Public Radio On-line

I listen to a lot of public radio on-line while I'm doing work around the house. In my virtual travels I've run across a few good programs.

Speaking of Faith, interviews/conversations about faith, religion, ethics, and culture. The two shows that I listened to and enjoyed immensely were the interviews of

Harvey Cox, a professor of Divinity at Harvard, topics included the recent atheism vs. religion debates and the interplay that can exist between faith and other forms of knowledge

Barbara Kingsolver about her book, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life," in which she writes of her family's decision to eat only local organic foods.

I also discovered Mike McGrath's "You Bet Your Garden." Mike used to be the Editor of "Organic Gardening" and now has his own weekly radio show.

Consumer Culture on Public Radio

I hope everyone has had a chance to hear some of the series about American consumerism on NPR. It started last week and will continue through the end of this week. Topics include a town in the midwest that is attempting to become energy self-sufficient, where our garbage and recycling go, consumer debt, greed as a disease, and many others.

American Public Media Sustainability Be sure to check the archives for stories from a few days ago.

Local Farmer Prosecuted By State

A Newville farmer is being prosecuted by the State for selling raw milk without a permit. Police and officials from the Department of Agriculture raided Mark Nolt's farm in Newville, Pennsylvania confiscating thousands of dollars in product and equipment and threatening Nolt with jail if he did not stop producing raw milk.

Here's the story from WITF:
"Support voiced for midstate farmer being prosecuted for illegally selling raw milk 08/23/2007Scott Gilbert(Newville) -- Some Cumberland County farmers are rallying around one of their colleagues who's being prosecuted by the state for selling raw milk without a permit. Agriculture Department officials recently raided the farm of Mark Nolt in Newville, confiscating unfinished product and packaging. Authorities say Nolt had sold the milk and products made with it even after his license expired about a year ago. Jonas Stoltzfus, a neighbor and customer of Nolt and fellow producer, says recent highly-publicized crackdowns on raw milk farmers are misguided. 00006_stoltzfus1.mp3 The state says the milk is regulated because it can be harmful if it's mishandled. But Stoltzfus says that factor is outweighed by the need for consumer choice, adding he supports Nolt for defiantly selling the milk without a permit. Stoltzfus is organizing a rally for this Saturday at noon at Nolt's farm at 401 Centerville Road in Newville."

The Sentinel covered the story and has some great input from local people in support of Mr. Nolt: http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2007/08/18/news/news632.txt

Here's a second story just published in the Sentinel that at least partially answers one of my questions below: http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2007/08/23/news/news581.txt

Supporters of Mr. Nolt are organizing a rally on Saturday at noon on his farm: 401 Centerville Rd. Newville, Pa. 17241. Please bring a dish to share for a raw milk product picnic, signs, posters and a friend. Media coverage is expected.

After spending a few hours researching Pennsylvania's raw milk regulations, I have a few questions that I can't easily find answers to.

What is the cost of a permit for producing raw milk in PA? Why was Mr. Nolt's permit expired? He had been warned on at least two occassions by the state. It sounds like an act of civil disobedience to me. Is there something inherently wrong with the state requirements or permitting process? Pennsylvania is one of only a handful of states that even allow the sale of raw milk products. At this point, wouldn't it be wise to follow the law? I believe peaceful protests and acts of civil disobedience are the responsibility of the citizens of a democracy, but what exactly is Mr. Nolt protesting?

When I look around at the condition of agriculture in Pennsylvania, my intuition tells me that there is something wrong. I see family farms struggling to survive and going under only to be replaced by shopping centers and developments. The only operations that appear to thrive are what I would call factory farms: those operations in which the animals (typically cows, chickens, or hogs) live in cramped, squalid conditions and are treated like machines that produce milk, meat, and eggs for our supermarkets. We have very few small-scale farmers who take pride in the quality of food they produce, care for their animals and consider themselves stewards of the land. My last questions: Is the state really protecting our health by prosecuting Mr. Nolt? Or is it protecting the financial interests of large-scale agribusiness by squeezing the little guy?

Breaking the Silence

Here is a documentary by John Pilger that I ran across on YouTube today. It is primarily about the Bush Administration's "War on Terror" but covers the role of the U.S. in many other wars over the past 40 years. There is some info that I haven't run across before, but most of the content is well known and confirmed. I liked this one in particular because it's well-organized and direct. He also managed to get interviews with some current and former administration officials.

This is a five part video.

Drug-makers recall AIDS drugs from Africa

Summary: Swiss pharmacy company Roche recalled a low-cost drug used to fight AIDS due to contamination. The drugs were contaminated with a chemical known to cause cancer in high doses and genetic mutations in low doses. Therefore, the relatively small number of people in the developing world who had access to life-saving pharmaceuticals just had them taken away. The same drug is manufactured by Pfizer and is sold in wealthier countries. Due to licensing and regulatory issues Pfizer will not release this life-saving drug to the undeveloped world. In other words, Pfizer doesn't find it profitable to provide the drug at an affordable cost to people who are dying in the developing world. By the way, Pfizer raked in 48.4 billion dollars last year.

Write your congress person. Ask for meaningful healthcare reform, access to life-saving pharmaceuticals, and access to medical procedures for this country's poor and working class and for meaningful solutions to the healthcare crisis in developing countries. Pharmaceutical companies are making hundreds of billions of dollars by inflating the cost of medications here and denying life-saving medications to the poor worldwide.

Here's the story from the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/23/health/23recall.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Swim a little out from the mainstream

Every news outlet has a bias: liberal, conservative, pro-big business, pro-status quo… etc. The most popular media outlets are notorious for their biases, and most people aren’t even aware of them. (Most of our usual news sources are extremely conservative and sensationalist -- lacking in any real content or analysis.) The other danger of our mainstream media is that they are all reporting from the same point of view. That is the American point of view. There’s nothing wrong with the American point of view, but it is only one of many. Sometimes it helps to see the world and events through someone else’s eyes.

National Public Radio: http://www.npr.org/ You can listen on-line to current and archived programs. I often listen on-line as I'm cooking, washing dishes, or working on my blog. If you do listen please make a pledge to your local station. Our recent republican congress made an effort to chip away at their funding. Some say that NPR is liberal biased. I find their reporting even-handed and thorough in contrast to the typically vapid headlines and soundbites of most other outlets.

WITF 89.5 is Harrisburg PA's NPR station. http://www.witf.org/
WAMU 88.5 is American University's NPR station out of Washington D.C.
WVEP 88.9 Martinsburg, West Virginia's NPR station
WNYC New York City's NPR station has a lot of great programming accessible on-line http://www.wnyc.org/

The Christian Science Monitor http://www.csmonitor.com/ is recognized for the quality of its reporting around the world.

Grist, Environmental News and Commentary. http://www.grist.org/ No bias there right? If you're into environmental issues like me and like a little bit of dry humor to boot, you'll love it.

C-span http://www.c-span.org/ the inner workings of our federal government on cable T.V. and on-line.

Mother Jones http://www.motherjones.com/ Good reporting and analysis. Liberal bias.

The BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/ Internationally recognized for the quality of its journalism.

Please post if you have any other good news outlets or comments about the ones I've listed.

"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell

"Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country." -- Hermann Goering

"In true democracy every man and women is taught to think for himself or herself." -- Mohandas K. Gandhi