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Over at Salon, David Sirota reports from the frontlines of what Amanda Marcotte has amusingly dubbed “The Republican War on Vegetables.” Sirota notes that, in response to the worst drought since 1950, “food prices are expected to skyrocket, and eventually, water-dependent power plants may be forced to shut down.”
In response to what amounts to a devastating national emergency, the USDA, in an inter-office newsletter circulated to employees, suggested (but in no way required) that those employees join the worldwide campaign to refrain from eating meat on Mondays. Sirota explains:
The idea is part of the worldwide “Meatless Monday” campaign, which the New York Times notes is backed by “thousands of corporate cafeterias, restaurants and schools.” In the face of a drought, it’s a pragmatic notion. Cornell University researchers estimate that “producing a pound of animal protein requires, on average, about 100 times more water than producing a pound of vegetable protein.” According to the U.S. Geological Survey, that means a typical hamburger requires a whopping 4,000 to 18,000 gallons of water to make.
So how did the right react to this (genuinely) modest proposal? Sirota enumerates some of the ways:
Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, called the recommendation “heresy” and pledged to “have the double rib-eye Mondays instead.” Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told his drought-stricken constituents that “I will eat more meat on Monday to compensate” for the USDA suggestion. And Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, proudly posted a photo to his Facebook page showing a Caligulian smorgasbord of animal flesh that his Senate colleagues were preparing to scarf down as a protest against USDA.
It should be well and duly noted that all three of those fine upstanding fellows are deep in the pockets of the meat industry.
I was fascinated by the ridiculous temper tantrum these three stooges staged, because it’s a pitch-perfect illustration not only of how the wingnut outrage machine works, but how the economic and cultural arms of the conservative movement not only work hand in glove, but are pretty much the same thing. Doing the bidding of the meat industry, Grassley and company are dedicated, of course, to squelching any initiative that has the word “meatless” in it. But cleverly, they don’t make dry economic arguments; what they do, is turn it into a culture war — into identity politics, really. Suddenly, eating animal flesh means you’re a real man, a true blue conservative, and the kind of two-fisted red-blooded American who stands up to socialistic pointy-headed bureaucrats, by gawd. As we’ve seen with the Chick-fil-A controversy, even food preferences have become a proxy for politics.
You really are what you eat, indeed.
Alas, the piece of absurdist political performance art put on by Grassley (and isn’t he supposed to be one of the “reasonable” ones?) et al. had its effect. In a statement released after the trio’s antics, the USDA meekly announced that it “does not endorse Meatless Monday.” According to a news report, the department said that “[t]he information on its website ‘was posted without proper clearance and it has been removed.’”
If this is the Obama administration’s reaction to an unofficial, internal, nonbinding, suggestion that, in the midst of a cataclysmic agricultural emergency, its employees in one freaking agency forego meat for just one day per week? Don’t even talk to me about global warming, folks. We are doomed, I say! Utterly, totally, absolutely doomed.
Okay, that was a total bummer. Let me find a cool music video to cheer me up, and hopefully you as well.
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c4Logic on August 04, 2012 1:14 PM:
Republican = Socially Irresponsible Idiot
c u n d gulag on August 04, 2012 1:15 PM:
Maybe the USDA and the FDA should have a joint statement reminding people that, since it's summer, to NOT eat food with mayonaisse in it if it's been left out in the sun too long at the picnic.
Or, that they want to make it illegal for ALL people to eat raw chicken.
Then there might be some more Senate and House openings for Democrats to fill.
But that's only if the moron's who vote for these twits don't decide to join them in their protest - otherwise there might not be anyone left to vote.
"Martha, it's getting late in the day, and I'm getting hungry.
Go get those tuna salad sandwiches with extra mayo we left out on the sun deck since dawn.
I've finished preparing the chicken tartare appetizer, and it's almost ready to eat.
All I need to do, is to crack the raw eggs we left out with the tuna and mix them in - so don't forget to bring them in, too.
Oh, and to really piss-off the damn government, we've got Road Island Red sushi and sashimi for dessert!"
Jayzoos!
How feckin' STOOOOOOOPID are these people?
Never mind.
Don't answer that...
Mimikatz on August 04, 2012 1:23 PM:
If only natural selection worked faster.
I understand the basis of meatless Mondays is ecological more than health, but
I'll believe the medical profession on links between fat and meat and heart disease when it hits Rush Limbaugh or Karl Rove or another of these overweight GOPsters.
schtick on August 04, 2012 1:43 PM:
With all the drugs and garbage they put in our meat, I've gotten so if I eat meat once a week it's sometimes once too much.
