Labeling GM foods failed, millions of lives are still at risk.

This stuff is kind of scary.  It is like the people at Monsanto that want so desperately to be Gods and to create life, just never gave a thought to what their creations would ever do.  Yep, just like Frankenstein.  The good doctor created life, but had no control over what his monster did.  Might have saved the little girl, but it destroyed the villagers.  Now, we have some more scientific studies showing what is really going on with the creations coming out of the labs at Monsanto and other Gene-Tech companies. A new report is out showing the transfer of inserted genes for the production of Bt Toxin into crop plants has now transferred to weeds.  This is not from HGT, or Horizontal Gene Transfer, which is the process in which the inserted genes migrate from the cells of the crop into the mitochondria of bacteria in close proximity.  As in when humans eat GM foods and their gut bacteria pick up the inserted genes to make Bt toxin.  This study is just about simple cross contamination.  How the pollen of one crop migrates to similar species to other members of that group, to others, to others then to weeds that we don't want and now are becoming super weeds, resistant to Roundup via the never before thought of process known as "Natural Selection". We also have this same process now for insect attacks as well.  The insects have developed resistance to Bt toxin.  The areas where insects aren't resistant are getting smaller as insects evolve through the same process of "Natural Selection" and develop that immunity. 

Isn't that just like a basic concept when trying to decide what to create?  Well, it SHOULD be a basic consideration, for non-Godlike mortals.  Just one more in the long list of flaws that are showing up in the reality that we mortals now have to live with in the world designed by those that play God, but don't have the training to do so.

