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John
Edwards
- 
Hillary
Clinton
- 
South
Carolina - 
Economic
- 
Family
- 
Farmers
- 
Jobs
- 
Internet
- 2008
Election - "Edwards
jabs Clinton for leaving SC." ... "[2008 Election]
Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said South Carolina voters
should question [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Hillary
Rodham Clinton's commitment to the state since she left in the run-up to
the state's primary." ... ""After the debate, she flew out and she's been
gone and she won't be back until I don't know - later in the week or until
primary day," Edwards told a crowd of about 150 people in this small city
on Wednesday. "What are the chances she's coming back when she's president
of the United States?"" ... "A South Carolina native and son of a mill
worker, he stresses themes focused on the middle class and an economic
plan that would bring help to family farmers, and jobs and broadband Internet
connections to rural areas." -By Susanne M. Schafer
-AssociatedPress
Brazil
- Farms
- 
Illegal
- Business
- 
History
- 
Land
- Plants
- 
Global
- 
Weather
- 
Science
- "Amazon
deforestation seen surging." ... "[Brazil's National
Institute for Space Research scientist Carlos] Nobre, whose government
agency monitors the Amazon and gathers data, said that 2,300 square miles
of [Brazil's] forest had been lost in the past four months." ... "That
compares with an estimated 3,700 square miles in the 12 months ended July
31, which Brazil officials hailed as the lowest deforestation rate since
the 1970s." ... "Brazil's government has said that policies such as more
controls on illegal logging and better certification of land ownership
were reducing the deforestation that has destroyed about a fifth of the
forest -- an area bigger than France -- since the 1970s." ... "But environmental
groups have warned that rising global commodity prices are likely to fuel
more clearing of land for farms, as occurred in 2004 when Brazil recorded
the highest deforestation rate of more than 10,400 square miles (27,000
square km )." ... "Destruction of forests produces about 20 percent of
man-made carbon dioxide emissions, making conservation of the Amazon crucial
to limiting rises in global temperatures." (1, 2)
-By Stuart Grudgings with contributions by Cynthia
Osterman -Reuters
Agriculture
- Plant
- 
Energy
- Economy
- 
Food
- 
Nebraska
- 
N
Dakota - 
S
Dakota - "Grass
Makes Better Ethanol than Corn Does: Midwestern farms
prove switchgrass could be the right crop for producing ethanol to replace
gasoline." ... "Farmers in Nebraska and the Dakotas [North and South] brought
the U.S. [United States] closer to becoming a biofuel economy, planting
huge tracts of land for the first time with switchgrass—a native North
American perennial grass (Panicum virgatum) that often grows on
the borders of cropland naturally—and proving that it can deliver more
than five times more energy than it takes to grow it." ... "Working with
the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the farmers tracked the seed
used to establish the plant, fertilizer used to boost its growth, fuel
used to farm it, overall rainfall and the amount of grass ultimately harvested
for five years on fields ranging from seven to 23 acres in size (three
to nine hectares)." ... "Once established, the fields yielded from 5.2
to 11.1 metric tons of grass bales per hectare, depending on rainfall,
says USDA plant scientist Ken Vogel. "It fluctuates with the timing of
the precipitation,'' he says. "Switchgrass needs most of its moisture in
spring and midsummer. If you get fall rains, it's not going to do that
year's crops much good."" ... "But yields from a grass that only needs
to be planted once would deliver an average of 13.1 megajoules of energy
as ethanol for every megajoule of petroleum consumed—in the form of nitrogen
fertilizers or diesel for tractors—growing them. "It's a prediction because
right now there are no biorefineries built that handle cellulosic material"
like that which switchgrass provides, Vogel notes. "We're pretty confident
the ethanol yield is pretty close." This means that switchgrass ethanol
delivers 540 percent of the energy used to produce it, compared with just
roughly 25 percent more energy returned by corn-based ethanol according
to the most optimistic studies." -By David Biello
-SciAm
John
Edwards
- 
Music
- Des-Moines
- 
Iowa
- Farm
- History
- Working
- Poverty
- Race
- 2008
Election - "Edwards
Wins the Mellencamp Primary." ... "So it is that
[singer John] Mellencamp will come to Iowa Wednesday to close the [2008
Election Democratic Presidential Candidate John] Edwards campaign off with
a "This Is Our Country" rally at the not-exactly-Hollywood Val Air Ballroom
in West Des Moines [Iowa]. (In case anyone is missing the point here, they
will be distributing the tickets from the United Steelworkers Local 310
hall.)" ... "Where [Oprah] Winfrey brought a big name but little in the
way of a track record on the issues that are fundamental to the rural and
small-town Iowans who will play a disproportional role in Thursday's caucuses,
Mellencamp is more than just another celebrity taking a lap around the
policy arena." ... "For a quarter century, the singer has been in the thick
of the fight on behalf of the rural families he immortalized in the video
for "Rain on the Scarecrow," his epic song about the farm crisis that buffeted
Iowa and neighboring states in the 1980s and never really ended." ... "Mellencamp
has not merely sung about withering small towns and farm foreclosures.
As a organizer of Farm Aid, he has brought some of the biggest stars in
the world to benefit concerts in Iowa and surrounding states, and he has
helped to distribute the money raised at those events to organizations
across Iowa." ... "Farm Aid is nonpartisan. It's not endorsing in this
race. But Mellencamp is. The singer, who this year will be inducted into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but whose music remains vital enough to
have earned a 2008 Grammy nomination for Best Rock Vocal Performance, was
lobbied for support by other campaigns, especially Clinton's. But he has
a long relationship with Edwards. He has an even longer relationship with
the issues that Edwards is talking about. Indeed, his credibility is grounded
in the recognition that Mellencamp has repeatedly taken career-risking
anti-war, anti-racist and anti-poverty stances that other celebrities of
his stature tend to avoid." ... "What matters, of course, is the fact of
that credibility -- and the fact that it is so closely tied to the farm
and rural issues that have meaning even in the more urbanized regions of
Iowa. That is why, if there is an endorsement that is going to have meaning
with the people who drive down country roads to attend caucuses on what
looks to be a very cold and unforgiving Thursday night, it is likely to
be that of the guy who proudly sings that, "I was born in a small town...""
