Friday, January 6, 2017

Musings: From Maui to Bangladesh

Poor Maui. Some of its Council members are so keen to force their agenda on the entire populace that the legislative side of its county government has come to a standstill.

Yeah, the minority anti-ag “Ohana coaltion” — Kelly King, Elle Cochran, Don Guzman and Alika Atay — has demanded a public hearing to decide what Council committees should be formed and which members should be on them. Until then, the Council's work is stymied.

Coalition members already tried unsuccessfully to exert their will by opposing Mike White's return to the role of Council chair. With agitators like SHAKA's Mark Sheehan gumming up the works, the chairman selection process took an insane “13 1/2 hours, 75 testifiers, five failed nominations and two hourlong executive sessions,” according to the Maui News.

Looks like it's gonna be a long two years, with the Council set up to split 5-4. This infuriates the Coalition and their supporters, who wasted no time in trashing the Councilmembers who wouldn't go their way:
You see, it's impossible to have different views and opinions. Those who think otherwise must be sell-outs and conspirators who are wed to "corporate agendas." 

So who are those pressing for change on the Maui Council? Besides failed Kauai politician Gary Hooser, who filed a bogus ethics complaint against Chairman White:
Hmm. Don't see many brown faces in the crowd.

Seems the “Ohana Coalition” members are such control freaks, and so paranoid that something might happen without their involvement, that they want to serve on each and every committee.

Can you spell power hungry?

Speaking of spelling, Lauryn Rego of Babes Against Biotech is proving that it's never too soon to start indoctrinating the keiki:
If A is for activist, then P is for poser:
Yes, that's Lauryn again, determined to make a statement — "Look at me breastfeeding!" — while making a statement.

And N is surely for narcissist:
Apparently she's not concerned about injecting the toxins in tattoo ink directly into her skin...

Seems the under-30 crowd in America has bought the organic industry's wholly undocumented claim that its products are superior.

According to a poll by the Pew Research Center, some 61 percent of under-30 Americans believe organic food is better for their health, while 48 percent think GMO foods are worse.

So they continue to live with their parents so they can spend an inordinate amount of money on the much higher priced organic groceries? Looks like corporate advertising and fear-mongering have successfully co-opted the younger generation.

In the United Kingdom, meanwhile, public opinion seems to be turning in favor of GM crops. The government is poised to approve field trials for a new type of GM wheat that represents the first crop genetically engineered to produce a higher yield by boosting the photosynthesis process.

And Bangladesh, the world's seventh-largest exporter of potatoes, is moving toward commercializing a blight-resistant potato. Potato farmers there are currently spraying 500 tons of fungicide to protect their crops from late blight, and this resistant potato could turn things around. That nation already has successfully adopted an insect-resistant eggplant that has dramatically reduced pesticide use by the farmers who grow it.

Despite its villification by anti-GMO groups, Monsanto is ramping up its research and development efforts. The company expects to spend $1.5 billion on R&D in 2017, up from $550 million 15 years ago.

Why? According to Hugh Grant, chairman and chief executive officer of Monsanto

Demand is real and productivity improvement is a key to their success. The USDA demand figures have indicated that over the past four seasons, world demand for corn grew by over 4 billion bushels while soy demand in the same timeframe grew by over 2 billion bushels.”

No doubt some of that research will be carried out right here in the Islands — despite attempts by the Ohana Coalition and other anti-GMO activists to shut it down.

59 comments:

Anonymous said...

Science does not give a s#@t what you believe.

Comparatively, GMOs are doing in a few milliseconds what evolution would take millions of years to do. Why not fight for disease free food. We have to find a way to feed the world's ever growing population and science will lead the way.

Trust in science; tried, tested and peer reviewed science.

Anonymous said...

Gosh, those tats are horrible

Anonymous said...

I feel sorry for Rego's kid.

Anonymous said...

Another liberal hoax and all about the money.

Anonymous said...

If baby is thirsty, and mom is called to the mike, then Regoʻs breastfeeding is totally appropriate. Joan, if you feel this behavior is inappropriate, then please tell us what you would do when called to the mike with a thirsty baby in tow?

Joan Conrow said...

What caught my attention was not feeding a thirsty baby — if the baby was indeed nursing at the precise moment that Mom was called to the mic — but the decision to capture the image from the Maui Council meeting videotape and share it on FB as a political statement.

Must every act be one of self-aggrandizement?

Anonymous said...

I hate to say it but complacency on the part of the silent majority on Maui is partly responsible for the predicament we're in over here. It took many years for those folks on Kauai to rise up and take their island back. Wonder how long it will take on Maui? 2018 can't come fast enough and we all better WAKE UP!!

