It dawned on me lately, that I have no idea who produces the food I buy at the grocery store or where it comes from. I just trust that someone else has taken the necessary steps to provide my family with safe food.
With the threat of bioterrorism a reality in this country, I don't know if Iwant the government controling what farms produce our food. I aked a local farm that we do work for, who produces much of our food, is it government supported farms?
She said yes and that most of the workers are imigrants, I'm sorry but if terrorists wanted to poison us on a larger scale this would be a great opportunity.
And we as americans have left the back door open on this one. Every where you go in New England you see abandoned farms, farm land being turned into developements and so on.
I don't know about you but I'd sure feel alot more comfortable knowing that Mr Jones up the street grows all the food my family needs and that my chances are better that I will still have food if the majority or the country supply is tainted.
Makes you think doesn't it?
[ October 10, 2001: Message edited by: Bob Rochon ]
Posted by Ken Henry (Member # 598) on :
Personally, I'd be far more worried about what's coming out of your kitchen taps. It would be far more effective to poison the water supply of any number of towns or cities. Water treatment plants are probably not the securest of places, and the results would be much quicker and effective. By the time that enough people became ill to raise any sort of alarm, the damage would have already been done.
A town here in Ontario ( Walkerton) had a case of e-coli contamination in it's water supply last year. It resulted in several deaths, and many more severely ill. They're still in the process of recovering. Everyone is VULNERABLE, and more so with the things that have long been taken for granted.
Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :
Come to Arizona, ya can't drink the water from the tap anyways.
Well, you *can*.. it wont hurt you or anything.. it just tastes really nasty! Everyone here, and I do mean EVERYONE, buys their drinking water. Even the dog wont drink from the tap.
Now the real problem is, who's to say there arent terrorists already within all the security being implemented? Same as we have confidants in the Middle East, surely they have their own plants already inside our military and other organizations, leaking sensitive info or perhaps even plans to sabotage our efforts.
Posted by Si Allen (Member # 420) on :
Hey!!!!!! Let's quit the Chicken Little "the sky is falling" stuff!
Poisoning a food supply is very difficult to do on a large scale! Same with water supply! To get enough poison into a reservoir, to do any damage, would take a truckload! As if no one would notice that?
Anything that these people can do now is going to be small scale and localized.
If you like being scarred, shut up and go to a horro movie!
Posted by Bob Rochon (Member # 30) on :
see below
[ October 10, 2001: Message edited by: Bob Rochon ]
Posted by Glenn Taylor (Member # 162) on :
Thats why I eat mostly junk food. If its gonna kill me, it might as well taste good! Posted by cheryl nordby (Member # 1100) on :
Bob....it does get kinda scary. I guess that's why I like to have apple and plum trees in the backyard...carrots in the garden....It is wise to buy a water filter and drink only filtered water. Wash all your vegetables and fruit well even the cantelopes. Not much else you can do. You can worry yourself to pieces tho! And that is not good for a person at all. Like the song goes......Don't worry.....Be Happy! Posted by Bob Rochon (Member # 30) on :
Si,
You make a good point, but I bet 2 months ago we could have discounted the reality of 4 planes getting hijacked at the same time and driven into buildings as bombs.
The fact is nothing is out the realm of possibilities now.
Nothing is too difficult to anyone who is passionately determined.
Posted by AdrienneMorgan (Member # 1046) on :
We have three hens and a duck....duck is just a pet (altho I'd gladly give him away to the first person who askes)
Three hens lays more than what we need in eggs, still, we are thinking of getting two more.
We have a tiny veg garden, but now I think it might not be a bad idea to take it a little more seriously and plant food all year (we can do that in Ca)
It can't hurt to be well stocked for emergancies, it might be an earthquake we will need it for, purhaps something else.
In any case, I'm going to get the pantry and freezer stocked best I can.
Adrienne
Posted by Si Allen (Member # 420) on :
Bob...eat only healthy food, exercise regularly, take yor vitamins, drive safely (and buckle up), and watch out for terrorists! Yer still gonna die, when yer time's up!
Like Glenn says..eat junk food, enjoy your time left!
Posted by Rick (Member # 373) on :
Hahaha, Glen. I got plenty of doritoes here too.
Si, your right, the sky hasnt fell yet, when its time it will.
Adrianne, how do you know the packs of seed for you garden aint terrorized?
Maybe i shoulda bought one of those pimag water filters, or maybe better yet some stock in the company that sells them.
Personally, I think osama wins if he scares everybody to death. Our nation may be his/their target now, but we got the best system in the world to combat that crap, and we will prevail.