-By John Nichols -TheNation.com
Families
- Poverty
- Agriculture
- 
Christmas-Holidays
- 
Thanksgiving
- Gasoline
- 
Households
- Money
- 
People
- "Food
Bank Shelves Going Bare At Holidays: High Living
Costs Hurting Donations, While Increasing Demand By Needy Families." ...
"The reports from across the country are dismaying: Food pantries are running
short and cannot meet the needs of all those seeking help." ... "In the
Department of Agriculture's most recent study of hunger
in America, released in November, more than 35.5 million Americans,
including 12.6 million children, were found to have "low" or "very low
food security" (defined as households where hunger was prevalent, where
there was not enough money to buy adequate food supplies, where food purchased
did not last, or where family members had to cut down or skip meals - sometimes
not eating for a day or longer)." ... "That's roughly 1 in 9 households.
And the numbers are rising from last year." ... "Everywhere, people are
feeling the crunch of rising gasoline and grocery prices, as well as utility
bills, rent and mortgage payments." ... "Those factors also are cutting
into people's ability to donate to food banks for others in need." ...
"At Thanksgiving, the [America's
Second Harvest] organization estimated that food banks nationally
were short a total of 15 million pounds of food, or roughly 11.7 million
meals. " -AP
via -CBSNews
John
Edwards
- 
Barack
Obama
- Hillary
Clinton
- 
North
Carolina - 
Illinois
- 
New
York
- 2008
Election - 
Government
- Oil
- 
Drug
- Companies
- 
Health-Care
- 
US
- 
Iraq
- 
Military
- Iowa
- Fields
- "Edwards
cuts sharper edge in Iowa trail speeches." ... ""The
few, the powerful, the well-financed, they now control the government,"
[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] John Edwards told a tight
crowd of about 350 last week. "They've taken over your democracy. And it
affects everything that happens in this country."" ... ""Everything," he
emphasized." ... "During an 18-minute span, the former North Carolina senator
took aim and fired freely at insurance, oil and drug companies and failed
chief executives rewarded with golden parachutes. He described the Republican
field as [Republican President] "George Bush on steroids" and said his
Democratic competitors are talkers, not fighters." ... "In what has often
been portrayed as a two-Democrat battle between [2008 Election Democratic
Presidential Candidate and Illinois Senator] Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois
and [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and New York Senator]
Hillary Clinton of New York the populist Edwards is making an eight-day
blitz across the frozen fields of Iowa, a sort of red-meat express to convince
the middle class that he is the one who will wrest the country from the
clutches of "corporate power and greed."" ... ""I know some people suggest
we'll be able to sit at the table with drug companies and oil companies
and think they can get their power away. Right," Edwards said dismissively,
indirectly referring to the approaches he says Obama and Clinton would
take." ... ""I'll tell you when they'll [corporations] lose their power:
when we take it away from them," he told a cheering crowd at the [Iowa]
Grinnell Eagles Club." ... ""There's been a change in America. We have
greater concentration of wealth and power in a few. We have an increasingly
dysfunctional health-care system. We have this war in Iraq that has gotten
much worse," he said. "I think we need a president who's willing to be
tough and to go after these things."" -By Tim Jones
-ChicagoTribune
John
Edwards
- US
- Iraq
- Military
- Corporate
- Government
- Energy
- Drug
- Health
- Family
- Farmers
- 2008
Election - "AP
Interview: Edwards on Iraq and Dems." ... "While
[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate John] Edwards continues
to invoke ending the [Iraq] war as one of the major challenges facing the
nation, the thrust of his message is that entrenched corporate power has
prevented the government from tackling long-standing domestic problems."
... ""You hear a lot more questions about corporate power, health care,
energy, family farmers," he said. "Those are the things people ask about.""
... ""My focus for these last few weeks is on a positive agenda," he said.
"That's what America rising is all about."" ... "That's not to say Edwards'
message doesn't have an edge." ... "His culprits are "powerful, well-entrenched,
well-financed interests that are distorting the democracy in their favor
and against the interests of most Americans."" ... ""The specific examples
are oil companies, drug companies, insurance companies, power companies,
there are lots more examples," he said. "They've used money and power to
spread their influence and have kept the democracy from working for most
people."" (1, 2)
-By Jim Kuhnhenn -APvia
-NOLA.com
Consumer
- Health
- Safety
- Food
- Agriculture
- Country
- Peoples
- Labor
- Law
- Money
- 
Politics
- Language
- 
West
Virginia - "Democrats
Use Fine Print to Stymie Bush's Deregulation Agenda."
... "It is a single sentence, on page 147 of the annual appropriations
bill funding the [Republican President Bush] White House, listed under
the title ``Additional General Provisions.''" ... "The 18-word clause eliminates
the money to pay for political appointees in each federal agency whose
jobs are to approve any new regulations. By cutting the money for the positions,
Congress would effectively repeal President George W. Bush's 11-month old
initiative." ... "Democrats, writing the budget for the first time since
Bush took office, are using their power over the purse to thwart Bush's
campaign to loosen federal regulations. Lawmakers have added fine print
to must-pass appropriations bills that sets new policy goals and increases
funding for regulators such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration
and the Consumer Product Safety Commission." ... "``It is critically important
when we are facing beef recalls, toy recalls, mine collapses and workplace
infringements that Congress provide the necessary resources to the relevant
agencies for them to do the jobs they are required to do,'' said Senate
Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd, 90, a West Virginia Democrat."
