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Thursday, December 30
Hidden Caffeine in Food and Drink: Do You Know What You Are Consuming?
by
Linda Thieman
on Thu 30 Dec 2004 10:29 PM CST
 Hidden Caffeine in Food and Drink: Do You Know What You Are Consuming?
National Geographic
Did you know?
Guarana: Hidden Caffeine
Guarana
is an ingredient found in many sodas, energy drinks, protein bars, and
natural weight-loss aids. It comes from the seeds of a woody vine
native to Brazil named for an Amazonian people, the Guarani, who
process the seeds for use in food, drink, and medicine. What might be a
surprise is that guarana contains concentrations of naturally occurring
caffeine higher than that found in coffee, tea, cacao, and kola.
Guarana sodas are immensely popular in South America, especially
Brazil, and the stimulant is finding its way into more and more energy
drinks. Guarana is sometimes marketed as a natural alternative to
caffeine, but it's caffeine all the same. Look at the labels of some
energy drinks and you'll see both caffeine and guarana, which means
that you're getting caffeine from two sources.
Rethinking Caffeine
Scientists
have developed various theories to explain caffeine's "wake-promoting"
power. The consensus today focuses on the drug's interference with
adenosine, a chemical in the body that acts as a natural sleeping pill.
Caffeine blocks the hypnotic effect of adenosine and keeps us from
falling asleep. Since caffeine has also been shown to enhance mood and
increase alertness in moderate amounts, it's a potent potion for
students and scholars stuck in the lab at three in the morning. Paul
Erdős, the Hungarian mathematician who often worked his equations
around the clock, is known for saying that "a mathematician is a
machine for turning coffee into theorems."
..."Caffeine
helps people try to wrest control away from the human circadian rhythm
that is hardwired in all of us," says Czeisler. But then a shadow
crosses the doctor's sunny face, and his tone changes sharply. "On the
other hand," he says solemnly, "there is a heavy, heavy price that has
been paid for all this extra wakefulness." Without adequate sleep—the
conventional eight hours out of each 24 is about right—the human body
will not function at its best, physically, mentally, or emotionally,
the doctor says. "As a society, we are tremendously sleep deprived."
In fact,
the professor goes on, there is a sort of catch-22 at the heart of the
modern craving for caffeine. "The principal reason that caffeine is
used around the world is to promote wakefulness," Czeisler says. "But
the principal reason that people need that crutch is inadequate sleep.
Think about that: We use caffeine to make up for a sleep deficit that
is largely the result of using caffeine."
(Click here to read the complete article.)
Nearly Half of U.S. Food Goes To Waste
by
Chad Thompson
on Thu 30 Dec 2004 01:09 PM CST
 Nearly Half of U.S. Food Goes To Waste
Last
week's Agribusiness Examiner #385 had this rather shocking story - something
to consider when we look at the suffering of others, and the constant
insistance in the wake of the South Asian Tsunami that we "do enough".
FOOD PRODUCTIONDAILY.COM: As the US celebrate[d] Thanksgiving, a new
study reveals that almost half the food in the country goes to waste
--- a statistic that
should alarm an industry that is struggling to achieve greater efficiency in order to salvage profits.
The new study, from the University of Arizona (UA) in Tucson,
indicates that a shocking 40% to 50% of all food ready for harvest
never gets eaten.
Timothy Jones, an anthropologist at the UA Bureau of Applied
Research in Anthropology, has spent the last ten years measuring food
loss, including the last eight under a grant from the U.S. Department
of Agriculture (USDA). Jones started examining practices in farms and
orchards, before going onto food production, retail, consumption and
waste disposal.
What he found was that not only is edible food discarded that
could feed people who need it, but the rate of loss, even partially
corrected, could save U.S. consumers and manufacturers tens of billions
of dollars each year. Jones says these losses also can be framed in
terms of environmental degradation and national security.
Jones' research evolved from and builds on earlier work done at
the University of Arizona. Archaeologists there began measuring garbage
in the 1970s to see what was being thrown away and discovered that
people were not fully aware of what they were using and discarding.
Those earlier studies evolved into more sophisticated research
using contemporary archaeology and ethnography to understand not only
the path food travels from farms and orchards to landfills, but also
the culture and psychology behind the process.
The fact that the U.S. is a wasteful nation is not necessarily
news, of course. The country has long has been chastised for its wilful
consumption of the world's resources, and many aspects of the country's
culture encapsulate what environmentalists disparagingly refer to as
today's "throw-away society."
Similarly, researchers have known for years about the volumes of
food Americans toss into the trash. But only recently, though, has that
been quantified as a percentage of what is produced, and the UA
statistics are the first tangible proof that Us food production is
frighteningly wasteful.