Posted by Gavin Chachere (Member # 1443) on :
Well...in about 1600 BC Sun Tzu said "kill one,terrorize a thousand"....and thats exactly whats happening here,its what the bastards want...this is their 2nd attack...noone is in any more danger now than they were in the last 5-10 yrs,its just been forced to the forefront now and people have to accept it and the fact that the world is not necessarily this big huge politically correct wonderland we've tried to force it to be in recent years...live your lives
Posted by Bill Dirkes (Member # 1000) on :
Bob, In 1978 we bought 23 acres of woods (it's still home). we had a 4000 sq. ft. garden:taters corn beans cabbage tomatoes etc. 4 milk goats 1 buck, 40 chickens, 2 dogs, some cats, 2 shotguns, a rifle, a pistol... Water from a 300 gallon spring box, wood heat. I was gonna take care of my family no matter what happened. I really thought the world was headed for disaster. The big catch with living this way is that it is all you can do. It takes all the time you have. In the early 80's we re-joined the world, ya gotta trust the social contract. Or you live like those societies that have withdrawn enmass. ya know who I mean.
Posted by PKing (Member # 337) on :
I have read this post several times,trying to determine the point that is being made.Darned if I can figuire it out! Is it a death issue? Like exactlly HOW one is going to die? Is it a time issue? Like WHEN one will die? I don't think either of these can be pre-dertermined. SO..All I can see,is that this is a CONTROL issue!
Yeah,Right.I hope no one on this board thinks they have that much control over life and death. Heck I have a hard enough time trying to control my customers,work load,bills,My brush strokes,and this darn puter. I am 50 years old and have not died ONCE!!! So I will continue to live my life day to day and still only die once.
Hope this helps
Posted by kevinlandry (Member # 1352) on :
They want us to be afraid. Spreading their messages of hate and fear is the medias fault. Give them a soapbox and watch them go. They have nothing or they would have blew up the world trade center with a rocket from a ship. Instead they had to highjack a bunch of innocent people and smash that into a building. So if you are afraid to live then they win.
Posted by Mike Kelly (Member # 2037) on :
This is actually the first OT thread I've read in about a month concerning terrorism. And there have been quite a few. And I am sure on thousands of other boards it's the same thing. It's true that we need to be ****ed off and at the same time be more aware, but we also need to go on with our lives as before, or else these bastards win. I live in the greatest country in the world and I truely believe that we have the right people taking care of the situation. If they need me to help in any way, I will do everything I can. But in the meantime, I will live my life as I had before 9/11, except for maybe spending more time with my wife and three daughters, and a little more time thanking God for all I do have. The sky is NOT falling.
Posted by Bob Rochon (Member # 30) on :
Actually this thought about buying food from local farms came about before the terrorists acts, with the way of bio anything these days, I just don't like the idea of injecting chemicals into the seeds of the food which they plant.
Which is a fact, companies are now manufacturing seeds with insectiside already in it. So the plant grows up with it in the fruit or vegetable not on it.
Funny thing is they don't tell ya that in the produce isle.
Or the fact that I have to use a chemical to get the chemicals off the fruit I would like to eat.
Anyway, Like the subject of this post says, just a thought to ponder!
Posted by Glenn Dewey (Member # 1804) on :
I would have to agree with Kevin Landry !!!!!!
I have to say he somes it all up !!right to the point!
if we live in fear they win!
P**S on those Diper heads go on with life as you would any other day ! walk tall walk proud just as you did before Sept. 11th
[ October 11, 2001: Message edited by: Glenn Dewey ]
Posted by LazyEdna (Member # 266) on :
The reason so many small farms go under is simple: You folks don't want to pay a lot of money for your food. Ergo: Agribiz. You want local produce? Ask your local farmers how much they'll charge for the vegetables, milk, eggs, and meat grown without gov't subsidies, chemicals, or marketing to make sure they can sell what they produce WHEN it's ready. Funny thing about crops.. everything ripens at ONCE, so you can eat a whole lot of one thing for a few weeks, then its gone. (Except for zucchini, the vegetable of the devil<--ha ha j/k). Humans are a "herd" animal living in cooperative situations with each other, and we are dependant on our infrastructure. Best just live and enjoy, no one ever gets out alive. Meanwhile.. one thing I did learn from mormons is to keep a stash of "food storage"... of course.. most of it is packed onto my hips and thighs, but oh well. LE
Posted by AdrienneMorgan (Member # 1046) on :
LE, I can never get zuccini to grow for me... ...I wish someone would bring me a bushel of em, cause I make the best bread 'n butter pickles you ever had with them!!!
A
Posted by Donna in BC (Member # 130) on :
We tried a garden this summer. I do feel good knowing there are no pesticides involved and the 'homemade taste' is like no other, but I'm still determining if the extra work is worth it, as we have an organic farm just down the road that sells fresh produce.
We are also raising two beef cows, in which they're eating our own hay and we won't be giving them any shots.
I think it all helps, but ultimately, when I'm in the grocery store, it sure is easier buying that bag of clean carrots...
...I wish someone would bring me a bushel of em, cause I make the best bread 'n butter pickles you ever had with them!!!