1. One Gene, One Protein concept - just not the way it turned out.  When Monsanto started on their divine journey the human genome project was not finished.  We now know that the human genome consists of about 25K genes, making about 100K proteins.  Oops, it sure seems that the genes interact to make the proteins needed for life, and one extraneous gene in there is going to cause a bit of trouble.  I'm pretty sure that it is not just humans, but every living thing.
2. Natural Selection concept - well, it is not the way the world evolved according to my holy roller brother, but it does have a place in science, especially when we can actually SEE the results occurring right before our eyes.  Insects eat the Bt toxin crops, most die.  Those that don't, breed more insects with resistance.  Same with weeds sprayed with glyphosate, some die, those that don't, produce resistant offspring.  Oops, is that part of God's plan, or just an accident.  THAT is a bit of philosophical debate that is beyond my desire to participate in.
3. Pollen Contamination concept- yup, insects, wind, mechanized farming, all transfer pollen from one field, to another, and from one species, to similar ones.  Soon, there will not be any non-GM crops in the world, they will all be Genetically Modified.  Wait, that already seems to have happened in the high mountains of Mexico and the indigenous farmers can no longer grow the corn of their ancestors because it has been contaminated with GM corn and the new GM stuff has shallow root systems and higher nutrient needs requiring chemical fertilization that the natives have never had to do before.  Not sure why Monsanto hasn't sued the natives for patent infringement as they have done in the past, when they find those fields of what are supposed to be non-GM crops and can test the crops and find that they are contaminated.  Well, the natives can't afford the chemical fertilizer let alone paying the new gods in town.  However Monsanto tries and tries, and in America that process is very successful.  Soon the whole world will owe Monsanto because their divine concept is turning out to be a divine money machine.  
4. Horizontal Gene Transfer concept- I ate corn chips on Memorial Day.  Pretty sure they were GM corn, they would have to be as GM corn is pretty much everywhere.  The scary part here is that we have scientific evidence that the genes inserted into the corn to produce Bt toxin and resistance to glyphosate can and do migrate into the genetic material of the bacteria living in my intestinal tract.  Oops, you would think that those wanting to be God would at least look at this aspect of their work before attempting it. If mere mortals wanting to play God can insert genes into other species, doesn't it stand to reason that so can God?
5. Long Term Feeding Studies concept - no GM crop was ever required to undergo the scrutiny of testing before being approved for mere mortal consumption.  Oops, seems that lately a few very prominent and well respected scientists and organizations have begun to do that very thing.  And the results are not too favorable for Monsanto.  Rats fed GM corn and soy develop cancers at an alarming rate.  Mice and hamsters that make it to the third generation become sterile.  Humans, well, we don't really know now do we.  Hmmm, playing God doesn't give Monsanto omnipotence.  But the rise in cancer, childhood brain developmental problems, multiple degenerative diseases all seem to coincide with the introduction of GM foods on the market.  Being married, to a self professed god,  sort of gave me a perspective wherein I can see that just wanting something to be, does not make it so.  Monsanto and all the other gene tech giants WANT there to be nothing wrong with their crap, but then again don't want to test it, and publicly denounce any that do.
6. Substantial Equivalence concept - Monsanto somehow got the Senate of the United States to buy into the concept that GM foods are exactly the same in every way as their non-GM counterparts, without ever actually testing any of the stuff to prove the validity of their godlike proclamation.  Oops, that just isn't so.  Testing shows just how far off they are with GM corn having over 430 times LESS calcium as non-GM corn, 113 times LESS Magnesium and 7 times less Manganese.  All very important elements needed for human growth.  All lacking dramatically in just one GM crop tested.
7. Substantial Equivalence and Allergenicity concept - the thinking behind the one gene one protein concept gave rise to the belief that when the Monsanto Gods created new plants, those plants could not in anyway be different from regular plants because they only inserted selected genes.  There could not ever be any other mutations to the plant other than what was desired.  Oops, that one was the biggest and most obvious flaw in their thinking.  The actual process of making GM plants involves the injecting of select genes into split seed embryos and attempting to grow them into plants.  For every 10,000 attempts, they get 4 to grow.  For every 1,000 that grow, 2 might RESEMBLE the original plant.  For every 10,000 that resemble the original, only 2 or 3 make it to the testing to see if odd toxins are being grown in there along with their desired traits.  And even if they are present, only the really nasty ones are found, the chronic ones are not tested for in long term studies.  See number 5.  The very process should have alerted them to the potential hazards, yet their desire overshadowed common sense.
8. One of the concepts that Monsanto and the gang stress is that GM crops are more productive, with greater yields with less energy consumption than traditional farming techniques.  Oops, seems that this is just not so, one group of scientists poured over the data from farms in America, Canada, France, and Germany and found that traditional farming outpaced production of GM crops, well, everywhere.  Kind of not exactly what our new gods proclaim, but we are forced to believe it anyway.

So,what's the answer.  Well labeling of GM products in our food is a first step.  But the SHEEPLE in both California and Washington all have shown that they are indeed, just like sheep and easily swayed by the massive amounts of money the manufacturers in an entire industry poured into the TV campaigns telling the populace that GM crops are safe, wholesome, and the only way to feed a world growing with more sheeple.  The thing is that Monsanto and all the GM industry, the agrochemical industry and the entire giant industrialized corporate farm industry rely on the lies that they tell us.  Most of the rest of the world have laws in place to label GM foods, and in most of the rest of the world, people don't buy those products.  To stay alive, those agrigiants must keep the truth from the sheeple that consume the products their industry makes.  You, and me.  The future of our livelihood and the health of our descendants lies with the decisions we make now.  I don't eat their crap, it's up to you to decide what you want for you and yours.

Good luck in life, as always, your own destiny is held by you and you alone.  Temptation surrounds you, choose wisely.

