- Carl Wolfson and Christine Alexander, Thom’s co-hosts at KPOJ guest hosted the show as Thom is home for his mother's funeral.
- Article: Monsanto's Michael Taylor is BAAAAACC...KKK ... this time to control "Food Safety" from the White House, March 8, 2009.
"Michael Taylor, a former Monsanto executive, whose career literally fits the definition of the revolving door between government, lobbying and corporate interests. Before serving on the Obama ag transition team, Taylor made a name for himself rotating in and out of law firms, Monsanto, the USDA and FDA. While at the FDA he helped write the rules to allow rBGH into the American food system and our children’s milk." - Article: US-EU accord ends beef import rift.
"The European Union and the US yesterday settled a long-running dispute over hormone-treated beef in a deal both sides said demonstrated their determination to reduce bilateral friction amid plunging world trade.Under terms of the four-year deal the EU will be permitted to maintain its ban on hormone-fed beef - which the US and Canada have opposed - as well as the EU's standards for the cleaning and handling of imported meat.
In return the EU has agreed roughly to quintuple the amount of hormone-free beef that can be imported from the US and Canada without facing duties. The two parties will continue talks to determine if the deal can be made permanent.
The provisional agreement came ahead of a Saturday deadline, after which the US had threatened to impose potentially crippling tariffs on a rotating selection of EU goods, from French cheese to Italian mineral water.
The spirit of co-operation is in contrast to the early days of the new administration, when a Buy American clause in initial drafts of President Barack Obama's economic stimulus bill sparked fears of protectionism across Europe and Asia.
" - Book: "Genetic Roulette", Jeffrey M. Smith.
- Guest: author/filmmaker Jeffrey Smith. Non-profit site Healthier Eating. He's in Brazil today, calling in on Skype. The health dangers of GMOs. DVD of "The World According to Monsanto" by French filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin. He appears in the film. Definition of a genetically engineered organism (GMO) and transgenic organism. For example Round-up ready soy, and pesticide-producing corn and cotton. They want to change most of our food crops. Consumer concern about side effects. Revolving door between Monsanto and the FDA. Substantial equivalence. Michael Taylor. Monsanto can decide if its own foods are safe. Monsanto responsible for Agent Orange, PCBs, DDT. A friend sued and got FDA documents made public showed that the consensus was a deception, Monsanto engineers believed their food was inherently dangerous and had wanted long term studies, but got a hands off policy designed to promote biotech which ultimately put the entire food supply at risk.
How Monsanto and other companies have copywritten seed and constrained farmers. It is destroying indigenous crops around the world. Farmers cannot use seed from their crops, they have to buy more seed each year. Monsanto has prosecuted farmers who do not have a contract with them and whose crops have been cross pollinated by Monsanto crops. They are eliminating biodiversity. Farmers all around the world save their seed, Monsanto wants to introduce terminator technology which would make it impossible. Our security is in the biodiversity which they are attacking. They intend to genetically engineer 100% of the commercial seeds in the world and patent them. They and other companies have created a genetically engineered counterpart to the food supply.
Anniston, Alabama pollution. They agree to settlements, they are part of the cost of doing business and they carry on. A Monsanto scientist said they can't afford to lose one dollar of business. Monsanto scientists safety tested Genetically Engineered Bovine Growth Hormone, when they saw IGF-1 had increased, the scientists stopped drinking milk themselves.
EU/US hormone treated beef dispute, importation of US beef. That's sex hormones. There is also milk hormone, called crack for cows, which is banned in several countries. It is related to increased pus in milk, antibiotics, cancer, birth of fraternal twins. Wal-Mart, Starbucks are not using it, others are phasing it out.
Indian farmers have rashes, cattle die, and 125,000 farmers committed suicide. Bt-cotton failed to live up to the promises that the farmers borrowed for, the affect on reproduction in rats. Genetically Modified soy increases allergies and can continue to work in the body long after eating it. Patent police.
He has been to 32 countries in the past 6 years campaigning against GMOs. A Scottish guy spoke out on GMOs, Downing Street forced him out of his contract, fired after 35 years. Long term safety. Honey bees colony collapse disorder, insecticides reach the pollen that is protein for honeybees. Studies. The gene transfers into organisms in the gut of the bees. Science consensus on genetic engineering? Manufactured consensus, death grip on them. "Genetic Roulette". He wrote to lots of scientists, the studies saying it was safe were by unqualified people, or designed not to find problems. The scientist who discovered that native Mexican plants were contaminated was threatened. Poison on the Platter documentary film by Mahesh Bhatt. Indians are now against GMOs. One said it is worse than bombs.
