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
In honor of today's holiday, the lovely Leslie Hatfield declared her food independence on the Huffington Post. The Center for Corporate Front GroupsConsumer Freedom declared a different type of food independence. Whereas Hatfield writes of being food secure and independent by producing your own food (or supporting those who do within your community), CCF wants us to practice freedom by eating whatever the hell we want without guilt. CCF forgets to tell us that when we indulge in junk food, we are patronizing their sponsors (steakhouses, meatpackers, factory farms, chain restaurants, and other junk food peddlers). And while a good steak isn't off limits to those who practice Leslie Hatfield's brand of food independence (particularly if it is grass fed and raised by a local farmer), CCF forgets that we CANNOT declare independence from mother nature. And mother nature says we don't get to eat infinite quantities of junk.
The very sad truth is that we don't get to break the laws of Mother Nature. Think of her like any other parent who says "As long as you're in my house, you have to live by my rules!" Thus - we humans can't fly, even if we jump off our roofs and flap our arms. The law of gravity will get us. And we have to follow a whole bunch of food-related rules as well. Fortunately, if we do it right, we can enjoy ourselves within the bounds set by Mother Nature.
An occasional tiramisu is OK (thank goodness!). We're offered an incredibly wide range of foods, so its OK if you never want to eat broccoli again, just like President George H.W. Bush. If you hate it - don't eat it. But if that's the case, then you probably oughta look into other cruciferous veggies that are more appealing to you, or perhaps find a way to prepare them that you enjoy. And an awful lot of healthy foods are actually quite tasty (ripe strawberries, watermelon, cocoa, avocados... mmm).
That said, if you declare the ultimate food freedom and indulge in whatever you want, whenever you want, Mother Nature is going to punish you by restricting another sort of freedom: your health.
The best case scenario is that you'll need to take prescription drugs to cope with your health problems for the rest of your life. That might cost a lot and make it harder for you to get insurance, but it's not a huge deal in the scheme of things. But you might end up with a body that cannot enjoy the activities it once could, and all of the emotional anguish that goes along with being trapped in a body that makes you unhappy. Or, you might end up with expensive medical procedures and scary incidents that land you in the hospital. Worst of all, your life of food freedom might end at too young an age because your body simply could not handle all of that freedom.
I don't want to be a downer on this Fourth of July, but I'd much prefer to see us proclaim our freedom from poor health instead of our freedom to eat whatever the hell we want. An all-tiramisu diet might be enjoyable, but it's not worth the consequences.
It's not just Monsanto who doesn't like Food, Inc. Oh no. For example, check out SafeFoodInc.org. Sounds kind of related to Food, Inc., right? And maybe it's about food safety? If you click around the website you'll see things like "Food Inc Myths and Facts:"
"Food Inc." contains an astonishing number of half-truths, errors and omissions. By clicking on the topics below you can learn more about issues raised by the film that concern you.
Here's some of the latest news, blog posts, and fun internet toys:
A Charlottesville, VA paper writes about the virtues of their new grocery store, built with eco-friendly materials and practices. So, to honor the eco-friendliness of it, the author provides a list of items not to buy in the store. As noted, that eliminates most of the products. Which means they could have made the building MUCH smaller and thus MORE eco-friendly.
Scientists found a new way of making herbicide resistant plants. It's still GMO, but the gene changes are less significant than current methods used to make herbicide resistant GMOs. My thoughts? They are sooo missing the point. It's nice that they found a new way to do it, but haven't they heard about the herbicide-resistant weeds that have been popping up lately? The GMO techno-fixes are short term, at best.
Fast food is why you're rich. No, not because you eat McDonalds. Because you literally eat fast. An analysis of a number of different countries found that the faster you eat, the fatter you are - and the richer you are. Is it worth it? I'd still rather be French.
Check out Neighborhood Fruit, a site that shows maps of major cities and the locations of fruit trees. In other words, FREE FRUIT! Currently available are Seattle, San Francisco, and LA. Oh please, somebody, put San Diego on that website so I can start cashing in!
You know that quote about how it's better to remain quiet and let people think you're an idiot than opening your mouth and proving that you really ARE an idiot? Center for Consumer Freedom's David Martosko should really think about that.
In this episode, it's a he-said-she-said match between a Professor of Nutrition at UNC (Barry M. Popkin) and David Marosko of Big Food front group CCF.
Mr. Marosko says that Mr. Popkin is "stretching the truth beyond recognition."
"Eating less meat isn't going to move the dial, at least not in this country. Go buy the hybrid. Pay a premium for alternative energy sources, but eating tofu instead of sirloin? It's not gonna make a difference," he said.
Mr. Popkin, when asked about the Center for Consumer Freedom's assertions, said he stood by his claims.
"This is what the food industry always does - just like the tobacco industry," he said. "They obfuscate without ever looking at facts."
So who's right? I know the answer, but not because the New York Times provided it along with any information backing up the conclusion. This is a lot like election coverage that focuses on polls without ever educating the public about either candidate's platform. NYT, you can do better.
I'm going on a new diet. I have ten new food rules that I will NOT follow. They come from the industry-funded front group Center for Consumer Freedom.
Recently, Michael Pollan asked readers for their food rules. I can give you my #1 rule easily: I won't eat anything if I can't identify a plant or an animal (preferably a plant) that it came from. And high fructose corn syrup doesn't count even though I know it came from corn. But CCF decided they would have a laugh and send THEIR food rules in to Michael Pollan. I've included them below, along with 9 other food rules of my own.
