Soul Food: Eggplant

If I had fresh garden tomatoes and anything else minutes away growing right in the backyard, it would be here, keeping these company. At any rate, despite the more enlightened creations that an eggplant can inspire, the basic Southern instinct to batter and fry might very well lead to this:


Wow, those were good, eaten hot and lightly salted!

This is only for an occasional guilty pleasure, when the odds of arterial devastation have been hedged against with foods like, oh, salad, for long periods of time.

If it happens that YOU are the only one in your household who LIKES eggplant, this will win converts. If you even want converts...and don't want the plateful all to yourself :)

The Local Difference

Rain!

I heard a slapping sound against the windows today. Looks like we're getting a bit of whatever tropical storm is cooking nearby. Am I complaining? NO! I love the rain!!

Here are the palmettos dripping afterward. Always a fun excuse to play with Windows Paint... :)

Of Meat Labeling, Red WalMart, and the NAIS, or Why I Don't Understand Politics and its Various Permutations

The Country of Origin Labeling Issue:
Consumers are demanding to know the origin of their meats, rather than accepting imported product from countries not identified on the packaging. This isn't a bad thing. We should be able to read a label and be informed, without having to blindly "trust" the middleman, especially the larger ones, such as WalMart, who do NOT "buy American" to the degree promised in the eighties. The 2002 Farm bill proposed country of origin (COOL) labeling for the sake of consumer awareness. The 2007 Farm Bill was supposed to have decided the particulars, yet it lingers in legislative limbo now till sometime in 2008. There is currently a lot of debate about this issue and its implications, since it's directly related to marketing rather than simply being a food safety issue. A bit more on this later in the post...

Buy WalMart...Buy Chinese

WalMart cares. About how consumer perception affects their bottom line. Sometimes.

Maybe not, though, in the meat labeling debate. You have to ask yourself WHY would they want to stand in the way of something as elemental as knowing the origin of that package of meat?

Let's talk about their consistency of message ...if that phrase can be applied at all.

I'm continually disenchanted with the proliferation of the WalMart empire and its departure from its earlier promises of "Buying American." WalMart makes no apologies for being one of the biggest suppliers of products "Made in China." I defy anyone to visit any aisle of WalMart and tally foreign-made goods against domestic ones.

I question why a company that superficially purports to be free-trade and America-friendly is one of the biggest customers of communist Red China, hardly an American ally. Isn't this a type of sleeping with the enemy? Why would our government allow this, and what with the ongoing human rights violations such as child and slave labor in China, again, why are companies like WalMart allowed to help perpetuate such a system? These are DIRTY DOLLARS.

I'm not particularly liberal. I am a regular citizen sickened by the greed machine. Since when do we BENEFIT by buying as cheaply as possible from countries that are committed to our demise?? (Hello, when did China become our best friend? Hello, aren't we supposed to be protecting ourselves even more in this era of vulnerability?)

And can someone remind me why, WHY we cannot be manufacturing our OWN consumer goods right here, where JOBS ARE NEEDED? Why are we fostering a dependence on other nations at the expense of our own citizens? This makes no sense to me. Therefore, I do not understand the politics of it. I know the answer is related somehow to money. I just can't figure out why it can't be protected...to center around American jobs and manufacturing rather than outsourcing. Why can an American housewife not hire a housekeeper, nanny, or landscaper to work below a certain wage and yet we will feed the WalMart machine to the tune of pennies an hour for child labor? Like I said, I don't understand politics.

Is a cheap set of frying pans and a drawerful of gym socks TRULY worth CHEAPENING our own workplaces, forcing out specialized and local business, and supporting a communist-based regime that flaunts ALL the international human rights laws regularly? Where is the return for this enormous sell-out? All I see 17 years later is that it's a joke even to WalMart itself to pretend its objectives are even remotely similar to those of the 1980s.

Oops. Soapbox. Back to the labeling dialogue.

Here's a little excerpt from WalMartWatch.com about the COOL issue:

Country of Origin Labeling
Wal-Mart is no longer an All-American Store.

In the 1980’s, Wal-Mart prided itself on its “Buy American” campaign, but the
company abandoned this ideal in 1985. Reluctant to acknowledge the fact that
most of its products are now made in foreign countries, Wal-Mart’s opposition to
Country of Origin Labeling is only the company’s latest attempt to disguise its
true nature.

Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) was passed as part of the 2002 farm bill. It is law. However, when it came to be authorized and implemented, it has been consistently held up and delayed. It is expected to be passed in the 2007 farm bill again and implemented. But continuing opposition from companies like Wal-Mart could lead to further delays.

