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Posts Tagged ‘Policy’

(PRWEB) January 13, 2012

Greater Birmingham Community Food Partners, a member of the Health Action Partnership, has announced the members of the inaugural Birmingham-Jefferson Food Policy Council. The group met for the first time Thursday, Jan. 12 at United Way of Central Alabama.

Renowned food policy pioneer Mark Winne led the retreat. Winne helped start the first food policy council in Knoxville, Tenn., in 1981. He will help the council determine its leadership structure and set priorities for 2012.

“The food policy council becomes kind of like a table,” Winne told The Birmingham News in September. “Bring our ideas bring our food, so to speak and come up with a plan to have the food system work as optimally as possible for everybody.”

Twenty-one community leaders have been selected for the new council, tasked with improving Jefferson Countys overall food system. According to a 2010 study conducted by Main Street Birmingham, nearly 90,000 Birminghamians live too far from mainstream grocery stores and therefore lack access to fresh, healthful foods such as fruits and vegetables.

“The bottom line is that our food system affects us in more ways than we realize, and this council is a huge step toward correcting many of the inefficiencies and inequalities in the current framework,” says Suzette Harris with the Jefferson County Department of Health. “A lot of people simply eat unhealthy because that’s their only real option, and that’s not sustainable for a healthy community.” Harris oversees county-wide obesity initiatives for the Jefferson County Health Action Partnership.

Those interested in serving on the council in the future may serve on a working group in the meantime to familiarize themselves its goals and its members. To learn more about the Birmingham-Jefferson Food Policy Council, including working groups, call Food Policy Council Coordinator Jennifer Ropa at 205-229-7871.

Jefferson County Health Action Partnership is a coalition of more than 100 nonprofit organizations working alongside the Jefferson County Department of Health to encourage physical activity, reduce obesity, expand food access, advance smoke-free policies, reduce tobacco use and improve the overall health of Jefferson County residents. http://www.championsforhealth.org.

Birmingham-Jefferson Food Policy Council members are: Monica Baskin (UAB School of Public Health), Virginia Bear (Alabama Beverage Association), Hana Burwinkle (Jefferson County Department of Land Planning & Development Services), Craig Corwin (Jefferson County Department of Health), David Fleming (Operation New Birmingham), Burgin Fowlkes (Jefferson County Department of Health), James Gibbs (City of Birmingham), Keecha Harris (KHA, Inc.), Maureen Holt (Little Savannah), Aimee Johnson (American Diabetes Association), Natalie Kianoff (Childrens Policy Council of Jefferson County), John Obert, Jr. (J3 Organics), Mark Rubino (Staysail Group, LLC), Ama Shambulia (West End Community Garden), Scott Silver (Jones Valley Urban Farm), Ellie Taylor (Alabama Grocers Association), Spencer Taylor (Birmingham City Schools), Patricia Terry (Samford University), Paulette VanMatre (Magic City Harvest), Chris Vizzina (Campus Dining), Kristie Waters (Adams Produce Companies).

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Santa Rosa, Ca. (PRWEB) November 29, 2011

The Imperfect Messenger Foundation echoes a recent statement by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) who stated that “The failure of the super committee means it is time for the real committee, Congress, to act. Congress cannot delegate hard decisions any longer. Doing nothing will lead to the outcome both sides fear, massive tax increases.

On a recent On-Air visit with Host Pat Campbell of KFAQ Radio, which followed segments including both Senator Coburn and Senator Inhofe, Curtis Greco made an even more striking observation; Pat, there are several critical issues which are not making their way to the lexicon of sound-bites being passed on to the American Public and here are just a few; (1) The Committees formation breached the representative parity that is the essence of American Democracy and the essential and foundational element of Congress. (2) The basis for the creation of the Committee was the established mandate of Cuts no less equal to the increases in the Debt-Ceiling all of which was tied to automatic cuts in order to license further request for the remaining two, pre-approved, increases. All of which leaves us with the following question: Considering the Federal Governments Burn-Rate of $ 200 Billion per month, the fact that the DSC has predictably failed and the current approved Debt-Ceiling limit is fast approaching; has Congress and the President knowingly set the stage for a certain monetary collapse which they are clearly neither capable nor prepared to address? I believe they have and Ill make it even more clear, I believe the DSC was torpedoed by the Dems in an attempt to save Obama.

Many, like Super-Committee member Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa), seem to agree with Grecos assessment; That goes to the asymmetry of the incentives and I think there was something to that, the Senator remarked. The presidents fundamental campaign message was to run against Congress never mind the fact that half of Congress is controlled by the Democrats, but thats his purpose, and certainly an agreement in this committee would have stepped on that narrative for the president.

Grecos Policy Analysis is direct and to the point; in a recent article, Falling Over the Finish Line, he target-centered his critique: To cover the tracks of failure the concubines of excess will not favor actions aimed at correcting past mistakes; they prefer instead to do more of what has proven to expand the domain of failure. This is an acutely interesting observation when one considers the present state of the political, social and economic environs of our nation where every failure is not associated with the proven inadequacies of underlying policy but explained instead as being the consequential result of having insufficiently applied the ever-elusive elixir of extreme excess. We have not only institutionalized a need to fail, we have institutionalized the methods by which it has become a perpetual occurrence.

The Foundations analysis of the Debt Super-Committees failure concludes that this Nation is not years away from Financial and Structural Government Collapse, this Nation is in the midst of it! In an interview with Joe Galuski of WSYR, shortly have the DSC failure was announced, Greco was asked by Joe Galuski to explain the risks and here is what he had to say: The failure of the DSC is global in nature, it represents the efficiency by which the politicizing of government gives way to the lowest possible common denominator and solidifies for the world to see the means by which all once great nations ultimately collapse. What are the risks Joe? Here they are in bullet form:

The U.S. and many of the States are headed for the same financial firestorm identical to that of the E.U.
More and more, to circumvent Congressional Vice, you will see the increased use of Committee Rule being used to re-engineer Congress and many State Governments.
It is entirely possible that External Committee functions, perhaps orchestrated by the Federal Reserve by way of the IMF/World Bank, will be implemented. This is, in effect, what is occurring in the E.U.
The American People, already disoriented by the failures of Government and their own economic depravity, will be told, not unlike the former Bail-Out of Wall Street, that there is no choice but to accept the concessions made by Congress and the President. The Public will not be given a choice.

I do not believe the tide will wait for a 2012 Election and in fact, I believe that the Interest who are best served by this Conversion-by-Crisis will not want to risk opposition offered from the initial love-affair of a newly elected President operating from a sense of political obligation to a populist referendum. The die has been cast.

Grecos articles can be seen with regularity in various publications however feel free to source and view each of his commentaries online at The Imperfect Messenger Foundations website.

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