Having a background in born-again Christian circles, I immediately recognized Ben Carson’s story of his conversion from alleged violent ne’er-do-well to meek and mild man of God as almost certainly a product of exaggeration. Hyperbole is the order of the day with such “testimonies” because the worse you claim to have been before, the more [Read More...]
After the Supreme Court hears oral argument in a case, a vote is taken of the justices. If the chief justice is in the majority, he decides which justice gets to write the controlling opinion; if he’s in the minority, the justice with the most seniority in the majority decides. The New York Times has [Read More...]
This comes from a poll with a small sample: 603. Notables: 57 percent of those polled say that Wisconsin is headed in the wrong direction. Russ Feingold leads against Ron Johnson. 51 percent to 40 percent. 60 percent of Wisconsinites disapprove of the way Scott Walker is doing his job. In fact, 40% of Wisconsinites more »
Yet again I get the impression that Associated Press does whatever it can to protect and/or repair Scott Walker’s image. Compare the headlines and stories on Walker’s recent FEC filing: From Washington Post (author – Jenna Johnson): How Scott Walker spent $90,000 a day to lose an election From U.S. News and World Report more »
The editor of Buzzflash at Truthout recently wrote that, “By offering the debates on television only to paid subscribers of television packages that included CNN and Fox News, the most important political interaction between candidates for president of the United States was, essentially, privatized.” If you’re living with a net-enabled digital device seemingly glued to your more »
Of course teeth and gums are not the only things in your mouth that will benefit from a regular cleaning and a good oral hygiene regimen. The tongue itself, with all of its rough surfaces, can also harbor bacteria. This can lead to halitosis, which is also known as bad breath.
There are a couple of different options for cleaning your tongue. The most common method is to simply give your tongue a thorough brushing after you have finished brushing your teeth. Try to brush around the sides of the tongue as well as the rough surface of the taste buds.
Some people also prefer to use tongue scrapers. While designs might vary a little bit, depending on the manufacturer, a tongue scraper is usually a plastic stick with a mildly sharp edge on one end. There is no definitive research that finds tongue scrapers any more effective than a soft-bristled toothbrush. Ultimately, it comes down to a matter of personal preference.
When using a tongue scraper, you want to work from front to back, making multiple overlapping sweeps of the tongue. If you notice a buildup of material on the blade edge, you should rinse it off before making the next sweep.
If you find that you still have persistent bad breath, despite regular brushing, flossing and tongue cleaning, you may want to look at your diet as a possible cause.
A friend of mine had shared this story on facebook and I idly clicked it not knowing what I was in for. I saw the string of cars and vans along a curved street and thought, “Hey. That looks sorta like that area by Milwaukee Street.” Oh. That *IS* that area by Milwaukee Street. The more »
A friend of mine had shared this story on facebook and I idly clicked it not knowing what I was in for. I saw the string of cars and vans along a curved street and thought, “Hey. That looks sorta like that area by Milwaukee Street.” Oh. That *IS* that area by Milwaukee Street. The more »
Here’s a quickie rundown and review of recent Wisconsin political stories. WONDER BOY FAILS WONDERFULLY On Monday at 5PM Walker dropped out of the race. Well, technically he “suspended his campaign”. This LA Times cartoon sums it up for us. And this cartoon by Phil Hands sums up the average Wisconsinite’s response: Tomorrow's @WiStateJournal cartoon more »
Update: I have confirmation from Madison radio journalist Michael Crute that Scott Walker will be at the site at Noon today. I had this information 1 hour and 45 minutes in advance of the so-called “public event”. Site: Apache Stainless, 200 Industrial Dr, Beaver Dam, WI Google Map Street view Just to record what goes more »
Despite having no more than a few hours notice of the 5PM press conference announcing Walker’s drop out from the presidential campaign, protesting Wisconsinites were ready, able, and willing to serenade Wisconsin’s delusional governor. This TMJ4 footage includes just a SNIPPET of protest singing. This brief broadcast also includes snippets from Wisconsinites who do not more »
It seems that both Republican communications operative Liz Mair and a writer with Buzzfeed are hinting about either the same scandalous story or differing stories that is/are related to Scott Walker – but neither is releasing the details to the public. Frustrating. Gawker is asking readers to help spill the beans completely. Gawker is providing more »
Wow. I expected him to hang in another month and a half! News Conference: 5PM Central Time Edgewater Hotel Madison, Wisconsin More details here. You just finished reading Scott Walker dropping out of campaign, 5PM Central Time, Edgewater Hotel, Madison! Consider leaving a comment!Visit bluecheddar.net for more news and opinion. You can contact blue cheddar more »
Would you believe this was the first time I tuned into Colbert’s new show on CBS? Enjoy. Colbert cracking jokes on the presidential election [backup link]: The Interview [backup link]: Date of appearance: 09/18/2015 You just finished reading Bernie Sanders appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert! Consider leaving a comment!Visit bluecheddar.net for more more »
I’m embarrassed that I’m so late to the party on this issue. I learned this yesterday and promptly felt like puking: “..the Wisconsin State Journal, the newspaper that proudly proclaims itself “Madison’s largest reporting team,” the second-largest newspaper in the state and the newspaper of record for our entire region, is an all-white newspaper.” SOURCE: more »
Despite the fact that this [barely functioning] blog has tried to be Wisconsin-centric, I’m going to try to do some more posts to help people keep up on Bernie Sanders news. —————————————————- It appears that the establishment and its candidates have decided to quit dismissing Bernie Sanders and start attacking Bernie Sanders. The guy more »
Scott Walker only has 2% in the latest national ABC poll. The average of Scott Walker’s national polls put him in 7th place according to Real Clear Politics. The Republican Party only needs 1 nominee to run for president. I suppose it’s very difficult for a megalomaniac to quit looking in the mirror long enough more »
You never know where you might be when you receive one of the most important phone calls of your life. A couple of weeks ago, on a Monday afternoon, I was on an errand to buy food for our dog, Buddy. As I was pulling-up in front of the store, my cell phone rang. Being a conscientious driver, I let the call go through to voicemail. After parking, I glanced at my phone and saw that there was a message from Ryan, my daughter Naomi’s boyfriend. There was a very brief message saying only for me
Update: Readers who hunger for more mockery of Scott Walker should check out the #CanadaWall tag on twitter. ————————————– Today on Meet the Press, Scott Walker said that a border wall between the United States and Canada is “a legitimate issue for us to look at”. I expect his campaign will tomorrow release a “clarifying” more »
Update: Readers who hunger for more mockery of Scott Walker should check out the #CanadaWall tag on twitter. ————————————– Today on Meet the Press, Scott Walker said that a border wall between the United States and Canada is “a legitimate issue for us to look at”. I expect his campaign will tomorrow release a “clarifying” more »
Notice that in the crucial state of Ohio, Scott Walker is only at 2%. This is all come to a poll looking for these days: Walker’s failure. But other people are paying attention to the bigger picture, of course. Rubio is the only Republican polling ahead of Clinton in Ohio. Quinnipiac Poll: @MarcoRubio is the more »
"Scott Walker said he accidentally took a position on [citizenship] because he was 'tired'"
https://t.co/BBMDYMZQJo pic.twitter.com/vqBv0rSU8b — Billmon (@billmon1) August 21, 2015 At the Iowa state fair, Walker was for elimination of birthright citizenship. By Friday he had “no position” on it. “I’m not taking a position one way or the other,” Walker said in an more »
"Scott Walker said he accidentally took a position on [citizenship] because he was 'tired'"
https://t.co/BBMDYMZQJo pic.twitter.com/vqBv0rSU8b — Billmon (@billmon1) August 21, 2015 At the Iowa state fair, Walker was for elimination of birthright citizenship. By Friday he had “no position” on it. “I’m not taking a position one way or the other,” Walker said in an more »
The most significant bit of news in this poll, in my opinion, is the fact that Wisconsinites are taking a dim view of Scott Walker’s performance. His 39% “job approval” rating is down 2 points from where it was in April when 41% approved of his performance as Governor. Walker’s doing much worse than Obama more »
Rick Santorum, like many other far-right, anti-gay politicians, has taken the position that if the Supreme Court rules in a way he thinks is wrong, the other branches of government can simply overrule or ignore them. And in a recent interview, he claims that the entire idea of judicial review is not part of the [Read More...]
