AN OPEN LETTER TO HILLARY CLINTON FROM A WELLESLEY COLLEGE ALUMNA

[helderheid]

February 3, 2008

AN OPEN LETTER TO HILLARY CLINTON FROM A WELLESLEY COLLEGE ALUMNA

By Linn Cohen-Cole

Dear Hillary,

By polling logic, I should be your supporter - Democrat, older woman,
white, liberal. I was even in a dorm with you in college. I have
pulled for you for years. But something this past summer
fundamentally changed my responsibility to my children and
grandchildren. In the time I have left in my life to protect them and
others, I need to speak out.

I saw a News Hour piece on Maharastra, India, about farmers
committing suicide. Monsanto, a US agricultural giant, hired
Bollywood actors for ads telling illiterate farmers they could get
rich (by their standards) from big yields with Monsanto's Bt
(genetically engineered) cotton seeds. The expensive seeds needed
expensive fertilizer and pesticides (Monsanto, again) and irrigation.
There is no irrigation there. Crops failed. Farmers had larger debt
than they'd ever experienced

And farmers couldn't collect seeds from their own fields to try again
(true since time immemorial). Monsanto "patents" their DNA-altered
seeds as "intellectual property." They have a $10 million budget and
a staff of 75 devoted solely to prosecuting farmers.
http://www.grist.org/comments/food/2008/01/17./ <http://www.grist.org/comments/food/2008/01/17./> ). Since the late
1990s (about when industrial agriculture took hold in India),166,000
Indian farmers have committed suicide and 8 million have left the
land.

Farmers in Europe, Asia, Africa, Indonesia,South America, Central
America and here, have protested Monsanto and genetic engineering for
years.

What does this have to do with you?

You have connections to Monsanto through the Rose Law Firm where you
worked and through Bill who hired Monsanto people for central food-
related roles. Your Orwellian-named "Rural Americans for Hillary" was
planned withTroutman Sanders, Monsanto's lobbyists.

Genetic engineering and industrialized food and animal production all
come together at the Rose Law Firm, which represents the world's
largest GE corporation (Monsanto), GE's most controversial project
(DP&L's - now Monsanto's - terminator genes), the world's largest
meat producer (Tyson), the world's largest retailer and a dominant
food retailer (Walmart).

The inbred-ness of Rose's legal representation of corporations which
own controlling interests in other corporations there and of
corporate boards sharing members who are also shareholders of each
other's corporations there, is so thorough that it is hard to
capture. Jon Jacoby, senior executive of the Stephens Group - one of
the largest institutional shareholders of Tyson Foods, Walmart, DP&L -
is also Chairman of the Board of DP&L and arranged the Wal-Mart
deal. Jackson Stephens' Stephens Group staked Sam Walton and financed
Tyson Foods. Monsanto bought DP&L. All represented at Rose.

You didn't just work there, you made friends. That shows in the flow
of favors then and since. You were invited onto Walmart's board, you
were helped by a Tyson executive to make commodity trades (3 days
before Bill became governor), netting you $100,000, Jackson Stephens
strongly backed Bill for Governor, and then for President (donating
$100,000).

Food and friends, in Clinton terms:

Bill's appointed friend Mike Espy, Secretary of Agriculture, who
immediately significantly weakened federal chicken waste and
contamination standards, opening the door to major expansion of
Tyson's chicken factory farms. Espy resigned, indicted for
accepting bribes, illegal contributions, money laundering, illegal
dispersal of USDA subsidies, .... Tyson Foods was the largest
corporate offender.

But what Bill did for Monsanto "genetic engineering" goes beyond
inadequate concepts of giving corporate friends influence: He
unleashed genetic engineering into the world. And then he helped
close off people's escape from it.

Genetic engineering is many orders of magnitude different
from "normal" (even polluting) business in its potential biologic
ramifications. The warning myth of Pandora'a Box - letting
irretrievable things rush out into nature - has become real. The
harrowing change to the world from nuclear fission and fusion is the
closest parallel.

What did Bill do?

1. Bill's put Monsanto people in at the FDA, as US Agricultural Trade
Representatives, on International Biotechnology Consultive Forums,
and more ... or http://www.monitor.net/monitor/9904b/monsantofda.html <http://www.monitor.net/monitor/9904b/monsantofda.html> or
http://www.mindfully.org/GE/Revolving-Door.htm <http://www.mindfully.org/GE/Revolving-Door.htm>

2. Bill's FDA gave Monsanto permission to market rBGH (a GE bovine
growth hormone), the first genetically engineered product let loose
on us (or did tomatoes with fish DNA get there first?).

3. Despite reports of bovine illness and death, Bill's FDA did not
recall it or put warnings on it. Even "a very angry, very vocal
nationwide consumer base" had no impact. "

4. Bill's FDA wouldn't even label rBGH as "present" in milk.

5. When dairy farmers tried to label their own milk rBGH-free so the
public could choose, Bill's USDA threatened all dairies that their
products could be confiscated from stores. Michael Taylor, USFDA
Deputy Commissioner, was formerly Monsanto's counsel.

6. How were consumers to protect their family, given Bill's FDA
enforced public blindness, except to buy only organic? But Bill's FDA
tried to close off that last escape, proposing to include
in "organic" standards, "the dirty three" a : genetic engineering of
plants and animals, use of irradiation in food processing and use of
municipal sewage sludge as a fertilizer. (My emphasis.) The FDA
backed down.

Had this gone through, Monsanto could have finally labeled rBGH
milk ... as "organic." And animal waste from factory farms, a
pollution nightmare for Tyson and others, could have been sold as
fertilizer.

USDA head Dan Glickman: "This is probably the largest public response
to an rule in modern history." In fact the
response was 20 times greater than anything ever before proposed by
the USDA.

Personally, I resent years of effort to protect my children and now
grandchildren, from that crap.

Politically, Bill sided against small farmers and against the
public's right to know, and with Monsanto.

