Are Some Congressmembers Willing To See Their Constituents Become Unhealthy In Return For Contributions?

It's probably not news to most DWT readers that corrupt conservatives in Congress always put the special interests of their contributors from the junk food industry and from biotech companies ahead of food safety. You may have read that Thursday the FDA-- not Reagan's FDA or Bush's FDA or Hillary's FDA but Obama's FDA-- approved, for the first time ever, genetically engineered salmon. No, not for pet food, which would be bad enough, but for people food. The company that will benefit AquaBounty Technologies hired one of K Street's sleaziest lobbying firms, Policy Directions-- which also lobbies for Nestle Infant Nutrition and Nestle Purina PetCare-- to get the job done for them. Before they could get FDA approval they had to get Mike Pompeo's H.R. 1599 passed, the Orwellian-named "Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015," which prevents the FDA from requiring the labeling of bioengineered foods and makes it illegal for any individual state to require GMO labeling of food. It passed on July 23 275-150, 138 progressives Democrats and a dozen libertarian-leaning Republicans voting against it. Of the 45 Democrats who joined the GOP to pass their Frankenfood bill almost all were from the corrupt Republican wing of the Democratic Party, like Donald Norcross (NJ), Gwen Graham (FL), Brad Ashford (NE), Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), Dan Lipinski (IL), Ami Bera (CA), Jim Cooper (TN), Collin Peterson (MN), Jim Costa (CA), Kurt Schrader (OR), basically most of the same garbage Democrats who voted against the Syrian refugees Thursday.

"It was a flawed and irresponsible approval ... It sets a very dangerous precedent, given our federal government agencies are ill-equipped to handle genetically engineered animals," said Dana Perls, food and technology campaigner at Friends of the Earth, an international network of environmental organizations that has vehemently fought AquaBounty's efforts. "I think it is a grave mistake we will come to regret."

Perls said her group and others would continue to try to undermine the market for the fish. "It’s clear: People don’t want to eat it," she said. "We’re going to continue to work with grocery stores and retailers to continue to listen to consumers who don’t want to eat this under-studied, unlabeled GMO fish."

Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) has long opposed the AquaBounty fish, saying that its existence would threaten a mainstay industry of his state. He repeatedly has pushed for delays in the FDA approval process, telling the Post in a 2012 interview that he hoped such hurdles eventually would "break that company."

"This harebrained decision goes to show that our federal agencies are incapable of using common sense," Young said in a statement Thursday. "By embarking on this science experiment, the FDA ignores fundamental risk questions related to our wild fish species and food safety."

Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and even Target have assured food activist groups they won't carry the Frankenfish. One major problem is that Pompeo's "Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act" specifically prohibits labeling this kind of dangerous product so people will have no way of knowing if they're getting real salmon or garbage and there will be a good chance that any salmon you buy in a few years that isn't labeled "wild caught" will probably turn your child into a two-headed dog.



So how do you know which Members of Congress are, generally speaking, the good guys and the bad guys on food issues? Luckily for us all, Food Policy Action has released a scorecard rating every Member of Congress based on how they voted on food policy issues including "domestic and international hunger, food safety, food access, farm subsidies, animal welfare, food and farm labor, nutrition, food additives, food transparency, local and regional food production, organic farming and the effects of food production on the environment." This is a list of House Members who scored 100%. These people are trying to keep you and your family safe:

• Karen Bass (D-CA)
• Joyce Beatty (D-OH)
• Xavier Becerra (D-CA)
• Brendan Boyle (D-PA)
• Julia Brownley (D-CA)
• Michael Capuano (D-MA)
• Matt Cartwright (D-PA)
• Judy Chu (D-CA)
• David Cicilline (D-RI)
• Catherine Clark (D-MA)
• Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
• Steve Cohen (D-TN)
• John Conyers (D-MI)
• Elijah Cummings (D-MD)
• Pete DeFazio (D-OR)
• Diana DeGette (D-CO)
• Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)
• Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA)
• Debbie Dingell (D-MI)
• Mike Doyle (D-PA)
• Donna Edwards (D-MD)
• Keith Ellison (D-MN)
• Eliot Engel (D-NY)
• Elizabeth Esty (D-CT)
• Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI)
• Ruben Gallego (D-AZ)
• Alan Grayson (D-FL)
• Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)
• Luis Gutierrez (D-IL)
• Janice Hahn (D-CA)
• Denny Heck (D-WA)
• Brian Higgins (D-NY)
• Mike Honda (D-CA)
• Steny Hoyer (D-MD)
• Hank Johnson (D-GA)
• Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
• Joe Kennedy (D-MA)
• Dan Kildee (D-MI)
• Ann Kuster (D-NH)
• Jim Langevin (D-RI)
• John Larson (D-CT)
• Barbara Lee (D-CA)
• Sandy Levin (D-MI)
• John Lewis (D-GA)
• Ted Lieu (D-CA)
• Alan Lowenthal (D-CA)
• Nita Lowey (D-NY)
• Caroline Maloney (D-NY)
• Jim McDermott (D-NY)
• Jim McGovern (D-MA)
• Grace Meng (D-NY)
• Gwen Moore (D-WI)
• Jerry Nadler (D-NY)
• Grace Napolitano (D-CA)
• Richard Neal (D-MA)
• Richard Nolan (D-MN)
• Frank Pallone (D-NJ)
• Donald Payne (D-NJ)
• Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
• Chellie Pingree (D-ME)
• Mark Pocan (D-WI)
• Charlie Rangel (D-NY)
• Bobby Rush (D-IL)
• Tim Ryan (D-OH)
• Linda Sanchez (D-CA)
• John Sarbannes (D-MD)
• Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)
• Adam Schiff (D-CA)
• Bobby Scott (D-VA)
• Jose Serrano (D-NY)
• Brad Sherman (D-CA)
• Louise Slaughter (D-NY)
• Jackie Speier (D-CA)
• Mark Takai (D-HI)
• Dina Titus (D-NV)
• Paul Tonko (D-NY)
• Niki Tsongas (D-MA)
• Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)
• Pete Viscolsky (D-IN)
• Maxine Waters (D-CA)
• Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ)
• Peter Welch (D-VT)
• Frederica Wilson (D-FL)
• John Yarmuth (D-KY)

I feel a need to mention that there are plenty of terrible legislators on this list-- like Steny Hoyer and Denny Heck for example-- but who are good on food issues. The Members Blue America has endorsed this cycle are highlighted and linked to a contribution page. The very worst Members of the House on food issues-- 13 men and one woman who must sit home and try to figure out how to kill their constituents are, predictably all Republicans, not just corrupt, but also ideologically insane:

• Tim Huelskamp (R-KS)
• Glenn Grothman (R-WI)
• George Holding (R-NC)
• Austin Scott (R-GA)
• Paul Gosar (R-AZ)
• Ted Yoho (R-FL)
• Mia Love (R-UT)
• John Ratcliffe (R-TX)
• Greg Harper (R-MS)
• Tom Graves (R-GA)
• Jody Hice (R-GA)
• Doug Lamborn (R-CO)
• Tom Rice (R-SC)
• Rob Woodall (R-GA)

Eating Native Foods Is One Of The Pleasures Of Foreign Travel-- Being Careful With Your Restaurant Choices Might Keep You Alive

You maybe be aware that we also have a travel blog-- and we cover eating in strange places-- whether the bacon craze in Jersey City, the raw food craze in London, how to eat healthy in Bali and Bangkok or even the best eatery in Mali. And we always try to alert readers to problems with food safety-- contaminated bottled water here, filthy food there and... well an article by David Sedaris prompted us-- precisely 3 years ago-- to ask the question How Important Is Food In Determining Where You Travel? Hygiene? Everything is clean and even pristine in Japan, he asserts, but not in China. I'll skip the parts about the toilets-- but feel from to hit the link and read it all--and head right off to the a restaurant he ran across called Farming Family Happiness:

As far as I know there wasn't a menu. Rather, the family worked at their convenience, with whatever was handy or in season. There was a rooster parading around the backyard and then there just wasn't. After the cook had slit its throat, he used it as the base for five separate dishes, one of which was a dreary soup with two feet, like inverted salad tongs, sticking out of it. Nothing else was nearly as recognisable.