Anonymous said...

Nothing at all self-aggrandizemental about sharing that on FB. Breastfeeding is normal and beautiful expression of love of mother for child. Too bad some fail to see that beauty and love, and instead focus on the negative.

Anonymous said...

Five lies about organic food

http://www.cheatsheet.com/health-fitness/lies-told-organic-food.html/?ref=YF&yptr=yahoo

Anonymous said...

Joan you seem to enjoy posting pictures of your victims and then mocking them. And then of course it's open season assault by your anon commenters.

Anonymous said...

There is a time and place for everything; even if beautiful and natural.

If her baby was truly hungry she could have deferred to take the microphone until after speaking. Everyone would have given her that right.

Joan Conrow said...

@12:59. I'm glad you recognize the humor! These are all images that they themselves have widely (and proudly) shared.

Anonymous said...

Mob rule moves to Maui.

Anonymous said...

2:26 PM said: "Mob rule moves to Maui"

Just because you disagree with their opinions doesn't make them a mob. Nor does testifying about their concerns.

Anonymous said...

"So they continue to live with their parents so they can spend an inordinante amount of money on the much higher priced organic groceries?" You must be joking! Especially on Kauaʻi, with the exorbitant rental and house prices. Mahalo Joan, this comment really made me laugh.

Anonymous said...

Mothers should decide when is the proper time to breastfeed. Moms know best! Those who are offended should just look the other way. Kudos to Ms. Rego.

Anonymous said...

No indeed, 2:51. Their actions make them a mob- a lockstep, lock jawed, locked minds bunch of arriviste haole flogged on by the likes of Mark Sheehan, a quintessential offshore opportunist and his cohort of under-educated, self important and delusional fellow travelers. How much bullshit do they have to shovel on the public before people realize they are a bunch of dingbats on the make.

Anonymous said...

"So they continue to live with their parents so they can spend an inordinante amount of money on the much higher priced organic groceries?"

No they use food stamps.

Anonymous said...

Joan said "Apparently she's not concerned about injecting the toxins in tattoo ink directly into her skin."

And why should she be?

The pigments used in the inks are color additives, which are subject to premarket approval under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. To quote the FDA "All dyes used in foodstuffs or cosmetics have to be vetted by the FDA for safety, and although some of the colorants the FDA grants approval to do contain lead, it is present in such miniscule amounts that it has no adverse effects on consumers. Manufacturers who wish to do business in the USA are restricted to the use of FDA-certifiable colors only; otherwise their products will not be allowed in the country or onto the shelves of American stores. Each of these approved dyes has its own rigid set of specifications which must be adhered to. For instance, F&C Red #6 cannot contain more than 20 parts per million of lead (also not more than 3 parts per million of arsenic or 1 part per million of mercury). As for how stringent these requirements are, every time a manufacturer prepares a batch of dye for use in its products, it has to submit a sample from that batch to the FDA for certification. The FDA's certification process is exhaustive and exhausting. And only the FDA can certify colors as safe — no one else has that authority. "

Joan Conrow said...

Interesting, then that Ashley's Center for Foid Safety regularly criticizes the FDA as ineffective and corrupt and its protective measures as flawed and inadequate.

Not to mention the impacts of low-level chronic exposure to the lead, etc. ;)

Anonymous said...

Sorry, not buying the coincidental need for breast feeding during her 3 minute testimony.....and I proudly breast fed my two kids for 2 years each, and in public when necessary.

Surmising that Mom Rego is more hungry than her infant. For attention anyway.

Anonymous said...

7:06 Wonderful that you breast fed your kids. Mine were also all breast fed. I honor all choices you made as to where and when you breast fed. At the same time, I also honor Mom Rego's right to make her own choices. Personally, I have never been offended by public breast feeding in public, anywhere in the world. And I support the right of all mother's to decide for themselves where and when. Free the breast!

Unknown said...

Insightful as usual, Joan. The Bangladesh story is great - having seen their production systems firsthand, any improvements that lead to greater security and sustainability is a triumph for their daily lives. Some 30% of the rural population lives on about $2/day!

And on the other side of the world in Maui County the situation is officially ass-backwards, with well fed and well-off citizens taking up half the day at a local government hearing to support council members with an agenda of marching agriculture back to the Victorian era.

The gallery photo brings to mind SHAKA - I can never remember all the politically correct words for that acronym, so I hum to myself 'stupid haoles against kinda anything' which works and seems descriptive enough.

