So, I don't see any real fact that would say anything whatsoever about my statement about fruits and veggies being associated with leftism or elitism, which is what you quoted. I don't even see any opinions on that statement. I can't even tell whether you agree with me or not. I'm guessing not, since you seem to think we're in an argument?

So, fine. I've re-read each of your comments, and have come up with the perfectly logical conclusion that you don't know what the word “fact” means, nor do you understand the grammatical use of parentheses.

Go back and re-read, also learn from what's in the parentheses. No demands for repetition, citations, studies (all of such are subsequently subject to additional stalling or argument just to waste time for waste's sake) accepted.

I'm sorry, I guess I missed those facts? To which facts are you referring?

It's been a mixed assignment for me all over the USA — when I was in St. Louis metro, I was in a bluey-blue spot (yard signs: “INSTEAD OF WAR — INVEST IN PEOPLE”) where my favorite restaurant had “WANTED FOR WAR CRIMES: GEORGE W. BUSH” and the like posters in its front doorway.

I don't believe Washington will reform agricultural policy (much less, for the better) any time soon. That (real reform, at least) would require a dimunition of Washington's power and intervention in agriculture.

* * *

“It does seem quite odd that fresh fruits and veggies have somehow been branded as leftist or elitist”

That's because it requires odd “reasoning” to contrive that claim rather than face the facts that I list.

(Of course, one prerequisite for acquiring the facts is to be informed, perhaps read about things like urban gardening in addition to, say, knowing about or patronizing Whole Foods, Wild Oats before it was taken over, local markets or farmer's markets, reading about urban gardening and related projects, and so on…)

Crooks and Liars has a great piece on how the right side of the room sees the world:

Thom Hartmann: Day in the Life of Joe Middle-Class Republican

Joe gets up at 6:00am to prepare his morning coffee. He fills his pot full of good clean drinking water because some liberal fought for minimum water quality standards. He takes his daily medication with his first swallow of coffee. His medications are safe to take because some liberal fought to insure their safety and work as advertised.

All but $10.00 of his medications are paid for by his employers medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance, now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs this day. Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because some liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

Joe takes his morning shower reaching for his shampoo; His bottle is properly labeled with every ingredient and the amount of its contents because some liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained. Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some tree hugging liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He walks to the subway station for his government subsidized ride to work; it saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees. You see, some liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Joe begins his work day; he has a good job with excellent pay, medicals benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe’s employer pays these standards because Joe’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed he’ll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some liberal didn’t think he should loose his home because of his temporary misfortune.

[...]

As for superbugs, I guess it's really not a concern if you don't believe in evolution, so of course that concern must be a lefty conspiracy.

I do (amazingly) agree with this statement from DLS: “Americans don't need or want the federal government or other government behaving paternalistically when it comes to lifestyle choices”. It's true — both for the lib causes like abortion and sexual preference, as well as conservative causes like whether or not we eat meat or smoke cigarettes or get good gas mileage. My problem with the way the government currently deals with food in particular is not that I think they need to tell us what to eat, just give healthy food the same chance as crap food by taking away the subsidies that lead to having every darn thing we put in our mouths pumped up with hydrogenated soybean oil and high fructose corn syrup. They are *currently* telling us what to eat by tipping the favor toward things that make up far to big a part of the national diet.

Of course, there are a lot of Texans that will tell you Austin isn't really Texas, and I admit in many ways it isn't. It is more like a chunk of San Fransisco dropped dap smack in the middle of Hill Country.

That is why I love it here, though. I have always lived in liberal areas (shocking, I know) like Hawaii, San Francisco, Pennington, NJ, and now Austin. I wanted my children raised around communities known for openness and acceptance, not intolerance.

Leave the silly faddism (and worse) out of this, and just seek rational agricultural policy reform. [sigh]

Americans don't need or want the federal government or other government behaving paternalistically when it comes to lifestyle choices, much less beginning to dangerously flirt with totalitarian social engineering that underlies the worst of “food policy,” “lifestyle policy,” “thought and behavioral policy,” all PC, naturally.

It's bad enough that this stuff so badly infests the recent interest in urban gardening…