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Great article, clark. Thanks for the link.

We have nothing to fear from Monsanto; the company who also gave us agent orange. The president, in this case, probably has NO idea what he is talking about. As disengaged as he has been with all of the high profile issues, it would be a mistake to assume that he knows anything at all, about farming OR the USDA.

Please, Mr. Adams, continue to post these writings. This is an extremely important topic. Our government wishes us to believe that saving the snail darter is of paramount importance, but dallying with our food supply is a great idea, but is best left to the bureaucrats.

Via the LRC Political Theater I see Politico followed the advice the president gave to the farmer in Illinois, Politico did a good job documenting their attempt:
Click to view link

It seems the president gave bad advise.

Well, 200 years ago and beyond, the now defunct American Common Law would have said the opposite. Monsanto would be responsible for ALL damages sustained by neighboring farmers due to infiltration of their seed onto non-Monsanto farms. Same would have applied to ALL pollutants or infringements on property.

But even in the 18th Century, state and federal courts already began ruling against the old common law principles of individual rights & private property, and in favor of the collective "benefits" of releatively unrestrained industry. The Gross National Product, or whatever they called it back then (if anything), was of higher importance than the rights or property of any particular individual.

Yet, if those courts had maintained common law standards of rights & property, any business opening their doors since then would have had to have their pollution problems solved up front, or be prepared to pay out for damages. True, the plaintiffs would have to prove Monsanto seed was indeed damaging to crops and the humans who eat them. But, with all the controversial GMO research available, it is unlikely investors nor insurance companies would allow management to go ahead with sales & distribution until there was a LOT more research in favor of the killer seeds. Especially when farmers in India started committing suicide when their crops failed.

The story of the devolution of common law in favor of a neo-mercantilist system of business, or what we would now call "corporatism," is in *Transformation of American Law* by Morton Horwitz. My only complaint is the author gives the impression these judges, out of the blue, just came upon these decisions more-or-less on their own. Yet I would be willing to bet -- if I had any money -- these judges had more than a few back-room, cigar chomping meetings on what was "best for the country." ... And someone's pocket books.

Now, some say common law was archaic. Well, as Richard Maybury would point out, common law was always evolving. If the more extreme Quantum Physicists are correct, somewhere out there is a parallel universe where we could observe what would have happened if we'd let the common law -- the Law Common among The PEOPLE -- evolve with the then newly formed free-enterprise system in America ... both of which have been on bare-minimum life support for the last 100 years. But barring quantum worlds, we can only speculate. Yet I fail to see where any of the 10 Commandments, which played a big part in American Common Law, are "archaic" or have become obsolete.

Finally, my answer to those who talk about allegedly "unfettered capitalism" is that it WAS "fettered" by Common Law operating in society. I think it quite interesting that so much of what is best for ALL The People turns out to be best ensured by protecting Individual Rights and Private & Property.

I am not a Bible Thumper, but "Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, ..."

GMO foods kill. . . Eradicate them, and Monsanto to boot!

Sir, I wish you'd write more often about this subject. It's a scandal, a farce and very upsetting what we have to cope with in this country.

By 5-4 votes in the US Supreme Court, the state Supreme court of North Dakota and one in Canada a judgment was made that basically said that if you plant an all natural crop and Monsanto's genetically modified plants contaminate your garden/field. you have Infringed on Monsanto's patent. INSANE !!!