I'm used to standard butchering: here's the leg, the breast, etc. At the Farming Family Happiness, rather than being carved, the rooster was senselessly hacked, as if by a blind person, a really angry one with a thing against birds. Portions were reduced to shards, mostly bone, with maybe a scrap of meat attached. These were then combined with cabbage and some kind of hot sauce.

Another dish was made entirely of organs, which again had been hacked beyond recognition. The heart was there, the lungs, probably the comb and intestines as well. I don't know why this so disgusted me. If I was a vegetarian, OK, but if you're a meat eater, why draw these arbitrary lines? "I'll eat the thing that filters out toxins but not the thing that sits on top of the head, doing nothing?" And why agree to eat this animal and not that one?

I remember reading a few years ago about a restaurant in the Guangdong province that was picketed and shut down because it served cat. The place was called The Fangji Cat Meatball Restaurant, which isn't exactly hiding anything. Go to Fangji and you pretty much know what you're getting. My objection to cat meatballs is not that I have owned several cats, and loved them, but that I try not to eat things that eat meat. Like most westerners I tend towards herbivores, and things that like grain: cows, chickens, sheep, etc. Pigs eat meat-- a pig would happily eat a human-- but most of the pork we're privy to was raised on corn or horrible chemicals rather than other pigs and dead people.

There are distinctions among the grazing animal eaters as well. People who like lamb and beef, at least in north America, tend to draw the line at horse, which in my opinion is delicious. The best I've had was served at a restaurant in Antwerp, a former stable called, cleverly enough, The Stable. Hugh was right there with me, and though he ate the same thing I did, he practically wept when someone in China mentioned eating sea horses. "Oh, those poor things," he said. "How could you?"

I went, "Huh?"

It's like eating poultry but taking a moral stand against those chocolate chicks they sell at Easter. "A sea horse is not related to an actual horse," I said. "They're fish, and you eat fish all the time. Are you objecting to this one because of its shape?"

He said he couldn't eat sea horses because they were friendly and never did anyone any harm, this as opposed to those devious, bloodthirsty lambs whose legs we so regularly roast with rosemary and new potatoes.

The dishes we had at the Farming Family Happiness were meant to be shared, and as the pretty woman with the broad face brought them to the table, the man across from me beamed and reached for his chopsticks. "You know," he said, "this country might have its ups and downs but it is virtually impossible to get a bad meal here."

I didn't say anything.

Many Americans think they can avoid that kind of collision with alien reality by sticking to a now ubiquitous McDonald's or KFC. Bad news on that front as well. Note: I have no trouble fasting for a few days or even a week when I have to-- and I would certainly resort to that than ever consider eating in a McDonald's or any facsimile abroad. There's one on the ground floor of the apartment we always rent in Bangkok. Just walking through it-- a shortcut to the elevator-- makes me want to throw up, although it's always filled with happy middle class Thais and relieved American tourists. Is the food they serve filthy and unhealthy? I always assumed so-- and that has been borne out this week by another food scandal in good ole China, a virtual cesspool to begin with. McDonald's and the other fast food companies have been buying meat from a typical food supplier-- typical because in the unregulated universe of Ayn Rand capitalism that holds sway there-- even serving human bits and pieces is within the realm of possibility-- as long as it's profitable.

[A]n undercover local TV reporter found workers repackaging and selling expired and spoiled meat at Shanghai Husi Food Co., owned by the Illinois-based OSI Group. The Shanghai Food and Drug Administration has halted Husi’s operations.

The latest food safety scandal could be a blow to McDonald’s and Yum [KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell] as both hopes to expand in the Chinese market. The pair has already vowed in 2012 to ensure the safety of food they serve after China Central Television reported the companies may have sold chicken fed with unapproved antibiotic drugs and growth hormones.

The Husi investigation shows that the culture of food safety still hasn’t taken root in China, where infants have been killed and sickened after consuming milk powder tainted by industrial chemical melamine. Shaun Rein, founder and managing director of the China Market Research Group, once told me that the problem lies in the country’s porous and outdated supply chain, where every link could go awry.

Tourists and the Chinese middle class expect foreign restaurants to be more reliable and less likely to kill them or make them sick. But we're talking about McDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell so... I wouldn't eat in one down the road from where I live let alone in China or anywhere else. They serve garbage and their food and business culture is garbage. So what else could anyone possibly you expect? Starbucks? The Husi Food Co scandal has moved across the Sea of Japan.

The scandal surrounding Husi Food, which is owned by OSI Group of Aurora, Illinois, has added to a string of safety scares in China over milk, medicines and other goods that have left the public wary of dairies, restaurants and other suppliers.

Food safety violations will be “severely punished,” the food agency said on its website.

Starbucks Corp. on Tuesday said it removed from its shelves sandwiches made with chicken that originated at Husi. Burger King Corp. said it stopped using hamburger it received from a supplier that used product from Husi. Pizza restaurant chain Papa John’s International Inc. announced it stopped using meat from Husi.

In Japan, McDonald’s Corp. said it stopped selling McNuggets at more than 1,300 outlets that used chicken supplied by Husi. It said the Shanghai company had been supplying chicken to it since 2002.

Let's hope the "severe punishment" will include extraditing American ex-bankster, billionaire Sheldon Lavin, OSI's sole owner (most of whose political donations go through the Desert Caucus).

Politics And Food Safety-- Is There A Connection?

An integral part of what it means to be a Republican in the 21st Century is starving regulatory agencies that protect consumers… that whole shrinking government and drowning it in a bath tub thing. Back in 2008 we were horrified by the deaths of 81 Americans from contaminated blood thinner, Heparin, made in China. At the time, we laid the blame, at least in part, at the feet of Mitch McConnell and his "wife," Elaine Chou who "have become multimillionaires by acting as unofficial lobbyists for Chinese industry and pushing 'free trade' with that country. The entire Republican Party and the entire Blue Dog wing of the Democrats are complicit in the deaths of these people, all in the name of capitalistic excess gone awry and, of course, due to greed and avarice and campaign finance regulations that are made by the people who most need regulation! 'At its present inspection pace, [wrote the NY Times] the F.D.A. would need at least 27 years to inspect every foreign medical device plant that exports to the United States, 13 years to check every foreign drug plant and 1,900 years to examine every foreign food plant.' A good first step would be landslide defeats for every Republican and every Blue Dog Democrat up for re-election in November. That was quite a few Novembers ago.

