Frankenfood LIVES!

Sharing from the morning mail...

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The USDA Is Making A Mistake
Right now, the USDA is accepting public comments on a plan that would allow farmers to plant 2,4-D (also known as Agent Orange) resistant corn and soy wherever they choose. If passed, this plan could completely disrupt regular crops and lead to a greater increase in the use of dangerous chemicals in our food. Furthermore, we don’t know what kind of impact these crops could have on future generations.

Together, we have an opportunity to make an impact on future agricultural practices. Tell the USDA you reject this GMO plan, and ask that they do a thorough environmental review of these crops before allowing them to go to market!
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Already more than halfway to the goal of 20,000...
Please visit the following to add your own signature, share insights and concerns, and read comments from fellow dirt dependents.

The Hunger Site/Earthjustice GMO Crop Petition
http://thehungersite.greatergood.com/clickToGive/ths/petition/EarthJustice-GMOCrops
 
To: United States Department of Agriculture
Re: Docket #APHIS-2013-0042-0050

I encourage the U.S. Department of Agriculture to do a thorough environmental review of new genetically-engineered seeds resistant to 2,4- dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) before deregulating these crops and allowing them to go to market without ANY government oversight.

2,4-D is a toxic herbicide associated with serious health risks. These GMO crops will also, like their predecessors, lead to much greater use of even more dangerous chemicals, the development of more herbicide-resistant weeds, destruction and genetic contamination of neighboring crops, and severe economic impacts on other farmers. 
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For more information and related concerns, please visit and sign here as well...
United States Public Interest Research Group GMO Labeling Message Center
 
GMOS: OUR RIGHT TO KNOW
More than 96% of Americans support labeling genetically modified foods. Yet while some grocery chains, like Whole Foods, have pledged to label their store-brand products, for the most part we're still left in the dark. Labeling GMOs shouldn't be the exception -- it should be the law. Here are five reasons why:

1. The science is still out. It may be years before we understand all of GMO's impacts -- some studies have suggested that GMO crops can create "superweeds" and harm wildlife.

2. They're designed for increased pesticides. Many GMO crops are designed for increased pesticides and herbicides, which have been linked to serious health impacts.

3. Everyone else is doing it. The U.S. is one of only two industrialized countries that still doesn't label GMO foods.

4. There's little independent testing. GMO products usually don’t undergo independent testing before they wind up on store shelves.

5. It's our right. It's a basic consumer right: We should know what's in the food we feed to our families.

Please take a second to tell your legislator: Protect my right to know, and label GMO foods!
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Help Put SuperPACs Out Of Business

Sharing an important item from the League of Women Voters,
please share it yourself with as many people as you feel comfortable.
Please also sign the petition if you are moved to do so;
if 25,000 signatures are received within 30 days an official response is required.

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How can you fight back against the big money pouring into the political campaigns this year? Sign the petition on The White House website* urging President Obama to appoint new commissioners to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

The FEC is supposed to be the government agency that enforces campaign finance laws, but it isn’t working and hasn’t for a long time. Of the six commissioners at the agency, three of them simply refuse to enforce the law, and five of the six are serving despite the fact that their terms expired some time ago.

It is time to clean house and President Obama is the one that needs to do something about it.

Click here to urge President Obama to clean house at the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

If you are tired of the millions of dollars flooding our political campaigns courtesy of SuperPACs, sign the petition and help us reach our goal of at least 25,000 signatures of support by February 10, 2012.

Don’t just sign it yourself; post the petition on Facebook, Tweet about it and forward this note to all of your friends. Together, we can make sure that the votes of millions of Americans are more valuable to our elections than a big pile of money.

* In order to successfully sign the petition, you will need to create an account on WhiteHouse.gov and respond to a confirmation email. If you need guidance on creating this account please use our helpful step-by-step guide to creating your account and signing the petition.

us on Facebook  @lwv

League of Women Voters
1730 M Street NW, Suite 1000
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-429-1965d

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View this message and more at the League of Women Voters Official Site:

http://www.lwv.org/blog/put-superpacs-out-business

http://www.lwv.org/content/step-step-instructions-signing-white-house-petition

Phoenix Restoration.

