The words being tossed around are more contentious than the sharply pointed barbs being tossed by the U.S. Congress at BP CEO Tony Hayward.

It’s a battle over the hearts and minds of the 98% of an urbanized American public that has no recollection of life in farm country. With no direct connection, most of them believe what they read and the folks on the other side of the debate are making sure that the message is not that of the old-fashioned, good-neighbor farmer and his family. Instead, they’re painting a picture of American agriculture as overrun with factory farms that horribly mistreat their animals, spread fertilizer across the land with no respect for what happens down river, and threaten the health and welfare of our children by using antibiotics by the truckload.

Exactly when did kindly Old MacDonald, who once had a farm, become a sadistic torturer of his animals, a profligate destroyer of the land he owns and a despoiler of our offspring?  Continue reading…