Commercial ag production is not easy, and Hawaii is one of the most expensive places on the planet to farm. Yet it is such such a great place with agriculture, so why are these folks dedicated to driving it out? They have no idea what they are talking about.

Anonymous said...

I really don't care what Ashley Barbara Lukens puts into her preening body. She can tattoo herself from guzzle to zatch- and ho hum. But when she attempts to interfere with the food I consume in the pay of the shady Kimbrells at Center for Food Safety, I do care. If the people of Maui aren't careful, the Valley Isle will become a desert wasteland populated by people like the ones you see in the picture above. A bunch of arrogant, pushy, hooting honkies surrounding a horrified local. A picture is worth a thousand words of their "testimony".

Anonymous said...

Maui has been lost to wealthy mainlanders for over a decade.
Kauai has to wake up. The demographic is changing here as well.
Next Council election may show...Da Hoos, other HAPA dictators and soon to be announced anti-Ag, Anti-local housing, anti-PMRF candidates.
As new wealth and their LA ideas slowly take over, the locals are left out.
Again, this is at the feet of Planning. The Planning folks make the cost of housing so high that the locals move away and the newbies arrive.
A self-contained destruction of local values. Great Gobs of BS ....Pretty soon we will all be driving down JoAnn's bike path lined streets with pretty trees as we go to Suzi Q's organic Salad Shoppe and Luis Vitton for our new imported LV bag to be used for vegetables only.
Not a local in sight. Those locals are up mowing the lawns of our new masters. Our new Masters put in place by an uncaring Council and fierce Hooser/JoAnn/Mason type view of Kauai's future.
We need housing and roads. Not hi-nosed know-it-alls.
Pass the Bleu du Bocage Goat Cheese please.

Anonymous said...

At least she's breast feeding and not sticking a bottle of big ag milk in her kids mouth 24/7 and her kid will sow up to kindergarten with teeth and not a mouth full of silver ones.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, you can't blame everything on big ag.

Kids can get tooth decay from breast milk too. Breast milk contains sugar, just like cow's milk and formula.

http://www.mouthhealthy.org/en/az-topics/b/breastfeeding

Anonymous said...

You missed the point @8:09. You would never find a child who breast feeds with a mouthful of silver teeth. It's the lazy ass parents who allow their children to suck on a bottle all day long. Big Ag wants your child to suck on a bottle. It's in their best interest. Then they can sell you the products to fix your teeth. They are one in the same. Any mother that is capable of breast feeding and doesn't is a selfish loser.

Joan Conrow said...

Really? Now you think Big Ag also controls dentists and the companies that make amalgams for fillings, as well as "lazy ass parents?"

Looks like you've got a problem with paranoia, as well as being excessively judgmental.

Anonymous said...

No one is challenging Rego's Right to Breastfeed in or out of public.

It's that everything she does is an activist publicity stunt.

Anonymous said...

7:35 AM: You're right, Maui has been lost to wealthy mainlanders who have none of our values, but we don't have to be.

They are still in the minority overall and if we could step out of our masochistic apathy long enough to say NO to their shenanigans and vote, they would be put back in their Wooville enclaves, at least for a few more years until the rich clueless have in fact outnumbered us.

Instead, we're either scared of them because they're loud, obnoxious, and in our faces, targeting our families and our businesses, or we roll our eyes at them, thinking they're wackos and not to be taken seriously.

Anonymous said...

I suppose if the need arose to change the little tyke's happie while up at the podium that would be perfectly natural and acceptable as well?

Anonymous said...

The 2491 divide is alive and well on this blog.

Anonymous said...

Big Ag is Big Chem is Big Business.They are all the same. There is no paranoia needed to see that kids are growing up with rotten teeth, diabetes, learning disabilities, ... at an alarming rate and it all starts from the foods and other things the mom digests and comes in contact with during pregnancy to the choices the mom makes during the years that follow. Breast feeding, eating healthy, and avoiding all chemicals in your food and in your everyday life will give your child the best chance.

Anonymous said...

Look at Maui, what a joke all those f-in hippie haoles, makes me want to puke. They are so loud and arrogant with no respect for locals! F-them, including all the damn 2491 Haoles here on Kauai. Guys like Hooser and the Grim Reaper need to get their asses kicked.

Anonymous said...

Hey Chem Cookoo @2:11, nobody is talking about natural chemicals that are in proper balance. The ones people are worried about are the ones created by man and surrounding us thanks to people who have found a way to mass produce it and profit from it.

Anonymous said...

