Out of Touch Senators

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is getting some things right in Washington. He turned part of the Dept of Agriculture parking lot into a "People's Garden," aided by the delivery of a truckload of organic compost from the Rodale Institute in Pennsylvania. One of his latest initiatives is called "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food"—an effort to support local agriculture, small farms, and helping consumers understand more about the sources of their food. Here's a video he made to accompany the "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food" initiative:

Not bad, right? A healthy direction for a federal government department that just a few decades ago told farmers to "get big or get out" of the business. (The words of Earl Butz, Secretary of Agriculture under presidents Nixon and Ford.)

Save the celebration. Just in time to throw ice water on an otherwise positive move by Vilsack come three Republican senators: Saxby Chambliss of Georgia (ranking minority member of the Senate Agriculture Committee), John McCain of Arizona (who was profiled during the last presidential campaign as living on candy bars and potato chips on his campaign bus -- a real junk food junkie), and Pat Roberts of Kansas (a huge commercial agriculture state -- grains and livestock).

These three teamed up and wrote a letter to Secretary Vilsack challenging the reasonableness of the "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food" program. From the Agriculture Law blog comes this summary of their complaint:

While the letter requests information, its assault on the program is clear. The letter notes that "while the concept of educating consumers about production agriculture is a worthwhile endeavor, we have serious misgivings about the direction of the Know Your Farmers program." The Senators complain that the program does not direct funding to "conventional farmers" but instead is "aimed at small, hobbyist and organic producers whose customers generally consist of affluent patrons at urban farmers markets."

There are so many things wrong with their words that it's hard to know where to begin -- so I won't. If you've been reading my blog for any length of time you can imagine how infuriating and condescending this kind of language is. I don't know much about Chambliss and Roberts, but there is NOTHING in John McCain's background that would qualify him to judge what is happening agriculturally in America -- or in his personal lifestyle and habits. I'm bordering on an ad hominem attack here, so I'll stop.

Except for this: When this kind of movement is made by lawmakers, the first smell one gets is of money. If it were possible to "follow the money" in this case, I wouldn't be surprised if it led directly or indirectly to corporate lobbyists for the agribusiness industries of America who make huge campaign contributions to lawmakers. The movie Food Inc. demonstrated clearly the connection between the federal government and corporate agribusiness interests. There is a revolving door between the offices of FDA, USDA, EPA, and other agencies in Washington, and lawyers, executives, and board members of major agribusiness companies. In short, these companies cast a huge, intimidating shadow over Washington. I have no proof that these three senators are responding to such pressure, but who would be surprised if they were? The "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food" program is one of the healthiest, sanest initiatives on behalf of family and small farmers—and consumers who need healthy food—to ever come out of Washington.

Why would any lawmaker, on the face of it, be opposed to such a program? What could be wrong with a program that supports local food production, especially since the average fruit or vegetable consumed today travels 1,500 miles from field to fork? What's wrong with a program that encouragers citizens to learn more about their food, how it can nourish their health, and the people who devote their personal (not corporate) lives to growing it? Something doesn't smell right here.

You can read the Agricultural Law evaluation of the senators' letter on the AgLaw web site. And more about the "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food" program here.

[Thanks to my son, David, for the heads-up on this issue.]

Alien Rule

Robert Weissberg is Professor of Political Science-Emeritus at the University of Illinois-Urbana. He has written a great piece (April 29; AmericanThinker.com) on what it is about the presidency of Barack Obama that unsettles so many people. He calls it "alien rule"—the idea that America is now being run by an invader, an outsider; someone who doesn't "get" America; someone who is doing things in ways that we are becoming rapidly more uncomfortable with. It is well worth a few minutes. It helps explain why a man who was elected by a majority of Americans now has such a low approval rating going into his second year. Obama is making an increasing number of Americans nervous.

