---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Frank Tamborello <[email protected]> Date: Mon, Feb 25, 2013 at 3:47 PM Subject: this is the real newsletter To: [email protected]
*To All Those Interested in Food and Justice... * A (usually) weekly update on food issues, promoting access to sufficient, affordable, healthy food ---with a focus on campaigns you can become active in! **** *Follow us *on Twitter @HungerActionLA . Welcome to all the new people on the list: please respond to [email protected] if you wish to use a different e mail or be removed**** ** ** *Feb 25, 2013: * * * The sequestration looms---$850 billion of cuts that were devised as a motivational tool to get Congress to agree on something better will go into effect March 1. Generally speaking half of these cuts are from defense and half from social programs. This sequestration was designed as the fallback plan if Congress couldnt agree on cuts, dating back to 2011 when the Republicans refused to raise the countrys debt ceiling if the Democrats didnt agree to severe cuts in social programs, including Social Security, Medicare, SNAP (CalFresh here), WIC and many others. **** ** ** The media is portraying this as a both sides are being stubborn kind of problem, but the bald plain fact is that what was proposed by the Republicans has always been an unacceptably high level of spending slashing that will impact the poorest Americans---especially women and kids, in fact almost exclusively women and kids as far as food programs go. The WIC program is possibly heading for huge cuts that may cause the elimination of kids over 4 from the program. WIC has had many Republican supporters over the years, and it would be a shame to see them put a stubborn partisan stance, designed to score a political victory over the president, over what theyve attested to as their own values**** ** ** ** ** >From Western Center on Law and Poverty: Without action from Congress this week, sequester cuts will begin on March 1st. Please see these resources to understand what the impact of sequester will be on California. **** White House CA Factsheet: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/sequester-factsheets/California.pdf **** Coalition on Human Needs CA Factsheet: http://www.chn.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/CA_sheet.pdf **** ** ** *1. Hunger Action Meeting Friday March 22* *2. WIC Under Threat: Contact your member of Congress today! * *3. Hospital Breastfeeding Promotion Bill Introduced* *4.Support Homeless Bill of Rights* *5. SB 283: Successful Re-Entry and Access to Jobs Bill Introduced* *6. Food Forward Recovers Thousands of Pounds of Food in Santa Monica:* *7. WalMart Pressing Charges Against Worker for Stealing Oreos **8. Are Junk Food Makers Worse than Tobacco Industry Giants? How Fritos, Coke and Lunchables Vie for Addicts*** *9. Fast Food Makes Up 11% of Calories In U.S. Diet* ** ** ************************************** *1. Hunger Action Meeting Friday March 29* The next HALA meeting is *Friday March 22 at LAANE, 464 S Lucas Ave, LA CA 90017.* All are invited. *10 am to 12 noon*. Bring your ideas for vibrant campaigns to fight for food justice in LA! The last meeting this past Friday produced over 50 commitments to action, already underway in South LA, Long Beach, the Valley, East LA, Downtown, and other areas. HALA members are collecting stories for testimony in support of the *Homeless Bill of Rights* and *Successful Re-Entry* bills, and gearing up to support restoration of cuts to *dental services for seniors in Medi-Cal. *Come join the fun!**** *Hunger Action Day:* HALA is also preparing along with numerous colleague organizations around the state for Hunger Action Day, which will be Wednesday May 22 in Sacramento at the state capitol. If youre interested let us know and we can save you a spot on the bus for the adventurous ride up the day before (Tuesday May 21) from an as-yet-unknown central location. **** ** ** ****************************************************************************** **** *2. WIC Under Threat: Contact your member of Congress today! * * * >From California WIC Association: Congress plans to cut WIC Program funding by 5.1% in March as a result of sequestration. WIC clinics across the country will have to cut 600,000 mothers and young children from the program and make dramatic changes to service delivery, impacting program effectiveness and undermining improved health outcomes. In California, 100,300 people will lose WIC services that are vital to a healthy start in a child's life, and many WIC staff will lose their jobs.**** TAKE ACTION:**** Go to the National WIC Association website to learn the details about proposed cuts. Tell your member of Congress to protect the WIC Program from these proposed cuts, using the NWA's email form.**** http://capwiz.com/national-wic-association/issues/alert/?alertid=62190791 ** ** California WIC Association www.calwic.org**** ** ** *********************************************************** *3. Hospital Breastfeeding Promotion Bill Introduced* * * Giving economically disadvantaged infants a fighting start to life, the California WIC Association is pleased to announce Senator Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) has introduced Senate Bill 402, legislation helping disintegrate barriers for babies and mothers.**** SB 402 will require all California perinatal hospitals by January 1, 2020 to implement Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding, as adopted by Baby Friendly USA per the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative. These are practices that hospitals can introduce to encourage and support breastfeeding moms. Studies show that babies who are breastfed exclusively for six months are less likely to be overweight or obese later in life, and may suffer less from asthma, cancer and diabetes: in fact $13 billion in health costs could be saved in the US if 90% of moms breastfed their infants exclusively for six months. 90% of moms do want to breastfeed exclusively, but dont do so while in the hospital because hospital staff are not trained in how to be supportive of the decision, and so they end up giving the baby supplements or formula, or separate the mom and baby when they should be kept together.