Curried meat with chili peppers

Well, they said it was “killer curry.”

The Kismot Indian Restaurant in Edinburgh, Scotland, held a curry eating contest to raise money for a children’s charity. It was advertised as the “world’s hottest curry-eating contest” and two of the participants have been admitted to a hospital, in addition to several contestants who were treated and released, and those who liked it so much, they did it twice.

The contest consisted of several rounds, each involving a progressively spicier dish. It was not reported at what level of “heat” the first reactions started. One contestant, Korean student Curie Kim, first went to the E.R. at 4 p.m., returned to the contest and had to go back to the hospital at 9 p.m. She told the press, “I’ve always enjoyed spicy foods and thought this was for a good cause. But it came with a price.”  I have been advised by my husband, the pepper lover, that there is a Pakistani chili pepper that is one of the hottest in the world, even hotter than his beloved piquinas.

The owner of the restaurant, Abdul Ali, said that half the contestants dropped out when others began vomiting and fainting. Mike Lavin came in fifth in the contest, but was transported to hospital by amulance.

The Scottish Ambulance Service was not terribly happy with the event. The EMTs couldn’t handle the type of ailments or the volume and multiple ambulances ended up being used. The service issued a statement later, “We would urge the organizers to review the way in which this event is managed in future in order to avoid another situation where emergency ambulances are required to treat their customers.”

There are no plans to cancel next year’s event.

And to think Texans believe they make hot food. Anyone know when the last time was a chili-eating contest ended up with the participants in the hospital?

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To some, British comedienne and writer Dawn French is the Fat Lady in the portrait who opens the door to Gryffindor Tower, to others, the star of The Vicar of Dibley. For thirty years, she has been partnered with Jennifer Saunders of Absolutely Fabulous fame in a team that formed part of the center of a generation of British comedians and actors whose one-degree-of-separation includes Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson and just about everyone in British television and movies who’s around 50 years old. People tend to forget that Laurie, of House, and Fry, of Bones, started as a comedy duo within an overlapping group of skit comedy shows.

To women of a certain size, though, Dawn French was an earth goddess who celebrated her “19 stones” weight (265 pounds) on a five-foot tall body and posed nude for some absolutely fabulous artistic portraits during her “Big Is Beautiful” campaign aimed at improving British women’s self-image problems. She carried that weight with far more dignity than Kirstie Alley, but could make fun of it constantly in Dibley with candy-bar binges and jokes about growing up nurturing dreams of being a super model, but never getting tall enough. Geraldine Granger’s romantic encounters were both glorious hosannas to huge boobs and poignant reminders of the manner in which society equates boney rib cages with sex appeal. I was disappointed when she was cast as the Fat Lady in the Gryffindor portrait. I wanted her to play Madame Maxime, the headmistress of Beauxbatons. The Vicar of Dibley was both slapstick comedy and social commentary, touching on such issues as hunger in the third world and the quiet coming-out of an older gay man.

Dawn French, now

At this week’s Glamour Magazine awards in London, French revealed her new body, nearly 25% slimmer than her former self, having shed “four-and-a-half stones” (63 lbs.). Still favoring the tent-like tunic-and-pants look of the past (where are Trini and Suzanne when someone needs to learn What Not To Wear?) Dawn’s new figure became the headline, instead of her award-winning first novel A Tiny Bit Marvellous. She had previously written Dear Fatty, which was not addressed to herself, but was a collection of fictionalized letters to her jokingly-nicknamed, skinnier partner Jennifer Saunders.

The novel was the result of her British-cliche separation and divorce from fellow comedian Lennie Henry, best known to American PBS audiences as the title character in the series Chef!  They continued to share their Cornwall home for nearly a year after separating, just as Prince Andrew and Fergie have continued to share homes. A Tiny Bit Marvellous draws on the people in French’s life for the story of a family in meltdown. French retreated to a few rooms in her home and began writing as a coping mechanism. She continued performing primarily as a guest, but French and Saunders were on a hiatus from their joint work as writers, directors, producers and performers in a broad range of projects while Saunders successfully battled breast cancer.

French explained the weight loss as something that just evolved. She reached the age of 50 and accepted what professionals had been saying about her weight for years in their condemnation of her “Big Is Beautiful” campaign – being overweight is unhealthy. For the sake of her daughter Billie, (now 19) French changed her “life priorities” from “my daughter, writing, chocolate and kissing” to her daughter, writing, walking and kissing, though she’s not revealing who she’s kissing these days. In the course of her career, she’s kissed Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, George Clooney, chef Gordon Ramsay and Hugh Grant – and that doesn’t even include her co-stars. French’s “diet” consisted of making healthy food choices and doing a lot of walking. Though nowhere near the size 0 that is the current standard of beauty on both sides of the ocean, French is poised to become the next role model in the mold of Queen Latifah – a woman who can publicly express the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and strong body while still being voluptuous. We don’t have to trade in our grapefruits for Keira Knightly’s grapes. We can exalt in our natural cleavage instead of relying on Victoria’s Secret trickery.

Now fully recovered from both breast cancer and the debilitating effects of chemo, Saunders is apparently moving ahead with a reunion show for AbFab with Joanna Lumley, and hopefully to more joint projects with French. As individuals, they are extraordinary performers, as a partnership, they have always been greater than the sum of their parts, no matter how zaftig those parts were.

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The Detroit that's not in the commercial.

While you read this, bear in mind that House Speaker John Boehner has just said that there must be “trillions of dollars” of cuts from the 2012 budget before the House Republicans will vote to raise the debt ceiling. If we do not raise the ceiling, if we default on our debts by so much as 24 hours, we will literally crash the world’s economy. The Republicans are insisting that all of the cuts come from the 12% of our budget that is “discretionary spending” – that means all our social safety net programs, and from Medicare and Social Security. None must come from defense (where we spend almost half the money spent in the world on defense) and there must be no changes to our tax code or increase in taxes. This is blackmail. In any other scenario, threatening an action that would cause devastating consequences unless a payment is received would be a criminal act.

I can’t really say that the Forbes list of the 400 wealthiest Americans ever interested me too much. That changed when I read that there are almost 500 billionaires in America. Billionaires? Whatever happened to millionaires? When did we hit the point where there were more billionaires than the 400? Just to put these 400 in perspective, they hold as much wealth as the bottom 155,000,000 Americans. Allegedly, if we stripped them of all their wealth, it still wouldn’t amount to the national debt. No one is suggesting they be stripped.

The 400 is an interesting list. Let’s get the good guys out of the way first. Forty-three of the 400 have taken the Buffett-Gates giving pledge. Four of them are in the top ten – Gates, Buffett, Larry Ellison and Michael Bloomberg.

The other six in the top ten are Kochs and Waltons. The exemplify almost all of the people who have a company or industry behind their names. These are the owners of companies that, because they are privately held are classified in the tax codes as “small businesses.” HCA Health, which owns hospitals, has 190,000 employees. Cargill has 130,500. The Kochs have 70,000. The Waltons are the largest employers in the world. These business owners qualify for every tax break that is sold to the public as helping “small businesses.” They also have the ability to keep their personal taxable incomes very low. It’s a little complicated. A company owner can draw only as much money as he or she actually needs for personal expenses. With a really, really good accountant and tax lawyers, H. Ross Perot paid less in personal income taxes in 1991 than a family of four with a median income. Twenty of these 400 made their money in the oil and gas industries, which have their own sets of tax breaks and incentives on top of those available to small businesses.

So, what would these small business owners want from our elected officials? The answer is in a simple phrase “tax expenditures.” Those are the hundreds, maybe thousands of tiny little tax breaks, incentives, deductions, exclusions, whatevers that are available to these companies and their owners. “Tax expenditures” is a true government oxymoron. There is nothing expended by the government. These are the things that prevent the government collecting taxes. Calling them “tax barriers” would be more accurate. Even publicly traded companies – companies that issue stock that can theoretically be purchased by anyone – have their own set of “tax expenditures.” Those are the breaks that not only made it possible for General Electric to pay no taxes, but got them over $3 billion from the U. S. Treasury in tax returns – on the taxes they didn’t pay.

103 of the 400 made their billions in hedge funds, money management, investments, leveraged buyouts, equity trading, and venture capitol. While my friend was watching her 401k lose over $60,000 in one day, these people were moving into the billionaire classification. They have one big tax advantage – the capital gains tax rate. Let’s just take one man – hedge fund manager John Paulson. One one deal, the one Goldman Sachs admitted was a shitty one, he turned over a $3 billion profit for his clients. He was gambling that our mortgages would be foreclosed because the people holding our adjustable rate mortgages decided it was better to foreclose than to keep the rates affordable. As the manager of the hedge fund, he only paid the 15% capital gains tax rate on his commission, instead of the 35% income tax rate. That’s a 20% savings. It isn’t just the investors who only pay a 15% tax on the profit they make when they sell stocks, it’s the people who arrange those sales who also benefit from those tax rates. One quarter of these people are on this list because of the deregulation of the financial industry. The capital gains tax was instituted to encourage people to invest in businesses, not to push their brokers into the Forbes 400.

So, what would these 103 want from our elected officials? Repeal of the financial reform law passed last year that didn’t really go far enough to protect us from another stock market dive.

In the #5 and #6 slots on the 400 are the Koch brothers. They are the most blatant and open about their contributions to political causes. They have funded some of the most “respected” conservative think tanks – The Heritage Foundation, The Cato Institute and others, most with very patriotic names. These groups direct conservative public policy. The also funded Americans for Prosperity, the big name in the Tea Party movement. Rupert Murdoch is at #38. He has a whole television and newspaper empire to help protect his $6.2 billion by twisting the news to make people vote for politicians who will then shaft them to help out the top 2%.

There are people on this list who are not doing everything possible to elect Republicans who will protect their “tax expenditures” and repeal financial services reform. George Soros is at #14. Buffett, Gates, the other 41 believe that they should give back in some way. Soros’ MoveOn.org isn’t enough. It isn’t any of these people who are funding organizations that are in the top ten groups funding elections. Only the three largest unions are funding Democrats and are in the top ten. Those unions are being attacked by the people on this list who don’t want to pay decent wages or give decent benefits.

They are also, amazingly, the people who are most resistant to the idea of nationalized health. For decades, other businessmen have said that a nationalized health system is what this country needs to compete in the global marketplace. Thirty years ago, Lee Iacocca said that health insurance added over $1,000 to the price of every American-made car. No one even talks about that anymore. We pay almost twice as much per person for health care as the next most expensive country and don’t crack the top ten for health care delivery. The difference in our costs is in the for-profit nature of our health care industry and the insurance industry, not in superior health care.

To give these people and their companies even more tax breaks, Florida Governor Rick Scott wants to cut $1.6+ billion from education and public services. Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin wants to cut $1 billion. These aren’t cuts that will balance their state budgets. They are just ways to give more money to that top 2% of Americans.

To achieve this, they have convinced a large part of the electorate that the goal is to cut taxes for the 98% of us, to cut off welfare to illegal immigrants who can’t get welfare, to cut off unemployement benefits because those subsistence payments make people lazy. To increase the Waltons’ share of those billions, they spread the doctrine that part-time jobs with no benefits is the new definition of employment. To protect the billions made by those owning retail chains, they are pushing the idea that unions are bad, so that the nascient movement to unionize their own stores will die. It’s been remarkably successful – persuading people that we should strip union workers of their pay and benefits to bring them down to the lower level all of us are supposed to accept. To fulfill the Kochs’ John Birch Society vision, they convince people that immigration is wrong and everyone who isn’t “like us” must be driven out – Jews, Muslims, Hispanics, Asians, everyone who isn’t white and protestant. And when all else fails, they hitch themselves to religious issues like abortion and gay rights to win votes, covering up what they will really do with a smoke screen of piety. They have focused in on two small aspects of the Bible to ignore the overwhelming messages of charity and rejecting wealth. When you’ve got Murdoch’s media network to spread the narrative, and the internet to spread the outright lies and conspiracy theories, it gets really easy to control what people think.

The consequences of allowing the Republican agenda to succeed are in our past – the past we don’t teach anymore because we have allowed history to be downgraded. Before unions, we worked in sweatshops where we died from unsafe conditions – fibers in the air crippling our lungs, locked doors that trapped us during fires, mines that collapsed. Before food stamps, our seniors ate cat food and poor children suffered developmental problems because of poor nuitrition. Before Medicaid and Medicare people died because they couldn’t afford simple medical care. Before Roe v. Wade, thousands of women were permanently maimed and died of illegal abortions. Before the Civil Rights movement, not only blacks, but Hispanics, Asians, Jews, anyone considered “different” suffered killings, physical abuse and denial of basic rights. Millions died of influenza in over-crowded tenements. There are real reasons these programs came into being. There are real reasons unions were founded. There are real reasons we took the promise of equality into new laws and new protections. In the world before World War I, that Pollyanna world that is evoked when Tea Party candidates talk about taking our country back, a few people became fabulously rich, a small number became comfortably rich, and the majority lived just one step ahead of starvation, disability, disease, and early deaths. Only one heir of those fabulously rich is still on the 400.

There are 303 million of us who are getting screwed by this agenda. The challenge is to make half of us see the facts and understand just what they are getting if they take back our country – to the 19^th century.

.

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Not since the days of Foxy Brown (or Missy Elliott), has Supa Dupa Fly made its way back into modern day vernacular. Well, folks brace yourselves – there is a new foxy spot

Courtesy of Wikipedia

in town by way of Waco, Texas. If you are ever in that neck of the woods (since it’s such a raging vacation spot), please do yourself a service and stop by the restaurant called Fat Ho Burgers. Yes, you heard correct – Fat Ho Burgers.

Lakita Evans is the lady in charge, the 23-year-old college graduate recently opened up her fast food establishment to an ever-growing lunch crowd. Even though, Evan’s restaurant is a hit with the lunchtime connoisseur, on the other end, there has been an assortment of conservative critics weighing in with their two cents.  Also, as luck would have it, the restaurant is located right around the corner from a volunteer owned restaurant named The Gospel Café (no guessing who they serve) – Evans isn’t too concerned, after all, since she just wants to sell some hoes!

Evans feels that the people who are having an issue with the restaurant aren’t seeing the bigger picture. She explains:

“It’s not calling people a ho. It’s just like they say, ‘Oooh, that ho is big,’ or, ‘That ho is tight!’’

Why, yes – you’re right Ms. Evans. There is nothing like having a fat, juicy ho in your mouth.  If only I wasn’t a vegetarian, I’ll give those hoes a try.

She continues:

“Look what’s going on in Japan… It’s like clear this world is not gonna get any better. Why cry and be depressed? The economy is bad. Somebody gotta keep a sense of humor around here.”

Nothing brightens the world more than a ho that you can grip with two hands. Just delicious.

In all seriousness, Evans claims she came up with the name while watching the movie Phat Girlz.

Currently, the business is family owned but Evans had to invest everything she had to get it started.

In a world, where minority-owned women businesses are scarce, Evans has definitely made an undeniable mark. Whether it is the most positive? It all comes down to interpretation.

‘Fat Ho Burgers’ Opens in Texas: MyFoxDFW.com

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By Melanie Nathan,   8-09-10

The Long awaited Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act 2010 (SB 3307) has passed the Senate, after a push by the ADA membership and other advocates, urging Senators to get the job done!  The Act, which passed the Senate unanimously now moves to the House where it is expected to pass.

This now makes a strong investment in our children’s future. It will provide local school districts with resources to improve the quality and nutritional value of meals served to students; require the USDA to strengthen nutrition standards for foods sold in vending machines, a la carte lines and school stores; and require the USDA to implement standards based on current nutrition science.

“If current trends continue, one in three children born since the year 2000 will develop diabetes at some point in their lives. In order to curb this epidemic, we need to promote healthy lifestyles at school, where our children spend a large part of their day. The passage of the Act has indeed put us that much closer to putting a stop to this dangerous epidemic. “  www.diabeteshealth.com

The Full Text of the Act can be found here:- http://ag.senate.gov/site/legislation.html and http://ag.senate.gov/site/ComLeg/s3307.pdf

By Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com

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Governor McDonnell announced his “Choose Commonwealth” initiative recently by asking business owners to feature locally grown, Virginia-produced foods and beverages in their day-to-day operations. “Virginia is known far and wide for our high quality food and beverage products and Virginia’s top-teir wines are gaining well-deserved recognition from wine connoisseurs around the globe,” McDonnell stated adding that he also likes to feature Virginia food and beverages at home and when hosting foreign dignitaries.

Of course, he has a long way to go before he begins to see any benefit. To begin with, most people outside the United States are going to think of the British Commonwealth before they think of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Additionally, Vermont has been leading the charge on this kind of locally grown produce and beverages. The Rutland Farmer’s Market is now the largest in the state, and sells everything from locally crafted jewelry to locally grown corn on the cob. Vermont also has, thanks to Climate Change, a burgeoning wine industry. Local farmers are experimenting with growing shiitaki mushrooms as well, which many local restaurants are itching to get a hold of because of a firm commitment to locally grown produce. This includes many specialty items like emu meat, something that Governor McDonnell is not spotlighting at all with regards to his own state.

Of course, the bigger problem for Governor McDonnell appears to be his issues with the LGBT Community. Since he took office, there has been a lot of tension between his administration and the LGBT Community inside Virginia, many of whom moved to DC in order to get marriage rights. Of course, it should be interesting if Governor McDonnell should ever want to invite Robyn Deane to one of his locally grown Virginia dinner parties. The former spouse of McDonnell’s wife’s sister has recently gone full time, and having a transwoman as one of the governor’s family has certainly been a thorny issue. For McDonnell, the social conservatives in his state are costing him money that he is now desperately trying to make up with flashy slogans and a push to buy Virginian.

Unfortunately, people tend not to buy from states that they feel harbor intolerance. He can go ask Jan Brewer just how bad the economy in Arizona is today. If he can get a straight answer out of her about it.

Diabetes Mobile- iPod iTouch iPhone Applications

Nadia Al- Samarrie - Publisher of Diabetes Health

Jay Hewitt has traveled miles and miles and more miles in a nineteen year period, racing Ironman triathlons in Australia, Europe, the Carribean and all over North America, climbing and camping at the top of 14,000 foot Mt. Whitney, and of course dozens of family vacations and business trips.

Packing equipment and supplies for an Ironman triathlon and 3 weeks in Australia requires a bit of planning and preparation, but when you have diabetes you feel like you do that for just a weekend out of town.  Meters, strips, insulin, syringes, infusion sets, pump supplies, snacks . . . a simple weekend trip becomes a lunar expedition.

Who could be more qualified than Jay to provide traveling tips such as these and if you want to read more then I highly recommend DIABETES HEALTH Magazine where this article was first published and reprinted here with permission of King’s Publishing Inc.

“Here are JAY’s  top five tips for traveling with diabetes.

1. Bring Extra of Everything. Adopt the NASA triple redundancy system.  If one thing breaks or is lost, you have a back up, and another back up.  If I will be out of town two nights and will need to change my insulin pump infusion set once, I bring one set plus 3 extras.  I bring syringes for a day just in case the pump malfunctions or is damaged.
2. Keep Your Diabetes Critical Pouch Packed. My diabetes travel kit stays packed in my home with insulin pump infusion sets, syringes, alcohol swabs and other miscellaneous supplies.  I call this my diabetes “critical pouch.”  I periodically use and replace each item.  Life is too busy to remember to pack each thing every time you leave the house for a night.  I just grab that little pack and check the inventory and go.  I keep it in a quart size clear plastic freezer bag perfect for airport security and for me to see the contents, and keep it in my carry on bag.  I also bring several glucose meters as well.
3. Prescriptions at a National Pharmacy. Keep prescriptions for insulin, strips, syringes and any other supplies updated and on file with national pharmacies such as Walgreen’s, CVS, or other chain, even if you get your every day supplies from a local pharmacy or mail order.  When you live in Maryland and lose your insulin in Florida, those national chains can refill you there.
4. Pack Supplies in Separate Luggage. My diabetes critical pouch stays with me in my carry on bag on a plane and in the car.  This pouch contains my insulin so that it is not exposed to heat when my suitcase is left outside or in a car.  Packed in my suitcase with my clothes I keep extra supplies such as an extra meter and strips, pump supplies or syringes.  Now you are prepared if you get there, but your luggage does not.
5. Pack Travel Snacks. My briefcase or backpack always has at least 2 sport bars or other snack to munch on the plane or in the car when my blood sugar gets low.  I have extra sport bars packed in my suitcase, and even my glove box.  I like sport bars such as Clif Bar because they are packaged and sealed and travel easily in my bags.  I also keep a non perishable high carbohydrate drink in a plastic bottle in my car to sip when needed.

When flying across the country or internationally be sure to adjust the time on your insulin pump for your basal rate or injection of long acting insulin to correspond to that new time zone.  I make sure I have a bottle of juice or other carb drink in my hotel room.  Nothing is worse than waking in the middle of the night with low blood sugar and having to dress and roam the hotel halls for a vending machine.   When I travel alone I prefer to err a bit on the high side of normal blood sugar when sleeping because no one is in my hotel room to help if I have a severe low.

Traveling usually means eating different foods, and often at different times, so I tend to test more frequently on the road.  A little exercise on the road is always a great way to stabilize blood sugar and refresh your body and mind, especially on a business trip.  You knew I would recommend exercise, didn’t you!  I always pack my running shoes and clothes on a business trip with a packed schedule just so I can feel better, and enjoy a nice dinner.  I love to have dinner within walking distance of my hotel in major cities like Washington or New York so I can walk back and enjoy the conversation and post meal exercise.

A little planning will make for a good trip.  Have fun!  ( © Diabeteshealth.com 2010)”

Traveling with the  recently launch by Diabetes Health Apple Applications, by the California based King’s Publishing Inc. :- This could be a travel savior for those with Diabetes – Imagine being able to take  a compendium of Diabetes Related issues and TV broadcasts on your travels.  read more  at ……..   http://www.diabeteshealth.com/read/2010/06/29/6740/diabetes-health-is-the-first-diabetes-magazine-to-launch-iphone-and-ipod-touch-applications-dh-mobil/?isComment=1

Please let us know if you are interested in more health related articles here on LGR that specifically relate to lesbian interest ….In 1999, lesbians were identified as an underserved minority by the Institute of Medicine. Some health issues for lesbians are different from those of heterosexual women, and clinicians need to be aware of these differences in order to provide culturally-appropriate care, since at least 5% of their female patients are lesbian.

Articles of interest:
Abstract   Objective: This New Zealand study set out to measure the self-assessed health status of a snowball sample of lesbians in New Zealand, focusing on how lesbians use health services and perceived barriers to accessing health care.  In New Zealand-laws forbidding discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation have been in place since 1993, yet 5 years later this study suggests lesbians may have poorer health, and their delaying consultation requires further study. Conclusion: This study supports overseas research showing that lesbians delay seeking health care and find barriers to health care that are different from a random sample of women.  http://www.springerlink.com/content/g8501u5750t752lu/ Percentages were calculated on the general questions and a standardized set of questions and calculated scoring was used to measure the self-assessed health of respondents.

******

http://www.diabeteshealth.com/read/2009/07/21/6285/gay-men-and-women-with-diabetes-find-a-voice-through-the-diabetes-and-gay-dang-foundation/

Posted by Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com

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But most damaging of all, the bill would impose a one-size-fits-all regulatory scheme on small farms and local artisanal producers. How are the little guys supposed to be judged by the same criteria of a multi-million dollar processing plant. And why does this legislation seem focused on the little guys, and not these industrial apothecaries ginning up our food supply? Since moving out to the San Francisco Bay Area in ’06, I’ve gotten really into the farmer market scene, something that I kind of used to laugh off when I lived in New York. Organic this and that didn’t really make sense to me until I started reading about all the flat out toxic crap in our food supply.

FoodFreedom Reports:

“HR 2749 does not address underlying causes of food safety problems such as industrial agriculture practices and the consolidation of our food supply. The industrial food system and food imports are badly in need of effective regulation, but the bill does not specifically direct regulation or resources to these areas.

HR 2749 would impose an annual registration fee of $500 on any “facility” that holds, processes, or manufactures food. [isn't this every home in the US, every garden?] Although “farms” are exempt, the agency has defined “farm” narrowly. [What is the definition?] And people making foods such as lacto-fermented vegetables, cheeses, or breads would be required to register and pay the fee, which could drive beginning and small producers out of business during difficult economic times.
* HR 2749 would empower FDA to regulate how crops are raised and harvested. It puts the federal government right on the farm, dictating to our farmers. [This astounding control opens the door to CODEX. WTO "good farming practices" will include the elimination of organic farming by eliminating manure, mandating GMO animal feed, imposing animal drugs, and ordering applications of petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides. Farmers, thus, will be locked not only into the industrialization of once normal and organic farms but into the forced purchase of industry's products. They will be slaves on the land, doing the work they are ordered to do - against their own best wisdom - and paying out to industry against their will.
* HR 2749 would give FDA the power to order a quarantine of a geographic area, including “prohibiting or restricting the movement of food or of any vehicle being used or that has been used to transport or hold such food within the geographic area.” [This - "that has been used to transport or hold such food" - would mean all cars that have ever brought groceries home so this means ALL TRANSPORTATION can be shut down under this. This is using food as a cover for martial law.] Under this provision, farmers markets and local food sources could be shut down, even if they are not the source of the contamination. The agency can halt all movement of all food in a geographic area. [This is also a means of total control over the population under the cover of food, and at any time.]
* HR 2749 would empower FDA to make random warrantless searches of the business records of small farmers and local food producers, without any evidence whatsoever that there has been a violation. [If these bills cover all who "hold food" then this allows for taking of records of anyone at any time on no basis at all.] Even farmers selling direct to consumers would have to provide the federal government with records on where they buy supplies, how they raise their crops, and a list of customers.
* HR 2749 charges the Secretary of Health and Human Services with establishing a tracing system for food. Each “person who produces, manufactures, processes, packs, transports, or holds such food” [Is this not every home in the US?] would have to “maintain the full pedigree of the origin and previous distribution history of the food,” and “establish and maintain a system for tracing the food that is interoperable with the systems established and maintained by other such persons.” The bill does not explain how far the traceback will extend or how it will be done for multi-ingredient foods. With all these ambiguities, [with all these ambiguities, it is dangerous, period, separate from the money] it’s far from clear how much it will cost either the farmers or the taxpayers. [It is massive and absurd and burdensome beyond the capacity of people to comply - is this not fascism? - so it is a set up for being used to impose penalties endlessly and/or to eliminate anyone at will.]
* HR 2749 creates severe criminal and civil penalties, including prison terms of up to 10 years and/or fines of up to $100,000 for each violation for individuals. [Does it include judicial review, Congressional oversight, a defined and limited set of penalties and punishments for a defined set of “crimes”? Or is it entirely ambiguous and left to the whim and sole power of “the Administrator”? Who is that person set to be? Is it Michael Taylor, Monsanto lawyer and executive, as Food Democracy has said? That is, do these bills set up an agency by which the entire US food supply will be turned over to the control of a multinational corporation under WTO regulations (and not to US farmers and not to US laws under the Constitution), with boundless freedom to do what it wants, and one infamous for harm to farmers and lack of safety of food?
Actions to Take:

Contact your Representative now! Ask to speak with the staffer who handles food issues. Tell them you are opposed to the bill. Some points to make in telling your Representative why you oppose HR 2749 include:

1. The bill imposes burdensome requirements while not specifically targeting the industrial food system and food imports, where the real food safety problems lie.

2. Small farms and local food processors are part of the solution to food safety; lessening the regulatory burden on them will improve food safety.

3. The bill gives FDA much more power than it has had in the past while making the agency less accountable for its actions.

HR 2749 needs to be defeated!! Please take action NOW.

To contact your Representative, use the finder tool at www.Congress.org or send a message through the petition system (the petition will be on our website this evening) at http://www.ftcldf.org/petitions_new.htm. Or call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.

To check the status of HR 2749, go to www.Thomas.gov and type “HR 2749″ in the bill search field."

“Almost half of tested samples of commercial high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) contained mercury, which was also found in nearly a third of 55 popular brand-name food and beverage products where HFCS is the first- or second-highest labeled ingredient, according to two new U.S. studies.”~ Washington Post.

Mercury causes brain damage. I kind of figured somebody was saying something bad about corn syrup since all those adds saying how it was good for you and natural popped up. The FDA is a joke, and to prove it to yourself, here’s an experiment you can do at home:

“”Even at low levels methylmercury can harm the developing brain. The last thing we should intentionally do is add to it,” Wallinga added, in an MSNBC article also covering the story. I think we’ve seen the gutting of the FDA under the Bush administration, and we’re suffering the consequences. We should not be worrying about poison in our soda, salmonella in our tomatoes and spinach, and hormones in our milk.

Our way of creating, and safeguarding our food supply is changing dramatically day by day. Companies like Monsanto are now patenting living organisms, like the corn they are being forced to grow in Iraq. Monsanto, also an Obama supporter, has been destroying farmers around the world with their mutant GMO seed. Did you realize that you’ve probably already eaten Gentically modified food? Did you know they’re pushing hard just to get labels on beef from a GMO cow? I’ve got a container of organic milk in the fridge bragging right on the front label how there’s no cloned cow milk in it!

There is a lot to look into. But we all have a responsibility to ourselves, and our families to get involved in this issue. New laws are being written that hurt our agriculture, not help it. You can do something about it! Get in contact with your local representatives. I know we’re about to start knowing these guys on a first name basis, we have to contact them about so much stuff, but that’s what they’re there for!

Watch the video here:

Queers United and other media reported on this last year, and now there is a petition circulating the internet boycotting the brand:

The brand is owned by Michael Savage and his son.  Savage Sr. (originally named Weiner) is homophobic racist zenophobe radio ’personality’ whose show Savage Nation has a vast audience similar to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Strangely enough, Savage is also an expert on herbal remedies, Jewish, and an activist on animal rights and the environment.

His son, Russ Weiner, is CEO of Rockstar, a founder of the Paul Revere Society, and once addressed a concert-going crowd with, “Who’s heterosexual and proud?!  If you aren’t, hopefully you will be soon!”

Top 10 Un-Awesome Things Rockstar Energy Drink founder Savage has said, in his own words:

Looking for an alternative?

Lesbians like me drink GoGirl… they donate to breast and ovarian cancer research and awareness!

GoGirl energy drinks are also sugar free.

Their hand made coffee cozies had me at first click, because not only are their cozies completely adorable, they are reusable!

The lesbian artist and crafts woman responsible for my eye’s delight is Alysse Hennessey (Aly The Red). After years of creating custom furnishings and sewing costumes for theater Aly decided to start her own business.

From her charming studio in Eugene, Oregon Aly creates playful goodies like coffee cozies, market bags, wrist warmers, ornaments, and plush monsters using vintage and re-purposed fabrics and eco-friendly inks. On the weekend she can be found at indie craft fairs and markets all over . Check Bliss Monkey Studio’s Etsy Shop and support a lesbian artist while saving the planet, one less paper cup sleeve at a time.