Bad news: Obama considers Dennis Wolff for Secretary of Ag

[brentspeak]

Dennis Wolff, current Secretary of Ag for the state Pennsylvania, is the same idiot who tried to do Monsanto's bidding when he issued state rules banning rBGH-free labeling. In short, Monsanto wanted the legal right to sue small dairy farmers who marketed their own products as "rBGH-free" (Monsanto claims that implies Monsanto's rBGH-laden products are unhealthy). Fortunately, public outrage over Wolff's rules forced Ed Rendell to overrule Wolff:

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/05/monsanto200805?currentPage=6

Now, though, Rendell is pushing for Wolff to be Obama's head of the U.S. Agriculture Department:

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE4B08XR20081201

More info and opinion:

http://savekauai.org/food-%2526-agriculture/obama-considers-dennis-wolff-secretary-ag-yikes!

[LiberalFighter]

1. I want Jill Long-Thompson as Ag Secretary!!

[bvar22]

14. I want Jim Hightower as Ag Sec.

Another BIG BUSINESS insider gets a seat at the Obama table. :(

[BonnieJW]

2. Send this info

to Obama at www.change.gov

[brentspeak]

3. s/k

:kick:

[anonymous171]

4. Send this to Obama. We need to Brennan him.

[Occam Bandage]

5. Is Obama considering him?

Or is Rendell just shooting off his mouth? And is there any reason to dislike Wolff(fffffff) beyond having a bad position on a minor issue once? I mean, is there a pattern here?

[elleng]

7. I don't think it was a 'minor' issue.

.

[Chulanowa]

10. I usually don't jump on the "obama nominated such and such!" hysteria...

But no, that isn't a minor issue. This guy wanted to let dairycorps sue small producers for saying what their product didn't contain. Imagine this applied elsewhere - say with all those cancer-causing chemicals the Bush FDA has said are "negligible" - if a baby formula company wants to say "we have no melamine!" should another company be able to sue them for advertising that fact because it's "defamatory" towards that other company which does have traces of melamine?

Frankly, any man or woman who supports Monsanto's ongoing efforts to patent every source of food on earth, destroy independent agriculture, and turn thousands of years of human agricultural practice into a chemical soup of seeds that won't germinate unless you hose them with an herbicide that causes a wide range of birth defects, is a man or woman who should be as far away from the government as possible, in any capacity. In fact, such a person should be fed nothing but tainted beef and RounduUp for the rest of their natural life.

[tomp]

11. i see, it's ok when YOU jump on obama....

....when YOU think his pick is bad....

I mean, Hillary voted for the war, that's no minor issue either...

how hysterical of us to think WE might have the judgment to criticize a pick.....

[Chulanowa]

15. I haven't taken the time to criticize people for their worries, either

And point of fact, Clinton voted to give the president the authority to make the decision regarding Iraq, under the assurance that war would be dead last on his list of options. In other words she - along with John Kerry and so many others, were lied to, had their trust in the office of the presidency betrayed, and then had their otherwise good names tarnished by hte same enterprise when the war didn't go as planned.

It's not a small issue, but it is one she was misled on and that she has apologized for (though of course, not to everyone's satisfaction)

And to be honest? Our war may be a total clusterfuck, but for the most part, I'm certain our forces try hard to avoid "collateral damage" whenever possible. i'm not going to argue whether they could do better, I'm not there. But what I do know is that Monsanto is in iraq as well, and is actively - as in, intentionally - trying to end the lives and livlihoods of as many Iraqis as possible.

No, the war is no small issue. But compared to the damage this company is capable of - and actually trying to cause - our bumblefucking in the desert will pale in comparison. Being blown apart by a bomb is bad. So is comitting suicide with pesticide because the "magic seed" company dicked you over and has you in a high-interest debt, like what's happening in India.

[blm]

13. Monsanto has NEVER been a minor issue.

.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

6. The article doesn't say that Obama is considering him...it just says Rendell backs him

I guess since the guy submitted his application, Obama will consider him...but there's nothing to suggest he's high on the list.

[blm]

12. Except the fascist wing of the party certainly has been kept happy, so far. I hope Obama doesn't

feel the need to nod towards the rightists on this, too.

[balantz]

8. Let's hope Obama keeps Monsanto's helpers out of the picture.

[No Elephants]

9. Don't take chances. Contact wwww.change.gov. Rendell has said some

sketchy things about both African Americans and women. However, he did a good job for Democrats in Pennsylvania--for Hillary in the primary and for Obama in the general. So, it's hard to know how Obama would view Rendell's lobbying.