... "Lawmakers also want agencies to file periodic reports to Congress
charting their progress toward a host of Democratic policy goals, such
as developing workplace ergonomic guidelines for a dozen industries, requiring
country-of-origin labels on meat products and regulating a flavoring chemical
that has been linked to lung disease." -By Brian Faler
-Bloomberg
Business
- Government
- Politics
- 2008
Election - Family
- Health
- Safety
- 
Environment
- 
Air
- 
Water- Soil
- Labor
- Animal
- Farmers
- Energy
- Transportation
- 
Automakers
- Consumer
- History
- "Business
Lobby Presses Agenda Before ’08 Vote." ... "Business
lobbyists, nervously anticipating Democratic gains in next year’s elections,
are racing to secure final approval for a wide range of health, safety,
labor and economic rules, in the belief that they can get better deals
from the [Republican President] Bush administration than from its successor."
... "Hoping to lock in policies backed by a pro-business administration,
poultry farmers are seeking an exemption for the smelly fumes produced
by tons of chicken manure. Businesses are lobbying the Bush administration
to roll back rules that let employees take time off for family needs and
medical problems. And electric power companies are pushing the government
to relax pollution-control requirements." ... "The Federal Register typically
grows fat with regulations churned out in the final weeks of any administration.
But the push for such rules has become unusually intense because of the
possibility that Democrats in 2009 may consolidate control of the White
House, the Senate and the House of Representatives for the first time in
14 years." ... "At the Transportation Department, trucking companies are
trying to get final approval for a rule increasing the maximum number of
hours commercial truck drivers can work. And automakers are trying to persuade
officials to set new standards for the strength of car roofs — standards
far less stringent than what consumer advocates say is needed to protect
riders in a rollover." ... "At the Interior Department, coal companies
are lobbying for a regulation that would allow them to dump rock and dirt
from mountaintop mining operations into nearby streams and valleys." ...
"Some of the biggest battles now involve rules affecting the quality of
air, water and soil." (1, 2)
-By Robert Pear -NYTimes
Julie
MacDonald
- Animals
- Environmental
- Science
- Politics
- Agricultural
- Business
- 
California
- WVa
- "7
federal wildlife decisions to be revised: A [Republican
President Bush] political appointee had overruled recommendations by staff
scientists on endangered species. She quit under a cloud." ... "Federal
wildlife regulators will revise seven controversial decisions on endangered
species and critical habitat made by an Interior Department political appointee
who quit in the spring amid charges of improper meddling in scientific
decisions." ... "California's arroyo toad and red-legged frog could regain
protection that federal biologists determined was crucial to their survival,
according to a letter the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sent Friday to
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman [West Virginia Democratic Representative]
Nick J. Rahall II (D-W.Va.). Rahall released the letter publicly Tuesday."
... "Former Deputy Assistant Interior Secretary Julie MacDonald, a civil
engineer from California with no formal training in natural sciences, routinely
questioned and sometimes overruled recommendations by biologists and other
field staffers, according to documents, interviews and a review by the
department's inspector general. The review outlined instances in which
MacDonald advocated altering scientific conclusions in ways that led to
reduced protection for imperiled species and that favored developers and
agricultural businesses. And she was rebuked for providing internal documents
to lobbyists." ... "Under her direction, proposed habitat protection for
the endangered arroyo toad, a tiny amphibian that once inhabited many Southern
California creek regions, was slashed by 93%. Similarly, the protected
area proposed for the threatened California red-legged frog was reduced
from 4.1 million acres to 450,000 acres." -By Janet
Wilson -LAtimes
Australia
- World
- Agriculture
- Business
- Weather
- Water
- History
- "Australia
Cuts Wheat Crop Forecast for Third Time (Update1)."
... "Australia reduced its wheat harvest forecast for the third time this
year as the nation's worst drought on record hurt production, adding pressure
to shrinking world supplies that drove up prices to a record last month."
-By Gemma Daley and Madelene Pearson
-Bloomberg
Water
- Emergency
- Weather
- Environment
- History
- Farm
- Animals
- Food
- 
Georgia
- 
Alabama
- North
Carolina - 
Tennessee
- 
Kentucky
- "Southeast
drought hits crisis point." ... "Outdoor watering
bans already cover the northern third of Georgia and dozens of cities,
counties and towns in surrounding states. Farmers are selling cattle because
pastures have dried up. Alabama's Elmore County had to bring in floating
pumps and barges to extend its water intake pipe farther out into shrinking
Lake Martin. Georgia might have to do the same at Lake Lanier, Atlanta's
main water source." ... "Although rain is due today across parts of the
region, it will barely dampen the 16-month drought. Through September,
it is the region's driest year in 113 years of record-keeping. In five
of the six worst-hit states, rain totals this year are close to a foot
below normal." ... "It is the driest year on record for North Carolina
and Tennessee, second-driest in Alabama and third-driest in Kentucky. A
tree-ring study this summer of Tennessee's rainfall history shows this
is the third-driest year for the state in at least 350 years, behind only
1839 and 1708." -By Patrick O'Driscoll and Larry Copeland
with contributions by Jordan Schrader, Marty Roney, Leon Alligood, Ron
Barnett, Jessie Halladay, Matt Reed, and Jennie Coughlin
-USATODAY
Food
- Safety
- Health
- History
- Agriculture
- Company
- Employees
- 
Florida
- 
New
Jersey - "Food
inspectors overwhelmed: Workload, vacancies undermine
safety, employees claim." ... "As alarm bells sounded for the second-largest
hamburger recall in history, about 250 of the nation's top food safety
officials were in Miami [Florida] setting the "course for the next 100
years of food safety."" ... "That so many U.S. Department of Agriculture
field supervisors were in Florida while New Jersey-based Topps Meat Co.
