The outrage in India over President Bush’s recent comments, which appeared to blame that country’s growing middle class for rising food prices, shows no sign of subsiding.

Reacting to President Bush’s comments and those from European Union officials, Sitaram Yechury writes for India’s Hindustan Times:

“Apart from being as ridiculous Read the rest of this entry »

Some reports coming out of North Korea indicate that people are beginning to openly question the regime’s explanation of why once again, starvation looms.

This article from The Daily North Korea, a publication headquartered in Seoul dedicated to reporting on the regime and getting word into the Hermit Kingdom about the outside world, reports:

“It appears that North Koreans are expressing increasing doubt about government claims that South Korea and the United States are responsible for the latest food crisis.”

According to one source, located in the North Korean Province of Ryanggang reported on a party meeting held recently in the city of Hyesan:

“During the conference, a speaker is said to have explained the state of international and domestic affairs by saying, ‘the U.S. and the puppet regime (the Lee Administration in South Korea) have overridden peaceful agreements between North and South (referring to the June 15th Joint Declaration and the October 4th Agreement) in order to create a serious food crisis in our Republic.’ … there was an awkward atmosphere in the hall after the chairperson of a People’s Unit from Hyehwa-dong in the city of Hyesan asked forthrightly, “We understand that the Americans and Lee’s puppet faction aren’t helping us with rice, but why won’t China help us, since it’s our closest ally?” The speaker’s face turned pale at the question and a silent tension filled the hall.”

By Lee Sung Jin

May 8, 2008

South Korea - Daily North Korea - Original Article (English)

Yanji, China: It appears that North Koreans are expressing increasing doubt about government claims that South Korea and the United States are responsible for the latest food crisis.

In a telephone interview on May 1st, a source from Ryanggang Province told The DailyNK, “At a conference of the Union of Democratic Women, called to commemorate the founding of the Korean People’s Army on April 25th, one speaker humiliated herself by blaming [South Korean] President Lee” for the crisis.

One of a series of meetings now being held across the country to extol the military, this meeting was held at the conference hall of the General Federation of Korean Trade Unions in Ryanggang Province.

The source reported that, “A lecture was given, entitled ‘Our revolutionary weapons are an invincible force for building a strong military-first country.’ During the lecture, he said that the politics of putting the military first were, “praised even more highly than the People’s Army itself.”

During the conference, a speaker is said to have explained the state of international and domestic affairs by saying, “the U.S. and the puppet regime (the Lee Administration in South Korea) have overridden peaceful agreements between North and South (referring to the June 15th Joint Declaration and the October 4th Agreement) in order to create a serious food crisis in our Republic.”

Then our source reports that there was an awkward atmosphere in the hall after the chairperson of a People’s Unit from Hyehwa-dong in the city of Hyesan asked forthrightly, “We understand that the Americans and Lee’s puppet faction aren’t helping us with rice, but why won’t China help us, since it’s our closest ally?” The speaker’s face turned pale at the question and a silent tension filled the hall.

READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, along with continuing foreign press coverage surrounding American involvement with North Korea.

Some aid workers can and do get into the country - here’s how to help:

Myanmar Cyclone Relief

New York, NY, May 8, 2008—Thanks to its historical, 94 years of operation as a non-political entity and relief organization, JDC staff has been granted entry visas to carry out humanitarian aid efforts for victims of cyclone Nargis which hit Myanmar last week. A senior JDC professional is on the ground in Myanmar, where he will assess the situation and carry out plans to aid the estimated several hundred thousand cyclone victims without shelter and safe drinking water. JDC is partnering with MASHAV, Magen David Adom (MDA), and F.I.R.S.T (Fast Israeli Rescue & Search Team) to provide emergency relief, including medical supplies and personnel and rescue workers.

Read Entire Myanmar Cyclone Situation Report

JDC has opened a mailbox and is now accepting donations to provide immediate assistance and relief:

Donate to Myanmar Cyclone Relief:
Online: https://www.jdc.org/donation/jdc_form.cfm
By Phone: 212.687.6200
By Mail: Check payable to: JDC-Myanmar Cyclone Relief, P.O. Box 530, 132 East 43rd St., New York, NY, 10017

Rising food and energy prices are scaring a lot of people. Not the folks at the Federal Reserve, though. They have found a revolutionary mechanism to address worries generated by these price increases. By creating its own preferred inflation measure, the so-called core rate, which factors out food and energy, the Fed can claim inflation is well under control.

Given that food and energy are core elements in sustaining human life, I used to be bothered by this curious approach to economic management. Now that I view the matter from a broader perspective, however, I see many valuable applications in other realms.

Take medicine, for example. Lots of people have cancer and heart disease. But a core rate of health, one that excludes these maladies, would improve our national health statistics dramatically at no extra cost to anyone.

In a related vein (so to speak), by excluding these unpleasant medical realities along with, say, diabetes and alzheimers as causes of death, the average American lifespan would be 102.6 years. And all without any more dieting or exercise. Yippee!