Testing, 1-2-3, Testing...

Of, By and For the People … Not the Parties.

Posted 29.09.2008 at 01:23 AM PDT on 9News.com
Posted 04.10.2008 at 01:57 PM GMT on DebateTheDebate

The idea of opening the debates to include voices beyond that of the
two major parties seems to have the power to unite people from either
end of the broad spectrum of American viewpoints…

" The Commission on Presidential Debates is a corrupt
stranglehold on our democracy. " --- Phil Donahue

Many people would likely expect to hear such a quote from someone
described as "having gone off the deep end of the left-wing", but
how many would expect a person so often described
as a "right-wing extremist" to agree…

" I'm for more open debates. I think we have nothing to fear by allowing people
to be seen and to argue and to talk with each other and I think the very concept
of an elite commission deciding for the American people
who deserves to be heard is profoundly wrong. " --- Newt Gingrich

And who would expect an actual participant from either camp
to confess such complicity…

" I'm trying to forget the whole damn experience of those debates.
' Cause I think it's too much show business and too much prompting,
too much artificiality, and not really debates.
They're rehearsed appearances. " --- Former President George HW Bush

The following petition is being circulated by Open Debates, a non-profit,
non-partisan organization working to ensure the public's interests:

We, the undersigned, support Open Debates' campaign to reform the presidential debate process. We believe that the presidential debates should serve the American people first, not political parties. We support replacing
the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates with
the nonpartisan Citizens' Debate Commission, so that inspiring formats can be employed, pressing national issues can be addressed, and popular independent and third party candidates can be included.

Please visit this link to add your name and to see the
growing list of your fellow citizens in support of debate reform.
http://opendebates.com/yourrole/petition/index.php

Whether you choose to sign or not, check out http://opendebates.com/
for yourself to find a wealth of reliable resources on the topic,
including this well-documented overview:
The Commission on Presidential Debates is a Tool of the
Major Parties - It's Time for a Citizens' Debate Commission
http://opendebates.com/theissue/

Are You Too Radical?

It would seem the new line of defense against forward thinking

is to suggest that Ralph Nader may be too radical to be president.

Yet he is in agreement with a good majority of the American people

on several issues critical to all our lives for generations to come.

• 73% of Americans say corporations don't pay enough taxes.
• 80% of Americans want to increase the minimum wage.
• 56% are calling for a renegotiation of NAFTA.
• 64% favor a national health care program.

Please see this recent post by Yes! magazine for more numbers and specifics

from the article Our Own Agenda - 10 Policies For a Better America

http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=2836
And download and share the companion reference poster here …
http://www.yesmagazine.org/pdf/47/Agenda_Poster11x17.pdf

For more details about all our mutual concerns please visit the following
issues pages on the Nader/Gonzalez 2008 Campaign website.

On Corporate Crime

http://votenader.org/issues/corporate-crime/

On Workers' Rights

http://votenader.org/issues/labor/workers-rights/

On Single Payer Private Delivery Public Health Insurance

http://votenader.org/issues/single-payer/

Did You See the McCain-Nader-Obama Debate?!

How much confidence can we have in candidates who don't

have the courage or honesty to openly discuss concerns and solutions

so vital to the American people?

How can we choose a leader who shows so little respect for us?

How can we choose a leader who shows so little respect for the truth?

What more can we really learn from an essentially staged production?

Three Way Presidential Debate - Obama, McCain, and Nader

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5WiE6MnmCM

Millions Of Voices, Two Choices!?

The First Debate Is Friday ...
Posted 23.09.2008 at 03:43 PM PDT on 9news.com
Millions of Voices, Two Choices!? That hardly seems possible.
Especially in America, especially when reliable polls show that two-thirds
of Americans want to at least hear another perspective in the presidential
debates, if not vote for one in the election.