Why the Arizona Immigration Law Is Not Unjust

A law professor who helped draft the recent Arizona immigration law explains away the myths and untruths that have arisen about the law in this New York Times op-ed.

CSA First Harvest

Picked up the first delivery from the New Town Farms CSA today -- an amazing bounty for this early in the Spring. On the back row, left to right, is a big bag of two varieties of spinach, then a bag of arugula; middle row is a big bunch of kale followed by four HUGE heads of different lettuce varieties; front row is a bundle of baby boc choy, followed by a bundle of radishes, then a bundle of white turnips. I made a huge salad for lunch. Amazing to eat food that was picked just a few hours before:

I stood a couple of the heads of lettuce up with a yardstick behind them—the one on the right was 15" tall:

This little friend was relaxing in a chair on my front porch when I drove up. S/he roams around the neighborhood like a stray, though I think she belongs to somebody. Doesn't have too much interest in people, but I got close enough two days ago to give him/her a good scratching. Maybe that encouraged her to come back for more. I had always been highly allergic to most cats, but since switching to a plant-based diet that is no longer a problem. Cause/effect? I don't know, but I'm happy now to be around cats without the itching and watery eyes.

"The Last Crop" Movie

It's exciting to see how many independent documentaries and films about food and health are being made. The Last Crop is a film about the struggle to preserve small sustainable farms from being lost to developers who turn them into parking lots. The film's tag line is, "Asphalt is the land's last crop." (As if often true with Vimeo videos, this one's streaming isn't great.)

The Last Crop - Trailer from Chuck Schultz on Vimeo.

Noah's Ark Discovered?

London's Daily Mail is reporting a story this morning on a team of Chinese and American researchers who are "99.9" percent sure they have discovered Noah's Ark. There are some pretty amazing photographs taken inside the structure they discovered at 12,000 feet elevation on Mt. Ararat in Eastern Turkey. Their exploration was the first sanctioned by the Turkish government. Read the story and see the pictures here.

Happy Birthday, Jennifer

Happy Birthday (yesterday) to Jennifer -- wife to my son, mom to my granddaughters, and good friend to me! Dancer, homeschool teacher, vegan chef, gardener, photographer, and cheerful spirit -- may your days be long in the land!

New Town Farms 2010 CSA

Hooray! -- the New Town Farms CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program begins this week! Farmer Sammy Koenigsberg is anticipating a harvest of kale (red Russian, lacinato, or curly), a variety of lettuces for salad, a big bag of arugula, some radishes, maybe some turnips (baby white oriental turnips), spinach, and some boc choy. Here's a shot of Sammy's fields in early production this spring: (picture courtesy of Sammy K.)

I have written extensively about New Town Farms with lots of pictures. You can use the SEARCH fields to find previous posts.

South River Miso

I have written before ("Miso Happy") about South River Miso in Conway, Massachusetts -- a very small company that carefully hand-makes, in Japanese tradition, fine miso. (I was talking with a health/fitness consultant recently who is extremely knowledgeable about healthy foods, and discovered she buys her miso from South River as well.) South River is so careful about their miso that they don't ship during the hot summer months for fear of the heat harming the living bacteria in the miso. So I ordered enough recently to get me through the summer.

In case the print is too small in the picture, left to right is Dandelion Leek, Chickpea, Sweet White, and Three Year Barley misos, and a small jug of their own miso tamari -- the richest "soy sauce" I've ever tasted. There are other flavors of miso available. Any of the flavors make a delicious hot "tea" -- a spoonful of miso in a cup of "hot" (≈140 degrees or so; not boiling!) water, and add valuable flora to the digestive track. An order from South River is accompanied by a recipe/information book about miso and its uses (recipes, etc.).

