If We Really Are What We Eat, It's Only A Matter Of Time Before We're All Mutants

Yummy American farm girl

Historically, George W. Bush had 3 of the most brazen shills of AgriBusiness as consecutive Secretaries of Agriculture: Ann Veneman, Mike Johanns and Ed Schafer. Each was charged with doing everything Big Ag Business wanted that would keep the money flowing GOP-wise. [Since 1990 Agribusiness has "donated" $350,366,008 in federal elections, almost twice as much to Republicans as to Democrats.] Obama's Agriculture Secretary, conservative former DLC chair and former Iowa governor, Tom Vilsack, seems to be driven by almost identical instincts. If you were concerned about the radiation reported in Tokyo's drinking water, you might also be concerned about the dangers of genetically engineered crops inexorably taking over American agriculture-- and the role of the USDA in this tragedy. Organic farmers and consumers have fought back but, except for a little window dressing here and there, Vilsack rules his fiefdom the same way Veneman, Johanns and Schafer did. Biotech triumphant in the march towards turning the human race into mutants for the sake of short term corporate profits-- kind of like the nuclear energy industry.

Vilsack has been making promises-- with fingers crossed behind his back-- to protect the interests of farmers and consumers who aren't interested in being part of a species-wide genetic experiment and prefer eating real food, "promising something revolutionary: finding a way for organic farms to coexist alongside the modified plants."

But in recent weeks, the administration has announced a trio of decisions that have clouded the future of organics and boosted the position of genetically engineered (GE) crops. Vilsack approved genetically modified alfalfa and a modified corn to be made into ethanol, and he gave limited approval to GE sugar beets.

The announcements were applauded by GE industry executives, who describe their genetically modified organisms as the farming of the future. But organics supporters were furious, saying their hopes that the Obama administration would protect their interests were dashed.

“It was boom, boom boom,” said Walter Robb, co-chief executive of Whole Foods Markets, a major player in organics. “These were deeply disappointing. They were such one-sided decisions.”

To a growing cadre of consumers who pay attention to how their food is produced, the agriculture wars are nothing short of operatic, pitting technology against tradition in a struggle underscored by politics and profits.

“Each side is so passionate,” Vilsack said in a recent interview. “And each side is convinced that it’s right.”

The two sides are not clashing over the ethics or safety of genetic engineering, in which plants are modified in the laboratory with genes from another organism to make them more pest-resistant or to produce other traits. Instead, the argument is over the potential for contamination: pollen and seeds from GE crops can drift across fields to nearby organic plants. That has triggered fears that organic crops could be overtaken by modified crops. Contamination can cost organic growers-- some overseas markets, for example, have rejected organic products when tests showed they carried even trace amounts of GE material.

Organics supporters also say that, as the number of genetically engineered crops grows, so does the risk. And some conventional farmers who don’t use GE seeds are also concerned about their crops. USDA has approved 81 GE crops-- it has never denied a proposal-- and 22 applications are pending.

“It’s really about the right to farm and the right to choose,” Robb said. “You shouldn’t farm in a way that affects the way others farm.”

Vilsack tried bribing the organic industry with a promise that it wouldn't "count" against them being able to call their produce "organic" if it was polluted by genetically engineered crap and he held out the promise of buffer zones between the freak food and the real food. But AgriBusiness and their Republican and Blue Dog allies freaked out and threw tantrums that there would be any restrictions whatsoever of Big Business. Regardless of which party controls Congress, Agribusiness controls the House Agriculture Committee and they weren't having any of this organic bullshit. They told Vilsack in no uncertain terms and he acquiesced.

With Republicans and Blue Dogs howling on behalf of the Big Business Farming Industry-- and with a White House on the defensive and trying to bend over backwards to prove how pro-business it is-- it was "screw the dirty hippies" (again); Vilsack announced approval of GE alfalfa, sugar beets and corn. No limitations.



Or if cutting edge music isn't your thing... how about Lee Camp's cutting edge stand-up?

What Does The Shirley Sherrod Case Tell Us About Ourselves?

I always thought Rahm Emanuel was the 4th Stooge

When I woke up yesterday CNN had an elderly Georgia farmer's widow on the phone talking about how some lady named Shirley Sherrod had saved their farm and there was something about picking tomatoes, which she pronounced tomaters, and then I remembered it was primary day in Georgia and I ran downstairs to tweet a last minute incantation for Regina Thomas in her courageous battle against stinky-- and loaded-- Blue Dog John Barrow. Then, over the morning, I saw a billion tweets about Ms Sherrod. I'm sure everyone knows the story now about how Andrew Breitbart, apparently Obama's Director of Personnel, had managed to find some tape, pull a piece out of context and get Ms Sherrod-- an assertive African American woman (3 strikes in Breitbart-world)-- fired by that walking Profile in Courage, former shady DLC head, current corporate Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The next time I went upstairs Rick Sanchez had apparently resurrected the elderly Georgia farmer-- he is definitely not dead-- and he and his wife were waxing poetic about the fabulousness of the Ms. Sherrod who Andrew Breitbart and his pack of lying right-wing hyenas had somehow persuaded Vilsack too sack. As of this writing Obama hasn't sacked Vilsack or even reinstated Mr. Sherrod. Reading Digby, one would think Obama is waiting for a call from Breitbart about what to do next.

