Musings: Ratchet Up the Rhetoric

The opening of the state Legislature is right around the corner, which means it's time to start ramping up public fear.

So it's no surprise that the chief fear-mongers — Center for Food Safety, Gary Hooser's HAPA and the anti-GMO Hawaii SEED — are co-sponsoring events intended to make folks anxious about only one thing: agricultural pesticides.

For the first event, set for next week, they've aligned with a motley crew of supposed environmental advocacy groups. These include Honua Consulting, which just got a $200,000 consulting contract with the Oahu high-speed rail project, and a new group that blatantly ripped off the name — North Shore Ohana — of a legit Kauai entity that pursued important public shoreline litigation.

Yeah, if you've got no creds, and no legitimacy, why not just steal from a group that does? Ethics, like facts, are not highly valued by the “ends justify the means” anti-GMO crowd.

Anyway, they're bringing in writer Sandra Steingraber, who produced an advocacy film, “Living Downstream,” linking chemicals to cancer. Ironically, the film was financed by the Ceres Trust, which is funded with a manufacturing fortune, and the Kendeda Fund, which gets its money from the ex-wife of the Home Depot mogul. No chemicals or toxins there!

Steingraber will be flying to Oahu a week after speaking in Paris on “Keeping Fossil Fuels in the Ground” — well, except those she wants to make use of for her own travels. This is yet another example of the hypocrisy and not-so-clean cash behind the anti-GMO movement, which has billed Steingraber's talk as “For the Keiki.” The ad for her “free” lecture (but be sure to buy a book) asks:

Don't you believe that our keiki deserve a safe, toxin-free environment?

Of course they do. But these groups have targeted agricultural entities as the sole foe of that goal — even though they aren't the largest users of pesticides in the state, and there hasn't been one documented case of pesticide poisoning by seed companies. There isn't any attention paid to education, even though pesticide poisonings most often occur in the home, with products available at places like Home Depot.

As an aside, Reuters is publishing a harrowing series on all the drug-addicted mamas — abusing meth and opiates, the latter frequently prescribed by doctors — having drug babies, with little oversight from social services agencies, resulting in the abuse and deaths of too many kids.

But no, parental drug abuse can't possibly be a problem for keiki in drug-riddled Hawaii. Nope, the seed companies are the gravest — indeed, the only — threat to the health of island keiki. Go figger.....

Steingraber's talk will be followed next month by HAPA's “International Food Justice Summit in Hawaii,” whereby they'll trot four as-yet-unidentified “experts” around the state to:

“weave together a story of how our local struggles are connected, share inspiring stories of grassroots victories from around the earth, and explore how the world movement can grow (together) toward transforming the food system to be more democratic, equitable, ecologically and climate -sensible, and to feed people rather than corporate profits.”

First, we've had quite enough stories and storytelling, thank you very much. How about some truth, followed by some actual action? Because none of these Hawaii groups have actually done anything concrete to transform the food system. Indeed, one could make a strong case that they're guilty of food injustice, as in consuming more than their share, simply by observing the paunches and jowls of the most ardent activists.

And enough already with the empty rhetoric about “corporate profits.” Center for Food Safety and HAPA love to demonize corporate cash and place themselves above the filthy money-grubbers, with HAPA grandly claiming its “mission is to catalyze community empowerment and systemic change towards valuing `āina (environment) and people ahead of corporate profit.”

Yet HAPA and CFS are funded almost solely by corporate profits, including those gleaned from fossil fuel exploitation and other toxic enterprises.

Speaking of Gary, I was quite touched to read his little tribute to me in his Thanksgiving blog post, where he wrote:

My thanks today goes [sic] out especially to those unique individuals who go the extra mile and who work relentlessly toward the goal of making our island and our planet a better place. I am speaking of those who are willing to stand up and be counted and speak truth to power even when the topic is controversial and the position perhaps unpopular.

Aw, gee whiz, Gary. Glad you've finally seen the light. Maybe now you'll stop leaving all those nasty "anonymous" comments about how I'm a paid industry shill.  (Hint: It's super easy to identify people when they use the same language in their Facebook posts that they do in their “anonymous” comments.]

I also noticed that Gary is using his very limited time on the Kauai County Council not to advance food justice or improve farming opportunities or support local ag, but to crack down on those who improperly try to influence legislation. You know, like how he does when he goes to the Lege and uses his Councilman title to lobby for HAPA's agenda. 

As he wrote on his blog:

The Hawaii State Constitution requires every County to regulate those individuals and organizations who are paid to influence government actions, however Kauai County does not presently have a “lobbying ordinance” in place. I have a proposed draft Bill that addresses this issue which is now under its final legal review and is expected to be introduced in late December or early January.

Oh, goodie. Let's hope the Council adds language that Gary is sure to omit; namely, verbiage that prohibits a Councilman from missing meetings he's paid to attend so he can misuse his elected position to lobby state lawmakers and Syngenta shareholders on issues that directly affect his nonprofit.