A snap shot of our food:

Oils: Sheep died in India after feeding on Bt cotton fields.
We feed our children Bt cotton, as
cottonseed oil in peanut butter and cookies.

Grains: 49% of US corn acreage was planted in Bt corn in 2007. A
French study proved Monsanto's GMO corn causes kidney and liver
toxicity.

Soft drinks and candy have highly concentrated Bt corn, in the form
of high fructose Bt corn syrup. The US food system depends most on
two crops, soy (90% GMO, 90% of traits owned by Monsanto) and corn,
the largest crop (60% GMO, nearly 100% Monsanto traits). "
ssentially our entire food supply is genetically modified, to the
benefit of one company." The Grocery Manufacturers of America in 2000
estimated that 70 percent of US food contains GM traits.

Meat: Steroids bulk up atheletes. Monsanto steroids bulk up animals -
more weight, more profit. We feed our children steroids in meats. Is
this why our children are fattening, like Hansel and Gretel?

Poultry: Bill's USDA weakened chicken waste and contamination
standards and attempted to allow sewage sludge as fertilize crops. I
will say more about disease from industrialized poultry farms waste,
at the end of this letter.

Milk: Over 30 scientific publications have shown increased levels of
IGF-1 in milk with rBGH increases risks of breast cancer by up to
seven-fold, also increasing colon and prostate cancers risks. Canada,
29 European nations, Norway, Switzerland, Japan, New Zealand,
Australia, and South Africa ban U.S. rBGH dairy products. Bill's
USFDA put no restrictions, no warning labels (not allowing labels at
all). (My emphasis.)

American children eat that food and drink that milk, Hillary.
Coincidentally, American children are increasingly fat and sick.

Here, Bill ignored pleas for labeling. Abroad, Bill ignored intense
international objections over the same issue - unlabeled US food
exports - badly straining trading relations. Monsanto's "good ole
boy," he betrayed American families at the deepest levels
conceivable - their family's health and their democratic right to
know. He betrayed our rural life and American family farmers -
backing corporation deceit and control, over honesty and clean
farming.

But, HIllary, it is one thing to not label a regular ole food product
to sell it, and quite another to sell a suspected-dangerous food
product (rBGH), but Bill's administration didn't label (or stop) a
well-known, terrifying threat - Mad Cow Disease.

Bill's FDA's August, 1997 regulation permitted "known TSE-positive
material to be used in pet
food, pig, chicken and fish feed," only requiring the label to
read "Do not feed to cattle and other ruminants" in the US.

Monsanto added to the problem. "There is evidence that rbST use
reduces the useful lifespan of
a dairy cow. ... Given that the incubation period for BSE is at least
three to five years and perhaps longer, rbST-treated cows could
harbor "hidden" BSE. That is, they might be infected but still
asymptomatic when sent to slaughter." (My emphasis.)
http://www.consumersunion.org/food/bgh-codex.htm <http://www.consumersunion.org/food/bgh-codex.htm>

Bill let TSE into our entire food chain. And who owned the feed and
slaughter and genetic engineering corporations whch benefitted?

Please, tell me, Hillary, what he could possibly have gotten in
friendship or favors, that could ever justify his exposing millions
of people to this?

With genetic engineering itself, Bill did something to the whole
world, which tried to object. Words are inadequate to express how
astoundingly immoral, beyond human bounds and conceit and power, that
was.

"Even for the biggest "winners," it is like winning at poker on the
Titanic." Jerry Mander: Facing the Rising Tide

He had no right.

Do you hear that?

Bill had sex from Monica Lewinsky. That's "dinky immoral." That's
chicken feed immoral - excuse the Tyson pun, excuse the TSE-laced
pun. Bill let genetic engineering lose on NATURE itself.

"Our way of life is likely to be more fundamentally transformed in
the next several decades than in the previous one thousand years...Tens
of thousands of novel transgenic bacteria, viruses, plants and
animals could be released into the Earth's ecosystems...Some of those
releases, however, could wreak havoc with the planet's biospheres."
Jeremy Rifkin, Biotech Century

Bill did this to us, like it was some nothing and he, some big dumb
ass Southern boy, just smiling and getting in good with the Big Boys,
thinking about as much about the consequences of something this
immense and about us human beings out here, as he thought about you,
when he was unfaithful with Monica. Just one big fool getting off on
the power and used to getting away with things.

Terminator genes, developed by DP&L, a Rose Firm client, prevent
seeds from "working" after only one season. Farmers "must" repurchase
(patents and suing not certain enough control, it seems).
Those "killing" genes pose the apocalyptic risk of breaking out into
nature. Natural seeds could fail, too. Nature could fail.

Far-fetched?

GMO fields are already contaminating normal species
Berkeley Professor of Microbiology, Ignacio Chapela, wrote an open letter,
warning the Mexican government about just this breaking out
phenomenon happening in maize

And it has already happened with weeds - pesticide resistant GMO
seeds break lose and weeds become pesticide-resistant Superweeds.

But Bill's USDA spokesman, Willard Phelps said the USDA wanted the
technology to be 'widely licensed and made expeditiously available to
many seed companies.'

"Genetic Engineering is often justified as a human technology, one
that feeds more people with better food. Nothing could be further
from the truth. With very few exceptions, the whole point of genetic
engineering is to increase sales of chemicals and bio-engineered
products to dependent farmers." David Ehrenfield: Professor of
Biology, Rutgers University

Hillary, one third of the world's bee colonies have collapsed. Gone.
Farmers in India are killing themselves. Farmers and bees. Since
organic farmers in India are fine and organic farmers report no
colony collapse, what does these farming catatrophes say
about "industrial agriculture"?

Mad Cow Disease is another direct result of industrial agriculture.
And now ....... transnational poultry factories are implicated as the source
of
bird flu. ... Small scale poultry farms and wild birds seem not to be
the problem Disease], and yet "initiatives are multiplying to ban outdoor
poultry, squeeze out small producers and restock farms with
genetically modified chickens. ... http://www.ens- <http://www.ens-/> <http://www.ens-> <http://www.ens-/>
newswire.com/ens/feb2006/2006-02-27-01.asp "Of the few outbreaks that
did occur in , more than 90% broke out in commercial poultry
operations, not free-ranging flocks."

