According to the U.S. Supreme Court, Monsanto has the right to control our food supply. In a unanimous ruling released this morning, the nine Justices sided with the agricultural giant, and held that an Indiana farmer violated Monsanto's patent by planting seeds produced from genetically modified soybeans. Although the farmer, Vernon Hugh Bowman, acquired the seeds from a grain elevator, they contained Monsanto's patented genes, and thus the court found that planting them was a patent violation.

In Justice Elena Kagan's 10-page opinion, the Court deemed the soybean seeds to be copies of Monsanto's technology. Kagan wrote, “If simple copying were a protected use, a patent would plummet in value after the first sale of the first item containing the invention.” And further, the Court reasoned that allowing patented seeds to be used this way, “would result in less incentive for innovation than Congress wanted.” Apparently, the Court believes this “incentive for innovation” is important enough to allow one company to control our food supply. Currently, Monsanto's seeds account for 93 percent of soybeans and 86 percent of corn grown in our nation.

Less than a week ago, the Think Progress Blog reported on a study that found this Supreme Court to be the most pro-business court in at least 65 years, and this ruling exemplifies that study. By upholding Monsanto's right to have a monopoly on our food supply, the Court has, once again, ruled that profit is more important than people.

If the Courts won't stand up to corporate power, then we must push our elected representatives to start standing up for the people. Call Congress and the White House and tell them that no company has the right to control our food supply.

-Thom

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Friday's Daily Stack

Hour One: If it's Friday, it's "Brunch With Bernie"... the honorable Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) joins Thom with all the news from our nation's capitol and as always he'll be spending the hour taking your calls and answering your questions too...
Follow Bernie: campaign site.

Next Friday (5/17) it's Brunch With Bernie...on the road...from Plainfield, VT! Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) & I will be coming to you from WGDR...Goddard College Community Radio...(91.1FM Plainfield, 91.7 FM Hardwick)...PLUS, Saturday evening (5/18) - Goddard College presents the "Alternative Media Conference" featuring Keynote Speakers 'yours truly' & Ellen Ratner...for tickets & info, go to: goddard.edu

Events: Join Sen. Sanders for a Town Meeting with Danish Ambassador Peter Taksøe-Jensen in Burlington (05/18/13), Brattleboro (05/18/13) or Montpelier (05/19/13)..

Article: "Seniors Join Pro-Retiree Members of Congress to Protest Benefit Cuts" by Alliance for Retired Americans.

Article: "Bernie Buzz".

Bill: "S. 316: Postal Service Protection Act of 2013" by Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Article: "Republican boycott stalls vote on EPA nominee Gina McCarthy" by Erika Bolstad.

Article: "The Health Care Law & You" by healthcare.gov.

Law: "Full Text of the Affordable Care Act", 2010.

Article: "The Affordable Care Act: What’s Changing and When" by healthcare.gov.

Hour Two: 7 year-old boy suspended for pencil "gun"...
- Tommy Christopher, Mediaite.com

Article: "Lead Taint: School Suspends 7 Year-Old Boy For Simulating Gunfire With Pencil" by Lead Taint: School Suspends 7 Year-Old Boy For Simulating Gunfire With Pencil.

Law: "Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act", 1993 (Brady Bill).

Article: "Texas Two Year-Old Shoots Self Dead With Father Just Feet Away" by Tommy Christopher.

Article: "Kelly Ayotte Defense Ad Features Republican Activists As Average New Hampshirites" by Luke Johnson.

Article: "Heritage Foundation gets support of prominent conservative radio host paid to support them" by Hunter.

Site: "Center for American Progress".

Article: "If this is the best Rove can do on Hillary and Benghazi, he should stick to math" by Jed Lewison.

Article: "Paramedic arrested in West, Texas" by Jen Hayden.

Article: "Coburn's claim that national park crime has dropped 85% because of guns is a bunch of hooey" by Meteor Blades.

Article: "GOP's Sanford Wins South Carolina House Seat" by Valerie Bauerlein.

Article: "Mysterious push poll smears Elizabeth Colbert Busch" by Laura Clawson.

Talk Radio News Segment:
- Ellen Ratner, Bureau Chief

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Article: "Michele Bachmann: 9/11, Benghazi Were God's 'Judgment,' So We Must Hold Day Of Prayer On Sept. 11" by Nick Wing.

Article: "Rove-Backed Super PAC Targets Clinton Over Benghazi" by TRNS.

Article: "White House holds 'deep background' Benghazi briefing" by Dylan Byers.

Book: "Rebooting the American Dream: 11 Ways to Rebuild Our Country" by Thom Hartmann.

Book: "Cracking the Code: How to Win Hearts, Change Minds, and Restore America's Original Vision" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Timeline: Events in U.S. IRS 'Tea Party' scrutiny scandal" by Patrick Temple-West and Kevin Drawbaugh.

Article: "Inhofe Raises Impeachment Over Benghazi Scandal" by TRNS.

Hour Three: Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive (happening tomorrow, Saturday 5/11...collect & bag non-perishable food items and leave by your mailbox for your letter carrier to collect tomorrow)
- Ross Fraser, Feeding America

Article: "Heritage's in-house white supremacist fir —er, 'resigned'" by kos.

Book: "Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life" by Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray.

Article: "Gomez took $281,500 home tax deduction" by Frank Phillips.

Book: "The Thom Hartmann Reader" by Thom Hartmann.

Video: "20/20 Classic: Kids and Guns".

Article: "Top 5 Causes of Accidental Death in the United States" by Ryn Gargulinski.

Article: "‘World’s first 3-D printable handgun’ under fire" by Dylan Stableford.

Article: "US government orders removal of Defcad 3D-gun designs" by BBC.

Book: "Democracy in America" by Alexis de Tocqueville, 1835.

Article: "Senators kill amendments tied to bill on immigration; border security issue put on back burner" by Stephen Dinan.

Article: "Fraud No Impediment to Foreclosure, Florida Lawmakers Decide" by Alexander Reed Kelly.

Article: "Detroit Fast Food Strike Employees Gather At Protest To Demand Unions And A $15 Per Hour Wage" by David Sands.

Article: "Manti Te’o's fake girlfriend makes Maxim’s Hot 100 list" by Eurosport.

Hour One: C02 levels at 400ppm is a killer
- Myron Ebell, Competitive Enterprise Institute

Hour Two: Game on for new civil war
- Skip Coryell, Pro-second amendment activist & author (latest is "The Shadow Militia")

And, the best of the rest of the news and your calls right here on...

The Thom Hartmann Program...your media support group for "we the people"...

What you need to know about how the GOP is forcibly making working families..."flexible"...I'll have a conversation with Leo Gerard, International President of United Steelworkers...

Plus, the best of the rest of the news and your calls right here on...

The Thom Hartmann Program, Occupying The Media 3 hours a day 5 days a week" for "we the people"...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...