BULLIES ANNOUNCE ATTACK ON VERMONT
The Bullies are worried sick.
The Bullies are worried sick about Vermont. They think democracy has gone wrong because voters there just passed a law (that the Bullies hate), which will take effect on 1 July 2016 that would make it possible for shoppers to know which of their foods contain DNA from GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms). Come July 2016, all they will have to do is read food labels.
The Bullies are telling their Stooges in Washington that this is evil.
They want their Stooges in Washington to write and pass a federal law that would nullify Vermont’s labeling law as well as similar laws passed in Maine and Connecticut (or in any state in America that is considering a similar law for that matter. Unlike the law in Vermont, the laws in Maine and Connecticut do not take effect until bordering states pass similar laws.)
The Bullies know that the writing is on the wall for them unless their Stooges can do something.
Because…
Vermonters (and most Americans) tend to trust natural foods more than genetically engineered foods.
Natural foods do not contain DNA from GMOs. Natural foods took millions of years to be produced by evolution. On the other hand, GMOs were created by bioengineers relatively only yesterday.
The Bullies who sell GMO-made-food say the citizens of Vermont are wrong. They say there is no need for people to know which foods contain DNA that was altered in GMOs. Because GMOs are actually great.
They say there is a tremendous advantage of GMO DNA, especially for them.
Natural seeds can be collected and cultivated and saved by anyone. Unlike seeds that contain GMO DNA, they cannot be patented. On the other hand, seeds that contain the Bullies’ genetically modified and patented DNA cannot be legally cultivated or collected. They must be purchased annually. GMO-altered seed saving becomes illegal. Monsanto has armies of private investigators who run around spying and threatening anyone who they think has used Monsanto’s seeds (or seeds contaminated by Monsanto pollen) without permission. Violators are prosecuted vigorously. SWAT teams invade their farms and confiscate their crops. Before they know it, they are forced out of business. GMO DNA (even if you don’t want it) becomes the new forbidden fruit growing in your garden unless you pay them an annual fee for it.
To be honest, Vermonters tend to distrust GMO-altered food.
Before GMOs, food allergies were comparatively rare. Now in 2014, food allergies affect 5% of children (about three and a half million children) in the U.S alone. Suddenly gluten (found in wheat), soybeans, and peanuts – staples of society since the beginning of history – induce severe allergies in some children.
Not long ago peanut butter and jelly was a favorite lunch of millions of children. It was spread on Wonder Bread before anyone ever worried about gluten. Now children are prohibited by many schools from bringing this sandwich into the lunchroom. All of a sudden even touching a peanut could kill a child.
The Bullies say food allergies do not come from GMOs. They say that there is no proof. They quote ex-Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, who is most famous for saying something like (paraphrase): ‘There are things Vermonters know that they know, and things that they know that the Bullies don’t want them to know, and things that the Bullies don’t seem to know that they know, and things that are simply unknowable by anyone.’
Geez.
Still Vermonters know that some plants that contain GMO-modified-DNA, produce insecticide inside their cells to prevent bugs from eating them. Vermonters don’t like the idea of eating plants that produce insecticide. They know that the Bullies inserted a human gene into rice, which makes rice easier to grow.
Geez.
They know that suddenly bees are dying because they cannot process GMO-modified pollen. They know that Cornell University’s CornellChronical reported on 9 May 2014 that toxic pollen from widely planted GMO corn is killing Monarch butterflies. That if something is not done, there will be no Monarch butterflies.
They love Monarch butterflies.
Geez.
Vermonters have read about the Monsanto Bully (Phil Angell) in the New York Times who said, "Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food. Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the not our job."
That from the Bully's mouth: “Assuring its safety is the not our job.”
Geez.
The Bullies are deeply troubled by Vermont.
They want to shut down the citizens in Vermont. They are worried about recent polls. In 2012 a Mellman Group poll found that 97% of American consumers wanted GMOs labeled. According to a recent CBS/New York Times poll, 53% of consumers said they would not buy food that has been genetically modified.
“Very, very, very bad trend,” worry the Bullies.
Some citizens in Vermont wonder why the Bullies are so worried.
It’s not like they are closing the book on GMOs. They did not pass a law prohibiting DNA modification altogether. They did not outlaw GMOs altogether. They wonder why – if GMOs are actually good for people – is it so important for the Bullies to keep their presence a secret.
Shouldn’t they be proud of the GMO label?
They wonder if maybe there are other issues.
Maybe the Bullies are worried about the hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies that Washington pays them to spread their product all over the world in places like Africa and India. Maybe the Bullies are worried that taxpayers won’t want Washington to spend any more of their tax dollars buying genetically-altered seeds to ship to third world countries. Because once those plants take over, farmers in places like India and Africa will have to purchase new seeds every year at very high prices.
