If Korean netizens did not like the Washington Post article on the mad cow protest, they certainly will not like the one by Reuters since it is a fair description of the affair and how a leftist agenda has used false rumors spread through SMS and the internet, along with the latest digital gear, to advance its cause.
Whether or not this latest form of political protest will have any benefit for Korean society is yet to be determined, but it is not likely that any good should come from quick lies, gossip and political intrigue.
71 Comments
Both links head to the Reuters article.
I have been trying to alert the US media about what is happening here in Korea. I hope that this Reuters article is an indication that the US media will soon begin to look at exactly what is happening in these protests and to inform their viewers accordingly. Of course, the Koreans will start crying foul once the outside world starts analyzing what is fueling all the venom and bitterness in these insane anti-US protests, which make the typical Islamic anti-US rallies seem less crazy, if that is even possible.
Blue balls. The heading of the article promised much, but the body didn’t deliver.
Hang in there LMB!
The tide of public opinion will turn and these confused teens, 20 and 30 somethings will start running out of steam and direction.
Don’t give into these capricious children!
WangKon936,
He’s already bent over and spread his legs. The only thing left is for the Left to impale him and then discard his carcass.
We don’t have to agree with positions taken by protesters in Korea to appreciate the fact that this example of freedom of expression is precisely what we went to Korea to defend.
It’s been 40 years since I left Korea. I love the country and its people. After over a half-century of occupation by American soldiers — many of whom are unsophisticated and uneducated, the U.S. begins to wear thin, I gather. I wish it were otherwise.
and
PRICELESS!!!
One of the co-author is “Rhee So-eui “..
a Gyopo. It must not be true.
cm,
Remember what dogbert said… there are good gyopos and bad gyopos.
Maybe Rhee is more of a John Cho gyopo rather then a Margaret Cho gyopo…
It is interesting that the protestors wish to deny those who want to
eat US beef the right to eat it. Without question, the protests
are simply mass hysteria and will cause signficant damage not only
to South Korea’s image but also to its economy.
I wish the gyopos would wear hats or badges or armbands so we know for sure which ones to avoid. (Pawi changes his gravatar everyday to stay ahead of the sheriff.)
I was talking about all this yesterday with a geneticist friend. He told me BSE can get into your system but not show up for a decade, which certainly does seem scary. At the same time he agreed that Korean concerns were massively overblown. That said I have to agree with Sonagi that testing should be encouraged rather than discouraged by the FDA.
Testing a cow costs $25 I’ve read — Mizar5 says $20 — adding a little over 10 cents a pound to the retail price, is that right? $0.10 a pound?!!?? Beef is on average around $4-ish a pound. All this over ten cents? Test the freaking cows, especially for the Korean and Japanese markets! $0.10 is nothing! It’d probably be made up for in increased sales anyway. What’s the big problem? And the US gov’t preventing BSE testing?!? That’s absolutely outrageous.
$0.10/lb? Is this a joke? Maybe the Koreans have a point despite all the absurd hype. What am I missing here? Wow, I’ve been stunned again and again by underestimating the power of the farm lobby.
(A root cause imo: someone in a small-population state like Wyoming has 70 times the representation in the Senate as I as a Californian have, because each state gets two senators. There are a lot of small ag states, so they get way too much power, on top of the straight out campaign finance corruption of US politics.)
And what’s the deal; is the US still feeding pigs to cows and cows to pigs? One thing that’s true: US beef is all fucked up. Corn, hormones, it’s all pretty bad for the cows and then also for you. On top of that, beef is environmentally unsound (1,500 gallons of water and 80 lbs of CO2 emissions for every pound of beef).
Ten cents a pound? Is that possible? Please someone tell me I’m wrong. I hope I am.
I wish the gyopos would wear hats or badges or armbands so we know for sure which ones to avoid.
Just don’t put us into cattle cars…that’s all I ask.
Cattle cars might indeed infect you, but I’m just looking for clarity between the good ones and the bad ones. I know to turn the channel on Margaret Cho, , or to have a dense loogie ready should Robert Kim appear, but a person needs guidance in these multicultural times.
Cattle cars might indeed infect you, but I’m just looking for clarity between the good ones and the bad ones. I know to turn the channel on Margaret Cho, , or to have a dense loogie ready should Robert Kim appear, but a person needs guidance in these multicultural times.
