Tom,

I was just about to post on this, but glad you did so, and so well.  A "jaw-dropper" indeed.

Tonight we celebrate this administration's LAST S.O.T.U.  Hopefully we can put our heads down and get through these last 358 days.

Peace, kmf _________________ "In the long view, no nation is healthier than its children, or more successful than its farmers" -Harry S. Truman

A funny story. -

I had been a vegetarian all my life. I was raised in a Hindu family. No meat + no fish. I moved from London, UK to America. Everyone here eats meat. My husband also eats meat. So a few months ago, I started to wonder if I should eat meat. I looked into the Standard American Diet (SAD), all the health issues, all the ethical issues, all the treatment in the factory farming, all the organic methods, all the economic issues and all the world food distrubution issues, all the marketing elements, and the political lobbyist form Tyson etc..

After my research, I am now a vegan!

Standard American Diet - SAD - yes it very much is!

Distiller grains have also been linked to funky cheese in our area, the heart of the dairy state. Farmers around here started to notice their cheese had bad flavor. A few more months of researching the problem led back to the introduction of distillers grains in the diet of the animals producing milk for the cheese.

The saddest part is, several of these farmstead cheesemakers lost EVERYTHING and are off the farm because it took too long to discover, and there is no recourse. All because someone sold them industrial byproduct as feed from the local ethanol plant. It is too late to save these farmers, but hopefully more can wake up and prevent more destruction of our delicate local food chain.