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Written by: James BlueWolf

Published: 02 March 2007

Created: 02 March 2007

Last Updated: 25 March 2007

The myth of better productivity and reduced environmental danger, long promoted as the benefits of genetic engineering in plants and animals, has now been exploded. It is only better for the patent holders, intellectual property seekers, and corporate conglomerates. It is in their best interests to keep the consumer ignorant. Science is no longer the neutral Switzerland of pure curiosity it once was, if it ever was, and fewer than 5 percent of all scientists are now economically dependent of corporate sponsors. Ninety-five percent are paid to skew or engineer their results to favorably reflect on the interests of their “sponsors.” The democracy of science no longer represents the consumer.

No laws exist that limit biological pollution — biological contamination is potentially much more dangerous than chemical. Recent studies indicate that only 60 transgenic fish introduced into a population of 60,000 wild fish led to the extinction of the entire species group in as little as 40 generations and in a storm off the Atlantic Coast up to 100,000 farmed Atlantic Salmon escaped. Biologically engineered species destruction is exponential. Transgenics do not coexist in the wild, they invade and ultimately destroy all natural competitors — this is true of fish, pigs, cows, sheep, soybeans, canola, corn & rice. Diversity is destroyed in the name of scientific progress. There is no natural uncontaminated soy or canola seed left on the whole continent of Canada. Similar contamination and destruction of corn cultivars is occurring in Mexico and in India, of the original 200,000 cultivars of rice, only 256 varieties remain today. Today, seed, and plants themselves are being patented in the US Patent Office to corporations like Monsanto and Bayer. Only seed activists are bucking this tide.

Even human genomes are being studies for patenting. Native peoples in danger of extinction have been targeted by corporate pharmaceutical giants to bring back blood samples in the hope of discovering new and potentially patentable characteristics. A company actually convinced the Icelandic government to allow data mining of every patient medical record of every citizen in Iceland for genome research that specifically goes to pharmaceutical and life and medical insurance giants. The myth of miracle cures — pushing the fetal implant, gene therapy, and stem cell research projects is not only naïve, but dangerous.  Ultimately, designing an a new and improved child may seem like a good idea to some parents — at least until they have their next child and improved technology allowed for significant improvements over the first. We may reach a point where our these children become obsolete, like Windows 95 compared to the Windows 2003 editions of technological human development upgrades.

The control technique of plant and animal contamination today is a terminator technology or engineered sterility. Scientists claim these technologies will effectively protect the environment but the pollen from terminator genes has been proven to cause sterility even in the seeds of other, unrelated species of plants. All this technology seems to represent the Cartesian model that all life is a machine, a mechanistic myth that promotes the idea that genes are the tinker toys of scientific progress and life may be creatively engineered — a kind of manifest destiny applied to the natural world.

Experimental data now exists to confirm that in consuming genetically altered DNA, organisms may incorporate that DNA rather than eliminating it. This calls into question the safety of consuming transgenic foods, yet there are no laws governing the labeling of fish, vegetables or meats in the US today that tells us if the products we consume are transgenic. New evidence seems to indicate that transgenic experiments in the real ecosystem may generate alarming disease rates and extreme species contamination, even to the point of species extinction. This lack of labeling is part of an intentional effort to keep us ignorant & misinformed while we are made the control group test subjects for corporate patent holders. It’s certainly cheaper than real science. We are the new guinea pigs. By supporting organics and seed activism, we can resist corporate science, protect our fragile ecosystem, and help make healthy alternatives affordable for our grandchildren.

James BlueWolf

Lakeport

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Written by: Howard Glasser

Published: 20 February 2007

Created: 20 February 2007

Last Updated: 25 March 2007

I want to be sure that the Caltrans director for our district acknowledges their crew that came to my rescue Friday afternoon Feb. 9 and helped me out of a perilous situation that was both life-threatening and could have caused a serious accident involving other vehicles, if not for the emergency roadside assistance they rendered.

Friday afternoon shortly after 2 p.m., I was driving in the southbound lane on Soda Bay Road (Highway 281) heading towards Highway 29 when my car suddenly stalled, forcing me to pull off to the side of Soda Bay Road at a location just north of Tenino Way which intersects Soda Bay Road prior to Point Lakeview Road.

