A while ago I posted about the somewhat unnecessary criticism of everything the President does while in office in regards to the president’s swingset. Now, people are criticizing the Obamas for planting an organic garden at the White House. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart brought this “controvery” to my attention. (Apparently Stephen Colbert did a story on it too.) The Mid America CropLife Association apparently thinks that Michelle Obama planting a garden that won’t use chemicals is going to make people stop buying food that is grown with chemicals. Here is a copy of a letter they sent to “Mrs. Barak Obama” that was leaked out the a blog called La Vida Locavore.
So, this seems reasonable. They are just pointing out that in America we have a good food system. But what is wrong with people growing their own food?
Apparently, not everyone can grow their own food, so no one should. {Shakes head.} In an e-mail the MACA sent out to its constituents sent out to their supporters their true feeling are revealed.
I am not an advocate of organic gardening. I don’t care either way. I believe that food can be grown well with or without chemicals. What just really gets my goat is that the Obamas are not going around saying you have to live organically. They just wanted to plant a garden to promote healthy eating and this group, the MACA, that seems to be supported by plant chemical producing companies goes and makes a big issue out of it and misses the point of the garden, healthy eating.
In case you were wondering who is a member of the MACA, here is a list from their website.
As pointed out on the Food and Water Watch blog, it is especially interesting that they call it “conventional gardening” when people were gardening chemical free for centuries! Now, the organic side is just as biased towards being chemical free as the MACA is towards using chemicals, but the fact that this is an even an issue just makes me feel sorry for the Obamas who are trying to just live a normal life and promote healthy eating.
And, the notion that the White House garden is what is going to lead to people rejecting chemically grown food is ridiculous. I like that the White House grow organically, but the cost of organic food is going to keep me out of that market.
Also, the notion that the White House garden is what will out organic food on the map is also mis-guided. More and more stores, such as Jewel, are constantly increasing their organic sections and this is what putting organic on the map more than the White House is.
Both sides just need to celebrate the idea of growing food and eating healthy rather than focusing on the methodology all of the time.
The two best news shows in the country have covered this issue. Here are the clips.
He starts discussing the garden about half way through.
Top Three show tonight. Going into the night I felt like Kris was the underdog but I feel like he made up some ground. The contestants each sang two songs: a judges choice and their own choice. I found the judges first round commentary fairly useless. I guess that is to be expected at this point in the year, there isn’t a whole lot left to be said. Kara Dioguardi and Simon Cowell’s little feud was kind of stupid because they were both saying the same thing, that they wanted the contestants to make the song their own. Kara felt the need to point out that she has interpreted songs and Simon hasn’t which is kind of a Randy Jackson name drop thing to do, but then Simon came back and said that he personally spoke to Bono of U2 in order to get permission for Adam Lambert’s song, so he returned the name drop.
Round 1
Danny Gokey — Dance Little Sister
Danny came out singing a song I had never heard of which is sometimes helpful and sometimes confusing. I can’t tell if they are just doing a sound alike performance or if they are being original. I liked the energy he brought with the song even the through judges mocked his dancing. I don’t care if they are great dancers, but I like the effort. He did a nice little bee bop thing with the saxophone player in the middle of the song which I thought worked well for him. Again the judges didn’t agree.
Kris Allen — Apologize
I thought this was Kris’s best performance of the year. I liked the hip hop background beat combined with him at the piano. I thought he sang it well. Usually when I hear songs on idol I can’t imagine actually hearing them on the radio (this is especially true with Adam Lambert) but this was a song that I could totally hear on the radio. The judges seemed to disagree, so maybe it sounded too much like the original, which I have not heard. This was another instance where I was a big fan of Kara and her little, this is a song everyone knows. Well, sorry, I didn’t.
Adam Lambert — One
Well, I’m glad Simon called Bono because Adam did a great job with the song. He made it original and he sang it like a song that could actually be on the radio without losing his personal touch. It was Adam, but not so over the top as usual Adam. Not much more to say about him except he is really good and really should win the contest.
I don’t like to brag or anthing, but the credibility of my blog is growing. I was looking through the referring sites to my blog and I found that I have been cited as a source in a debate about video games. As a former collegiate debater at Northern Illinois University, I was thrilled to be included in as a source.
