The World According to Greg

Matt Corley has an interesting piece in Think Progress about Laura Bush’s insistence that organic food be served in the White House whenever possible. This, in spite of the fact that husband George’s policies on organic farming were, to put it mildly, abysmal. Consider:

– In April 2004, Bush’s USDA issued legally binding guidances allowing the use of antibiotics on organic dairy cows and synthetic pesticides on organic farms.

– Another 2004 guidance narrowed the scope of the federal organic certification program to crops and livestock, meaning that national organic standards would “not be developed for fish, nutritional supplements, pet food, fertilizers, cosmetics, and personal-care products.”

– Though then-Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman reportedly “rescinded the directives” after activist uproar, the vice chairman of the National Organic Standards Board told the Chicago Reader that the USDA “sticks to their interpretations, only now they are no longer posted.”

– In June 2007, the USDA greenlighted a proposal “allowing 38 new non-organic ingredients in products bearing the ‘USDA Organic’ seal, despite more than 10,000 e-mails and letters from concerned consumers and farmers.”

– This past September, the USDA “abruptly halted a government program that tests the levels of pesticides in fruits, vegetables and field crops, arguing that the $8 million-a-year program is too expensive.”

Tags: Bush Administration, Laura Bush, organic farming, sustainable agriculture

Since the times of George Washington it has been the tradition of incoming presidents to hold a prayer service. This year it will be on January 21, the day following President Obama’s inauguration, and be led by Rev. Sharon Watkins, General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

As an ordained Disciples of Christ minister myself, I am absolutely thrilled by the selection. The Disciples of Christ has a long history in the United States, and, in fact, is the oldest Christian denomination founded in the U.S. Moreover, it was the spiritual home to presidents James Garfield, Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan. Any tradition that can claim a liberal such as LBJ and a conservative like RR has got to represent a microcosm of American society that gives hope to all who seek the bridge that which divides us in this country.  

Tags: Barack Administration, Disciples of Christ, inauguration, Sharon Watkins

With the news of a second coal ash spill, this time in Alabama, a lot more attention needs to be paid to the issue. Devilstower, writing in Daily Kos, has an important must-read personal account of fly ash in his home town. Devilstower concludes:

Right now most of [the] cost is paid by the people in small towns like Kingston, TN and Larado, WV and Inez, KY. It’s the towns near the plants that stockpile ash, and the towns near the mines that impound sludge. Towns like the one where I grew up. That’s where people pay the price so that politicians can talk about “clean coal.”

Tags: Tennessee Coal Ash Spill

Annika Mengisen of The New York Times Freakanomics blog has this informative array of pictures from the Tennessee coal ash disaster, taken by a reader, Dorothy Griffith, a photographer who lives in Banner Elk, North Carolina, on Christmas Day.

It’s worth a look …

UPDATE (January 8, 2009): Tennessee Republican Congressman Zach Wamp, who is said to be planning a run for governor in 2010, has called the spill “Katrina-like,” while Senate Democrats said Thursday they want stricter rules for toxic ash from coal-fired power plants.

Tags: Tennessee Coal Ash Spill

Dave Burdick of The Huffington Post has a solid review of the status of the Tenessee coal ash spill, and what comes next. Check it out …

Tags: Tenn

In a case of truth over parody, it seems the McCain campaign is having a fire sale. Thanks to The Sleuth, Mary Ann Akers, at the Washington Post.

Tags: John McCain, Sarah Palin

The Honorable Barney Frank (D-Mass) on the need for President-Elect Obama to get more involved right now:

[Obama's] going to have to be more assertive than he’s been. At a time of great crisis with mortgage foreclosures and autos, he says we only have one president at a time. I’m afraid that overstates the number of presidents we have. He’s got to remedy that situation.

It seems the Treasury Department agrees with Frank.

Tags: Bailout, Barack Obama, Barney Frank

It’s October 16, four months after same sex mariages resumed in California, and, yep, the state still exists, the world has not come to an end, the sun still shines, and all is well.

Tags: same sex marriage

Back in 1988 when George Bush chose his running mate, I remember someone saying to me, “You know, of all the people of our generation that could could rise to be the cream of the crop, who’d have thought it would be Dan Quayle?”

Oh, how quaint. And now, twenty years later, as John McCain makes his selection of a running mate, it turns out my friend was right.  

Tags: Dan Quayle, John McCain, Sarah Palin

Juan Cole has a very interesting comparison of Islamic fundamentalists and Sarah Palin in today’s salon.com. The difference between Muslim fundamentalists and Sarah Palin? Lipstick and not much more. Check it out …

Tags: 2008 Election, Sarah Palin