Let's be honest here. The tealiban isn't about common sense and doing anything to help our country in any way. They are all about making big bucks and making it NOW!
exlibra on August 04, 2012 2:36 PM:
Can't have Meatless Mondays; they're a commie invention.
We had Meatless Mondays (for real; all butcher shops were closed on Mondays. And also on Sundays, of course) throughout my childhood and teenage years in Poland. The govt reasoning went this way: Poles want to eat meat three times a day. Meat being subsidised like everything else, over consumption produces shortages. So, to counteract that, we'll have three meatless days a week: the Friday (Poland being 98% Catholic, and me growing up in the days when fast was strictly observed), the Sunday (day off labour for everyone, including butcher shop employees), and Monday (because the govt said so). People will bitch about the Govt Meatless Monday but, all the same, will eat a heck of a lot less meat overt he course of the week.
Neildsmith on August 04, 2012 2:38 PM:
Meatless Monday was a silly idea and an embarrassment. I have a suggestion for my progressive friends... just stop trying to make other people do things they really don't want to do. There are plenty of terrible things happening in the world that deserve our attention. We need not worry about what people eat, drink, smoke, or who they hang out with naked. Let's focus on a few really important things and leave the rest for another time, shall we?
Peter C on August 04, 2012 2:44 PM:
Conservatives think that "Government is not the solution", so when they are elected, they make sure that government can't solve any problems. When some part of our government tries to take even a small step to fix a real problem, Republican idiots like these swoop in to do their best to sabotage it.
If you want government to work, stop voting for Republicans; they are rooting for the problem, not for the solution.
bluestatedon on August 04, 2012 2:47 PM:
"just stop trying to make other people do things they really don't want to do."
No problem, as long as you agree that you will absorb 100% of the medical costs for treating your tobacco-induced lung cancer, your colectomy caused by years of eating meat and nothing else, and the closed head injury you sustained while riding your Harley without a helmet.
James E. Powell on August 04, 2012 2:49 PM:
@Neildsmith
The problem is that what people want or want to do is, in many ways, the product of the corporate propaganda in which we have all been marinated since early childhood. In other words, peoples 'wants' are directed toward activities that make money for somebody. This is so obvious that I can't help but believe you are being disingenuous.
Are the people who make money off of human activity really the only ones who should be allowed to talk about what activities are a good idea?
Bo Shesler on August 04, 2012 2:58 PM:
Like so many other things, the teabaggers are guilty once again of knee-jerk reaction. Here's a suggestion of a voluntary commitment that others could make if they wish to ameliorate the effects of the current drought. Instead of coming to a logical conclusion based upon the facts of the situation and the value of reducing demands on corn and feed crops, these neandertals decide to piss and moan like the whiney, adolescent, self-absorbed morons that they are.
If it weren't so pathetic, it would almost be amusing . . . like a whole herd of lemmings following each other off a cliff. Evolution cannot operate fast enough to remove these idiots from the face of the Earth before they take us all down with them.
Michael W on August 04, 2012 3:05 PM:
The problem I have with this "Meatless Monday" thing is that while, yes, you are making a political statement, it's ultimately meaningless. The animals being raised for food are still going to be watered. The only real action that can make any difference is to get a mass movement going to go more vegetarian and reduce the need for livestock for food.
It's no different from the "don't buy gas" days they used to have. Yeah, people may try and do good on that day, but they're either going to fill their tanks before the boycott day, or hope the gas in their tank will last until after the boycott day. Either way, they are still going to get the same amount of gas.
Peter C on August 04, 2012 3:15 PM:
Hells Bells! @Neil, it was a suggestion, not a law. No one is trying to 'make' you do anything. Your seeming inability to distinguish between a 'suggestion' and a 'FEMA death camp patrolled by black helicopters' just makes you look like a jerk.
g on August 04, 2012 3:22 PM:
"just stop trying to make other people do things they really don't want to do."
Neidsmith, I am sorry that you have such little willpower that you consider a mere suggestion powerful enough to force you to eat food you don't want. It must be terrible to be so weak.
g on August 04, 2012 3:30 PM:
I believe, if I recall correctly what I read, that Senators King and Grassley considered the Meatless Monday suggestion to be an offensive affront to farmers.
Don't farmers grow vegetables too?
Neildsmith on August 04, 2012 3:31 PM:
These sorts of suggestions perpetuate the notion that liberals (and I am one - really) want to control your life. This stuff just really isn't that important. Whatever happened to "live and let live"?
