57 replies to this topic

[Tim the Beek]

If everyone's already seen this, I'll choose something else, but it's really good, IMO.

 

 

[TakeAStepBack]

I've seen this one, but will give it another watch if people haven't seen it.

[TEO]

If this is a horror movie I am out.  

[Tim the Beek]

There's some stuff which isn't easy to watch, but there's some very positive stuff about people who are doing wonderful things as well...

[TEO]

Alright, I'm in.

[TakeAStepBack]

TtB and CC are our resident cuisine terrorists.

[china cat]

 

seen it, sweets. I think Gary has as well. TEO may be the only in the club who hasn't. TEO it is worth the watch, for sure.

[Depends]

I've seen it.   A couple of times...

[Depends]

CC turned me into a cuisine terrorist too....   

[TEO]

Are ya'll gonna pin my eyelids open and drive this into me Clockwork Orange style?

[china cat]

CC turned me into a cuisine terrorist too....   

 

i'll take that as a compliment! 

[china cat]

Are ya'll gonna pin my eyelids open and drive this into me Clockwork Orange style?

 

yep, you'll be veg by the time we're through with you. bwahaha

[Tim the Beek]

Well, them who's seen it can discuss what they remember, and then if Hoagie's not back by next week, TASB can post another film.

[Tim the Beek]

And TEO, while there's some discussion of the treatment of animals, this is a much broader movie than that, and includes some stuff about responsible meat eating.

[TakeAStepBack]

Well, them who's seen it can discuss what they remember, and then if Hoagie's not back by next week, TASB can post another film.

 

Stop telling me what to do!

[Tim the Beek]

[Jabadoodle]

EDITED:

I have seen Food Inc.  Turns out I had not seen it. 

 

Very good. I'll have more detailed comments, but generally I liked/loved that...

* It was very well made video/production

* It didn't make crazy over-top claims and supported claims it did make

* It didn't have a fear monger vibe.

* It showed very little animal cruelty (making is accessible to people too squeamish to watch that type of thing.)

* It showed just enough animal cruelty to bring that issue into people's minds.

* It introduced many large issues but in a way that wasn't overwhelming, including

... how a few companies control so much, both in the supermarket & at the "farming" level

... how patented seed can be used to push out non-factory farmers

... how our food system may be unsafe

... how our food system may be unstable

... how undocumented workers are used & treated

... how companies are not held accountable for using undocumented workers

... how animals are treated

* It ended with some choices and hope that consumers can change what's happening. 

 

[Jabadoodle]

The YouTube link doesn't work anymore, but this does...
http://documentaryad...ocumentary.html

[TEO]

On the agenda for this evening if I do not run out of awake time.

[china cat]

It's really good, TEO. As Jab stated, one of the better docs, for sure

[Jabadoodle]

Almost every Sunday our family goes out for breakfast together. Today after breakfast 
my mom, dad, aunt, brother, and sister-in-law all watched this with me. Afterwards we
talked about it for a bit. Really a great way to do some reflection on a Sunday. 

[china cat]

Almost every Sunday our family goes out for breakfast together. Today after breakfast 
my mom, dad, aunt, brother, and sister-in-law all watched this with me. Afterwards we
talked about it for a bit. Really a great way to do some reflection on a Sunday. 

 

Just read this post aloud to Tim - super psyched 6 more people are equipped with info to make better choices! 

[TEO]

Very good, glad I watched.  Now I can be a more informed consumer.  

 

Chatting with a local organic farmer the other day, quite interesting to hear how they have been received.

 

Curious about the round hay bales and their propensity for mold?

[china cat]

we just re-watched it ourselves

 

I really f^cking hate Monsanto.

 

I really love Joel Salatin

 

More staunch than ever about local and organic. We're becoming total food nazis. Shoulda heard Tim and I in the grocery store.. "we'll we can't do the dairy so we'll try Earth Balance instead. Oh shit, that has palm oil and kills orangutans..' 

 

[Tim the Beek]

We've gotta stop reading labels.

