Bushes Feast On Organic Food But Undermine Same Opportunity For American Families
Bushes Feast On Organic Food But Undermine Same Opportunity For American Families
Yesterday, the Chicago Sun-Times’ Lynne Marek profiled the role of the White House executive chef, writing that to work for a president, a chef must “have strong culinary skills” and “be willing to check ego and politics at the door.” Quoting former executive chef Walter Scheib, Marek notes that First Lady Laura Bush has been “adamant” about eating organic food:
Both Clinton and Laura Bush were focused on the nutritional value of food, with Bush adamant about using organic products, Scheib says.
In a blog posting, Scheib wrote that Bush was “adamant that in ALL CASES if an organic product was available it was to be used in place of a non-organic product.” The fact that the first lady was “adamant” about organics at the White House is commendable, but it is also a bit hypocritical considering her husband’s poor policies:
– In April 2004, Bush’s USDA issued legally binding guidances allowing the use of antibiotics on organic dairy cows and synthetic pesticides on organic farms.
– Another 2004 guidance narrowed the scope of the federal organic certification program to crops and livestock, meaning that national organic standards would “not be developed for fish, nutritional supplements, pet food, fertilizers, cosmetics, and personal-care products.”
– Though then-Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman reportedly “rescinded the directives” after activist uproar, the vice chairman of the National Organic Standards Board told the Chicago Reader that the USDA “sticks to their interpretations, only now they are no longer posted.”
– In June 2007, the USDA greenlighted a proposal “allowing 38 new non-organic ingredients in products bearing the ‘USDA Organic’ seal, despite more than 10,000 e-mails and letters from concerned consumers and farmers.”
– This past September, the USDA “abruptly halted a government program that tests the levels of pesticides in fruits, vegetables and field crops, arguing that the $8 million-a-year program is too expensive.”
Even as Bush exits office, organic farmers are concerned that his USDA is pushing “the broadest rewrite of federal organic regulations in the $20 billion industry’s relatively short history” without input from the organic community or the National Organic Standards Board.
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This reminds me of the attempt to say Bush was an environmentalist because his ranch had solar power and many ecological features. Laura Bush is interested in these things, but it does not translate to any kind of policy positions. The administration is backward on almost every issue that matters.
January 15th, 2009 at 1:47 pmIt’s not saying much, but Laura would’ve made a better president.
January 15th, 2009 at 1:51 pmDo they serve organic food in prison? Just wondering.
January 15th, 2009 at 1:53 pmFirst “torture”, now “organic”. Another word that has no meaning under George W.
January 15th, 2009 at 1:53 pmI wonder how long Dubya cried when Laura told him that he wasn’t King and that, yes, he would have to leave the White House on January 20?
January 15th, 2009 at 1:54 pmNice post! I know with two wars and an economic crisis, food issues often get glossed over, but they are vital to the health of our nation. If Obama caves on these issues it will be up to us to press him on them. Keep it up!
January 15th, 2009 at 1:59 pmLaura Bush = Today’s Marie Antoinette.
Disgusting.
January 15th, 2009 at 2:02 pmO/T: “Trail Blazer” Roland Burris has just been sworn in as a United States Senator. Congratulations, Senator Burris.
January 15th, 2009 at 2:04 pmBush can eat $hit.
January 15th, 2009 at 2:04 pmI’d love to see the Obama administration roll back these regulations and focus some attention on organic farming early in the first 100 days. It’d be a great quick-impact policy, and he could tackle the global food crisis, the climate crisis, the health crisis, and lower America’s fuel consumption all in one shot.
January 15th, 2009 at 2:05 pmI hope President Obama stands up to Monsanto and all the other food-defilers in the country.
It doesn’t surprise me that Bush would allow corporations to deceive consumers by making them think they’re getting a product that they’re not. Remember this, folks: Conservatives do not value the truth! Therefore, we need to stop letting them set policy in this country. One can never know what their true motivations are, but you can almost guarantee that it’s not the best interests of consumers. (GOP Unofficial Motto: Caveat Emptor).
January 15th, 2009 at 2:08 pmLET THEM EAT CAKE
January 15th, 2009 at 2:09 pmI am not at all surprised that Laura is into organic food. She is married to a natural fertilizer, after all.
