Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

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Venezuela: The FAO gets fooled

Food and Venezuela
Let them eat Chavismo
The UN honours Venezuela for curbing hunger—which is actually getting worse

According to the FAO, which presented the diploma on June 8th, Venezuela is one of 72 countries that have reached the UN Millennium Development Goal of halving the percentage of their populations suffering from hunger. But the prize, based on government data up to 2012, comes amid growing evidence that the trend has reversed.

As of June 2014, Venezuela ranks 182 out of 189 in the World Bank Economy Rankings. The International Monetary Fund keeps a List of IMF Member Countries with Delays in Completion of Article IV Consultations or Mandatory Financial Stability Assessments Over 18 Months. As of the writing of this post, Venezuela hasn’t held an Article IV consultation with the IMF in 114 months. The Venezuelan government has not allowed its own numbers to be verified for almost a decade.

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And the FAO fell for the Venezuelan government’s data, hook line and sinker.

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And now for something completely different: sentient plants

Since I have to maintain a low-carb, high-protein diet because of my blood sugars, I find the arguments for going vegan irrelevant. I simply would not be able to live on grains and vegetables alone, particularly since I also have a severe allergy to soy.

But the argument goes on: Since animals are sentient beings, vegans will not consume their meat.

Now it turns out plants are sentient too:
Sorry, Vegans: Brussels Sprouts Like to Live, Too

“Plants are not static or silly,” said Monika Hilker of the Institute of Biology at the Free University of Berlin. “They respond to tactile cues, they recognize different wavelengths of light, they listen to chemical signals, they can even talk” through chemical signals. Touch, sight, hearing, speech. “These are sensory modalities and abilities we normally think of as only being in animals,” Dr. Hilker said.

So, fellow human beings, honor your place in the food chain, and bon appetit!

UPDATE
Jules is on the same wavelength:

For those who just think it’s gross to eat living, sentient things, can’t help you. I’d suggest killing two birds … sorry, poor analogy … make that a two-fer. Take yourself out of the foodchain and reduce the carbon footprint to zero at the same time!

It’s either that or … celebrate life! It tastes great!

(Lots of stuff has to be attended to here at casa de Fausta, and right now I’m also fed up with politics. Blogging will deal with the non-political for the rest of today. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Thank you.)

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