 

Glad more folks got exposed to the movie, Jaba - I think it's an important one.

 

TEO - glad you watched. Dunno about the hay...my understanding is that round bales tend to sluff off more water than rectangular. Have only really dealt with rectangular, and that was a long time ago.

 

I love this movie. And yup, Joel Salatin is a freekin rock star!

[Jabadoodle]

Curious about the round hay bales and their propensity for mold?

 
My aunt once told me that every time she sees a field with those large round bales scattered around it, she can't help but think they look like huge droppings of some prehistoric bird. Of course now I think the same thing every time I see 'em.

 

[TEO]

I heard something on the radio this morning re: a soybean farmer's case against Monsanto making it to the Supreme court.  Missed the spot regarding it though.

 

I had no idea there were so few meat packing/processors left in the US.

[hoagie]

 
My aunt once told me that every time she sees a field with those large round bales scattered around it, she can't help but think they look like huge droppings of some prehistoric bird. Of course now I think the same thing every time I see 'em.

 

when wrapped in the white plastic they look like a field of 100lb marshmallows

[Jabadoodle]

I heard something on the radio this morning re: a soybean farmer's case against Monsanto making it to the Supreme court.  Missed the spot regarding it though.

 

I had no idea there were so few meat packing/processors left in the US.

I didn't know that. Just goggled it: 
http://www.npr.org/b...e-supreme-court

 

 

EDITED TO ADD: I just read about this case. Very interesting and NOT a clear cut case to me. Gonna start a separate thread.

[Jabadoodle]

when wrapped in the white plastic they look like a field of 100lb marshmallows

[hoagie]

[Jabadoodle]

That makes me want to make a bigger-than-life art thing with some 
people sitting in the field with huge "sticks" and one of those bales
over a "fire".

 

[Jabadoodle]

Still thinking about lots of comments on this film...but love this quote:

 

A culture that just views a pig as a pile of protoplasmic inanimate structure to be manipulated by whatever creative design the human can foist on that critter will probably view individuals within it’s community and other cultures in the community of nations with the same type of disdain and disrespect and controlling type mentality. 

[TEO]

That is a good one and has stuck with me as well.  That particular farmer reminded me quite a bit of several of the local to me farmer's whom I have known for most of my life.

[Jabadoodle]

That is a good one and has stuck with me as well.  That particular farmer reminded me quite a bit of several of the local to me farmer's whom I have known for most of my life.

That's nice for you about having people like that around. Where I grew up is a bit that way, though less so now.
More and more I think about where I want to live and more and more it's not where I am.



 

[Jabadoodle]

FYI: The Upton Sinclair novel "The Jungle" mentioned in the film is available for free as a Kindle download on Amazon
 

 

[TEO]

Thank you! Going to DL now.

 

 

Re: living  Have you considered Pownal VT?

 

http://mightyfoodfarm.com/

 

http://hilltopfarm12....com/index.html

[china cat]

Still thinking about lots of comments on this film...but love this quote:

 

A culture that just views a pig as a pile of protoplasmic inanimate structure to be manipulated by whatever creative design the human can foist on that critter will probably view individuals within it’s community and other cultures in the community of nations with the same type of disdain and disrespect and controlling type mentality. 

 

philosophy furthered in the first 20 minutes of Earthlings.

[Jabadoodle]

philosophy furthered in the first 20 minutes of Earthlings.

 

Earthlings is what started this all for me. 

Available here: http://documentaryad...ocumentary.html

[china cat]

Earthlings is what started this all for me. 

Available here: http://documentaryad...documentary.htm

 

Disrespect for any life (unborn, animals, the planet), I think, erodes respect for all life.

 

 

reverence. awe. wonder. inherent value. compassion. gentleness. love.  sacredness.... qualities and ideals worth cultivating.

[Tim the Beek]

G, have you read Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma?

 

Very good read.

[Jabadoodle]

G, have you read Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma?

 

Very good read.

Hey Tim :-)  

I haven't read it but it put in my Amazon queue. I did read Jonathan Safran's Eating Animals and thought that was good.

