Re: [Biofuel] When corporations rule the world
These corporations are too big, suffering from gigantism. As a shareholder, I wonder what I can do to bring these giant corporations back down to a more human size. I noticed, when I get my stock proxy forms, that invariably, corporation officers advise voting stockholders to turn down proposals submitted by other stockholders. In return, I vote, in my proxy, exactly the opposite that the board of directors recommend. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: lol keith, i was laying on the sasrcasm pretty thick, or thought i was. you're right about schmeiser. i thought the fact that he's canadian is interesting. i'd be curious to know whether monsanto is basing it's claim, wholly or in part, on provisions of NAFTA. another vehicle for eliminating 'frivolous' lawsuits (darn near restrictions of any kind, actually) against corporations. -chris In a message dated 6/12/05 2:02:26 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: so much for congress' new tort reform eliminating frivolous lawsuits! -chris Hi Chris It's a one-edged sword, and that's not the direction it's intended to cut. ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
Re: [Biofuel] When corporations rule the world
so much for congress' new tort reform eliminating frivolous lawsuits! -chris Hi Chris It's a one-edged sword, and that's not the direction it's intended to cut. The idea is apparently that any lawsuit against a corporation is by definition frivolous, any lawsuit by a corporation is of course non-frivolous and must be taken seriously. I guess people are deemed frivolous, corporations aren't. Especially not when they keep putting loads of non-frivolous money in lawmakers' pockets. Nothing frivolous about Percy Schmeiser, he's a fighter, he's not giving up. He deserves all the support he can get. Best wishes Keith In a message dated 6/9/05 10:48:00 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Farmers buying GM seeds are required to sign technology agreements that relinquish to Monsanto their right to plant, harvest and sell the GM seeds. . . . Farmers not buying GM seeds are not spared, as Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser learned when he found his fields contaminated by MonsantoÄôs GM canola, and has had to spend years locked in a harrowing battle with the company accusing him of infringing its patent rights in a legal system thatÄôs on the side of the corporation. He was not alone in being persecuted by Monsanto, although he was unique in not giving up the fight to the very end. To-date, Monsanto has filed 90 lawsuits against American farmers involving 147 farmers and 39 small businesses, with an estimated $15m gained from judgments granted in its favour. Since 1999, some 500 farmers have been investigated and harassed by Monsanto every year. ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
Re: [Biofuel] When corporations rule the world
lol keith, i was laying on the sasrcasm pretty thick, or thought i was. you're right about schmeiser. i thought the fact that he's canadian is interesting. i'd be curious to know whether monsanto is basing it's claim, wholly or in part, on provisions of NAFTA. another vehicle for eliminating 'frivolous' lawsuits (darn near restrictions of any kind, actually) against corporations. -chris In a message dated 6/12/05 2:02:26 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: so much for congress' new tort reform eliminating frivolous lawsuits! -chris Hi Chris It's a one-edged sword, and that's not the direction it's intended to cut. ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
Re: [Biofuel] When corporations rule the world
so much for congress' new tort reform eliminating frivolous lawsuits! -chris In a message dated 6/9/05 10:48:00 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Farmers buying GM seeds are required to sign technology agreements that relinquish to Monsanto their right to plant, harvest and sell the GM seeds. . . . Farmers not buying GM seeds are not spared, as Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser learned when he found his fields contaminated by Monsantos GM canola, and has had to spend years locked in a harrowing battle with the company accusing him of infringing its patent rights in a legal system thats on the side of the corporation. He was not alone in being persecuted by Monsanto, although he was unique in not giving up the fight to the very end. To-date, Monsanto has filed 90 lawsuits against American farmers involving 147 farmers and 39 small businesses, with an estimated $15m gained from judgments granted in its favour. Since 1999, some 500 farmers have been investigated and harassed by Monsanto every year. ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
[Biofuel] When corporations rule the world
