Follow the Anti-GMO Money

You Can Never Know What Plantation Days Meant From Google
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You Can Never Know What Plantation Days Meant From Google

  
I received some really lovely comments again from my last blog about not finding malasadas at Whole Foods.  Once again, the activists tend to prove my points time and time again that these people do not understand local culture in Hawaii.

The first comment calls my post a “bigoted rant.” Of course someone blogging to “changeamerica2012” surely knows the history of Hawaii and why we have such a unique and diverse culture.  I bet he’s eaten all of those foods I posted on it too to learn about this “ethnic pride.” Granted, I posted food from many cultures that he can’t quite figure out exactly what ethnicity I’m referring to.

  

The second comment is long but pretty funny in that I’m a liar and work for Monsanto but then I’m right on point.  Heck, if I worked for any of the seed companies I would have to abide by their social media policies and probably can’t be calling this stuff out. The long rant goes on and ends with we should work together.  First, I’m a liar and deceitful. Then my grandparents were suffering plantation slaves, and now I’m right about culture and we should work together.  Huh?! 

Of course this person admits that he or she only knows plantation life from what they researched.  They never lived it and appears to have never talked to anyone who did either.   And who is not wanting to work together when these people are seeking bans of everything that created this beloved local culture? 

                   

I’ve known it for sometime about the true origins of the anti-GMO folks are not from here.  The activists themselves denied it but the facts are slowly emerging about these groups after the moratorium on GMO growing on Maui was voted in.

  
One of the first places SHAKA showed up at was a website called the Galactic Connection.  It touts aliens, ascension, and other conspiracy theory type stuff.  The site of course sells stuff too!  For just $144, you can have your Matrix Implant removed.  There’s even a essential oil pack for $99 to prevent unwanted implantation.  What a bargain!

Not only is the SHAKA Movement found on that website, but they are also on Thrive Movement site too.  This is yet another conspiracy based group that believes in conspiracies and chemtrails.  Too bad the voters who supported this initiative did not take some time too really focus on what they supported.  (Note: Maui county even paid to get it studied thanks to Dr. Lorrin Pang.  He was also one of the authors of the moratorium.)
  

 It’s not surprising that when new people with their own ideas come to town, they don’t care about fitting it. They want everyone else to change to fit them.  That’s clearly what we are seeing with the latest attacks against the Hawaii Commercial and Sugar Company on Maui.  Some Hawaii folks love our cane sugar, which is non-GMO, but then want to shutter it.  It must mean they want sugar from GMO sugar beets or some high fructose GMO corn syrup. 

The same kind of fear mongering is happening right on cue.  People are claiming that the cane burning is carcinogenic, toxic, and killing people.  I’ve even seen comments claiming  clusters of illnesses around Maui.  Oddly enough, Pacific Business News reported that Maui county, followed by Honolulu, then Kauai, were the healthiest places in the state.  How did the County’s health drastically change?

The anti-GMO turned anti-sugar cane burning club don’t care for facts or provide any alternative should their wish come true.  They love to use disinformation tactics and say things to divide communities and not create any opportunities for collaboration.  That is what I really despise about this type of activism.  

It’s sad that even some local folks are joining in on all of this divisiveness. This was a comment made when it was announced that Pioneer was closing one of its Kauai locations.  

 
 The things that these activist don’t realize is that people have to start somewhere.  Many times, it’s in agriculture.  They work and provide for their families who get educated.  In turn, these are our doctors, nurses, caregivers, teachers, and other skilled professionals.  Many of the ag workers further their skills and grow much of the fresh produce we find at farmers’ markets. These people really are some of the most productive and hardest working people I know and have been totally disrespected by the anti-everything know-it-all-but-really-only-talk club.

When you start with nothing and is presented with an opportunity, you value it.  One learns to rise up through hard work, it’s a valuable lesson that leaves a lasting legacy for all generations.  Those lessons are usually passed on in every subsequent generation.  

When you have everything you need and never really had to earn it, it’s hard to fully appreciate it.  It’s too easily taken for granted.  Our freedom from farming is due to all the immigrants now and in the past who built up our state with dedication, perseverance, and a vision for the future.  We should never forget that many of us are here because of those who came before us.  Know and appreciate our roots so we know where we are heading in the future.

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The Real Bullies: Earthjustice and the Center for Food Safety Attack the Local Farmers

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Will justice ever be served for the Hawaii County farmers?

It’s interesting that the activists’ groups like Earthjustice and the Center for Food Safety always claim that the agribusinesses are liars and bullies. I guess they forgot the rule that when you point fingers at others, 3 more point back at oneself. “We want honesty,” is their followers’ rallying cry. The problem is that these groups can’t even be honest and don’t recognize the bullying they do themselves when they attack Big Island farmers in the courtroom.

Case in point is how CFS is ramping up its efforts with the Vandana Shiva blitz and garnering the attention of the media this past month. This group picks the most fraudulent of speakers to “educate” others, when in reality all she does is indoctrinate in ideology with very little evidence based information. She also is an extremist who supported Natural News’ Mike Adams’ call to murder scientists and journalists who supported biotechnology! It’s no wonder the local activists here do exactly the same thing in their commentaries but then are called the extremists of the movement.

The Center for Food Safety isn’t even honest in what they tell the media with their interviews. Many news stations were reporting that they are Honolulu based last week. This group is nothing close to being locally based and is essentially a satellite office of their Washington, D.C. one which started up last year. There were no corrections being made to these stories either so many people think that this is a local grassroots movement. They are clearly here to work on their financial sustainability if anything.

