Agriculture: Jefferson Quotations

c. 1781. "Those who labour in the earth are the chosen people of God, if ever he had a chosen people, whose breasts he has made his peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine virtue. It is the focus in which he keeps alive that sacred fire, which otherwise might escape from the face of the earth."

"Cultivators of the earth are the most virtuous and independant citizens." (Notes on the State of Virginia, Writings.290, 301)

1785 Aug. 23. "Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independant, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded to it's liberty and interests by the most lasting bands." (TJ to John Jay, B.8.426)

1785 Oct. 28. "It is not too soon to provide by every possible means that as few as possible shall be without a little portion of land. The small landholders are the most precious part of a state." (TJ to James Madison, B.8.682)

1787 Dec. 20. "I think our governments will remain virtuous for many centuries; as long as they are chiefly agricultural." (TJ to James Madison, B.12.442)

1793 June 28. "Good husbandry with us consists in abandoning Indian corn and tobacco, tending small grain, some red clover following, and endeavoring to have, while the lands are at rest, a spontaneous cover of white clover. I do not present this as a culture judicious in itself, but as good in comparison with what most people there pursue. (TJ to George Washington, GB191)

1795 Apr. 29. "It [agriculture] is at the same time the most tranquil, healthy, and independent [occupation]." (TJ to J. N. Démeunier, Writings.1028)

1795 Sep. 8. "I am become the most industrious and ardent farmer of the canton . . . ." (TJ to Madame de Tessé, DLC)

1803 Nov. 14. "The class principally defective is that of agriculture. It is the first in utility, and ought to be the first in respect. The same artificial means which have been used to produce a competition in learning, may be equally successful in restoring agriculture to its primary dignity in the eyes of men. It is a science of the very first order. It counts among it handmaids of the most respectable sciences, such as Chemistry, Natural Philosophy, Mechanics, Mathematics generally, Natural History, Botany. In every College and University, a professorship of agriculture, and the class of its students, might be honored as the first. Young men closing their academical education with this, as the crown of all other sciences, fascinated with its solid charms, and at a time when they are to choose an occupation, instead of crowding the other classes, would return to the farms of their fathers, their own, or those of others, and replenish and invigorate a calling, now languishing under contempt and oppression. The charitable schools, instead of storing their pupils with a lore which the present state of society does not call for, converted into schools of agriculture, might restore them to that branch qualified to enrich and honor themselves, and to increase the productions of the nation instead of consuming them." (TJ to David Williams, L&B.10.429-30)

1810 June 27. "I think it the duty of farmers who are wealthier than others to give those less so the benefit of any improvements they can introduce, gratis." (TJ to Joseph Dougherty, FB134)

1817 May 10. "The pamphlet you were so kind as to send me manifests a zeal, which cannot be too much praised, for the interests of agriculture, the employment of our first parents in Eden, the happiest we can follow, and the most important to our country." (TJ to William Johnson, GB572)

1821 July 30. "With respect to the boys I never till lately doubted but that I should be able to give them a competence as comfortable farmers, and no station is more honorable or happy than that." (TJ to Thomas Mann Randolph, DLC)

Source: Monticello

Cornell West on Bill Maher

Cornel West: "Never Forget A Journey Of Revelations" (video)

Dr. West is an educator and a leading authority on faith, freedom and justice, particularly as it relates to the African-American community. His insights are, as usual, critical, coherent and profound.

Social Ethics in the Making

Book Review

Beginning primarily as a settlement-house/pro-labor movement, social ethics now is diversified into economic, sexual, ecological, and ethnic studies. Where many have seen the loss of power in social ethics’ 'progressivism', Dorrien documents its increasing power in diversification of attention. This is a brilliant, nearly comprehensive, study of an important historical movement in American religion.

This ambitious and magisterial book describes the tradition of social ethics: one that began with the distinctly modern idea that Christianity has a social-ethical mission to transform the structures of society in the direction of social justice.

• Charts the story of social ethics - the idea that Christianity has a social-ethical mission to transform society - from its roots in the nineteenth century through to the present day
  
• Discusses and analyzes how different traditions of social ethics evolved in the realms of the academy, church, and general public
  
• Looks at the wide variety of individuals who have been prominent exponents of social ethics from academics and self-styled “public intellectuals” through to pastors and activists
  
• Set to become the definitive reference guide to the history and development of social ethics

Source: Amazon

Time For A New Declaration

If you haven't yet, read the Declaration of Independence asap! Thomas Jefferson kept it under 3 pages long and the parallels to today's government evils are astute.

