Tainted peanut executives "plead the 5th"

They refuse to answer questions, by invoking their Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination.

Too bad they don't live in China, if you know what I mean.

It is Sukkot, I think of as "Biblical Thanksgiving"

This is an agricultural and Biblical festival.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukkot

snip

The word Sukkot is the plural of the Hebrew word sukkah, meaning booth or hut. During this holiday, Jews are instructed to build a temporary structure in which to eat their meals, entertain guests, relax, and even sleep. The sukkah is reminiscent of the type of huts in which the ancient Israelites dwelt during their 40 years of wandering in the desert after the Exodus from Egypt, and is intended to reflect God's benevolence in providing for all the Jews' needs in the desert.

snip

In the Hebrew Scriptures, Sukkot is called:
“The Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths) ” (Lev. 23:34; Deut. 16:13-16; 31:10; Zech. 14:16-19; Ezra 3:4; 2 Chron. 8:13)
“The Feast of Ingathering” (Ex. 23:16, 34:22)
“The Feast” or “the festival” (1 Kings 8:2, 8:65; 12:32; 2 Chron. 5:3; 7:8)
“The Feast of the Lord” (Lev. 23:39; Judges 21:19)
“The festival of the seventh month” (Ezek. 45:25; Neh. 8:14)
“A holy convocation” or “a sacred occasion” (Num. 29:12)
In later Hebrew literature it is called “chag,” or "[the] festival."
Sukkot was agricultural in origin. This is evident from the name "The Feast of Ingathering," from the ceremonies accompanying it, and from the season and occasion of its celebration: "At the end of the year when you gather in your labors out of the field" (Ex. 23:16); "after you have gathered in from your threshing-floor and from your winepress" (Deut. 16:13). It was a thanksgiving for the fruit harvest (compare Judges 9:27). And in what may explain the festival’s name, Isaiah reports that grape harvesters kept booths in their vineyards (Isa. 1:8). Coming as it did at the completion of the harvest, Sukkot was regarded as a general thanksgiving for the bounty of nature in the year that had passed.

***
Since we share the same scripture in the Old Testament, Christians honor this too, calling it "The Feast of the Tabernacles," although it is marked and celebrated by only a handful of churches and forgotten by most.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feast_of_Tabernacles_(Christian_holiday)

Most Catholics know about this feast only because they recognize that there was a Jewish feast that Jesus attended in secret. I've blogged on that before but here is the cited scripture.

John 7:10-26

Paul also refers to his own celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Acts 18:21

I think of it as "Jewish Thanksgiving" or "Biblical Thanksgiving." It actually makes much more sense to me than the American holiday of Thanksgiving, which occurs late in November, well after the harvest has (hopefully) taken place. So when it is Sukkot I tend to think of it as the "original Thanksgiving." The American Thanksgiving, nice as it is, is not Biblical, but is about the Protestants who had their lives saved by the generosity of American Indians who fed them during the dire winter weather. Sukkot preserves the agriculture harvest and the specifics of salvation history in connection with God himself and his Biblical directives.

Earth could easily support twice the population

I'm sick of hearing people be anti-life and anti-baby and using existing poverty and environmental degradation as their sickening excuses.

If people lived charitably and were "their brother's keeper," there would be a dramatic reduction in poverty and an improvement in environmental quality right here and now. It would take me about a week to draw up the plan how it could be done, I mean, duh.

Further, the technology and knowledge exists in order to produce food and shelter in abundance that could feed and house and yes, promote a cleaner, not a more degraded, environment if people actually gave a rat's ass to do so, even if the population doubled.

But the money, the willpower, the morals and the know how are being pissed off in other directions and it has been an unbelievable waste, collectively and individually.

Sheesh, I'm so sick of people who want to deny life to other people just because they can't get off their pimply spotted asses (either literally or mentally) long enough to be both charitable AND intelligent.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Farm worker tragedy should remind all

I'm reading about a farm worker, a 17 year old girl who was pregnant, who died of heat exhaustion that could and should have been avoided working in California grape fields. Here is an article about what happened and the regulatory responses so far.

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/990485.html

This infuriates me and is a subject near and dear to my heart. I have always had radical solidarity with farm workers as Americans are increasingly dependent on them yet seem increasingly to take them for granted and not recognize the hardship, difficulty and danger of that work. As fewer Americans get their fat asses or skinny thonged fashion butts out of a chair to actually do something in a garden, they have less awareness of the backbreaking and dangerous work in the fields that they depend on to pick THEIR food and THEIR grapes for their wine tasting tours.

Those of you who are younger may not know much about the hero of the United Farm Worker movement, Caesar Chavez. Do read this about him:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_Chavez

He was one of my heroes growing up. I and fellow students would obey all of his calls for boycotts, noticeably grapes and lettuce. I remember not eating grapes for years as a result. He was a remarkable man of great ethics. Who speaks for farm workers now?

Now we just have smart big mouth conservative commentators who snark at "illegals" and the Catholic Church "filling their pews" without providing equal time to the reality of the hardship of doing the work, finding the workers to harvest America's food, and the corrupt middlemen. I'd have more respect for my conservative colleagues if they actually focused on the dramatic crisis of not having enough farm labor, legal or illegal, and the dangers of this work. No one paid any attention with another Maria died in 2005 being crushed by equipment, again in grape fields. Now this Maria is bringing attention though it took weeks to gather momentum outside of the local news area.

Not so long ago an entire strawberry crop was lost because the farmer could get no one to harvest. Conservatives snark that if farmers "paid a good wage" that "Americans would do field work." Are you serious or drunk? Americans won't do anything but play Game Boy.

Americans seem to think that their food comes from a plastic factory, cranked out right next to the Wii.

Though perhaps as the ethanol fiasco has pushed corn and other feed prices through the roof, maybe people are beginning to wake up that food comes from the results of low paying, dangerous and backbreaking work by farmers and harvesters. One of my greatest disappointments in my conservative colleagues is their ignoring of the farming and field worker crisis. All they do is snark about illegals, the Church, and farm subsidies.

I think that our young people have an opportunity to take a break from Web designing jobs and check out what is going on in the field worker industry. This summer I think students and other young people should try the work (though be careful) and see what is involved. Farmers cannot find people to milk their cows, and farmers cannot find people to work their fields, and the workers who do so are still working in harsh conditions. I think students should contact the UFW on field trips and find out what they can do to witness to what is going on and improve things before this country has a real food crisis.

Iran press report of mango grower saves species

The Iranian press has this article about a man in India who uses a mango tree to support the continuation of 300 species of mango fruit, some of which are endangered or no longer found outside of his tree. So many times saving a crucial part of the environment falls on a single man or woman's shoulders. What a great story and I hope he finds much success.

http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-22/0805300168201932.htm