Like other activists, Ashley Lukens, CFS director, loves to play up the doctor bit too and neglects to mention that she’s holds a political science degree, not an ag one and has no experience or related education. She of course flaunts around the Dr. title as if it gives her added credibility. It’s no different than how they use Dr. Stephanie Seneff, aka RoundUp causes all diseases in the world fame artificial intelligence engineer, to tout their “education.”

The politicians are also jumping on the CFS dishonesty train too. Senator Josh Green brought in activists to “educate” political leaders on the issue of pesticides. Forget the fact that there are millions of acres of GM crops grown in the Midwest and these same crop protection products have been used for 40 years with no documented evidence that it causes autism, activists’ science is what our politicians prefer to use to make laws here.  On top of that, I just read the other week in an interview with Rep. Chris Lee that what they are attempting to enact in Hawaii will not affect small farmers regarding the pesticide issue. He’s been wined and dined and apparently repeating the rhetoric of CFS. Today, the Senate ag chair, Russell Ruderman, too is lobbying for his activists’s friends to defend Hawaii County.  Ruderman has his nose stuck in anti-Monsanto conspiracy theories and no sense of fairness or accountability and chooses to meddle in a level of government that is not in his scope.  These groups and the politicians they use don’t care who they attack seem to enjoy catering to the factless fear feast.

It’s no surprise that these groups always say one thing and do another. Center for Food Safety expressed to politicians that they aren’t going after the small farmers. Earthjustice attorney, Paul Achitoff, also stated that he fights for farming communities but is fighting against it now. Turns out that it’s not true because they are joining with the San Francisco based Earthjustice to appeal Judge Kurren’s ruling on the Big Island GMO ban. The agribusinesses aren’t affected by this ordinance in Hawaii county because they have no operations there at all. It’s the small papaya farmers and other local farmers who are having to defend their livelihoods! Of course they are going to state that Monsanto mantra against the organization who is helping to defend these farmers.

To fuel the fire, CFS loves to smother it’s news posts with the same old corporate hate. Instead of actually naming the true plaintiffs in the Big Island case, they title their post with, “Chemical Companies Undermine the Will of the People of Hawaii County.” There is no mention of the real local farm groups involved in the case at all and it closes the post with the same chemophobic messages used to take advantage of people’s ignorance on agriculture.

There are no links or documentation outlining any of the pertinent filings or details of the case also. It’s the typical cherry picking of information that these groups thrive on because they know most activists believe without questioning. A true skeptic would want to see the filings and other court or county documents also but these groups condemn any questioning of their motives or facts for that matter.  Questioning this movement will get you shunned and isn’t tolerated.  Hawaii is definitely a great place for Earthjustice and the Center for Food Safety to establish due to the many industries available for them to sue and pad their coffers and a host of people that they can use as pawns.

These groups are so willing to use taxpayer dollars and farmers’ time play this conspiracy laden game with no consideration of how scare county resources really are. It’s like a game with no forethought as to the real consequences and impacts. Since when has it been a practice for activists to be held to a higher standard and code of ethics to be able to defend the county? These people show that they essentially have no ethics but can be trusted to do the right thing? With 3 bad bills passed due to the influence of these groups, it’s pretty sad that Hawaii County wants to use them to defend such a bad law. It’s pretty shameful that leaders can even consider using these people to represent them.

Then again, if these groups proceed with an appeal and follow suit with their bad track record, it many really blow up in their faces. Many of our laws are made by case law and a victory for the farmers in this case will set a huge precedent across the nation. A loss to the activists will only further strengthen the farmers’ rights to technology and even uphold scientists access to use biotech research. This would apply across the nation because of the precedent it sets for other lawsuits. Heck, it may even jeopardize their prior laws made to ban GM coffee and taro! What will they cry about that?

It’s sad that Hawaii County can actually consider using activists’ lawyer in these cases that shouldn’t have even made it this far. Politicians have a responsibility to the public to use facts and evidence to make fair and just laws. They all took an oath to act as such. When bad laws are made because of dishonest efforts, resources are wasted and everyone loses. Have we become any closer to reaching those goals of food security and sustainability when it’s taken to the courtroom? How much do we have to lose to realize it’s time to start listening to rational stakeholders who stand with facts?

If you’d like to express your opinion on this matter and get farmers back on track, please send the Hawaii County Council an email at: counciltestimony@hawaiicounty.gov

Read the Hawaii County Council Agenda here:  Hawaii County COUNCIL 02.04.2015 Agenda

Center for Food Safety & Earthjustice’s request can be read here: CFS.EarthJustice COM to Hawaii County

CFS Andrew Kimbrell’s disturbing anti-technology anti-science essay, Cold Evil.

 

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September is Hunger Action Month: Who’s Helping the Hungry?

Yes, this is a month to take action to stop hunger. Actually, we should remember this every single month because there are a lot of people who go hungry in our communities.  It goes well beyond a single month and must be something we continue all year round. I try to do this every month myself since I have a co-worker who is a regular volunteer at the Hawaii Food Bank.  Whenever there’s a good sale on some canned or dried goods, I buy a bunch at Costco or Longs and share the extra stuff with whom ever may need it.  If I just hang on to it, it will likely go bad so sharing it with others is a worth cause to me.  It’s something small that I can do hopefully to help others.

I also want to be that example to my children to look beyond their own noses and help others if they can.  I remind them how lucky they are to have food every single night and never have to go hungry.  A good sense of appreciation needs to be instilled in kids nowadays who have everything but still complain of not having what they want.  We forget that once our needs are met, it’s easy to overlook it and take it for granted.

