DISABLED---ENABLED

USDA Approved Monsanto Alfalfa Despite Warnings of New Pathogen Discovered in Genetically Engineered Crops

Rarely does this publication reproduce articles found elsewhere, but an exception is being make for this informative and critically important piece penned by Mike Ludwig of the well written Truthout.

It is apparent to our researchers and associates that Monsanto has completely positioned itself politically to implement their nefarious genetically engineered alfalfa, in addition to a number of other highly questionable practices annotated below regarding soy and cotton. 

Yes, this means Monsanto is paying your legislators a lot of money to get their poisonous products into the ground to the end of controlling the crops/food products in the USA.  In turn, your lawmakers continue to obfuscate and simply keep the facts away from the general public.

Amidst the cloak-and-dagger world of United States lawmaking lurks the horror of pure greed--clearly a powerful enough force to destroy now, leaving no time for questions afterward. 

Take some time and do some of your own reading about this Monsanto company---- you will recall them as the maker of Round-Up---in the name of acting in the best interests of the citizenry of our nation, they instead promote, and apparently relish, the great possibility of mass soil contamination, something they know will increase their burgeoning business and profitability.  And if some people are killed in the process, and our soil is rendered unsustainable---oh well, that's agricultural progress in our corner of the world. (and any other corner which presents as vulnerable)

Mr. Ludwig's article:

Friday 25 February 2011

by: Mike Ludwig, t r u t h o u t | Report

Just two weeks before the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) fully deregulated Monsanto's Roundup Ready alfalfa, a senior soil scientist alerted the department about a newly discovered, microscopic pathogen found in high concentrations of Roundup Ready corn and soy that researchers believe could be causing infertility in livestock and diseases in crops that could threaten the entire domestic food supply.

Dr. Don Huber, a plant pathologist and retired Purdue University professor, wrote in a letter to the USDA that the pathogen is new to science and appears to significantly impact the health of plants, animals and probably humans.

"For the past 40 years, I have been a scientist in the professional and military agencies that evaluate and prepare for natural and manmade biological threats, including germ warfare and disease outbreaks," Huber wrote in his January 16 letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack. "Based on this experience, I believe the threat we are facing from this pathogen is unique and of a high risk status. In layman's terms, it should be treated as an emergency."

Also See: Why Monsanto Always Wins

Huber called for an immediate moratorium on approvals of Roundup Ready crops, but on January 27, the USDA fully deregulated Roundup Ready alfalfa after nearly five years of legal battles with farmers and environmental groups. The USDA partially deregulated Roundup Ready sugar beats on February 4.

The pathogen is about the size of a virus and reproduces like a micro-fungal organism. According to Huber, the organism may be the first micro-fungus of its kind ever discovered, and there is evidence that the infectious pathogen causes diseases in both plants and animals, which is very rare.

"The World According to Monsanto: From Agent Orange to Genetically Modified Crops" (DVD) is yours with a donation to Truthout. Click here to make a donation and receive your gift.

The pathogen is prevalent in soy crops suffering from a disease called sudden death syndrome and corn crops suffering from Goss' wilt disease.

Laboratory tests show that the pathogen is present in a "wide variety" of livestock suffering from infertility and spontaneous abortions. Huber warned that the pathogen could be responsible for reports of increased infertility rates in dairy cows and rates of spontaneous abortions in cattle as high as 45 percent.

Huber is concerned that the pathogen could be spreading because of overreliance on Monsanto's Roundup Ready crops systems, which have come to dominate American agribusiness during the past decade.

Monsanto's Roundup Ready corn, soy, cotton and alfalfa are genetically engineered to be resistant to glyphosate-base herbicides like Monsanto's Roundup. Farmers can blanket fields of Roundup Ready crops with glyphosate knowing that unwanted weeds will be killed and the genetically engineered crops will not.

"We are informing the USDA of our findings at this early stage, specifically due to your pending decision regarding approval of alfalfa," Huber wrote. "Naturally, if either the Roundup Ready gene or Roundup itself is a promoter or co-factor of this pathogen, then such approval could be a calamity."

Critics like Huber have long criticized glyphosate products like Roundup for weakening crops' natural defense systems and promoting the spread of glyphosate-resistant "superweeds" that have developed their own tolerance to glyphosate and infested millions of acres of farmland in the US alone.

"We are now seeing an unprecedented trend of increasing plant and animal diseases and disorders," Huber wrote. "This pathogen may be instrumental to understanding and solving this problem. It deserves immediate attention with significant resources to avoid a general collapse of our critical agricultural infrastructure."

Huber is a longstanding critic of biotech crops and coordinates a committee of the American Phytopathological Society as part of the USDA National Plant Disease Recovery System.

This work by Truthout is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

The Joke's on you, Lieberman

Unfortunately, it is not a joke.  He has not pointed out some funny event, nor effected some bi- partisan agreement of significance.  No, it is merely one of those ubiquitous 'finger point' of recognition, allowing others to attribute an acceptable level of political righteousness.  One can experience similar behavior in the entertainment industry.  But the message is---anyone who points like this is surely truthful and confident in his actions.  The consummate politician. A man to be trusted. 