And McConnell is still in the Senate and he is still benefiting financially from China still poisoning American consumers. And not just American pets. Chinese seafood, for example, is dicey. And, of course, it isn't just McConnell or right-wing groups like Club for Growth with a toxic China agenda.

From its perspective, China made a really good investment by donating to the Chamber of Commerce when they ran a big international effort to illegally scoop up vast sums of foreign cash to help replace Nancy Pelosi with John Boehner as Speaker. Boehner is the worst patsy for China's economic agenda in Congress (not counting McConnell). And Boehner came through for his Beijing financiers again last year. During a little noticed debate over a bipartisan bill, H.R. 678, to amend the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 by authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to contract for the development of small conduit hydropower at Bureau facilities, John Garamendi (D-CA) tried to get the Republicans to include language that would require, when practicable, all materials used for conduit hydropower generation be manufactured in the United States. Sounds simple, right? Not when John Boehner is in charge. All Republicans were instructed to vote NO and Garamendi's commonsense proposal lost 194-226. Only two Republicans cared enough about American manufacturing jobs to stand up to Boehner and vote with the Democrats-- Walter Jones (R-NC) and Jimmy Duncan (R-TN). If bought off Republicans like Boehner are willing to kill simple "Made in America" efforts, guess how they respond to efforts to protect American consumers from cheap, poisonous Chinese products flooding America markets.

Ironically, this is an e-mail circulating currently among Republicans and other right-wingers. They don't seem capable of connecting the dots and understanding the root causes-- money in politics and the nature of conservatism.

And don't forget that Smithfield Farms, the largest pork producing farm in the USA was sold in September to China with the unanimous support of its stockholders!! The hogs will still be raised here, but slaughtered and packaged for sale there before being sent back here. This includes labels: of Morrell, Eckrich, Krakus, Cudahy, Premium Hams, Cook's, Gwaltney. The same with many chickens. They can now be shipped there, but when they come back all that needs to be labeled is that they… WERE RAISED IN THE USA.  Not that they were processed in China!!! Our great FDA at work again. The chickens will be all processed and most sold to fast food restaurants for sandwiches, along with schools and supermarkets. The China slaughter and processing are not nearly equal-- and, by far-- to the requirements here.

We recently learned that Starkist Tuna is now owned by Korea, and is in big conflict with the U.S. concerning quality, safety, and records, which Korea refuses to produce.

Read several articles on Google about this, and even one that was defending the eating of tilapia said to avoid the fish that came from China? Also, I had just returned home from buying Albertson's 4-day special of 4 bags of frozen tilapia for the price of one? Sure enough, on the top of the bags, it read "farm raised," and on the bottom in small print it said: "China "… read all the way down...

Recently a Food inspector on TV... said he had lived overseas and he had seen the filthy conditions their foods are raised and processed in. It is enough to make you throw-up. Some foreign workers have to wear masks as they work in these places, because the food is so rotten and filthy, it makes them want to throw up. Many of their fish on Fish Farms are fed raw sewage daily. He said he has seen so much filth throughout their food growing and processing that he would "never" eat any of it. They raise this filth, put some food coloring and some flavorings on it, then they ship it to the USA Canada for YOU to consume and feed to YOUR families. They have no Food & Safety Inspectors. They ship it to you to buy and poison your families and friends.

Imported food we eat and the junk we buy:

Green Giant frozen vegetables are from China, and so are most of Europe’s Best.

Arctic Gardens are Okay. So is Birdseye.



Never buy the grocery store garlic unless it is clearly marked from USA or Canada, the other stuff is grown in people’s… dung (even worse than chicken poop). China is the largest producer of garlic in the world; U. S. is next.

Buy only local honey, much honey is shipped in huge containers from China and re-packed here.

Cold-FX is grown and packed in China and is full of fecal bacteria. Doesn't work anyway, big scam.

If the country of origin is not clearly marked, “beware.”

If produce, ask an employee.

Watch out for packages which state "prepared for," "packed by" or "imported by." We don't understand the lack of mandatory labeling, especially the produce.

The country of origin should be clearly shown on the item in the store.

Go to the local farmers' markets in season and keep a wary eye open the rest of the year.

Please read this very carefully, and read to the very bottom. It's important for all of us.

How is it possible to ship food from China cheaper than having it produced in the U. S. or Canada?

FOR EXAMPLE THE "OUR FAMILY" BRAND OF MANDARIN ORANGES SAYS RIGHT ON THE CAN 'FROM CHINA.' SO, FOR A FEW MORE CENTS, BUY THE LIBERTY BRAND.

GOLD BRAND OR THE DOLE IS FROM CALIFORNIA.

Beware, Costco sells canned peaches and pears in a plastic jar that come from China.

ALL "HIGH LINER" AND MOST OTHER FROZEN FISH PRODUCTS COME FROM CHINA OR INDONESIA. THE PACKAGE MAY SAY "PACIFIC SALMON" ON THE FRONT, BUT LOOK FOR THE SMALL PRINT. MOST OF THESE PRODUCTS COME FROM FISH FARMS IN THE ORIENT WHERE THERE ARE NO REGULATIONS ON WHAT IS FED TO THESE FISH.

Recently the Montreal Gazette had an article by the Canadian Government on how Chinese feed the fish: They suspend chicken wire crates over the fish ponds, and the fish feed on chicken dung.

If you search the Internet about what the Chinese feed their fish, you'll be alarmed; e. g, growth hormones, expired anti-biotic from humans? Never buy any type of fish or shellfish that comes from these countries: Vietnam, China, Philippines.

Check this out personally.

Steinfeld's Pickles are made in India-- just as bad!

Another example is in canned mushrooms. No-Name brand came from Indonesia…

Also check those little fruit cups. They used to be made in Canada, in the Niagara region, until about 2 years ago. They are now packaged in China.  Most sold in Aldi stores.

While the Chinese export inferior and even toxic products, dangerous toys, and goods to be sold in North American markets, the media wrings its hands! Yet, 70% of North Americans believe that the trading privileges afforded to the Chinese should be suspended.

Well, duh! Why do you need the government to suspend trading privileges?

SIMPLY DO IT YOURSELF, CANADA AND THE U.S.

Simply look on the bottom of every product you buy, and if it says 'Made in China' or 'PRC' (and that now includes Hong Kong), simply choose another product, or none at all. You will be amazed at how dependent you are on Chinese products, and you will be equally amazed at what you can do without.

...Start reading labels more closely and buy something else even if it cost a few cents more…

Imagine if the people on email chains like this could connect the dots and see how their complaints and grievances were an integral part of political conservatism! This week an AP article, Despite grousing, U.S. voters rarely fire lawmakers was widely picked up in newspapers and by radio. The photo that accompanied it: Kevin McCarthy and John Boehner. "The U.S. Congress is wildly unpopular," it began. "In fact, two-thirds of Americans want their own House of Representatives member booted… People talk about throwing the bums out, but voters keep sending the same bunch back in."

