The thing that got my goat: I bought some Santa Cruz Organic jam, thinking I was supporting a local company here in Santa Cruz that shared my food preferences. NOT!  Not only does the jam have nothing to do with Santa Cruz, it actually comes from Smucker, who want to make sure Les Elkind doesn’t know what the hell he’s eating so they contributed $388,000 to defeat proposition 37 ( labeling of GMO food).  And, worse than that, now I find out that lots of things in the grocery store are not quite what they have seemed to be:

* Kashi is owned by Kellogg, which contributed $632,000 to defeat Proposition 37. Kashi’s so-called “natural” breakfast cereals have tested positive for the presence of GMOs. No wonder they don’t want to label the damned cereal!

* Silk soymilk is owned by the nation’s largest dairy, Dean Foods, which contributed $253,000 to the effort to kill Proposition 37. Dean Foods also owns White Wave Tofu and Horizon milk and dairy products.

* R.W. Knudsen, along with the aforementioned Santa Cruz Organic, is owned by Smucker, which contributed $388,000 to defeat proposition 37.

* Cascadian Farm is owned by General Mills, which contributed $520,000 to defeat proposition 37. General Mills also owns Larabar and Muir Glen.

* Honest Tea is owned by Coca-Cola which contributed $1,164,400 to defeat Proposition 37. Coca-Cola also owns Odwalla Juice (Francine already knew that one, but it blew my mind when I found it out.)

* Naked Juice is owned by PepsiCo which has contributed $1,716,300 to defeat Proposition 37. PepsiCo also owns Tostito’s Organic and Tropicana Organic.

(these facts came from change.org; while I didn’t check them personally I am accepting them as ‘likely true’ because this information is so publicly available)

It’s hard to be cynical enough to shrug all this off. Or maybe it’s too easy. Life increasingly has a Matrix feel to me, as the system relentlessly reveals itself to be pure appearances, with the underlying reality often too disturbing to look at closely. Red pill or Blue pill? Unfortunately, at my age I’m having trouble remembering which one is which…

click to see what else I have NOTICED