S: Is for seeds hidden in vaults.

The world is starving and there is food. Did you know there was an international seed vault? Even though the world is in need of food it is being hoarded away in Norway. All of those statements are true. As of February 26th the world saw the opening of the Global Seed Vault. This is one of several seed banks, however it is the first one that they are stating is global. About a third of the 6 1/2 million seed samples now in storage are unique. Why are we not nurturing them so they are no longer extinct? Of these, two-thirds are in urgent need of regeneration. Much of the world’s crops are up against climate change. The implementation for the conservation of plant genetics' is at the source of this. Anytime Bill Gates and Monsanto get together on a common project, it’s worth digging a bit deeper behind the rocks on Spitsbergen. When you do you find some fascinating things. Along with the above mentioned add to it US agribusiness giant DuPont/Pioneer Hi-Bred, who is one of the world’s largest owners of patented genetically-modified (GMO) plant seeds; Syngenta, the Swiss-based major GMO seed company; the Rockefeller Foundation, the private group who created the “gene revolution with over $100 million of seed money since the 1970’s; CGIAR, the global network created by the Rockefeller Foundation to promote its ideal of genetic purity through agriculture change. Monsanto might be funding this storage site due with the fact that they are unleashing GMO crops in Africa very soon. They know that the GMO crops threaten the wild and hybrid crops so in case cross pollination happens it will damages the DNA of the wild flora they will have a total monopoly on the DNA of the global food supply.

The $8 million Global Seed Vault – dubbed the Doomsday Vault – has been tunneled into solid rock on a mountainside high enough above projections for sea level rise and deep in the polar permafrost that it would take extreme global warming decades or centuries to reach its contents. The bank is roomy enough to accommodate up to 4.5 million samples

Why tomorrow and why not today? When every year 15 million children die of hunger. Throughout the 1990's more than 100 million children will die from illness and starvation. Those 100 million deaths could be prevented if seeds had been planted and crops grown. The World Health Organization estimates that one-third of the world is well-fed, one-third is under-fed one-third is starving-200 people die of starvation every minute. One out of every eight children under the age of twelve in the U.S. goes to bed hungry every night. Every 3.6 seconds someone dies of hunger.

With these statistics and the F.A.C.T. we have in storage what it would take to feed those in need, can someone please tell me what are waiting for?

F.A.C.T.S stare us in the face everyday yet we ignore them. Soon it will be too late.

T: Is for a Troubled Health Care System!

There is an economic crash coming and the threat to our future is severe. I'm not talking about the recession or the credit crisis, but much, much bigger. $14.1 trillion is the size of the entire U.S. economy and $53 trillion is the approximate size of this country's bill for the Social Security and Medicare promises we've made. Only an immediate 122 percent increase in Medicaid taxes and a 26 percent increase in Social Security taxes can prevent this impact. Glenn Beck stated "realizing that Americans have become pretty much numb to these kinds of ridiculous sounding proposals, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson tried to up the ante this week". The reason he stated this was Paulson stated, "Without change, rising costs will drive government spending to unprecedented levels, consume nearly all projected federal revenues, and threaten America's future prosperity." (This is a down sized version of Glenn Beck today on CNN)

Why are we so out of control? Could it be the Enron or the Whitewater debacles? How about CDO's, SIV's, and Credit Default Swaps? Maybe its the war that nobody wanted except Bush. Our leaders have known about this rapidly approaching and I understand that this stuff is "the third rail of politics," but our leaders' negligence on this issue is criminal. To make this hit home it translate into "an IOU of around $455,000 per American household."

I am on medicaid right now, for 31 days because of a medical emergency. It took me close to two years to get it. The reason was because the intake workers were all Spanish. Trying to find a english speaking intake worker was next to impossible. I found her in the most unlikely place, the Bronx. The sad F.A.C.T. of this problem is that most of the people on medicaid are not citizens. I have written about this before but seeing these numbers, knowing I am about to add to them is heartbreaking.

If you are an immigrant or a migrant worker you automatically get help. You think I'm kidding ? I'm not, it's in black and white. If you are pregnant you don't even have to show your documents. Society wonders why there are so many pregnant teens and why Hispanic families have so many kids. It pays to keep having them, plus you never have to show if your legal. Again in black and white. It is harder to get help if you are white, born in this country, have lived here all your life and have paid into the system. The health care system has broken down and we wonder why.

Mr. Beck may have brought this to our attention but tell me why is the cause of it really not being stated. If the people who received help were who paid into the system maybe this would not be such a crises. These are F.A.C.T.S that need to be looked into.

C: Is for cuisine to check out!