Perhaps these righteous upstanding folks can provide you with some guidance. Good luck.
http://www.stormfront.org/forum/
“Maybe the Koreans have a point despite all the absurd hype.”
Naw.. How many Korean cows do Koreans test? Yeah, that’s right. It’s the old adage, clean up your own back yard before you criticize the other (who in this case, has a far better system despite its faults). Koreans should be glad they can buy cheaper, safer US beef.
I hope you do understand that I was joking off dogbert’s bizarro good/bad dichotomy?
And anyway, some of my best friends…(oops)
CMM, equivocating over Korean beef testing misses the point I think. The FDA is impeding free and fair competition, US beef sales suffer, and America’s image is thrashed over a max potential 3.3% price increase? If I’m a beef producer I’m not allowed to test by the FDA? As an American that really rubs me wrong.
I meant CM, not CMM, sorry.
Sorry to harp on this again but:
We could increase BSE testing ten times (one in a hundred instead of one in a thousand cows) and it’d only raise beef prices by ONE THIRD OF ONE PERCENT??
Are my numbers wrong? What am I missing?
How much does it cost to make a food product kosher parve? Yet practically all manufacturers do it, right? They do it because enough customers want it, not because they’re kosher themselves. Isn’t this similar? I must be missing something, right?
Wait a second — what was I thinking? Not 3.3%, but 4%. So improve testing by a factor of ten and we tack on 0.4% to the price.
I’m sorry to bombard the threads like this but I just don’t understand why we don’t test more if it’s so cheap. I find myself horrified to be taking a similar position to the protesters, except that unless the information is wrong, mine’s based on simple logic, don’t you think? Your customer wants something and if you can you give it to them, right? Simple as that.
(BTW exporting US beef will raise beef prices in the US, which will continue to rise anyway unless oil and corn crash… Want to make money in real estate? Screw plummeting houses; try farm land.)
“Naw.. How many Korean cows do Koreans test? Yeah, that’s right. It’s the old adage, clean up your own back yard before you criticize the other (who in this case, has a far better system despite its faults). Koreans should be glad they can buy cheaper, safer US beef.”
Well, within the context of the Korean beef protests, I’m sure, but I think day4night was focusing solely on the issue within the context of domestic policy.
“I wish the gyopos would wear hats or badges or armbands so we know for sure which ones to avoid.”
As long as we don’t get ‘relocated’ into an ‘internment camp’…
And I also thought dogbert’s Chris Rock thing was a bit weird.
“I wish the gyopos would wear hats or badges or armbands so we know for sure which ones to avoid.”
Yeah… maybe gyopos should wear yellow Stars of David on their ches… whoops… got a little too serious there…
“I wish the gyopos would wear hats or badges or armbands so we know for sure which ones to avoid.”
Yeah… maybe gyopos should wear yellow Stars of David on their ches… whoops… got a little too serious there…
Yeah, it’s not good for trying to get rid of that Korean Han thingy that expats love to harp on (right up there next to fan death).
As long as the identification of a case of BSE has the potential to completely destroy the export market for a couple of years, as country X and Y hysterically close the door on any an all US beef imports immediately upon a positive test, there’s a massive disincentive towards testing.
Really, the beef industry is caught between two completely undesirable options here… Test 100%, and they’re sure to turn up one or two cases of BSE in the population, leading to the aforementioned collapse of the export market. Don’t test at all, and they give the impression that they’re ignoring the problem, leading to a lot of bad feelings and closing doors.
So yeah… they test a bit to make sure they look like they’re doing something, remove from the market the parts of the cows that are most likely to infect people, and cross their fingers.
In a rational world, yes. In a rational world, a positive test for BSE would be met with a hearty pat on the back and a chorus of ‘good job’ from the consumer, since that would be one less BSE-infected steak on the table of Joe America and Bob Korea. But the world really isn’t like that. Nor is the average customer as interested in safety as they are the illusion of safety — look how many people buy SUVs.
That actually depends on whether or not the increase in price due to increased demand outpaces per-unit savings on fixed costs (stuff like farm land and the hammers they use to bash in the cows’ skulls)… Economies of scale and all that. I’m no economist, so I can’t really say whether or not prices would actually rise if US beef were exported to more countries. Plus, I don’t eat beef, so I don’t really care.
