Wednesday, March 25th, 2015
Andrew Kimbrell, Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Food Safety - The Huffington Post
Stephan: It has always struck me as an example of greed-insanity that the fundamental reality of evolution — organisms evolve to accommodate to the influences of their environment, somehow just didn't get factored in by either Monsanto or the USDA. Why are hospitals having a superbug crisis? Why, of course, because the "bugs" evolved to survive the overuse of antibiotics, principally in industrial animal/fowl/fish husbandry. Ditto the "bugs" that attack crops. Evolution 101. From my perspective GMOS have two problems: first, the "bugs" evolve. Second, the effects of GMOs on humans and animals are not well understood and when one doesn't know what might happen if one does something but it could be very bad, caution is usually the prudent option. What's the hurry? Greed. This report makes this case.
Credit: Highland osu.edu
Perhaps no group of science deniers has been more ridiculed than those who deny the science of evolution. What you may not know is that Monsanto and our United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) are among them. That’s right: for decades, Monsanto and its enablers inside the USDA have denied the central tenets of evolutionary biology, namely natural selection and adaptation. And this denial of basic science by the company and our government threatens the future viability of American agriculture.
Third Grade Science
Let’s start with interrelated concepts of natural selection and adaptation. This is elementary school science. In fact, in Washington D.C. it is part of the basic third grade science curriculum.
As we all remember from biology class, when an environment changes, trait variation in a species could allow some in that species to adapt to that new environment and survive. Others will die out. The survivors are then able to reproduce and even thrive under the new environmental conditions. For example, if a drought were to occur, some plants might have traits that allow them to survive […]
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Wednesday, March 25th, 2015
Stephan: Here is the latest peer-reviewed research on GMOs and their effects on humans, in this case children.This is a nasty business driven by one imperative: Greed. Greed is not good.
Sources
Media article in Spanish:
http://www.lavoz.com.ar/ciudadanos/unrc-detectan-dano-genetico-en-ninos-expuestos-plaguicidas
Study in English:
http://www.scielo.org.ar/pdf/aap/v113n2/en_v113n2a09.pdf
Assessment of the level of damage to the genetic material of children exposed to pesticides in the province of CórdobaNatalia Gentile, B.S., Fernando Mañas, M.D., Álvaro Méndez, M.D., Nora Gorla, M.D., and Delia Aiassa, M.D.
Arch Argent Pediatr 2015;113(2):126-132
http://www.scielo.org.ar/pdf/aap/v113n2/en_v113n2a09.pdf 
Children from metropolitan Cordoba, in the center of Argentina, where the study discussed in this report took place.
Credit: www.pinterest.com
Children exposed to pesticides sprayed in a GM soy-producing region of Argentina have genetic damage, a team of researchers from the National University of Río Cuarto, Cordoba (UNRC), found in a new study.
The study compared 50 children living in the town of Marcos Juárez (Córdoba) at different distances from pesticide-sprayed areas with 25 children from the city of Río Cuarto (Córdoba), who were considered not to be exposed to pesticides.
Genetic damage in the group of exposed children in Marcos Juárez was 44% higher than in the unexposed children in Río Cuarto.
The most commonly used pesticides in the region are glyphosate, cypermethrin, and chlorpyrifos.
A significant difference was found between exposed children living less than 500m from areas subjected to spraying and those who were not exposed. Forty percent of exposed children suffered some type of persistent condition, which may be associated with chronic exposure to pesticides.
Of the exposed […]
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Wednesday, March 25th, 2015
Mike Ivey, - The Cap Times
Stephan: Supreme Court Justice
Louis Brandeis, considered one of the greatest legal minds in American history, in his decision on
New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann in 1932 described how a "state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country."
It was and is a brilliant observation, and nowwhere is it being played out more clearly than in Wisconsin and Minnesota. These two states for most of their histories have been social progressive mirrors of one another. But then Wisconsin voters decided to try something different and they elected Scott Walker governor not once but twice. Walker has been in office long enough, and with control of the legislature, powerful enough to have put his stamp on Wisconsin. And what has happened?