Musings: Eye-Catching

A few things caught my eye in recent days.

Like this report, which shows that more Americans have been killed by guns since 1968 than all the wars we've participated in combined.

The numbers look like this: About 1.17 million people have died in combat since the founding of the U.S. About 1.49 million have died of a gunshot since 1968.

America has some 33,000 gun deaths annually. Most are suicides. Homicides account for 11,000.

Other troubling stats: There have been at least 1,042 mass shootings since Sandy Hook. On average, there is more than one mass shooting per day in America. Since the Aug. 9, 2014, police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, police have killed at least 1,112 people, the majority by gunshots. And police are more likely to be killed in states with high rates of gun ownership.

I know folks love their guns, but this is getting more than kinda nuts. Especially when so many nuts have guns.

Then there were the stats about who is buying property in the Islands. Not surprisingly, it's a lot of folks from the mainland and other countries. Because who else can afford a house that costs, on average, over $500,000?

On Kauai, local buyers (and by that is meant residents, not “locals” per se) accounted for just 54.5% of sales. On Maui, it's even lower — 48%.

Not surprisingly, the state's highest home prices were found in Hanalei, where the real estate market has been given a big boost from the highly lucrative vacation rental trade. Unless there's a massive tsunami, which is likely at some point, that area has been forever lost to locals.

As Civil Beat reported:

More than 38 percent of mainland homebuyers were from California, followed by 10.5 percent from Texas and 8.5 percent from Washington state.

And what's the first thing folks do when they get their piece of “paradise?” They feel compelled to “save it” from something (other than themselves, of course) and thus give money and support to misguided causes and the politicians who advance them.

Let's face it. Local culture is fading. And that's sad, because it's as distinct as many of the plants and animals — also endangered — that make Hawaii unique. 

Finally, Jan TenBruggencate had an interesting post yesterday on the link between fear, unfounded allegations and denial. Though he uses climate change as an example, we've certainly seen it at work with biotech crops and pesticides. As Jan wrote:

The Michigan State folks conducted a study that gave a large group of people positive messages about resolving climate change, and negative messages about denying it exists.

The negative messages resonated. The positive ones didn’t.

The researchers found that the positive messages didn’t change anybody’s mind, and the negative message significantly weakened support for climate action.

People getting the negative message were more apt to doubt the existence of climate change. And that applied to both conservatives and liberals.

Which is why we keep seeing the anti-GMO/anti-ag groups delivering a relentless stream of negative messages. They intentionally sow “seeds of doubt.” And they're so blatant about it that they actually hosted a conference entitled “Seeds of Doubt” to convey this ominous — but ultimately false — message:

Use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the US is quickly becoming one of the most dangerous and dramatic health threats ever to affect our planet.

Nope, you don't need to bother with facts and evidence when you're plying the timeworn trade of sensationalism and fear.

Or as Jan aptly noted:

Fear and allegations of conspiracies are powerful tools—if you can use them and still sleep at night.

Musings: Gems and Blems

Though it's a sort of torture to watch Kauai County Council meetings — I'm always acutely aware of the limited minutes of my life ticking by — they do sometimes turn up a gem or two.

Like this bit of complete cluelessness, uttered by Councilman Gary Hooser:

Working together, taking our time and not reacting to the mob mentality as mentioned earlier, we can find a way to reach some common ground.

Wow. Great insight. It's just too bad he didn't have it when his own red-shirted mob was outside the Council chambers at 3 a.m., bullying a vote on his anti-GMO Bill 2491.

Because there's no mob scene around the B&B/homestay issue, which Gary was referring to. Just residents sick and tired of seeing their property taxes go up, and their neighborhoods turned into defacto resorts, because the County is unwilling and/or unable to regulate transient vacation accommodations in all their many forms.

In this case, Gary is pushing a measured approach because he wants to grandfather in all the existing homestays, which neither the planning department nor the Council majority seem to support.

Except for Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura, who finds it “very unjust” that all the people who for years never did seek a B&B use permit — and yes, they were available all this time — aren't being given automatic approval.

According to information I obtained under a public records request, the planning commission approved homestay use permits in 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, three in 1998 and one in 2004. It also denied two permit requests in 1998. There obviously was a process, which some homeowners did seek out and use, to obtain permits for lawfully operating a homestay/B&B.

So can we please cancel the pity party for folks who have been operating for years while claiming there was no process to get a permit?

Councilman Mason Chock also demonstrated that he's uninformed when he noted a “small handful” hadn't “gone through the process” and he was “inclined to ensure they're heard and what can be done for them to continue.”

In fact, 11 people who were operating homestays without permits have managed to obtain them in the past six months, using the existing use permit process. These include several on ag land, which would be prohibited under the proposed homestay bill.

To date, planning has approved 20 use permits for homestay operations.