Spring is here and the exploring begins. Here is some new cuisine recommendations.
Gottino
52 Greenwich Ave., nr. Perry St.; 212-633-2590
This one is for Tom. Gottino is a charming West Village establishment with old world charm. Serving wine and a daily changing specials written on a blackboard, but it is the fetishizing menu of snacks, salads, crostini, and inventive small plates that will have you coming back for more. Using seasonal ingredients, the winter crostini with butternut squash will have you sing their praises. Even the salads using brussel sprout leaves and crème fraîche moistened blood orange segments are a unique culinary treat. It’s cramped, cozy, and friendly in a very low-key way, which only makes the food and drink that much more impressive. And in a city of manufactured rusticity, Gottino’s seems entirely unforced, down to the mason jars stuffed with chicken-liver pâté, and the Virginia ham aging in the basement.
Hill Country
30 W. 26th St., nr. Broadway; 212-255-4544
Taken the barbaque world by storm this year Hill Country’s has an impeccably pure Texas product. A confluence of rich brisket is a potent, smoky, meltingly rich expression of all that makes barbecue great. Hill Country’s immense, untrimmed pork spareribs and beef short ribs might, frighteningly, be even better. In the restaurant’s basement, there’s a live stage where honky-tonk bands play till the wee hours, if that’s your sort of thing. Ty, I think this is a place to sink our teeth into.
Birdbath
145 Seventh Ave. S., at Charles St.; 646-722-6570
Laura, this is for you. An East Village animal product free indulgence. Cookies and muffins all vegan with something new, a banana, sesame, agave cake. Crunchy on the outside and tender within, teeming with nutty sesame seeds and impregnated with a few moist chunks of dried banana, just lightly sweetened with agave syrup. Crunchy, chewy, and barely sweet. Besides keeping Manhattan well supplied with oversize chocolate-chip cookies and raspberry bran muffins, Rubin aims to align the organic ingredients in his food with the renewable, ecofriendly construction materials used to build the stores where it's sold.
Crif Dogs
113 Saint Marks Pl Phone: (212) 614-2728
There aren't many eateries in New York where you can play Galaga, Centipede or Ms. Pac-Man while downing franks, but this place keeps the '80s spirit of the block alive. A mixed crowd sprawls out among the checkered tables and counter stools, eyeing posted specialties like the Spicy Redneck ("makes you want to marry your cousin") or the more demure root-beer float ("One straw or two?"). Dog choices are limited to the standard Crif (an up-to-snuff smoked frank), the snappier, bolder-tasting all-beef New Yorker and the veggie, delivered in signature combos, ranging from the satisfying chili dog to more eccentric styles. Once you've abandoned yourself to the lipid-rich, brain-dissolving Chihuahua--wrapped in bacon and topped with avocado and sour cream--you may be ruined for any other 3am meal. Tom, who do we need to take here?

Snack Dragon Taco Shack
199 E 3rd St
A red flashing light warns potential customers of "Taco Fever," to which many passersby happily succumb. Red and multicolored strings of lights adorn the facade of this tiny orange and blue shack, with a lone employee dishing out cheap Mexican basics to a post-party crowd, who eat standing on the sidewalk with pop music playing in the background. The menu might be limited, but that just means the shack focuses on making a few items well. The fish tacos, filled with tender pieces of grilled sole, are given a subtle kick from the chipotle coleslaw and radishes. Another standout dish is the nacharitos, made with a warm blend of black beans, melted cheese, salsa and cilantro layered atop a crispy tostada shell. Blue corn tortillas come stuffed with either soft chunks of chicken infused with salsa verde or smoky carne asada, overflowing with mounds of cheese, beans, salsa and cilantro.

All of these places have on thing in common they are inexpensive and show you don't have to be rich to enjoy life and that in these times is a soothing F.A.C.T.

A: Is for Arteaméricas!

For the sixth consecutive year, Merrill Lynch presents arteaméricas a Latin American art exhibition featuring more than 400 renowned and up-and-coming artists from 78 of the most prestigious art galleries. Arteaméricas has become one of the world’s most important and most prestigious fairs of Latin American art. Seventy of the best galleries from Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, Uruguay, the Dominican Republic, the United States and Venezuela will be in attendance this year. New York is represented by A. Cueto, Gómez Fine Art, Latitude Art Project and Museo del Barrio. Arteaméricas brings together the cultural highlights of the Americas to Miami. internationally celebrated artists, including Fernando Botero, Lygia Clark, Wifredo Lam, Armando Reverón, Jesús Soto, Rufino Tamayo and Joaquín Torres-García. Vanguard contemporary artists including José Bedía, Tony Bechara, José Pedro Costigliolo, Eduardo Chapela, Bastón Díaz, León Ferrari, Carmen Herrera, Kcho and Hugo Zapata will also be represented at the 2008 edition. The exhibition include paintings, sculptures, photographs, installations and videos from great masters and young artists and included a section dedicated to contemporary art trends. The economic and social reality will show the link between Latin American and Caribbean artworks selected by curator and director Felix Angel of the Inter-American Development Bank Cultural Center (IDB) collection. Talents from Colombia, Brazil and Mexico, might well be responsible for developing the most lucid portrayal. The works of these young artists focuses on creative exploration aimed at highlighting and strengthening the fields of video art, drawing and the re-interpretation of technological languages. The work of twenty Miami based artists that interpret the spirit of contemporary times and prove their accomplishment through diverse approaches to post-contemporary art, including installation, digital photography and performance. Arteamericas will be the stage for many young artists from three Miami art schools to showcase their work to the world. Two panel discussions will take place every day in arteamericas, with renowned members of the art community, such as curators Julia Herzberg and Pedro Querejazu , art collectors Dennis Scholl and Ignacio Oberto and Sotheby’s director for Latin America, Axel Stein, among others.