Making Lovely Music

For Mary Chapin Carpenter fans, her new album will be released tomorrow (April 27)—The Age of Miracles. The more she records, the more gentle and introspective her music becomes. Her songs seem to reflect her non-concert, non-touring, living-on-her-Virginia-farm-with-husband-and-dogs lifestyle. On Amazon's page for the album is a lovely video shot in the studio as she recorded "I Have a Need for Solitude" from the new album. For all of us wanna-be musicians who would trade a year at the desk for a day in the studio, it doesn't get much nicer than this video -- MCC on guitar, plus percussion, bass, and piano. Besides being a great singer-songwriter, Carpenter handles her gorgeous Huss and Dalton 00-SP with aplomb.

Where Are the Philosophers and Priests?

"Obligations have no meaning without conscience, and the problem we face is the extension of the social conscience from people to land [including animals that live on the land]. No important change in ethics was ever accomplished without an internal change in our intellectual emphasis, loyalties, affections, and convictions. The proof that conservation [of land and animals] has not yet touched these foundations of conduct lies in the fact that philosophy and religion have not yet heard of it. In our attempt to make conservation easy, we have made it trivial." (my italics added)

From Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac—and Sketches Here and There (Oxford University Press, 1949), p. 209-210.

Where are the philosophers and priests when we need them?

Californication and the Classics

Dr. Victor Davis Hanson posted "The Remains of a California Day" yesterday. The prolific professor (Stanford University; classics) and author is a descendant of multi-generations of California farmer-grape growers and has an emotional attachment to the land and the state of his ancestry. In this piece he chronicles an average day in his state, commenting on the small encounters that represent a huge shift in the nature and culture of California -- a shift that saddens him deeply. He then writes,

All of which raises the question: how would we return to sanity in California, a state as naturally beautiful and endowed and developed by our ancestors as it has been sucked dry by our parasitic generation?

His long list of recommendations would serve California well, and, in principle, any other state in the union.

I was most struck by his warm reflections on the CSU-Fresno library which he visited that day -- a million-volume library that is one of the best in California, which is nonetheless being transformed into a student-centered hangout, complete with Starbucks. He saw three students reading, about a hundred surfing, texting, watching, and chatting -- a library that no citizen of Alexandria would recognize.

But it was this paragraph that caught my attention:

The newly expanded and modernized library — thanks to the generosity of a local Indian gaming casino—is in the material sense, quite impressive. But even without the massive addition, the early 1980s library was a sui generis, the unique creation of the Europhilic scholar Henry Madden, whose postwar acquisition trips to Europe had ensured the nearly 1 million volume library was among the very best in California (where else in these parts can one find something like the 83-volume Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft, the most complete encyclopedia of the classical world in existence — in German?).

First published in 1839 (and continually updated), Pauly-Wissowa has been unavailable to English-only readers (like me) for nearly two centuries. Der Neue Pauly (The New Pauly), an updated German edition of Pauly-Wissowa, began to be published in 1996 and an English translation has followed, Volume 1 appearing in English in 2002 (New Pauly—Brill's Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World).

Projected to be 20 volumes, the first 16 or so are now available. (You can view them at Eisenbraun's -- do a title search for "New Pauly".)

Several years ago, when I learned that New Pauly was coming in English, I bought the first three volumes as they appeared. To have the complete 20 volumes would not rival the 83 volumes of the original German Realencyclopädie, but it would contain the finest, most timely scholarship on the ancient Greek and Roman worlds in existence. And it would be in English!

Then the bottom dropped out of the dollar against the Euro, making the Dutch-published New Pauly volumes prohibitively expensive (they now average around $350 per volume). And my plans to purchase the entire set went on hold. So reconciled did I become to never being able to afford to complete the set that I listed my three volumes for sale (not auction) on eBay for half their current price. They didn't sell (though they were a bargain) -- as I recall, they weren't even viewed during the month they were listed, meaning no one was looking to find affordable copies. So I still have them.