In recent months, another nine operators withdrew their applications for various reasons, like maybe they had illegal structures or other planning/zoning issues. Two had their permit requests denied. Seven are fighting their denials though the contested case process. Action was deferred on three and another one went to the planning commission last month.

Though planning has screwed up plenty, homestay operators are being heard and given ample opportunity to make their case. Councilmembers should check their sympathy, especially when it's directed toward their friends, and allow the planning commission to do its job.

What they need to focus on now is crafting a bill that doesn't repeat the same errors as the TVR law. Councilmembers spoke a lot about the need for a fair process, which is why the issue of grandfathering in current users is such a big deal. As a reader noted in comments on a recent post:

Grandfathering is a term to allow a previously legal use to continue when laws are made that no longer allow that use. It is severely wrong in this situation, where B&Bs have always been allowed with a Use Permit. Grandfathering was never meant to allow Un permitted uses to be made legal. And the current home stay process should not grandfather any operation that did not bother to get a Use Permit and in fact did operate illegally.

A previous Council made that terrible error when it passed a TVR law that allowed only those who had been illegally operating to seek permits. The law-abiding folks were forever barred from obtaining the lucrative permits that run with the land. It was one of the most unjust acts the Council has perpetrated, and it screwed locals big time. It's simply not fair to again let folks slide when they failed to use an existing process and instead chose to gamble that the county wouldn't enforce against them.

As Council Chair Mel Rapozo noted, tourist accommodations have always been illegal on ag land under state law. That's why it was such a travesty that a previous Council — including JoAnn — amended the TVR law to allow them there. While I'd rather see homestays than TVRs on ag land, neither is appropriate.

Councilman Ross Kagawa got it right when he observed: “Just because a mistake was made doesn't mean we gotta continue the mistake.”

Amen. So revise the homestay bill to require inspections of the property, and deal with enforcement.

Mel revealed that the Council, along with its legal analyst, has been investigating some of the TVR abuses. “There's violations everywhere you look in the TVR neighborhoods,” he said. “It's horrific what we're finding, and where's the enforcement? It's not there.”

Mel wants Planning to address the Council next month about its enforcement efforts against illegal TVRs, and its plans to enforce the B&B/homestay law. Because without enforcement, what is the point?

There's another interesting issue that hasn't come up. Folks who bought properties in the visitor destination areas, where homestays and TVRs are allowed, ostensibly paid more for that privilege. Is the county going to be sued if it continues to erode their property values by allowing a proliferation of visitor accommodations outside the VDA, either by permitting outright or failing to enforce?

Finally, though JoAnn admitted she had not even read the homestay bill, which is only four pages long, she was bemoaning the fact that the Council couldn't question people who testified, due to a recent rule change. “it's important to understand the circumstances each person is speaking from,” she sniffed.

No, it's not. Rather than rely on the self-interested comments of the public to guide her in “good decision-making,” perhaps JoAnn should start by doing her homework and actually reading the controversial bills that come before the Council.

That, and pay attention and/or reference written testimony, so you don't throw a hissy fit when your colleagues won't allow a person to repeat their entire six-minute testimony because you didn't capture all the points. It's a public process, JoAnn. It's not all about you. 

And Gary, "bite me" — the phrase you uttered to Ross — is never an appropriate way to speak to another Councilmemember. Especially when you love to lecture folks about treating the Council with respect. 

Time to grow up — and learn a new comeback. That one is juvenile and tired already.

Musings: Calling All "Victims"

In a strange reversal of events, anti-GMO activists are trying to drum up supposed victims of westside Kauai “pesticide pollution” to satisfy a news team.

In a Facebook post yesterday, anti-GMO activist Laurie Cicotello wrote:

NBC is planning to come to Kauai to do a piece re west side pesticide pollution. It will be on Nightly News and Dateline or Frontline.

We need exposed/affected residents/fieldworkers.

This is a great opportunity for nationally and possibly internationally getting the word out.

Please PM Marghee Maupin if you would be able to be interviewed or if you have any suggestions. Thank you.

Now, if people actually had been the victims of westside "pesticide pollution," wouldn't you have them in place before you pitch a national news team on the story, rather than try to find some victims to satisfy the spin you've already created?

Wouldn't those supposed victims of westside pesticide pollution already be well-known to the anti-GMO groups — especially Marghee, who presents herself as the health care advocate for westsiders? I mean, wouldn't she have the health records of folks, and thus be able to easily identify them — and document her claims — without having to do a call-out on Facebook?

Come to think of it, why hasn't Marghee or anyone else from the anti-GMO movement — including its Kauai leader, Gary Hooser — been able to provide any documentation of anyone affected by "pesticide pollution?” Surely, if people are suffering from “pesticide pollution” Marghee and the others would be able to provide blood and/or urine tests showing elevated levels of pesticides.

Especially since none of the environmental tests done on the westside have documented any pesticide pollution whatsoever.

