into a more impoverished Wal*Mart lifestyle. All those so-called Fair Trade agreements can't be considered fair unless the playing field is level. If that were the case, there wouldn't be a glut of shipping containers sitting in West Coast ports because we can't fill them up and send them back to China. Most of that trade is one way to our detriment. China has us by our economic short hairs, people.
In other, more personal news: I have two drunken sailors in my house sleeping off their hangovers. One of them is, of course, my dear husband
hmc_lavadogs and the other is our coven's new friend, Nathan. Since this is his last weekend here, we took him to the AFL Voodoo game last night (they lost). Then we had the obligatory stagger down Bourbon Street. Keep in mind that I'm not drinking during any of this because I'm the Designated Driver. All the while, they're pouring beer down their throats and getting sillier and sillier. We ended up at the Dungeon again. Past 1:00 I told the boys I was turning into a pumpkin and we had to leave.True. I was allowed an extra hour of sleep yesterday morning by the furry predators we keep in the house. Then I went to hubby's mother's house to paint the living room with one of her friends. Up and down the ladder with my knees and up and down the wall with the roller. From 9:00 to 3:00 we worked with a lunch break. Mmmm, homemade spaghetti and meatballs. Latex paint dries rapidly so we got the furniture moved back and the pictures rehung and then I had to leave to prepare for the evening's festivities. Thank the deities for ibuprofin. My legs were killing me when I was meowed awake this morning.
As soon as I post this, I've got to update my writing project. I got quite a bit done in longhand yesterday and it must be transcribed. The guys don't know it yet because they're still asleep, but when they wake up, we're going out for breakfast/brunch/lunch because I'm not cooking until my legs stop feeling like jelly.
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You're incredible.
Date: 2007-03-25 05:12 pm (UTC)How you manage all of this is beyond me, really. Let me express some speechless admiration, here...
Protective tariffs? Are you kidding?! Sad to say, it's the US, through WTO, who is on a crusade against them...! And the EU is lapping it up greedily. Right now, my own country is having a hard time resisting the pressure to tear down all our carefully established "bio" standards in farming because the prices for our bio products are called "protective".
The ultimate goal of tearing down all these "protections" is lowering standards. Of quality, yes, but also of ecological sustainability and - wages, first and foremost.
No, your government doesn't hate its "people". Where the definition of "people" - as in valued citizens and humans - only applies to those who don't work for wages, they are right on track.
Don't forget about seafood
Date: 2007-03-25 08:54 pm (UTC)Chinese imports have strangled local fisherman and their businesses. Just look at the difference in price between Chinese crawfish tails and the local product. The Chinese can sell so cheaply because of the non-existent quality controls. I always buy local seafood. We are lucky the good stuff is readily available and reasonably priced.
Wal-mart makes me crazy. Their stuff just doesn't stay nice, neat and orderly. Very creepy
Re: Don't forget about seafood
Date: 2007-03-25 09:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-25 09:17 pm (UTC)I truly think we should place tariffs and import/export controls on other countries that mirrors theres on us. This mean we should restrict the import of anything from China they cannot bring in from us, this would severely limit their export business. In turn we should charge the same Tariff on a Toyota Japan charges on a GM (hint, nearly 100%). Should I mention? Japanese citizens would have their U.S. stocks frozen, no more buying ours until we can buy theirs. Mexican citizens would also be forbidden to buy more land in the US, I guess we could extend it to cover other laws as well eventually.
On that note, we would honor our agreement on Canadian timber. Canadians have a right to be upset with us over that arrangement.