Click here to listen to "Too Big, Too Bad," a radio
announcement addressing Wal-Mart's stand on Country of Origin Labeling

To read their full article go here

So What Does This Have to do With the National Animal Identification Issue?

I'm not exactly well-versed these things, but in reading about the debated COOL amendments to the Farm Bill, the word "cost" seems to be what's under negotiation. In answer to the question, "Just how much could it possibly cost to slap an accurate Country of Origin label on a package of meat?" we have to look at how they want to determine its origins. Does any of this sound familiar?

Experts in the industry say the program comes down to a record-keeping verification program.

"The House reaffirms the labeling from the 2002 farm bill law that any domestic product to be labeled as U.S. has to be born, raised and processed in the U.S," said Derrell Peel, an Extension livestock marketing specialist at Oklahoma State University. "That implies that we still have to have information back to the cow-calf level."

The House version says record keeping is simplified, but Peel said he can't see where.
"Even though the House version talks to simplified records, I'm still referring to the proposed rules by AMS, which make it clear each sector has to maintain records and tie those records to the previous sector and the subsequent record," Peel said.

For the complete article, go here


Like I said, I'm not savvy as an issues commentator. But doesn't this seem to be directly connected to the push by the government to register farms and identify all animals? Wouldn't this issue directly affect the push to make such a system mandatory? Wouldn't it potentially tie the hands of non-registered farms when it comes to marketing and selling their products, if the NAIS regulations are instituted and enforced in conjunction with the proposed Country of Origin Labeling changes?

I'm all for knowing the country of origin for the meat and fish we buy. I don't want WalMart multinational mystery meat, because I don't trust WalMart and their like. I also don't want to stump for a change that will be used as a convenient platform to cement NAIS regulations and seem to make it mainstream and "necessary", removing it from voluntary to mandatory status.



Just thoughts...

I wish I had a more politically savvy brain on these issues. Every issue seems to have its complexities with different groups trying to smuggle aboard their own pet special interests.

Not sure how to reconcile these simple thoughts:
WalMart...bad.
Labeling packaged meat's country of origin...good.
Using mandatory labeling of packaged meats as a means to mandate national identification regulations...ugh.

Are these really related? Any thoughts?

NAIS Update and How to Take Action

Phelan says it better than I can...see her latest update on this issue.

Here is an update of the update:

Head's up.Vsurance, Inc. Acquires Animal Tracking Technology,
Animal-ID

A Bit More About the Potential of Raw Milk

About the National Animal Identification Program and Individual Responsibility

Please read here about why this affects anyone who eats...not just the farmer or rancher.

In the interest of controlling outbreaks of widespread disease, legislation has too broadly been applied to the individual farms and farmers who are responsibly and sustainably counteracting mass industry. There seems to be little recognition on the part of the general public of just where that last cheeseburger really originated. A tour of a feedlot is a whole different proposal than a tour of a grass farm's cattle. An in-depth investigation into the origins and types of supermarket-driven produce easily reveals how diametrically opposite the chemically and genetically-altered food machine is in comparison to the small, pesticide-free local grower...and the mindset of sustainability.

I'm neither an anarchist nor someone who thinks legislation is our primary option in solving consumer health problems arising nationwide. I believe the first step is to begin reclaiming our own individual responsibility, and to educate ourselves, since many precedents of legislative change are set oftentimes without consumer awareness or understanding. It is upon these that a lot of interpretation, and even abuses, can occur if we remain ignorant of their reach and impact.

At the heart of many of today's consumer health issues is a fundamental issue...that of Who Gets to Decide. There is a movement, very widespread and encompassing nearly every aspect of our consumerism, to educate and preserve the responsibility of health back to the individual. This affects our individual responsibilities across the page...being involved means impacting our world with our voices and some elbow grease, rather than pointing fingers without being willing to get into the messier parts of the argument in action rather than theoretically.

There are those working to preserve the freedoms to individually be a force and a voice, and yet there are many who remain uninformed as to the specifics and ramifications of current legislation and proposed "reforms" ..and I fall into that same category. I am trying to educate myself away from what I've assumed are issues for a particular group to hash out. Since I tire easily of political rhetoric, I've stayed away from arguments and issues altogether...until I am seeing how, if people like myself remain stubbornly aloof from them, I will be impacted whether I like it or not,and I will give away my right to making my own responsible choices.

There is a lot of misinformation about the origins of our food, about what healthy foods are, about the food cycle from field to table, about the economics of the above, and about the ethics relating to modern scientific ability to alter any of the above. Sometimes, mistakenly, these issues become shrouded in larger political agendas or parties, and the public opts out to their party's favorite traditional arguments and agendas....as in "All liberals are tree-huggers and are for government programs as the answer...all Conservatives are for big business and wealth."