Yet the complete lack of documentation didn't prevent Marghee from writing a letter to the editor recently in which she tried to make a case that Kekaha students have low achievement scores because of pesticide exposure. She wrote:

Kekaha Elementary School children are chronically exposed to up to 90 pesticides on a regular basis. A very dangerous pesticide, Chlorpyrifos (originally manufactured by Dow), was found in air samples four separate times at Waimea Canyon Middle School. It is likely that air samples at Kekaha Elementary School would show similar exposures, given that Chlorpyrifos is the most heavily sprayed restricted use insecticide on Kauai.

This is the kind of flawed thought process that characterizes Marghee — who, as a health “professional,” should know better — and too many others in the “red shirt” brigade.

First, just because ag chemicals are applied on the westside does not mean that Kekaha students are “chronically exposed.” And just because chlorpyrifos was found in air samples at Waimea Canyon Middle School doesn't make it at all “likely” that the air around Kekaha school would have the same results.

And what Marghee, Hooser and the others who like to fear-monger always and intentionally fail to note is that the pesticide levels detected were well below federal accepted limits.

The state Department of Health report on the air samples notes, emphasis added:

Five pesticides were detected in the indoor and outdoor passive air samples and the high volume outdoor air samples collected at Waimea Canyon Middle School. Those pesticides were chlorpyrifos, metolachlor, bifenthrin, benzene hexachlorides (BHCs) and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs). BHCs and DDTs, likely from past uses and ubiquitous throughout the world, were detected in all air samples collected from Kauai. Concentrations of the pesticides and MITC were well below health concern exposure limits or applicable screening levels.

The same air samples that found chlorpyrifos also identified 29 chemicals associated with stinkweed, which DOH determined to be the cause of the school kids getting sick. But though Marghee will accept the report's pesticide findings, she refuses to accept the stinkweed finding.

You just can't have it both ways — unless you really have no interest in facts, the truth or public health, and instead are just trying to hammer an anti-GMO ideology. Which is why there's so much misiformation floating around.

Meanwhile, Hooser's HAPA group is moaning on Facebook about the “collapse of journalistic standards” because some reporters writing about GMOs supposedly failed to identify scientists who supposedly had ties to industry.

No, the collapse of journalistic standards occurs when HAPA sends The Garden Island a press release, which the newspaper prints verbatim, and when the anti-GMO movement pays reporters like Chris Pala and Paul Koberstein to write anti-GMO stories peppered with fake “facts” — like the supposed pesticide sickening of Waimea school kids — and then uses those inaccurate articles to keep promoting its bullshit.

And it happens when groups like HAPA and Center for Food Safety make up problems and then try to drum up media coverage of undocumented harms.

If NBC does come to Kauai, let's hope it comes without a preconceived bias and actually does some digging to document whether pesticide pollution is indeed occurring, and if so, the culprit. We've seen so many inaccuracies perpetuated about the situation on Kauai. And let's really hope NBC does its own source scouting, rather than accepting victims presented by someone like Marghee, who has zero qualms about lying and thus zero credibility.

Musings: Home Free

While The Garden Island is busy pimping for Playboy, it's continuing to ignore some big news: the next wave of vacation rentals.

Yeah, Kauai County is calling them homestays.  But in practice, the bill that Councilman Mason Chock will introduce on Wednesday is just like the TVR law, in that allows a whole new batch of visitor accommodations to legally proliferate in the residential district.

Gone is the initial limit of 10 homestay applications per year, proposed so Planning could avoid the mess it made implementing the TVR law, when it rubber-stamped flawed and even fraudulent applications, allowing owners who did not actually qualify to obtain — and retain — the lucrative lifetime permits.

Now there's no limit on how many homestay operators can seek permits, and no limit on how many can be approved. The only restriction is they can't be operated in the agriculture or open districts.

There is no attempt whatsoever to quantify the overall visitor impact on a residential neighborhood, or to prevent the expansion of visitor accommodations in rural areas like Wainiha and Haena.

Folks can rent up to five bedrooms — a mini-hotel — and allow people to stay in a guest house. So even though the owner has to actually live on the property, the "homestay" guest doesn't have to actually stay in the home.

Of course, there's no mechanism to actually ensure that owners are on-site during the stay. All they have to do is show they're getting the homeowner exemption when they apply and renew.

To their small credit, the Planning Department and Commission have decreed that homestays must be on a legit septic system, not cesspools. Many TVRs, including large, oceanfront properties, operate on antiquated cesspools. As Planning Director Mike Dahilig told the Planning Commission:

If you look at someplace like Hanalei Bay, and the amount of wastewater issues that they are having with their water contamination, and that place is virtually 70, 80, possibly 90% transient vacation rental, non-conforming use certificate holders. If that position had been required of them, there’s a strong possibility they would not have the pollution issues that they are having right now in the bay. So the Department does look at that with the TVR ordinance as having been a missed opportunity, and there is no reason that we should possibly. . .because it is incongruous with the TVR ordinance, to say we shouldn’t have it imposed upon the Homestay operations.

