Learning To Think Like A Maryland Progressive

Posted on August 10, 2014 by Tony Heller

There are no hunting or fishing stores here in Columbia, MD. The Dick’s Sporting Goods store doesn’t have a hunting or fishing section, though they do in “all their other stores.”

Progressives are more than happy to eat meat from an animal which was raised in miserable conditions and met a miserable violent death in a slaughter house, but the thought of someone killing an animal for food, is just too offensive to them.

About Tony Heller

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39 Responses to Learning To Think Like A Maryland Progressive

  1. kentclizbe says:
    August 10, 2014 at 10:37 pm

    You’ve discovered the “other side of paradise.”

    Maryland is like a foreign country to most Normal-Americans!

    Virginia–it’s a whole ‘nother way of life!

    Reply
  2. Bob Greene says:
    August 10, 2014 at 10:40 pm

    You live in a place that has little fishing and hunting. Why have floor space that doesn’t sell? Well stocked stores on the Delmarva and in Virginny. I spend as little time as possible in the People’s Democratic Republic of Maryland.

    Reply
  3. geran says:
    August 10, 2014 at 10:46 pm

    Progressives, properly supervised, make great entertainment. (See Hollywood.)

    Progressives, out of control, destroy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. (See numerous socialist dictatorships.)

    Reply
    • mjc says:
      August 10, 2014 at 11:38 pm

      Properly supervised would be a zoo exhibit…or another planet (like Mars…let’s see how well their CO2 induced warming works, we’ll even pre-thaw whatever frozen CO2 is already there).

      Reply
  4. Latitude says:
    August 10, 2014 at 10:55 pm

    no fishing section??…that’s weird….Maryland has thousands of miles of shorelines and there’s streams, lakes, rivers all over the place….plus you would think they would even have it for people going to vacation

    Reply
  5. higley7 says:
    August 11, 2014 at 12:07 am

    Oh, come on! How stereotypical to assume that animals we raise must be raised under horrible conditions. IN fact, most animal raising is under strict scrutiny and great effort is taken for them to be slaughtered humanely. It is the extremists who like to claim such inhumane conditions, with only the rare badly run operation as the example that at they claim is common.

    Get a life. Start using you head. We are kind to animals but we are also meat eaters first, and vegetable eaters second. Starches are extraneous.

    Reply
    • stevengoddard says:
      August 11, 2014 at 12:08 am

      It depends where you are. Northern Colorado industrial animal farming is beyond deplorable.

      Reply
      • Gail Combs says:
        August 11, 2014 at 4:57 pm

        It is not only beyond deplorable, it is idiotic. Crowded conditions cause disease to mutate and to spread like wildfire.

        By subsidizing grain the USA made grain-fed competitive with grassfed and commercial interests with no interest in the animals welfare took advantage.

        Here is one side:
        http://agricultureproud.com/2012/09/27/ask-a-farmer-does-feeding-corn-harm-cattle/

        And the other:
        http://www.lilponderosabeef.com/why-grass-fed/

        From some very old snippets I have kept:

        Industrial farm animal production (ifap)

        …. In fact, while some industrial agriculture representatives were recommending potential authors for the technical reports to Commission staff, other industrial agriculture representatives were discouraging those same authors from assisting us by threatening to withhold research funding for their college or university. We found significant influence by the industry at every turn: in academic research, agriculture policy development, government regulation, and enforcement….

        CAGW is not the only ‘guided’ discussion.

        This is from a long report from PEW. (I do not know if the pdf is still available.)

        … The current trend in animal agriculture is to grow more in less space, use cost-efficient feed, and replace labor with technology to the extent possible. This trend toward consolidation, simplification, and specialization is consistent with many sectors of the American industrial economy. The diversified, independent, family-owned farms of 40 years ago that produced a variety of crops and a few animals are disappearing as an economic entity, replaced by much larger, and often highly leveraged, farm factories. [Think banksters and interest, though it is often companies like Smithfield. Changing regs means new building requirements keep farmers in perpetual debt. – nice system of slavery huh?] The animals that many of these farms produce are owned by the meat packing companies from the time they are born or hatched right through their arrival at the processing plant and from there to market. The packaged food products are marketed far from the farm itself.

