Germany, Corn, Catangui, Monsanto... Mercenaries?

This is my black helicopter post for the week. Consider it just a reminder for the file cabinet rather than an official brief for the court.

Some Twitter-wandering informs me that Germany banned MON 810, Monsanto's genetically modified Bt corn, in April, 2009. As I understand it, this is the same corn that Dr. Mike Catangui's research connects with pest replacement, specifically the recent spread of western bean cutworm and corn leaf aphids. Dr. Catangui was fired this year by SDSU, which is run by a Monsanto executive board member, for using his research as the basis for his advice to farmers.

The German ban has caught heck from various boards and researchers. Germany's own Central Commission for Biological Safety said the Germany's MON 810 ban is not scientifically grounded. Three French researchers published a pretty hefty meta-study in 2009 coming to the same conclusion. But I see no mention of Catangui's research in either of those critiques.

Would Monsanto squelch research that demonstrates negative impacts from its products? Would they go so far as to persuade a university to violate academic freedom to do so?

Well, remember: we're talking about Monsanto, a corporation that hires Blackwater/Xe to spy on activists who oppose its GM products. Monsanto enlisted operatives from the mercenary company to infiltrate activist groups for the purpose of "protecting the Monsanto name."

I'll keep looking for puzzle pieces....

Got High Water? Thank Neighbors' Drainage

The Brookings Register runs two articles that we should read together:

First, Ryan Woodard hears from a county official that the recent flooding on Six Mile Creek and elsewhere in Brookings County was of unprecendented intensity:

“I’ve had people on Six Mile Creek that were here in ‘69 say this is the highest they’ve seen it,” Brookings County Emergency Manager Todd Struwe told Brookings County commissioners this week.

“I’ve been here 18 years. I’ve never seen the water this high and I’ve never seen it come this fast” [Ryan Woodard, "Flood's Intensity Unprecedented, County Officials Say," Brookings Register, 2010.10.01].

The Register's John Kubal then turns to Dr. Carter Johnson to discuss the potential impacts of climate change on the Prairie Pothole Region (you know, the great American duck factory we live on). Dr. Johnson discusses a lot of the economic value we get from our prairie wetlands for free—lumber, hunting, water purification. Then Dr. Johnson turns to the economic costs of draining the wetlands, which include more intense floods:

Contrast some of the above with the draining of wetlands and tiling of fields, which leads to water going into small streams and creeks. Johnson noted that people living along the Missouri River saw floods in the 1990s "made worse by the fact that we drained wetlands" [John Kubal, "Could Our Duck Factory Go Dry?" Brookings Register, 2010.10.04].

Dr. Johnson proceeds to other important findings from his climate change research. But it's worth noting that, when it comes to our wetlands, we perhaps need to worry less about Al Gore's jet plane and more about our own digging and physical transformation of our land.

Got high water? Ditch and yard and back forty filling up faster after a big rain than they used to? It could be that, in addition to the heavier rain falling on your land, you're getting heavier drainage from your upstream neighbors. When farmers lay tile under their land and when developers dig up and tile and pave new subdivisions, they remove earth from the prairie-wide filtration system. Water that used to sit and seep out of those acres now comes rushing downstream. That's exactly what's supposed to happen: you plant corn or build a new McMansion, you don't want it sitting in water. But that drainage also shifts your water problem to folks downstream... who have a higher likelihood of seeing their homes and businesses washed away.

Christian Science Monitor Replacing Print with Web

An icon of South Dakota high school speech activities is about to undergo a landmark change: The Christian Science Monitor, which turns 100 on November 25, has announced it will become the first national newspaper to shift from print to Web. In April 2009, CSM will end its daily print edition, produce daily e-mail and weekly print editions, and focus on expanding its online content. (No word on whether the Webification of the monitor will also sound the death knell for the really bland editorial cartoons.)

Editor-in-chief Mary Trammell sees CSM's enhanced online presence as key to continuing the pursuit of founder Mary Baker Eddy's vision of "journalism that seeks to bless humanity, not injure, and that shines light on the world's challenges in an effort to seek solutions."

Not a bad standard to live up to. "Injure no man, but bless all mankind"—remind me of that when I get cranky. Maybe remind the supporters of Initiated Measure 11 of that as well, as they try to win votes by waging personal attacks on Tiffany Campbell (remind me again—who are the Christians in the room?).

Going online offers some obvious business advantages:

• Instead of waiting for the mail five days a week, readers can get updates 24/7.
• CSM can reach a bigger audience with less investment.
• Websites are cheaper than printing presses.

Don't I know it! Just today 300 of you have stopped by to read what I have to say, and it's cost me nothing more than a little typing on a $600 machine that I've gotten good use out of almost every day for over two years. If I had to crank out photocopies and deliver them to all of your houses every day, well, obviously, the Madville Times wouldn't exist.

Oh, what's the connection between the Christian Science Monitor and South Dakota speech activities? Well, for years, a donor from Brookings has paid for CSM subscriptions for every high school in the state with an active National Forensic League chapter. I have thus heard hundreds of extemp speeches backed up with evidence from the trusty Monitor. I have also seen kids loading the buses with big plastic tubs stuffed with expertly organized folders stuffed with CSM articles on everything from the Albanian economy to Zoloft.

As the Christian Science Monitor goes electronic, perhaps we will see those hulking extemp tubs replaced with iPhones downloading the latest CSM right at the tournament. The novi can only hope. ;-)