Yes. The giant Organic Farming lobby is making it illegal to use pesticides and herbicides. /eyeroll.

Let me be clear. GMO hasn't been linked to health effects. Yet..... :D I never argued that. I'm railing against stupid chemical usage instead of taking care of the land. Yes, some feeling is involved. I grew up on a farm.

And no, the farmer in the article did NOT use traditional methods. Tilling is traditional. He doesn't till. He plants a plethora of crop cover plants. He leaves his corn stalks to rot in the field. Basically, he's taking care of the land, and yes, sometimes he still uses chemicals... but it's FAR reduced. And he's doing better than his neighbors.

I read your study. Did you read the article at all, or did you just skim it? Or do you just not know anything about farming? I do. I grew up on a farm. I'm also NOT saying GMOs bad. I'm saying Stupid Farming Bad. I'm saying mass Pesticide and Herbicide use is lazy farming, and harmful to the soil and ecosystem.

I think you're assuming I'm a hippy. I think you're fighting a stereotype instead of what I'm saying.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/01/world/middleeast/syria.html?_r=0
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/01/world/middleeast/syria.html?_r=0

"Syria’s ability to produce chemical weapons has been destroyed and its remaining toxic armaments secured, weapons inspectors said Thursday, as President Bashar al-Assad has offered unexpectedly robust cooperation".

Yes, I have evidence that this is true. That's because I listen to evidence before coming up with my opinion, instead of forming my opinion and then looking for evidence. That took me a 15 second google search to find. Should I look it up for Iran too? Nah. I'll let you do it. You need the practice. Also, there's a story ON SLASHDOT about Iran getting rid of their 20% uranium.

Ukraine? Sanctions are starting to have an effect. We'll see. Huh, weird, and just a few days ago, Russia and Ukraine signed a deal to let Crimea be it's own independant region... which it's always been anyway.

So, basically, you're wrong on every account, and a few minutes of googling would have told you that were you actually interested in the information and the context of the situation. I'd suggest not paying attention to mainstream news. They suck at context.

Oh, PLEASE tell us all how the Arab Spring was Obama's fault... And Fuck Israel.

Nobody takes us seriously because we started two wars over bad intelligence. No one takes us seriously because we talk about democracy and freedom and then invade countries that don't do what we say. Nobody takes us seriously because we've overthrown democratically elected governments. No one takes us seriously because we're a f'in joke.... We're a child with a giant stick running around hitting other children

It's weird, but plenty of countries are taken seriously without waving their military around. Japan's taken seriously, and they don't even have a military to speak of! We wield enough economic and cultural power that we shouldn't even have to use our military. And strangely enough, when we DO use diplomacy and sanctions, stuff gets done.

That weakling got Osama, has Iran giving up it's highly enriched Uranium to lift the sanctions, and cut a deal that got Syria to give up their chemical weapons. There are other measures of strength than blowing shit up. Diplomacy works.

Now, as a dirty lib, I do believe he is a weak president on the homefront. Dude hasn't even TRIED to fulfill his campaign promises and keeps trying to cut deals with the Republicans who clearly aren't going to give him squadoo even though he gives them 90% of what they wanted anyway. Sigh....

If you're going to hate on Obama, hate on him for real reasons. His foreign policy had strengthened us, not weakened us. Bush is the one that took us from having the whole world supporting us to having everyone revile us. Again....

I'm really weirded out by all the people who give accolades to Putin lately. Russia's a shithole man. It's an oligarchy, flat out. He's not standing up to anyone. Standing up would be helping people and NOT debt slaving them with the IMF. How is invading the Ukraine when it's down in any way brave or good?

Invading Syria would have worked as well as invading Afghanistan and Iraq did....

Everyone's all PO'ed at Obama for using diplomacy instead of War.

It's diplomacy that has Iran giving up their enriched uranium. It's (accidental) diplomacy that got Syria to give up their chemical weapons. Diplomacy works. War? Afghanistan and Iraq aren't going too well for us. There's no infrastructure, no democracy, tons of opium, and the Taliban are stronger now than they used to be.

There are other measures of strength besides blowing shit up.

That being said, Obama IS a weak president. :D

Every time we do something to change the world and someone says "It's not a problem.", they're usually wrong.

Weeds don't leach nutrients. They make it hard for the farm machinery to do it's job. They also help support insects, slow evaporation, and support an ecological system that helps support the crop plants. Web of Life Good. There is a problem where we take too much from the soil, and we have to do crop rotation and let fields go fallow to get that back in. We have to fertilize. We have to grow some legumes and let them put nitrogen back into the soil... Frankly, we use herbicides because it's easier and we're lazy, not because they're a better solution.