Horse slaughter bill. Horses are full of chemicals. They get GMO feed including sugar beet pulp which is new. European horses cope with more races, perhaps because they don't get GMO feed. No changes under Obama on GMOs, the new governor in charge of USDA said he wanted a more organized effort to promote geotech around the world, like food aid. Sibelius vetoed a bill with ridiculous wording about RBGH. Hamburg up for confirmation today. Bill Clinton's Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman said, “What I saw generically from the pro-biotech side was the attitude that the technology was good and that it was almost immoral to say it wasn’t good because it was going to solve the problems of the human waste, and feed the hungry, and clothe the naked. And if you’re against it, you are a Luddite, you’re stupid. You felt like you’re an alien, disloyal, by trying to present an open-minded view.”
- Bumper Music: Black Horse & The Cherry Tree, KT Tunstall.
- Welcome to new affiliate Revolution Boston, WWZN AM 1510 Radio.
- Book: "The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals", Jane Mayer.
- Guest: New Yorker writer Jane Mayer, author, "The Dark Side". She warns how our failure to prosecute war criminals legitimized torture in a post-Cheney world. The Associated Press and the New York Times had a leak saying the report says no prosecutions. The Office of Professional Responsibility does not recommend prosecutions anyway. If they say to sanction the lawyers, disbar, it is serious. To prosecute a lawyer you have to prove he did not believe his own advice, and they seem to have convinced themselves. Condoleezza Rice did a Nixon. The recently released torture memos, the basic story she already knew, but there were new details like the number of times waterboarded. The torturers were trying to get a link to al Qaeda and Iraq. A bipartisan report on al-Libbi treatment's, his false confession saying there were WMD in Iraq. They were after false confessions, like Stalin.
The first Sunday after 9/11, on Meet the Press, Cheney said we would have to work on the dark side, use any means. Many in the military, etc. were horrified by the new tactics. Lots in the Bush administration were pushing back, for example Condi's lawyer Philip Zelikow. KSM and Abu Zubaydah are in Guantanamo still, headache for Obama. Torture wrecks the possibility of a trial. Only 8 in Guantanamo were with al Qaeda. An Arabic speaker in 2002 interviewed many and said that most did not know anything. Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff David Addington.
- Carl's mystery (political) button.
- How Cheney and David Addington were the center. Colin Powell said that Addington did not believe in the constitution.
- Article: Letterman Takes On Cheney For Attacking Obama (VIDEO).
- Video: Turley/ Olbermann: Trying To Water Down Justice Report On Torture.
- Article: Turley: ‘God help us’ if torture only gets a ‘9/11 commission’.
- What is the Obama administration going to do? Red Cross report said CIA knew about torture. Waterboarding. Obama said it was a mistake, not that it was a crime to be prosecuted. Professor Jonathan Turley said Obama has an obligation to proceed with an investigation, and that a UN official said that we are in violation of our treaty obligations. Holder has responsibility. Stop interfering with an independent investigation. Axelrod and Emmanuel saying we have to look forward. Obama has thrown it to the Attorney General, where it should be. What about Congress? Is it that they are not showing their hand? It is war crimes. Taxi to the Dark Side. John Sifton, Human Rights said they estimate 100 died, some clearly tortured, the Bush administration rebuffed the CIA.
- Don't ask, don't tell, defense of marriage, apparently Obama has a plan, will go in the same direction, but let your voice be heard.
- Solve health care before gay marriage? Yesterday Maine became the 5th state. One state is waiting for the governor to sign. Things are happening, peoples' views have changed.
- Article: Stanford Antiwar Alums Call for War Crimes Investigation of Condoleezza Rice.
- Article: Stanford Anti-War Alumni, Students Call for Condi War Crimes Probe (includes video).
"During the Vietnam War, Stanford students succeeded in banning secret military research from campus. Last weekend, 150 activist alumni and present Stanford students targeted Condoleezza Rice for authorizing torture and misleading Americans into the illegal Iraq War.Veterans of the Stanford anti-Vietnam War movement had gathered for a 40th anniversary reunion during the weekend. The gathering featured panels on foreign policy, the economy, political and social movements, science and technology, media, energy and the environment, and strategies for aging activists.