New Drugs, New lawsuit opportunities

I just don't understand how the world works.  Yes, it's true, I, a man, admit that I don't know everything.  From what I understand, that would appear to be pretty rare. But then again when I was married, the ex knew everything, so maybe it's true about women as well and any single individual such as myself admitting that they don't know everything is what's rare.  It certainly is true about leaders of big drug manufacturing companies.  They never actually admit they don't know what is going on with new drugs, how they work, how many or the severity of the side effects might be, and yeah, how many will die.  And of course the big one there, how much profit can be squeezed out of the drug before those numbers get too high that the drug is recalled.  And that's what it's all about, profit. I do understand that part of how the world works, the drive and the need to make a profit on the things that you manufacture.  One can't make things and sell them at a loss.  The little spice packet/dip mixes that I make and sell, I make money on them.  IF I made as much as the drug companies did, I would sell them for about 800 dollars apiece instead of 3 bucks.  And if I did my business the same way the drug companies do, a lot of that extra profit would go towards settlements to people that ate my products and got sick, disabled and or died because there were ingredients in my dips that I had no idea what they were or what they did.  And of course, a big part of my profit would go to paying lawyers. For both sides.  In fact the drug industry is just about the biggest reason the shyster business has grown so much in the past fifty years.

Every year Americans go to drugstores and fill Billions of prescriptions.  Most people assume that those drugs that pharmacist workers hand over to you have been thoroughly tested and proven to be safe, effective against whatever maladies the doctor proscribed them to you for, and that the manufacturers know exactly what the drug will do to your body once you take the pill or inject the fluid into your body.  That is not exactly the case, for the most part, scientists can only guess as to what is happening and the real truth is that for the most part, they have no idea why MOST drugs actually work and the processes happening within the body that produce the desired effects.  And the side effects as well.  They don't like to admit it, but it really is true, most of the stuff we take daily is a mystery.  Even aspirin.  Scientists think they understand most of the actions that aspirin produces in the human body, but not all of them.  The big drug companies, Big Pharma, seems to like making new drugs, test them minimally and then expose as many unsuspecting consumers as they possibly can.  And they have been taken to court for doing illegal things over and over again.  When the profits are higher than the fines and lawsuits, there is no incentive to make safe drugs.  Read my other entries about Big Pharma at (Drug Fines) and (Fraud in an entire industry)

Take a look at some of the new drugs that are all the rage with the shyster set filling the airways with commercials for their services to sue the drug companies.

Victoza - from Victoza.com, (once-daily injectable medication that may help improve blood sugar levels in adults with type 2 diabetes) see that - may help.  MAY.  The literature is filled with their own doubt as to what the stuff does, however one side effect is that in many people they make greater amounts of insulin.  Lots of lawsuits in the works for those using this stuff and had no idea that the stuff would destroy their pancreas and thyroid glands.  Yikes.  Lawyers get to buy lots of new homes from this stuff.

Fosamax - the Merck website explores the wondrous nature of this drug to stop bone loss in humans.  It glosses over the parts about death, cancers, and a whole myriad of things that long term users of the drug are experiencing now that are the reason so many new BMW's get into the driveways of shysters.  And look, Merck even tells us that the exact method of action Fosamax takes is not completely understood.  Lawyers don't care.

Actos - Seems to be a lot, I mean a LOT of commercials on TV for shysters because of Actos.  Yeah, if after taking the stuff and you pissed blood, and if hurt like the Dickens, I would see a lawyer too.  This one works by making the human body more receptive to insulin, but scientists again are not certain how or why that happens.  We do see that a lot though now don't we.  Seems like it happens a lot, I mean a LOT.  Woo hoo, private schools for shyster kids.

Crestor, and all the Statins - One of the most widely prescribed drugs in the world, and the whole class of drugs, statins, are totally unnecessary.  As the metabolic actions of statins are poorly understood, the numbers and severity of side effects are enormous.  And diet, exercise and in reality, eating celery everyday all do a better job than statins and with no side effects that make shysters rich.  

Yaz, Yamin and Ocella - These are all part of the new generation of birth control pills containing drosperinone, a very different form of progesterone.  Seems that after the rush job for approval, then all the really bad side effects came out, from heart disease to blood clots to destruction of the liver and a bunch of others.  Shysters love these ready made lawsuits that the makers willingly settle and make them rich.

