RANK PREVIOUS COMPANY
1
1 Dowling
Co.
2 3 Monsanto Hawai`i
3
2 Weinberg
Foundation
4
4 Maui
Electric Co.
5
5 Makena
Resort
6
6 Maui Land
& Pineapple Co.
7
8 Alexander
& Baldwin
8 9
Tesoro Hawai`i
9
10 Wailuku Water
Co.
10
7 Hawaiian Telcom
IRAQ GOES TO SEED
In this country companies like Monsanto that manufacture genetically
modified crops zealously guard their seed patents, often forbidding
farmers from sharing or even reusing seeds unless they go through
strict licensing agreements. This isn’t surprising, considering the
patents are worth many millions of dollars to the companies. Why do you
think Monsanto goes through such efforts to keep its Maui seed farms
safe and secure? But what many people don’t know is that this is also
the law in Iraq. A Jan. 4 article in Onlinejournal.com spells it out
how our vaunted Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) instituted Order
81 while it was still running Baghdad, giving GM crop makers everything
they could hope for in that war-torn hellhole of a nation. “What that
order means is that seeds from those ‘new’ varieties cannot be saved
for reuse, at least not without paying a royalty to its ‘manufacturer,’
whether it’s Monsanto, Dow, Dupont, or any of the genetically-modifying
[sic] seed giants,” wrote Jerry Mazza in the article. “This could
easily bankrupt farmers and contribute vastly to massive food shortages
and starvation.” Like Iraqis don’t already have enough to worry about.
HT ON HOLD
So much for Hawaiian Telcom’s week in the sun—this week it’s back to
the dreary dungeon for the troubled phone company. See, if you’re a big
corporation—whether you’re owned by the Carlyle Group, one of the
nation’s richest and most powerful private equity firms or not—you
never want to see your name in a story in which the headline contains
the phrase “Long probe.” But that’s what happened to Hawaiian Telcom on
Dec. 28, 2006. “The state Public Utilities Commission said yesterday
its investigation into problems with Hawaiian Telcom’s customer service
will last until at least September,” reported the Honolulu Advertiser.
Now this sounds awful, except when you realize that there’s poetic
justice in the state taking its time with the phone company accused of
taking its time dealing with customer problems. MTW
Comments
comments