Monsanto (and others) is currently working with the USDA
to force small farmers to tag every animal with a global tracking
device (NAIS - National Animal Identification System). Allegedly
related to food safety, Monsanto and others would be creating a vast
corporate digital library on every move of small farmers's livestock.

But small farmers do not create the contaminated environments, do not
supply the feed, do not grind up diseased animals into feed (how Mad
Cow began) and then sell it. In fact, their farming methods, free
range and small scale, are significantly healthier and safer for
animals and food than the massive concentration of animals by
corporate industrial agriculture.

Monsanto is also aggressively pushing for state laws to limit
farmers' right to choose what to plant and the public's right exclude
GE plants from their communities.

Cattle bloated by steroids, lapse and loss of 10,000 year old normal
seeds, immense pollution from factory farms, deadly-disease-ridden
feed, world-wide bee colony collapse, poisoned soil and depleted
water supplies, Superweeds,
lawsuits against farmers, loss of
family farms, and .. India farmers killing themselves in what may be
the largest mass suicide in recorded human history (on average ...
one farmers' suicide every 30 minutes since 2002 - The Hindu
1.30.08) - that is industrial agriculture.

Monsanto and Tyson are two of the largest industrial agricultural
corporations in the world. Industrial agriculture is represented by
your Rose Law Firm.

Your claim to care about food safety is terrifying double-speak given
what Bill did and who you take donations from. Your idea of a
Department of Food Safety would centralize control of food - in whose
corporate connected hands? You talk tough about labeling food - ah,
but "foreign" food - a sleight of hand tricking a public desperate
for safe US food. You talk about food safety but Bill degraded food
in every imaginable way and prevented minimally sane labeling.

I am a person before I am a woman. Your gender means nothing. It is a
media distraction. Your policies on health and food and women and
children, are meaningless in the face of connections that have
threatened those groups profoundly, connections you have never
denounced.

Monsanto uses child labor in India, primarily very young girls,
exposing them to a lethal pesticide 13-14 hours a day, for pennies in
pay. But you take donations from their lobbyists. You say you care
about black people but as the poorest people in this country, they
are least able to buy organic and are forced to eat the contaminated
foods Bill let into our food system. The National Black Farmers
Association has a boycott out on all Monsanto products.

Do you eat organic?

So, who are you with, hapless black consumers and black farmers, or
Monsanto? Mothers left to give their children rBGH milk, or Monsanto?
Women exposed to 7 times greater risk of breast cancer, or Monsanto?
Desperate farmers in India and young children forced into child labor
in cottonseed factories there, or Monsanto? Animals suffering from
lives in filthy cages and disgusting feedlots, shot up with steroids
and hormones and antibiotics, or Monsanto? Our children who eat candy
with high fructose Bt corn syrup associated with kidney and liver
toxicity, or Monsanto?

Edwards was right about your corporate connections. I just didn't
understand until I saw that PBS show and read about Monsanto, how
personally affected my children and grandchildren, and all people
around the world, have been.

I will not vote for you. I will vote for someone who will commit
themselves to work on behalf of small farmers and real food and
decent treatment of animals and to end this industrialized
agricultural nightmare that is taking us off a cliff.

Linn Cohen-Cole
Atlanta

Disclaimer. I am not a scientist. I have read for months on this
subject, and am including only a tiny portion of the horrifying
things I have learned. I am expressing my opinion as person and may
be wrong. Perhaps things are swell out there and rBGH is fabulous and
TSE-laced feed is great, and genetic engineering is the best thing
since manna. But I am scared for my family and I have not only a
right to say so but an obligation to do so. I am angry that Monsanto
was allowed the influence it had and has done the things it
definitely seems to have. I am disgusted by industrialization of
every tender and beautiful part of our world and hope, for all our
children's sake, we are not too late to pull back.
--

[patrice]

1. wow!

:nuke:

....................

Needs to be parsed up into usable bits.

[flpoljunkie]

2. Money ( and the need for it in politics) corrupts everything! When will we ever learn that public

financing of our federal campaigns--both Congressional and Presidential--is the only way to go if we are to save our country, and the world!

[pokercat999]

74. Public funding and STRICT term limits.

[Obamanaut]

89. Public funding and never, ever vote for an incumbent. nt

[stlsaxman]

96. agreed- "Term Limits" shoud be decided by the people and NOT the law.

term limits remove the power from the people to "fire" a bad employee.

at the same time they remove our power to "re-hire" one that does a good job.

[pokercat999]

108. Unfortunately over the years congress has made

incumbency the magic elixir to re-election. It's almost impossible to overcome the build-in advantage the incumbent has legislated.

While I hate the thought of taking "power" away from the people I really think term limits would actually RESTORE the power of the people to pick our elected officials. With the population at what, 300M, we can surly find qualified people to run the government without the continued lifetime "service" by a few elites.

[stlsaxman]

111. Level the playing field between the incumbent and those running against them.

Publicly financed campaigns.

All candidates have X amount of dollars for a campaign that lasts a strict number of days.

Anyone using more than that amount is tossed from the race. Period.

Make these laws nationwide.

While we're at it- Every single cotton-picking, god damned, son-of-a-bitchin' primary and caucus happens on ONE DAY!

Hey- when i dream- i dream big!

[pokercat999]

125. true that

[invictus]

3. K & R

[mmonk]

4. I wonder if Obama's campaign has seen this.

[Frustratedlady]

5. Whoa! That will surely get Hill's attention.

I was not aware of all those charges about Monsanto, although I was aware of their reputation and leery of anything they were connected with.

I K&R'd this, as it needs to be read.

[SoonerPride]

48. No it won't. She doesn't care.

She.
does.
not.
care.