Peter C on August 04, 2012 3:32 PM:
You're right, @Michael W, that 'Meatless Monday' will not produce an immediate effect and 'don't by gas' days only work if they are accompanied by 'don't use gas' days.
Still, there is not a reason that a 'meatless Monday' campaign couldn't make a reduction in the overall demand for meat at the margin. Such a reduction could influence how farmers chose to use their fields in the future. So, while the effect of a current 'meatless Monday' campaign may not be in time to assist with the current problem, it could lessen the consequences of a future drought. Part of every good 'corrective action' is some small attempt at 'preventive action' for the future.
FlipYrWhig on August 04, 2012 3:35 PM:
Like Neil, I hate how progressives are always trying to interfere with what people do with each other while naked. For example, noted progressive Rick Santorum.
mb on August 04, 2012 3:45 PM:
The suggestion to have meatless mondays is in response to a national emergency. Really only a couple of steps from a "boil water" notice that goes out after the water supply has been contaminated. I guess that too may be part of the slippery slope that leads directly to ... effectively responding to local and national emergencies in ways that mitigate damages.
Apparently that is the equivalent of controlling people's lives.
When the slope is this slippery, one wonders how we can ever hope to "focus on a few really important things" without controlling somebody's life? And we wouldn't want to do that. We'd upset "liberals" like Neil.
bluestatedon on August 04, 2012 3:46 PM:
"These sorts of suggestions perpetuate the notion that liberals (and I am one - really) want to control your life."
So in other words, you expect either hospitals and or the taxpaying public to foot your medical care after your helmetless accident on your Harley.
SadOldVet on August 04, 2012 3:47 PM:
re Michael W...
While you are correct about the amount of water consumed by animals, your comparision to "don't buy gas" days is invalid.
With the "don't buy gas" days, the amount of gas used during a week is not going to be affected much, if at all. If the "Meatless Mondays" were to get 20% participation, it is probably that those persons are not going to eat substantially more meat on the other days of the week. 20% of 1/7th of a week would be better than a 2.5% reduction in the consumption of feed animals.
We can expect that the cost of grain is going up due to horrible growning conditions this year across the breadbelt of the country. These costs will show up at the grocery in the cost of vegetables, dairy products, and especially meat.
While repuknicans only believe in the supply side of 'supply & demand'; the fact is that farm products are among the few areas now where corporate ameriKa has not distorted the basic rules of 'supply & demand'. If a substantial portion of our population participated in a 'Meatless Monday', the demand would be reduced and help hold down prices.
Probably not going to happen that 'a substantial portion' of the population will participate, but in theory it could happen.
Ken on August 04, 2012 3:50 PM:
Why aren't they going after the real villains, the Catholic Bishops who for centuries have attacked the meat industry with their "meatless Fridays"?
Neildsmith on August 04, 2012 3:56 PM:
There is such as thing called picking your battles. We live in polarized and even perilous times. Focusing on trivia like meatless mondays is an unnecessary distraction. And there is no national emergency. That's silly. But as I said, live and let live...
ckelly on August 04, 2012 4:11 PM:
@Neildsmith.. It's a goddamn suggestion and 3 Congressional douchebags reacted like infantile grade schoolers. And yeah it's kinda important since we are in a catastrophic drought. But hey, don't boil water after a flood, take the elevator in a fire and check for gas leaks after an earthquake with your goddamn lighter.. I'd hate to impinge on your freedoms.
No evolution without pressure
Neildsmith on August 04, 2012 4:27 PM:
Way back in the 80's I had a roommate. He was nuts. As soon as I had the chance I moved out, but in the meantime I learned not to antagonize him. It just made my own life miserable. Likewise in my job I have learned that even when I see things that drive me nuts, it is a waste of time to point it out. No one cares, They only care in the midst of a crisis. So I tuck away those observations and wait for a time when I can make my point for optimum effect.
In America today liberal and progressives are living with roommates (aka fellow citizens) who are nuts. We can choose to poke at them and provoke a response or we can wait until something really important happens and let the wisdom of our world view be obvious for all to see. With any luck, our composure and sensible response in a crisis will be rewarded with additional political power. If and when we solve all the rest of America's problems, perhaps then we'll be able to address the trivia that led someone to suggest meatless mondays.
Until then... "ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise."
AK Liberal on August 04, 2012 5:40 PM:
I have a couple of thoughts here. First, anyone at USDA suggesting that staff should not eat meat on any particular day of the week is politically tone deaf. Ranchers and meat packers are going to take that personally and then complain to their Congressional delegation. Congressional delegation raises a fuss, because industry in their state is unhappy. When were things any different?
