Even Bush is sick of the Iraq fiasco...he has been mumbling about pulling out troops and about a "time horizon"...yes, "HORIZON," not a timeline, for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. Don't know about you, but I have never heard anyone talk about "time horizons" before. Makes me think of an event horizon around a black hole...which is an ominous comparison.

Remember, though, Bush's shifting to withdrawal is not by any choice of his. The Iraq government has told him in no uncertain terms that we have outlived our welcome and they do not want us there permanently.

[Delayed liveblog. All is paraphrased.]

There's a new food and politics blog: lavidalocavore.org blog.

Questions asked by: Orange Clouds 115 and Natasha.

Homework for all participants [and all you readers out there]: There are some myths about food in media, your job is to reframe the message when you see a food myth.

-------------------
Mark Winne - author of "Closing the Food Gap"
Jane Goodall's comment on the book: "It's heartening to find a book that blends passion for sustainable living with compassion for the poor."

Q: With rising food prices, fed program food dollars not going as far any more. What needs to be done, and how can we move that discussion forward?

A: Lower income people paying much more for food. Food cost is already 20% of income for lower income familes vs much less for rest of us.

They're already lining up at food banks and food stamp offices in record numbers. They'll take an additional hit from these rising costs. We HAVE to act immediately in terms of responding to human need.

We haven't always informed our compassion with analysis and long term thinking.

[there's more]

I arrived in Austin Monday night and I've been staying with one of our panelists, Judith McGeary. When I woke up yesterday, I was greeted by this little guy:

Turkey, an hour old

This diary is full of pics of Judith's farm - which she's told you about in her diary a few days ago about how the developers forced her to sell this farm and move to a new one - and about prep for the party we're having Saturday night.

I'm posting regular updates on La Vida Locavore.

Since there will be a convergence of all manner of eaters in Austin I wanted to contribute my convoluted thoughts on dining in our fair burg.

I have been on Kos for a few years and I had to miss Las Vegas and Chicago.  I was very much looking forward to the gathering in Austin.  I think the convention made a very wise choice.  

Unfortunately, my vacation is here this week and my family and I are going to drive to Yellowstone and Spokane to visit family.

So here is a welcome to y'all to Austin, and my humble suggestions for places to spend money and places to have fun.

So have a good time, and I'll come to Net Roots next year.

Love all of you.

Our intrepid G8 politicians have gathered on the beautifully serene lake Toya, in Japan's northern island of Hokkaido for a round of cosy talks on such pesky subject matters like food shortages, climate change and various modern ills.

The global food shortage was not evident as the G8 leaders tucked in a "working lunch" of white asparagus and truffle soup followed by kegani crab salad, a supreme of chicken and cheese and coffee with exotic petit fours. Alongside bottled mineral waters, crates of Chateau Grillet 2005 was on offer for those who felt like a tipple as African leaders urged the G8 to tackle spiking oil and food prices, warning the crisis threatens to aggravate an already desperate plight in the continent.

Personally, I have known for some time that these "power summits" - concocted some thirty years ago in a fireside chat at Rambouillet - achieve little, if anything it provides some mental masturbatory moments for weary leaders and a promise of top notch repasts. If some of you have better information on past G8 feats not feasts, do tell.

Cross-posted at La Vida Locavore.

It's official! The Mediterranean diet can reduce the risk of cancer by almost a quarter, according to a major study of people's eating habits. We Mediterranean folks have known this for some time.

So my question is: do you believe, like George Santayana, that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it? Or would you believe, as did George Bernard Shaw, that all we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history?

The good news over the orange bar!

It was only a few decades ago when our government actually encouraged us to grow gardens to feed ourselves.  Now, they encourage us to buy ever more cheap plastic foreign-made crap at Wal Mart, instead.

From 'sea to shining sea', the Big Boxes and their fellow travelers have wreaked havoc on our landscape and our communities.  Over the past few decades, our never-ending desire to save 14 cents on a hairdryer has in the long run cost us Main Street.  But as it becomes apparent that the cheap oil era is at its end, even Dick Cheney must be starting to realize that "the American way of life" is absolutely 'negotiable'.

Let's talk about rebuilding our food system and the places that we live below the jump...

crossposted from unbossed

It's an uneven battle for the truth, given Monsanto's money and its stable of people like who will promote Monsanto's profits over our health. Link.  One thing working in Monsanto's favor is that, when things seem complicated, most people will tune out or take the position that the truth likes somewhere between. Another is that Monsanto is well funded, while those who work to publicize the truth are not.

But you can help by being informed and telling others about these shenanigans. And there are other things you can do to support the truth tellers.

... and Other Things You'll Need to Know About Food in Austin

This past year, I was lucky enough to spend six months working in Texas. That's right, I said lucky. Believe it or not, I think I got in touch with my inner Texan. Before landing a job in Dallas, I would have told you that I don't have an inner Texan (or an outer Texan, or any other kind of Texan). But Texas charmed me. I grew to love it.

The people I met in Texas were, by and large, incredibly warm and friendly, and always eager to remind me that George Bush is from Connecticut! I look forward to introducing everyone to the side of Texas that gave us Jim Hightower, Ann Richards, and Molly Ivins - including Austin's local food (yum!) and a great Austin nonprofit called the Sustainable Food Center.

Also in this diary is the info you'll need to know about this year's food panel. So read on... otherwise you'll be so confused when you get to Austin you won't know whether to scratch your watch or wind your butt. (See? I'm learning to speak Texan!)

(Also - if you missed my announcement, I've got a new Scoop blog at La Vida Locavore)

We're mired in Iraq, moving backwards in Afghanistan, the economy is tanking, unions are an endangered species, and the middle class is rapidly becoming a quaint memory.  But the important news today is that Joey Chestnut has won the mustard yellow belt at Nathan's, thus rekindling pride in the US for the second year in a row.