Citizens from the town should present, as an official public service, the Town select boardsmen a declaration (not of independence, but) that, "whereas famine, disease, war, peak oil, and climate change threaten social welfare, the current system of government is ineffective, corrupt, and the cause of mass destruction." Just 100 active citizens can make this a big deal.

Citizens should declare their support for a specific list of legislation such as:

• Election holidays
• Publicly funded campaigns
• Local food-backed currency
• Zero-waste town zones & decentralized composting programs
  
• Universal health support with locally produced herbs
  
• Agricultural independence from fossil fuels
• Local production of electricity
• Local emergency service corps volunteers

Implementing these policies would attack the root causes of social evil and government failure: corporate oligarchs controlling the banks (money), oil (transportation and heat and 80% economy), media (communication), health-care (pharmacy drugs), military (the use of force), and big-ag. industrial food production.

Only organized citizens can prevail over selfish industrial interests.

Our society needs a Constitutional Convention, not just a re-organization.

~Publius

The Supreme Court Times

The Supreme Court is also standing back while Mr Obama crafts a new policy for handling terrorist suspects. In Kiyemba v Obama, a case involving Uighur separatists from China who are held at Guantánamo Bay but are not deemed to pose any threat to America, it opted to make no decision until October. The court seems reluctant to pre-empt Mr Obama’s efforts.

The court has been hostile to environmentalists of late, ruling against them five times out of five this session. For example, it allowed the navy to use sonar during exercises despite possible injuries to whales, and ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency could weigh costs against benefits when regulating water pollution, despite howls of protest from green absolutists.

Nearly 60% of Americans now say that they approve of the way the Supreme Court is doing its job. Before Mr Obama’s election, Republicans approved and Democrats did not. In June, even though the make-up of the court had not altered, it was the other way round. That’s the Obama effect for you.

--
Roughly speaking, there are four liberals (Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John Paul Stevens, Stephen Breyer and David Souter, who retired on June 29th and whom Ms Sotomayor is meant to replace), four conservatives (Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito and Mr Roberts) and one swing voter (Anthony Kennedy). In close cases, the court typically divides along ideological lines, with Mr Kennedy casting the deciding vote.

Source: The Economist, A Year at the Supreme Court

News From Planet Earth

Chinese Floods Kill 15 Displace 40000
The estimated number of people forced out of their homes had more than doubled from 150,000 on Saturday, with 140,000 displaced in Hunan provine and 100,000 in Jiangxi province.

A further 140,000 were affected in the region of Guangxi, where 62 schools were flooded. Xinhua said 300 students were trapped in one boarding school, but local authorities had managed to restore power supplies and deliver food and drinking water.

After four days of torrential downpours, the rain began to subside in some parts of Guangxi on Sunday, but local authorities warned of more flooding as river levels remained high.

Climate Change Legislation And Protectionism
A Pilgrimage To The Queen
War News For Sunday July 05 2009
An Oasis Amidst War Afghan Valley Seeks To Lure Tourists To Help
Climate Change Shrinks Sheep

Source: News From Planet Earth

Bill Moyers Journal: A Crisis of Metaphysics

Bill Moyers sits down with reknowned scholars Cornel West, Serene Jones, and Gary Dorrien for a fresh take on what our core ethics and values as a society say about America's politics, policy, and the challenges of balancing capitalism and democracy.

Cornell West
You can't be a Christian, if you're not willing to pick up your cross. And, in the end, be crucified on it. That's the bottom line. The rest of it just sounding brass and tinkling symbols. How deep is your love?

Try to overthrow the power structure. The way that we organize our lives.

We need economic democracy over society's major institutions.
...
You get an economic oligarchy, a financial elite that rigs the game and its system. And they pile up a mountain of debt and they overreach in good times. And then the whole house comes collapsing down on everybody else. And then you end up having to deal with the mess. And if you've got an oligarchy, which you always have in these cases, they are always very good at taking care of their own.

