Author: Brian

Which fruits and vegetables contain the most and least pesticides?

Andrew Schneider, senior correspondent at SeattlePI, is investigating pesticides and residue on our food.

Is anyone really checking to see how much pesticide is on the produce we import?

He’s found a poor system in the USA. Conflicting interests. Opposing forces. Hidden agenda.

On the 19th, we ran in the PI a story on a hazmat coalition involving King County and three dozen other political entities that removed from its Web site and handout materials a wallet-sized shopping guide to which fruits and vegetables contained the most and least pesticides.

The story explained that agri-business groups had urged the county to get rid of the guide.

The data on which the card was based came from USDA analysis of more than 50,000 samples of food. [found via the good folks at barfBlog]

Wow! More than three dozen agriBiz groups hope you do not know this information.

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But on the other hand!
Published in the Economist, this letter offers a strong counterpoint to our worry about food residue. It might be we are unable to truly determine a level of safety for most pesticides. It might be we are ingesting natural toxins produced by a wide variety of the plants we eat. There’s much to learn and discover.

What’s in your food?

SIR – Your article on the regulation of pesticides should have pointed out that slightly exceeding the “maximum residue levels” in some food, as occasionally happens, is a risk perhaps equivalent to the likelihood of being hit on the head by a meteorite (“A balance of risk”, July 5th). Of greater risk to humans is the exposure to thousands of pesticides made naturally by plants (to kill herbivorous insects) and found in all fruits and vegetables. The average daily diet contains a quarter teaspoon of natural nerve toxins, endocrine disrupters, carcinogens and chemicals that damage chromosomes, skin, blood and the thyroid.

Humans are not adapted to these natural chemicals, in which the margin of safety is about tenfold compared with traces in synthetic pesticides (some 10,000-fold higher). Yet unqualified environmental groups and European bureaucrats are obsessed with agricultural pesticide safety, basing their assumptions on unjustified fear and anxiety. Neither makes for good policy.

Anthony Trewavas
Professor of plant biochemistry
Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences
Edinburgh

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Government in Europe

The EU’s scientific assessment is that people who have continuous exposure to pesticides, for example from polluted water, pesticides in food, living near where pesticides are sprayed, and especially from working with pesticides, “may have a higher risk of incidence of cancer or other chronic diseases, birth defects, cancer in offspring, stillbirths and reproductive problems” and more.

This is why the use of sprays in farming has been controversial for over 50 years.

The public are rightly suspicious of government and industry claims that pesticides are ‘safe’, and the chemical industry should not be surprised at continuing public suspicion and criticism by environmentalists and others. Now things are changing.
The EU proposals on pesticides are supported by almost all the elected governments in Europe. In terms of a direct democratic mandate, they do not go nearly far enough, because almost all the European Parliament’s amendments to strengthen these pesticide laws have been rejected by government ministers from the member states.

None of this will affect organic farmers.

Our Cry Baby Corporations by BobboSphere

Lots of capitalistic countries don’t get the constant barrage of malfeasance like we do. What could possibly explain this orgy of greedy narcissism?

I thought about this for a long time and finally realized that I had experienced life with totally selfish individuals before. You see, I am a parent.

Anyone who has lived with babies knows that in addition to being amazingly cute, they are the most selfish, demanding and relentless beings one can ever encounter. When a baby wants something, you’d better deliver it on time and to their their liking, night or day, no matter how tired or sick you may be. No excuses are allowed and negotiations with an infant are useless. Babies are the perfect tyrants.

Of course, as babies mature and we apply our love and parenting skills, they slowly develop social awareness. Other adults and older children are also crucial to this process. It is a societal task with schools, government, religious institutions and other organizations lending a hand. Eventually most babies mature into adults who function in society without making constant excessive and noisy demands on those around them. Most babies do…but not all babies.

Then it struck me. Corporate behavior like I have described is infantile behavior. It’s the product of people who have limited social skills and unlimited egotism. Babies have a reason for being demanding little narcissists. They are virtually helpless as a result of a long complex evolutionary process. But our corporate cry babies are the product of something else. I’m not speaking of the parenting they received. That varies from individual to individual. They have been spoiled rotten by a society that gave them every advantage and demanded very little in return. No wonder they turn into amoral vicious bullies.

