CU & Eat Well Guide's challenge encourages Americans to buy and prepare one local/organic dish for Thanksgiving

Jean Halloran, NotInMyFood.org, A project of Consumers Union

In partnership with the Eat Well Guide®, an easy online tool to find fresh, locally grown food in your area, we've issued the Thanksgiving Local and Organic Food Challenge!

Find at least one locally grown or organic ingredient for your coming Thanksgiving feast!

If you have tasted a home grown tomato, pulled an apple straight off the tree, or picked up pecans from a neighbor's yard, then you know why so many people are passionate about finding and eating locally grown food.

Buying local reduces your "carbon footprint." Your food hasn't been harvested prematurely and shipped thousands of miles. Organic farmers bring you foods grown more humanely and without chemicals or genetic modification.

So take a moment right now to check out all your local options in our Challenge!

Then, once you have located local or organic food, come to our website--where famous chefs Alice Waters, Dan Barber, and Mario Batali kick off our Challenge with some favorite recipes just for you. If you already know the recipe you intend to use for your local ingredient, you can share it with everyone now...or share it later.

White House to Ease Many Rules That Protect Consumers and the Environment

R. Jeffrey Smith, Washington Post

Submitted by Evergreene Digest Contributing Editor Thomas Sklarski

The White House is working to enact a wide array of federal regulations, many of which would weaken government rules aimed at protecting consumers and the environment, before President Bush leaves office in January.

The new rules would be among the most controversial deregulatory steps of the Bush era and could be difficult for his successor to undo. Some would ease or lift constraints on private industry, including power plants, mines and farms.

Those and other regulations would help clear obstacles to some commercial ocean-fishing activities, ease controls on emissions of pollutants that contribute to global warming, relax drinking-water standards and lift a key restriction on mountaintop coal mining.

More...

It didn't work.

Isaac Luria, J Street

The overwhelming majority of American Jews chose hope yesterday (Nov 4), giving Barack Obama 78% of the Jewish vote, well ahead of John Kerry's 2004 total. [1]

This is more than an historic electoral victory. It is our chance to deal a knock-out blow to the politics of fear when it comes to Israel and the Middle East.

That's why we're collecting signatures on a letter to President-elect Obama to demonstrate the breadth of his mandate in our community for far-reaching change.

Click here to tell President-elect Obama you chose hope over fear.

To amplify our message, we're running a full-page ad in The New York Times on Thursday (Nov 6) stating that this election carries a promise of change in America and of hope, peace and security for Israel and the Middle East.

With your help, we'll send a clear and powerful message to Washington, the media and opinion leaders that the overwhelming majority of our community says "No!" to the smears, and "Yes!" to hope and a new direction. Will you sign our letter to President-elect Obama?

Click here to view the ad and sign our letter.

The story could have been different. Any one of these well-funded attempts to stoke the Jewish community's worst fears could have succeeded:

--28 million copies of the DVD "Obsession" distributed to stoke anti-Muslim fears.
--Millions of dollars of Republican Jewish Coalition ads tying Barack Obama and other pro-diplomacy candidates to terrorists and President Ahmadinejad of Iran.

For the first time, millions of individual activists have been empowered to make a difference.

J.B. Poersch, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee

It was the commitment of millions of grassroots Democrats - ready for a new day - that propelled President-elect Obama to victory. And it was all your time, money, and effort that is giving him a huge Senate majority to help him change this country.

Your impact on this amazing moment cannot be overstated. For the first time, millions of individual activists have been empowered to make a difference, not in just their corner of the world, but throughout the entire country.

This is your victory, in which all of us at the DSCC are so humbled to play just a small role. For nearly two years you inspired us with your dedication to change. You saw us through the toughest times with your unyielding loyalty. And you propelled our Senate candidates to unimaginable heights with your generosity of spirit.

Words cannot express the magnitude of what you did for this astounding victory, so I'll keep it simple: Thank you so very, very much.

Your hard work has so far earned 6 big Senate victories:

Colorado: Mark Udall thumped Bob Schaffer easily, 52-43.

New Hampshire: Remember all those stories you read last week about this race tightening? Not so much. Jeanne Shaheen upended Republican incumbent John Sununu and will be the next senator from the Granite State.

New Mexico: Tom Udall won by 22 points, showing once again the American people rejecting Steve Pearce's brand of hard right extremism.

North Carolina: Voters responded to Democrat Kay Hagan's terrific campaign for change by rewarding her with a 9-point victory over incumbent Elizabeth Dole.

Workers at Wal-Mart face threats, propaganda, discrimination, intimidation, and even firings in retaliation for trying to form a union to improve their lives and working conditions.

Liz Cattaneo, American Rights at Work