* *** http://www.calwic.org/storage/documents/state/2013/SB402PressRelease_Feb222013_final.pdf **** ** ** ***************************************** *4.Support Homeless Bill of Rights* * * Area groups and individuals are stepping forward to call for passage of the Homeless Bill of Rights.**** AB 5-the Homeless Bill of Rights- is a bill in the state legislature that would stand against locally passed laws that target mostly homeless people for crimes such sleeping, standing, sitting, and even food-sharing in certain locations. This is happening in various municipalities in California and all over the country. Rhode Island has taken the lead by passing recently the first Homeless Bill of Rights. **** http://www.wraphome.org/work/civil-rights-campaign#bill-of-rights **** Heres a sample support letter for the bill: **** http://www.wraphome.org/images/stories/ab5documents/AB5SupportLetter_Assembly_.pd f* * * * ****************************************** *5. SB 283: Successful Re-Entry and Access to Jobs Bill Introduced* * * The Successful Re-Entry and Access to Jobs Bill has been introduced, by state Senator Loni Hancock. It has a number: SB 283. This bill would assist many people leaving prison or jail, not to mention our local probation officers, greatly by opening more avenues to people with past drug felonies, including eligibility for CalFresh and CalWORKs providing they are complying with or have successfully completed parole or probation. Thanks to co-sponsors Western Center on Law and Poverty, County Welfare Directors Association of California, and Drug Policy Alliance.**** For a sample support letter contact [email protected] **** * ************************************************************** *6. Food Forward Recovers Thousands of Pounds of Food in Santa Monica:* Sarah Spitz has written a story for Santa Monica Daily Press about Food Forward) and its Farmers Market Recovery Program, focused on Santa Monica. According to Sarah, But the program, now in four markets, is ramping up to 9 markets (they already serve Hollywood, Studio City, two in SaMo, and opening in Mar Vista on March 3). **** http://www.smdp.com/gleaning-program-provides-fresh-produce-to-the-needy/118442?doing_wp_cron=1361376290.2087941169738769531250 **** ** ** ************************************************* *7. WalMart Pressing Charges Against Worker for Stealing Oreos* Walmart is pressing felony charges against a 63-year-old maintenance worker who ate Oreos and other snacks on the job without paying for thembecause she was hungry and couldn't afford them on the $11.40 an hour she was earning after working at various Walmart stores for eight years.*** * http://rss.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/EdvBJmP2zns/-Walmart-pressing-felony-theft-charges-against-worker-for-eating-Oreos **** One reason that she may have taken junk food rather than real food: see next piece.**** ** ** ********************************************************* 8. Are Junk Food Makers Worse than Tobacco Industry Giants? How Fritos, Coke and Lunchables Vie for Addicts**** Its far from an accident that youre addicted to chips<http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=AhK99IUuWZ7aAI4b6hBK1exfbqU5;_ylu=X3oDMTFnMTFlb21tBG1pdANCbG9nUG9zdEJvZHkEcG9zAzEEc2VjA01lZGlhQmxvZ0JvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTJudDBxYnBiBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDYmExMjcwNjEtM2NkYS0zODBjLTkwYzEtNjVmYjdjNjQ5NGFlBHBzdGNhdANmb29kBHB0A3N0b3J5cGFnZQ--;_ylv=0/SIG=119bs8p5n/EXP=1362630969/**http%3A/yhoo.it/XpOmuo>or soda or pre-made lunch packs or probably any other processed-food you can think of, explains a very un-sugar-coated New York Times Magazine investigative piece<http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=AmSHE6KZ.vXOFNtrHB1XfelfbqU5;_ylu=X3oDMTFnaWFnZWRzBG1pdANCbG9nUG9zdEJvZHkEcG9zAzIEc2VjA01lZGlhQmxvZ0JvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTJudDBxYnBiBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDYmExMjcwNjEtM2NkYS0zODBjLTkwYzEtNjVmYjdjNjQ5NGFlBHBzdGNhdANmb29kBHB0A3N0b3J5cGFnZQ--;_ylv=0/SIG=13u2gfftl/EXP=1362630969/**http%3A/www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html%3Fpagewanted=1%26hp>. In The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food, previewed online now and adapted from his forthcoming book Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us,<http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=AheDsSfNh69QgW3r108AIF9fbqU5;_ylu=X3oDMTFnZTVzNmR1BG1pdANCbG9nUG9zdEJvZHkEcG9zAzQEc2VjA01lZGlhQmxvZ0JvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTJudDBxYnBiBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDYmExMjcwNjEtM2NkYS0zODBjLTkwYzEtNjVmYjdjNjQ5NGFlBHBzdGNhdANmb29kBHB0A3N0b3J5cGFnZQ--;_ylv=0/SIG=11g0ua04f/EXP=1362630969/**http%3A/michaelmossbooks.com/>Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Michael Moss delves deep into the long history of how snack food and beverage makers scheme with a mix of science, willful ignorance, and masterful marketing to sell mountains of their salty, sugary products. What I found, over four years of research and reporting, was a conscious efforttaking place in labs and marketing meetings and grocery-store aislesto get people hooked on foods that are convenient and inexpensive, writes Moss, adding that he talked with more than 300 current or former employees of the processed-food industry, from scientists to marketers to C.E.O.s.**** ** ** ***************************************************** *9. Fast Food Makes Up 11% of Calories In U.S. Diet:* * * And thats good news, because its actually down from 13% from a previous study. Income was not a factor in how many daily calories came from fast food, except among those aged 20 to 39, where fast-food calories dropped as income rose:**** http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2013/02/21/fast-food-makes-up-11-percent-of-calories-in-us-diet-cdc ** ** ** ** ** ** ** Frank Tamborello**** Hunger Action Los Angeles**** 961 S. Mariposa #205**** Los Angeles CA 90006**** 213-388-8228**** [email protected]**** -- JAI RAC-LA [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
