Don't Presume to Tell Me...

Who decides what you put in your mouth?

I like to think that I am in control on such decisions.

Chocolate for breakfast? My choice.

Dried fruit in the lentil stew? Again, 'tis I deciding.

Milk and cereal? With bananas? Well, sure -- that's my choice, right?

Food that is 'better living -- or not' through chemistry and biomanipulation of the genome of the plants that produce foods, well, if I don't want it, I can avoid it, right?

Right?

Wrong.

Writing in his blog, Stephen Lendman stated words that brought a chill to my heart and a cramp to my tummy.

Genetically engineered foods saturate our diet today. In the US alone, over 80% of all processed foods contain them. Others include grains like rice, corn and wheat; legumes like soybeans and soy products; vegetable oils, soft drinks; salad dressings; vegetables and fruits; dairy products including eggs; meat, chicken, pork and other animal products; and even infant formula plus a vast array of hidden additives and ingredients in processed foods (like in tomato sauce, ice cream, margarine and peanut butter). Consumers don't know what they're eating because labeling is prohibited, yet the danger is clear. Independently conducted studies show the more of these foods we eat, the greater the potential harm to our health.

SteveLendmanBlog

Now, you may think that the FDA or the Department of Agriculture has some say in what I put in my mouth. And they do. They are supposed to certify that what I eat is safe, wholesome and what it appears to be. Food. Nutritious, like fresh fruit and veg, or pure milk, or non-toxic cheeses or meat that doesn't come from an abattoir specializing in 'downer cattle'. That is their job.

They are also to certify that the bad effects of non-nutritious foods are limited to empty calories and 'it'll get you eventually if you keep eating chocolate for breakfast'. That also is their job.

But, the FDA and the Department of Agriculture are NOT, in my humble opinion, to tell me that the foods that I eat are 'wholesome', if they contain Genetically Modified stuff in them. We've not done the testing on those for sufficient periods of time to figure out if they are, in fact, healthful for the generational haul, or 25 years, whichever comes last.

And they haven't. Tested long term that is. Nor have they tested these foods on so many fronts.

Are GM crops bad for bees?

We don't know.

Do GM foods alter the genome of the consuming animal? After all, no matter what that farmer/plant biologist may try to tell you, generations, even thousands of years of plant breeding has never gotten a rice plant to voluntarily cross its genetic material with a crocus or a cauliflower mosaic virus, so as to produce a rice that is a rich yellow color.

Never been done, except in a lab.

And I'm with Gregor Mendel on this one. Like mate with like. Broccoli with broccoli, potato with potato, lentil with lentil, beans with beans. You can get varieties by crossing various lines in these species, but you cannot cross, using Mendelian genetic manipulation, differing species.

You can even blend two fruit trees together to get a cross between pears and apples. But never, ever, never, can you get an apple tree to mate with a crocus to give you a yellow fruit. That is, never, unless you're a giant AgriBusiness corporation with a bio-weapons level lab and an eye to control the genome of all of Farmer Brown's seeds from here to eternity. And back.

But, all of that is of no matter whatsoever.

I don't think anyone, anywhere, at any time, should foist genetically modified foods on me, and make me eat them, unless I do so knowingly. Voluntarily. With informed consent, which Giant Agribusinesses should know from the tenor of this blog, they do not have.

Do not sneak in GM stuff into my food.

And, hands off the chocolate, lentils and rice, dried fruits and everything else I eat. I want no GM stuff in my food.

Probably a good thing I don't like SnackeeCrisps. They're probably loaded with unknown quantities of genetically altered 'stuff', on top of whatever remains from the deepfrying of empty calories coated with salt, anyway.

For goodness sake though, don't alter the chocolate. Breakfast without it, sometimes, would be just too boring to endure.

Arcs, Tangents and the Circularities Broken

Today is a milestone day for me.

I've been thinking of so many things, and lately thinking of the arc of my life.

I've gone from growing up in a time when Ike was President, war was confined to defending others, and not for purposes of nation building, the full rights of people under the Constitution was more or less a given, barring thoughts of racial discrimination, and people knew what I learned in kindergarten. And, while I knew little about Civil Rights, I knew even in kindergarten, that there were no 'lesser peoples', just kids who liked to play, learn new stuff, and eat cookies together. We learned lots of neat stuff.

I learned, "If it's not yours, you can't take it."

I learned then the value of other people.

I learned empathy.

I learned about sharing.

And, I learned that some things have value, like truth and paying a fair price for things, while other things, like stealing and telling lies were bad.

I learned my first lessons in the Golden Rule, and not the, "He who has the gold rules".

Today, rather than living in a country that valued the obligations it entered by treaty and Constitutional provision, I live in an Empire. I am part of Pax Americana, which to my eyes is not much in Pax and pretty much not American.

Where did my country go?

Will there be a new course for America by this time next year?

Will the next day we celebrate Lincoln's Birthday be one where we look out on the world with no fear of wiretaps, surveillance under blanket warrants as sparked the American Revolution, and where we stop fighting and spending blood and treasure where paying a fair price could do so much more for us and the planet?

Will the next year see real gains in equality, where people are not removed from voter rolls for the crime of voting while black? And, will we have true election security, or will we still be trusting private corporations with secret software counting votes? Will we finally adopt a system of simple paper ballots as are used in virtually every other democracy in the world?

Will we have health care for all Americans? Or, will we have insurance for Americans whereby the insurance company, after accepting premium payments, still says "no." Will we have an enforced system of alleged coverage, still paying the most of any other nation, for health care that is still denied because of bean counting insurance execs who walk away with billion dollar bonuses.

And will anyone realize that those Health Care Executive bonuses, whether a million or a billion, would cover the treatment for a lot of diseases? Or will someone finally figure out that our system that gives 44 cents of every healthcare dollar to insurance companies is inefficient and a waste of money?

Will we continue to send our manufacturing jobs overseas?

Will we continue to turn our backs on the soldiers coming home with injuries psychological and physical, while allowing private armies to fight our battles at huge cost to the Treasury?

Will we continue to ignore the Constitution?

Will we continue to forget about the Bill of Rights?

Will we allow habeas corpus to remain dead for Americans? (Hey, hundreds of years for habeas was a good record, but it only took the stroke of a pen to kill it here.)

Will we allow the Executive to assume unchecked powers via fiat, order and decree?

Will we require those that have gained so much from being Americans, judging by their bank accounts, pay proportionally less of their income to the Treasury in taxes, while imposing higher taxes and fees on those least able to pay?

Will officials in our government ever realize their first oath and obligation is to the Constitution, and not to some subjective standard of 'security', or loyalty to campaign contributors? Will those same officials ever realize that exchages of liberty for security results in neither?

I don't know the answers to these questions. I know only that I miss my country, my Constitution, and my rights. I hope that between now and next year I am not in detention for committing free speech, in or out of a prescribed 'free speech zone'.

My only loyalty is to the Constitution of the United States of America. It is my most treasured gift of my citizenship. My only loyalty is to the America where the Constitution was King, where the people ruled, and where rulers knew they were servants of the people, not the other way around.

It's a day for reflection. It is a day for planning. It is soon going to be Abraham Lincoln's Birthday.

What will the arc of our path be by next year-- when both Abe and I will be a year older?