DadTalk

Food Recalls This Time, It’s Pistachios

Here we go again. A full WEEK after the Food and Drug Administration quietly announced a pistachio recall, the agency is now telling consumers to avoid ALL products containing the nut, reports The Associated Press. (The agency is forced to punish innocent companies because apparently the FDA does not keep a registry or database of where the raw ingredients wind up.)

Like with the ongoing peanut recall, salmonella was found at Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc. The nation’s second-largest pistachio processor is recalling more than 2 million pounds of the nuts, which are used in a variety of consumer products including roasted nuts, chocolate and yogurt-covered candies, ice cream and cake mixes.

As I’ve already learned, it will be impossible to keep up with all the upcoming recalls, so go here over the next few weeks to discover which products are implicated. A searchable database is planned, reports the FDA.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Boy, it's been a busy week. I read two books to Lael's class. I chaperoned Seth's trip to the zoo. My brother and his family is in town. Work has kept me hopping.

Life should get back to normal soon, but until then, weeee.

The Sweet Poison Shuffle

Sugar is dead. Long live sugar!

It seems that American food makers are finally getting a little nervous about high fructose corn syrup and are switching back to sugar, reports The New York Times.

While nutrition experts – and likely most dentists – consider the switch nutritionally meaningless, at least one person besides myself in this world will be happy with the switcheroo: my wife, Anne.

That’s because she is allergic to something in corn syrup. Perhaps it is the corn. Perhaps it’s the caustic soda and traces of mercury. Whatever the case, sugar is better for my wife than corn syrup.

As I mentioned, the experts are having none of it, writes the Times:

Though research is still under way, many nutrition and obesity experts say sugar and high-fructose corn syrup are equally bad in excess.

And later:

Although researchers are looking into the effects of fructose on liver function, insulin production and other possible contributors to excess weight gain, no major studies have made a definitive link between high-fructose corn syrup and poor health. The American Medical Association says that when it comes to obesity, there is no difference between the syrup and sugar.

Well, I disagree. Look, sugar is bad; dental problems in this country surged along with the growing consumption of sugary foods and drinks. The stuff isn’t so good for blood sugar levels.

Is AIG Bailout a Smokescreen?

I can’t help but wonder: Why are lawmakers and politicians so motivated to recoup the $165 million in bonuses from a few AIG employees?

Why aren’t lawmakers and pundits equally or more concerned about the $11,000,000,000 that has departed the United States to benefit the French bank Société Générale or the $5,400,000,000 sent to Germany-based Deustche Bank? And why are we funding $8,100,000,000 to benefit the millionaires at Goldman Sachs?

(Notice how big the numbers are when you include all the zeros?)

The justified furor over the AIG bonuses is diverting our attention from the real issues: Why are U.S. taxpayers funding trillions of dollars worth of unregulated gambling disguised as credit default swaps?

Keep in mind, if it wasn’t for the AIG bailout, those three banks – among several other on the list – might have gone bust. By bailing out AIG, these banks were also bailed out but WITHOUT obligation to the U.S. taxpayer. Therein lies the real stench.

So why aren’t lawmakers (and pundits) screaming just as loud: Give us our money back, Société Générale, Deustche Bank and Goldman Sachs?

If lawmakers were really doing their jobs, they would be regulating the credit default markets rather than distracting us with comparative pocket change.

Rules + School = Dumb

Since the school year began in August, we’ve tried to arrive a bit early so that Seth can play and I can push Lael on the swings.

Only today, a teacher walks up to me and says that I can no longer push Lael on the school swings because of liability issues. If we were to arrive BEFORE the teachers start monitoring the grounds, it would be okay. But as long as Lael goes to another school, she can no longer part-take of taxpayer-funded swings at the school during our usual time.

Give me a freaking break.

Will Obama Plan to Improve U.S. Food Safety Fall Short?

On Friday, I received about 10 emails from the Food and Drug Administration for recalls related to peanut products. So perhaps it was appropriate that President Obama chose this week to announce an effort to fix America’s food-safety system.

From Obama’s radio address:

Food safety is something I take seriously, not just as your President, but as a parent. When I heard peanut products were being contaminated earlier this year, I immediately thought of my 7-year old daughter, Sasha, who has peanut butter sandwiches for lunch probably three times a week. No parent should have to worry that their child is going to get sick from their lunch.

In an unusual show of bipartisanship, Congress may already onboard, reports The New York Times. It’s just amazing to me that it has taken years and years for government to take action.

Consider this:

Legislator (Auto)-Responds to Letter on Education Cuts

Below is the first response I've received from three Arizona lawmakers and the governor after I sent them this letter protesting education cuts:

Thank you for sharing with me your concerns about Arizona’s budget crisis and the harm that spending reductions will cause. I share your concerns and want you to know that I am attempting to keep any necessary cuts to a minimum and find other sources of revenue. I am also pushing to give schools and agencies that receive reductions maximum flexibility to move what monies they have around.

Solving Arizona’s $3.3 billion structural deficit is a daunting task and one that cannot be done solely by cuts or solely by a tax increase. It is my hope that we can begin to increase spending for vital programs in 2011, as new revenue sources are found and the economy (hopefully) improves.

PS: Please excuse this form letter reply but the large number of emails I receive on the budget problem makes personal replies impossible.

John Kavanagh
Arizona House of Representatives

Digging Myself Into a Hole

Despite the great weather, Arizona is not the easiest place to garden. Sure, there are two growing seasons, but the soil. oh, the soil.

While some parts of the Phoenix area have nutrient-rich clay that can be coaxed into growing with relative ease, other areas, such as our back yard, is filled more with rocks than soil.

What to do? First, I took a course at Scottsdale Community College where I learned, that yup, I had to dig THREE feet into the ground and dispose of all the rocks. Then I needed to add gypsum to the soil to make it less alkaline. THEN, I needed to dilute the heavy clay with as much humus as possible.

Amazingly, Seth and I managed to get 18-24 inches deep. Since we live in a rental, there was no way we were going to go deeper. Besides, the deeper we went, the bigger the rocks.

Digging also took a bit longer than planned because Seth had to rescue and then observe each and every worm we discovered eking a living from the hardpan. How the little buggers moved through the clay without the Jaws of Life is a mystery to me.

Purple Hair

Last Saturday, my kids attended Springfest, which is a fund-raiser for Seth’s school. We skipped the fund-raiser at Lael’s school on Sunday. Too much stuff in one weekend.

Anyway, the kids had a blast and fortunately the purple stuff came out nice and easy.

(See the Jump for more photos.)

Observing an Education Rally From Inside the Parent Bubble

Because of my 25 plus years in journalism, I’ve never taken the liberty of being a public activist about much anything. Can’t be biased, you know.

So it was odd sitting on one of two buses loaded with more than 100 red-bloused moms and kids just before heading off to an education rally in downtown Phoenix on Wednesday. I emphasize moms because as far as I could tell, I was one of only four dads, but the other three were also school employees.

The rally was designed to send a message to Arizona Republicans, who are resisting calls for tax hikes to pay for the state’s expected $3 billion shortfall next year, reports The East Valley Tribune. Arizona, like California, requires two-thirds majority to increase revenue.

We arrived at a rally already in full session. (Our school has later release times for older kids, which delayed our departure.)