We have yet to see President Trump eat a vegetable or a piece of fruit! Red meat for him – and (on the endless Trumpy campaign trail) his supporters!

Rose, yesterday, before heading out to work on CECELIA. She’s tentative about the new country digs but remains a stalwart vegetarian! The only one in town?!
(sigh …)

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From PETA.ORG:

So curvy and pretty!

By Heather Moore

Eat steak and die. That’s the basic conclusion from researchers at the National Cancer Institute in Maryland.

They tracked the eating habits of more than 535,000 men and women between the ages of 50 to 71 for 16 years and found that eating red meat, including roast beef, pork, and lamb, evidently increases one’s chances of dying from nine major diseases: cancer, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s, diabetes; kidney, liver, and lung disease, and even infections.

The study participants who ate the most red meat were 26 percent more likely to die of various diseases than those who ate the least. Both processed and unprocessed red meat increases the likelihood of all cause mortality and death due to the nine aforementioned causes.

The scientists suspect that heme iron, a type of iron found only in animal flesh, contributes to the risk of dying from cancer or heart disease. The researchers believe that the nitrates and nitrites in meat may also play a role.

On the contrary, some feel that nitrates from plant-based sources may have potential benefits, particularly for cardiovascular health.

If you want to be healthy, eat tasty plant-based foods rather than meat and other animal-based foods, which are loaded with artery-clogging saturated fat and cholesterol.

Wholesome vegan foods provide protection against heart disease, cancer, and stroke.

Studies have shown that a low-fat, plant-based diet can even reverse the effects of heart disease in many patients, and research suggests that vegans tend to live longer than meat-eaters.

So, if you want to ward off nine of the deadliest diseases and live a long, healthy life, go veggie!

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Change your life this Labor Day cookout!

recipe:

BLACK BEAN VEGGIE BURGERS

By making your own burgers, you can stretch your dollar pretty far and you can completely control the flavor. For black bean veggie burgers, the only real requirement is, well, black beans.

After mashing the beans, you can throw in just about any spices and veggies you like to create a tasty mix for your patty. Try these with onion rings! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 cup diced red onion

1/2 cup diced bell pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

1 jalapeño, minced

2 cups black beans

1/2 cup corn

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1/2 tsp. cumin

2 Tbsp. chopped cilantro

1 tsp. salt

1/2 cup flour

Directions:

In a saucepan over medium heat, in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, sauté the onion, bell pepper, garlic, and jalapeño for 4 to 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, mash the black beans, then add the sautéed vegetables, corn and bread crumbs, and mix well.

Season with cumin, cilantro and salt and mix again.

Shape into 6 patties, then coat each in flour.

Place a pan over medium-high heat and add the remaining tablespoon of oil. Cook each patty for about 5 minutes on each side, or until lightly browned.

Makes 6 small patties.

Jett and Lilac enjoying their new doggy digs. (Rose is disoriented and depressed.) pic: R.T.

By Lisbet Chiriboga, M.S. Ed.

The summer fair circuit is in full swing, but for animals used in agricultural displays and 4-H programs, there are no fun and games, and there will be no prize at the end. Instead, many of those used as projects in these archaic programs will be “rewarded” for their participation with a trip to the slaughterhouse. The “lucky” ones will spend the rest of their lives as breeding machines.

Children who are interested in animals naturally gravitate toward programs like the Future Farmers of America (FFA) or 4-H. But these are the same programs that view animals as commodities, not as individuals with needs and desires of their own. Children quickly learn that the cow, pig, sheep or goat they take on will be either a “market” animal or a “breeding” animal. Although the animals are raised with genuine care, the ultimate goal is for them to be scored for their value. Cows fated to become meat, for example, are judged according to their “yield of the carcass.” Those destined to spend their lives producing milk are judged on their potential for “heavy production and a long period of usefulness.” Pity the poor rabbit with a “well fleshed rump” who will end up on a dinner plate.

4-H’ers spend countless hours tending to their charges. Cows are carefully clipped, pigs are bathed and sheep are taken for walks. Youngsters learn everything about their personalities, quirks, likes and dislikes. But at the end of the season, they must watch the animals they’ve bonded with and nurtured be sold off to the highest bidder.

Children are given the dangerous message that it’s acceptable to send their animal friends off to face a violent, terrifying death at a slaughterhouse. The disconnect is chilling. As one former 4-H’er blithely put it, “I can honestly say I looked at it as … an opportunity to make some money. … The rewards are greater than the heartache.”

Children’s natural affinity and respect for animals should never be snuffed out to make room for a cold, uncaring attitude that would allow them to abandon intelligent, social animals to their deaths. Teaching kindness is crucial to the health and future of our children.

As psychologist Aubrey H. Fine puts it, “Early life experiences seeing animals being treated fairly seems to have a positive impact [on] children and helps them in developing their moral character.”

It’s unfair both to animals and to children when their trust is betrayed. Animals go from a comfortable, sheltered environment one day to a terrifying and confusing journey to their death the next. And children who were carefully tending to their animals’ needs and snuggling with them in the hay between showings watch as their beloved “project” is taken away, never to be seen again.

But not all 4-H’ers are cavalier about this grim outcome. When one 8-year-old sold her first “market” calf, she lamented, “His name was Justin, and he was my best friend. We went to the fair and I got a blue ribbon. When the reality of the fact that he had to go to market hit, it was awful.”

Respecting animals for who they are, instead of focusing on how humans can profit from them, is a lesson worth learning.