[ClayZ]

6. K and R

[zanne]

7. Thanks you for your research and for posting this.

No small feat.

[0007]

8. Ouch!! That's gotta hurt. bttft & Recomended. Great post.

Help to clean up America!!

[Darth_Kitten]

9. What happened to 4 paragraphs then post a link?

n/t

[helderheid]

18. That only works if there is a link to post. This was a forwarded e-mail.

[Irishonly]

21. Original link to letter

http://www.celsias.com/2008/02/19/an-open-letter-to-hillary-clinton-from-a-wellesley-college-alumna/

[helderheid]

30. Bless you - hopefully it isn't too late to edit

[papau]

44. I passed this by the Wellesley grads in the family -standard response "NONSENSE" - unlikely to have

been written by a Wellesley grad as it is full of logical errors and half truths.

So Obama is now smearing by email - interesting.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

52. Obama

wrote that?

Now who is full of illogical errors?

What are the half truths? Please explain....

[papau]

57. Obama campaign/supporter" - OK? - which of course he does not control but H does

[cui bono]

69. And you are by posting. Where's the proof of your accusation. n/t

[roguevalley]

79. Factual errors and half truths. prove it. Prove it or withdraw this.

[Divernan]

84. How conveeeeenient, Papau - you have multiple Wellesley grads right in your family!

And you were able to forward this to them and they all read this lengthy, detailed piece, analyzed it and responded to you within 2 and 1/2 hours of the original post! Not bloody likely. Meanwhile several REAL Wellesley grads have posted in this thread to complement the writer of this letter to HRC.

You AS USUAL don't directly dispute any particular fact or "logical errors".

Tell ya what! You get right out there, and you make sure that you and all your friends and family stop eating organic foods and just eat that woooooooooooonderful genetically modified, Monsanto-patented crap. That would be called putting your mouth where your money comes from!

[The Doctor.]

105. Hehehe....

I couldn't have said it better.

Glad to know the empiricists are about.

:hi:

[The Doctor.]

88. I've been borderline polite to the long-time DUers... but not this time.

YOU MAKE A CLAIM THAT SOMETHING IS 'full of logical errors and half truths', AND YOU FUCKING BACK IT UP!!!

WHERE are the 'half truths'?
WHAT are the 'logical errors'?
WHO THE FUCK are the "Wellesley Grads" in you family? No, I don't expect you to say, but anyone can make some bullshit claim about being or knowing an unnameable 'expert'.

I'm open to any case that can be made by any supporter of any candidate, but your post reeks of bullshit.

[Cassandra]

116. Wrong again, papau.

As a Wellesley graduate myself, I have access to the online database and the letter writer is definitely an authentic Wellesley graduate. She graduated a year after Hillary. There is no other information about her other than that she is, indeed, in Atlanta.
If you actually have Wellesley grads in your family (remember, they can only be female) they would recognize the amount of research required by that letter as being well within a Wellesley graduate's ability.

[Darth_Kitten]

56. it's just hard to read.......

n/t

[Bread and Circus]

10. If by some dark miracle Hillary becomes president, nothing will change...

It will still be the United Corporations of America and Hillary will still be "obliterating" our manufactured enemies.

[N4457S]

39. Hillary...

...was a Goldwater girl, and I think she's coming home to her roots.

[NashVegas]

11. Doesn't Obama Have a Monsanto Lobbyist as an Advisor?

Moses Mercado?

I'd love to believe he joined the campaign to free himself of taint, but considering what went down yesterday, doubt it very much.

PS - you REALLY ought to source your posts.

[Yossariant]

16. Shh! Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

:rofl:

Obama Brings on Top Lobbyist

The waves are being generated by Mercado's other line of work -- as a lobbyist with Ogilvy Government Relations who is registered to represent several dozen big-name clients, including the National Rifle Association, the Carlyle Group, the Blackstone Group, Monsanto, Pfizer Inc., United Health Group, Sempra Energy and Constellation Energy.

His resume seems to contradict one of Obama's central themes on the campaign trail -- that as an outsider he can fend of the powerful business interests that he has argued have contributed to the income gap between rich and poor and has frustrated attempts to address issues such as high prescription drug costs and global warming.

In a speech he gave in New Hampshire back in June, Obama singled out the role of lobbyists in the process. As the Chicago Tribune reported at the time, Obama "sought to make the case that the culture of influence in Washington affects the pocketbooks of Americans in myriad ways, from drug prices to student-loan interest rates -- both of which, he argued, are inflated through industry manipulation of public policy."

The story went on to quote Obama, saying: "What's most outrageous is not the morally offensive conduct on behalf of these lobbyists and legislators, but the morally offensive laws and decisions that get made as a result."
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2007/09/28/mercado_mosk.html

:rofl:

[Lilith Velkor]

102. haha - pwnage!

[helderheid]

19. Source - forwarded email. Wish I had a link to post. n/t

[Irishonly]

23. He has a former Monsanto lobbyist

or I should say Mercado was told he would not work in the Obama campaign unless he no longer worked for Monsanto. He took a LOA from Monsanto. Each person will have to decide for themselves whether or not he still works for them. He also worked for Kerry

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2007/09/28/mer...

[NashVegas]

25. He Worked for Kerry?

Mmm ... that went really well.

[Irishonly]

27. Ohio

Kerry probably won the election. My own opinion is I would like for Monsanto to disappear off the face of the earth so I would not trust anyone working or ever worked there but then again, I am not a politician.

[gal]

12. Thank you for taking the time with this.

What a mind blowing eye opening letter. Scares me to think of me forcing my kids to drink milk everyday.
I would like to see this further investigated.

[thevoiceofreason]

13. She'll never read it. And you are now dead to her.

[frickaline]

14. sad and brilliant - as a Wellesley alumna, I can relate to her sentiments

and that fact saddens and troubles me daily.

[libnnc]

15. kick

[EnviroBat]

17. Wow, k&r

That's some damming stuff there. Just reinforces the reason why I don't trust another Clinton in the White House. They're dirty as hell.

