According to the Organic Consumers Association, there is a new movement by conventional food producers to flood the market with products labeled “Natural,” and price them as if they were organic. Consumers will be tricked into thinking they are buying organic products, and paying organic prices, for conventionally produced goods.

“Natural” products are routinely produced using pesticides, chemical fertilizer, hormones, genetic engineering, and sewage sludge. Goods marked “certified organic” and “USDA Organic” are not.

Retailers like Whole Foods Market, and wholesalers like United Natural Foods Inc., continue to push “natural” products at a premium price, while, in effect slowing down the growth of organics with their near market monopoly.

The Horizon brand of organic milk is going to start selling “natural” milk—conventionally produced milk, at premium  prices. The aim is to lure people away from “USDA Organic” milk, but still charge close to organic prices.

Dean Foods, which controls the Horizon brand, made a similar move when they purchased Silk Soy Milk. Silk now uses conventional soy beans, but sells Silk Soy Milk at the same price it was when the soy beans were certified organic. The technique is sheer profiteering.

The statement ignores a Congressional mandate to pressure World Bank to strengthen labor and environmental standards. These standards would require funded institutions to use methods to “fairly represent the value of internationally recognized workers’ rights.”

And it rejected a provision for Treasury Department to file a report on how to eliminate overlapping activities of the World Bank and IMF.

President Obama, who in the past criticized President Bush for his use of signing statements, said that he rejected these two provisions of the war spending bill because they interfere with foreign policy.

This is his sixth signing statement. By definition, signing statements change the law being signed.

The Christian Science Monitor might be the last real newspaper in the country. A quote from Jerry Larson in an opinion piece about what’s wrong with newspapers:

“The best papers set the agenda in their news and opinion, offering not the tepid voice of the referee seen in the recent Obama-Cheney torture “debate,” but a strong voice of moral leadership. It was the courage of a few Southern newspaper editors, for example, that helped end segregation. They took a stand. They didn’t, in the name of “balance,” give integrationists and segregationists an equal voice.”

Newspapers refuse to take a stand on the environment as well.

A recent article in the LA Times about the destructive practice of blowing the tops off mountains for a little coal, the Times quoted “critics” of the practice as “claiming” this type of mining is destructive.

Blasting off a mountain top is destructive. It is not an opinion of the opposition. How namby-pamby can you get?

This kind of “reporting” sends readers to other sources for the real story. Stop blaming the internet!

The fist video is the trailer–2 minutes. The second is 14 minutes. Really worth the time.

The Time Warner building in NYC

Time Warner Cable wants to charge customers for each download to prevent cable users from downloading shows.  If you want unlimited downloading, it would cost $150 a month! (That’s up from the current $40 a month fee.)

Congressman Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) last Friday officially announced that he is drafting legislation that would “prohibit unfair tiered price structures from Internet providers.”

Time Warner claims that downloading is increasing internet infrastructure costs, but even independent analysts say the company is doing this to protect its cable fees.

Rep. Massa said the cable giant has “yet to explain how increased Internet usage increases their costs,” adding, “while I favor a business’s right to maximize their profit potential, I believe safeguards must be put in place when a business has a monopoly on a specific region.”

But the plot thickens: Time Warner is telling customers that costs are increasing… but telling investors that costs are decreasing… 

 You can sign a petition here if you want Congress to investigate.

In 2007, Time Warner began it’s attempt to kill small press magazines by lobbying the Post Office to increase rates. They won.

The plan:
1. Makes a $634 billion down payment on fixing health care that will go a long way toward paying for a more efficient, more affordable health care system that covers every single American.()3
2. Reduces taxes for 95% of working Americans. And if your family makes less than $250,000, your taxes won’t go up one dime.(4)
3. Invests more than $100 billion in clean energy technology, creating millions of green jobs that can never be outsourced.(5)
4. Brings our troops home from Iraq on a firm timetable, finally bringing the war to a close—and freeing up almost ten billion dollars a month for domestic priorities.(6)
5. Reverses growing income inequality. The plan lets the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans expire and focuses on strengthening the middle class.(7)
6. Closes multi-billion-dollar tax loopholes for big oil companies. (8)
7. Increases grants to help families pay for college—the largest increase ever.(9)

8. Halves the deficit by 2013. President Obama inherited a legacy of huge deficits and an economy in shambles, but his plan brings the deficit under control as soon as the economy begins to recover.(10)
9. Dramatically increases funding for the SEC and the CFTC—the agencies that police Wall Street.(11)
10. Tells it straight. For years, budgets have used accounting tricks to hide the real costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush tax cuts, and too many other programs. Obama’s budget gets rid of the smokescreens and lays out what America’s priorities are, what they cost, and how we’re going to pay for them.(12)

