I believe and hope that we can cordially agree to disagree. I note that you did not cancel your subscription to my elist, so I believe that you are an open-minded person. Many people who cannot hear opposing views to their own, just write remove {from the elist} and that's the end of it. In the future, because I will be doing two newsletters, one for issues and the other for events, you will be able to tune out my issues newsletter and just open the one that you want.

I am happy that you are interested in my ideas on the raw diet, recipes & lifestyle. However, in the longer view, food and politics cannot be separated. This is because so many things that politicians and their cronies (and financial supporters) in the industrial sectors have done impact directly on our food, air, water and health. In addition, government organizations initially designed to protect people and the environment, such as the Food and Drug Administration, The United States Department of Agriculture, The Environmental Protection Agency, etc. have abdicated their responsibilities to you and me – the people – and to our earthmother.

I am not antagonistic to conservative thinking people, only some of the ideas that they hold. I never like to label people because I have found that we are all a combination of liberal and conservative, it just depends on the issue. If you will note, I did not call the politicians by any names (conservative, right wing, etc) I only referred to their environmental records, and the unlikelihood (based on those records) that they would do right by the environment in these positions of power.

I do not know John Ashcroft; he may very well be a decent and honest man as you say. But even upstanding people hold and move forward on ideas that are detrimental to the environment, and human and animal health. Why would people be dying of heart disease, cancer and other diseases? These are good people, but they do not hold ideas beneficial to their own wellbeing. They do not know about or follow the rules as set out by nature. They do not know how to take care of themselves to stay well.

Aside from that, our environment, particularly in the last 60-70 years or so has become extremely polluted. This impacts health in a negative way. Human immune systems were not designed by nature to have to remove the myriad of poisons and toxins that are dumped on us regularly. The human immune system was designed to filter out nonbeneficial bacteria, viruses, dirt, and the products of our own metabolism. Now, this same immune system is also forced to filter out the thousands of chemicals in modern life. This is why we are breaking down. This is why we are dying in droves.

I am happy to report that the question of oil supplies is going to be moot very soon with the introduction of fuel cells. (A topic for a future hotline). Fuel cells have been developed which create electricity from hydrogen and air (oxygen) and the by product is water – just water. Some buses in Chicago, Vancouver and other places are using these fuel cells and there is 0 pollution. These are the types of technologies I'd like to see our politicians move forward with and support, but can we really expect this to happen when we have 2 oilmen in the White House?

Clinton/Gore did not fulfill their promise as environmentalists, in my estimation. They were a disappointment to me. Clinton further deregulated the Federal Communication Commission's (FCC) rules to allow broadcasting corporations to own as many radio or TV stations as they want (or can afford to buy) in any city, thus creating a monopoly in our communications. This is unprecedented in our history and I hope it can be undone. Why should only a very few companies be allowed to monopolize all the radio and tv stations, thus effectively blocking out any ideas that are not in line with their own corporate agenda? The ownership of multiple radio stations traditionally used to be limited to the ownership of one AM station and one FM station in a city. This ruling goes back to the beginning of the FCC licensing of radio stations which commenced around the 1920s. In New York City today, CBS/Infinity owns approximately ten radio stations. If you are talent and someone doesn't like you at one station, you don't work at ten stations. If you are an advertiser, the price of buying media is fixed and, if you are an independent news provider, your stories won't get on the air. This is against all American democratic principles and used to be against Anti-Trust Laws and the policies of the FCC.

Organic, according to the dictionary has many meanings. But organic is also a term, commonly and popularly used to describe food which is grown without chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and not treated with fungicides. The certification only comes in because some so called organic farmers are not, so the public has to be protected from them. Certification programs are to maintain some reasonable assurance that the food is grown according to organic standards.

I hope that you receive this letter in the spirit in which it was written. Simply as an exchange of ideas.

Many blessings to you,

I wish I could share your hope for the coming administration. (I would like nothing better than to be proved wrong). I will however, pray for all politician's enlightenment, because where there is light it's easier to see things clearly.

I see by your letter that there are many points upon which we agree. I had a feeling about that. Things are never just black and white (liberal and conservative), there are many gradations in between.

I don't know where you live, but if you are in Brooklyn, there is a great food co-op where you can get organic food at 20% above cost. It's called the Park Slope Food Co-op and they are located in Park Slope on Union Street near 7th Ave. There's also a delivery service of organic produce called Urban Organic that delivers all over the city and Brooklyn, but that costs more money.

Yes, let's not have animosities, let's find the common ground and continue to dialog.

Rhio