I have to say that I was really disappointed a few weeks ago when I read that a well-know chef, Ed Kenney, has decided to align with the Hawaii Center for Food Safety and help them fundraise for their Chef Action Network.  I think it’s great that he supports local and sustainable food and don’t we all support that?! However, the Center for Food Safety is not about making food affordable but rather making people fearful of food and looking at ways of actually making it more expensive.  You’d think that with a name like that, they are about making food safe but really, they are about pushing organic food and labeling under the assumption that biotech foods is not safe.  It’s elitist kind of thinking that is being pushed here once again.

One thing interesting to note is that speaking of food safety, it is a law that any food handling must be done with gloves to prevent the spread of potential contamination.  If the Center for Food Safety were truly about safe practices, they would have told Chef Kenney about this potential violation of his handling of food.

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If the Center for Food Safety were successful, they would have gotten GM foods labeled.  That GMO label will not only increase prices on food but also require a complete overhaul of our food processing all together that will definitely cause increased costs across the board.  Not only will the consumer have to pay more for food but so will the chefs who own businesses in our communities.  Will these small business owners be able to handle such extra costs?  I highly doubt it.  It is no wonder why restaurants are some of the most difficult businesses to run with the costs of supplies and labor constantly going up.  When a business closes shop, it means less employment opportunities also.

These activists group aren’t about helping Hawaii folks as they claim either.  They succeeded in getting the flawed Bill 2491 passed only to have it overturned in court as expected.  This in turn has taken some $210K to defend the bad law which doesn’t include any of the other costs of other staff and resources used in all of the proceedings.  No sooner than it was deemed invalid, did they immediately start to look for cash for more flawed bills.  Couldn’t all that money have been used to helped the needy in the community instead on bad advice of activists? Why are they fundraising for themselves and not others who could really use some help right now?  You will never see a Center for Food Safety feed the hungry food drive or affordable food coalition from these people because that is not what they are about.

I can’t help but be very disappointed that well known chefs like Kenney have not looked into this group further before deciding to support them.  When local people are depending more and more upon food banks and food supplement programs and a greater percentage is living in poverty, he wants to support a mainland based group who’s main goal is increasing food costs using fear and misinformation.  This group is also about demonizing our local papaya growers who have survived the papaya ring spot disease and are still farming as a result.

How does supporting the Center for Food Safety help our rubbah slippah folks?  Basically, it’s not about the locals but about a new bunch of mainland folks telling locals how to farm and what’s good for them.  You can bet they don’t have a pair of these at their door steps!

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**Update! In today’s Star Advertiser, Kenney is featured there again and he’s wearing gloves while preparing food.  Good.  And once again, Ashley Lukens of the Center for Food Safety is touting their disingenuous message again to the public.  No surprise! Note that they aren’t about helping the hungry!

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The Needy are the People Hurt by Anti-GMO Activism

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Just the other day, Civil Beat’s reporter, Anita Hofschneider, did what I call a “fuel the fire” article about campaign spending on the GMO issue here in Hawaii.  The title was, “Donations Pour in to the GMO Debate, But Are they Being Disclosed?”  It goes on to talk about how the SHAKA Movement is fundraising and trying to influence the supposed moratorium vote and have not reported their funding properly.  It’s interesting because as you read further, then it starts to once again show how the biotech companies, who properly reported their contributions to candidates.  They, of course submitted the proper contributions according to law, and are somehow trying to be skewed in this article and tries to skewer the candidates who received money from them further fueling corporate hate.

Let’s talk totals here and simple math.  The article states that the biotech companies have spent a total of $58,000 this election cycle.  It also stated that the Center for Food Safety PAC raised some $39,000 with some 90% coming from OUTSIDE funding!  It’s not a “local” grassroots movement at all!

Monsanto and many of the other biotech companies provides thousands of jobs across our state, many of which are in the high tech sector and help to maintain the former sugar cane and pineapple plantation lands as ag land.  What has the Center for Food Safety done for the rubbah slippah folks in terms of contributing to our economy?  What have they done for our farmers across our state? I haven’t a clue because they haven’t done a thing other than bring more outside mainland money to dictate policy here.

It also is interesting to note that today the Star Advertiser did an article on the Hawaii Food Bank and the staggering figures of people who rely on it.  It’s estimated that 1 in 5 rely on the food bank for this basic necessity!  Some 123,000 household made up of 287,000 people rely on food assistance!  We have a lot of people in need in our state!  Where’s the mainland money from Dr. Bronner’s Soaps and the organic industry making an effort to make affordable food for these people?  Where’s the protest that no one should go hungry or be worried about whether or not they will eat? *chirping of crickets*

Where’s the organic feed the hungry food drive?  Where’s Vandana Shiva donating her $40K talking fees to the Hawaii Food Bank?  According to the food bank, $10 can provide 25 meals!  She’s come here at least twice and $80K would have provided some 200,000 meals!  The $20K infusion to sign the SHAKA Movement petition would have provided some 50,000 meals for the people who are needy in Maui.  The $5K that the part time resident from California who gave to the Babes Against Biotech would have provided some 25,000 meals!  The Babes Against Biotech received a total of $12,600 to fund them would have fed some 31,500 meals!  In total, if all the money being brought into to Hawaii for activism purposes are added together, 281,000 meals could have been provided to the needy!  What’s worse is that many of these donations to these activists groups are through non-profits so they are scott free of paying taxes that could have been used for social service programs like these!

One can criticize the biotech companies for “buying” politicians and so on but the fact is, these companies provide jobs, donate time, money, and man hours to many community events that is never featured in the news or media.  They do a lot more that will never be seen or recognized by activists but it’s being done and many lives are being impacted by their contributions.  We can demonize the corporations, but ask yourself, who really is contributing to our people and our communities? Who provides training, employment, and benefits to many of our local folks?  The companies do. I can tell you that it isn’t the activists or their candidates!