P.S. Turns out there are way more than 10 amazing things in Obama’s budget and we couldn’t resist sharing just a few more.
1. Stops unnecessary government subsidies to big banks, health insurance companies and big agribusinesses.(13,14,15)
2. Expands access to early childhood education and improves schools by investing in programs that make sure every child has a qualified, strong teacher.(16)
3. Negotiates for better prescription drug prices using Medicaid’s tremendous bargaining power.17
4. Expands access to family planning for low-income women.(18)
5. Caps the pollution that causes global warming, and makes polluters pay to support clean energy innovation.(19)
Sources:
1. “Climate of Change,” The New York Times, February 27, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/opinion/27krugman.html?em
2. “Obama Calls His Budget Sweeping, Needed Change,” The New York Times, February 28, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51201&id=15687-6722955-LQQsG0x&t=2
3. “Obama Offers Broad Plan to Revamp Health Care,” The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51202&id=15687-6722955-LQQsG0x&t=3
4. “Obama Expects Fight Over $3.55 Trillion Budget Plan,” Bloomberg News, February 28, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51203&id=15687-6722955-LQQsG0x&t=4
5. “Energy Budget Is Sunlight After Eight Years of Darkness,” Center for American Progress, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51204&id=15687-6722955-LQQsG0x&t=5
6. “The Economic Cost of War in Iraq and Afghanistan,” The New York Times, March 1, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/weekinreview/01glanz.html
7. “Tax Cuts,” The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27web-tax.html
8. “Energy Budget Is Sunlight After Eight Years of Darkness,” Center for American Progress, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51204&id=15687-6722955-LQQsG0x&t=6
9. “Student Loans,” The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27web-edu.html
10. “Obama unveils budget blueprint,” CNN, February 26, 2009
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/26/budget/
11. “Obama budget would boost SEC, CFTC, FBI,” Reuters, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51205&id=15687-6722955-LQQsG0x&t=7
12. “Obama’s budget,” Los Angeles Times, February 27, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51206&id=15687-6722955-LQQsG0x&t=8
13. “Student Loans,” The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27web-edu.html
14. “Health Insurance Stocks Dive on Medicare Advantage Cuts,” The Wall Street Journal, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51207&id=15687-6722955-LQQsG0x&t=9
15. “Agriculture,” The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27web-agri.html
16. “Investing Wisely in Our Children,” Center for American Progress, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51208&id=15687-6722955-LQQsG0x&t=10
17. “Obama Offers Broad Plan to Revamp Health Care,” The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51202&id=15687-6722955-LQQsG0x&t=11
18. “Obama Offers Broad Plan to Revamp Health Care,” The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51202&id=15687-6722955-LQQsG0x&t=12
19. “Setting ‘Green’ Goals,” The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51209&id=15687-6722955-LQQsG0x&t=13

“Eat the View!” is a campaign to urge the Obamas to replant a large organic Victory Garden on the First Lawn with the produce going to the White House kitchen and to local food pantries.

Yes, this is the White House lawn with sheep grazing on it. There were fruit trees, a garden and a green house. The green house was knocked down to make room for the West Wing. Watch the short video for more details, then go to Eat the View! for more information on edible landscaping.

(Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), Jan 26, 2009

Straight to the Source )

While the FDA had evidence that commercial high fructose corn syrup was contaminated with mercury four years ago, the agency did not inform consumers, help change industry practice or conduct additional testing.

Minneapolis – Mercury was found in nearly 50 percent of tested samples of commercial high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), according to a new article published today in the scientific journal, Environmental Health. A separate study by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) detected mercury in nearly one-third of 55 popular brandname food and beverage products where HFCS is the first or second highest labeled ingredient-including products by Quaker, Hershey’s, Kraft and Smucker’s.

HFCS use has skyrocketed in recent decades as the sweetener has replaced sugar in many processed foods. HFCS is found in sweetened beverages, breads, cereals, breakfast bars, lunch meats, yogurts, soups and condiments. On average, Americans consume about 12 teaspoons per day of HFCS. Consumption by teenagers and other high consumers can be up to 80 percent above average levels.

“Mercury is toxic in all its forms,” said IATP’s David Wallinga, M.D., and a co-author in both studies. “Given how much high fructose corn syrup is consumed by children, it could be a significant additional source of mercury never before considered. We are calling for immediate changes by industry and the FDA to help stop this avoidable mercury contamination of the food supply.”

The Environmental Health article by Dufault et al. can be found at: www.ehjournal.net.

“Not So Sweet: Missing Mercury and High Fructose Corn Syrup,” by David Wallinga, M.D., Janelle Sorensen, Pooja Mottl and Brian Yablon, M.D., can be found at: www.iatp.org.

IATP works locally and globally at the intersection of policy and practice to ensure fair and sustainable food, farm and trade systems. www.iatp.org