So how about they go back and amend the TVR law to impose that requirement and help clean up the Bay?

Homestay permits, like TVR certificates, will run with the property. They'll be renewed without question or scrutiny, so long as folks send in a $750 annual renewal fee and proof of owner-occupancy and general excise and transient accommodation licenses. They do not have to prove they're actually paying the taxes.

And since the homestay bill, like the TVR bill, has no inspection process, the county will have no clear idea what sort of accommodations are being offered. How, then, can it possibly reassure us that this provision will be carried out?

A Use Permit may be granted only if the Planning Commission finds that the establishment, maintenance, or operation of the construction, development, activity, or use in particular case is a compatible use and is not detrimental to health, safety, peace, morals, comfort, and general welfare of persons residing or working the neighborhood of the proposed use, or detrimental or injurious to property and improvements in the neighborhood or to the general welfare of the community, and will not cause any substantial harmful environmental consequences.

If it doesn't inspect, how will the county know if bedrooms are being rented in the ground floor of a flood zone? If kitchens have been illegally installed? If lockout doors have created an illegal multifamily dwelling unit?

Because all of these things happened — and are still happening — under the TVR law. But the county apparently either never learned, or wants to keep its head in the sand, which is why it's repeating so many of the same mistakes when it comes to permitting homestays.

Musings: On the Syrian Refugees

As the eight of us sat around a beautifully-decorated table, our plates heaped with homemade food, our lives all on track — employed, healthy, happy — we spontaneously paused to reflect on our good fortune. Some of it, of course, was due to hard work, but much of it was luck, the well-dealt hand of fate that had spared us so much suffering.

“We could be Syrian refugees,” I said, and everyone laughed, and then grew quiet, as we pondered what it would mean to be traveling the Mediterranean in a small, overcrowded, leaky boat; seeing people drown; awaiting processing in a holding center; sleeping in the streets; homeless, afraid, with a very uncertain future. 

Or worse, being turned back at the border, forced to retrace a long, arduous journey to a war zone that none of us would ever wish to inhabit.

“We are humans, we have feelings, so please help us,” said one young girl on a CNN video, brushing the hair from her eyes.

For that reason alone, the United States needs to do much more to assist and accommodate the Syrian refugees. Yes, I know what people are afraid terrorists will slip in, but do you let that fear stop you from doing what is right by millions more? Haven't the terrorists won if we allow them to strip us of our compassion and humanity?

Consider this: 50% of the 7.6 million people displaced within Syria are children. They clearly aren't terrorists. They're innocent kids.

Others say we should “take care of our own first,” though I don't see any measures being set forth to do that in lieu of taking in refugees. Besides, we can do both. We're one of the wealthiest nations in the world, our luxurious standard of living supported in part by our number one export — the weapons that have wreaked so much havoc in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Our policies and practices have contributed to the strife in Syria, the chaos in Iraq, the instability of the entire region. We bear responsibility for cleaning up the mess. Under Bush, we sent some $12 billion in cash to Iraq, with much of it pilfered and unaccounted for. Surely we can now kick down some super serious kala to help the largest migration of people in Europe since WWII.

Some American veterans, in a Facebook post, said the young men fleeing Syria should be ashamed of themselves, and return home to fight for their country. Yeah, that sounds great on principle, but exactly which of the estimated 1,000 opposition groups do you join? Who is the good guy in that fight? Can you blame people for sending their sons away to avoid having them senselessly slaughtered in this conflict? And maybe some of them already have fought, and managed to escape with their lives.

According to the White House website:

Since 2011, almost 12 million people, equivalent to half of the Syrian population, have been displaced by the conflict, including 7.6 million displaced inside Syria. Their homes and schools have been bombed out of existence by Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad's merciless regime. Their lives have been imperiled by ISIL and terrorism. Many have been forced to flee to other parts of Syria or seek refuge in neighboring countries.

It is as if every student in the 45 largest U.S. school districts -- including New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles -- had been uprooted by violence, hunger, or disease all at once.

It's hard to even fathom such a plight.

Though America toots its own horn — the U.S. is currently the largest bilateral donor of humanitarian assistance in the world; in this fiscal year alone, the U.S. expects to admit 70,000 refugees from all over the world; the President has asked his team to make preparations to accept at least 10,000 Syrian refugees in the next fiscal year — we can do more as a nation, and as individuals.

This page offers a few ideas and suggestions on how we can help, and I'm sure there are many more opportunities to assist.

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday now upon us, it's a great time to think about what we who have so much can do without, so that those who have nothing might get at least a little something.

A Facebook friend dared me to blog my opinion of the Syrian refugees, and then commented, "Strap your helmet on."

