Is CORE Fighting For The Poor Or Big Oil?
Is CORE Fighting For The Poor Or Big Oil?
Our guest blogger is Kevin Grandia of the DeSmog Project.
With major corporate donations in the past from big players like Monsanto and ExxonMobil, I apologize for being more than a little cynical about the Congress of Racial Equality’s latest “Stop the War on the Poor” campaign.
To say that CORE has enjoyed a cozy relationship with big industry would be an understatement. In fact, this photo is a picture of Monsanto’s Chairman and CEO, Hugh Grant chairing CORE’s celebratory reception in honor of Martin Luther King Jr in 2005.
The visit to CORE by Monsanto’s president coincided with a conference organized by CORE decrying environmentalists and their opposition to the use of genetically modified crops in Africa. Just so happens that Monsanto is the largest producer and supplier of genetically-modified seed in the world.
You can check out the an archived version of CORE’s website where they once proudly touted Monsanto as the corporate sponsor of their pro-GM food campaign. I saved a screen capture of the Monsanto/CORE site archive just in case it goes “missing.”
Then there’s the $275,000 CORE has received from the largest oil company in the world, Exxon Mobil, most of the money tagged for public policy work in the area of climate change. Roy Innis, the head of CORE, has a long and well-documented history of attacking the environmental movement over the issue of global warming.
For example, in March, 2008 Innis spoke at a press conference in New York claiming that:
We are slowly destroying the energy system we have, and we are promoting an expensive, environmentally harmful, illusory energy system that exists only in theory and environmental rhetoric. Worst of all, we are harming our poorest families; we are rolling back the civil rights we struggled so long and hard to achieve; and we are sending many minorities to the back of the energy and economic bus. This must not, and cannot continue.
Again, pardon me for being a little cynical when an organization that took $250,000 from ExxonMobil comes out against investing in renewable energy.
But I’m not the only cynical one. There’s a lot of us. For example, the original founder of CORE, James Farmer has accused Innis of:
"renting out CORE's historic reputation to corporations like Monsanto and ExxonMobil."
Looks like they’re right. Here’s the full story on the Congress of Racial Equality that I have put together in a briefing document and entered into DeSmogBlog’s climate denial industry database.
Originally posted at DeSmogBlog.
The Politics Of Wired: Saucy, Ignorant Contrarianism
The Politics Of Wired: Saucy, Ignorant Contrarianism
Our guest blogger is journalist and author Paulina Borsook.
The June 2008 issue of Wired magazine, which counsels “rethinking everything you ever learned about being green” (with an implicit message of “don’t listen to the pieties of the left”), and has a forward by Wired co-founder Louis Rossetto, harkens back to the bad old days of its libertarian anti-progressive politics.
When Wired magazine first hit the scene fifteen years ago in June 1993, part of its gestalt was a kind of world-turned-upside-down saucy contrarianism. Information technology is sexy! And more indirectly, pious humorless liberals are repressive and not on the side of change! I should know, as I was in its early days the magazine’s in-house critic/loyal opposition.
And rather like a Rockette brought out of retirement to kick up her heels at the senior center follies, I’ll weigh in once again on the politics of Wired. It would be too tedious to argue with all ten of Wired’s inconvenient mistruths, so let me take on a typical example, “Screw Organic“:
The path to virtue, we all know, begins with organics. Meat, milk, fruit, veggies — organic products are good for our bodies and good for the planet. Except when they’re not good for the planet.
Even accepting the claim that only “cutting carbon” matters in dealing with global warming, the Wired author’s argument is nonsensical: Read the rest of this entry »
Michigan ‘Nutritious Foods’ Program For Babies Bans Organic Foods
Michigan ‘Nutritious Foods’ Program For Babies Bans Organic Foods
The purported mission of the USDA’s Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program is to provide “nutritious foods, nutrition education, and referrals to health and other social services” to mothers and children in need. The $6 billion WIC program is administered by the states to assist over 8 million people each year. But as a local farmers market manager has discovered, the Michigan Department of Community Health has decided that “nutritious foods” means a ban on organic foods, evidently in a misguided effort to save money.
The Michigan WIC Food Card says “No organic allowed” after nearly every food item — milk, eggs, dry beans, peanut butter, carrots, tuna, cereal, juice, cheese, infant juice, infant formula, and infant cereal. Honey Bunches of Oats, Frosted Mini-Wheats, and other corn-syrup-sweetened cereals are allowed, while organic cereals are not. Cage-free, free-range, Omega-3, and low-cholesterol eggs are also banned. No organic tuna is allowed, even though there is no such thing.