I'm zeroing in on particulars right now in my family's life. Despite the political party of the moment, the government regulations that are or aren't in place, and the tide of public misinformation/misunderstanding/ignorance about any specific, I still have to try to do the right thing for my own family, and my future family.

This is my particular resolve...I have to take responsibility as a human, a citizen, a parent, a neighbor, and a forbear of the next generation. And I say utilize all available resources to protect the freedom for us to keep deciding, educating ourselves, and making changes to protect, recover, or maintain what we MUST preserve as a basic human right...the right to determine for ourselves choices as basic as what we eat, the ability to grow it/raise it without restrictions, freedom of movement and ownership within our own nation, freedom from regulation and harrassment or ostracization as we make those choices.

Please....BEWARE of sanitized language and rhetoric...language is a powerful door of entry for ideas. The word "PROTECT" should not be used in conjunction with handing over our individual RESPONSIBILITY and RIGHT to DECIDE. Mobilizing a Thinking People is a different matter than reassuring an uninformed and fearful audience.

We've got to:

1. Educate ourselves...set out to know ALL sides of any argument or proposed change, and to query its ramifications for the present AND the future...what precedents would this change, or LACK of change, introduce or allow an open door for for the future? How could it be abused? What do we need to do to allow for progress while preserving the integrity of certain standards or absolutes that should not be compromised?

2. Have some absolutes. Relativism can kill our creativity, security, individuality, and will to participate as a thinking and responsible individual. With relativism, we opt out of some fundamentals that SHOULD be absolutes...and in doing so, we give way to initiatives of others who very much have agendas that may be very contrary to what we hold dear. We cannot escape moral implications in our decision-making. Opting out of making decisions is still a form of decision-making. As a result, we have lost our ability to determine many of our own choices freely.

3. Learn how to effect change. I'm only just learning. Reading from a variety of sources is a great start, but what about the action part? Doing it ourselves...changing our own habits and way of doing something, is the best place to start. But sweeping reforms can still undermine our ability to continue those efforts...when the Powers That Be hear from constituents from an educated and fervent reference point, that is a beginning. It can result in dialogue, and help educate others. It can halt or change legislation. It can present a viable voice to an issue formerly assumed in the minority. But we have to know where to start.

Focusing a bit on the NAIS issue, we have to start by educating ourselves. Often legislation is a REACTION rather than a solution, and this is how I see NAIS regulations that are being implemented...or some could say forced. We don't need to responde with an additional REACTION, but with informed and persistent action to change what we believe is not in the best interests of the farmer, animal, and constitutional (even basic human) freedom.

There are so many other sites and books that detail the specifics of the NAIS issue. If you think your state is untouched by this issue, do a Google search with your state name and "Animal Identification System" and you'll find the official websites with your state's regulations. My state is Florida. What I found is that registration of farms is voluntary, but a few sentences further, I found this statement:

As of September 15, 2005, more than 1,025 Florida premises were registered into
the system. This methodical start set the foundation for further development of
the program with approximately 85% of cattle being on registered premises since
January 2005, the beginning of the project.

Florida is a big beef-producing state by nationwide standards. If 85% of the cattle were on registered premises as of two years ago, that is hardly an accident...there was surely a big campaign to convince farmers to adopt that. What needs to concern me further is the statement about the further development of the program. Seemingly, the 85% participation figure was at the OUTSET, before FURTHER regulations were instituted or enforced.

I MUST become familiar with what EXACTLY this means, rather than allowing it to sit like a convenient statistic in my mind.

I have to get out there and look for myself and ask questions.

Then we need to raise our concerns...audibly and consistently.

Here are two of Monica's posts about some of the serious ramifications of the registry system, the identification issue, and what can happen if it's enforced. It IS being enforced to differing degrees in different states.

I'm going to begin digging into this issue further, for myself. After all, we want a small farm and do not ever want to register our animals with any government registry. I don't mind cooperating with interstate traffic laws that already exist. But I don't want a Big Brother dictating my private farming decisions, when we get to that point, or keeping my PRIVATE business data in a data base...ANYWHERE.

This, folks, is just as crucial as the healthcare privacy reforms, and any other privacy issue. THE GOVERNMENT HAS NO RIGHT TO USE ANY FORCE TO VIOLATE OUR PRIVACY OR OUR INDIVIDUAL RIGHT TO MAKE RESPONSIBLE PERSONAL CHOICES.

And now, to find out more...(the search begins)