That's what elites do. And so, the question becomes, are you going to let them organize the recovery on their terms? Or are you going to break the power of the oligarchy. And then maybe get or build something better than what you had before. Now what I just described is not that much different than what Russia and Argentina and Malaysia and South Korea and plenty of other places have gone through. But it's different in this case, of course, because it's so much bigger. It went global almost immediately. And in our case, because we are so big, we can play by different rules than all these other cases. And that's happening, and that's what we're objecting to right now, is that we'll just sort of string along and hope for a recovery. And we'll just have the same thing that we had before.

...

How do we help them understand the crisis in such a way that the remaking of the fabric, which can allow our democracy to thrive, happens? And, again, I just keep thinking it's the simple concepts. How do we get people to rediscover love?

...

SERENE JONES: Justice is nothing but love with legs. Justice is what love looks like when it takes social form.

BILL MOYERS: And that's the trade union movement you talked about.

SERENE JONES: That's what love is.

CORNEL WEST: That's the woman's movement. That's the gay and lesbian movement.

SERENE JONES: You put it in policy forms.

GARY DORRIEN: It's the love that, that's what holds you in the struggle, you know. Even if you're not succeeding

...

...making movements toward the change of social structures themselves in the direction of something that's now being called social justice.

...

But most people believe in capitalism because they think it delivers them, it does deliver them, that standard of living that is at the heart of their longings.

SERENE JONES: But that's also why we need to re-craft the story of want. We need to-and this comes back to the whole question of love. What does it mean to begin to nurture communities? And this is why I think it's crucial for democracy to thrive. To make it matter to people as much that they respect others.

That they are engaged in a collective project together of running this world. Now, that doesn't mean to suggest that basic economic stability is something that we can turn away from. But it means how we build the whole thing up into a house that we live in together is going to have to be a house decorated with things that are not the things we want right now.

...

That is if you set up, have structures in which cooperation is actually rewarded where you have to deal with other people. Be solicitous of what they need. What they care about. And the like. That you can actually set up reward systems that make a better society. And sometimes he'd say you can even live out - you could be a Christian without having to retire from the world.

...

[President Obama] is subject to all the same requirements of truth and justice as any other president, any color. So my criticism out of love for, not just the people, but Barack Obama himself. How my criticism help him? Give him strength? He plans to be progressive Lincoln. Fine. That's difficult. He will be helped by more progressive Frederick Douglasses. That's what I aspire to. To help him push him in a progressive direction.

...

There is a reluctance of Barack Obama to step into the age of Barack Obama. We must help him do that out of love, not just for him, but for poor people and working people. That's when the age of Obama becomes the age of what Sly Stone calls "every day people.

...

It's a moment of euphoria! Which is blinding. But when we become more cantankerous, vociferous, noisy, in love, based on, focus on the least of these, he's going to have to take us seriously. And we just tell the President we are coming.

...

That's the challenge right now, is for us to listen to what's happening globally and to be able to track the emergent forms of spirit. The emergent forms of organizations. The forms of love and the forms of hope that people are finding on the ground in the midst of these changes and that is going to be sort of the spirituality that's coming. And it's coming fast.

...

They're coming up with new forms of music. And they're very committed to a sense of passion in it. To use a very scholarly term, I think we need to use it more often, I think it's a crisis of metaphysics. These students are asking, and their liberal professors, questions about, you know, "Do you really believe that God exists?"

...

But they're very hungry for what is going to make a difference. And how it is that they can live out their faith in this world that we're creating.

...

SERENE JONES: They're not afraid of hard thinking. But they also want, they want beauty. The beauty of the thought to inspire.

CORNEL WEST: This is one of the reasons why these new forms that we're talking about find black forms and afro-American forms so attractive.

SERENE JONES: Absolutely.

...

They want to have an orality that is smooth like Jay-Z. There is something about the black experience in America, at its best.

We know we got black gangsters like anybody else. At its best that speaks to these kinds of issues. You've got Martin as the best, in many ways, in the political sphere. You got Louis Armstrong, Sarah Vaughan, John Coltrane, Aretha Franklin. So much of the best in the cultural sphere. Now the young folk are hungry for it. We'll see. We're in a new transition.

