A patch of ground in Logan County will soon be pushing up 2,000 corn plants-each injected with a type of bacteria responsible for diarrhea and stomach cramps. Dubbed "pharmaceutical corn," the crop is a developmental baby step toward splicing vaccines into our food through genetic alteration.

Science's heart is in the right place here. Diarrhea, often just a yucky annoyance in developed nations, is a major killer throughout much of the world, especially of children and the elderly. Animals are not immune either, meaning small farmers face a double threat from the communicable disease. Getting vaccines to grow in food would arguably streamline the relief process and save countless lives. The Colorado test crop would help researchers learn how to do this.

But the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union joined environmentalists in opposing the experimental garden plot. Why? They fear pollen from the test crop will blow into neighboring fields and crossbreed with regular corn. There is no sterile lab in nature, and the fear is that science is tampering with the genetic framework of links in the food chain-irreparably.

One thing is for certain; those who oppose the test crop will have a hard time stopping it. Last year, after a permit was requested to grow 30 acres of test pharmaceutical corn in Eastern Colorado, the farmers union asked Governor Owens and the Colorado Department of Agriculture to place a moratorium on growing biopharmaceutical crops in the state until they can be proven safe. The group received no response from the governor or the ag department, and the permit to plant the test crop was approved to the applause of agro-business insiders.

For 13 years Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy has used traditional farming methods to produce high-quality cheeses. Now founder Jim Schott and his wife Carol are hoping to put their magic formula for success to work for dairy farmers in South Africa.

The Niwot couple has traveled to South Africa three times to volunteer their expertise in goat herding and cheesemaking. Now they hope to raise $6,000 to purchase a used truck for the South African goat dairy they hold dear. The truck will be used for delivering the cheese once it's been produced. Land O'Lakes has promised to match the funds the Schotts collect.

The South African government has purchased 4,000 acres of land to turn over to indigenous farmers. The Schotts are helping to ensure that the land will remain protected and still yield a sustained income for the community.

Donations can be made out to the South African Dairy Project and mailed to Jim Schott at Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy, 5239 Niwot Rd., Niwot, CO 80503.

With a hood over his face and wires dangling from his outstretched hands reminiscent of the Abu Ghraib torture photographs, 21-year-old Joseph Previtera Jr. balanced on a milk crate outside a military recruitment center in Boston for over an hour. Using street theater, the Boston College student hoped to remind young people thinking of enlisting of the abuses American soldiers carried out against prisoners in Iraq.

Instead he was arrested and charged with disturbing the peace, making a false bomb threat and possession of a hoax device. The nonviolent war protestor is now facing years in prison for his act of symbolism-he could potentially do more jail time than any of the American soldiers accused of actually torturing detainees in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.

In some perversion of justice it seems that a symbolic act of violence now carries more weight than the actual act.

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