I’ve sworn off criticizing kyopos. All I ask is that while you’re in the U.S. please don’t take advantage of Americans’ general unwillingness to hold mass anti-Korean protests to commit heinous crimes (a la Cho Seung-hui) or engage in espionage. TIA
In that case the protesters’ concerns aren’t entirely invalid, are they? When you consider that one infected cow gets blended in with hundreds of others to make hamburger meat for example, the risks increase. And then when you consider that you might eat infected beef now and the proteins in your brain might only start mis-folding four or more years later, then the threat become scarier. The safety issues seem real, even if overblown by protesters’ hype. Also, if many Koreans already have low trust toward Americans then the reactions begin to start to make sense.
If the USDA believes there really are some BSE cases out there, why don’t we implement the bans on feeding cows blood, bone chips, etc? I don’t have a clear picture of this stuff yet, but it’s becoming obvious that something really doesn’t add up about US beef.
Maybe more of this really is about beef than we were, or at least I was, thinking.
In that case I wouldn’t want to import US beef either, and maybe I should join you and stop eating it… Or maybe I should only eat grass-fed beef, something I was actually considering before all of this.
Prices would have to rise until supply could meet the new demand. It’s not really about increased economies of scale as much as it’s about the lag time in physically increasing supply of commodities, in this case beef and corn, to meet the new demand. So I should have clarified; we’d see upward pressure on beef prices (as well as corn) until we passed through the lag time. Futures prices of live cattle (and corn because that’s the feed for US cattle) reflect this if you look at them next to the dates of trade agreements, bans, and size of US exports etc. Corn would see upwards pressure too, though the lag for grains is usually shorter. But obviously it’s not a one-to-one ratio or anything, right. All this could be complicated/exacerbated by the current state of the commodity markets. And the increase wouldn’t be tremendous, I’m all in favor of sensibly regulated trade, btw.
Also, I read around a little and it seems testing for mad cow currently costs more like $50 a head when you consider labor, not $25. Still cheap, and like most tech should fall in price with time. The most exhaustive tests are around $300.
day4night, the short answer to all your questions about why the US government doesn’t test all cattle, or more cattle, is that the current testing procedure is WORTHLESS in terms of protecting the current food supply chain, and is used for disease surveillance with postmortem testing.
Please read this post very carefully, several times if necessary.
Yes, $0.10 a pound may sound insignificant, but it is a ridiculously significant cost when compared to the value of information it provides…which is SQUAT.
Your logic is simple alright. And it’s also wrong.
‘erhaps these righteous upstanding folks can provide you with some guidance. Good luck.’
http://www.stormfront(org)/forum/
wow, some of the threads have almost a half million posts. the naver of the us?
‘gawd damn you, pawi, using your avatars to get attnetion.’ aarnom
i’m doing no such thing. i’m trying to promote famous asians to other asians. i realize that using chinese characters puts you and slim at a disadvantage but you can ask your friedns to help you understand. now, will you leave the f alone bout my avatars? ok?
Not entirely, no, although they are misplaced, considering the actual risk involved. It’s understandable, I suppose, but for the people who really want to eliminate the 1-in-a-million chance of contracting a BSE-linked case of vCJD from their life, they should just stop eating beef, since I think it’s fair to say that no beef is 100% safe. After all, tests are fallible… false negatives happen. In the end, how much effort is really justified in changing the odds from miniscule to arguably statistically less but still miniscule?
Since nobody really knows the LD50 for BSE prions, the idea that the risk increases is more or less speculation.
posted by pawi June 12, 2008 at 3:32 pm:
posted by pawi June 14, 2008 at 6:47 am:
As usual pawi, you dig your own grave.
yeah, i was speaking to the asians on this board. sorry if you misunderstood my post, blue.
pawi - when you’ve tried to write Chinese, it comes out broken, hence my Konglish reference.
The other day you TRIED to “reward” Sonagi for questioning mizar5’s concern for Korea by saying “I’m happy to know that you can sometimes see the truth.” It didn’t quite come out right, vocabulary-wise, but I got the gist. Unfortunately the gist was factually wrong because Sonagi nearly always see the truth — and you flounder desperately with the truth because you emotionally reject any notion that is unflattering to any aspect of your ancestral homeland. This is a self-imposed handicap that always puts you at a disadvantage.
