Food, Inc. on PBS This Week

Food, Inc., Robert Kenner's brilliant 2008 documentary on America's corporate-controlled food industry, is premiering on PBS this Wednesday, April 21. If you are an American, and you eat food, you owe it to yourself to watch this film. From the PBS synopsis:

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' Joel Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising — and often shocking truths — about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.

Miss it not, kids. You'll thank me.

Middle ground

I'm not exactly for an escalation in Afghanistan. Shocker, I know. I'm especially not for it after having watched the Frontline special Obama's War (which you can view in its entirety here) which could only get those pushing for troop increases to explain how the strategy would take shape and not why we should use that strategy or whether or not it was even a good idea in the first place. In addition it couldn't find Afghans that thought it was a good idea or we were positively contributing to things over there, and then finished up by making the point that Pakistan, our supposed other ally there, was almost assuredly our enemy. That being said, can we not do shit like this?

As the Obama administration debates whether to shift its aims in Afghanistan, officials at the Pentagon and National Security Council have begun developing "middle path" strategies that would require fewer troops than their ground commander is seeking.
...
Other steps would concentrate U.S. and allied troops in cities, pulling out of Afghanistan's widely dispersed rural areas. At the same time, the allied forces would push ahead with plans to intensify training of Afghan troops, officials said.

None of the strategies envision troop reductions, but officials said they would not require the 40,000-troop increase preferred by Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the U.S. and allied commander. A number of White House officials favor sending fewer than 20,000 additional troops.

Great. Since there only seems to be two plans, General McChrystal's and VP Joe Biden's, can we just pick one of them and do it? I'm no military expert, but I'm fairly sure McChrystal has at least some idea of what he's doing, and that furthermore, when he conceived of a plan he knew enough to ask for enough resources to do it to the best of his abilities. Same for an experienced foreign policy hand like Biden. So can we at least do what the two main experts and their groups of supporters want to do in the exact way they want to do it instead of finding some middle road strategy concocted by political brokers in a sad attempt to please everyone?

When does taking two opposite plans and doing what's halfway between them ever worked in a military situation? Didn't we learn that in Iraq? Don't half ass and piecemeal plans according to whims, notions, and hunches in an attempt to please everyone, just pick one way and commit to it fully. This isn't a sampler platter.

Cheap Blogging Crutch 08.31

More ‘Evidence’ of Intelligent Design Shot Down by Science
I don't know. You mean to tell me that combining the intellectual rigor of 'God did it" with lying about actual science doesn't stand up to scientific scrutiny? Color me surprised and subsequently damned by God for all eternity for believing in Darwin's monkey myth. We'll throw it on the pile with all the other clear refutations. I feel sorry for the scientists studying this stuff. Sure they're making important discoveries about biology and evolution, but their audience is a group of people who will never be swayed by things like "evidence" and "scientific proof." Oh well, here's to hoping someone just finds a golden tablet under a tree that says God says evolution is real. Then, we'll have real proof.

Trial by Fire: Did Texas execute an innocent man?
Yes, it's what they do. Next question. Oh, you wanted to know if Texas executed a specific man who also happened to be innocent. Yes. Next question. But please, do read the New Yorker's comprehensive story on the case of one Cameron Todd Willingham and how you can get executed over disproven forensics and a host of other obvious mistakes and lies and a Governor too busy prattling on about secession to read about things like science and evidence.

The Cutting Edge – Humidity, Summer Skiing at Falwell's University
You know when your school doesn't have to spend money on things like accreditation and accurate science textbooks...or really any books other than the bible, you get to buy the campus some pretty kick ass shit. Like a snowless ski hill. Because what other way is there to crank out the next generation of Monica Goodlings unless your campus is not only pious, but totally radical.

Environmentalists Slow to Adjust in Climate Debate
Other than the first rule of dealing with hippies (Never go with a hippie to a second location), the second is the most important: never let the hippies organize a counter lobbying effort when they're pitted against energy conglomerates. See the story of concerted organization, junkets, press time, and face time with legislators vs. ......stickers. Yeah, looks like sensible environmental legislation and cap & trade is going to have to wait a while. On the bright side, at least Phish is back together.

Israel's Wealthiest Woman Says She Can See the Future
I think we found the answer to the question "How much money do you have to have before your crazy outbursts, deranged proclamations, and God complex are largely ignored?" The answer is $2.7 billion, which is the exact amount that Shari Arison, the richest woman in the Middle East and seer of the future, is carting around. So if you want people to believe your street-corner proclamations about government nanobots in your blood, you better start investing.

Decision to end ‘Reading Rainbow’ traced to a ‘shift’ in priorities during the Bush administration.
Turns out you can pretty much blame everything on the Bush Administration, even the cancellation of beloved reading shows. But then again you can see the logic. They were pretty sure that the book banning thing was going to catch on more than it did and didn't see the need to fund a show that promoted reading. It's a shame, Reading Rainbow's review of "The Pet Goat" was what famously got George to pick up the book in the first place....and not put it down for 7 minutes.