To: The kernal of poopdeck,

Your joyous, self-serving rationalizations of our corn crop, our agriculture, being surplused and exported as feed for animals is absolutely hilarious.

The food production of this country is sold to developed countries for huge profits. We import food to make up for it. The corn this country produces is rightfully relegated to ethanol production, or pig feed. Having spent a good deal of my childhood in rural areas where corn grown at the local level and sold there was tender, sweet and plentiful. I can still grow this in my backyard. The closest thing you'll ever taste is frozen, name brand, 'sweet, white,' while in the produce department the ears of corn are what we called 'pig-feed,'large, irregular, orange kernels that when cooked are tough, tasteless, starchy rather than sweet.

Meanwhile, your collective paucity of knowledge, let alone experience, indicates your inability to recognize just who does the work, besides the labor of the dollar invested by wanna be bluenose investors. In fact, I have heard better arguments for plutocracy, and the subservient middle managers required for it's enabling, from freshmen college students. Your inabilities to see possibilities that are neither Socialist or derived from misinterpretations of Marx's philosophy of economic justice locate your intellect into that subterranean gloom of the 'institutional man.' A very astute book, a best seller in the fifties that became required reading for some business, and sociology, majors. Not to reveal the plot, but to help you understand the failure of the props to the CEO, CFO, etc.

For the record, the SCOTUS was the provider to Corporations of personhood beginning in about 1836 through the early 1970's when it equated the dollar to freedom of speech. It certainly was not the electorates lack of interest nor any enlightened organization attempting to protect the individual from the 'heel of the boot' of psychopathic corporate behavior. Rather it was the snitching by goons like you two that sold out most of the U.S. working population for your two pieces of silver. How can you be anything else?

Where is your Fortune 500 or 100 company creation? Yeah, I know. It's in your head all planned and ready to go. Only problem is you don't have a product, you don't have the exposure to the kind of education that encourages skillful, creative thinking in engineering, architecture, medicine, agriculture, resource management or any other field that has fueled this economy.

Your contribution is that of a clerk, you check the time cards, you time the ten minute breaks, you take down the Union organizing info from the bulletin board, you dock the pay one hour for a 3 minute late arrival, you fire the person with real ideas on improving production, you deny safety concerns and refuse entry to OSHA inspectors, and finally you want 'your people' to like you and want to go out and have a glass of wine, Bud, or good scotch with them.

But they always have other plans, families, or groups that don't work for shits like you.

And so you come here with your half a brain full of corporate propaganda to spew out because YOU are FEARFUL of people with ideas who know that it doesn't take an inefficient, corrupt corporation to perform a mammoth project with no description. It just takes the whoredom of a used car salesman with Congressional access to represent the brochure of the company. And if you are related, or are an alumnus of the social college circles, if you married into the old moneyed clans, that is your validity, your expertise.

There are exceptions like the so called computer nerds that became wealthy based on their abilities, in contrast to the mama's boy of Microsoft who bought the rights and code for what became MS-DOS from a talented, unsuspecting software engineer for a pittance and since his mother was a board member, was able to monopolize the IBM operating system as MS-DOS and all subsequent IBM, Intel, AMD microprocessors designed for MS-DOS in hundreds of computer manufacturers using those and other compatible microprocessors or CPUs. But I digress.

Most corporations steal their concepts, most businessmen steal any idea they see from all manner of sources on the bet any copyright/patent infringement suit will never appear or will be rendered ineffective by sheer financial strength and the expense of litigation over years.

But we appreciate your input of corporate superiority over mere mortals, even as it lacks any rigorous analysis on your part of the actual ability of any corporation to perform to a contractual efficiency or that corporations are what seperate us from the 'brutishness' of the past, of history. The fact is corporations are the cause of the brutishness in collusion with their European aristocracy and dominant religions of a 100 years ago. You know the 'Industrial Revolution,' the Adam Smith philosophical yoke of mass labor to produce the wealth of the moneyed backers whose hands were as soft as lambs wool.