The Institute of Science in Society Science Society Sustainability http://www.i-sis.org.uk ISIS Press Release 24/05/05 Announcing Science in Society #26, Summer 2005 The only radical science magazine on earth From the Editor When corporations rule the world The Black Hills of South Dakota in the United States are famous for two gigantic monuments, each sculpted out of a mountain. One, still to be completed, is in honour of Crazy Horse, Indian leader belonging to the Lakota tribe, who led his peoples in fierce battles for their right to land and livelihood against the intruding European settlers. A short distance away, on land stolen from Crazy Horse and his peoples, is Mount Rushmore, the shrine of democracy, complete with the towering faces of four US presidents - George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln - gazing serenely into the distance. Today, American farmers are fighting for both democracy and their livelihood against the corporate overlords. Feudalism has returned to farming in the US and Canada, according to a report published by the Center for Food Safety. Farmers buying GM seeds are required to sign technology agreements that relinquish to Monsanto their right to plant, harvest and sell the GM seeds and also leave them vulnerable to harassment from the company, such as having their property investigated, litigations and out of court settlements. Farmers not buying GM seeds are not spared, as Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser learned when he found his fields contaminated by Monsantos GM canola, and has had to spend years locked in a harrowing battle with the company accusing him of infringing its patent rights in a legal system thats on the side of the corporation. He was not alone in being persecuted by Monsanto, although he was unique in not giving up the fight to the very end. To-date, Monsanto has filed 90 lawsuits against American farmers involving 147 farmers and 39 small businesses, with an estimated $15m gained from judgments granted in its favour. Since 1999, some 500 farmers have been investigated and harassed by Monsanto every year. The Center for Food Safety has set up a hotline for farmers (p.48). The fight against corporate feudalism is not restricted to North America. Farmers across the globe have been battling for their livelihood and their traditional democratic right to plant, harvest, and sell the seeds of their choice against Monsanto and its subsidiaries pushing GM crops through hype, half- truths, lies, and even bribery, uncovered recently in Indonesia (see http://www.i- sis.org.uk/isisnews/sis25.phpSiS25). Indian farmers have been driven into debt and suicide after three successive years of failed harvests from planting GM cotton since three varieties were approved for commercial growing in 2002. Independent researchers and film-makers have documented the failures, and exposed Monsantos trail of propaganda, including a doctored report attempting to exaggerate the yields of its GM cotton, thereby substantially reducing the compensation it owes to farmers for crop failures in Andhra Pradesh. A coalition of ngos called on the Indian Prime Minister to withdraw Bt cotton, referring to its imposition on farmers as a scientific fraud. Since March 2005, however, the countrys Genetic Engineering Advisory Committee (GEAC) has approved 22 new varieties of Monsanto-derived Bt cotton seed for commercial growing, twelve in the central states, four in the south, six for the first time in the fertile northern state; and eleven new varieties for large-scale trials in the fertile northern states. In May 2005, the ngos and farmers organisations in Andhra Pradesh claimed a significant victory. The GEAC discontinued the commercial cultivation of all three Monsanto varieties approved in 2002 in the state. This victory in Andhra Pradesh may spur opposition in other parts of India where the GM cotton has still to be withdrawn. Meanwhile, in Iraq, the United States has put in place a new legislation under Order 81, which gives protection to new and improved plant varieties, paving the way for patenting plant varieties, and for introducing GM crops into the country. It will effectively bring the countrys agricultural sector under the control of corporations like Monsanto and Syngenta; and at a time when Iraq is experiencing a food crisis. Iraq, once self-sufficient in agriculture, has seen its food production collapse since the first Gulf War; and more than half of the population is now affected by food insecurity. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is ostensibly helping rebuild Iraqs farming sector under the Agriculture Reconstruction and Development Program for Iraq, but critics say it is really to help corporations capitalize on market opportunities. Science and democracy Scientists, like farmers, have fallen prey to corporate feudalism;