On Sunday, surrounded by alumni and students, Lenny Siegel and I nailed a petition to the University President’s office door. The petition, circulated by Stanford Says No to War, reads:
“We the undersigned students, faculty, staff, alumni, and other concerned members of the Stanford community, believe that high officials of the U.S. Government, including our former Provost, current Political Science Professor, and Hoover Institution Senior Fellow, Condoleezza Rice, should be held accountable for any serious violations of the Law (included ratified treaties, statutes, and/or the U.S. Constitution) through investigation and, if the facts warrant, prosecution, by appropriate legal authorities.”
" - Guest: Dr. Marjorie Cohn. Author, "Rules of Disengagement: The Politics and Honor of Military Dissent" with Kathleen Gilberd. "Marjorie Cohn is president of the National Lawyers Guild and a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, where she teaches criminal law and procedure, evidence, and international human rights law. She lectures throughout the world on human rights and US foreign policy." Author of "Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law".
Condoleezza Rice said it was legal if the president said so, like Nixon. Stamford alums (Cohn is one) are calling for her to be probed for war crimes, she is tenured there and Stanford, what she said. Reunion of the April 3 movement. Nowadays there's Stanford Says No To War, a petition was nailed to the door. Her statement on is on YouTube. Rice helped hype war. Berkeley May 16 John Yoo demonstration.
Where does investigation have the best chance? The White House wants to look forward. Human rights, nearly 4 dozen detainees died. Congress has different ideas, Conyers wants a commission with subpoena power, Leahy wants s truth commission which would give immunity, Holder should investigate, there should be a non partisan unaffiliated special prosecutor. Lots of evidence is out. It is hard for Obama to ignore. The history of special prosecutors. Kenn Starr's witch hunt led them to allow the special prosecutor act to lapse. Congress should pass a new statute. If the US does not, other countries will. Spain is investigating. Chucky Taylor of Liberia was convicted under international law, as Israel did Eichmann.
- Julie suggested that the constitution is like a blanket, and they made a big rift in it, and Obama has the thread but isn't sewing. There's an international blanket too. "Common Threads, stories for the quilt" for AIDS.
- Article: Ginsburg: Court needs another woman.
"Her status as the court's lone woman was especially poignant during a recent case involving a 13-year-old girl who had been strip-searched by Arizona school officials looking for drugs. During oral arguments, some other justices minimized the girl's lasting humiliation, but Ginsburg stood out in her concern for the teenager."They have never been a 13-year-old girl," she told USA TODAY later when asked about her colleagues' comments during the arguments. "It's a very sensitive age for a girl. I didn't think that my colleagues, some of them, quite understood." ...
In interviews with USA TODAY before Souter's retirement announcement Friday, Ginsburg said the court needs another woman. "Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. I don't say (the split) should be 50-50," Ginsburg said. "It could be 60% men, 40% women, or the other way around. It shouldn't be that women are the exception."
" - Article: Ed Gillespie: There wasn’t a single woman of comparable ‘temperament and intellect’ to Alito.
BLITZER: "You remember, your President — President Bush — he did find a woman, Harriet Miers, to be his nominee, and that didn’t exactly work out. Did he get gun shy after that?"
GILLESPIE: "He did not get gun shy after that, but I think that in the next round of the selection process, the person who emerged as clearly most qualified — really head and shoulders above others –was Samuel Alito, and there wasn’t a woman who was of a comparable experience and skill and temperament and intellect."
- Guest: Christy Harvey, Director of Strategic Communications at the Center for American Progress, MicCheckradio.org, in DC today. A lone pig on display at Kabul, Afghanistan zoo has been taken away because of fear of swine flu. Egypt killed their pigs. Joe the Plumber leaving the GOP. Time magazine today said he was outraged by overspending. He has a book coming out? Souter retiring. Ruth Bader Ginsberg said his successor should be a woman - bold for a member. Ed Gillespie said no women is as qualified as Alito. 52% of people want to legalize pot in California, Arnie is considering it. California could gain over $1b revenue. Same sex marriage would help the economy too. Their web site had an analysis of how much gays miss out on.
