Farmers v. Monsanto-Federal Court-NYC-Tuesday-January 31,2012@9am

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Forum: Articles of Interest

Topic: ACTION ALERT: 1/31 NYC family farms vs Monsanto

ACTION ALERT: 1/31 NYC family farms vs Monsanto

by Granny Cuyler » Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:32 pm

RSVP - A Citizen’s Assembly of Support for Family Farmers vs. Monsanto - Jan. 31, 2012When: Tuesday, January 31, 2011 @ 9:00 amWhere: Southern District Court, New York City Moynihan United States Courthouse500 Pearl St.New York, NY 10007-1312We wish to assemble free and peaceful citizens outside the Manhattan District court in an effort to present the important message to family farmers that millions of Americans stand behind them as they seek their day in court. In the past two decades, Monsanto’s seed monopoly has grown so powerful that they control the genetics of nearly 90% of five major commodity crops including corn, soybeans, cotton, canola and sugar beets. This has resulted in onerous costs to farmers through high technology patent fees for seeds as well as burdensome litigation costs in defending themselves against lawsuits asserted by Monsanto.In many cases organic and conventional farmers are forced to stop growing certain crops in order to avoid genetic contamination and potential lawsuits. Between 1997 and April 2010, Monsanto filed 144 lawsuits against American farmers in at least 27 different states, for alleged infringement of its transgenic seed patents and/or breach of its license to those patents, while settling another 700 out of court for undisclosed amounts. As a result of these aggressive lawsuits, Monsanto has created an atmosphere of fear in rural America and driven dozens of farmers into bankruptcy.The lawsuit OSGATA (Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association) et al vs. Monsanto was filed on behalf of 300,000 organic and non-GMO farmers and citizens to seek judicial relief in "protect[ing] themselves from ever being accused of infringing patents on transgenic (GMO) seed". The judge has requested and agreed to hear oral argument in orders to make a decision of whether or not to allow the farmers’ case to move forward in the courts after Monsanto filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. We are encouraging supporters of farmers’ rights to grow food without fear and intimidation to assemble outside the courtroom in a peaceful manner to support the farmers in their claims, recognizing that these injustices affect us all and that this case is deserving of the court’s time and attention.Due to limited space, only a small number of individuals will be able to enter the courtroom and listen to the proceedings. We respectfully ask that farmers and plaintiffs in the case be given priority to hear this case in person as each plaintiff has travelled many miles and put a great deal on the line to be a part of this case.In the spirit of peaceful assembly and respect for the courts, we request that you adhere to the following principles:Principles for Citizen's Assembly1. Assemble outside the court in a show of support for family farmers and their right to grow food without the threat of intimidation, harassment or loss of income.2. Assemble peacefully to present a positive message that America’s citizens stand behind family farmers and support their rights of legal protection under the Constitution.3. Bring signs that portray messages of:a. Hopeb. The positive impacts of sustainable and organic agriculturec. Solutions to our current crisis in food, agriculture and societyd. Support for farmers who seek justice in the courts4. Be respectful of court security requests and follow them faithfully.5. Maintain a respectful distance from the court entry on Pearl Street, making sure not to block access for foot traffic or vehicles.6. Maintain a tone of respect for the court and the sanctity of our legal process as the judge hears the merits of this important case.7. Cell phones, cameras and tape recorders are prohibited inside the courthouse. Those who enter the courthouse must conform to court security protocols.8. No signs, t-shirts with slogans or other disruptions, visual or otherwise, are appropriate or allowed in the courtroom.9. No chanting or loud noises allowed outside the courthouse as all must maintain their conduct in ways that are respectful to the judicial process and in accordance with the seriousness of the case.10. Please follow the instructions of designated assembly captains who will continue to update you as the events of the day unfold.As advocates for farmers and supporters of a citizen-based democracy we greatly appreciate your support for family farmers and your agreement to act in accordance with these principles in order to guarantee farmers' rights to grow food without fear and intimidation.Location to Hear Plaintiffs and Attorney Comment After HearingOnce oral arguments are heard in the court, farmers, plaintiffs and lead attorney Dan Ravicher of the Public Patent Foundation will be available for comments to supporters and the media, at the Southwest Corner on 500 Pearl Street, at Pearl Street and Cardinal Place.For those planning on assembling at 9 am, Pearl Street has been recommended to gather respectfully and overflow can gather at Foley Square.Link to Google Map http://bit.ly/NyDistrictCtPearlSt If link does not work, Google: 45 Cardinal Place, New York, NY for location of assembly.Click Here to Sign Our Petition Supporting Farmershttp://action.fooddemocracynow.org/sign ... _monsanto/

Forum: Technology Committee discussion

Topic: POS and backend are live! Next steps...

POS and backend are live! Next steps...

by Leary » Wed Jan 18, 2012 3:52 am

Thanks to 's unflagging focus, the IS4C prototype is now up and running, doing complete transactions including opening the cash drawer. The backend database system is up too. This is absolutely huge — but of course there's a bunch more to do before we have a production-ready system:

"Teach" it our Co-op's discount structure Develop member database import procedures Develop bulk load-in procedures for our big vendors Load in the remaining product data Test, test, test the system on every transaction type imaginable! Fix bugs as we find them, and make necessary improvements Establish sync between the two lanes and the backend server Develop export procedures for our accounting systems Develop shelf label printout capabilities Reconfigure the front counter for physical installThis is off the top of my head; there's probably some steps I'm forgetting. Please feel free to add to my list here.One way to expedite our programming work is to use a networked sourcecode repository. To that end I've just created two repositories on GitHub, one for the lanes ("IS4C") and another for the backend ("Fannie"). The big question at this point: Who's up for coding with us? While and I can certainly handle it, it'd be faster, more enjoyable, and probably result in cleaner code if other tech folks coded as well.Please respond to this thread, or give me a call if you can help bring this project to final fruition!

Re: POS and backend are live! Next steps...

by Leary » Wed Jan 18, 2012 11:07 pm

I forgot to post how to access the GitHub repositories. You can browse them online, but to make improvements to the codebase you'll first need to set up a GutHub login (here) and then request that I add your login name to the StreetCoop "organization".Then install a Git client on your machine. (I hear good things about SmartGit for PC, SourceTree for Mac, and git-cola for Linux.) Set your Git client to point to the Co-op's repositories, and from there you should be ready to download the code and start hacking.

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