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Tweeting the Peanut Butter Hearings

by: Jill Richardson

Wed Feb 11, 2009 at 11:10:27 AM PST

Thanks to Obama Foodorama and Civil Eats for their continual updates and entertainment this morning over the peanut hearings on Twitter. See their Twitter feeds below.

Jill Richardson :: Tweeting the Peanut Butter Hearings

Your "Tweeps" For This Hearing Are:

Obama Foodorama
Name: Eddie Gehman Kohan
Location: Los Angeles; DC; Barack's Hip Pocket
Web: http://www.obamafoodorama.blog...
Bio: Official Historian of all things Obama & Food, Ag policy & food safety wonkette, agrarian rights activist, food politics mouthpiece, food & culture

and Civil Eater
Name: Paula Crossfield
Location: New York City
Web: http://www.civileats.com
Bio: managing editor of Civil Eats, Huffpo blogger, rookie gardener, avid cook, food policy wonkette

Obama Foodorama: A timeline of Government response to the #Peanut Butter #Salmonella outbreak, courtesy of AP http://tinyurl.com/bxa9mx

Obama Foodorama: Victims, experts, poisoners who will be testifiying before congress today in peanut butter salmonella hearing: http://tinyurl.com/anyczk
about 6 hours ago from web

This is the Energy & Commerce committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations' hearing on "The Salmonella Outbreak: The Continued Failure to Protect the Food Supply". A number of documents from the hearing are available here.

Obama Foodorama: Off to Capitol Hill.
about 5 hours ago from txt

Obama Foodorama: Long security line to get into Rayburn building for hearing
about 3 hours ago from txt

Obama Foodorama: tweeting the pnut butter salmonella hearing starting now
about 3 hours ago from txt

Obama Foodorama: Rep Stupak opens mtg , lauds Rep Dingell. Opening statement.
about 3 hours ago from txt

That's Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI). Stupak chairs this subcommittee. Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) proposed a food safety bill recently - is that why Stupak is praising him?

Obama Foodorama: mob scene in here ...Stupak reading outbreak stats...Quoting Barack's statment about Sasha getting ill
about 3 hours ago from txt

I assume she means Obama saying his daughter should be able to eat peanut butter without getting sick.

Obama Foodorama: In 110 congress, 8 food safety hearings held
about 3 hours ago from txt

The 110th Congress was Congress from 2007-2009. We are now in the 111th session of Congress.

Obama Foodorama: Rep Deal from Georgia,says He won't give any statements of provincial protectionism
about 3 hours ago from txt

That's Nathan Deal (R-GA) from Georgia's 9th district. He's referring to the fact that the PCA plant at the heart of the outbreaks was from his home state of Georgia.

Obama Foodorama: Rep. Walden, ranking republican has prop: plastic container a/contamo products wrapped in caution tape
about 3 hours ago from txt

That's Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), the Ranking Minority member on the subcommittee.

Obama Foodorama: Reading Stuart Parnell emails outloud...holding up huge whiteboard with an email on it that confirms positive salm tests
about 3 hours ago from txt

Stuart Parnell is the President of the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), the company that caused the salmonella peanut butter outbreak. His emails are among the documents available on the Energy & Commerce committee website:
October 6, 2008 email from Stewart Parnell to Sammy Lightsey (PDF)
January 19, 2009 email from Stewart Parnell to Robert Neligan (PDF)
January 12, 2009 email from PCA Lynchburg Office to Sammy Lightsey, et al. (PDF)
June 6, 2008 email from Stewart Parnell to Mary Wilkerson, et al. (PDF)
August 21, 2008 email from Stewart Parnell to Sammy Lightsey (PDF)
January 25, 2008 email from Michelle Pronto to Darlene Cowart, et al. (PDF)
November 2, 2006 email from Darlene Cowart to Stewart Parnell (PDF)
November 2, 2006 email from Darlene Cowart to Stewart Parnell (PDF)