Why aren’t our political leaders worried about feeding these people or giving them better education and employment opportunities so that they can afford to feed themselves? The labeling issue and pesticide issue are at the forefront however, is that really a priority at hand?  We can argue back and forth about what science to believe and where the important issue lies, but if we forget the basic needs of people, that is a major problem with politics today.  When one runs for office, is your platform one that will really help your local people or are you self serving to that attractive mainland money and elitism of going organic, or will you help those that can only afford Times, KTA, and Foodland?

 

 

 

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The Hawaii Center for Food Safety Plays Politics in Kaneohe

Several months ago, I became aware of the Washington, D.C. based Center for Food Safety arriving in town.  I wrote a post about this activist group when I saw it posted on the Kanu Hawaii site.  They are now here in our islands to try and bring their mainland influences to our smaller communities and it’s clear what their true agenda really is again.

Here’s a flier that was sent out in to people in the Kaneohe/Kahaluu area by the Center for Food Safety just a few days ago.  My entire family members are long time residents there for over 60 years now and seeing this arrive in our mailboxes did not please us at all.

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It’s not surprising at all that HCFS is supporting Harris, who is the executive director of the very anti-biotech group, the Sierra Club.  He was also a proponent of supporting Jessica Wooley in getting her the House of Representatives seat several years ago.  Now he is seeking to fill that seat with his mainland style activists’ values with a mailer from the HCFS.

He also sent me a message about a month ago regarding his candidacy.  I’m guessing he has read my criticisms of where he stands as a political leader in all of this.

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It’s great that he wants to talk about growing more food and working together for better policies.  So my response to him was this.

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Well, I was so hoping for a response to my question but never got it.  I’m starting think that these politicians are really not about working together when they openly support groups like the Center for Food Safety and Earthjustice, who have a single agenda for Hawaii, which is to use scare tactics to take away agricultural tools from farmers and ranchers.  They are lawyers and environmentalists, not farmers or business owners and they don’t know our history in Hawaii, yet they are willing to come and take over the conversations.

I find the flyer quite amazingly misleading which is of no surprise when it comes from activist groups who are always misinforming the public.  Here’s the blunders I found on those mailers.

First Blunder: Champion for local farms and local foods

The Sierra Club that Harris supports is against biotechnology so knowing that connection, he’s definitely against the papaya farmers and ranchers in our islands who have used this technology for 20 years.  How can you say you’re a champion of the local farmers when you work for a group that opposes their practices?  There’s several farmers in his district that he apparently are not aware of that he forgot to talk to.

Second Blunder: Will support local farmers and protect agricultural lands

The Sierra Club has a legal arm known as Earthjustice that they use to enact lawsuits in the name of environmentalism and later use it to funnel cash into their coffers.  It’s basically a money making operation of the Sierra Club.  If they are willing to protect agricultural lands, why has Earthjustice and the Center for Food Safety trying to join the lawsuit against Big Island farmers?  Not only is Earthjustice suing on the Big Island, but they have also joined the lawsuit in Kauai against the seed companies.  If they are about protecting agricultural lands, why are they fighting the people who are using it to farm? If they about helping Hawaii, why are they suing the smallest farmers anyways?

Third Blunder: Protect your right to know what is in your food

Once again, the disingenuous “right to know” argument enters the picture.  That’s the fighting cry of the activists like Naomi Carmona and her Babes Against Biotech crew.  She and other activists don’t care about the “right to know,” for if they did, they wouldn’t join groups that are GMO free.  Well, we all know the truth about these claims for the activists clearly put it out there for all to see.  They also want the 1.3 million Hawaii folks to endure increased costs associated with labeling which will really help all local people make a living here.  These activists don’t seem to realize that they have a label called organic and GMO free but are willing to burden everyone for their disingenuous claims.

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Fourth Blunder: Will protect our homes, schools, and hospitals from dangerous pesticides

First of all, Kaneohe has very few farms, let alone GMO farms to begin with.  Ashley Lukens, a political science doctorate, seems made a erroneous statement on a CB article stating that, “The issue of genetic engineering in Hawaii is an issue of pesticides.” (It’s always the non-farmers who are quick to spread their pseudo-expertise about how and what farmers should farm.) The farms are out in the more rural areas and homes are far apart there and the farmers themselves live on the same property and are small.  Many have been there for decades with no report of illness at all.  None of these farmers waste anything for that matter and only use what is needed and to assume that they all use dangerous pesticides is so wrong at every level.

Ms. Lukens doesn’t realize that Hawaii people live in a tropical environment that bugs and pests thrive.  Shall we forgo the termite treatments, fly traps, ant sprays, roach treatments, rat bait traps and allow pests to invade our homes, schools, and hospitals.  What even more interesting is that the district that Robert Harris is seeking to represent doesn’t even have a hospital in it!  Kaneohe is a completely different town and they obviously haven’t figured it out.

This statement on this flyer clearly shows the Hawaii Center for Food Safety’s fear mongering messages.  They don’t live here in our community and it shows.

Blunder Five: “At my farm in Kaneohe, Robert Harris is a champion for local food.”

Many of my friends and family who received this card look at the farmer in the photo and said, “Who’s that?”  No one seems to know who this farmer really was.  Turns out Rick Barboza isn’t a food grower but a Hawaiian native plant grower in Kaneohe.  Apparently, the Center for Food Safety and Robert Harris himself didn’t bother to talk to the long time food growers in his district.  If Harris is going to support local food being grown, how come he didn’t come talk to some of the long time growers in the area?  Shouldn’t he have a photo of a farmer of that person who is actually doing the work to grow food?  I would think so but the message is clear, they are not about including these others in the conversations apparently.  They have their own mainland agenda and aren’t going to include the local people.