There is a great disparity between those who will face difficulty if the predicted economic crash arrives, and those who either chose to ignore, or feel that they will not be effected by, the hardships we may be facing.  We have a long cultural history of distain for "survivalists", since their actions do not confirm our fondest myths.  But, sans tin foil hat, there seems to be a looming crisis on the horizon, and attempts to deny, ridicule, or dismiss it, could lead to chaos.

We are in the midst of a severe recession.  Fuel prices are making it difficult to get to work, and many of us have had to rethink our driving habits in a serious way.  Winter heating costs are threatening to sky rocket, and government assistance is shrinking.

Our entire food delivery system is dependent on a processing and packaging structure that is petroleum based, and the costs are predicted to double within the next 6 to 12 months.  Truckers will have to increase charges to offset the rising fuel costs.

crossposted from unbossed

Say you were a blogger and had written, oh, say, 20 or more stories on issues related to the use of Monsanto's rBST in milk. And say each time you wrote about the issue, for example, that the Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture had created a fake consumer committee to assess milk labeling, you were asked: "So what's the story with rBST / rBGH?"

How do you explain why rBST in milk is a problem? Now there is an easy way to explain it all.

Most holidays (the meaningful ones, anyway) end up centered around a meal. A holiday meal isn't just food, of course. It's a chance to come together and share, to join in a fellowship that echoes the holy rituals of many religions. Thanksgiving has its turkey, Easter its ham -- and those meals are often eaten with an eye to the meaning of the day.

The Fourth of July meal tends to be a little more raucous. And, be it a picnic or a barbecue, a lot more outdoorsy. But that doesn't mean we don't all have our own traditions around what you eat and how you eat it. Given the nature of the holiday, it seems like what you eat should be somehow American, since that is after all what's being celebrated here. (You could also go for a freedom theme and grill only free-range meats, I guess.) But what's even American? I once went to a party thrown by an Australian woman who asked guests to bring food they considered typically American, and the menu ranged from pancakes to takeout Chinese food.

I'll be honest: my family doesn't do the Fourth. My parents are not holiday people, and when I was a kid, I usually hoped someone would invite me to their family's barbecue. For the last several years, I've usually been at a Sacred Harp singing in Alabama on the Fourth, eating southern picnic food off a thirty-foot concrete table. Fried green tomatoes, pecan pie, all sorts of food like I never grew up on. This year I'm not going to Alabama, but I will be singing on Saturday, so I'm cooking picnic food a day late. I'll be making a pasta salad with a dressing that looks bland and white, but has a zing of garlic and wine. I was going to make my mother's slaw, but the grocery store was sold out of bags of shredded cabbage, so I'm making a taco salad recipe I learned in Alabama. For dessert, those awesome chewy peanut buttery chocolate topped rice krispy treats. And I'll be bringing a gluten-free black forest cake I got at Trader Joe's.

So what about you? What are your traditions -- either the ones you grew up with or the ones you happened into as an adult? Will you be cooking, and will it be outdoors over an open flame? Burgers or barbecue? What's your potato salad recipe? (Seriously, I need a potato salad recipe.) What's your favorite patriotic-themed recipe, and does it match the flag of red, white, and blue jello shooters one Daily Kos contributing editor once created? For once on this site, recipes are welcomed by the diarist.

I read with horror Nyceve's diary on the rec list about junk health insurance and the many comments on the diary from people with health problems and their fears about healthcare.  I wanted to offer some simple solutions that everyone--yes everyone--can do to improve their own health, which can reduce your anxiety about future diseases and health problems.  More below the fold.

Competitive eater Joey Chestnut today defended his Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest title, defeating six-time winner Takeru Kobayashi in the most riveting installment yet of the Coney Island 4th of July tradition.

Chestnut dethroned Kobayashi in last year's contest, setting a new record of 66 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes, though not without controversy. Kobayashi was rehabbing a jaw injury at the time, and as such there was some doubt as to whether Chestnut could have defeated him were he in peak eating condition.

I’d like to invite everyone to take a journey with me over the next year and a half.  It’s a farewell to our beloved farm, and the beginning of a new one.  In the course of it, I hope to give y’all a glimpse into the real life of a farm and the practices of sustainable ranching.  And I'll share a few pictures of our farm, including some adorable baby lambs, along the way.

My husband and I have a small, organic (not-certified) farm just outside of Austin, Texas. I bought this place after I graduated law school ten years ago.   I’ll post about my transition from environmental attorney to farmer another day.  For now, suffice to say that I am a student of holistic management and eco-agriculture.  

This diary is cross posted at
La Vida Locavore

Locavore was the 2007 word of the year (thanks for the correction, A Siegel). And I, for one, am livin' la vida locavore to the best of my overly-lazy ability.

What does it mean to be a locavore (one who eats local food)? A locavore wakes up in the morning, just like anyone else, puts on her hemp clothes and goes off to face the world. No need for a shower - gotta conserve water, you know. Breakfast? The locavore heads outdoors and munches on her lawn. Dandelion greens are healthy, environmentally friendly, and free! Then it's off to the IHOP with the other members of the commune, bringing pictures of dead farm animals to protest those murderers who are eating bacon...

Yeah... not so much. Locavores are mainstream! Locavores appreciate flavor. They want their tomatoes to taste and smell like tomatoes. They don't want their fruit to come with barcodes on it.

Locavores and others who concern themselves with food-related issues make up quite a presence on dKos. There's also a vibrant non-blogger food activist community in practically every part of the country. I am starting a new blog, La Vida Locavore, in hopes of bringing the blog community and the food community closer together.