Washington Voters: Bought and Paid For by Monsanto
Washington ALMOST became the first state to require labeling of GMO products. When the initiative — I-522 — first got enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, it looked like a slam dunk. Who could be against a simple labeling requirement? Food companies already have to tell us when their products contain maltodextrin, xanthan, BHT and hundreds of other additives. Why should genetically modified organisms be any different? Methinks Monsanto is hiding something.
Monsanto and the Grocery Manufacturers Association — a huge money-laundering organization that enables food companies to make anonymous political donations without jeopardizing their public image — together spent $22 million to purchase the election. That’s more than twice as much per voter as they spent in California to defeat the same initiative, Proposition 37.
Out of that $22 million, exactly $550.00 came from within Washington State. The other $21,999,450.00 came from national/global corporate conglomerates. This fact was widely reported, but unfortunately it didn’t have any effect on the gullible voting public.
In other election news: Chris Christie coasted to re-election (as we all knew he would), setting himself up to be Hillary’s most likely opponent in 2016.
It was generally a bad day to be a Teabagger. Thank God. Ken Cuccinelli got defeated in his run for Governor of Virginia, mostly because wealthy Republican donors didn’t donate to him.
Same story in Alabama. In a congressional GOP runoff, mainstream Republican Bradley Byrne defeated Teabirther candidate Dean Young. Maybe the mainstream/non-teatard Republican Party is getting its groove back.
New York City’s Mayor-Elect, Bill de Blasio, has been described as the first genuinely liberal New York City mayor since John Lindsay, who was — this is not a typo — a Republican.
Labels: Grocery Manufacturers Association, I-522, John Lindsay, Monsanto