Obama Foodorama: Rep Henry Waxman is on...chair of comm...says has damning documnts via Pca
about 3 hours ago from txt

Obama Foodorama: Rep Barton of Texas is furious he's here rather than over at house atom mtg ... He's a republican
about 3 hours ago from txt

Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX)

Obama Foodorama: That's house Stim package mtg ...furious jr members thrown under bus & votes not counted
about 3 hours ago from txt

Whatever Barton is whining about, he's apparently thinks that the Republicans' idea for a stimulus package will create jobs and cut taxes. In other words, he believes in supply side phony economics. I think November 4 showed that the country is sick of phony economics. We are all Keynesians now.

Obama Foodorama: Took a half hour but Upton Sinclair just invoked for 1st time. By Rep Braley , Iowa
about 2 hours ago from txt

Rep. Bruce Braley (D-IA), obviously referring to The Jungle, the Upton Sinclair book that led to the passage of major food safety legislation in 1906.

Obama Foodorama: Rep Sutton Ohio wants FDA to have mandatory recall ...her own bill. That's it for opening statements
about 2 hours ago from txt

Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH) - The bill is H.R.841 and so far she's got no cosponsors for it.

Obama Foodorama: Lots of southerners in here since Pca is in Georgia
about 2 hours ago from txt

Obama Foodorama: hearing on Cap hill witnesses sworn in...jeff almer... His Mum died
about 2 hours ago from txt

Jeff Almer's written about his Mom in the newspaper, and he was quoted on this site here.

Obama Foodorama: Family members crying as Jeff Almer describes mum death ...he's holding it together and calling for change, and jail time for Parnell
about 2 hours ago from txt

Obama Foodorama: Video of Clifford Tousignant plays; Lou his very articulate son is speaking
about 2 hours ago from txt

Clifford Tousignant was an army veteran and one of the people killed by salmonella.

Obama Foodorama: house reps have blank faces as video plays; it's v sad family pix
about 2 hours ago from txt

Obama Foodorama: lou tousignant quoting old outbreak stats: how can we be leaders of free world if we don't have safe food?
about 2 hours ago from txt

Obama Foodorama: Parnell is not here as it turns out
about 1 hour ago from txt

Civil Eater: Apparently peanut Corp head Parnell ordered shipment of tainted nuts, and didn't bother to show up to congressional hearing today

Obama Foodorama: Stuart Parnell enters. Media converges around him
about 1 hour ago from txt

Civil Eater: Hold the presses- parnell makes his entrance to plead his nutty case
about 1 hour ago from Tweetie

Obama Foodorama: Parnell declines to make statement . Stupak asks him abt Salmonella e mails
about 1 hour ago from txt

Obama Foodorama: Parnell pleading fifth as predicted... I respectfully decline on basis of protection of US constitution.
about 1 hour ago from txt

Civil Eater: Or rather, Parnell pleads the fifth! Thank @Obamafoodorama for giving it us straight from the action in DC
about 1 hour ago from Tweetie

Obama Foodorama: Stupak to Parnell: Is poisoning people just cost of doing business?
43 minutes ago from txt

Obama Foodorama: Waldman holds up contamo pnut products and asks Parnell if he will eat them
43 minutes ago from txt

Obama Foodorama: Parnell declines...Panel dismissed him. In hallway more media shouting quoting's
41 minutes ago from txt

Civil Eater: @obamafoodorama OMG I can't believe they tried to get him to eat his own tainted peanuts!
39 minutes ago from Tweetie in reply to obamafoodorama

Obama Foodorama: FDA Stephen Sundlof on now
38 minutes ago from txt

That's Stephen Sundlof, Director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Food and Drug Administration since early 2008 under Bush.

