Want to stave off the attack of the killer tomatoes? Not ready for a talking, man-eating venus flytrap? Join the March Against Monsanto this Saturday.

Activists will be handing out leaflets at the Bishop Park farmers market Saturday morning, then meeting at the Arch at 2 p.m. to march to New Earth Music Hall for a 3:30 p.m. rally featuring musicians Hart Sawyer & The Love Project and speaker Marsha Thadison of the Tipping Point Network.

Along with much of the Internet, they're particularly hacked off about HR 933, an omnibus spending bill approved by Congress and signed by President Obama in March that includes the so-called Monsanto Protection Act, a clause that critics say would bar federal courts from halting the planting or sale of genetically modified crops based on safety or environmental concerns.

Democrats (most of whom voted for the original bill) tried to overturn that section on Thursday, but Senate Republicans blocked them.

(The law, it should be noted, doesn't mention any specific company or GMO crops, nor does it actually immunize Monsanto or anyone else from lawsuits, as has often been stated. It allows the secretary of agriculture to temporarily stop a judge's temporary injunction against producing or distributing USDA approved crops while the court considers the legal challenge; the lawsuit could still go forward. Not that I'm saying that's necessarily a good idea, but let's talk about what the law actually says. Also, there really isn't anything unusual about the way it was put into the bill. It's only in effect until Sept. 30. Oh, and a lot of the fears about GMO crops are based on bad science. Everything we eat was genetically modified, whether in a lab or outside.) 

Anyway, it's one of 200,000 Monsanto protests in 40 countries scheduled for this weekend.