OK. Here it is. Call me naive, but there shouldn't be any flak associated with calling upon people to do what is just and right. And humanizing and helping others in great need is both.

Photos by David Maurice Smith from a Mother Jones photo essay.

Musings: Something Creepy

Something creepy is going on. And I'm using the word in both its literal and figurative sense.

What's creepy is the growing intolerance; the determined efforts to narrow choices and options; the suppression of certain Constitutional rights, such as freedom of speech and assembly, by PC police and other extremists. It's a troubling mindset that's creeping into so many different arenas, fueled by ignorance and self-righteousness.

Take, for example, news that the University of Ottawa has banned yoga classes — including one offered for free to both disabled and able-bodied students. As the Ottawa Sun reports: 

“Yoga has been under a lot of controversy lately due to how it is being practiced," and which cultures those practices "are being taken from."

The centre [for Students with Disabilities] official argues since many of those cultures "have experienced oppression, cultural genocide and diasporas due to colonialism and western supremacy ... we need to be mindful of this and how we express ourselves while practising yoga."

While cultural appropriation can be a real concern, this particular ban ignores the fact that Indian yogis have traveled the world teaching this discipline to non-Indians. Some Indian masters have specifically adapted yoga to Western students because they want us to practice it.

But mostly, this ban smacks of totalitarianism, with a certain select few determining what is appropriate and then imposing that belief on others, thus denying them access and reducing their choices. Worse, these busy-bodies are coming from a place of moral self-righteousness that ignores their own unconsciousness and hypocrisy.

Another example can be found in the reaction of anti-GMO groups to the AquaBounty salmon, the first GE animal approved for human consumption. As Slate journalist William Saletan noted:

In the context of GE crops, the “right to know” argument is often used simply to stigmatize the GE product. By slapping a label on the fish, anti-GMO activists can scare away all the ill-informed people who say they wouldn’t eat such a thing. In the case of GE salmon, the activists are going further. Friends of the Earth says:

To avoid confusion in the marketplace, and ensure the consumer’s right to know, we are asking grocery stores, seafood restaurants, chefs and seafood companies to demonstrate their commitment to sustainably produced seafood and consumer choice by joining our Pledge for GE-Free Seafood, a commitment to not knowingly purchase or sell genetically engineered salmon or other genetically engineered seafood should it come to market.

That’s not a campaign to label the salmon. It’s a campaign to deny you access to the salmon.

Fundamentally, it's no different than the campaigns aimed at limiting access to abortion. Though most anti-GMO activists would consider themselves far too progressive to deny a woman's right to choose, they have no problem denying a consumer's right to eat. And they're just as fervent in their beliefs, and tactics, as the anti-abortion groups.

I can't help but think this growing intolerance is directly related to what one recent commenter so aptly described as “arrogant ignorance.” I see it expressed in comments that make all sorts of wild claims, followed by the challenge, “Prove I'm wrong.” These folks apparently feel no need to be informed about a topic before weighing in, and instead place the burden on others to disabuse them of their stupidity.

Sometimes, the ignorance and intolerance is due to commercial self-interests. I saw this in a recent email from anti-GMO fanatic Jeffrey Smith, who wrote:

I've been asked hundreds of times: What can I do to heal from the effects of eating GMOs?

I will host a brief conference call interviewing Dr. Zach Bush who will reveal new laboratory research showing how glyphosate--the active ingredient in Roundup and a big part of the danger from GMOs--can open the tight junctions between intestinal cells.  He will also show how a supplement called RESTORE can close those junctions--or even prevent them from opening in the first place.

Now Jeffrey Smith isn't a doctor, or even a scientist. But even as he blasts the FDA for approving an “untested, unsafe” salmon, he's hawking an unregulated supplement that supposedly solves a problem he invented and promoted.

And sometimes the ignorance can be attributed to self-promotion, shoddy media practices and plain old delusional thinking. A recent case in point is The Garden Island's “much ado about nothing” article. It all started when repeat visitor Jeff Pignona wrote a letter to the editor, wondering why the sculpture of an overseer on a horse was no longer part of the sugar industry memorial by the old Koloa mill stack.

TGI then ran a story headlined “Repairs Needed” that included statements from Teddy Blake, who said he’d visited the monument just the week before and everything was in place. After claiming he was single-handedly trying to raise money for repairs, Teddy elaborates:

We can’t figure out how this came about. But the separation is natural. We’re still trying to figure out the phenomenon which caused it to pop off the concrete. And, we still need to come up with the cost of repair.

Huh? Come to find out that sculpture was never even installed. Indeed, the space has been empty for 30 years. 

So WTF are TGI and Blake talking about? And why?

Those are questions we need start to asking more asking often as misinformed people attempt to impose their beliefs, world view, morality, ideology and delusions on the rest of us.