While I was disappointed they didn't sell, I wasn't surprised -- any more than Victor Davis Hanson would be surprised to find dust collecting on the 83 volumes of the Realencyclopädie in the USC-Fresno library, ignored by students too busy texting to access classical texts. Seeing the greatest reservoir of information on the classical world go untouched in a California university library (except by people like Hanson), and on eBay, surely is a sign of the times. (In his article, Hanson doesn't say the Fresno set goes untouched, but I'm thinking that English-challenged students don't access the German Realencyclopädie that often.)

Is there a correlation between the drought of culture in California (and on eBay) and the famine of accessing history's classic ideas of civilization?

I'm glad to keep my volumes. While the articles are intimidating, I know they deserve to be read for their power to stretch my thinking beyond that of the Californication world in which we live. Who knows -- perhaps the dollar will gain strength against the Euro some day and I can complete the set. That's more likely to happen in my children's or grandchildren's lifetimes, if ever, than in mine. The same policies that will keep that from happening are the policies V. D. Hanson laments having corrupted his beloved homeland. While he weeps for California, our founding fathers and mothers weep for the land they once knew and now see slipping slowly away.

I'll Be "Back"

Posting has been slow this past week due to lower-back problems and my resulting inability to sit at the computer for extended periods. Like a huge proportion of Americans, I wrestle with occasional belt-level (lower back) pain. My father wore a back brace during and after his Air Force days as a pilot. I must have inherited his structural imperfections given my history, and my son Daniel has suffered occasional bouts (though he has become religious in his attention to proper lifting -- i.e., squat-to-lift -- techniques and remains mostly pain-free).

I recall like it was yesterday jogging with my friend, Joey Falkner, in his quiet, hilly Birmingham neighborhood, somewhere around 1970 -- and the pain I felt shoot through my lower-left-back -- right where I feel it today -- while running up a steep hill (trying to keep up with my fleet-of-foot friend). Uncle Sam paid for surgery at Walter Reed Hospital while I was in the Army (1973) which cleaned out the deteriorated pieces of the disc between the L5 and S1 vertebrae, which relieved the horrific sciatic nerve pain with which all low-back folks are familiar. Surprisingly, the Army also awarded me a 20% service-related disability and has sent me a small check each month since 1974. (I once calculated what I would have accumulated, with interest, had I saved that check every month from then 'til now -- it's more painful to think about than my back pain -- but I digress.)

Since the surgery, I've managed pretty well with only occasional bouts of weakness. I usually don't know what brings them on, but they almost always account for a week of inactivity -- off my feet, spending the day on the floor reading while doing some exercises, etc. I'm at the end of one of those weeks now, and feeling better. (It hasn't been all bad -- I've lost 7-8 pounds from not eating much -- subsisting just on miso soup and juices from my Jack LaLanne juicer -- a great product I have written about before.)

I am anticipating the arrival today of this product -- the Holy Grail for back pain sufferers: a Teeter Hang-Ups EP-950 Inversion Table. I've had one of these before and it worked wonders, but I sold it after I went a few years without any significant back trouble. Bad move. I will likely keep this one for the rest of my life -- for now and for the future, just in case.

The table allows you to lock your feet into the bottom stirrups, lay back on the mesh "table," and assume a position from horizontal (pressure off the back) to 180 degrees inverted -- hanging free, upside down. It's this latter position that is so therapeutic as it allows your spinal column to decompress, taking pressure off discs and nerves. (One is usually a quarter to a half-inch taller after a session, but gravity quickly restores you to normal height.)

This table (and other competing products, I suppose -- but this one seems to command the largest following) really works. I ordered this from Amazon where 70 reviewers have given it a solid 5-star rating. With Amazon Prime the shipping was free, and two-day shipping was only $3.99. Having used one successfully for a couple of years, I didn't think twice about ordering it -- I've got to get back to work.

Have you not joined Amazon Prime yet? I recall Jon Stewart harassing Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos about Amazon Prime on his TV show:

Bezos: "Join Amazon Prime for $78 and you get free shipping for a year!"

