Obama picks MONSANTO guy as head of agriculture... This'll be some interesting change, won't it?

source:

www.reddit.com...

The President-elect announced his nominees for Secretary of Agriculture and Secretary of the Interior at a press conference December 17, 2008 in Chicago.

youtube:



I didnt have the highest hopes for Obama, but this is just downright scary.

heres an article from a month ago about why this would be a bad idea:

www.organicconsumers.org...

* Vilsack has a glowing reputation as being a schill for agribusiness biotech giants like Monsanto. Sustainable ag advocated across the country were spreading the word of Vilsack's history as he was attempting to appeal to voters in his presidential bid.
The airplane in this animation is a referral to the controversy that Vilsack often traveled in Monsanto's jet.

another youtube video critical of Vilsack:

Oh dear

guess they're gonna try and clone the planet or something.
secretary for agriculture - its what you call irony.

One of the most disgusting, dispicable 'business' ideas I've ever heard of (I wonder how many go unheard of) was the 'terminator' seed from monsanto, mostly aimed at African agriculture - a land that could do without big business trying to [snip] it over anymore.




Mod Edit: Profanity/Circumvention Of Censors – Please Review This Link.

[edit on 18-12-2008 by 12m8keall2c]

This has got to be a joke. I'd like to ask all the Obama supporters out there, without personally attacking him, what they think of this choice. From a rational point of view, like other decisions he has made so far, you cannot honestly support this and believe this is the kind of change he advocated during his campaign.

Id like to hear feedback on any side of this. I am seriously shocked by such a pick. I believe we will be in for an interesting 4 years. Obama was supposed to be "ultra-left-liberal" but so far his actions have been pretty consistent with politics as usual.

Great. Avoiding GMO and nuclear additives wasnt nearly enough of a pain in the ass. Cant wait until everything is radioactive.

How long until our meat is grown in petri dishes in skyscrapers? A few years last I read.

Love you lots Obama. Please father my children and institute a national church of Obamanetics.

Hiyall,
I posted a reply here an hour ago, but I think the storm that hit about the same time 'ate' my reply. If it shows up and makes this a dual post I apologize in advance....
What I had mentioned was (and I wish I'd saved it, I am afraid I'll forget something but..anyhow..)

Earlier post:
This is kind of wierd and ironic for me. Earlier today I had a friend call me for information about how to set up contracts or such because she wanted to sell produce she grows next year to neighbors and such. I have some background in state leg. regarding organic growing and selling. (Not a lot, my parents are the people who know tons and were directly involved in that battle for a few years.) But she thought because of our background we might be able to help. I told her how to set up a co-op and about business licenses. But mainly I told her that very small sales by private individuals aren't very regulated but to be sure she could start a coop or get a business license. Her worry was getting taken to court.
I told her this morning the only people I knew that had been messed with in all the years we have dealt in and with organic produce have been ppl who didnt have licenses. Usually if they got in trouble it was lack of license, failure to register, etc...once they got licenses they had no more trouble.
She and I are both very aware of government interfering with private individuals and things of that nature. But in this case I had felt being as small scale as she is talking that it wasn't a major issue. Concern yes, major issue, no...she was worried about the gov forbidding her growing a private garden.
I sent her info on how to have folks sign waivers and keep her sales in the 'private realm'. I also, I'm ashamed to say...told her I was afraid she was overeacting some.
I called after I read this thread and ate some crow. (Not to tasty, I don't reccomend it :lol
Other than that I just wanted to say...
This is unbelievable. That man is no friend of try food producing agricultuure.
Seriously...
Geeeeez!
Thanks so much for the article!
~ana
apologies for typos, especially re: spelling and punctuation. I am trying to get this posted before the storm knocks us out again.

Thanks for posting this. This is a big deal.

Vilsack's appointment must not be approved by Congress. This is not change I can believe in.

holy bleep

now I have no doubts anymore

there will be change but not for the good

Welcome to the Corporatocracy

[edit on 19-12-2008 by warrenb]

Jeeze guy's this has to be a joke right? MR. clean green Obama putting MR.Monsanto in charge of agriculture. That gives new meaning to the fox guarding the hen house.

We are in such deep trouble...

Oh dear dog.

I am going to stock up on viable seeds NOW....

This pick is a real concern. Yes, Obama is delivering change, but changing the genetic composition of our food source is not the type of change that most people thought he was talking about.

