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Why Californians Should Vote
Painting by Anthony Freda: www.AnthonyFreda.com.
Some smart people say that we shouldn’t vote tomorrow. See this, this, this and this.
We believe that voting for a third party presidential candidate is a valuable act. Even though California has more than 10% of the American population, California will obviously go to Obama, and so there is no reason for Californians to worry about swaying the election. So we believe that Californians should definitely vote for the third party candidate of their choice.
But even if our California readers aren’t planning on voting in the presidential race, there is a very important reason to go to the polls and vote tomorrow.
We have a right to know if our food has been genetically modified, especially since genetically engineered foods have been linked to obesity, cancer, liver failure, infertility and all sorts of other diseases. Watch brief videos of scientists talking about this issue here and here.
Vote YES on proposition 37, to force the big agrichemical companies like Monsanto and DuPont to label genetically modified foods … so that we as consumers have the CHOICE about what we buy.
Even though past polls have shown Californians overhwhelmingly favor proposition 37, support has been plummeting since Monsanto and the other gmo giants have poured millions into defeating proposition 37 with deceptive advertisements. Indeed, the initiative is now in a dead heat
Why have they been putting so much money into one state ballot? Because a labeling requirement in California would lead to labeling nationwide.
If you live in California, your vote for president won’t really be counted (other than towards matching funds for a third party) … but your vote for proposition 37 will count on a crucial issue for everyone’s health.
Note: Shopping at Whole Foods or other high-end "organic" stores does NOT guarantee that you'll avoid GMOs:
- advertisements -
Yes on 32 ... Yes on 37 ... and vote against Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein
The government shut down unit 5 and unit 6 of the nuclear power plant after finding a number of "substandard" components in the two nuclear reactors.
That's it? My VW has 1000+ substandard parts in it. Yet, I kick it and it runs. Just keep them away from tsunami's and they're good.
George, I don't see how you can still vote for Obama given the economic reality.
You're a time-waster, sir... If you had read anything I've written, you'd know that I supported Ron Paul, and - now that he's out of the race - I'm voting for libertarian candidate Gary Johnson.
You sir are no Gary Johnson supporter. If you had read anything Gary Johnson has said, you would know he supports the free market; whereas, I have never read a single statement form you supporting the free market, and I have read dozens of statements by you opposing the free market.
Promoting Gary Johnson and Ron Paul is a way Obama supporters hope to take some votes from Obama's main opponent.
a cartel with ex-ceo's as gov. regulator (FDA) is not a free market.
Here is how someone can hold their nose and vote for Gary Johnson ... it is my rationale.
I watched an interview with Gary Johnson and as the former governor of New Mexico he came across as simply a frustrated republicrat who was not supported by the machine (this year). So, he now mouths the words that people want to hear and is running as Libertarian because that is the way he can personally stay in the race. But, based on how he became governor and the fact that he appears willing to do or say anything regardless of his actual morals or beliefs, he does not appear to be any better than Romney or Obama. However, he would most likely not be worse.
The reason to vote for Gary Johnson is to give some legitimacy to a third party and to give them the ability to be funded and automatically on the ballot in the next election. Maybe three parties of 4 parties would be just as easy to control as 2 but I would like to give it a try.
And voting for Romney is a vote for the free market? What have you been smokin'?
Lay off, GW. He is a decent, honest, and thinking man. You, on the other hand....
If you support the free market like I do, then why are you defending GW, who opposes it? You are being played. that is the whole point of GW. He poses as a conservative to trick people into accepting what is actually progressive, collectivist, socialist, fascist doctrine. He seems to be pretty good at tricking those who lack a solid foundation to begin with, but you'll figure it out eventually.
Yes vote for a third party candidate. In that way you can not be conflated with the 150+ million Americans too lazy to vote.
We all have to make internal choices. No pride should be taken in supporting a corrupt system. No one has a duty or responsibiliy to vote for evil people... even if they tell you that you do. Free will means being able to say, "No, none of the candidates available on the ballot are worthy of my precious freedom of will".
