no wonder

[Guest guest]

Jane Meyerding wrote:

> A lot has changed in the world of farming. Most of it in the

> " developed " world has been taken over by " agribusiness, " and the big

> chemical companies have gotten into it in a big way.

Maybe you should take a drive in the country on occasion. What you are

reading is the sensationalist side of farming. There are far more family

farms and small dedicated operations than there are agribusinesses

taking over. The large corporations have no interest in the small

farmer. There are lots of options out there that can not be seen when

you are sitting in your cosy chair in front of your computer.

What you have done, this is probably one of the more dangerous aspects

of the internet, is that rather than do research you have relied on

headline grabbing info to cloud your perspective.

The trouble with searching the internet is that search engines list the

documents that get the most hits first. There is no test to determine

the if any of this is fact or fiction. Farmers go on quietly farming, it

is only the few who rock the boat who ever make it onto the internet

search engines.

Yes big companies like Monsanto are battling to get more market share

but they only succeed if farmers fall for their pitch. Many farmers have

found a demand for their products increases if they refrain from

chemicals. As long as they resist the urge for an easy fix they will

remain free from the cycle.

Checking your posts against the first few links you suggested I can see

that you quoted almost word for word what someone else has written

without probably any attempt to verify any of it. You simply quote it as

if it was undisputed fact.

Red

[Guest guest]

Jane Meyerding wrote:

>

> That's just the first few " hits " from one Googling (of Monsanto

> poverty). Other search terms woudl turn up other facets of the issue.

> Don't have time for it now.

Did you notice that most of the links you provided are more than 5 years

old? Far better than your misguided attempts would be to find out facts.

If you read a little more even from the links you provided you would see

it is not farmers who are the problem. It is a corrupt government giving

in to the lobbyists and the big money of one company that is causing

most of the problem.

If you want to help find out how you can make a difference in getting

government to work for the people rather than a few large corporations.

The laws need changing, not the farms or the farmers. Don't blame the

innocent for the greed of government.

Red

[Guest guest]

Red wrote:

> Clay wrote:

> > Trust me, All the experts agree that humans originated in Africa,

> > and there were at least 2 major migrations from there. Where did

> > you think they originated?

> That is definitely not true. Many experts claim India is the birthplace.

Hmmm, I thought you were going to say Mesopotamia, the " birthplace

of civilization " . (And it may have been that, although not the

origin of the human species.) Okay, name me just *one* of your

experts who claim it was in India. Then I'll look him up.

> > That seems to be most people's reason for reproduction.

> > Do you have any kids, and if so, why did you have them?

> Yes. I have 2 children and 5 grand children. Why? well mainly

> because my wife got pregnant. It definitely had nothing to do

> with carrying on my lineage. We had sex, she got pregnant, no

> other motives involved.

First, I'm amazed that I was able to get personal information

out of you. Second, you said that if all a person wanted to do

was to carry on his/her line, that wasn't a good reason to have

kids. It seems like a better reason to me than " just to have

a roll in the sack. " Third, like a said, the urge to pro-

create is ingrained in our DNA (and our psyches). You don't have

to be aware of it, it just is. (YMMV) And fourth, this discussion

with you has gone better than previous ones. Have a good day.

Clay

[Guest guest]

> > A lot has changed in the world of farming. Most of it in the

> > " developed " world has been taken over by " agribusiness, " and the

> > big chemical companies have gotten into it in a big way.

> Maybe you should take a drive in the country on occasion. What you

> are reading is the sensationalist side of farming. There are far

> more family farms and small dedicated operations than there are

> agribusinesses taking over. The large corporations have no interest

> in the small farmer. There are lots of options out there that can

> not be seen when you are sitting in your cosy chair in front of

> your computer.

Certainly the reason that I did not, as my father did, grow up on a

farm, is precisely because of the kind of thing Jane is describing. I

grew up knowing about this, not hearing about it in the paper. My

father took me on a drive to the location of the farm he grew up on --

there are no family farms there anymore, just huge corporate ones.

I know that there are places that have taken measures against this,

and that there are family farms -- including some within my extended

family -- that still exist. But from everything my family tells me,

life has gotten much harder for farmers, which is why so many

(including my father) had to stop being farmers. And I've seen the

place where my dad grew up, and his relatives grew up, with my own

eyes, and I know what it's changed into.

I live in a state now that makes a large effort to assist small

farmers, but I'm not going to pretend that everywhere is like this.

[Guest guest]

Unfortunately, if war, -gasp-terrorism-and these natural disasters

(typhoons, hurricanes,etc.) continue at this rate Jane I daresay the

population decrease. That's sad too, I did read where they're killing all

our parakeets in Connecticut. I thought they could build a pole, a bit up

higher than the nests, on the transformer poles, to relocate them there,

they like it high, but no avail they're being gassed.

Also, in this area, bears are doubled in population and coyote are fivefold

increased. Also we have a weasel problem, they say called fishers, a type of

minklike animal I saw playing once in and out of holes like a ferret by a

riverside.We now have bobcat too.

Can't stop population increase,but for humankind, " man's " worst natural

enemy besides disaster tends to be " man. "

>

> No wonder the world seems crowded (to me). According to an article in

> the Oct. 10 " New Yorker " magazine, " ...the population of the United

> States increased by sixty-four percent between 1960 and 2004. "

>

> When I was ten years old, there were fewer than half as many people

> around.

>

> Makes me feel sad. Glad that I had a chance to live in the world a

> bit before it got so crowded. But sad that we are so numerous now.

>

> Jane

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

On 5 Dec 2005, Clay commented:

> wrote:

>

> > PLEASE don't tell people to join the survivalist groups! Many tend to

> > come to Wyoming to live, and, frankly, most of us are sick of them!

> > We don't need any more extremists! (fortunately we just ran the head of

> > the " World Church of the Creator " which is definitely anything but a

> > church out of our state - he thought Wyoming would be a good

> > headquarters for a white supremacy group; ugh).

>

> There must be low or no state taxes there, huh? I thought

> most of the supremacist types were going to Idaho?

>

> Clay, who plans to eventually go to New Mexico to retire,

> someplace where it doesn't snow or get below 50 degrees

Have to be careful about picking -where- in New Mexico to live, though.

I was all excited when I joined the Air Force and got stationed in

Albuquerque, after growing up in northern Minnesota. " Great, no more

snow! " It was snowing there the day I arrived. Seems Albuquerque is in

the foothills of the Sangre de Christo mountain range (I think it is), and

get's plenty of snow and cold -- although a bit less than northern

Minnesota.

I think maybe Arizona or Nevada might be a safer bet.

--

B. , another satisfied user of

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