DOG LEG: Your arrogance is appalling. I have done a good deal of research into esoteric fields and mystical belief systems. To lump that under "tabloid" headings is so unnecessarily insulting as to inhibit me from commenting on your post, other than to ask where YOUR data is, sir? You throw the poison arrow, where's your EVIDENCE of anything from times long gone, proof of any of YOUR conjecture? You just want to attack, so you get to argue FOR your limitations, as if you are the supreme authority on all things mystical, mysterious and beyond logic's grasp.

In the March 2006 issue of Permaculture Activist, there is an ad that reads "Six in the City...Six Thousand Pounds of Food Harvested on 1/5 Acre City Lot in '04."

"In our society, growing food yourself has become the most radical of acts. It is truly the only effective protest, one that can, and will, overturn the corporate powers that be."

All the talk about how all is lost, of how 1984 is here, of how powerless we are - is moot. Our power to live much more sustainably is within our grasp and is the one true power we have ever had, and the only one that can bring corporate hegemony down.

Let's talk about what we CAN do, instead of what we can't. DO, and regain control, or DON'T, and sit 'n bitch - that's the choice.

For those who decide to DO, these links might help:

http://www.pathtofreedom.com/
http://www.yourmoneyoryourlife.org/

This is why they are crashing the economy on purpose. It allows them to buy everything up and take more control. They want us all as slaves. Destroy the middle class, so there is no threat to those in power. It's Orwell 101...

The Global Food Crisis is Jesus' way of Culling His Flock. Only after the heathens have been stripped from our ranks can McCain/Rice prepare the Faithful for Armegeddon!

Then, Jesus will return to convert five loaves of bread and two fish into Wendy's chains everywhere! The American Heartland of Chickenpluckistan will worship God forever!

^^^ If widespread confusion currently exists about the appropriate distinctions between the proper roles of corporate capitalism in the marketplace and popular democracy in governance, much of it has been orchestrated by corporate interests themselves.

Strange that so many people think we should somehow get rid of the corporations in this country that are furnishing us a modern lifestyle as well as making bombs and missles. Try going back to the 1800`s type of life without corporation furnished electricity, plenty of good food, medical care, and hundreds of other things that are taken for granted.

Many others do not want free trade but that is the condition that was here before countries developed their political ways of fouling up everything. Face it, there have been much worse times in the past and we just need to work on our problems together and stop all of the destructive conversation.

In the past few weeks I heard an NPR editorial and Newsweek columnist (Robt Samuelson) dismiss criticism about the role of hedge funds and speculators in driving up commodity prices. Both times they made similar arguments: critics are "conspiracy theorists", the investments are from retirement funds hence your everyday average person. Samuelson presented a chart showing non-sensational price increases in various products over the past several years while ignoring the dramatic price increases of oil, corn, rice in the past 18 months. The defenders of free market capitalism are doing their job at NPR and Newsweek. Dismissing critics as they present shoddy and distorted 'reality'. Nice to see this good article which is an excellent antidote!!!

There's no crisis. As it has been pointed out by Naomi Klein in Disaster Capitalism: State of Extortion, we're all been blackmailed and extorted. There have been several outrageous campaigns of lies to terrorize the globe into allowing corporations to make even greater profits on the expense of the environment and human lives.

Her article (The Nation) has two subtitles that say it all: "Oil Price Shock: Give Us the Arctic or Never Drive Again" and "Food Price Shock: Genetic Modification or Starvation".

The corporate takeover of human systems reminds me of "2001 Space Odyssey".

UPLUG HAL THE CORPORATION! ...Don't do it Dave ..."Daisy, Daisy give me your answer do..."

Starring Hal as the Corporation and Dave as the human race. Who will unplug Hal?

"World Bank-IMF, whose agenda has been to discourage crops for domestic consumption while encouraging production to spur export driven growth."

This is because domestic consumption does not make money for transnational companies, and clearly shows what side the WB and WTO is on; and it isn't the poor starving peoples.

I read recently that Iraqi farmers are now not able to compete with imports of food from Jordan thanks to the 'free market' ideology forced upon them. I'd also like to note that GMO seeds have been forced into/onto Iraq. Part of Monsanto's increasing profits?