Second, I don't have a problem with not eating meat on a weekly basis. It's certainly not a bad idea. But, if it's a good idea on Monday, what about the other six days of the week? Or is that just inconvenient?
R on August 04, 2012 5:43 PM:
What I understand you to be saying, Neildsmith, is that government should just stop suggesting healthy behavior (based on actual science) to millions of Americans so as to avoid ticking off a few obnoxiously ignorant legislators? Did you stop saying anything to anyone in your building that might antagonize your roommate if he overheard? As for your job, you remind me of the spineless co-workers who thank me privately for pointing out problems but would never speak up first.
K.G., is it uncharitable of me to hope that King, Grassley, and Cornyn (just putting those names together makes me cringe), along with the Chick-fil-A fan club, end up with cardiac events? I know, I know -- we'll all pay for their health care, one way or another, but it just might be worth it.
Neildsmith on August 04, 2012 6:21 PM:
R,
In a rational world, of course you do all sort of things to help people. I just happen to think American political discourse is currently irrational. That requires a different strategy. I am merely suggesting that progressives take a different approach. I have one goal - to discredit and defeat the evil GOP. They are, in fact, evil. So when my fellow progressive go off on a tangent, I become concerned. Really - that's it. Don't be so dramatic.
N.Wells on August 04, 2012 6:35 PM:
Yes the idea of some controlling busybody institution abusing its position of authority by proposing that we go one day a week without meat is so anti-American and against all that we hold near and dear that we should repudiate this godless commie socialist democrat liberal fatwa with all the outrage that we can muster .... oh, you said meatless Fridays, I thought you said meatless Mondays, that's okay then.
I never post on August 04, 2012 6:42 PM:
Hello... this is an Iowa issue. Vilsack is Sec of Ag; his wife is running against King; she doesn't want to give King anything like this to grouse about.
John B. on August 04, 2012 7:28 PM:
Chuck Grassley is, has been, and always will be a moronic wingnut. I knew him personally when he was first running for Congress in the mid-'70s. I interviewed him on radio in the early '80s. I followed his career for decades. He absolutely is one of the dumbest, most historically ignorant, racially biased, prevaricating, corrupt corporate-suckups in Congress.
If he ever was "supposed to be one of the 'reasonable ones'" it came about only because the Republican Party has jerked radically to the right and the Conventional Political Press is now filled with equally historically-stupid horse-race touts who pay no attention to what Grassley does; they merely dutifully transcribe what he tells them -- without any regard for the truth.
Hedda Peraz on August 04, 2012 7:35 PM:
Rather than double up on the meat, just go to the heart of the matter (water useage), and let your shower run all night!
That's show them liberal conservationists!
Matt on August 04, 2012 7:45 PM:
USDA "suggestions" don't make people stop eating meat. High meat prices make people stop eating meat. Full stop, end of discussion.
How might we go about raising the price of meat? Here are a few ideas.
1. Allow anthropogenic climate change to go unchecked, leading to more droughts in the places where we grow corn and other silage. Less feed=less cows=pricier meat.
2. Resist moving away from an all-car, all-petroleum economy. That will increase demand for fuel ethanol, which will raise the price of feed corn, which will raise the price of the livestock that eats feed corn.
3. Politically weaken the USDA and other agencies tasked with increasing American agricultural efficiency. (By, for example, aggressively intervening over rancher objections to quarantine sick animals, to prevent outbreaks of livestock-killing diseases.) Less regulation = more chance of catastrophe = expensive meat.
Which party is more likely to achieve these policy objectives? Republicans, hands down. Honestly, if you wanted to make sure that only the 1% could afford meat in the long run, you have got to vote Grassley. There's no other choice.
TCinLA on August 04, 2012 7:47 PM:
I haven't eaten meat 24/7 for nearly 10 years now. My last physical, my cholesterol was 152, my blood pressure was 123/64, my weight was 165, perfect for my height and the same as it was when I lettered on the swimming team in Sr. Year of high school. And the doctor said in conclusion, "You're in excellent shape, sir, for a 50 year old."
An age I passed 18 years ago.
So please all you Republican morons, eat more fatty rare meat, That way you'll get to be "good Republicans" and beautify America by pushing up daisies, much faster.