Stewart: "$78 for free shipping? That's not free!"

Bezos: "HA HA HA HA HA!!"

But A.P. is worth it when you order lots of stuff from Amazon, especially these kinds of large, heavy items. Two-day shipping for $3.99? Come on!

Seriously, if you or a loved one needs back relief, consider a Hang-Ups table. (And a shout out to Ben Bradford for my introduction about six years ago.)

P.S. I am also committing to a new resolve yoga-Pilates type exercises to strengthen my core (as well as converting to Daniel's squat-to-lift religion), something biking and rowing don't do very well. I even bought a yet-as-unopened "Yoga for Back Pain" DVD a couple years ago during my last bout. I suppose it's time to open it, right?

Update: The Hang-Ups arrived at 10:00 a.m. this morning. Ordered Thursday night, received it Saturday morning -- a 50" x 30" x 8" box weighing 79 pounds -- for $3.99 shipping (Amazon Prime price). The FedEx lady couldn't believe it. I became a devoted Amazon.com fan not long after they opened for business in 1994 and haven't strayed since -- for reasons like this.

Plant-based School Lunches

Wow -- this is an IMPRESSIVE young lady -- Nina Gonzalez -- a vegan high school student in Virginia who campaigned for her school district to offer plant-based options for school lunches. She was successful, and has testified before Congress about her efforts. This ABC News interview is with her and Dr. Jay Gordon, a plant-based pediatrician in California who has served as a health consultant to ABC News (he is not as well-known as some of the other plant-based M.D.'s, but should be). How could they have not zoomed in and shown the impact of a plant-based diet on the saturated fat in the test tubes Dr. Gordon presented?

North Carolina, Amazon, Taxes, and Personal Privacy

My home state of North Carolina, never a state to allow a penny of potential tax revenue to go uncollected, is one of a dozen or so states that requires citizens to disclose the total dollar amount of out-of-state purchases made each year (e.g., catalog and Internet purchases) and pay sales tax on those purchases via the annual state tax return. While it's the law in NC, it's a voluntary disclosure since the state has no way of tracking one's purchases. The lady who does my income taxes every year says I'm one of the few (maybe the only one) of her clients who ever discloses their out-of-state purchases; most NC residents ignore the requirement and don't pay the taxes.

The trend identified by my CPA must be irritating the NC authorities and they are taking steps to find out exactly what NC residents purchase. Recently, NC tax officials journeyed to the headquarters of Amazon.com in Seattle and demanded that Amazon provide full details on nearly 50 million purchases made from Amazon.com by NC residents between 2003 and 2010.

To their credit, Amazon told 'em to stick it -- and filed a lawsuit this past Monday to block the NC demand on the grounds that it violates the privacy and First Amendment rights of Amazon's customers.

As most people have discovered, if an online retailer has a presence in a state (e.g., Wal-Mart, Target, and many, many others) the retailer is required to collect sales tax when a purchase is made online at the company's web site, just as tax is collected when you make a purchase in the local store. But Amazon has no such presence in NC. Amazon's referral program, which allows people with web sites or blogs to collect a small referral fee for purchases made via a referral from a web site, was discontinued by Amazon in NC in 2009 when the NC State Legislature passed a law forcing Amazon to collect sales tax on referrals coming from within the state. Again, Amazon told 'em to stick it -- and discontinued the referral program in this state. (Thanks, NC -- way to promote commerce.)

Time will tell who will win the current battle between Amazon and NC. But it is a sign of the times. Cash-strapped states are going to do whatever it takes to dig deeper into citizens' pockets for their loose change. NC is not alone in this -- Colorado has already enacted a law requiring online retailers to disclose the total dollar amount of purchases made by its citizens (but not the details of the purchases).

You can read the details of this developing trend here at CNET.com.

