This is my long overdue post about food.

Pure, plain, and simple, the food industry has been co-opted by the ag giants: Cargill, Pepsico, Tyson, Smithfield, Del Monte, just to name a few and topped off, of course, by Monsanto. Their goal is not to supply the populace with good wholesome nutritious food, but to make money, and they do. Lots of money. Monsanto, in 2017, pulled in approximately 2.26 billion U.S. dollars. Not small potatoes.

Big Ag has infiltrated most every aspect of food production in the U.S. and is working to do the same in Asian and African countries. Big Ag controls most all research being done in our Land Grant Universities, because they put money into the school coffers, steering the research to help them make even more money. And, of course, Big Ag has pretty much bought our senators and congressmen from federal to state levels with money and influence.

And, there is the Big Ag “Big Lie” that they are working to help feed the world. But the upshot of that lie is that they are feeding the world junk food, poisioning the people and creating a growing health crises of obesity, diabetes, cancer and so on. Plus they are poisioning the land, contributing to global warming, ruining small towns and small farms, exerting more and more control over what is left of rural America. They will crush anyone or anything that gets in the way, new or better ideas toward sustainable agriculture, be damned. They don’t want anyone to think that enough food can be grown on a smaller sustainable level to feed the masses. I say they are full of greed laden bullshit.

You may think my ideas are sacreligious and unfounded, but all this information and more is readily available on the internet. I have seen and witnessed it pretty much first hand over my life, as you can see if you have read the previous parts of this rant. So I wish you well for better food choices, better health, and creating a critical mass to ruin the profits of these giant corporations and bring back more wholesome food grown in your localin a sustainable method. Support local small growers.

Of course, there is the issue of overpopulating the planet which may be a topic for another day.

Every Sunday, I try to post an excerpt from my novel, The Awakening of Russell Henderson. Here’s another. The book is available at http://www.amazon.com/author/edwardlehner.

One evening when Hanna and I were coming in from the hot tub, I noticed a I had a voice mail from Mom, “Russell, Dad’s in the hospital. Please call me as soon as you get this.” 

Panicked, I called back immediately, “Mom? I got your message. Hospital? What’s wrong? Is he okay?” 

He had a little heart attack.”

I couldn’t say anything for a few breaths, “How bad? When?”

“Yesterday. He’s in the Iowa City Hospital Heart Unit.”

“How is he? How serious was it?!”

“He had a dual by-pass. There was little a complication so he has to stay in the hospital for a few days. He would like to see you and Karen. Could you come home?”

“Of course we’ll come. I’ll try to get us a flight tomorrow. I’ll call you when I know. Are you okay?” I asked desperately.

“No, not really. There’s Donny and now this. I’m at my wits end. But the doctors here are very good. They say Roy’ll have a complete recovery, but he’s going to have to start watching his diet and start exercising. That’ll be the hardest part for him.”

“Mom, I’ll call you soon as I know something. Tell Dad hello and we’ll be there as soon as we can.”

“Thanks, Russell. I’ll be so happy to see you two kids. This’s all been real hard on us you know, Donny and everything.”

“I know, Mom. I know. I’m sorry. I will call as soon as I know something. Okay?”

“I know that’ll make Dad happy. Hear from you soon.” She clicked off.

I called Karen who started to cry. Hanna overheard and she was upset. “When you go, I’m going with you.”

“Not a good idea. You know our family dynamic.”

“I don’t care about that. I care about you. You and Karen both. I’m coming, no argument!”