You know who else is too lazy?
YOUR MOM!
You mean 'JOE MAMA'
If George and the other political hucksters here actually believe that Prop 37 will result in all food content and GMO status will be labeled, are either sadly misinformed, or just plain stupid.Greater expense to consumer, reduction in choice, but no greater safety in food will be the result. Sounds like George worships at the altar of Marion Nestle and her nutrition Nazis.
OHH NOOO the expense!!!!!
Can you imagine the cost of switching labels from made in a plant that processes wheat and peanuts. to made in a plant that processes wheat, peanuts and product contains GMO corn.
BY GOD THIS WILL BANKRUPT AMERICA!!!! YOU FUCKING COMMIES!!!!!
(/hehe)
Sounds as if you have nothing to contribute other than trying to tear down others. Get a life and do something positive for a change.
Soulless corps spent over 40 million dollars fighting this, which should tell you one thing, it would benefit people. Fuck monsanto.
In 2010 supposedly enough liberals turned out to elect Moonbeam, but somehow they didn't also get enough support to pass the initiative to legalize cannabis. How unfucking believable, and how convenient for the Mexican Mafia and Attorney General Jerry Brown & friends. If you think your vote counts in California, or Illinois, or anywhere else, you deserve your imminent doom. California is already rigged for the Monsanto Mafia to just fake it to legitimize their unlawful claims to genetic material.
"Look at the puppet in my left hand. Now look at the puppet in my right hand. Which one do you like better? But you're holding both puppets! Shut up and vote!" - Bill Hicks
You get my vote for remembering the great Bill Hicks. Puppets!
Pick up the gun.
I don't want to pick up the gun, mister. You'll shoot me.
Pick up ...the gun.
I just came into town to get some gingham for my wife. I don't even know what gingham is. I don't want to pick up the gun.
Pick up the gun.
Blam!
You all saw him. He had a gun.
(You all saw it. They voted for this. Well, yes, they thought they were voting for something else and we did trick them on purpose, but they did vote for it.)
We already have a choice. It's called Whole Foods. It is you who advocates less choice. I choose less fascism please.
Whole Foods has caved in on GMO, I believe.
I reject fascism and boring attempts at Hegallian dialectics.
Whole Foods confirms it knowingly sells products containing Monsanto's genetically modified corn
Whole Foods deceptively sells unlabeled GMO food
How to Identify GMOs Sold in Whole Foods Market
You are 100% free to not shop at WF. Grow your own shit.
City of Tulsa, Oklahoma, destroys woman's edible landscaping
Georgia Man Steve Miller Fined for Backyard Garden
Criminal Gardening -- Grow too much food, and you'll be fined
Woman Could Be Jailed For Vegetable Garden
War on home gardens - Canada town outlaws food self-sufficiency
Food tyrants threaten Michigan woman with jail time for planting ...
Oregon USA Criminaliszes permaculture - claims the STATE owns ALL RAINWATER
Would like to see the State of Oregon try to defend itself against the Federal Government. If rain can be possesed then it can (and obviously does) have a role in commerce. Weather systems that produce rain are certainly engaging in inter-state commerce.
They don't seem to be arresting gardeners in the People's Republic of Kalifornia (not that the GMO initiaitive would address that problem anyway)
BTW the California Right to Farm code sucks, a better ballot initiative would protect the rights of individuals, not just operations for "commercial purposes".
http://nationalaglawcenter.org/assets/righttofarm/california.pdf
I suppose your ad hominem night be a little relevant if I ate corn or wheat.
Since I started getting about 60% of my food from Whole Foods, my cholesterol and triglycerides have been way better than ever before, and that is while eating lots of meat and doing minimal exercise - way better than on a vegetarian diet with no eggs and no cheese and lots of exercise.
Would you recommend I stop shopping at Whole Foods?