Eagle Scout integrity: “Gov. Scott Walker was under criminal investigation in 2011 for misconduct in office — even as he insisted he wasn’t — over a proposed real estate deal when he was Milwaukee County executive, according to records filed Wednesday in federal court” Source: Despite denials, Scott Walker was target of probe in 2011 more »
This weekend a bunch of the Republican presidential candidates flew to California to kiss the rings (and asses) of the Koch brothers and a whole bunch of other super-rich Republican donors. And Donald Trump, asshole though he may be, scorched them pretty hard on Twitter:
I wish good luck to all of the Republican candidates that traveled to California to beg for money etc. from the Koch Brothers. Puppets?
Of course they’re puppets. Now this is hypocritical, of course; the only reason Trump isn’t a puppet is because he is one of those billionaires who buys politicians rather than one of the politicians seeking to be bought. Replacing one with the other is hardly progress. The New York Times reports on this with this weird passage:
The answer to his question, of course, is a matter of perspective.
The candidates who made the pilgrimage to Dana Point, Calif., this weekend to address the gathering of wealthy donors were either pandering to the brothers at one of their twice-yearly seminars (beg-a-thons, in Trump parlance) or simply hoping to woo an influential network of Republicans who could help finance their campaigns through what is shaping up to be a grueling nominating process.
What would be the difference between those two “eithers,” exactly? The Kochs have made a rather public show out of refusing to support Trump, but he doesn’t need their support, at least in the primaries (the general election, on the other hand, requires at least a billion dollars to run a serious campaign and if you think Trump has a liquid billion laying around, you’ve been drinking the koolaid he’s been serving).
On Saturday, Carly Fiorina, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, and Mr. Walker addressed the gathering in back-to-back question-and-answer sessions, praising the Koch network and dismissing concerns about the outside money flooding into presidential politics. Mike Allen of the news organization Politico moderated all of the sessions. The candidates were not shy about flattering the gathered donors, some of whom are already financing their campaigns or super PACs.
“These are people who care deeply about our nation, and who are willing to put their time and their energy and their resources and their minds to the challenge of making a better nation,” Ms. Fiorina said, referring to the Koch network. “The foundation that the Koch brothers have built has invested in the power of ideas,” she said, adding “they’ve invested in lifting everyone up, regardless of their circumstances.”
In front of most audiences, such an obviously ridiculous statement would provoke howls of laughter, but since she was talking to the very people she was talking about, it only pandered to their presumptions of their own goodness. This is how people operate, they convert their own self-interests into moral crusades so they can convince themselves and others that they are really just civic-minded do-gooders out to support the public good rather than robber barons bribing people to boost their profits. I wonder what really rich ass tastes like? Fiorina just found out. So did Scott Walker:
Mr. Walker was similarly laudatory, saying he wished “the whole world could see what goes on here.”
“So many of you here aren’t here because of any interest on behalf of your personal finances or your industries, you’re here because you love America,” Mr. Walker said, before likening those in the Koch network to the everyday Americans he had met at Tea Party rallies across the country. Those people, he said, “may not have a lot of net worth, but they’re out fighting Obamacare, they’re fighting for their country.”
“In closing, let me just say what an honor it is to speak to the most generous, patriotic, and wonderful people in the country. The fact that you’re all billionaires who could fund my campaign is, of course, totally coincidental.”
One can only wait for Donald Trump to reply, “No one is more generous, patriotic and wonderful than me. I invented generous, patriotic and wonderful. My generous, patriotic and wonderful ass is gold-plated. There’s never been a bigger or classier gold-plated ass than mine.”
Recorded audio from the FBI-assisted raid of Cynthia Archer’s home has been released. “The audio of the raid is being released now in an attempt to rebut claims Archer makes in her suit. For instance, she said in her filing that officers stormed into her house “throwing the (search) warrant at her without giving her more »
It takes an incestuous bipartisan pile of snakes to foist this expense upon Wisconsin when only 9%* of the Wisconsin public wants to help fund it AND when the administration is slashing public education funding. Steve Horn and Michael Arria have a long and interesting piece out on Truthdig that exposes backroom bipartisanship and public more »
Several Philly tourists not amused with Scott Walker crashing their lunch. Overheard: “Stand in line with the rest of us.” “Who is that?” — Jenna Johnson (@wpjenna) July 28, 2015 This is silly but sometimes you just gotta stop, smell the roses, and indulge in some mockery of Scott Walker’s cheesesteak choices. It’s the standard more »
Max Fisher at Vox has been doing an excellent job of debunking all of the arguments being used against the nuclear deal with Iran. To hear conservatives tell it, the deal actually gives Iran nuclear weapons, which could hardly be further from the reality.