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FYI:

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Donald Trump and his Republican minions are working overtime to disenfranchise minority voters via racist Voter I.D. laws, Gerrymandering, new Punitive Welfare laws aimed at LEGAL IMMIGRANTS, harassing/terrifying undocumented immigrants and refugees (caging their children/families torn apart/children still missing), SPEWING RACIST HATE SPEECH/encouraging white supremacists (President Trump, his top policy maker Miller, Fox TV personality Laura Ingram … the list is ENDLESS!!!). CECELIA file photo by Rose T.

By Edith Morgan

Vacation time is rapidly drawing to a close, and our minds are on a million things we still want to do before summer officially draws to a close. But, if you haven’t noticed, election season is in full swing! The date for the primary election is drawing very close!

Unfortunately, only a small percentage of eligible voters shows up, so that each party’s candidates are chosen by the few who show up.

This is not a good thing for democracy.

Recently, after much talk, there may be legislation that will require at least one course in civics in our public schools before graduation – and I assume that will be a graduation requirement.

Does anyone really believe that one course, probably in high school, is going to do the job? At one time we had some form of “civic“ education all the way through school. It began in elementary school. Each school year children learned about their role in America, first as individuals, then as family members, then as neighbors, then as residents of their town or city, then as inhabitants of their state, then the USA and, finally, as humans living in a global community. We were taught what the responsibilities as well as the rights of each stage of our growth were, and when possible we practiced them. So presumably, by senior high, we were ready to understand what the state and federal Constitution basically say and how government at each level functions.

“I” stands for “Inactive” Voter. If you are a registered voter, it will appear after your name in the book when you go to vote – if you failed to return your Census information every year when it comes. That way, the election commission will know you are still alive, still in Worcester, and you will be able to vote.

The polls are open for primary voters on Tuesday, September 4, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. (If you’re weak in math, that is 13 hours). If just takes a few minutes to vote – and primaries are where you make the most difference and where you have the most choices.

So why do so few people vote?

As I get older, I am much less tolerant of the excuses I hear. I work at my poll for 15 hours, attend training sessions and keep informed. I am nearly 88 years old! If I can do it, so can most of you out there.

So, don’t be an “I”! If you show up and VOTE, you will feel like a full-fledged citizen. And you will learn to appreciate the great privilege it is to have the right to express your opinion without fear of repercussions – and you might even run into neighbors you have not seen in a while, when you are at the polls.

If you need any information, call the election commission at your city or town hall. And if you really, really cannot make it, get an absentee ballot. But VOTE!

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From NEW YORK MAGAZINE (nymag.com):

By Ed Kilgore

Montana Senator Jon Tester is one of those politicians who radiate authenticity to white working-class voters. Photo: William Campbell/Corbis via Getty Images

A big subset of the argument about how Democrats should try to win back Congress this November is a narrower argument about appealing to the white working-class voters who have been trending Republican for years and trended even more heavily to Donald Trump in 2016. There is, as with every strategic question Democrats face, a “progressive” and a “centrist” answer to the question, and not a lot of evidence so far as to which, if either, messaging or policy approach works better.

At the Washington Monthly, an acknowledged expert on the white working class, Andrew Levison (he is also a longtime colleague of mine at the Democratic Strategist website), tackles the subject head-on, and argues that neither “progressive” or “centrist” viewpoint is dealing with the essential question:

[T]here is a compelling argument that both the progressive and moderate-centrist views are based on an inadequate conception of how voters in many districts across the country are actually making their political choices today. In many white working-class and red-state districts, Democratic policies and proposals, regardless of whether they are “progressive” or “moderate,” never get seriously debated or even considered. …

CLICK HERE to read full article!

Congressman Jim McGovern

Jim was contacted by several local manufacturers feeling the impacts of the trade war.

He asks U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to Survey Local Effect of Trump Tariffs

Congressman James P. McGovern has sent a letter to the Trump Administration’s United States Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer, urging him to reconsider increased tariffs that the Administration has recently imposed on foreign trade.

The letter, which the Congressman sent Friday, invites Ambassador Lighthizer to Massachusetts to speak firsthand with CEOs and workers who are concerned about the potential impacts of U.S. imposed and foreign retaliatory tariffs on the livelihoods of their employees and the fate of their businesses.

“I’m deeply troubled by the adverse impact these tariffs are having on small and medium business across Massachusetts,” said Congressman McGovern. “I’ve already been contacted by several manufacturers who are nervous about the uncertainty these tariffs are creating. They’re anxious about the impact on their costs, their supply chains, and their ability to fulfill contracts. And workers need to know that their jobs are secure and that they won’t be laid off because of these tariff wars.

“The bottom line is that many CEOs and workers alike feel that a lifetime of hard work and investment is being threatened,” continued Congressman McGovern. “I want the Trump Administration to hear directly from them and know the impact their trade war is having on our community.”

In the letter, McGovern wrote that he supports “efforts to reduce excess steelmaking and exporting by China,” “updating trade agreements to benefit American workers and consumers,” and “establishing rules governing state-owned enterprises, intellectual property protection, digital trade, and a neutral trade dispute settlement mechanism.”

But he noted those goals should be achieved through “negotiation and diplomacy,” not “tariffs that harm America’s small and medium-sized manufacturers and businesses.”

Congressman McGovern was motivated to write the letter after receiving calls from several Massachusetts businesses which were concerned about the impact the new tariffs would have on their companies.

“In nearly all the cases brought to my attention, it is not feasible for these companies to switch to a U.S. source – either because such a source does not exist, or because stringent qualification and testing are required of components and materials to fulfill manufacturing and contract terms,” wrote McGovern.

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CeCe💙💙, what are you doing in this post?!🐱 pic: R.T

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