"Control oil and you control nations; control food and you control people." - Henry Kissinger

The dramatic price in commodities has been largely due to speculation. Over the past number of years with the deregulations of the commodities markets with such things as the the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, which 'created' the 'Enron Loophole' by exempting over the counter electronic exchanges from CFTC oversight. Also the CFTC permitting the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) in January 2006, which allowed trading of key US energy commodities – US crude oil, gasoline, and heating oil futures – are able to avoid all US market oversight or reporting requirements by routing their trades through the ICE Futures exchange in London instead of the NYMEX in New York. Wonder why gas skyrocketed in the last 2 years? They like to blame India and China, and while I'm sure the demand from those countries is increasing it is obvious that the skyrocketing prices have occurred at the same time as ICE, since early 2006. Not rocket science IF you are informed.

Also the growth of hedge funds has been increasing with the fall of investment opportunities in the house markets. The 'people' who typically invest in hedge funds are the one with the millions and billions to invest, so they are profiting off the poor/starving peoples of the world.

Bane Richter, I want to play on your team.

MiMiCcs, or whatever it is you believe is your identity,

Your knowledge of human behavior is astonishing. And your analytical skills, not to mention superb reading comprehension, must surely elevate you to that esteemed position of "satirist."

It is just a shame you are deluded by your "starved ego."

Siouxrose,

Do me a favor, research the total human population, irrespective of racial identifying. Note the role of the male through 200,000 years of evolution, note your concept that we are part of a planetary experiment in evolution according to "spiritualists" from "diverse sources."

Then using this research, which is not derived from supermarket tabloids, show me any human endeavor towards civilization from "polytheistic cave-dwelling hunting and gathering," "polytheistic pre-agrarian," "polytheistic agrarian," "polytheistic nomadic tribal," "polytheistic agrarian tribal," "polytheistic feudal agrarian, bronze age," etc. up to "monotheistic corporate feudalistic monarchy," through contemporary "dominant" "post-industrial, corporate, diverse theistic, democratic republics and socialist republics," that "god" exists as an entity purely for the empowerment of the white male of the species for that 200,000 years or even your "centuries." That "people" have a father image of white men due to Western European acceptance of Christianity's insistence of monotheism is cultural blindness due to it's Western European centricity. Much like the ancient belief that the sun revolved around the earth that was flat with no gravity. With the exception of the Muslim faith, all other cultures are polytheistic by degree, none of which are "white" and comprise 2/3ds of the global population. Your "diverse spiritualist sources" might have noticed that scientifically there is no "white" race in existence. There does exist the Caucasian, Mongolian and Black racial classifications. The North and South American aboriginals are part of the Mongolian classification as is the original genetic manifestation occurring throughout most of Asia. All three classifications have a cultural/biological bias toward the male of the species which is independent of altruistic interpretation. This is a biological necessity nature has mandated. Each biological sexual manifestation of a species has inherent strengths. In humans, all the biological physical manifestations of race and sex have been converted to political, religious, economic issues due to ignorance, propaganda, stupidity and allocation of abusive power supported by the former concept, propaganda. Mass populations divided against the members for perceived inequities, differences, class advantages, etc. permit easier control by those who retain power, financially, intellectually, industrially and politically.

Karma, however, is undeniably the great equalizer of humanity's inhumanity to it's own. It is just not as effective as willful political action.

Northrup Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, L-3, General Dynamics, CACI and all the little lice that cling to this fascist engine: The enabling stooges within the Government who surrender to their fear. Start here, destroy these terrorists first. Not with their favorite tools, bombs and tyranny, but an easily understood campaign of information that persuades even the most unenlightened. The enemy is deeply entrenched, happy housewives and family men work for the same companies that build weapons to burn women and children. Until they are ready to invite this fact into their conscience, things will never change.

Kernel August 2nd, 2008 7:56 pm -- "Arvy___ If we want to limit the influence of the capitalist corporations, there are two ways to accomplish that. One would be a bloody revolution ..."