Myth #1: The Iran deal is abject surrender and will make it easier for Iran to get a nuclear bomb
This is probably the most common talking point about the Iran deal, and certainly the most common one against it: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been making it for months, as have some Republicans.
This is total nonsense and is, in fact, the exact opposite of what is happening. Iran has accepted enormous cuts to its nuclear program, not to mention invasive and politically humiliating inspections…
It’s worth looking at what actual arms control experts say: that the deal is very good at limiting Iran’s nuclear program and is favorable to the United States. Given that many of those analysts were initially pessimistic, that they took this as a welcome surprise tells you something.
One nuclear weapons expert, Aaron Stein, told us the that deal “makes the possibility of Iran developing a nuclear weapon in the next 25 years extremely remote.”
Perhaps the most important provision is that they have to get rid of 70% of their centrifuges and can only keep those that cannot enrich uranium or plutonium very highly. That, along with a limit of 3.67% on enrichment, which is good only for peaceful generation of nuclear power but not for a bomb (weapons-grade requires enrichment to 90%), makes it nearly impossible for them to create a nuclear weapon.
Several Philly tourists not amused with Scott Walker crashing their lunch. Overheard: “Stand in line with the rest of us.” “Who is that?” — Jenna Johnson (@wpjenna) July 28, 2015 This is silly but sometimes you just gotta stop, smell the roses, and indulge in some mockery of Scott Walker’s cheesesteak choices. It’s the standard more »
Brendan Fischer of PRWatch was recently interviewed by Janine Jackson of Fair.org. A couple of exerpts: JJ: Well, it sounds as though the charge was that Walker actively sought to skirt finance laws and that the ruling is: Yes, he did, but it’s OK? I mean, help us to understand exactly what happened here. BF: That’s about right. more »
Hmmmmm. From Bloomberg: “According to the most recent Federal Election Commission filings, Chain Bridge is the sole bank serving Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign, which reported raising $11.4 million as of June 30, and his allied super-PAC, Right to Rise, which says it’s raised $103 million so far. Donald Trump’s campaign banks at Chain Bridge, and it’s more »
Times are strange when you’re pleased to hear from Donald Trump, eh? What’s really wild is not only do I enjoy hearing Trump slam Walker, I have to admit that Trump is essentially telling the truth about the state of affairs in Wisconsin and about Walker’s flip-flops on Common Core. Donald Trump says he wasn’t more »
The dissent: The chalker, who prefers to remain anonymous, gave me permission to upload this photo here. If you have questions about the use of the word “whore” in Wisconsin see this. You just finished reading Wisconsinite dissents in chalk: "WEASEL WHORE HOUSE"! Consider leaving a comment!Visit bluecheddar.net for more news and opinion. You can more »
This is a bit from an opinion piece by Dana Milbank in the Washington Post: “Scott Walker is not Joe McCarthy, but his technique is similar: He suggests that the nation’s ills can be cured by fighting labor unions (foremost among the “big government special interests” hurting America), even though unions represent just 11 percent more »
As blogger lufthase puts it, “If WEDC had done a simple search on Green Box chairman Ronald Van Den Heuvel before making this loan, they’d have found at least 8 six-figure judgements from 2008 to 2011 against him or the many, many companies he has registered at the same address as Green Box.” Basically, Scott more »
These seem like the key WI political stories from the last 3 or 4 days. If I missed something, please do leave it in a comment. WALKER AND GAYNESS This is how conservative blog NewsMax frames it: Gay marriage opponent and Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker said in a CNN interview broadcast on Sunday he more »
Because a new poll shows that Donald Trump polls nationally at 24% among Republican registered voters while Walker polls 13% I have to admit that I have no idea whether Walker’s comments to this family have an impact positive or negative within the Republican Party base. This guy’s tweet sums up their bigoted wingnuttery: "Obama's more »
Iowans are learning that Scott Walker doled out over $68 million to Kohls. It’s undermining his “brown bag government” schtick. Excellent! If they keep pulling at loose threads on his stories they’re going to turn up tales of unaccountable millions in corporate welfare he gave out through WEDC. Des Moines Register has the story: Some more »
The total clusterfuck that is Edwina Rogers and her lawsuit against the Secular Coalition for America has actually gotten worse. As Hemant reports, she has now amended her complaint to include Richard Dawkins and his foundation as defendants, accusing him of chasing away the “fellows” from her Secular Policy Institute and stealing money donated to Doctors Without Borders. On the first charge:
Plaintiff [Rogers] discovered charitable donations solicited over several years to support Doctors Without Borders’ response to specific natural disasters instead were deposited into the Foundation’s operating account. That account was used for, [among other things], Dawkins’ and his Foundation’s legal fees and other non-charitable purposes.
Plaintiff retained a forensic accounting firm to assure that the converted funds would be repaid and forwarded to the charity. When Plaintiff returned to SCA full time, this work was ongoing.
Hemant has a long response from Dawkins, which doesn’t exactly make this look like a totally false accusation. He says of it:
During a period of transition for the foundation in 2013-2014, Rogers served as interim executive director until we brought on Robyn Blumner as our permanent executive director in Feb. 2014. During this time the NBGA program was ended for three primary reasons, 1) Concerns arose about the program’s management that had to be further reviewed, 2) Another organization, Foundation Beyond Belief, was effectively doing the work of NBGA, and 3) The organization decided to focus on its core mission, the promotion of scientific literacy and secularism.
Under Blumner’s leadership, we hired a team of accountants and legal counsel to answer our concerns about the NBGA program. The team’s job was to ensure that the foundation fulfilled all its legal obligations under NBGA and ethical obligations to its donors and NGO beneficiaries. We followed the team’s advice, with me personally providing whatever resources were needed, and are confident we are in full compliance with all financial, legal and ethical obligations, and that we run the foundation in accordance with sound fiscal management practices.
So there apparently was something amiss with the Non-Believers Giving Aid program, enough so that an outside team of accountants and attorneys had to be brought in to investigate. If and when this goes to court, we’ll then know exactly what went on and what the evidence says. Would it surprise me if money was diverted? Not really. Would it surprise me if Rogers is exaggerating or distorting the truth to undermine her opponent in a lawsuit? Not in the least. We’ll just have to wait and see.
But on this ludicrous charge about Dawkins chasing away the SPI’s fellows, her complaint says:
Dawkins, Shermer, and Dennett communicated in person and by email with SPI donors and Fellows and urged them to resign from SPI unless Plaintiff dismissed this litigation. According to former SPI Fellow Michael Shermer, Dawkins “ordered” him to deliver the same message to other SPI Fellows. Upon information and belief, Dawkins, Shermer, and Dennett did not disclose their affiliation with SCA while conveying disapproval of Plaintiff and implying wrongdoing on Plaintiff’s part.