I don’t claim to be alone in this, pawi, but I’ve been pwning your ass across the range of subjects since 2003 and the Shin Jong-il days. I should starting calling you pwi for short.
I think the FDA should neither encourage nor discourage testing beyond the minimum. If individual beef producers want more extensive testing to satisfy international demand, let them. Domestically, BSE is not an issue, so fears that some companies 100% testing will force everyone to are unfounded.
it didn’t come out right because it’s been 25 years since i even attempted to lean chinese. not bad, wouldn’t you say?
我(I)高興(happy)你(you)能(can)有時(have times)看(see)到(towards)真(truth)!
“I’m happy to know that you can sometimes see the truth.” It didn’t quite come out right, vocabularlywise, but I got the gist….’
that’s all that matters. slim, how do you feel if someone makes fun of your korean abiltites?
other well said quotes. from voanews:
I concede the point to you that testing more cattle would be a good pie-in-the-sky idea.
But there are at least 2 arguments that it is impractical.
First, given the precipitous increase in food imports to the US, the US govt is unable to inspect it all. Yet, tainted imports from Mexico, Argentina and China have been prominently reported lately.
The US certainly needs to (ahem) beef up food safety measures, but the real threat is not domestic, and is certainly not BSE.
Second, we’re not talking economics here, but life and death. According to the FDA, as many as 81 Americans may have died after taking heparin, a blood thinning agent, tainted in China via the addition of a poisonous chemical.
A good compromise comes to mind. All beef producers will test and smart investors can buy stock in testing equipment.
Now isn’t that better than taking to the streets with candles protesting your own welfare?
You see, not only is there a logical solution to every problem but a capitalist one as well.
slim to pawi:
“you flounder desperately with the truth because you emotionally reject any notion that is unflattering to any aspect of your ancestral homeland.”
In other words, it is better to side with the truth than to run with a lie.
Or, as pawi would put it:
我(It is)高興(better)你(you)能(not)有時(run with a lie)看(but side)到with真(the truth)!
I think every Korean-made car should be crash tested for defects before they are exported to the US. It is the only way to be 100 percent sure that they are safe for the road. Of course, there is more expense involved in the testing, but safety first, right?
There are two real-estate related plays right now. Yes, there’s the farm land angle — but why limit yourself to US farm land? Spend that money in Brazil or Argentina and you’ll get a lot more land to farm.
The other play is in rescuing homeowners from foreclosure. A lot of these foreclosures on people still in their houses will be purchasable at pennies on the dollar — buy the loan and negotiate with the “homeowner” on a haircut on the principal balance. Check out Stanford Kurland’s Penny Mac. A lot of money is going to be made this way.
“you flounder desperately with the truth because you emotionally reject any notion that is unflattering to any aspect of your ancestral homeland.”
yeah, i’m not gonna have some sushi eater school me on my ancestral homeland. ok?
A constructive solution to the issue of policing the quality of goods is summarized below. It calls for a global solution to the problem of policing the vast quantity of products that flow across the world’s borders.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/.....tml?page=1
“The main question for the US is not how to punish the Chinese, but how to assist them moving forward. Chinese citizens do not want to suffer from tainted products anymore than citizens of other countries in the world. Nor does Beijing want to see exports wither due to foreign concerns. “China needs to understand its broader long-term commercial interests here,” says Mr. Trachtman.
Right now, the FDA plans to open its Chinese offices in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. They will employ 13 people – eight from the US, and five locals.
China has yet to agree to final implementation of this plan. But under the terms of the World Trade Organization – which both the US and China belong to – the US has every right to carry out intrusive inspections in China if there is a scientific basis for them, says Gary Hufbauer, a trade and regulation expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “This has been quite damaging to China, but I think the authorities there realize this,” says Mr. Hufbauer.
Overall, the demands of policing the vast quantity of products that flow across the world’s borders are so large that they will require a global solution.”
OK, so the US gov’t says the tests don’t work, and that’s why the gov’t doesn’t want to do them very much. The tests don’t work so the gov’t just wants to do them a little. Hmmm…. Not convinced.
The obvious question: why not test all cattle over 30 months?