"Her decision 'rightly or wrongly" will be called into question" because some right wing hitman put out an edited tape that makes her sound as if her point is the opposite of what it is, so she had to be fired.

They are telling wingnuts everywhere that all they have to do is gin up a phony controversy (especially about a black person, apparently) and the administration will fire them so as not to shake confidence that they are "fair service providers."

This is sheer cowardice.

We're going to have to be more careful about the character of the candidates we nominate for big jobs in the future. A blue t-shirt, a bunch of corporate cash and some kewl slogans just cannot be enough any longer. Which brings me to a column I read in the NY Times yesterday by David Itzkoff about Family Guy, or at least about an episode of the show that was banned by Fox. Partial Terms of Endearment was produced for the 2009-10 season, never shown and about to be released (also by Fox) as a stand-alone DVD, sure to make Murdoch plenty of money. Humor me for a moment and read the statement by the NAACP, which had backed Vilsack's moronic reaction to the Sherrod case:

The NAACP has a zero tolerance policy against racial discrimination, whether practiced by blacks, whites, or any other group.

The NAACP also has long championed and embraced transformation by people who have moved beyond racial bias. Most notably, we have done so for late Alabama Governor George Wallace and late US Senator Robert Byrd-- each a man who had associated with and supported white supremacists and their cause before embracing civil rights for all.

With regard to the initial media coverage of the resignation of USDA Official Shirley Sherrod, we have come to the conclusion we were snookered by Fox News and Tea Party Activist Andrew Breitbart into believing she had harmed white farmers because of racial bias.

Having reviewed the full tape, spoken to Ms. Sherrod, and most importantly heard the testimony of the white farmers mentioned in this story, we now believe the organization that edited the documents did so with the intention of deceiving millions of Americans.

The fact is Ms. Sherrod did help the white farmers mentioned in her speech. They personally credit her with helping to save their family farm.

Moreover, this incident and the lesson it prompted occurred more than 20 years before she went to work for USDA.

Finally, she was sharing this account as part of a story of transformation and redemption. In the full video, Ms.Sherrod says she realized that the dislocation of farmers is about “haves and have nots.” "It’s not just about black people, it’s about poor people," says Sherrod in the speech. “We have to get to the point where race exists but it doesn’t matter.”

This is a teachable moment, for activists and for journalists.

Most Americans agree that racism has no place in American Society. We also believe that civil and human rights have to be measured by a single yardstick.

The NAACP has demonstrated its commitment to live by that standard.

The Tea Party Federation took a step in that direction when it expelled the Tea Party Express over the weekend. Unfortunately, we have yet to hear from other leaders in the Tea Party movement like Dick Armey and Sarah Palin, who have been virtually silent on the “internal bigotry” issue.

Next time we are confronted by a racial controversy broken by Fox News or their allies in the Tea Party like Mr. Breitbart, we will consider the source and be more deliberate in responding. The tape of Ms. Sherrod’s speech at an NAACP banquet was deliberately edited to create a false impression of racial bias, and to create a controversy where none existed. This just shows the lengths to which extremist elements will go to discredit legitimate opposition.

According to the USDA, Sherrod’s statements prompted her dismissal. While we understand why Secretary Vilsack believes this false controversy will impede her ability to function in the role, we urge him to reconsider.

I'm not sure how many teachable moments we need to understand cancers on the ass of American society like Andrew Breitbart and Fox broadcasting. But what does this all have to do with Family Guy?

The creator of the show, and the producer, is Seth MacFarlane and he didn't criticize Fox for refusing to air the Partial Terms of Endearment episode. Instead, he told the Times that the decision reveals more about mass audiences-- i.e., the American people (also voters, of course)-- than about the networks.

“People in America, they’re getting dumber,” Mr. MacFarlane said. “They’re getting less and less able to analyze something and think critically, and pick apart the underlying elements. And more and more ready to make a snap judgment regarding something at face value, which is too bad.”

Which makes even more chilling the decision of the Obama Administration to curry favor with the extreme right by taking out the budgeting to save 140,000 teachers' jobs in order to get Republicans to vote for another year of futile, catastrophic war in Afghanistan.

Maybe they can take a look at the context to which they were dancing Andrew Breitbart's racist tune and just fire Vilsack-- and then we can talk about the war after:

TOM, WE BARELY KNEW YOU WERE IN YET!-- VILSACK DROPS OUT OF THE RACE

It was the longest of longshots from day one (which was 115 ago)-- another small state governor hoping for the Jimmy Carter miracle-- but Tom Vilsack did declare he was running for president. Tarred with the stigma of having taking over as chairman of the hated corporate whoremonger insider group, the DLC, Vilsack never really had a chance. And today he's announcing he's dropping out of the race. Why is this important enough for its own little space in the blog? As a popular two term governor of Iowa, Vilsack could play a big role in landing that crucial, momentum-building, first in the nation contest for another Democrat. If he backs Edwards, the current front-runner in Iowa, or either Clinton or Obama (neck and neck for the #2 slot), it could be a big deal... for a whole news cycle. Press conference at noon. He says the only reason he quit was because he couldn't raise enough money. I guess the DLC confiscated his rolodex when he quit.