[company] was scrambling to recall 21.7 million pounds of hamburger has
rankled some USDA inspectors and food safety advocates." ... "Several USDA
inspectors said in interviews that their workloads are doubling or tripling
as they take on the duties of inspectors who have left the department,
not to be replaced." ... ""We've been short the whole time I've been in,"
said one veteran inspector who asked not to be named. "We don't have enough
inspectors, but we have too much management. The inspectors are short all
the time and getting spread thinner and thinner."" ... "The Topps crisis
began last month, when three consumers in New York and Florida fell ill
from E. coli poisoning. Soon after that, at least 32 people were sick.
The Topps recall, though, began 18 days after the USDA's Food Safety and
Inspection Service confirmed E. coli bacteria in a Topps hamburger." (1,
2)
-By Stephen J. Hedges
-ChicagoTribune
North
Korea - Food
- Farmland
- Disaster
- History
- 
UN
- Economy
- "North
Korea Suffers Worst Rains Ever: Floods Destroy 11
Percent Of Impoverished Country's Farmland At The Height Of Growing Season."
... "Floods caused by the largest rains ever recorded in parts of North
Korea have destroyed more than one-tenth of the impoverished country's
farmland at the height of the growing season, official media reported Wednesday."
... "The U.N. food agency estimated the damage claimed by the North so
far was about a quarter of the crop losses the country said it suffered
in 1995 floods. That previous disaster, along with mismanagement of the
economy and the loss of [North Koreas's capital] Pyongyang's Soviet benefactor,
led to famine that is believed to have killed as many as 2 million North
Koreans." ... "Precipitation along some areas of the Taedong River were
the "largest ever in the history" of measurements taken by the country's
weather agency, the North's Korean Central News Agency reported."
-AP via -CBSNews
Gordon
Smith - 
Dick
Cheney - Environmental
- Science
- Politics
- Federal
- 
Investigation
- History
- Portland
- 
Ore
- California
- 
Fish
- Food
- 
Farmers
- Business
- "Smith
backs Cheney on salmon kill controversy." ... "[Oregon
Republican Senator] Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore. [Republican-Oregon], is siding
with [Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney over a massive fish kill on
the Klamath River in 2002, saying there is no evidence it was caused by
water diversions to farmers." [The Klamath River runs through Oregon and
California] ... "Smith also defended Cheney's role in intervening with
federal officials to help farmers in the Klamath Basin and cast doubt that
the salmon die-off caused sharp commercial costal [coastal] fishing restrictions."
... "The House Natural Resources Committee is investigating whether Cheney
exerted improper political influence to override scientifically based management
of the water resources." ... "Environmentalists, often at odds with Smith,
say his stance contradicts a study by the California Department of Fish
and Game, which found that the water diversions played a key role in the
deaths of some 77,000 salmon." ... "The California Fish and Game report
cited several factors leading to the fish kill, the largest in recorded
West Coast history." ... "There were larger-than-normal salmon returns,
warm water and low river flows that combined to crowd the fish, hastening
the spread of disease." ... "The report concluded that, "River flow and
the volume of water in the fish-kill area were atypically low," and that
the river flow was the only factor controlled by humans." ... ""It's stretching
credibility to claim that the flow management decisions by the [Republican
President] Bush administration in 2002 had nothing to do with the low flows
in the Klamath River," said Steve Pedery of Oregon Wild, a Portland-based
environmental group." -AP
via -kgw.com
US
Immigration - Workers
- Industries
- Construction
- Health
- Agriculture
- Politics
- "Farmers
Call Crackdown on Illegal Workers Unfair." ... "Facing
the prospect of major layoffs of farmworkers during harvest season, growers
and lawmakers from agricultural states spoke in dire terms yesterday about
new measures by the [Republican] Bush administration to crack down on employers
of illegal immigrants." ... "The new effort was cautiously welcomed yesterday
by conservative Republicans who defied President Bush in June and opposed
a broad immigration bill he supported that failed in the Senate. That bill
included provisions to give legal status to illegal immigrants and to create
a guest worker program for agriculture." ... "Employers in low-wage industries
were critical but guarded, reluctant to admit openly that they hire illegal
immigrants. Randel K. Johnson, a vice president of the United States Chamber
of Commerce, said the measures were “one more kick in the pants” for meat-packing,
construction and health care companies that employ immigrant workers in
unskilled jobs." ... "Farmers were less shy, saying at least 70 percent
of farmworkers are illegal immigrants." -By Julia
Preston -NYTimes
US
- 
Colombia
- International
- Government
- Military
- 
Terrorism
- Law
- Enforcement
- Money
- Politics
- Food
- Agriculture
- Workers
- "In
Terrorism-Law Case, Chiquita Points to U.S.: Firm
Says It Awaited Justice Dept. Advice." ... "On April 24, 2003, a board
member of Chiquita International Brands disclosed to a top official at
the Justice Department that the king of the banana trade was evidently
breaking the nation's anti-terrorism laws." ... "Roderick M. Hills, who
had sought the meeting with former law firm colleague Michael Chertoff,
explained that Chiquita was paying "protection money" to a Colombian paramilitary
group on the U.S. government's list of terrorist organizations. Hills said
he knew that such payments were illegal, according to sources and court
records, but said that he needed Chertoff's advice." ... "Chiquita, Hills
said, would have to pull out of the country if it could not continue to
pay the violent right-wing group to secure its Colombian banana plantations.
Chertoff, then assistant attorney general and now secretary of homeland
security [under Republican President Bush], affirmed that the payments
were illegal but said to wait for more feedback, according to five sources
familiar with the meeting." ... "Sources close to Chiquita say that Chertoff
never did get back to the company or its lawyers. Neither did Larry D.