From the post you referred me to:
LOL! Too many false negatives? That means the US gov’t is saying we shouldn’t test because it would make US beef seem safer than it really is, you do realize that right? Yeah, that should allay our fears… And what makes you think the USDA would be responsible for tested beef? Ever hear of a disclaimer? Show me examples of banning private industry from doing whatever tests they wish on their own products, and maybe I won’t think of this as the corrupting influence of the farm lobby.
You do know that Anne Veneman, USDA head until this January, was previously a prominent beef industry lobbyist, right? Was this appointment supposed to instill confidence? The USDA’s policies on ethanol and a host of other issues have been mind bogglingly political.
And if the gov’t says the risks would be underestimated by testing then why don’t they do everything necessary to make the beef safe?
From the NY Times, June 11, 2008:
Maybe biotech like this can come to the rescue at some point.
From a commercial perspective that $0.20/lb might not be so insignificant if it means resumed beef exports btw, especially as the protesters’ concerns has so much to do with older cattle. I might also say that “kosher parve” means squat, but the USDA or less corrupt FDA is not going to get in your face for having kosher inspections…
The current Agriculture Secretary insists there’s no need to keep downed cattle out of the food supply. Well now…
Oh btw Bredon yes, Argentinian and Brazilian ag land — I’m right there with you.
BlueBalls wrote:
“the government’s brief . . . argued that BSE tests would provide a overwhelming number of false negatives.”
To this, Day4Night wrote:
“LOL! Too many false negatives? That means the US gov’t is saying we shouldn’t test because it would make US beef seem safer than it really is, you do realize that right?”
Jeffery Hodges here:
Correct me if I’m wrong, but “false negative” means that a prion for BSE is present but undetected by the test. Hence, the beef would be considered safe even if not. That’s why 100 percent testing would not provide 100 percent certainty.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
That’s EXACTLY what they’re saying. They’re saying that 100% testing does not provide 100% safety, as it would seem to imply, so companies using 100% testing as a promotional gimmick are involved in misleading and false advertising. There is no additional benefit to 100% testing as opposed to 1% or 10%. It’s very simple. Very. Simple.
There is a very small, very limited risk, and whether its 1% testing or 100% testing, that risk does not change. So yes, the US govt does not want to give the impression that you are 100% guaranteed safe from the very small risk of BSE, when in fact you are not.
What are you, a 3-year old? If you still retain significant “fears” that need to be allayed, then you’re a hysterical child, and no amount of allaying will help you. There was 1 death in the last 2 years from vJCD in the entire world. You fear that? They’re not trying to allay your fears, they’re trying to paint a scientifically accurate picture of the risk, without giving people false assurances that cannot be backed up. How difficult is that to understand?
I wonder how many E. O157:H7 deaths occur each year in Korea, especially from tainted meat. Anyone have any idea where to get those numbers?
Why not test all cows for BSE, especially for such a mere pittance ?
Let me digress….
Korea is testing all E-2, E-6 teachers for aids because they could put Korean students at risk. Yet they test none of the Korean teachers, even those who travel/work/study abroad, even though they work around the same students, and even though some have (gasp) foreign partners.
And how much testing of Korean beef is being done, even though the blood lines are primarily North American and food stuffs from north America have been extensively used and Koreans tend to eat more of the high risk parts of the cows?
Yes I forgot… Korean cows cannot catch BSE any more than condom hating Koreans on sex holidays to the Philippines can catch AIDS.
OK, let me try to get back to the point.
So apart from the overwhelmingly, insulting hypocrisy, lets ask, “Regardless of the unfairness of such expectations, why not test all American cows for BSE beyond a reasonable need, to prove to the Korean consumers that US beef is safe, especially since it will cost so little ? ”
Because,
1) It may create a false sense of security, and thus lead to an actual increase in risk… Let me explain. The volume of testing and analysis may lead to hurried/shabby procedures and perfunctory analysis resulting in false negatives. Someone has to go through all the testing/analysis, and the more you do, the more you increase the chance of human apathy/error. You want to buy the last car that rolls off the assembly line, late Friday at the end of a double shift, just before the start of a long weekend ?
Ok, let’s hire lots of good, responsible people we can trust who are not over worked and institute a double check system. At what cost ? Add a few more cents per pound, now move along.
