Vermont GMO Labeling

Much to the chagrin of politicians in Washington DC is the ability of states to enact laws within their borders.  Republican politicians in Washington attached and tried to bury in HR933, a bill to fund the government and many other important endeavors that are much needed as a sign it or kill it ultimatum.  The president funded the government with his signature.  Republicans supported financially by Monsanto with donations or previous jobs in the industry celebrated the free for all status that gave Monsanto immunity of prosecution from the products they Franken create called Genetically Modified Seeds.

When you can not trust the federal government to protect the food supply then you as a state government can regulate laws to protect your citizens.  People in Vermont like their food the old fashioned way.  The kind where the after affects are just a full belly and kids that grow up healthy.  I so love the folks in Vermont.  This is from the Burlington Free Press...

MONTPELIER — The Agriculture Committee in the Vermont House has approved a bill calling for genetically modified foods to be specially labeled.

The bill lays out technical definitions for what constitutes genetic modification, and says food that has been subject to those techniques must bear a label saying so.

The legislation faces an uncertain future, and is expected to go next to the House Judiciary Committee, before being debated by the full House.

Supporters of the House bill say consumers want information about what’s in their food.

The bill has drawn warnings from the attorney general’s office that it’s likely to be challenged in a lawsuit brought by industry. -Burlington Free Press


The people in Vermont are working on getting GMO's labeled for consumers so that you as the consumer can decide to buy that product or go for what grows naturally without being bastardized with dna cells that emit toxins inside the plant to stop bugs from eating it while it grows. There is not enough test data to prove or disprove the effects of GMO foods and that is and should be a great concern to all Americans.  Do you want to know if the can of corn you open to go with dinner has the potential to harm your children's health because the genes inside the corn have been modified to kill certain insects?  I sure do.  I did a post on it last summer that you can check out here.  Monsanto GM Corn with BT Toxin.


HR933 is more or less a resolution to fund the federal government and not a permanent law.  It expires in September of 2013.  Now is the time to act out and ring the warning bell.  If Vermont can start the ball rolling on GMO labeling then so can other states.  Let the GMO revolution start in Vermont and move state by state till the bought and paid for politicians in Monsamerica are irrelevant.  Spread the word and spread it fast.

We the people deserve the right to know what is in our food and what we feed our children.  We the people can end around Monsanto and the federal government much like a football play by demanding GMO labeling in our individual states.  Have to love state rights. I wonder how many other states are looking into GMO labeling laws.  Let me know in the comments please.

Papamoka

  

Monsanto and Obama Franken Food

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One of the things I admire about past presidents in history is the strength of their convictions.  They were men that had an idea of what was best for the nation and acted accordingly.  George Washington proved his convictions during the long years of the Revolutionary War and never gave up the fight for America.  Even as the largest brewer of whiskey he cut down the Whiskey Rebellion during his presidency.  Andrew Jackson tossed the bankers out of the United States Treasury when they thought they owned the American peoples currency and thus owned the government.  Abraham Lincoln led the nation into a civil war that was about states rights but stuck to his convictions that slavery was wrong and thus ended it in America with the 16th amendment to the Constitution.  Teddy Roosevelt saw that the way American's were being treated by the people supplying food to the nation was wrong and broke out his big stick and signed into law the Pure Food and Drug Act which is what we call the USDA and FDA today.

The USDA is charged with keeping a safe food supply for the American people.  The FDA is charged with making sure that drugs used to treat the people are safe.  That sounds great on paper but what if the agency is riddled with people from a company that does not care about food safety or drug safety.  If you look at the list of department heads at the USDA and the FDA it looks like a class reunion for Monsanto.  If you used to work for Monsanto, the USDA needs your help.  Everyone else... We are not hiring.

President Obama campaigned on food safety and the GMO issue during his first election.  GMO is Genetically Modified Organism.  That is where Monsanto takes a plant and screws up the DNA of the plant so that one type of bug won't eat it.  In that respect, they could also make the same plants that you eat an issue to your health.  Everyone loves corn, Monsanto loves corn, so they made it better so that you don't have to spray certain pesticides on the corn by making the plant create that same pesticide inside of its own genetic coding.  Would you spray pesticide on your food before serving it to your family?  Pass the potato's and the DDT please.  Tastes just like butter. 

Michael R. Taylor was appointed as a deputy commissioner to the FDA by President Obama during his first administration.  He was a former LOBBYIST for Monsanto that fought long and hard for his company.

Michael Taylor then led the ban on labeling of GM products all together. This was labeled “the principal of substantial equivalence” which prohibits any distinction to be made between GM and traditional products. Regardless of any testing or lack there of on the possible effects of GM foods used for human consumption.

