Posted on 06/04/2006 11:08:53 AM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
The New York Times reports that Wal-Mart, the bane of all limousine liberals and aging hippies, has entered the "crunchy granola" market:
Beginning later this year, Wal-Mart plans to roll out a complete selection of organic foods — food certified by the U.S.D.A. to have been grown without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers — in its nearly 4,000 stores. Just as significant, the company says it will price all this organic food at an eye-poppingly tiny premium over its already-cheap conventional food: the organic Cocoa Puffs and Oreos will cost only 10 percent more than the conventional kind. Organic food will soon be available to the tens of millions of Americans who now cannot afford it — indeed, who have little or no idea what the term even means. Organic food, which represents merely 2.5 percent of America's half-trillion-dollar food economy, is about to go mainstream.
With organic food about to become as "mainstream" and "middle America" as Ford Explorers, Kraft singles and "American Idol," how long before the so-called "elites" find it no longer has the same "counterculture" appeal as Volvos, brie and NPR?
Ha, "Amish" food.
Amish only sell the junk not good enough for their own usage to people willing to pay a premium for it.
Enjoy.
>I also have one that says "The Bible should be read in our schools above all others". <
Whose Bible? The Tanakh? The King James Bible? Weird contemporary language versions? Perhaps you would have students memorize the books in the oldest original languages, whether they understand them or not, too...
I am a mere human. God does not tell me how to eat. Presumably, God is dealing with more important matters.
I say this because I pack both organically grown and conventionally grown peaches, nectarines, apricots and apples.
What actually happens is that most fruits are picked somewhat green, meaning that the sugar levels are not as high as they could be. This is done so that the fruit can be run over a packing machine and not be bruised. When you pick up a peach and it is hard, it has been picked green.
I can answer more questions about organic vs. conventional for anyone interested. Incidentally, just because it is organic doesn't mean it hasn't been sprayed with insecticides. Some of the insecticides labeled for organic use are more toxic than those labeled for conventional use. The difference is the length of efficacy. That is, how long it lasts on the fruit.
The commandment God gave man after He created him was what to eat and what not to eat:
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
>Very interesting what you wrote. Still in real life the synthetic component might be less pure than we assume - for example supposedly healthier margarine can be contaminated with toxic stuff left from the time of manufacturing. Real life business can cut the corners, people can cheat or make mistakes.
....
So I will take my clove as the nature made it, and yes I like to think that plants have souls. You and I are souls who have bodies, why not to grant little respect to lesser beings :)<
Instead I will suggest that you make the effort to get the straight scientific story, minus emotions.
Chemical analysis is something I know a bit about, and trust me, chemical purity is a business matter and whether something is 85 % pure or 99.99% pure Stuff As Claimed can be determined. It is not a matter of guesswork or wishful thinking, but a technical skill and craft.
>Also we do not know so much. There can be unknown chemical factors like the dynamic structure/structural memory or overlooked components. Science explained only a small fraction of the universe and significant part of it can be wrong.<
Much of what science believes is unlikely to ever unravel, only be refined. Belief that somehow, it might all be wrong is not a substitute for the best contemporary understanding.
There are a lot of things about genetics not fully understood, but I doubt if one day you will learn that DNA is nonsense, and that we are all the developed and matured result of the little homonculus in our father's sperm implanted in the genetically neutral incubator of our mother's wombs. More likely you will come to read about what 'junk' DNA actually does and about mechanisms of paternal mitochondrial DNA inclusion.
>And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. <
This is God's warning about unsprayed apples more worm than apple.
No apples in the text, Mr. Scientist. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is not an apple tree.
Organic True Believers:
Enjoy your food-religion. It's hogwash, but you enjoy it and it doesn't harm anybody else. [You could be doing far more destructive things, but you aren't, and that's good.]
I also know this kind of emotionality will never ever be swayed by logic.
I like food. I like to cook. I would love to grow more food. I like growing odd types of vegetables that have different kinds of flavors.
Because there are certain things that are off limits to me, (such as sugar) I make up for it by making sure everything else is as flavorful as possible.
You can not make large commercial sized batches of food that need to have an extended shelf life and have them taste the same as something made fresh in small batches.
I have nothing against commercially grown or mass produced food. I think it is one of the wonders of modern civilized living.
I have seen the results of poor childhood nutrition in my parents. They have life long health problems from lack of proper food and they were both farm kids.
I think the fact that we have fresh fruit, pure milk, eggs and fresh vegetables available year around is great. I also realize that to have these marvels they have to be able to travel long distances and that means that often they don't taste as wonderful as things grown close by that can be picked closer to the peak of freshness.
But if I can find a better tasting, more nutritious tomato then I will buy it.
It doesn't make me virtuous or put me on a higher spiritual plane. It just tastes good.
>No apples in the text, Mr. Scientist. <
I am a lady and a scholar. And a pretty darn good analyst. It happens.
Amish only sell the junk not good enough for their own usage to people willing to pay a premium for it.
Enjoy.
Thomas and his family have become good friends over the past five years we have known them. We take them to the doctor and other trips when cars are faster than buggies. We help them teach their kids the "ways of the English" so they can acclimate into our society a little better. In return we have made friendships that seem to last forever.
I also have one that says "The Bible should be read in our schools above all others".
Whose Bible? The Tanakh? The King James Bible? Weird contemporary language versions? Perhaps you would have students memorize the books in the oldest original languages, whether they understand them or not, too...
FYI - We have homeschooled for 18 years, have a daughter receiving her MA in a week with a 4.0 GPA in both undergraduate and graduate schools and yes all seven of us do a fair job with Greek, Latin and Hebrew in our Bible studies. Our son-in-law does not, but my daughter reads it for him. :-)
I am a mere human. God does not tell me how to eat. Presumably, God is dealing with more important matters.
Oh, but He does want to tell you how to eat and how to live your life, the instructions are in the most wonderful 66 books you will ever find. 39 in the Old Testament and 27 are in the New.
You hit it. The bottom line says it all.
>FYI - We have homeschooled for 18 years, have a daughter receiving her MA in a week with a 4.0 GPA in both undergraduate and graduate schools and yes all seven of us do a fair job with Greek, Latin and Hebrew in our Bible studies. Our son-in-law does not, but my daughter reads it for him. :-)<
I deal with freshly hatched bachelors degree people who cannot speak or write standard English, and they're home grown. Your family is an admirable exception, but an exception just the same.
Did you ever drink starter milk? Yummy!!!!
>It just tastes good.
You hit it. The bottom line says it all.<
Yup. Even some of the marigolds I'm growing this year are edible.
I went on a diet once that completely eliminated salt, sugar, and all processed food. After about a week, biting into a fresh peach was just about the most fantastic tasting thing I had ever eaten. From that point on, I never went back to eating processed foods.
I am growing pansy's this year (they are great in salads) but I thought marigold were not edible.
What kind are they? And do they serve as pest control the same way regular marigolds do?
If you think organic food is 'pesticide free,' you are sadly mistaken.
http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_detail.cfm/headline/2334
Organic farmers...spray their plants with "natural" pesticides. These are less effective than synthetic ones and they're certainly no safer. In rat tests, rotenone -- an insecticide extracted from the roots of tropical plants -- has been shown to cause the symptoms of Parkinson's disease. The Environmental Protection Agency has described pyrethrum, another natural bug killer, as a human carcinogen.
Sorry, I don't know what starter milk is.
A Garden....where normal people get real organic food.
They did it their way.
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