How about forcing it and trader joes just to be honest and tell us where the gmo's are. Even meat can and will be gmo's if the corporations are not stopped. Meat fed with gmo corn and soy is not a health food.
"forcing?"
If their customers want it enough to pay for it, then it will happen. That is freedom, which is the opposite of forcing.
Cart before the horse argument. Food is a very unique product. Part of a "free market" is actually knowing what you are buying. You have no clue when you are and aren't buying this let alone digesting it. The reason they are paying tens of millions fighting this is not for your consumer interest or industry "costs.". This is Monsanto and our corrupt government we are talking about. THe FDA is already run and headed by Monsanto. THe reason they are fighting labelling is that labelling would INSTANTLY provide an amazing trackable scientific database proving what the scientists already know. GMOs are the biggest Pandora's box we have ever opened. This generations children are the first mice and they are starting to show some very interesting traits. Start with the Documentary "The Future of Food"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNezTsrCY0Q
Also see Jeffrey Smith's lectures and books
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94d-KVorSHM
Notice the immediate deadly effects by the prescription nutritional supplement, the european expert immediately fired, the animals, hell the rats rejecting the stuff, the ever increasing need for pesticides and the development of superweeds, the inferior nutrition and root structures and on and on and on. You really think the american "free market" will keep you safe?
If I am happy to eat GMO foods why should I be forced to pay for labelling?
Monsanto is bluffing on this "higher cost" canard! Labeling for GMO requires NOTHING more than a tiny little sticker on the package. Hodgson Mills Flour products does this, and lo, they haven't gone out of business yet nor increased their prices due to the little sticker. How do I know? I bake bread with that brand.
Use some logic, and don't swallow the lies.
Labeling for GMO actually costs NOTHING extra, since the FDA already requires the can/jar/box/bag to have a label identifying the contents. All the GMO requirement does is slightly rearrange the ink on the label.
The Monsanto Cartel is waging war on the GMO label requirement NOT because it would raise costs, but because it would decrease sales. The first rule is, NEVER buy anything from someone who lies to you at the outset of the transaction.
nice post, thanks
Cost seems to always be passed down to the customer. Monopolizing the industry is the issue with Monsanto. This corporation has taken small farmers to court over seeds. Monsanto, who has created the ability to incorporate Round-up into seeds is faced with no competitors because thanks to deregulation, fair competition and the unmantling of acts that keep companies from monopolizing their industry. Price fixing along with feeding us a carcinogen in every bite we take is what you are suggesting is acceptable. Incomplete analysis, billing the customer multiple times the price of the actual product and prepare for the lawsuits is their motto.
GMOs have no place in the food supply. The impact this could have on human and wild life does not need to be explained. Reckless experimentation with a food supply now monopolized is the act of mad scientists being funded by deranged men who think money speaks louder than words. People like you make me want to give up.
Happily eat shit and die. Don't force that shit on me.
Why should big ag companies like Monsanto get a free pass on accurate labeling?
The big ag companies like Monsanto don't get a free pass on food labeling regulations, neither do the small farmers, which is why they then sell out Cargill.
Regulation only increases the power and market share of the oligarchy, to the detriment of the masses.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and then the stupid sheeple complain when the State shuts down children's lemonade stands (or there isn't any CARBOB in a sea of RBOB).
This is but another Faustian Bargain. It only makes food more expensive. Who is going to pay for inspections, when CA is bankrupt? It is government which allows corps like monsanto to exist. It is government "solutions" that created the conditions that result in GMO in the first place.
Why should small producers be burdened with yet more onerous regulation, which will actually empower, rather than regulate Monsanto? If you wish to put the screws to Monsanto, don't buy their stuff.
Hodgson Mills Flour has NOT increased their prices since putting a non-GMO sticker on their products. This is a fallacious argument!
why should corps be forced to comply with any govt. regulation?
especially idiotic ones like this.
