The Glorious Food of Yore

Wasn't, at least in my house.  Mark Bittman (see earlier post) writes:

In the 20th century, the rise of packaged foods brought drastic changes to the way many of us eat, and not for the better. A huge percentage of our food is now awful-tasting, nutritionally bankrupt and environmentally damaging.

I can't agree.  I think most of our food is appealing (in another article in the Times magazine, a Brit cook acknowledges a 15-pound hamburger from a WV restaurant is good).  That's a complaint of some--the sneaky nutritionists at the big companies trick us by using lots of salt, sugar, fat, and other tasty things.  If a fast place really  sold "awful-tasting" food, it wouldn't survive.

More seriously, I remember tasting frozen peas for the first time.  There's no comparison between the mush from canned peas and frozen peas.  (In upstate NY, fresh peas were as fleeting as a hummingbird.) And the canned soups of today are much tastier than the Campbell soups of my youth. And even though my mother cooked, she wasn't good at it--didn't have the time or money or interest to do it well.  (Her baking, on the other hand, as one might expect of the child of  German parents was often great.)

Hispanic Farmers and FSA

An NPR story today on alleged discrimination in providing farm loans.

A note--I don't know anything about it.  However, I do remember visiting with farmers in the early 90's who complained that their loan applications weren't approved timely--this was in the context of proposals USDA should streamline its processes.[Updated: I should also note while Reagan killed the EEO office, it was later revived, although GAO has consistently pointed out its ills.]

Locavores Versus Consumers

The NY Times Magazine had a food theme yesterday, including an article by Mark Bittman in which he argues for a quantum leap forward in grocery shoppiing:

"This is my fantasy about virtual grocery shopping: that you could ask and be told the provenance and ingredients of any product you look at in your Web browser. You could specify, for example, “wild, never-frozen seafood” or “organic, local broccoli.”

He also wants his preferences recorded with the ability to be notified of the arrival of his favorites. He interviews a software vendor about the possibilities and concludes existing retailers aren't really focused on filling his individual wants. 

I think a big hurdle to this is the almost reflexive opposition by small and local growers to tracking and animal identification systems.  That's going to be needed to get the data needed to keep Bittman happy into the IT system.

The Image and the Reality

The image is, Chicago is a violent place.  The reality is, Chicago's homicide rate continues to decline.

The image is, guns are magic, pull the trigger and your target goes down.  The reality, as shown in a video from Toledo, is that most bullets don't hit anything alive (I heard 17 bullets found in the bar, no casualties).  The same is true in war--in Iraq II our troops were using thousands of rounds to kill one person.

Is Michael Moore a Tea Partier?

We saw Michael Moore's Capitalism this week.  I didn't like it much, although he had some good laughs, particularly when accosting the Wall Street firms over their receipt of TARP funds.  But the whole thing seemed rather disjointed and without a theory to link together his attacks.  The gist seemed to be the unionized General Motors of the 1950's and 60's of Moore's youth was the good life, and everything since has gone to hell.  But the best he can do to explain how the capitalism of the 60's, changed to the capitalism of 2000 is to blame deregulation.  Moore also gets himself caught in illogic--Obama's campaign is represented as the people rebelling against Wall Stteet but Obama's Treasury Secretary is depicted as a complete and utter failure (for his part in the bailouts).

Given the prominence of the bailouts in his movie, I was struck by the emphasis in this article on the role TARP played in angering the tea partiers. It's not unusual in American history to find both right and left wing radicals feeding off the same populist temper.

FSA IT Report Required

From the Agriculture appropriations bill (now passed and sent to the President):

Given the complexity and scale of FSA's information technology (IT) improvement initiative, the conferees seek to ensure that FSA successfully and cost-effectively delivers the modernized systems relevant to the Department's submission under Section 300 of OMB Circular A-11. Moreover, the conferees recognize that achieving FSA's IT modernization goals depends on coordination and integration with other IT initiatives across the Department that are beyond FSA's control.
Accordingly, the conferees direct the Department to submit to the Committees a description of how the Department will coordinate and oversee the interdependent planning and implementation of FSA's IT modernization initiative with all other related Department IT modernization initiatives.
Furthermore, the conferees direct the Department to submit to the Committees an expenditure plan for all past-and current-year funds allocated for FSA IT systems modernization and stabilization activities since fiscal year 2008 that describes:
1. The FSA IT projects funded;
2. The expected performance capabilities and mission benefits of each of these projects;
3. The estimated and completed project cost, schedule, and system operation milestones with target dates;
4. The estimated and actual costs associated with attaining these milestones;
5. A comparison of the project cost, schedule, and milestones to those provided in fiscal year 2008; and
6. The processes, tools, contracts, and human capital in place or planned to accomplish effective management and oversight of the projects.
After the initial expenditure plan, the Department is to provide reports by April 1, 2010, and by August 1, 2010, that provide updates on the cost, schedule, and system operation milestones. To the extent milestones are missed, the report is to provide a summary of the reasons why and plans for corrective actions.
The conferees recommend that funds be allocated to implement the National Agriculture Imagery Program, with images collected nationally on an annual basis, in order to provide the maximum benefit for USDA programs and other users of these images. The conferees encourage the Secretary to utilize all appropriate imagery sources to meet programmatic requirements.

A Look Back at Clinton

I've started reading the Taylor Branch book, The Clinton Tapes. One thing I didn't remember was the assassination attempt (I guess you'd call it that), when the right wing nut (mentally ill) sprayed the White House with bullets.  How soon we forget, so we think today is always unique and worse.

USDA Data Collections--EEO Data

From a USDA submission to OMB for information collection:

Data will be collected through a questionnaire to determine the race, ethnicity and gender of farmers and ranchers who apply for and who participate in USDA programs and services. The data is also necessary to provide USDA and its agencies with sound data on the demographics of its constituents. The data will enable USDA to (a) develop a baseline on its applicants and participants, (b) assist in planning for and implementing appropriate responses to the needs of its constituents, and (c) in the conduct of oversight and evaluation of civil rights compliance. The information will be used by the Office of Advocacy and Outreach and the agencies' outreach offices to determine if socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers are being equitably served by USDA programs. Failure to collect this information will have a negative impact on USDA's outreach activities and could result in an inability of the agencies to equitably deliver programs and services to applicant and producers.

 Comments will follow.

Transparency Works, in the Long Run

Much discussion over the results of study of the effect in NYC of posting the calories in restaurant foods.  In short, no significant impact on the food chosen.  Kevin Drum and Ezra Klein aslo link to it.

I'd caution people to relax and think long term.  I remember when the health warning was added to cigarette packs. It took a long time, but that was one step in establishing a social consensus against smoking.  That, the consensus, is what is effective in changing behavior.

Feminism--1930 and Now

From 1930 Blog:

Higher education suspected of discouraging marriage in women students. Of living graduates of Wellesley College, less than 1/3 are married at the present time; of 400 women just graduated from Northwestern, only 23 stated in a final poll that “matrimony was their preferred career.”

From today, over 50 percent of college chemistry graduates are female.