He has destroyed the union movement, much of which began in Wisconsin and, as this report describes, has devastated the middle class with his policies. During his tenure "incomes [which] were well above the national average in 2000... are now below the national average, according to the data." As his political soulmate Sarah Palin might say, "How's that workin' out fer ya Wisconsin?"
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.
Credit: educationvotes.nea.org
If you feel like you’re working harder for less money, it’s not your imagination.
Wisconsin ranks worst among the 50 states in terms of a shrinking middle class, with real median household incomes here falling 14.7 percent since 2000, according to a new report. (emphasis added)
The Pew Charitable Trust report showed Wisconsin with the largest decline in the percentage of families considered “middle class,” or those earning between 67 and 200 percent of their state’s median income.
In 2000, 54.6 percent of Wisconsin families fell into the middle class category but that has fallen to 48.9 percent in 2013, according to U.S. Census figures compiled by Pew.
All other states showed some decline but none as great as Wisconsin’s 5.7 percent figure.
Ohio was next worst with a 5.2 percent decline in middle class households followed by Vermont at 5 percent.
Kevin Kane of the liberal group Citizen Action of Wisconsin said the Pew report shows the damage to the state’s progressive tradition […]
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Wednesday, March 25th, 2015
Bryce Covert, - Think Progress
Stephan: While Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has been trashing his state destroying the middle class, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton has seen a budget surplus and has decided, as this report explains, to spend it on the compassionate and life-affirming option: creating a universal preschool program to make sure his voters' kids get a decent start.
The difference between Wisconsin and Minnesota is growing year by year. The one becoming healthier, the other increasingly a Theocratic Rightist wetdream. And just to make the point clearer, consider a comparison between Theocratic Rightist Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, and California Governor Jerry Brown.
Oh yes, the states are the laboratories of democracy. The question that I have is: Are American voters smart enough to see the lesson? To be honest I'm not sure. Both Brownback and Walker were re-elected.
Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton
Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton (D) has proposed spending nearly a fifth of his state’s budget surplus on creating a universal preschool program for Minnesota’s 4 year olds. That would make it one of just a handful of states to offer universal, full-day pre-K. (emphasis added)
At a visit to a preschool classroom on Friday, Dayton called on state lawmakers to pass $348 million in new spending for every public school in the state so they can create preschool programs. That would represent about a fifth of the state’s projected $1.9 billion surplus and is the biggest general fund increase he’s put forward this year. He’s currently focusing on access for all of the state’s 4 year olds, although he said he would be open to more funding for younger ages.
The governor’s administration estimates that 47,300 preschoolers would be covered in the first year of the program, which would expand to 57,000 after that. Minnesota currently ranks 50th nationally for its share of students attending […]
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Tuesday, March 24th, 2015
Viveca Novak , - The Daily Beast
Stephan: I consider the corruption of the American judicial system to actually be worse that the corruption of the legislative branch of government. And the fact that a sitting Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia, was present and contributed to this movement to skew the judiciary to reflect the views of the corporatist Theocratic Right, in my view, ought to be grounds for impeachment. Won't happen of course, but it should. The distortion of the integrity of the courts will have implications for all of our lives. Do I need to add that this very alarming development is happening with almost no public discussion about it?
Credit: Louisa Barnes/The Daily Beast
At first, The Judicial Crisis Network backed Bush nominees. Now the dark money group reaches deep into state capitals. Here’s how it grew.
It was a cold winter night in Washington, D.C., not long after President George W. Bush won a second term, and the mood at the upscale Italian restaurant was downright celebratory.The most prominent guest was Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, but his table also boasted a mix of high-powered conservatives, including some deep-pocketed donors. Among the elite were Federalist Society executive Leonard Leo, fundraiser and lawyer Ann Corkery, and California real estate magnate Robin Arkley II. “The big prize was to sit next to Scalia,” quipped one attendee at the soiree, adding that Arkley was one such lucky winner.As it happened, the bash coincided with the birth of a new judicial advocacy outfit that Corkery was instrumental in launching, and Arkley in funding, according to conservative sources familiar with the events. The Judicial Confirmation Network (JCN), […]
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