The esteemed medical journal, the Lancet, reported that 19,000 farmers in India committed suicide in 2011. According to the BBC news the reason is “in order to buy genetically modified seeds, some farmers get into unmanageable debt.”
The Bullies are not particularly worried about farmer suicide rates. They don’t see it as their job.
They are playing a game at which monopolization of the food supply of the ENTIRE WORLD is at stake. If they win, they could take control of the entire world’s food supply without an armed force. Think of it! They could conquer and enslave the entire world without firing a shot. Their monopoly on genetically engineered pollen would be spread by bees and by the air itself, which would mean that all the food in the world would eventually become theirs by rule of law.
And those who could not cope would just eliminate themselves from the picture altogether.
Geez.
How?
If a bee anywhere in the world takes pollen from the Boss’s veggies to yours, your veggies become theirs. It’s a weird rule created by the Stooges on the Supreme Court who said that corporations are people. The law allows the Bullies to use nature – bees, wind, other pollinators – which carry pollen from the Bullies plants to yours – to defeat nature. It is the greatest caper since the creation of austerity, privatization and the great phony recession of 2008.
The Bullies made a lot of money off the great phony recession of 2008.
“Stop whining,” they said to people who lost a lot of income in 2008.
Some countries are now trying to fight the Bullies.
The European Union, Japan, China, Korea, Australia require GMO foods to be labeled. Many other countries have laws restricting the production/use of GMOs.
The Bullies – sitting at the gambling table with marked cards – can’t imagine what it would be like to lose. To make sure other countries comply with their demands, the Bullies have been calling on their Stooges in Washington to do something. Washington with its warships and army bases. And there is no shortage of them. Washington has 900 overseas bases in 130 nations. The business of America is business…
Thy will (the Bullies’) be done.
The Bullies are reminding the Stooges about whom they are. About whom they are dealing with. They have paid them a lot of money. A lot of money. Some up front. Some not quite up front (it’s called dark money). Now it’s like the funeral-home guy in the film, the Godfather. “Look what they have done to my boy” … look at what Vermont is doing to my plan. The Stooges who own the ‘funeral home’ – who owe the Bullies – better do something. They’d better legislate against the people of that fucking rogue state of Vermont.
Who are their Stooges in Washington? The list happens to be very long. It ranges from presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (who worked as top-echelon attorneys for Monsanto) to Donald Rumsfeld who served on their Board of Directors.
“Philanthropist” Bill Gates thinks Monsanto is doing a great thing. Surprise, surprise. The Boss of Bullies appreciates the value of monopoly.
“Too-Big-To-Fail” President Barack Obama is up to his talk one way but act another. Doesn’t matter what he says; what matters is what he does. But before you get too optimistic take a look at some of his appointments. He appointed Tommy Thompson as U.S. Secretary of Health. Thomson was paid $50,000 by Monsanto when he was a stooge in congress. He appointed Anne Veneman U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. She sat on the Board of Directors of Monsanto.
If the Stooges in Washington pass a law that prohibits states like Vermont from passing food disclosure laws, will Obama veto it? If Hillary becomes president, will she? Would any Republican president?
Don’t hold your breath.
Leaders in congress certainly can’t be depended upon either.
Representatives John Boehner and Eric Cantor and many others get paid by Monsanto (they call it political support). In the Senate, stooges like Max Baucus and Mitch McConnell and many others get paid by Monsanto as well (they also call it political support). The Bullies don’t give a damn which party you belong to. It doesn’t make any difference to them.
Some people call this system of secret payments to political Stooges and/or their affiliates legalized bribery.
For those who are interested, the Nation of Change published a list of the Stooges in congress who took money from Monsanto. The list is only of money reported by the Stooges themselves. It does not include the unreported millions in dark money sources (which like dark matter in the universe we know is there but cannot be seen) from Super PACS whose right to keep secret whom they pay and/or how much is protected by the same Stooges in the Supreme Court who said corporations are people, and that DNA can be patented. It also does not include the millions that the Bullies have paid to advertising agencies in California and Washington and Oregon to successfully convince people that they are better off not knowing whether or not their food contains GMOs. It also does not include the millions paid to laboratories and phony research organizations that shill for them.