2) People tend to lie, if they believe it is OK. “Why yes your hair cut looks great, and those pants don’t make you look fat at all dear.” So here is a farmer (or appointed tester) looking at cornering and testing 1000 head of cattle, when they have been getting nothing but negatives, the sun is hot, there is work to do. Screw it, corner a few healthy cows, take 1000 samples and send them off.
Ok, let’s make sure we have double redundancy, two testers for every sample who sign off with the rancher that everything is being done as it should be done. Add a few more cents per pound. Case closed, next ?
3) It creates resentment and worse, ill-will in the people whose judgment is continually questioned. Do you really want to piss off the waiter or cook by sending your meal back to the kitchen, and there-after should you feel comfortable with what may come back on your plate?
Come on, people are not that evil. Pay a bit more for their troubles and they will be happy enough to do a good job. Add a few more pennies per pound to appease them. All’s good.
4) Koreans who are now irrational will not suddenly become rational. They will start protesting that the testing is not adequate, accurate, or even being done as reported. Get ready for a conspiracy theory. All your efforts to appease their hostility will only redirect them, because after all, it is not about the beef anyway.
Spend a lot of time and money showing the Korean consumers that things are being done properly. An advertising campaign should do it. Hire a Korean company to head the campaign and a Swiss consulting firm to ensure the Korean public that the Korean company executives are not being bribed. Add a few more pennies per pound to cover the costs.
5) Once you start giving into their demands, there will be no end to it. Pandora’s box will be opened. They will feel empowered, yet still feel inferior to the white man. It will be like an addict chasing the dragon. Get ready to re-re-re-renegotiate everything.
Learn to live with it. It is the Korean way. Be culturally sensitive. Cover the extra administrative costs by adding a few more pennies per pound and suck it up, or get out of town.
6) Koreans are not holding themselves to the same high standards and it is not in the best interests of Koreans for America to capitulate and encourage them to throw tantrums and hold their breath until they get their way, simply on moralistic grounds.
Forgive them. They have only been a democracy for a few decades. What else do you expect from a country going through growing pains ? Lower your expectations. Send some delegates over to help educate the people in a kind and gentle fashion so as not to injure their fragile emotional state. Add a few more pennies per pound.
7) Most Koreans are not concerned. They believe US beef is delicious, cheaper and safe to eat. They want the protests to stop, and want to get back to living their lives and looking after their families.
Well then, fuck the protesters and let them eat Korean beef if they can afford it, because by now, American beef will cost 60,000 Won/kg to meet their needs (if in fact it is even possible).
I am running out of steam. Time to walk the dogs.
Long-time lurker, first time poster
“There was 1 death in the last 2 years from vJCD in the entire world.”
On the odds, Koreans should be considerably more frightened of getting in an automobile. When are we going to see a candlelight vigil outside Hyundai Motors?
James actually had the most pertinent entry in this thread. One hears much more about N. Korea while in the U.S. than when in S. Korea. It is a disgrace that the North starves its Korean citizenry and the South cares so little. Does the much-publicized “한극정” abruptly end at the DMZ? It certainly appears so since I don’t often see or hear much sympathy for the average Northerner down here.
One last observation: on the whole I find Robert’s blog to be extremely informative and most of the commenters here are both smart and humorous. However, the blog would be better off with Pawikirogi and Netizen Kim banned because they contribute little that is enlightening or positive and are almost invariably rude and obstreperous. The most positive thing Pawikirogi provides is the near-daily spectacle of his obnoxious self getting bitch-slapped into next week by other commenters. Brendon Carr seems to have a real talent for that task. While watching that is sometimes funny and occasionally hilarious, removing that daily dose of rudeness would, IMO, raise both the quality and the reputation of the blog.
Thanks for your hard work, Robert. Now it’s back to lurking.
BlueBalls:
What a classy ad hominem attack. “Our fears” as in the consumers’ fears. You should do interviews for Fox News.
Untrue. Simply. Flawed. Reasoning.
BSE tests only work on cattle over 30 months old, that’s my understanding. So testing all cattle over 30 months old will yield better results than just testing a few cattle over 30 months old.
What. Don’t. You. Understand. About. That?
