Something to think about on this tax day... where will more than a quarter trillion dollars go over the next few years?

Answer: The [Food &] Farm Bill.

The corn kernels you eat, whether on the cob, frozen or canned is sweet corn and is less than 2/10th of 1% of the corn grown.

Independent Lens will be showing the documentary film, King Corn (lots of really good stuff to explore at that link) which was released last October. About a couple guys who buy an acre to see what it takes to grow corn. This is an important film (and pretty fun) since the [Food &] Farm Bill is currently in Congress being reconciled (not too late to call).

.... .... .... .... ....

I'm posting this as the fluffy bunny tale end of the diary I posted several hours ago but didn't have room for to include all I wanted so cut short. Please consider this a complementary companion diary to my earlier one:

Uncage the Chocolate Easter Bunny: Modern Child Slavery
by CSI Bentonville
Sat Mar 22, 2008 at 02:27:04 PM EDT

Bonus is that it's a non-can-did-ate diary to occupy those with insomnia overnight. :)

It takes
10 full
cacao
pods
to make
6 bars
of chocolate.

I posted a diary way back during the Winter Solstice on how the chocolate trade is made possible through the use of child slave labor.  After seeing the posting from Meteor Blades this morning on the Front Page, I figured, perhaps it’s time for part Deux, what you can do.

So, join me on the flip and just in case you need a refresher, you can read

Slaves to Chocolate or you can read what inspired me on Buzz Flash.

The Irony of Valentine's Day is that so much of what we give as gifts are awash in pain and suffering. It does not have to be that way.

THE TOPICS:
In this diary I'll talk about possible gifts for your Valentines as well as alternatives, providing much alternative and further reading at your discretion. Among the topics included are:

♥ Flowers
♥ Non-Sweets
♥ Chocolate
♥ Coffee
♥ Doing Without
♥ Dinner & a Show
♥ Jewelry
♥ Wine
♥ How to find "Love" and support kossoks too

Part of how I ended up at dKos was finding out how Republican the grocery store Safeway was. I already despised Wal-Mart (and more with each new thing I discovered about them) but was still to discover just how neck-deep in Neo-Con they are.

Essentially, I didn't want another damn dollar of mine going to support Bushco keeping them in power. As Dr. Phil would say:

Coca-cola, Chiquita, and Nestle' are fucking up Colombia.

Chiquita Brands International will plead guilty to doing business with gunmen in Colombia. Prosecutors said the banana company made $1.7 million in "protection payments" to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, a right-wing paramilitary group linked to some of Colombia's worst massacres. The company will pay $25 million to settle the charges.

This morning, NPR reports  that Chiquita paid 1.7 million to a right wing paramilitaty group in Columbia to "make a problem go away".

Last Monday, after the Superbowl, Bill in Portland Maine reminded me about the Mars candy bar family with his diary.

I'd already been avoiding Mars, Inc for a number of reasons mostly for being one of the 18 families behind the Estate Tax Repeal who are conning us with astro-turf groups, lobbying and campaign donations among other things.

Then, a diary on Saturday heavily featured Godiva chocolates owned by Campbell's, another of the 18 behind the push to repeal of the estate tax.

There's this big holiday coming up. If you haven't figured it out yet I'd like to introduce some products with ideals we share to break the chains of Republican companies that don't need our gold to finance politics against us.

Slip into something more comfy then follow me into my boudoir for some ideas that may help you hold onto your values while expressing the value you hold for the special people in your life.