More than halfway through the party primaries, 293 House and Senate members have completed their quests for renomination during the primary season. The score: incumbents 291, challengers 2.

What about November, when Republicans and Democrats face off in the general election?

It looks to be a dramatic midterm, all right, with Republicans, who are virtually certain to retain control of the House, pushing to seize control of the Senate. That would give them the power to essentially kill President Obama's legislative agenda for the remaining two years of his term.

More incumbents will be vulnerable in the general election than the primaries. Still, the vast majority of sitting lawmakers are snug in their seats.

Over the past five decades, voters have routinely returned 9 of 10 incumbent candidates to the House. Senate races are a bit less predictable, but usually more than 80 percent of incumbents win.

Why do these people keep winning?

It's harder for challengers to sell themselves to voters. Incumbents wield tremendous advantages. They raise big bucks from special interests, use their congressional offices to send voters mass mailings, build ties to businesses and advocacy groups in their districts, and benefit from name recognition. They have staff members back home working to keep constituents happy.

…This year, Congress logged a confidence rating of 7 percent, the lowest Gallup has measured for any institution, ever. People don't put much attachment to their own representative anymore, either. An Associated Press-GfK poll last month found that 65 percent of Americans say their own House member should lose.

Turnout is low in midterm elections, usually about 40 percent in the fall and often abysmal for primaries. Voters may feel they lack true choice.

Still, one shocker this primary season showed that establishment candidates can be ousted.

A virtual unknown, Dave Brat, toppled House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia in a Republican primary-- an unexpected victory for the Tea Party, which has mostly struggled against well-organized establishment Republicans this election season.

But such exciting races that draw national attention are misleading. Most of the House candidates, about 60 percent so far, didn't have a soul running against them. Only a few faced a challenger who posed a real threat. No senator has been defeated yet.

"There just aren't that many real races," said Larry Sabato, a veteran election forecaster at the University of Virginia. "So even if people don't like their representative, they don't necessarily vote for the challenger from the other party, or vote at all."

Sabato's approach, of course, frames it passively. It is something that "happens," not something that nefarious characters like Steve Israel and Steny Hoyer made happen. He and the other Beltway pundits are part of a problem people are barely grappling to comprehend. The Larry Sabatos work diligently to guarantee they never will.

GMO: No One Is Perfect-- Not Even Elizabeth Warren

What about the corporate AgriBusiness predators?

America is embarrassingly overdue to have a woman president. Golda Meir, Indira Gandi and Margaret Thatcher headed their countries' governments in very dicey times. And aside from them, women have been heads of government in Germany, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Argentina, Portugal, Bolivia, Norway, Iceland, the Philippines, France, Chile, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Poland, Turkey, Canada, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and over a dozen other countries... including both Burundi and Rwanda. But electing a woman just because she's a woman is not what I have in mind. Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin, for example, are women.

Unless you're new to this blog, you're probably aware of our immense esteem for Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. She's certainly my idea of what a great first woman president would be. I'm sure Hillary Clinton will be a better choice than whatever stinking pile of garbage the Republicans puke up in 2016, but-- as happy I will be that we finally have a woman president-- Hillary isn't high on my list of great leaders. At best... she's ok sometimes. Of course, not even Elizabeth Warren is perfect, but, for one reason or another, she's a far better leader than Clinton and a far more dedicated progressive. That said, Friday Senator Warren made a bad mistake. She joined 27 Democrats from across the political spectrum-- from good ones like Tammy Baldwin, Tom Harkin and Sherrod Brown to the careful careerists like Kirsten Gillibrand, Bob Casey, Debbie Stabenow, and Jeanne Shaheen all the way to the worst worthless trash in the Democratic caucus like Joe Donnelly, Mark Pryor and Max Baucus-- to vote down an amendment by Bernie Sanders to permit States to require that any food, beverage, or other edible product offered for sale have a label on indicating that the food, beverage, or other edible product contains a genetically engineered ingredient." Yep, only 26 Democrats plus Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski supported a bill to deal with GMO foods.

I wish Warren voted the right way. Do I still want her to be president? Absolutely. Everyone's entitled to a mistake. These are the Democrats who voted for Sanders' amendment, which was defeated 27-71:

• Mark Begich (D-AK)
• Michael Bennet (D-CO)
• Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)
• Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
• Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
• Ben Cardin (D-MD)
• Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
• Martin Heinrich (D-NM)
• Mazie Hirono (D-HI)
• Angus King (I-ME)
• Pat Leahy (D-VT)
• Joe Manchin (D-WV)
• Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
• Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
• Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
• Chris Murphy (D-CT)
• Patty Murray (D-WA)
• Jack Reed (D-RI)
• Harry Reid (D-NV)
• Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)
• Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
• Brian Schatz (D-HI)
• Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
• John Tester (D-MT)
• Tom Udall (D-NM)
• Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
• Ron Wyden (D-OR)

What a weird day when Joe Manchin votes the progressive position and Elizabeth Warren votes with the Republicans! By the way, Connecticut's Senate just passed a GMO-labeling bill 35-1. 64 other countries have GMO-labeling laws and some countries ban GMO products sold as food completely. "The concept we're talking about today is a fairly commonsense and non-radical idea," said Sanders just before the vote. "All over the world, in the European Union, in many other countries around the world, dozens and dozens of countries, people are able to look at the food that they are buying and determine through labeling whether or not that product contains genetically modified organisms."

UPDATE: Elizabeth Warren Supports GMO-Labeling

Her Press Secretary, Lacey Rose gave me this statement after the vote yesterday: "The Senator supports labeling and supports the rights of states to set labeling standards based on health and safety. She supports the purpose of the Sanders amendment but voted no because the proposal would have eliminated the ability of the FDA to force states to comply with a more pro-consumer standard in the future."

OK; there you go.

California's Prop. 37 Isn't Just About California... This Is Crucial For Every Single Person In America

All summer we've been looking closely at the wretched corruption that went into our political elites selling us-- all of us, even their own children and grandchildren-- out to Agribusiness. Not only have they decided we're eating Frankenfood whether we like it or not-- and whether it kills us or not-- they also decided we have no right to know if genetically modified organisms are in the food we buy. It was last April we posed the question about Monsanto, whether California voters could defeat our country's most deadly enemy. At the time, I pointed out that on a Federal level, where the Beltway politicians are completely bought off by Monsanto-- both sides of the aisle (and especially the Blue Dogs)-- it's completely hopeless to seek any redress from the injustice. If Obama's FDA is on Monsanto's side and undermining all grassroots efforts to stop Monsanto, you can only imagine how much worse it would be under the Republicans. Oh, wait-- it actually couldn't be much worse. And Kucinich's GMO labeling bill sure isn't going anywhere-- not with a tight Republican/Blue Dog coalition lined up against it as they count their bribe take from AgriBusiness. So this is all up to the states where progressives and good government types can control the situation-- so surely not Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Iowa or the Old Confederacy. The Battleground is in California... Prop 37.