Perhaps we're in agreement without realizing it.

I would certainly concur with the implicit assumption that the power of capitalist corporations has reached a stage where it has become almost indistinguishable from the power of governance itself. In other words, the self-proclaimed "greatest democracy on earth" is, in actuality, not a real democracy "of the people" at all, but a corporatocracy. And yes, it does appear unlikely that anything short of an overhwelming popular rebellion is likely to change that in the foreseeable future.

As for your suggested alternative of a "rollback" by that corporatocracy's blue facade, I fail to see anything like revolutionary equivalence coming from that quarter. If they've been disguising their true post-election intentions, their certainly very adept at it.

There a bit of schizophrenia here on CD. One the one hand, some people are sounding the alarms that the planet is going to fry if we don't stop consuming, and articles promoting this view are widely applauded. On the other hand, articles explaining how the corporations have taken control of the commodities, and are helping you consume less by raising the price and in some cases, proposing the supplies be reduced, provokes a well deserved outraged.

They are both symbiotic issues. AGW is to get you to accept that fascism which will make you poorer and unable to afford as much food and energy as you need, and the government supported corporate cartels controlling food and energy will earn more profits (lower volume offset by higher prices).

When people are hungry and poor, they are too busy surviving to consider revolutionary acts like looking for the truth and speaking of it, so government gets to stay in power despite feeding it's citizens to the corporate wolves.

Win-Win.

See it?

William Greider ("The Soul of Capitalism") argues for removing the mantle of personhood from corporations AND strongly regulating them AND removing tax breaks and incentives.

And one thing we should remove for sure is the idea of "free" trade agreements that harm other countries by giving our corporations carte blanche to bleed their economies and natural resources.

In India, for example, rice farmers are no longer allowed to save rice to use as seed for the next year's crop. Instead, they must purchase very expensive American-made genetically altered seeds. As of a few years ago, 5000 destitute rice farmers had committed suicide, having lost all hope of ever again making enough money to support their families.

In Mexico under NAFTA, American agri-business flooded the Mexican market with underpriced corn and beans (staples of the Mexican diet) until they had forced 1.5 million Mexican farmers out of business and prices were again allowed to rise. These are the folks we now label as "criminals" and "illegals" when they desperately seek work in America.

Huzzahs to Hugo Chavez and other South American leaders who refuse to be taken in by our trade policies, the IMF or the World Bank, and have established their own trade groups and financing. Of course, we are now going to send our Navy to South America to patrol the shores of all these countries who are "uncooperative in the War on Terror."

Our foreign policy is based in corporatism instead of anything approaching mutually advantageous free trade.

If the price of fuel and food keeps going up then we all may be riding the bus and eating our neighbor.

Arvy___ If we want to limit the influence of the capitalist corporations, there are two ways to accomplish that. One would be a bloody revolution as we have seen in other countries, not a good choice. The second way is to vote for Obama and every Democrat running and roll back the Bush and Reagan tax cuts which gave such an advantage to the rich and powerful interests.

If we cannot get that job done, we may as well join them by buying some stock and sharing in those obscene profits. The ownership of companies is available to all who want to take a few less trips and live in a smaller house to have something to invest.

Then if none of that works, we can go back to hunter-gathering which some feel would be so great. However there will always be those that will rob someone of their gatherings instead of the share and share alike theory, which will not last long.

Socialism is a fine idea, but eventually the same type of people will again control everything and the less agressive, unlucky, lazy, or incompetant will be in trouble again.

Good post S17TR5. The corporate media today would put people who spoke the way the people you quoted in a tiny little pidgeon hole slam the door and label it populist, or protectionist or whatever they choose so that the sheeple could not catch more than a millisecond of sense.