2:35
Our own Council, Planning and Water Depts are the main cause of high housing costs.
They have no concept. Mike D, at Planning has added so many rules and regs that the little guy has no chance.
Until our Council gets some real leadership and goes to the Big Land owners and make a deal. "Hey Big Land....we will swap density and allow some R-4 and R-6 to be built and if you can let these go at 50K per raw land unit we will give you other development rights."
Big Land was here before the Territory, before the USA and before Statehood. Many of the owners have a long view and believe that "land will last forever". They know that will survive.
There are several ways the Council can instigate some housing. But....with the hostility at Planning and the opinions of the iron fisted Water Dept...the little guy is out.
So Kauai Citizens, until you ask or demand some action from the Council.we will stay in the doldrums of no local houses. Ask the Building Dept, they will tell you that permits on Big Estates and High end homes is way up and next to nothing at the local level.
Of course the locals gots to wake up and understand that 450K is the lowest that a house can be purchased UNLESS the developers get a promise from Planning that their density and permits can be ready to go in 3 months....instead of the 3 to 7 years of BS and double talk from Planning and Water.
There are solutions. Kauai has many builders and land guys that can do this work and have homes for the people.
Get the government out of the way and we can thrive.
JoAnn Yukimura's 1970s vision of Kauai is achieved ----no houses, no roads, no water. A trifecta for the Hoooser types, JoAnn, Mason and the new comers they cater to, who don't want no development because it will prick their new found Kauai Eden.
We don't need no f*ing houses....I gots mine already? Let them locals live 4 generations per household.

Anonymous said...

January 7, 2017 at 3:24 PM, would you kindly define what "natural chemicals that are in proper balance" are so that the rest of us can be assured that you have any idea wtf you are talking about. Botulinum is a natural compound, and so is Methyl isothiocyanate, a powerful lachrimosal compound found in "stinkweed". Care to sample them or are they not "in proper balance" which seems to be empty written flatulence as you use it?

Anonymous said...

Thanks 6:46 AM,for responding to the clueless person at 3:24 PM who rudely called me a Chem Cookoo (I'm 2:11) after I tried to help educate about "chemicals."

And thank you for bringing up stinkweed and one of its natural chemical components, methyl isothiocyanate (MITC), which Hooser and his science-loathing minions refuse to believe had anything to do with the WCMS incidents. The much-ignored long-term UH study on Kauai found low levels of MITC in stinkweed and in the air at the school during periods when no odor was detected and no symptoms were reported. The study was extremely significant because it offered an entirely plausible explanation for the odors and illnesses experienced at the school during periods of intense stinkweed blooms nearby.

From the National Institute of Health:
Methyl isothiocyanate is a colorless liquid with a sharp odor. Lethal by inhalation of even small quantities of vapor. Does not have odor warning characteristics at low concentrations. Do not rely on the sense of smell to warn about the presence of vapors. Denser than water. May cause tearing and irritate the eyes, skin, nose and throat.

Warning: Methyl isothiocyanate is very toxic and highly irritating to skin, mucous membranes, and eyes. Caution is advised. Signs and Symptoms of Acute Methyl Isothiocyanate Exposure: Signs and symptoms of acute exposure to methyl isothiocyanate is an irritant to eyes, skin, lungs, and the mucous membranes of the gastrointestinal tract. Respiratory symptoms include burning or irritation of the nose and throat, cough, laryngitis, chest pain, and asthmatic syndrome (chemical bronchitis with severe bronchospasm). Also, headache, vomiting, abdominal pain, insomnia, and anxiety neurosis with depression, or paranoid tendencies may be produced. Emergency Life-Support Procedures: Acute exposure to methyl isothiocyanate exposure may require decontamination and life support for the victims. Emergency personnel should wear protective clothing appropriate to the type and degree of contamination. Air-purifying or supplied-air respiratory equipment should also be worn, as necessary. Rescue vehicles should carry supplies such as plastic sheeting and disposable plastic bags to assist in preventing spread of contamination. Inhalation Exposure: 1. Move victims to fresh air. Emergency personnel should avoid self-exposure to methyl isothiocyanate. 2. Evaluate vital signs including pulse and respiratory rate and note any trauma. If no pulse is detected, provide CPR. If not breathing, provide artificial respiration. If breathing is labored, administer 100% humidified oxygen or other respiratory support. 3. Obtain authorization and/or further instructions from the local hospital for administration of an antidote or performance of other invasive procedures. 4. Transport to a health care facility. Dermal/Eye Exposure: 1. Remove victims from exposure. Emergency personnel should avoid self-exposure to methyl isothiocyanate. 2. Evaluate vital signs including pulse and respiratory rate and note any trauma. If no pulse is detected, provide CPR. If not breathing, provide artificial respiration. If breathing is labored, administer 100% humidified oxygen or other respiratory support. 3. Remove contaminated clothing as soon as possible. 4. If eye exposure has occurred, eyes must be flushed with lukewarm water for at least 15 minutes. 5. Wash exposed skin areas THOROUGHLY with soap and water. 6. Obtain authorization and/or further instructions from the local hospital for administration of an antidote or performance of other invasive procedures. 7. Transport to a health care facility.
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/methyl_isothiocyanate#section=First-Aid

Anonymous said...