Obama Foodorama: Sundlof canned sound bite: the Americanvfoodcsupply continues to be among the safest in the world
29 minutes ago from txt

Obama Foodorama: other Sundlof byte: Its premature to draw conclusions...we're investigating
26 minutes ago from txt

Obama Foodorama: The misguided fellow from deibel labs suggests to panel that food companies test less rather than more
5 minutes ago from txt

Obama Foodorama: Sundlof back on . he's just appallingly full of non answers

Obama Foodorama: Wow Rep. dingell just got wheeled in. he's like 120 y/o Yelling questions tho

Obama Foodorama: Rep Dingell tells Fda Stephen Sundloff he us incompetent

Obama Foodorama: rep stupak asking v good questions...very on the ball

Obama Foodorama: 9th Death just announced by Stupak in hearing

Obama Foodorama: Rep deal insisting products are fundamentally safe. Aware that he's on film

Obama Foodorama: Rep waldman, rep from Texas and stupak are shiny lights of hope for US food safety

Obama Foodorama: And....it's all over. Adjuurned!

Tags: House Energy and Commerce Committee, Hearings, Peanut Corporation of America, Bart Stupak, John Dingell, Peanut Butter, Food Safety, (All Tags)

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Tweeting the Peanut Butter Hearings | 4 comments

Thanks! (4.00 / 2)

Found a couple articles. From AP -

WASHINGTON (AP) - The owner of a peanut company blamed for a salmonella outbreak has appeared before a House subcommittee, but is refusing to testify.
Lawmakers ordered Peanut Corporation of America owner Stewart Parnell to appear at the hearing Wednesday. He showed up, but refused to answer questions, invoking his constitutional right not to incriminate himself.

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

by: JayinPortland @ Wed Feb 11, 2009 at 19:28:38 PM UTC

Another one... (4.00 / 2)

From The Oregonian -

"He (Parnell) sat stiffly, his hands folded in his lap at the witness table, as one lawmaker held up a clear jar of his company's products wrapped in crime scene tape and asked him if he would be willing to eat the food.
"Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, on advice of my counsel, I respectively decline to answer your questions based on the protections afforded me under the U.S. Constitution," Parnell said in response. After repeating the statement several times, he was dismissed from the hearing."

Arrogant prick. How about the rights of people not to be killed or sickened by peanut butter that you knew was poisonous?

And they just let him walk out. Unbelievable...

Did they have cupcakes and tea waiting for him after he left? Ice cream? Balloons, maybe?

Wtf?

Why is Parnell not being processed at some correctional facility right now awaiting a bail hearing?

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

by: JayinPortland @ Wed Feb 11, 2009 at 19:32:21 PM UTC

Oh, The Oregonian article was updated... (4.00 / 2)

Some more 'good stuff' from those emails -

In another exchange, Parnell complained to a worker after they notified him salmonella was discovered in more products.
"I go thru this about once a week," he wrote in a June 2008 e-mail. "I will hold my breath .......... again."

Awww, I feel so bad for the guy. Don't you?

A laboratory owner told the House panel that the peanut company's disregard for tests identifying salmonella in its product is "virtually unheard of" in the nation's food industry and should prompt efforts to increase federal oversight of product safety.

Whoa - just 'virtually'? And not, like, totally unheard of?

Am I reading that right?

Which other company / companies is that laboratory owner aware of that do this?

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

by: JayinPortland @ Wed Feb 11, 2009 at 19:53:46 PM UTC

One family's story... (4.00 / 2)

From Reuters, a couple whose 3 year-old son was sickened testified at today's House hearing -

The police officer from Wilsonville, Oregon, and his wife learned the diarrhea and vomiting sickening their young son last month was salmonella, and they knew that products linked to Peanut Corporation of America had been recalled.
But they also thought that only institutional peanut butter was involved, and were furious to learn that Peanut Corp. had knowingly shipped products tainted with salmonella to schools, nursing homes and food processors.

"As Jacob's diarrhea continued, my wife was given the OK from our pediatrician's office for Jacob to eat his favorite comfort food, Austin toasty crackers with peanut butter -- the very food that we later found was the cause of his poisoning," Hurley said.

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

by: JayinPortland @ Wed Feb 11, 2009 at 20:52:19 PM UTC