[tabatha]

20. Here is one source:

http://www.counterpunch.org/cole02082008.html

[Stephanie]

22. Here's more on Monsanto from Vanity Fair >

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/05/monsanto200805

Investigation
Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear
Monsanto already dominates America’s food chain with its genetically modified seeds. Now it has targeted milk production. Just as frightening as the corporation’s tactics–ruthless legal battles against small farmers–is its decades-long history of toxic contamination.
by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele May 2008



Gary Rinehart clearly remembers the summer day in 2002 when the stranger walked in and issued his threat. Rinehart was behind the counter of the Square Deal, his “old-time country store,” as he calls it, on the fading town square of Eagleville, Missouri, a tiny farm community 100 miles north of Kansas City.

The Square Deal is a fixture in Eagleville, a place where farmers and townspeople can go for lightbulbs, greeting cards, hunting gear, ice cream, aspirin, and dozens of other small items without having to drive to a big-box store in Bethany, the county seat, 15 miles down Interstate 35.

Everyone knows Rinehart, who was born and raised in the area and runs one of Eagleville’s few surviving businesses. The stranger came up to the counter and asked for him by name.

“Well, that’s me,” said Rinehart.

As Rinehart would recall, the man began verbally attacking him, saying he had proof that Rinehart had planted Monsanto’s genetically modified (G.M.) soybeans in violation of the company’s patent. Better come clean and settle with Monsanto, Rinehart says the man told him—or face the consequences.

Rinehart was incredulous, listening to the words as puzzled customers and employees looked on. Like many others in rural America, Rinehart knew of Monsanto’s fierce reputation for enforcing its patents and suing anyone who allegedly violated them. But Rinehart wasn’t a farmer. He wasn’t a seed dealer. He hadn’t planted any seeds or sold any seeds. He owned a small—a really small—country store in a town of 350 people. He was angry that somebody could just barge into the store and embarrass him in front of everyone. “It made me and my business look bad,” he says. Rinehart says he told the intruder, “You got the wrong guy.”

When the stranger persisted, Rinehart showed him the door. On the way out the man kept making threats. Rinehart says he can’t remember the exact words, but they were to the effect of: “Monsanto is big. You can’t win. We will get you. You will pay.”

Scenes like this are playing out in many parts of rural America these days as Monsanto goes after farmers, farmers’ co-ops, seed dealers—anyone it suspects may have infringed its patents of genetically modified seeds. As interviews and reams of court documents reveal, Monsanto relies on a shadowy army of private investigators and agents in the American heartland to strike fear into farm country. They fan out into fields and farm towns, where they secretly videotape and photograph farmers, store owners, and co-ops; infiltrate community meetings; and gather information from informants about farming activities. Farmers say that some Monsanto agents pretend to be surveyors. Others confront farmers on their land and try to pressure them to sign papers giving Monsanto access to their private records. Farmers call them the “seed police” and use words such as “Gestapo” and “Mafia” to describe their tactics.

When asked about these practices, Monsanto declined to comment specifically, other than to say that the company is simply protecting its patents. “Monsanto spends more than $2 million a day in research to identify, test, develop and bring to market innovative new seeds and technologies that benefit farmers,” Monsanto spokesman Darren Wallis wrote in an e-mailed letter to Vanity Fair. “One tool in protecting this investment is patenting our discoveries and, if necessary, legally defending those patents against those who might choose to infringe upon them.” Wallis said that, while the vast majority of farmers and seed dealers follow the licensing agreements, “a tiny fraction” do not, and that Monsanto is obligated to those who do abide by its rules to enforce its patent rights on those who “reap the benefits of the technology without paying for its use.” He said only a small number of cases ever go to trial.

Some compare Monsanto’s hard-line approach to Microsoft’s zealous efforts to protect its software from pirates. At least with Microsoft the buyer of a program can use it over and over again. But farmers who buy Monsanto’s seeds can’t even do that.

---much more at link----

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/05/monsanto200805

[pokercat999]

75. Seems to me Monsanto's agents wouldn't be too

hard to find in those small towns and who would EVER find them buried deep in one of those huge cornfields?

Probably make good fertilizer as an added bonus.

[Eurobabe]

24. Hillary, ready to continue the raping of America on Day One n/t

[me b zola]

26. K&R

[Cassandra]

28. As a slightly younger Wellesley grad...

I salute her.

Those are more reasons to keep supporting Obama.

Remember when Hillary defended taking lots of lobbyist money by saying lobbyists are people, too?

[TragedyandHope]

29. The Goddess of Multinational Starvation for Profit

:kick:

[N4457S]

37. If Obama Is The Nominee...

...we will end up with McCain. Period.

You can't expect Obama to carry two states in the general which he could not carry in the primaries.

It's a ridiculous notion. It defies logic.

I'll bet Howard Dean's sick.

[TragedyandHope]

55. I give Hillary supporters more credit than that

I expect the record Democratic turnout in this Primary season to carry over into the General Election, even if a handful decide to betray their party and the country to curse us with McCain.

And of course, you're forgetting that he won't be the only one on the ticket. There will be a strategically selected VP to shore up support in states where he doesn't perform as well.

McCain won't stand a chance.

[N4457S]

59. If The Race...

...is McCain versus Obama, and it comes down to Obama needing both Ohio and Pennsylvania, there's no hope.

I basically grew up in both states. I know where to get a good hoagie or pizza or piece of shoo-fly pie. My grandfather sold paint to the Amish for their barns for fifty years.

Trust me. I know.

[DWilliamsamh]

71. PA will not vote for McCain.

I grew up in Philadelphia and was a State cop in Central PA. Trust me I know.

[N4457S]

93. Pennsylvania...

...won't have to if Ohio does, and Florida is a foregone conclusion. McCain is way ahead there.

What's shaping up is yet another wasted opportunity. What is it with these people?

