Infinite Unknown

- Food Inflation Everywhere, But Not A Bit In CPI (Yet) (ZeroHedge, April 10, 2013):

Reported U.S. food inflation has been a paltry 1.6% over the last 12 months, one of the lowest growth rates in food & beverage CPI since late 2010. However, ConvergEx’s Nick Colas notes that the severe drought in the Midwest over the summer of 2012 will likely drive up food costs this year 3-4% across the board, by the USDA’s estimates. These headline numbers, however, don’t accurately reflect the prices of the real “basket of goods” that we bring to the checkout counter every week at the grocery store. Consequently, Colas warns, the CPI report doesn’t necessarily mirror the increase in our grocery bill. Nor does it take into accountdifferent food choices (e.g. healthy vs. junk food), farm prices, or demographics, all of which the USDA publishes separately. The actual, visible inflation at the checkout counter may lead the American consumer to think – perhaps inaccurately – that overall CPI is rising or falling at a similar pace. For a more detailed, accurate reflection of food CPI, then, we have to aggregate all of these indicators to see how they compare to overall CPI. In short, inflationary expectations may well be set to rise dramatically in 2013: “shopping cart inflation” was upwards of 1.3% last month, almost double the 0.7% overall CPI.
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Tags: Economy, Food, Global News, Inflation, USDA

- The Monsanto Protection Act? A Debate on Controversial New Measure Over Genetically Modified Crops (Democracy Now, April 2, 2013):

President Obama outraged food activists last week when he signed into law a spending bill with a controversial rider that critics have dubbed the “Monsanto Protection Act.” The rider says the government must allow the planting of genetically modified crops even if courts rule they pose health risks. The measure has galvanized the U.S. food justice movement, which is now preparing for its next fight when the provision expires in six months. We host a discussion on the “Monsanto Protection Act” and the safety of genetically modified foods with two guests: Gregory Jaffe, director of the Biotechnology Project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that addresses food and nutrition issues; and Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch and author of the book, “Foodopoly: The Battle Over the Future of Food and Farming in America.” On Wednesday, Hauter’s group is releasing a major new report called “Monsanto: A Corporate Profile.” [includes rush transcript]

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AARON MATÉ: President Obama outraged food activists last week when he signed into law a spending bill with a controversial rider attached. Critics have dubbed the rider the “Monsanto Protection Act.” That’s because it effectively says the government must allow the planting of genetically modified crops even if courts rule they pose health risks. The provision calls on the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the USDA, to, quote, “grant temporary permit(s) or temporary deregulation,” unquote, to the crop growers until an environmental review is completed. In other words, plant the GE crop first and assess the impact later.

AMY GOODMAN: One of the biggest supporters of the provision was Republican Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri, Monsanto’s home state. Blunt reportedly crafted the bill’s language with Monsato’s help.
On the other side was the lone member of the Senate who’s also an active farmer, Democrat Jon Tester of Montana. Senator Tester tried to remove the rider when the budget bill made its way through Congress last month. Speaking on the Senate floor, Tester said the provision would undermine judicial oversight and hurt family farmers.

SEN. JON TESTER: The United States Congress is telling the Agricultural Department that even if a court tells you that you’ve failed to follow the right process and tells you to start over, you must disregard the court’s ruling and allow the crop to be planted anyway. Not only does this ignore the constitutional idea of separation of powers, but it also lets genetically modified crops take hold across this country, even when a judge finds it violates the law—once again, agribusiness multinational corporations putting farmers as serfs. It’s a dangerous precedent. Mr. President, it will paralyze the USDA, putting the department in the middle of a battle between Congress and the courts. And the ultimate loser will be our family farmers going about their business and feeding America in the right way.

AARON MATÉ: Well, Senator Tester’s effort failed, and the rider was included in last month’s legislation that avoided a government shutdown.

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Tags: Barack Obama, Biotech, Congress, Constitution, Corporations, Environment, Food, Genetically Modified Organisms, Global News, GMO, Government, Health, Law, Monsanto, Obama administration, Politics, Roy Blunt, Society, U.S., USDA

Related info:

- Outrageous Betrayal Of All Americans: President Obama Signs ‘Monsanto Protection Act’ Into Law:

“In an outrageous betrayal of all Americans, President Obama just signed the so-called “Monsanto Protection Act” into law.

This law gives Monsanto authority over federal courts and allows it to plant experimental GMO crops even if they pose an extreme risk to human health and environmental health.”