It’s interesting that the Center for Food Safety did not put a non-food producing farmer on their mailer.  Last year, then Representative Wooley made a presentation to the Kaneohe Neighborhood Board that she was planning on redefining agriculture as the growing of food.  They must have changed their tune to the politicians as they are putting a non-food growing farmer on there.

What’s also telling about Harris’ agenda is that we can’t forget about the Sierra Club’s smear campaign against Pono Chong back in 2012 where they set up a site called NotPono.com and sent out fliers that led to his defeat.  Local boy Pono Chong was ousted for supporting the developers and construction jobs that so many of our family members and friends hold in our communities.  Who’s gonna provide and build affordable housing and jobs for these folks?  The Sierra Club?!  As we can see now, they are about taking things aways.

What the Fliers Should Look Like if People Were Honest

I decided to take the liberty of correcting these fliers and hope that people realize what the message should really be.  If we want honesty in our leaders, we better research who they really are and who’s backing them up.

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Let’s hold our politicians to a higher standard and seek for honest information on who they really are and what they support.  It’s clear that mainland money is talking here by all the misinformation posted on those fliers.  If we want a better Hawaii for the local folks, do you homework on your candidates and vote smart.  Who is looking out for the rubbah slippah folks?

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Why Hawaii People Should be Wary of the Center for Food Safety

I was browsing through some environmental groups here in Hawaii and noticed how there is an irony about them.  There’s one group that claims to want  to “empowers people to build more environmentally sustainable, compassionate, and resilient communities rooted in personal commitments to change.”  They support alternative energy, reducing waste, locally grown food, composting, and so on.

Their stance on energy is interesting because it focuses on a using high tech advances to harness the energy.  They have people committing on wanting to use LED bulbs, solar, wind, and electric cars.  All of these things require advanced technology to convert these renewable sources of energy.  Much of the research done to create this was done by corporations too!  The future for energy looks to high technology to minimize our impact on the earth which is definitely a good thing.

Then a few days ago, I saw their Facebook page with this posted that made my jaw drop…

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Original post on Kanu Hawaii’s Facebook page a few days ago.

So when I saw Kanu posting this message with the activist group, The Center for Food Safety Action Fund, I was extremely disappointed and upset.  This is a Washington, D.C. based group that is run by organic food activists and not about food sustainability or security.  They operate by bringing lawsuits to court to block agricultural technology and keep it from getting to farmers to use.  They aren’t here to HELP Hawaii agriculture or the environment as they claim.  No one ever researches these groups out either to learn who and what they really do.

The Center for Food Safety wants no technological advances allowed to agriculture.  They use a lot a fear and misinformation about the technology to promote their message also which is all emotion based.  This group also fights aquaculture and nanotechnology as listed on their website.  They also have a long history of lawsuits against companies and the government also.  Their MO is to sue and then win or lose, collect back court costs and fees from the Equal Access to Justice Act, through loopholes that they have found.  None of this money goes towards helping the farmers or the environment for that matter.  Hence, the likely reason why they went to Federal court to be added as defendants on the Ordinance 960 lawsuit.

The way this group operates is very much like the Sierra Club’s legal arm, Earthjustice, where they claim to help the environment through lawsuits.  Here’s a case where they were paid $2.6 million from the EAJA from a lawsuit that they won.  These groups have figured out how to funnel monies out of the Federal government and get paid exorbitant amounts.  Note that the lead attorney, Andrew Kimbrell, was paid $650 per hour for his work on this case and other attorneys got paid $250 to $450 an hour too!

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Just an example of how CFS operates and the take advantage of the EAJA.

The ringleader of CFS is Andrew Kimbrell, the person that former Representative Jessica Wooley brought in via Hawaii SEED as a expert for her labeling issue.  They both claim in public that it is about the so called “right to know.”  The truth of it is far from it.

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Andrew Kimbrell, who Jessica Wooley fondly refers to as Andy, is also very much against technology, but calls herself a progressive.  Here’s his rambling thoughts on this “cold evil,” as he calls it.  He also is against anything corporate as he considers it evil.  Here’s some telling quotes made in that lecture.

I have been in many corporate law firms and boardrooms and have yet to see any “high fives” or hear shouts of satisfaction at the deaths, injuries, or crimes against nature these organizations often perpetrate.

 

Whether it’s a hammer or a nuclear bomb or a piano or genetic engineering, technology always represents power, an extension of human power. And the question always arises, Is that power appropriate. Simply put, when power is inappropriate, evil results.

 

The tragic result of this failure is that cold evil flourishes, causing ever greater ecocide and genocide even as it remains unnamed and unaddressed.

 

There is absolutely no doubt that we cannot be a democratic nation, we cannot be a democratic people, and we cannot free ourselves from the cold evil of technological control that now has spread even to our genetic core until we stop allowing technology to control human choices and instead see to it that our human choices control technology.

 

To face cold evil we must become creators, not consumers. We must break out of our techno-cocoons and recognize that the actions we take in deciding which products to buy or which services to use or render will create a better future for ourselves and the earth. We must take responsibility for the consequences of how we fulfill our basic human needs. Further, we must become true citizens, asserting our sovereignty over corporations and not allowing ourselves to be mere consumers of what they provide us.

 

He even wants to charge Galileo for a crime for creating this “cult of objectivity.”  This really is a key indicator that this movement really is the anti-science.

