re: Whole Foods and its giant peers surrender to Monsanto

Once again, the OCA has it all wrong and is misleading our shoppers. We have done more than any other retailer to educate and advocate on genetically engineered food, and we are deeply committed to preserving our ability to sell non-GE food. Perhaps OCA did not understand our position. We do not have anything to do with big biotech companies’ agenda.

Muriel R. Ortiz
Store Team Leader
Annapolis Whole Foods Market
200 Harker Place
Annapolis, MD 21401

I Want My AJE
by Julia Dahl, May 2008

l Jazeera English’s only bureau in the western hemisphere occupies five floors of a nondescript office building on Washington, D.C.’s K Street. The lobby is drab – just a hallway and two elevators. There is no sign on the door, no gold symbol affixed on the wall. In fact, the name Al Jazeera does not appear anywhere. If you didn’t know better, you might think the building was home to dentist’s offices or mid-level lobbying firms, instead of the most controversial news channel in the world.

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Obama ‘Internet kill switch’ plan approved by US Senate panel
President could get power to turn off Internet
By Grant Gross

A US Senate committee has approved a wide-ranging cybersecurity bill that some critics have suggested would give the US president the authority to shut down parts of the Internet during a cyberattack.

Senator Joe Lieberman and other bill sponsors have refuted the charges that the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act gives the president an Internet “kill switch.” Instead, the bill puts limits on the powers the president already has to cause “the closing of any facility or stations for wire communication” in a time of war, as described in the Communications Act of 1934, they said in abreakdown of the bill published on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee website.

The committee unanimously approved an amended version of the legislation by voice vote Thursday, a committee spokeswoman said. The bill next moves to the Senate floor for a vote, which has not yet been scheduled.

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Subject: NEWS FROM EGYPT – please spread the word!

Dear friends who work in journalism:

I’m sure you’re all aware of what’s going on in Egypt. The situation is extremely dire, as the government has now cut the country off from SMS and internet service.

Below is a letter an Egyptian friend of mine asked me to pass along to anyone who can get the word to media organizations, so please do what you can.

More information at this link:

http://www.eacusa.org/interviews-a-articles/6-articles-by-friends/55-alarming-news-out-of-egypt.html

Thanks!
Ariel
———-

Dear Editor,

Thank you for your continued coverage of the protests in Egypt. Several local sources have confirmed that the Egyptian government has completely disabled Short Messaging Service texts and the Internet. We have been unable to reach many of our friends and family via the
Internet.

Cutting off protesters and the rest of Egypt from all methods of communicating with the outside world is a grave situation. There have already been reports of widespread abuses by the government security offices, and such a media and communication blackout only guarantees that the security forces can do as they please in crushing tomorrow’s protests without threat of exposure to the world.

We implore you to provide live coverage of the protests as they unfold. This is crucial not only in potentially saving lives of Egyptian protesters and policemen, but in also stirring up the opinions of the international community and international leadership to place more pressure on their governments to condemn the actions of the Egyptian government.

Sincerely,
Ariel Azoff

Conflict of Interest: Ex Monsanto Lawyer Clarence Thomas to Hear Major Monsanto Case
By Doug Snodgrass
Celcias, March 11, 2010
Straight to the Source

In Monsanto v. Geertson Seed Farms, No. 09-475, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case which could have an enormous effect on the future of the American food industry. This is Monsanto’s third appeal of the case, and if they win a favorable ruling from the high court, a deregulated Monsanto may find itself in position to corner the markets of numerous U.S. crops, and to litigate conventional farmers into oblivion.

Here’s where it gets a bit dicier. Two Supreme Court justices have what appear to be direct conflicts of interest.

Stephen Breyer: Charles Breyer, the judge who ruled in the original decision of 2007 which is being appealed, is the brother of Stephen Breyer, who apparently views this as a conflict of interest and has recused himself.

Clarence Thomas: From the years 1976 – 1979, Thomas worked as an attorney for Monsanto. Thomas apparently does not see this as a conflict of interest and has not recused himself.

Fox, meet henhouse.

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“David’s death is a result of the hatred planted in Uganda by U.S. evangelicals since 2009.”

Ugandan Who Spoke Up for Gays Is Beaten to Death
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

NAIROBI, Kenya – David Kato knew he was a marked man.