…
Beginning on June 11, 2015 Plaintiff received emails from SPI Fellows and donors resigning or threatening to resign as a result of this litigation, including: Dawkins, Dennett, Shermer, Steven Pinker, James Thompson, Rebecca Goldstein, Lawrence Krauss, Carolyn Porco, Ron Lindsay, Stephen Law, Phil Zuckerman, Wendy Kaminer, and Peter Boghossian. Each and every resignation was caused by Dawkins and SCA in retaliation for Plaintiff’s filing and refusing to dismiss this litigation.
In addition, SPI has lost fifteen member organizations due to these Defendants’ actions.
But here’s the problem, as Hemant points out: Several of those people didn’t even know that they were “fellows” of the SPI in the first place, including Dawkins:
I am being sued in federal court in Washington, DC by Edwina Rogers, the former executive director of the Secular Coalition for America and the former interim executive director of and paid consultant for the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science. She posits a number of allegations with regard to my resignation as a fellow from the Secular Policy Institute (SPI) where Rogers works as CEO.
In fact, I never agreed to be a fellow of SPI in the first instance. Who knew that in America a person could be sued for leaving an organization of which one was never a willing part and telling close friends about it?
What appears to have happened is that a number of people had agreed to be fellows of a different organization Rogers created under the auspices of the SCA, then when she was fired she created a copycat organization under a different name and declared that those who had agreed to be fellows of the first, SCA-related group were now fellows of her new group:
What’s the deal with the allegations that Dawkins directed people to leave the Secular Policy Institute?
Over the past couple of months, I’ve contacted several of the Fellows who resigned from SPI. A number of them told me their primary motivation for resigning was not that Dawkins told them to leave, but that they never agreed to join the SPI as Fellows in the first place. Once they realized this, they asked to be removed from the list.
Why the confusion? It appears that at least some of them said yes to becoming Fellows of the “Secular Global Council” (an SCA program) when Rogers was the Executive Director there… but they were unaware of the Secular Policy Institute and did not agree to join a group that was separate from the SCA. (A lot of the policy recommendations at the Secular Policy Institute were identical to the SCA Policy Guide, which Rogers also oversaw, which may explain the confusion.)
Daniel Dennett told me: “I didn’t know I was a Fellow of SPI until I saw my picture and name on the website.”
Dawkins added: “I have no recollection of how I [came] to be on the [SPI Fellows] list in the first place.”
Might I suggest that the real reason Rogers’ new group is losing both fellows and affiliated organizations is because of her own behavior, not only for presumptuously claiming that those fellows were part of her new organization without her consent, but also for her own slash-and-burn legal approach to suing other groups and threatening to sue even bloggers who write critically about her, and for the absurd behavior of her little worker bee, Johnny Montserrat, in trying to recruit affiliates to join the organization (he called me several times and I returned none of those calls). Stephanie does an excellent job of documenting that behavior here.
There’s one thing that I think can now be said with boldness: Hiring Edwina Rogers was the single biggest mistake that any atheist group has ever made. And that’s saying a lot, given some of the other things those groups have done from time to time. A whole lot of people were highly skeptical of the hiring from the start, including me, but most of us tried to give her some benefit of the doubt and at least hope that it would all work out and she’d do fine. Clearly, that has not been the case.
Seriously, Edwina, it’s time for you to just shut up and go away. Go back to wrapping your Christmas presents with real money and trying to get on the Real Housewives of Washington, DC, which is exactly where you belong. You had zero background or interest in atheist or secular issues before you were hired and you’ve done nothing but destroy things once SCA let you in the door. We will be far better off without you than we have been with you.
I sent this to George Takei Dear George: This is a photo of Scott Walker’s new RV. I must say, all I can see is an equal sign with those two red bars on the right. And when I see a red equal sign I am reminded of the red equal sign which you encouraged more »
This is from Hasen’s “Analysis of Wisconsin John Doe Ruling: Bad News for Campaign Finance Laws” U.S. Supreme Court review? The dissent notes that under the U.S. Supreme Court’s Caperton decision, the failure to recuse in this case could be a due process violation. At least theoretically, that’s an issue which could go to the more »
India is in the midst of a war of sorts — a war over eggs. To eat them, or not to eat them. Actually, it’s more about whether the government should give free eggs to poor, malnourished children.
It all began in late May, when Shivraj Chouhan, the chief minister of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, shot down a proposal to serve eggs in government-run day care centers (anganwadis) in some tribal areas.
These communities have high rates of malnutrition, says Sachin Jain, a local food-rights activist in the state. “The idea behind the proposal was to address the gap in protein deficiency through … eggs,” he says.
But Chouhan wasn’t convinced. As Indian newspapers reported, he publicly vowed not to allow eggs to be served as long as he was minister.
Why this vehement opposition to eggs? Well, the local community of Jains, which is strictly vegetarian and also powerful in the state, has previously thwarted efforts to introduce eggs in day care centers and schools. Chouhan is an upper caste Hindu man who recently became a vegetarian.
And the state of Madhya Pradesh is mostly vegetarian, as are some other states, like Karnataka, Rajasthan and Gujarat. For years, the more politically vocal vegetarians in these states have kept eggs out of school lunches and anganwadis.
But here’s the thing: While these states as a whole may be mostly vegetarian, the poorest — and most malnourished — Indians generally are not. They would eat eggs, if only they could afford them, says Dipa Sinha, an economist at the Center for Equity Studies in New Delhi and an expert on India’s preschool and school feeding programs.
India’s free school lunch program alone reaches about 120 million of India’s poorest children, and the anganwadis reach millions of younger children. So, the egg war isn’t trivial.
Chouhan’s office has said the chief minister is “sentimental” about keeping anganwadis egg-free. “This is a very upper caste Hindu sentiment,” says Sinha.
Hindu scriptures prescribe notions of purity for people belonging to upper castes, Sinha explains. “You can’t use the same spoon as someone else. You can’t sit next to someone eating meat. You can’t eat food cooked by someone who eats meat. And they think this is a dominant culture and that they can impose it on anyone.”
The recent ban on the slaughter of bulls and bullocks in the neighboring state of Maharashtra also reflects this sentiment.
While most Hindus today don’t eat beef, Hindus belonging to lower castes, including Dalits (considered the lowest in India’s caste hierarchy), do rely on this meat as a regular source of protein, as do Christians and Muslims. Dalit scholars have called this ban an effort to impose upper-caste Hindu values on the lower caste minorities.
