Current.com | In Monsanto v. Geertson Seed Farms, No. 09-475, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case which could have an enormous effect on the future of the American food industry. This is Monsanto's third appeal of the case, and if they win a favorable ruling from the high court, a deregulated Monsanto may find itself in position to corner the markets of numerous U.S. crops, and to litigate conventional farmers into oblivion.

AP | Banking giant Wachovia Corp. will pay $160 million to settle a federal investigation into laundering of illegal drug profits through Mexican exchange houses in the largest case of its kind ever brought against a U.S. bank, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Bloomberg | For a man trying to feed the world, Monsanto Co.’s Hugh Grant has no shortage of people trying to disrupt his dinner plans, from activists fighting genetically modified crops to the U.S. Department of Justice probing his company’s sales practices. Grant, a salesman who became chief executive officer in 2003, says Monsanto will be vindicated on all fronts because it has licensed genetics to hundreds of rivals since the dawn of the biotech seed industry in the mid-1980s. That strategy, and billions of dollars of research, got the company’s genes into 93 percent of U.S. soybeans and 82 percent of corn last year.

PrisonPlanet.com | Google has sensationally banned all sales through its shopping merchant of a DVD critical of the Obama administration under the terms of its program policy which bars any material deemed to be “advocating against a protected group”. Apparently, Google considers the government to be a “protected group,” and immune from criticism.

India Today | The debate on genetically modified (GM) brinjal variety continues to generate heat. Former managing director of Monsanto India, Tiruvadi Jagadisan, is the latest to join the critics of Bt brinjal, perhaps the first industry insider to do so.

RawStory.com | The 15-year-old girl thought the three security guards in the Seattle bus tunnel would protect her from attack. She was wrong.

NYMAG.com | No WAY is Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis going to be the only one to answer for the acquisition of crappy Merrill Lynch and its crappy bonuses, "a person close to Lewis's defense team" (who may or may not be Ken Lewis himself) tells Charlie Gasparino today on the Daily Beast. NO WAY will he be a scapegoat, alone, for the people who twisted his arm to go through with the Merrill deal by telling him he would be fired if he didn't. "If this thing goes to trial you can expect both Paulson and Bernanke to be on the witness list." If he's going down, he's bringing them down, too. Bringing them down to Chinatown. Order in the court!

The Nation | Who says the president is failing to show leadership? In one area at least, there's no sign of flag or falter. If anything, the administration's only becoming more forthright. Sad to say, that area is military build-up.

The National Labor Committee | NFL jerseys have been sewn under illegal sweatshop conditions at the Chi Fung factory in San Salvador for at least the last four years.

Fox News | Despite President Obama's long history of criticizing the Bush administration for "sweetheart deals" with favored contractors, the Obama administration this month awarded a $25 million federal contract for work in Afghanistan to a company owned by a Democratic campaign contributor without entertaining competitive bids, Fox News has learned.

Wired | A controversial CIA contractor has found new work in Haiti, flying drones on disaster recovery duty. When last we heard from Evergreen International Aviation, the Oregon-based firm was offering to post sentries at local voting centers during the 2008 election, ”detaining troublemakers” and making sure voters “do not get out of control.”

Press TV | Iran's representative to OPEC says the group weighs replacing the dollar by the euro in crude oil pricing, adding that no decision has been made. "Members of OPEC are free (to use any currency) in their oil transactions," said Mohammad Ali Khatibi on Sunday.

Global Research | Blackwater is a corporation that provides mercenary soldiers and supporting security personnel to the US government. Erik Prince, the founder and owner of the now infamous US corporation, Blackwater, hails from Holland, Michigan where his family was both powerful and prominent in two institutions - (1) the Republican Party and (2) the evangelical Christian Church.  After scandals hit his large and lucrative firm, Prince ordered a curious rebranding that changed its name to Xe.

LA Times | Voters stand to lose out if the Supreme Court treats political spending by businesses and other big-money players as protected speech. Corporations are pitching a bizarre product -- a radical vision of the 1st Amendment. It would give corporations rather than voters a central role in our electoral process by treating corporate political spending as protected speech. If this vision becomes reality, businesses and other big-money players will spend billions either hyping their preferred candidates or running attack ads against elected officials who don't support their preferred agenda. Voters will be forced into a couch-potato role, mere viewers of the electoral spectacle bought and paid for by wealthy companies.

Mail Tribune | If you're going to haul away scrap metal from your yard, be prepared to get a state certificate Jan. 1 or you will be breaking the law.