Hi again, No, Oldtimer,  the people you are quoting the article about are not terrorists because they are targeting one small segment, only one large company in fact, in the feed business. Whether they win or lose will not have a lot of impact on other feed companies. Like a drop of water in a pond, the verdict will ripple for an instant in time and be gone.

R-Calf, however, is obviously targeting the whole North American cattle industry with their blatant message to consumers everywhere that "Beef is not safe!" How better to completely destroy that cattle industry than the "divide and conquer" philosophy they are they are fostering right now between Canada and the US. caused by this border closure farce. When both countries cattle people are brought to their knees, producers in BOTH countries, and the big packers have left for greener pastures where the cattle are, maybe Brazil or Chili, what will we have left? Then these maybe terrorists can start on other foods, the grain markets, manufacturing etc. Probably no more bombs will be needed. Food production for the world will be moved to smaller countries, maybe those like Iraq and Afganistan which the terrorists often seem to call home. I know, you will say those countries, even some large ones in South America are not large enough to feed the world, but with the technology available now they could be large enough. We wouldn't eat the way we do now. I guess with the terrorist faction in control, we might get just enough food to stay alive, as long as they have a use for us.

Haymaker, I can excuse you a little bit as you live far from the border and obviously don't know how many hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of live cattle have been imported by the USA from Canada. If there was rampant BSE in Canada you would have gotten more than 1 animal that had the disease. With Canada's extensive testing 3 cases have been confirmed here. Doesn't sound like an epidemic to me. I would think that a smart person like yourself would have figured out that this whole border thing has nothing to do with BSE, it is just the excuse for keeping the protectionist US border closed.

Back to another of your replies. Yes, I am the person who said in an earlier post that R Calf might be     CONTROLLED by terrorists. I did not say 16,700 members were terrorists. I (and many others) wonder if some of those at the top of that group might have terrorist affiliation.

Let me explain. In Canada people seem to be a lot more sceptical of radical ideas than they do in the USA. For instance a group like R Calf would not be successful here because most Canadians do not jump on any band wagon until they have asked "Why?, what?, where? and if not satisfied with the answers, they back off and try something else. I have been told more than once by friends who have lived for several years on each side of the border, that the "follower" trait of many in the US was what they noticed as the biggest difference between people in the 2 countries.

In conclusion, I think everyone needs to step back and look at this BSE/border closure issue with an open mind. I don't blame US cattlemen or R Calf members for our export woes. (although I do think that you, Haymaker,  are really out of touch with reality if you think that $200.00 is a good price for a healthy 1200# cow) I do blame the force that drives R Calf and people who agree with them. I really am not sure that R Calf is the only group keeping the border closed, there may be more, but R Calf really likes to take the credit for it so they get to "claim the fame". I really hope I and the many who have the same ideas as I are wrong about this terrorist theory, but as time goes on it, (the theory) makes more sense all the time.