Ben’s Blog

Two nights ago I watched the documentary King Corn. I was afraid that it might be too Michael Mooreish but was happily surprised and not angry. It’s not to say that I don’t enjoy Mr. Moore’s movies, but I don’t consider them documentaries as such. I walk in to his movies expecting a cross between CNN, which is pretty funny in and of itself, and an episode of Punk’d. That is if you replaced the idiot savant, trucker hat wearing, Kutcher with his bizzaro world twin, the thought provoking, overweight, acrimonious, trucker hat wearing, Moore. I can only stand Moore’s movies, when it’s about an issue that I can laugh about. I know I’m going to agree with what he’s got to say, and if all it’s going to do is piss me off even more, I just pass. He’s often such an ass to people, that I end up feeling a little sorry for the folks that he tears into, even if they deserve it.

Back to King Corn though. It was actually a great documentary. You knew the message that they were trying to get across, but they didn’t have to smash anyone, over the head to deliver it. They only stuck it to one person the entire film, and she didn’t even get it that bad. They were able to bring home the issue, namely that everything we eat in the US is made of corn, unsuitable for animals, which lacks the genetic diversity and nutrients that you’d expect to see only in shanty towns filled with toothless, barefoot families along the Appalachians. They got right in there and connected to everyone involved, from the farmers to the cattle ranchers. Everyone welcomed them, except towards the end, where it was clear that when they broached the subject of HFCS, you stopped seeing families steeped in the early farm culture of this country, and started to see how agri-politics went wrong by creating the need for someone to build an industry to turn us all into diabetic, Michael Moore looking, couch potatoes.

It rarely went over the top, and presented facts that were thought provoking. Now, I’m not going to become a vegetarian, but I have to say that I’m going to seriously consider how much red meat I eat that’s not grass fed. As a matter of fact, as I perused the aisles of Fairway that same night, I found myself surprised that the only grass fed beef they had was from Australia. I returned home and did a quick check of the old interweb to see if there were some more local products. The only ones I found were approximately 3 times the price as the meat which has crossed the globe in the pouch of a flying kangaroo. I’ll have to do more research, but in the meantime I’m yearning to do a grass vs. corn fed meat-a-licious taste off. The only problems are that to do it right, is going to require a bunch of carnivores and lots of red wine, which is not really a problem, and the fact that my “kitchen” does not really exist yet. I suppose the latter wouldn’t be a problem either if it was warn enough to bbq, since my back yard is much more, well, working, than my kitchen. In anycase, if I’m going to do this, I’ll need to find a kitchen, or get my ass in gear and just get a stove.

OK, I didn’t vote today. I’m not proud of it, but frankly in this case it really didn’t matter. Not because both candidates are not that interesting, which they are, but because as long as I consider myself a Democrat in NY, my peers in the “party” are going to make as good a call as I am. I believe in efficient markets, especially when the market only includes folks from all over the state, all with slightly different values, but who want the same outcome.
What I did realize today, is that my vote would have had more value if I was registered as a Republican. At least in that case, I could actually have some input in electing the worst candidate, the person most unlikely to win in an election. Some folks said that I’m being pessimistic, but its about making your vote count as much as possible. That’s the goal, and as far as I can tell, everyone in NY would be better off register as a Republican and vote in the primaries for the worst candidate. It goes both ways
too, so I’m not sure if I should tell the world of my plan.
At this point in US politics, with the elections being as close as they are, your better off focusing on making sure that the party you don’t want in power has the worst candidate. In NY, if you want a Democrat, your seem to be better off trying to have such a crappy Republican candidate that folks outside NY won’t vote for them. You know that the Democratic candidate is going to win NY in election. So your vote counts more when if effects how the election turns out outside the boundries in NY which you can do by voting in the Republican NY primaries.
Call me nuts. It won’t be the first time, but I do want to know if there I’d a flaw in my logic, although in that case I suppose your let me stew in my own juices.