If consumers want the gmo info they can contact the corp. If enuf do the corp. will provide the info
If the corp ignores these requests, people will avoid the corps' products.
if they dont give you the info, you dont buy their stuff.
its called the free market
I prefer it to govt. force
It is a very complex issue. Take the time to watch this whole video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P1CJ7IEt0c
We get a lot of benefits from plentiful food...but;
Would you agree that corporations are chartered by the government and receive certain benefits from the government such as limited liability?
If they have limited liability, then should they also have limited rights?
Read this opinion by Thomas Jefferson
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/bank-tj.asp
In Jefferson's day, the Churches (also corporations) ended up owning and controlling huge tracts of land which was the reason for Mortmain Laws.
In some states initial constitutions, corporations could not own land, only rent it. (with exception of railroads)
Corporations also had a set lifespan or charter. After that their property went back to the State or people/legislators voted to renew their charter.
The idea that a corporation can patent DNA is a very new thing. Think about it after reading Jefferson's writings.
In his case, he was mostly worried about them owning gold, silver and land (which were the major forms of property at that time).
A letter patent or copyright is also a form of property ownership that is enforced by the government.
Remember what you said about government force. We are supposed to be a nation of limited government and maximum individual freedom.
Churches owning or controlling most of the land is one of the reasons people came here.
I think we need to dig into the history books to find solutions because our nation has already been through this at least once before.
In the book the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith makes the point that all society and prosperity is based on excess food production.
You can't have any society, arts, sciences, etc. unless you have plenty of extra food, otherwise people will have no time for anything but growing/hunting enough food to survive.
If you are really interested in the issue, watch this video.
http://archive.org/details/victory_garden
I would argue that many small farms (owned by families and protected by strong property rights for the individual) might have been a stronger system and still had plenty of excess production. It also allowed maximum freedom for individuals to invent and innovate.
In the Victory Garden film, you will notice that the government was providing certified seeds at that time. The US Government has always helped farmers (because of Adam Smith). I think that is one of the secrets to the USA's sucess.
Here is what happens when govt. interferes too much.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kulaks
One thing I have discerned in studying property rights, etc, is that government (another kind of corporation) messing with private property and agriculture can be a very scary thing. It is often done with good intentions but the results can be really bad. One last film to consider.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOERWe0qX68
This is being implemented right now in the USA. Some of it has even been pushed through as legislation in my local community.
http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/agenda21/res_agenda21_00.shtml
I tend to view corporations (even 'non-profit' corporations) as extensions of government power and creatures of the government that created or chartered them.
Also recommend the movie "King Corn". Most people in the USA have no idea how subsidies work and the unintended consequences they create.
Any honest judge will tell you that you can't patent anything that is already in use. Genetic material has been in use for at least 4 billion years, so all the patents are worthless, political fiat. If today I produce a modifed combustion engine design, I can't sue all the prior manufacturers of combustion engines for infringing my design. But thats what these criminals are doing, and it all fits into the Orwellian agenda.
Hey Monad, I always enjoy reading your comments.
Don't get pissed at me..but Check this guy out...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szBTl3S24MY#t=19m20s
If you watch him long enough, you might get interested.
BTW; I don't think he is right about everything.
I am asking you to -
Suspend your disbelief, keep an open mind.
Take what you need and leave the rest.
He asks a lot of good questions.
He steps on everyones toes.
I like the idea of Faith based on reason.
I find it interesting that there are a ton of websites devoted to refuting what he says.
I believe that you can discern truth.
I also know that the truth can be far stranger than fiction.
Also have a look at this;
Sometimes, the way you visualize data makes a big difference.
http://tinyurl.com/c8wmj2
http://www.youtube.com/freedomainradio
GOOD LORD..... i have NEVER seen a thread on zh so populated with lemmings/paid trolls . eat it up buddies .
What if it's in EVERY BLOODY THING??? Then it's a monopoly, and you've got NO CHOICE ...