Mutant Grass taking over Portland
Ok, so maybe it's not quite that dire, yet. Environmental activists have been preaching the dangers of genetically engineered crops for years, with little effect on the giant money making agribusiness corporations. Perhaps today's news of a herbicide resistant grass growing in the wild in Portland will lend credence to the cause.
Grass that was genetically engineered for golf courses is growing in the wild, posing one of the first threats of agricultural biotechnology escaping from the farm in the United States, a new study says.
Creeping bentgrass was engineered to resist the popular herbicide Roundup to allow more efficient weed control on golf courses. But the modified grass could spread that resistance to the wild, becoming a nuisance itself, scientists say.
...Such resistance could force land managers and government agencies like the U.S. Forest Service, which relies heavily on Roundup, to switch to "nastier" herbicides to control grasses and weeds, Ellstrand said.
Although, the Mission Tortilla mishap (when genetically modified corn, not fit for human consumption, was used to make tortillas sold all over Texas) did little to dent the pervasive growth of agribusiness. African Killer Bees are also a bi-product of genetically engineered crops, but the public seems to be woefully unaware or unconcerned with the threat agribusiness can pose.
Darfur Peace Deal?
It appears that the rebel groups have found the new peace deal acceptable. The plan would call for the rebel groups to be integrated into Sudanese security forces.
The negotiator said the draft called for a minimum of 4,000 rebels to be integrated into Sudan's armed forces and another 1,000 in the police force. In addition, 3,000 rebels would be given training and education to prepare them for civilian life.
The peace accord is not yet final, but it's a step towards peace in a volatile conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced and scarred more than 2 million people.
African Union mediators have often expressed frustration at the seeming unwillingness of either side to compromise or adhere to a cease-fire declared in April 2004.
African Union spokesman Nouredine Mezni said African mediators had made "titanic efforts" to produce the draft proposal and any changes would have to be negotiated by other parties.
The U.S. and British officials appeared to step into that breach. They were sent to Abuja, the Nigerian capital where the talks are taking place, after thousands of Americans including several legislators protested over the weekend to demand an end to the slaughter in Darfur.
Another reminder that it takes people who refuse to be silenced to create any real movement in this country. Lets hope that the peace accord will stick and the violence will end.
Darfur Protestors Arrested, Including Congressmen
Hope you are all planning on attending a rally in the coming week to support an end to the Genocide.
From Reuters:WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Five members of the U.S. Congress were arrested at the Sudanese Embassy on Friday to protest violence in that country's Darfur region.
ADVERTISEMENT
The lawmakers, all Democrats, were Reps. Tom Lantos of California, James McGovern and John Olver of Massachusetts, James Moran of Virginia, and Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas.
A few members of the Save Darfur Coalition also were arrested from the gathering of about 50 demonstrators, a spokeswoman for the coalition said.
Those arrested were taken to a police station and released about two hours later after paying $50 fines.
The lawmakers intended their arrests to draw attention to the Darfur conflict that the United States calls a genocide, McGovern said.
The protest came before a planned Sunday rally on the National Mall sponsored by the coalition, which comprises about 160 faith-based, advocacy and humanitarian organizations. Sunday is the deadline for talks aimed at settling the three-year conflict in Darfur.
U.N. and U.S. officials have accused the Sudanese government of arming marauding Arab militias, who have raped, pillaged, and killed tens of thousands in Darfur, [actually hundreds of thousands!] and driven into squalid camps some 2 million villagers. Sudan has denied the charge.
"I don't think any human being can listen to the testimony of the people who have fled, and see the savagery that is going on there and not feel compelled to do something," McGovern said in a telephone interview after his release.
The lawmakers had been told they could not trespass on the embassy property. They made their statements off the property, then stood on the embassy steps.
The lawmakers did not heed police warnings, and "were arrested one by one," Lantos' spokeswoman Lynne Weil said.
"After the Holocaust, the world declared that never again would we stand by and let genocide take place. And yet the slaughter in Darfur continues," Lantos, a survivor of the Holocaust, said in a statement.
Rally for Darfur
Save Darfur and the Genocide Prevention Network, along with a lot of other groups, will be marching in DC this Sunday. There will also be rallies all across the US, see if there is
one in your state here. Here's a letter from Barack Obama with more details:
I am writing to draw your attention to the deteriorating crisis in Darfur, Sudan, and to urge you to press the Bush Administration, Congress, and key international actors to step up their efforts to stop the killing. Since the fighting began in 2003, the Khartoum government and its proxy militia have killed more than 400,000 Darfurians, and displaced another two million. Every day that the conflict continues, more women are raped, more families are massacred, more children are orphaned. President Bush has said that the slaughter constitutes "genocide," and he is right.
I will fly to Washington, DC this Sunday, April 30, to participate in the "Save Darfur Rally" on the National Mall. I will join Elie Wiesel, George Clooney, Congressman Frank Wolf, and others from 2pm to 4:30 pm, between 3rd and 4th Streets in front of the U.S. Capitol.
On May 1st, a rally will be held in Chicago at 4:30pm at Federal Plaza, at the intersection of Dearborn and Adams. At the website, www.SaveDarfur.org, you can find the location of companion rallies in other American cities, as well as the tangible steps we should ask the Bush administration to take.
An unprecedented anti-genocide movement has begun to gather force in the United States. And together, we can make a difference by making our voices heard.
Americans of all religious, national, and political backgrounds are going to join together to send a powerful signal to the victims of genocide - and to their tormentors - that Americans care. I hope you will join in this historic effort to show that Americans will not be bystanders to genocide.
Sincerely,
Barack Obama
Chad will not force Darfur Refugees to leave
Chad broke off all relations with the Sudanese government last week and threatened to forcibly remove some 200,000 refugees if the International community didn't step up to do more about the crisis in Darfur and the rebels that are also trying to destabilize his government. While the International community has not stepped up to do anything more about the crisis in Darfur or the violence spilling into Chad, Chad's President Derby has promised the UN that
his country will allow the refugees to remain. Although the refugees are being allowed to remain in Chad,
Chad has closed it's borders with Sudan.
Closing the borders with Sudan will block the distribution of needed humanitarian aide to an estimated 400,000 at refugee camps in Sudan. Derby has expressed his growing concern over the ability to protect the border region and said they will no longer be able to shelter refugees if the
international community can not end the crisis by June.
Urgent Action is needed. The US House bill on Darfur has been sent to the Senate, which has
referred it to the Committee on Foreign Relations. For a list of all the Senators on the Foreign Relations committee,
click here. We can start calling the committee and urge them to get a move on it! Majority Phone: (202) 224-4651
Minority Phone: (202) 224-3953
