NOT KOSHER

After the largest producer of Kosher meat in America was charged with more than 9000 child labor violations - including having children under 16 handling dangerous circular saws and meat grinders - Rabbi Menachem Genack of the Orthodox Union said that his organization may strip Agriprocessors of its kosher certification.

This would be a huge blow, but then again, all the company has to do, apparently, is install a new CEO to "give people a new sense of confidence" in the firm's compliance with the law. Wait, is this the Orthodox Union or the USDA?

The takeaway is twofold: Even food that is supposed to be handled according to the strictest, most exacting standards for specific consumers who buy it on that basis can come from abysmal, fundamentally immoral conditions, and those consumers have no knowledge of it, no way of finding out, other than undercover video. And secondly, this bears repeating: Anyone who says animal activists care more about animals than humans should take a good hard look at the slaughter industry and what it's doing to its human employees. That's not to mention, of course, the health effects and global warming effects on humans that are directly correlated with meat consumtion. Clearly, it's meat-eaters who don't care about either animals or people.

ONE MORE TIME...

It's a well-worn refrain to those of us who have been listening, but the point is that a lot of people still remain deaf to the facts:

"People should consider eating less meat as a way of combating global warming, says the UN's top climate scientist. 'I want to highlight the fact that among options for mitigating climate change, changing diets is something one should consider.'"