One of the epochal moments in the history of Western science occurred on June 22, 1633, when Galileo, under extreme pressure from Church inquisitors, “abjured” his heresy that the earth revolves around the sun. Since that time Galileo has remained an ultimate symbol of modern enlightenment martyred by the forces of superstition and prejudice. Yet if we consider the nature of the cold evil so prevalent today, we can bring charges against Galileo anew. For his real crime was not his understanding of the nature of the heavens but rather his seminal role in creating what could be called “the cult of objectivity”—resulting in a science and science community that have largely been purged of subjectivity and qualitative human thought.

 

Kimbrell doesn’t stop there with his corporate hate but continues his tirade against any technology including computers in schools.

I’ll use the question to say that computers in the early grades are extremely dangerous. I cannot tell you how strongly I feel about this. It is the most destructive trend I can imagine. Television is already omnipresent for these children. Now computers in school lure their young minds away from wonder and into calculation, and in so doing eliminate arts, sports, and social interaction. Computer programs in school are a frightening incarnation in the early grades of the cold-evil ideologies. To be sure, the ideologies of efficiency, competition, and reductionist science have existed since the days of Horace Mann and John Dewey, but to actually take these young minds and enclose them in the technological milieu, shutting out wonder and substituting computer programs, is tragic.

 

I find it great that Kanu Hawaii and its funder, Ulupono Initiatives are about a cleaner world while promoting technology to achieve that.  There are lots of high technology advances being used to improve the environment from solar technology to wind technology.  The founder of Ulupono, Pierre Omidyar, also profited from his own corporation, Ebay to help fund these investments in Hawaii.  To have some of Kanu’s former members like Kasha Ho join the Center for Food Safety is quite an odd match in that they perpetuate the complete opposite message.

Ulupono is also interesting in that they tout high tech for energy sources but then support and fund old ways of farming like Mao Organic.  I find this message pretty contradictory at many levels.  Many of the same activists all love their organic farms and are the same ones fueling animosity and controversy towards Ulupono’s other project, the Kauai Dairy.  Many activists think that because Mao Organics is a successful organic farm that anyone can do it, which is farm from the truth.  How many farmers get to have the backing of a billionaire to run their business?  Hmm…

What bothers me even more is that on Kanu’s FB page they also tout things like the Seed Exchange event.  The world of agriculture has evolved and changed with technology just the same as the energy sector and yet they still cling to the old ways.  Where’s any discovery and innovation presented on how biotechnology is making crops more sustainable and environmentally friendly?  We no longer have to use old, more dangerous pesticides to grow food which is a great thing to have.  None of these aspects on how agriculture is being more “green” is ever presented and it’s sad because that is what’s where ag has advanced in leaps and bounds, and yet it is never acknowledged and an opposite message is presented.

I would like to see Kanu and Ulupono stay as far away as possible from anti-progress groups like the Center for Food Safety at all costs.  This group will only block the progress needed to achieve their goals of a cleaner, more sustainable Hawaii.  They don’t give anything to making Hawaii better, but take away tools that could.  A better Hawaii can only come from education and research, not pure activism based in fear and misinformation.  And who’s to say if this group will start to block renewable energy options in the future that could help everyone with their anti-technology bent?

Screenshot 2014-05-11 21.25.15

Visit the Center for Food Safety webpage and you’ll be treated to fear mongering! It works and they know it.

Why should an activist group have a say in who gets access to technology?  They provide no evidence or options for the people of Hawaii and are out to block progress and line their own pockets.  They are not about working together with different sectors or collaborating with anyone who disagrees with their stance.  That’s now how we move forward in Hawaii!  We all have to work together to reach goals or remain stuck in the ideological muck.  The evidence must move us forward for the future.

The more I read about the Center for Food Safety, the more I feel like being despise this movement.  This is such a hypocrisy of the environmental movement that makes me lose faith in it.  They hate greed but are greedy themselves.  They hate corporations but support corporations that agree with them.  These groups take away taxpayer funds that really should be used for making our planet better and not for lining their own pockets.  They block a technology that could help farmers in developing countries have less reliance on highly toxic pesticides and provide no alternative.

Technology for all sectors are good and why are we getting picky about who gets access to it?  It’s a tool that we have to use and let it do its work.  Isn’t the goal to make our world better and cleaner?!

Based on the stance of this group, they have a lot to go after here in Hawaii.  They can help block or make aquaculture projects more difficult like the Kona deep sea fish farm, the abalone farm, or even the shrimp farm on Kauai.  They must want more depletion of wild fish populations and less research on how to protect it.  They might even try to ban people from fishing like their linked group Earthjustice has succeeded doing in California.  They might even block other companies from coming to our islands for high tech research in nanotechnology.  Who knows what these groups will take on next but I’m not waiting to not speak up.

No where on their website is there any humanitarian efforts made other than to “protect people and environment,” with no real evidence that they are actually doing such thing.  They want to block any corporation who may be heading such efforts also but offer nothing in return.  These groups are takers, plain and simple.

Everyone should be worried when an anti-progress, regressive activist group takes stake here.  From the scientists and researchers at UH working on solving plant diseases, the UH cancer center who might be researching nanotechnology, to the shrimp farms on Kauai, this should worry all of us.  This group might even block genetic engineering that could solve so many human illnesses because they are against this technology completely.  The new dairy should be worried too because they might block a genetically altered grass or feed that can be fed to their cows.  Ranchers should be worried that this might affect their ability to feed their herds with GE feed or other technology available to them.  Every consumer and Department of Ag inspector should be worried because they are out to block irradiation and other technology from bringing in pests to our islands that could decimate our food security.  They are also seeking out to label GMO foods and don’t care if the exorbitant costs will be spread to our people already struggling with high costs of food, all over their deceitful “right to know.”  These activists are a real threat to everyone with what they propose for our islands.

