… to Niemoller.
When it was melamine in the cat food, I said nothing, for I did not use that brand of cat food.
When it was anti-freeze in the toothpaste, I said nothing, for that brand of toothpaste is supposedly not even imported to this country.
But now it is fugu in the monkfish, and even though I have probably not had monkfish in 20 years, I’m saying something. I’m not even sure how one would confuse the two!
Here are some pictures of fugu. Here are some more. The Wikipedia article on them includes this picture:
Ok, now here are some pictures of monkfish. They aren’t even close to the same shape! The official NOAA FAQ on monkfish includes this picture:
I’ve left that picture bigger than the other to illustrate a point: Monkfish are a lot bigger than fugu, as this restauranteur and Julia Childs illustrate.
Now, even before this news broke, the United States was asking for changes to the “food safety relationship” with China. And predictably, China doesn’t like it. However, like it or not some changes are critical inasmuch as big agri-business is fighting efforts to put country of origin labels (“COOL”) on food.
So my question is this: how much tainted food does one country have to send us before we start wondering if maybe we should stop letting them send food at all?
In closing: Europe and Japan will likely have more economic growth than the United States this year, so much for being strangled by socialism and high taxes; Congressmice are catching heat about the immigration bill, maybe it will do Trent Lott some good to answer his own phone; Al Gore is “on fire” now that he isn’t running for anything; opposition to the Iraq war is at an all-time high, and all the American people got was a minimum wage hike from their Congressmice (yes I’m still mad, can you tell?); oh yeah, and it turns out “intelligence experts” knew how bad things would get over there; it’s long and long-winded but don’t miss George Lakoff debunking all the spin guys like Harry Reid have been spewing about the war funding bill; and finally one person in Congress who isn’t a Congressmouse. I’m glad I had a chance to vote for him.