January 15th, 2009 at 2:10 pmOrganic foods are wasted on the Bu$hes. Their significant daily consumption of martinis and Jim Beam are more than sufficient to kill off all the bad stuff in non-organic food.
January 15th, 2009 at 2:12 pmSpeaking of organic foods… you can grow indoors 12 to 14 heads of lettuce, the upward growth type with one of these lights. And you just pick off the leaves as you want them, not harvest the entire plant, therefore keeping it growing for months.
January 15th, 2009 at 2:13 pmI just think W really didn’t care and pay attention. He really was the schoolroom goof-off who got placed into office by a judge family friend (Reinquist).
January 15th, 2009 at 2:14 pmcaption…
“George? Your free range hot dog is ready!”
January 15th, 2009 at 2:16 pmjb Says:
Bush can eat $hit.
And that’s delightfully organic, isn’t it…? ;o)
January 15th, 2009 at 2:17 pmOrganic foods obviously did nothing for George.
January 15th, 2009 at 2:18 pmThe good news is that, here in the 11th hour, amidst the scramble to find decent things that happened in the Bush White House, they have finally found a little one.
The bad news is, Laura did it and it never made it past the kitchen.
January 15th, 2009 at 2:20 pmThe United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals aim to cut world hunger in half by 2015 and eliminating it completely by 2025. An estimated $19 billion would eliminate malnutrition and starvation around the world. Our current defense budget is $522 billion, in comparison.
The Borgen Project (borgenproject.org) provides lots of information about this issue.
January 15th, 2009 at 2:22 pmTP – that photo needs a legit caption..
January 15th, 2009 at 2:22 pmit looks photo shopped…
So, that was ‘organic’ red jelly that Bushie had on his PB&J sandwich at Rush Limbaugh’s birthday lunch at the White House?
January 15th, 2009 at 2:23 pmLimbaugh noted that while he had salmon over rice, french fries, and a salad for lunch, the President had only a PB&J sandwich.
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/01/14/bush-limbaugh-birthday/
katy,
It looks “Stepforded.” :D
January 15th, 2009 at 2:23 pmI don’t know, being married to Georgie for this long I would sort expect that glazed look.
January 15th, 2009 at 2:25 pmAgain: Ok for me, not for thee. Isn’t that sort of how an imperial monarchy works?
January 15th, 2009 at 2:26 pmPickles, You can’t leave the scene soon enough either.
January 15th, 2009 at 2:26 pmSlow news day, TP?
I urge all consumers to bypass corporate distribution networks whenever possible, be it meat, poultry or veggies.
I buy only free range, non-antibiotic chickens from a Hudderite colony. I purchase a 1/4 free range Angus, non-antibiotic & Bovine hormone free, from the same rancher each year, & compliment that with the Venison I’m able to harvest myself.
January 15th, 2009 at 2:34 pmI’m not trying to say anything but check out your local options first. The crap they’re pushing over the counter in not only inferior, it can kill you.
I do the same with my veggies. What I don’t or can’t grow in my garden is purchased each Fall at Farmer’s markets & froze for Winter consumption.
Lastly, I couldn’t agree more with the poster above who suggested eliminating Monsanto from your diet. Genetically modified organisms are a corporate sham, & were developed solely to increase their profit margins.
On top of messing up everything the Bushes rule like monarchs. Detached imperial elitists with no restraint terribly suited for a democracy!
January 15th, 2009 at 2:35 pmZooey Says:
katy, It looks “Stepforded.” :D
that it does, zooey
January 15th, 2009 at 2:40 pmNevar Says:
caption…
“George? Your free range hot dog is ready!”
Then she muttered to herself, “Let’s see that damn Barney bite me again! HA!”
January 15th, 2009 at 2:42 pmheh… good one…
January 15th, 2009 at 3:05 pmLaura sorta creeps me out, don’t know why, she just does.
January 15th, 2009 at 3:06 pmHypocritical a ssholes will be gone in a few days.
January 15th, 2009 at 3:12 pmBuckie Boy Says:
“Laura sorta creeps me out, don’t know why, she just does.”
