Doug Berger – Page 63

July 24, 2012April 18, 2020

Vandana Shiva: Industrial Agriculture Hurting Our Food System And Health

Vandana Shiva

Vandana Shiva was on Moyers & Company on July 13th talking about her fight against genetically modified (GM) seeds and other attempts by industrial agriculture companies, like Monsanto, to monopolize the production of food not only in her native India but also here in the US. It’s a great interview and gives a basic overview about our broken our food system. GM seeds and industrial agriculture is making us all sick and less able to afford healthy food while the corporations game the system and rake in huge profits and tax subsidies.

In the first part of the interview Shiva talks about the control of the food system by the big corporations who gain profit from it but show little to no concern for the people who have to buy the food or the small farmers who grow the food who are forced to buy seed from the big corporations:

July 17, 2012April 18, 2020

Boy Scout’s Anti-LGBT Policy Drips With Religious Right Bigotry Code Words

On June 7th the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) reaffirmed their policy to deny membership to LGBT people. There was a chance they would reconsider but the consensus of a secret committee decided it was “absolutely the best policy” for the organization. Once again religious right bigotry trumps the actual American values that the BSA claims it is teaching to the boys.

July 15, 2012April 18, 2020

Should Circumcision On A Child Be Criminal?

Earlier this month a German court banned the practice of circumcision on the grounds it causes bodily harm to babies. The decision upset Jewish and Muslim communities in Germany because they claimed making the ritual criminal violated their religious freedom. While I believe that circumcision on babies shouldn’t be performed by the medical community unless the child consents or it is medically necessary, I’m not sure if the practice by religious practitioners should be made criminal.

July 11, 2012April 18, 2020

Your Extended Power Outage Might Not Be Just Due To A Storm

Downed power lines Hamilton Rd Columbus Ohio June 2012

On Friday June 29th our area experienced a severe storm with 80 mph winds that knocked out power for over 600,000 American Electric Power (AEP) customers in Ohio and it took a week or more to get the power back on. AEP claimed the storm was more than their system could handle with the amount of damage not seen since the remnant of Hurricane Ike passed through in 2008. There might be another explanation as to why restoration is taking so long in recent years. Power companies seem to be more interested in profits over service and they want you to pay for their cost cutting.

The storm that blew on June 29th is called a derecho:

July 9, 2012April 18, 2020

Presumption Of Innocence Is For When Facts Are In Doubt

George Zimmerman

The other day, George Zimmerman, the over zealous member of his neighborhood watch, who shot and killed an unarmed teen named Trayvon Martin, was released again on bail. I tweeted that I guess it paid to shoot an unarmed teenager and become the darling of the GOP. A person replied back to me that I should be reminded of presumption of innocence and a fair trial. I don’t think the person knows what presumption of innocence means. In the Trayvon Martin case the facts aren’t in doubt.