Beginning with hunting/gathering all systems of production, distribution, and consumption were eventually replaced by others with only a few isolated "spots" of the "old" systems persisting on Earth here and there. Although the real or subliminal fear of hunger by growing populations was probably not the sole driving force for the changes, I cannot conceive of any other primary reason. Marx did not get this.
Ironically, the "collectivization" of agriculture by Stalin's USSR was not a communist but a capitalist system because, as I think is true, efficiency and not profit is the principal driving force of capitalism. It is irrelevant that the communist agro-system was less efficient than the preceding Russian family farm. The communists believed that "collective farming" ought to be more efficient and they may have been correct but woefully dumb, uninformed and premature.
Once farmers became the owners of their land and were free to buy and sell, the family farm, with or without slavery or serfdom, became the dominant production unit of foodstuffs. At the distribution end, however, revolutionary changes have meanwhile replaced the mom-and-pop store forever with huge supermarket chains in much of the world of today. Fear of hunger, aggravated by the unknown and poorly predictable consequences of "global warming" will eventually doom the remaining mom-and-pop farms too although the USA will be one of those "spots" where the "old" system may hold out a while longer.
It is not possible to predict whether the future gigantic agro-consortiums will be privately or publicly owned. My hunch is that there will be a great variety of "ownerships" across the globe. Whatever the case may be, the political consequences will be huge because striving for "food independence" by nations can only result in disastrous terrorism and wars. The world will have only one good choice namely to opt for "food interdependence." There is apparently no new "green revolution" in sight.
Governments and intergovernmental organizations such as the United Nations have traditionally refrained from telling companies what they must or cannot produce, except of course in the military sphere and with respect to product safety. We already experience radical changes when governments tell car makers that their vehicles must reach a minimum number of miles per gallon of gas. In the future era of "food interdependence" government and intergovernmental regulations will have to powerfully and strictly regulate the global production and distribution of food. It must not be a system of starry-eyed, hot-air, help the poor starving idealism of today but steely edged realism because it will become a matter of life-or-death for our descendants.
The time to act after disasters have happened is forfeit. It is time to begin changing for the next global system of production, distribution, and consumption now. Preciously few politicians understand this. Our Presidential wannabes are not among them.
If hunting/gathering was superior to our current market-driven economy why has hunting/gathering disappeared except in isolated spots of New Guinea? Hence there is no reason to kowtow to "market-driven" and believe almost religiously that it is the best system of production, distribution, and consumption forever.

S17TR5 August 2nd, 2008 6:00 pm

Great set of quotations. Unfortunately, they end quite abruptly with Eisenhower's presidency and it seems very doubtful that any similar clarity on the subject is likely ever to return to U.S. politics.

The bottom line is that we are kind of screwed, blued and tatooed no matter what we do.

Before the play is out, we will be paying for "quality air" to breathe...

"There is an evil which ought to be guarded against in the indefinite accumulation of property from the capacity of holding it in perpetuity by … corporations. The power of all corporations ought to be limited in this respect. The growing wealth acquired by them never fails to be a source of abuses."
-- James Madison

"I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations which dare already to challenge our government in a trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country."
-- Thomas Jefferson

I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country.
"As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavour to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety than ever before, even in the midst of war. God grant that my suspicions may prove groundless."
-- Abraham Lincoln

"As we view the achievements of aggregated capital, we discover the existence of trusts, combinations, and monopolies, while the citizen is struggling far in the rear or is trampled to death beneath an iron heel. Corporations, which should be the carefully restrained creatures of the law and the servants of the people, are fast becoming the people's masters."
-- Grover Cleveland

"Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day."
--Theodore Roosevelt,

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
-- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Kernel August 2nd, 2008 5:04 pm -- It is not capitalism that has gotten us in trouble, it is greed, stupidity, corruption, warmongering, consumerism, ..."

Distinction without a difference.

Sorry, Kernel, but I think you are confusing capitalist corporatism with productive capacity. They aren't synonymous -- or need not be.

randolfski___ I agree with you about the corporations buying off the people that are supposed to represent us, but that is the fault of all of us for permitting that to happen. Many should have been thrown out of office years ago for taking money and favoring large companies or rich people.

That is a totally different argument from the fact that for our modern way of life to be possible. we have to have companies of sufficient size to do the mammoth projects that keep it all going.