        These trends have been accompanied by significant changes in the role of the farmer. More and more animal farmers have contracts with “vertically integrated” 1 meat packing companies to provide housing and facilities to raise the animals from infancy to the time they go to the slaughterhouse. The grower does not own the animals and frequently does not grow the crops to feed them. The integrator (company) controls all phases of production, including what and when the animals are fed. The poultry industry was the first to integrate, beginning during World War 11 with War Department contracts to supply meat for the troops. Much later, Smithfield Farms applied the vertical integration model to raising pork.

        ..The economic disparity between industrial farms and those that retain locally owned and controlled farms may be due in part, to the degree in which money stays in the community. Locally owned and controlled farms tend to buy their supplies and services locally, thus supporting a variety of local businesses. This phenomenon is known as the economic “multiplier” effect, estimated at approximately seven dollars per dollar earned by the locally owned farm. In contrast, ifap facilities under contract to integrators have a much lower multiplier effect because their purchases of feed, supplies, and services tend to leave the community, going to suppliers and service providers mandated by the integrators. Researchers in Michigan documented the magnitude of this difference by tracking local purchases of supplies for swine production. Abeles-Allison and Connor found that local expenditures per hog were $ 67 for the small, locally owned farms and $46 for the larger, industrialized farms (the $ 21 difference is largely due to the larger farms’ purchases of bulk feed from outside the community) (Abeles-Allison and Connor, 1990)….

        Today, the swine and poultry industries are the most vertically integrated, with a small number of companies overseeing most of the chicken meat and egg production in the United States. In contrast, the beef cattle and dairy industries exhibit very little or no vertical integration.

        According to a recent Tufts University study, the overproduction of agricultural crops such as corn and soybeans due to US agricultural policy since 1996 has, until recently, driven the market price of those commodities well below their cost of production (Starmer and Wise, 2007? ), resulting in a substantial discount to ifap facility operators for their feed. The Tufts researchers also point out that, because of weak environmental enforcement, ifap facilities receive a further subsidy in the form of externalized environmental costs. In total, the researchers estimate that the current hog ifap facility receives a subsidy worth just over $ 10 per hundredweight, or just over $ 24 for the average hog, when compared with the true costs of production (Starmer and Wise, 2007? ; a Starmer and Wise, 2007? ).

        Currently, only half of all antibiotics are slated for human consumption. The other 50% are used to treat sick animals, as growth promoters in livestock, and to rid cultivated foodstuffs of various destructive organisms. This ongoing and often low-level dosing for growth and prophylaxis inevitably results in the development of resistance in bacteria in or near livestock, and also heightens fears of new resistant strains “jumping” between species…(who, 2000) (Think E-coli)

        Despite increased recognition of the problem, the Infectious Disease Society of America (isda) recently declared antibiotic-resistant infections to be an epidemic in the United States (Spellberg et al., 2008). The CDC estimated that 2 million people contract resistant infections annually and, of those, 90,000 die. A decade ago, the Institute of Medicine estimated that antimicrobial resistance costs the United States between $4 and $5 billion annually, and these costs are certainly higher now as the problem of resistance has grown and intensified worldwide (Harrison et al., 1998).

        Because bacteria reproduce rapidly, resistance can develop relatively quickly in the presence of antimicrobial agents, and once resistance genes appear in the bacterial gene pool, they can be transferred to related and unrelated bacteria. Therefore, increased exposure to antimicrobials (particularly at low levels) increases the pool of resistant organisms and the risk of antimicrobial-resistant infections….

        …the high degree of consolidation in the meat packing industry has created a near monopoly in that sector.….

        Research consistently shows that the social and economic well-being of rural communities benefits from larger numbers of farmers rather than fewer farms that produce increased volumes. In rural communities where fewer, larger farms have replaced smaller, locally owned farms, residents have experienced lower family income, higher poverty rates, lower retail sales, reduced housing quality, and persistent low wages for farm workers.