And the genes for producing pesticides get out into the wild and the insects develop resistances. It IS happening. Refuges help, but... Then there's the side effects. :D Most pesticides mess up the neurological systems of bugs. Including all the beneficial bugs....

GM crops absolutely produce more food per acre than Dumb Farming. Smart farming however? http://www.motherjones.com/env...

No tilling and good usage of cover crops does wonders... We only ever tilled because it made it easier to drop seeds in, and we thought it would help mix fertilizer into the soil. turns out it just disrupts the systems in the soil and makes fields prone to erosion.

I don't think it's fear mongering to point to what we KNOW is happening, and what WILL happen. I don't think it's fear mongering to point to alternative methods that work just as well and have less side effects and say "Hey! this is way better!". And we don't have a problem producing food. Famines are a food distribution problem, not a food production problem. If you want to fight famine, educate small farmers in poor countries on sustainable methods. Or, you could sell them patented seeds, and then patented chemicals, and then put them in debt forever.

Read the link.

Sock Puppets? /looks around. Uh dude? My name's on every comment. The rest of them are telling me I'm an idiot. :D No sock puppets... And yes, I did have my own Moran moment. Sigh.... I'm still right though. :D

I'm not against GM food. I am against Monsanto. They're a chemical company. The seeds are just there to help them sell chemicals. I'm an ex farmer man. I know the industry, and I know what they've done to it.

I hold no pride in my mistake. I fixed it above. Despite my brain fart, the problem is still real.

I am not ignorant. Just tired.... The contempt is very real though. I don't hold it with pride, but it is there.

Ah. I see. Wwwwoooosh! Yes. I mispoke. ha!

Well, let it not be said that I don't acknowledge my own stupid mistakes.

Roundup is an Herbicide, which yes, kills plants, not insects. Farmers spray it on their fields so only the plant they want grows, and not all the weeds (which would probably provide cover for the ground and help reduce evaporation, but oh well.)

Despite my Tongue Twisting Error, the stupid WEEDS are becoming resistant to Roundup, because evolution.

We have a similar issue with INSECTS becoming resistant to PESTICIDES.

Both of these scenarios leave us with farmers who can't reuse seed, have to buy expensive seed, and now that the weeds and insects are growing resistant, the expensive chemicals they bought don't work there either. Then there's the environmental effects of spraying herbicide and pesticide all over, which usually runs off into your drinking water, etc.

Sorry I misspoke. My Apologies. Despite my very stupid brain fart, what I am saying is still accurate.

Uhm... insects do develop a resistance to herbicide. It's a big problem....

Citation? Do a google search for "Get a brain morans". :D

Ah, sorry. You're right. We're just way more educated by Liberal Training Camps, I mean universities. Where we learn stuff. Everyone is welcome, but oddly enough learning stuff seems to turn people Liberal. It's really weird.

OK... I'm being an ass. Everyone? I'm sorry. Not sorry enough to NOT push the button, but... Sorry. So much vitriol on Slashdot lately.....

Uh, Linux IS awesome.
MS is a convicted monopolist. Yes, they're evil. Oh, apple gets plenty of hate, I don't know where you got that?
I would LOVE for you to prove global warming false. Please do. http://www.wolframalpha.com/in... And, yes, it IS science.
Electric cars ARE awesome, but no, we don't want to fuck Elon Musk. He is pretty awesome for what he's done though and deserves accolades.
NASA gets about 0.5% of the federal budget. Yes. I think we all think they should get more.
OSS software is pretty awesome sometimes, for obvious reasons.

So... why the !@#$ are you on Slashdot, News for Nerds? Cultural Groups tend to think alike. Film at Eleven...

Yeah. We never have factual content. Heh. Lets be clear here. McCain wasn't born in the US. No one was clamoring for his birth certificate. So, yes, you're all racists. Racist is as racist does, and the first black president we ever got had rumors spread about him being a muslim, traitor, foreign born, socialist, muslim again.... We've never had this much vitriol over a candidate.

So, yes, you're racist. Oh, we're racists too in many ways, and we all need to work on it. But... You guys take the cake. As long as it's not chocolate. :D

Sigh. The Fuck'in hockey stick is accurate, and you can see the data he used with a simple search on Wolfram Alpha. It doesn't even take that much effort to look for yourself.

http://www.wolframalpha.com/in...

You can see what is projection and what is actual data. You can see the names of all the different data sets. You can do research on them to figure out if they're accurate or not. It's not even hard. But... You keep believ'in that it's all a hoax by scientists for that big flush grant money.....

http://imgur.com/n4XNJ