We will see, if we have a depression and breakdown of our economy, just how many people are so happy with losing the comforts of our daily lives that no one had many years ago.

It is not capitalism that has gotten us in trouble, it is greed, stupidity, corruption, warmongering, consumerism, indifference, and an administration out of control.

Anyone that thinks we can magically turn this system around in short time and have a wonderful, socialistic, sharing society with small government better start writing comic books. Instead of continually knocking what we have, everyone needs to help figure out how to get back on track again instead of spouting nonsense that is only a waste of time.

In my dream Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan are standing on a street corner in New York City. Pointing to a street sign that says,"Wall Street", Gorbachev says,"Mr. Reagan, tear down this wall."

Kernel;
Where do you think we would be if we did not have the large corporations
producing materials of all kinds that keep this country running? I am not
ready to return to the kind of life that people had 100 years ago and I doubt
you are either.

dear kernel: boy how you do not speak for me. I yearn for the way it was 100
years ago. People were stronger and more self reliant, while the corporations
were just beginning their takeover of the US government. Their original role was
in service to "we the people" up until 1896, when a supreme court clerk wrote his
opinion in the margin of a court decision (Santa Clara County VS Southern Pacific Railroad,)
declaring the railroad to have the same rights as living, breathing people under
the US Constitution. Needless to say, "we the people's" destiny was fixed at this
point. After a little over a hundred year's effort, and a paltry few millions of dollars
in bribes to US elected officials, we now have a corporate government. As a writer
noted above, our last four presidents have been corporate. Is it any wonder our
infrastructure is crumbling while our foreign policy is all about domination of others
in order to exploit their resources. Anyone with any knowlege of history will see the
similarities with Rome and Nazi Germany, All signs of a society in decline which is
what we in the west face if we don't act to turn this around. As much as i'm unhappy
with Obama's switching course after the primaries in a race to the center, I know his
heart is in the right place while his head is being fought over by the corporations.
The only way he can heed our voices is if we make ourselves heard. Go to mybarackobama.com
and let his campaign know how you feel about his turnaround.

Its all starting to happen. Read 1984 to see what its going to be like.

Petro-fueled food is now permanently priced out of the market. Petro-capitalism is in serious decline today, and the elites know it. Why else would the Demoks and Repuks circle their wagons together? Their whole economic/political establishment faces imminent collapse. In its place will be localism - economic/political power to the people.

I liked the the phrase "...the throws of its bust." Ah, homonyms...

Maybe one logical outcome of capitalism is the big players buy up all the stuff, creating fatal shortages. What would happen? Riots? Something worse?

White bread with some margene to sop up my bowl of Campbell's chunky soup. Wait, it needs a bit more salt................that's better, mmmmmmm. Dam bread is stuck in my denture, better wash it down with a glass of Sunny D........buuuuurrrrrp.......that's better. Better save room for desert. Let's see now, what will we have...?

~GAIL~, you are correct about private well water. Many state governments have already passed laws where if and when they wish to take control of private wells they can do it.

The bigger picture of climate change suggests that there will be no winners. Ignorance, aggressively applied by economic elites, will end badly for everyone. People seem to have failed to gain the wisdom necessary for survival. The outcomes are clear except for those in denial. We suck!

Barbara, Thanks for your informative article. It's obvious you've put a lot of time and energy into uncovering this information. Your words support the terrible premise of David Korten's classic book, "When Corporations Rule the World".

"The fight over water may bring chaos, conflict and misery on a scale never seen before as corporations and governments go so far as to grab the wells from under people's houses."

If they start confiscating well water, people will be out in droves with shotguns.

As soon as man invented money you have this world as it is now.

NATE: Good post. Cynicism has a proven track record given what passes for commerce today, global corporate capitalism without conscience.

RICK: The two premises are not mutually exclusive. Elites have certainly utilized religion to keep populations passive, awaiting a savior and/or salvation from the pains of ordinary life in some distant nirvana. That does not mean there is no God, but the concept of God is pretty much that of an all too flawed and HUMAN father. People associate power with God, and their only source of human power for centuries have been men, usually white, who had lots of economic influence. So the image and likeness of the deity has been crafted to suit this HUMAN image.