        The food animal industry’s shift to a system of captive supply transactions controlled by production contracts has shifted economic power from farmers to livestock processors. Farmers have relinquished their once autonomous animal husbandry decision-making authority in exchange for contracts that provide assured payment but require substantial capital investment. Once the commitment is made to such capital investment, many farmers have no choice but to continue to produce until the loan is paid off. Such contracts make access to open an competitive markets nearly impossible for most hog and poultry producers, who must contract with integrators (meat packing companies) if they are to sell their product.
        The information in this piece is adapted from the writings of Robyn Van En, CSA of North America (CSANA); Liz Manes, Colorado State University Cooperative Extension; and Cathy Roth, University of Massachusetts Extension Agroecology Program.

        http://www.pewtrusts.org/uploadedFiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/Reports/Industrial_Agriculture/PCIFAP_FINAL.pdf

        Reply
    • Dave G says:
      August 11, 2014 at 7:51 pm

      hig7 watch “Food Inc”

      Reply
  6. Dan W. says:
    August 11, 2014 at 12:09 am

    You will need to plan an excursion across the border to Anne Arundel county where you will find the Bass Pro Shop fishing & hunting superstore.

    Reply
  7. philjourdan says:
    August 11, 2014 at 12:34 am

    THe retailer I worked for (went out of business 20 years ago) had sporting goods (read: Hunting and fishing) in all their Maryland stores (the closest was probably Rockville to you). And they did ok.

    That is how much it has changed in 20 years.

    Reply
  8. gregole says:
    August 11, 2014 at 1:21 am

    Somebody is fishing in Md: http://dnr2.maryland.gov/Fisheries/Pages/Recreational.aspx

    Hunting too! http://www.dnr.state.md.us/huntersguide/

    Steven,

    I’m jealous! You seem to have found a pretty darn nice place to hang your hat. Ignore the idiots – unfortunately they are just about everywhere these days.

    So y’all in Md have to cross the the state border to get to a retailer to buy your sporting goods. Man that is weird!

    Reply
  9. Ben Vorlich says:
    August 11, 2014 at 9:00 am

    In the UK many children, and adults for that matter, have no idea where dairy and meat products come from.

    Reply
    • mjc says:
      August 11, 2014 at 10:06 am

      Don’t worry…most of urban USA folks don’t either.

      Reply
      • Gail Combs says:
        August 11, 2014 at 5:00 pm

        +1

        Ain’t that the truth!

        Reply
        • James the Elder says:
          August 11, 2014 at 10:06 pm

          I grew up killing, gutting and cutting. I can and will do it again if necessary, but prefer the local butcher to do the work now. The smell of warm blood is never forgotten.

        • mjc says:
          August 11, 2014 at 10:25 pm

          I’ll never forget one Thanksgiving day that ended up being pure hell. Earlier in the week it was cold…but that day it warmed up to around 50. Most everyone else in the house was down with the flu. So in addition to cooking the traditional feast, I had to butcher 3 deer, by myself. And that day started at 5:30 AM with me milking the cow. Since then, I too prefer the local butcher…

          Needless to say I know EXACTLY where meat and dairy come from (just a warning…don’t ever let your cow or goat get into a patch of ramps (a kind of wild leek, for those that don’t know).

        • Gail Combs says:
          August 11, 2014 at 10:33 pm

          Guys, I’ve got this buck goat I need to butcher and I faint at the sight of blood….

        • matayaya says:
          August 14, 2014 at 5:12 pm

          Gail, instead of making this a red meat, liberal vs conservative thing, there are ways to help poor urban kids get out into the countryside and experience a farm for a day or two. There are a number philanthropic organization make it possible to do just that. Pitch in.

      • philjourdan says:
        August 12, 2014 at 6:30 pm

        Yes we do! Milk comes from a silo off of 95. Meat comes from the butcher. 😉

        Reply
  10. Charles R. Anderson says:
    August 12, 2014 at 8:56 am

    I take it you want to hunt or fish somewhere within biking distance of Columbia, MD. Fishing in that range should be easy, but I have some doubts about hunting. Of course the deer are very plentiful all around Columbia and down toward Silver Spring, but there is no hunting here. I see deer and foxes all the time around my laboratory in Columbia and on by drive home to northern Silver Spring. It appears there is rifle hunting in Carroll and Frederick Counties, which are adjacent to Howard County to the north and northwest.

    Reply

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