Diana Jancek, co-founder of the Sweetwater Local Foods Market, Michigan’s first all-sustainable local farmers market reported her discovery to a local listserv. In her message, which was also forwarded to the Community Food Security Coalition’s food security mailing list, she describes what she found when she went to the local Meijer supermarket with the flyer:
Allowed: Frosted Mini-Wheats (first three ingredients Whole Grain Wheat, Sugar, High Fructose Corn Syrup), 18 oz. — $3.63
Not Allowed: Meijer Organic Raisin Brain (all organic, no corn syrup), 17 oz. — $2.99Allowed: Jif Peanut Butter, 18 oz. — $2.18
Not Allowed: Meijer Organic Peanut Butter, 18 oz. — $2.59Allowed: Fresh Conventional Carrots, 1 pound — $1.30
Not Allowed: Fresh Organic Carrots, 1 pound — $.99Allowed: Conventional White Eggs — $1.69
Not Allowed: Conventional Brown Eggs — $1.89Allowed: V8 Tomato Juice, 46 oz. — $2.79
Not Allowed: Organic Tomato Juice, 46 oz. — $2.99
Ironically, Michigan has participated since 1988 in the USDA Farmers Market Nutrition Program, which allows WIC participants to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables — without a “no organic” restriction — at local farmers markets like the one Diana Jancek runs. Unfortunately, each participant is only given a single $20 voucher booklet for the entire year.
UPDATE: Tom Philpott at Gristmill notes that the approved Jif peanut butter includes partially and fully hydrogenated vegetable fats, shown to cause severe heart damage as well as diabetes. He writes:
For those who don’t think low-income mothers should be nudged to make such choices, no matter what state they live in, Martha Noble of the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition points out that the USDA’s Food & Nutrition Service is currently taking public comments on 2009 reauthorization of several child-nutrition programs, including WIC.
Tell Washington: ‘Buy Food From Local Farmers’ Here As Well As Abroad
Tell Washington: ‘Buy Food From Local Farmers’ Here As Well As Abroad
Our guest blogger is Steph Larsen, Policy Director of the Community Food Security Coalition.
When asked at a recent press conference what the United States can do to help make food more affordable around the world, President Bush replied:
One thing I think that would be — I know would be very creative policy is if we — is if we would buy food from local farmers as a way to help deal with scarcity, but also as a way to put in place an infrastructure so that nations can be self-sustaining and self-supporting. It’s a proposal I put forth that Congress hasn’t responded to yet, and I sincerely hope they do.
President Bush is suggesting that we put international food-aid money into local economies rather than the current policy of food aid, which must be purchased in the US and transported on US-flagged ships. This change would support local production and distribution abroad, rather than exporting US products that lower prices and hurt agriculture-based economies in other countries. Bush introduced this position in his State of the Union address, in which he asked Congress “to provide food assistance by purchasing crops directly from farmers in the developing world, so we can build up local agriculture and help break the cycle of famine.”
President Bush should support policies that encourage local and regional purchasing within our own borders as well.
Legislators can do something right now. Since the Farm Bill is still in flux, it is important to show your support for geographic preference language that will allow School Nutrition Programs to prefer locally grown foods during purchasing process.
The 2002 Farm Bill included language that encourages schools to purchase food from local producers. However, in a letter to school food service directors in 2007, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) states that “interpretation is incorrect and FNS disagrees with it as a result.” USDA’s misinterpretation necessitates a strong, clear statement from Congress that schools are allowed to use a geographic preference in their bid. The tentative agreement reached on the Farm Bill includes such language, although now President Bush is threatening a veto.
Call the Capitol Switchboard at 202.224.3121 and let your legislators know that they should keep language in the Farm Bill that allows schools flexibility to purchase from local farmers.
Global Food Crisis Hits Home As Retailers Begin To Ration Rice
Global Food Crisis Hits Home As Retailers Begin To Ration Rice
As an unexpected consequence of rising commodity prices and the international food crisis, two American retail giants — Costco and Sam’s Club (a subsidiary of Wal-Mart) — have set quantity restrictions on purchases of bulk rice. Sam’s Club, who is now limiting purchases to four, 20 pound bags of rice per visit, claims that “it is a precautionary measure, aimed primarily at our business customers, making sure we have enough for everyone.” They say it is simply a reaction to “recent supply and demand trends.”
A spokesman from Costco tells a similar story:
We don’t want to create a panic where we don’t think there is a panic, if we weren’t able to get any more rice or any more flour that would be a different story but we’re able to continue to replenish our supplies.
So if there’s no panic, and no shortage in supply, then why are these mega-chains limiting rice? Most likely because the restaurant industry, whose profits have tumbled dramatically in the last twelve months, is looking for new ways to cut costs and save on expenses — particularly in light of the painful new fuel surcharges added on by their suppliers for warehouse-to-store truck trips.
Restaurant owners are therefore doing things like cutting back on sauces and portions, charging for extra condiments, and changing their food suppliers — instead of buying staples from delivery services, they are schlepping to the wholesale stores themselves. Sam’s Club and Costco provide another alternative, as both are known to cater to “small businesses including independent restaurants, nursing homes and day care centers.”
The USA Rice Federation seems to agree:
It’s possible that small restaurants and bodega-type neighborhood stores may be purchasing rice in larger quantities than they do typically to avoid higher prices.
Soaring inflation, poor harvests, and worldwide food shortages are causing other countries, such as Vietnam and India, to place temporary bans on some rice exports. American rice farmers appear to be taking advantage, holding back inventories in hopes of locking in bigger profits as worries about shortages continue to drive future prices. The U.S. accounts for only about 1.5% to 2% of global rice production, but it is the world’s fourth-largest exporter, behind Thailand, Vietnam and India. U.S. rice exports are forecast to increase 20% this year.
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