House Stooges (2013): John Barrow (D-GA) $2,500; Sanford Bishop (D-GA) $5,000 ; Boehner, John (R-OH) 10,000; Braley, Bruce (D-IA) $5,000, Camp, Dave (R-MI) $5,000; Cantor, Eric (R-VA) $10,000Clay, William L Jr (D-MO)$10,000, Cleaver, Emanuel (D-MO) $5,000, Conaway, Mike (R-TX) $2,000, Courtney, Joe (D-CT) $4,500, Crawford, Rick (R-AR) $2,500, Fincher, Steve (R-TN) $8,000, Gardner, Cory (R-CO) $7,500, Goodlatte, Bob (R-VA) $4,500, Graves, Sam (R-MO) $5,000, Griffin, Tim (R-AR) $1,000, Guthrie, Brett (R-KY) $1,000, Hanabusa, Colleen (D-HI)$5,000, Hannemann, Mufi (D-HI) $1,000, Hartzler, Vicky (R-MO) $3,000, Holden, Tim (D-PA) $1,000, Huelskamp, Tim (R-KS) $2,500, Hultgren, Randy (R-IL) $2,500, Jenkins, Lynn (R-KS) $2,500, Johnson, Timothy (R-IL) $3,000, King, Steven A (R-IA) $2,500, Kingston, Jack (R-GA) $7,000, Kinzinger, Adam (R-IL) $3,500, Kissell, Larry (D-NC) $5,000, Labrador, Raul (R-ID) $2,000, LaMalfa, Doug (R-CA) $1,000, Landry, Jeff (R-LA) $1,000, Latham, Tom (R-IA) $10,000, Loebsack, David (D-IA) $5,000, Long, Billy (R-MO) $2,500, Lucas, Frank D (R-OK) $10,000, Luetkemeyer, Blaine (R-MO)$5,000, Lungren, Dan (R-CA) $1,000, McIntyre, Mike (D-NC) $1,000, Neugebauer, Randy (R-TX)$1,000, Noem, Kristi (R-SD) $1,000, Nunes, Devin (R-CA) $3,500, Owens, Bill (D-NY) $2,000, Peterson, Collin (D-MN) $10,000, Rogers, Hal (R-KY) $7,500, Rokita, Todd (R-IN) $5,000, Roskam, Peter (R-IL) $1,000, Schilling, Bobby (R-IL) $3,000, Schock, Aaron (R-IL) $5,000, Shimkus, John M (R-IL) $5,000, Simpson, Mike (R-ID) $10,000, Smith, Adrian (R-NE) $5,000, Stutzman, Marlin (R-IN) $5,000, Thompson, Bennie G (D-MS)$10,000, Thompson, Glenn (R-PA) $1,000, Upton, Fred (R-MI) $5,000, Valadao, David (R-CA) $2,500, Wagner, Ann L (R-MO) $10,000, Walden, Greg (R-OR) $1,000, Walorski, Jackie (R-IN) $2,500, Womack, Steve (R-AR) $1,000;
Senate Stooges (2013):
Akin, Todd (R-MO) $3,500; Baucus, Max (D-MT) $1,000; Berg, Rick (R-ND) $10,000; Blunt, Roy (R-MO) $10,000; Boozman, John (R-AR) $5,000; Casey, Bob (D-PA) $2,500; Chambliss, Saxby (R-GA) $5,000; Fischer, Deb (R-NE) $5,000; Gillibrand, Kirsten (D-NY)$1,000; Grassley, Chuck (R-IA) $2,000; Hirono, Mazie K (D-HI) $1,000; Johanns, Mike (R-NE) $1,000; Klobuchar, Amy (D-MN) $5,000; Landrieu, Mary L (D-LA) $1,000; McCaskill, Claire (D-MO)$5,000; McConnell, Mitch (R-KY) $10,000; Moran, Jerry (R-KS) $2,500; Nelson, Ben (D-NE) $13,000; Rehberg, Denny (R-MT) $2,000; Risch, James E (R-ID) $3,500; Roberts, Pat (R-KS) $9,000; Stabenow, Debbie (D-MI) $8,000; Thompson, Tommy G (R-WI)$5,000; Wicker, Roger (R-MS) $1,000; Wilson, Heather A (R-NM)$2,500.
Stooges notwithstanding, the Bullies, who are accustomed to playing a rigged game, aren’t taking any chances. They plan to pay millions of dollars to high-echelon legal teams to sue the people of Vermont. Even if they lose a few preliminary legal battles (who knows?) in the lower courts, they are pretty sure the Stooges they appointed to the Supreme Court will enable them to prevail over democracy in Vermont.
All because the people in the state of Vermont and 97% of the people in America would like to know what’s in their food.
copyright 2014 James and Jean Anton. Their latest illustrated book, Santa Is Make-Believe, Isn’t He?, will be published by www.muse-press.org later this year.