Thompson, the deputy attorney general, whom Chiquita officials sought out
after Chertoff left his job for a federal judgeship in June 2003. And Chiquita
kept making payments for nearly another year." ... "What transpired at
the Justice Department meeting is now a central issue in a criminal probe.
According to these sources' account, the Bush administration was pulled
in competing directions, perhaps because its desire to avoid undermining
a newly elected, friendly Colombian government conflicted with its frequent
public assertions that supporting a terrorist group anywhere constitutes
a criminal offense and a foreign policy mistake." ... "An Organization
of American States report in 2003 said that Chiquita participated in smuggling
thousands of arms for paramilitaries into the Northern Uraba region, using
docks operated by the company to unload thousands of Central American assault
rifles and ammunition." ... "[Colombia's attorney general, Mario] Iguaran,
whose office has been investigating Chiquita's operations, said the company
knew AUC was using payoffs and arms to fund operations against peasants,
union workers and rivals." (1, 2,
3)
-By Carol D. Leonnig with contributions by Spencer
S. Hsu and Juan Forero -WashingtonPost
Global
- Food
- Safety
- US
- 
Canada
- 
China
- 
Colorado
- Animal
- Agriculture
- Industry
- Consumer
- Government
- Law
- Enforcement
- Money
- Politics
- "Some
hunger for food labels: After recalls, shoppers want
to know the origins of globalized groceries." ... "Take a look at the meal
you put on the table tonight, and you'll likely be looking at an international
effort. The steak may have come from a cow raised in Colorado, while the
carrots were grown in Canada and the apple juice imported from China."
... "Many consumers consider the globalization of the food chain a good
thing; you can get any food you want any time of the year. But several
recent recalls of tainted food have some shoppers questioning exactly where
their food comes from and how safe it is." ... "Figuring out where the
food on grocery store shelves comes from isn't always easy." ... "Country-of-origin
labels -- telling shoppers the country in which a product was grown, caught
or raised -- would do that but right now they're required only on seafood.
Labels for meat, produce and peanuts won't start until September 2008."
... "America's food safety problem is complicated but starts with this:
We are importing more food and the government agencies charged with keeping
food safe don't have enough funding or resources, said Chris Waldrop, director
of the food policy institute for the Consumer Federation of America." ...
"Country-of-origin labeling for meat and produce was supposed to take effect
three years ago. But lobbyists, primarily for the beef industry, enlisted
the help of congressional Republicans to delay the change. Trade associations
are still fighting it." (1, 2)
-By Sue Stock -NewsObserver.com
US
- Country
- Animal
- Farm
- Food
- Industry
- Politics
- Consumer
- Safety
- "Labeling
Fight Put Off As Farm Bill Markup Proceeds." ...
"Advocates of labeling [food by country-of-origin], which was mandated
by the 2002 farm law, were bracing for a Republican amendment to the new
farm bill (HR 2419) that would have weakened the requirement." ... "Since
the 2002 law was enacted, congressional Republicans, backed by the meatpacking
industry, have delayed implementation of the labeling mandate."
-CQ.com
Food
- 
Safety
- Animal
- Agriculture
- Companies
- Government
- Law
- Politics
- 
Kansas
- "U.S.
government fights to keep meatpackers from testing all slaughtered cattle
for mad cow." ... "The [Republican President] Bush
administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing
all their animals for mad cow disease." ... "The Agriculture Department
tests fewer than 1 percent of slaughtered cows for the disease, which can
be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. A beef producer in the western
state of Kansas, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, wants to test all of its
cows." ... "Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone
should test its meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform
the expensive tests on their larger herds as well."
-AP via -IHT.com
Consumer
- Health
- Safety
- Enforcement
- Money
- Politics
- Government
- Legislation
- Georgia
- California
- 
Mich
- "FDA
Was Aware of Dangers To Food: Outbreaks Were Not
Preventable, Officials Say." ... "The Food and Drug Administration has
known for years about contamination problems at a Georgia peanut butter
plant and on California spinach farms that led to disease outbreaks that
killed three people, sickened hundreds, and forced one of the biggest product
recalls in U.S. history, documents and interviews show." ... "Overwhelmed
by huge growth in the number of food processors and imports, however, the
agency took only limited steps to address the problems and relied on producers
to police themselves, according to agency documents." ... "Congressional
critics and consumer advocates said both episodes show that the agency
is incapable of adequately protecting the safety of the food supply." ...
""This administration does not like regulation, this administration does
not like spending money, and it has a hostility toward government. The
poisonous result is that a program like the FDA is going to suffer at every
turn of the road," said [Michigan Democratic Representative] Rep. John
D. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the full House committee. Dingell is
considering introducing legislation to boost the agency's accountability,
regulatory authority and budget." (1, 2)
-By Elizabeth Williamson
-WashingtonPost
World
- US
- Brazil
- Animals
- Food
- Environment
- Business
- "Vanishing
honeybees mystify scientists." ... "Go to work --
and vanish without a trace." ... "Billions of bees have done just that,
leaving the crop fields they are supposed to pollinate, and scientists
are mystified about why." ... "The phenomenon was first noticed late last
year in the United States, where honeybees are used to pollinate $15 billion
worth of fruits, nuts and other crops annually. Disappearing bees have
also been reported in Europe and Brazil." ... "Commercial beekeepers would
set their bees near a crop field as usual and come back in two or three
weeks to find the hives bereft of foraging worker bees, with only the queen
and the immature insects remaining. Whatever worker bees survived were
often too weak to perform their tasks." ... "Since about one-third of the
U.S. diet depends on pollination and most of that is performed by honeybees,
this constitutes a serious problem, according to Jeff Pettis of the U.S.