Spiritual teachings from diverse sources suggest that this planet is an experiment in evolution. The human the midpoint between the animal kingdom (which has some intelligence and instinct to be sure), and the higher "angelic" kingdoms. For the individual to make use of free will to spiritually grow, the allotment from "God" comes down to the individual possessing a mind, body, emotions and soul. Were God to act, it would pre-empt individuals from learning a key universal law that operates on this earth plane: the law of consequences, also known as karma, or "do unto others as..."

When people blame 'god' for not correcting injustice, it's taking god for your daddy who will protect you. Instead to recognize there is an indwelling spirit that lives in every being that comes from this mysterious SOURCE liberates us from the fiction of messianic complexes, and those "leaders" that would abuse these notions to keep their flock in a corral.

God created the universe, the earth, and mankind. God gave us a brain to think with, and to develop tools to help ourselves live, and to create weapons to kill ourselves and others with, if that was our choice. God isn't watching over us so lovingly, ready to step in and save us when things get tough. God isn't going to save us from corporate greed; God made that kind of mind just as God made our kinds of minds. Heck, who knows - God may be off creating other universes and maybe a better mouse trap.

Barbara___ Sorry to rain on your doomsday parade, but there are still a good number of we farmers out here going about our business as usual and the corporations are far from eliminating us. As for the statement that GM seeds are being forced down farmers throats, that is totally wrong. Most farmers are asking for those seeds as their performance pays off in better yields and less dangerous spraying requirements. Some farmers have not even wanted to plant a portion of their fields to an insect refuge because of the yield loss.

The comment that almost all of US corn production for several years has gone into ethanol production is also not true as the greater part is used in animal feed or exported for feed use.

Where do you think we would be if we did not have the large corporations producing materials of all kinds that keep this country running? I am not ready to return to the kind of life that people had 100 years ago and I doubt you are either.

America has done more to shift power from people to "entities" (corporations) than any nation on earth.
They are (as someone said) like fire. A wonderful servant and a fearsome master. America owes a duty to reign them in a bit (if that's even possible) and installing a liberal government here is the only way that can even start---much less finish.

What if their is no GOD! What if those that have that are in power today and have been power for thousands of years, created and promoted the myth to keep the poor masses bent over praying, while they picked their pockets.
What if hope as been the slave and reality the chains?

Why is it that BIG GOVERNMENT in America and all over this planet is allowed to SHOVE petroleum manufactured fertilizer down every farmer's throats and force them into poverty? Stop supporting BIG GOVERNMENT and look for natural alternatives. It isn't difficult so stop making a mountain out of a mole hill !

By the way, can anyone from India please confirm whether Cannabis is legal to grow? In America, it's OUTLAWED thanks to BIG GOVERNMENT and it's relationship with BIG OIL and the rest of CORPORATE AMERICA !

"Free Market" is an oxymoron... There is nothing free about a market, the very definition of market is an establishment where buying and selling take place. It appears that the corprofacist are positioning themselves to force soilent green down the throats of the masses while the corporate elite feast on the backs of the working class.

So long as there is a stone upon the ground, I shall not die a grovling death of starvation. The corporations may hire mercenary armies to break our bodies, employ torture to break our minds, force us unwilling into abject slavery, but they cannot dislodge God from the universe.

Do not be surprised (especially if McCain gets into the White House in 2009) if this scenario comes to pass: food prices get so out of control that a foreign country declares a food emergency and "nationalizes" all food sources & distribution. The food conglomerates (ADM, Nestle, etc.), call in their political chits a la the Oil Industry did in Iraq and the US military invades in a 21st century redux of Gunboat Diplomacy. The natives, facing starvation and occupation, resist with a guerilla campaign that makes the previous Intifadas look like a tea party. I would not be surprised if Blackwater is already gearing up for this future "business opportunity."

Unchecked corporate power is the greatest threat not just to personal freedom but to the very survival of humankind.

Our last four presidents have been more corporate spokesmen than politicians - or men.

jj