Priorities

While I didn't post anything about last weeks beef recall over e. coli, it was one of those "symptoms" of what is wrong in America. Today, it's salmonella:

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- ConAgra Foods Inc. voluntarily stopped production Tuesday at the Missouri plant that makes its Banquet pot pies after health officials said the pies may be linked to 139 cases of salmonella in 30 states.

ConAgra officials believe the company's pies are safe if they're cooked properly, but the Omaha-based company told consumers Tuesday not to eat its chicken or turkey pot pies until the government and company investigations are complete.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture also issued a health alert Tuesday afternoon to warn consumers about the link between the company's product and the salmonella cases.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been tracking reports of the salmonella cases since Wednesday. A CDC spokeswoman said the largest numbers of salmonella cases had been reported in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Missouri.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071009/pot_pie_problem.html?.v=14&printer=1

Here's where the liberal me starts screaming "this is wrong!". Food should be reasonably safe. That's really not asking that much, is it? When I wander into the grocery store, I should have a reasonable trust that the food on the shelf is safe (I'll leave "healthy" to the consumer). But, thanks to shrub, the government doesn't monitor the production safety of food anymore. They only respond when a disease outbreak occurs. In short, they won't prevent the illness; they barely respond when people are sick or die.
We're paying taxes for what? We have plenty of money for wars, but we can't afford to pay for children's health care. The V-22 Osprey budget is close to the FDA budget in total cost, and has similar results. I know this sounds like liberal "socialism", but we have a right to expect certain basic services from our government in return for our tax money.
I'm beginning to wonder if we still have a civilization.