US President Barack Obama (AFP Photo / Brendan Smialowsky)

- Obama signs ‘Monsanto Protection Act’ written by Monsanto-sponsored senator (RT, March 28, 2013):

United States President Barack Obama has signed a bill into law that was written in part by the very billion-dollar corporation that will benefit directly from the legislation.

On Tuesday, Pres. Obama inked his name to H.R. 933, a continuing resolution spending bill approved in Congress days earlier. Buried 78 pages within the bill exists a provision that grossly protects biotech corporations such as the California-based Monsanto Company from litigation.

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Tags: Agriculture, Barack Obama, Dictatorship, Environment, Farmers, Fascism, Food, Genetically Modified Organisms, Global News, GMO, Government, Health, Law, Monsanto, New World Order, Obama administration, Politics, Roy Blunt, Society, U.S., USDA

“In an outrageous betrayal of all Americans, President Obama just signed the so-called “Monsanto Protection Act” into law.
This law gives Monsanto authority over federal courts and allows it to plant experimental GMO crops even if they pose an extreme risk to human health and environmental health.”
- Mike Adams (Natural News)

- Obama betrays America yet again by signing the ‘Monsanto Protection Act’ into law (Natural News, March 28, 2013):

President Barack Obama campaigned on promises to end secret prisons, decriminalize marijuana, balance the budget, honor the Second Amendment and make health care affordable. But what really unfolded was an explosion in the national debt (now $16 trillion and climbing), the signing of the NDAA, a claimed new power to kill any American at any time, even on U.S. soil, the use of military drones to murder American children overseas, a full-on assault against the Bill of Rights, a doubling of health insurance rates and the destruction of the U.S. economy.

But that’s not all.

Now Obama has signed the “Monsanto Protection Act” into law, stabbing America in the heart yet again and proving that no matter how convincing politicians appear on the campaign trail, they are still sociopathic liars in the end.

The Monsanto Protection Act, part of the HR 933 continuing resolution, allows Monsanto to override U.S. federal courts on the issue of planting experimental genetically engineered crops all across the country. Even if those experimental crops are found to be extremely dangerous or to cause a runaway crop plague, the U.S. government now has no judicial power to stop them from being planted and harvested.

As ibtimes.com reports, the bill “effectively bars federal courts from being able to halt the sale or planting of GMO or GE crops and seeds, no matter what health consequences from the consumption of these products may come to light in the future.”

GMOs now evade all regulations: America has become a grand Monsanto experimentA Food Democracy Now petition now states:

With the Senate passage of the Monsanto Protection Act, biotech lobbyists are one step closer to making sure that their new GMO crops can evade any serious scientific or regulatory review.

This dangerous provision, the Monsanto Protection Act, strips judges of their constitutional mandate to protect consumer and farmer rights and the environment, while opening up the floodgates for the planting of new untested genetically engineered crops, endangering farmers, citizens and the environment.

Corporate-government conspiracy is fascism Continue reading »

Tags: Agriculture, Barack Obama, Bill of Rights, Constitution, Dictatorship, Environment, Farmers, Fascism, Food, Genetically Modified Organisms, Global News, GMO, Government, Health, Law, Monsanto, NDAA, New World Order, Obama administration, Politics, Society, U.S., USDA

- There are antibiotics in your organic apples and pears: Sign the petition to stop this common practice (Natural News, March 13, 2013):

You may not be aware of it, but every time you bite into that crisp, organic apple or succulent, organic pear, you could be exposing yourself to two different antibiotic drugs that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) has quietly allowed to be used on these two fruits since the organic program’s inception back in the 1990s. And unless the health-conscious community makes its collective voice heard on this important issue, the deceptive practice will continue to play a role in the growing antibiotic-resistance epidemic that is sweeping modern society.

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Tags: Agriculture, Apples, EU, Europe, Food, Global News, Health, organic, Pears, U.S., USDA

- USDA Received Pathogen Warning BEFORE Deregulating GM Alfalfa (Activist Post, Feb 20, 2013):

Following a 6 year approval battle, the USDA fully deregulated Monsanto’s Roundup Ready alfalfa in January 2011. A week later, they partially deregulated GM sugar beets. This occurred despite Secretary of Agriculture’s Tom Vilsack’s knowledge of a stark warning letter by Dr. Don M. Huber, Emeritus Professor of Plant Pathology, Purdue University two weeks prior, who found a link between the modified organisms and the proliferation of the new pathogen. Huber knew about its presence in Roundup Ready soy and corn and sought to hold off the GE alfalfa calling the situation an “emergency.”