We often assume Indians are largely vegetarian, but that assumption doesn’t hold up against data. A 2006 survey by the Delhi-based Center for the Study of Developing Societies found that more than 50 percent of Indians are in fact non-vegetarian. They eat fish, chicken, beef and, yes, eggs, too. Vegetarianism is often limited to privileged, upper caste Hindu communities and a couple of other religions, like Jainism.
Most underprivileged Indians, on the other hand, including Dalits and tribal communities, are non-vegetarians, says Sinha. Their children make up the majority of India’s most malnourished.
That is why public health policy experts and right-to-food activists all over the country are trying to introduce eggs into government schools and day cares.
Some states already serve eggs, and they are popular among the children. Sinha recalls an incident from several years ago, when she was visiting schools in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh to see how well the school lunch program was working. The state had recently begun to provide eggs in school lunches. One school had a box where students submitted their complaints and feedback about the school meal.
“We opened it, and one of the letters in that box was from a girl in [fourth grade],” says Sinha. “It was a Dalit girl, who said, ‘Thank you very much. I got to eat an egg in my life for the first time.’ ”
“Wherever eggs are introduced, attendance goes up,” says Sinha. “It’s very popular, because children don’t get it at home.”
Eggs are also an easy way to provide much-needed protein and fat to malnourished children, says Sachin Jain, the food rights activist. They are easy to procure locally, and storage and transportation aren’t a problem. “No … vegetarian food item is that good a source of protein,” he says.
Milk, which comes close and is often touted as a good alternative by vegetarians like Chouhan, comes with many complications. It is often diluted by suppliers and is easy to contaminate, says Jain. It also requires more infrastructure to store and transport to remote rural areas.
“I am a vegetarian,” adds Jain. “I have never touched an egg. But I have other sources of fat and protein, like ghee (clarified butter) and milk. Tribals, Dalits and other poor people don’t have these options. They can’t afford these things. Then, eggs become a very good option for them.”
“We still have very high malnutrition,” says Dipa Sinha. “Every third Indian child is malnourished.”
This contextis crucial in this discussion, she says, “because the best interest of the child is what should be driving policy. I think this (ban on eggs) is a big setback.”
Rhitu Chatterjee is a multimedia journalist based in New Delhi. See the related animation, “Power Lunch: India’s Mid-Day Meal Program,” produced by Mathilde Dratwa for the Pulitzer Center and based on Chatterjee’s reporting.
Since everything in the world is a dark conspiracy to Alex Jones, you knew he’d have an amusingly ridiculous take on marriage equality. Sure enough, he does. He claims that gay marriage is going to “sexualize” school children AND turn them into “asexual humanoids.” Simultaneously, I guess. Because that makes perfect sense.
Conservative radio host Alex Jones tried to portray himself on Monday as being neutral on marriage equality, but accused the United Nations of trying to “sexualize children” via childrens’ books discussing same-sex parents.
“It’s nobody’s business to target children with Heather Has Two Mommies, or ‘You can’t say boy or girl to somebody who may not identify as that,’” Jones said in footage posted by Right Wing Watch. “That is space-cult, suicide cult exterminism craziness. The eugenics, trans-humanist cult wants to confuse the general species ahead of rendering us down and removing us. The plan is an asexual humanoid, even if they decide to keep us around, stated in hundreds of textbooks.”
Every same-sex marriage is a false flag operation! Those are lizard people trying to reset our cultural norms. I bet the feminists are behind the whole thing!
Two years ago, in the middle of the night, a fire broke out in a commercial building on the northern edge of the city of Dallas. It destroyed a small yogurt company called Three Happy Cows.
Two months later, Edgar Diaz, the founder of Three Happy Cows, confessed that he’d set the fire. Yet people who knew Diaz, and had worked with him, could not believe it.
“I was like, Edgar did that? No way! No way. No way,” says Ruth Cruz, who worked at Three Happy Cows.
“No. No. It was his baby. Couldn’t imagine,” says Don Seale, who supplied milk to the factory.
They, and others, say Edgar Diaz loved Three Happy Cows. He’d built that factory himself. So why did he burn it down?
The answer is a love story, in a way. It’s a love affair with yogurt.
Edgar Diaz now occupies a cell in the federal prison in Seagoville, Texas, and that is where I met him.
Diaz is a short, soft-spoken man, 57 years old. One of the arson investigators who took his confession described him as “meek.” He struggles, on occasion, to express himself in English. He only learned the language as an adult, after emigrating from Colombia.
It was in Colombia, at the university, where Diaz first fell in love with yogurt. He studied the science and technology of dairy products.
“I love to work with milk,” he says. “For me, milk is a life element.”
But he and his wife fled Colombia’s civil war in 2001. They were granted political asylum in the United States. Diaz worked at a Wendy’s for a while, and sold used cars. His wife, Diana Ocampo, who had also studied dairy science, cleaned houses.
A series of fortunate connections brought Diaz back to his first love. In 2010, a friend offered to put up the money to start a new yogurt company: Three Happy Cows. And Edgar Diaz threw himself into building that factory.
“All the plant is designed for me,” he says. “Even the walls. The walls [are] glass. Because I love for people to see how we made it. We don’t have anything hiding.”
From 2010 to 2013, Three Happy Cows had some remarkable success. The yogurt won national awards. It was a hit at farmers markets around Dallas.
“The product was really exceptionally good,” says Cindy Johnson, who founded the farmers market in the town of McKinney. “It was just the first place everybody stopped. I mean, it’s hard to describe just how good it was!”
Diaz loved making a product that people enjoyed so much. Even now, in prison, his eyes light up and his voice becomes animated when he remembers talking to satisfied customers. “That is my reward!” he says. “It’s not money! You enjoy the product. Your life is happy because you eat it and you like it!”
After three years, though, Three Happy Cows still was not profitable. The company’s financial backer, Diaz’s friend Juan Padilla, was running out of money.
Diaz found some new investors, but this is where things started to come unglued. He couldn’t control what happened next.
Diaz says that he and Juan Padilla had a verbal agreement. Padilla would own 75 percent of the company, and Diaz would own 25 percent. But legally, the company wasn’t set up that way. Padilla owned it.
The new investors, realizing this, began negotiations with Padilla. They acquired an option to buy the company, in the future. Padilla also turned over management of Three Happy Cows to the new investors. That happened right away.
“The next week, all my belongings in my office [are] in the trash. They took everything and put it in the trash,” says Diaz.