Behind this historic California initiative is a broad, growing and powerful health, environmental, and consumer coalition, which includes the Organic Consumers Association, Organic Consumers Fund, Food Democracy Now!, Mercola.com, Nature’s Path, Lundberg Family Farms, LabelGMOs.org, Eden Foods, Alliance for Natural Health, Dr. Bronner’s, United Farm Workers Union, American Public Health Association, Cornucopia Institute, Institute for Responsible Technology, Sierra Club, Rainforest Action Network, California Certified Organic Farmers, and scores of others.

This time, the industry faces informed-- and alarmed-- consumers who understand the danger of allowing out-of-control chemical and biotech companies like Monsanto, Dow, or Dupont-- the very same corporations that have assaulted us with toxic pesticides and industrial chemicals, Agent Orange, carcinogenic food additives, PCBs, and now global warming-- to dictate their food choices.

Why has it taken so long to get this far? How have Monsanto and its cohorts been able to grow and maintain market supremacy while force-feeding unlabeled “Frankenfoods” to the public for decades?

By buying off politicians, bullying farmers and scientists, and keeping consumers in the dark.

Monsanto has sued more than 150 farmers across the US and Canada, and threatened thousands of others, for refusing to pay for “intellectual property theft” after their fields were contaminated by Monsanto’s patented genetically engineered crops.

The company has harassed and used the media to bully scientists who have exposed the public health and environmental hazards of genetically engineered foods and crops in the United States, Canada, Latin America, and Europe. The renowned scientist Dr. Arpad Pusztai from the UK, was pressured and discredited for reporting on the dangers of genetic engineering until he was eventually fired from his job. The same thing happened to the UK’s Environmental Minister, Michael Meacher.

In a number of other cases, scientists such as Ignacio Chapela, have received death threats. Chapela also said he received death threats to his children from “a high government official” in Mexico after he showed contamination of native corn with Monsanto’s GMOs. Other scientists, most notably Andres Carrasco from Argentina, have been assaulted by thugs. Monsanto has even hired the notorious mercenary gang, Blackwater, to spy on its opponents worldwide.

Why has Monsanto gone to such great lengths to thwart GMO labeling laws and initiatives? Because it understands the threat that truth-in-labeling poses for GMOs-- and biotech industry profits. As soon as genetically engineered foods are labeled in the U.S., millions of consumers will read these labels and react. They’ll complain to grocery store managers and companies, they’ll talk to their family and friends. They’ll switch to foods that are organic or at least GMO-free. Once enough consumers complain about GE foods and food ingredients, stores will eventually stop selling them. Farmers will stop planting them.

In Europe, there almost no genetically engineered crops, while here in the US, nearly 75% of all supermarket foods-- including many so-called “natural” foods-- are GE-tainted. Why? Because Europe requires labeling of genetically engineered foods-- and the US does not.

This is exactly why activists have launched the California Ballot Initiative. Passing mandatory GMO food labeling in just one large state, California, the eighth largest economy in the world, where there is tremendous opposition to GE foods as well as a multi-billion dollar organic food industry, will ultimately have the same impact as a national labeling law.

If California voters pass the California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act, the biotech and food industry will face an intractable dilemma. Will they dare put labels on their branded food products in just one state, California, admitting these products contain genetically engineered ingredients, while withholding this ingredient label information in the other states? Will they allow their organic and non-GMO competitors to drive down their GMO-tainted brand market share?

The answer to both of these questions is likely no. What most of them will do is start to shift to organic and non-GMO ingredients, so as to avoid what the Monsanto executive 16 years ago aptly described as the “skull and crossbones” label.

Can you imagine Kellogg’s selling its Corn Flakes breakfast cereal in California with a label that admits it contains or may contain genetically engineered corn? This would be the kiss of death for their iconic brand. How about Kraft Boca Burgers admitting that their soybean ingredients are genetically modified? How about the entire non-organic food industry (including many so-called “natural” brands sold in Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s) admitting that a large proportion of their products are GE-tainted?

Once food manufacturers and supermarkets are forced to come clean and label genetically engineered products, they will likely remove all GE ingredients, to avoid the “skull and crossbones” effect, just like the food industry in the EU has done. In the wake of this development American farmers will convert millions of acres of GE crops to non-GMO or organic varieties.

Up top is the first TV ad from the Yes of Prop 37 California Right To Know Campaign. Although they're being gigantically outspent by Monsanto and its allies, they've already committed $150,000 to an early media blitz directly challenging the record of deceit of the big corporations that are now working to deny all of us the right to know what’s in our food.

“The same corporations that brought us DDT and Agent Orange are now bringing us the No on 37 campaign,” said California Right to Know Media Director Stacy Malkan.
 
“In addition to their history of false health claims about DDT, Agent Orange and tobacco, the same corporations and political operatives are making false claims about the safety of genetically engineered food-- even though numerous studies link these foods to allergies and other health risks, as well as to significant environmental problems,” Malkan said.

“Californians have a right to know whether or not their baby formula, corn chips or soy milk contains genetically engineered ingredients that have not been proven safe,” Malkan said. If you'd like to chip in to see the ads keep running, you can do so here. Ever wonder we all think a simple salad tastes so much better in France or Italy?

GMO Labelling-- AgriBusiness Doesn't Want You To Know... And The Senators They Own Are Backing Them Up

Hard to make a choice without information. When I go shopping, I'd like to avoid genetically modified food. Last month the Senate made it a lot harder for me to do that by giving AgriBusiness a big fat wet kiss. The Senate voted 26-73 against an amendment by Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to the Agriculture Reform Act of 2012 that would have permitted states to require that any food, beverage, or other edible product offered for sale have a label on indicating that the food, beverage, or other edible product contains a genetically engineered ingredient. Why is this important? Let's look at what GMO is. This is how the Natural Society defines GMOs:

Genetically modified foods are compromised of organisms (known as GMOs for ‘genetically modified organisms’) which have been genetically altered for ‘improvement’. Biotechnology giant Monsanto is the primary maker of genetically modified seeds, responsible for 90 percent of the genetically engineered seed on the United States market.

The touted reasons for genetically modifying foods vary from making a fruit larger and seedless to resisting pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides. Millions of dollars are invested in this bioengineering process annually by many, with Bill Gates most notably investing into Monsanto with 500,000 shares. But are GMO foods really the solution to humanity’s problems, or are they negatively affecting virtually all life on planet earth?

Genetically modified foods have been proven not only to be unhealthy, but also deadly. One review of 19 studies showed that with the consumption of genetically modified foods comes significant organ disruptions, especially in the liver and kidneys. What’s more, however, is that the damage posed by Monsanto’s GMO creations extend even further than public health. In fact, they threaten the environment as a whole. This is perhaps the most concerning effect of GMOs.

Monsanto has created GMO crops that contain something known as Bt, which is a toxin incorporated into the crops with the intention of killing off insects. The usage of the Bt biopesticide within these GMO crops, however, has actually led to ‘mutant’ insect populations which are directly resistant to the biopesticide. Reports state that at least 8 insect populations have developed resistance, with 2 populations resistant to Bt sprays and at least 6 species resistant to Bt crops as a whole. As a result, farmers must spray even more pesticides!

