Ironically Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman’s campaign is claiming he’s the victim of dirty political tricks at its worst. A good memory can provide the hat-trick that turns this into an amusing anecdote for your friends.

Extra bonus points to those who can connect the dots in the first and last items.

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The BBC reports on Japan banning American long-grain GM rice. The ban will remain in effect until the US can say the rice no longer contains the genetically engineered variety. This ban will not affect the majority of American rice imported by Japan which is short and medium-grain.

The US agriculture secretary Mike Johanns said: There are no human health, food safety, or environmental concerns associated with this (genetically engineered) rice.. Johanns replaced Ann Veneman as US agriculture secretary. Veneman received high marks from trade and industry groups and held the office during an outbreak of BSE or “mad cow disease” in the US. Japan reacted to mad cow by inspecting every imported cow destined for the food supply. The US declared it wasn’t much of an issue and shortly thereafter other cows were found to have mad cow disease. Johanns has his work cut out for him if he wants to make the USDA more than a mouthpiece for industry and corporate globalization efforts.

Getting back to the Japanese long-grain rice ban: Why are we genetically modifying rice? Is it ostensibly to get vitamins we could get by eating a better diet in the first place? Is it to grow enough food to prevent starvation? If so, that effort has failed; people lack food around the world including in the US. Where does one find the results of rigorously testing GM food to make sure we’re not eating things that will harm us?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The Corporation is one of the most underrated movies. I concur with C. Middleton who said

I believe this is one of the best and most important documentary films to be made in many years.

This is an extraordinary film about the creation of the American corporation, its legal organizational model, its global economic dominance and its psychopathic tendencies, and its incredible ambition to influence every aspect of culture in its unrelenting pursuit of profit.

After viewing this film, it becomes all too evident that these large corporations have too much power, whose mandate is not the common good of the people, and who will go to any lengths, legally and otherwise, in the pursuit of profit and the bottom line.

This is one of very few movies I can watch multiple times. When I return to it I find intelligent questions and responses. If anything, this movie (in its 3-hour form) is too short as some questions go unanswered. The movie holds my attention for the duration and I want to see more.

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Molly Ivins urges her readers to get Bill Moyers into Democratic Party debates so that Moyers can not only show them what it [a spine] looks like and indeed what it is, but also how people respond to it. A guiding unstated principle of her article is that the Democrats can be reformed from within.

We’ve been shown time and again that this is how the Democrats end up getting votes. Here’s a better idea: stop buying into the corporate duopoly that screws you every 2 years. Stop believing that the Democrats will be your salvation. They depend on that to survive and pass laws which seriously adversely affect you. Stop giving the Democrats the power to railroad you into bankruptcy and get your kids killed or incarcerated in wars (including the ongoing “War on Drugs”).

Consider all of the candidates based on their voting records (or writings if they’ve never held elective office before) and their campaign funding (that tells you who their masters are). Write to them and complain about their stance when they don’t agree with you (which implicitly tells them that they are being watched).

Challenge the Democrats for overwhelmingly backing the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, backing away from universal single-payer health care, and supporting bad worker law (like the Taft-Hartley Act). Complain about how the Democrats and Republicans work to exclude competition from the so-called TV “debates” where third-party and independent candidates are kept from appearing by ridiculously high barriers to entry.

Groklaw reports that Microsoft has been fined €280.5 million, the first time the EU Commission has ever had to do so. Neelie Kroes, EC rep, on the EU’s recent Microsoft fine:

“[…] it’s not the height of the level of the fine at a certain moment, but it is to give a clear signal to Microsoft that they have to deliver, that they have to stop their abuse of this situation.”

while trying to explain how a 3 million pound per day fine will give a clear signal to Microsoft which takes in 14 million pounds a day from Microsoft Windows client licenses alone. Microsoft is appealing the decision.