Agricultural Research Service." -Reuters
via -CNN
Fuel
- Food
- Poor
- People
- Auto
- Environment
- Economy
- US
- 
Venezuela
- 
Mexico
- "Ethanol
policy divides Latin America: US efforts to promote
ethanol have raised food prices in the region." ... "Venezuelan President
Hugo Chávez calls the boom in ethanol the equivalent of starving
the poor "to feed automobiles."" ... "Ethanol, which is derived from crops
such as corn or sugar, is seen by some as a green alternative, a rising
star on the path toward reducing independence on foreign petroleum. But
it's not just Mr. Chávez who is questioning whether the benefits
outweigh the unintended consequences." ... "Now poultry industry executives,
who have seen the price of feedstock has gone up; Mexican consumers, facing
a 60 percent jump in the cost of tortillas; and even environmentalists,
who look at the amount of fertilizer that will be needed to grow extra
crops, are wondering aloud whether ethanol will help or hurt Latin American
economies." ... ""I think people worry that rich Americans are trying to
fuel cars at the expense of hungry people in poorer countries," says Janet
Larsen, director of research at the Earth Policy Institute in Washington.
"This increased push for ethanol production could be an incredible foreign
policy blunder."" (1, 2)
-By Sara Miller Llana and Daniel Cancels
-CSMonitor
Food- Health
-Animals
- Business
- "As
'organic' goes mainstream, will standards suffer?
Advocates are cheered by the growing appeal of organic foods. But shoppers,
confused by labels, don't always get what they think they paid for." ...
"In February, a Consumer Reports article examined which organic foods offered
the most benefit. With certain fruits and vegetables - including apples,
peppers, cherries, peaches, and potatoes - the likelihood of pesticide
residue is much higher, it concluded, so buying organic makes a big difference.
Produce which showed little difference between organic and conventional
kinds included asparagus, bananas, broccoli, and onions." ... "The United
States Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued standards for organic products
in 2000, although some critics question how strictly they're applied. But
the market for organic food is anything but simple. Many organic producers
never bother to go through the process of becoming certified, while other
producers use labels such as "free-range" or "natural" that conjure up
bucolic images but may mean very little." ... ""People use certain terms
loosely, and consumers are fooled," says Joe DePippo, president of FreeBird,
which produces antibiotic-free organic chicken raised on small family farms.
"Consumers associate free-range with organic, and rightfully so, but there's
some market for free-range that's not organic. And to just think that you
can have chickens running free all over the field - it's just not practical.""
-By Amanda Paulson -CSMonitor
US
Immigration -Business
- Jobs
- Law- Enforcement
- History
- "Bill
to Broaden Immigration Law Gains in Senate." ...
"With Republicans deeply divided, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted
on Monday to legalize the nation's 11 million illegal immigrants and ultimately
to grant them citizenship, provided that they hold jobs, pass criminal
background checks, learn English and pay fines and back taxes." ... "If
passed, it would create the largest guest worker program since the bracero
program brought 4.6 million Mexican agricultural workers into the country
between 1942 and 1960." ... "Any legislation that passes the Senate will
have to be reconciled with the tough border security bill passed in December
by the Republican-controlled House, which defied President Bush's call
for a temporary worker plan." ... "The rift among Republicans on the [Senate]
committee reflects the deep divisions in the party as business groups push
to legalize their workers and conservatives battle to stem the tide of
illegal immigration." ... "The House bill would, among other things, make
it a federal crime to live in this country illegally, turning the millions
of illegal immigrants here into felons, ineligible to win any legal status.
(Currently, living in this country without authorization is a violation
of civil immigration law, not criminal law.)" (1, 2)
-By Rachel L. Swarns -NYTimes
US
Immigration -Jobs
- Business
- Law
- "Illegal
immigration back on Senate agenda: Report estimates
population at up to 12 million and growing." ... "The number of illegal
immigrants in the United States has grown to as high as 12 million, according
to a new estimate released Tuesday as the Senate considers legislation
aimed at tightening America's borders." ... "The Pew Hispanic Center report
estimated that undocumented workers fill one out of every four agricultural
jobs, 17 percent of all office and house cleaning positions, 14 percent
of construction jobs, and 12 percent of those who work in food preparation."
... "The report estimates that 850,000 illegal immigrants have arrived
in United States each year since 2000." -AP
via -MSNBC
Abramoff
- 
Pombo
- 
DeLay
- 
Texas
- California
- Animal
- Environmental
- Legislation
- Money
- "Foe
of Endangered Species Act on Defensive Over Abramoff."
... "After finally getting a bill through the House last fall that would
eliminate habitat protections on more than 150 million acres, [California
Republican Richard] Pombo has never been closer to reaching his goal. But
as the Senate prepares to take up his measure this year, Pombo finds himself
on the defensive, with his ideology increasingly viewed as extreme and
his connections to industry and to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff under
scrutiny." ... "Pombo's critics have focused on his campaign's reliance
on donors from industries that stand to benefit from his legislation. Just
months before the mining proposal made it out of Pombo's committee, a former
committee aide who once worked for Abramoff's firm and is now a lobbyist
for mining interests hosted a $1,000-a-head fundraiser for Pombo." ...