But no confusion here.  Nothing this man does could be honored under the banner of humor.

He is a pure player and a dancer in the political theater of the absurd, ought to be considered dangerous, and banished from all forms of political theater.

Considered a democratic reformer for at least some period during his career, Senator Joe Lieberman is the same man who endorsed John McCain's position on the War on Terrorism.  And his participation in other examples of revelatory 'changing of ones political position' continues to haunt the turns and narrowness of the legislative road. Flip-flopping was invented for Joe Lieberman.  

There is a particularly odious whining quality to his voice, giving the impression it is a struggle for him to grant his precious time to important issues.  One would not wish to bother the Senator.

And from Matt Stoller published in in 2006 from MyDemocracy we have this observation about what these important issues might entail:

'A cornerstone of the modern campaign finance system is disclosure.  Everyone agrees on disclosure, from conservative Republicans to liberal Democrats.  Old industrial political machines used to simply pay cash for votes, and this kind of corruption weakened democracy and allowed evil government activities to flourish.  Joe knows this, he was the Attorney General of Connecticut.  So the low simmering scandal - Joe Lieberman's failure to disclose $387,000 funneled through the petty cash account in campaign spending during the primary - is odd.  That's almost a tenth of what he spent in the primary, and he's been hanging his hat onto the fact that the petty cash journal can be kept private.

Until today, it looked like he was going to keep the matter seedy but quiet.  Thanks to some good reporting, though, it looks like Lieberman's $387,000 slush fund is both illegal and that he's been lying about where the money went.  Mary E. O'Leary in the New Haven Register has the story.  What happened on the Lieberman campaign is both illegal and weirdly incompetent.'

Thanks to these fine journalists for pursuing a not-so-popular story.

Now, our good Senator is introducing legislation which, like a significant portion of other legislation---says one thing while seemingly promoting the opposite----will effectively allow the Executive branch a 'kill switch' for US access to the Internet in times of national disaster. Senate Bill 3480.

The definition of 'national disaster' most certainly contains elements of subjectivity.  Plenty of comparisons abound.  Just the fact that Senator Lieberman is the Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee would be impetus enough to qualify for such subjectivity.  And possibly a subjective rendering of removing power from one whose motives are in question.

Certainly, any discussion about 'national disaster'  has not resounded with objectivity.  Was 911 a national disaster?  How about Hurricane Katrina?  Gulf Oil Spill and subsequent destruction of eco-systems in the region, including increasing human disease and death?  Shut down the Internet in all these instances?  Or, just if we are attacked?  And, attacked with weapons or a financial attack through computer re-configurations and the like?  When do we shut it down?  Why shut it down at all?

In the bill's defense, Lieberman, Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Me., and Senator Tom Carper, D-Del., issued the following statement Tuesday about the Internet shut down in Egypt and pending cyber-security legislation that would protect the U.S. from cyber attacks.  And simply by passing S. 3480 will allow, nay, create a perfect path assuring our citizens cyber-security.  Or so we are led to believe. 

Here is their clarifying statement:

“Our bill already contains protections to prevent the President from denying Americans access to the Internet - even as it provides ample authority to ensure that those most critical services that rely on the Internet are protected.  And, even though experts question whether anyone can technically ‘shut down’ the Internet in the United States, we will ensure that any legislation that moves in this Congress contains explicit language prohibiting the President from doing what President Mubarak did."

Yet, the language of the proposed bill will do just that.  As Keith Olbermann used to say, "that man is an idiot!" 

Stay tuned.  Lieberman's precious Patriot Act will soon undergo the provincial touch of a permanent etching into our legal landscape.  No doubt our dear Senator will have a hand in assuring this back-step from Democratic principles. Apparently, he has much work to complete before being soon tossed on the heap of irrelevance.

In the spirit of adding some more compelling concerns regarding Senate Bill 3480---a few more voices:

Paul Joseph Watson of PrisonPlanet expresses a clear message with his comment,  “The legislation says that companies such as broadband providers, search engines or software firms that the US Government selects “shall immediately comply with any emergency measure or action developed” by the Department of Homeland Security.

"Anyone failing to comply would be fined,” reports ZDNet’s Declan McCullagh.

The 197-page bill (PDF) is entitled Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, or PCNAA.

Technology lobbying group TechAmerica warned that the legislation created “the potential for absolute power,” while the Center for Democracy and Technology worried that the bill’s emergency powers “include authority to shut down or limit internet traffic on private systems.”

One concerning area of our legislative process is that the laws (unless repealed) continue on through various administrations.  One wonders what GW Bush might have done with an Internet kill switch. 

Probably shut down everything except the maps of his Crawford Ranch, now for sale along with his book, Decision Points, which further indemnifies Switzerland's decision to arrest the former president should he set foot on their soil.

Lieberman's inevitable book may raise a few eyebrows, as well.