U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will be in Harnett County on Friday to meet with farmers and discuss agriculture issues. He’ll be joined by U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge, a Lillington Democrat. 

No, not the kind you're thinking about.

In this case, we're talking about what's known as "the other white meat."

Seven of North Carolina’s members of Congress have asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to protect the pork industry from its economic troubles by buying $100 million worth of meat for the USDA’s federal food assistance programs.

In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, they say the recession and the recent swine flu outbreak have hurt the industry. The lawmakers thanked Vilsack for his push earlier this year to call the swine flu virus H1N1 to disassociate it from pork products, but they said the impacts of the scare have hurt the industry.

The letter notes that USDA already has announced $30 million in purchases through the end of the fiscal year, reports Barb Barrett.

“We asking for additional help with the economic crisis the U.S. pork industry currently faces,” the letter reads. “Without your assistance, we are putting thousands of rural jobs and businesses at risk.”

The N.C. lawmakers are Democratic U.S. Reps. Bob Etheridge, Larry Kissell, Mike McIntyre, Brad Miller and G.K. Butterfield, along with Republican U.S. Reps. Howard Coble and Walter Jones. Fifty-five other lawmakers also signed the letter.

They want Vilsack to use $100 million to buy pork for federal food assistance programs, with an emphasis on sow meat to reduce breeding stock.

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After spending the first week of his recess in Eastern North Carolina, U.S. Sen. Richard Burr is heading west.

Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, will start his week with a Monday morning speech to a group of real estate agents in Charlotte.

He will then join Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan and two members of the Obama administration - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Education Secretary Arne Duncan - for a town hall forum in Hamlet. 

Later in the week, Burr will speak to the Union County Chamber of Commerce, tour Tyco Safety Products in Monroe, speak to the N.C. Veterans Affairs Summer Conference in Asheville and visit the Frye Regional Medical Center in Hickory.

Two members of the Obama administration are coming to North Carolina next week to talk about rural education and the economic stimulus plan.

The White House announced today that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Education Secretary Arne Duncan will host a community forum at Richmond Community College in Hamlet on Monday.

It is the latest stop in the administration's Rural Tour.

The N.C. Pork Council would prefer you not call it "swine flu."

The industry association for pork producers thinks the colloquial name for the virus being closely monitored by global health officials is inaccurate.

A national pork industry group has suggested "North American influenza" — a variant on the other alternative name, "Mexican flu," which has upset some officials from that country.

Officially, the virus is known as H1N1, after two of its proteins, hemagglutinin and neuraminidase.

In an e-mail to Dome, N.C. Pork Council spokeswoman Deborah Johnson said the linkage between pigs and the flu "should have never been made."

"This is not an issue of food safety so we'll keep hammering away with the messages that pork is safe to eat and there is no evidence this influenza subtype is present in pigs," she wrote.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has backed away from using the term "swine flu," though state officials are still using the term.

Correction: An earlier version of this post said the N.C. Pork Council supports the name "North American flu." The group prefers H1N1 flu. 

Vice President Joe Biden told members of the Army's 18th Airborne Corps this morning that their work in Iraq has helped give the government there a "fighting chance" to survive.

Biden helped welcome several hundred members of the unit home from Iraq in a ceremony on the 82nd Airborne Division's main parade field at Fort Bragg. The ceremony, more elaborate than most for returning troops, was attended by about 1,700 people.

"Because of all the work you've done, I am absolutely confident that the Iraqis are in a much better position to take responsibility for their own security," Biden told the soldiers. "You did more than I suspect you even know."

Biden, accompanied by his wife, Jill Biden, is making his second visit to North Carolina this month.

Last week, he accompanied U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to Faison and Pikeville in Eastern North Carolina to discuss how the stimulus package would help rural America.

PIKEVILLE — The tiny Pikeville Pleasant Grove Volunteer Fire Department has been invaded by video cameras and the entourage of a vice presidential visit.

Vice President Joe Biden and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack are due here this afternoon, after a stop in Faison, to announce the release of $1.76 billion in federal loan guarantees for home financing. That's supposed to help 15,000 families in rural America.

Pikeville, where 99 percent of the population lives in poverty, gets more than $1 million in loans and $50,000 to help replace the fire station where Biden will speak.

One disappointed attendee, though, was Diana Johnson, of Cary, who drove over with her four children in hopes of seeing Biden, only to find out the event was invitation only.

"We wouldn't trade it for anything," she said of the opportunity to see the veep. They may have to settle from watching, literally, from the other side of the railroad tracks that run by the station.

What's the difference between these two sets of names?

Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Bill Richardson and Tom Vilsack.

John Edwards, Chris Dodd, Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich.

Answer after the jump.

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