"The Times reported earlier this year that Pombo joined forces with former
House Majority Leader [Republican] Tom DeLay of Texas in efforts to squelch
a federal banking investigation of Texas financier Charles Hurwitz. Pombo,
who had previously received a campaign contribution from Hurwitz, has contended
that the investigation was unfounded and abusive." ... "A Massachusetts
tribe and client of Abramoff's that donated $20,000 to Pombo received the
congressman's help seeking federal tribal recognition. Pombo supported
the resumption of commercial whaling while accepting thousands of dollars
in international travel from a private foundation funded by the seafood
industry and a whaling association." ... "According to data compiled by
the Campaign Finance Analysis Project, Pombo has, during his congressional
career, collected more than $800,000 from agriculture, timber and fishing
interests. The building industry has given him $205,000; oil and gas, $169,000;
mining, $55,000; and casinos and gambling, $147,000." ... "Pombo denies
any improprieties and says he has no fear of being tainted by the Abramoff
scandal. "I met the guy a few times. He never lobbied me on anything. Never
set foot in my office." -By Bettina Boxall with contributions
by Maloy Moore -LAtimes
Government
- Business
- Politics
- California
- "Bush
administration moves to sell national forest land."
... "The Bush administration will unveil a proposal Friday to sell up to
200,000 [other sources report 300,000] acres of national forest land in
"isolated parcels" ranging from a quarter of an acre to 200 acres, much
of it in California." ... "Details about what plots of land would be put
up for sale are expected to be revealed at a noon press conference by Undersecretary
of Agriculture Mark Rey, a former timber industry lobbyist." ... "Sen.
Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., attacked the plan as "crazy," saying: "Here
the administration wants to pass more tax cuts for the rich, and to pay
the bill, they want to sell off public land - our nation's natural heritage.""
-By Seth Borenstein -KnightRidder
via -RealCities
US
- Canada
- Animals
- Health
- "U.S.
Bans Imports of Some Canadian Poultry." ... "Federal
agriculture officials banned poultry imports from mainland British Columbia
on Monday after Canadian officials reported finding a duck at a poultry
farm that was infected with the flu." ... "Canadian authorities have said
that the virus that afflicted the duck was a mild North American strain
and not the virulent strain that has killed wild and commercial bird flocks
all over Asia, as well as more than 60 people." -By
Gardiner Harris -NYTimes
Iceland
- Animals
- Marketing
- "Iceland
woos America with lamb and skyr." ... "Fermented
shark should probably go. Same with beefy hunks of whale meat and lamb
smoked over dried sheep dung." ... "And you don't have to be a marketing
wizard to guess that dense strips of smoked puffin won't sell well in a
nation where stuffed versions of the seabird nest in children's bedrooms."
... "Still, that leaves plenty of food that might be attractive. Fishermen
pull tons of pristine cod from North Atlantic waters every year, selling
it fresh or preserved with salt. Icelandic lamb has never eaten a mouthful
of grain or seen a syringe of antibiotics. The country's butter is deeply
yellow with a high fat content, produced from cows with a pure lineage
that can be traced back to Norwegian Viking herds." ... "The trick is finding
a way to sell it to America's food elite. A group of Icelandic agricultural
and tourism officials think they've found the angle in a clunky but straightforward
slogan: "Sustainable Iceland since 874."" -By Kim
Severson -NYTimes
via -azcentral.com
- "Landless
Peasants Head to Brazil's Capital." ... "More than
12,000 landless peasants arrived in Brazil's capital Monday after a 17-day
march to demand agrarian reform, saying the president has failed to keep
his promises to provide jobs and land to the country's poor." ... "The
march, the largest ever sponsored by the Landless Rural Workers Movement,
was also intended to protest the economic policies of President Luiz Inacio
Lula da Silva's government." -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
-
-
-
- "How
Did Humans First Alter Global Climate? A bold new
hypothesis suggests that our ancestors' farming practices kicked off global
warming thousands of years before we started burning coal and driving cars."
... "New evidence suggests that concentrations of CO2 started rising about
8,000 years ago, even though natural trends indicate they should have been
dropping. Some 3,000 years later the same thing happened to methane, another
heat-trapping gas. The consequences of these surprising rises have been
profound. Without them, current temperatures in northern parts of North
America and Europe would be cooler by three to four degrees Celsius--enough
to make agriculture difficult. In addition, an incipient ice age--marked
by the appearance of small ice caps--would probably have begun several
thousand years ago in parts of northeastern Canada. Instead the earth's
climate has remained relatively warm and stable in recent millennia." -By
William F. Ruddiman -March
2005 -Ed. -ScientificAmerican
- "Mad
Cow Quandary: Making Animal Feed." ... "In the month
and a half since a case of mad cow disease was discovered in Washington
State, Americans have been learning more than they wanted to know about
what cattle in this country have been eating." ... "Though consumers may
imagine bucolic scenes of nursing calves and cows munching on grass or
hay, much of American agriculture no longer works that way. For years,
calves have been fed cow's blood instead of milk, and cattle feed has been
allowed to contain composted wastes from chicken coops, including feathers,
spilled feed and even feces." ... "Though the United States banned the
use of cow parts in cattle feed in the 1990's, it still permits rendered
matter from cows to be fed to pigs and chickens, and rendered pigs and
chickens to be fed back to cows. Critics say that in theory, that sequence
could bring mad cow disease full circle, back to cows." -By
Denise Grady-NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
- 
- "Bird
flu 'not under control', says UN." ... "The bird
flu outbreak in Asia is not under control, the UN and the World Health
Authority said today after an emergency meeting in Rome, and called for
targeted vaccination of poultry." ... "The virus, which has killed at least
13 people in Asia after jumping to humans in Thailand and Vietnam, will
spread much further without emergency measures, according to the UN food
and agriculture organisation (FAO), the WHO and the world animal health
organisation (WAHO)." -Guardian.co.uk
-
-
-
-
- ELECTION
2004 - "Many
see Bush immigration proposals as non-starter." ...
