Mary Katharine Ham. Not a Complete and Total Liar. But I'm Calling Bullshit.

This con writer/blogger has a column (sorta. That's a qualitative shot by me,) at The Daily Caller. Her weird story of the moment is about how she's some sort of rebel for drinking a glass of raw milk.

Excuse me?

Fair warning. I went to U. Vermont. Given it's full name, it's also the state ag. college (So city slicker that I am, I'm an Aggie! Cool!) So back in the day, I used to get my UVM Raw Milk, right there on campus. Not only that, but at the Agriculture Department-run Dairy Bar, you could order a milkshake and have them drop a raw egg in it.

So I'm not buying Ms. Ham's,"Tastes like freedom," bullshit. Granted, I was sorta putting my life in my college's hands. Like everything else that happened on campus, I trusted the school to do right by me. And shit. If there is anything the U. Vermont should know about, it's dairy.

Anyway . . . Ms. Ham way overstates the regulation of raw milk. Yes, it is regulated. However it's less of a government restricting purchasing choice, sort of thing, than government trying to keep dangerous food off the shelves, thing. Is that such a bad thing, given recent and deadly food crises including salmonella outbreaks? Again, I was buying UVM raw milk. The cows were a mere couple miles away at the University Farm. And the University's professors and staff were as good experts as there were in the world. I likely had less risk in drinking UVM Raw Milk than the commercial stuff I find here in NJ. I don't know where that stuff is being trucked in from. And that's the idea behind regulating things in the ordinary stream of commerce. For the most part, Americans have no idea who is in charge of the production and safety of the food they buy and eat. Regulations are there, because of that.

I know some people are ideologically driven to hate government restrictions. To a great extent I think that's a legacy of ignorant, outlaw, twisted anti-social thinking. I'd call it redneck thinking. Others might call it libertarianism. In any case, that sort of twisted liberty thinking can be very thoughtless at times. Shit. Even before I read that article, sometimes I'd be there in the supermarket and I think, shit. We are very trusting, ain't we? As we have no idea how things are where this food was produced, or during the transport stages, either. We just fork over money and cook and eat the stuff not knowing a damn thing about it, where it came from (often,) and how it got to our town.

But for Mary Katharine Ham, drinking a glass of Raw Milk tastes like freedom. Some people are just too fucking stupid. Oh. Here's the "column."

Oh. And if I wasn't clear, there are many places all across America where you can get your mitts on some Raw Milk. Not likely at your local supermarket, though. That's because as unpasteurized milk, it really doesn't travel well. So if you really want some, you better get your ass out to farm country. You really don't want to be drinking that stuff unless you are sure it's fresh from Bessie, and handled under the most safety conscious protocols. And you are not going to get that, 10 miles away from the cow, never mind 100.

Edited to add:

UVM may no longer have it's own herd. I read online that they were up for sale, about a year ago. Sad, but according to the article the herd was an expensive asset to keep up.