Earlier I posted about a few Center for Consumer Freedom op eds. They were both published in a paper I hadn't heard of, and I figured maybe they were friendly with that paper. Maybe it was a paper of approximately the same journalistic stature as the Talon News, the right wing site where Jeff Gannon (former male hooker turned White House correspondent) worked. But then I discovered something new. The Chicago Tribune printed an identical op ed by the Center for Consumer Freedom: Gourmet Activists: Food For Thought.
There are two important things a reader of this op end should know. One is the background of the Center for Consumer Freedom. Once you know that, the "facts" cited in the op ed are almost secondary, but just for the sake of setting the record straight, the second are the real facts and how they stack up against the fake ones that CCF likes to use.
Op ed #1 reminds all of us overweight Americans (yup, me too) that we can still have our hamburgers and sodas so long as we take a walk after dinner. It's all about energy balance. That's a classic junk food industry talking point. Go ahead, indulge. Eat whatever you want! Just remember to work out afterward.
President Obama set off the crazies over at Center for Consumer Freedom (the pro-smoking, pro-junk, pro-booze front group) when he appointed Harvard law professor Cass Sunstein as the head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. What's the uproar about? After all:
Sunstein is best known for his balanced views between government regulations and cost-benefit analysis and for his theory of behavioral economics and he is widely considered to be a great choice for the office.
Oh, and Sunstein is a vegetarian. What??? I am sorry but disqualifying somebody for public office because they are veggie is about as stupid as disqualifying them because they are black! And in our new "post-racial" America, I don't think we're interested in doing that anymore. May the best man (or woman) for the office get the job. Besides, the country is much better off with this veggie in power than it was with the group of vegetables who are leaving office this week.
Rick Berman, a hired shill for the fast food, alcohol, and tobacco industries (among others), has something new to worry about: BermanExposed.org. The site was put together by CREW, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. It's about time somebody put together a comprehensive source on Berman and his many corporate front groups. I, for one, am sick to death of seeing his front groups quoted as legitimate sources week after week in newspaper articles. More info on Berman (highlights from the site) below.
It's nearly Christmas, and the Center for Consumer Freedom is at it again. Far be it from "Dr. Evil" lobbyist Rick Berman to miss an opportunity for turning the birth of baby Jesus into pro-corporate and anti-consumer propaganda. And shame on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for falling for CCF's bullshit by printing the article Cookie Waiver for Santa:
In today's litigious society, serving baked goods to the jolly old fat man could set you up for a very un-merry obesity lawsuit.
So before he wolfs down the cookies left by the fireplace on Christmas Eve, the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) suggests demanding that Kris Kringle sign a "Christmas Cookie Liability and Indemnification Agreement."
The tongue-in-cheek liability waiver includes an agreement that Santa won't haul you into court for "failure to provide nutrition information and a list of ingredients," or "failure to caution of the potential for overeating because cookies taste 'yummy' and are provided at no cost," among other things.
What the article doesn't say is that Santa's dietary habits are deadly. A diet of milk and cookies alone is a fast track to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and basically death. Is it Santa's fault that he eats such junk, or should he sue? In most cases, it's probably Santa's own fault. But when the legislative and executive branches do not keep consumers safe from predatory corporations, the courts are all we have left to hold those who wrong us accountable.
Absolutely brilliant article about the food industry's approach to public health. The food industry often presents itself as "part of the solution" to obesity and other nutrition-related problems, but the fact of the matter is, they are NOT. In short:
Why would a food company care about the health of society? Isn't a food company's primary goal to make profits for their shareholders? Of course it is, and that is fine. The problem is that the most healthful foods - unprocessed vegetables, fruits and grains - are not nearly as profitable as highly refined and processed foods. This fact makes the industry's claims to promote health somewhat dubious.
To make a short story long, please read the fantastic book Appetite for Profit by Michele Simon (and for dessert, I recommend Food Politics by Marion Nestle). For some brief examples on how the food industry undermines nutrition from this article, see below.
The Center for Consumer Freedom is at it again. Schools in the Massachusetts town of Newburyport banned junk food, and CCF is all over the news denouncing them.
The crackdown on sweets has left a sour taste in some mouths.
"It's irresponsible for government to attempt to legislate us into being thinner and healthier," said J. Justin Wilson, senior research analyst at the Center for Consumer Freedom.
Below: More CCF bullshit and my letters to the editor requesting that CCF no longer be quoted. If you want to express a corporate viewpoint, please go straight to McDonald's so everyone understands that it's a corporate viewpoint.
It's not new, but it's worth watching. Rick Berman on Colbert, from October 2007. It's like a mini-version of Thank You For Smoking. FYI, Berman is the head of the evil front group The Center for Consumer Freedom. They are funded by a secret list of big corporations. Berman likes to rail against raising the minimum wage, any efforts to curb the obesity epidemic, the UN's suggestion to eat less meat because of global warming, etc... you get the point.
This past week the United Nations' Nobel prize winning head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change made waves by recommending each of earth's citizens go meatless one day a week - and then attempt to decrease meat consumption from there. I applaud the U.N.'s recognition that meat contributes heavily to global warming - even if I disagree with their tactics of asking people to voluntarily kick the meat habit a few times a month. (I'm sorry but if you're serious about this, you need to do a few things that upsets big business in a BIG way or else we just won't get the change we need.)
But before you start believing those crazies over at the U.N., you ought to take a look at what our friends at the Center for Consumer Freedom had to say about the U.N.'s statement. Oh boy, the beef, booze, and tobacco lobby (which is precisely who funds CCF) thinks we shouldn't stop eating meat? I'm shocked. Let's see how they justify that.
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