Likewise. Perhaps it’s the all-pupil eyes and/or the pull cord hanging from her back.
January 15th, 2009 at 3:17 pmShe looks manufactured.
She looks…INORGANIC!
Shorter Laura “Antoinette” Bush —- Let them eat chemicals!
Just saying . . .
January 15th, 2009 at 3:21 pmrat poison. i think the two soon to be homeless and unemployed scumbags currently residing at 1600 penn should have feasted on rat poison.
January 15th, 2009 at 3:30 pmBuckie Boy Says:
“Laura sorta creeps me out, don’t know why, she just does.”
Perhaps because of those big, red, sucky-sucky lips she’s always sporting she looks like a geriatric “Bratz” doll?
January 15th, 2009 at 3:31 pmJust what has Laura done in 8 years anyway but have that plastic smile. She doens’t know how to cook that was old lady Barbara the cookie baking Queen. Laura was the drug dealer in college and did run over and kill her boyfriend. But even the Saudi woman told her to go home and don’t come back. Will Laura write a cooking book to get money.
Laura is moving her things from the White House into her new racist community. But in President Bush’s last Press Conference he said he was going back to Crawford Ranch. Now I guess the National Enquirer was right after all Laura and George divorce is final. No law suits have been filed and both Bush’s seem to be moving in different homes. I guess Laura’s Texas Millionair boyfriend is glad her tour of duty to keep the fake marriage going is now up.
January 15th, 2009 at 3:33 pmAfter the stepford drugs wear off, I suppose.
January 15th, 2009 at 3:46 pm#6,Stateofthedivision, totally correct. The definition of organic has become so watered down as to become meaningless. There really needs to be a review of these standards and proper regulations established. How ironic that as Laura was insisting on organic cuisine, George was poisoning it.
January 15th, 2009 at 4:14 pmI’d say it is even worse – the Shrub regime has seen fit to ban growers from even giving the consumer information on whether they do or don’t follow some of these practices including:
*) You can’t say tht you test your cows for Mad Cow above and beyond what the law requires
January 15th, 2009 at 4:26 pm*) Whether you used any transgenic crops
*) You can’t say you don’t use the list of pesticides.
I don’t know. I kinda feel sorry for LB. I mean: Watching your husband make a mess out of everything he touches certainly has to be hard to watch.
January 15th, 2009 at 4:42 pmOn the other hand. She made her bed long ago.
January 15th, 2009 at 4:43 pmThose of you concerned about your health and that of the planet, please consider the pros and cons of your seafood purchases. Getting clear information can be difficult and often contridictory still the capacity of our oceans to produce protein is at risk.
January 15th, 2009 at 5:10 pmThank you-
The USDA, like all federal agencies, has been diluted by the criminal Bush Administration.
January 15th, 2009 at 7:59 pmFollowing in the Great Reagan tradition of declaring ketchup a vegetable!
January 15th, 2009 at 11:43 pmGeorge W. Bush does support sexual reassignment surgery. Though, the basis for it happens when some boys drink the wrong combinations of milk and water, then have too much tainted meat.
Though when eight year old girls develop C-cup breasts in two weeks, those T-ball and flag football games sure have an added giddy-up in Texas!
January 16th, 2009 at 1:39 amGeorge W. Bush lied, and Bush murdered more than 4,220 U.S. service members.
It is very inappropriate to be talking about Bush in the context of feasting.
Submitted by Andrew Yu-Jen Wang
B.S., Summa Cum Laude, 1996
Messiah College, Grantham, PA
Lower Merion High School, Ardmore, PA, 1993
“GEORGE W. BUSH IS THE WORST PRESIDENT IN U.S. HISTORY” BLOG OF ANDREW YU-JEN WANG
ONLINE ANTI-BUSH SCHOLASTIC RESEARCH: LISTING OF MAJOR ISSUES
http://andrewyu-jenwang.blogspot.com/2008/10/bush-is-worst-president-in-american.html
January 16th, 2009 at 2:45 amWe can eliminate world hunger by just letting those hungry starve to death.
January 16th, 2009 at 10:19 amGB