Sheesh, that's enough for now, I have a lot to do today, I do have a very small business to run and I have to go to the co-packer to pick up my salsa.  Go print labels, and of course, just daydream about the high profit margins that make the top ten drug companies more profitable than all of the rest of the Fortune 500 companies combined.  Seems like I'm not the only one licking their chops over those statistics, every shyster in the country salivates when they see the lines at the pharmacy.

Trans Fats soon to be a thing of the past in America.

Seems that the FDA does every once in a while, take actions that are good for Americans.  Last week they announced their intent to remove trans fats from the GRAS list.  At least they have announced that they are going to take 60 days for comments on timeframes for removing trans fats.  The actual process could take years, and if a manufacturer wants to continue to make foods using trans fats, there will be a process in place for them to do so.  If you think about it though, this action is pretty remarkable.  The first study done that correlated the use of trans fats and heart disease was published in 1956.  Research and scientific studies about just how bad trans fats are for humans have grown and have been so overwhelming in their stigmatization of the ill effects that even the fast food industry has begun to alter their processes to remove those pesky trans fats from their menus.  And the fast food industry does not do those things easily.  Again, last week the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy published their report on how fast food has failed in their advertised efforts to provide healthy food for children.  Looking at all the possibilities for a child's meal at all the fast food places there are a total of 5,427 possible meals.  And only 33 made the grade to be considered, "Healthy".  The industry talks big, but lies lies lies about their actual actions.  So the fact that they have already begun to remove trans fats says a lot about how bad they are for us.

So we should rejoice, the FDA has after only 57 years of researchers in the private sector publishing paper after paper about how monstrously awful trans fats are to humans; has decided to look into banning them from our food supply.  Sometime in the future, and most of them, unless there are no alternatives, and, well, you know, if they really want to keep using them.  But it is a great step toward making the American diet healthy.

If I think about it, I could make a list of the stuff the FDA allows into our food supply that researchers have shown to be bad.  And it would be pretty long.  Stuff like aspartame, potassium bromide, ractopamine, BHA and BHT, Azodiacarbomide, glyphosate, GMOs, and the list goes on and on.  I can only wonder how many people will be alive or living lives free of disabling degenerative diseases in another 50 years or so as the FDA finally takes action to begin to remove the known toxins from our food supply.

I will repeat again what I say all the time here.  The FDA does not regulate CHRONIC toxins in our food supply.  That is up to you.  Watch what you eat, read the ingredients, and never never never ever eat that crap from fast food places. The fast food industry makes billions of dollars each year, and some of that money is used to enrich the lives of the members of the regulatory bodies of the federal government.  That is more than just speculation, lobbyists for the industry spread a great deal of cash around Washington do-nothings in ever greater quantities in very successful campaigns to keep regulations of their industry to minimums.  The FDA instead is beginning to regulate small farms in America.  Huge restrictions on dairy, egg, fruit and vegetable production from small farms is about to drive those industries our of business.  But again, those small businesses will be snapped up by the giant agribusinesses and life will go on.  (Corporate Raiding of Small Businesses approved of by FDA)  The list of recalled foods processed by those giants will grow, and the FDA will tell us all how they are protecting us and our lives are better here on Animal Farm USA.

GMO LABELING LAW DEFEATED, again. Corporate money buys the election, again.

I had thought that the population in Washington state were of a differing mentality than those down in California.  Seems likely that they are not.  Last year the voters in California responded to the millions of dollars in campaign money that Monsanto, Coke, Pepsi, Nestle, Safeway and a whole host of major corporations that donated money to the drive to keep citizens from knowing what kind of food they are consuming. 

Monsanto and all of the big corporations that make money by using cheap crops loaded with pesticide and herbicide residues that were never tested for long term safety, KNOW that people don't want to eat things that are unsafe.  If a label is required, the thought process is that consumers will equate that specific requirement as being classified as unsafe.  The same as for cigarettes and alcohol.

Of course those labels have not ever really hurt alcohol and cigarette sales much.  But so far, that little label identifying normal, regular everyday foods has not done a whole lot for sales of GM crops in Europe.  In fact sales are minimal there.  Monsanto back in 1998 tried the reverse psychology approach there.