Where were you a state cop? My relatives live all along the 322 corridor from Harrisburg to State College.

I could find my way from Lewistown to NE Ohio on my hands and knees, blindfolded. I'm not kidding! I also remember when the road across Nittany Mountain going north out of Centre Hall was very narrow and windy, about thirty years ago. My dad remembers when it was dirt.

I even remember the old bridge at Amity Hall that was well over a hundred years old before they replaced it. Remember the two lane road across with a blinker light?

PennDOT finally fixed The Narrows late last year. That was a long time coming and they had to tear down Red's Diner and Tony's to do it. Now they need to get on with fixing the other side of the Seven Mountains. Did you ever write any tickets there, at that spot where it flattens out by the Boy Scout camp?

Yeah, I'm homesick. Sorry.

[DWilliamsamh]

119. two things....

1) Anyone who takes April POLLS about what voters will do in November seriously needs their head examined.

2) You sound vaguely republican because 1st you make an assertion of fact that is pure opinion (which I parodied in my first response to you), and when challenged you change the subject.


And yeah I was a Trooper out of Troop L, Reading and Hamburg.

[frylock]

92. get some new material..

rev wright and unelectable. that's all you rubes have left.

[The Doctor.]

104. ...

You're not that bright, are you?

Enjoy your stay.

[Zodiak]

31. Companies that create so much misery that famers kill themselves

Should be given the corporate death penalty.

Companies that spy on and threaten their customers should also be given the corporate death penalty.

When is the last time we have issued a corporate death penalty, anyways? Time to revive the concept.

[1trackmindGOP]

32. This makes perfect sense...no wonder we are getting fatter!!!

[Lucky 13]

33. Genetically engineered seeds, farming and rGBH are just the tip of the iceburg. They are TRULY evil

I haven't read much on genetically engineered seeds and the plight of Indian farmers, but I'm not at all surprised.

There are other examples of their abhorrent behavior that are perhaps more shocking.

Have you read about their role in the environmental disasters in Anniston, Alabama? They KNOWINGLY released PCBs into the environment for years, lied about it, covered it up and the results were horrendous. Cancer rates in the surrounding areas SKYROCKETED.

Anecdotally, I worked for an environmental group some years ago. Scientists from our org were touring the area and scouting for potential research projects. Just for the hell of it, one of the other scientists he was with took a healthy fish, and put it in the stream near the Monsanto plant. The fish went belly up in 3 minutes. Not sure if this ever made it into any scholarly publication, but that is the story as relayed to me.

They are a compelling reason to consider instituting some sort of "Corporate Death Penalty". If your company willfully and knowingly harms the environment and causes death, injury, or disease to citizens repeatedly, the government should have the right to permanently disband your company and prosecute your CEOs. That's what I believe. And there is no company MORE deserving than Monsanto.

If you'd like to read more about Monsanto in Anniston, check out this link:
http://www.chemicalindustryarchives.org/dirtysecrets/annistonindepth/intro.asp

[lynnertic]

106. by the way, india is bailing out its farmers and encouraging them to return to organic

I don't have time to dig up a link -- I'm trying to steal a few mins before work. Google is your friend.

[glowing]

112. Yes, but the switch back to organic--and its sad we have to use that

term for regular food/ crops.. is very hard.. the monsanto seeds take so much out of the soil.. it takes a lot of time and money to switch back... they are a horror that our future generations will look back on in disgust... if they have a future.

[uponit7771]

34. How much of this outside of Hillary being on the board of Wal Mart can be verified? Thx

[1trackmindGOP]

35. Unchecked Capitalism and Government influence at its worst!

[Andy823]

36. K&R

Everyone should read this

[Allyoop]

42. Daily Kos

Daily Kos diary anyone?

[bvar22]

38. K&R...and BookMarked for future reference.

Thanks.


Hillary IS "their girl".
That is one reason why she can't quit.
The people who own her won't let her step aside.






"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans. I want us to compete for that great mass of voters that want a party that will stand up for working Americans, family farmers, and people who haven't felt the benefits of the economic upturn."---Paul Wellstone

[speedoo]

40. K&R, and bookmarked. That's some impressive research.

And that's our....

Hillary!

Sorry, not my Hillary. Never again will I vote for that liar.

[Baby Snooks]

41. Do you really think she cares?

When are people going to wake up to the reality of the Clintons?

[SoonerPride]

47. No. Obviously she has sold her soul long ago.

Duh.

[defendandprotect]

50. She doesn't have to care because the corporate-media isn't going to mention this . . .

at all--!!!

Imagine actually getting the Monsanto=horror story out to the public???

Not likely --- !!!

[guyanakoolaid]

43. K&R - But if she's Hillary's Wellesley alum, she could have seen this coming when Hillary was voted

President of the Wellesley Young Republicans

[cliffordu]

45. WOW!!! K&R

:kick:

[defendandprotect]

46. THIS is the first part of real feminism...to STOP the war on nature and animal-life . . .

and PLEASE notice, when we do that, we stop the war on ourselves!!

It's also another look at crony-Capitalism and the kind of lawyering that we don't need . . .

[Skidmore]

49. Oh, hell, yeah!! Some one pass this one on to KO!

Kicking and recommending.

[helderheid]

51. I forwarded it on to him n/t

[TBF]

61. K&R - Hopefully someone will kick to Obama's campaign as well

[AzDar]

53. K & R...

:kick:

[knixphan]

54. wowza.

[Sequoia]

58. This is amazing. Monsanto is a true monster.

Check out this article regarding India and Bhopal (site of the Union Carbide chemical spill).

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/10/8195/

[Divernan]

85. I think Papau has relatives living in Bhopal and they say it never happened!

[CaptJasHook]

60. Bookmarked. K&R

[redqueen]

62. Jesus Christ... I couldn't read it all in one go...

:puke:

[Greyskye]

63. K & R

Walmart, Monsanto... who's next?