[So as not to appear naive, I'm the first to acknowledge that the Internet has provided a free lunch for consumers for the last decade by allowing purchases to be made without paying local and state sales taxes. States have lost hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue they would otherwise have received. The Internet has been a disruptive innovation (to paraphrase Harvard's Clayton Christensen) which demands a solution in terms of the sales tax revenue gap. But the heavy-handed approach of North Carolina to Amazon -- "We demand to know who has purchased what from your company!" -- is unlikely to be the solution. Colorado's approach -- total purchase figures without details -- seems more reasonable. The bottom line is that the decade-long free lunch for consumers is coming to a close. If you live in a state that does not currently require your online purchase information, I would start stocking up now. The days of tax-free purchases are numbered.]

"Food, Inc" Movie on PBS Wednesday Night

If you haven't seen the documentary Food, Inc. you can watch it for free Wednesday night (April 21). It airs on most PBS stations nationwide at 9:00 p.m. "Check your local listings." It thoroughly exposes how the American food system is now dominated by corporations and politics.

Signs the Apocalypse Is Upon Us

I don't really think the Apocalypse is upon us -- yet -- but I always liked that title line. The source escapes me for the moment (perhaps one of you will jog my memory). It appeared regularly in a publication I read to highlight bizarre things going on in our culture and world.

Things are getting a bit more scary rather than bizarre -- the impact of the Icelandic volcano, I mean. I subscribe to a view of the future based in Scripture that predicts a seven-year period of upheaval on earth called the Tribulation, described mainly in the book of Revelation. Painful and cataclysmic events will destroy much of planet earth and a large part of the population. I've always wondered what news headlines in that day will look like. When I saw this set of headlines on the Drudge Report this morning it provided a glimpse into the future:

Volcanic ash relentless as tremors rock Iceland...
Europe hopes half of flights will operate Monday...
New wind pattern: April 22...
Fears of Second Blast From Eyjafjallajökull...
Economy impact to rise sharply if cloud lingers...
Volcano from space: 'Nightmarish face' seen from above...
Networking sites help rescue those stranded...
EU transport ministers to hold video meeting...
'I saw the earth explode'...
DAY TURNS TO NIGHT...
SCENARIOS...
Airlines press for end to no-fly bans...

"I saw the earth explode" could have been written by the apostle John himself as he recorded the revelation he had of the future. Thankfully, I also subscribe to the view that Christ's true followers will have been removed from planet earth before said chaos ensues, a view which grows more comforting with each passing headline (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).

Rain Barrels Full of City Water

My two rain barrels, being relatively translucent, allow sunlight to feed the growth of algae over time. Both barrels were coated with green algae on the inside and needed cleaning, which I accomplished this morning. Checking the 10-day forecast, we're not due for any rain in the near future, and I need chemical-free water for my plants, so I filled the barrels with Union County's best, then set my aerators to work to bubble out the chlorine and other gases in the city water so I can use it tomorrow. Would the gas have evaporated out on its own? In due course, yes. But it's way more fun to hook up the pump and create 110 gallons of roiling turbulence. All I need to go in these modern brew-pots is some . . .

Eye of newt, and toe of frog,

Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,

Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,

Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing . . .

(Macbeth)

to make the Bard proud.

Clean barrels, clean water! I was so hot after this exercise that I felt like stripping down and sitting neck deep in one of the barrels. You have to admit it looks inviting.

Spinach coming up in the planter:

I had a great idea today for a new outdoor container growing system that I hope to debut in a couple of weeks -- stay tuned!

Backyard Bad Boy

Looked out my back window and discovered a posse of grackles having their way with all things edible in the grass.

Looks like this guy found a nice worm, right?

Wrong. Turned out to be a baby snake of some sort. Grackles are fearless, taking what they want. He piece-mealed the snake for a good 10 minutes, a chunk at a time:

I went outside to see if I could get a closer shot, but the grackle flew off. There wasn't much left of his lunch:

I'm always amazed at what is crawling through the grass in our yards that we never see, but which birds find without a problem. The balance of nature at work.