Beyond GM seeds and the Bt pesticide, Monsanto is also the creator of the best-selling herbicide Roundup. The usage of Roundup has spawned over 120 million hectacres of herbicide-resistant superweeds that have destroyed the farmland in which they reside. In addition, much of the soil has also been damaged. Even in the face of these statistics, Monsanto continues to disregard any and all warning signs.

Genetically modified foods present a very real threat to the genetic integrity of both humankind and the environment, and require vigorous longterm research before being unleashed on the public. That is why nations like Peru, France, and Hungary are taking action against Monsanto and GMOs over legitimate health concerns.

Over the weekend Elizabeth Renter of the Natural Society warned us of the top 10 GMO foods to avoid. "Genetically modified foods," she explains, "have been shown to cause harm to humans, animals, and the environmental, and despite growing opposition, more and more foods continue to be genetically altered. It's important to note that steering clear from these foods completely may be difficult, and you should merely try finding other sources than your big chain grocer. If produce is certified USDA-organic, it's non-GMO (or supposed to be!) Also, seek out local farmers and booths at farmer's markets where you can be ensured the crops aren't GMO... With little regulation and safety tests performed by the companies doing the genetic modifications themselves, we have no way of knowing for certain what risks these lab-created foods pose to us outside of what we already know. The best advice: steer clear of them altogether."

Top 10 Worst GMO Foods

1. Corn: This is a no-brainer. If you've watched any food documentary, you know corn is highly modified. "As many as half of all U.S. farms growing corn for Monsanto are using genetically modified corn," and much of it is intended for human consumption. Monsanto's GMO corn has been tied to numerous health issues, including weight gain and organ disruption.

2. Soy: Found in tofu, vegetarian products, soybean oil, soy flour, and numerous other products, soy is also modified to resist herbicides. As of now, biotech giant Monsanto still has a tight grasp on the soybean market, with approximately 90 percent of soy being genetically engineered to resist Monsanto's herbicide Roundup. In one single year, 2006, 96.7 million pounds of glyphosate was sprayed on soybeans alone.

3. Sugar: According to NaturalNews, genetically-modified sugar beets were introduced to the U.S. market in 2009. Like others, they've been modified by Monsanto to resist herbicides. Monsanto has even had USDA and court-related issues with the planting of it's sugarbeets, being ordered to remove seeds from the soil due to illegal approval.

4. Aspartame: Aspartame is a toxic additive used in numerous food products, and should be avoided for numerous reasons, including the fact that it is created with genetically modified bacteria.

5. Papayas: This one may come as a surprise to all of you tropical-fruit lovers. GMO papayas have been grown in Hawaii for consumption since 1999. Though they can't be sold to countries in the European Union, they are welcome with open arms in the U.S. and Canada.

6. Canola: One of the most chemically altered foods in the U.S. diet, canola oil is obtained from rapeseed through a series of chemical actions.

7. Cotton: Found in cotton oil, cotton originating in India and China in particular has serious risks.

8. Dairy: Your dairy products contain growth hormones, with as many as one-fifth of all dairy cows in America are pumped with these hormones. In fact, Monasnto's health-hazardous rBGH has been banned in 27 countries, but is still in most US cows. If you must drink milk, buy organic.

9. and 10. Zucchini and Yellow Squash: Closely related, these two squash varieties are modified to resist viruses.

Only one Republican, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska backed Bernie Sanders' amendment. All the other Republicans backed Monsanto's diktat that the information be hidden from the public. Figures the GOP would take that stance. What was horrifying was how many Democrats-- including some progressives like Sherrod Brown (OH), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Al Franken (MN), Kirtsen Gillibrand (NY), Tom Harkin (IA), and Chuck Schumer (NY)-- sold us out. Even Joe Lieberman (CT) and Joe Manchin (WV) knew enough to vote for disclosure this time! These are the only senators who voted for the amendment:

Akaka (D-HI)
Begich (D-AK)
Bennet (D-CO)
Blumenthal (D-CT)
Boxer (D-CA)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kerry (D-MA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Manchin (D-WV)
Merkley (D-OR)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Murray (D-WA)
Reed (D-RI)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Tester (D-MT)
Udall (D-NM)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR)

Monsanto gives legalistic bribes to senators from both parties, though they favor Republicans. In the current session, their biggest recipient was retiring Nebraska conservative Ben Nelson ($13,000), although it's worth noting that every single incumbent they contributed to this year voted to keep the information from consumers-- Max Baucus (D-MT), Roy Blunt (R-MO), John Boozman (R-AR), Bob Casey (D-PA), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Michael Johanns (R-NE), Richard Lugar (R-IN), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Jim Risch (R-ID), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Debbie Stabbenow (D-MI) and Roger Wicker (R-MS). In the 2010 cycle Monsanto spent just over $100,000 in direct "contributions" to senators. Only one, Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, got money from them and voted for Bernie's amendment. This year they're doing double-time to elect 3 notorious corporate whores from the House to the Senate: Todd Akin (R-MO), Rick Berg (R-ND), and Denny Rehberg (R-MT).

You Eat Ethically... Right?

Ancient aliens religious figures were very concerned about how and what we eat. Cannibalism was a real no-no-- and neither Jews nor Muslims are allowed to eat pigs, shellfish or amphibians. And then there's the whole thing about kosher and halal coming from ancient times. Both observant Jews and Muslims are only allowed to eat meat from animals slaughtered according to rituals that involve using a sharp knife that in a single cut across the throat severs the carotid arteries, jugular veins, trachea and esophagus and both religions have lists of food that they consider "unclean." Both religions insist that all utensils and kitchens used to prepare food must also be deemed as halal or kosher.

Times have changed, though, at least for most of the world and ethical eating has evolved as well. And still is. Maybe you've heard about a new project by the AFL-CIO that features a book, Beyond The Kitchen Door by Saru Jayaraman.

From locally grown, organic greens to grass-fed beef, we care about the food that comes out of the kitchen-- but what about the workers who chop, grill, sauté and serve our food? Today, the restaurant industry is one of the largest and fastest growing industries in the United States. Despite its size and growth, the industry suffers from pervasively low wages, wage theft, nonexistent benefits, rampant discrimination and often dangerous or unhealthy working conditions.

...It’s no coincidence that seven of the 10 lowest-paying jobs in America are in the restaurant industry, 90 percent of restaurant workers lack paid sick days and only .01 percent are represented by a union. Workers represented by unions, on average, are paid 20 percent higher wages than nonunion workers and are more likely to have paid leave and a secure retirement. Despite facing many barriers, restaurant workers across the country are building awareness among consumers and organizing to improve their working conditions.
As one Washington, D.C., restaurant worker quoted in the book, says:

"Customers always ask us if this dish is organic or local, thinking that is what will ensure that they are having a healthy meal, a meal they can feel good about but if they knew about what workers were dealing with…working with the flu, tips and wage being stolen by the owner, getting screamed at and abused by managers, being called racial slurs, getting groped by male workers-- they would think twice about the quality of their food."

Take a look at the video above. It might make you think more closely about eating out next time.

