VEGANS WERE RIGHT ALL ALONG

As I'll be on holiday and largely inaccesible over the next week, I'll leave you with these two perspectives from England: An essay from The Guardian entitled "Why vegans were right all along," and no, the headline is not ironic; and a "peek into the future" from the BBC which is not very noteworthy (robots in 50 years? Really?) but serves as yet another assurance that food of the future, even feast food, will probably be vegetarian. Whether it's from the simple economic mathematics provided by The Guardian or due to fashion trends (or even - gasp! - people taking morality seriously), it's gonna happen. Happy New Years.

KEYSTONE KREDIBILITY

Things may be heating up in the ongoing scandal that is the USDA. Then again, they may not, considering all the smoke and mirrors this administration has become so adept at throwing around. At any rate, some members of Congress have accused the U.S. Agriculture Department on Thursday of "misleading Congress" about the big ConAgra mess this summer. Meanwhile, the follow-up listeria mess at Wampler is taking on a Keystone Kops sheen as inspectors and plant officials argue about whether the agency was informed of massive listeria contamination back during the summer - you know, before people started dying from it - because the USDA could have found it if it had looked in the right drawer. I kid you not: These are the bozos in charge of our nation's food safety.