Other changes followed. “They change the milk, they don’t use anymore organic milk,” says Ocampo, Diaz’s wife. “The honey? ‘Oh, this honey is cheaper — just use it.’ Also the fruit, the sugar, everything. They change everything,” Ocampo says.
Diaz was still working at Three Happy Cows, but only as an employee; he’d lost control of the thing he loved more than almost anything else.
I tried, through phone calls and a letter, to get Padilla’s side of this story. Padilla responded only with a text message saying that he didn’t want to talk about Three Happy Cows. It was, he wrote, “too painful.”
I was able to speak with Blaine Iler, one of the investors who took control of Three Happy Cows.
“I feel like we did everything we could to meet Edgar’s concerns,” Iler says. He says he and his partners offered Diaz a contract that would have made Diaz part owner of Three Happy Cows when the investors eventually bought the company.
But Diaz didn’t sign that contract. According to Diaz, it was because it contained a clause that barred him from working for any other yogurt company if he left Three Happy Cows, for a period of five years. Diaz says that would have stripped him of his experience and knowledge.
In fact, in Diaz’s mind, that knowledge was his only source of power, and he had to protect that knowledge from the new investors. He describes repeated conversations in which the new investors demanded the “formula” for making Three Happy Cows yogurt.
“They try to find records” of how to make the yogurt, Diaz says. “The records are over there. But how to make it?” Diaz points toward his head. “How to make it is here.”
His mind, though, was growing increasingly dark and troubled through this time. “You work so hard, but your feelings go down. You go into depression,” he says. “I drive to Three Happy Cows and I cry, and I don’t understand how some people can destroy everything. We worked 36 months, and these people destroy everything in three months.”
In March 2013, the company arrived at a crossroads. It received its biggest order ever. The investors felt that it could lead to even bigger success down the road.
Edgar Diaz worked through the weekend to make the yogurt. In the wee hours of Monday morning, March 18, he returned to the factory.
“And I go to the cooler and open the tanks, and I see, I did it! I feel so happy, but at the same time, I feel so stupid. Because they know how I made it,” he says.
Whether this feeling was delusion or reality, Diaz became convinced that the investors now knew how the yogurt was made. It was no longer his secret.
“I come into a panic,” he recalls. “I want to die. I start to walk to crazy around the plant.”
He found some gasoline, and set the place on fire.
Six months ago, in January, Diaz was sentenced to five years in prison. He and his wife have declared bankruptcy. She’s cleaning houses for a living, often from early in the morning until late in the evening.
“Do you think you are a good businessman?” I ask Diaz.
“No,” he replies quickly. “When you’re thinking too much with this” — he points to his heart — “you are not good businessman.”
“Did your heart destroy your business?”
Diaz considers. “No. Destroy is, when people thinking it’s only money. Business is not only money. Business is adventure. It’s to enjoy. Make you happy. Sad, sometimes. But it’s life. That’s business.”
And Edgar Diaz is still dreaming of making yogurt. Even here in prison, he says, he could probably make yogurt. They get milk. The bacteria one needs often are there in the milk already.
All it takes is the skill. And the love.
(Want to hear a longer version of this sad story? Go here!)
The Bush family has a long history of pretending to be a bunch of Bubba’s, despite multi-generational wealth, attending Philips Exeter and Ivy League schools and the like. Bush 41 famously declared his love for pork rinds to make himself look more Joe Sixpack-y. Bush 43 bought a fake “ranch” that apparently only generated brush for him to clear when the cameras were on. Now it’s Jeb’s turn to strike the fake populist pose:
Bush then advocated for more blunt and simple type of statesmanship — reminiscent of the style of his brother, former President George W. Bush as well as Vice President Dick Cheney — in dealing with world.
“You don’t have to be the world’s policemen, but you have to be the world’s leader and there’s a huge difference,” Bush explained. “This guy — this president and Secretary Clinton and Secretary Kerry – when someone disagrees with their nuanced approach where it’s all kind of so sophisticated it makes no sense. You know what I’m saying?”
Bush continued, “Big syllable words and lots of fancy conferences and meetings and – We’re not leading. That creates chaos. It creates a more dangerous world. So restoring the alliances that have kept the world safer and our country safer – getting back to a position in the Middle East where there’s no light between Israel and the United States.”
This is standard right wing populist nonsense of the sort identified so brilliantly by Richard Hofstadter half a century ago, but going back much further than that. They love to distinguish between themselves and those pointy-headed intellekshuls with their big fancy words and big fancy degrees and their salsa made in New York City (NEW YORK CITY???). This has strong appeal to the ignorant masses that make up the right-wing base, who yearn for the simple world of John Wayne movies where if you don’t like someone, you just go kick his ass like a Real Mantm does.
It’s ridiculous enough on its own, but the fact that it’s being used by a highly educated scion from one of the nation’s most powerful political families trying to do his best Joe the Plumber impersonation makes it all the more ridiculous. New rule: No one who graduated from Philips Exeter Academy ever gets to refer to anyone else as elite. Ever.
On the old SNL Weekend Update, Chevy Chase used to announce at the end of every broadcast that Generalissimo Franco was still dead. My version: Republican National Committee member Tamara Scott is still incredibly clueless. Just listen to this nonsense from her radio show:
The Charleston shooting, Scott said, is “being hijacked to a racial issue.” Her interviewee, South Carolina pastor Brad Atkins — the state head of the American Family Association’s American Renewal Project who led the planning of Gov. Nikki Haley’s “The Response” prayer rally last month — agreed, saying the victims “lost their lives primarily not because they were black and the killer was white, but because they were gathered together at the church.”
“There really was no debate” about the flag, Atkins said, up until the “secular media” used it as a distraction from the fact that the shooting actually “happened because of a lack of Christian influence in society.” …
She repeated her point that the shooting in a black church by a gunman with white supremacist views who specifically stated his desire to start a race war wasn’t as much a “racial issue” as an attack on religion. The Charleston shooting, she said, is “being made into more of a racial issue than it was,” when the shooter “could have gone anywhere – mall, sporting event, anywhere — and shot a race of people, but this was in a house of worship.”
How is it possible for someone to make that claim with a straight face? The murderer said quite plainly that he targeted the victims in that church because he hates black people and was trying to start a race war. There is not one word in his manifesto explaining why he did it that even mentions Christianity. And yet people like Scott and Atkins can, with a completely straight face, pretend otherwise. It’s kind of mind-boggling that someone could be that disconnected with reality.