It is even more disturbing to see legislators participating in talks with the Center for Food Safety.  Some of those include Jessica Wooley, Lauren Matsumoto Cheape, Chris Lee, Russell Ruderman, Gary Hooser, Elle Cochran, and others who align with them.  They want extremist groups to run the roost here in Hawaii?!  It’s like letting Greenpeace have decisions over what our farmers can farm and I abhor that completely.  I can’t understand why these leaders have chosen such a route for Hawaii despite calling themselves progressives!

I want to save our land like others but there are better ways of doing it other than activism.  I applaud groups like the Nature Conservancy in Hawaii ,who are actually out there cleaning our waters of invasive species, or ridding the forests of miconia or controlling the feral pigs out from our precious rain forests to protect the native plants from extinction.  They aren’t paying for protests or websites that make people feel like their being poisoned or use fear mongering to get their message across.  You will never see a fear mongering picture out there either because that’s not their goal.  They work with the different sectors of private and public agencies to take care of Hawaii, which is a great thing.  They actually DO something for Hawaii and those are the kind of environmentalists that GIVE to our a’ina and exactly what we need!

When I did point out that I had a problem with Kanu posting the Center for Food Safety on their page, I’m glad that the director edited the post that they do not support or endorse them.  I really do hope that it stays that way for the future.  That’s another step in the right direction for that sustainable and compassionate Hawaii that we are all seeking.

 

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Jessica Wooley Wants to Redefine Agriculture Rather Sink Farmers

I realized last year, with the brouhaha of the failed labeling law, that we do not have enough local voices in politics. I decided to start participating in the neighborhood board meetings. I have been attending these meetings monthly since June this year.

At this last meeting something very peculiar happened. Jill Tokuda and Ikaika Anderson’s representative attended as usual and are very regular in their participation to notify the community of what’s going on and what they are working on. The others like Clayton Hee, Cynthia Thielen, and Ken Ito, are non-existent. Jessica Wooley will send a representative twice but never attended it herself since June. At this past month’s meeting, no one on the board recognized her, and as a result, and mistook her for another presenter.

She did a quick report on what she plans to do as the agriculture chair. Basically she wants to redefine what agriculture means in Hawaii, referring to calling it the growing of food. I asked her what she will be doing to help farmers. She also talked about attempting to get that label on biotech derived foods and stated, “there is no regulation” on it. Of course she continued stating that consumers should be able to know and that papaya farmers are already doing it for export and it won’t shouldn’t affect them by doing it here. She did also state that, “I would not ban GMOs.”

As I listened to her answers and statements, I started to think more about what she was saying. Okay so you feel that there is no regulation, which is completely false, and that a label is going to suddenly create this sense if transparency that her “constituents” want. Something doesn’t make any sense here.

Why is a label suddenly going to solve the transparency and so called “right to know issue” after you just stated that there is no regulation? If you are so concerned about no regulation, then why don’t you work at the federal level to start these regulations that you claim there is none? Doesn’t that make more sense? If you were to travel to somewhere else, as a consumer, you won’t be able to get your right to know since there is nothing across the board by state. A consumer could unwittingly eat GMOs at a restaurant and that would be such a travesty too because that is not labeled!  Even the locally produced foods like papaya seed salad dressings to some locally made taro chips would all need a label too so that these folks’ right to know are fulfilled and that they are suddenly enlightened by this label!  Poor Hawaii constituents would not have their rights respected Ms. Wooley if they were to go to a Las Vegas Trader Joes! You’re not protecting peoples’ rights! What a non-tragedy!

Of course Ms. Wooley doesn’t show her transparency when it comes down to who’s feeding her this information. She is well connected to anti-GMO groups like Center for Food Safety attorney, Andrew Kimbrell, and is married to David Henken of Earthjustice. Take a look at what these people say about why they want this label from the Genetic Literacy Project.

genetic literacy

Knowing all of this, I asked her if she was aware of what is happening to many small farmers in the community. I shared with her, as well as all the board members present, about how some farmers reported being asked if their bananas and produce were organic.  When it was told to the person that it wasn’t, the questioner tossed it aside very rudely and marched away in disgust.  Jessica raised her eyebrows stating that she was not aware of this and it should have turned into a police report of some kind.  I told her that these farmers are afraid to speak up against this and become targets.  Local people don’t speak up against these activists for that very reason.  I’m not sure which planet she lives on but these anti-GMO activists have been doing this for some time already and there was a public incident with this already that made the news.

We all know that there is a lot of hope in the anti-GMO movement that somehow this is going to make people eat healthier.  Do you actually think that a little sticker on a package is going to help that?  When those fat free labels appeared on food stuff did it make people eat better?  Uh, no.  Shame on her for thinking that this really is going to make a difference all to earn more money from consumers marketed with fear.  That’s where shortsighted thinking in politicians get us no where.  A label isn’t going to change people’s weights! Education about healthy eating is!

If Jessica Wooley is really wanting the focus of agriculture to be on food and growing it, I suggest she rethink her strategy.  Making more laws against farmers isn’t going to make more people want to get into farming.  It already is a difficult business to stay afloat given the high costs of land, labor, and supplies.  It doesn’t help that weather, disease, and other uncontrollable variables can devastate your whole year’s worth of work either.  If you make laws to limit the tools and research in agriculture, that itself will make it even less viable as a profession.  Does that mean your out to kill farming that isn’t organic because it sure appears that way?