You also are claiming that it’s all or nothing. 100% safe guaranteed or nothing. Why does the USDA have to guarantee anything other than having done the test if they claim to have done it? Tests are fallible and a simple disclaimer and explanation would work. Following your reasoning there should be no HIV tests given because they can only catch the disease six months after infection, just as the BSE tests won’t catch that disease until 30 months after infection. And seeing that beef importers are especially concerned with beef over 30 months testing them appears especially warranted.
This is why the EU tests only cattle over 30 months. But it tests all of them.
Now, if the USDA’s lawyer is saying that there will be an overwhelming number of false negatives, of cases where the disease is present but the tests don’t catch it, then it is only reasonable that the USDA should do what it can to lessen the odds of animals getting the disease in the first place, right? How about real action to make the beef even safer? Why not implement the ban on feeding animal remains to herbivores which many scientists think is what causes BSE in the first place? I imagine you’ll call me names and stuff again, but after you’re done with that could you please answer this question? I think it’s a central one.
About US beef in general, we feed US cattle corn which they can’t digest naturally, antibodies and hormones so they can digest enough corn before it kills them, and we feed them cow blood and other animal remains which cause genetic diseases like BSE which, while rare now, could potentially be devastating at the very least in terms of our beef industry. Does this not all sound a little odd?
Jeffrey Hodges, yes, what you said is the same as what I said. False negative. Meaning positive but falsely thought to be negative.
‘they want to test expats for hiv but don’t test koreans.’
westerners have a much higher rate of hiv infection than do koreans. that’s why they’re tested. japan and china do the same thing. so does the states. so, why the whine?
Thanks to everyone in the American time zones for writing this blog for us to wake up to this fine Saturday morning. Especially those who open themselves up to harsh tutelage from iheartblueballs.
On beef, I’ve still nothing to say. On the attitude of locals toward “official” stats, I offer this anecdote:
The life insurance guy came over on Thursday. He had the same checklist I remembered from Canada, where as a non-resident I was refused coverage.
“Do you smoke?” he asked.
“Sometimes at parties,” I said.
“I’ll say NO,”, and he ticked ‘no’ box.
“Do you drink?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
I stopped to think for a second.
“Let’s say once a week,” he said, and quickly ticked the box, before asking “How much do you drink?”
I thought about how much I would drink each time, if I only drank once per week.
“Let’s say one bottle of beer,” he offered helpfully, and ticked the boxes before I could reply.
The person whose profile was eventually completed wasn’t exactly me. Then again, life insurance here costs twice as much for less than half the coverage, compared to Canada, and so the bullshit must just be priced into the premiums. Sort of like, in a roundabout way, the price of all the bullshit here is priced into the food, too.
“westerners have a much higher rate of hiv infection than do koreans. that’s why they’re tested. japan and china do the same thing. so does the states. so, why the whine?”
Koreans have a higher rate of flag burning/biting, screaming, yelling and acting like retarded baboons. that’s why they are made fun of. japan and china do the same thing. so deoes the states. so why the whine?
‘4) Koreans who are now irrational will not suddenly become rational. They will start protesting that the testing is not adequate, accurate, or even being done as reported. Get ready for a conspiracy theory. All your efforts to appease their hostility will only redirect them, because after all, it is not about the beef anyway.’
Gosh you said a mouthful right there.
Three cases of vCJD in the U.S., none likely infected in the U.S. If you’re into conspiracy theories, don’t read this;
I have some tenderloin in the freezer right now. Will grill it up next week when a HS friend and his family will be in town on vacation.
Day4Night wrote:
“Jeffrey Hodges, yes, what you said is the same as what I said. False negative. Meaning positive but falsely thought to be negative.”
Jeffery Hodges here:
Actually, it’s “Jeffery Hodges.” Anyway, if 100 percent testing results in false negatives (and also false positives), and if the risk is so low anyway, as established by statistically significant testing already being done (if this is the case), then what would be the point of calling for 100 percent testing? That’s what I understood you to be suggesting, but perhaps I misunderstood.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Some people are real gluttons for punishment. FTAs, beef, SOFA, LoneStar etc. Doing business with Korea is just waaaayyyy to hard. There are other better opportunities out there.
It’s like the whining, ball breaking girlfriend. A real man man kicks her out and gets a better girlfriend, a wimp puts up with the bitch.
America, you are pussy whipped! Get some balls, slap that bitch and move on.
