I can say with complete confidence that my life would have been worse had my mother been investigated, charged and convicted for smacking me and my brothers.

In reply to some of the comments about farmers being locked in to buying seeds from the likes of Monsanto

One or the main reasons to buy in corn (or whatever) seed each year is hybrid vigour

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterosis

Basically the seed companies cross two elite but genetically different/diverse lines of corn and sell you the seeds. When you grow these seeds you get an excellent yield of seeds to sell (or keep)

If you did keep these seeds and plant them the next year your yield would be significantly less because the heterosis effect has been partially lost, you lose more and more with each generation (inbreeding depression).

You will note that this has nothing to do with GE.

Talking about the dodgy use of credit cards.

I have been travelling in the USA for the last three weeks. I used the BART train system in SF and the Amtrak routes in and out of SF too. To buy tickets just insert your credit card in this handy machine. No authentication required. None. I think I remember doing this in Europe too.