Two months ago, I sent a note to my congressman, George Radanovich (California’s 19th Congressional District), asking him about his impending vote on the Health Care Reform bill. Today, I received a message from him. Here it is, with my response to him…

” Dear Friend:

Thank you for contacting me regarding H.R. 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. I appreciate hearing your thoughts and concerns… Continue reading

Earlier today, a small business owner friend of mine sent me this message:

“Glad to see you are blogging again. I don’t know much at all about the new health care bill, but based on what I learned the other day on a restaurant focused webinar this is what I think: You, a self-employed business owner without employees are probably winners. We, having less than 50 full-time employees, with… Continue reading

10 THINGS EVERY AMERICAN SHOULD KNOW ABOUT HEALTH CARE REFORM

1. Once reform is fully implemented, over 95% of Americans will have health insurance coverage, including 32 million who are currently uninsured.2

2. Health insurance companies will no longer be allowed to deny people coverage because of preexisting conditions—or to drop coverage when people become sick.3

3. Just like members of Congress, individuals and small businesses who can’t afford to… Continue reading

My Friend Liz (@hyperlocavore), posted this very cool video on facebook earlier today. Well worth the time, it is also entertaining and, most likely, eye opening for many city dwellers. Enjoy! More details at http://cookingupastory.com/novella-carpenter-e-interview … Continue reading

This is in response to a recently published article “Who Owns Good Food” by Zachary Adam Cohen on the Huffington Post. Being too lengthy, this comment exceeded the 250 word limitation of the blog, hence this post.

Nothing can be accomplished in the effort to reshape our food system from a broken, misdirected trajectory to a sustainable triple bottom line system, without shedding old… Continue reading

Dear Congress Person / Senator,

Soon you will be asked to vote on a badly needed health care reform, which will potentially reshape the health care and health insurance industries for the better. I strongly urge you to pass the most aggressive health care reform bill, which must include a subsidized public option, as long as the public option means that one can purchase affordable health insurance from a… Continue reading

Movie: A compelling analysis of food production practices since the 19th century, sharp reduction of food diversity, and the probable impact of 20th century patent decisions and 21st century biotechnology industry as well as potential issues in the management and control of world food production and distribution. Deborah Koons Garcia directed this gem and can be contacted from the movie’s website at http://www.thefutureoffood.com/

Tags: famine, Farming, Food industry

It is hardly possible to talk about the current economic mess without mentioning AIG, the bailouts, the executive bonuses debacle and so on… but I will leave that to the other blogs, remaining newspapers and other news commentary outlets. The AIG mess is indeed worth discussing, but there are other very real aspects of this depression – let’s call it what it really is – with cities across the country… Continue reading

Tags: bailout, depression, Economic Downturn, housing bubble

Good reporting and the need for journalists to investigate current events, to ferret out worthy stories and to eloquently present their findings to their readers are not about go away. Indeed, the diluted quality of reporting, prevalent during the past 8 years, can partly explain the downfall of newspaper publishing, but the physical medium of the newspaper publishing business itself was doomed to eventually lose its appeal. The web offers… Continue reading

Tags: internet, marketing, newspapers, publishing

I don’t know about you, but I have already read most of its articles, hours, sometimes even days, before I pick up my damp newspaper from our driveway in the cold morning air. I peruse the local information only because the local newspaper publisher is too scared of the Internet to fully embrace it. But that’s ok because its often poorly composed articles are rarely worth the paper on which… Continue reading

Tags: advertising, Economic Downturn, internet, newspapers, publishing, television

Real Time with Bill Maher reconvened for the seventh season this evening on HBO. Bill acknowledged that his role as America’s court jester will be more difficult under a new president who is neither “a horny hillbilly” nor an “illiterate dumb ass”. His first ever three-woman panel featured Maxine Waters, the Los Angeles Democratic House Representative, Tina Brown, editor-in-chief of TheDailyBeast.com and Chrystia Freeland, US managing editor of the Financial… Continue reading

Tags: Entertainment