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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Grainne who wrote (91507)	12/15/2004 6:26:53 PM
From: Oeconomicus	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 108807

"If you do not wish to be associated in any way with such an [fascist] administration, you can simply change your political affiliations." Translation: If you aren't a fascist, then just repudiate Bush - otherwise you are one. Your choice. It boggles the mind, doesn't it?

To: Grainne who wrote (91507)	12/15/2004 6:42:55 PM
From: epicure	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

I picked up some chocolate velvet soy delicious today at TJ's. I'll let you know how the family feels about it. I'm making chocolate velvet banana splits with toasted pecans for dessert. Now all I have to do is figure out what is for dinner.

To: Grainne who wrote (91507)	12/15/2004 7:44:55 PM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 108807

Gee. Grannie, it seems the left must be doing something to drive folks away in droves. It must be something horrific considering your assertion the Bush Administration has "potentially fascistic aspects of a political administration." Perhaps you can explain what is going on. "If you do not wish to be associated in any way with such an administration, you can simply change your political affiliations." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Republican USA Bloggs for Bush The Bush Mandate is just underway, but the Bush Legacy is being felt today... <<< Even as a new Gallup poll shows that the public values “values” less than November exit polls suggested, another survey from the same outfit released today showed a historic surge in Republican party affiliation. In Gallup's latest poll this month, those identifying themselves as Republicans jumped to 37% of the public, with Democrats now clearly trailing with 32%. Democrats have long held more party members than Republicans. During the Clinton years, the bulge was about 5% to 6%. As recently as late-October of this year the Democratic edge was 37% to 34%. Gallup noted today: “Post-election shifts in partisanship after presidential elections or midterm congressional elections are not routine, but are also not uncommon.” >>> God Bless America! Matt Margolis blogsforbush.com

To: Grainne who wrote (91507)	12/15/2004 10:40:37 PM
From: Grainne	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 108807

This is what is really happening in Iraq--the United States government is assisting large corporations like Monsanto profit from our invasion. In this case, Iraqi farmers can no longer save their own seeds, many of which they themselves developed, and plant them. Instead, Monsanto has stolen the seeds, essentially, and the Iraqi farmers must buy them from Monsanto. Now this is not exactly like babies being killed by U.S. bombs, but I think a lot of people would find it disgusting nonetheless. Ahhhhh . . . capitalism at work! from vegsource.com Iraqi Farmers Aren't Celebrating World Food Day Nov 11, 2004 As part of sweeping "economic restructuring" implemented by the Bush Administration in Iraq, Iraqi farmers will no longer be permitted to save their seeds. Instead, they will be forced to buy seeds from US corporations -- which can include seeds the Iraqis themselves developed over hundreds of years. That is because in recent years, transnational corporations have patented and now own many seed varieties originated or developed by indigenous peoples. In a short time, Iraq will be living under the new American credo: Pay Monsanto, or starve. When the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) celebrated biodiversity on World Food Day on October 16, Iraqi farmers were mourning its loss. A new report [1] by GRAIN and Focus on the Global South has found that new legislation in Iraq has been carefully put in place by the US that prevents farmers from saving their seeds and effectively hands over the seed market to transnational corporations. This is a disastrous turn of events for Iraqi farmers, biodiversity and the country's food security. While political sovereignty remains an illusion, food sovereignty for the Iraqi people has been made near impossible by these new regulations. "The US has been imposing patents on life around the world through trade deals. In this case, they invaded the country first, then imposed their patents. This is both immoral and unacceptable", said Shalini Bhutani, one of the report's authors. Becoming Monsanto customers at the barrel of a US gun. The new law in question [2] heralds the entry into Iraqi law of patents on life forms - this first one affecting plants and seeds. This law fits in neatly into the US vision of Iraqi agriculture in the future - that of an industrial agricultural system dependent on large corporations providing inputs and seeds. In 2002, FAO estimated that 97 percent of Iraqi farmers used saved seed from their own stocks from last year's harvest or purchased from local markets. When the new law - on plant variety protection (PVP) - is put into effect, seed saving will be illegal and the market will only offer proprietary "PVP-protected" planting material "invented" by transnational agribusiness corporations. The new law totally ignores all the contributions Iraqi farmers have made to development of important crops like wheat, barley, date and pulses. Its consequences are the loss of farmers' freedoms and a grave threat to food sovereignty in Iraq. In this way, the US has declared a new war against the Iraqi farmer. "If the FAO is celebrating 'Biodiversity for Food Security' this year, it needs to demonstrate some real commitment", says Henk Hobbelink of GRAIN, pointing out that the FAO has recently been cosying up with industry and offering support for genetic engineering [3]. "Most importantly, the FAO must recognise that biodiversity-rich farming and industry-led agriculture are worlds apart, and that industrial agriculture is one of the leading causes of the catastrophic decline in agricultural biodiversity that we have witnessed in recent decades. The FAO cannot hope to embrace biodiversity while holding industry's hand", he added. FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: From GRAIN Shalini Bhutani in India [Tel: +91 11 243 15 168 (work) or +91 98 104 33 076 (cell)] or Alexis Vaughan in United Kingdom [Tel: +44 79 74 39 34 87 (mobile)] From Focus on the Global South Herbert Docena in Philippines [Tel:+63 2 972 382 3804] NOTES [1] Visit grain.org. GRAIN and Focus' report is entitled "Iraq's new patent law: a declaration of war against farmers". Against the grain is a series of short opinion pieces on recent trends and developments in the issues that GRAIN works on. This one has been produced collaboratively with Focus on the Global South. [2] Patent, Industrial Design, Undisclosed Information, Integrated Circuits and Plant Variety Law of 2004, CPA Order No. 81, 26 April 2004, iraqcoalition.org [3] GRAIN, "FAO declares war on farmers, not hunger", New from Grain, 16 June 2004, grain.org source: grain.org 16oct04