Monsanto already benefits from their GM crops in a decision made by the courts in Canada:

In a recent legal case in Canada, it was declared that Monsanto owns any seeds containing the novel genes it has developed and so must be paid for their use. This is the case if someone buys seeds from Monsanto, but also if seeds blow onto their land, or even if the seeds result from cross pollination of non-GM crops with GM pollen from neighbouring fields21. Regardless of how the genes arrive in the crops on farmers’ land, they still must pay Monsanto a fee. Yet there is no system in place to protect farmers or the public from the damage that could be caused by these plants, or the financial loss caused by contamination from a GM crop.

It looks like now they will be benefiting here in the US, with an insider controlling agriculture.
This is truly a horrible choice.

is it evident to everyone that America is now an in your face Corporatocracy?

I mean, they've just made it so obvious that the average Joe should be able to see what's going on.

en.wikipedia.org...

I'm completely stunned hearing this news.

[edit on 19-12-2008 by warrenb]

If this is true , that this guy has connections to Monsanto, I'm disappointed with President-Elect Obama. Everything I know about Monsanto is scary to say the least.

I suppose Obama is either playing for the home team or is not as informed as i would have thought. This is quite disappointing. This isn't a wad of money on paper, it's the food supply at risk.

Id be interested to hear someone's opinion in support of this pick...
So far I just cant figure out how this could be a good thing for middle-america, of which Obama based his entire campaign around. How is backing Monsanto going to help out family farmers and those struggling?

I find it hard to believe that Obama is not informed. He's a smart guy, who probably understands the decisions he's making.

Then again, this could just be puppet politics at work... which makes me wonder, who could be pulling the strings: who is Obama's "Rove?"

Just for information:
"GURT is a genetically engineered technique whereby farmers would be forced to turn to their seed supplier each harvest to get new seeds. The seeds would only produce one harvest. After that the seeds from that harvest would commit ‘suicide’ and be unusable. There has been much hue and cry, correctly so, that this process, patented ‘suicide’ seeds, officially termed GURTs (Genetic Use Restriction Technologies), is a threat to poor farmers in developing countries like India or Brazil, who traditionally save their own seeds for the next planting. In fact, GURTs, more popularly referred to as Terminator seeds for the brutal manner in which they kill off plant reproduction possibilities, is a threat to the food security as well of North America, Western Europe, Japan and anywhere Monsanto and its elite cartel of GMO agribusiness partners enters a market.”

www.globalresearch.ca...

There are conceptually two types of GURT.

1. v-GURT.
This type of GURT produces sterile seeds meaning that a farmer that had purchased seeds containing v-GURT technology could not save the seed from this crop for future planting. This would not have an immediate impact on the large number of farmers who use hybrid seeds, as they do not produce their own planting seeds, & instead buy specialized hybrid seeds from seed production companies. The technology is restricted at the plant variety level - hence the term v-GURT. Manufacturers of genetically enhanced crops would use this technology to protect their products from unauthorised use.
2. t-GURT.
A second type of GURT modifies a crop in such a way that the genetic enhancement engineered into the crop does not function until the crop plant is treated with a chemical that is sold by the biotechnology company. Farmers can save seeds for use each year. However, they do not get to use the enhanced trait in the crop unless they purchase the activator compound. The technology is restricted at the trait level - hence the term t-GURT.


In other words.. buy our stuff or starve. And you know some sick bastard would love this technology to cross pollinate with ALL food crops and then you can only grow food with that "special" chemical or new seeds controlled by these corporations or governments.

This honestly makes me want to puke. Monsanto needs to be shut down, and its board of directors imprisoned, no debate about it.

They have committed crimes against humanity that wont even be fully understood for decades.

It's odd how were soooo disgusted by a murderer on the local news, but if that same man were to murder tens of thousands of people slowly, through poisoning them, all while being praised for their work and being paid handsomely to boot, what do we do? We don't care.

Talk about priorities in the US.

Originally posted by Bullhorn
This has got to be a joke. I'd like to ask all the Obama supporters out there, without personally attacking him, what they think of this choice. From a rational point of view, like other decisions he has made so far, you cannot honestly support this and believe this is the kind of change he advocated during his campaign.

Yes yes. Now that the election is over and it is too late to do anything. Let us all keep bickering amongst each other. Maybe you have some great case for your candidate and how he would never have done this. Unfortunately, Obama won and we all still have to live here. You can go and inform Obama supporters politely about the real implications of this choice, or you can ask then how they feel about their man now. Either way, we are still here together. How about instead of fighting with each other over which liar we wanted lying to us, we need to all figure out how to spread the info about this man. Looking for more arguments is not going to get us anywhere.

Alright, after watching the clip, I don't think there is one thing I want more in this life than the chance to smack that stupid look off that goofs face.

For those of you who want a real outlook on this situation, without the paranoid spin, here is a piece about it:

Tom Vilsack