After reading this article, I checked our pantry…and sure enough, we’re stocked up on Eden Organics. That’s the last of it, we won’t be buying any more.
Now, like a good left-winger, I’m going to go for a walk to the local farmer’s market and see what fresh produce I can get.
I thought as a good progressive, you should also make sure to see which of the fresh produce is a GMO. And buy those.
This ain’t the Garden of Eden. There ain’t no angels above. And things ain’t what they used to be. This damn well ain’t no summer of love.
“Eden Foods is a principled food company. We were convinced that actions of the federal government were illegal, and so filed a formal objection. The recent Supreme Court decision confirms, at least in part, that we were correct. We realized in making our objection that it would give rise to grotesque mischaracterizations and fallacious arguments. Nevertheless, we believe we did what we should have.”
This is the response I got when I sent a letter to Eden Organic about their support for the contraception exemption. It matches the response given to Lollardfish over at DailyKos. No explanation for what was a grotesque mischaracterization or examples of the fallacious reasoning used. I quoted things said by their owner, Michael Potter about contraception, and of course they failed to address any of my points.
It’s really quite interesting how these Libertarian jackasses only seem to object to items that result in more freedom and protection for women.
I think we need to start compiling a Shit List. It’s going to be brutally necessary now that theocracy is officially sanctioned in the business sector…
@ swampfoot
-Did you read the article? Viagra isn’t covered, either.
@1
Yes!
Although, I must say: I have nothing against requiring labeling.
#6 – Enopoletus Harding:
As if that’s even close to the same thing.
Of course this will be interpreted as anti-christian persecution because you choose not to buy their products.
Make sure they know why you’re not buying their products. Otherwise they’ll blame it on something else and not even consider that it could be then. Of course they probably won’t acknowledge it was their attitudes that caused the loss of business either but they’ll have a harder time denying it.
Enopoletus:
Note swampfoot’s wording:
Viagra doesn’t compare to the ability of contraception to increase women’s freedom and protection.
Also, while Viagra isn’t covered-their main objection is to the use of contraception by women.
“Because I’m a man, number one and it’s really none of my business what women do…”
Whut? Then why did you go out of your way to deny them coverage for medical devices and drugs (that are often prescribed for conditions where contraception is not the medical purpose) if what women do is none of your business? I’m sure the coverage is not that expensive (insurance companies know that it is far less expensive to pay for contraceptive than for unplanned pregnancies). Besides, its not like you are “giving” them anything, it is part of the compensation you pay for their labor.
I wonder if he went to Woodstock and got some of the brown acid.
“… handful of “lifestyle drugs” were not included in the coverage, things like smoking cessation drugs …”
Dude is suffering from ‘what would Jesus smoke?’ ailment.
Yep, I am also walking to the grocery. Just avoiding the ‘rolling coal menace’ ever since PZ introduced us to it.
:(
I decided that a few days ago.
Eden Organics is right up there with Hobby Lobby and Chikfila.
It’s not going to be hard. I could no more go into a Hobby Lobby than I could join the Mormon or Southern Baptist churches. They are simply revolting.
They feel the same way about people like me and say so often, so why should I spend a penny of my hard earned cash on them?
It’s not much. But my influence as 1/317 millionth of the US population is limited. Just because I/we can’t do everything, doesn’t mean we should do nothing.
True.
Health insurance policies without contraceptive coverage are more expensive than with.
Birth control is cheap. Pregnancy, childbirth, and raising a kid aren’t. You are looking at $150,000 average. Not to mention the time off work and time spent on childcare. Some of which is going to be covered by the company and the health insurance provider.
The Eden Organics Loonytarian slimemold is going to spend more money overall rather than less. I guess making women miserable is worth a lot to him.
Does one good left-winger then need to also quiz their farmer on their political views?
@6 Enopoletus Harding
I did not read, but I did perform a “Find” in the article and Viagra was not mentioned in the article. Where are you getting this information?
Unless a libertarian comes over to this thread to tell us why we shouldn’t boycott a business based on the way they treat their employees, because that’s something something communist! Free market capitalism forever!
/sarcasm
Back from the farmer’s market. Came home with beets and lettuce and bread. Sounds like dinner!
Leo Buzalsky:
Depends on whether that farmer is employing a sizeable amount of people and you suspect that their political views are causing them limit the health options of said employees.
I don’t want to avoid a company just because it’s owned by a Christian, or named from such a Christian’s mythology. Honest, well priced, and employee friendly. That’s all I really ask. But so many of these companies wear their ridiculous “faith” on their sleeve as a way of attracting cash and avoiding social, and often legal, responsibility. So if anything’s named “Eden” or “Daily Bread” or “Second Coming” I first look to see what sort of company they are before buying. Most often, I just don’t buy it.