Musings: Reframing the Debate

With yesterday's approval of the fast-growing AquAdvantage salmon — the first genetically-engineered animal for human consumption — the door has opened for other GE livestock to enter the market.

And that means anti-GMO groups, which like to portray themselves as both green and kind, will be forced to reconcile their opposition with projects that have clear animal welfare and environmental benefits.

Because it's not just about Monsanto and RoundUp Ready corn any more. It's about livestock developed by public institutions — as opposed to easily-vilified chemical corporations — with traits that are hard to hate.

Like cows born that are born hornless, eliminating the de-horning process that both dairy farmers and animal activists hate. Cattle resistant to sleeping sickness, a disease that kills some 3 million animals annually in Africa, and requires large doses of drugs to cure. Poultry resistant to avian flu, which wiped out millions of chickens and turkeys in the U.S. this year. Pigs that can produce enough milk to successfully nurse their full litter, reducing piglet mortality. Cows and pigs that more efficiently utilize feed, which reduces greenhouse gas emissions and frees up land for other purposes.

As these “public good” projects start coming forward, the biotech debate will necessarily be reframed. Is it any wonder that the anti-GMO groups are desperate to stop them? They don't want to lose their cash cow — the fear-mongering, anti-corporate campaigns that keep donations flowing to their coffers.

Center for Food Safety and Food and Water Watch wasted no time in soliciting donations to wage a legal battle against the FDA, which approved the salmon after a 20-year review that cost AquaBounty some $80 million.

Heck, even Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has taken a few tips from her pals at Center for Food Safety, adopting the group's strategy of creating and exploiting fears about GMOs as a fundraising tool. In an email sent to constituents this week, Tulsi ominously warns:

huge agribusiness corporations hide their use of GMOs and keep consumers in the dark about what’s in their food.

It was followed by the big red CONTRIBUTE button to “Help Tulsi Win.”

Anti-GMO groups like Earthjustice and Center for Food Safety can win even when they lose if they sue federal agencies, because they can recover legal fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act.

In one case, Earthjustice successfully argued that it obtained "excellent results" — despite failing to secure the permanent injunctive relief it sought — and was therefore entitled to a "fully compensable fee." According to court documents, Earthjustice has submitted bills that included time spent on spent on clerical tasks, public relations, press releases, soliciting clients and other matters unrelated to litigation.

In some cases, legal fees in excess of $2 million have been awarded. 

If they file in expensive places like the San Francisco Bay Area, they get to charge fees that are the going rate for that market. Earthjustice's Achitoff, for example, gets to charge $400 an hour more in the Bay Area than he does in Hawaii. 

In one case, Earthjustice and CFS sought these “enhanced” hourly rates for counsel: Paul Achitoff, $650; Andrew Kimbrell, $650; Will Rostov, $575; Isaac Moriwake, $525; Greg Loarie, $450; George Kimbrell, $410; Kevin Golden, $410; Paige Tomaselli, $385; Kateryna Rakowsky, $350; and law clerks, $150. 

And we'll never know just how much these supposed nonprofits bring in from public donations to these legal campaigns, because they don't have to disclose.

Though it's generally accepted that corporations should be required to disclose everything, it's apparently OK to keep consumers and taxpayers in the dark about how much self-serving opposition is actually costing them in terms of higher food prices and government expenses.

Musings: Doing Good and Better

My last night in Manhattan was spent dining and clubbing — it's been a very long time since I danced in the strobe of a disco ball — in the old meatpacking district of Manhattan. My escort/friend, who grew up in NYC, said it was an area filled with criminals and danger when he was a kid. Now it's gentrified, trendy and expensive, as is so much of the city. 

Like so many others in so many places, he's been economically displaced from the place he once called home.

Earlier, I'd walked city streets lined with shops selling designer goods — luggage, crystal, clothes, shoes, jewelry, hats, handbags, chocolate. You name it, they've got it. But few of the stores had any customers, their clerks and doormen standing idle and bored. I'm sure some people must buy, or they wouldn't remain in business. Still, I couldn't help wondering who does support this ultra-abundance of luxury. Is there really that much big money floating around?

I cruised through the Frick Collection, an art gallery set in what was once a private mansion facing Central Park. It now displays works by Rembrandt, Monet, Manet, El Greco and other European masters. Many of their subjects were nobility opulently decked out in pearls, gold, silks and jewels. It's been 400 years since some of these pieces were painted, and still we have not lost our fascination with finery.

Speaking of big money, a friend sent a link to a New York Times article featuring houses that cost more than $1 million — one of which is located in Haena. The 1,524-square-foot house sits on two-thirds of an acre across from “Tunnels.” It's one of the most beautiful coastlines in the Islands, and almost entirely devoted to vacation rentals these days.

I got a giggle from the line, “It consists of one residential level, elevated from the ground for treetop views.” That's got to be the best euphemism yet for flood zone compliance. What caught my eye, though, was the mention of a “yurt next to a seasonal stream.” Hmmm. Guess you're never too rich to turn down the income from an illegal vacation rental.