Monsanto seems to have two faces when it comes to consumers.  One face for European consumers  in which they gleefully tell the sheeple there that their creations created in their own godlike image of themselves are actually BETTER than their traditional counterparts and therefore labeling of any food product with the information that therein lies Genetically Modified crops that were created in a laboratory then doused heavily with toxic chemicals are in fact better for human consumption than traditional foods.  The company tells Americans the exact same thing, they just don't want us to be able to know which foods we are eating contain their poisons.

What Americans must remember is that Monsanto is a profit driven company, that UNDERSTANDS that they can get away with placing profit above the health and welfare of their customers, their workers, and the economy and environment of the entire planet.  Let us not EVER forget that Monsanto is the company that is responsible for:

PCB's
The cost of cleaning up the 40+ superfund sites contaminated at Monsanto facilities with PCB's is estimated to be over TEN TRILLION DOLLARS!  In the past thirty years, Monsanto has contributed less than 50 million to the cost.

AGENT ORANGE
This was an environmental disaster for Vietnam, and a horrific death associated with all that were exposed to the stuff that Monsanto assured the US government was absolutely safe.  And it is still in use to this day, it is sprayed on virtually all cotton grown in the world, with problems spreading to all surrounding communities.

DDT
Yes, Monsanto manufactured DDT and told the world it was harmless.  Guess what?  It wasn't.  DDT still exists in the environment in measurable amounts in most of the US and still affects the lives of birds and wildlife and probably even has unknown effects on citizens as well.  We just don't know.

ASPARTAME, GLYPHOSATE, AND NOW GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD
Monsanto and its subsidiaries are responsible for these wonders.  Aspartame was approved in THE most controversial federal regulatory agency decision ever!  With the FDA director approving the poison after 70% of the FDA staff stated it was toxic.  He then left the FDA to work at Monsanto at a 1000 dollars a day in a ten year contract.  And not have to do anything.  There are volumes of research showing the toxicity of the stuff, and yet it is still the number one fake sweetener on the market.  Research is showing us the lies Monsanto told the world about both glyphosate and GM foods.  Past propaganda from Monsanto pointed out that glyphosate was non-toxic and biodegradable.  All lies, the company has had legal sanctions against them to stop such advertising.  GM foods were touted as exactly the same as traditional crops based on.... well the Monsanto desire for them to be.  Approval is predicated on that belief.  And no testing is required to insure that the desire of Monsanto is in fact, the truth.  Independent research coming out of reputable independent facilities all over the world is showing us that the Monsanto vision of how they can make money, is all a lie.  Read some of my other articles written about this very subject.

(Selling your Soul)  ( A good lawyer) ( GM testing) (Needs of the Few) (Recovery)

We are at a crossroads.  Monsanto believes that they control the traffic signs.  The sheeple that don't care about their lives, their health, the welfare of their loved ones, will be herded down the path that not just Monsanto, but all of the big agribusiness giants want us to go.  Those that think for themselves, will go where they need to go.

Let us not ever forget that Hitler did not have any where near the control of the media, the food supply and the population that our government, that is controlled by agribusiness, has today.  When the sheeple are herded in the direction that Monsanto wants you to go, which way will you run?

CREATION, the story of the beginning.