Dr. Huber said (vid below) “we don’t know what it is” – it’s a new entity first noticed by veterinarians in the late ’90s, new to science. It’s not a virus, although similar, actually smaller in size and like a fungus that spreads like a virus. It’s contained in Roundup Ready (RR) and Roundup sprayed plants and feed and bizarrely affects all farmland animals often with infertility and spontaneous abortions – an inter-species syndrome that could be the first of its kind.

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Tags: Alfalfa, Environment, Food, Genetically Modified Organisms, Genocide, Global News, GMO, Government, Health, Monsanto, Politics, Roundup, Roundup Ready, Science, USDA

- GMO fail: Monsanto foiled by feds, Supreme Court, and science (Grist, Feb 15, 2013):

It’s been a good week if you enjoy a little GMO schadenfreude. The FDA has reportedly bowed to public pressure to extend the comment period on its approval of genetically engineered salmon, and Illinois, Maryland, and Iowa are the latest states to buck GMOs by introducing labeling bills into state legislature.

Even the Supreme Court has an opportunity to take Monsanto down a peg. On Feb. 19, the court will hear arguments in a patent infringement case between an Indiana farmer and Monsanto (I covered it in detail here). If Monsanto prevails, it’ll move a few more paces towards agricultural monopoly; if it loses, the company will take a couple steps back. It’s encouraging that the Supreme Court chose to hear the case over the solicitor general’s urging to dismiss it, but Monsanto could have an inside man: As in other Monsanto-related cases, former Monsanto-lawyer-turned-Supreme-Court-Justice Clarence Thomas has no plans to recuse himself.

But GMOs took the biggest punch this week from academia: Tom Philpott highlights a USDA-funded study [PDF] by University of Wisconsin scientists who found that several types of GMO seeds (including Monsanto’s RoundUp Ready varieties) actually produce a lower yield than conventional seeds. Only one seed — a corn that produces its own pesticide to combat the corn borer — offers any significant yield benefit. In other words, planting most genetically modified seeds results in less harvest per acre than planting non-genetically modified seeds.

The researchers looked at 20 years of data from test plots in Wisconsin from 1990-2010, both on research plots and on plots in participating farmers’ fields. Philpott flags a key point from the study: Continue reading »

Tags: Agriculture, FDA, Food, Genetically Modified Organisms, Global News, GMO, Government, Health, Monsanto, Politics, Salmon, Science, Supreme Court, U.S., USDA

- Shock finding: Most probiotic supplements made with genetically modified flow agents, fillers (Natural News, Jan 22, 2013):

A Natural News investigation into the probiotics industry has turned up alarming information about how probiotics are formulated and labeled. We’ve found that nearly all probiotics available in the U.S. market today are secretly formulated with genetically modified ingredients that are intentionally not listed on the label. The most common such ingredient is maltodextrin, a corn-derived flow agent.

Look for yourself at the probiotics available today, and you’ll find something curious: Virtually none of them are certified USDA organic. Why is that? If you read the ingredients on the label, you might scratch your head and wonder why they can’t make those ingredients organic. But the real story is found in the “dirty little secret” that probiotics supplement manufacturers are not listing on the labels: Maltodextrin and other fillers and flow agents that are derived from GM corn. Continue reading »

Tags: Corn, Food, Genetically Modified Organisms, Global News, GMO, Health, Maltodextrin, Supplements, USDA

- DOJ Mysteriously Quits Monsanto Antitrust Investigation (Mother Jones, Dec, 1, 2012):

There’s an age-old tradition in Washington of making unpopular announcements when no one’s listening—like, you know, the days leading up to Thanksgiving. That’s when the Obama administration sneaked a tasty dish to the genetically modified seed/pesticide industry.This treat involves the unceremonious end of the Department of Justice’s antitrust investigation into possible anticompetitive practices in the US seed market, which it had begun in January 2010. It’s not hard to see why DOJ would take a look. For the the crops that cover the bulk of US farmland like corn, soy, and cotton, the seed trade is essentially dominated by five companies: Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta, Bayer, and Dow. And a single company, Monsanto, supplies nearly all genetically modified traits now so commonly used in those crops, which it licenses to its rivals for sale in their own seeds.

