Fresh Produce Discussion Blog

Created by The Packer's National Editor Tom Karst

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Tight Budgets, Fat Bellies?

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2010/06/08/tight-budgets-fat-bellies.aspx

Tight Budgets, Fat Bellies?



Does this grocery store make me look fat?"

You may ask yourself that question after reading a recent study from the University of Washington, which found that the more upscale the grocery store, the fewer overweight shoppers it has.

An analysis of Seattle-area shoppers between December 2008 and March 2009 found that only 4% of Whole Foods Market (Nasdaq: WFMI) patrons were obese. At the bottom of the list were stores where cheap food is in abundance: Kroger (NYSE: KR)-owned Fred Meyer at 22%, Safeway (NYSE: SWY) at 24%, and Albertsons tipping the scales at 38%.

The takeaway? Poverty correlates with obesity. As researcher Adam Drewnowski states, it's cheaper to eat ready-made, calorie-dense foods than it is to eat nutritious, high-quality fare.

According to MSNBC:

It's not a matter of availability, Drewnowski said. All of the stores in his study stocked a wide range of nutritious food, including plenty of fruits and vegetables.

Instead, he contends it's because healthy, low-calorie foods cost more money and take more effort to prepare than processed, high-calorie foods. In a separate study two years ago, Drewnowski estimated that a calorie-dense diet cost $3.52 a day compared with $36.32 a day for a low-calorie diet.

What's your take? Is your waistline correlated with your wallet, or is there more to the story? Weigh in below with your comments.

Fw: The Ag Minute: Obama's EPA Continues to Threaten ProductionAgriculture

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile


From: House Republican Agriculture Committee <agrepublicanpress@politicalmediagroup.com>
Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2010 15:16:39 -0500
To: Tom Karst<TKarst@vancepublishing.com>
Subject: The Ag Minute: Obama's EPA Continues to Threaten Production Agriculture

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June 8, 2010
MEDIA CONTACT:
Tamara Hinton, 202.225.0184
tamara.hinton@mail.house.gov

The Ag Minute: Obama's EPA Continues to Threaten
Production Agriculture

WASHINGTON – This week during The Ag Minute, guest host Rep. Candice Miller of Michigan discusses H.R. 5426, a bill she recently introduced that would direct the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to change its designation of milk as an environmental hazard. Under the Clean Water Act, the EPA instituted a program called the Oil Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) program, which directs producers to have an oil spill prevention plan because under this rule milk is considered the same as oil. If dairy producers do not comply with the EPA rule then they will be subject to punitive damages.

Click here to listen to The Ag Minute. The transcript is below.

"Hello, I'm Congresswoman Candice Miller and I represent the 10th District in the state of Michigan.

"Many of you may be unaware, but currently the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) considers milk and other dairy products a possible environmental hazard.  That is why I recently introduced legislation because the EPA's criterion, which considers milk to be like oil and requires dairy producers to have an oil spill prevention plan, is placing undue, over-burdensome regulatory requirements on our dairy producers and will cause a financial strain on a vital industry. 

"My legislation will prohibit enforcement of the EPA's regulations on dairy and dairy product producers, processors, handlers and distributers, and it would require the EPA to implement this exemption within 30 days of the legislation's enactment. 

"Milk is a natural resource and directing the EPA to proceed with exempting our dairy producers is a common sense solution. 

"We see on television every day the devastation being wrought in the Gulf of Mexico by the ongoing oil spill.  It is simply ridiculous for the EPA to suggest that milk presents the same danger to our environment as oil. 

"The EPA has an important job and it should properly place its focus where it belongs – on spilled oil, not spilled milk.

"I'm Congresswoman Candice Miller, thanks for listening."

The Ag Minute is Ranking Member Lucas's weekly radio address that is released each Tuesday from the House Agriculture Committee Republicans. To listen to previous radio addresses click here.

###

Agriculture Committee Republican Press Office
http://agriculture.house.gov/republicans



Forward email

Safe Unsubscribe
This email was sent to tkarst@thepacker.com by agrepublicanpress@politicalmediagroup.com.

House Committee on Agriculture Republicans | 1305 Longworth House Office Building | Washington | DC | 20515

A Guide to the Biggest Primary Day of the Year (So Far

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/09/us/politics/09zeleny.html

A Guide to the Biggest Primary Day of the Year (So Far


WASHINGTON — Of all the incumbents on the ballot across the nation Tuesday, of all the establishment figures whose careers are on the line in this midterm election year, there is no bigger target than Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic majority leader.


But will Mr. Reid’s prospects rise after Tuesday night?

That’s one of the questions that will be answered when the outcome of primary contests in 11 states — the biggest day so far this election season — provides a layer of clarity as to how Republicans and Democrats will be positioned in their battle for control of Congress over the next five months.

It’s a coast-to-coast series of primaries, with voters from South Carolina to California choosing which candidates will be on the general election ballot in November in campaigns for governor, House and Senate. Here is a state-by-state guidebook for some of the important races to watch.

NEVADA: Mr. Reid faces no serious Democratic opposition on Tuesday, but he will find out who his Republican challenger will be. As the leader of the Senate, Mr. Reid is inextricably linked to Washington and is ultimately responsible for passing the policies that have helped fuel the discontent in the electorate.

