Well, at least I had just gotten home from the hospital. What's your excuse for being up at 0430?
The Luddite/Corporation argument is a good question, and I've given it some thought, not so much in the abstract as in my own case. Am I against GMOs for cause, or just on moral, ethical, and superstitious grounds?
I know the potential bennies of all this stuff. I also know the downside, and we've all learned that anthrax doesn't just stay in the lab. Are the dangers of cross-contamination real? Probably. Is GMO food with peanut genes dangerous to people with peanut allergies? It sure seems so. Has BT corn contaminated milkweed and thereby affected Monarch Butterflies? I think that is an open question.
Quite definitely, I think this heads us off into directions we maybe shouldn't be going. I worry about telling God we can design things better than she can. Icarus and Atlantis come to mind. Two of my ER docs are among the co-chairs, and I've talked to them about it. They tend to lean on the scientific dangers, and really worry about contamination. One is the County Health Officer. Also, the sheriff, a most cool man, is one of the leading proponents, although I can't recall if he is a co-chair, too.
We are heavily organic up here. Lots of organic vineyards, even. Most of the growers are backing this. I believe there is lab work going on with GM grapes, and they are worried. The other main (legal )crop is pears. I think some of the growers are proponents, but it shouldn't effect them, one way or the other. One of the pro ads said that same outside farm group came B4 the Supes, and said, if this passes, it would give our farmers an unfair advantage in the increasingly anti-GMO world. Awww. My heart bleeds.
This scares the industry. They went to court to keep it off the ballot. Their ads say this will cost us $ (new bureaucracy....BS). They are probably right, in that they will take this all the way to the Supreme Court to get rid of it. I've heard that SanapaNoma and maybe Marin are already circulating petitions for similar measures. Not a lot of in-county opposition, except for the Farm Bureau and a few left-over corporate (LP, GP) loggging types. And,...Crop-Life America (Bayer, Monsanto, etc), who are petrified. I think they will find out, that,for all their big bucks, we aren't like most of America, or even the Bay Area. This is way liberal up here, and, if people respond to their ads, it will be "Why is Monsanto messing in my local politics? Screw them, I'm voting Yes". I'll guess it will get 60% in favor.
One of their arguments is that farmers have been doing this (selective breeding) for centuries. I'm sorry, but,. when my ex bred her goat, I don't recall her being humped by a spider. Rat genes in potatoes? Human genes in fish? Farmers did that? Well, maybe human genes in sheep, but that's another story.
But, I digress... I don't think the Dems have peaked.I wouldn't be surprised by an OBL Oct. surprise, but it will be way too little and way too late. Too many moderate R's and indies have jumped ship, and I don't think they can stop it. Challengers can re-build their momentum after mis-steps. When the prez starts hemorrhaging, that is really tough to stop, especially in 6 months. The only choices are to cancel the elections or rig the machines. Not even Pimp Nader will help. Level Red alerts will be boring by then; cried wolf too often. Shrub will close the gap around convention time, 'cuz that is always what happens. but that will be his high water mark in the campaign.
WR
PS. Part of the reason the ad campaign won't work is that we have a lot of educated hippies up here. The brewery owner, and her hubby, the co-owner, are both biochemists, for instance. |