Hungry... Food... Eat... Listeria... Wall Street... Conservatives

Long before our universe was ruled by collateralized debt obligations, derivatives, credit default swaps, hedge funds, REITs and REMICs or any other financial instruments designed entirely as a quasi-legalistic means of separating naive consumers from their money, there was... food. Farmers grow food and consumers buy it and eat it. Simple, huh? No, not at all. Just an extremely small percentage of the cost of food has anything whatsoever to do with mere farmers. Almost all the money goes to middlemen-- packagers, wholesalers, transporters, retailers, marketers and advertisers... and, obviously, Goldman Sachs (and other assorted well-connected Wall Street bloodsuckers). Goldman Sachs has driven up the price of food-- again, nothing whatsoever to do with farmers or weather or soil or any of that stuff-- and people all over the world are starving to death. But who cares, as long as robber barons get richer and our political class gets its cut?

In 1991, Goldman Sachs had an idea that changed commodity-trading forever.

J. Aron & Co., Goldman’s commodities trader, wanted to enter into a swap with a pension fund that wanted to add commodities to its portfolio. Raw goods were looking attractive at the moment. Inflation had risen more than 6 per cent the previous year, and the economy was in the recession that, in 1992, would elect Bill Clinton president.

The pension fund wanted to buy into commodities to manage its financial risk, which Congress had said it could do [Alarm! Alarm! Someone's getting paid off!]. Goldman was willing to do the deal, but as a speculator that didn’t rely on producing or using physical goods for its business, J. Aron could only do so much before it bumped up against Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) limits on positions-- that could be held by a speculator. Position limits, put in place to prevent market corners and manipulation, date to the Commodities Exchange Act of 1936.

The pension fund didn’t want to invest in a single commodity-- corn, or wheat, or natural gas have too many individual quirks-- but it did want to benefit from commodities as an asset class, buying into oil, natural gas, corn, wheat, and other goods. So, Goldman created an index that would track prices of a predetermined selection of commodities, allowing index-fund buyers a way to speculate in physical goods. That let the pension fund manage its risk, often backing that index by buying up the actual futures of the foods, fuels, and metals the index covered.

To make sure futures holdings matched the investment, Goldman asked the CFTC for an exemption from speculative limits on crop futures under a loophole Congress had opened in the 1980s. The CFTC granted the request. [Another alarm bell should have rung at that moment... loudly.]

Investment banks could buy crop contracts, just like a wheat merchant. Food no longer made for just a balanced diet. It balanced portfolios too, opening the doors for millions of investors to have a personal stake in food and energy markets beyond their groceries and gas tanks.

Goldman’s innovation didn’t instantly change trading. Shifts in political winds posed a danger to any bank getting overly involved in commodities. Bush’s CFTC could give an exemption, but someone else's could take it away. The stock market was about to begin nine straight years of gains. Corn, thanks to the productivity of U.S. farmers and stable world markets, couldn’t compete with that.

The year 2000 was a turning point. The Commodity Futures Modernization Act, passed by Congress as Clinton was leaving office, largely exempted over-the-counter derivatives from regulation. George W. Bush’s election as president ensured that the CFTC would favour deregulation. For free-market advocates, the creative power of modern markets would be unleashed-- just as crops, energy, and metals were about to look better than ever as an investment.

A quarter-century of stock-market triumph was ending. The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached 11,750 on January 14, 2000, more than 12 times its value 20 years earlier. Corn that day closed at $2.19 a bushel-- down exactly 70.25 cents from where it stood at the end of the 1970s.

The new decade wouldn’t be like the previous two. The dot-com bubble burst, starting a recession that began before September 11, 2001, terror attacks and lingered beyond it. Stock markets bottomed out in 2002 after the Dow lost 39 percent of its value. Real state was the next bubble. The housing boom took markets to new heights-- then, as prices collapsed, to another plunge and an even deeper recession-- this time a 54 percent drop from October 2007 to March 2009.

Investors accustomed to scarcely interrupted stock-market gains needed something that could restore a semblance of balance to their [and, let's face it-- the world does revolved around them] financial lives. Low interest rates made parking money in a bank account unattractive. Real estate that was supposed to rise forever, didn’t. But everyone needs to eat. Investors wanted a save haven from a stock-market boom gone bust.

...[R]esearch doesn’t let speculators off the hook, finding that prices of publicly traded commodities linked to index funds are moving increasingly in lockstep, indicating that commodities have become financialised as an asset class. Still more papers argue that the introduction of multibillion index funds that are holding onto futures for decades regardless of immediate circumstances-- the elephants in the kiddie pool-- makes futures prices less likely to fall and more likely to rise, since the funds will buy a futures contract expecting it to increase over the longer term, even when shorter-term prospects aren’t clear.

The research debate is of intense interest to CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton, who emerged during the 2008 food crisis as the panel’s top critic of the role investors may play in driving up food costs. Early in 2011, he was staying more quiet on regulation-- 'I’m keeping my powder dry,' he joked-- because the price and political situation was different in 2011 than in 2008.

The second food shock saw stock markets rising with commodities prices as the global economy grew, a classic story of supply and demand. Real-world explanations for price gains-- China, oil, weather-- were more up-front the second time around.

The CFTC, led by Gary Gensler, an Obama appointee and 18-year Goldman Sachs veteran, was at its most willing to regulate big-bank trading since the Clinton administration. The Dodd-Frank bill, named for its Senate and House sponsors, tightened limits on how many crop futures a speculator could hold even as it continued to exempt buyers of actual physical commodities, called end-users, from limits. It also brought under regulation many trades done outside exchanges, and it expanded the agency’s ability to collect information on exactly who was doing what in which commodities markets.

The legislation inevitably attracted a swarm of lobbyists to the once-quiet CFTC building on M Street. In 2010 the commission met with 199 different lobbying clients, according to records examined by the Washington-based Center of Responsive Politics-- the highest since the centre began tracking the records in 1998, 90 per cent more than in 2009 and 165 per cent more than in 2008.

Chilton said he met with the same lobbyist, representing three different companies, in the space of two weeks. Each time, the attorney argued that his client was exempt from the law, or that implementation ought to be put off. Financial interests called for caution and gained new allies from Congress, as Republicans sceptical of government regulation took control of the House of Representatives and eroded the Democratic majority in the Senate.

The voices urged restraint, for fear that wrong moves could actually drive trading from U.S. markets, sending them to less-regulated areas overseas.

"It is critically important that the implementation of these complicated reforms be done in a manner that avoids disruption and allows continuing access to derivative instruments," said Steve Bunkin, a managing director at Goldman Sachs, before the committee.

The rest of the world watched the United States and worked on its own rules. European markets-- the ones to which U.S. capital would allegedly flee should speculators be reined in too tightly-- would put their own limits in place to ensure that flights of capital across the ocean wouldn’t occur, said the European’s Union’s financial services commissioner, Michel Barnier.

The rising economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa called volatile prices a threat to their growth and asked for greater global regulation of derivatives markets. The academic speculation debate remained unresolved. By the middle of 2011 the CFTC was delaying new regulations, needing more time to complete them. Chilton predicted that in the end new rules would make markets less vulnerable to wild swings than before.

"The limits will decrease volatility both up and down, and keep swings from being wider," he said. "I think we’re going to get to the right point, ultimately," he said.