Go to Home Depot or Ace Hardware pesticide isles and take a whiff @6:46 if you can't understand that there is something not right going on there then keep pretending you are a genius.

Anonymous said...

Your warning part of your long winded comment @10:16 sounds just like what happened to the workers at Syngenta too. I wonder if they checked for stink weed? Or if they would have blamed it on stink weed if the monitor wasn't on premasis that day?

Anonymous said...

How is it that an island with so many uneducated people that there are so many anonymous posters with such large vocabularies? Who would if thought Kauai was such a hot bed for scientists.

Joan Conrow said...

@5:26 What are you talking about? The Syngenta workers exhibited no symptoms and suffered no ill effects.

Anonymous said...

Hospitals don't keep people over night who don't exhibit symptoms.

Joan Conrow said...

We have been through this so many times. But here it is again. The workers who were kept overnight had been observed eating, drinking or smoking after they prematurely entered a field where pesticides had been applied. Doctors kept them for observation to ensure that they didn't exhibit any delayed symptoms. They didn't, and were released the next day.

Anonymous said...

Exactly!

Anonymous said...

Seems your commenters are on different pages. Here is where the confusion sets in/ the people are screaming for pesticides to end on agriculture land while they completely ignore pesticides in termiticides, golf course pesticides, those used in and around schools and urban areas. It becomes clear, pesticides are not really the problem, rather agriculture is, which explains why so many antis are realtors.

Anonymous said...

As Joan would say, "we have been through this so many times", @5:54 people that are against pesticides are against them everywhere. Your argument is juvenile, like a kid getting caught doing something wrong and instead of owning up to their mistake he/she points out that others are making the same mistake so somehow it's justifiable.

Joan Conrow said...

Yes, 6:40, we have been through this so many times. People who claim to be against pesticides never say a word against termite treatment, pest control companies or golf courses. They even trot out their kids' hair tests to bang agriculture, even when the results show the chemicals came primarily from household uses.

I keep waiting for Center for Food Safety, Earthjustice, HAPA and the rest to expand their efforts beyond agricultural pesticides. Or actually do something to promote the kind of farming they claim to want.

But they don't. Which makes their motives suspect. Especially since they all have an anti-GMO agenda.

Anonymous said...

Do any of you anti-ag folks realize that pesticides are routinely used in our "pristine" watersheds? To kill species that some people think shouldn't be there.

Where's the outrage?

Anonymous said...

8:33--for real? can you explain more---you mean the weeds and overgrowth?

Anonymous said...

so why is syngenta being sued by the epa if the workers didn't show any symptoms of being in contact with pesticides?

Joan Conrow said...

@10:13 Because of violations associated with the workers entering the fields too soon.

Anonymous said...

That's right, because of the damage presented by those weeds.

Is that use of pesticides okay? But not to protect crops?

Anonymous said...

Locals having too many kids. You hear the anti-transplant crowd you'd think transplants are taking over, but recent news show local population actually increases faster than any other population.
Gary a fashionista? OMG gross - he's so fat!
Guess Adelle is making that acceptable now. Quit drinking people and watch the fat melt away people.
We need a GMO coconut tree that grows extra tall so the buildings can be taller.
Also, we need a nightclub for fat people only. And a golf cart that drives to my work and sells me the beer there. And Uber.

Anonymous said...

We need civil, intelligent discourse. Leave the stupid insults to our president elect.

Anonymous said...

For those that do not know, the most pristine parts of the island , from the top to the interior is controlled by a group that uses pesticides to kill off invasive plants, like the Australian tree fern, that is invasive rather than the Hawaiian tree ferns. DOne by helicopter, no public notice, these pesticides are used in the most pristine parts of the island . Go ask the conservation groups what poisons they use. Wake up, you are told to only fear agriculture.Pesticides are widely used by conservation groups. A tool for them.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, 6:38 AM, and why is this being done? And sanctioned by the State DLNR?

Because there is no other practicable way to try to prevent our watersheds from being destroyed by the invasion of invasive species.

Anonymous said...

Keep on telling yourself and maybe one day you'll actually believe it.