"President Bush dived into a heated political debate on Wednesday by proposing
to create a class of legal "guest workers" in the United States, but analysts
said it was doubtful the blueprint could gain congressional approval in
this election year." ... "In a carefully balanced speech, Bush proposed
giving some of the estimated 8 million to 14 million illegal immigrants
in the country a way to gain three-year temporary work permits, but offered
them no clear path to becoming U.S. citizens." ... "The proposal seemed
calculated to win Bush Hispanic support ahead of the November presidential
election while pleasing employers looking for workers to fill mainly manual,
agricultural or low paid service jobs." -By Alan Elsner
-Reuters via -Forbes
-
-
- "Man
has been changing climate for 8,000 years: Agriculture
may have released huge amounts of greenhouse gases into atmosphere." ...
"Humans began altering the climate 8,000 years ago, long before the industrial
revolution, claims a leading climate scientist1."
... "Massive clearance and irrigation for agriculture released huge amounts
greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, says William Ruddiman of the University
of Virginia in Charlottesville." ... "By the time the industrial revolution
got under way, we had already raised the global temperature by an average
of 0.8ºC and by as much as 2 ºC at high latitudes, proposes -
enough to deflect an impending ice age. Today's winters would be as much
as 7 degrees cooler at high latitudes if it were not for the pre-industrial
input of greenhouse gases, he says." -By Betsy Mason
-Nature.com
Karl
Rove - Gordon
Smith - Environmental
- Science
- Politics
- River
- Animals
- Agricultural
- Corporation
- Government
- Hatch
Act - Law
- 2002
Election - WVa
- California
- Portland
- Oregon
- "Oregon
Water Saga Illuminates Rove's Methods With Agencies."
... "In a darkened conference room, [Republican President Bush] White House
political strategist Karl Rove was making an unusual address to 50 top
managers at the U.S. [United States] Interior Department. Flashing color
slides, he spoke of poll results, critical constituencies -- and water
levels in the Klamath River basin." [The Klamath River runs from Oregon
into California] ... "At the time of the meeting, in January 2002, Mr.
Rove had just returned from accompanying [Republican] President Bush on
a trip to Oregon, where they visited with a Republican senator facing re-election
[2002]. Republican leaders there wanted to support their agricultural base
by diverting water from the river basin to nearby farms, and Mr. Rove signaled
that the administration did, too." ... "Three months later, Interior Secretary
Gale Norton stood with [Oregon Republican Senator] Sen. Gordon Smith in
Klamath Falls and opened the irrigation-system head gates that increased
the water supply to 220,000 acres of farmland -- a policy shift that continues
to stir bitter criticism from environmentalists and Indian tribes." ...
"Though Mr. Rove's clout within the administration often is celebrated,
this episode offers a rare window into how he works behind the scenes to
get things done. One of them is with periodic visits to cabinet departments.
Over the past two years Mr. Rove or his top aide, Kenneth Mehlman -- now
manager of Mr. Bush's re-election campaign -- have visited nearly every
agency to outline White House campaign priorities, review polling data
and, on occasion, call attention to tight House, Senate and gubernatorial
races that could be affected by regulatory action." ... "On [January] Jan.
5, Mr. Rove accompanied the president to an appearance in Portland [Oregon]
with Mr. Smith. The president signaled his desire to accommodate agricultural
interests, saying "We'll do everything we can to make sure water is available
for those who farm."" ... "The next day, Mr. Rove made sure that commitment
didn't fall through the cracks. He visited the 50 Interior managers attending
a department retreat at a Fish and Wildlife Service conference center in
Shepherdstown, W.Va. [West Virginia] In a PowerPoint presentation Mr. Rove
also uses when soliciting Republican donors, he brought up the Klamath
and made clear that the administration was siding with agricultural interests."
...
"His remarks weren't entirely welcome -- especially by officials grappling
with the competing arguments made by environmentalists, who wanted river
levels high to protect endangered salmon, and Indian tribes, who depend
on the salmon for their livelihoods. Neil McCaleb, then an assistant Interior
secretary, recalls the "chilling effect" of Mr. Rove's remarks. Wayne Smith,
then with the department's Bureau of Indian Affairs, says Mr. Rove reminded
the managers of the need to "support our base."" [note: the Hatch Act prohibits
political activities in federal offices.] ... "A National Marine Fisheries
Service biologist, Michael Kelly, has asked for protection under federal
"whistle-blower" laws, saying he was subjected to political pressure to
go along with the low-water plan and ordered to ignore scientific evidence
casting doubt on the plan. This month, a federal judge ruled the administration
violated the Endangered Species Act in the way it justified the water diversion."
-By Tom Hamburger -WallStreetJournal
via -OregonWild.org
- 
-
- "USDA
Orders Prodigene Biocorn Destroyed in Iowa." ...
"A small biotech company experimenting with a corn variety engineered to
produce insulin was ordered to destroy 155 acres of the crop in Iowa because
it may have contaminated nearby fields, the U.S. Agriculture Department
said on Thursday." ... "A growing number of U.S. companies are experimenting
with biotech corn to produce cheaper proteins and compounds for use in
pharmaceuticals. ProdiGene's biotech corn grown for pharmaceutical use
is not federally approved for human or livestock feed." ... "The USDA,
along with the Food and Drug Administration, is trying to determine if
the Texas-based company violated any federal regulations. ProdiGene could
face fines of up to $500,000 for each violation." -By
Randy Fabi -Reuters/Politics
- -
- "Biotech
Firm Mishandled Corn in Iowa." ... "The biotechnology
company that mishandled gene-altered corn in Nebraska did the same thing
in Iowa, the government disclosed yesterday." ... "The disclosure raised
new questions about the conduct of ProdiGene Inc., a company in College
Station, Tex., that is now under investigation for allegedly violating
government permits in two states. The ProdiGene matter is proving to be
a black eye for the biotech industry, which has been trying to reassure
the public it can be trusted not to contaminate the food supply." -By
Justin Gillis -WashingtonPost
- "ISU’s
intellectual property policy clearly spelled out."
-By Gene Lucht -IowaFarmer