I am tempted to support the Ezekiel 4:9 bread company, just because knowing the story, I think it’s just someone trolling the Jebusites. “Eat our bread! It’s cooked over shit! And, if we’ve behaved, it won’t be human shit. But it might be.”
Donovan:
In this case though, Eden Organic wants the same contraception exemption that Hobby Lobby sought. They are not female employee friendly.
This is ridiculous. SCOTUS was not ruling on the constitutionality of the employer mandate and has refused to hear any cases on it. The Hobby Lobby case and any cases following from that are based purely on RFRA and the supposed right of a business to refuse only the contraceptive mandate and only on religious grounds, not because they don’t want to pay for heath insurance regardless of its content. Legally, he just undermined his entire case.
He should be boycotted based on his stupidity alone.
It would be a shame if you were burdened by anything resembling effort, but my suggestion is that you try just a little bit harder.
#20
I feel the same way when businesses try to appeal to patriotism. “American Brake & Muffler” or “Liberty Motors” (real businesses BTW) with their red, white, and blue logos with stars. I avoid them. Usually those overhyped patriotism means arch-conservative views and I won’t give them my business if I can help it.
The federal government didn’t tell him to buy contraceptives for his employees. They told him to buy INSURANCE for his employees.
Even after the court victory, he’s still going to be buying insurance. The insurance company will pay out claims to pharmacies–something THEY’ll also still do after the court case.
The decision to obtain contraception belongs to the patient, the doctor and the pharmacist. HL and Eden wanted to avoid third-level involvement? Fuck ’em. Especially since HL invests in contraceptive companies, and USED to provide the ones they objected to, until the scary black man said what they had been doing was now mandatory.
There is something getting lost in these discussions. If an employee wants to work for a company that won’t provide insurance coverage for certain items, in an ideal world, that would be between the company and the employee.
BUT remember that company insurance almost always covers spouses and other dependents. Under the ACA, that coverage can be maintained until said dependents are 26.
So the companies that object to covering contraceptives are refusing to cover them not just for their employees, but also their wives and daughters…through age 25.
You can buy these in Australia, but they are expensive and I prefer to buy local, so I don’t. And now I definitely won’t.
Leo Buzalsky: it’s not what they think that bothers me; it’s what they DO.
PZ: yum, but needs protein. Got some canned beans you can add to that salad? ;-)
Leo Buzalsky, from the article:
musta misleped Vaigra
At least they gave us a clue when they chose a name for the company> Perhaps this is what the vegetarian dinosaurs ate, and needed sharp teeth to open the cans. Or maybe it was how Noah took food for a year on the ark ?
Thanks PZ. I won’t be buying any more Eden products. I guess I should have know they were not a progressive company by their name. Maybe if they called themselves “Sodom Organics” I would be more inclined to buy their beans.
I responded to the vacuous email that I was sent from Eden Organic, asking for specifics about the ‘fallacious reasoning and gross mischaracterization’, but all they did was respond with “hey look at this statement we put out” (not their actual wording, but close):
Here’s the statement:
Religious freedom to deprive employees of health benefits. Reminds me of the religious freedom to persecute gay people. Why does “freedom” for religious people always look like an ability to oppress other people?
Yes, Eden Foods definitely frowns on myopia. Except….
Eden Foods is too far-seeing and wise to not consider the possibility that employees “choosing” not to opt-in to prescription coverage for financial reasons are also gambling with their own health should they suddenly need an expensive prescription. Eden Foods just doesn’t give a fuck about that. Eden Foods says “fuck our employees, if they need medicine they can either bootstrap themselves up until they can afford it or they can just die.” That’s The Eden Foods Way.
Bald Eagle Jesus wept a single red, white, and blue tear.
Hear that? You can almost hear them building the bunkers as we speak. You can hear the tinfoil hats creaking in the wind, and the pearls being clutched. You can hear the crosses on their necks, jingle and jangle, as they march on, contemplating how they are very much like the man that died on that cross.
Oh, they may not be literally crucified. But they damn near as close as you can get. No one has ever suffered a persecution so fierce and remorseless. No one in the history of ever, except Jesse Crossman himself.
We are anti-science, rejecting GMOs from the get go because they are against god/nature.
We reject science based medicine and are opposed to modern agriculture. I will bet dollars to donuts they are anti-vaccination and they were just fine organic farmers dependency on the insecticide Rotenone which now appears to be linked to Parkinson’s. The phrase “myopic pharmaceutical medicine” is an altie dog whistle invoking the alt-med trope that “conventional medicine” only treats symptoms instead of causes.
The anti-contraceptive stance is just the misogynist icing on the anti-science shitcake.