He left the FDA in 1994 and a few years later became Monsanto’s Vice President in charge of lobbying in Washington. As a lobbyist, Taylor argued AGAINST the Delaney Clause, one of the foundations of food safety regulation that prohibits cancer-causing chemicals to be added to food. - Veterans Today 

The major point of this article is not to beat up Monsanto, well maybe it is.  My point is that the control of industries that are harmful to the American people's food is owned by the USDA and the FDA.  Those are agencies the President and Congress oversee.  What does it tell you if the majority of people working in high positions of each agency are former Monsanto lobbyist or high level employees?  It tells me that the oversight of Teddy Roosevelt signed into law was tossed out with the baby and the bath water.  As a consumer and a person that eats food, you need to be aware that the food coming to your local grocery store is not what you parents or grandparents purchased to feed their children.  Franken Food is what it is. 

There is an old story about Irish immigrants that were mocked, treated badly, could not get jobs, and were considered scum of the earth here in America.  We Irish banded together in the late 1800's and started electing our grown educated children and family into public office.  In doing so we changed the face of American politics forever to meet our needs and not the people that mocked us.  Monsanto appears to be taking the same lesson and using it for profit inside the USDA and the FDA.

It is time for this president to clean house that report to him and stand strong for his people.  I so wish President Obama would have the guts and integrity of Washington, Jackson, and Teddy Roosevelt, and toss out the people that are selling out our food supply safety for a profit.  It is time for change and we need to make that message loud and clear.

What can you do?  Sign this petition to stop Monsanto by asking the President to veto HR933.  Click here to sign the petition.

Spread the word.

Papamoka

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Monsanto GM Corn with BT Toxin

Republican Push to End Overtime Pay

The man to the left is Eric Cantor.  He believes that you should not be paid for overtime work.  You should get time off when and if the company your work for wants to give it to you.  This man is bought and paid for by corporations to serve the state of Virginia in the US Congress.

When the Republican Party gives up common sense for political donations it is called good government.  That is what they think is good government.  Eric Cantor is going to propose legislation to please his political donors to end overtime pay in lieu of free time off that may be or may not be used at a later date.  He might not include that part in his legislation.  Ending overtime pay is the goal.  It makes fat rich guys that own companies that pay overtime happy so they can bring back the 16 hour work day.  And their checks always clear at the bank. 

This idea is idiotic and would turn the clocks back on working men and woman to pre 1938 when President Roosevelt signed into law that workers had a right to extra pay for extra hours worked.  Cantor would promise you time off at a later date.  But that time off is not guaranteed or promised to ever be honored.  Some unions or most unions might have a minor issue with this but that is another story for another day.

This is not the first time the Republican Party has tried to end the New Deal requirement for workers to be paid for one and one half pay for overtime hours worked.  Every few years, some idiot comes up with a brainstorm to please his corrupt political campaign donors to end overtime pay.  It's been happening since Roosevelt signed the overtime mandate from the federal government into law.

This is big government gone wrong on one side of the political aisle because the political campaign donation check cleared.  Believe it or not, our government and access to it is for sale.  Both political parties are guilty of it.  It’s just ironic that the GOP is so blatant about it.  Screwing over the hourly worker to benefit and put a few thousand more gallons of fuel in the CEO’s yacht works for the GOP.  To top it off we should also gut Medicare so they have to take grandma and grandpa to the doctor and go deeper in debt to the company store.

Cantor is working this under the pretext of "Family Time", or other context that leads you away from the screwing your families paycheck would get under it.  Nobody is against "Family Time" if you pop in some creative additional words that ring of the good old days.  He is trying to screw over the working man and woman and he is playing the game with words. He thinks you as a worker are an absolute idiot.  His red tie says so.  How many coal minors in Virginia get overtime?  Are you going to give that pay up because your Congressman Eric Cantor says the company store will promise you credit at a later date?

The only good thing we have going for us right now in this country is that we have a Democrat controlled Senate, and a Democrat President.  Cantor’s dream of ending overtime pay is a wet dream that he wipes himself clean with the people’s checks that are idiotic enough to donate money to his campaign.  And yet, people in his district will still re-elect him next year even though he tried to rob them.  Wake up Virginia!  When someone tries to wrong you, you right it.  You pay your household bills, Eric Cantor does not.

Eric Cantor is a time stamp of 15 minutes of fame and his political career is now tied to the extreme right.  His political career is dead.  Whoever is the next competitor for his seat should broadcast every comment he has made to screw over the working man and woman so that he can cash a check from another millionaire or billionaire.  Follow the money and you see who owns Erick Cantor.  Political donors are public records.

Thank you Daily Kos for the hat tip and up front detailed info on the workings of Eric Cantor to end overtime pay for all Americans.

Papamoka