Seems like I've been so wrapped up with Leon Kass lately, I've forgotten to water the rest of my hate garden. Along comes Henry Miller to remind me. Thank you, sir.

Professional worrier Jeremy Rifkin's pronouncements always remind me of the characterization by one-time Speaker of the House of Representatives Thomas B. Reed of his political opponents, "They never open their mouths without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge." Rifkin's assertion that Americans' consumption of beef causes domestic violence were absurd. So were his claims that biotechnology threatens "a form of annihilation every bit as deadly as nuclear holocaust," and that a small-scale field trial of a gene-spliced soil bacterium could change weather patterns and disrupt air-traffic control.

Longtime Classical Values readers may recall some my older Rifkin screeds.
For newer readers, the best, or at least the longest, can be found here. And if Dr. Miller himself should grace these words with his attention, please check out these old chestnuts. If you hate Rifkin like I hate Rifkin, you probably hate Paul Ehrlich too. Thus ends my shameless recycling of material.

Before tackling this new attempt at redefining reality in an unreal way, it is useful to consider briefly Rifkin's previously published views on other subjects. In "Beyond Beef," he asserts that "the statistics linking domestic violence and quarrels over beef are both revealing and compelling." He believes that men use meat as "a means of conditioning women to accept a subservient status in society." The evidence? He quotes a woman battered by her husband: "It would start off with him being angry over a trivial thing like cheese instead of meat on a sandwich." Oh.

For me, "Beyond Beef" was the one that got away. I can see now that neglecting it was a mistake.

Slightly off topic, I once worked with a guy who did Rifkin impressions. Whenever Rifkin's name came up in the news, he would assume an espression of goofy, moronic piety, steeple his fingers, and majestically intone "Jeremy Rifkin....Beyond Beef". I guess it takes all kinds.