As the most outspoken gay rights advocate in Uganda, a country where homophobia is so severe that Parliament is considering a bill to execute gay people, Mr. Kato had received a stream of death threats, his friends said. A few months ago, a Ugandan newspaper ran an antigay diatribe with Mr. Kato’s picture on the front page under a banner urging, “Hang Them.”

On Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Kato was beaten to death with a hammer in his rough-and-tumble neighborhood. Police officials were quick to chalk up the motive to robbery, but members of the small and increasingly besieged gay community in Uganda suspect otherwise.

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National Organic Coalition
NationalOrganicCoalition.org

Resolute in Continuing to fight for Organic Integrity

****************

January 27, 2011. The National Organic Coalition (NOC) today is shocked and disappointed over the decision by USDA Secretary Vilsack to de-regulate Genetically Engineered (GE) Alfalfa.

“We appreciate the measures that the Secretary has announced to explore ways to develop the science to protect organic and other non-GE alfalfa farmers from contamination. However, to institute these measures after the GE alfalfa is deregulated defies commonsense,” said Michael Sligh, founding member of NOC. “Logically, efforts to develop the science of prevent GMO contamination should precede, not follow, any decision to deregulate GE crops.”

De-regulation with no oversight, enforcement or penalties by USDA is a green light for business as usual. Potential contamination from yet another genetically modified crop without independent health and environmental testing, or plans for liability, compensation, and labeling is of grave concern to organic farmers and consumers alike, according to NOC spokespersons.

“Organic and others are now left, once again having to take all the precautions while biotech takes little responsibility,” said Liana Hoodes, NOC Director.

In December, Secretary Vilsack brought some stakeholders together to discuss organic, non-GE, and biotech “living together”, but no conclusions were reached. The National Organic Coalition participated in some of these meetings and presented concrete recommendations. “We remain resolute in our pursuit of full implementation of these recommendations to protect the interests of organic growers and consumers, said Hoodes.

“It is time for the US government to support more than just the biotech approach to agriculture. Approving the unrestricted planting of GE alfalfa is clearly a case of USDA caving in to special interests over public good.”

NOC spokespersons went on to state that the American public has noted in poll after poll that they want the right to know how their food is produced, and demand that GE foods be labeled to preserve their choice.

The National Organic Coalition has a detailed paper outlining its necessary pre-requisites to any approval entitled: GMO Contamination Prevention: What Will It Take? available at: http://www.nationalorganiccoalition.org/GMO/GMOContaminationPrevention.pdf

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Michael Sligh: 919-929-7099; msligh@rafiusa.org

Liana Hoodes: 914-443-5759; Liana@NationalOrganicCoalition.org

House votes to end publicly financed presidential campaigns
By Pete Kasperowicz

The House today approved legislation that would end public financing of presidential campaigns by eliminating the option taxpayers have to donate $3 of their tax payments to a presidential campaign fund.

A day after President Obama asked both parties to work together during his State of the Union address, the bill, H.R. 359, was approved by party-line 239-160 vote following some very contentious debate.

Ten Democrats voted with Republicans: Reps. Jason Altmire (Pa.), Dan Boren (Okla.), Ben Chandler (Ky.), Henry Cuellar (Texas), Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Jim Matheson (Utah), Nick Rahall (W.Va.), Mike Ross (Ark.), Adam Schiff (Calif.) and Heath Shuler (N.C.).

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Loan Mod Program Crippled by Lax Oversight and Deference to Banks – ProPublica

Cow Most Sacred: Why Military Spending Remains Untouchable
By Andrew J. Bacevich

In defense circles, “cutting” the Pentagon budget has once again become a topic of conversation. Americans should not confuse that talk with reality. Any cuts exacted will at most reduce the rate of growth. The essential facts remain: U.S. military outlays today equal that of every other nation on the planet combined, a situation without precedent in modern history.

The Pentagon presently spends more in constant dollars than it did at any time during the Cold War — this despite the absence of anything remotely approximating what national security experts like to call a “peer competitor.” Evil Empire? It exists only in the fevered imaginations of those who quiver at the prospect of China adding a rust-bucket Russian aircraft carrier to its fleet or who take seriously the ravings of radical Islamists promising from deep inside their caves to unite the Umma in a new caliphate.

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