A certain amount of waste in the food stream cannot be helped of
course. Little can be done, for instance, about weather and crop
deterioration. The apple industry, for instance, loses on average about
12% of its crop on the way to market.
Apples in the U.S. are harvested over a two-month period and then stored and
sold year-round. People in the apple business use aggressive methods to
maintain their crop, with fresh apples hitting the supermarkets on a
regular basis and marginal ones sent to be made into applesauce and
other products.
The goal of apple growers is to provide a nutritious product, all
year long, at fairly constant prices. Jones says they've adopted a
conservative business plan that forgoes the boom-and-bust cycles that
other fruit and vegetable growers aim for and opts instead for a steady
income stream.
But Jones argues that fresh fruit and vegetable growers, in
contrast, often behave like riverboat gamblers. They will take a risk
on the commodity markets if they think it will help them make a
financial killing. A bad bet often means an entire crop is left in the
field to be ploughed under.
Jones' research also shows that by measuring how much food is
actually being brought into households, a clearer picture of that end
of the food stream is beginning to emerge.
On average, households waste 14% of their food purchases. Fifteen
per cent of that includes products still within their expiration date
but never opened. Jones estimates an average family of four currently
tosses out $590 per year, just in meat, fruits, vegetables and grain
products.
Jones says that consumers better need to understand that many kinds of food
can be refrigerated or frozen and eaten later. Nationwide, he says,
household food waste alone adds up to $43 billion, making it a serious
economic problem.
Cutting food waste would also go a long way toward reducing
serious environmental problems. Jones estimates that reducing food
waste by half could reduce adverse environmental impacts by 25% through
reduced landfill use, soil depletion and applications of fertilisers,
pesticides and herbicides.
Consumers and retailers are also of course responsible for
minimising food waste, but it is manufacturers, who are being squeezed
by high raw material prices and low retail costs, that stand to gain
most by establishing greater operational efficiencies to cut out
unnecessary waste.
By demonstrating how wasteful food production in the US currently
is, the UA study suggests not only where savings could be made, but
also how far many companies are from making them. [ November 25, 2004 ]
Wednesday, December 29
DFQC Meet Up January 6 Covers George Lakoff and The Importance of Framing
by
Linda Thieman
on Wed 29 Dec 2004 04:38 PM CST
 DFQC Meet Up January 6 Covers George Lakoff and The Importance of Framing
A Message from Dr. Alta Price
Hi everyone!
I wanted
to invite you to the Democracy for America/Democracy for the Quad
Cities Meetup. This is one to invite all your friends to.
Who: All progressives interested in politics or political issues (not just Deaniacs)
When: Thursday, Jan. 6, 2005 at 7 pm
Where: Steel Workers Union Hall in Bettendorf (880 Devils Glen Rd)
RSVP: Not needed – just come (call me with questions)
We will
be showing the George Lakoff DVD on “framing” - which should be of
interest to a lot of people. And after watching the DVD, we will break
into small groups and practice “framing” our positions on a local
political issue (maybe the issue of how GLBT students are going to be protected in PV schools?)
Don't miss this opportunity to see the DVD. And invite your politician
and elected official friends. They need to start learning how to
"frame" issues to better connect with voters. At the end of this
message are a few words to the Meetup group from George Lakoff to
introduce the concept of "framing."
Alta Price
altaprice@mailblocks.com
421-1140 (work)
332-5051 (home)
A Word from George Lakoff: Setting the Frame for the January Meetup Workshop
 “There
is no escaping framing - it is how the human brain works. Framing is
more than finding “better” words. It is the way you think about the
world. Good framing reflects your values and your beliefs, and connects
them to issues in ways that have self-contained arguments built in. If
you are framing honestly, then the arguments will be ones that you
believe in.”
“Once a
frame is set, people no longer listen to facts that contradict it. The
facts just bounce off. Facts are important, but they come after the
frame, not instead of it.”
“Don’t
let the radical conservatives set the agenda. It is important that you
frame your own issues proactively – don’t just respond to their frames.
For example, you should talk about taxes as investments often, not just
in response to their view of taxes.”
“Don’t expect to convert anyone right away - it takes a while for people to get the ideas and new frames in their brains.”
“Framing
is not the same as messaging: it is a whole new way of thinking about
all the issues. Real training in reframing takes a long time. Tonight
is only the briefest of introductions, to whet your appetite for more.
There are many steps to reframing, but you can make the first step here
tonight.”
U.S. Aid To S.E. Asia "Stingy" - Updated!
by
Chad Thompson
on Wed 29 Dec 2004 12:35 PM CST
 U.S. Aid To S.E. Asia "Stingy" - Updated!
