Protection for big business - in this case, agribusiness, but this is
just one instance in a series. Willingness to cut future social
security payments. Drone warfare. CIA appointees.
The list goes on.
Bottom line is that Obama is a politician. Currently, there are no
populist politicians of merit in the Federal government, as best I can
tell. Currently, there are no truly progressive members of the Obama
administration.
I don't foresee a change in the near future. It seems that in the US
at least, the Fascists have won via other means.
On Mar 31, 2013, at 11:35 AM, D & N wrote:
Further evidence of reversal of progress.
Natalia
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57576835/critics-slam-obama-for-protecting-monsanto/
By
Lindsey Boerma /
CBS News/ March 28, 2013, 2:13 PM
Critics slam Obama for "protecting" Monsanto
There's no love lost between Washington and the American public, it
seems, five days after Congress for the first time in years managed
to handle a budget-related issue without reaching the brink of crisis.
Protesters have descended on Pennsylvania Avenue outside the White
House this week, enraged at a potentially health-hazardous provision
they allege lawmakers inserted surreptitiously into a continuing
resolution (CR) that will fund the government through the remainder
of the fiscal year. The bill sailed through the Capitol on Friday;
President Obama signed it into law on Tuesday.
Opponents have termed the language in question the "Monsanto
Protection Act," a nod to the major agricultural biotech corporation
and other like firms geared at producing genetically modified
organisms (GMO) and genetically engineered (GE) seeds and crops. The
provision protects genetically modified seeds from litigation suits
over health risks posed by the crops' consumption.
Food safety advocacy groups like Food Democracy Now, which collected
more than 250,000 signatures on a petition calling for the president
to veto the CR, argue not enough studies have been conducted into
the possible health risks of GMO and GE seeds. Eliminating judicial
power to halt the selling or planting of them essentially cuts off
their course to ensuring consumer safety should health risks emerge.
Stopgap spending bill passes in the Senate
House passes stopgap funding bill, fate in Senate uncertain
Seeking a "balance" to the newly minted law, Food Democracy Now has
shifted its tactics to encouraging supporters to sign and send
letters to Mr. Obama, chiding him for signing the legislation
despite that refusal to do so would have expired the federal budget
and triggered a government-wide shutdown this week.
Part of the template for the letter reads: "In an effort to balance
this violation of our basic rights, I am urging you as President to
issue an Executive Order to require the mandatory labeling of
genetically engineered foods, something that you promised farmers
while on the campaign trail in 2007. It is urgent that the U.S.
government rectify the 20 year old politically engineered loophole
and allow for open and transparent labeling of genetically
engineered foods," the letter continues, "a basic right that
citizens in 62 others countries already enjoy."
Other groups have aimed their ire toward the more worthy target,
criticizing Congress for slipping the language into a must-pass bill
without review by the Agricultural or Judiciary Committees. The
International Business Times reports that the Center for Food Safety
is putting in the hot seat Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., chairwoman
for the Senate Appropriations Committee, for not giving the
amendment a proper hearing. According to Salon, many members of
Congress who voted to approve the bill were unaware the language
existed.
"In this hidden backroom deal, Sen. Mikulski turned her back on
consumer, environmental and farmer protection in favor of corporate
welfare for biotech companies such as Monsanto," Andrew Kimbrell,
executive director of the Center for Food Safety, said in a
statement, according to IBT. "This abuse of power is not the kind of
leadership the public has come to expect from Sen. Mikulski or the
Democrat Majority in the Senate."
© 2013 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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