Food and Farming
Stomping on Our Constitutional Rights
Imagine the outcry by tea party Republicans if state legislators were passing laws banning the use of video cameras in banks to capture images of robbers. Yet those very same tea partiers have been passing laws in various states to ban the recording of inhumane,...
Slurp, Baby, Slurp
As the “lamestream” media, late-night talk show hosts, and Sarah Palin impersonator-in-chief Tina Fey lapped up the former Alaska governor’s first remarks to Donald Trump’s “right-wingin’ bitter-clingin’” supporters, one of her most hilarious lines didn’t get the...
A Healthy Way to Build Communities
Mark Winne, an author and anti-hunger activist, often says that the most important word in “community garden” isn't “garden.” I saw this firsthand not long ago. Standing in the sun between several small garden plots all morning, it may not have looked like much was...
This Global Ruling Is Just Not Cool
They say that if you get up in the morning and swallow a live toad, nothing worse will happen to you for the rest of the day. Well, we Americans have just been fed a live toad by the World Trade Organization. Last May, the WTO — an oligarchic, autocratic governing...
Coke’s PR Scam Explodes
If your car's battery terminals are corroded, just open a can of Coca-Cola. Coke will dissolve corrosion, making your battery connections spiffy clean in a jiffy. Ironically, however, Coca-Cola can't seem to clean up its own corrosive corruption structure. By hook or...
The Fishy Science Behind Mutant Salmon
Americans have been eating genetically modified corn, soybeans, and other crops for nearly two decades. But thanks to the Food and Drug Administration, now you might find a salmon with genes spliced from two other fish species on your plate. It’s the first time the...
Big Ag Serves Up Wastewater Salads
Ask anyone who’s lived through California’s drought: Water scarcity is getting scary. And banning long showers isn’t even a drop in the bucket when it comes to finding a solution. The biggest water sponge by far is food production, yet agri-giants continue to douse...
What Competing Thanksgiving Tales Share
Thanksgiving is here. Let’s eat! America's most food-focused holiday traces its roots back to the abundant feast that Pilgrims and Indians enjoyed together in the fall of 1621. Only half of the Mayflower Pilgrims who’d arrived at Plymouth Rock the previous December...
They’ve Got the Red Cup Blues
'Tis the season to bicker about Starbucks coffee cups. Nothing gets you in the holiday spirit like a chill in the air, Christmas songs in every store, and anger about a phony "War on Christmas." Clearly, love for one another, world peace, and the Christian faith...
My Thanksgiving Terror
The leaves are changing colors and the air is getting crisp. As we settle into fall, Americans take time to reflect on what they're thankful for. Like many folks, I've got plenty of gratitude for the most important meal I'll eat this month. Sweet potatoes, stuffing,...