I was sent some commentary about the petition that was posted to help open up a forum for others to speak up for our farmers.  This has created a small storm of controversy in the GMO Free Groups of course and someone sent this comment to me.

selma

I find it amazing that her GMO Free followers actually get it but they just don’t connect the dots about what they say.  Yes, farmers are poor and why are you making it harder for them to do their job Ms. Wooley and GMO Free groups?  Wouldn’t it be better to ask them, “How can we make your job easier so you can do what you need?”  That would be a much better option then outright stating that you need to label your produce because your right to fair treatment is outweighed by the needs of activists.  That’s a pure kick in the face to our farmers.

If Wooley is about fulfilling her role as someone who wants to make Hawaii better as a transplanted local, she needs to take off the anti-GMO hood and stop wasting our taxpayer dollars on that little label of hers.  If she really wants to help people live better, have more farmers, and grow more food, she needs to get off her “right to know” “label it” podium and reinvest those monies and resources back to the farmers and towards educating the public about healthy eating if her motives were right.  But we all know the truth about her agenda here which is plain to see where she wants to take small papaya farmers…  Into extinction.

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Follow the Anti-GMO Money!

The anti-GMO mob is continually stating that anyone who supports biotech should follow the money.  Everyone apparently is a paid shill if they are speaking out for the overwhelming scientific evidence.  (I sure wish I was paid to do this but I’m not which is hard to believe.) So today’s blog is just doing that, following the money with Gary Hooser.

Let’s take a closer look at the hot topic person of the week, Gary Hooser.  Where is his money coming from?  If you visit the Campaign Spending Commission link, you can do a quick search of who has donated to him as well as their personal information.  Some very familiar names come up on there:

Myron Berney–A frequent Civil Beat anti-GMO commenter

Denise Antolini–A former Earthjustice attorney

Bart Dame–A very well known anti-seed company commenter on Civil Beat

Jeri Di Pietro–One of the founders non-profit Hawaii SEED

Monica Evslin–Wife to the anti-GMO retired doctor

Friends of Clarence Nishihara–The senator who received the nasty calls from BABS

Alicia Maluafiti–The HCIA Executive Director

John Radcliffe–The “Monsanto” Lobbyist

Jeff Mikulina–Lobbyist from the Blue Planet Foundation

Nancy Redfeather–Founder of Hawaii SEED

Those are just a few recognizable names that have contributed to Hooser’s campaign over the years and are publicly available.  Even people who are so despised by the anti-GMO mob like John Radcliffe and Alicia Maluafiti gave money but you don’t hear any complaints from them about it!  Some of those names are registered lobbyists in the state.  The definition is found on the Hawaii Ethics Commission site:

“Lobbyist” means any individual who for pay or other consideration engages in lobbying in excess of five hours in any month of any reporting period described in section 97-3 or spends more than $750 lobbying during any reporting period described in section 97-3.

“Lobbying” means communicating directly or through an agent, or soliciting others to communicate, with any official in the legislative or executive branch, for the purpose of attempting to influence legislative or administrative action or a ballot issue.”

The legally registered lobbyists registered with state include Jeff Mikilina, Alicia Maluafiti, and John Radcliffe.  As you can see, even if you give money, the politician does not always listen to it.  The latest list filed with the State Ethics commission can be found online with noted names of the seed companies listed also.  Note that on Kauai, lobbyists have free range there as the county has not take any steps to regulate it despite being mandated since 1978.  What does that say about the transparency issue that Hooser talks about with the seed companies but not within the county itself?  Why hasn’t the county tackled this issue first before others if they care so much about the right to know?!

A group that has a strong hold and lots of playing time in the issue is Hawaii SEED.  They sponsor the GMO Free groups on Kauai and Maui.  Of which Hooser is a member and contributor of.  Take a closer listen to Hawaii SEED’s Jeri Di Pietro talk about what they are doing with legislation here in Hawaii:

Now if these folks are trying to influence legislation, shouldn’t they be subject to the lobbyists laws like the others involved?  Take a look at the tax filing that asks if they participated in lobbying activities.  Their answer is no.  A non-profit cannot be tax free if they are trying to influence or ask others to have an influence on legislation to be in compliance with the law.  The IRS has clear rules for what lobbying is.  The biotech companies have complied with the lobbying rules and why are the anti-GMO side exempt?  I suspect that none of Hawaii SEEDs expenditures have been subject to the taxes that it should be paying for influencing policy and this has been going on for years.  Hawaii SEED is not about educating, the video clearly provides evidence that they want to influence laws.

Let’s not forget the recent expose’ of the mainland monies being funneled into the who issue at the moment.  These very wealthy activists donate money to these non-profits and get a tax write off on that and get to influence policy?!  All the meanwhile the companies paying lobbyists to get some say in the legislation get taxed for the same efforts?  Where’s the equality and transparency?  If a non-profit is getting involved with lawmaking issues, they have to play the game fair and square.  The anti-GMO mob complains about the corruption and money, but quickly hide behind bogus non-profits and skid free from the taxes that they should be paying.

I do have to question the fact that Andrew Kimbrell, Bill Freese, and Vandana Shiva have come down recently to “educate.”  The fact that these people came down to provide consultations as to how to write the bill up which is influencing legislation and contacting lawmakers.  That really starts to sound like lobbying to me.  However, because it is all under the guise of a non-profit, it is not subject to taxes at the current moment.  That needs to change!

How about the other activist groups that have been selling items likes shirts and hats?  When they sell items and are using it for lobbying purposes like travel for other hearings and meeting with lawmakers, that is taxable.  If you search tax ID numbers, there are none for Hawaii GMO Justice Coalition, Babes Against Biotech, or Ohana O Kauai.  These groups complain about how corrupt the biotech companies are but are they really doing their fair share?  I’ll have a follow up article on this soon.

Hooser is all about protecting the people and doing what is right.  Is this really right that these groups are allowed to influence the issue with Bill 2491 and not playing by the rules themselves?

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