Weather Forecast for Hades: Continued Cold, With Chance of Freezing Rain

… and highs in the lower teens.

Yes, friends, Hell must’ve frozen over, because for the first time ever I find myself on the same side of an issue as Rush Limbaugh.

Apparently Limbaugh is a fan of Gary Taubes’ Good Calories, Bad Calories.  I also am a fan of the book, and I hope to write a review of it soon.

Surprisingly, Limbaugh does not state explicitly that this is another example of how the government should stay out of people’s lives.  But I ask you, is it ethical or even sensible to have the United States Department of Agriculture, an agency that lists “keep[ing] America’s farmers and ranchers in business” as one of its missions, telling Americans what to eat?  Think of that the next time you look at the Food Pyramid – is there any possibility that the foods at the bottom of the pyramid have better, smarter lobbyists, with bigger lobbying budgets, than the foods at the top?  Is there any possibility that an agricultural establishment can make more money selling highly processed corn than it can selling natural beef?  Question:  how many manufacturered products in your grocery store contain large amounts of corn, including high-fructose corn syrup?  And how many manufactured products are made of beef?  How many ads do you see on TV for corn products?  How many do you see for beef products?  If those corn products didn’t make big money, manufacturers wouldn’t keep churning out more products just like them.  So which industry has more money to lobby the USDA – the corn producers, or the beef ranchers?  I’m not saying the ranchers aren’t out there spending money to persuade government officials to promote beef; I’m just saying that a look through your grocery store, at the TV ads, and yes, at the USDA Food Pyramid might tell you something about who’s winning hearts and minds at the USDA.

I’m sure my liberal readers are going to have a, sorry for the pun, cow when they read this, so let me just point out the fallacies sometimes known as Personal Attack, Poisoning the Well, and especially Guilt by Association.  Just because Rush is usually a gasbag doesn’t mean that he’s wrong this time.