When Ignorance Ain't Bliss

Another week...another day….another food recall. Still don’t want to know where your food comes from?

UnHealthly Care

What exactly is not clear about making health care accessible to people who need it? The system definitely is broken and most assuredly needs to be fixed. Sure, anything government gets its hands on often comes out looking like it was designed by a committee of seagulls in the middle of a hurricane. But we need a start. We really do.

Let’s hope Congress remembers long term care for the disabled—remember them? They are among us and usually end up getting pushed out of the health care roulette wheel just when more time and care might help them improve their lives. And it’s one thing to have the system; it is another to get doctors, etc, to accept it.

We think that one of the reasons that health care reform is being pressed so urgently at this time is that some of us can see the pandemic H1N1 flu barreling right for us in the fall. Doesn’t matter that it has started slowly and without too much drama. This virus is an unknown for the most part and a lot of people are going to be affected in some way. Having a comprehensive health care system in place is going to be a necessity.

Make sure your representatives know how you feel. And Make sure you know how you feel and why.

Tomato Trouble

Perhaps the most jarring aspect of the widespread salmonella outbreak brought to us by certain varieties of tomatoes is that where the offending tomatoes came from cannot be determined. What does that say about the food chain? No one knows where these tomatoes originated? Looks like another argument for buying locally and just being content with whatever produce is in season in your area.
There have been numerous accounts of how the supply of fruits and vegetables for consumption far and wide is negatively affecting the environment. We want strawberries in December? They have to be shipped in from someplace that can produce them and that someplace may not have the same environmental regulations that we have here. But it is another case of "I want it and I want it now, and I can afford it, so there".
I’m not suggesting we go back to the Prairie Days when we could consume only what was grown in our own gardens or nearby. But having it all whenever we want it dilutes the appreciation for, not only the environment, but for that strawberry or kiwi we are putting into our mouths in December in Manhattan.
Take a look at a New York Times article on the subject:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/26/business/worldbusiness/26food.html?sq=foods%20from%20other%20countries&st=nyt&adxnnl=1&scp=14&adxnnlx=1213837355-A9IThZTI85shCW1hw3Buzg