# 48 Pawi
Why not test everyone for AIDS and be certain? Isn’t that the logic being addressed ?
What is the down side ? Everybody working with children is diagnosed as negative, and everyone feels treated equally. Who loses? What exactly is your arguement?
I mean, US beef has less chance of having BSE than UK beef, so your arguement supports……?
Koreans and HIV…let me speculate. Do you think a lot of Koreans get tested? If there was a high rate of incidence, do you think it would be reported?
Think it is possible that any Korean who had AIDS might have a good chance of being purposefully/accidentally misdiagnosed with chronic lung disease or……..?
Think it is possible that any Korean who had vCJD might have a good chance of being purposefully/acidentally misdiagnosed with Alzhiemers or Dementia or………instead?
Korean beef and BSE..let me speculate. Do you think a lot of Korean cows are tested. If there was a high rate of incidence, do you think it would get reported?
Come on man. Your head can’t be that far up you ass or else you would be chewing your food twice before swallowing.
The protester don’t trust the government with regards to the mad cow thing, yet they don’t question/worry that may be, a government they feel is not acting in their best interests would be otherwise truthful about these other things???????
Talk about wanting your cake and eat it!
Korean protesters want it both ways. We trust you, but we don’t trust you.
If you live your life with your head in the sand, guess what end you are most likely to get it in …?
#36 and #49 remind us of a more serious issue these unhappy people should be concerned with than their juvenile melodramatic tantrums over beef. If the protestors are really homogenous, and really cared about the fate of their kind, they’d show some regard for their cousins up north. And they ought be thinking about what else may come with starvation from a testy northern regime. But as #58 says, hard to see with your head buried in the sand, so you catch it in the…
I like pawi’s avatars. Don’t understand most of them but they’re occasionally lulzy.
Almost everyone posting keeps missing the point of the Reuters article and that is that leftists have used the modern tools of communication to subvert political process and normal social order through lies and misinformation while attempting to redefine mainstream media as being unreliable.
Clearly, the revolution will be broadcast on cellphones and this quite deliberate.
The beef is only a red herring that is indeed fishy.
Sham Jae Hoon has probably the best piece ever written on this topic over here:
http://www.asiasentinel.com/in.....;Itemid=31
Oops. Shim Jae Hoon.
# 49…Mac..welcome to the fold
“Only that which is false, fears collision with the truth!”
…we need the dark so we can appreciate the light
The beauty of free speech, the reason it appeals to thinking people, is that it encourages debate, thoughtfulness and hopefully educates those willing to seek the truth.
I appreciate anyone who takes the time to enlighten me.
I appreciate anyone who gives me the chance to enlighten them.
That said, every party needs its poopers.
Cheers and stick around
Bump to Wedge’s link in #62. From which:
# 49, Mac…sorry, one more thing….
When I was a squash pro, I was managing a squash club owned by a very successful and very busy realtor/contractor. The club was a cash-cow for him. He could bank on the monthly dues as investment capital.
He used to frequent the club, which was a gathering place for who-was-who in the business world. It was a pleasure to watch him work the crowd.
Yet often, he would spend a night, buying drinks, talking to some of the construction crew members (part of their contract was free membership… We had saunas, steam rooms, hot tubs… Great idea to get the boys ready for the next day of hard work ;).
His time was in such demand, I found it curious he took the time to show such respect for his workers. I asked him about it and he said,
“Every man has at least one great idea. The problem is, that most men don’t have the means or self-confidence to follow through. It is my fortune that people are willing to give me their ideas, for nothing more than a little respect and a kind ear. My job is to filter the good from the bad, and then make the good work. I respect any man who trusts me enough to speak his mind in my presence. It has made me rich and has allowed me to provide good lives to the people who work around me.”
Yes, indeed “Linkd”, that is a very good article:
To some Korean netizens, “ignoring the rule of law” equals “trying to bring democracy back to the people.”
As demonstrated, what we are currently experiencing here is mob democracy and is what the ancient Greeks hated; the word and concept being Greek in origin.
Thank you for the anecdote as well “hitest”. That is wisdom at work and an inspiration.
“OMG! Crsps attikus wuz jst shot!!!1 giv me lbrty or giv me dth! lolol”
Cell phones are the new printing press. Kinda scary.
deleted (off-topic, offensive)
Zonath . . .