:banghead:

[grantcart]

64. k and r

[OwnedByFerrets]

65. Bravo!!!!!!

Great work!!!! I am applauding vigorously.

[mcollier]

66. No Ban on Lobbyists as Advisers for Obama

******** Try Reading the full Wash Post article *********

No Ban on Lobbyists as Advisers for Obama
Updated 7:50 p.m.
By John Solomon
Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has made a big deal about the fact that his campaign doesn't accept political donations from Washington lobbyists, and recently declared that "they won't run my White House, and they won't set the agenda in Washington." But that ban doesn't extend to seeking their endorsements, or their advice.

Daniel Shapiro, one of Obama's foreign policy advisers on the Middle East, registered to lobby for several corporate clients in the last year, since leaving the office of Rep. Bill Nelson (D-Fla). Shapiro, who worked during the 1990s for President Bill Clinton's National Security Council, counts some of America's biggest corporate names among his clients, including beermaker Anheuser-Busch, carmaker Daimler Chrysler, the American Petroleum Institute and Freddie Mac.

Obama also recently secured the endorsement of former South Carolina governor Jim Hodges, who now runs a lobbying firm, the Hodges Consulting Group, and is registered himself as a federal lobbyist for Hillenbrand Partners, a Chicago-based company that does business with the Federal Home Loan Bank, according to U.S. Senate lobbying disclosure records. Hodges reported receiving $12,000 from the client in the first half of 2007, the records show. Hodges also signed on as a national co-chair of Obama's campaign and is advising Obama on his southern political strategy.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said the candidate does not disqualify Washington lobbyists from from endorsing or advising him. "The way we address this issue is we don't take money from federal lobbyists," Burton said. "It's not a perfect symbol but it's his best effort to show the sort of administration he is going to have."

Hodges and Shapiro aren't the only federal lobbyists inside Obama's campaign. The Washington Post previously reported that Moses Mercado, a veteran political adviser to the likes of Dick Gephardt's former presidential bids, was negotiating last fall to become an adviser to Obama. Mercado was registered in Washington to lobby on behalf of several several corporate clients, including AT&T.

Mercado said today he ultimately decided to skip becoming a paid adviser and instead is volunteering his advice and time in hopes of sidestepping the questions about being a lobbyist on the Obama payroll. Mercado was departing today to Nevada to help Obama with that state's caucuses.

"It actually is better to do it this way. I don't want anything from it," Mercado said. "I wanted to do it for other reasons. I thought he was the right candidate for the country."

As for Obama's frequent criticism of Washington lobbyists, Mercado said, "I don't get sensitive about it. I don't take it personally. What he is trying to do is a good thing. What he wants is some transparency to the process."

A Post review of Obama's payroll, advisers and endorsements found several other Washington lobbyists. Obama staffer Buffy Wicks was registered in 2007 to lobby for the United Food and Commercial Workers union, while two fellow campaign aides were registered in 2006 to lobby for the Democratic-leaning Center for American Progress.
Obama's early state coordinator, Steve Hildebrand was registered since 2005 to represent an environmental firm but filed a report terminating his lobbying registration around the time he joined the campaign last January.

Hillary Clinton's campaign, which accepts lobbyists' donations and is now trailing in the polls, has sought to question Obama's commitment to his lobbying ban. In a debate Saturday night in New Hampshire, she noted that Obama's campaign co-chairman in New Hampshire, Jim Demers, is a state-based lobbyist whose clients include pharmaceutical companies. He is not registered at the federal level.

[VotesForWomen]

67. she's probably so rich she can afford to be hopelessly naive and believe O is the messiah and hill i

is satan. in the real world, we know better.

[DrZeeLit]

68. Whoa -- somebody send this to John&Elizabeth Edwards and Al Gore.. STOP and don't endorse HC!

My fav line..."Edwards was right about your corporate connections." Sooo, I hope he,Elizabeth and AlGore do not endorse HC.

And if someone could get this letter to Elizabeth Edwards.

I would be forever in your debt.
Please.

Who else knows this stuff?

John Edwards, Elizabeth Edwards, and Al Gore NEED TO KNOW.

[helderheid]

70. Absolutely!

[madrchsod]

83. they know it....and they are not going to endorse anyone

as was pointed out today---they will be the glue that binds the party back together

[DrZeeLit]

122. Oh please! Your lips to the Universe's ears! nt

[H8fascistcons]

72. BRAVO!!!!!!!

Thank You, quite the eye opener

[cornermouse]

73. Typical city slicker ignorance.

1. Monsanto threatens farmers in America just like they do in India, etc.

2. Chicken waste was used on fields years before Clinton got into office.

3. Check it out on the internet. The slaughter/packing plants appear to have enacted policies that state they don't accept cattle over 2 years for slaughter. Mad cow disease typically doesn't show up in the animals that have it until the cow is 4 or 5 years old. In other words, you could be eating contaminated beef without knowing it right now and it's not Clinton's fault.

4. Oh yeah, bee colonies. I guess you haven't heard the latest theory that the bee colonies might be dying out because pollution from cars is covering the smell of flowers so that they're unable to find and pollinate them.

[lynnertic]

107. "typical"

Your point 1. doesn't seem to disagree with any prior statement

2. Chx waste was used on fields, but chickens weren't fed poisonous food like downer cows before. Now they are and malformed prions are being returned to fields and waterways to cause a second method of contaminating cows (and people).

3. That's why a CA slaughterhouse was busted this year for killing downer cows? It was caught on tape.

4. Organic bees aren't dying. I personally think it's a pesticide issue... the sidewalks here have poor dying honeybees all over them since the AAA building down the street was fumigated for termites about a month ago. Our area has experienced no significant change in traffic patterns and the flowers are just as smelly as they were two, three years ago.

[cornermouse]

109. Refutation.

1. You were feeling sorry for farmers in India and indicating the thought that they are discriminated against when in fact Monsanto has been equal opportunity in attacking hapless farmers for daring to plant their crops next to a field that Monsanto products are planted in.