[Tim the Beek]

Hey Tim :-)  

I haven't read it but it put in my Amazon queue. I did read Jonathan Safran's Eating Animals and thought that was good.

 

Haven't read Eating Animals, but will.

 

I think you'll dig Pollan. He's a thinker.

[Tim the Beek]

NYT article about yesterday's oral arguments in the Bowman case:

 

http://www.nytimes.c...-case.html?_r=0

 

From that article:

 

A lawyer for Monsanto, Seth P. Waxman, a former United States solicitor general...

 

it's all so fucking incestuous that it makes me wanna hurl.

 

[Jabadoodle]

"But the Indiana farmer, Vernon Hugh Bowman, who had signed such contracts for his main crop, thought he had discovered a loophole for a second, riskier crop later in the growing season: he would buy from a grain elevator filled with a mix of seeds in the reasonable hope that many of them contained the Roundup Ready gene."

Bowman 

* Agrees this technology is valuable

* Agreed to signing contracts that limit his use of them

* Knowingly and purposefully tried to get seeds with this technology without paying for it.

What upsets me is that THIS is the case that made it to the Supreme court. I do believe in the need for intellectual property rights and that in this case those rights are being willingly and knowingly violated. A much more important case would be where a farmer was using seeds that were NOT from Monsanto but where Monsanto technology had contaminated the seed. THAT is the case that should get in front of the SC. That is the case Monsanto could and should lose. << I have a feeling the fact that THIS is the case that made it to the SC and the other type of case did not...is no accident.

[Tim the Beek]

"But the Indiana farmer, Vernon Hugh Bowman, who had signed such contracts for his main crop, thought he had discovered a loophole for a second, riskier crop later in the growing season: he would buy from a grain elevator filled with a mix of seeds in the reasonable hope that many of them contained the Roundup Ready gene."

Bowman 

* Agrees this technology is valuable

* Agreed to signing contracts that limit his use of them

* Knowingly and purposefully tried to get seeds with this technology without paying for it.

What upsets me is that THIS is the case that made it to the Supreme court. I do believe in the need for intellectual property rights and that in this case those rights are being willingly and knowingly violated. A much more important case would be where a farmer was using seeds that were NOT from Monsanto but where Monsanto technology had contaminated the seed. THAT is the case that should get in front of the SC. That is the case Monsanto could and should lose. << I have a feeling the fact that THIS is the case that made it to the SC and the other type of case did not...is no accident.

 

I suspect you're right.

And I understand the need for some IP laws, but I'm exceedingly uncomfortable with the idea of patenting forms of life. Moot point, because USSC has already opined that that's fine with them.

[TEO]

Completely agree with that sentiment regarding case.

[Jabadoodle]

And I understand the need for some IP laws, but I'm exceedingly uncomfortable with the idea of patenting forms of life. Moot point, because USSC has already opined that that's fine with them.

I too am uncomfortable with the idea of patenting forms of life.

According to that article "Having committed hundreds of millions of dollars in 13 years to develop this technology,”... So lets have the government force a deal. Give Monsanto a billion dollars for and then release the technology to the public domain. Monsanto gets return on their investment and no need for all their lawyers. Other companies continue to innovate because they know they will be rewarded if they succeed. Farmers get a seed technology that they know and that saves them time and money. The public will have spent 1/1400th of the amount we have on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan so that we can have a food supply that isn't owned by anyone. Win. Win. Win. Win. ~ And we get Charlie Sheen to announce the deal. WINNING!





 

[Tim the Beek]

LOL!

 

Being of my particular strange political bent, I think we'd need a Constitutional amendment to make that happen, but I'd be down.

[TEO]

Watched 'Earthlings" last night.  

 

Was not thrilled with the presentation of this material in a regurgitated fashion.

Perhaps I am not giving credit to the time frame when the documentary was produced.

Although a most important concept, there could have been a greater impact by acknowledging that other Earthlings besides humans hunt and kill, not always in a "humane" fashion.