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Page 10 of 10: Entries tagged with 'politics'

Make the Farm Bill a Food Bill

In an atypically short piece (at least for him) in the New York Times Magazine, Michael Pollan says the current farm bill being formulated in Congress "essentially treats our children as a human Disposall for all the unhealthful calories that the farm bill has encouraged American farmers to overproduce." What's the answer? "The guiding principle behind an eater's farm bill could not be more straightforward: It's one that changes the rules of the game so as to promote the quality of our food (and farming) over and above its quantity."... More

North Korea's Barbecue Diplomat

There was a fascinating story on NPR that got lost in the shuffle in the days leading up to the holidays. On December 22, the network aired a piece on Bobby Egan, a Hackensack, New Jersey, barbecue-joint owner who for many years has been an unofficial go-between for North Korea and the United States. According to the story by Adam Davidson, Mr. Egan, owner of Cubby's BBQ Ribs, fell into the role in the 1980s, when some friends of his, Vietnam veterans, asked for his help in dealing with POW-MIA issues. Mr. Egan began assisting them, traveling to Vietnam several times and eventually making friends with the country's Communist officials. The Vietnamese took a shine to Egan and mentioned him... More