A second
anti-GMO law has been struck down in Hawaii, with a federal judge
today overturning a Big Island ban adopted by its County Council.
U.S.
Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren again ruled that county authority over
GMOs is pre-empted by state law. He made a similar ruling in
overturning Kauai County's Ordinance 960, which also attempted to
regulate pesticide use by four GMO seed companies and Kauai Coffee.
The
anti-GMO moratorium that Maui County voters narrowly approved on Nov.
4 is also likely dead, as Kurren will rule in the legal challenge to
that initiative, too.
Kurren used
the same rationale in striking down both the Hawaii and Kauai county
bills: the state Legislature clearly intended for state agencies,
such as the Departments of Health and Agriculture, to oversee such matters.
He also found that the Hawaii County Ordinance 13-121, which banned all
but existing GMO crops, was partially pre-empted by federal law, a question that was not resolved in his ruling on Ordinance 960.
As in
the challenge mounted to the Kauai ordinance, Kurren did not address
many issues raised in the Hawaii Island complaint, which was filed by groups representing small banana, papaya and flower farmers,
as well as ranchers, along with several individual farmers and the
Biotechnology Industry Association.
He
instead focused solely on the core issue: pre-emption.
Kauai
County is pursuing an appeal, joined by Center for Food Safety,
Earthjustice, Surfrider and Pesticide Action Network. Hawaii County
hasn't decided if it will appeal, but Civil Beat reports that Sen. Russell Ruderman, who
represents the Big Island and heads the Senate Agriculture Committee,
said he may introduce a bill that gives counties authority to
regulate.
Given the opposing views of his counterpart in the House, it's unlikely such a
bill will go anywhere.
Meanwhile,
CFS dismissed the second ruling as no biggie and vowed to fight on —
or so long as the donations keep coming in.
Which
reminds me of the latest fundraising appeal from Food Democracy Now!
It was looking for dough to assemble “an emergency recount response
team” to watch Oregon officials in each county recount ballots after the state's GMO labeling law lost by 812 votes.
In other
words, fully milking it. That's how so many of these groups make
money.
Posts
33 comments:
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.
Thank goodness for people like Judge Kurren.
Some people get swayed by misinformation that if repeated often enough and not challenged, will actually start believing it, leading to mob hysteria.
Thank goodness for people who are able to process new information (critical thinking) and not be swayed by smoke and mirrors. Haven't we learned from history . . . and Hitler?
Oh the irony of it all! Once again, a federal court protects the citizens of a county from the tyranny of a mob driven by demagogues. Thoughts of conspiracies send shivers up my spine. And again, the lemmings will plunge over the cliff to appeal heedless of the cost to their fellow ratepayers. Only perhaps Hawaii County may take a pass and leave it to the lawsuit vultures at CFS, Earthjustice, PANNA and that ilk to squabble over the carrion on this one. Let's all beat the drums and have a good old Hooser Basement Happy Dance for this one with Ruderman conducting the Wazoo Band, an organic turkey drumstick from his store in hand (or perhaps somewhere else, but modesty and the clientele of this blog forbid suggesting) - the $4.99 per pound one if you please and no GMO stuffing mind you. Brigadier General Jack Ripper says I must protect my precious bodily fluids.
Haven't we learned from history . . . and Hitler?
Short answer: no.
Dictators large and small are plentiful today, in countries and counties, in nations and neighborhoods. How they get their power isn't magic -- it's served up to them by ordinary people who are sucker bait for demagogues.
In the newspaper today -- "Therefore, Hooser said, the state has already delegated authority to the counties to enforce existing GMO regulation, and Kurren’s pre-emption decision contradicts existing law."
Isn't Hooser a law school drop-out? But he knows more than a federal judge! LOL! Idiot.
The real dictators here are the state and federal governments who are illegally occupying the Hawaiian Kingdom and interfering with the rights of local communities to control our own affairs. Federal Judges do not represent us the common people- they represent the corporations which control the federal and state governments. The USA government is an oligarchy that cares only about economic profit, power, control and greed. The real idiots are those who support such governments.
"In 2013, the United Nations announced that the world's agricultural needs can be met with localized organic farms. That's right, we do not need giant monocultures that pour, spray and coat our produce with massive amounts of poisons, only to create mutant pests and weeds while decimating pollinators and harming human health. Don't believe the hype: We do not need genetically modified foods "to feed the world." This is the first paragraph from an interesting article- http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/27636-united-nations-calls-for-an-end-to-industrialized-farming#
There is a new Council. As the new guys come in, there will be ego jockeying and power grabs.
Never underestimate da Hoos, he has remained at the top. He is smart, conniving and dedicated to furthering himself.
Hopefully, the new Council Chair will keep all blabbering by Council members on the Agenda topics. That was Jay's downfall, he let the blabberers take control the show.
It can be harsh, but the Chair in order to keep a functioning body must be control. The Chair can table proposed amendments and has absolute control of agenda items.
There are many heavy issues we face. All taxes will probably go up. The County is digging deeply into it's reserves. This can effect Bond ratings and interest payments.....a half a point of interest can again hurt Kauai's financial integrity.
Da Hoos and JoAnn do not realize basic economics. The State has no dough, the Feds will not give dough.
The recent arguments between Tressler of GF and da Hoos were off point. The State zoned large tracts of land as Ag. the County in order to PROMOTE Ag has certain tax breaks...GMO uses these tax breaks, legally. The entire Ag tax system is based on the desire to keep the open lands...Corn, Coffee and all Ag is subject to national and international commodities and consumer purchasing power. KAUAI Coffee could be finished in a heartbeat, either by a bad crop or Brazil dumping coffee and the consumer not buying, Kauai Coffee...same with corn Seed can all be kaputski....consumer trends (less ethanol and less sugary drinks and fewer Cows getting eaten) could by supply and demand wipe out Corn etc....Wake up, Hoos, Mason and JoAnn....Big Ag and big land are not some big jackpot of money...they are businesses.....BTW Big Sugar built our roads, electric power and most of the infrastructure we have....Sugar went down, so can all of our current Ag.....but then again, Ag CPRs are great and maybe when the Ag gets killed by Mason, JoAnn and da Hoos, we can all have a cheap lot.
Happy Thanksgiving and beware of any one who talks about Ag and has never walked a hanawai ditch.... Water is the key. And da Hoos don't know where da key is.
Well, since we all seem to be so "protected", by these horrific "mobs", *rolls eyes*, perhaps our great protectors should go over to Ferguson and see what they can do there to "protect the people from the mobs".
The real ACTUAL mobs, not the figurative and fantastical mobs we seem to have here. Talk about flying unicorns, holy GMO Popcorn, batman!
Maybe Kurren should try the magical touch over there, instead of here?
We have had enough of being controlled by the governments, and the rules and regulations ther of that have loopholes big enough to drive trucks through created by the very people who are being sued by others, so that they can get off the hook and do exactly as they please, no matter HOW laws are written or how much is protested. They are indeed, my friends, taking over.
And after the entire food supply, and every single living created thing on earth is created by them, then what?
The new world overlords, my friend. meet the future.
You will obey, or you will be annihilated.
Wow.
Life really IS stranger then fiction!
50 years from now they will laugh at how stupid we all were for letting all of this happen. Seriously.
Mo'opuna will be asking the great grans:.."Were you alive, back then? Gee, why didn't you try and stop it all?". "Well, Kimo, because back then people thought it was all safe. Hey, Sally, how are your four arms and three legs doing today? That blue one looks a bit sore?"
"Yeah, I fell off my hovercraft yesterday!"
"You should be more careful!"
It could happen.
Drops the mike and walks off stage.
@ 9:49 AM – Happy Thanksgiving. May you open your eyes, find peace and rid yourself of your anger which only hurts you and no one else.
@ 11:30 AM – Yes, we should look towards the U.N. for all our answers and leadership as they have done such a good job solving world hunger, eliminating war and ending corruption, particularly within the U.N.
@ManuahI- You are right- the UN is not the leader in this movement for a cleaner safer world, the public is the leader, moms, pops, students, teachers, farmers, and everyone else who are educating themselves and have an interest in finding the the healthiest, cleanest,safest and most sustainable ways of feeding ourselves. I read the article in the link- there are many wothwhile things to think about in the article. No need to look to the UN for leadership, just read the article and consider what it says.
There’s nothing new about corporations using the legal system for overturning the will of the people. This begs the question: should we CONTINUE to allow private corporations to “legally” extinguish the will of the people whenever it suites their agenda?
6:21. The will of the people has to be legal or else it's mob rule
@6:21, So the citizens in Germany who broke the "legal" laws by protecting Jews from harm, would you accuse them of mob rule? Would you have recommended that they follow the law?
@7:23-- If you don't believe in the rule of law why make new laws?
some laws are imoral - must be defied
11:30 -- get out there and start an organic farm then. What's stopping you?
The UN? psshh...they are so clowning and have no clout. Evidence? They recognize atooi as a sovereign nation...laughable
http://m.thegardenisland.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/king-of-atooi-nation-strikes-plea/article_11893ab8-c82a-11e2-88a8-0019bb2963f4.html?mode=jqm
@7:23,
You are comparing the Nazi's program of genocide to Hawaii law governing pesticide regulation? Way to trivialize the organized murder of 6 million people.
6:21-On Kaua'i and probably anywhere else too, I will definitely take mob rule over corporative rule. Now corporations make laws that result in the Citizen's United decision to allow unbridled spending by corporations in elections. Laws that say corporations are people. These laws go against the will of the people and only become law through corporative influence. Laws which benefit corporations over people deserve to be broken, ignored and overturned by the people themselves, by the mob. Power to the people. Power to the mob. Down with the oligarchy!
@8:33- I see no trivialization in 7:23's comment. It seems that they are saying when laws are bad or immoral and create distress and suffering for many people, it is acceptable and even preferable to break and ignore such laws until such time that they are repealed. I thinks such an attitude in no way trivializes the deaths of anyone anywhere anytime as the result of such laws.
Yeah, right, 10:35. And in the meantime you just keep on supporting the corporate oligarchy by buying and using their stuff….. like whatever device you're using to post comments here.
Joan, Supporting corporations by purchasing their products is fine by me and in no way supports the oligarchy. What I don't like is corporations and their money being used to influence law-making. Corporations and their money should have no influence over lawmaking and lawmakers- that is what an oligarchy is. Keep the corporations. Take away their power in government and return it to the people.
@Manuahi, I (9:49am) am responding to your comment. Mahalo for the thanksgiving wishes, I also hope you had a wonderful day yesterday. Please do not mistake my comment for anger. That was not my intention. Just looking for the truth in the world and using that truth to help create a better world for all of us. The original inhabitants of these islands have suffered so much at the hands of foreign powers, primarily the USA. It is time to make pono all of the injustices which are still being perpetrated to this very day. Wishing that your life is pono and you never have to suffer the injustices that the kanka maoli have.
@11:07 AM.
You just corrected yourself.
Corporations are comprised of people.. They have just as much rights as you do when it comes to government choices.
@11:07 AM.
You just corrected yourself.
Corporations are comprised of people.. They have just as much rights as you do when it comes to government choices.
If you don't either respect, or understand the risk, you have no credibility to comment on it.
http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/nassim-taleb-the-precautionary-principle-and-gmos/
@1:44- Take the money out of politics. No individuals or groups of individuals (including corporations) should be able to influence government with money. When that is allowed, those with the most money have the biggest influence. The corporations have the most money. There can be no real equality when the wealthy can use their wealth to influence government. I looked up the definition of oligarchy, and yes, that seems to be the form of government that exists in the USA today. It is not a government of the people, because the wealthy (individuals and corporations) get preferential treatment over the average citizen, resulting in a small group of the mega-wealthy 1% having power and control over the 99%. Not my kind of ideal situation.
Mel is a cop. Once a cop always a cop. He only understands control and his own ego and knows nothing about risk. He and Ross do not read reports and studies bahahahahahahahahahahah! You think they read?
Why should corporations based in foreign countries or controlled by foreign nationals have the same rights as American citizens?
We should be clear that this bruited about "will of the people" is a will o'wisp. Only someone quite addled would suggest that 23 out of 86 thousand registered voters on Maui represents the "will of the people" and a thundering mandate when 22 thousand were against the ban and the other 41 thousand went to see sharks at the beach instead of at the polls. Ditto for Kauai where Barca was soundly defeated, Bynum bounced and Hooser, despite his post-election terpsichore seizure barely ousted a better man by 92 votes and the Siren of the KKCR airways finished among mortals in the basement. Terminal denial is not a useful personality trait especially when it's accompanied by addled thinking and an affinity for the intellectual pabulum of the social media at the expense of work. Dr. Novella's blog, provided by 2:24PM looks to be something very special. Mahalo for that link.
Nancy Pelosi - "We have to pass the health care bill so you can find out what's in it"
Gary Hooser - "It doesn't matter if the bill is enforced. All that matters is getting it passed."
Republicans hate Pelosi, and they hate Hooser. Easy to see that the "other side" of this issue, ie the "silent Majority,, the ones that always say they are so silent, but the majority, are right wing party line holding conservative Republicans, and dare I say it, Tea Party darlings. So, they will always be for GMO's, and people who adhere to the preconceived good ole days of the 1950's, where people of color knew their place, as loyal servants to their white employers, loyal, you know like the ones that wouldn't sit on the front of the bus, and scolded the maids that dared to take taxi's.
These are the types in that age bracket that in my opinion post here. It is easy to see they will tow that rhetoric to the grave.
So, the rest of us get it. But, this is 2014, and I think we need to move on from that. Now extreme left wing liberalism is no better, but I would rather be on that side of the fence, then on the latter.
just an observation, on my part, when people post statements like 8:37.
The statements are quotes from the politicians. Don't criticize the messenger.
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