As I type, our senators are debating the fate of the next generation of Americans- they're debating how healthy they'll be, they're debating from where they'll get their energy, and they're debating just what form they'll take- the form of human beings, or the form of giant, swollen, fat-filled grapes.  The consequences of what are happening right now can be jokingly conveyed via extreme imagery.  But have no doubts- next to war funding, NOTHING in congress in the next 5 years will be more impacting.

At stake right now- subsidies for farmers producing cash crops; land zoning and usage practices; sponsorship of (thus far) frightfully inefficient ethanol factories; issuance of food stamps; and import/export policies.  But none of this, NONE of this, is as important as the COMMODITY TITLE!  The Commodity Title, in short, determines how commodities are measured in the marketplace, and therefore what makes for the best deals.

It's impact in the commodities market- sugar and corn subsidies get paid out per bushel without a cap.  A bushel is a LOT of corn, and it enters the marketplace at an unnaturally low price.  Were the subsidy to be capped, or the portions for the subsidy measured in smaller amounts, then worthless sugar wouldn't be the cheapest thing on the market.

It's impact in your home- the Commodity title determines FDA standards for measuring ingredients.  The FDA used to measure a "portion" as 250 calories, but 5 years ago the Food Bill, thanks to corporate meddling, made it so that every corporation could calculate it's own portion.  What's more, it established that the calculation of any ingredient in a portion less than .5 grams isn't a portion at all.

Let's take an Oreo cookie as an example.  I used my trusty right-hand-website, "The Daily Plate", which has all the nutritional info from, well, all the food in America, and lets you calculate the dietary impact of what you're eating.  It even factors in structured diets like the Atkins plan, and helps you make dietary decisions.  And it helps bloggers do research on why American food sucks. 

Okay, so I put in "Oreo Cookie" and get the nutritional info from the label, where a portion is listed as 1 cookie, 130 calories.  It also lists the saturated fat content as 0 grams.  Were the portion size to be the old standard of 250 calories (2 cookies), 0 grams of saturated fat would suddenly, magically transform into 1 gram of artery cloggin gunk.  And the Commodity Title allows for this mis-information.

The Daily Plate is in no way to blame for this tragedy- they're offering a free service that lets those of us concerned with what we put in our bodies make really informed decisions; they're trying to provide the best information possible to consumers that deserve the facts.  But the Farm Bill right now makes the best information available totally corruptable to meet the demands of big business, and most consumers are none the wiser.

And aren't likely to be any more the wiser anytime soon.  The Farm bill, which might have had some hope of opening up in the Senate, is basically dead thanks to failed leadership.  So we're all going to continue eating cheap, crappy sugar and thinking it's good for us, probably for another 5 years.  It makes me sick, it makes you sick, it makes EVERYBODY sick.  This is the worst think being ignored in America right now....

Besides, perhaps, the price of oil.  But that's another topic....