I notice Representative Batshit-Crazy King also believes in animal abuse and torture, which probably puts him at the top of the list for donations from the American Corporate Torture Food industy, aka the cattlemen's associations.
cwolf on August 04, 2012 9:51 PM:
...And Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, proudly posted a photo to his Facebook page showing a Caligulian smorgasbord of animal flesh that his Senate colleagues were preparing to scarf down as a protest against USDA.
Good, I relish(uh huh) the sight (or thought) of those vultures clogging their arteries then slowly & painfully dying from "complications" of diabetes.
James M on August 04, 2012 10:32 PM:
Neildsmith- glad to see that you aren't a 'concern troll'!
I stopped eating meat almost 30 years ago so I am somewhat biased here! However, even before I stopped I often thought that modern people (and Americans in particular), ate too much meat. If you look at the history of human development, the ability to eat meat 3 times a day is relatively recent development.
Homo Sapiens Sapiens appeared around 200,000 years ago(Wikipedia). We were hunter-gatherers who would be lucky to eat any meat more than a couple of times a week from then until the Green Revolution 10,000 years ago. Even after that only a small privileged majority had access to large quantities of meat on a regular basis. However, now the average sedentary car-commuting suburbanite consumes 2 or 3 times more protein than is necessary even for a world-class bodybuilder.
I never try to tell people what to eat, still, as most of the commenters have observed, this seems like nothing more than a silly, knee-jerk response to a harmless and well-intentioned (if somewhat politically naive) suggestion.
PTate in MN on August 05, 2012 2:20 AM:
James M: "...the ability to eat meat 3 times a day is relatively recent development. "
Actually, when I was a child in the 50s & 60s, we didn't eat as much meat as we do today. A roast was something special, Sunday dinner. And most of the meat that we ate was stretched somehow. My family wasn't poor, this was basic home economy, and the diet of the WASP culture I grew up in. As Americans have grown more prosperous, we have grown accustomed to eating more meat more often. Excess has become the new normal.
This USDA thing is sad. So someone in the USDA said, "OMG, meat prices are going up. What can we do?" and someone with basic economics said, "well, if we can lower demand, prices won't go up as much....hmmm, maybe we could try meatless Mondays?" and conservatives go apesh*t. This isn't about health or lifestyle preferences, this is the kind of economic thinking that might not occur to a lot of people and could be helpful. It is actually more in the line of "compound interest is your friend" than "we want you to wear a helmet to save your brain in case of accident."
As someone upthread says, Republicans are the problem, not the solution.
Neildsmith: While I agree with your basic strategy--don't rile up the crazies with the lifestyle stuff--I don't think we can avoid it. Our "roommates" are 14-year olds with anger management issues for whom "liberty" means never having to change your behavior to accommodate the needs of others. They are going to fight for their right to leave their trash all over the room and have the TV on 24/7 and don't you ever, ever dare ask them to turn the TV down (much less off) or help clean the room! In their mind, all requests coming from adults will cost them uniquely and must be resisted. But, unlike with your college roommate, we don't have the option of moving out. We have to live with them. So we have to talk nice to them, make suggestions, even knowing that the irrational little jerks are going to start kicking and screaming over god knows what.
pj in jesusland on August 05, 2012 5:24 AM:
Irrigation systems, whether for crops, golf courses or lawns are a real problem, particularly in arid and semi-arid environments. When Sen. Cornyn's Oglala Acquifer dries up he'll be singing a different tune.
Robert on August 05, 2012 9:50 AM:
Meat isn't the only thing I'm not eating these days. Being poor or very close to poverty is automatically causing a "meatless" day or two in my household. I'm just waiting for the day when our corporate masters take all water away from the citizens to cool the "reactor cores" before they "China Syndrome" our asses. It will be the lack of water and not oil that will take down our civilization. We continue to poison (frack) our water resources, while dumping oil and other poison into the world's water. We should thank the Koch boys who have purchased most of the corrupt government we now have squashing any sort of air and water regulation. We will still be able to drive to our own funerals caused by starvation, or cancer caused by ingesting the poisons injected into our environment by the corporate manipulation of the regulations. Happy Sunday thoughts Huh?
Jonny on August 05, 2012 9:54 AM:
Neildsmith - "live and let live" is killing us all - are you really that stupid or are you doing it on purpose?
If there is less demand for cows, there will be less cows raised, less water used - see how that works?
Jeebus Captcha SUCKS!
SecularAnimist on August 05, 2012 1:04 PM:
As reported in The New York Times this past March, a large, long-term study by the Harvard School of Public Health found "staggering" increases in mortality from even moderate consumption of red meat -- and significant reductions in mortality from even modest reductions in meat consumption:
The HSPH press release adds: