Small farms, Local Food: Up for a vote in the Senate

Are you a lover of your area's small farms and the amazingly wonderful local food networks around North Carolina? Do you love a good meal out a few times a month at one of the RTP areas restaurants that use local food from local farms? You wanna keep those options around, along with their positive economic and environmental impacts?

Then you need to keep reading because small farms are about to have a big fat financially draining regulatory millstone hung around their proverbial necks if changes are not made to a bill up for a vote in the Senate in next few weeks.

Stop eating crap. Spread the word.

Health care costs are rising. Why? It may be a combination of a lot of different things pushing and pulling on our ridiculously profit driven system, but I think all those "reasons" pale in comparison to the root cause.

We spend more & more on health care year over year because we are getting sicker & sicker year over year. You are what you eat. Literally. Yes, I do mean that literally. You are literally what you eat. You eat crappy junk, your body will be crappy junk.

Well, here in little bitty Clayton ...

There were a few actual registered Dems running for Town Council this year. Nice.

They didn't win any seats, but I was glad to see them interested enough to run, anyway. Just wish they had been interested enough to campaign like they seriously wanted to win (Rev. Cotton excluded - he was working like he wanted it).

However, the candidates who won seats yesterday were candidates from whom I received mailers & doorhangers and who's signs I saw every where; one progressive I (incumbent), and two conservative Rs (one incumbent, one challenger).

Clayton Council races are non-partisan, but they are all at-large which (and this is just my unprofessional opinion) seems to keep the council homogeneously caucasian, male and conservative. Not saying that ALWAYS matters, but you know even conservative white men know in their gut it does matter. If we broke up the town into districts and asked folks to run for the seat where they lived, things would certainly shake up a bit.

Will Allen coming to Raleigh & Goldsboro November 9th

Hey all my awesome BlueNC and other foodie friends! I haven't been around much lately, but I know you all care about safe food, local farms and building safe, local food networks soooo... I thought you'd want to know about this speaker who's coming to Raleigh soon.

[You've been praying for news that didn't involve anyone named Mike or Easley anyway, I know.]

On November 9th, the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) and Burt's Bees are hosting 2008 MacArthur "Genius Grant" winner, Will Allen. Allen is Founder and CEO of Growing Power, Inc. in Milwaukee, WI.

If you've seen the documentary FRESH, you know who Will Allen is.

Fighting for a small business renaissance: a health care diary

I live in NC near Raleigh. My job is in the pharmceutical industry. I work in Cary and don't often leave the office during the work day for much of anything. I bring in my lunch every day and may go out to eat with friends once in a blue moon.

However, some things are really important -- important enough to get me out of my office on a weekday -- so one Thursday several weeks ago I met up with other proponents of a strong public option in America's health insurance reform fight at Kay Hagan's Raleigh office.

Oh, yes, be afraid. Be very afraid. Or not.

I'm sure you've seen it ... the scary commercial done by the Canadian who claims she would have died if she hadn't come to the U.S. for treatment of a brain tumor? Well, there's more (and less) to the story. Thought y'all might be interested in reading the real reality of the sitchyashun north of the 49th parallel ...

Turns out this dear woman didn't have a malignant tumor at all. She had a benign cyst that had likely been where it was since birth. Click on the link above to read the rest of the story ...

OMG ... they just hugged AHIP and shot us the bird

Out of the Senate Finance committee it comes ... dripping with the slobber of corporate lap dogs. It is not what AHIP wrote. It is not as generous to Americans as the plan AHIP wrote. I kid you not. I just read it at dkos. Go read for yourself.
Baucus' Health Care Plan is worse than the AHIP plan

Digby says:

It's a good day to be an insurance company CEO. An mandate from the
government forcing people to buy your product and no serious competition from anybody but your monopolistic buddies in the industry, all of whom look after each other very, very well.

My Dear Kay letter

Whether it is for those who have a decent income but no employer coverage and can't afford private insurance (have you actually tried to buy family coverage for a family of 3 when Mom is over 45?), or it is for young people just getting started or for middle class single mothers (not eligible for any other govt benefits) with kids to cover or to make small businesses attractive for people to work in and relieve the strangle hold of for-profit insurance from the small business man's neck ... America NEEDS a public option in THIS year's health care reform package.

In fact, if you don't include a public option, you may as well do nothing.

Making Christmas Merry

This is an off the cuff post that is basically about a book I'm reading now called Big Box Swindle (www.BigBoxSwindle.com) by Stacy Mitchell.

I remember my father telling me three decades ago after returning from a business trip that they were moving textile finishing operations out of the country. He was flabbergasted that they could ship cut cloth off-shore, have it assembled, ship it back and make it cost less than doing all that here. As a Personnel Manager in the textile industry the implications for the people in the mills that he knew personally and cared about worried him. He didn't say that ... but I could see that worry on his face.

Rumor from NC Spin

in an email received from a local Democrat, it looks like NC Spin's rumor page (from the sept. 28 air date) says the RSCC doesn't so much like their chances of winning in NC. I'm hoping they're right on that.

from NC Spin....

"Republicans throwing in the towel on Dole?

We heard rumor this week that the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee was pulling out of North Carolina and redirecting funds and energy to another Senate campaign they thought they could win. According to Tom Fetzer, one of Dole`s campaign managers, this might just be rumor, although the Dole campaign cannot have any formal contact with the 527 group.

BlueNC

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