But how did we coddle them to the point where they became overpaid and overly powerful spoiled brats?

Think about it.

“It’s unpatriotic to let things pass that are damaging this country,” says Bruce Springsteen noting no American would believe what we’ve become in the last years, protecting ourselves until we are no longer who we are; that we see torture, wiretapping, suspension of Habeas Corpus, voter suppression, political prosecutions, oh, the list goes on.

Hurry now, as you can see in Polly Jackson’s ‘toon, The Decider George W has already made up his mind.

This link points to a serious post at DailyKos that has garnered 222 comments already that Dave925 describes as carrying water for the Plutocracy.

I believe an hour’s reading here will loft new ideas about our leadership and culture, and perhaps increase both commitment and comfort as we learn to live under a very corrupt system.

I’m surprised and relieved that my fellow citizens carried on a stream of comments with nary a flame, usually contributing thoughtfully to each other, and often bringing important new resources.

Some folks have a very internalized view of how the world works and will be alarmed. But I’m sure most of us carry suspicions about elites and governments and media and education and war. We won’t be surprised reading this hefty page, and we will learn erroneousness.

Erroneousness? Nietzsche tells us:

“…from every point of view the erroneousness of the world in which we believe we live is the surest and firmest thing we can get our eyes on.”

What? You didn’t know this?

The world’s five largest fully publicly traded oil companies are expected to, yet again, report record profits… Reuters

More importantly, though I’m too lazy at the moment to find the link, these firms spend very little on exploration or drilling, less than a single digit of a percent of their wealth.

“You know what the real fight is? The real fight is the definition of what is reality.” – Bernie Sanders

Mother Jones interviews Bernie Sanders after his election in 2006:

What’s your first-100-days agenda?

Bernie Sanders: The first thing I want to do is to force reality onto the floor of the Senate so that we can end this stupid discussion about how great the American economy is. The economy is not great. The economy is a disaster for the middle class.

Second, I want to focus on an issue that is almost never talked about on the floor — that is the power of big money. What are the moral implications? What do these people do when they have tremendous amounts of money? They use that money to perpetuate their own wealth and their own power. Every day, Congress works on behalf of big-money interests.

Third, I want to take a look at some of the good things that are being done around the rest of the world that are almost never discussed in the United States. How often is it discussed that the American people work the longest hours of any industrialized country in the world? The two-week paid vacation is almost a thing of the past; meanwhile in Europe you get four to six weeks vacation, and maternity leave with pay. We don’t know about these things. I want to take a look around the world and see what workers are receiving, and compare that to the United States — from an educational point of view.

Knowing a bit about impeachment, John Dean discusses the Kucinich resolution:

Based on conversations with members of the House and Senate, and countless public statements, there is no question that Congress understands that the Bush/Cheney presidency treats its members as if they were, and should be, a decidedly lesser branch. Nixon did the same, but with a difference. When Nixon was president, Congress reached a point where it was determined to end his abuses of presidential power. Yet pointing out this out would have been testifying to the obvious, and there is nothing I could say that would give those on Capitol Hill without spine the fortitude needed to take action. As with Nixon, Congress will have to stand up to the bully at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue on its own – or never do so.

Also, there is no shortage of witnesses who can discuss the abuses of power by Bush and Cheney, to create a record of how they have gone beyond established constitutional limitations. The examples are well-known: their excessive and unnecessary secrecy, their incessant stonewalling and refusal to provide information to Congress, the issuance of executive orders that have rewritten important laws (like Bush’s virtual repeal-by-executive-order of the Presidential Records Act of 1978), their politicization of the Department of Justice, their striking disregard for civil liberties, their exclusion of Congress from the necessary national security information when it votes on legislation like the FISA amendments (leaving Congress with no idea what the changes do or do not do), their deceiving Congress about the reasons for war in Iraq, their relentless expansion of purported executive prerogatives, their ongoing politicization of the federal judiciary, their violations of longstanding treaties in order to embrace a policy of torture, their utilization of the concocted theory of executive power known as “the unitary executive theory,” and their endless signing statements accompanying legislation and claiming the right to not enforce laws enacted and signed by the president. And this is to name merely a few of the matters with which the Congress is painfully familiar

.