2. Chickens have been fed all sorts of stuff. You just didn't know it. And in fact, chickens allowed to free range are capable of eating just about anything they find, including each other. Again, you just don't know it. As far as the downer cows are concerned, let me know when a chicken develops mad cow disease and I'll get excited.

3. The California slaughterhouse was killing cows with broken legs and problems other than mad cow disease. Like I said, get out there on the internet, take a good long look around, and you'll find that the policy is to not accept cows that are over 2 years for consumption, well before mad cow disease becomes apparent.

4. http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080411/sc_livescience/studyflowerslosingsmell

Spring's bloom may not smell so sweet anymore, as pollutants from power plants and automobiles destroy flowers' aromas, a new study suggests...

...Researchers at the University of Virginia created a mathematical model of how the scents of flowers travel with the wind. The scent molecules produced by the flowers readily bond with pollutants such as ozone, which destroys the aromas they produce.

So instead of wafting for long distances with the wind, the flowery scents are chemically altered. Essentially, the flowers no longer smell like flowers.

"The scent molecules produced by flowers in a less polluted environment, such as in the 1800s, could travel for roughly 1,000 to 1,200 meters <3,300 to 4,000 feet>; but in today's polluted environment downwind of major cities, they may travel only 200 to 300 meters <650 to 980 feet>," said study team member Jose D. Fuentes.

[Connonym]

114. on the other hand maybe they can't smell the flowers because they've bred the scent out of flowers

the flowery scents are already chemically altered by bioengineering. Everyone on this board should read The Omnivore's Dilemma. It'll fucking scare the pants off you.

[Veracious]

76. Screw Healing Hillary will not get my vote EVER!

She is a wolf in sheep's clothing

[bpeale]

77. i do not believe a word of this. hearsay

[Cha]

78. Thanks for reposting this, helderheid!

I read this on DU when it came out and have been telling my co-workers and friends about hilary's mansanto connection.

They're all a bunch of Organic Farmers and this mansanto seed crap is deadly to them and to me. Now I have the link and will be passing it on..thank you, again.

[helderheid]

80. You bet. I hope Keith can vet this and report.

[Cha]

81. It's so Important and as time

goes on..sane people who aren't moneymongers will realize it more and more and more.

[madrchsod]

82. hillary just got it handed to her......

and she deserves it....

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

87. Deskjet rebuttel

Obama Doesn,t get It
Hillary Does
Get It Right
Hillary For president




If some people just don,t know any better
Than others must.

After all it is always better to know than it is to think that you know.
If age has got your memory than this one is for you
There is still no substitute for experience!

The time is right
Get it right
Vote Hillary

And stop making yourselves believe there is more to Obama than there is.

[Obamanaut]

90. Reread your profile comment and then correct the errors in

your post.

doesn't rather than doesn,t
don't vs don,t
sixth line should probably be 'then' vice 'than'
line #8 find it yourself

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

99. heaven forbid I forgot spell check!

if I just had time for content content content content my kingdom for a horese or maybe a secretary ,just can,t keep up with the flood of content ,my oh my the water over the falls floweth to quickly I suppose , bushwhoopee have a high ho of time with it.

wright or wrong! holy cow I,ll hire a retired navy clerical specialist to teach me the trade of typing! Those yo-man can really type! And they do know about content don,t they,they must because they can also translate the language of the bos,en ,content ,I said content.does anybody really retire?

[freefall]

100. You forgot to mention that he spelled "rebuttal" wrong in the subject line.

The poor grammar and spelling are common amongst Americans but given the comment in the profile one would expect a better effort.

[AZBlue]

86. Wow - fantastic post! Thank you - I learned a lot.

I hope Hillary Clinton does as well.

[happygoluckytoyou]

91. GOBAMA.... MONICA HAS SUNG... ITS OVER

[Pisces]

94. Incredible post. The incestuous relationships are breeding corruption!!

[GetTheRightVote]

95. You just scared the pants off of me, I have been deeply concerned over these matters for

some time especially with so many of the people I know getting cancer, etc.
I have all but organic foods these days, I fear what is happening with our food supply.

[helderheid]

98. me too. :(

[Scurrilous]

97. K & R

:thumbsup:

[freefall]

101. Thanks for posting, helderheid.

There are too many evil corporations. It's overwhelming. Looks like Monsanto easily rivals big tobacco in the damage it is causing.

K&R

:kick:

Peace,

freefall

[Hope And Change]

103. K & R!

:kick:

[glowing]

110. Best succint letter rounding out the horrors of our food..

I often want to stand outside a grocery store and hold up a sign saying "Why are you selling Poison".. and now with food prices soaring, its even more of a travesty. Try finding anything without HFCS in it. Its in juice, cookies, crackers, bread.. its in everything. AND every year the FDA tries to change the "organic" labeling and water downt the standard. I have a garden this year.. saves in cost and health. I'm sending this letter to everyone I know. This is the most rounded, cohesive, and organized connect the dots letter.

THANK YOU.

[arundhatiroyfan]

113. K and R

[Brundle_Fly]

115. but...

SHE'S FULLY VETTED!!

:sarcasm:

[helderheid]

118. exactly!

[bonito]

117. K&R

[juno jones]

120. Error: You've already recomended, etc etc

K&R! K&R! K&R!

[cascadiance]

121. Add to this list that Monsanto had Fox fire journalists trying to tell us the truth!

... and helped Fox claim in court (with some corporate serving judge's support) that they have the right to define the truth the way they want to.

All came about when a station that Fox had just purchased in Florida was just about to run an investigative report about the bad effects of Monsanto's synthetic bovine growth hormone, and were shut down when Monsanto pulled strings to get them fired.

http://www.foxbghsuit.com/

Monsanto's evil never ends!...

Would rec, but just missed the deadline!

[mod mom]

123. WOW! I'm sorry I missed this post. Can you repost it for those who might have done the same?

[Skidmore]

124. I copied this letter and forwarded it to a couple of master gardeners

I know.