politics
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While the rich get richer, the rest of us pay more for less at the supermarket
The New York Times reports that food companies are embarked on a “stealth” strategy to hike prices by significantly shrinking packages without changing the price. For example, canned vegetables are down to thirteen from sixteen ounces (one shopper observed that she found an eleven ounce can of corn recently). Sugar is now sometimes sold in […]
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Another week, another attempt to shield factory farms from public scrutiny
Above: Last spring, a Humane Society of the United States investigtor, posing as an employee, got a camera into an egg factory to film conditions there. If Iowa lawmakers have their way, such muckraking will be illegal. ——— It’s not just Florida. In what appears to be a growing movement, industrial farmers have convinced Iowa […]
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Florida lawmaker wants to make farm photos illegal
If we just don’t look at what’s going on inside factory farms, everything will be fine. Right? Along with mountains of oranges, tomatoes, and sugar, Florida’s branch of Big Ag Inc. is a reliable producer of bad news. Whether it’s the fight over proto-slavery conditions for its tomato workers, the push to perfect genetically modified […]
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Yogis go from lotus position to lobbying
They’re turning D.C. lobbying culture upside-down.Photo: Lululemon Athletica“Yoga” and “angry” go together like taffy and dentures … or at least they used to. But maybe D.C. politicians should start looking out for flying vials of essential oil. L.A.-based organization “Off the Mat and Into the World” is turning yogis into activists next week, following International […]
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Factory-farmed pork: it’s the inspirational other white meat!
Be inspired!: Near a giant hog factory in North Carolina, downed pigs fester while sprayers spread untreated manure onto fields. Photo: Steve WingPork has a new-and-improved slogan. In an announcement that is guaranteed to avoid mockery or satire, the National Pork Board (NPB) has shifted from declaration to exhortation. No longer will pork’s tagline be […]
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All I need to know about Congress’ phony deficit reduction debate I learned from this comment
House speaker John Boehner telling the press he plans to cut $100 billion in discretionary spending from the Federal budgetPhoto: Speaker John Boehner The spending bill wending its way through congress would gut the Environmental Protection Agency, and also cuts a whole bunch of other things you might be a fan of. (The efforts of […]
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Watch Annie Leonard’s new ‘Story of Citizens’ video
Annie Leonard unveiled a new film in the “Story of Stuff” series this morning. Her latest offering, The Story of Citizens United v. FEC, is “an exploration of the crisis of corporate influence in American democracy.” Leonard digs into the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision to allow corporations to contribute without limits to political campaigns. In […]
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EPA lets natural gas industry brazenly pollute my state’s drinking water
That’s some fracked up sh*t: a natural gas rig does its thing in Dimock, Pa. Photo: Helen Slottje, via arimooreIn a perfect world, everyone would read The New York Times’ frankly terrifying exposé on the EPA’s rather timid oversight of the natural gas industry in Pennsylvania — and public outrage would force the EPA to […]
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Guy who punked Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is running for Congress as Green Party candidate
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica} The story of Ian Murphy — the editor of the Buffalo Beast who convinced Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) that he was billionaire David Koch and then recorded their union-bashing, possibly illegal phone conversation — just keeps getting better. Murphy just revealed to Samantha Henig of […]
