***** war in the English countryside

[Carl Remick]

> A straw poll of the Greenpeace members who wrote into the Guardian the
> day after Melchett's stunt showed that every one was opposed to Lord
> Melchett's act of vandalism against a rival farmer.

You're right, Jim.  This was worse than a crime; it was a blunder
(though it did have comic overtones -- Melchett's run-in with the
combative Brothers Brigham seemed like something scripted by the old
Ealing Studios).

An example of Greenpeace at its best appears in the Wall Street Journal
today:  "Gerber Baby Food, Grilled by Greenpeace, Plans Swift Overhaul
-- Gene-Modified Corn and Soy Will Go, Although Firm Feels Sure They Are
Safe."    Greenpeace managed to get Gerber to stop using GM ingredients
simply through deft, well targeted correspondence.  Melchett clearly
pulled off a PR debacle, pressing all the wrong buttons with the public
-- affronting sturdy yeomanry like Brighams, with their 300 years of
sweat equity at Walnut Tree Farm, yadda-yadda.

I'll add my boilerplate:  GM foods, if they are needed, can wait until
after the revolution, when there is no chance that the profit motive
will taint any  
> SCIENTIFIC TEST to uncover the side-effects, if any, of GM 
> Maize.

Carl