This little tidbit noted by Atrios should catch on the conservative talk radio today. (It's called "WHO Radio" in Central Iowa)
From the Washington Times:
The Bush administration yesterday pledged $15 million to Asian
nations hit by a tsunami that has killed more than 22,500 people,
although the United Nations' humanitarian-aid chief called the donation
"stingy."
Now what would prompt someone to call such a donation "stingy"?
From MSNBC:
The war on terror will take center stage at next month’s second inauguration for Bush in Washington, D.C.
...The estimated budget for the event is $30-40 million, but that will not cover security costs.
UPDATE ONE:
The Washington Times report quoted above is a
complete lie. It seems that the Washington Times and the
WSJ have gone out of their way to use an international crisis to malign
the ever-hated United Nations.
The Gadflyer has a post
detailing how two outlets outright fabricating a story echoes through
the media outlets - and outrages Blog For Iowa posters....
Somewhat surprisingly, the WSJ points out the notion of using a natural disaster to further a political cause:
People prone to hysteria often become
further unhinged in the face of a great disaster, and that may explain
these remarkable comments on the tsunami disaster. Still, these
comments by the movement's leadership may serve as a case study of how
such imaginings work their way into public discussion of the
environment.
The author of this comment then proceeds to write about how the
Kyoto Protocol is holding back South Asian nations from creating a
Tsuanmi warning system similar to the one used by Pacific Rim nations.
I swear - you can't make this stuff up.
UPDATE TWO:
It seems that shame is an important motivator. From today's Washington Post:
The
Bush administration more than doubled its financial commitment
yesterday to provide relief to nations suffering from the Indian Ocean
tsunami, amid complaints that the vacationing President Bush has been
insensitive to a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions.
As
the death toll surpassed 50,000 with no sign of abating, the U.S.
Agency for International Development added $20 million to an earlier
pledge of $15 million to provide relief, and the Pentagon dispatched an
aircraft carrier and other military assets to the region. Secretary of
State Colin L. Powell, in morning television appearances, chafed at a
top U.N. aid official's comment on Monday that wealthy countries were
being stingy with aid. "The United States is not stingy," Powell said
on CNN.
Of course, one must take note of what happens when this administraton is shamed into a course of action - blame Bill Clinton!!
Earlier
yesterday, White House spokesman Trent Duffy said [Bush] was
confident he could monitor events effectively without returning to
Washington or making public statements in Crawford, where he spent part
of the day clearing brush and bicycling. Explaining the about-face, a
White House official said: "[Bush] wanted to be fully briefed on
our efforts. He didn't want to make a symbolic statement about 'We feel
your pain.' "
Many
Bush aides believe Clinton was too quick to head for the cameras to
hold forth on tragedies with his trademark empathy. "Actions speak
louder than words," a top Bush aide said, describing [Bush]'s
view of his appropriate role.
As I noted earlier - you can't make this stuff up.
UPDATE THREE: An mportant note on this story. There are several groups
out there providing relief aid to those stricken by the tsunami
now. Here are a couple that I know of immediately (not an
exhaustive list, by any means. Note: More links added 12/29):
Lutheran World Relief
United Methodist Committee On Relief
American Red Cross
... and for a good overview of other charities rasing money and providing relief efforts:
Bread For The World
If there are other organizations operating relief efforts that you support, please post them below.
The Return of the One-And-Only Donald Kaul
by
Trish Nelson
on Wed 29 Dec 2004 07:48 AM CST
 The Return of the One-And-Only Donald Kaul
MinutemanMedia
He’s
b-a-a-a-c-c-k....and you can find him at MinutemanMedia.Org – our
old friend, the world’s most under-rated columnist and RAGBRAI
co-founding father, O.T. (Over the Coffee) Donald Kaul…..Enjoy.
~~~~~~~~~~
DEC 22, 2004
by Donald Kaul
Who says
there’s no good news anymore? The news lately may not have been
thrillingly good but a lot of it’s been very funny, which is the next
best thing. For example:
Medals - [Bush] gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest
national honor that doesn’t involve getting shot at, to three
architects of the current war in Iraq, George Tenet, former director of
the CIA; Paul Bremer, former civilian administrator of the occupation
of Iraq, and Gen. Tommy Franks, the overall commander of the invasion.
Tenet,
you’ll remember, is the guy who said that finding Weapons of Mass
Destruction in Iraq would be a “slam dunk;” Bremer the chap who
disbanded the Iraqi army, leaving no effective local forces to keep
order, and Franks the fellow who, though he argued privately for more
troops, publicly supported the disastrous decision to try and run the
occupation on the cheap with as few troops as possible.