And while one set of malevolent conservatives-- Republicans plus their Blue Dog and DLC allies-- are working to further weaken already far too weak regulations on financial chicanery by their predatory Law of the Jungle campaign donors, another set of malevolent conservatives-- Republicans plus their Blue Dog and DLC allies-- are working on specifically further weakening regulations governing consumer food safety. They'll have to put their efforts on hold for a couple weeks 'til people forget all the deaths from that inconvenient listeria cantaloupe thing. But in 2009 when the House attempted to pass the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 (H.R. 2749) only 50 Republicans supported it-- "it" being food safety-- while 127 of them followed Boehner, Cantor, McCarthy, Ryan, Issa in opposing "it." And now that they're in charge and driven by teabagger extremism, they're much worse. Much worse... listeria or not:

Even as these outbreaks occur, however, the Republican Party is continuing its efforts to gut food safety laws aimed at protecting Americans from these types of food-borne illnesses. In June, House Republicans attempted to kill the first significant upgrade in the nation’s food safety laws in more than 70 years, saying the private food industry sufficiently self-policed itself. Last week, presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) called for an end to food safety laws that she claimed were stifling job creation:

“That’s part of the problem, the overkill,” Bachmann told reporters during an appearance in which she posed with huge slabs of beef. “And when they make it complicated, they make it expensive and so then you can no longer stay in business.”

As Pat Garofalo has noted, one in six Americans is sickened by food-borne illness each year, and more than 3,000 die. And while the GOP cites the cost of new regulations, the annual cost of food illnesses is $152 billion, according to Georgetown University’s Produce Safety Project, and the cost of not overhauling outdated food safety laws far exceeds the cost of implementing the new policies the GOP opposes. House Republicans, however, refuse to approve the funding necessary to put those policies in place, all but ensuring that deadly and costly food outbreaks will continue to occur all too frequently.

E. Coli Conservatives Are Willing To Gamble With Our Children's Lives For The Sake Of Their Deranged Ideological Convictions

Long before the Republican Party adopted Ayn Rand as their newest ideological goddess, right wing sociopaths have been adamant that federal regulatory agencies were an outrageous interference with the "free market." (Remember, to a Republican "free market" goes beyond caveat emptor into the realm of the "freedom" of unscrupulous "businessmen" to rip off, even to the point of manslaughter, their customers .) They have always opposed all regulations on business. And they still do. In fact, they are busy trying to defund the agencies that regulate modern society, whether they be agencies that are supposed to protect us from predator banksters or agencies that make sure corporations aren't polluting the air and water or, ironically, the FDA, which is struggling to make sure the food we eat is safe. In Ayn Rand/Paul Ryan-world, a merchant whose products poisons a thousand people will sooner or later be driven out of business. Take that!

House Republicans are pushing back against a series of public health measures, including school lunch standards and tobacco regulation, teeing up a confrontation with Senate Democrats and the White House over the reach of government in daily life.

The Republicans have used an agriculture appropriations bill to send several messages: They don’t want the government to require school meals that are more nutritional but also more expensive, they don’t want the government to prod food companies to restrain marketing to children, and they don’t want the Food and Drug Administration to regulate any substance based on anything but “hard science.”

They took aim at measures that are part of the Obama administration’s efforts to combat obesity among children and adults as well as some initiatives enacted by the previous Congress.

On Tuesday, the GOP majority on the House Appropriations Committee approved a 2012 spending plan that directs the Agriculture Department to ditch the first new nutritional standards in 15 years proposed for school breakfasts and lunches. The lawmakers say meals containing more fruits and vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy will cost an additional $7 billion over five years-- money they say the country can ill afford in difficult economic times.

The committee also directed the USDA to scale back participation in an effort to develop voluntary guidelines for companies that market food to children. And it directed the FDA to exempt grocery and convenience stores and other businesses from regulations set to take effect next year requiring that calorie information be displayed.

So on the very day Michelle Obama was working with the Department of Agriculture to unveil a plan to replace the long outmoded and virtually useless "food pyramid" with a more up-to-date way of helping parents and care-givers make healthy choices for their children, the GOP was up to their old anti-social tricks.

The first part of the campaign will encourage people to make half their plate fruit and vegetables. Later phases of the campaign will urge consumers to avoid oversize portions, enjoy their food but eat less of it and to drink water instead of sugary drinks.

Ayn Rand characters William Edward Hickman & Paul Ryan have different approaches to murder

Meanwhile, a deadly strain of E. coli is killing consumers in Europe and seems to have jumped over to the U.S. with two tourists who returned last month from Hamburg. Yesterday the first cases were reported in Britain and the Guardian provides us with this update:

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has said that three of the seven people in Britain who have been infected by the strain of E coli sweeping Europe have developed haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), a rare and severe kidney complication that destroys red blood cells and can affect the brain and spinal cord.

The HPA confirmed that all seven patients had recently visited Germany, where an 81-year-old woman became the 18th victim of the previously unknown E coli strain when she died on Wednesday at Hamburg-Eppendorf university hospital. More than 2,000 others have so far been infected in 10 countries from eating contaminated vegetables.

The HPA reminded Britons travelling to Germany to avoid eating raw tomatoes, cucumbers and leafy salad including lettuce, especially in the north of the country, until further notice. Anyone returning from Germany with symptoms including bloody diarrhoea should seek urgent medical attention and ensure they mention their recent travel history.

Dilys Morgan, head of the agency's gastrointestinal department, said: "The HPA continues to actively monitor the situation very carefully and we are working with the authorities in Germany and with our counterparts across Europe as to the cause of the outbreak. We have alerted health professionals to the situation and advised them to urgently investigate and report suspected cases with a travel history to Germany. ... Though the EU continued to insist there was not enough evidence for any foodstuffs to be banned, Germany's disease control authority, the Robert Koch Institute, has advised German consumers against eating raw tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce.

...Genetic sequencing of the bacteria behind the outbreak suggests that it is a previously-unknown strain. Dr Hilde Kruse, a food safety expert at the WHO said that "this is a unique strain that has never been isolated from patients before". She added that the new strain has "various characteristics that make it more virulent and toxin-producing."

Paul Wigley of the University of Liverpool's School of Veterinary Science, said that the E coli outbreak was caused by a type called O104, part of a group of bacteria that produces a chemical called verocytotoxin (Vtec).

"[These bacteria] normally infect people directly through animal faeces, or more usually through poorly cooked meat contaminated with the bacteria. Whilst most strains of E coli do not cause disease, Vtec are able to attach to the wall of the intestines very tightly and produce toxins.

"It is these toxins that cause damage to the gut, leading to bloody diarrhoea and may cause damage throughout the body including the kidneys."

He added: "Animals, and in particular cattle, may carry Vtec in their intestines without disease, which may lead to the bacterium being shed in their faeces. It is most likely that the use of manure as a fertilizer in organic salad vegetable production has lead to contamination of cucumbers and other vegetables.

"Although E coli infection is most commonly associated with meat, there have been previous reports of the disease being contracted from raw vegetables."

It's a complicated world, not quite as simpleminded as the way Ayn Rand and Paul Ryan have painted it. Without well-funded regulatory agencies to protect consumers, we'd be stuck on our own battling these kinds of things constantly-- whether or not someone was eventually run out of business.