La Vida Locavore is the blog for anyone whose crazy life includes planting, growing, weeding, fertilizing, raising, picking, harvesting, processing, cooking, baking, making, serving, buying, selling, distributing, transporting, composting, organizing around, lobbying about, writing about, thinking about, talking about, playing with, and eating food!
Agriculture
Chair: Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
- Max Baucus (D-MT)
- Michael Bennet (D-CO)
- Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
- Bob Casey (D-PA)
- Kent Conrad (D-ND)
- Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
- Tom Harkin (D-IA)
- Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
- Pat Leahy (D-VT)
- Ben Nelson (D-NE)
- Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
- Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
- Thad Cochran (R-MS)
- John Cornyn (R-TX)
- Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
- Mike Johanns (R-NE)
- Dick Lugar (R-IN)
- Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Pat Roberts (R-KS)
- John R. Thune (R-SD)
Appropriations
Chair: Daniel Inouye (D-HI) Ag Sub-Committee
Chair: Herb Kohl (D-WI)
- Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
- Dick Durbin (D-IL)
- Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
- Tom Harkin (D-IA)
- Tim Johnson (D-SD)
- Ben Nelson (D-NE)
- Jack Reed (D-RI)
- Robert Bennett (R-UT)
- Christopher Bond (R-MO)
- Sam Brownback (R-KS)
- Thad Cochran (R-MS)
- Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Arlen Specter (R-PA)
Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions
- Chris Dodd (D-CT)
Agriculture
Chair: B Collin Peterson (D-MN)
V. Chair: B Tim Holden (D-PA)
B Joe Baca (D-CA)
- John Boccieri (D-OH)
B* Leonard Boswell (D-IA)
- Bobby Bright (D-AL)
B* Dennis Cardoza (D-CA)
- Travis Childers (D-MS)
B Jim Costa (D-CA)
- Henry Cuellar (D-TX)
- Kathy Dahlkemper (D-PA)
B Brad Ellsworth (D-IN)
- Debbie Halvorson (D-IL)
B Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD)
- Steve Kagen (D-WI)
- Larry Kissell (D-NC)
B Frank Kratovil (D-MD)
- Betsy Markey (D-CO)
B Jim Marshall (D-GA)
P Eric Massa (D-NY)
B Mike McIntyre (D-NC)
- Walt Minnick (D-ID)
B Earl Pomeroy (D-ND)
- Mark Schauer (D-MI)
- Kurt Schrader (D-OR)
B David Scott (D-GA)
B Zachary Space (D-OH)
- Timothy Walz (D-MN)
- Frank Lucas (R-OK)
- Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
- K. Michael Conaway (R-TX)
- Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE)
- Virginia Foxx (R-NC)
- Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)
- Sam Graves (R-MO)
- Timothy Johnson (R-IL)
- Steve King (R-IA)
- Robert Latta (R-OH)
- Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO)
- Cynthia Lummis (R-WY)
- Jerry Moran (R-KS)
- Randy Neugebauer (R-TX)
- Phil Roe (R-TN)
- Mike Rogers (R-AL)
- Jean Schmidt (R-OH)
- Adrian Smith (R-NE)
- Glenn Thompson (R-PA) *=House Organic Caucus member B=Blue Dog Democrat
Appropriations
Chair: Dave Obey (D-WI) Ag Sub-Committee
Chair: P Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)
- Sanford Bishop (D-GA)
* Allen Boyd (D-FL)
- Lincoln Davis (D-TN)
*P Sam Farr (D-CA)
*P Maurice D. Hinchey (D-NY)
P Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. (D-IL)
P Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
- Jack Kingston (R-GA)
- Rodney Alexander (R-LA)
- Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO)
* Tom Latham (R-IA) *=House Organic Caucus member
P=Congressional Progressive Caucus
Education and Labor
P Chair: George Miller (D-CA)
- Jason Altmire (D-PA)
- Robert Andrews (D-NJ)
- Timothy Bishop (D-NY)
P Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
- Joe Courtney (D-CT)
- Susan Davis (D-CA)
P Marcia Fudge (D-OH)
P Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)
P Phil Hare (D-IL)
- Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX)
P Mazie Hirono (D-HI)
- Rush Holt (D-NJ)
- Dale Kildee (D-MI)
P Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
P Dave Loebsack (D-IA)
- Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY)
P Donald Payne (D-NJ)
- Jared Polis (D-CO)
- Robert Scott (D-VA)
- Joe Sestak (D-PA)
- Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH)
P John Tierney (D-MA)
- Dina Titus (D-NV)
- Paul Tonko (D-NY)
P Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)
- David Wu (D-OR)
- Buck McKeon (R-CA)
- Judy Biggert (R-IL)
- Rob Bishop (R-UT)
- Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
- Michael Castle (R-DE)
- Vernon Ehlers (R-MI)
- Luis F Fortuno (R-PR)
- Brett Guthrie (R-KY)
- Peter Hoekstra (R-MI)
- Duncan D. Hunter (R-CA)
- John Kline (R-MN)
- Kenny Marchant (R-TX)
- Tom McClintock (R-CA)
- Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)
- Thomas Petri (R-WI)
- Phil Roe (R-TN)
- Todd Russell Platts (R-PA)
- Tom Price (R-GA)
- Mark Souder (R-IN)
- GT Thompson (R-PA)
- Joe Wilson (R-SC) P=Congressional Progressive Caucus
Many people who make our food system what it is are well-meaning - even if they are peddling junk. Sometimes people just never really thought things through, or they don't realize the harm foods can cause to human health or to the environment. Rick Berman is NOT well-meaning. And you should know his name. When Berman or his groups, the Center for Consumer Freedom, the Guest Choice Network, the Employment Policies Institute (which includes the site Center for Union Facts), and the American Beverage Institute, pop up in the news, we'll want to be ready with some good letters to the editor to send in to any paper that quotes him as a legitimate source of information.
I'd like to do this as a diary series, and I invite everyone here to join me in writing about other bigtime assholes whose names we should know - Terry Etherton (pro-rBGH blogger extraordinaire) and Dale Bauman (pro-rBGH scientific prostitute for Monsanto), etc. For some gooood info, check out the site Sourcewatch.
I've got a problem with Berman on a personal level as he opposed the Americans with Disabilities Act, a law that saves my butt daily. I can do my job just fine but I need a bit of understanding from my employer due to my migraines. Thanks to the ADA, my employers are required to accommodate me so long as I can do my job with reasonable accommodations. Berman said (re: the ADA):
"The ADA in its present form will cost our industry untold millions in added construction and labor costs" He begins the article with a reference to the ADA and AIDS. He stated, "Congress ... is seriously considering passage of a new law that would require employers to ignore AIDS infections among cooks and servers."
Berman uses the Center for Consumer Freedom to do the dirty work that its member corporations won't do themselves. Because membership is secret, he can sink incredibly low without damaging their reputations or brand images. When someone DID find out which companies gave CCF money, they found this list (found in Appetite for Profit by Michele Simon):
Applebee's International
Dean Foods Company
Excel/Cargill
Pilgrim's Pride
Perdue Farms
Coca-Cola Company
Outback Steakhouse
Wendy's International
The Sourcewatch site includes more donors to Berman frontgroups - a list with names you might know like Ruby Tuesdays, Monsanto, Tyson, White Castle, P.F. Changs, Marie Callendar Pie Shops, Max & Erma's Restaurants, Good Humor/Breyer's Ice Cream, Harrah's, Eli's Cheesecake, and Ruth's Chris Steak House.
Berman has proudly stated that his tactic is to shoot the messenger - discredit anyone who criticizes junk food, tobacco, and booze instead of taking on their message on its merits. In her book, Simon also lists the following "radical" groups that CCF has attacked:
Action on Smoking and Health
American Medical Assocation
American Corn Growers Association
Center for Food Safety
Center for Science in the Public Interest
Consumer Federation of America
Earth Island Institute
Friends of the Earth
Harvard School of Public Health
Mothers Against Drunk Driving
National Association of High School Principals
Organic Consumers Association
Physicians' Committee for Responsible Medicine
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
That ad ran in major newspapers in 2006. Good one, huh?
For much more info about CCF and their tactics and history, I strongly recommend getting a copy of Appetite for Profit if you haven't done so already. Then set up a Google Alert so you get an email whenever Mr. Berman weasels his way into the news.
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