Scott then accused the Confederate flag’s critics of turning a symbol of “fun” into something divisive.
“Creating this stir about the flag now forces dialogue that I think had died out decades ago,” she said. “It starts the divide all over again in younger generations that otherwise would have had absolutely no ill feelings on this flag. For this generation that I know, it was a symbol of Dukes of Hazzard and fun and a culture of the South. So I hate this dialogue that has started that has created a new generation of divisiveness.”
*headdesk* This woman is on the Republican National Committee, for crying out loud. And that’s where she belongs, really.
An Ohio firefighter who said horrible, bigoted things about gay people is using the oft-heard excuse that it’s all okay because it’s just Facebook, so it totally doesn’t count. I’ve heard people say similar things a thousand times and it never strikes me as anything other than stupid.
The July 3 post of a weeping child who is quoted saying, “I’m homosexual and I’m afraid about what my future will be and that people won’t like me” sparked impassioned responses, including words of encouragement from presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. George Takei and California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsome were among thousands who chimed in with “likes” and words of support for the youngster.
But 26-year Cleveland Fire Department veteran Guy Estergall threw his opinion into the mix of roughly 60,000 comments on the viral post.
“This kid needs psychiatric help, he’s delusional. We need to find a cure for his kind!” Estergall wrote in the comments.
In an apparent response to another comment, he wrote, “You’re mentally ill Andrew, just like this kid and the rest of the immoral homosexuals and their supporters,” NewsNet5 reports.
Continuing on, he wrote, “The overwhelming majority of pedophiles are homosexuals. You need to get the professional psychiatric help you need to become normal.”
Estergall told the station his comments were in response to a nasty exchange he got into, and he only meant to “get his goat” and “tick off” his opponent, who had started name calling.
“Was it childish? Of course. But this is Facebook, it was a ‘nothing’ thing,” he said in an interview with the station.
I’ve heard this argument constantly for the nearly 25 years I’ve been online. It’s just the internet! It’s just IRC! It’s just Facebook! It’s just Twitter! It’s just a blog comment! Just stop, for crying out loud. The internet is merely a means of communication. No one would think it’s okay to say vile or hateful or threatening things to someone and then say “But it’s just a telephone” or “It’s just radio.” The rules of reasonable, ethical behavior does not change when the medium does.
But you know what does change? The level of anonymity. And what’s the real reason why people think it’s okay to be vile assholes over the internet. Give someone anonymity, or the illusion of anonymity, and their real character may be very quickly revealed. That’s when they’ll say all the things they really think and wish they could say to someone in person but can’t because they’ll get their ass kicked.
If I can avoid putting something in the fridge or freezer, I do. It’s largely because space is at premium in my overcrowded refrigerator. I’ve always had a hunch that leaving certain edibles in the pantry can hasten their demise, especially as my home heats up in the summer, but I’ve never been sure which items were truly worthy of refrigerator real estate.
For some things on our shopping lists, all we need to do is look at the label to know if they need to be refrigerated. But storage instructions can be hard to come by when we forgo pre-packaged, processed goods for whole foods from farmers’ markets and artisanal shops, and dry foods from bulk bins. And even when we buy seemingly fresher foods, we rarely know how much of their shelf life has already been used up sitting around in the store or elsewhere. Deciding whether or not to keep something chilled also depends on how quickly we plan to eat it, requiring strategic forethought or a crystal ball.
Despite the variables, the foods listed below generally fare better in the fridge or freezer in most households. But no matter how much time has elapsed, what season it is, or where we choose to store our food, it’s always wise to take a good look and big sniff before digging in.
Berries
Farmers’ market strawberries and blueberries. (Lisa Landers)
Whether you’re into strawberries, blueberries or blackberries this summer season, they will all last a few more days if kept in the fridge. Put them unwashed in an airtight container layered with paper towels to absorb excess moisture.
Nuts
Raw almonds. (Lisa Landers)
According to the experts at University of California at Davis, nuts can maintain their quality at room temperature for a few of months (less time in warmer climates). But even stored in an airtight container, nuts will go rancid more quickly in the pantry than if they are chilled. In the fridge, hulled nuts like almonds, cashews and walnuts can retain their quality for a year or more.
Whole Grains (like Brown Rice, Quinoa and Millet)
Brown rice. (Lisa Landers)
White rice can be stored for many years in a cool dry place, but whole grain brown rice will only last about 6 months because of the oil contained in the bran layer. Storing brown rice in the fridge can extend the shelf life for up to a year. To maximize freshness and shelf life, the popular grain purveyor, Bob’s Red Mill, suggests storing rice, quinoa, millet and all other whole grains in the freezer if used less than once a month. According to their website, the icy temps can buy you an extra six months beyond the sell-by date on their packages. Freezing also reduces the risk of lingering insect eggs from hatching in your cupboard.
Ground Flax Seeds
Flax seeds sold in bulk. (Lisa Landers)
While whole flaxseeds last 6-12 months when stored in a dark, cool spot in your pantry, ground flax seeds only last a week or so before starting to turn. Sealed up in the fridge, the ground seeds can remain edible for up to 90 days.
Dried Fruit, Preservative-free
Dried mangos, cranberries and apricots. (Lisa Landers)
If you’ve started buying dried apricots, mango and other dehydrated fruits that haven’t been treated with sulfur dioxide (a preservative), your stash of sweet treats may not last as long before starting to degrade. But when sealed up, tucked into a dark corner and stored at room temp, the quality of preservative-free dried fruits will hold up for about 3-4 months, says Becky Courchesne, co-owner of Frog Hollow Farms. Shelf life can stretch to six months in the fridge and a year or more in the freezer. The key, says Courchesne, is making sure that absolutely no moisture gets in your package, which can happen if you take the bag in and out of the cold too often.
Whole Wheat, Oat, Rye and Buckwheat Flours
Whole-wheat flour. (Lisa Landers)
Unlike white flour, whole-wheat flour retains the wheat germ, making it much more prone to going rancid once exposed to air. Seal it up and stick it in the freezer if you want whole-wheat flour to last more than a few of months. Same goes for other flours made from unrefined grains and cereals such as oat, buckwheat and rye. The Whole Grains Council has a useful chart to help you determine the shelf life of your favorite flours.
Nut Butters
Preservative-free peanut butter. (Lisa Landers)
The USDA recommends storing all of your nut butters in the fridge, but this is especially important for pure nut butters that don’t contain added preservatives and stabilizers to help stave off mold and rancidness. Refrigeration can cause some natural nut butters to harden and the oil to separate, but if you stir well before chilling and let it sit out for an hour before digging in, it will become spreadable again.
