Beginning of the end for Monsanto AKA Monsatan AKA The World's Most Hated Corporation
Two local Democratic office holders came to my door to ask for signatures on their petitions to get on ballot. This is a biannual ritual, when the Democrats ask Working Families Party members for signatures. I freely admit I was deliberately rude, because I simply don't think these characters deserve the deference they usually receive.
The Common Council (City Council) member gave as her chief accomplishment the provision of military materiel for our police--Utica is a surprisingly safe city, especially by California standards. The member of the county legislature whined about her health problems, back, hip. Sorry, but having had no health care other for what I can afford to pay out of pocket for 20 years, I am not inclined to feel sorry for someone who cannot even be bothered to managed her weight.
Since WFP can't be bothered to have it's own candidates, I am looking for a new party, but that is a discussion for another day.
I told both of these ladies, "Monsanto is going down and if you are taking their money or allied with M, you will go down too." Both left in a hurry after that. Not what they wanted to hear.
Today's news underlines that point: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/597fc800e4b0d187a5968fbf
The main thing to understand here, I would suggest, is not the crimes of Monsatan, which have been known for years, but that The World's Most Hated Company seems to no longer be able to intimidate its opponents.
In 2009, Monsatan was able to get Eric Holder to shut down his anti-trust lawsuit. Now, in 2017, they cannot even compel obedience from some law firm no body ever heard of, nor from the presiding provincial judge, nor from a state agency.
These are personal injury lawsuits. In other words, your product made me sick, caused harm for which you, Monsanto, need to pay compensation. This is not a bunch of scruffy hippies telling farmers how to farm or privileged white folks attacking someone's farmworker job. The suits are not anti GMO, they contend that the chemical glyphosate is dangerous to human health--not to mention air, water and soil, but that is also another discussion.
Myself, I think glyphosate is worse than DDT. For limited use of DDT there is at least the rational that it eradicates the insects which are carrying dangerous diseases, and I believe it is still being used for that purpose in some tropical countries. For glyphosate use there is no excuse at all, IMO.
Comments
money, money, money....
What will it take to get the corporations, billionaires, and street-walking politicians to realize that money doesn't buy happiness.
I am helping my 21 y/o grandson, hs grad and no skills, find a job that isn't pizza delivery. Digging around, I ran into something called a Benefit corporation. Sounds like a model and path out of the wilderness. Michigan is passing laws to help B corps establish and expand in our state.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Have you considered encouraging him to learn some
kind of practical skill? There is a nice old man in our area who sharpens knives, scissors and garden tools. Works out of his home, which I am sure he owns.
Small engine repair perhaps. I bought a 2nd hand mixer. The last time I used it the engine overheated. It maybe just needs oil, but I sure wish I could find someone who knows for sure. Furniture repair. Installing double-dug raised beds for gardeners too old or busy to do it for themselves.
Mary Bennett
I used to get a lot of grief at GOS for saying that glyphosate
was having unintended consequences such as superweeds necessitating the use of more and more of the chemical. Monsanto trolls were allowed to run rampant.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
Ah yes, the "anti-science" squads!
Ah yes, the "anti-science" squads! You know, the trolls who accused anyone who questioned anything technological as being "anti-science" and the same as the anti-vax whackjobs!
And there's plenty of rational objections out there to GMO frankenfoods, too. The use of ever more glyphosate is one; "no food to be grown that we don't own" is another, and one I myself was castigated for making over there.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
I can remember a time
when DK was a fun place, people talking about all kinds of topics. I think it started to go bad about the same time that the GMO trolls showed up.
Mary Bennett
Me too.
"Mem from Sommerville" is the one I remember.
Mary Bennett
Gack. I forgot about that one.
One of the worst. Her(?) friends were also pretty obvious. Paternalistic assholes.
I always wondered whether they were paid well for their work.