I'm trying to achieve bliss.  Not bliss, but BLISS.  For me, there is an actual Bliss Point.  Actually for everyone there is a Bliss Point.  Nobody likes to talk about it, but it exists, and for people like me, it is the ultimate expression of one's ability to create.  I do it via trial and error.  Big food manufacturers do it with lots of scientific testing, people with proven palate acumen and tasting ability sampling thousands of combinations, charting of specific ingredient densities of specified additives in which past performances and ratings have been calculated and the scariest part is the laboratory use of artificial tasting equipment that was made using living human cells that are kept alive in an artificial environment with the whole thing manufactured to give specific human type responses to levels of specified flavor constituents within a given trial recipe for a product.  All of the technical capabilities possible in modern science coming together in a laboratory by highly trained people attempting to find, The Bliss point, that point where the levels of salt, sugar, processed fats all come together with the maximum desirability with flavor, texture and ultimate satisfaction.  Oh, and yeah, the big guys also test to find out what kinds of toxic additives can be added and in what quantities without destroying the drive to The Bliss Point.  By toxins, I mean preservatives, anti caking agents, artificial colorants, artificial flavorings, artificial, well, anything.  It's difficult to imagine, but new products coming from corporate food takes hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce.  Those pesky problems with trying to mask the metallic flavors of so many of the artificial additives makes for a long and drawn out process.  And of course there is the other problem about how adding any of the good things, fat, sweet or salt are only good up to a point, and it is the technological methods of find that point, that Bliss Point, that costs so much money.

Hard to think about it, but all of the processed food in the stores has gone through, a Creation process.

Me, I have been doing this awhile and so pretty much know what tastes good, to me anyway.  And I formulate a product, make it, taste it, make more and sell it.  Seems so pedestrian when compared to how the big guys do it all.  I mean, really, I taste test a product with no added fat, sugar, salt or chemicals.  No wonder I am such a small timer.  But then I don't actually have hundreds of thousands of dollars to find out how to make something taste so good as to be, well, almost addictive.  Like Oreos.  Yep, professor Schroeder and his team at the University of Connecticut have come out with a new study about, food, specifically about Oreos.
“Our research supports the theory that high-fat/ high-sugar foods stimulate the brain in the same way that drugs do. It may explain why some people can’t resist these foods despite the fact that they know they are bad for them.”

 Oreos.  And Cocaine.  I quite eating them when they changed the gunk in the middle to hydrogenated canola and palm kernel oil back in the eighties.  Somehow I think that might have been a wise decision, especially after reading about this new stuff.  I mean we have known for quite a while about sugar and how bad it is for us, or at least the bad info and research has been available, just never talked about by the media.  Those guys don't ever want to offend those that pay them advertising dollars.  But just for fun, check out this cool 45 minute video about sugar.  (the Secrets of Sugar)  those Canadians on occasion have the cojones to put out correct info. 

One of the things that I do when I talk to people at farmers markets is to tell them about the state of the food supply in America today.  And the failure of the government to protect us, as citizens, from the damaging effects of the processed food industry.  And of course I do it with the hope that I will get a teaching job.  I do teach healthy, real cooking to people.  I use real ingredients, make real wholesome food quickly and full of flavor, not fat, sugar and salt.  And yes, I do it because I make a few bucks teaching.  But I also love to get the word out that processed foods are THE reason that Americans have higher rates of obesity, cancer, heart disease, cancer, inflammatory diseases, and well, really, everything pretty much that goes wrong with the body is a result of poor diet, toxic additives and environment.  We, those that want to alter our lifestyles and change our eating habits, must find our own personal Bliss Point in the foods that we make and consume.  It isn't hard, it is all about eating crap, and attempting to enjoy a long slow miserable death; or lowering our Bliss with good foods, no sugar, little salt and living better.

I've found my Bliss.  If you need help finding yours, contact me. 

Again with this religion stuff, you promised to never talk about it ever again.

Yes, a while back I said I shouldn't talk about religion ever again.  Well, it is a deep subject, and perhaps worthy of a mention now and again.  I guess that the conversations yesterday have led me to bring it all up again.  It seems as though some people (my brother) like to point toward the perceived problems with things that don't measure up to their world viewpoint and faith.  Anything that stresses that ideal about the infallibility of the bible, and modern religion is wrong, no possibility of compromise whatsoever.  I on the other hand understand that viewpoints differ, and accept the fact that it takes all kinds to make a world.  And that leads me into today's thoughts about, not religion itself, but about god.