What I Want for Christmas

Someday when I'm rich and famous I'll buy a piece of furniture made by the Thos Moser furniture company—for the pure pleasure of owning a piece of art crafted from wood. In the interim, I unashamedlly submit my request for the following piece to be delivered to me next Christmas : the six-foot tall Thos Moser vertical double display case. (The price isn't even listed on their web site. I guess if you have to ask . . . .)

I run no risk of offense in my request since I have no friends (that I know of) well-heeled enough to bestow such a gift. But it's a pleasure just to consider. I would remove the glass shelves and use it as a dust-proof instrument case: fiddles, banjos, and uke hanging on the back wall, guitars on stands in the foreground, optional down lights installed to illuminate the beauty of wood inside and out. I would pretend I am proficient enough on the instruments to invest in their protection and preservation with something as beautiful as this case.

The Restoration of Masculinity

I knew a guy years ago (yes, you, Jerry Leachman) who enjoyed telling young boys, "A man's not a man, son, without a hat!"

I'm proud to say that a weakness of several years in my own masculine force field was remedied today, not by the purchase of a hat, but a new wheelbarrow. I've been 'barrow-less for several years, my previous well-worn model having gone the way of a garage sale when I closed down my large backyard garden a few years ago in anticipation of a move that never happened. I didn't know the unsettledness in my soul since then was due to the 'barrow-shaped spot in my garage that was ultimately filled with other less masculine clutter. But no more! The 'barrow is back!

I can't wear my new wheelbarrow, but I'm hoping Leachman will allow the substitution. Besides, I'm thinking the wheelbarrow (which caused the invention of the wheel) predates the hat by a mastodon or two. How do you think our ancestors got the fur, which became hats and coats, home—except in a wheelbarrow?

Why Am I Not Surprised?

Vegan.com today posted a couple of amazing facts: American health insurance companies own $1.9 billion worth of stock in fast-food companies. And last year it was reported that health insurance companies owned at least $4.4 billion worth of stock in tobacco companies.

So the people who theoretically care about peoples' health are part owners in two industries that contribute to peoples' ill health and death. Why are we not surprised?

This Is How It Begins

The following quote is from a very talented financial analyst named Dan Ferris. I'm citing it without permission, so if I get yelled at I'll take it down. But I thought it so succinctly pictured the tiny drops that are beginning to fall which are going to become an economic toad-choker (a Southern colloquialism) in the years ahead in our economy:

Today, news came out that China held 1.3% fewer Treasuries in February than in January – the fourth consecutive monthly decline. I guess China is allowing Treasury bonds to mature without replacing them, rather than actively selling, but I don't know how to tell for sure. It hardly matters. When your No. 1 customer stops buying, you have a problem. Japan is the No. 2 foreign Treasury holder in the world, and it too held fewer Treasuries in February.

The following is my explanation, not Mr. Ferris', but I think he would agree:

This means the number one and two nations who keep the United States afloat financially by lending us money through the purchase of U.S. bonds (debt instruments), China and Japan, are pulling back. They're tired of buying U.S. bonds that pay practically nothing in interest. In order to open their checkbooks again, the U.S. will have to raise the interest rate it pays higher and higher. Rising interest rates mean inflation. Inflation means a devalued U.S. dollar. And that means a serious hit to the lifestyle (spending power) of every American.

And because the U.S. has no cash with which to pay off those bonds to our lenders when they come due, we'll borrow and print even more money, going further into debt and increasing the devaluation of the dollar.

The saddest reflection on the quote above is that most Americans would not know what it portends for the future—for China and Japan to begin buying fewer bonds from America. But we are about to find out.

Better ≠ Best

Vegan.com linked to an April 15 Washington Post article about New York Times food columnist Mark Bittman. The author of the Post article recounts Bittman's decision to "go vegan before 6:00 p.m.", then eat anything he wanted thereafter.