Once upon a time, the presidential debates in America encouraged third party
inclusion, in the interest of ensuring the public be as well-informed as possible
before making such a monumental decision with such long-term ramifications.
Then the Commission On Presidential Debates (CPD) was formed 

--because the two major parties felt they deserved more control over the event.
Now it doesn't matter that you are on the ballot in 45 states, and an official
write-in candidate in 4 others, with a suit pending on behalf of those
voters in Oklahoma who would also like to be heard.
Now all the people who fought so hard to make that happen don't matter.

Please read the following, recent and well-documented articles from
The Center For Public Integrity, before you watch the first debate on Friday.
Please be a critical viewer, and a critical thinker; please try to make judgments
based upon proven principles rather than appearances.
You'll have to read between the lines and fill in the blanks yourself,
because there will be no one allowed to participate who will actually speak to
the real interests of all Americans; no one to present an alternative viewpoint;
no one to speak for so many who believe in more for our country;
no one who won't be walking a tightrope to keep us all happy,
while winking to insurance companies and outsourcers,
or only discussing topics preapproved by mutually contracted agreement.
The Center for Public Integrity; 18 September 2008;
Two-Party Debates: A Corporate-Funded, Party-Created Commission
Decides Who Debates — And Who Stays Home
http://publicintegrity.org/2008/09/18/3057/two-party-debates
The Center for Public Integrity; 18 September 2008;
The Buying Of The Presidential Debates
http://publicintegrity.org/2008/09/18/3056/buying-presidential-debates

The following quotes are also germane:
--- Walter Cronkite referred to the CPD debates an " unconscionable fraud."
--- New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg calls them a " mockery."
--- And when the former, long-standing, non-partisan organizers of the debates
    pulled their support upon formation of the CPD they issued this statement:

     " The League of Women Voters is withdrawing its sponsorship of the
       presidential debates … because the demands of the two campaign
       organizations would perpetrate a fraud on the American voter.
       It has become clear to us that the candidates' organizations aim to
       add debates to their list of campaign-trail charades devoid of substance,
       spontaneity and answers to tough questions. The league has no intention
       of becoming an accessory to the hoodwinking of the American public."

If you'd like to share your own thoughts about restoring the debates,
or get a sense of how your fellow citizens are feeling,
please visit the question posed by the US News and World Report.
US News and World Report - Invitation to Share Opinion
http://www.usnews.com/articles/opinion/2008/09/22/ ... debates.html
US News and World Report - Read All Comments
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2008/09/22/ ... comments

Ideas and resources, including scheduled dates for the three debates, contact
information for major parties, and tips on how you can help are also found here.
http://votenader.org/debates/
http://votenader.org/blog/2008/09/22/let-our-voices-be-heard/
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For more on the background and history of the debates please visit the following:

http://www.lwv.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&TEMPLATE=/CM/ ...

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/unreasonableman/debate.html

Full video and transcripts of every debate sponsored by The League
Of Women Voters between 1976 and 1988 can be found here:

http://www.lwv.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Presidential_Debates_Archive

An Alarming Trend ...

Another brilliant, informed, dedicated, experienced,
and seriously concerned citizen,
working tirelessly for the common good?
Another victim of mass media black out.
Seems like an alarming trend.

They Are Destroying The Constitution - Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Speaks Out
http://current.com/items/88983584_they_are_destroying_the_constitution ...
Fathers And Sons
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/328.html
Phony Conservatives
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muNmpI-4yOI
The Best Entertained, Least Informed People On The Face Of The Earth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd6P8obJmjo
Is Nader Nuts? Or The Bravest Man In America?
http://rfkin2008.wordpress.com/2008/02/26/is-nader-nuts ...

More Endorsements ...

Jeff Timmons and Justin Jeffre of 98 Degrees,
Jesse Ventura and Matt Gonzalez support Ralph Nader…
And together they all dispel some common myths about the voting process,
real debates, and how we can take our country back.

The Invisible Man - Clips from Minneapolis Rally
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsAKXeyvxzU
The Invisible Man - Campaign Blog
http://votenader.org/blog/2008/09/05/invisible-man/