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The Independent reports that the makers of genetically modified foods have begun inserting human genes into food crops:

In the first modification of its kind, Japanese researchers have inserted a gene from the human liver into rice to enable it to digest pesticides and industrial chemicals. The gene makes an enzyme, code-named CPY2B6, which is particularly good at breaking down harmful chemicals in the body.



Present GM crops are modified with genes from bacteria to make them tolerate herbicides, so that they are not harmed when fields are sprayed to kill weeds. But most of them are only able to deal with a single herbicide, which means that it has to be used over and over again, allowing weeds to build up resistance to it.



But the researchers at the National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences in Tsukuba, north of Tokyo, have found that adding the human touch gave the rice immunity to 13 different herbicides. This would mean that weeds could be kept down by constantly changing the chemicals used.



Supporting scientists say that the gene could also help to beat pollution.



Professor Richard Meilan of Purdue University in Indiana, who has worked with a similar gene from rabbits, says that plants modified with it could "clean up toxins" from contaminated land. They might even destroy them so effectively that crops grown on the polluted soil could be fit to eat.



But he and other scientists caution that if the gene were to escape to wild relatives of the rice it could create particularly vicious superweeds that were resistant to a wide range of herbicides.

You know, there's another solution to the problem of all those nasty pesticides and chemicals: don't use them. Organic farmers have long since proven that their methods are better for both the land and the food, you stupid moronic *#@!. That's as polite as I can be about people who ignore the obvious and healthy so they can pursue the unnecessary and dangerous.

are the separatist groups in Manipur, India, who burned down a library of some 145,000 books, including "many of their most ancient texts."

Mbaye Diagne was a Senegalese Army captain and a member of the UN observation team during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Follow the link to see what he did when the killing started.

The time for reform of CEO compensation is long overdue. It's not just that these guys make the big bucks; it's that 1) their salaries are so exorbitant that they're being funded at the expense of employee salaries and benefits, and 2) compensation is not tied to company performance, so the CEOs get paid megamillions of dollars even if the business is failing. CEOs ought to be held to the same performance standards as their employees, and they ought to be compensated fairly.

Now, the AFL-CIO has provided a way to find out just how much CEOs in the U.S. got paid last year. Lots of good info at the site; check it out. Just take your antacids first.

(Background: this column by Jon Carroll.)

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Sister Nunchuku of Courteous Debate.

Get yours.

Jeanne at Body and Soul has a beautiful post up about war, peace, and art in Mozambique. Go read.

Do not stand at my grave and weep

I am not there,

I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.

I am the diamond glints on snow.

I am the sunlight

On the ripened grain.

I am the gentle Autumn's rain.

When you awaken in the morning hush,

I am the swift uplifting rush

of quiet birds in circled flight.

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry.

I am not there.

I did not die.

My Spirit is still alive...

May all those who mourn be comforted.

David Neiwert over at Orcinus makes a good point. If, as some evangelicals like to argue, civil rights protection should not be extended to gays and lesbians because their sexuality is "chosen," and not something inborn and unavoidable like ethnicity--then we should also get rid of civil rights protection for religion.

This is nuts. A man whose National Guard obligation was supposed to be completely finished has been ordered to return to active duty under the military's "stop-loss" policy. Emilio Santiago is fighting the orders in court, but the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected his case yesterday.

But the most insane part of it is that the Army has extended Santiago's service contract for another 27 years. WTF is that?? Stand up for your rights, and we'll just shanghai you and keep you as long as we want.

And they wonder why they're having so much trouble meeting their recruitment goals. To me it's amazing they can get anyone at all to sign up for this shit.

(via Eschaton and TalkLeft)

Pride goeth before a fall, as the good book sayeth. And judging by the number of frequent flyer miles the Bug Man has been racking up on Air Egomania lately, he's got one hell of a fall coming to him. I'm not even sure Satan has a circle of hell that deep, although I'm sure Halliburton would be happy to dig one if the terms were right.



--Billmon, on Tom DeLay.

The national office of Veterans For Peace makes it official:

Today the Veterans For Peace national office in St. Louis sent the news release (attached and pasted, below) to national news outlets, announcing it has sent a letter (attached) to every member of the U.S. House and Senate demanding the impeachment of Bush and Cheney.  The other attached documents briefly list (one page) several of the U.S. laws and treaties the administration has violated, and provide substantial documentation (six pages) for our claims. The documents are also available in pdf here.

Not that it'll do any good, but it's still nice to see someone stand up and say it out loud.