Green Onions
Green onions. (Lisa Landers)
Unlike other onions, green onions will start to perish within just a few days if not stored in the fridge. Stored in plastic bags and stashed in the crisper, they will last you about a week.
Apples
Apples. (Lisa Landers)
Apples are best kept in the crisper drawer of your fridge. Unless you picked them from the tree yourself, chances are those fruits have been sitting around for a while. Leaving apples on the counter can cause them to go soft and shrivel within just a few days, but in the fridge they can last a few weeks or more. If you like your apples at room temperature, just take one out of the fridge an hour or so before you eat it.
Disclaimer: These storage suggestions are intended only as general guidelines. The rate of food degradation can vary greatly depending on many variables, some of which are noted above.
I’ll keep this brief. Here’s the headline: Scott Fitzgerald: Scott Walker’s office was involved with open records changes The most important thing to take away is that Fitz and the boys will make another effort to cut you and the world off from legislative records: “I think it’s something that there are many different entities more »
And here we have the latest faux freakout from Jim Hoft, who has been dubbed the dumbest man on the internet, who offers up a guest post by someone using the name Patch Adams clutching their pearls over President Obama not saying “God bless America” during his short 4th of July video.
As Obama’s term as President is slowly nearing its end, more and more of who the man is, and what he truly stands for, is beginning to seep out.
For instance, President Obama released his 4th of July weekly address for 2015 with one key ingredient missing: God.
Unlike his weekly addresses during the previous two years, where the President concluded his speeches with “God Bless You All” (2014) and “So, God bless You All. And may God bless The United States of America” (2013), Obama left out any mention of God in his recent address. Instead, this year, he chose to end his speech with a very politically correct, “Thanks, everybody. From my family to yours, have a safe and happy Fourth of July.”
Oh yes, dear me yes. That’s just so “politically correct” to wish everyone a safe and happy 4th of July. This is an outrage, an outrage! It just reveals that Obama is…well, something bad, I’m sure. Of course, Obama did quote from the Declaration of Independence:
We remember as well that this is the day when, 239 years ago, our founding patriots declared our independence, proclaiming that all of us are created equal, endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights including the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
This is how it works on Planet Wingnuttia: When Jefferson mentioned the “Creator” in the Declaration of Independence, he obviously was referring to Supply Side Jesus, the Republican version of Jesus, and this is proof that liberty is limited only to those things that their fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible would allow (never mind that Jefferson quite explicitly says the opposite over and over again during his lifetime). But if Obama quotes that passage it’s proof that he’s an atheist Muslim Antichrist, or something. Don’t you feel better knowing that?
Rearranging veggie genes is big business, and we’re not even talking about biotechnology. Private companies and university researchers spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year breeding better genetic varieties of food crops.
But organic farmers say those programs have a big blind spot when it comes to figuring out which new varieties are truly better. Few companies or researchers test those varieties under organic conditions.
“The first axiom of plant breeding is, you breed for the environment of intended use,” says Matthew Dillon, who founded a group called the Organic Seed Alliance. The problem is, organic fields and conventional fields can be very different environments, thanks to big differences in the ways that farmers deal with weeds and insect pests.
For an organic farmer, Dillon says, the ideal bean variety would be one that’s capable of fending for itself in a hostile environment. Perhaps it starts growing quickly enough to get a head start on the weeds, or finds a way to fend off insect pests, or develops a bigger root system to extract nutrients from the soil.
None of those genetic traits, though, would allow it to shine in a typical test plot where weeds are controlled with herbicides, nutrients come from synthetic fertilizer, and farmers fight off insects with standard insecticides.
As evidence, he points to an experiment at Washington State University, where breeders tested experimental varieties of wheat in both conventional and organic fields. The varieties that did well in conventional fields did not exactly match the top performers in organic fields, although some varieties did perform well in both.
Dillon founded the Organic Seed Alliance to promote the development of seeds for organic farmers. To be clear, these seeds are different from certified organic seeds which are produced in organic fields, but in most cases were originally created and selected, by plant breeders, in conventional fields.
Dillon organization received some small grants from the Clif Bar Family Foundation, and eventually Clif Bar decided to give this cause a big boost.
“Kit Crawford [the co-founder of Clif Bar] approached me and said, ‘Hey, we’re recognizing that, if we want to make change in the world of food and farming, we need to start with the seed,’ ” Dillon recalls.
Dillon went to work for Clif Bar & Company, which uses a lot of organic ingredients, as director of agricultural policy. He’s also in charge of a “Seed Matters” initiative at the Clif Bar Family Foundation. His new employer, has now promised to fund organic breeding endowments at five universities, at a cost that could reach $10 million. The first $2 million endowment will be established at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Organic Valley, a farmer cooperative based in Wisconsin, matched Clif Bar’s contribution to the university.
Bill Tracy, who breeds organic versions of sweet corn in Wisconsin, recently released one called “Who Gets Kissed.” (Courtesy of Kristina Hubbard )
A few plant breeders at Wisconsin already have been working on seed varieties for organic farmers. Bill Tracy, who breeds new versions of sweet corn, recently released a new one called “Who Gets Kissed.” Among sweet corn breeders, “I think I have the only organic seed program,” Tracy says. Currently about 20 percent of Tracy’s breeding program is aimed at organic farming.
The name of his new variety refers to an old game that was played in times when people grew corn that was genetically diverse. At corn husking time, a lucky person who found a rare ear of corn with red kernels had the right to kiss anyone that he or she chose.
This new variety, Tracy says, is particularly good at competing with weeds, and it has good resistance to diseases. It is also an old-style “open-pollinated” variety, rather than a hybrid. This means that farmers can use part of their harvest as seed for the next year.
In the future, Tracy says, he’s hoping to create sweet corn varieties that are less prone to infestation by insects such as the corn ear worm. Biotech companies have created genetically engineered versions of corn with powerful insect resistance, but organic farmers have rejected the use of GMOs. Tracy hopes to find natural genetic resistance to insects in varieties of corn that grow in tropical regions, and introduce those genetic traits, through cross-pollination, into sweet corn varieties that American consumers like to eat. “Flavor is most important,” he says.
Tracy doesn’t expect to achieve the same almost-total resistance to ear worms as GMOs offer, but “I’d love to get to 50 percent resistance.”
Breeders like Tracy will have the chance to apply for additional funding from the Clif Bar-funded endowment. And he says he’s excited about the opportunity. The endowment will produce enough funding at least for an additional graduate student or field technician.