Shame is better than war. Anyone say what’s under oil? Or the damn argument killing children too? Anyone tell why fools rise? Or the terrible habit refusing peace? There’s no government until lies quit. There’s no good earth if we won’t want it. Bring them out. Wring bells. Repair time.

As to Obama, yo,
this is campaign not fireside chatting.

Obeema stings in EurAsia, venom included.
Can you do that?
Did Kennedy?
Wot?

Saints prove none leads.
We can’t turn War to Eden
but we can zip shut Republicans.

So I might just point out that there’s no right answer but our vote.

And all the pundits trip.

Woot!

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia citing justification of torture:

“Jack Bauer saved Los Angeles. … He saved hundreds of thousands of lives. Are you going to convict Jack Bauer?”

From Your Handy-Dandy Guide To White House Corruption

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Slate’s diagram of the Whitehouse’ Golden Rule of Wrongdoing

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Arrogance has a permanent flaw: When you think you’re the highest point, you don’t look up.

Doc Searls:

Not surprisingly, no company on earth is more vested in the bell curve than Microsoft.

Eager to travel 600 miles to hear him speak, Searls want you to know John Taylor Gatto:

… we must wake up to what our schools really are: laboratories of experimentation on young minds, drill centers for the habits and attitudes that corporate society demands.

World War I: $253 billion
World War II: $4.1 trillion
Korean War: $320 billion
Vietnam War: $686 billion

Gulf War: $96 billion
Iraq war: $648 billion
Afghanstian/Global war on terror: $171 billion
Post 9/11 domestic security: $33 billion
Post 9/11 operations: $859 billion

[NewsVine]

From Slate, a review of the morality and behavior of John McCain.

John McCain admitted to intentionally filing false income tax returns to defraud the IRS by not claiming thousands of dollars in gifts McCain and his family received from Charles Keating and Keating’s company.

John McCain then went back to the drawing board and re-invented himself as “the Straight-Talk Express” and the media gobbled it up. “Tax-Evading-Criminal” doesn’t sound as catchy as “Straight-Shooting-War-Hero”.

One crook went to prison. The other runs for President.

At the European Tribune, Jerome says,

“The current crisis has been caused by the greed of a few, and the policies they have foisted upon us all. It’s time to blame them, and make them pay back.

“The facts are on our side, even if the conventional wisdom of the pundits hasn’t caught up yet.

“It’s our job to push these simple notions in the open, so that policies can change.”

via Purposive Drift

Darfur at TimesOnline, or as a friend has said, the saddest story, a doctor in the lawless region of Sudan:

“They were shouting and screaming at us. You know what they were saying? ‘We have come here to kill you! To finish you all! You are black slaves! You are worse than dogs! Either we kill you or we give you Arab children. Then there will be no more black slaves in this country.’ The worst was that they were laughing and yelping with joy as they did those terrible things. Those grown men were enjoying it, as they passed the little girls around.

Mary Catherine Bateson

The American presidency requires both vision and practicality, just as the achievement of social justice or peace requires both. Probably all the candidates have both in some measure, but in different proportions. We should be asking a two-fold question as we look at any candidate: first, will this candidate be inspired by a high vision of what this country can be and the role it can play in ensuring a just and stable world and a positive future? And second, will this candidate have the patience and respect for the democratic system to work with the political process step by step to implement that vision? It takes passion and patience, intelligence and imagination and common sense to do both.

Yes, daughter of Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson. She also said,

“You are not what you know but what you are willing to learn.”

and

“You will know the future when you get there.”

Scientists expose mystery behind northern lights

New information from five satellites launched last spring suggests the dancing streaks and colourful sheets are caused by storms in space about one-third of the way to the moon.

The storms are caused by solar wind — a current of charged particles coming from the sun — that blows into the earth’s magnetic field.

