It seems that pretending to be someone else online to bash the competition isn't that big a deal after all.

When it came out last month that Whole Foods CEO John Mackey used a pseudonym to post disparaging comments on financial forums about Wild Oats Markets -- even as he was trying to acquire the company - some folks in the blogosphere got pretty steamed.

But it turns out that kind of thing doesn't even ruffle the robes of the U.S. Court of Appeals.Earlier today, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied an FTC anti-trust request to block the $565 million "merger."

A lot of people, myself included, thought there was something unseemly about a CEO bidding to buy a company he secretly said online clearly doesnt know what it is doing, with no value and no future.

The postings had little to do with the FTC's attempt to block the deal, and probably didn't factor into the judges decision. But as the buyout of a smaller organic food vendor by a bigger one moves forward, the whole thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I guess I'm nave, but I thought that organic food was supposed to be about doing the right thing for the planet and your body, not just another way to make a buck.

Maybe I should have learned from the saga of the local organic market in my own neighborhood. Way back in October 2003, Fresh Organics--a subsidiary of vitamin and nutritional supplement manufacturer Nutraceutical Corporation--abruptly shuttered its Real Foods store down the hill from my house in San Francisco. The company said it was for renovations, but there were charges of union busting from the 31 fired workers.

Almost four years later, the store is still dark, and there's been no visible construction. And last month, the National Labor Relations Board finally concluded the shut-down was in response to the workers' exploration of union representation. Of course, more appeals have already been filed.

There is a happy ending to the story, though. In the intervening years neighborhood residents banded together to start a weekly farmers market down the street from closed store. It's packed every Saturday morning. And the heirloom tomatoes are delish.