This was an emergency situation for myself and other drivers on the road at this time because my car stalled on what is a winding portion of Soda Bay Road, without enough room for me to adequately move my vehicle from blocking traffic approaching from behind, though I had pulled as far to the right as possible before my vehicle came to a complete stop.

It was raining at the time of the incident with slippery road conditions and reduced visibility. My headlights were on. I turned on my emergency blinkers and immediately exited the vehicle and proceeded to wave down oncoming vehicles to alert them and hoping to get help. I feared being struck by another vehicle and or having another vehicle not being able to see mine in ample time to stop and avoid a collision with my car as they came around the bend in the road.

I did my best to alert traffic coming from both directions, all the while gravely concerned for my safety and the safety of other motorists. It was my good fortune that a Caltrans vehicle happened to be traveling on Soda Bay Road, saw my stalled vehicle, and stopped to render assistance. There were two Caltrans employees in the truck. One got out and stopped traffic while the other helped by pushing my vehicle (with me at the wheel) to the other side of the road, which had a wider shoulder area where I would not be impeding traffic and cause an accident. They notified the CHP and requested a AAA tow, having informed them that I was a AAA roadside assistance member. I didn’t have a cell phone with me and so I could not have made the call for emergency road service.

Having pulled me out of harm’s way, I was extremely grateful to them but their assistance did not stop there. These guys were such good Samaritans that one of them drove me to where my wife (who was expecting me) was working and then back to the scene of the incident with her following in her vehicle, while the other Caltrans worker waited alongside my vehicle until our return. Shortly after they left, a AAA tow truck pulled up and towed me to the nearest garage, Riviera Auto Repair on Broadmoor Way, where the owner, Mike Laier, was able to immediately diagnose the cause of my car’s sudden mechanical failure, a faulty ignition coil wire, and within an hour had my car repaired and back on the road.

I cannot help but think of what might have happened if not for Caltrans. On my way home from Lakeport later that day, as I was making the left off Highway 29 at Kit's Corner to return home on Soda Bay Road, I saw several CHP cars and vehicles that had been in an accident there and while hoping those involved in that accident were not badly hurt, was simultaneously filled with so much thanks that I had been lucky enough to have two guys from Caltrans stop earlier in the day to offer their help and clear the road for other cars.

It makes one think how life is filled with so many moments that can turn in any direction and change your life forever. My life had one such moment in that I’ll never know what turn my life could have taken if not for good luck and a couple of great guys from Caltrans who saved the day.

I wish I would have gotten the names of those Caltrans guys but I’m hoping that by contacting Charley Fielder, the Caltrans director for this area, that my thanks will get back to these guys and that they will be acknowledged and commended by Caltrans for what they did. Thanks also to Mr. Fielder for his efforts in helping to get the much-needed traffic signal at Kit's Corner, Highway 29 and 281.  Given the number of accidents we have seen at that intersection, the residents of this area are very grateful to him and Caltrans for moving that project forward.

Howard Glasser

Kelseyville

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Written by: Fred Johnson

Published: 20 February 2007

Created: 20 February 2007

Last Updated: 25 March 2007

I see that GREG BENNETT, president and general manager of Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa, has cancelled the upcoming Boardstock event, because he can't control his people.

There were 40 citations from the ABC for minors purchasing/consuming alcohol and the majority of those were "over 21" wristbands on minors. His employees were responsible for handing the wristbands. Perhaps if he had off-duty Sheriffs' deputies or off-duty CHP officers handing out the wristbands there wouldn't have been a problem.

That also means that he would have to pay them more than the $10 an hour or less his employees are paid. What person of sound mind would turn over a bunch of "over 21" wristbands to a new group of young minimum-wage employees and then not supervise them closely?

The Boardstock event would have lasted several days and had over 50,000 atendees. It would have brought close to FIVE MILLION DOLLARS in revenue to Lake county itself. That chance is now gone because Greg Bennett can't properly supervise his own employees. THANK YOU GREG!

He still could have hosted the event if he hired the right people to hand out the "over 21" wristbands and then monitor them with supervisors if that was the real reason he canceled the event

Does anyone still believe he wants "all the best" for Lake County, as some Supervisors do?

Fred Johnson

Clearlake

PS - How is it that Konocti only lost its liquor license for ONLY 20 DAYS, in the off season, after receiving 40 CITATIONS from the ABC for minors drinking/purchasing alcohol?

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