And so goes Haena, yet another place in Hawaii where the locals are being steadily squeezed out by new big money.

Though I've often heard that New Yorkers are surly and rude, everyone I encountered was friendly and polite — right down to the TSA staff at La Guardia. 

After the security officer checked my ID, he looked me in the eye, and said, "Now I want you to promise me you'll do something amazing today."

"Well, I did give the cab driver a big tip," I said, and he laughed. "But I'll try to do better."

"Good," he replied. "Now you have a wonderful day." 

I went on my way, warmed and cheered, despite the news that my flight is delayed.

Money is useful, and necessary, and it can do good. Still, it's no substitute for the kindness and humanity that springs from an open, loving heart.

Promise me you'll do something amazing today.

Musings: Continental Drift

I'm here in New York City – my first time ever. I'd always been a bit intimidated by the prospect of Manhattan, but it's so easy to get around, and people are very friendly.

I've been walking, walking, walking since I arrived last night, carried along in a sea of humanity, traversing streets that are an iconic part of the American culture — Park Ave, Madison Avenue, Fifth Avenue, Wall Street — cruising through Grand Central Station, looking up at the glittering Chrysler Building.

Tonight the Cornell Alliance for Science has its big event at the United Nations, where some of the 25 global Fellows will tell their own stories. Joni Kamiya, whose father's farm was saved by the creation of the transgenic Rainbow papaya, is one of them. It's been a real pleasure to meet Joni and her family, and to see the positive, inspirational impact she's had on the other Fellows.

It's been fascinating to meet people from various nations in Africa, as well as the Philippines, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and the mainland U.S., all committed to doing what they can to end the hunger and malnutrition that plague so many on this planet.

Last night we walked over to the U.N. to check out the venue, and I was awed by the amazing view.

While taking the bus down from Cornell University yesterday, through the rural farmlands of upstate New York and Pennsylvania, cruising along past the office parks of New Jersey, I interspersed my sightseeing with a bit of web surfing. 

I was interested to read a piece in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald. Sen. Josh Green, one of those who has been so outspoken in opposition to biotech crops and ag pesticides, was all pissed off because the Department of Health wasn't doing enough — as in spraying and medical check-ups — to stave off dengue.

And why? Because it would be so bad for tourism if dengue gets established.

Interesting, how people change their tune about pesticide use when they've got something at stake. I haven't heard Hawaii Center for Food Safety screaming about the DOH spraying pesticides to control mosquitoes in residential communities on the Big Island.

I wonder how Green and CFS would feel about using transgenic mosquitoes, developed by Oxitech, to help eradicate dengue. When the transgenic males mate with wild females, their so-called self-limiting gene is passed on to their offspring, and the larvae die before they can transmit disease.

When I was at the Transgenic Animal Conference in Tahoe last summer — yes, mosquitoes are animals — I interviewed a Brazilian researcher who had experienced excellent results in field trials done there to control dengue.

While residents in the test areas were initially concerned, the researchers did extensive outreach, and addressed people's worries and fears. And when folks saw the positive results, they started asking for more releases, because they had experienced a direct benefit: people weren't getting sick..

The Oxitech mosquitoes were more effective at controlling dengue than pesticide applications alone — tests in Brazil and the Cayman Islands reported an 80 percent suppression rate of dengue.

Meanwhile, Jan TenBruggencate has an interesting piece in Civil Beat about the stinkiness of stinkweed, which can cause people to experience headaches, nausea, clamminess and other ill effects. His piece is aptly titled “The Malodorous Shrub That Launched Kauai’s Pesticide Wars.” As Jan points out:

In November 2006, students and staff at Waimea Canyon Middle School complained of a bad smell that made them nauseous and left them with throat irritation, watery eyes and dizziness. Many attributed it to agricultural spraying on a field next to the school.

The incident continues to be attributed by opponents of Hawaii’s seed industry to pesticide spraying, even though the initial field investigations by police, fire and independent botanical experts said it was stinkweed, a finding that was confirmed by a University of Hawaii study.

Photo by Jan TenBruggencate

This is one of the lies repeatedly told by Kauai Councilman Gary Hooser, Center for Food Safety and crappy journalists like Paul Koberstein and Chris Pala — that Waimea school kids got sick from ag pesticides, when in fact, Syngenta hadn't even sprayed those fields when the incident occurred.

Through their intentional misrepresentations, driven by their desire to stick it to the seed companies, they've drilled that bit of folklore into people's heads.

In reality, there has never been one case in the entire state of seed company pesticides causing school kids to get sick or be evacuated.

Though Jan's well-written and well-researched piece should help to set the record straight, as we all know, it's so much harder to dispel bullshit than it is to spread it.

And on that note, I'll leave you with this photo of contrails — not chemtrails — taken one chilly dusk at Cornell.