What kind of a creature is god?  Benevolent, beneficent, sure, whatever.  God is all things to all religious men.  God has taken time to create this incredible universe and according to my brother, out of the billions and billions of galaxies each containing billions and billions of stars god has created life on this one planet out of all the other planets out there in this great cosmos.  And on that one planet, god has decreed that it is his provenance to make sure that young catholic boys don't masturbate.  Given what we know about the activities of catholic priests, there does seem to be some correlation between a man devoting his life to god and what we believe god is doing.  You know, sex wise.  Anyway, my brother tells me that the great cosmos is in fact devoid of any other life.  That all life in this universe is here on planet earth and that god created this place for us.  And we are to go forth and multiply like Mexicans and never masturbate.  And give countenance and devotion unto the god, the creator.  Through prayer.  That's how we communicate with our god, the creator.  It is not a one way street, god shows us daily the miracle that god has created for us here on planet earth by making the sun rise, the birds sing, the rain come and of course the mosquitoes bite and the germs kill, and earthquakes destroy and tornadoes kill and destroy; god makes life happen.

There is an old cartoon that I remember seeing a long time ago that is appropriate here, a man is sitting on a bench talking to god and he asks of him why does god allow war, disease, poverty and death to be so rampant here on earth.  And god looks at the man and says that he was just about to ask the man the same thing.  I take it a step further and say that man then says that he learned all that from god himself as god does a pretty good job of destroying and killing the people that were chosen to live their lives on this planet created for people by god.  When we look at all the suffering going on in this world, and all, or well most attributable to god, we begin to see why there is a need for prayer, for the people to communicate with god.  To ask forgiveness for sins, for forgiveness for masturbating, for cheating on a spouse, and most often, to ask for help to save loved ones from death as a result of all the problems that beset mankind both from god and from himself.  Plus I'm sure there are a lot of prayers to hit the lottery, or for a roll of the dice, or a horse or dog to speed it up a bit.  Given that man was created in the image of god, or so we have been told, then maybe there is a correlation between mankind and the sadistic nature of listening to the prayers of mere mortals asking for things beyond their means, and to save people from death and suffering.  So the question is in reality, does god listen to prayers?  It is the standard reply from the religious among us that god answers all prayers, we just don't always understand the answers.  That means it is all pure hokum and they have no answers either.  But what if this planet was chosen as the location of the indoctrination of hell unto those that deserve it.  A place where beings of incredible power and ability that have misused their power and are sent here to serve out a sentence from the greatest beings of all, the actual creators of the universe.  Those sentenced to serve in hell are strapped into a chair, not necessarily in the literal sense, and forced to listen to the continuous prayers of the beings created especially for that purpose.  Beings that live on this imperfect planet and living lives with free will and the actual sinner here is our god, forced to listen forever to the incessant whining of people here on this planet as they go on and on and on and on and on about how they need to win the lottery and how they are sorry for having sex with the paper boy and the gardener, and how they stole that money from petty cash and blamed the secretary, and how their parent needs to be saved from the ravages of a deadly disease, and of course how the teenage boy couldn't help himself and masturbated.

It all sounds a bit tiresome.  Having to listen to all those prayers, constantly, day in, day out.  For a god that is able to create a universe and then create human beings, having to listen to all that crap for all eternity seems like a waste of good divine ability.   

Then there is sin.  What is sin?  Is it sin to kill a man that is trying to kill you?  In war, no, in the streets, maybe, because he slept with your wife, no way.  Except in the bible, it was the duty of the populace to stone, and kill, a woman that slept with a man not her husband.  So when did that change?  Bestiality is a sin, or well, it is illegal, but when I lived in Austin I was sleeping with a woman that wanted me to urinate on her after sex.  Anal sex.  Is that a sin?  I guess the more important question, is it illegal?   And since no one was hurt, and the young maiden enjoyed the experience, on many occasions, was it a sin?

God has a mighty weird job.

Absolute Faith, blind and otherwise.

