All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

My 30 Years as a Poultry Inspector | Food & Water Watch

(Pogo – the old cartoon opossum – said: “We have met the enemy and he is us.” We vote for people who want to gut government at all costs as a matter of faith and trust in the market to “protect” consumers. I trust the market to look the other way until a hundred or a thousand die quickly from a blatant incident.)

When I was a USDA inspector, we went bird by bird to assure that plants were producing clean, wholesome products. But that won’t be the case if the USDA’s plan to privatize poultry inspection goes forward. I worked with the pilot phase of this plan to privatize the inspection of our poultry, but it could soon be approved for broader use… and it turns the “inspection” of our food into a sham. In plants where they’ve been testing this new process, line speeds have been permitted to run as fast as 200 birds per minute. That’s faster than any human could possibly inspect all those birds.

Privatizing inspection means shifting the actual hands-on inspection of the birds from highly trained, taxpayer-funded, unbiased, Federal employees to plant employees who are not required to have any training at all — and in doing so, the USDA had to change the name of these employees to “sorters” in lieu of inspectors, because what they’re doing is not inspection.

It is a sad state of affairs when our government is more concerned about saving money than it is about people’s health, but that’s what we’ve got here: a money-saving system that makes it impossible to do adequate inspection of our poultry. A properly trained inspector utilizes ALL of their senses to make a decision about the wholesomeness of the bird. I have no idea of how checking carcasses flying by at unregulated speeds of three per second, without any authority to touch the products, turn or do anything else, can be called “inspection.”

via My 30 Years as a Poultry Inspector | Food & Water Watch.

Despite Obamacare, 31 million will be uninsured by 2023 – Birmingham Business Journal

Federal health reform is projected to extend insurance coverage to 25 million Americans over the next decade.

Those efforts, widely known as Obamacare, still will leave 31 million people without insurance by 2023, The Washington Post reports.

Those left behind by the health care overhaul include undocumented workers, and the poor who live in the 21 states that have not followed the mandate to expand.

via Despite Obamacare, 31 million will be uninsured by 2023 – Birmingham Business Journal.

My bee hive looks good going into fall!

giantveggiegardener

I went into my one and only topbar hive today to see how the ‘girls’ were doing and am thrilled to report that they have 18 bars-10 full of honey, 1 bar being built and 7 full of brood. They look to be in really good shape for winter. I didn’t see the queen today as I was in a hurry but that was ok as there was lots of capped brood and larva in those 7 bars and lots of activity with the bees coming in and out of the hive carrying in pollen and nectar.

Around my property right now native plants such as Apache plume, chamisa and asters are all blooming and the bees are loving them. Plus my Russian sage, catmint, spireas, lavender, honeysuckles, Datura, borage and my out of control, drought tolerant silver lace vine (all over my fences) is full of little flowers and…

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I Don’t Get What’s Special About Jesus

Brave is brave

A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares

Zealot life and times of Jesus of Nazareth

I always thought Jesus of Nazareth was the same as Jesus Christ. It was how I was brought up. That figure was the man I was taught over and over again never to question, to always take whole, never to tackle in a way that could tarnish his divine image.

But, as it seems, Jesus of Nazareth is entirely different from Jesus the Christ. One is the simple historical version of a man who existed the same way you and I did. The other is the embellished version that the Church has worked years to build. The man from Nazareth was someone who was born in Palestine and who was crucified. Whether his birth was of immaculate conception and whether he got resurrected after his death are matters of pure faith that fall under the domain of Jesus the Christ. If you believe in those two entities, then Jesus of…

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ASIA/SYRIA – Archbishop Hindo writes to Obama: the world does not want war – Fides News Agency

Hassaké (Agenzia Fides) : “It is for peace that I write to you, our peace. It is against war that I write to you, your war”. This is what Monsignor Behnam Hindo, Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Hassaké – Nisibis, says to Barack Obama in a letter asking the U.S. President to stop his plans for military intervention in Syria.

The diocese of Archbishop Hindo is in the north eastern Syrian province of Jazira, in a region that is enclosed in an overwhelming and total block and where a million and a half people suffer from “the torments of war, the destruction and lack of everything”.

In the letter, sent to Fides, Mgr . Hindo harshly criticizes the path taken by the U.S. administration. Strong doubts are advanced by the Syrian Archbishop also on the proof of the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime highlighted by the U.S. administration to convince the international community of the need for armed intervention. The advice given to the U.S. president is to wait for “the results of the UN Commission”. In addition, there is also the plea to “save massacres, destruction and more suffering. I – says the Syrian Archbishop – write to he whose name resonates the term baraka, that is blessing (…). Blessing for your great nation, peace as the fruit of blessings for my people. These are my desires. They are now in the hands of a Nobel Prize for peace”.

via ASIA/SYRIA – Archbishop Hindo writes to Obama: the world does not want war – Fides News Agency.

The Christmas-izing of Ramadan and Eid | Green Prophet

Glittery Ramadan decorations, rarely seen three years ago, now twinkle in apartment windows in most Amman neighborhoods.  The displays could compete with the most decked-out American suburbs, electrified crescent moons and colorful lanterns replacing reindeer and Santa.

Roadside tent-shops pop up weeks before Ramadan, hawking ornaments and lights, with peak sales happening just before Eid.  Until recently, vendors were few and far between.  This year they were everywhere.

via The Christmas-izing of Ramadan and Eid | Green Prophet.

Israeli Developers Upgrade Microsoft Search Engine Bing – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

A team of developers from Microsoft Israel R&D Center in Herzliya was involved in the development of the latest update of Microsoft’s search engine Bing, which has been vying in recent years to gain ground in the market dominated by Google. The Israeli team developed the Bing Expert, a feature that allows users to get relevant tips, recommendations and reviews from experts in the field related to the search engine.

via Israeli Developers Upgrade Microsoft Search Engine Bing – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.