What’s harder to figure out is why the DOJ ended the investigation without taking any action—and did so with a near-complete lack of public information. The DOJ didn’t even see fit to mark the investigation’s end with a press release. News of it emerged from a brief item Monsanto itself issued the Friday before Thanksgiving, declaring it had “received written notification” from the DOJ antitrust division that it had ended its investigation “without taking any enforcement action.”

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Tags: Bayer, Dictatorship, Dow Chemical, DuPont, Economy, Food, Genetically Modified Organisms, Global News, GMO, Government, Monsanto, Politics, Roundup, Roundup Ready, Syngenta, U.S., USDA

Elite puppets Obama & Romney 2012

- Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: The Election Of The Next Puppet President: High Stake Outcomes Based On Non-issues.:

“The selection of the next president of the US will depend on one thing alone–which of the two candidates financed by the ruling private oligarchy has the most effective propaganda.”

“Whether you vote Republican or Democrat, the oligarchs will win.”

- Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: The Dispossessed Majority – ‘The US Is Ruled By A Private Oligarchy. The Government Is Merely Their Front.’:

“If Americans had any sense, they would stay home and not vote.”

Mike Adams (Natural News):

Which U.S. presidential candidate is more likely to oppose GMOs?

Neither one, it turns out. Romney is a corporatist while Obama has a long history of breaking campaign promises. Neither one has even mentioned GMOs as a campaign issue! (Which also tells you how ignorant the public is, eh?)

P.S. For the record, I’m not voting for President this year. I just can’t stand the (false) choices…

- Meet Monsanto’s number one lobbyist: Barack Obama (Natural News, Sep 25, 2012):

During his 2008 campaign for president, Barack Obama transmitted signals that he understood the GMO issue. Several key anti-GMO activists were impressed. They thought Obama, once in the White House, would listen to their concerns and act on them.

These activists weren’t just reading tea leaves. On the campaign trail, Obama said: “Let folks know when their food is genetically modified, because Americans have a right to know what they’re buying.”

Making the distinction between GMO and non-GMO was certainly an indication that Obama, unlike the FDA and USDA, saw there was an important line to draw in the sand.

Beyond that, Obama was promising a new era of transparency in government. He was adamant in promising that, if elected, his administration wouldn’t do business in “the old way.” He would be “responsive to people’s needs.”

Then came the reality.

After the election, and during Obama’s term as president, people who had been working to label GMO food and warn the public of its huge dangers were shocked to the core. They saw Obama had been pulling a bait and switch.

The new president filled key posts with Monsanto people, in federal agencies that wield tremendous force in food issues, the USDA and the FDA:

At the USDA, as the director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Roger Beachy, former director of the Monsanto Danforth Center.

As deputy commissioner of the FDA, the new food-safety-issues czar, the infamous Michael Taylor, former vice-president for public policy for Monsanto. Taylor had been instrumental in getting approval for Monsanto’s genetically engineered bovine growth hormone.

As commissioner of the USDA, Iowa governor, Tom Vilsack. Vilsack had set up a national group, the Governors’ Biotechnology Partnership, and had been given a Governor of the Year Award by the Biotechnology Industry Organization, whose members include Monsanto.

As the new Agriculture Trade Representative, who would push GMOs for export, Islam Siddiqui, a former Monsanto lobbyist.

As the new counsel for the USDA, Ramona Romero, who had been corporate counsel for another biotech giant, DuPont.

As the new head of the USAID, Rajiv Shah, who had preciously worked in key positions for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a major funder of GMO agriculture research.

We should also remember that Obama’s secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, once worked for the Rose law firm. That firm was counsel to Monsanto.

Obama nominated Elena Kagan to the US Supreme Court. Kagan, as federal solicitor general, had previously argued for Monsanto in the Monsanto v. Geertson seed case before the Supreme Court.

The deck was stacked. Obama hadn’t simply made honest mistakes. Obama hadn’t just failed to exercise proper oversight in selecting appointees. He wasn’t just experiencing a failure of short-term memory. He was staking out territory on behalf of Monsanto and other GMO corporate giants.

And now let us look at what key Obama appointees have wrought for their true bosses. Let’s see what GMO crops have walked through the open door of the Obama presidency.

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Tags: Barack Obama, Elena Kagan, Environment, FDA, Food, Genetically Modified Organisms, Global News, GMO, Government, Health, Hillary Clinton, Islam Siddiqui, Lobbyists, Michael Taylor, Monsanto, Obama administration, Politics, Rajiv Shah, Ramona Romero, Roger Beachy, Tom Vilsack, U.S., USDA