But Mr. Reid, through no doing of his own, may emerge in a stronger position for the fall. Three Republicans are locked in a vigorous fight for the chance to run against him. The candidate who has been leading in the polls is Sharron Angle, a favorite among Tea Party activists in the state. If she prevails over the former chairwoman of the Nevada Republican Party, Sue Lowden, and a Las Vegas businessman, Danny Tarkanian, the outcome would provide the latest example that the anti-establishment tide is alive in both parties.

Republican strategists in Washington, who have been eagerly anticipating the chance to knock off Mr. Reid, worry that their work could become much more difficult because they believe some of the views held by Ms. Angle will not sit well with independent voters.

Nevada voters also are choosing nominees in the governor’s race.

Gov. Jim Gibbons could become the first governor across the country this year — and the first in the state’s history — to lose a primary contest. A variety of polls have showed that Mr. Gibbons is trailing Brian Sandoval, a former federal judge, by a double-digit margin.

ARKANSAS: Will Senator Blanche Lincoln, a Democrat, become the latest incumbent to fall in a primary this year? First, Senator Robert Bennett was rejected by Republican activists in Utah. Then, Senator Arlen Specter was turned down by Democratic primary voters in Pennsylvania.

The results from Arkansas on Tuesday will test the old adage that things happen in threes.

Mrs. Lincoln fell short of winning 50 percent in the Democratic primary last month, forcing Tuesday’s runoff election against Lt. Gov. Bill Halter. While she has the support of former President Bill Clinton, along with President Obama, Mr. Halter has the multimillion-dollar backing of organized labor. And Democrats rank the seat atop the list of those that they could lose in the fall, with a strong Republican candidate in John Boozman, a congressman who won the Senate primary last month.

CALIFORNIA: Republicans will select nominees for Senate and governor, with two former business executives poised to become the party’s standard bearers in the fall.

In the governor’s race, Meg Whitman, the former chief executive of eBay and a billionaire, has invested a small share of her personal fortune in her race against Steve Poizner, the state insurance commissioner, who put up $24 million of his own money into his primary campaign.

It’s a back-to-the-future race. The winner will challenge Jerry Brown, the state’s attorney general, who was first elected governor of California three decades ago.

In the Senate primary, Carly Fiorina, a former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, is running against Tom Campbell, a former congressman, and Chuck DeVore, whose candidacy has drawn the backing of many Tea Party activists. The winner will face Senator Barbara Boxer, a Democrat, in the fall.

Representative Jane Harman, who represents the state’s 36th District, in Southern California, will find whether she, too, is swept aside by the anti-incumbent sentiment. Ms. Harman, a centrist Democrat, is facing Marcy Winograd, a leading figure in the progressive movement in Los Angeles.

SOUTH CAROLINA: The race to replace Gov. Mark Sanford, a Republican ineligible for re-election because of term limits who has been hobbled politically by a sex scandal, has become one of the most drama-filled contests of the season. A state representative, Nikki Haley, is seeking to become the state’s first female governor. In recent weeks, she has been accused of infidelity twice, allegations she has fiercely denied.

After receiving the endorsement of Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor, Ms. Haley became the front-runner for the G.O.P. nomination. The three other Republicans in the race are Andre Bauer, the state’s lieutenant governor; Henry McMaster, the attorney general; and J. Gresham Barrett, a congressman. There is a Democratic primary, too, but the Republican-leaning state is not expected to change directions in the fall.

Both nominations could be ultimately decided in a June 22 runoff election.

One incumbent to watch is Representative Bob Inglis, a Republican who is locked in a challenging primary in a district he has represented for six terms. He could become the latest political casualty of the 2008 vote to bail out the nation’s banking industry.

NEW JERSEY: There are no statewide offices on the ballot, but Republicans and Democrats are selecting nominees in seven of the state’s 13 congressional districts.

Party strategists did not expect the contested primaries to produce any upsets, but the races provide a test of the strength of Republican candidates in the state, including some supported by Tea Party activists. One notable Republican hopeful is Jon Runyan, a former star offensive lineman for the Philadelphia Eagles, who is trying to emerge from a field of challengers to run against John Adler, a first-term incumbent Democrat, in a South Jersey district that had been Republican-held for decades.

IOWA: The anti-establishment theme of the 2010 election year will be tested anew in the state’s Republican primary for governor. Terry Branstad, who served as governor from 1982 to 1998, is back. If he prevails over two other opponents, he will face Gov. Chet Culver, a Democrat and one of the party’s most endangered incumbent governors.

MAINE: Who will be the next governor of Maine? Who knows.

A wide-open race has unfolded to replace Gov. John Baldacci, a Democrat who is prevented from running again because of term limits. There are seven Republicans and four Democrats running in their primaries.

Supervalu tied to secret Walmart opposition

http://twincities.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2010/06/07/daily8.html?ana=yfcpc

Supervalu tied to secret Walmart opposition

Supervalu Inc. is among several large grocery retailers that have funded secretive oppositions to new Walmart stores, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

The Eden Prairie-based grocery was one client of Saint Consulting Group, which uses political and legal means -- often clandestinely -- to block Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s developments.

In one case, Saint delayed a proposed Walmart Supercenter in suburban Chicago to protect nine Supervalu-owned Jewel-Osco grocery stores in surrounding cities.

Former Saint employees told the Journal that managers, under fake names, would coordinate calling blitzes to local politicians, hire attorneys and traffic experts to delay the projects and train grocery workers to speak out against Wal-Mart land-use requests.

Supervalu declined to comment on the report.

Read more: Supervalu tied to secret Walmart opposition - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal