Journalist throws his shoes at President Bush in Iraq

FINALLY. 

Found

THIS was on the walk down Comm Ave today. I couldn't help taking a picture.

Dancing Matt

I can't help it, I love this video.

News to Me: Suicide Seeds

Many praise the Green Revolution, but agribusinesses have exploited the demand for genetically modified, disease-resistant seeds in developing countries, creating strains of plants that cannot be replicated for the next harvest, forcing farmers to continue purchasing seeds from these suppliers each season.

They've earned the name "suicide seeds" as farmers throughout the developing world, and particularly in India, have driven up large debts purchasing these seeds, and commit suicide to avoid these debts.

Inform yourself.
There is an illustrative article from TIME magazine here.
PBS' Frontline did a documentary short on the topic, which you can view here.
And for an overview of Monsanto, the main producer of these 'suicide seeds' and their other shady agrexploitative practices, there's a comprehensive article on Wikipedia.

All the more reason to support local, organic agriculture!

Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcake

"Better than Kick Ass Cupcakes" was one review of these!

Both the cupcake and the frosting recipe were from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World."

Special Comment from Keith Olbermann on Prop 8

A Tale of Two Tomatoes

A cutesy but comprehensive argument for why you should buy/eat locally: A Tale of Two Tomatoes

Quote from the website:

Here's a snapshot of the state of the food business today: Four companies control 80 percent of U.S. beef packing, five control 75 percent of the global grain trade, and five control 64 percent of the global agricultural chemical market. All this consolidation has been disastrous for many rural communities.

Farmers still holding onto the industrial system find themselves on a treadmill, forced to purchase seeds, pesticides and fertilizer from the agribusiness giants every year. And as farm sizes increase, community health takes a dismal turn: there’s less employment, more absentee ownership, and higher levels of poverty. It’s no wonder farmers are having a tough time when they receive just 21 cents of your food dollar -- the rest goes to advertising, distribution, and middlemen.

News to Me: Federal Case Against Steve Kurtz Dropped

I heard about this case a few months ago, when I was preparing listings for the PRC's quarterly newsletter and found a section on SUNY Buffalo professor/bio-artist Steve Kurtz on the MASS MoCA blog.

From the CAE Defense Fund Website:

Dr. Steven Kurtz is a Professor of Art at SUNY Buffalo and a founding member, with his late wife, Hope, of the internationally acclaimed art and theater collective Critical Art Ensemble (CAE). Over the past decade cultural institutions worldwide have hosted CAE’s participatory theater projects that help the general public understand biotechnology and the many issues surrounding it.

In May 2004 the Kurtzes were preparing to present Free Range Grain, a project examining GM agriculture, at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), when Hope Kurtz died of heart failure. Police who responded to Steve Kurtz's 911 call deemed the couple's art suspicious, and called the FBI. The art materials consisted of several petri dishes containing three harmless bacteria cultures, and a mobile lab to test food labeled “organic” for the presence of genetically modified ingredients. As Kurtz explained, these materials had been safely displayed in museums and galleries throughout Europe and North America with absolutely no risk to the public.

The next day, however, as Kurtz was on his way to the funeral home, he was illegally detained by agents from the FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force, who informed him he was being investigated for "bioterrorism." At no point during the 22 hours Kurtz was held and questioned did the agents Mirandize him or inform him he could leave. Meanwhile, agents from numerous federal law enforcement agencies - including five regional branches of the FBI, the Joint Terrorism Task Force, Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, and the Buffalo Police, Fire Department, and state Marshall's office - descended on Kurtz's home in Hazmat suits. Cordoning off half a block around his home, they seized his cat, car, computers, manuscripts, books, equipment, and even his wife's body from the county coroner for further analysis. The Erie County Health Department condemned his house as a possible "health risk."

A week later, only after the Commissioner of Public Health for New York State had tested samples from the Kurtzes' home and announced that there was nothing in the home that posed any sort of public or environmental health or safety risk, was Kurtz allowed to return home and to recover his wife's body.

While most observers assumed the Task Force would realize its initial investigation was a terrible mistake, the Department of Justice instead chose to press their "case" against Dr. Kurtz (see below for more information on the charges). Despite the Public Health Commissioner's conclusion as to the safety of Kurtz's materials, and despite the fact that the FBI's own field and laboratory tests showed they were not harmful to people or the environment, the Department of Justice continues to waste vast sums of public money on this outrageous and politically motivated persecution.

---

Clearly, this was a gross misuse of federal resources, a politically motivated attack, and a disgusting example of the ways in which the PATRIOT Act can be used to interfere in innocent people's lives.

More information on Kurtz's arrest and background can be found here and here .

Happily, Kurtz was cleared of all charges by a federal judge in April.

Kasha Varnishkes

I'm a big fan of Mark Bittman's "The Minimalist" column/webisodes. Yesterday I was reading the NY Times online when I noticed he'd posted a video showing him making kasha varnishkes:

Kasha Varnishkes

I've yet to try kasha, but I've frequently (and frustratingly) been reminded that my name is synonymous with this buckwheat groat cereal and its derivatives (i.e. Kashi) in a number of Eastern European languages, apparently all except Polish. My freshman year roommate chuckled when my Ukrainian friend started pronouncing my name the Polish way, informing me that in Russian, kasha means "porridge."

Well, Kashi cereal may taste like stale cardboard, but Mark Bittman puts kasha up on a pedestal and makes it look pretty darn delicious in this recipe. His version is not at all veg-friendly (he loads on the chicken fat) but could be easily veganized by substituting Earth Balance. This is one recipe I'm planning on trying soon - serdecznie dziękuję, Mark Bittman!

Kasha Varnishkes

2 cups chopped onions, or more
1/2 cup rendered chicken fat or olive oil
3/4 cup kasha (buckwheat groats)
Salt and ground black pepper
1/2 pound farfalle (bow-tie) or other noodles.

1. Put onions in a large skillet with a lid over medium heat. Cover skillet and cook for about 10 minutes, until onion is dry and almost sticking to pan. Add fat or oil, raise heat to medium high and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is nicely browned, at least 10 minutes or so longer.

2. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. In a separate, medium saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil, stir in the kasha and about a teaspoon of salt. Cover and simmer until kasha is soft and fluffy, about 15 minutes. Let stand, off heat and covered.

3. Salt the large pot of boiling water and cook noodles until tender but still firm. Drain and combine with the onions and kasha, adding more fat or oil if you like. Season with salt and lots of pepper and serve immediately.

Yield: 4 servings.

Also: All About Kasha!

Butternut Squash Soup

Organic Butternut Squash - Apple Soup!

I threw the recipe together and it's simple simple:

1 butternut squash
1 large leek, diced
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and chunked
salt, pepper to taste
pinch cinnamon
pinch nutmeg

Cut the squash in half and steam until pulp is soft.
Scoop out pulp.
In large pot, fry leeks with a few tablespoons of olive oil and salt.
Add apples and continue frying for a few minutes.
Add squash pulp and 2-3 cupfuls of water until desired consistency is reached.
Add salt, pepper to taste, and other spices.
Bring to a boil, then lower and simmer for 1/2 hour or so.

You can leave this soup chunky, or puree it if you have a blender. I don't, but I did use a potato masher to break up the apple chunks a bit.