The weather. Boy, can that ever put people out of sorts. So why not just exclude temperatures over 80 degrees and under 70 degrees to get a core temperature of 74 degrees that’s reported on the local news every evening?

Crime! Poof!. Exclude murder, rape and assault from reporting of violent crimes, call what’s left the core crime rate, and there is no violent crime. Think of the money this will save on local police budgets.

Everything is beautiful when everything that isn’t is excluded. Thank you Chairman Bernanke for showing us the way. One thing, though. Could you loan me half a tank of gas and a couple of eggs until payd

You’ve head about the rice shortage, when it comes to food supplies. And you’ve read about the wisdom shortage, when it comes to Presidential candidates…

But now — in an unprecedented development being experienced from coast-to-coast — Jewish Americans seeking those unleavened crackers (often oversized) so central to Passover and so delicious when you spread cream cheese on them (delicious enough to make you plotz..) have faced a horrific situation: The Great Matzah Shortage of 2008.

But unlike food shortages this can’t be blamed on economic trends or political ineptness.

Some of it’s due to a factory glitch and some of it’s due to big chains having decided to no longer to carry the stuff that my father always insisted “tastes like library paste.”

The Jewish Journal reveals:

Shortages have been reported across Southern California, but the problem isn’t confined to the Southland. The Bay Area and Reno have also reported shortages, and supplies are limited in Portland, Ore.

Ralphs did not return calls seeking comment. A Vons and Pavilions representative said the chain hadn’t been affected, but calls to several area stores found no stock at press time Tuesday. Trader Joe’s and some Costco stores did not carry matzah this year, and representatives from Gelson’s and Whole Foods say their supplies are dwindling.

“Unfortunately, due to a manufacturer issue, there has been a shortage on matzah this year, which has impacted our stores,” Whole Foods spokesperson Shawn Glasser said.

Construction issues and problems with a new state-of-the-art oven at Manischewitz’s only plant in Newark led the company to announce it wouldn’t produce Tam Tams and other kosher-for-Passover products this year, including its flavored matzah lines. Instead, the company focused on unsalted, whole wheat and egg matzah. In late January, R.A.B. Foods Group, Manischewitz’s parent company, sent a memo out to distributors listing which products would not be available, adding that its plant would work around the clock to produce Passover products.

“The last few months have been difficult; we are now heading in the right direction. We appreciate your patience and support, look forward to serving all of our customers with our full line of quality products and will work very hard to win your confidence back with improved service in the future,” the memo stated.

And, indeed, a search for matzah proved fruitless at many stores in San Diego. Some carried big cases costing over $10 — but only one or two or those were left. Most didn’t have the standard unsalted kind (or even the more controversial egg kind) — only a few exotic varieties that would have given my grandfather Abraham Ravinsky cardiac arrest if he had seen it on our seder table.

The San Francisco Weekly blames part of the matzah famine on CostCo, but investigative reporting done by this writer (a telephone chat with my mother Helen Gandelman from her home in Connecticut) reveals the situation is the same in some parts of the East Coast:

The wholesale giant began stocking up on the Bread of Affliction by the container-full — and a container is 40 feet long, 10 feet wide and 12 feet high.

Of course, the consumers’ gain was the supermarket and shopkeepers’ loss. The matzah they bought at high cost and sold at astronomical costs suddenly lost 75 percent of its value. In many instances, merchants literally couldn’t give the stuff away.

Fast-forwarding to the present day, Costco deduced that, quite possibly, hawking matzah for a buck a pound was not a money-maker and abruptly opted not to stock any in the Bay Area. While the Chronicle’s Matthai Kuruvila creatively speculates that “a jubilee year in Israel when some fields lie fallow” or “increased Jewish observance” may explain the shortage — and let’s give him an Aleph for Effort — I think the explanation lies closer to home.

With local retailers anticipating Costco selling boatloads of matzah at prices they could never hope to match, they stocked at normal low levels apropos for a smattering of kosher consumers. But with Costco out of the game, smaller stores sold out quickly and last-minute shoppers were up the creek (anecdotally, stories abounded of luckless Jews traipsing to a dozen or so stores in search of a box of matzah. And, believe you me, some gouging occurred: One lady told me that the five-pound box that was $11.99 when she called a San Francisco store on the phone was suddenly $14.99 when she got there).

For those who traditionally eat matzah in the place of bread during the Passover holiday (which ends Sunday, April 27), these are the times that try Jews’ souls. After all, how many potatoes and incredibly fatty kosher macaroons can you stand?

And, indeed, matzah is also great for weight control (put tuna fish on it instead of on bread).

The question: come Passover 2009 will matzah be on the list of foods such as rice and corn that are in short supply?

SPECIAL BONUS: Here’s my favorite joke about matzah.

A Jewish family decided to invite a gentile blind man over for Passover.

“Who wrote this crap?”