SFBG News: Let Them Eat GMOs

sfbg.com | news: Let Them Eat GMOs

"We had only 50 percent of our normal food needs," Drinah Nyirenda, executive director of the nonprofit Program Against Malnutrition, told us. "And people had no money to purchase food." Zambian officials appealed to the international community for 215,000 metric tons of food aid, she said.

The United States responded with shipments of corn. "We asked, Is it genetically modified? When they said yes, we said we didn't want it." Zambia had been on record for years as opposing imports of GMOs, citing fears of health and environmental problems. Still, it was a pretty dramatic stand to take at a time when people were starving.

With non-GMO food aid from other nations that eventually trickled in, Zambia survived the famine. But U.S. pressure to accept GMO foods continues. A foreign aid bill recently approved by Congress suggests that HIV/AIDS funds should be withheld if nations won't accept GMO foods.

Saint Expedite

From Lucky Mojo's pages on patron saints:

Saint Expedite is the patron of those who hope for rapid solutions to problems, who wish to avoid or put an end to delays, and who want general financial success. His aid is also sought by those who wish to overcome procrastination as a personal bad habit, as well as by shop-keepers and sailors. His feast day is April 19.

Expedite is typically depicted as a young Roman centurion holding aloft a cross marked HODIE ("today" in Latin) and squashing a crow beneath his right foot. Out of the dying crow's mouth issues a word-ribbon, CRAS ("tomorrow" in Latin). Thus Expedite destroys a vague tomorrow in favour of a definite today.

There is a cute pun in what the crow says: CRAS CRAS CRAS is how Romans imitated the sound of crows (in English, this is CAW CAW CAW), thus crows and ravens are said to always be croaking about "tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow." Expedite, by stomping the crow, destroys the vice of procrastination (pro-CRAS-tination means putting things off until tomorrow).

When Latin was a common language, Saint Expedite saw service as a mnemonic aid in adjuring people to convert to Christianity. Priests indicated the image of the saint with his cross and crow to warn pagans not to put off until tomorrow the religious conversion that could be accomplished today, because they might not live until tomorrow and thus would die unshriven.

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A good day to burn candles for Saint Expedite is Wednesday, the day of Mercury, the messenger god of the Romans. In fact, Expedite is not only syncretized with that ancient deity, he is symbolized by the metal quicksilver (liquid elemental Mercury), and is also associated with the African and Afro-Caribbean spiritual entities Elegua, Legba, Baron Samedi, Bonsu, and so forth, those being the messengers and tricksters in the Lukumi / Santeria, Voodoo / Vodoun, and Obeah pantheons.

When Saint Expedite grants your request, his statue, holy card, or empty candle-glass is given a gift of flowers. It is often said that you must never seek the aid of Expedite unless you are prepared to give this gift after the work is done, or he will take back all the good he did for you, and more besides. This accords with Expedite's position as an analogue to the various African messenger-trickster spirits, and is not typical of mainstream Catholic teachings about the intercession of saints. Some people also recommend publishing his name in the paper if he comes through for you, a tradition that is more often associated with Saint Jude.