the politics of food

Michael Pollen writes in yesterday’s NYT about the politics surrounding this year’s farm bill. Happily, he notes that consumers of America’s agricultural products (i.e. EATERS) are stepping up to play a role in the policy-making process. For years, American farm policy has screwed things up royally. The policies have the best of intentions: protecting America’s family farms from going under when a drought or wildfire strikes. But the opportunistic consequences of the bill has sent billions of taxpayer dollars into the pockets of megafarms and the businesses that thrive off taxpayer-subsidized crops. Businesses like Coca Cola, McDonald’s, Archer Daniels Midland. Businesses that make money hand-over-fist selling products laden with high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oils to increasingly obese Americans. Businesses whose products wouldn’t be so attractive to poor people (read: cheap) if our tax dollars weren’t subsidizing their corn and soy producers.

I have a personal relationship with this debate since my recently deceased grandfather, my great uncle, my grandmother and my uncle’s family make their living partially from farm subsidies. But they grow their crops the honest way (with sweat and toil rather than chemicals and genetic manipulations), and they grow their cattle the way cattle are meant to be grown (in fields eating grass).

Senators Lugar and Lautenberg have the right idea with their proposal that subsidies only apply to farmers when their revenues have fallen beneath a threshold because of circumstances beyond their control. This would end the per-bushel payments that farmers currently receive and make growing high-yield corn that is only suitable for high fructose corn syrup and soy that will go on to become partially hydrogenated oil so attractive.

Senators Dorgan and Grassley propose another sensible amendment that would cap the annual subsidy to a farmer at $250,000, thereby preventing huge corporate farms from making their profits sucking tax dollars through the farm subsidy system.

Here’s to a farm bill that truly protects our nation’s family farmers and supports locally grown, affordable, accessible food.

Contact your senators and representatives now to do what you can to put this bill on their radar screen as it goes into important markups in the coming weeks. Contact your federal senators and congresspeople to let them know that the US federal government should not be supporting industries that are leading millions into obesity, heart disease and diabetes and yielding billions of dollars in health care costs.

A popular stance these days is to blame the poor and obese for their condition when our public policies have created the conditions that have made processed, fat- and sodium-laden foods the most affordable for individuals and families on limited incomes. Let’s hold our legislators accountable for fixing it.

the morality of the lottery, or why 4alarm is a big fat hypocrite.

Today, I read this article from the New York Times on how little revenue lotteries create in the scheme of K-12 education budgets, and how the business of running lotteries is eating increasingly into the already slim profits. In fact, the blog entry through which I read the story was titled “What has six balls and screws teachers?” These lotteries have exploded across the country – 42 states and the District of Columbia now have them. In most instances, the lotteries fund education projects of various flavors. And this is how they are sold to the electorate. “The lottery is great! It’ll pay for cute little children to learn how to read. All for freeeeee to the taxpayers!” That sort of shit. I remember this exact propaganda when Virginia passed a referendum to start a lottery when I was a kid.

But you know what, even when you discount the added cost of the social burden of gambling addiction and such, the lottery doesn’t pay for shit.

why would gen X teachers behave differently from gen Xers in other jobs?

over and over, articles like this one cite very real statistics that about one-third of new teachers leave the classroom within three years, and about half leave within five. okay, yes, this is problematic because in combination with the fact that most teachers’ retirement systems allow teachers to retire after 30 years without substantial incentives to stay longer (22 + 30 = 52), lots of teachers are leaving the classroom at both ends. attrition is something around 9 percent a year, and it has the potential to grow even larger.

now, don’t get me wrong, i know that teacher recruitment and retention is a major problem. but the assumption that young teachers are leaving because there is a problem with the education system seems really stupid considering that changing jobs every 2-4 years is a pretty defining characteristic of generation X in the workforce.

henry ford and the demise of the community of compassion.

henry ford is responsible for the reddening of the US map. that damned assembly line gave us cars, televisions and bubble-wrapped lives.

people are friendlier in DC than they are in Atlanta. not because of the quality of their friendliness, but because of sheer quantity. 

may day.

as i was driving home this afternoon, i was listening to NPR. all things considered. a pretty normal monday afternoon scenario. i started thinking about may day for some reason. may day, the british bank holiday…pretty little girls weaving pretty little ribbons around tall poles in acts of pretty useless prettiness. but then there’s also may day, the cry for help. the voice on the other end of the radio…the one coming from the end of the line where the plane is crashing or the ship is sinking.

the pieces that i listened to were mostly about the demonstrations that happened today in favor of various types of immigration reform — there were the latino immigrants who favor opening the borders, legalizing those who are already here illegally…a big rah-rah fest about the contributions that illegal immigrants make to US society. there were also the counter protestors. the ones who think that we should police our borders and deport the illegals and sit up in the closet with a flashlight late at night.

the value of being provocative.

i’m sick of people who need everything to be pleasant all the time. southerners, americans, democrats, liberals. fuck ‘em. fuck all of ‘em.

everything isn’t pleasant all the time. it’s not even pleasant most of the time.

i wish that people would just shut the fuck up with their yammering and wishywashiness and fucking say something. i don’t care if it’s politically correct. i don’t care if you even believe it. we’ll get to that later.

to “fairly” perpetuate? or to “unfairly” solve?

you just have to read it. i warn you; it’s long.

i’m not even sure what to say. just that it’s a damn shame that he’s right that it won’t play politically with the “born on third base but thinks he hit a triple” republicans or the bleeding hearts. much less your run of the mill “rugged individualist” american.

we’ll just give ‘em one-way bus tickets and ban them from bothering tourists instead. make ‘em someone else’s problem.

the olympic spirit.

i haven’t watched much of the olympics in turin.

 (random aside: why the hell is NBC calling it “torino?” i mean, yes that it’s it’s proper italian name, but they didn’t use the greek name of athens in 2004 or the korean name of seoul in ‘88. i think it’s because turin sounds like urine. and torino sounds like a big manly truck. thoughts? opinions?)

anyway, despite my lack of television viewing, it has come to my attention that the biathlon is one of the neatest events ever — and the athletes are freaking incredible. they combine crosscountry skiing and shooting. i’d totally take it up. except that i live in georgia where it never snows. oh, and the puking part.

4alarm’s rants of the day.

1. since when did “national security” justify xenophobia? now, not only do brown people have to be humiliated in airports, but now they can’t even conduct legitimate business in the US? come on people, the parent companies of the Dubai port management company haven’t been conducting good business for years to dupe us into thinking they’re safe. they’re trying to make money, here, people. gah.

now, i might be concerned about the administration’s connections to said multinational corporation, but that’s an entirely different issue. better DP World than Halliburton.

2. what the hell is up with our society that winning a silver medal at the freaking olympics makes one a loser??!?!?!

For Cohen, her silver is another reminder of potential squandered.

last time i checked, that means that on that one day, she was the second best figure skater in the WORLD. ugh. she’s a 21 year old kid. leave her alone. get some olympic spirit, people.

According to the Olympic Charter, established by Pierre de Coubertin, the goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practised without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.