I think that faith, absolute faith, has indeed become a fixture in our modern world.  Blind faith.  Absolute total faith in a system of belief wherein the concept and details are not actually provable, at least not yet.  But for those that believe, provability is secondary to the actual belief.  And I'm not actually talking about religion, although there are many parallels with modern day religion that we can draw from.  My brother tells me that one of the causes of a breakdown in morality in America is the loss of religion, however statistics show this to be actually a bit off from reality.  Atheists statistically are more moral, commit fewer crimes, murders, tax evasions and adultery than those who profess to be religious.  So what this means is that life here in America does not require an absolute belief in blind faith.  There of course is that other argument that atheists will be the first ones on their knees praying at the first sign of a miracle; however when the Cardinals made it to the Super Bowl, I didn't see masses of people praying, and that in itself was a miracle.

Sorry, I digress.  But the facts are that my life here in America, and yours as well, are ruled by absolute and total BLIND FAITH. When scientists postulate about some abstract concept, they do experiments and collect data from which conclusions can be drawn.  That is called the scientific method.  For the most part it rules how science has moved forward these past several hundred years and why you can read this on your computer.  The scientific method has real provable tangible results attributable to cause and effect relationships in everything around us from the movement of the heavenly bodies to how such heavenly bodies as Sophia Vergara came to be the way she is.  The religious method of faith is just the opposite, there is a concept that must be believed, therefore scholars view the world and attempt to find facts that support the concept that they want the rest of the world to take with Blind Faith. 

In today's world, we, all of us, are expected to accept in total and complete Blind Faith, the concept that Genetically Modified foods are safe, healthy, of substantial equivalence to traditional foods and all without any scientific testing whatsoever.  Monsanto WANTED these conclusions to be the inerrant truth, and so not unlike the Creationist Method displayed above, so it is.  Back in 1996 the Senate held hearings, at the request of Monsanto, to give blanket approval for all Genetically Modified crops that were about to come out into the marketplace.  As support for their desire, Monsanto took some of the crops and fed them to rats for a grand total of sixty days.  The rats lived, and to this day, I cannot find the results of the Monsanto feeding studies of GM corn done in 1995 anywhere.  The fact that the rats lived must have been enough for Monsanto to have total and complete BLIND FAITH in their miracle foods.  They requested, and received, approval for GM crops to be grown here in America.  Without any further testing. 

 

This is just one aspect of how BLIND FAITH doesn't work.  The projected appearance that Monsanto wants us all to have is that the FDA will protect us from harm.  The reality is far far different.  Let's remember that the FDA doesn't actually do any testing of new food products, they instead utilize the research from the businesses that are introducing new food products to the world and using THAT data alone, determine whether or not approval should be granted.  Again, BLIND FAITH rules how the FDA protects us, as they take as the gospel truth, data, from Monsanto and others, as to how safe the GM crops are.  They also did the same for glyphosate, Roundup.  The problems become apparent when we begin to peek around the curtain at the man working the controls.  Just like when we question religion, we begin to see that the conclusions don't have any facts supporting them.  When Roundup was first patented by Monsanto, the BLIND FAITH claim was that it was harmless, biodegradable and completely non-toxic.  That has been proven as outright lies.  Genetically Modified crops have been presented to the world with the BLIND FAITH proclamation that they are substantially equivalent to traditional crops, harmless, and will increase productivity.  And all with virtually no research, data, or testing to substantiate the claims.  Sort of like the bible.  BLIND FAITH.  It works for a belief in a benevolent higher order of being, but for me that same concept doesn't work for the world in which I live in.  I WANT PROOF that these GM crops are safe, in long term testing.  I can't accept precursory testing done by the manufacturers when prominent scientists all over the world are doing the sorts of testing that SHOULD have been done 17 years ago and never was.  And the results of that independent testing is giving us a very disturbing reality.  One that does not fit in with the visionary BLIND FAITH required by those that demand it of us. 

I'm not an atheist, I do have a system of beliefs that work for me, and are in fact taken by me with blind faith.  Just in case you were wondering.  However I do believe that those that play at being a god, like Monsanto, the Senate, the president and my ex; need a bit of scientific proof to back up their claims.