When that wind is strong and the orientation of the Earth to the sun is just right, the magnetic field gets stretched far out into space.

But when it stretches too far, it twangs back like a rubber band, releasing energy that creates a magical spectacle for earthbound observers.

The research by scientists from NASA working with Canadians at universities in Calgary and Edmonton was published online today in the journal Science.

The Canadian Press

In the north I’ve seen the star we are within that only a few miles south is not seen. I’m saying there’s a part of wonder there. Shaping me, the first thing is awe, a neurological clap of thunder reminding me that we are exquisitely primitive. That’s why I like this:

“In all your getting, get understanding.”

Dick Gregory says,

A couple of months ago, plus a couple of weeks ago, I was in LA. And had I not been in LA, I would have never known that Ron Goldman’s best friend was murdered, because it didn’t run back east. He’s walking down the street with a lady, and two dudes run up and say “It’s a stickup!” Shoot him dead, don’t take nothing from him, and don’t bother her. Then three newspapers reporters reporting on the O. J. Simpson Trial end up dead mysteriously.

Of course this (nicely) bugged me. You?

The minimum wage in the 21st century is $2 lower in real dollars than it was five decades ago.

When you adjust for inflation, the minimum wage in this country has actually decreased 38 percent since 1968.

A full-time worker at minimum wage could not afford a one-bedroom apartment anywhere in the country.

“You get desperate, because you can’t really pay for everything,” said Gladys.

The American Dream In Reverse

$10.06 per hour 40 years ago.
$6.55 per hour in 2008.

Wealthy elites take more than the 1920s, before the Great Depression.

Mike at RawFeed says,

“If this doesn’t ring clear as a harbinger of the Apocalypse, I don’t know what does.

“A Las Vegas morning news program is now being paid by McDonald’s for a product placement.

“That’s right: Product placement on the news.

“But here’s the best part: The McDonald’s iced coffee beverages on the desk aren’t even real. They’re FAKE drink props with fake ice that doesn’t melt, and they don’t even contain a drinkable liquid.

Talk Show Bullies have rampaged our airwaves enough.

The firing of Michael Savage is essential.

Comment by Kim Stagliano, Writer, Blogger, Mom to three girls with autism
Autism is not an acceptable whipping boy – 6 hours ago

Many of us who have commented on this story to the media have worried about giving Michael Savage more publicity. I suppose we are. But it’s important that people understand that autism is a complex disorder and ranges greatly in its severity, but is often extremely disabling. Savage has managed to bring together many of the disparate voices in our community as we stand in defense of our loved ones. By the way, that whole, “bilking the government” statement? I can assure you, most of us with kids on the spectrum are just about broke from the costs. Until recently, most states didn’t even accept autism as disability qualifying for Department of Disability Services (DDS) programs. People with autism often have IQ’s “too high” to meet the old standards of what was called, “mental retardation” in the past, and so their applications were rejected. That’s changing some, thank goodness.

OUCH!

World Wildlife Fund study:

“Amazon’s Vicious Cycles: Drought and Fire,” concludes that 55 percent of the world’s largest rainforest stands to be severely damaged from agriculture, drought, fire, logging and livestock ranching in the next 22 years. Another 4 percent may be damaged by reduced rainfall caused by global warming. This is anticipated to destroy up to 80 percent of wildlife habitat in the region. [link]

What fun we’ll have restoring this good earth!

Speigel Online says about Barack Obama in Europe:

Obama may be running for the White House, but judging by the commotion, one would think that he had already advanced two steps further and were the president of the world.

Which is precisely the issue. Obama raises hopes that he will not just change America, but politics as a whole.

Is our American dream dying, moving into fascism and repression, or are we going to reignite that wonderful, real American spirit, not the fake one that the rich and powerful use to try and manipulate and oppress us? We are the ones who get to decide.

Change specialist Donna Woodka encourages us to be thoughtful as our leadership ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!

We are the music-makers
And we are the dreamers of dreams
Wandering by lone sea-breakers
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world forever, it seems.
..
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.

– Arthur O’Shaughnessy