You know
who didn’t get medals? The people in the intelligence community who
were right on WMDs, right on the need for keeping Iraq forces intact
and right on the need for more troops.
Proving
again the truth of the maxim: “There is no greater sin a bureaucrat can
commit than to be right when his superiors are wrong.” Incompetent,
laziness, bad judgment - all that can be forgiven. A failure to go
along with the program, never.
I hope Tenet, Bremer and Franks enjoy their medals; they earned them.
~~~~~~
Deception
– Word comes via The New York Times that the Defense Department (and
they really should change the name back to “War Department,” don’t you
think?) is considering “manipulating” information it dispenses with an
eye toward influencing opinion abroad. There’s a technical term for
that, of course: “lying.”
Opponents
within the government argue the plan would risk shattering the
Pentagon’s credibility and might make folks skeptical of everything the
military says.
I feel
safe in saying that the Bush administration should stop worrying about
damaging its credibility overseas. It doesn’t have any.
Europeans,
Middles Easterners and Asians are far more cynical than Americans. They
don’t believe governments tell the truth, ever. It is only Americans
who swallow what their politicians tell them.
In any
case, what credibility the United States did have was shredded when
Secretary of State Colin Powell went before the United Nations with
badly forged documents to argue that invading Iraq was necessary
because Saddam had (the still-missing) Weapons of Mass Destruction.
So go
ahead and lie if you want to, people, you won’t be fooling anyone but
American voters, and only 51 percent of them at that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Donald
Kaul recently retired as Washington columnist for the Des Moines
Register. He has covered the foolishness in our nation’s capital for 29
years, winning a number of modestly coveted awards along the way.
E-mail Donald Kaul.
(click here to read the entire column).
 Rapid
Response is gearing up for action in '05 and Sinclair Broadcasting is
first on our list...Get in on the fun, receive action alerts.
Click here to join RapidResponse - Iowa.
Tuesday, December 28
John Drury: So What Does The Politician Do Now?
by
John Drury
on Tue 28 Dec 2004 07:09 PM CST
 So What Does The Politician Do Now?
by John Drury
Over Christmas dinner with my family, my father looked at me and said,
“So what does the politician do now?” That question and variations of
it are becoming very familiar to me these days.
I told him that one of the things I will be doing is staying on top of
and commenting on the issues that are important to north Iowa. I
mentioned that with only two weeks to go for the start of the Iowa
legislature, I am anxious to compare campaign promises with actual
votes taken and legislation introduced. We talked about letters to the
editor that could be written and other things that I could do to keep
my name out there and to hold our elected officials accountable. I
mentioned this weekly column as one of the ways to do this.
And as we talked, my father and I agreed that these were things that
everyone should be doing. We elect our officials at least partly based
on what we hear during the campaigns. We then expect them to represent
us and our interests, to take their oath of office seriously, and to
not necessarily follow the party line if it isn’t in their
constituents’ best interests. While voting is our duty, it is also our
duty to make sure that we get what we are voting for. My dad and I
agreed that often politicians get caught up in doing what their party
wants them to do as opposed to what the people want them to do. We
agreed that our government is too far removed from the people and that
it is a problem that needs fixing. My father and I often argue
politics. We usually have to agree to disagree—but on that day we found
agreement. Perhaps our conversation that day was a gift to the rest of
our family.
We should all be watching our elected officials to make sure they truly
represent us, not their own or their party’s special interests. A good
example of this happened a couple of weeks ago. Educators and business
leaders around north Iowa presented their concerns and ideas to
legislators in a “Jobs Summit” held at North Iowa Area Community
College. I was surprised when I noticed that Senator Gaskill was
missing from the list of legislators who attended. I remember one of
his campaign ads said he wants north Iowa to be a “haven for good
jobs.” It seems to me that he would have wanted to attend; it would
have been a perfect place to discuss that “haven” concept. Senator
Gaskill will get a letter from me asking why he wasn’t in attendance.
Perhaps I should ask him for his plan to create this haven.
In order to be politically active or even just actively engaged in
one’s community, one needs to pay attention to what the government is
doing. Get involved in the decisions being made and don’t be shy to
voice your opinion. Write letters to the editor, attend city council
meetings, and compare the campaign promises you heard to votes and
actions taken by your representatives and senators in the upcoming
legislative session.
We need to do these things to remain true to the idea of “government of
the people, by the people, and for the people.” Without the people’s
active participation, those words become an empty shell, just something
you memorize in Civics class.
Pay attention to your representatives, write letters, agitate for
change if you don’t like the direction our government is taking. Join
me in being We, the People.