Source: Bill Moyers Journal

Declare Your Food Independence

What is more emblematic of this country’s deep rooted commitment to rebelling against the status quo than the impending July 4th holiday? It’s a holiday which celebrates the collective commitment to individual liberties, freedom and democracy. As part of our individualistic spirit, how often do you seem to hear lately about people removing themselves from “grids.” I’m referring to energy grids, food grids, education grids and any other behemoth industrial structure that stagnates our growth, individual freedom and ability to operate outside of the confines of our sometimes restrictive corporate or government structures. While this should be a day that we each take the time to read the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights and celebrate heroes like Paul Revere, we usually instead we opt to take to our backyards to grill, baby, grill.

I’m not asking you to give up your cherished grilling time, but each of us has the opportunity this holiday to make a radical political statement by declaring our food independence. What does this mean? Well, it means a lot to each one of us as unique individuals. But, collectively, it’s about saying no to our industrial food system which is feeding us an unhealthy corn-based diet that is contributing to skyrocketing obesity rates, helping to fuel global warming, scaring us with constant food recalls and offering us foods that barely resemble food (a friend recently received a piece of sausage resembling a Pabst beer bottle. American kitsch? Yes. Healthy? No.).

It’s time that we return to our roots. Literally. We need to support a food system that offers us healthy, safe, sustainable, fresh foods. And what better time to begin than on Independence Day? Below are some tips for how to launch your food independence to have a healthier, fun holiday.

1. Skip the so-called “meat” hot dogs and choose veggie ones instead. I know this might be blasphemous for me to write, but unless you are getting meat from humanely-raised, grass-fed beef, you’re more likely to be consuming a hot dog filled with antibiotics, hormones, chemicals and corn. Not so yummy, eh? Instead, join with millions of others who will be enjoying veggie hotdogs during July-National Veggie Hotdog month; they’re tastier, healthier, have less environmental impact and are humanely raised.

2. Ok, so option 1 might have been a bit extreme for some of you. If you choose to eat meat this holiday weekend, check out Eat Wild for local, grass-fed beef and dairy sources.

3. Grill some fresh farmers market veggies. Skip the vegetables shipped thousands of miles and instead choose produce grown by a farmer near you. The Eat Well Guide is a handy online-tool that will allow you to find local farms and farmers markets.

4. Go on a corn-free diet. Corn is everywhere; it’s an ingredient in the food and perhaps even the packaging of a zillion products in our kitchens.

5. Don’t eat anything you can’t pronounce (excluding hard to pronounce international dishes like souffle or babaganouj). Don’t eat anything with more than 5 ingredients (this is care of the food guru Michael Pollan).

6. See Food, Inc. This eye-opening movie connects the dots to explain who and how our food system really operates. It will make you want to change how you eat.

7. Plant a garden in your home or join a community garden.

8. Choose sustainably raised seafood. Not to rain on your parade, but many fish-stocks are dwindling at alarming rates and many fish are filled with chemicals like mercury. Make sure you eat fish that are safe for you and the planet.

9. Start a compost bin. You’ll have lots of kitchen scraps from your farmers market produce which can be turned into nourishing, rich soil that can then be used on your new garden.

10. Choose hormone-free dairy. Do you really want to your sparkler-topped July 4th ice cream sundae to be made with hormone-laden dairy? Me neither. Choose organic dairy or soy ice cream.

Source: TakePart.com

After Watching Food, Inc.

1. Stop drinking sodas and other sweetened beverages.
You can lose 25 lbs in a year by replacing one 20 oz soda a day with a no calorie beverage (preferably water).

2. Eat at home instead of eating out.
Children consume almost twice (1.8 times) as many calories when eating food prepared outside the home.

3. Support the passage of laws requiring chain restaurants to post calorie information on menus and menu boards.
Half of the leading chain restaurants provide no nutritional information to their customers.

4. Tell schools to stop selling sodas, junk food, and sports drinks.
Over the last two decades, rates of obesity have tripled in children and adolescents aged 6 to 19 years.

5. Meatless Mondays—Go without meat one day a week.
An estimated 70% of all antibiotics used in the United States are given to farm animals.

6. Buy organic or sustainable food with little or no pesticides.
According to the EPA, over 1 billion pounds of pesticides are used each year in the U.S.

7. Protect family farms; visit your local farmer's market.
Farmer's markets allow farmers to keep 80 to 90 cents of each dollar spent by the consumer.

8. Make a point to know where your food comes from—READ LABELS.
The average meal travels 1500 miles from the farm to your dinner plate.

9. Tell Congress that food safety is important to you.
Each year, contaminated food causes millions of illnesses and thousands of deaths in the U.S.