Art lives everywhere in the world around us and that is a creative F.A.C.T.

F: Is for Fashion Causing a RIOT!

My favorite PR consultants invited me to see an impressive collection of up-and-coming designers. Riot Showroom boasts the new Boudoir by Diyasa line, which is chock full of whimsical jewelry, patterned cocktail frocks, and knit vests. Ideeen caught my eye with geometrically cut shirts and jackets. Lacing played a big part and having skinny cut pants lace all the way up your thigh is completely hot and oozes sex appeal. The teddy bear coats were so soft and cuddly that winter becomes a romp on the bed. Oh! and forget needing that bear skinned rug. All of their fabrics were so soft to the touch that they made you want to try them on ASAP. My favorite of the collection was the boots and if they had been available and in my size I would have snagged them immediately. Bic Owen's collection has that same softer than silk touch. Originally from England she is also a costume designer for the film industry which is evident in her I'll keep you warm, in a funky, I am so over it kind of attitude. I loved the off white look with the sweater dresses. Eventide goes a little more classical with the pants being the winner of this collection. Annie Havlicek follows that same line but it is her coats that will be walking down the street that will having you wishing that you had bought them. The biggest treat was Project Runway winner Jeffrey Sebelia new line. It has the same as his first line yet is geared to a wider audience. Being a huge fan of Project Runway I was delighted to see Cosa Nostra up close. This Cosa Nostra is more tame yet it still maintains Sebelia's edgy rocker goth persona but now the price makes it easier to attain. Where the original Cosa Nostra targeted a niche market of the rock ‘n roll community. The newer line is more wearable with pretty dresses, flirty tops, tailored pants and jersey dresses but mostly it is just sportswear done really well. New, young and contemporary he is targeting a different customer than that of his other Cosa Nostra line. I have learned the priceing is around $38-$78. His latest creations are not yet posted on the Cosa Nostra website but here is a look from a previous collection.

Riot's showroom is located at 521 Broadway Suite 4 right in the heart of Soho. If you are a buyer this is a place you should check out. Next seasons clothes will have us loving the feel and that is a comforting F.A.C.T.

F: Is for Fashion Causing a RIOT!

My favorite PR consultants invited me to see an impressive collection of up-and-coming designers. Riot Showroom boasts the new Boudoir by Diyasa line, which is chock full of whimsical jewelry, patterned cocktail frocks, and knit vests. Ideeen caught my eye with geometrically cut shirts and jackets. Lacing played a big part and having skinny cut pants lace all the way up your thigh is completely hot and oozes sex appeal. The teddy bear coats were so soft and cuddly that winter becomes a romp on the bed. Oh! and forget needing that bear skinned rug. All of their fabrics were so soft to the touch that they made you want to try them on ASAP. My favorite of the collection was the boots and if they had been available and in my size I would have snagged them immediately. Bic Owen's collection has that same softer than silk touch. Originally from England she is also a costume designer for the film industry which is evident in her I'll keep you warm, in a funky, I am so over it kind of attitude. I loved the off white look with the sweater dresses. Eventide goes a little more classical with the pants being the winner of this collection. Annie Havlicek follows that same line but it is her coats that will be walking down the street that will having you wishing that you had bought them. The biggest treat was Project Runway winner Jeffrey Sebelia new line. It has the same as his first line yet is geared to a wider audience. Being a huge fan of Project Runway I was delighted to see Cosa Nostra up close. This Cosa Nostra is more tame yet it still maintains Sebelia's edgy rocker goth persona but now the price makes it easier to attain. Where the original Cosa Nostra targeted a niche market of the rock ‘n roll community. The newer line is more wearable with pretty dresses, flirty tops, tailored pants and jersey dresses but mostly it is just sportswear done really well. New, young and contemporary he is targeting a different customer than that of his other Cosa Nostra line. I have learned the priceing is around $38-$78. His latest creations are not yet posted on the Cosa Nostra website but here is a look from a previous collection.

Riot's showroom is located at 521 Broadway Suite 4 right in the heart of Soho. If you are a buyer this is a place you should check out. Next seasons clothes will have us loving the feel and that is a comforting F.A.C.T.