Monday, December 27
Call to Action: U.S. Cutting Food Aid Aimed at Self-Sufficiency
by
Linda Thieman
on Mon 27 Dec 2004 12:59 PM CST
Call to Action: U.S. Cutting Food Aid Aimed at Self-Sufficiency
True Majority
It is disheartening at this time when the spirit of the holiday season is in the air that we open the newspaper to find: "U.S. Cutting Food Aid Aimed at Self-Sufficiency."
While the number of the world's people who go hungry is rising
for the first time in years, the Bush administration can find no better
way to reduce spending than to cut $600 million from global food aid
programs aimed at helping millions of people climb out of poverty.
That
belt-tightening of $600 million doesn't make much of a dent in a
federal discretionary budget of $965 BILLION (it's 0.0001 percent), but
in the developing world, it's emergency food to prevent the starvation
of millions, and long-term agricultural development to help people feed
even more people themselves.
Or put
another way, it's 1/60th of the $35 BILLION that remains in the budget
to maintain America's Cold War nuclear weapons equivalent to 150,000 of
the bombs that destroyed Hiroshima.
This is
so outrageous that there's now a BIPARTISAN effort in Congress led by
Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Missouri) to convince the administration that
global food aid should not be cut.
Let's
make our voices really count this holiday season and give the most important
gift we can, the gift of life for millions of our hungry brothers and
sisters around the world.
And we
can make it happen. Flood
your members of Congress with faxes. Click here to send a message.
Be sure to select the "fax" button, as sending a fax always gets
through to members of Congress. Emails are too often
deleted. This is a free service. No fax machine required.
Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community, and Culture
by
Linda Thieman
on Mon 27 Dec 2004 05:39 AM CST
 Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community, and Culture
by Dr. Maulana Karenga, The Official Kwanzaa Website
Why was Kwanzaa created?
Kwanzaa was created:
--To
reaffirm the communitarian vision and values of African culture and to
contribute to its restoration among African peoples in the Diaspora,
beginning with Africans in America and expanding to include the world
African community.
--To introduce and reinforce the Nguzo Saba,
the Seven Principles and through this, introduce and reaffirm
communitarian values and practices which strengthen and celebrate
family, community and culture. These seven communitarian African values
are: Umoja (Unity), Kuji-chagulia (Self-determination), Ujima
(Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics),
Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity), and Imani (Faith).
--To
serve as a regular communal celebration which reaffirmed and reinforced
the bonds between us as a people in the U.S., in the Diaspora and on
the African continent, in a word, as a world African community. It was
designed to unite and to strengthen African communities.
--As an
act of cultural self-determination, as a self-conscious statement of
our own unique cultural truth as an African people. That is to say, it
is an important way and expression of being African in a multicultural
context.
Where does the word "Kwanzaa" come from?
 The word
"Kwanzaa" comes from the phrase, "matunda ya kwanza" which means
"first-fruits." Kwanzaa's extra "a" evolved as a result of a particular
history of the Organization Us. It was done as an expression of African
values in order to inspire the creativity of our children. In the early
days of Us, there were seven children who each wanted to represent a
letter of Kwanzaa. Since kwanza (first) has only six letters, we added
an extra "a" to make it seven, thus creating "Kwanzaa."
Why is Kwanzaa a seven-day holiday?
Kwanzaa is a seven-day holiday for two reasons:
--In
terms of authenticity, Kwanzaa is modeled on first-fruits celebrations
in ancient Africa, especially on Southern African first-fruits
celebrations like Umkhost of Zululand which has seven days.
--The
central reason for Kwanzaa's being seven days is to stress the Nguzo
Saba and through this introduce and reaffirm communitarian values and
practices which strengthen and celebrate family, community, and
culture.
Why has Kwanzaa grown among African people?
Kwanzaa grows among African people because:
--It
speaks to our need and appreciation for its cultural vision and life-
affirming values, values which celebrate and reinforce family,
community, and culture.
--It represents an important way Africans speak our own special cultural truth in a multicultural world.
--It
reaffirms the most ancient tradition in the world, the African
tradition, which lays claim to the first religious, ethical and
scientific texts, and the introduction of the basic disciplines of
human knowledge in the Nile Valley.
--It reinforces our rootedness in our own culture in a rich and meaningful way.
--It
brings us together from all countries, all religious traditions, all
classes, all ages and generations, and all political persuasions on the
common ground of our Africanness in all its historical and current
diversity and unity.
Dr. Maulana Karenga
The Creator of Kwanzaa
Chair, The Organization Us
Chair, The National Association of Kawaida Organizations (NAKO)
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