Most of us know that Monsanto has been re-engineering crops for some time and claiming ownership of new life forms. They state that the production yield is greater (among other supposed attributes): no proof of that yet. It was only a natural progression that they, having eliminated all competition, would move on to re-arranging animal genes and sequences in order to expand their ownership of the world's food resources. Remember Percy Schmeiser? Some of you might know that if a Monsanto modified seed blows onto your "natural" cropland and "infects" your crops, you may well be taken to court by an army of Monsanto attorneys- and lose. How long before they literally own YOU?
Since Monsanto is an American company what does this effort to control the global food supply do to our image in the rest of the world (not to mention here at home)? It looks like just one more reason for "them" to hate "us", not for our freedoms and affluent lifestyles, but for what "we" are doing to "them". Although, granted, in most of the polls I have seen, they understand that it is the corrupt elements within our government that impose these horrific deeds upon the world. It seems that thoughtful people understand that a country is basically divided into two distinct entities: the people and the government that dominates them.
The little experiment that the pig farmer was doing on his own with very limited resources was quite [image-1]interesting. Once he understood that the BT corn feed was making his cattle sterile he was forced to change feed type whereupon he found their ability to reproduce return. In most other parts of the world consumers generally get to read food labels that disclose just what they are getting ready to ingest. In fact, most European countries refuse to import our GMO-laced foods. Here are some concerned Portuguese people taking action.
I have some friends that had a daughter 17 years ago and I am her Godfather. Her name is Mary and she was afforded some very good private schools during her elementary and middle school years by her parents who happened to be well educated, have a good work ethic and managed to have an upper middle-class lifestyle. Mary made honor roll several times in her early years at school but slowly seemed to lose interest in the value of education during middle school. She pleaded with her parents to let her go to public school for high school, but her mom and dad felt that she might surround herself with the "wrong" peer group. Mary started high school at a private school in the ninth grade ($12K worth) and her favorite after school activity became detention. She was caught drinking at school and her GPA was 1.8 for the year. Mary went to public HS the next year.
It has been two years since Mary began public HS and the parents have been through four different psychologists and psychiatrists. They have experimented with various pharmaceuticals that were prescribed for her diagnosed anxiety, depression and mild attention deficit disorder. Mary's overall GPA is 1.9 and she may not graduate from HS; not because she can't do the work. When she wants to she can make A's on tests. She just does not care (or appears not to care). All of Mary's boyfriends have been HS drop outs and she thinks attendance at school is optional.
[image-2]It is an extremely sad story. She is the kind of girl we used to laugh at and make fun of (being the cruel children we were back then) in HS. Today things are evidently very different. Mary's mom and dad beat themselves up over the "bad parenting" to which they feel they have exposed their daughter. The last psychiatrist they saw, who said that drugs will not help their child, told them not to feel like it was their fault. Her peer group had a great deal more influence over her that they did.
Her dad is one of my best friends and he has wondered for some time that the food we eat may have some influence over the type of behavior he sees in his daughter. I happen to think that his concerns are justified. When the parents started talking with others in similar positions they learned that they were not alone. The stories of the bright, young child becoming, what we might call a "total fucking loser" began to accumulate.
You can sit back and not be so concerned when you hear about the effects of BT corn feed on some guys cattle (well, some of you can) but what about the effects of GMO in the food we give our children (not to mention all the rest of the garbage they consume)? I know the factors involving child rearing are numerous but a healthy diet is one of the most important developmental influences I can think of. It is this type of crap that really makes me wonder about the future of this country. Do the powers that be really want us all to be dumb and incapable of anything but simple repetitive tasks or asking "paper or plastic?", or are they really so ignorant and short sighted (having been so overwhelmed by greed) that they have no idea or concern for the consequences of their actions.
Peace, Love, Dove. Everything is just fine.
This rant was prompted by a documentary I saw recently called "absolute unbridled greed and total lack of concern for basic human rights and simple fairness. The film is a few years old but it exposes one, of many, result of corporate controlled government. Being framed as I am, my first thought, only a few minutes into the film, was, "The collapse can't come soon enough!" The nefarious behavior of Monsanto will not exist in the post-carbon world (Monsanto will not exist in the post-carbon world!). The greed driven society we have created in America will end when the energy leveraging ability of cheap oil ceases to enable the few to dominate their cattle (us). When the dust settles in a world made by hand we will be free to find our true selves through honest work and real friendships; unburdened by the invisible hand of oppression. (We all have dreams.)
This would be a good place for you to stop reading and watch the video if you have not. What I have to say may make more sense if we both had, at least, the same images and story line at hand.
One central point to this disgusting story involves some rather esoteric definitions of "intellectual property" and, yet again, the corporate controlled government. One of the Ten Commandments should have been that no life forms can be patented by "civilized" man. (Maybe it was on the tablet that got broken on the way down the mountain.) The question of who owns life forms seems like a non-brainer to me; no one does. Life is not an idea or thing. If somebody is able to re-engineer a life form by manipulating a gene or two they have not created life. It reminds me of Pierre Boulle's discussion on creativity in Planet of the Apes. Aping someone's creativity is not in itself a creative event no matter what lengths are taken to twist and manipulate any portion of an existing masterpiece.