10. Demand job protections for farm workers and food processors, ensuring fair wages and other protections.
Poverty among farm workers is more than twice that of all wage and salary employees.

Source: Food Inc Movie

Declaration of Food Independence

Although I like the intro, the Declaration itself is the antithesis of what I support. It's libertarian, free-market, non-interventionist, propaganda for industrial food production and the fossil fuel industry. It flies in the face of civic responsibility, equity, or environmental food and health care realities.

On July 4, 1776, America’s founding fathers signed their names to the Declaration of Independence in an effort to affirm basic liberties. But they never dreamed that anyone would someday attempt to strip the American people of the fundamental liberty to control what we eat and drink. In the spirit of affirming this simple freedom, we offer our Declaration of Food Independence. Because, as we’re telling Arizona Daily Star readers today, the pursuit of happiness is a lot harder on an empty stomach.

Click here or on image to enlarge:

Source: Center For Consumer Freedom

Time to Invest in Agriculture ($1.36 billion)

Unfortunately, the House of Representatives has made cuts to President Obama’s budget request ($1.36 billion) for global agricultural funding. If we can convince the senate to reverse those cuts, it will generate tremendous pressure on other world leaders to make similar life-saving investments.

The urgency is clear and in the face of escalating hunger, the current global response is nowhere near sufficient. In the 1980s, 18% of development assistance went to agricultural development, helping small farmers in the developing world – a majority of them women – grow more food and even lift their families out of poverty. Today, that investment has dropped sharply to less than 4%.

Source: ONE

New GI Bill

Tour Afganistan and Pay For College

The original Montgomery GI Bill funded the educations of 14 Nobel Prize winners, three Supreme Court justices, three presidents, a dozen senators, and two dozen Pulitzer Prize winners, according to Edward Hume’s book on the history of the GI Bill. But a recent study by shows that because the buying power of the GI Bill has diminished over time, current benefits are most often applied to community colleges.

Those statistics could change this fall as increased benefits under a new version of the GI Bill will help veterans cover a larger portion of the cost of four-year colleges and universities.

While still imperfect, the new GI Bill is an important step to finally helping them keep up with the skyrocketing costs of higher education, especially by encouraging more veterans to complete a four-year education.

Source: Campus Progress

Daily Show: Current Events

Osama bin Laden Needs to Attack America
CIA analyst Michael Scheuer nonchalantly proposes the needless slaughter of Americans to further his national security plan on "Glenn Beck."

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Osama bin Laden Needs to Attack America
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Jason Jones in Iran

Franken's Time
Samantha Bee explains that the Democrats' super-majority isn't enough to get anything done in the Senate -- they need a super duper majority.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Franken's Time
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Jason Jones in Iran

Burka Ban
Kristen Schaal believes that if women want to set themselves back by wearing a burka, they can at least be comfortable.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Burka Ban
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Jason Jones in Iran

Justin Fox
Instead of relying heavily on regulators, Justin Fox suggests simple, dumb rules to watch over the financial markets.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Justin Fox
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Jason Jones in Iran

Colbert Report: Current Events

Al Franken: the 60th Democrat in the Senate
1977 when Carter was president was the last time this happened.
Could this be the second coming of Regan? To cut back government?

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Second Coming of Ronald Reagan
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Jeff Goldblum

Representative Cynthia Davis opposes subsidized lunches for low-income children because "hunger can be a positive motivator." ...Do the right thing, and take her food away. Fox News incorrectly identifies Mark Sanford as a Democrat.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Tip/Wag - Cynthia Davis & Fox News
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Jeff Goldblum

Judge, Jury & Executioner
Firefighters, Gold Waste & Strip Search
The Supreme Court releases its decisions on firefighters' tests, goldmine waste and school strip searches. The Supreme Court is on break! Reverse Racism: 5-4, throwing out the firefighters tests was discrimination! It's the white man's turn to be oppressed: for too long, silent we have been silent about the trampling of our rights -- simply because no one was trampling our rights. Thank god almighty, I am caged at last. Gold mine "fill" (not waste) was dumped in an Alaskan national forest lake -- EPA w/no authority. Striped 8th Grader w/ibuprofen underwear -- unconstitutional.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Judge, Jury & Executioner - Firefighters, Gold Waste & Strip Search
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Jeff Goldblum