I realize that this is just some guy borrowing my blog post to help support an argument and that my post has know actual authority to it beyond my personal experience, but the reason I do this blog thing is to be a part of the internet community and share what I am thinking. So, it is exciting when what you are sharing is used and shared by others. It makes the world feel smaller and make me feel like a member of a larger community.
Idol was good tonight. I am not a big rock & roll guy so I don’t always get what is good, apparently, but all of the singers did well. I think I am done with Kara DioGuardi. Once she said “Rock God” to Adam I was close to being done. He is good, so that may be acceptable, but then saying Allison is a “Rock Goddess,” is a little over the top and she lost me. It really seems like she is trying to popular at times. When she critiques at times she has some interesting insight into the songs involved, since she is a song writer, but I don’t know that I feel that she has added anything to the show other than time. I tend to agree with former Idol executive producer Nigel Lythgoe that they shouldn’t have added a fourth judge.
The set was falling apart tonight and that caused the dress rehearsal to be disrupted. I don’t think that affected the show, but I did notice that it affected Paula Abdul’s comments. You may recall when Paula messed up a few years ago with Jason Castro’s comments after dress rehearsal and the changing of the shows order. Paula’s comments tonight were definitely not as solid as other weeks, so I wondering if she didn’t have a chance to get her thoughts together.
I liked the duets they added. At first when Ryan Seacrest started the show, I thought they were all going to be duets, so I was a little concerned, but just having two of them worked well I think. Now the recap:
I’m excited for Idol tonight. We should finally get two songs per contestant. I was only slightly surprised to see Adam Lambert n the bottom two last week. He is slowly becoming a one trick pony. He takes songs and sings them over the top in a very unique way.
I don’t know if cabaret is the correct word, but there is a style to it. Now, he sings those songs really well, but from what I have seen on YouTube he has already made a living singing songs in that style.
What I would like to see from him tonight would be to come out with his first song and do something different than what he always does. I am not exactly sure what that means, but I think we will know it when we see it. If he does a song like that and one of his normal songs, he should be sitting pretty.
Danny Gokey is probably the front runner because he does seem a little more marketable than Adam. Danny has some variety in what he can do and he can probably Continue Reading…
I’m excited for Idol tonight. We should finally get two songs per contestant. I was only slightly surprised to see Adam Lambert n the bottom two last week. He is slowly becoming a one trick pony. He takes songs and sings them over the top in a very unique way.
I don’t know if cabaret is the correct word, but there is a style to it. Now, he sings those songs really well, but from what I have seen on YouTube he has already made a living singing songs in that style.
What I would like to see from him tonight would be to come out with his first song and do something different than what he always does. I am not exactly sure what that means, but I think we will know it when we see it. If he does a song like that and one of his normal songs, he should be sitting pretty.
Danny Goke is probably the front runner because he does seem a little more marketable than Adam. Danny has some variety in what he can do and he can probably sing just as well as Adam. He doesn’t have the same stage presence as Adam, but that can be developed. I think Danny just needs to good songs. Probably I would start with a safe well know song and then come back with something a little more challenging. I have a feeling he will be safe as long as he doesn’t bomb either song.
Kris Allen and Alison Iraheta to me are on the same level which is one step down. I would probably rank Alison over Kris because she is a better singer, but Kris has a better audience relationship. These two need to go big or go home tonight. That probably means different a different approach for each of them though.
Kris needs to show some vocal strength tonight. He also should through in one song those shows he isn’t just a pretty boy. I don’t know what song that would be, but he can’t just sing two big sappy love songs.
Allison needs to get in touch with her teenage self. No songs about lifelong love or anything like that. We know she can sing those, we have seen her do it, I want to see her find a song she can connect with and then share that connection with the audience. In a perfect world she would sing “should’ve Said No” by Taylor Swift or maybe a reba mcentire song. Maybe “Come to My Window” but that may backfire.
All in all, I agree with the judges. This is the closest race in Idol history. Especially now that we see Adam is vulnerable. I believe only two champs, Kelly and Carrie, were never in the bottom three, so he can still win, but it seems to be anyones game now.
Whenever I play Mario Kart, Isaac does the same thing. Between races or whenever the music stops, Isaac says, “Uh oh.” Then when the music starts again, he dances away. It is just quite cute when he gets worried about the music stopping.