Huh?

This kind of thinking amazes me when it comes from people like Bittman who is one of the most informed people about food in America. He has written good cookbooks and good books on food in general (e.g., Food Matters) and written positively about the need to incorporate more plants in one's diet. But like the other classic example of an unwillingness to commit to what he knows is best, Michael Pollan ("Eat food, mostly plants, not too much"), Bittman settles for better instead of best. And this in spite of his doctor telling him, "I think you should become a vegan." (Three cheers for that doctor, whoever s/he is.)

Pollan and Bittman know more about food and health than 99.9% of the people in America, but still insist on holding out a few hours or meals during the week in which the unhealthiest foods on the planet—animal products—play a part on their plates. Doing better (vegan for most of the day) is fine for a neophyte who is trying to "cut back" or gradually move towards a healthier diet. But people like Pollan and Bittman are high priests, not acolytes, who should be setting a higher standard. This is the equivalent of Pope Benedict announcing he's only going to sin "a little."

"Better" as the enemy of "best" has been fully exposed by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn in his book Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. In his controversial chapter on oils, in which he says that extra virgin olive oil is not a heart-healthy oil, he explains why better is not the same as best. EVOO is healthier, not healthy. And the difference is important.

EVOO gained heart-healthy status in studies on the "Mediterranean diet" in which people in the Mediterranean countries were found to have a lower than average incidence of heart disease. Because of their inclusion of lots of EVOO in their diets, suddenly this oil gained "heart healthy" status. But the problem is that EVOO only lowered heart disease—it didn't eliminate it. Yes, it probably contributed to the lowering of heart disease compared to other oils, but that only meant it was "better," not "best." Esselstyn demonstrates how the Brachial Artery Tourniquet Test—a test that measures the elasticity of arteries based on the presence of nitric oxide in the artery—shows extreme impairment in the presence of any processed oil (oil separated from its whole food carrier)—even extra virgin olive oil.

So, EVOO is better than lard or corn oil or canola. But it illustrates the fallacy in thinking that because something is better it is also the best.

There is a danger in my arguing this way, since Pollan and Bittman may be simply trying to encourage people to "do better," thinking that raising the bar to the "best" nutritional level—a 100% plant-based diet—might be too much for most people; if people are faced with "all or nothing," they might choose nothing and make no efforts to eat for the better.

Maybe so. But I would like to see people like them use their bully pulpits to encourage people, on the basis of science and reason, to strive for what's best and not settle for less. This is a battle even vegans fight, of course: vegan processed foods vs. whole foods? Alcohol or not? Raw vs. cooked? etc. But those decisions are sub-chapters on the overall theme of what's best: a 100% plant-based diet.

Addendum: This post wasn't about oil -- it was just an illustration. But if you want an excellent summary of what plant-based docs say about oils in the diet, read this post by a medical librarian who collated their findings. I was pleased to see that Dr. Dean Ornish uses the same "better vs. best" argument as I used above.

The Great Con

MSNBC is not known for publishing meaningful analysis, but this seems helpful when it comes to understanding what's happened to our money:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Meet Bruiser

Daughter Anna and her friend, Tyler, came over for late lunch this afternoon so I could meet Anna's new Yorkie puppy, Bruiser. That's right—Bruiser. He's friendly and cute, definitely a keeper.

I fixed mixed veggie pasta that turned out pretty well:

Tyler has a yellow lab that has proven to be a patient big brother and mentor to Bruiser in the ways of the dog world, though Tanner didn't make the trip over this afternoon:

Late-breaking photo from hooligan Dave in Philly. Philadelphia's major league soccer team (Philadelphia Union) played its opening home game last night and won, defeating Washington D.C. United 3-2. Dave and some friends have season tickets in the supporters section of the stadium where you are REQUIRED TO STAND AND CHANT FOR THE ENTIRE GAME. The lad is half Irish, I'm convinced: (David on the left.)