Thursday 31 March 2011

How Can States Raise Revenue?

By Mark Brenner

For related articles and more information, please visit OCA's Connecticut News page, Illinois News page,  New York News page, and our Politics and Democracy page.

The traditional union approach to budget politics is to accept the limits of what's possible-typically defined by politicians and lobbyists-and push for the best deal we can within those fiscal constraints.

Labor leans heavily on its inside game, and builds outside pressure in the form of anti-cuts coalitions that highlight the vital services public employees provide, and the harm that cuts will cause to the poor and vulnerable.

Unions may organize lobby days, but they don't do sustained member education, much less community outreach, pressure, or more militant tactics.

Raising taxes is painted as the political kiss of death, so politicians-and most unions-aim low. They avoid engaging with the deeper question of what a fair economy would look like and what role budgets play in getting us there.



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Wednesday 30 March 2011

Study: Organic Chicken Carries Significantly Lower Salmonella Risk

By Tom Philpott

For related articles and more information, please visit OCA's All About Organics page, Food Safety page, and our Factory Farm page.

This study from the University of Georgia's Center for Food Safety came out in November and has bounced around the internet, but for some reason I'm just now noticing it. It's worth a look.

The researchers looked at broilers -- chickens raised for meat -- from "three organic and four conventional broiler farms from the same company in North Carolina," and tested their manure for salmonella. They also tested samples of their feed.

Here's what they found: 38.8 percent of the conventional birds were carrying salmonella, versus 5.6 percent for the organic birds. As for feed, 27.5 percent of the conventional feed samples were carrying the pathogen, versus 5 percent of the organic. Recall that in the vast salmonella-egg recall of last year, authorities homed in on tainted feed as the likely source of contamination.

Now for the creepy part: 39.7 percent of the salmonella found in the conventional birds had resistance to no fewer than six different antibiotics. None of the salmonella from the organic birds showed antibiotic resistance. 



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